Equality and fairness. These are the ultimate goals humanity has chased since we crawled out of the caves, yet we have never found a single honest answer.
Decades ago, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha founded the Leaf, ostensibly to end the era of warring states. But Hashirama's naive idealism had merely transformed small-scale conflicts into global world wars.
The idea that people can truly understand one another and build a world of "True Peace" is a beautiful fairytale.
But can humans ever truly understand each other?
With the massive chasm between status, power, wealth, and poverty? It's a literal impossibility.
History suggests that a relatively fair and prosperous society might emerge, but only when all participants are on a somewhat equal biological playing field.
The ninja class destroyed that possibility. They were born from humanity, yet they possessed talents and powers that ordinary people could never match. This biological disparity was the ultimate wall to mutual understanding.
And the disparity wasn't just between ninja and civilians—it existed between the ninja themselves. The gap between a Genin and a Kage was the gap between an ant and a god.
Furthermore, a fair society requires the creation of value.
The ninja class didn't create value; they exploited it. Fundamentally, they were the "capitalist class" of this world, but with magical powers.
When the capitalists possess absolute, world-ending violence, expecting them to hand over "fairness" is a delusion.
You cannot ask a man with a gun to shoot himself for the sake of the collective.
Hashirama and Tobirama Senju had failed to understand their own class. They had betrayed their own power and entrusted everything to "friendship" and "trust." The betrayal and erasure of the Senju clan wasn't an accident; it was an inevitable consequence of their naivety.
This was how Saiki, with his modern perspective, viewed the history of the Shinobi World. Regarding the future—even setting aside the extraterrestrial threat of the Otsutsuki—the friction between ninja and civilians meant humanity was doomed to a cycle of collapse.
Class conflict isn't something that can be solved through "Willpower." The ninja era was a terminal illness.
The conflict was irreconcilable. The day ordinary human technology advanced enough to kill a ninja with a button-press, the age of the shinobi would end.
In the original timeline, by the time Naruto became Hokage, the friction between the tech-driven civilian world and the traditional ninja clans was already reaching a boiling point.
This was why Saiki viewed the "Will of Fire" and the "mutual understanding" of Hashirama and Naruto with cold, detached cynicism.
Dreams are nice, but even in a world with chakra, matter dictates consciousness, not the other way around.
Thus, Saiki's attitude toward the Konoha clans was simple: "Shut your mouths and do what I say. Don't test me, or you won't live long enough to regret it."
"Lady Tsunade!"
As the survivors emerged from the ruined forest, the observing ninja stepped forward, bowing their heads in submission.
Respect in this world was bought with blood. Two hundred elites were dead, yet Tsunade and Saiki were untouched. The clans looked at them with a new, terrifying brand of reverence.
Saiki watched the bowing ninja with zero emotion.
He knew their "respect" was a product of the massacre he had just committed, not genuine loyalty.
In the world of the shinobi, strength is the only currency. His current display of power was enough to keep them silent and submissive—for now.
Tsunade strode to the front, her gaze hard and focused.
After the events of tonight, she finally understood the necessity of absolute power.
Only by holding the reins could she protect her family and ensure the survival of the village she still, despite everything, loved.
In truth, she still didn't understand the depth of the game. Saiki intended to have a very long, very thorough "discussion" with her about politics later.
"Lady Tsunade, what are our orders?" one ninja asked.
Tsunade deliberated for a heartbeat. "We return to the Hokage Building. Summon every department head and clan patriarch currently in the village. We are holding an emergency summit immediately."
"And dispatch teams to recover the wounded and catalog the dead. Every family is to be notified."
Tsunade hadn't wanted Saiki to attend the meeting. After all, he was the one who had literally cut the heads off the previous administration.
But Saiki wasn't about to let her go alone.
By the time they reached the Hokage Building, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. The assembly was finally complete.
The delay was intentional. Every minor clan and civilian faction had been holding their own frantic sub-meetings, trying to figure out how to leverage the disaster. But the moment they entered the conference room and saw the boy standing behind Tsunade, they all turned into silent, shivering quails.
Saiki was the most striking figure in the room. His Sage chakra was simmering beneath the surface, looking like a faint white fire licking at his skin. The sheer weight of his aura was suffocating; it felt like a physical hand squeezing the lungs of everyone present.
Having cultivated Pre-natal Qi and mastered the path of Yin and Yang, Saiki had effectively evolved beyond the human species.
His presence triggered a primal, biological fear in the ninja. It was a confrontation with a higher predator.
Even the Uchiha elder, who had entered the room with his nose in the air ready to demand massive political concessions, caught Saiki's eye. Despite his three-tomoe Sharingan, the man felt his bladder weaken. He didn't utter a single word for the rest of the night.
The Hyuga, Uchiha, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka were all there. Even the remnants of the Sarutobi, Shimura, Mitokado, and Utatane clans had sent representatives—though they were clearly the "moderate" factions who hadn't joined the suicidal charge against Saiki.
In every clan, there are sub-factions. Hiruzen hadn't been able to satisfy everyone in his own family; some members had been exploited or sent to the front while the core favorites stayed home in luxury. These "lesser" branches were actually quite thankful that Saiki had cleared the way for them to take over.
Tsunade had initially objected to Saiki's "intimidation tactics," but after seeing how quickly the room became orderly and compliant, she decided she liked the results.
She looked at the assembly, her mind calculating the political landscape.
The meeting began. Tsunade officially announced the deaths of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Council. Without a pause for breath, she announced her candidacy for the position of Fifth Hokage.
The news triggered a massive ripple of murmurs, despite the fear.
"What? Lady Tsunade is claiming the seat?"
"So soon? Lord Hokage hasn't even been buried!"
"She's a legend, but... a woman as Hokage?"
Tsunade didn't get angry at the whispers.
She knew these were the standard, scripted reactions of the patriarchy.
She patiently explained her platform and her lineage, leveraging the chaos of the war to frame her takeover as a necessity for survival.
Saiki sat in the corner, his eyes slowly scanning every face in the room.
He wasn't listening to the words. He was reading the micro-expressions and the chakra fluctuations, identifying exactly who would need to be "pruned" if they tried to sabotage Tsunade's reign.
The meeting lasted for hours. Ultimately, under Tsunade's unwavering conviction and the silent, terrifying pressure of Saiki's glowing eyes, the assembly voted for her.
Konoha was in the middle of a world war. It couldn't afford a vacuum.
As the Senju Princess, granddaughter of the First and Second, and student of the Third, Tsunade was the only logical choice to prevent the village from folding like a house of cards.
The coup was complete. The Leaf had a Queen.