'Who is the enemy?'
Terumi Mei pondered for a moment and analyzed, "The Land of Water is adjacent to the Land of Fire. If we're talking about enemies, the most likely would be the Konoha of the Land of Fire."
"However, the Third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen, is already aged and frail. Add to that Danzo's sudden violent death, Konoha is wracked by both internal and external troubles, its power increasingly diminished, and instead not worth worrying about."
"The Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Sand Village."
"The former's Tsuchikage is also elderly, but compared to Sarutobi Hiruzen, is more cunning and reserved."
"The Hidden Stone Village as a whole adopts a policy of contraction, hiding its strength and biding its time, cultivating manpower, except that in the new generation there are no known masters."
"The latter, the Hidden Sand Village, is mired in financial pressures. Compared to military armament, more of their energy is placed on how to keep daily life fed and warm. Even the Kazekage has to mine for gold and sell ninjutsu to obtain supplies."
"These two still cannot be counted as enemies."
Terumi Mei spoke fluently, with clear logic. The Hidden Mist Village had only just ended the internal strife of the "Bloody Mist" era, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt.
What they needed to guard against was foreign trouble. She had always been careful in case other ninja villages took advantage of their weakness, so she had gathered a good deal of intelligence beforehand.
"Lastly, there's the Hidden Cloud Village. Ever since the Fourth Raikage, A, took power, they've greatly expanded their military. Moreover, the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water are separated only by the sea, and are relatively close in distance."
Military expansion requires a large amount of manpower and financial resources. For a single village, it's an extremely heavy investment.
And as long as it's an investment, there will be the desire for returns.
If military expansion is to bring returns, it must be achieved through plunder in war.
Terumi Mei concluded, "If we are to speak of enemies, the most likely is the Hidden Cloud Village."
Ryosuke smiled and shook his head.
"Not right? Then it's the Akatsuki, the masked man, or perhaps the new daimyo of the Land of Water?"
Terumi Mei said, "It's said that the daimyo's second son inherited the title of 'Daimyo'. For the moment there are no new moves, but since you killed his father, he'll have to 'make a statement' toward you; otherwise the daimyo's dignity will be gone."
Ryosuke still smiled and shook his head.
"This is not right either."
Terumi Mei broke off a section of tangerine, and, looking displeased, tossed it at Ryosuke, "Then you say what it is?"
Ryosuke caught the tangerine and casually tossed it into his mouth.
"To explain this problem, we can't just look at the present. We must first look at the past, look back hundreds of years at the ninja world… or rather, the ninja clans."
"At that time, ninjas operated in units of clans, hired by daimyo, nobles, and wealthy families, but it was not a stable employment relationship."
"They would help whoever paid them, running about and fighting every day, just to secure a mouthful of food for their clan."
"Rather than saying they were ninjas, they were more like a bunch of beggars."
Terumi Mei nodded.
Before the founding of ninja villages was the most chaotic and darkest period for ninjas.
"Until Senju Hashirama appeared. He defeated all opponents across the world, integrated the scattered ninja clans, united the ninjas, and established the first village, Konoha."
"He let all ninjas in the world realize that life could actually be lived this way."
Everyone slightly nodded.
This wasn't a secret, Senju Hashirama's legend was a story almost every ninja village would tell their children. It was the starting point of each village's own history.
"Ninjas of all the great countries followed suit and founded ninja villages."
Ryosuke said, "Then, Senju Hashirama distributed the tailed beasts. What do you think about that?"
Konan shook her head and tossed out two words, "Naïve."
Terumi Mei also said, "He was too confident. If he had kept all the tailed beasts in Konoha, in the later ninja wars, Konoha absolutely would not have lost."
Ryosuke nodded, "That's right, but your conclusion is the result of reverse thinking. I think, for the Hashirama of that time, he both certainly wanted to and had to distribute the tailed beasts."
Konan grew interested, "Why?"
"It's not that having a village allowed them to obtain tailed beasts, it's the reverse."
