The funeral ceremony for The late Feudal Lord was held a few days later. As the ruler who brought the Land of Fire to its current state, the respect shown after his death was naturally high. Whether it was his posthumous title or the specifications of his tomb, they were all of the highest order. As the ruler of a nation, being able to reach this point could be considered dying without regrets.
Although Fūmori Masaki and the others could not directly attend the funeral ceremony of The late Feudal Lord, as subjects of the nation, they still had to express their condolences elsewhere, joining the Abbot in participating.
After the Feudal Lord's funeral ceremony ended, the capital did not settle down. Small and large matters occurred one after another. From the edicts issued by the New Ruler, Fūmori Masaki vaguely sensed the grand ambitions in this New Ruler's heart.
The New Ruler's father was too outstanding. As a son, one would naturally feel pressure in front of such a father. If he did not want to live a repressed life under his father's shadow, the only way was to achieve results even more outstanding than his father's.
Fūmori Masaki had already smelled the scent of impending war. Most nations now still maintained a mindset of further expansion, and this was not something Hashirama could stop just because he wanted to. After all, Ninjas were merely subordinates of the Feudal Lord. Given the relationship between Hashirama and The late Feudal Lord, stability might have been maintained, but the New Ruler was different.
As the saying goes, 'A new emperor brings a new court.' There was naturally a reason behind this. There was no bond of shared struggle between Hashirama and the New Ruler. Rather, the two were merely familiar strangers. It was likely that few people could treat Hashirama the same way his own father had.
Fūmori Masaki heard from the Abbot that the New Ruler treated Hashirama and Tobirama with great courtesy, but he did not believe the New Ruler would regard Hashirama and Tobirama as his confidants. The current New Ruler was just a young man in his early twenties, while Hashirama and Tobirama were in their forties and were old retainers who had followed the New Ruler's father in conquering the world.
According to the historical experience Fūmori Masaki had gained in another world, when facing such elders who were also leaders of the nation's important military forces, a young heir would certainly feel uneasy in his heart, worrying about the difficulty of controlling them. If he were a person of skill, it would be fine; at least they wouldn't directly tear off the mask. The fear was that the other party might be an idiot, making it impossible for both sides to back down.
Fortunately, it could be seen from the New Ruler's current actions that he was not an idiot. He knew how to get along with Konohagakure. However, it was unlikely that Konohagakure would be able to gain the same level of full trust as it had during the era of The late Feudal Lord.
After the personnel changes and some affairs in the capital were handled, Hashirama and Tobirama were about to return to the Temple of Fire to meet with their disciples. Under the protection of Fūmori Masaki and the others, the new and old generations of Hokage returned to Konohagakure.
Although they had been away for quite some time, Konohagakure was still very peaceful. The Police Force and Anbu formed the Village's defense system, making the Village increasingly stable. After ten years of construction, Konohagakure had finally gotten on the right track. The Ninja Village system had gradually stabilized, and the clans had begun to be gradually incorporated into the Ninja Village's control.
Tobirama was very satisfied with this situation. He started new planning and construction without stopping. Just as Fūmori Masaki had thought, Tobirama realized the New Ruler's intentions. As a Ninja Village employed by the nation, it was only natural to become a sharp sword in the Feudal Lord's hand, so he had to make preparations early.
Even so, Tobirama believed that war would not break out so soon. Nations still needed to make preparations. The New Ruler had just ascended the throne, and there were still some domestic affairs to handle; war was not an urgent need. Furthermore, other countries had been relieved of a large sum of money by Tobirama, and they would need time to replenish their funds.
Although the Land of Wind had obtained a large amount of wealth and land, the land of the Land of Wind was barren. Even if they obtained these, it would not be that fast to convert them into power. Therefore, Tobirama did not think they would start a war immediately. There was plenty of preparation time left for him. He hoped that this preparation time could last until after Hashirama passed away; at the very least, he did not want his older brother to see the outbreak of war.
