Sarutobi Hiruzen was clinging to his last breath: "You… what did you say?"
Canon said coldly, "Asuma is dead. Biwako committed suicide as well."
"You—"
The light in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes slowly dimmed, yet his eyes were still wide open.
Canon said indifferently, "Third Hokage, this is war—a gamble where everything you own is on the table. You lost!"
"Yes… I… I lost…"
In Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, only Jiraiya remained, and his voice—his last trace in the mortal world—lingered.
"Ji… Jiraiya… don't gamble…"
As his words fell, a generation of ninja heroes lowered his hand, his soul returning to the heavens.
"Father!!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke cried out hoarsely through tears, but no matter how he shouted, he could not call Sarutobi Hiruzen's soul back.
Everyone present felt deeply moved.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura wore complex expressions.
An old friend who had worked together for so many years was gone just like that. All the storms and upheavals over the years felt like a play.
The Uchiha clan members felt nothing but satisfaction. Before leaving, the Third Hokage had taken four of their clan's decision-makers with him—and they hadn't even settled the score yet!
As for his three disciples—
Tsunade closed her eyes.
Dust to dust, earth to earth. The dead were gone, vengeance was taken. What remained was mostly loneliness.
Orochimaru turned his gaze away.
To die on the battlefield did not disgrace the name of a Hokage.
Jiraiya showed no expression, his fists clenched tightly, as if suppressing something.
Kairen wiped away the hypocritical tears on his face and swept his gaze around.
A portion of his shadow clone army had been reduced, over a dozen Uchiha had died, and most of the Senju retainers had lost arms or legs.
This round was a blood-soaked profit.
But what should not have happened most of all—
Fugaku was dead.
What an unexpected outcome!
Kairen knew Fugaku was short-lived, but he never expected it to be this soon!
With him dead, who would give birth to Sasuke?
Me?!
Sigh… Fugaku's death is truly saddening.
Yet, in the haze of fate, it had also been foreseen.
When someone wants to kill you, you can choke even while drinking water.
The war was not over yet. Kairen turned his gaze toward Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
Orochimaru was certainly an enemy.
But Jiraiya was unclear—unclear whether, after knowing the filth of the upper ranks, he would still stop Kairen's revolution.
The atmosphere suddenly became delicate.
Everyone turned their eyes to Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Would these two surrender? Or would they avenge their teacher?
At this moment, the hard-headed Shinnosuke leapt out.
"Moku Kairen, give me back my father's life!"
His entire body was covered in explosive tags, sparks flashing, about to detonate right in front of Kairen.
Kairen suddenly turned into a streak of golden light and kicked Shinnosuke into the sky, where he exploded into a firework of smoke.
"Well then, the Sarutobi family is finally reunited!"
"Kairen!!"
Jiraiya stared at Kairen seriously.
Kairen turned around, arms folded, gazing at him indifferently. Once, they could still have been friends. Now—
Their paths diverged; no plan could be shared.
"What?"
Jiraiya pointed at the surroundings.
"Look at what you've done. Is this the revolution you brought? How many lives are stained on your hands? How many families have you torn apart?"
Kairen chuckled. "Are you accusing me? Were those I killed innocent? They came looking for death right in front of me—should I reason with them?"
Jiraiya pointed at Kairen. "You—are simply the source of calamity!"
Kairen was indeed the source of calamity. To be precise, if not for him, Konoha would still be fighting its wars obediently.
None of these incidents would have happened so frequently. Everything traced back to Kairen.
Kairen sneered. "So what? I'm strong, so I'm right. If I were the one who failed today, then in the history books I'd be nothing but a guy like Uchiha Madara."
Jiraiya's eyes grew sharper.
"You are the origin of all turmoil. The Great Toad Sage was right—you are the root of all the world's chaos."
The atmosphere grew heavier. The people around slowly distanced themselves from Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
The two seemed to be pushed aside.
Kairen gently closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were Mangekyō.
"For what I've done, I have no regrets. Canon was right—war is a gamble, and once you sit at the table, you put everything you own on it."
He especially hated one saying—that war is a man's game.
War is not child's play, nor is it just a man's wishful thinking. One must exhaust everything to win, use any means necessary to win.
A man may die and be done with it, but his family must bear the pain of defeat.
The old and young enslaved, women forced into prostitution.
In short—if you don't gamble, you won't lose.
The Hyūga clan took this to the extreme, but not everyone was a coward who hid their head in the sand.
Jiraiya's expression changed violently—green, then red, finally turning pale.
His wounds had not healed, and the emotional agitation worsened his condition.
"Enough talk. Let me try to block you!"
Jiraiya seemed to have made a tremendous decision.
There was absolutely no way he could be Kairen's opponent. Not only did he think so—everyone present thought the same.
Just the Nine-Tails behind Kairen was something Jiraiya could not handle.
Jiraiya turned to look at Orochimaru, the only one standing beside him.
"So, Orochimaru?"
"Hmph!"
Orochimaru snorted. "Am I full and bored? Why would I die with you? I have plenty of ways to escape."
Jiraiya suddenly laughed.
"Because we're friends. You're the only one still standing by my side."
"…"
Orochimaru froze. Why didn't he run? Why was he still here, waiting?
Perhaps he couldn't abandon this naïve fool.
"Heh… Jiraiya, this is our last time fighting side by side."
"Haha… Orochimaru, I knew you wouldn't abandon me!"
The two united, their gazes turning sharply toward Kairen.
"Susanoo!"
Behind Kairen, a fire-red giant rose into the sky—immense beyond measure, as if holding up the heavens.
"Battle… requires readiness to die!"
Jiraiya said firmly, "Come! The day I became a ninja, I was already prepared."
"This fight isn't to avenge Sarutobi-sensei. I just want an answer—what do human lives mean to you?"
