Chapter 58 The First Shinobi World War

Black Zetsu’s plan had been formulated remarkably smoothly.

The only problem was that execution was proving rather cumbersome.

It was simply unrealistic to expect Uchiha Madara and Emiya Shigen to meet within Konoha; Uzumaki Mito’s formidable sensory abilities would certainly prevent Madara from venturing in rashly.

For instance...

When Uzumaki Mito saw little Tsunade returning alone, she immediately realized that Uchiha Madara had appeared, terrifying the entire village of Konoha into a state of extreme tension where every bush and tree looked like an enemy soldier.

Everyone worried that Uchiha Madara would launch another assault on Konoha.

With Senju Hashirama’s protection gone, apart from the Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki Uzumaki Mito, no one else in Konoha possessed sufficient confidence to resist Uchiha Madara.

It was not until Emiya Shigen returned to the village and informed them that Uchiha Madara had merely paid his respects at Senju Hashirama’s grave, staking his own reputation that there was no danger, that the people finally managed to ease their minds slightly.

"Hmph..."

"That bastard drove Big Brother to his death..."

"And yet he actually has the nerve to come to Konoha to pay respects..."

Senju Tobirama was extremely displeased upon receiving the news, yet he was utterly helpless against Uchiha Madara, as currently no one in Konoha was capable of hunting him down.

Rather than pursuing Uchiha Madara...

It was far more pressing to consolidate Konoha’s internal strength as quickly as possible.

Because Senju Tobirama could smell the scent of gunpowder drifting from an increasing number of border reports, especially with the shinobi from the neighboring Land of Wind’s Village Hidden in the Sand frequently infiltrating the Land of Fire to gather intelligence.

War was approaching.

Time was running out for Konoha.

As the villagers of Konoha gradually recovered from the sorrow of the First Hokage’s passing, they watched with breathless awe as the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, implemented sweeping reforms.

Tobirama reformed almost every institution within the village: establishing a department within the Konoha Hospital dedicated to training medical-nin, revising the curriculum at the Konoha Ninja Academy, and expanding the personnel structure of the Konoha ANBU.

Besides these...

There was also the most troublesome clan of all.

The Uchiha clan.

Since Uchiha Madara was still alive, the perceived threat of the Uchiha clan had escalated dramatically in Tobirama's mind, as they might potentially become inside men for Madara during an attack on Konoha.

Yet Tobirama could not simply exterminate the Uchiha clan; instead, he could only cultivate members within the clan who leaned toward Konoha, such as promoting an exceptional shinobi named Uchiha Kagami into his own personal Hokage Guard Platoon.

In addition...

The long-prepared surveillance plan was also set into motion.

Tobirama ordered that the Uchiha clan continue to reside in their designated district without being broken up, but mandated that their internal members form the Konoha Military Police Force—an independent body separate from Konoha's primary armed forces—tasked with guarding the outer prisons of Konoha and handling internal disputes among the villagers.

Clearly.

This exclusion was far too conspicuous.

Strange murmurs began to surface within the Uchiha clan.

Some felt that such overt marginalization was too glaring, while others believed it at least demonstrated that their Uchiha clan remained the most powerful shinobi clan in Konoha.

After all...

The Senju clan had already been fragmented and ceased to exist as an organized entity.

Anyone among them who attempted to oppose Senju Tobirama's policies was swiftly arrested and cast into prison. The establishment of the Konoha Military Police Force by the Uchiha clan had already become a foregone conclusion.

"Everything is for the sake of Konoha."

Senju Tobirama dismissed all objections with a single sentence, his attitude unyielding: "At a time like this, internal chaos cannot be tolerated within Konoha. War is already inevitable..."

War arrived swiftly.

Even faster than Senju Tobirama had anticipated.

The shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Sand in the Land of Wind mobilized, crossing the small nation of the Land of Rain and breaching the borders of the Land of Fire, thereby proactively initiating war against Konoha!

Moreover, the scale of the war expanded far more rapidly than anyone had imagined!

At first, people merely assumed this was simply the dissatisfaction of Sand Village shinobi with their barren lands, foolishly attempting to usurp the fertile territories of the Land of Fire.

Before long!

The entire shinobi world was plunged into the flames of war!

Once the other major hidden villages discovered the conflict between Konoha and the Sand Village, they rapidly mobilized their own shinobi forces to join the fray, hoping to seize the spoils of victory from the chaos!

The Village Hidden in the Stone of the Land of Earth and the Village Hidden in the Cloud of the Land of Lightning—the hidden villages of the great nations—joined the war one after another, and even the distant Village Hidden in the Mist across the sea chose to intervene. Smoke and fire drifted across the entire shinobi world, and even the tiny nation of the Land of Whirlpools, far away by the coast, was inevitably dragged into the conflict!

Senju Tobirama had anticipated the war long in advance, and his strategy was exceedingly simple: strike the weak first, then defend against the strong.

