Chapter 535: The Post-War Calm
While Kakashi was worrying about Konoha's future, Kumo was licking its wounds.
In this war, not only had the Fourth Raikage died, but Kumo's secret weapon, the Chakra Cannon, had also been exposed. Even the 100-man Sage Art combat squad, built through immense sacrifice, was completely wiped out.
It was important to remember that Kumo didn't have a safe Sage Art training method like Iwagakure's. Behind every single Sage Art ninja Kumo successfully trained, there were several, or even a dozen, other Kumo ninja who had died from nature energy spiraling out of control.
Decades of hard work, gone in an instant. Kumo had suddenly lost all confidence to challenge Iwa's hegemony.
When the Kumo army returned to the village in disgrace, Killer B immediately convened an emergency high-level meeting.
The Kumo leadership's first decision was to have Darui succeed the Raikage title. Next, they fully recalled all their forces, assuming a strictly defensive posture. Kumo planned to close its gates and wait for Iwa's negotiators to arrive.
In the past, Iwa had taken their pound of flesh from Konoha many times but had hardly ever gotten any major benefits from Kumo.
This time, however, the Fifth Raikage, Darui, knew that Kumo would have to pay an enormous price.
...
A few days later, the reports of Iwa's two armies' losses and gains were fully tallied. Furthermore, Ōnoki, Akino Atsumi, and the others had finally recovered after a few days of rest.
Thus, Ishiro invited representatives from Kiri and Konoha to the Land of Earth to discuss how to gracefully end the conflict.
Ishiro did not invite Kumo to these talks. Putting Kumo and Konoha together would only bolster their confidence, which would be detrimental to his profiteering.
As the initiator of the talks, Ishiro personally participated and laid out a series of demands.
First, Ishiro proposed that the cause of the conflict was a rebellion in Konoha, where a rebel faction led by Kakashi had usurped the title. Therefore, Kakashi must abdicate, and all Konoha ninja involved in the rebellion must be sanctioned.
Konoha naturally refused such unreasonable demands. After half a day of wrangling, Ishiro made a concession.
Kakashi and the others could be spared, but the title of "Hokage" must be returned to Danzō.
Kakashi could continue as Konoha's leader, but he could not act under the name of Hokage. He could call himself whatever he wanted. "Wood Shadow," "Leaf Shadow," "Forest Shadow"—all were fine. If he really wasn't satisfied, he could even be called "Kak-dono."
In short, Iwa would not recognize the so-called "Seventh Hokage." Furthermore, Ishiro demanded that the carvings of five Hokage on the Hokage Rock be turned over to Danzō.
The reason was five, naturally, because the Third was on Kakashi's side, so his didn't count. The remaining First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Danzō (the Sixth) himself, made five.
Konoha still disagreed, but this time Ishiro wouldn't back down so easily.
Helpless, the Konoha representative had no choice but to agree to many of Ishiro's other conditions.
For example, Konoha would bear the full cost of Iwa's mobilization of two armies, as well as the full pensions for all Iwa ninja killed in action.
Konoha also had to pay Iwagakure a sum of enormous war reparations.
Additionally, Ishiro proposed ceding a piece of land from the Land of Fire, but he was refused.
Ishiro didn't stop there. He played his trump card.
His trump card wasn't the threat of war; Iwa was already doing that. His trump card was Danzō. He couldn't get Danzō himself, but he brought Danzō's most trusted subordinate, the Root member code-named "Kō."
This Kō had been newly selected after Danzō removed the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal from Kakashi, and he was now Danzō's strongest subordinate.
Seeing a Root ninja appear, one who produced an order personally signed by the "Sixth Hokage," the Konoha representative had to concede.
There was no choice. If Ishiro truly allied with Danzō and used him to interfere in Konoha's internal affairs, Konoha stood to lose even more.
The Konoha representative stated that Konoha was willing to cede a portion of the Land of Fire, specifically territory in the southwestern region, adjacent to a piece of land Iwa already held. That land had originally been seized from Konoha by Suna, and Iwa had later taken it from Suna.
The land wasn't large, and since it was an exclave for Iwa, Ishiro had only established a temporary camp there, rotating troops to collect taxes.
Now, Konoha was offering to cede the land bordering this exclave.
Ishiro knew this wasn't an impromptu decision; the representative must have been authorized by Kakashi and the high command before he arrived.
Ishiro thought for a moment and didn't object. Any land from the Land of Fire was good. An exclave? So be it. Who cared!
He could build a teleportation array there. If war ever broke out, it could serve as a second front.
Of course, in exchange for this territory—roughly half the size of the Land of Waterfalls—Ishiro had to officially recognize Kakashi's status as the Seventh Hokage.
