When the title Konoha's God of War spread across the shinobi world, the news of Gekko Hoshiyomi bringing the Second Great Ninja War to an end naturally landed on the desks of the various village leaders as well.
In Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure, the three Kage all reacted differently the moment they received the report. Their pupils constricted when they first saw the headline, and after carefully reading through the details, each of them sighed in their own way.
Ōnoki turned toward the window, his gaze seeming to pierce across mountains and rivers, all the way to the Wind Country border, where that young man—now renowned across the world—stood in his mind's eye. After staring for a long while, he let out a long sigh:
"In the end, that brat has grown up completely. Once he takes the position of Fourth Hokage, who knows how many years Konoha will lead the other four great villages again."
The Third Raikage, reading the same report, couldn't help but feel a stab of regret:
"Damn it, did I attack Iwagakure too early back then? It feels like I ended up doing Konoha a huge favor."
But after venting, he quickly adjusted his mindset. The rise of Gekko Hoshiyomi was now unstoppable. Instead of pointlessly complaining, what he needed to think about was how to deal with him, not how to mess things up for himself.
After sitting in deep thought for a long time, the Third Raikage suddenly slapped his thigh with a loud smack:
"Pass down my order—we begin recruiting for the next generation's 'B'. It's time for us to start training the next generation."
Meanwhile, in Kirigakure, the Third Mizukage looked over the latest intelligence. He glanced at the small, baby-faced boy beside him and chuckled, his aged features wrinkling like an old orange peel:
"See? See? Didn't I tell you? I said now isn't our time to shine. Ōnoki and the Third Kazekage both charged in so aggressively—so what happened to them in the end?"
The boy with the baby face frowned, sounding a bit unconvinced:
"But we can't just keep holding back forever either. If this keeps up, when will Kirigakure ever have its chance to stand out?"
The Third Mizukage chuckled and scolded him:
"You little brat, what do you know? In this world, if you don't suffer losses while others do, then you've already profited. Just wait. When they've all beaten each other half to death, that's when we make our move. Otherwise, with this tiny, backwater Kirigakure of ours, what right do we have to fight them head-on?
Yagura, you must remember this—never be impatient. You're my most valued student, and you mustn't be reckless like those Seven Ninja Swordsmen. I'm old, and I don't have many years left. Let me tell you the truth—once I die, you will be the Fourth Mizukage of this village.
As the future Mizukage, keep this firmly in your heart. No matter what schemes you cook up inside, you must hold them back and wait until the right moment. Only when the time is ripe can you pluck the sweetest fruit."
Yagura nodded dimly in response, though whether he truly understood was anyone's guess.
...
Konoha – Root Training Grounds
Danzo had been sipping tea while listening to a report. Halfway through, his hand suddenly froze mid-air, his single exposed eye filling with gloom.
"You said that Gekko Hoshiyomi seriously injured the Third Kazekage, and that Sunagakure has already surrendered?"
The Root operative delivering the report felt the chill in Danzo's voice and shivered instinctively. He couldn't understand why his master seemed displeased when the war was about to end, but he had no choice except to continue speaking cautiously:
"Yes, Lord Danzo. I've heard that Lord Hiruzen is already arranging for a delegation to handle peace talks. Judging from past precedent, in as little as two months—or at most half a year—this war will officially be over."
The subordinate originally thought that after he reported this, Lord Danzō would finally calm down. He never expected that Danzō would be so furious he hurled an entire teacup at him. The man saw the cup flying toward him, yet didn't dare dodge. He could only take the blow squarely, his heart filled with grievance.
After throwing the teacup, Danzō's rage eased slightly. Suppressing his fury, he spoke coldly:
"Leave."
Once the Root ninja withdrew, Danzō suddenly moved—crash! He overturned the entire table onto the floor, and shouted almost hysterically:
"Why?! Why is Gekko Hoshiyomi's growth so fast?! Why did Sunagakure surrender so quickly?!"
Even Danzō himself couldn't fully describe what he was feeling. At this moment, his whole being was flooded with two emotions: one called jealousy, and the other fear.
He was jealous of Hoshiyomi's talent and terrifying rate of growth, yet also afraid of Hoshiyomi's decisiveness and swiftness. The intertwining of these emotions left the cautious and shadowy Danzō deeply uneasy.
Ever since he first heard that Hoshiyomi had survived an encounter with Ōnoki and the Four-Tails, he had abandoned the idea of striking at him directly. He no longer believed he could dispose of Hoshiyomi through plots or assassination. Instead, he began to long for the same kind of strength Hoshiyomi and Hiruzen possessed.
Because in his heart he understood: only by attaining that level—or even surpassing it—would he have any chance of surviving once his past misdeeds were inevitably exposed. Only with overwhelming power could he bury his black history beneath it.
So, after returning from the battlefield to Konoha, he had tried to persuade Hiruzen to begin research into Hashirama's cells.
But to his surprise, Hiruzen rejected him outright. Not only that, he even revealed his intention to pass the title of Hokage on to either Hoshiyomi or Tsunade—shattering Danzō's final hope.
What a joke! If Gekko Hoshiyomi took power, how could he possibly survive?
When life and authority are both threatened, notions such as "honor, duty, or shame" no longer matter.
After failing to sway Hiruzen, Danzō took an extreme step. He secretly unearthed the corpse of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and extracted an entire piece of muscle tissue. Without Hiruzen's knowledge, Danzō used his personal and clan resources to begin covert research on Hashirama's cells.
He had originally assumed that no matter what, this war would drag on at least two or three years, giving him plenty of time to gradually unravel the secrets of the First Hokage's cells.
But who could have expected Gekko Hoshiyomi to end this war—greater in scale than the last—within a single year?
Now, with at most half a year before Hoshiyomi returned to the village, and his research still barely underway, how could he not feel terrified?
The crime of stealing his comrade's Sharingan alone was enough to make him a rat scorned by all. If it were discovered that he had also desecrated the First Hokage's remains and conducted forbidden experiments, his name would be cursed for all eternity.
But Danzō did not want to be a rat that everyone wanted dead. He wanted to be the Kage who would break out from underground, emerging from the shadows into the light.
He had to complete this forbidden experiment before Hoshiyomi returned—no matter the price.
Danzō was making a gamble—a gamble with his very life as the stake.
If he won, everything would be hidden and history rewritten. If he lost, nothing would remain but a corpse and eternal infamy.
Thinking of this, he suddenly rose to his feet and strode straight into the depths of the Root base. He had to see with his own eyes just how far his plan had progressed.