On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the moon over the Land of Lightning had just climbed over the city walls when it was stained dark red.
The Third Raikage A, was gnawing on a lamb leg in the council chamber when he suddenly heard the sound of bones cracking outside the window. Looking up, he saw a boy in Hokage robe slowly falling through a hole in the roof, stepping on the head of his personal guard. The boy carried a Ninja Blade on his back, the blade still dripping blood. It was none other than the Third Hokage of Konoha — Tsubasa.
"Ai, it's time to pay your debts." Tsubasa's voice sounded like it had been pulled from an ice cave. He raised his hand and swung his sword. A crescent-shaped sword aura grazed Ai's ear and cleaved into the wall, turning the entire granite wall into dust. Ai jumped up in shock. Just as his hand reached for the Lightning Release scroll at his waist, he saw the Sealing Jutsu in Tsubasa's hand suddenly turn, and the entire room was instantly shrouded in blood red.
" Lightning Release Chakra Mode, hand it over." Tsubasa stepped over the corpses of his guards, the bloodstains on his boots drawing a winding path on the ground. "And another 10 billion ryo, send it to Konoha, or I'll slaughter your Land of Lightning."
Ai wanted to retort, but found himself unable to move. He watched as Tsubasa casually crushed his Lightning Armor, watched as the other man snapped the neck of his most elite Lightning Release ninja as easily as crushing an ant, and suddenly remembered the folk legend— the First Hokage once used Wood Release to suppress the Nine Tailed Beasts, and the person in front of him was more like a god than the First, and more like a demon. He lowered his proud head.
When Ōnoki saw Tsubasa at the Hokage Rock in Iwagakure, the latter was sitting on the shoulder of his statue, picking his teeth with a toothpick.
" Ōnoki, how many ninja heads have you stepped on in the Land of Grass?" Tsubasa flicked his finger, and a Kunai grazed Ōnoki's ear and embedded itself in the rock. "Now it's your turn to taste this."
Before the Tsuchikage could react, Tsubasa had already leaped to the ground, grabbed Ōnoki by the collar with one hand, and slammed him to the ground like a chick. Just as the elite Jonin of Iwagakure were about to rush forward, they saw Tsubasa form a simple hand seal with his other hand. " Wood Release: Splintering Technique!" Countless wooden spikes burst forth from the ground, pinning three hundred Jonin to the wall, like a painting made of flesh and blood.
"Hand over the Dust Release." Tsubasa's boots crushed against Ōnoki's Forehead Protector. "And another 10 billion ryo, send it to Konoha. Otherwise..." He looked up at the people of Iwagakure, "Next time, Wood Release will slaughter your entire Iwagakure."
Ōnoki lay in the mud, smelling the blood and saliva from the corner of his mouth mixed with the stench of the soil. He heard the cries of the people and the distant cries of a mother searching for her child. Suddenly, he felt like a ridiculous clown—just half a month ago, he was swaggering around in the Land of Grass, but now he was being trampled underfoot, without even the strength to resist.
As the sandstorm swept through Sunagakure, the Second Kazekage Shamon, was painting a newly made puppet.
The puppet's eyes were gouged out from Konoha Ninja. Just as they were inserted, screams came from outside. Shamon Gate of Opening and saw Tsubasa Hokage fluttering in the swirling yellow sand. Wherever he passed, the Sand shinobi puppets shattered like paper. In a short time, thousands of elite Sand shinobi Ninjas were killed or wounded.
" Shamon, how many Land of Fire ninjas did you kill in the Land of Rain?" Tsubasa raised his hand and summoned a Wood Release cage, trapping the elite Sand shinobi who attempted a sneak attack inside. "I will atone for your sins with Magnet Release techniques and 10 billion ryo."
Shamon tried to activate Sand Release, but found that the surrounding sand was entangled by Wood Release roots and could not move. He watched as Tsubasa crushed his most prized " Red Scorpion Puppet " with one hand, and watched as the other tore off the puppet's poison needles like dismantling a toy. He suddenly remembered the look in Masataka Hatake's eyes during the final battle—it turned out that the pity at that time was because the other party already knew that the true Death God would eventually come.
