For Gekko Chizan, peaceful days only grew more and more comfortable.
Classes during the day, training at night—busy, yes, but being able to stay in the village all the time could also be considered a kind of rest.
In the blink of an eye, Gekko Dōnin was already four years old. Gekko Chizan and Pakura had their second child, a daughter, named: Gekko Senka.
With Dōnin before and Senka after, Gekko Chizan felt his naming skills were reaching new heights.
For a time, he even started handing out nicknames everywhere.
For example, Minato Namikaze's nickname, Blond-Haired Hokage.
Nara Shikaku getting "ear-puller," and the Might father-and-son duo getting "green leather coats"—those nicknames were becoming stranger and stranger.
Of course, with a second child, Gekko Chizan carried on his glorious tradition and directly took the whole family out traveling.
This time it wasn't just their family—he also brought Sayo and Ebisu, and of course, his little brother as well.
In his words, training every day without rest might turn someone into an idiot.
They played around for a full month before returning to the village. Because of the two children, Pakura no longer took up a post at the Ninja Academy. Even if she were to continue, it would have to wait until Gekko Senka grew a bit older.
After all, dealing with one kid who played with fireballs every day was already hard enough—now there was a second one. Sayo alone simply couldn't manage them.
Until one day, when people from Kumogakure suddenly arrived, Gekko Chizan finally snapped out of his extremely happy life.
...
"People from Kumogakure? Hehehe, those guys full of bad intentions actually came to Konoha?"
"Minato, you don't seriously think they came without any ulterior motives, do you?"
In the Hokage's office, Minato Namikaze stared numbly as the crystal window shattered—then repaired itself at an extremely fast speed. His entire body froze in place.
That crystal window had been specially made for him by Gekko Chizan.
But only later did he understand the true meaning behind that gesture.
Crystal was incredibly sturdy, true—but that was against others. To Gekko Chizan, who possessed Crystal Release, the crystal itself belonged to him. How could crystal possibly stop him???
So in the end, it became a situation where the window existed only for Gekko Chizan to walk through—and it couldn't stop him at all.
What was even more infuriating was that every time the window shattered, it could be repaired. Over time, Minato Namikaze became numb to it, even tacitly accepting Gekko Chizan breaking in through the window.
"Fragments, clean up the fragments!"
"Oh, okay!"
Crystal fragments—this might have been Minato Namikaze's final line of defense.
Only after watching all the crystal shards turn into powder did Minato finally speak.
"Kumogakure's movements over the past few years have been very obvious—searching everywhere for various secret techniques, while simultaneously increasing their ninjas' mission load."
"They talk about forming peace, but behind the scenes they're making all kinds of little moves."
"Do you think I'd believe them?"
Hearing this, Gekko Chizan let out a snicker. Minato's tenure as Hokage had gone extremely smoothly these past few years—he had even, at one point, sidelined those three advisors.
Yes! I'm talking about you! Sarutobi Hiruzen! You old geezer—wouldn't it be better to just retire properly?!
Sarutobi Hiruzen: .....Brat Chizan! You've gone too far! Hurry up and give me the crystal ball—let's watch together!
Gekko Chizan: Pah! You're obviously the one who wants to watch it!
These past few years, Sarutobi Hiruzen had completely stopped involving himself in village affairs, fully taking on the role of a retired senior cadre.
As for the other two, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—although they were still in office, Minato Namikaze's abilities were extremely strong. In a short time, he had grasped the entire village's situation and maintained it very well using his own methods.
With heavy hitters like Gekko Chizan and Uchiha Fugaku backing him up, the two advisors' power dwindled more and more. Now they were almost on par with Sarutobi Hiruzen, hovering at the edge of forced retirement.
The only one still active was Shimura Danzō.
As for the existence of Root, Minato Namikaze didn't move against it—but that didn't mean Root could act recklessly.
Gekko Chizan and Shimura Danzō had already clashed head-on several times, each time ending without resolution. The root cause was still the three old cadres smoothing things over.
Saying the village needed Root—needed my ass!
"I knew it..."
"From the Third Great Ninja War until now, Kumogakure has been on a steady decline. Those warlike people—how could they honestly carry out peace?"
"Recently, I'll have ANBU guard every corner of the village."
Gekko Chizan was now, like Shinnosuke, one of the heads of ANBU.
Shinnosuke focused on offense, he focused on defense. Under their joint governance, ANBU's overall strength and quality skyrocketed like a rocket.
ANBU members: .....Nonsense. With snakes being released to chase us every day, how could we not improve???
Kumogakure's sudden arrival made Gekko Chizan sense a different kind of opportunity.
Immediately, he used Flying Thunder God to arrive at Takigakure.
...
"Chizan?"
"Yahiko, it's time..."
"What? You mean??"
Yahiko, who was handling paperwork, saw Gekko Chizan appear before him with a malicious grin, bringing news that made him wildly excited.
"Move out. Starting now, gather all available forces."
"Kumogakure is coming to Konoha to sign a peace treaty—they'll definitely cause trouble. Once something happens, there will be a brief period of chaos."
"Striking during that period is perfect!"
"Have Yugito Nii and Terumī Mei stand by. I'll personally handle the Iron Country side."
Taking advantage of Kumogakure stirring up trouble, wipe out Hanzō of the Salamander in one fell swoop.
Let Takigakure's territory continue to expand!
"Alright! No problem! I'll arrange it immediately!"
"I've been waiting for this day for far too long!"
Yahiko's body radiated intense fighting spirit. Making a move against Amegakure—this matter was far too important to him and Konan!
...
Leaving Takigakure, Gekko Chizan rushed nonstop to the Land of Iron to find its general, Mifune.
"Mifune-san, the time has come."
"Takigakure is about to move against Amegakure."
"I hope to receive your help."
Still in his Transformation Technique guise, Gekko Chizan delivered the news. Mifune first let out a soft sigh, then stood up casually.
At that moment, a sharp blade left its sheath, and the sword intent emanating from Mifune shot straight into the sky.
"Very well. I will personally lead a team to the Land of Rain to rendezvous with Takigakure's forces."
"Hanzō of the Salamander... let us fight once more...."
...
After returning to the village, Gekko Chizan couldn't help but envision how this operation would unfold.
At the same time, he was also thinking about Kumogakure's arrival.
Those people's goal was never peace—it was the Hyuga clan's Byakugan.
In the original story, although they failed, they still caused the Hyuga to lose a jōnin.
Unconsciously walking toward the Hyuga compound, he planned to meet a disciple he hadn't seen in a long time.
The Hyuga clan's acknowledged genius.