Sunlight streamed through the glass, heating the marble windowsill until it was almost scorching.
The choking smoke curled around the beam of light, and the atmosphere in the office grew heavier and heavier.
Hiruzen Sarutobi kept his pipe in hand, puffing one breath after another. It was obvious he had been troubled by this matter for a long time.
For the first time in many years, the village's two Hokage advisors had fallen into open argument.
Homura Mitokado believed that letting that crowd into the village was far too dangerous, especially Kumogakure, which had a serious history of bad conduct. If they were coming to take part in the exam, then they were undoubtedly up to no good.
Koharu Utatane, on the other hand, believed Konoha had to host this Chunin Exam, and not only host it, but host it magnificently and without showing a trace of weakness.
They had lost countless strong shinobi over the years. The outside world already believed Konoha had declined. This was exactly the moment to intimidate petty threats and display their strength.
Neither of them was wrong.
Both had spoken reasonably, and both had analyzed the problem thoroughly.
But it was useless.
They could not think of a suitable reason to refuse, and if they accepted, they could not find anyone capable of suppressing the shinobi of the four other nations.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were fine when it came to offering ideas, but when it came to actually getting things done, the two of them together were not worth even half of Danzo.
And now Danzo had secluded himself deep within Root. Orders could not even reach his ears anymore. Clearly, Root was now completely under Konome's control.
The only person who could save Konoha from its current predicament was her.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked his goatee and finally stated his real purpose.
"This Chunin Exam must be held as scheduled. I want you to serve as the chief proctor of this exam and take full charge of all related matters!"
"Me?"
Pointing at her own nose, Konome Taketori looked surprised by Hiruzen's sudden appointment.
She had thought Hiruzen was telling her all this because he wanted her to beat up the other villages' shinobi during the Chunin Exam and teach those little brats a lesson.
She had not expected to be promoted straight from examinee to examiner.
A genin serving as chief proctor of the Chunin Exam was oddly fitting for Konoha's current situation.
"There's no one in the village but you who can suppress the other villages' leading shinobi. If you don't go, Konoha has no one left!"
There was a trace of desolation in Hiruzen's eyes. Konoha had declined to this point, and as the Hokage who had ruled the longest, he bore an inescapable share of the blame.
"The clan heads of the major secret technique families, plus Kakashi and Guy, should be more than enough to suppress the shinobi from the other villages, shouldn't they?"
Konome frowned, puzzled.
Even if Konoha had declined, gathering ten or so elite jonin was still easy enough. How could it possibly be unable to suppress a few team leaders from the other villages?
"That isn't how it works."
Hiruzen shook his head gravely, a great cloud of smoke pouring from his nostrils.
"If the heads of the major clans are forced to act, that would mean Konoha truly has no one left. Not only would that fail to intimidate the enemy, it would instead expose Konoha's weakness.
And even they could only match those people. They couldn't truly deter the shinobi of the foreign villages. What Konoha needs is your absolute power, the sort that can instantly kill someone like Kuro锄 Raiga!"
Originally, he had indeed planned to send out the clan heads. But after hearing Kakashi's report on the Land of Waves mission, the strength Konome had displayed was already no weaker than his own. She was exactly the remedy Konoha needed for this crisis.
"Fine, fine."
Seeing there was no escaping this troublesome affair, Konome could only agree.
Hiruzen had treated her well over the years.
Not only had he not distanced himself from her after learning she had a bloodline sickness, he had even handed the Forest of Death over to her as an experimental ground. Her ability to grow so quickly to her current level had a great deal to do with his support.
She never said such things aloud, but she did quietly remember that kindness in her heart.
Besides, after living in Konoha this long, she had developed a certain attachment to the place. Making some contribution to it was only natural.
"That…"
Seeing Konome agree so readily, Hiruzen smacked his lips. Under her questioning gaze, he still forced himself to say his second request.
"I know you can maintain Shadow Clones for a very long time. Could you perhaps let your original body serve as the proctor, and send a clone in as an examinee…"
Seeing her expression shift slightly, he hurried to explain.
"It isn't that I absolutely must trouble you.
It's just that the other villages will certainly send extremely strong genin to this joint Chunin Exam.
Think about it. If, in the end, Konoha's shinobi fail to take first place, or if not even one of them becomes a chunin, wouldn't that look bad too?"
What a fancy game you are playing, Hiruzen-sensei.
Looking at the old fox in front of her, Konome suddenly felt as though horns were growing out of her head and a tail were sprouting from behind her.
On one side, she had to serve as chief proctor and intimidate the jonin of the four nations.
On the other, she had to use a Shadow Clone to bully genin during the Chunin Exam.
She would be working like a beast of burden and taking her own test, all while every shinobi from the four nations, from top to bottom, got neatly arranged by him.
"Fine."
Konome agreed anyway. She was going to participate in the Chunin Exam no matter what. Now it was merely a matter of doing one more job as the chief proctor.
