In the Land of Fire, at a small coastal port town.
It was here that Heiyan had once met the young woman Haruko and others, helped the fishing tribe defeat pirates, and later established Penglai Ninja Village on Mikazuki Island.
Returning to this place stirred up many emotions.
Near the dock, Heiyan used [Transformation Jutsu] to disguise himself as an ordinary passerby. There were no chakra fluctuations within his body, making him appear extremely mundane.
As he walked through the streets, passing through this seaside town, he listened in on casual chats among residents. From their conversations, he learned commoners' opinions about the current situation throughout the ninja world.
"Our Land of Fire's Leaf Village has produced none other than Tsunade-sama, the greatest ninja who ever lived! Under her leadership, all nations in the world will merge into the Land of Fire! Once the ninja world is united, there will be no more wars, and a brighter tomorrow is coming!"
Some people chatted excitedly, their faces beaming with pride and hope as citizens of the Land of Fire.
However, there were also some individuals who expressed worries.
"The Land of Fire possesses vast territories, rich resources, and a pleasant climate—it's truly the best place to live across the entire ninja world. If unification happens, people from other countries will certainly migrate here in large numbers, competing with us for resources. Sigh, the unification of the ninja world might not necessarily be a good thing."
An elderly man said with a shake of his head.
Many shared his concerns.
After all, the Land of Fire's geography was far superior to those nations made up of nothing but deserts and wastelands—or places buried under snow year-round due to bitter winters.
Once the ninja world unified and national borders vanished, various towns within the Land of Fire along with Leaf Village would face waves upon waves of immigration.
At that time, conflicts would inevitably arise between immigrants and native inhabitants, possibly escalating into large-scale riots and unrest.
So when it came to Tsunade's slogan of "Unifying the Ninja World," the people felt both hopeful and anxious.
Nobody could predict exactly what the future would bring.
Heiyan fell into deep thought.
After listening to these voices from common folk, he left this seaside town and continued heading north toward his destination—Leaf Village.
Meanwhile,
In the Land of Water, at Mist Village.
Mei Terumi floated high in the air, gazing down at the village below, feeling excitement about returning to her homeland.
But mostly, she felt nervous.
"I'm Master Mutaito. I'm Master Mutaito..."
She murmured repeatedly under her breath, telling herself over and over until finally gathering courage and slowly descending in front of the Mizukage building.
"Master Mutaito has arrived!"
A watchful ninja spotted the immortal and quickly ran to report to Acting Mizukage Sage Master Kitsuchi.
One minute later,
Sage Master Kitsuchi, Ao, and dozens of other high-ranking elders of Kiri streamed out from the building one after another, coming to greet her.
They were in the middle of a meeting, discussing details regarding their upcoming visit to Konoha. All preparations had been thoroughly completed, and they were simply waiting for Master Turtle Immortal's arrival before setting off.
"Greetings, Master Turtle Immortal!"
Led by Sage Master, the high-ranking Mist elders all bowed deeply before Mei Terumi, who had transformed into the Turtle Immortal.
Caught off guard by such a formal display, Mei's heart jolted. She felt momentarily flustered but quickly regained her composure. Imitating Heiyan's demeanor as best she could, she calmly addressed them.
"There's no need for such formalities next time. I dislike unnecessary etiquette."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sage Master promptly responded. Then he invited the Turtle Immortal into the Mizukage building and briefly explained the plans and schedule for their visit to Konoha.
"You've all worked hard enough. No time to waste—let the relevant personnel rest well tonight, and we'll leave at dawn tomorrow."
Mei gave her instructions after brief consideration.
"Understood."
Everyone nodded collectively, then Ao took the lead, escorting the Turtle Immortal to the Mizukage's bedroom. After confirming he needed nothing else, they withdrew.
"Phew~"
Once Ao left, Mei exhaled deeply. She threw her cane aside, reverted back to her original form, and flopped down onto the bed.
Impersonating the Turtle Immortal in front of so many people turned out to be way harder than she expected. Under immense pressure, she'd nearly cracked.
But fortunately, she had passed this test.
"Come on, Mei Terumi! Keep it up! Complete this SSS-rank mission and impress Master Heiyan!"
She clenched her fist and whispered words of encouragement to herself.
