Konoha Hospital these days didn't care much about the health of a shinobi who was no longer in mortal danger. So once Li Ke's vital signs had stabilized, they sent him out of the hospital.
When he left, he saw not only Yuhi Kurenai and Asuma waiting to greet him, but also a great many shinobi being brought into the hospital, all on the brink of death, along with countless others missing limbs.
But there were even more people who had just died and were being carried onto body wagons, their beds forcibly cleared for the next patients. The patient who had shared Li Ke's room was kicked out as soon as his wounds had been stitched up. From then on, he'd have to change his own dressings and take care of everything else himself.
Still, with Yuhi Kurenai by his side, Li Ke was happy.
But, evidently, Evil Old Senju Ghost didn't care in the least about the sweet, flirtatious atmosphere between the righteous Li Ke and his girlfriend.
Even after Li Ke was discharged from Konoha Hospital and went shopping with Yuhi Kurenai, Evil Old Senju Ghost kept talking in his head.
"The most important thing for you right now is to train and exercise, not waste time with her. Also, you'd better not show off your unusually fast recovery. A shinobi has to keep all his information secret, after all. A shinobi's battles are battles of information..."
As Li Ke listened to Senju Tobirama lecture him inside his head, he happily fed dango to Yuhi Kurenai, and she fed him in turn.
He hadn't liked these things before. They were just a mixture of flour, sugar, and oil. But ever since he'd become a shinobi, sweets with an ordinary level of sweetness could barely satisfy him. He often had to go to the battlefield, after all.
Shinobi battles consumed a great deal of energy, and the strain they put on the mind was terrifying. So this food, which he'd once disliked, had become delicious to him.
Still, as he ate, Li Ke shared his sense of taste with Senju Tobirama, who was still grumbling inside his body. Tobirama was taken aback.
Then—
"You're wasting food like this? It's far too sweet. What a waste, especially during wartime..."
Feeling the sweetness in his mouth, Senju Tobirama couldn't help voicing his complaint.
Li Ke fell silent at Tobirama's words. Sensing the change in his mood, Yuhi Kurenai tilted her head and glanced at Li Ke, whose right arm was still in a sling.
"Um, is the dango not sweet enough?"
Li Ke shook his head and looked toward the Uchiha Clan Compound.
"It's wartime, so it makes sense that it isn't very sweet. It's just..."
He hadn't come here on purpose. The best shopping street was right next to the Uchiha Clan Compound, so he could see that many Uchiha wore white flowers and black armbands to mourn the dead.
And the busiest shops on the street weren't the dessert or snack shops. They were the funeral supply store up ahead and the shop taking orders for the black Japanese-style clothes worn at funerals.
The crowds bought all sorts of things with blank expressions. Some were clearly short on money, while others sighed again and again.
Even so, everyone was doing their best to give their loved ones a dignified send-off.
When women and elderly people ran into each other, they didn't talk about what they were having for dinner or how their children and grandchildren were doing. Instead, they invited each other to funerals and talked about whose family would be holding one next.
This was war.
Remembering that hellish scene, the dango in his mouth no longer tasted sweet. It was like tasteless modeling clay.
Even so, he was lucky. Since he was teamed up with the Hokage's son, there was no way they'd send him on a mission meant to get him killed.
And yet he still felt like he'd stepped into hell.
"Just what?"
Yuhi Kurenai saw that Li Ke was thinking and hadn't said anything, so she asked. But when she saw what people were buying, she fell silent too and clutched his clothes.
"...I was just thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful if there were only one shinobi village in the world?"
Li Ke said exactly what was on his mind. He'd wanted to know for a long time why things couldn't be that way.
Especially after coming to this world and going to the battlefield himself, he desperately wanted to understand.
Hashirama Senju, Senju Tobirama, Madara Uchiha—each of them had enough power to take on the world.
So why hadn't they united the Ninja World?
"...Kid, it's not that simple."