"Three days from now, I want to see the Magnet Release Scroll on the Hokage's desk in Konoha." Tsubasa turned and left, his last words echoing in the sandstorm, "By the way, your Puppet Technique... is far inferior to Konoha's."
When Sasuke Sarutobi died under the cherry blossom tree in the Land of Rice Fields, a petal fell right onto his wide-open eyes.
The moment Ten-Yi's Tsubasa Kunai his throat, he finally understood why the First Hokage had entrusted Konoha to this child—those eyes held both ruthlessness towards a traitor and tenderness towards the villagers. Sasuke Sarutobi, in the end, had underestimated that ruthlessness.
" Hiruzen Sarutobi," Tsubasa wiped the blood from his blade, looking at the young man kneeling beside the corpse, "Your father owed Konoha, and you must repay him." He tossed out a list detailing the secret techniques of each missing-nin clan in Konoha, "And another 10 billion ryo, send it to Konoha."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand trembled as he gripped the list. He recalled Danzo's death; in Tsubasa's hands, they were a joke. The opponent had only slightly weakened them, pushing them to their limits. How laughable that they had tried to play tricks and schemes in front of him. In the face of absolute power, tactics were nothing but a farce.
Many clan leaders knelt down and begged Tsubasa for forgiveness, wanting to return to Konoha Konoha and continue being villagers.
" Konoha has no traitors." These were the words Tianyi left behind as Tsubasa turned away. Cherry blossoms fell on his Hokage robes, much like the scene when the First Hokage passed away. Hiruzen Sarutobi watched his retreating figure and suddenly understood—some betrayals can never be forgiven.
When the reparations and secret scrolls from various countries arrived in Konoha, it was the second day of the second lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head.
Standing atop the Hokage Rock, Tsubasa gazed at the mountains of gold, silver, and secret technique scrolls, the cheers of the villagers ringing in his ears: "Long live the God of Shinobi!" " Lord Tsubasa is invincible!" He touched his Forehead Protector, thinking that at only thirteen years old he had already reached the pinnacle of the Shinobi World, and it was time to retire and return home to pursue Immortal Cultivation.
"Sir, former Konoha are kneeling at the village entrance, begging you to let them return to Konoha." Shikaboshi Nara handed over the intelligence.
Tsubasa arrived at the entrance of Konoha and looked at the crowd in the distance. He saw the former Konoha with tears streaming down their faces, holding up "letters of repentance" and shouting that they were wronged. He remembered the ruthlessness of these people when they betrayed him, and the slander they had made against Konoha when they went to other countries. His fingers slowly clenched.
"Open the city gates," he suddenly said.
Shikaboshi Nara was taken aback. "Sir, you said Konoha doesn't want traitors..."
"Let them in." Tsubasa turned and walked towards his office. "But tell them that from now on, they can only live in the mines of the Land of Fire. They can only exchange ten cartloads of ore a day for one meal. Those willing to mine for ten years can stay." He paused. "The price of betrayal cannot be paid off by kneeling on the ground and crying."
As night fell, the bonfire in Konoha was lit again. Tsubasa sat in his office, looking at the scrolls of secret techniques sent from various countries, and suddenly remembered the First Hokage's teachings. "The mission of a ninja is to protect, not to conquer." He took out an old photo from his drawer. In the photo, the First were smiling brightly, and behind them was the newly built Konoha, where even the walls were not yet finished.
Laughter came from outside the window. Tsubasa walked to the window and saw several children playing around a small Wood Release sapling. Colorful lights hung among the branches and leaves of the sapling, just like the wishing tree he had seen when he was a child. He suddenly smiled, made a hand Hand Seals, and made the Wood Release sapling bloom with a tree full of cherry blossoms.
"Perhaps," he whispered, gazing at the cherry blossoms, "The loneliness on the altar is colder than the blood on the battlefield. But some paths can only be walked by me."
A cherry blossom fell into his palm, Tsubasa suddenly understood—the so-called God of Shinobi was never a symbol of killing, but a reason for those behind him to laugh and joke in peace.