Peace

The next day, Hyuga Iwa got up early as usual. After his routine training, he went to school with several other Hyuga Clan children.

Konoha was as peaceful as ever, with beautiful scenery and a warm climate. Though it was already deep winter, the temperature was not particularly low, so Hyuga Iwa wore only a thin long-sleeved shirt.

But Konoha seemed to have awakened from its slumber early that morning. Many people had already left their homes and were walking about, while laughter and cheerful voices rang throughout the village.

After asking a villager, Hyuga Iwa learned that today was the day the delegation sent by Kumogakure of the Lightning Country would arrive in Konoha to discuss peace!

Was the Second Shinobi World War finally about to end completely?!

Hyuga Iwa's heart stirred, and he immediately thought of something. The war was finally leaving... but how long could this peace last?!

The Lightning Country had always coveted the Fire Country's title as the foremost nation in the Shinobi World. It not only represented the recognition of the people of the Shinobi World and demonstrated strength, but also brought enormous practical benefits.

For example, in the distribution of ninja commissions alone, Konoha, which held the title of the foremost nation each year, could claim the largest slice of the pie!

For the peace of the Shinobi World and the village's development, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had been doing his utmost to facilitate the peace negotiations. This war had already brought far too much pain to the entire Shinobi World and to Konoha.

The Lightning Country's willingness to seek peace greatly relieved Hiruzen Sarutobi. It seemed the damage caused to Kumogakure by the Eight-Tails incident had been far greater than expected.

Village affairs were beyond Hyuga Iwa's control, and there was no way he could manage them anyway. No one would listen to a child who was not even a ninja yet. Hyuga Iwa knew his current position well. In his words: as long as it did not affect him, what did he care if the floods rose to the heavens?

Another day of classes began at the Ninja Academy. After the first few days of school, they officially began learning all kinds of knowledge: the geography of the Shinobi World, an overview of its nations, its political situation, languages, economy, writing, mathematics, and other subjects, as well as the most important ninja training—chakra cultivation and the practice of ninjutsu, shuriken techniques, taijutsu, and more.

Most of the geographical knowledge and similar material only covered the Fire Country. Konoha currently knew little about the nations beyond its borders, or rather, it rarely paid attention to such information.

For one thing, Konoha had not existed for long, and it had endured two major wars during that time. Most people had been struggling merely to survive. Who had time to care about such things?

Commoners lacked the means to consider these matters, while the nobles could not be bothered to. They never thought about how to develop the nation better; they only thought about how to collect more taxes and enjoy themselves more.

This Shinobi World had been twisted from the very beginning!

If the Shinobi World were compared to a tree, then the nobles were the parasites boring into it. They endlessly sucked away its nutrients to strengthen themselves, while constantly eliminating dissidents so they could live more comfortably and become even more powerful!

At their core, the two Shinobi World Wars had been caused by the unequal distribution of resources!

It was truly ironic. The First Hokage had founded the ninja villages for the sake of peace in the Shinobi World, yet only a few years after his death, war had erupted—and on a scale far greater than before!

No one could deny the First Hokage's role in the development of the Shinobi World, but his overly naïve ideals had also created serious hidden dangers.

Despite the Second Hokage's efforts, some things could not be accomplished by one person alone!

Everyone had desires!

Commoners desired survival; nobles desired comfort and wealth; ninjas desired strength; samurai desired martial power; nations desired authority.

It was impossible to satisfy everyone's desires, but when most people's desires could not be fulfilled, war became the only way for them to vent—or rather, the only way to change the status quo through war!

Hyuga Iwa felt that the Third Hokage had said something very well:

Wherever leaves dance,

The fire will burn,

The fire's shadow will shine upon the village,

And new leaves will sprout.

When one wishes to protect the people most precious to them, a ninja's true strength will emerge...

The conviction to protect could fill a person with strength and allow them to overcome everything.

Although Hyuga Iwa did not seem to have heard the Third Hokage say those words yet, perhaps they were reflections he would have later in his reign.

But that did not affect Hyuga Iwa's understanding of the words: cherish the present, protect the future!

