ALL NOVEL Chapter 73-Stacking the Deck!
Chapter 73
MINATO NAMIKAZE
After Akihito's revelations about their real enemy lurking in the shadows, Minato looked up all he could on the man known as Madara Uchiha. He was taken aback by the man's sheer fear. Minato Namikaze was strong. He was amongst the few shinobi in the world who had achieved the SS rank in the bingo boon, the only shinobi alive who had this rank.
And yet if the reports he had read about the man were anything to go by, Madara Uchiha was a shinobi in a class of his own, one shared by only the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju himself.
And yet all he currently knew, he had read about the man. Yet now, as the man stood infront of him, he realsied that words could hardly do justice to the monster who stood infront of him.
Now, despite being a kage, being hailed as a genius, and having spent the last two years preparing for this very eventuality, he still found himself gripped with dread as those dark orbs landed on their daimyo.
"You truly believe that you. A mere samurai, a politician, could do a better job than Hashirama," the man snarled as sheer fear gripped the hall. He saw the clattering teeth of many daimyos even as their pages shielded them, pages who had their faces pale at the intervention, with nearly all of them recognizing that iconic mane of hair.
"You criticize his work and his accomplishments while the peace you enjoyed was obtained through that man's sacrifice," he continued to ask as he looked Akihito-sama in the eye, and the young lord did not back off.
Despite knowing the danger and prowess hidden in those irises, he looked up straight into the man's eyes as he began.
"Hashirama Senju was a great man with an even greater dream. He dreamt of peace, of a world where no children would have to go to war," and his voice was slow and melancholic as he said those words.
"And he did not dream this future alone; he dreamt it up with a friend. With someone he considered a brother, someone who would help him achieve his dream and usher in this new age we now live in. And yet, for all his grandeur, he was not a God. He did not consider his work the ultimate achievement of his vision. He knew that it would take time, and here he made his only mistake," he smiled as he raised his hand and let the bijuu chakra cover it.
"In his attempt to buy that time, he tangled with powers he did not understand. He rushed to a conclusion and trapped sentient beasts inside humans, turning the very instruments of peace left to us by the Sage into weapons of warfare and destruction," and at that, the bijuu's chakra wrapped around him, coiling around his arm as a blue flame lit up.
And he saw Madara's eyes narrow as he saw that display of control over bijuu chakra.
"So that is your vision," he began, and Akihito-sama nodded as he closed his fist, extinguished the flame, and looked Madara Uchiha in the eye.
"Indeed. I wish only to push forward the change begun by Hashirama Senju and build upon the foundation he left us with in the best way I can and to believe as he did," he smiled.
"That those who shall come after me, after us, shall have a Hashirama of their own. One who would break the Mold and take up and correct the mistakes I make," and with that, there was silence.
"And what if you fail? You shall entrust the future of millions into hope. A blind hope. You have experienced the carnage that ripped through this world because of Hashirama's failures. You would let that cycle continue," he asked Akihito-sama shrugged.
"There is no such thing as absolute peace. People fight, they kill, they hate just as easily as they love one another. Wars will happen after me, maybe even in my own lifetime, there will never be a time when the world shall be free of war and conflict, for peace is only the respite between these conflicts. What we can hope to do is to shield the most downtrodden amongst us, to continue to believe in the generations to come to do better, to dream better," he finished, and Madara Uchiha's face twisted as he shook his head.
"You are just as naive as Hashirama then," finally Hanazo the Salamander rose from his chair. His eyes widened with shock as he looked at him.
"You! It really is you," he gasped out, and he saw Madara glance towards him.
"Salamander boy," Madara Uchiha smiled as he looked on at the man.
"WHO IS THAT MAN!" "GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" the Wind and Lighting daimyo snarled, ordering their pages as Madara Uchiha chuckled.
"I am afraid that even with all of us here, that would not be easy," Lady Chiyo spoke as she stepped forward, her face marred with worry.
"For that man is the one of the two who can be credited with creating the shinobi system as we know it. He is amongst the strongest shinobi ever produced in these lands," she answered and Madara Uchiha.
"It seems my tale is quite as forgotten as I thought," and with that, he turned to face the rest of the councilmen, turning his face away from him and Akihito-sama.
"As pure as your shogun's intentions may be, he shall face as Hashirama Senju did," he began, his voice booming across the room despite being barely louder, for that was the nature of the silence that gripped the room.
"Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed the world. The longer you live, the more you realize the only things that exist in this reality are merely pain, suffering, and futility. Everywhere you look, where there is light, shadows will be found as well," and his words gripped the room as he stepped forward, basking in the moonlight, which illuminated his face as he raised his hand.
"As long as there is a concept of victors, the vanquished will also exist. The selfish intent of wanting to preserve peace means there will be war. And hatred is born in order to protect love. These are causal relationships that cannot be separated. I want to sever the fate of this world," he broke forth as he raised his hand.
