"From the beginning of the war to the end, he never said a word."
Three days had passed as Jiraiya's words echoed in Tsunade's ears.
The Allied Shinobi Forces withdrew from Turtle Island, and the Five Kage Summit reconvened in the Land of Iron. This time, there were no declarations of war or threats. Everyone sat at the negotiating table, their faces bearing the exhaustion of surviving a disaster and uncertainty about the future.
But one person did not attend.
At Konoha's camp, on the edge of the makeshift tent area, Naruto found Sasuke.
He leaned against a dead tree, his arms folded across his chest. His Sharingan was inactive, but something more dangerous than the Sharingan churned in his black eyes.
Naruto walked up to him without speaking and simply stood there, his golden hair dazzling in the afternoon sunlight.
The silence lasted so long that even the clamor from the distant camp became white noise.
In the end, Sasuke spoke first.
"You think this is over?"
Naruto's brow twitched. "The war is over. Kaguya's dead, and Shengu Xuan crushed Black Zetsu too. What isn't over?"
"The war?" Sasuke straightened away from the tree, one corner of his mouth twisting. The expression was not quite a smile, more like utterly cold mockery. "Naruto, Kaguya was never the reason wars started."
"What do you mean?"
Sasuke did not answer immediately. He walked to the cliff's edge and looked down at the camp below, bustling with reconstruction. Shinobi came and went, transporting supplies and treating the wounded, their faces showing a blind optimism.
"These people," Sasuke said softly, "were still killing each other three days ago. Sunagakure hates Kumogakure, Kirigakure hates Iwagakure, and everyone fears Konoha. And now? Just because they fought a common enemy, they're shaking hands and making peace?"