It just meant that those two precious specimens, Hidan and Kakuzu, would have to be handed over to Yang Release Konome for study.
"There's one more thing!"
Hiruzen raised a finger. The deep worry that had been carved into the wrinkles around his eyes had faded away. Konome's existence had solved many of his problems. The seed he had planted five years ago had finally flowered.
"We originally planned to use Training Ground Zero for the second stage of the exam, but it can't accommodate a joint exam of this scale anymore. I need to borrow your Forest of Death."
At those words, Konome's expression grew awkward.
"The Forest of Death has been used for my ninjutsu experiments. It isn't a forest anymore."
"No forest?"
Hiruzen froze.
Ever since he had made the Forest of Death a forbidden zone, he had encircled it with massive earth walls and forbidden anyone from approaching it.
And because he had been afraid of seeing the sort of horrific experiments his disciple might be conducting there, he had deliberately avoided entering it himself.
At this moment, he genuinely had no idea what it looked like anymore.
Thinking back to the dark dead zone he had once glimpsed there, he felt he understood something.
"That's fine. A harsher environment can just count as increased difficulty for them."
That was far more than merely "a little harsher."
Konome did not quite know how to explain it to Hiruzen.
She had not only used that place for Reverse Eight Gates to absorb life force. She had also used it to test Yin-Yang Release, the many ninjutsu inscribed into her body, and the taijutsu she was developing.
The Forest of Death had now become an extremely complicated place.
Still, as an examination site, it was indeed more than sufficient.
"There shouldn't be anything else, right?"
Konome decided to ask directly. She was already doing the work of chief proctor, venue provider, and examinee all at once. If there was still more to do, then even the previous Hokage would have to step in.
"Heh, there is indeed one last thing."
Looking at the slight puffiness of his disciple's cheeks, Hiruzen smiled more and more kindly.
"The final stage of the exam will be watched by the Kage of the Five Great Nations, the daimyos, and many nobles. Remember to dress nicely. My disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple, is the most beautiful flower in Konoha, even setting talent and strength aside."
Konome blinked. She was not touched by the old man's words in the slightest.
"So in addition to slapping the faces of the four nations' shinobi, I also have to use my face to advertise Konoha?"
"Y-yes, yes…"
Hiruzen nodded rapidly like a pecking chick.
This child Konome was good in every way, except she spoke too directly and understood things far too quickly. She was especially hard to fool.
"Sensei, do we really need to care so much about those ordinary people?"
After having every bit of her strength and appearance exploited to the fullest, Konome finally asked the question that had long lingered in her heart.
The power structure of this world was very strange.
At the upper level, the daimyo controlled the economy, military, politics, and everything outside of the ninja system, while the Kage independently controlled the hidden villages as violent institutions. Their statuses were equal.
That was deeply bizarre.
Unless there was a still higher ruler above them both, how could the moneybag and the gun barrel be equals?
The basic social structure below was equally unnatural.
The shinobi, a superhuman group, had to serve ordinary people for money. When they met national nobles or daimyo, they even had to bow.
From the standpoint of status, even a jonin of the village was not much different from an ordinary person when facing a noble.
The shinobi possessed the greatest violence, yet they did not enjoy the status or wealth that should have matched that power.
No matter how one looked at it, that was unreasonable.
"Do you find it strange? Why is it that shinobi, who possess power, do not become rulers, but instead spend their lives running around for so-called missions?"
Although Konome's question had been extremely restrained, Hiruzen understood immediately what she meant.
He set down his pipe and looked straight into her eyes, which shone brightly.
"So I'm not the first person to ask this question."
Konome was no fool. Judging from Hiruzen's reaction alone, she could already tell there was a deeper truth hidden here.
"If any other shinobi asked me," Hiruzen said gravely, "I would tell them that shinobi do not understand economics or civil administration. If they ruled with only force, the country would become a complete mess, and the world would be plunged into war."
"That absolutely is not the real reason!"
Konome shook her head without the slightest hesitation.
"If a Kage can govern a hidden village, then governing a country is obviously possible. Even if they don't know how, that can be taught later. You could simply add those subjects to the Academy curriculum. There must be a deeper reason than that."
"Heh. As expected, you really are impossible to fool."
Hiruzen was deeply satisfied with this disciple of his.
At her age, he had still been a hot-blooded youth shouting about bonds and friendship. He had never even noticed the contradiction in the relationship between nobles and shinobi.
"Do you really want to hear the true reason? Once you know it, you may end up deeply disappointed in the Kage and in the village itself."
As he spoke, he looked at Konome. In his pupils, there seemed to be an unfathomably deep darkness.
"Between a cruel truth and a beautiful lie, I still prefer the former."
Konome immediately realized he was about to speak of some fundamental truth of the shinobi world, and her voice also became serious.
"Good."
Hiruzen nodded in approval, rose from his chair, and walked to the window. Sunlight fell across the wrinkles of his aged face, splitting his features into bands of light and shadow.