As for Danzō, the representative stated that Konoha was willing to appoint him as the Head of the Land of Wind Branch. How Konoha dealt with Danzō afterward was an internal affair, and Iwa could not interfere.
Ishiro happily agreed. As for the promise he'd made to Danzō (to preserve his Hokage title) in exchange for the Four Red Yang Formation, he conveniently forgot it in the face of territory half the size of the Land of Waterfalls.
Of course, Ishiro didn't completely abandon his ally. He declared that Danzō and Kakashi had a "misunderstanding" that required mediation. He, Ishiro, was willing to step in and urged both sides to "exercise restraint and calm down for a year."
The Konoha representative refused. In the end, they agreed that Konoha and Danzō would not attack each other for two months. After two months, Iwa would not interfere, no matter what happened.
Ishiro felt that securing a two-month recovery period for Danzō was well worth the price of the Four Red Yang Formation scroll.
After two months, whether Konoha decisively killed Danzō, or merely reclaimed his numerous Root members, or whether Danzō made a strong counter-play, held onto his Land of Wind branch, or even counter-attacked Konoha—none of it had anything to do with Ishiro.
If Konoha and Danzō truly crippled each other and an opportunity arose, Ishiro could, naturally, tear up the treaty.
After reaching an agreement with Konoha, Ishiro ditched the Kiri representative and led his army back to Iwagakure.
He left the Kiri representative completely flabbergasted. Weren't you supposed to talk first, and we'd back you up? Then after you finished, we'd talk, and you'd threaten Konoha for us? Everything was going fine, so why did you just leave? With Iwa gone, how are we supposed to get any benefits from Konoha?
The Kiri representative felt their entire trip was a waste, and Kiri's military mobilization had been for nothing.
In the end, it wasn't a total waste. The Konoha representative had come with one of Kakashi's priorities: reach an agreement as quickly as possible.
With no Kage guarding the village, Kakashi couldn't sleep soundly. He could endure it for a day or two, but any longer and he'd have dark circles.
It didn't matter if they took a small loss; they just needed to get rid of Iwa and Kiri.
So, in the interest of dispatching Kiri quickly, the Konoha representative gave them a token amount for military expenses.
Konoha and Kiri parted on bad terms. They hastily signed the treaty and returned to their respective camps.
After receiving the treaties, the leadership of both Konoha and Kiri, though dissatisfied, officially withdrew their armies.
With that, all parties involved in the conflict had finally stood down. The situation in the shinobi world calmed down once more.
...
Meanwhile, Ishiro re-stationed the Iwa army back at its various branches and then "warmly invited" Kumo to Iwagakure to discuss a peace treaty.
The negotiation with Kumo didn't have so many twists and turns.
Ishiro didn't personally attend this time. He sent a hothead who, at the slightest disagreement, would threaten war, and whose only negotiating tactic was to declare, "My Iwagakure has eleven Kage!"
In the end, Kumo ceded a portion of the research technology Ishiro had long coveted. They also agreed to bear the military costs of both of Iwa's armies in the conflict, as well as the pensions for all of Iwa's fallen.
That's right. Ishiro got military funds and pensions from Konoha, and then he got them again from Kumo.
On top of that, Kumo, just like Konoha, had to pay a massive sum in war reparations.
If not for the poor geography and infertile soil of the Land of Lightning, Ishiro would have demanded territory from them, too.
After receiving the reparations from Konoha and Kumo, Ishiro sent word to the Land of Earth's Daimyō, informing him that he had "conquered" new territory. Though this land was far from the Land of Earth, it was incredibly fertile and resource-rich.
Thrilled, the Daimyō allocated another large sum of military funds to Iwagakure.
...
After handling the two negotiations, Ishiro returned to his pre-war life of secluded training.
Although there were still many matters to attend to, Ishiro was at a critical point in fusing his Light Release and didn't want to be delayed by trivial matters.
He had met Naruto-kun in this war. The "savior" was already this old, and Ishiro didn't know how the future of the shinobi world would unfold.
Fusing Light Release and then officially beginning his training to fuse all five natures was the proper path.
And so, Ishiro dropped all the纷扰 (troubles/commotion) of the shinobi world and went into seclusion again.
During his seclusion, the shinobi world, while not as chaotic as when he was active, was not at peace.
The most obvious change was Kiri's new stance.
The many deep cooperation projects between Iwa and Kiri were gradually suspended. The student exchange programs between their academies were also canceled, and the students were recalled.
Along the Land of Hot Water's coastline, the once-frequent merchant ships from the Land of Water became scarce.
Conversely, contact between the Land of Water, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Lightning increased significantly.
Outsiders didn't know if the three had formally allied, but any discerning eye could see that the shinobi world's power balance had been reshuffled once again.
