Kaguya was delighted by her own extraordinary wisdom.
Once she shared her profound insights into combat and the wealth of experience she had accumulated...
Wouldn't this man be left utterly amazed, practically falling over himself in awe?
Heh. That was simply what geniuses of the Ōtsutsuki Clan were like.
It was perfectly normal for ordinary mortals not to understand.
Even among the Ōtsutsuki, there weren't many who did!
"Why don't you try establishing a connection with me?"
Kaguya pondered for a moment before saying, "Since you're in the middle of a battle, I can give you a few pointers..."
Hiruzen immediately became extremely wary.
No...
He had to refuse this crazy woman!
Hiruzen might have been emotionally steady, but that didn't mean he wasn't wary of Kaguya.
Quite the opposite. His guard against her was already at its absolute maximum!
She had somehow bypassed his Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal, silently passed through layer after layer of Fūinjutsu that together formed defenses comparable to a fortress wall, merged with the chakra of all nine tailed beasts, and manifested inside his body...
Nothing like this had ever happened before in the entire shinobi world!
In terms of sheer strangeness, this had already gone far beyond even the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan...
And yet Kaguya's words and emotional outbursts felt strangely familiar to Hiruzen...
Where had this Uchiha come from?
Even among the Uchiha Clan, someone who would loudly proclaim herself the progenitor of chakra, declare that all chakra in the shinobi world belonged to her, then start screaming about betrayal and how much she hated complete strangers...
That would qualify as a show-quality purebred.
Generally speaking, judging from what Hiruzen had read in Tobirama's notes, when an Uchiha went off the deep end, they didn't usually start raving openly in public. Instead, they began thinking about increasingly strange things and somehow ended up looking exceptionally brooding and profound...
It was something like deciding that nobody their age had anything worth talking about, so they couldn't be bothered communicating with them and had no interest in crushing them with their superior perspective...
'This woman is too dangerous.'
'She has to be sealed...'
'I can't make direct contact with her yet.'
Thought after thought flashed through Hiruzen's mind.
His decision to enter the combined Iwa and Kumo battle formation alone might have looked reckless, but in reality, it had been based on an accurate assessment of his own strength.
The shinobi in the village simply didn't know that he was currently undergoing a process in which quantitative accumulation was producing a qualitative change. With Spirit Release, Kekkei Threads, and the Sealing Palace at his disposal, nothing was going to happen to him...
But Kaguya's appearance had shattered that balance.
A completely unknown and powerful foreign existence had appeared, forcing Hiruzen to slow down any attempt at communicating with her and instead treat her as an enemy with countless methods at her disposal and schemes buried several layers deep...
'She's probably pretending to be like this, isn't she? All that shouting, cursing, and casually revealing information is actually meant to lower my guard and make me drop my defenses...'
Hiruzen contemplated the situation in silence.
In truth, the Hokage had fallen into a cognitive trap of his own.
Hiruzen instinctively assumed that an existence beyond his understanding should also possess an equally unfathomable mind—calculating, logical, and always keeping several contingencies in reserve...
But whether that was actually true...
Well, that was another matter entirely.
'With Konoha as it is now, nothing can happen to me.'
'We're trying to institutionalize the village at the same time we're going through a period of rapid development and expansion, while the inertia of the shinobi world is still far too strong...'
Hiruzen sighed inwardly.
Admittedly, it was the sort of problem one could only have because things were going well.
The Konoha Hiruzen envisioned was one that, even without him, could quickly produce another Hokage capable of carrying the banner forward—and ideally, there would already be several exceptional candidates to choose from for the generation after that as well...
That would not only fulfill the ideals and vision Hiruzen had consistently pursued, but from a personal standpoint, it would also allow him to finally put down this enormous burden and gain talent while practically lying around doing nothing...
Unfortunately, that clearly wasn't possible.
Institutions needed time.
A great deal of time was needed for them to influence multiple generations and eventually become a shared consensus.
If Hiruzen deliberately slowed Konoha's development and allowed the village to spend ten or twenty years consolidating itself without expanding or constantly introducing new reforms, then perhaps they could begin to achieve what he called an 'institutionalized Will of Fire...'
During a period of rapid expansion, however, institutionalization could only be the dessert.
If you wanted to quickly eliminate internal friction and unify everyone's will, you needed a powerful leader as the model—someone capable of suppressing every internal contradiction with an iron hand.
The larger an organization became and the faster it expanded, the greater its need for a crucial stabilizing pillar.
Without enough time to systematically establish stability, the risk of collapse only increased. The early stages of building anything were often filled with all kinds of dangers.