Orochimaru was more straightforward. "I just want your body."
"Then—"
Before Kairen could declare the start, a golden flash suddenly appeared beside Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sensei, let me join too!"
Jiraiya looked at the young man beside him, his heart filled with comfort, yet he sternly advised,
"Minato, you have a bright future. Don't oppose Kairen."
"Go back. Tsunade and Kairen won't treat you differently."
Minato remained silent. With Kairen's and Tsunade's magnanimity, they naturally wouldn't single him out.
But the Konoha of the future was no longer the Konoha he knew.
Minato spoke quietly. "Jiraiya-sensei, I really want to become Hokage. Hokage is my dream—but this dream is too difficult."
He then turned to look at Kairen.
"If I had been able to become your guiding jōnin back then, you wouldn't hate the village so much."
"The village did hide too much darkness. But you swept everything away in one storm—including my Hokage dream."
"Kairen, let me join this gamble too!"
The Susanoo slowly merged with Kairen as he ascended into its crystal core.
"Begin the war!"
The flames of battle ignited once more.
...
Kushina led the Sage of Six Paths slowly toward the battlefield.
Like a curious cat, she kept asking him questions.
"You said you're unfilial. Who were you unfilial to?"
"My mother."
"What did you do to your mom?"
"My younger brother Hamura and I locked her in a gloomy, freezing place."
Kushina looked at the Sage of Six Paths as if he were a complete pervert.
"You and your brother are beasts!"
The Sage of Six Paths was a bit puzzled. He felt that the red-haired woman in front of him had misunderstood something.
"My mother was a very self-centered woman. She believed only in herself and wanted to turn all humans into soldiers to resist beings from beyond the heavens."
"Hamura and I fought her on behalf of humanity and ultimately sealed her!"
Kushina smiled, clearly not believing the mythical tale of the liar before her.
"You say you sealed your mom—where did you seal her?"
The Sage of Six Paths pointed to the sky. "The moon!"
Kushina looked up at the azure sky, where the faint outline of the moon hung.
She suddenly burst out laughing. "Haha… so you made the moon too?"
"More or less. Having a moon is quite nice—there's company at night."
"Hahaha… you're really funny. You talk like it's real. With powers like yours, why not just say you're the Sage of Six Paths?"
"The Sage of Six Paths? It seems later generations did call me that. But I prefer being called Hagoromo."
"I'm not an Ōtsutsuki, nor am I a sage—just an old man defeated by time."
Kushina suddenly stopped and carefully examined the old man beside her.
At some unknown point, the appearance of Ichiraku's master had slowly changed. A pair of horns grew from his head, his skin turned ashen.
He wore a pristine white robe adorned with magatama and held a half-moon-shaped staff.
Kushina commented, "That outfit of yours is pretty trendy!"
"The ascetic garb of the Ninja Sect from a thousand years ago—plain, simple, not extravagant."
"Heh… still acting. You say you're the Sage of Six Paths—any proof?"
"Uh… well, the people who could prove my identity are all dead."
"Liar!"
The Sage of Six Paths smiled. He hadn't spoken much in a long time—using his mouth again felt oddly unfamiliar.
This red-haired girl was truly interesting.
With his Rinnegan, he observed the surroundings.
"The world has changed so much. Many things I no longer recognize."
Although Kushina knew the Sage of Six Paths was special, she still didn't believe he truly was the Sage of Six Paths.
The reason was simple—the Sage of Six Paths was too mythical, the god of the ninja world, the origin of everything.
If one day someone claimed to be Qin Shi Huang and asked for money, the response would only be a flood of eye-rolls.
Among Kairen's shadow clones, all of them believed it. With a pair of Rinnegan, aside from Uchiha Madara, only the Sage of Six Paths possessed them.
They also couldn't figure out why the Sage of Six Paths appeared in the ninja world. Hadn't he already ascended?
Shan approached with two reporters, holding a microphone up to the Sage of Six Paths.
"Mr. Sage of Six Paths, hello! May we ask what's going on here?"
The Sage of Six Paths himself was quite talkative, so he didn't refuse.
He said, "I wanted to visit the ninja world, but I couldn't appear in physical form, so I could only borrow this ramen master's body."
"May we ask—did the ramen master consent? Does this count as illegal occupation of another person's body?"
The Sage of Six Paths scratched his head.
"I haven't asked him yet. That was a bit reckless. Wait a moment."
After more than ten seconds, the reporters heard him say,
"The ramen master is quite easygoing. He said I can use it for a while—as long as I don't break it, he won't mind. He even asked me to advertise Ichiraku Ramen for him afterward."
"Oh! Understood."
Shan moved on to the main topic.
"Sage of Six Paths, what is the purpose of your descent this time?"
The Sage of Six Paths looked at the red giant rising into the air in the distance.
"A foreigner has come to the ninja world. I want to see where he can take this world."
Shan let out a sigh of relief.
So he wasn't here to cause trouble. It seemed the ninja world's legal awareness was still lacking—there were no clear regulations regarding illegal immigrants like this.
The reporter continued pressing.
"Sage of Six Paths, back then you imprisoned your own mother. From an ethical standpoint… that seems rather immoral. We'd like to hear your thoughts!"
"Ah, this—"
"Sage of Six Paths, you gave all your property to your younger son and drove away the elder son. This doesn't comply with inheritance law. How do you explain that?"
"This—"
"Sage of Six Paths, do you admit to creating a weapon—the Box of Ultimate Bliss—which caused numerous wars in the human world and indirectly led to many deaths inside it?"
"How do you explain that?"
The Sage of Six Paths was sweating profusely. "I… I…"
Should I not have answered?
More importantly—did I do something wrong?
Why do I feel like a complete scumbag?
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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