The previous era of Iwa and Kiri jointly suppressing Konoha and Kumo was over.
A new situation was forming: Iwa alone against a three-village alliance of Konoha, Kiri, and Kumo.
...
During Ishiro's seclusion, Iwagakure was busy. Shinya Matsutani-kun took Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi to the Land of Snow.
Whether the nature energy under the Rainbow Ice Wall could actually help the two restore their dōjutsu was still unknown. It would take time to see. Shinya-kun was the professional in nature energy and Sage Art, and with him overseeing it, Ishiro was comfortable letting Sōkai and Izumi experiment.
Iwa had acquired a lot of good things from Kumo this time.
The flight tools Ishiro had snatched, and the technology for various products acquired at the negotiating table, all required Iwa to invest manpower in research.
To this end, Bella and the others established a dedicated R&D department. The only problem was that Iwa severely lacked the relevant technical personnel.
In the end, Bella simply issued a mission, "inviting" a group of puppet masters from Sunagakure to come and assist with the research.
Suna, currently without a single Kage, had to swallow their anger and agree to Iwa's unreasonable demand.
Additionally, Iwa had to establish a new branch in the southwestern Land of Fire.
This branch was far from Iwa's sphere of influence, and its construction was fraught with problems, causing many headaches for Ōnoki and the others. And since it was an exclave, the decision of how large to build the branch also required careful consideration.
...
While Iwa was busy digesting its spoils of war, the other villages weren't idle.
Kumo began to secretly search for the Two-Tails. After Yugito's death, the Bijuu had dissipated, and Kumo had not yet recovered it.
At the same time, with their hundred Sage Art ninja dead, Darui ordered a new round of Sage Art training to begin.
Furthermore, feedback from the front lines indicated the Chakra Cannon was effective. Darui planned to ramp up research on it and continue developing new ninja tools.
Finally, the flight tools still needed many improvements, and Kumo's tech division had to work overtime to catch up.
Kirigakure, under Genshi's arrangement, began actively contacting Konoha and Kumo, gradually starting to act as the leader of a three-way alliance.
On the surface, not much was happening, but a lot was moving in the shadows.
Kiri began to lead the three-way discussion on how to deal with Iwagakure.
Genshi's thinking was thorough: Kiri was developing countermeasures for every single one of Iwa's Kage-level shinobi.
...
The village most affected by the war was Konoha.
Setting aside the land and reparations, the Danzō problem alone was a huge headache for Kakashi and the others.
After his in-depth conversation with Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi had promised that upon returning to the village, he would take Sasuke as his disciple and do his best to train him.
This was both to thank Itachi for his support during the war and, more importantly, to win over Itachi. Konoha's situation was not good, and Kakashi didn't want to completely lose such a powerful external ally.
Kakashi kept his word. After Itachi returned to Akatsuki, Kakashi, having just returned to the village, publicly took Sasuke as his disciple.
Kakashi had heard of Sasuke's genius. Although he wasn't on the level of Shisui or Itachi, he was still a cut above his peers. Plus, Sasuke had received specialized training from Danzō and Root, so his fundamentals were excellent.
However, after testing Sasuke's abilities, Kakashi found it strange. Sasuke's primary affinity was clearly Lightning Release, so why had Danzō only taught him Fire Release?
Kakashi decided to develop this talent.
But Kakashi publicly taking Sasuke as a disciple caused quite a stir in Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was the first to discreetly tell Kakashi that Uchiha couldn't be trusted, and that he should reconsider.
The Nara, Hyūga, and other clans also expressed their dissatisfaction.
They had all played a part in the Uchiha's destruction. Now that Kakashi was training Sasuke, what if Sasuke learned the truth when he was older and sought revenge?
Uchiha weren't known for being magnanimous, and judging by the constant sullen look on Sasuke's face, he didn't seem the forgiving type.
Although Itachi had taken the blame for the massacre, too many people knew the truth. No one could guarantee it wouldn't be leaked to Sasuke.
The more of a genius Sasuke appeared to be, the more uncomfortable they became. The way they looked at Sasuke was becoming similar to how Danzō once had.
More importantly, Kakashi wasn't just guiding Sasuke; he had publicly taken him as a disciple.
In Konoha, this was equivalent to giving Sasuke a place in the "Hokage's lineage."
When Sasuke grew up, he would be eligible to compete for the title of Eighth Hokage.
This was especially true if Kakashi only took one disciple. What if he took no others? Wouldn't that mean Sasuke was the only one who could inherit the title by Konoha's tradition?
It was terrifying. An Uchiha becoming Hokage—an Uchiha who had a blood feud with all of them. The thought alone made them lose sleep.