Strangely enough, things could become easier in the later stages. Even when countless problems had accumulated and both operations and personnel were shrinking, the sheer scale built up beforehand could keep an organization limping along for an astonishing amount of time...
History had demonstrated that more than once.
Alexander's Macedonian Empire stretched across Europe, Asia, and Africa, yet began fragmenting and collapsing as soon as he died.
Within years of Genghis Khan's death, divisions within the Mongol Empire intensified, eventually producing the four major khanates.
And in a shinobi world where individuals possessed superhuman power, that process would only happen faster.
Chakra was a natural amplifier of every underlying tendency.
For the institutionalization of the Will of Fire to truly take root, the shinobi world first needed to become completely stable. Then several generations would need time to grow within that stability, allowing every kind of problem to reveal itself, mature supporting systems to be developed in response, and a genuine consensus to form among all shinobi.
After all, how many shinobi truly understood his Will of Fire right now?
When that day finally came, Hiruzen genuinely wouldn't be necessary anymore.
The inertia and shackles of the shinobi world would have been erased, and a new era would truly have begun.
But Hiruzen couldn't afford to stop moving forward either.
He knew that the mysterious 'deus ex machina' existed, and the enormous returns produced by Konoha's rapid expansion played a decisive role in the growth of both his talents and his combat power.
So, in a sense, Konoha's development absolutely couldn't be rushed—but it still had to move fast.
As Hokage, he needed to steadily delegate authority while simultaneously keeping the most important responsibilities firmly in his own hands.
Konoha and the shinobi world were currently passing through one of those historical periods where everything seemed to demand two contradictory approaches at the same time...
There was nothing Hiruzen could do about that.
Which was precisely why the Hokage had to handle every request Kaguya made with the utmost caution...
As for establishing a chakra connection, he had no intention of accepting for now.
If her chakra was so complex that even his Spirit Release couldn't break it down, then forget something as straightforward as controlling him and using him as a puppet to influence the shinobi world. All she needed was some method of making him suddenly disappear for a while...
Teleporting him into some alternate dimension, for example, or sealing his presence away from the outside world.
Either one would be enough to make all the contradictions currently lurking beneath the surface erupt like a Tailed Beast Ball!
Hiruzen knew it sounded rather arrogant to say this...
But Konoha and the shinobi world still needed him far too much right now!
"Let's hold off on the chakra connection for now. You don't know what cards I have hidden, and I don't know the limits of what you can do. We should take this one step at a time and slowly get to know each other first..."
Hiruzen thought for a moment before continuing, "Here's what we can do. Right now, you're communicating with me through the fused tailed-beast chakra stored at the core of the secondary circulation system I constructed inside my body with Fūinjutsu..."
"We don't need to establish a direct connection. I'll provide some chakra and use it to give you access to part of my field of vision."
If his chakra became directly linked to this woman's, there was a possibility that she could contaminate him through the connection.
But if Hiruzen instead did something akin to a 'television broadcast,' separating out a portion of his chakra and presenting the information to her through that, there wouldn't be a problem.
Even if something happened to that portion of chakra, it would still fundamentally remain locked inside the Sealing Palace within his body and would never enter Hiruzen's own chakra circulation.
Having two separate systems really did come with advantages.
The moment Kaguya heard Hiruzen mention 'sealing,' however, she nearly suffered another instinctive reaction and hissed at him.
Fūinjutsu...
That powerful system her rebellious elder son had created specifically to let the weak overthrow the strong!
It had made Kaguya suffer immensely...
Whenever sealing techniques came up, Kaguya felt both anger and madness, but mixed among them was also a complicated trace of pride in her eldest son's astonishing talent...
Why couldn't someone with abilities like that have simply supported her properly?
Why did he have to oppose her?!
"You don't trust me?" Kaguya asked after a moment, deliberately making her voice cold.
"I don't."
Hiruzen nodded without hesitation. Before Kaguya could speak, he continued in a deep voice, "Because trust is something even more precious than chakra..."
"If two people trust each other the moment they meet, then all that proves is that such trust is nothing more than a cheap deception."
"What I hope to establish with you is deep cooperation and a community of shared interests, built step by step on a solid foundation and capable of withstanding complicated trials—not empty promises."
"Doing this is a sign of my respect for you, just as accepting it would be a sign of your respect for me."
"That way, the trust between us won't collapse in the future over some trivial matter."
"What do you think?"
Before Kaguya could seize on the issue and make something of it, Hiruzen had already blocked that avenue completely.
