"Fists? Palms?"
Tsunade frowned and carefully thought about the two concepts Rei Kaguya had casually brought up.
As a shinobi who had survived countless battles, as a doctor who had witnessed life and death countless times, and as an elder who had traveled far and wide, all her life experience up until now told her that the two words Rei Kaguya spoke of did not merely refer to Kirigakure Village before and after his reforms.
But Tsunade was not particularly skilled at humanistic thinking or putting herself in another person's position.
The real answer always seemed separated from her by a river, a mountain, or a layer of gauze.
She could see it, yet she could not see it clearly.
However, she was no longer the great fat sheep wandering aimlessly through the shinobi world with only her disciple.
So she turned her head and cast a questioning gaze toward Jiraiya, whose brows were similarly furrowed.
And when the three highest-ranking people present began discussing what seemed to be a serious topic, the other Konoha shinobi and Ninja Academy students, who had originally been chatting about various things, all quieted down one after another. Together, they looked toward Rei Kaguya, whose expression seemed both amused and unreadable, and toward Jiraiya, who was preparing to continue the conversation.
Among them, Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha in particular showed expressions of total concentration, listening carefully for fear that they might miss any part of the dialogue that followed.
"The fist clenched into a more lethal form that you mentioned… should not be referring only to Kirigakure Village when it became the Village of the Bloody Mist, correct, Lord Mizukage?"
"That depends on how you understand it, Jiraiya."
Rei Kaguya maintained his calm and composed expression.
His white eyes swept undisguisedly over every Konoha shinobi present. After observing each of them instinctively assume a vigilant posture under that gaze that seemed almost tangible, including even Itachi Uchiha, who had only recently turned six, he withdrew his gaze and chuckled at Jiraiya and Tsunade, whose hair had likewise stood on end.
"Answer me one question, Jiraiya… How old were you when you killed someone for the first time? And at what age did you begin to master the techniques necessary to kill a person?"
"…Is something like that important?"
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes slightly, somewhat unable to figure out what Rei Kaguya was trying to do.
"It is only a way to introduce the topic. If you do not want to answer, I can use Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha as examples instead. It would be the same."
Rei Kaguya paused slightly, then tilted his head and looked at the two people who could not help freezing slightly when their names were mentioned. With a half-smile, he continued,
"Kakashi Hatake. In your Konoha's official records, he graduated from the Ninja Academy at five and was promoted to chunin at six. Using that information to answer the question I asked you, he had already fully mastered the ninja techniques necessary to kill at around five years old, and had personally taken the lives of others."
"Even in Kirigakure during the era of the Village of the Bloody Mist, the only one who surpassed that record was Zabuza Momochi, who was called the Demon and forced the Third Mizukage to revise the Ninja Academy's graduation exam rules… Or perhaps not. After all, although Zabuza killed all the candidates in his cohort, he only officially became a chunin several years later."
"And Itachi Uchiha. Although he entered the Ninja Academy one year later than Kakashi Hatake, according to Shisui Uchiha's evaluation, he had likewise already mastered the skills necessary to take another person's life at five years old, or even earlier."
"In the eyes of you Konoha people, they should be considered bright stars of tomorrow, people capable of supporting Konoha's future. But even in the Village of the Bloody Mist, the evaluation these two received could not possibly be higher than the evaluation they receive in present-day Konoha."
At this point, Rei Kaguya's words stopped.
He narrowed his eyes like a wandering painter admiring a lifelike figure he had painted with great care. The corners of his mouth rose slightly, carrying pride and pleasure as he looked at Jiraiya, whose body was beginning to tremble beyond his control.
"Jiraiya…"
Seeing Jiraiya's reaction become so intense, Tsunade also panicked a little.
She first stepped forward and gently stroked Jiraiya's back, checking whether anything abnormal had happened to his body. After receiving a negative answer, she turned her head to look at Rei Kaguya, who seemed to take pleasure in stirring people up, and questioned him through gritted teeth,
"What exactly… do you want Jiraiya to answer!?"