She knew that the real challenge would begin once she reached Konoha. There, under the identity of the Turtle Immortal, she'd have to negotiate and maneuver among Kages and elites from various villages—including facing head-on the current strongest ninja in the world of shinobi: Tsunade.
Thinking about this, Mei immediately rose from the bed again, put on the Turtle Immortal's armor, and began practicing repeatedly in front of the mirror until nightfall.
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, Mist Village's delegation gathered at the village gate. In addition to the Turtle Immortal, Sage Master, Ao, and other high-level officials from Mist, there were over a hundred accompanying personnel.
With the blessings of all the villagers, this delegation representing both the Land of Water and Mist Village thus embarked on their journey toward Konoha.
Meanwhile,
Other major and minor nations and ninja villages across the shinobi world had also, upon Konoha's invitation, dispatched their representatives traveling from every corner of the continent toward Leaf Village.
From Kumogakure, the hidden village of the Land of Lightning—
A nation that glorifies martial strength and maintains universal conscription, now having finally calmed down somewhat after receiving guidance from both the Turtle Immortal and Goddess Tsunade.
The newly appointed Fourth Raikage was still a member of the Yotsuki Clan. He would personally lead six council members and two hundred attendants south to Konoha, making his procession one and a half times larger than that of the Mist.
However, everyone knows this elaborate display is nothing more than showmanship.
This Fourth Raikage won't remain in office for long. Once the inauguration ceremony of the Hokage concludes and the entire shinobi world becomes unified under one shadow, the other Kages will fade into obscurity—mere figureheads with no real power.
A similar scene was also unfolding in Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
These two villages still had several tens of thousands of soldiers detained in prisoner camps outside Ame Village. No matter how bitter or resentful Onoki and Rasa (the Fourth Kazekage) felt, they could only reluctantly travel to Konoha and publicly show their support, begging the newly-appointed Hokage, Tsunade-sama, for mercy and the release of those prisoners.
Countries gathered like tributaries flowing into a mighty river.
For Konoha, this moment represented the pinnacle of its national power since the village's founding. The Hokage not only controlled the entire Land of Fire but was on the verge of becoming the most powerful figure in the world of shinobi, overseeing a population of over ten billion.
Konoha Village.
After nearly one month of preparation, with almost the entire population mobilized, the inauguration ceremony for the new Hokage was finally ready.
Though called a "ceremony," it actually resembled more of a grand celebration of victory.
Fireworks displays, large-scale dance performances, food festivals—every aspect had been meticulously planned.
In Konoha's streets, roads, streetlights, greenery—everything had undergone renovation and renewal. The whole village looked completely refreshed, exuding the atmosphere of a modern global city.
Although the world of shinobi had yet to be unified, during that month, countless newcomers flooded into Konoha from every corner of the shinobi nations.
Most of them were wealthy merchants or skilled ninja who sensed opportunity and arrived early to establish roots as new citizens of Konoha.
As a result, Konoha's real estate market heated up dramatically, with property prices skyrocketing. Houses were nearly impossible to find.
Additionally, massive numbers of tourists poured into Konoha, filling all the village's hotels and hostels to capacity. Streets bustled with heavy traffic and dense crowds, making the village at least several times livelier than usual.
After all, everyone wanted to witness firsthand this historic moment in the shinobi world—the arrival of a brand-new era. Those were the kind of memories people wouldn't forget for a lifetime.
Eventually, as more and more visitors arrived, the village ran out of space. Many people set up tents just outside the village walls, creating endless stretches of canvas shelters and dark masses of humanity as far as the eye could see.
Conservative estimates suggested that within one month, at least one million people had come to Konoha Village, waiting for the opening of the biggest ceremony in shinobi history.
During this period, Tsunade, the revered Goddess and centerpiece of this historic event, made only one public appearance.
Following orders from Hiruzen Sarutobi, she arrived at an open field outside Konoha and used Wood Release techniques to instantly create hundreds of houses, meant to accommodate the influx of visitors.
These wooden lodgings immediately became wildly popular among travelers, with rooms snapped up the moment they became available.
Heiyan spent a considerable amount for one of those rooms.
Yes, he had already arrived in Konoha several days ago.
