Hokage's Office
Seated in his chair, Hashirama avoided the blazing sunlight as he repeatedly flipped through the roster in his hands.
The details of the Ninja Academy class assignments gradually calmed his somewhat restless heart.
"You've looked at it more than ten times already."
The complaint-laced voice beside him snapped him back to himself. Tapping the entry marked "Tobirama" with a finger, he teased, "With things this busy, can you really handle Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu?"
Tobirama curled his lip at him, stepped forward, took a pen from the holder, and drew a line across the page.
A thick black line ran through the middle of the names Uchiha Rikusei, Uchiha Naori, and Hagoromo Mao.
Hashirama looked at him in confusion.
Tobirama lifted his gaze from the paper and looked out over the village. "You must have noticed the conflicts lurking within the village by now, Elder Brother."
Seeing his elder brother fall into thought, he continued, "It's only because of everything that's happened recently that they've been temporarily suppressed."
"Are the conflicts between ordinary ninja and ninja clans coming again?"
Hashirama recalled those miserable days when countless complicated documents about disputes had trapped him in the office.
"This conflict will continue to plague us in the future." Tobirama nodded in agreement. "Once Hidden Villages replace the various nations, it will further evolve into a conflict between ninja and ordinary people."
Hashirama's expression instantly froze.
Ninja and ordinary people.
His thoughts automatically searched for the proportion of ninja within the world's population. The relevant figures made him feel like a drop of water falling into a vast ocean.
"—Cough!" Tobirama jolted his distracted elder brother awake, then softened his tone. "That's still too far off. The urgent matter is to consider the future of the various ninja clans within the