Main World.
Konoha Year 29, summer.
British Continent, New Capital.
Imperial Palace, garden.
Summer sunlight spilled over the garden, bathing everything in gold. Cicadas called one after another, mingling with the faint bustle of the New Capital in the distance. Tsunade sat in the pavilion, holding a cup of hot tea. The tea had already gone cold, and she had not drunk any. Her gaze was somewhat unfocused, resting on the old tree in the courtyard, but her attention was elsewhere. She was still thinking about Deep Forest Ancient Vine Star. About that boundless sea of green, those cultivators who had lived for two hundred years, and that Ancestor Tree Life Cocoon in which a king from five hundred years ago slumbered.
Five hundred years. The Tree Domain Kingdom had enjoyed peace for five hundred years. Not "no wars," but "no internal strife." Not "no enemies," but "the enemies came, were killed, and then did not dare return for five hundred years." What about the Shinobi World? How long had its peace lasted? Not long after Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha founded Konoha, the First Shinobi World War had broken out. Once it ended, the second came. Then the third. Then the fourth. Peace? There was no such thing. Only "ceasefires." Stop for a few years, build up enough hatred, and fight again.
Toyotomi Yinglang sat opposite her, holding a cup of hot tea, a faint smile on his lips. He wore a moon-white Kariginu, his long black hair falling loosely over his shoulders, looking somewhat more casual than usual. His gaze rested on Tsunade, as though waiting for her to speak.
"Why does Deep Forest Ancient Vine Star have peace, while the Shinobi World has war?" Tsunade finally asked the question that had lingered in her mind for so