"A very simple question. One that before now, Kirigakure, Konoha, and even the entire shinobi world have all intentionally or unintentionally ignored."
Rei Kaguya reached out and poured himself a small cup of sake, then raised his head and drank it down in one gulp. The specially brewed sake flowed down with a strong burning sensation and quickly brought a faint flush to Rei Kaguya's somewhat pale skin.
He put down the cup, still wearing that playful half-smile, and spoke again.
Only this time, the person he questioned was Princess Tsunade, whose brows were tightly locked.
"If Princess Tsunade still cannot understand, then I will ask you another question. Don't worry. For you, who were born from the Senju clan and once had direct contact with the First Hokage, this question should be extremely easy to answer…"
"Tell me, and tell every Konoha shinobi seated here as well. During the Warring States Period, before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha joined forces to pacify the chaos and establish Konoha Village, at what age did the genius children of each ninja clan step onto the battlefield and become killing tools stained with blood?"
This time, it was Tsunade's turn to fall silent.
But very soon, she steadied her emotions through deep breaths and said in a complicated tone,
"Grandfather Tobirama once said that in the final stage of the Warring States Period, children above the age of five would be regarded as soldiers who could participate in war and killing, regardless of their talent…"
"And those geniuses who could kill enemies alone at a young age would be regarded as the clan's future and hope, then made to shoulder even greater responsibilities."
"You see? This moment is just like that moment."
Rei Kaguya laughed.
Only his smile carried no warmth at all. Instead, it seemed especially cold, especially sarcastic, especially…
Condescending.
"During the Warring States Period, people sent ignorant young children onto the battlefield, hoping they could display the talent to stand alone and kill enemies by themselves. They used that method to select the next generation capable of leading their clans forward. The more they killed and the faster they killed, the higher their position in the clan became."
"In the Village of the Bloody Mist, which is regarded as the darkest and cruelest era of the shinobi village age, Madara Uchiha set the Ninja Academy's graduation exam as killing one's closest companion. The speed of one's movements when slaughtering a comrade, and the size of one's emotional fluctuation, were used to evaluate the entire worth of a child who was still a shinobi candidate… Those who dared to strike had value. Those who hesitated deserved to die."
"Then, after Konoha Village was established and up to the present era, how do you evaluate a child's talent?"
"Do you look at whether he can graduate early from the Ninja Academy? Do you look at whether he can stain his hands with blood and become a chunin who surpasses his peers and even seniors while others his age are still studying at the Academy? And then do you call these children, who left school early, stepped into darkness early, and stained their hands with blood early, geniuses? Do you regard them as the future and hope of the shinobi village?"
"There is no difference."
As he spoke, Rei Kaguya stood and began walking toward the exit of the restaurant that had been booked out.
However, before he formally stepped out the door, Rei Kaguya still stopped. He turned his face sideways and coldly, lightly dropped a shocking and outrageous statement upon Jiraiya and Tsunade, whose expressions were struggling, and upon Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake, whose pupils were trembling violently.
"From beginning to end, Hashirama Senju, who established the first shinobi village in the shinobi world; Madara Uchiha, who secretly survived and caused Kirigakure to fall into the Bloody Mist; you people, who ruled and allowed Konoha to enter an age of prosperity; and the successive Kage of every major shinobi village are all no different."
"You are nothing more than a group of walking corpses still living in the Warring States Period."
"You never seem to have thought about why you take holding blades and weapons as a matter of course. Why you judge the value of a child's life through the age at which he stains his hands with blood. You even find it unbelievable that I want to reforge a portion of the blades and weapons in my hands, and attempt to teach the people of Kirigakure that human hands are not used only for clenching into fists and grasping weapons."
"How pitiful."
"People eternally haunted by the blood-colored specter known as shinobi and nindo, unable to be freed, yet still fantasizing that they yearn for peace."
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