Senju Tobirama spoke again. After a moment's thought, he decided to tell Li Ke a little more.
"If you want to create a world where war is impossible, you need the ability to do it. That ability isn't just military strength and ninjutsu. In short, it's too early for you to think about these things."
He didn't know Li Ke well enough, so he hadn't really wanted to discuss such matters with him. But Li Ke couldn't help asking.
"Was it because there weren't enough administrators? Or was it because of the First? Or was it the Daimyo opposing it, or a lack of funds?"
Li Ke asked his questions, and Senju Tobirama truly couldn't make sense of him.
"You actually thought of all that... Incredible."
Tobirama himself had only encountered those problems while establishing Konoha. But he still disagreed with Li Ke.
"All of those things played a part, but none of them was the real reason."
His voice sounded wistful.
"The real reasons were trust and understanding."
"Trust?"
"Exactly. My brother founded Konoha, and Madara Uchiha brought the Uchiha Clan into the village. They shook hands and made peace, but hatred doesn't disappear that easily. In the early days of Konoha, even with Madara's help, the village wasn't harmonious. There were frequent clashes."
Senju Tobirama continued.
"Besides, at the time, no clients trusted Konoha. They worried the Uchiha and Senju shinobi wouldn't be able to work together on missions. Lacking trust, Konoha went without money for a long time. Things only improved after my brother invited the Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, and the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, all of whom had been under pressure from the Senju and Uchiha."
Li Ke nodded.
"So, because the village was newly established, people couldn't trust one another. The clients couldn't trust the shinobi village either, so there were few capable administrators and little money to keep things running. Is that right?"
Senju Tobirama confirmed it.
"Yes. And what truly changed everything was my brother's marriage alliance with Uzushio Village. That clan provided not only a great deal of money, political support, and military aid, but also Fuinjutsu capable of sealing monsters like the Tailed Beasts... Before then, the Tailed Beasts often rampaged across the entire world. That's why our shinobi wore the Uzumaki symbol on their backs."
At this point, Li Ke could clearly sense how low Senju Tobirama's spirits were.
"Unfortunately, just when Konoha had finally gained a foothold with Uzushio Village's help, and won the Land of Fire Daimyo's trust by wiping out the shinobi clans and bandits who constantly preyed on others, securing a more stable source of funding, the other countries established shinobi villages of their own."
Senju Tobirama hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure Li Ke would understand, or whether he might get the wrong idea.
After all, he didn't know Li Ke very well. Telling him so much on impulse could easily ruin a child's future.
But after considering Li Ke's temperament, personality, and immense potential, he sighed softly and decided to take a small risk and continue.
"At the time, the shinobi villages were still very loosely organized. The various Ninja Clans had joined simply to avoid being wiped out by alliances of other clans. They had no real sense of belonging to a country or a village... The Hyuga Clan, for example, was like that. So if my brother and Madara Uchiha had each led an army of shinobi into battle, they could have subdued an entire country by themselves. But they wouldn't have had a stable rear base, because we couldn't trust the clans in Konoha either.
"And even my brother, Hashirama, could have been ambushed and killed after a long march and a series of battles. Once the other shinobi villages had suffered devastating losses, there was no guarantee someone wouldn't launch a suicide attack against Konoha. We couldn't accept that. If we suffered such a blow, the village founded in the name of peace would instantly collapse, and the clans who fled would slaughter our people.
"By then, even if we got revenge, there'd be no point. Only the three of us would be left in the Senju and Uchiha Clans.
"Besides, my brother wanted to create a peaceful place, not rule over a Ninja World full of ruins. But with the way shinobi thought at the time, it was hard to tell whether you'd come to wipe out their clan or conquer them. They also couldn't believe that someone as powerful as my brother existed.
"And by the time my brother and Konoha had earned a reputation and gained people's trust, the Daimyo of each country had quickly established ties with the other shinobi villages. To prevent the Land of Fire Daimyo from cutting off our funding—and to secure enough benefits to unite Konoha's clans—my brother chose to stop advancing and sell the Tailed Beasts for money..."