In order to ensure information about other countries, Tobirama began to send Anbu to various countries to collect intelligence, ready to make first-hand preparations at any time. Unexpectedly, before news of war could arrive, bad news from other Ninja Villages arrived first.
First was the Land of Wind. The First Kazekage, who had devoted his life to the nation, died due to the recurrence of old injuries. Shamon, the guard who had participated in the Five Kage Summit with him, inherited the position of Second Kazekage.
Subsequently, in the Land of Water and the Land of Earth, the First Mizukage and First Tsuchikage passed away one after another. The head of the Hozuki Clan, Hōzuki Gengetsu, and the guard of the First Tsuchikage, Second Tsuchikage Mu, inherited the positions of Kage.
In a short period of time, four of the first generation of Kage who had held the Five Kage Summit together had changed positions. Excluding Hashirama, who was recuperating, three had already passed away.
Fūmori Masaki was taken aback by such a fast speed of succession. But after thinking about it carefully, he felt it was not that inconceivable. In the Sengoku era, the average lifespan of a Ninja was no more than thirty. Even if they survived, they would accumulate countless hidden injuries in their bodies during years of fighting. It was normal for these to suddenly erupt at any time—this was not the Ninja Village era with a buffer period of ten or even twenty years. The Sengoku era was basically spent in constant fighting every day.
Of the three who died, except for the First Kazekage who was relatively young, the other two were quite old, so sudden death was normal. And considering the environment of the Land of Wind that the First Kazekage faced, the recurrence of old injuries seemed very normal.
Now only the First Raikage remained in his position, but it looked like he wouldn't live long either. Fūmori Masaki remembered that in the late stages of the First Great Ninja War, the Land of Lightning had already replaced him with the Second Raikage.
This was really not a good signal. Fūmori Masaki recalled the information about those three people. Once a new leader took office, it meant that the Village's policies were about to change. After recalling the information about those three, Fūmori Masaki felt even more that this war was likely really about to come.
The Second Kazekage, Shamon, was like Tobirama, a leader adept at construction. Whether it was the Puppet Technique or the Secret Technique of utilizing sand, they appeared in his hands. And the policy of Sunagakure had shifted from ensuring resources to enhancing military power, which was undoubtedly preparing for war.
The Second Tsuchikage Mu was called a wise general, exercising the duties of a Kage with a rational way of thinking. During the Fourth Ninja World War, he specifically reminded the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki that after the alliance's victory, as the victors, they should ensure the interests of their own Ninja Village. This showed that he regarded the Village's interests as everything—of course, he also hoped that the Ninja Villages could establish a true peaceful relationship, but the rational Mu would inevitably use realistic means to achieve it.
And the Second Mizukage was even more troublesome than the other two guys. Hōzuki Gengetsu was a battle maniac who loved war. If a war were truly to be provoked, this person would inevitably be the first to get involved.
And the First Raikage would not be much better. Due to environmental reasons, people in the Land of Lightning were generally warlike and very aggressive, even raising war maniacs like Kinkaku and Ginkaku. Even in the peaceful environment of later generations, the Land of Lightning had not stopped its pace of plundering Secret Techniques, making other countries very nervous. Under the situation of national armament reduction, the Third Tsuchikage had to hire Akatsuki to maintain national interests, which resulted in the secret growth of Akatsuki.
Fūmori Masaki broke into a cold sweat. By this calculation, only Konohagakure on the continent was still holding onto the idea of delaying the time of war, while other Ninja Villages were starting to prepare for war. He must remind Tobirama. Although Tobirama was also preparing now, in Tobirama's thinking, other countries would not start a war so quickly, so the speed of preparation was far from being as fast as other countries.
Under normal circumstances, even if the militant faction rose to power, they should not start a war so quickly. After all, war requires preparation time, but reality is often very bizarre. The reasons for this were likely very complex, and Fūmori Masaki could not sort them out for a moment, but he knew that war would break out soon.
Fūmori Masaki pondered for a long time and prepared to write a proposal to Tobirama, analyzing the current situation on the continent and letting the Village prepare early to cope with the war.