Konoha.
In the blink of an eye.
Two days had passed.
Chiba stood atop Hokage Rock.
At his feet stretched an endless army of Konoha shinobi.
More than twenty thousand shinobi had assembled.
The dense formations radiated a suffocating, murderous aura.
Elite Jonin stood in the foremost ranks.
Behind them stood vast numbers of Chunin and Genin.
No one spoke.
Only heavy breathing echoed continuously through the air.
Chiba's gaze swept across the entire crowd.
There was not the slightest hesitation in those pitch-black eyes.
"Fellow citizens of Konoha."
Chiba spoke.
He used no amplification equipment.
Yet his Peak Super Kage Chakra carried his voice clearly into every ear.
"Look at the comrades standing beside you."
"Some of them are civilians, while others are clan shinobi."
"But before today, all of you have shed blood and risked your lives on the battlefield for the village's interests."
Chiba's voice was calm, yet it carried a strange power.
"The Ninja World is too vast, and too chaotic."
"The First Shinobi World War, the second, the third..."
"Every dozen years or so, another batch of people has to die."
"Why?"
"Because of the Daimyo's greed! Because of the barriers between shinobi villages!"
Chiba abruptly raised his voice.
Chakra surged with it, and the very air throughout Konoha seemed to freeze.
"Today, I stand here."
"Not to lead you into war."
"But to personally bring this damned era to an end!"
"I will shatter every border!"
"I will abolish every Daimyo who sits high above us!"
"I will make sure this continent has only one voice!"
Chiba extended his right hand and clenched it into a fist.
"Unification!"
"So that your descendants will never again know the despair of war."
"So that Konoha's glory may shine upon every corner of the Ninja World!"
"Tell