By now, Senju Tobirama's voice sounded helpless and bitter, almost gritting with anger.
Li Ke thought that was probably why Hashirama Senju had insisted on selling the Tailed Beasts, and why he hadn't wanted to use force to establish order. But the doubts in Li Ke's mind had finally been cleared away.
"I think I understand... So establishing a shinobi village was really a process of building trust and a shared understanding. It was about changing the shinobi's clan-first mindset, so they wouldn't have to depend on their clans to survive. Instead, individual shinobi families could rely on the village to live in the Ninja World.
"So if you wanted to unite the Ninja World, you'd need a shared understanding and enough trust. To build that trust, you gave up many things, including financial independence and making strategic concessions?"
Li Ke's answer made Senju Tobirama feel a rare sense of delight. Even if Li Ke was a warmonger, if he could think things through like this, then any war he started would bring benefits to Konoha.
There was no need to worry about him going astray.
This child really did have the mind of a Hokage! He was even far beyond his brother and Monkey!
His brother knew what worked without knowing why, while Monkey...
Senju Tobirama didn't want to judge him. But based on the information available, all he could say was that Monkey had done his best.
The Third Hokage of Konoha had done as well as he possibly could.
So Tobirama's voice took on a teasing tone.
"That depends on how you look at it. In the Land of Fire Daimyo's eyes, we're a bunch of bandits who forcibly seized part of his territory and took over his military and law enforcement powers. We even go back to him regularly to collect protection money, turning him into a..."
"A paper Daimyo?"
"That's a very fitting way to put it."
Senju Tobirama praised him, and Li Ke continued.
"So, as long as Konoha can keep developing, it can take advantage of the Land of Fire's fertile environment and ample funds to gradually build up more sources of income, then slowly swallow up the entire Ninja World?"
He understood the process. It was basically a matter of building strong walls, storing up grain, and only then declaring oneself king.
He didn't ask why Hashirama Senju hadn't used his overwhelming strength to impose order and peace by force. If Hashirama Senju had been willing to do that, he wouldn't have been Hashirama Senju.
Senju Tobirama didn't answer Li Ke's question directly. Instead, he said something that made Li Ke frown.
"As long as the Hokage understands how peace is achieved, it's possible. But in this era, if a shinobi with overwhelming strength and unshakable resolve is willing to keep the Ninja World peaceful forever... then Konoha is no longer the loose, flimsy alliance it once was. The village has already realized how terrifying Konoha's power is. It has enough strength to protect everyone that shinobi cares about."
Li Ke felt a chill run down his spine. He was now certain that the 'powerful shinobi' Senju Tobirama was talking about was probably him.
But he had no Kekkei Genkai, and he didn't have much chakra...
"Is Evil Old Senju Ghost planning to trick me into summoning Hashirama Senju?! Then Hashirama Senju will take control of my body and unite the Ninja World, accomplishing what he couldn't in his lifetime?"
The more Li Ke thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Senju Tobirama had kept urging him to develop a Kekkei Genkai. If he later claimed Li Ke had a talent for Wood Release and got him to summon Hashirama Senju to help him train in Wood Release, then this suspicion might well be true!
"And with Senju Tobirama's personality and moral standards, this really is the kind of thing he'd do..."
Now on his guard, Li Ke decided it was probably best not to give the evil old ghost so much access to his body while he slept. That would keep him from pulling anything.
It was settled. From now on, he'd call Senju Tobirama Evil Old Senju Ghost!
"Oh, right. Stop this pointless wandering and get back to your training. I want to see if you can learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu, and how many of my Water Release Ninjutsu you can master."
Li Ke froze for a moment. Then a voice appeared in his mind.
Second Hokage Senju Tobirama will always be my mentor and friend!
Before you continue