Land of Lightning, Raikage's Office.
The First Raikage, A, looked at the note in his hand and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Hahaha! Senju Hashirama is really dead!"
The spy they had sent out had returned with verified news: Senju Hashirama was dead.
Now, there was nothing holding Kumogakure back.
Among all the nations of the shinobi world, none had wanted to attack Konoha more than the Land of Lightning.
The country was powerful in its own right, and incredibly rich in resources.
Naturally, they had no interest in the other villages and were only focused on the wealthiest one—Konoha.
As long as they could defeat Konoha, Kumogakure would gain even more resources.
Had it not been for their fear of Senju Hashirama's overwhelming strength, Kumogakure would have launched a war against Konoha long ago.
Now that they'd received confirmation of his death, it was time for the Land of Lightning to make its move.
The First Raikage turned to his guard and ordered,
"Send the command. Recall all shinobi stationed outside the village. We will declare war on Konoha three months from now."
In the shadows, a black figure nodded in satisfaction as it observed the scene.
"Hehehe, these muscle-headed brutes of the Land of Lightning are so easy to manipulate."
It spread the news across the shinobi world, but while the other villages chose to wait and see, only the Raikage was ready to go to war.
But that was enough.
Once someone took the lead in starting a war, the rest wouldn't be able to hold back. They would inevitably be drawn into the conflict.
The shadow melted back into the ground, as if it had never appeared at all.
...
Konoha, inside the laboratory.
Renya was wearing a custom-made gas mask, his eyes behind the lenses locked onto the container in his hand.
Inside the glass vessel, a deep purple liquid squirmed eerily, emitting a faint glow, as if it were alive.
Carefully, he picked up a dropper, held his breath, and drew a single drop of poison from the container.
As the droplet fell, it hit the wooden floor with a harsh "Zzzzz" sound. White smoke billowed up from the point of contact.
Visible to the naked eye, corrosion marks quickly spread outward, burning a fairly large hole into the floor in just a blink.
"Sigh… another failure."
Renya shook his head and sighed.
Although this poison was incredibly powerful and deadly, it had one fatal flaw—it didn't distinguish between friend and foe.
On a battlefield where everything changed in an instant, the slightest mistake could injure himself or his comrades.
"This won't do. It's too dangerous."
He muttered to himself, his voice echoing through the sealed laboratory.
This lab was one he had personally modified, meant specifically for researching poisons.
Thinking about the imminent war, Renya clenched his fists.
He wanted to develop a more perfect poison—not only deadly, but also precisely controllable. Ideally, it would spread silently through the air, sparing him while wiping out others.
If he could create such a toxin, it would be incredibly effective in battle, capable of killing en masse.
Whether they were Genin, Chūnin, Jōnin, or even Kage-level… all would be doomed.
Just imagining it made Renya's eyes light up with excitement.
He set down the container and walked over to a bookshelf packed with books and documents, pulling out a thick, ancient tome.
The yellowed pages were densely filled with records of various poisons and toxic formulas.
As he flipped through the pages, he began brainstorming new ideas, occasionally jotting down inspiration into his notebook.
The lab fell silent once more, the only sounds being the scratching of pen on paper and the occasional clink of glassware.
Creating poison wasn't as easy as it seemed.
Every ingredient had different properties. One had to fully understand each material's nature.
Renya ground various herbs into powder and mixed them in different ratios before testing them on white mice.
A 1:1 ratio only caused slight pupil contraction.
But a 3:2 ratio caused immediate death.
Such subtle differences were exactly what made poison-crafting so difficult.
The more toxic the substance, the harder it was to create.
His experiment notes had already filled three pages, littered with dense annotations and splattered with chemical stains.
...
Time passed unnoticed.
Seeing that it was about time, Renya closed his notebook and left the lab.
He still had to go home and cook dinner for Senju Tobirama.
If he remembered correctly, that old bastard hadn't eaten anything all day.
Renya planned to make a bit more and deliver it to Senju Tobirama.
That guy had truly been swamped these past two days.
If full-scale war broke out, it wouldn't be so bad—but this uncertain, dragging phase was the most exhausting of all.
Renya was beginning to understand just how hard it was to be Hokage. Every decision had to be made with the entire village's interests in mind.
"Seriously, what kind of sane person wants to be Hokage?"
Renya scoffed at the position of Hokage. Sitting in the office every day, buried under paperwork—it was misery.
He had absolutely no desire for that title.
He couldn't understand why Shimura Danzo wanted it so badly.
Was it just for so-called power?
To Renya, such things were meaningless. True power lay in strength.
With enough strength, no one dared oppose you.
Because anyone who did… would be dead.
Just look at Senju Hashirama. He brought peace to the shinobi world not through charisma, but through overwhelming power.
If he hadn't been strong, no one would've listened to him.
"Forget it. Everyone has their own goals. Let's cook."
Renya tied on his apron and entered the kitchen.
Everyone chased different things. He had no intention of forcing his beliefs on others.
After finishing cooking, Renya didn't eat right away.
He packed the meal to deliver to Senju Tobirama first, planning to eat when he got back.
"That old bastard must be starving by now," Renya muttered softly.
...
"Hokage-sama, are you saying that the First really passed away?!"
Inside the Hokage's office, the clan heads all cried out in shock upon hearing the news.
Although they'd suspected it before, hearing Senju Tobirama confirm it with his own mouth still felt surreal.
That legendary man… how could he just die like that?
"My brother sustained serious injuries during his battle with Madara. He never recovered…" Senju Tobirama explained.
At those words, the clan heads fell into a heavy silence.
Now it all made sense.
After all, they all knew how powerful Uchiha Madara had been.
They had lived through that era.
The strength of both Madara and Hashirama was still etched clearly in their memories.
"I've called you all here to discuss the war that is surely coming."
The clan heads sighed helplessly.
They knew better than anyone what the death of Senju Hashirama meant.
It meant the hard-won peace… was about to be shattered once more.
The other nations wouldn't let this opportunity to attack the Land of Fire slip by.
"Hokage, what do you want us to do?" asked Uchiha Tanaka.
Though he disliked Senju Tobirama, war required unity. They had to fight together against external threats.
The other clan heads turned their eyes to Senju Tobirama as well.
Just then, the office doors were suddenly thrown open.
Everyone instinctively turned their heads to look—only to see Renya walking in with a food box.
"Old man, I brought you dinner."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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