Chapter 137: A Lesson in Realpolitik
Kagenori felt a flicker of unease upon hearing the white snake's speculation that the White Sage was likely aware of Yahiko's presence in Ryuchi Cave. From what he knew of the legendary serpent, she was a being of immense power, profound cunning, and a notoriously capricious and malicious temperament. He had been prepared for the possibility of a forced reverse-summoning at any moment. If his situation had been less secure, he would never have risked storing Yahiko there.
The fact that the White Sage had apparently done nothing—allowing an unbonded human to remain within her domain—was puzzling. But with no immediate answers, he pushed the thought aside.
"Your service is noted," Kagenori said to the serpent. "I will not require you further for this task. Release him."
Yahiko was unceremoniously regurgitated onto the floor once more.
"Very well, Master Kagenori," the snake hissed. "Do not forget our arrangement. I shall return to Ryuchi Cave."
"I have not forgotten. You are dismissed."
With a final puff of smoke, the summoning creature vanished. Kagenori knelt beside Yahiko's prone form, his nose wrinkling in distaste at the slime and the faint, fishy odor clinging to the young man. He was about to check the condition of the abdominal wound when a hand shot up and clamped around his wrist with surprising strength.
Yahiko's eyes fluttered open, blinking away the grogginess before focusing on Kagenori with confusion. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice hoarse.
Kagenori released his grip on Yahiko's shirt with an air of detached indifference. "Nothing."
Yahiko pushed himself up on his elbows, looking around the sparse, unfamiliar room. "Where… where is this? Where is the divine messenger?"
Kagenori's eye twitched. So, he truly believed the gluttonous oaf of a snake was a messenger from the gods.
"That 'snake' was not a divine messenger," Kagenori stated flatly. "It is my summoning creature."
Yahiko's eyes widened in dawning horror. "Summoning… then that means…"
"Correct," Kagenori confirmed. "You are not dead."
The revelation seemed to snap a thread in Yahiko's mind. His gaze sharpened, locking onto Kagenori's face with sudden, fierce recognition. In the next instant, he swung a wild, desperate punch aimed at Kagenori's jaw.
Kagenori didn't even flinch. His hand came up, effortlessly catching the fist mid-air. With a simple, practiced motion, he twisted Yahiko's arm, forcing him back onto the floor and pinning him there.
Yahiko struggled futilely against the unbreakable hold, his voice a raw snarl of betrayal. "I know you! You were there! You stood beside Danzo!"
Kagenori sighed, the picture of exasperation. "A strange way to thank the man who saved your life."
"Saved me? You took me!" Yahiko spat back, his body trembling with rage and weakness.
"That white snake was right," Kagenori said, his tone laced with contempt. "You are a fool. What possible value do you hold for me as a captive? If I had not intervened, if I had not created that diversion and secreted your body away, Nagato and Konan would be corpses alongside the rest of your followers. Did you truly believe Hanzo would honor the word of a dead man? He never had any intention of letting any of you leave that canyon alive."
Yahiko went still, the fight draining out of him. "What… what are you talking about? What happened?"
Kagenori released him and stood, calmly recounting the events after Yahiko's dramatic suicide—the summoning of the Gedo Statue, Nagato's rampage, and his own controlled engagement that allowed the two survivors to escape.
Yahiko sat up slowly, clutching his head as if it might split open. "Why? Why would Hanzo do this? He… he also spoke of peace for the ninja world!"
Kagenori took a seat, observing the broken idealist with a clinical eye. "Because your Akatsuki organization threatened the interests of the powerful."
Yahiko looked up, his eyes clouded with genuine confusion. "Threatened their interests? But peace… peace is in the interest of everyone!"
A cold, derisive smile touched Kagenori's lips. "You lead an organization, yet you remain this naive? Yes, peace is a noble concept for the masses. But you fail to understand that the masses are ruled by the few. When you threaten the interests of that powerful few, you threaten the entire structure they control."
Seeing the persistent confusion, Kagenori broke it down with brutal simplicity. "Let's start with Hanzo, as he is the most straightforward. He wanted you dead because your very existence challenged his authority."
"But we never sought to rule!" Yahiko protested.
"Your intentions are irrelevant. Your actions had consequence. An organization, growing in strength and influence, operating independently within his village, recruiting ninjas who owed him allegiance… in Hanzo's eyes, that is a rebellion in the making. It is something no ruler can tolerate. The fact he didn't crush you the moment you gained prominence speaks more to his initial overconfidence than his benevolence."
Yahiko fell silent, the truth of the words striking him like physical blows.
"Now, for Konoha," Kagenori continued, his voice like shards of ice. "This war has dragged on for years. The great nations are bleeding, and no single village has emerged a clear victor. You know why it started, don't you? Konoha's prosperity made it a target. Iwa and Kumo saw weakness and moved to claim a piece of it."
He leaned forward slightly. "But the tide has turned. Konoha has stabilized its frontlines. After suffering such losses, do you think my village is content to simply end the war? No. They must secure tangible gains to recoup their investment in blood and resources. Your Akatsuki, preaching peace and brokering ceasefires, was an unpredictable variable in their calculus. A threat to their potential profits. Therefore, you had to be removed."
Kagenori took a sip of water, letting the grim logic settle in the room. "Let me be perfectly clear, Yahiko. Even if it hadn't been Konoha, your peace initiative would have failed. Iwagakure, one of the primary aggressors, would never agree to peace without achieving its objectives. And with the Third Kazekage's mysterious disappearance, if you had suddenly appeared pushing for talks, Sunagakure itself would likely accuse you of his assassination, using it as a pretext to destroy you. No matter the angle, the moment your Akatsuki sought to impose its vision of peace upon the warring nations, you signed your own death warrant."
Yahiko sat in stunned silence, his world view lying in shattered pieces around him. He had believed, with all his heart, that if people could just talk, could see the shared suffering, peace was inevitable. He thought no one truly wanted war. But Kagenori's cold, ruthless dissection of power politics revealed a terrifying truth: his dream was not just naive; it was a direct threat to the very structures that perpetuated the cycle of violence, ensuring its own destruction.
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