Yashiro was still immersed in the excitement of being able to join the new Root and didn't respond to Kakuzu.
Kakuzu shook his head speechlessly.
Another one of those traditional shinobi willing to throw their lives away for the village and sacrifice themselves for the collective...
What a turn-off!
But the moment that thought surfaced in his mind, the contents of Hiruzen's fireside talk echoed in Kakuzu's mind like a genjutsu.
His gaze was involuntarily drawn back toward the Uchiha public bulletin board.
If Takigakure had been like this back then...
If, after he failed his mission, the leaders of Takigakure had defended him like this and said he had a heart of gold and was a hero of the village...
Would he still have defected?
All five of Kakuzu's hearts twitched slightly at the same time.
Forget defecting...
Back when the one-country-one-village system had just been established, he had only been a hot-blooded kid himself. He probably would have been just like Yashiro, burning with the desire to give his life for the village.
Kakuzu could not help glancing at the smiling Uchiha Yashiro and muttered softly: "You're one lucky brat... Being born an Uchiha was fortunate, but being born in Konoha was unfortunate. Yet somehow, you happened to meet the Third Hokage..."
Yashiro replied as if it were only natural: "I really am pretty lucky. And if I can join Root, I'll be even luckier. To protect my comrades with a glorious death and have my name written into the Ninja Academy textbooks..."
"Don't you think that's cool?"
Kakuzu silently nodded.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Say, didn't you run into a powerful enemy before?"
"If one day the Third Hokage ordered you to assassinate someone like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, what would you do?"
Kakuzu asked softly, "As payment for your answer, I won't charge Konoha for that Storm Release ninja. I'll hand him over for free..."
Yashiro pondered for a moment.
"Well, I definitely wouldn't be able to beat them... But if the Hokage-sama gave the order, then I'd carry it out."
"If someone like me were sent to face enemies like that, they definitely wouldn't send me alone. It'd probably be to hold the enemy down head-on and create an opening for another front..."
"When war breaks out, everyone's walking around with their heads on the line anyway. We're all doing jobs that could get us killed. Hokage-sama himself would definitely be the first to charge into battle too, so there's nothing to complain about."
"If everyone was afraid of dying, then how could we ever defeat the enemy? We're shinobi..."
Kakuzu sighed.
He understood now...
In Konoha, even controversial missions where shinobi were openly sent to die would not be questioned.
That could only mean one thing: the village's system had the people's overwhelming support.
"But what if nobody supported you? What if they really did send you alone to die? And it had nothing to do with helping another front..." Kakuzu asked stubbornly, almost against his own will.
"But why would they do that? That goes against the Will of Fire..."
Yashiro looked puzzled. "Since you're giving us that Storm Release ninja, let's say, for the sake of argument, that one day I really was forced to carry out a mission like that..."
"Then I'd still go and do it first. That's the duty of a shinobi. But I'd leave a letter for Fugaku and Clan Head Isshin, the two Konoha Council Members. They'd go speak to the Hokage-sama and raise objections."
"And if my death could help improve the village's system even further, then that'd be a good thing too."
"Besides, the kind of thing you're talking about doesn't exist..."
"Konoha isn't paradise. It's impossible to keep every shinobi alive. But this place is fair... And for shinobi, isn't fairness enough?"
Kakuzu sighed again.
He found himself unable to argue back anymore.
It was true. Sometimes, all people really lived for was a single breath of dignity—the feeling of not being mistreated, of being treated fairly.
If everyone else was risking their lives too, then risking his own life was something he could accept.
Moreover, Kakuzu had keenly noticed something Yashiro had said—
That "Konoha Council Members" could voice objections directly to the Hokage.
When Hizashi introduced himself earlier, he had even specifically pointed at the emblem on his uniform while mentioning that identity.
"What exactly do your Konoha Council Members do?" Kakuzu no longer felt any urgency to meet Hiruzen. Talking with Yashiro gave him more genuine information.
After all, Yashiro looked like the kind of guy who wasn't very good at lying...
But Hiruzen was an old veteran. Even Kakuzu lacked the confidence to say he had more experience than the Hokage.
After all, one was merely a bounty hunter, while the other was the leader of the strongest hidden village.
That was not a gap that could be bridged simply by living twenty or thirty extra years.
"In Konoha, every jōnin oversees a corresponding group of shinobi, collecting their opinions and thoughts about the village while also solving problems and providing feedback in real time..."
"If the jōnin can't resolve something, then it gets reported upward to the Konoha Council Members overseeing them... Every Konoha Council Member is an exceptional figure with unique abilities..."
At that point, a trace of envy appeared in Yashiro's eyes.
"I want to become one too... But there's no helping it. In our generation of the Uchiha, one spot will definitely go to Fugaku and another to Seisui."
"The clan head has to take one seat, and the most outstanding talent takes another... I could still try competing through a different path. Strong people always have opportunities. But my abilities just aren't enough. Being able to join Root would already be great."
Yashiro sighed.
"Forget Seisui—I can't even beat Fugaku-san..."
Kakuzu glanced at him.
"Fugaku? The other one earlier, the guy with his arm around Danzō?"
Yashiro nodded.
"That guy's not weak at all. My combat instincts have always been sharp—he's a dangerous shinobi."
Kakuzu felt slightly dazed.
Yashiro thought Fugaku was weak. Which meant a man like that was only among the lower ranks in overall quality among the Konoha Council Members...
Konoha truly was overflowing with talent!
A few questions surfaced in Kakuzu's mind.
