Naruto: The Hyuga Mastermind

Chapter 45: Peace

"...The roots buried underground will never bask in the sunlight. Danzo's actions are meaningless."

Hyuga Fuji shook his head and said calmly, "If you were truly worried, you wouldn't have come to me."

"...That's true." Minato smiled as he stood up. "I just need to win this war with my comrades in the village."

The precondition for the ninja clans bargaining with the Hokage was that the Hokage was willing to play by their rules. When a powerful Hokage refused to play, the clans couldn't do anything to stop them.

Did the First Hokage have political acumen?

No, but all the ninja clans had to follow his rules.

The eternal law of the ninja world remains the same: the strong reign supreme.

Yes, the strong reign supreme…

"Alright. Before the village's ninja forces assemble, let's first clear out the Kirigakure troops lurking in the surrounding area."

Hyuga Fuji glanced at the excited Kushina and sighed, looking at Kakashi and Uchiha Yakumaru nearby, as if to ask:

'We're the Hokage's guard unit. How does it make sense for us to leave him behind and take on missions ourselves?'

You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?

Uchiha Yakumaru rolled his eyes and gestured toward Kushina, then toward the command room, making a height comparison with two fingers—Kushina higher, Minato lower. The meaning was clear.

'It's obvious who's in charge in the Hokage's household. Can we even resist?'

Is this some alternate version of "the strong reign supreme"?

The Fourth Hokage being completely under his wife's thumb wasn't something they had anticipated.

Meanwhile, Kakashi stood calmly, reading a small book as if entirely accustomed to the situation.

Kushina-sensei is just eager to "stretch her legs" after staying in the village for too long.

"What are you all waiting for?"

Kushina had walked some distance ahead. Seeing the three of them still standing there with different expressions, she put her hands on her hips and smiled sweetly. "Not following the captain's orders? I already cleared it with Minato."

"Let's go." Hyuga Fuji shook his head, leaving a shadow clone outside the command room before following after her.

Seeing this, Kakashi and Uchiha Yakumaru exchanged a glance and followed suit.

With the reinforcements yet to arrive, Minato needed to remain at the command post for now, delaying the plan to deal with the tailed beast unit.

After all, Orochimaru, who was gathering intelligence, hadn't returned yet. Certain plans required more detailed information to proceed.

Jiraiya, however, had already gone to the frontlines.

'This battlefield is much more brutal than when I was here before.'

An hour away from the command post, Hyuga Fuji's Byakugan reflected the surrounding forest as he thought to himself.

Scattered bloodstains and ninja tools littered the forest. Some corpses had yet to be retrieved. With Kirigakure reinforcements arriving, the intensity of the battles had risen to a point where certain tasks could no longer be prioritized.

After advancing a bit further without encountering any enemies, Kushina, at the front, signaled for them to stop and rest for a while.

Though all of them were jonin, the intelligence suggested that Kirigakure had already deployed seven thousand ninjas to the battlefield, with an additional two thousand expected to reinforce them soon.

While many of these were low-level genin and chunin, there were still plenty of skilled fighters among them. The squad was strong, but carelessness could lead to being surrounded while fatigued, and casualties would be unavoidable.

"Kirigakure is insane. Deploying this many ninjas hasn't been seen since the Third Tsuchikage's siege on the Third Raikage. How much defensive strength does the Land of Water even have left?"

Uchiha Yakumaru took a sip of water from his canteen and asked, puzzled, "The Five Great Nations need their ninja forces to defend most of their territories. How did the Daimyo of the Land of Water agree to the Mizukage sending so many troops to attack us? Does he really believe the Mizukage can win?"

Under the one nation, one village system, the bulk of a nation's military strength was concentrated in its ninja village. While the Daimyo controlled some forces, they were negligible compared to the ninja village's power.

"The Land of Water is an isolated island nation. To attack them, you'd have to cross vast stretches of ocean, which most ninjas can't do. They'd need to travel by ship," Kushina said, glancing at him with a smile. "As long as they control their coastline, it's very difficult to invade. Didn't you study geography?"

"I know," Yakumaru grumbled. "I just don't understand why every time there's a shinobi war, the other villages pounce on Konoha when they see weakness. Why not attack the other great nations? The Land of Water's defenses must be stretched thin. Even if they can't conquer it, they could at least gain something."

"There's little to gain there. The Land of Fire is in an excellent position."

Hyuga Fuji, scanning the surroundings with his Byakugan, spoke up: "The Land of Fire is bordered by the sea to the east and south, and surrounded by smaller nations. Geographically, it's centrally located and serves as an important hub for transportation and trade."

"On top of that, because of its climate and terrain, it produces some of the highest agricultural yields among all the nations. Attacking here, even just breaching the borders, can yield substantial rewards."

"Not to mention, Konoha's demonstrated war potential has always been the strongest among all the great nations. Without suppressing it, they can't rest easy."

"..."

Uchiha Yakumaru fell silent. He wasn't unaware of these facts, but he couldn't help but worry about the trends they represented.

Three shinobi wars, and Konoha always had to face multiple villages. What would happen if Konoha ever reached a point where it lacked capable leaders to turn the tide?

The outcome seemed all too predictable—destruction.

"Can't we just wipe them out once and for all? We keep winning, but I don't see Konoha gaining any real benefits."

Yakumaru muttered, "The tailed beasts were all distributed by the First Hokage, and now they're being used against us. It's ungrateful. The peace the First Hokage longed for has been shattered by them. When will we finally see true peace?"

No one answered. Hyuga Fuji narrowed his eyes and stayed silent.

True peace… such a thing never existed.

As long as people lived, as long as desires remained, conflict would never cease.

Even the world he came from had not achieved peace. The terrifying weapons that deterred nations from direct conflict merely forced them to compete through economic, political, and other means—a different kind of warfare.

Many nations still pursued those weapons, even if research on them was officially forbidden.

In the end, power that inspires fear also incites greed.

The power of Hashirama was studied. The power of the Uchiha was studied. All because of the existence of individuals like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, whose might could rival that of an entire great ninja village.

People feared them, but if given the chance, everyone wanted to be like them.

In the ninja world, achieving lasting or eternal peace through individual strength would likely require the power of a so-called "Otsutsuki God." Otherwise, peace enforced by strength would inevitably be disrupted by even greater power.

Even ordinary Otsutsuki weren't enough—several had already been defeated or sealed by the ninja world in the future.

The ninja world had the capacity to counter the Otsutsuki.

But if one abandoned the idea of individual power and sought temporary peace, peace without war, such overwhelming strength wouldn't be necessary…

Konoha, as it stood now, could achieve that.

Hyuga Fuji's expression shifted slightly. "One kilometer ahead, I've spotted enemies."

(End of Chapter)