Thus, the various clans, and even many in the ANBU, openly and privately tried to persuade Kakashi, some even applying direct pressure.
Kakashi had already promised Itachi, so he couldn't go back on his word. But he also couldn't ignore these voices. These people represented more than half of Konoha's upper echelon.
So, Kakashi told them that he would take more disciples. If any of their clans had outstanding children, he would consider taking them on as well once they graduated from the Academy.
Seeing Kakashi compromise, the clans backed off slightly. At the same time, they ramped up the training for their own heirs. This was a rare chance for the main clans to have a child taken into the Hokage's lineage, and they couldn't waste it.
...
With Sasuke receiving Kakashi's guidance several years earlier than in the original story, Naruto's path naturally changed as well.
Naruto had directly influenced the outcome of a top-tier battle and had rendered great service. Upon his return, he received a reward from the village.
With a large sum of money, Naruto entered a high-end shopping district he had never been to before. He browsed ninja tool shops and bookstores for shinobi.
And then, somehow, Naruto stumbled upon a scroll that recorded the Summoning Jutsu.
Knowing nothing, Naruto, just like a young Jiraiya, performed the jutsu without having signed a contract.
He was immediately reverse-summoned to Mount Myōboku.
Naruto's sudden disappearance instantly alerted Kakashi.
Kakashi personally went to the bookstore, holding the scroll, and questioned the owner. The owner told him he couldn't remember where it came from.
Kakashi reported this to Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen told Kakashi not to worry and recounted the story of Jiraiya's own reckless act.
Afterward, the two of them, along with a group of ANBU, waited at the bookstore.
A day later, Naruto returned. He had signed the toad contract, been told by Fukasaku and Shima that he was the "Child of Prophecy," and had eaten several large meals.
When Kakashi and Hiruzen saw him return, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
Kakashi personally checked Naruto's body and asked about his experience.
When they heard he had been called the Child of Prophecy by the two Great Toad Sages, Kakashi and Hiruzen were both shaken.
Subsequently, at Hiruzen's suggestion, Kakashi also publicly took Naruto as his disciple.
The gap between Kakashi and Naruto was much greater than with Sasuke. Their affinities, personalities, and specialties were completely different.
The most Kakashi could teach Naruto-kun was tactics and battlefield experience.
Unfortunately, Naruto-kun wasn't exactly a book-smart type, so he couldn't learn either of those things.
Luckily, Naruto-kun had enough willpower to train in the Summoning Jutsu on his own.
And, especially when Sasuke was around, Naruto-kun seemed to have endless energy.
Likewise, Sasuke always seemed full of boundless energy whenever he saw Naruto-kun.
Watching the two of them fight and fool around, Kakashi saw his younger self and Obito Uchiha.
Kakashi touched the eye-patch over his left eye, sighing imperceptibly.
...
Kakashi's biggest post-war change wasn't his two new disciples, but his impending experiment to transplant Hashirama cells.
Because he had all of Danzō's experimental data, as well as the Wood Release scroll Ishiro had traded to Danzō, Kakashi planned to walk the same path Danzō had.
Kakashi didn't know Danzō's exact condition after the transplant. But from the analysis of the day of the rebellion, Danzō had indeed survived the experiment.
That alone was miraculous. Kakashi knew how terrifying Hashirama's cells were. Just surviving was a success.
Thus, Kakashi first transplanted the left arm of a White Zetsu clone. The Zetsu clone was also found in Danzō's lab. The right half had been used by Danzō, so Kakashi could only use the left.
Then, Kakashi began to develop the Wood Release in his new arm.
As the Copy Ninja, Kakashi probably knew more jutsu than almost anyone in the world. He learned Wood Release even faster than Danzō.
If not for the fact that he had to deal with the Danzō problem after the two-month grace period, Kakashi, who was already losing sleep over the pressure from Iwagakure and Akatsuki, would have immediately prepared for the full Hashirama cell transplant.
Finally, the two-month grace period agreed upon with Ishiro ended.
Kakashi convened the Konoha leadership, preparing to make a move on Danzō.
Though it was less about "making a move on Danzō" and more about "reclaiming the Root operatives under Danzō's command."
Danzō had a large number of subordinates at the Land of Wind branch, and many of them were members of Konoha's clans. Freeing these clan ninja was something Danzō had promised Shikaku Nara and Hiruzen Sarutobi when he stepped down.
It was the price for his life.
But thanks to Iwagakure's meddling, Danzō had been given a two-month breather.
Kakashi didn't know if Danzō, who had needed his subordinates' support just to move, had recovered.
A fully recovered Danzō certainly wouldn't be taken easily, nor would he willingly give up the power he held.
Thus, what had been a simple matter had now become extremely complicated.
(End of Chapter)
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