Wait...
This guy genuinely wanted to establish trust with her?
Did he have any idea how difficult trust was to build?!
How ridiculous...
Kaguya wanted to say something. She tried to find some flaw in Hiruzen's argument that she could exploit.
But...
There really wasn't anything particularly wrong with it.
Even though she was currently in an extremely weakened state, the fact that he possessed something capable of preventing her chakra from leaking out was enough to make her treat him with at least a little seriousness.
The more she thought about it...
Wasn't he actually right?
Kaguya hadn't really intended to take control of Hiruzen in the first place. Perhaps she'd only just realized that a chakra connection could potentially be used that way, but at the very least, the thought hadn't occurred to her when she'd originally suggested it.
That was the level of tactical genius expected from someone who could have instantly killed Naruto and Sasuke with All-Killing Ash Bones, yet instead froze up staring at them and started crying...
Whatever came to mind, she did.
"Fine."
Kaguya reluctantly conceded, "Hmph. You're passing up an opportunity! You'll regret this!"
Hiruzen ignored the threat and merely said softly, "Thank you for understanding..."
Kaguya froze.
She seemed to have discovered something she'd overlooked...
This man's emotional state really was remarkably stable.
He wasn't like those two rebellious sons of hers, who started arguing whenever something happened and would even resort to violence!
He seemed to genuinely enjoy reasoning things out, and whenever he spoke, he always had an entire argument ready...
Hiruzen carefully transferred a small portion of his chakra into the Sealing Palace, structured it like a genjutsu, and thoroughly isolated it from the rest of his system.
That way, even if Kaguya devoured that portion of chakra, his actual body wouldn't be affected.
"Can you see what I'm seeing?"
Hiruzen asked quietly.
Far away, with her true body still sealed within the moon, Kaguya finally saw her long-lost 'precious nursery' again through Hiruzen's eyes...
"Mine... Everything here is mine..." Kaguya murmured involuntarily.
The corner of Hiruzen's mouth twitched.
He was seriously beginning to suspect that this woman might not only have some connection to the Uchiha Clan, but perhaps even some inexplicable relationship with the Kaguya Clan of Kirigakure...
Something really didn't seem right with her head!
Still seated atop the Five-Tails' back, Hiruzen finally finished his interdimensional phone call.
And behind him...
Konoha's main force had arrived!
First came the ANBU and Root forces led by Hizashi.
Then came the jinchūriki of the Konoha alliance.
Nagato of the One-Tail, Nakamaro of the Three-Tails, Uzumaki Shio of the Six-Tails, Tomie of the Seven-Tails...
And Minato, jinchūriki of slightly less than half of the Nine-Tails.
After receiving treatment from Tsunade and Katsuyu, Danzō and Tobirama had also had the Fūinjutsu left on their bodies by Uzumaki Ashina broken by the combined efforts of Kushina and Shio, restoring them to peak condition.
Hanzō carried a bloodstained chain in his hands, with his salamander and a massive contingent of Amegakure shinobi following behind him.
Clearly, the moment he'd heard that his sworn elder brother might be in trouble, he'd mobilized his entire force without even bothering to leave anyone behind to defend home...
Kisame came forward with clenched teeth and a grim expression, Samehada strapped across his back. Behind him were Kirigakure's elites, who had come to reinforce the First Mizukage.
Fugaku and Isshin, the two Uchiha, still had skeletal Susanoo wrapped around their bodies, not even having had time to dismiss them.
Sakumo's White Fang gleamed with the cold light of Storm Release.
Kakuzu had entered his Earth Grudge Fear state, black threads twisting around him violently like some monstrous creature.
Jiraiya had summoned the Great Toad Sages Fukasaku and Shima, one perched on each of his shoulders.
Kurama Genshin stared toward the Third Raikage and Ōnoki in the distance, ready to activate his reality-manifesting genjutsu at any moment.
Even Hiruko, a researcher, had rushed all the way to the front lines, both arms smeared with blood.
Interestingly enough, when the other Konoha Council Members appeared on the battlefield, the Iwa and Kumo shinobi who had received orders from Ōnoki and the Third Raikage had almost no will to resist...
But when they saw Hiruko, two shinobi actually had their eyes light up, apparently deciding they might as well test the mettle of this supposedly defenseless research expert...
They were immediately crushed by the sheer superiority of his Steel Release and Swift Release Kekkei Genkai.
Hiruko was actually somewhat offended afterward, feeling that they hadn't shown him nearly enough respect...
He was only considered bad at fighting when compared with Konoha's absolute top tier.
