The morning sunlight fell gently over the streets of the Land of Grass. A peculiar calm hung in the air, mingled with the dusty scent of recently cleared smoke from battle and the stirrings of everyday life returning.
Hashirama Senju, looking like a young man, walked slowly down the fairly narrow street alone.
He was not wearing his signature red plated armor, only a green underlayer and a white outer robe. His tall frame still drew attention, but with his presence subdued, he looked more like an ordinary traveler.
Hashirama carefully surveyed both sides of the street.
Most shops had reopened. Steam rose from breakfast stalls, women shopped with baskets in hand, and children chased one another at the mouths of alleys.
There was no sign that this place had recently suffered a military strike that nearly wiped out the village, followed by a change of government.
There were no ruined walls, no frightened refugees, none of the desolation and deathly silence common after a war.
Konoha's occupation forces had clearly been highly efficient. Following Naruto's overwhelming show of force and the swift surrender, they had restored basic order as quickly as possible, and perhaps committed resources to reassuring the population.
At the sight, Hashirama's lingering anxiety eased a little.
He had initially opposed the war of unification precisely because he feared that large-scale warfare would bring endless suffering to ordinary people, plunging the shinobi world back into the misery of the Warring States Period.
But if... if every war could leave innocent civilians untouched like this...
Then perhaps Tobirama and Naruto's goal of "ending war through war, unifying through force" was not entirely unacceptable.
If that was the case... then the price of ending prolonged division and warfare would be only the enemy nations' ninja...
*Perhaps... it was worth