In a remote outpost located within the mountainous region of the Land of Water.
Not much time had passed, yet the scene seemed to have shifted directly from the sea to inland.
The conversation was still ongoing.
"I've more or less figured out Madara's thinking—eternal peace, huh... Thinking about it now, achieving such a goal is either merely a fantasy or exists only within destruction.
Too extreme. Very much like Madara's way of thinking. But that isn't how I operate.
Balance can indeed persist long-term. In reality, even until today, the Five Great Ninja Villages still maintain a delicate balance. However, whenever this balance slightly wavers, it signals the outbreak of war.
From what I've learned since returning to the living world, even with the Hidden Village system in place all these years, the overall number of ninja casualties hasn't dropped much compared to the chaos before.
So yes, creating the one-nation-one-village system and distributing the Tailed Beasts to maintain balance was a step forward. But has it truly succeeded? I can't give an affirmative answer no matter what—perhaps even...
Anyway, the current Ninjutsu World, including Konoha itself, has become far too unfamiliar to me."
Even for Hashirama Senju, the disappearance of the entire Senju clan must certainly have been a heavy blow. One significant purpose behind establishing the Hidden Village system was protecting his own kin, creating a place where family could reside. Yet Konoha seemingly failed in fulfilling this function.
From death to revival by unconventional means, there had been a blank period spanning four or five decades for Hashirama. Precisely because of this gap, the impact of the Senju clan's extinction weighed especially heavily on him—if we erase the intervening time, the contrast between their previous prosperity and sudden disappearance was genuinely difficult to accept.
Hashirama shook his head, seemingly unwilling to dwell further on this topic.
"Reviving ancient powers and returning the world to its original state, reclaiming all chakra to ultimately eliminate the Ninja Sect and ninjas themselves—this indeed represents a viable approach.
Madara's ideas are overly extreme, but if ninjas were to disappear and everything reverted to normalcy, then this option might be worth trying.
Let chakra return to Chakra no Sō, strip ninjas of their lethal abilities and let them live on as ordinary people; perhaps then the world's turbulence will finally subside."
Black Zetsu naturally employed different arguments tailored for different individuals. Since Six Paths Power enables activating Infinite Tsukuyomi, trapping everyone like dumplings wrapped tight, and mass-producing White Zetsu, then obviously there also existed possibilities of simply reclaiming chakra while preserving consciousness and life.
The former involves reclamation and assimilation, while the latter is just a form of separation—the difficulty levels are vastly different.
Ninjas aren't inherently good—they've become seen as the root of all unrest over time. Therefore, solving problems caused by ninjas requires only one solution: stop everyone from becoming a ninja.
This line of thinking seems reasonable enough… Don't you think?
Maybe the very act of founding the Ninja Sect and disseminating chakra—initiated by the Sage of Six Paths through Asura's lineage—was itself a mistake.
Well, looks like we finally have a chance to fix that mistake.
Even Haseo, the "Ninja God," has his mindset confined within the scope of the entire world, never rising above it. He would never think this way—eliminating ninja means an end to all conflicts? At most, it just stops conflicts between ninjas themselves.
To put it plainly, chakra is merely one specific "path of evolution." Without such a path, humanity will definitely find other ways. Don't modern weapons of mass destruction kill way more efficiently than even the clumsiest ninja? Can modern warfare honestly be called more humane than the Great Ninja World War?
At least in Haseo's mind, thermonuclear warfare represents the ultimate form of human confrontation.
Humans are the kind of species that can't survive without war—it's practically in their blood.
This compromise isn't half as clean and direct as Madara Uchiha's [Moon's Eye Plan]. Although Madara might not be the sharpest, his determination is unquestionable.
Of course, Haseo exists beyond this world, so his opinion doesn't really count here. Practically speaking, if you suddenly removed the power of the ninja, the world would indeed remain peaceful for a very long time.
Even if war could never be completely eradicated, its intensity would drop drastically—at least hundreds of years might pass before reaching current levels again. It's like swapping strong vodka for non-alcoholic beer—so when talking about peace, yeah, I guess you could still call that peace.
"The key problem is, the 'Demonic Statue of the Outer Path,' which serves as the vessel for the Tailed Beasts, has been completely destroyed. Doesn't that mean the revival of the Ten-Tails is now impossible?"
Without resolving the issue with Kara, any discussion is meaningless.
"Regarding this matter, I've already begun preparations... Hashirama-sama, please this way."
Guiding from within Hashirama Senju's sleeve, Black Zetsu led him deeper into the hidden underground hideout.
The path ended abruptly, and soon he stood at the edge of a vast chasm.
The dark, silent surroundings gave the place something of an atmosphere usually reserved for "the abyss."
"What exactly is down there? It's too dark to see clearly… These eyes must have night blindness or something."
"..."
In Black Zetsu's long life, he had never once encountered anyone who spoke so disdainfully about the Rinnegan—his implication was clear: those eyes weren't nearly as good as his original ones.
But if someone with Hashirama Senju's reputation complained, then really, there wasn't much to be said.
Hashirama squinted down into the chasm, straining his eyes. Only after gradually adjusting to the dim light did he finally make out what lay below—and then…
A chill shot up his spine, and his scalp tingled—he immediately jumped back.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Hashirama's voice came fast and tight while he spoke, pitch continuously rising—whenever he wasn't in combat, his emotions always ran wild anyway. Plus, he probably had mild trypophobia.
"They're White Zetsus, approximately ninety thousand in number," Black Zetsu explained.
Ninety thousand White Zetsu were piled together in a pit, densely packed and pale-white; even an ordinary person would get startled just seeing them once.
These creatures originated from the Ten-Tails and were fully assimilated by it. Their plant-like characteristics clearly come from 'infection' by the Ten-Tails' body, so we can consider them as an alternative extension of the God Tree.
"A single individual obviously wouldn't have any effect since the power within them is too weak. However, if you extract and fuse all this power originating from the God Tree, it might serve as a crude but functional replica of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"And then combining it with other high-density chakra vessels... there's your replacement."
The existing total number of White Zetsu was around one hundred thousand. What Black Zetsu implied was to destroy nine out of ten of them at once just to recover the faint traces of God Tree power clinging to each one—it was indeed quite a grand gesture.
After all, White Zetsu had no human rights whatsoever.
The key point was, although Black Zetsu hadn't told the complete truth about the White Zetsu's origins, his proposal was indeed feasible.
Absorbing a certain special power—something the Rinnegan could certainly accomplish.
"High-density... chakra vessel?"
Hashirama Senju immediately caught the core of the other's words.
"Yeah, with Lord Hashirama's current power, he could probably churn out dozens of those without breaking a sweat."
"Me?"
"That's right. That would be... the Uchiha's Susanoo."
"Hmm..." It did seem that way. Right now, Hashirama could indeed conjure [Giant Mecha] whenever needed. Considering his physique and chakra reserves, his versions would likely put the original ones to shame.
However...
Hashirama scratched his head awkwardly. "Sounds pretty straightforward, but what'll happen in reality... Well, at least until now, I've never used this aspect of my power at all."
Since obtaining the Rinnegan, he hadn't even activated the Mangekyo Sharingan.
So what were those eyes—the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinnegan—good for anyway?
He found it too much trouble, so he never bothered activating them—makes sense, really.
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