Kageyama Kogetsu was laughing so hard he was almost in tears.
Clack.
He flicked out a cigarette and lit it. Kogetsu took a deep drag, the flame burning the whole stick at once, then exhaled a thick plume of smoke.
"Cough, cough…"
Beaten to a frail state, Kazuma hacked violently from the smoke.
"Sss…"
The smoldering butt suddenly pressed into his swollen face, and Kazuma couldn't help but let out a scream.
Smack!
Kogetsu slapped with his left hand. Kazuma's left cheek ballooned like a pig's head. A few teeth, mixed with spit, sprayed to the side.
"Your damn brain get beat stupid?"
"At a time like this you still wave the Daimyō at me?"
"You know I guarded the Daimyō longer than you, yeah?"
"Aside from power and money, he's just an ordinary man. A single genin could take him down one-handed against a crowd."
"If even a genin can do that, crushing him would be no harder for me than crushing an ant. You threaten me with him?"
"Hm?"
Kogetsu's barrage left not only Kazuma dumbstruck, but Kakuzu and Pakura as well. Though they'd heard things before, they realized their understanding had been shallow. He truly didn't put the Daimyō in his eyes at all.
"Baka. Heretical, subversive deviant. You deserve death!"
Snapping out of it, Kazuma spat curses. His speech whistled through broken teeth and was unclear, but the three still understood.
"Heh. Tough bones, huh? Let's see how hard…"
Kogetsu chuckled coldly, opened the Byakugan, and jabbed rapidly with sword-fingers across Kazuma's body, all nonlethal points that inflicted intense pain.
"Aaaah—!"
Kazuma let out a shrill scream. Sweat beaded instantly over his face. His pig-swollen features twisted into a ghastly mask as his whole body shuddered.
Soon foam bubbled at his lips, his eyes rolled back, and his body went limp as he fainted.
"Tch. Thought you were really hard."
Kogetsu's face showed contempt.
He himself was different. Knowing his own bones weren't that hard, he would decisively yield when he should.
"Ease up. Don't you need him alive?" Pakura reminded.
"Relax. I know my limits. Wake him. I still want to rattle him."
At that, Kakuzu formed a ball of water and splashed it straight over Kazuma's face until he came around.
"Huff… huff…"
Kazuma's breathing rasped like a broken bellows. He didn't dare mouth off this time and had learned his lesson.
Clack.
Kogetsu lit another cigarette, making Kazuma flinch.
"Relax. Not burning you this time."
Kogetsu grinned, and Kazuma lowered his head in shame.
"The strife between shinobi has stretched for over a thousand years. First between individuals, then clans, and finally villages."
"The wars only got bigger, but peace never dawned. What looks like peace now is merely stockpiling for the next war."
"How do we reach peace?"
"I thought long and finally found a feasible path."
Seeing all three focused, Kogetsu laid out his idea.
"With today's patchwork of large and small hidden villages, peace is impossible. Driven by interest and hatred, war only cycles on."
"So it is with villages, and so it is with nations. Before shinobi ever existed, wars among common folk also cycled on."
"Then what if the entire shinobi world had only one village and one nation?"
Shock flickered in Kazuma's heart. He hadn't expected this man to share his own thought, differing only in who should lead.
Kakuzu said in a low voice, "Your idea sounds a lot like Uchiha Madara."
Tch—what do you mean my idea is like Madara's?
Unification's carved into my bones.
Aloud, Kogetsu said, "It is similar, but the latter half is very different."
"Frankly, though I'm Konoha, I'm speechless at what the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, did."
"He could have unified the shinobi world, yet chose not to, and even split the Tailed Beasts."
"Average shinobi lifespans did rise compared to the Warring States era—progress, yes—but limited."
"What a waste. If Hashirama and Madara had joined hands, you might have been born into happiness."
Uchiha Madara truly was ill-timed, because Hashirama was a freak among Asura's reincarnations.
