News of Akatsuki Village's great victory quickly reached Konoha. The first to receive it, naturally, was that born-evil Senju old ghost, Senju Tobirama.
In the Hokage's office,
Tobirama held two intelligence reports. One was Akatsuki's self-defense counterattack statement: "Kumogakure has repeatedly ignored Akatsuki Village's warnings, not only deliberately murdering two of our Chunin, but also launching an attack on Akatsuki's negotiation mission, gravely endangering its safety.
"Akatsuki Village hereby responds in kind."
The statement had already been blasted across multiple authoritative newspapers in the Land of Fire. They swore up and down to vouch for Akatsuki, insisting Kumogakure had gone too far.
Some small nations around the Land of Fire jumped on the bandwagon and amplified the statement, piling on Kumogakure with round after round of scorn.
Even presses in the other great nations joined the fray. It was one thing for the Lands of Earth, Wind, and Water to follow the trend, but even some influential papers in the Land of Lightning, Kumogakure's own country, were criticizing and dragging them.
The press is the press. Study journalism and you'll see outfits like the BBC work for whoever pays.
The ninja world is the same. Pay them, and they deliver.
Even so, though Uchiha Makoto had already won big in the arena of opinion, Tobirama had only two words for the statement—lavatory paper.
He would never believe the one-sided claims of these unscrupulous outlets, which became unscrupulous the moment they spoke up for Uchiha.
Based on his understanding of that born-evil Uchiha brat and Akatsuki's previous extortionate "compensation" terms and a series of recent anomalies, he could draw one conclusion—there was a trick here.
Those attached proofs were either forged or carefully dressed up.
Those shameless papers must have been paid.
Akatsuki had deliberately seized on a pretext to declare war on Kumogakure.
"Horrifying."
"Manipulating hearts, manipulating public opinion. Cloud got planted this time. Whether they like it or not, the stigma of starting a war will stick."
Tobirama crushed the toilet-paper statement into a ball and tossed it in the trash, but in his heart he raised the threat level of Uchiha Makoto yet again. Makoto was an evil Uchiha who loved to toy with people and with public opinion.
He had tasted Makoto's methods before and only raised his guard a little, not taking it to heart. Now he had truly seen how devastating this move was.
Killing without spilling blood.
Now the entire ninja world believed Cloud had struck first against Akatsuki's negotiation team in a deliberate ambush, and that Akatsuki had been forced into self-defense. Even if Cloud tried to speak up and defend itself, it was useless. How could one mouth outargue so many mouths?
Makoto was a wicked brat, and his methods were utterly base.
Contemptible.
Yet Tobirama had to admit it was a damned effective move. He would copy it.
If he had the chance,
he would find a way to use this very tactic on Uchiha Makoto. Turning his own way back on him.
He would be acting on heaven's behalf.
So thinking, he opened the other report.
"That born-evil Uchiha brat really shook off Konoha and started a war with Kumogakure on his own?"
"Over a thousand fully armed Cloud ninja wiped out on their own defensive lines by Akatsuki… this… this really is a beautiful annihilation battle."
Tobirama's eyes widened as he finished. He had not expected Makoto to truly have the resolve to cast off Konoha and attack Cloud alone, much less to achieve such massive results in one night.
Over a thousand fully armed Cloud ninja, wiped out in a single night by the Akatsuki forces led by Makoto.
Even Tobirama had to admit it was an elegant lightning annihilation, setting aside Konoha's two outliers, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Reverse the roles,
and even if he personally led Konoha's ninja, producing such results would be exceedingly difficult.
"But… what is Uchiha Makoto really after?"
"What benefit does this war bring Akatsuki? There's no real conflict of interest between Cloud and Akatsuki. If it's really just for those two Chunin, that's absurdly impulsive. Hm… with the Uchiha, perhaps not impossible."
He set the report down and muttered through the situation. Makoto had a god's-eye view and thought in a way utterly different from his. Tobirama was a pure old-school Warring States shinobi. Makoto was more like a grand-strategy gamer.
Thus Tobirama still could not grasp Makoto's logic for insisting on war. In his view, losses between Akatsuki, Konoha, and Cloud were the most ordinary sort of mission clashes from the Warring States days, nowhere near the threshold for war.
"Case closed. I must be overthinking it. Perhaps the brat simply had one of his Uchiha fits."
After all his turning over, he still could not see Makoto's true intent and finally fell back on the familiar explanation that it was an everyday Uchiha bout of madness.
In the Warring States he had seen it countless times. Carried by the Sharingan's extreme, evil, negative chakra, Uchiha would "fall." They would either change personalities or commit bizarre, deranged acts.
Just then,
Senju Hashirama hurried in. When Tobirama received the first word, he had immediately told his elder brother to come to the Hokage's office and get on the same page.
These were foreign affairs and war, and Tobirama could not slam the gavel alone. A shadow Hokage is still a shadow. Decisions must be made under the sun.
"Tobirama, what do we do? Kumogakure provoked, Akatsuki says it struck back in self-defense, and the war has already started."
Hashirama skimmed the two reports and worry etched his face.
He had just managed to calm Madara, keeping him from doing anything outrageous.
