"Wait a minute! Namikaze Kirito!"
Samui's voice cut through the tension.
In that moment, instead of panicking, she calmed down. She drew in a slow breath, lifted her head, and met Namikaze Kirito's gaze head-on, her clear eyes unwavering.
Then, as if she had finally made up her mind, she spoke, enunciating every word.
"I'll stay with you… so please let them go."
For a heartbeat, the room froze.
Before Namikaze Kirito could even open his mouth, the Cloud shinobi exploded in outrage.
Samui—with her cool beauty and perfectly proportioned, hourglass-like figure—was the idol of Kumogakure. There was no shortage of shinobi who admired or pursued her.
And now she was offering herself up… to save them?
That was something they absolutely could not accept.
"Lady Samui, I won't allow this! Let us die instead!"
"That's right! We are shinobi of the Hidden Cloud! We will face death with honor before we ever accept humiliation! Lady Samui, please—you must leave!"
"Namikaze Kirito! What are you waiting for? Stop hesitating and kill us already!"
Namikaze Kirito looked at Samui with open interest.
In truth, the only reason he had bothered talking this much was because, in many ways, Samui vaguely reminded him of Tsunade—his own woman. Her build, her presence, even that resolute look in her eyes.
Otherwise, he would have slaughtered them all from the very beginning.
And yet this woman was actually prepared to sacrifice herself… for the sake of her comrades?
"What a noble choice," he said lightly. "But… I refuse."
A flash of red flickered in Namikaze Kirito's eyes.
His hands clenched into fists.
Crack.
The wooden vines tightened all at once.
The Cloud shinobi didn't even have time to scream. In the next instant, the crushing pressure reduced every one of them to mangled flesh and shattered bone. It was as if a rain of blood had suddenly fallen inside the Hokage's office.
Samui could only stare, stunned, at the gruesome scene before her.
Her usually calm, cold expression crumbled into pure despair.
She had never imagined that after everything she had said, after bringing herself this low… the man before her would still kill them without a second thought.
"Namikaze Kirito! You devil!"
Samui gritted her teeth, glaring at him with raw hatred, murderous intent burning so fiercely in her eyes it felt like it could tear him apart.
"Thanks for the compliment," Namikaze Kirito replied casually. "So, what now? Are you planning to crawl back to the Raikage and report everything… or stay here and have dinner with me?"
He spoke lazily, as if they were discussing something as trivial as the weather. The blood that still dripped from the ceiling and walls never touched him—every droplet was repelled and scattered away by an invisible shockwave the moment it drew near.
"Damn you!"
Samui snatched up the short sword lying on the ground and charged at him as if something inside her had completely snapped.
Boom!
Her charge was cut short by a single whip kick that drove straight into her lower abdomen.
The impact folded her body around his leg before flinging her backward.
She crashed into the cabinet by the wall, splintering it to pieces.
"Cough… cough…"
Samui slumped to the floor, coughing up blood. She forced her head up, golden eyes still fixed stubbornly on Namikaze Kirito.
"Are you… going to trample all over the resolve your comrades showed you…?"
"Shut up!" Samui rasped, nails digging into the floorboards. "Namikaze Kirito, someone like you—someone this twisted—has no right to talk about comrades! Sooner or later… you'll be judged by justice!"
"Justice?" Namikaze Kirito repeated, almost amused. "How naïve and pathetic."
He shook his head, tone edged with bored disappointment.
"You stand on the losing side, so you automatically claim to be justice?"
He looked down at her.
"You came to Konoha to threaten us and squeeze out benefits. And yet you still talk like you're in the right. Tell me—what's the difference between you and me?"
"If I kill you, that makes me evil. But you pressuring Konoha somehow makes you the embodiment of justice?"
"That's right!" Samui shot back hoarsely. "You destroyed the entire Amegakure just to get the leader of the Akatsuki organization! Isn't that evil enough for you?!"
"The villagers of Amegakure were relocated long before that," Namikaze Kirito replied calmly.
"They've already been accepted into Konoha. Compared to living in a war-torn, rain-soaked country, isn't the environment here far better?"
He took a step forward, then another, until he was standing right in front of her.
"As long as the shinobi world is unified, there will be no more wars."