"In terms of ninjutsu, I no longer have anything left to teach you. So now, as your teacher, I will give you one final lesson.
Everything I am about to say comes from the Second Hokage. The entire present structure between village and country was likewise personally designed by the Second Hokage."
The Second Hokage!
Respect immediately surged in Konome's eyes.
The more deeply she studied the mysteries of ninjutsu, the more she could sense just how monstrously gifted that man had been. After all, her Reverse Eight Gates had been developed by standing upon that predecessor's shoulders.
"First of all, the most important thing for a shinobi is their amount of chakra, because it determines the upper limit of all their abilities. And chakra is composed of spiritual energy and physical energy.
Chakra volume is very difficult to increase, but it is extremely easy for it to decline.
The more one indulges in luxury and lets desire run free, the weaker both mind and body become, eventually causing chakra to decay. Only through constant training and battle can a shinobi preserve their combat power. Therefore, ruling a country brings no benefit at all to a shinobi."
Hiruzen laid out the truth.
If shinobi governed nations like daimyo and nobles, then their collective strength would inevitably decline. When that happened, they would become lambs waiting to be slaughtered by other countries.
"So you have been deliberately keeping the living standards of shinobi low!"
Konome finally understood.
Shinobi would grow weak if they indulged in comfort, so the Hokage deliberately kept the living conditions of lower-ranking shinobi suppressed, forcing them to run endlessly after mission payments, training and fighting day after day until they died.
And once a shinobi reached jonin level, monetary incentives were no longer enough. So power and rank had to be distributed instead, giving them stronger desires.
To put it simply, shinobi could never be allowed to lie flat.
"As expected of Konoha's number one genius!"
Hiruzen praised her sincerely. Whether it was ninjutsu or political methods, she always understood the principle the moment it was explained and effortlessly pierced straight to the heart of the matter.
Then he continued.
"Besides the decline in chakra caused by indulgence, shinobi also absolutely must remain separated from ordinary people.
Once shinobi intermarry with ordinary people, the quality of their descendants' chakra seeds will most likely deteriorate. If that continues for generations, the Land of Fire may no longer produce strong shinobi at all.
A thousand lower-rank shinobi are not worth a single jonin.
That is why the Second Hokage advised the First Hokage to establish hidden villages, separating shinobi from ordinary people in order to prevent the eventual degradation of shinobi bloodlines and chakra seeds."
Konome nodded in agreement.
Everything the Second Hokage had done was aimed at ensuring shinobi retained sufficient combat capability. It might not have been perfect, but it was unquestionably beneficial in the present and meritorious in the long run.
The fact that the other hidden villages had copied the model and established their own villages likely meant they too had seen its value.
Tap. Tap.
After explaining the relationship between nation and hidden village, Hiruzen suddenly turned and looked at Konome.
"What do you think the relationship is between the Kage and ordinary shinobi?"
"Ordinary shinobi struggle in pursuit of a better life, while the Kage's purpose is to prevent them from attaining that life, to keep their standard of living low so they will continue struggling forever."
Konome mercilessly tore aside the final veil.
"The Kage's position is completely bound to that of the state. No matter how approachable or kind they may seem, that cannot conceal their essence.
The Kage and the shinobi are still, in the end, ruler and ruled."
"Ruler… how direct."
Hiruzen did not refute her.
He merely looked down at the bustling crowd below the Hokage Building and said nothing, like a lonely old man.
But Konome had no intention of letting her teacher off so easily.
"The Second Hokage said that shinobi who indulge in comfort become weak, and I do not doubt that at all. But lowering the living standards of shinobi is not the only possible solution. So what he told you cannot have been the whole truth."
The look in Hiruzen's eyes changed. He turned to look at Konome, who was calmly continuing her analysis.
"As long as the living standards of shinobi are kept under control and they are isolated inside the village, then money, missions, and rules can be used to keep them tightly confined.
And then, so long as the daimyo provides enough money to the village, countless shinobi will willingly sell their lives for the Kage.
That is far subtler than trying to control shinobi through naked violence or power.
The daimyo and nobles control ordinary people, develop the economy, and use taxes to provide funds and resources to the hidden villages.
The Kage then use missions to extract wealth from the people and use that money to control the shinobi, making them constantly carry out missions, maintain their combat strength, and preserve national peace and stability.
And in turn, that peace and stability fosters prosperous commerce, making the daimyo and the Kage ever wealthier, while at the same time shifting the class contradiction between the Kage and shinobi away onto the daimyo, who becomes the perfect scapegoat…"
Seeing the shock in Hiruzen's eyes at having the truth laid bare, Konome could not help but smile.
"If shinobi were allowed to use their strength to slaughter and oppress ordinary people as they pleased, they would quickly discover something astonishing.
That it turns out they do not need to train desperately or complete missions at all in order to live in luxury.
The entire cycle you built would collapse instantly.
You were right.
The truth of the shinobi world really is cruel."
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