But
Hashirama sensed sharply that Madara was sunk in gloom, his chakra colder, something unknown shifting in him.
Now Cloud had angered Akatsuki into war.
He dared not think what the Uchiha clan would do, what Madara would do.
Left unchecked,
the hard-won peace would shatter, and the ninja world might return to the Warring States, wars everywhere. That was not the future Hashirama wanted.
"Brother… Cloud likely didn't provoke at all. It was probably Akatsuki… framing them."
Tobirama was speechless. His brother was still saying Akatsuki acted in self-defense.
Hopelessly naive.
The two most dangerous figures in the world now were Uchiha Makoto, who had personally engineered this war,
and Uchiha Madara.
Tobirama felt it necessary to keep correcting his brother, to make him abandon unrealistic fantasies about the Uchiha.
"Tobirama, I've said it many times. Do not say things that harm unity with the Uchiha.
"Especially in such a sensitive moment. If these words reach Madara's ears, do you know how much effort it takes me to clear up the misunderstanding?"
Hashirama's sore spot was jabbed, and he scolded Tobirama with a stern face. With your attitude like some crawling vermin, how could you unite the Uchiha and govern Konoha?
"All right, brother, I get it, I get it. Let's think about how to respond to the situation."
Tobirama's face darkened. He waved a hand and hurriedly changed the subject. Good intentions taken for donkey liver and lungs. Brother, you're so biased.
"Uh…"
Topic shifted.
Faced with the situation,
Hashirama felt it had all happened too suddenly. He had no ready plan. But over the years he had formed an excellent habit: when the mind is blank and a decision won't come, ask the little brother.
If Tobirama proposed a good plan, he would follow it. If not, Tobirama could think of another.
"Tobirama, what do you suggest?"
"Hm…"
Tobirama rolled his eyes at the brother who loved to use him as a tool and set to thinking.
The situation was not complicated.
For Konoha,
since Akatsuki and Cloud were already fighting, who was right or wrong no longer mattered.
Position determines right and wrong.
Akatsuki was acting under the banner of justice for the three Chunin of Akatsuki and Konoha. It held the upper hand on the battlefield and had pinned Cloud to the floor in the war of words. Konoha was Akatsuki's ally. From any angle, it should unconditionally take Akatsuki's side.
Therefore
in Tobirama's view,
even if Akatsuki had deliberately picked the fight, they should go with it. Konoha should immediately deploy the army, best led by his brother, and crush Kumogakure utterly.
That way
he would not have to suppress public opinion in the village, nor worry about the Uchiha expanding their influence, nor about Akatsuki's little schemes.
Everything would be solved.
Force is always the best way to break a deadlock.
But therein lay the difficulty.
His brother was softhearted.
He would never agree. In his heart he would be thinking how to rein in the war and how to smooth things over. No one knew Hashirama's mind better than Tobirama.
Precisely because he understood his brother,
Tobirama had deeper views of this war. He thought of what Madara had said and, further, of Konoha's longer future.
Friction between villages would only grow and eventually become war. That was not a prophecy but a bloody reality.
Konoha now rubbed against Cloud. Would it never rub against Akatsuki, even as allies? Would allies always be at peace?
All the more so
because Akatsuki's Light Shadow was that born-evil Uchiha brat, Uchiha Makoto.
He almost certainly harbored ill will toward the Senju and Konoha. Otherwise he would never have split from the Uchiha and founded Akatsuki Village. That alone told Tobirama that Makoto was an absolute threat to Konoha.
Now, with his brother as the white jade pillar holding up the sky, even if Madara led the Uchiha in league with Akatsuki to revolt, Tobirama did not fear it. He even wished it would happen sooner, so he could lance the boil in Konoha's flesh.
But
the probability was tiny.
So small as to be nearly impossible.
The Uchiha knew all too well what his brother was. They were mad and sometimes had fits, but not mad enough to choose collective suicide.
There should not be a lunatic who would butcher his own clan. If one appeared, it would mean heaven favored Konoha.
While his brother lived,
Konoha would be safe.
But what if one day his brother was gone?
The Senju would not grow a second Senju Hashirama. His brother did not even seem human.
At this thought,
Tobirama's face grew uglier.
That brat Makoto was still young.
When his brother grew old,
Tobirama himself would have little time left.
When neither of them were there,
if the Uchiha would not give up and colluded with Akatsuki then, with inside and outside joined, could Konoha still suppress them? What future would the Senju have?
"Uchiha… Senju… Uchiha Makoto… Akatsuki… Konoha…"
Tobirama murmured, and a flood of worries rose in him. He could not pour them out to his brother. His brother would not believe and would only say, "Do not speak words that harm unity," that kind of drivel.
And Akatsuki's demonstrated strength had already surpassed expectations.
It was time to prepare for the storm.
He pondered long.
He thought of the days and nights he had worn himself out for Konoha.
He thought of the countless dead Senju.
Was this the future for Konoha, built with the Senju's blood and toil?
No.
Tobirama was unwilling.
He wanted to change it.
Even if his decision left him cursed, he would use his own methods to erase that possibility.
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