Naruto: Unremarkable Ninjustu
Throughout the ninja world, more than fifty large-scale conflicts have erupted across the ages. The rights and wrongs of these battles are often impossible to judge, yet historians agree on one thing: it was upon these ancient fields that the rise and fall of countless shinobi clans were decided. Thus came the age-old saying—“The victor becomes the king, the loser the villain.”
Back then, the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, led the forces of the Senju clan and the newly founded Konoha. Together with the Land of Fire, he marched across the nations, bringing an end to the chaos of the Warring States Period. Through diplomatic pressure, overwhelming strength, and battles against the mightiest clans—including the Uchiha—Hashirama suppressed the major powers and paved the way for peace. After the formation of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the remaining clans and nations, realizing the tide had turned, followed suit and submitted one after another.
Thirty years ago, I myself set out from Konoha, stepping into the turmoil of the Second Shinobi World War. With techniques that seemed ordinary on the surface, I defeated every enemy who stood before me. Everywhere I went, civilians greeted me with gratitude and hope. I truly possessed the advantage of timing and destiny. That era of fiery conflict and flourishing ambition remains vivid in my memory.
So I cannot understand why people today speak of Uchiha Madara’s fall at the Valley of the End as if that place is an omen of inevitable ruin—as though the fate of all shinobi must be sealed there.
Has this battlefield, in just thirty years, truly become my final resting place?
No matter how one looks at it, our combined forces number between eighty and a hundred thousand shinobi—clearly the advantage is on our side!
—Excerpt from the speech of the legendary shinobi Yu Zhen, delivered before the outbreak of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
A notorious “old immortal,” feared and respected as a shinobi among shinobi, a destroyer of kidneys, and long-time recipient of a lifetime stipend from the Konoha Elder Council.