By the standards of the wider shinobi world, he was still very much a force to be reckoned with!
Behind the Third Raikage and Ōnoki stood Yugito, jinchūriki of the Two-Tails; Killer B, jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails; Rōshi, jinchūriki of the Four-Tails; Kitsuchi; and the few other high-level combatants they had left.
Cold sweat ran down their faces as they stared at the people and battle formation assembled behind the Hokage.
It had only been a few years...
And Hiruzen had already created a village this terrifying!
Forget mobilizing Konoha's entire army. Even if Konoha were divided into three separate villages right now, those three would still be enough to join Iwa and Kumo in forming an entirely new set of Five Great Shinobi Villages...
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"To tell you the truth, I have no desire to create pointless bloodshed. There would be no meaning in it."
Hiruzen looked toward Ōnoki and the Third Raikage and sighed softly. "But the two of you insist on clinging to the old way of thinking that has dominated the shinobi world, as though you're still trapped in the Warring States Period..."
"Either you're constantly imagining hypothetical enemies, or you're still treating the position of Kage as though it means being the chief of a band of raiders."
"If we keep wasting ourselves through internal conflict like this, nobody benefits."
"I have no intention of extending the chains of hatred any further. So since the two of you want to decide the outcome of this war through a duel between champions, I'll accept."
Behind Hiruzen, the cheers of Konoha's shinobi thundered across the battlefield!
Yet the moment he began speaking, they somehow fell silent almost instantly...
Then...
Hiruzen slowly turned around and smiled at Konoha's shinobi.
"You all did very well. I still remember a few years ago, when Orochimaru and I sparred and I used the opportunity to test the village's rapid-response capabilities..."
"Back then, everyone's performance could only be called barely satisfactory."
"But now you've all done very well..."
They looked at Hiruzen dressed in black armor and mounted on a white steed, standing alone and completely at ease before an army of ten thousand as he calmly conversed with the Third Raikage and Ōnoki...
Every Konoha shinobi silently committed that sight to memory.
Hiruzen—the Hokage who would risk himself to save his teacher's bloodline, who treasured the bonds he'd forged with his childhood friends, a Hokage of flesh and blood who was both deeply human and overwhelmingly powerful.
That image of him was once again etched even more deeply into their hearts...
"There's no need for everyone to get impatient."
"I know you want to show me the results of your training."
"But Iwa and Kumo may not be the only enemies the shinobi world will ever face. There will still be plenty of times in the future when all of you will need to step forward to help me—and to help the shinobi world..."
Hiruzen spoke with complete seriousness.
After witnessing Kaguya's existence, Hiruzen had established a new standard for Konoha's combined strength.
Without him present, they needed to be capable of dealing with—or at least holding back—an existence like Kaguya, or what she had referred to as the Ōtsutsuki 'main family.'
Once they could accomplish that, they would have met the minimum standard.
"Fall back."
Hiruzen smiled as he swept his gaze casually across Konoha's battle formation.
Yet every Konoha shinobi felt as though the Hokage had looked directly into their eyes. They instinctively straightened their backs, smiles appearing unconsciously on their faces.
Knowing how to sweep your gaze across a crowd like that was one of the basic skills of being Hokage.
After Hiruzen gave the order and turned away, the Konoha Council Members who had recovered from their initial rush quickly reorganized the formation. Despite having arrived through a forced march, Konoha's forces rapidly returned to a perfectly ordered formation.
Their footsteps rang out in unison, producing heavy echoes across the battlefield as though a giant were marching.
"That level of organization..."
Ōnoki and the Third Raikage watched all of this in silence.
Only now did the two of them realize just how foolish they had been.
If Hiruzen had truly wanted to destroy Iwa and Kumo, he could have wiped them out long ago...
The only reason he hadn't acted was because he'd been using controlled warfare to train his forces. Perhaps he really had inherited Hashirama's will and genuinely didn't want the shinobi world to shed too much blood...
"Don't hold anything back. Give it everything you have."
Hiruzen said seriously, "To cross blades with the strong is something I welcome..."
The Third Raikage and Ōnoki drew deep breaths and nodded.
If the terrifying army behind Hiruzen made them hesitate now, then even the last shred of dignity Iwa and Kumo had left would become meaningless. Everyone would look down on them.
And objectively speaking, neither of them was arrogant enough to think they could afford to hold back against Hiruzen anyway. If they could fight with everything they had, put on a respectable showing, and prove that they still had enough strength to be worth winning over, that alone would already be an excellent outcome...
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