Not only should one cherish the people and things of the present, one must also protect the peace of the future!

Perhaps one person's strength was insignificant, but when more like-minded people came together, even the weakest strength could become immensely powerful!

There might be many things Hyuga Iwa could not do yet, but some things could be prepared in advance.

His strength was steadily improving, and he was getting along fairly well with his little companions. As for anything else... sigh, no need to mention it. It was still his age that limited Hyuga Iwa's greater development.

But he was not in a hurry. Time was on his side, and he was confident that his future self would certainly not be ordinary!

Teaching at the Ninja Academy continued. Perhaps because he had an adult's way of thinking, Hyuga Iwa differed from the other students. After receiving the textbooks, he flipped through every one of them. From them, he also discovered the differences between Konoha's textbooks and those from his previous life.

Konoha's current textbooks had been compiled and established by the Second Hokage after the First Hokage founded Konoha. Later, after Hiruzen Sarutobi became the Third Hokage, some of his governing ideals and policies had been added, resulting in the textbooks Hyuga Iwa and the others now studied.

But because of the war, most of the current textbooks covered practical matters, while theoretical content was scarce.

And not only the students—even the teachers could not explain the principles behind many things. They merely knew how to use them!

Describing the current situation as knowing how but not why could not have been more fitting.

But on second thought, it was only natural. The Ninja Academy had originally been established to serve the war effort. The Second Hokage founded it because of the shortage of talent, and also to balance the village's conflicts and strengthen the villagers' sense of belonging.

Within the school, they were taught far more knowledge related to combat!

This could be seen from the Ninja Academy's curriculum.

Theory, training, experience, history, practice!

Almost all of it was knowledge related to combat!

In essence, Konoha was a combat organization, a military group composed of countless ninjas!

Ninjas did not engage in production!

They trained in peacetime, strengthened themselves, and earned commissions by completing missions. In wartime, they had to take to the battlefield. What was Konoha, if not a military group?

Moreover, because wars erupted so frequently, many ninjas went to the battlefield at a very young age.

The waters of the Shinobi World ran terrifyingly deep. The schemers hidden beneath its surface profoundly influenced its development.

There was no need to mention the First Shinobi World War, but Madara Uchiha had played a role in this Second Shinobi World War!

And Black Zetsu, that old schemer, had stirred up both Shinobi World Wars!

Even the thousand years of conflict in the Shinobi World had never been free from Black Zetsu's secret manipulation!

As he flipped through this year's textbooks, Hyuga Iwa's thoughts drifted elsewhere.

He suddenly realized that there seemed to be too many things he needed to do, but he was only one person and could not be everywhere at once. Did that mean his first priority should be learning the Shadow Clone Technique?

But where could he learn it? Hyuga Iwa had already checked the textbooks, and the school definitely would not teach it for the time being. As for the clan, he did not know whether it would be possible. He would find someone to ask next time.

But one matter gave Hyuga Iwa a terrible headache.

After his clash with Uchiha Shin on the first day of school, that boy seemed to have fixated on him.

No matter what Hyuga Iwa did at school, Uchiha Shin would stare at him closely, making Hyuga Iwa constantly feel as though thorns were pressing against his back. It was unbearable.

"I need to find a way to deal with this trouble."

"An arrogant, tsundere Uchiha does not necessarily have to become an enemy!" Hyuga Iwa seemed to think of something and muttered to himself.

A few days later, news suddenly spread through the village: through the efforts of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Konoha had reached a peace agreement with Kumogakure. As long as it was sent to the daimyos of both nations for their seals of confirmation, the war between the Lightning Country and the Fire Country would vanish into nothing.

And that meant Konoha would officially welcome peace!

The excited villagers sang and danced in the streets, and they recognized the Third Hokage even more!

Hiruzen Sarutobi had thus firmly secured his position as the Third Hokage, while Konoha officially entered the era of the Third Hokage's rule in full.

At that time, no one knew that the Third Hokage would become the longest-ruling Hokage in Konoha's history, and that his policies would leave a profound impact on Konoha!