The Third Tsuchikage's words plunged Naruto deep into thought. Seeing this, the Third Tsuchikage said no more and quietly waited for his response. He assumed Naruto was struggling to accept Konoha's role as an aggressor. After all, Konoha had spent the past few decades touting itself as a village of peace. The younger generation had no idea what role it had played when it was first founded. The Third Tsuchikage could understand that. As a Kage himself, an old man who had survived the age of war and held a position of power, he knew better than anyone what kinds of decisions the villages' Kage would make.
But the Third Tsuchikage was mistaken. Naruto was not hung up on such a minor issue. Whatever role Konoha had played meant nothing to him now. Even if Tsunade announced tomorrow that she was launching the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto would not care.
What truly interested Naruto was the Third Tsuchikage's account of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha. So this is where the problem started, Naruto thought. I've always felt that this world's history differed somewhat from the history I remember. The divergence started here.
Something had puzzled Naruto all along: the ninja in this world were far stronger than those he remembered, especially Konoha's ninja. Take Tsunade, for example. In his memories of his previous life, she had been powerful, but nowhere near as outrageously strong as she was now.
Naruto even felt that Orochimaru and Jiraiya together would still get beaten down by Tsunade alone. The strength she had unleashed when he first found her had been so astonishing that he still felt a lingering fear.
Then there was the Third Tsuchikage. Dust Release was powerful, but it had never been this powerful in Naruto's memories of his previous