The Konoha shinobi forces would swiftly eliminate the weakest opponent, the Village Hidden in the Sand of the Land of Wind. Once the Sand Village was forced to surrender, they would pivot their forces northward to defend against the massive shinobi armies of the Stone Village and Cloud Village!

As for the south...

That would be temporarily entrusted to the Village Hidden in the Eddies within the Land of Whirlpools.

Because the leader of the Eddies was the patriarch of the Uzumaki clan.

As distant relatives of the Senju clan, the Village Hidden in the Eddies, ruled by the Uzumaki clan, maintained a continuous alliance with Konoha, to the extent that Konoha incorporated the alliance crest of the Land of Whirlpools into its very shinobi insignia.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances...

As long as a stalemate could be maintained for a period of time.

Permanent peace between the Cloud Village and the Stone Village was a statistical impossibility.

Compared to the geographic positions of Konoha and the Land of Fire, the Cloud and Stone villages, both situated in the northern part of the shinobi continent, were far more prone to friction. Sooner or later, they would erupt into even more severe conflicts as they vied for control over the neighboring minor nations.

Senju Tobirama felt somewhat optimistic about the overall situation.

Consequently, he did not interrupt the normal operations of Konoha.

The children at the Konoha Ninja Academy still attended classes as usual, though the ninja instructors responsible for teaching them had been replaced by chunin, and the ninjutsu curriculum was no longer tailored to individual aptitudes, instead being streamlined into the most fundamental shinobi training courses.

"The previous teachers have gone to the battlefield."

"I heard that a lot of people in the village have died because of the war. They say there's a reckless kid in the next class whose parents both died in the battle..."

"So many wounded soldiers have been brought into the village hospital lately..."

Little Tsunade had also entered the Ninja Academy; she attended classes there during the day, and by nightfall, she would slip over to the Konoha Hospital to continue studying medical arts under Emiya Shigen.

Due to the influx of casualties from the front lines, many medical-nin had been dispatched to the logistical departments, stretching the manpower of the Konoha Hospital thin. Furthermore, numerous wounded soldiers were being sent back to the village, among whom were quite a few severe cases that ordinary personnel could not manage.

In truth.

This was a direct order issued by Senju Tobirama.

After inspecting the frontline emergency medical conditions, the Second Hokage immediately thought of Emiya Shigen, who had been sitting idle within Konoha, acting upon the pragmatic principle of leaning on a good-natured person.

Tobirama bluntly ordered Konoha's medical-nin to conserve their chakra when treating severe casualties, providing only the most rudimentary emergency stabilization before dispatching squads to send the wounded directly back to Konoha, leaving the more advanced medical treatment to the far more skilled Emiya Shigen.

This measure was exceptionally clever.

At the very least, it successfully salvaged the lives of quite a few critically wounded soldiers.

Especially since some injuries exceeded the capabilities of frontline combat medics, and Tobirama was entirely certain that Emiya Shigen would never choose to abandon them, knowing that Shigen was a paragon of virtue recognized even by the Sage of Six Paths.

Konoha Hospital.

Emiya Shigen was indeed hard at work saving lives.

Numerous severely wounded patients survived under his care.

Shigen’s palms glowed with a vibrant green chakra as he firmly grasped a patient's heart, maintaining its rhythmic beating, before finally condensing the emerald chakra at his fingertips into filament-like threads to delicately suture the microscopic tears in the cardiac tissue and blood vessels.

"Tsunade."

Hearing that little Tsunade had arrived at the hospital, Shigen called out to her, gesturing for her to step back a little: "Go wait in the next room for a moment; this surgery is about to conclude."

"I'm not scared at all, Master Emiya."

Tsunade stepped even closer, her own hands beginning to glow with a faint green chakra as she spoke with a remarkably serious expression: "I can help, too!"

"Then listen closely as I explain."

"These chakra threads promote the rapid healing of his wounds."

While performing the surgery, Shigen instructed Tsunade: "When dealing with internal injuries of this nature, one must manipulate the Yang-release chakra used in the medical ninjutsu to take the form of delicate chakra threads. Once the patient recovers, there is no need to remove stitches; this chakra naturally dissipates after mending the wound, without causing any interference to their daily life..."

"Mm..."

Tsunade carefully handed over a piece of sterilized gauze.

"Thank you for your hard work."

As Shigen used the gauze to absorb the blood oozing from the patient's incision, he chatted casually with Tsunade: "It seems the number of wounded being sent here has been increasing lately..."

"Master Emiya is the one working much harder..."

A trace of sorrow crept onto Tsunade's face: "Master Emiya, how can we save more people? If there's only one Master Emiya, how could you possibly save so many?"

"Higher medical proficiency."

"More abundant surgical experience."

"A more resolute psychological fortitude."

Shigen waved a hand to signal his assistant to wheel the patient away, rinsed his hands under a stream of water conjured in his palm, and lowered his voice to a murmur so soft that even Tsunade barely caught it.

"Most importantly, greater power."