"Tsunade, haven't you figured it out yet?"
Yoru chewed the flavorless piece of gum in his mouth and casually flicked it out through the crack in the window.
The little black speck spun in the wind and vanished without a trace.
"Back then was an age when people cracked each other's skulls over a few mines and a handful of kunai."
Yoru turned around, shoved both hands into the pockets of his black trench coat, and rubbed his boot soles against the floor blasted through in the Hokage Building, producing a harsh creak.
The stale smell of old dust and mildew in the office had been scattered somewhat by the wind pouring in, but it was still pungent.
"That system of putting up Kage as figureheads should've been thrown into a museum ages ago."
Yoru walked over to the desk that had not completely collapsed yet and lightly tapped it with his fingertip.
"What Land of Wind, Land of Earth, Land of Fire..."
"From today onward, those names are just useless words on paper."
"Then what are you going to do?"
Tsunade sprawled in the Hokage's chair, her golden hair like a bundle of dried straw, whipping wildly in the wind.
Her beautiful yet exhausted face was filled with the ashen defeat of someone whose spirit had been completely drained away.
There were still tea stains from earlier on the collar of her haori, carrying a sour, fermented stench.
"I'm not interested in playing those childish games of regime-building."
Yoru yawned, a trace of instinctive tears hanging at the corners of his eyes.
"From now on, the Shinobi World will have only one government: Iwagakure's 'Ninja World's Supreme Administrative Office.'"
Yoru walked up to the enormous map of the Shinobi World and picked up a pen stained with black ink.