Now, Heiyan had changed his appearance again, appearing as a middle-aged man in his thirties—with long hair and a beard, looking somewhat weathered.
Over these past few days, he had wandered through crowds as an ordinary citizen, witnessing scenes of official delegations arriving in Konoha one after another—
They entered Konoha through the village gate, greeted with great enthusiasm by locals, tourists, and volunteers. They rode along Ichiraku Street, receiving floral gifts along the way before checking into high-end hotels guarded by the Uchiha police force.
It looked like a royal procession had arrived.
This demonstrated just how seriously the Leaf delegation regarded this grand ceremony, with every minute detail meticulously perfected.
Due to the long journey involved, the Mist village delegation arrived late, becoming the final group to reach Konoha.
Along both sides of the street, volunteers from Leaf in green uniforms worked hard to maintain order among the crowds.
A carriage belonging to Mist slowly rolled down the street. Sage Master and others leaned their hands out the window, waving to the spectators.
And without doubt, the most attention-grabbing figure was the mysterious Sage Master.
Folklore claimed that like Tsunade, Sage Master possessed immense power within his body, ranking second only to her across the entire world of shinobi.
Konoha treated Mist's arrival with utmost seriousness. The current Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, personally came to greet them, accompanied by Anbu Commander Sakumo Hatake and Chief of Police and Uchiha Clan Head Fugaku Uchiha.
The reception could not have been more grand.
Amidst public anticipation, the carriage curtain lifted as Sage Master stepped out, stroking his white beard while leaning on a cane.
He stood there, unfathomable as a bottomless abyss, radiating the aura of a timeless sage untouched by mortal affairs.
After a brief exchange with Hokage Sarutobi, Sage Master and the delegation from Mist accepted the offer and checked into a hotel right beside the Hokage Tower.
Heiyan witnessed all this unfold, nodding slightly with a faint smile.
Mei Terumi's performance exceeded his expectations. Indeed, she truly had the potential of a natural leader, calm under pressure and skillfully handling such situations.
Thus, he felt much reassured.
After watching the Mist delegation's entourage leave, Heiyan turned around and casually strolled along the familiar Ichiraku Street.
Swoosh.
A strong gust of wind blew toward him, as two fast-moving green figures dashed past. Amidst curious and astonished glances from passersby, they shouted slogans like "Youth!" while running into the distance.
These were Might Duy, Heiyan's old friend, and his soon-to-be five-year-old son, Might Guy.
Even during these days of village-wide celebration when most jobs were shut down for holiday, this father-son duo still persisted in rigorous training, embodying their Ninja Way through youth and sweat.
Heiyan gave a knowing smile and kept walking, not stopping to greet Duy.
During this time, he also encountered his former teacher Kosuke Maruboshi. Years apart, the latter now almost fifty years old still looked energetic and vigorous despite age.
Kosuke Maruboshi still carried his black iron pot on his back, taking a group of brats from the ninja academy to the forest outside the village to teach them wilderness survival skills.
Unconsciously, Heiyan reached the hot springs riverside, where his old residence—a three-story small house—could be seen clearly from afar.
However, currently, people had been cleared away within dozens of meters surrounding his former home. A perimeter had been established protected by several dozen members of the Uchiha police force and three elite Anbu squads patrolling and guarding the area.
The reason was very simple.
Tsunade of Konoha resided in that small house.
Lately, countless tourists gathered around the house just for a glimpse of Tsunade's beauty. So many people came that several trampling accidents occurred.
To protect the tourists and prevent disturbances to Tsunade-sama, Konoha had no choice but to deploy security and clear the area.
Even so, many people still came to the hot springs every day, hoping to catch a distant sight of Tsunade.
With the flood of visitors, local businesses were thrilled as sales skyrocketed.
Right now, Heiyan arrived at a musical instrument shop.
He had been compelled to come here by the sound of a certain musical instrument.
It was a flute-like blowpipe instrument about eighteen inches long. The melody it produced sounded both desolate and vast, yet could also convey a peaceful, ethereal atmosphere that made people stop and listen involuntarily.
Heiyan recalled its name—Shakuhachi [a traditional Japanese bamboo flute]. Many classic background scores in the Naruto anime were played with this instrument.
"Sir, you truly have excellent taste. This is the finest Shakuhachi we have in the store."
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