Namikaze Kirito pulled a chair over and sat down in front of Samui, as if they were simply having a quiet conversation.
"And as long as you follow me," he continued, "I'll guide you to an absolute ideal land. A world without pointless conflict. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Unification of the shinobi world…"
Samui's voice trembled.
Her heart felt like it had been plunged into ice.
So that was it.
Even if Kumogakure hadn't come here to provoke Konoha, for the sake of his ambition to unify the world, this man would have eventually started a war anyway.
And now, by coming here and demanding Konoha hand over one of their own, the Hidden Cloud had practically delivered the perfect justification to his doorstep.
Their dead comrades?
They would simply be branded as criminals who had launched a reckless, unauthorized assault on Konoha shinobi.
Whether the other villages believed that or not didn't matter.
What mattered… was that Konoha now had a righteous excuse to start a war.
"From the look on your face," Namikaze Kirito said, watching her, "I'm guessing you're not interested in staying for dinner."
He rose from his seat.
"In any case, you can go back and tell the Raikage this—"
His eyes narrowed.
"We'll be seeing each other again soon… on the ruins of Kumogakure."
Samui understood everything now.
Her breathing steadied.
She pushed herself to her feet, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, and turned without another word.
Then she opened the door and walked out of the Hokage building.
Namikaze Kirito moved to the window, watching her silhouette grow smaller as she left, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his lips.
After a moment, he turned and headed toward the conference room inside the Hokage building.
The place was already packed.
The Legendary Sannin.
The Uchiha clan.
The Hyūga clan.
Ino–Shika–Chō.
The Inuzuka clan.
Representatives of all the major clans and factions within Konoha.
Even the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was seated there.
"Leader."
Orochimaru was the first to speak when Namikaze Kirito entered, his tone respectful as he stepped back to stand behind him.
Namikaze Kirito walked to the front and swept his gaze over everyone.
"Everyone," he began, "there is only one reason I called you here today."
"We are going to start the Fourth Great Ninja War."
The moment those words left his mouth, the room erupted.
Even though most of them had already been briefed beforehand, hearing the declaration out loud, at this moment, still sent a wave of complicated emotions through their hearts.
"Wh-what…?!"
"So it's really happening…"
"Are we really going to wage war against the entire shinobi world?"
"Isn't this too soon…?"
"What's 'too soon' about it? If you ask me, this should've been done ages ago! If it weren't for that old man Sarutobi Hiruzen constantly compromising, we might have unified the shinobi world already!"
"For the sake of so-called peace, we swallowed humiliation for years. It's about time the rest of the world paid the price!"
Namikaze Minato stepped forward until he was standing beside his son. There was a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
The last thing he ever wanted was war.
But he could also see that Namikaze Kirito had already made up his mind.
"Kirito," Minato said quietly, "have you really thought this through? Once this war begins, there may be no turning back."
"Don't worry, Father. I know what I'm doing."
Namikaze Kirito nodded.
Leaving aside his current strength, once war broke out in full, the situation was already stacked in Konoha's favor.
When Sunagakure faced Konoha on the battlefield, he still had the hidden trump cards of the Gensokyo Organization. On top of that, he had already reached an agreement with Terumi Mei of Kirigakure.
In other words, the only true enemies they would have to directly confront were Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
With just those two villages standing against them, even if Namikaze Kirito never personally lifted a hand, Konoha—backed by such overwhelming power—could swiftly bring the war to a crushing conclusion.
Tsunade approached next.
Normally, she carried herself like a proud, domineering sensei.
Unlike Kurenai's gentle softness, Tsunade was bold and fiery, sharp-tongued and straightforward.
But when she heard that Namikaze Kirito was truly going to start the Fourth Great Ninja War, she didn't try to talk him out of it.
Instead, she simply moved to stand behind him.
Her slender, pale fingers reached out and gently laced around his hand, her soft grip tightening just enough to let him feel the warmth there.
She didn't say a word.
Her actions alone made everything clear—no matter what path he chose, she would stand by him.
Off to the side, Kurenai watched the scene quietly.
Not a trace of jealousy crossed her face.
After all this time, she had already noticed the bond between Tsunade and Namikaze Kirito.
And Tsunade… had long since noticed her feelings as well.
The two women understood each other perfectly.
They had simply never voiced it out loud.
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