A Visit

With the First Shinobi World War over, Shin no longer intended to stay in Konoha for long. As long as he could put a stop to Senju Hashirama's Tailed Beast Peace Plan, he could carry out his own agenda with peace of mind; whether he remained in Konoha or not was irrelevant.

On the contrary, the Senju side had grown suspicious. Even if they couldn't catch him in the act, there was no guarantee against unforeseen circumstances. If things escalated to the point where his hidden identity was exposed, it would be an embarrassment for everyone involved.

In truth, if anyone else were to become Hokage—even someone like Senju Tobirama—that Tailed Beast Plan would certainly have been seen through to the end.

Furthermore, with the resounding victory in this war, Konoha's influence had reached its zenith. Implementing the Tailed Beast Plan might truly have secured a century of hegemony and peace.

But unfortunately, the current Hokage was Senju Hashirama.

Whether as a friend or an enemy, Shin understood Hashirama better than anyone. To put it bluntly, he was an idealist—the kind who always assumed the best possible outcome.

Simply put, he was willing to try trusting others and testing various paths toward peace.

Take this war, for instance. By the middle of the conflict, the four great villages were all clamoring for an equal distribution of the Tailed Beasts.

Any other Hokage would have ignored them outright. What a joke. The Tailed Beasts didn't just wander into our village on their own; why should we split them with you? If you're not satisfied, then come and fight.

But Senju Hashirama was not that man. His original intention in capturing the Tailed Beasts was to use them as a deterrent to achieve peace, but the outbreak of the First War made