Peace

"...The roots buried underground can never bathe in the sunlight like the leaves; Danzo's actions are meaningless."

Hyuga Hane shook his head and said calmly, "If you were truly worried, you wouldn't have come."

"...That's true." Minato smiled as he stood up. "I only need to win this war alongside my comrades in the village."

The premise for ninja clans to bargain is that the Hokage is willing to play by their rules; when a powerful Hokage refuses to play, the clans have no power to stop him.

Did the First Hokage have a political mind?

No, but all the ninja clans had to follow his rules.

The eternal, unchanging law of the Shinobi World is, after all—might makes right!

Hmm, might makes right...

"Alright, before the village's ninja forces assemble, let's clear out the Mist Village units wandering in the vicinity."

Watching the incredibly excited Kushina, Hyuga Hane sighed and looked toward Kakashi and Uchiha Yakumaru, as if asking:

We are the Shadow Guard; what kind of sense does it make to abandon the Hokage and go on a mission ourselves?

You're asking me? Who should I ask?

Uchiha Yakumaru rolled his eyes, gestured toward Kushina's direction, then looked at the command room, holding up two fingers at different heights. Kushina was high, Minato was low, clearly expressing what he wanted to say.

It's obvious who wears the pants in Lord Hokage's house; can we even resist?

Is this a different kind of "might makes right"?

I never thought the Fourth would be henpecked.

Meanwhile, Kakashi stood there with a calm expression, reading his Little People Book, looking as if he were already used to it.

Mistress Kushina has just been staying in the village for too long and wants to "let loose."

"What are you all still waiting for?"

Kushina walked a short distance away, turned back to look at the three of them standing there with different expressions, and seeing they hadn't followed, she put her hands on her hips and smiled. "Are you not listening to the captain's arrangements? I've already cleared it with Minato."

"Let's go." Hyuga Hane shook his head, created a Shadow Clone to remain outside the command room, and followed after her.

Seeing this, Kakashi and Uchiha Yakumaru exchanged a glance and followed suit.

With the reinforcements yet to arrive, Minato needed to stay and oversee the command post, so the plan to deal with the Tailed Beast forces had to be pushed back.

After all, Orochimaru, who was out scouting for intelligence, had not yet returned; some plans required more specific information before they could be set in motion.

However, Jiraiya had already headed to the front lines.

It's much more brutal than when I was on the battlefield before.

An hour away from the command post, with his Byakugan reflecting the scene of the surrounding forest, Hyuga Hane thought to himself.

Scattered blood and ninja tools were visible everywhere in the forest, and some corpses had yet to be recovered; clearly, as the Mist Village reinforcements arrived and the intensity of the fighting increased, there was no longer enough manpower to handle everything.

After moving forward for another stretch without encountering any enemies, Kushina, who was in the lead, signaled for a stop, letting everyone rest in place for a while.

Although they were all Jonin, if the intelligence was correct, the Mist Village had already committed seven thousand ninjas to the battlefield and was still sending reinforcements to the front; the next wave would likely involve another two thousand.

Even though most were low-level cannon fodder, there were still experts among them. Their squad was very strong, but if they weren't careful and fell into an encirclement while exhausted, they might suffer casualties.

"The Mist Village is truly insane. A number of ninjas like this only appeared when the Third Tsuchikage besieged the Third Raikage. How much defensive force does the Land of Water even have left?"

Uchiha Yakumaru took out his canteen for a drink and asked, puzzled, "The military forces of the Five Great Ninja Villages need to defend most of their respective countries. How did the Daimyo of the Land of Water agree to let the Mizukage take out so many troops to attack us? Do they really think the Mizukage can win?"

Under the "one country, one village" system, the majority of a nation's military power is borne by its ninja village. Although the Daimyo also controls some forces, it is insignificant compared to the proportion held by the ninja village.

"The Land of Water is isolated overseas. To attack them, one must cross a vast expanse of sea. Most ninjas lack such capability and must travel by ship."

Kushina glanced at him and smiled. "As long as the coastline is well-controlled, it is very difficult to invade. Did you not study geography well?"

"I know," Yakumaru pouted. "I just don't understand. Every time there's a Shinobi World War, when they see Konoha is weak, other villages bite at us. Why don't they go attack other great nations? The defenses of the Land of Water must be very lax right now; even if they can't conquer it, they could at least grab some benefits."

"There's no profit in that. The Land of Fire occupies too good a position."

Hyuga Hane, scouting with his Byakugan, looked in a certain direction and spoke up. "The Land of Fire faces the sea to the east and south, and is surrounded by small nations. Based on the current map of the Shinobi World, it sits in a central position, serving as an important transportation hub and economic center."

"Moreover, due to the climate and terrain, its grain production ranks among the highest of all nations. Attacking here, even if one only breaks through the border, allows for the looting of considerable wealth."

"Not to mention, the war potential Konoha has displayed has always been the strongest among all the great nations. If they don't suppress us, they won't feel at ease."

"..."

Uchiha Yakumaru fell silent. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of these things, but he was worried about this trend.

In three Shinobi World Wars, Konoha has always had to fight multiple villages. What if, in the future, Konoha faces a gap in talent and no powerhouse emerges to turn the tide?

The outcome of destruction seems foreseeable.

"Can't we just wipe them out? We win every time, but I don't see Konoha gaining any substantial benefits."

Yakumaru muttered, "The Tailed Beasts were all distributed to them by the First, and now they use them to fight us. They are truly ungrateful. The peace the First longed for has been smashed to pieces by them. When will we ever see true peace?"

No one present answered. Hyuga Hane also narrowed his eyes and remained silent.

True peace... such a thing has never existed.

As long as people are alive and have desires, the fighting will never stop.

The world of his past life had not achieved peace either; those weapons of mass deterrence merely forced nations to exercise restraint when necessary, shifting the conflict into alternative wars fought through economics, politics, and the like.

Yet, many nations never abandoned the pursuit of those terrifying weapons, even when they were officially prohibited from researching them.

Ultimately, power can inspire fear in others, but it also incites their greed.

The power of Hashirama was studied, and the power of the Uchiha was studied, simply because they had produced individuals like Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama—beings capable of rivaling an entire Great Shinobi Village single-handedly.

Many feared them, yet given the chance, everyone wanted to become those two!

In the Shinobi World, to achieve lasting or even eternal peace through individual strength, one would likely need to reach the realm of the so-called God of Otsutsuki. Otherwise, peace brought about by force will sooner or later vanish due to the emergence of even greater force.

Even the Otsutsuki alone are not enough; after all, quite a few Otsutsuki have already been killed or sealed by the Shinobi World in the future.

The Shinobi World possesses the foundation to resist the Otsutsuki.

However, if one discards the prerequisite of individual strength and seeks only a temporary peace—a peace without war—one does not need to be that powerful...

The current Konoha is capable of that.

Hyuga Hane's expression shifted, "Enemy detected, one kilometer directly ahead."