"It was precisely because they had tailed beasts, this kind of decisive battlefield deterrent, that the other four newly founded ninja villages could stabilize in the form of 'villages' and not collapse at the slightest shock."
At that time, Konoha had Senju Hashirama, the absolute backbone. By backbone, it didn't just mean strength, it also meant the charisma to gather heroes together.
Outside Konoha, the other villages perhaps had many strong individuals internally, but in the short term, they were still clan-oriented.
Facing attacks, facing the lure of gold from daimyo, or other sudden incidents, turmoil of hearts was unavoidable.
Tailed beasts became the needle that calmed the seas and steadied people's hearts.
"In Hashirama's eyes, the various ninja villages were absolutely not enemies, but comrades advancing together, jointly resisting the daimyo. Relying on the power of Hashirama alone, he could not oppose the era of that time."
"So, he distributed the tailed beasts, precisely so that the 'comrades' of the whole world could stand up, form ninja villages, and have the capital to negotiate with daimyo."
"With villages, ninjas would no longer undercut each other's prices, no longer have to endure the oppression of daimyo, nobles, and wealthy families, and could… live a little more like human beings."
The roomful of people were silent for a long while before slowly nodding.
Indeed, compared to the past, ninjas of the present had much better living conditions.
Some even outwardly respected the daimyo, but privately, merely regarded the daimyo as a foolish ATM.
"But…"
Sasuke thought for a moment and said, "Senju Hashirama was so powerful, and respected by other ninja villages. Why didn't he simply overthrow all the daimyo and unify the world himself?"
This question Ryosuke had also considered. Precisely because he had considered it, during the incident at Konoha last time, he was able to resist Danzo's Kotoamatsukami and refuse his invitation for 'great unification'.
"For three original reasons."
Ryosuke raised three fingers, "First, at that time ninjas were just a bunch of country bumpkins who only knew how to kill. If they overthrew the daimyo and took that seat themselves, they would only throw the country into chaos."
"Second, once ninjas took that position, given their vision and the social environment of that time, the first generation might be fine, but by the second or third generation, they would walk the same old road as the daimyo."
"Overthrowing one daimyo only for oneself to become the new daimyo would be meaningless."
"Third, the wealth of a country is only so much, the cake only so big. If ninjas went up and distributed the wealth among ninja brothers and sisters, who would get less?"
"The officials who actually did the work? No, impossible. That would mean only squeezing more from the common people."
These were not what Hashirama wanted.
Nor what Ryosuke wanted.
Thus, faced with the temptation of 'great unification', two men from different eras both chose to refuse.
Terumi Mei sighed lightly, "So… only by distributing the tailed beasts and establishing villages."
With villages, ninjas could negotiate with daimyo, could learn knowledge, could have spare time to research technology, could have the opportunity to gradually solve the three problems mentioned above.
Konan folded her arms, "But, in the end, Senju Hashirama still died, and his ideals also collapsed."
The ninja clans disappeared, ninja villages were established, but this did not reduce the flames of war. On the contrary, the scale of war became ever larger, and the common people hurt by it grew ever more numerous.
Ryosuke nodded, and took another sip of tea.
"Because daimyo, or rather, the official cliques behind them, are not fools. They knew exactly what the ninjas wanted to do, and also knew exactly what means to use to prevent all this from being realized."
The topic, at this point, turned from the past back to the present ninja world.
"Our enemy is the daimyo?" Terumi Mei asked.
"Yes, but not only them."
"Our enemy is the daimyo, is the official clique behind them, is the rotten rules that keep the world as it is until today, is the three problems mentioned earlier, and..."
Ryosuke extended his thumb and pointed at his own chest.
"... is ourselves, who at some future moment may be corroded and assimilated by the world's rules."
Everyone stared blankly at Ryosuke, only feeling a nameless surge welling up from deep in their hearts, an impulse they could not clearly describe.
In their ears echoed the rolling toll of great bells, and after listening closely for a while, they realized, 'What bells?'
It was clearly the pounding of their own stirred hearts.
[Triggered world deviation, gained 1,000 soul fragments…]
[Gained 1 ascension star core.]
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