Before him, Asura's reincarnations were weaker than Indra's and had to win by gathering the many. If they couldn't, they lost.
For a thousand years there were wins and losses, but neither loser lost cleanly nor winner won absolutely.
Kakuzu and Pakura fell silent.
After a moment, Pakura smiled. "I'm pretty happy now."
Kakuzu gave a wry smile. "Maybe the First really did get it wrong."
Kogetsu smiled. "Enough about him. Back to business."
"After unifying, Madara's arrangement for shinobi still mirrors the old—only the mission market widens to the whole world."
"I'm different. I'll change the shinobi's lot as tools from the ground up."
"Shinobi wield extraordinary power. A strong one can alter terrain with a gesture."
"For such a group to be mission tools and war fodder—is that reasonable?"
"It's always been that way."
Hearing this, Kazuma couldn't help speaking. His voice was slow, making the words clearer.
"Does 'always' make it right?"
"In every war, aside from shinobi and commoners who feel the pain, do the rich, the officials, the nobles?"
"They don't. They don't."
"Not only that—many grow fat-rich on it, stuffing on rice balls soaked in shinobi and commoner blood until they can hardly walk."
Kogetsu gestured, voice rising, tone impassioned, his words suddenly gripping.
Ridiculous. Even in Boruto's time, shinobi were still playthings for big-company bosses, brawling like beasts in pits for the rich.
As for the will to resist, even places steeped in Confucian culture don't cut it. Outside that culture it's even worse—loaning for lunch, selling blood for milk tea—the tolerance for suffering is sky-high.
Kakuzu and Pakura felt their blood heat, as if something had ignited inside.
Kazuma's slit eyes flickered as if he'd fallen into fierce inner struggle.
But whether Kazuma's thoughts turned or not didn't matter to Kogetsu. It was enough that Kakuzu and Pakura agreed.
"So, to end the shinobi world's tragedy, I will raise the shinobi's status from the bottom to the heavens."
"Above the rich, the officials, the nobles, the Daimyō."
"When every shinobi holds high status and lives in plenty, the tragic cycle breaks."
"I want the throne in the high heavens, but I won't keep this glory to myself."
"Every shinobi who accepts my creed will bathe in that glory."
"Will you bathe in the glory?" Kogetsu looked at the two, eyes blazing.
"I will!" Pakura shouted, face flushed with excitement.
"Hoo…" Kakuzu exhaled long, expression solemn. "I think I've found a cause more meaningful than making money."
"Good!"
Beaming, Kogetsu clapped both on the shoulder.
"My creed needs spreading, just not publicly yet."
"While you roam the world, sift for like-minded people. At first, don't mention my name. Reveal it only after they pass the test."
Kakuzu and Pakura nodded together. "Understood."
"Kogetsu, your creed will definitely win all shinobi over," Pakura said, unable to hide her excitement.
"Not all. One, there are always stiff-headed diehards."
"Two, will shinobi of other powers accept that I, that Konoha, lead this great transformation?"
Kogetsu smiled as he explained.
Pakura faltered, then grew thoughtful.
"Heh," Kakuzu snorted. "Then fight. Fight until the others accept."
"Because short pain is followed by happiness."
"Good resolve," Kogetsu praised. "A transformation without blood isn't a transformation. It can't cow hearts or take root in souls."
"Right. If any group invites you later, no need to ask me—say yes. It's easier to poach from inside."
Heh. Akatsuki, here's your surprise.
"Got it," Kakuzu and Pakura said with a firm nod.
"Alright, to work."
"I…"
Seeing Kogetsu's unfriendly gaze, Kazuma decided not to quibble and chose to switch sides.
Too late. Truth was, he never had that chance. How would Kogetsu explain to Danzō otherwise?
Mind Layer Dive.
Kogetsu pulled Kazuma in, gripped him by the throat, the black eye bloomed in his right eye, and the Human Path of the Rinnegan activated…
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