Would Unifying the Shinobi World Help?

"We believe you're capable of killing us, but I still want to ask: what exactly are you here for?" Yahiko asked after recovering from the pressure of Hatake Ziyan's presence.

Hatake Ziyan hadn't expected Yahiko to be so stubborn that he still dared to question him.

"All right! I'll be straight with you. I really am interested in your organization's ideals. They have a lot in common with those of the organization I founded, so I wanted to see what kind of people could create an organization like this!" Hatake Ziyan spouted nonsense with a perfectly straight face.

Yahiko looked into Hatake Ziyan's eyes and found them full of sincerity.

"If you have an organization like that, and you're so powerful, why don't you unify the Shinobi World and bring it peace? Without war, ordinary people could live better lives too!" Yahiko asked.

Hatake Ziyan felt it had been a long time since he had last spouted lofty principles like these. The last time was probably when he had been fooling Madara and Hashirama.

"You really are naive! Do you think everyone would be safe just because someone unified the Shinobi World?" Hatake Ziyan asked in return.

"Wouldn't they? If everyone lived under one person's rule, without so many countries, wouldn't that put an end to wars between nations?" Yahiko asked.

Hatake Ziyan flicked a finger, and several pieces of wood rose from the ground, forming a table and a few benches. Then he sat down first.

The others were stunned by what Hatake Ziyan had done. Wood Release! Wasn't the God of Shinobi, Hashirama, supposed to be the only one who could use it? And he didn't even need hand seals to cast ninjutsu?

Hatake Ziyan ignored their shock. After all, what self-respecting person used hand seals to cast ninjutsu?

Madara: Hashirama, do you use hand seals when you cast ninjutsu?

Hashirama: Nope. Do you?

Madara: Nope!

Madara, Hashirama: What self-respecting person uses hand seals? Don't you just clap your hands and get whatever you shout for?

Zabuza, Kisame: ...Listen to them. Just listen. Is that something a human being would say?

Seeing them standing motionless, Hatake Ziyan said, "Don't just stand there like idiots. Sit down!"

As though they had fallen under genjutsu, Yahiko and the others mechanically sat on the nearby benches when they heard Hatake Ziyan's words.

"Yahiko, you said there would be no more wars once the Shinobi World was unified. Then let me ask you this: if I unified it, but my ideas differed from those of the powerful shinobi and shinobi clans, and harmed the interests of those clans, who are few in number but powerful, what do you think the people who felt their interests had been harmed would do?" Hatake Ziyan asked.

Hearing Hatake Ziyan's question, Yahiko shook his head to clear it and thought for a moment before saying, "They would protest and demand that you make decisions that served their interests!"

"If it were you, would you compromise? Remember, those ideas would benefit far more ordinary people!" Hatake Ziyan continued.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yahiko said, "If they benefited more people, I certainly wouldn't change them!"

Hatake Ziyan smiled and continued, "All right, you refuse to change. Those powerful shinobi would be unhappy with your decisions. Perhaps once or twice, they wouldn't dare say anything because they feared my strength. But as time passed and they felt their interests had suffered too much, what would they do?"

Yahiko's face paled. "Rebel! They would rebel. Even if they couldn't defeat you, they would be invincible against most ordinary people. As long as they avoided you, they could keep doing whatever they wanted!"

Hatake Ziyan nodded. "Then tell me, would unifying the Shinobi World do any good?"

Looking somewhat defeated, Yahiko said, "No. It would only make them go even further!"

But Hatake Ziyan raised his voice and rebuked him. "Yahiko, you're wrong! Unification does help, but not through your method of suppressing everything with force. Force can conquer people, but it cannot conquer their hearts!"

Now Yahiko was even more confused. Hatake Ziyan had made unification sound utterly worthless, only to overturn his own argument and insist that it was necessary. What exactly did he mean?

In fact, Hatake Ziyan had used this same spiel on Hashirama and Madara, but both of them seemed to have misunderstood it.

Hashirama had concluded that he shouldn't conquer others through force. That was why, at several Five Kage Summits, he had humbly begged the other Kage, leaving the other hidden villages with the impression that Konoha was easy to bully despite having powerful shinobi.

Madara, meanwhile, had gone to the opposite extreme. His understanding had been flawed to begin with, and with Black Zetsu influencing him from the shadows, he had decided that he didn't need anyone's approval. He could simply trap every shinobi in genjutsu with the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and there would be no more war.

That had left Hatake Ziyan deeply frustrated. He had thought his spiel had been quite successful, that he could guide the Shinobi World's development according to his wishes without lifting a finger. So how had he ended up with these two idiots, neither of whom understood him correctly?

His original plan had been to gather everyone together and train them. Then, when the Ōtsutsuki Clan descended, he could cheer from the sidelines instead of having to face them alone.

In the end, Hatake Ziyan had decided that relying on those two idiots would never bring his plans to fruition. Only then had he left Konoha, founded his own organization, and recruited talented people to train himself.

As for unifying the Shinobi World, did he have nothing better to do? What was the point? That was all just a line to fool people. Surely no one had actually believed it?

Looking at the three innocent children before him, Hatake Ziyan felt he had a good chance of thoroughly hoodwinking them. Of the three, only Nagato was worth training, but unless he brought Yahiko and Konan along too, Nagato probably wouldn't trust him.

Ah, fooling people really is hard, exhausting work! Hatake Ziyan sighed inwardly.

Seeing Hatake Ziyan sigh, Yahiko assumed he was disappointed by Yahiko's failure to understand his ideas, and felt a little guilty.

"Then may I ask how we can conquer people's hearts?" Yahiko asked.

Hatake Ziyan looked at Yahiko and said, "That isn't something I can explain to you in a few words. I'll go over it with you slowly another time. But you need to understand one thing: everything I've said rests on you having great strength. With your current strength, don't set your sights too high. Don't concern yourselves with things so far beyond your reach!"

Yahiko nodded, only half understanding.

Looking at Hatake Ziyan, Yahiko said, "Sir, we still haven't asked your name."

"Me? Hatake Ziyan!" he replied.

"You're Lord Sword God?" Konan suddenly exclaimed.