"A world of only victors. A world of only peace. A world of only love," and sweat dripped down his face as he saw him proclaim his vision.
"I will create such a world. One where I shall take away from you your very will to war. A genjutsu, so strong that it would envelop the whole world in its embrace, taking away all your worries and ending this whole cycle of war," he finished, and he saw many pale at those words.
"J-Just—who is he?" the Lightning daimyo gasped out with a pale face as the man smirked.
"I am the Ghost of the Uchiha, the only man here who stood to shoulder with the one called the God of Shinobi," he finished with a smirk.
"Madara Uchiha," and with that, the whole room gasped as many denied those words. But the older generation of shinobi present did not do that, for they felt him. Felt his prowess and recognised him for who he was.
"And you, boy," at that, the man turned towards Akihito-sama.
"Pure as your intentions, maybe you are as naive as Hashirama. He would have liked you; pity though that he is no longer here to stop me," he said, and Akihito-sama smirked.
"I do not think I am much like the man you speak of, and more importantly at that," he saw Akihito-sama's face shift as he looked the man in the eye.
"I am far better prepared than you would think!"
At that, the floor of the council room cracked as four shinobi appeared from right below the man and encircled him with their attacks ready.
"CHAAAA!"
"KONOHA SENPUUU!"
"LATERAL BOLT OF PAIN!"
"EARTHEN GOLEMMM!"
"...ALMIGHTY PUSH!"
BOOOM!
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JIRAIYA-The Toad Sage
Kushina's little push helped him traverse nearly half of the country, and the rest he had been able to cover for himself as he rushed towards the subtle chakra signal, he had received earlier.
As he arrived, he found himself standing outside a decrepit cave, one covered by seals. Orochimaru's work he easily recognized. He had broken through many such seals when Konoha had been investigating his friend's work and research over the years, and the horrors he had seen inside shook him to this day.
And as he broke the seals, after all, Orochimaru's shoddy work was no match for his own, and began to walk towards the cave until he suddenly stopped as he felt a chakra coming out of it.
And then he watched as a silhouette appeared and walked outside, and his eyes narrowed as he snarled.
"Orochimaru," he snarled as he watched his once friend, turned traitor, walk outside, and yet he was not his friend in whole, for half his body seemed to be covered by a black shadowy object, obscuring his chakra.
"It has been quite some time, old friend," Orochimaru smiled, and he snarled.
"Don't call me that," he raged as stood tall. His sage mode gave him an ominous feeling about the dark thing covering Orochimaru.
"We are not friends, not after what you have done. You did not just betray Konoha, you have betrayed the whole of humanity," he raged and Orochimaru smiled.
"So, you know," he asked with a narrowed gaze and he smiled.
"We do," he replied and saw his eyes glint.
"You mastered it?" he asked, and he nodded as he brought together his hand.
"Surrender, and I will make it as painless as possible," he replied, and then suddenly Orochimaru's body changed as he brought together his hands, and another voice, this one much more gnarly, came out.
"I am afraid he cannot do that just yet." And with that, he put down his hands.
"Did you really think I would miss out on your little signal, Orochimaru," he heard another voice snarl as Orochimaru's chakra roared forth.
"Summoning Jutsu!" He jumped back and felt an ominous chakra appear.
"I know of all your slippery plans, you snake-faced bastard," he heard this other voice continue, and he stilled as he saw exactly what had been summoned by Orochimaru.
The daimyo-sama had mentioned it and propped up the idea, yet it seemed farfetched at the time. And yet it was happening, the forbidden technique created by the second, a kinjutsu unlike any other that broke the very rules of reality.
Edo Tensei.
And right now, he found himself staring at the recreation of the body of the greatest shinobi to ever grace these lands.
The God of Shinobi-Hashirama Senju.
He stilled as he saw the man open his eyes. His sclera was dark, and his skin was pale. It had cracks in it as if formed and held together by clay as Orochimaru put up his hand.
"ATTACK HIM!" came the order, and he felt the immense chakra of the first Hokage rile up and despite being in Sage mode Jiraiya felt fear grip his heart as he felt the man's gaze lock up on him.
"ATTAC...."
And then he saw it blur, and before he could even react, a massive explosion shook the entire area.
BOOOOM!
And then, through the debris, all he could watch was the Hokage gripping Orochimaru's body by the neck and holding him against the wall.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" the foreign voice gasped, and then he saw it, at the neck of the first Hokage—Orochimaru's seal and now, as the man opened his eyes instead of the dark irises, there were golden eyes with snake-like slit staring back as a cruel smiled appeared on the man's face.
"You think too highly of yourself, you damned creature," Orochimaru's voice snarled out of the first Hokage's mouth.
"You!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" he said, watching as Orochimaru's body began to turn into rock, a clear indication of natural chakra overload.
"Teaching you what it means to go against me!"
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