But it was obvious that a Konoha shinobi at Yashiro's level could not answer them.
He would have to ask Hiruzen face-to-face.
'Konoha...' Kakuzu silently repeated the village's name in his mind.
Even though he still didn't want to admit it...
The way his eyes wandered around the village subtly exposed his true thoughts.
The old Kakuzu had believed the one-country-one-village system was hypocritical nonsense. In his eyes, the cruelty of the Warring States Era had been far more honest.
That was why, after leaving Takigakure, he chose money as the order governing his life.
But now, perhaps the problem was simply that he had never found the right place...
"Come on. Hokage-sama told me to bring you over. He's waiting for you at the training grounds," Yashiro said to Kakuzu.
The two of them walked slowly through the village.
When they passed by the Administration Department building, Kakuzu's gaze sharpened.
He saw several Kirigakure shinobi gathered around a bulletin board, their eyes filled with longing.
They were Kisame, Terumī Mei, Nakamaro, and Snow.
The influence of the fireside talks had been enormous...
Not just on Konoha's own shinobi, but on these Kirigakure exchange students as well.
So a "Kage" could actually be this approachable...
A village could truly support its shinobi from behind, and everyone could unite into a single force and help one another!
That was why, even several months later, Kisame and the others still felt deeply shaken by it all. Every so often, they would come together to check Konoha's latest policies posted outside the Administration Department.
Even though none of it had anything to do with them, simply looking at it gave them the feeling that they were somehow participating...
"There are even childbirth subsidies?" Terumī Mei sighed. "This is way too comprehensive!"
"In another month, we'll be returning to Kirigakure... Our one-year stay is almost over," Nakamaro said coldly, glancing at Snow beside him.
The four of them were far from united in purpose.
Nakamaro and Snow had practically become open rebels already. The only thing left was to return to Kirigakure, persuade their clansmen, and prepare to flee...
Terumī Mei belonged to the idealist camp.
Although she herself possessed a kekkei genkai, her clan had close ties with the Third Mizukage, so she still fantasized about changing Kirigakure from within...
As for Kisame, this loyalist candidate for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and staunch supporter of the Mizukage had recently been constantly hypnotizing himself with the belief that Kirigakure would someday become better too...
Nakamaro had already set his sights on Kisame. Once they returned to the village, he planned to have his clansmen maneuver things behind the scenes and throw Kisame into the "Internal Affairs Department," letting him personally witness the bloodiest side of Kirigakure...
Illusions were meant to be shattered!
"Konoha Mutual Aid Fund..." Kisame stared at those words and slowly shook his head.
When Hiruzen implemented this policy, he had specifically emphasized that participation was completely voluntary and nobody would be forced to join.
But in order to support the Hokage—and naturally, to gain access to those benefits as well—the very next morning, shinobi packed the entrance of the Administration Department so tightly it was impossible to move through. The place buzzed with lively discussions and endless praise...
Kisame and the others naturally could not participate, yet they had unconsciously followed along anyway, watching Konoha's shinobi with flushed, excited faces enthusiastically discuss the village's future...
Even a shinobi like Kisame found the feeling difficult to put into words.
"It's like a dog squatting by the roadside, watching people hold a banquet..." Recalling the feeling from that day, Kisame muttered as though possessed: "Under the Bloody Mist policies of Mizukage-sama, Kirigakure will become as good as Konoha too. Kirigakure's shinobi won't stay dogs forever. Someday, they'll finally become people allowed to sit at the table and eat!"
Nakamaro glanced at Kisame and sneered inwardly.
Over the past few months, after finishing his sparring sessions at the Ninja Academy, Nakamaro had intensively studied under Hyūga Tenzō, absorbing knowledge from his grand-uncle...
As a result, Nakamaro could now be considered something of a great intellectual within the Kaguya Clan.
'Grand-Uncle said shinobi like this are the most dangerous...'
'They possess strong self-awareness and capability, so brute force doesn't work on them. You can only handle them softly...'
'Even within the Hyūga Clan, despite the control of the Caged Bird Seal, intelligent members of the main family would never harshly oppress branch family members like this. That would only plant disaster within the clan...'
'I won't give the Third Mizukage and his subordinates any opportunity to win Kisame over! I'll make sure he sees the bloodiest side of Kirigakure—the disgusting ugliness completely unlike Konoha...'
The battle-hardened warrior from the Warring States clans, Tenzō, had passed his methods down to Nakamaro.
So that after returning to Kirigakure, he could quickly identify which Kaguya clansmen could be recruited to their cause.
One could say he had learned the secret manual in reverse...
Kakuzu passed by them, while Nakamaro and the others also sensed the presence of this powerful outsider.
Their gazes met.
Nakamaro's heart tightened.
'This guy looks dangerous... Damn it, why is he coming to Konoha? And Yashiro-san is personally receiving him too. Don't tell me he wants to join Konoha as well?'
'Isn't he stealing our Kaguya Clan's first-mover advantage?!'
Nakamaro instantly grew anxious.
He wished he could hurry back to Kirigakure and begin laying out plans immediately...
'Sure enough, there are still plenty of smart people in the shinobi world! Konoha's advantages are gradually starting to spread across the world...' Nakamaro clenched his teeth.
Though in truth, Nakamaro was worrying too much.
Konoha's advantages had not yet become widely known among the other hidden villages of the shinobi world. But with the anxiety-ridden Nakamaro around, they would visibly begin spreading throughout Kirigakure at full force...
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