Namikaze Minato and Sarutobi Hiruzen were never trying to stop the war—they were just lying to Uchiha Itachi.
Who were they, really? Neither Konoha nor Hanzō listened to them. If they dared to show their faces, Uchiha Fugaku might've turned his gun on them directly. Only Uchiha Itachi would believe that kind of nonsense.
Danzo is dead, but Root still exists.
Sarutobi Hiruzen knows that Danzo established Root's base somewhere around. After several years of quiet development, Root has quickly regained its strength.
As the former Third Hokage, Hiruzen must deter the remaining members of Root and bring them under his command.
Still, compared to Danzo, they're far behind when it comes to developing forces outside Konoha. If they want to take revenge and reform Konoha, a large ninja force is essential.
Both Hiruzen and Minato have learned the value of patience. Their last impulsive raid on the Land of Tea ended in tragedy, with the deaths of Jiraiya, Nara Shikaku, and others.
Hiruzen can't afford to get involved in the shifts happening in the Land of Rain.
The organization he and Minato have spent the past two years building is still too weak to rival Danzo's.
Neither Sarutobi nor the Ino–Shika–Chō clans can provide too much help. And without the support of Konoha's Anbu, he's far from invincible.
So, Hiruzen has no choice but to pass the information to Iwagakure and Sunagakure.
If the Land of Fire were to annex the Land of Rain, neither of those villages would sit back and accept it.
Sometimes, for the greater good, sacrifices and compromises must be made—and Hiruzen has made up his mind.
The battlefield in the Land of Rain quickly turned one-sided.
After slaughtering the Rain Shinobi, Uchiha Shisui halted the advance of the biochemical mechanical soldiers.
They didn't intend to waste time chasing down fleeing Rain Shinobi. Capturing Rain Village was the top priority now. As the saying goes: don't chase a desperate enemy.
Upon receiving Shisui's report, Nawaki relayed the situation to the Fire Nation Daimyō.
Nawaki had already discussed national reform plans with Kain—plans that supported a unified integration of military and government under one system.
Much of this came down to Kain's performance in recent years. He wasn't stingy with funding.
The domestic development budget reached tens of billions of ryō, nearly draining the daimyo's coffers.
The previous daimyo had barely allocated a few hundred million to Konoha and even that came with strings attached.
Compared to Kain, the difference was like night and day.
Almost everything the current daimyō invested in directly benefited the people's livelihood.
Today, nearly 90% of the Land of Fire's citizens speak Kain's name with praise.
The only ones who curse him behind closed doors are the old aristocrats and landlords, whose fortunes were gutted by the new reforms.
Nawaki himself has no lust for power.
He wants to be Hokage—but only to protect the people of his village.
Still, under the influence of Kain Ninja Weekly and other media tools, Nawaki's worldview has evolved.
Now, he dreams not just of peace for Konoha—but of eliminating war itself, ensuring a future with no more ninja wars for centuries to come.
However, it was impossible for the Hokage to hold authority over civil affairs, so Nawaki had been gradually relinquishing that power. Once Konoha completed its relocation, the Hokage would instead become the general of the Land of Fire.
At the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire, Kain sat in quiet reflection after getting up from a moment of intimacy with Kushina.
He had originally come to the ninja world to gain more time for compiling magic books and to collect the tailed beasts, with the goal of unifying and integrating chakra resources. But ever since his arrival, he had been indulging in worldly pleasures instead.
Kushina, Tsunade, Nono, even Nohara Rin—he kept visiting them all. It was honestly exhausting.
This wasn't right. The universe was vast and filled with mysteries; he couldn't afford to sink into pleasure and complacency.
Even Naruto got up early every day to train, while he—Naruto's father—was still lying in bed. It was shameful.
Kain looked over at Naruto, who was sitting nearby, his body drenched in sweat from his morning training.
Naruto's physical constitution held enormous potential. He had clearly inherited the strong vitality of the Uzumaki, Phoenix, and Senju bloodlines. His recovery speed had now surpassed the level expected of someone with the Nine Tails sealed inside.
"Father, what are you doing?" Naruto asked.
"I was just thinking about something," Kain replied. "Naruto, I'll be sparring with you in the future."
He took out a box of snacks and set it in front of Naruto, who immediately locked eyes on the cheese Poseidon sandwich desserts—his absolute favorite. Without a second thought, Naruto licked his lips and prepared to dig in, not even bothering to wash his hands.
But Kain cast a simple cleaning spell on him first, and only then did Naruto eagerly begin to eat. With such intense training, his appetite had grown significantly.
Fortunately, Kain had brought along a large stockpile of Sea King meat—enough to feed Naruto for years.
"Dad's better. Mom usually makes the food, but lately she's been sleeping in," Naruto muttered through bites.
He quickly polished off more than ten snacks. Kain, sensing a presence slowly approaching, didn't react outwardly but asked with a calm smile:
"Tell me, Naruto—do you like me more, or your mom?"
"Of course, Dad! Hey, can I have another box?" Naruto grinned, not suspecting anything.
"Of course. Take your time. I need to get to work."
Kain ruffled Naruto's blond hair and stood up, heading off to write his magic book.
Naruto's eyes lit up as he saw the dessert. Waving his hand casually, he said, "Take your time, Dad." He reached for the dessert box, ready to enjoy it.
But as he turned around, a terrifying sight stopped him cold—Kushina.
Her red hair flowed behind her like the nine tails of a beast. The corner of her mouth twitched as she raised a hand and said sweetly, "Hey, Naruto. Let's have a little chat, okay? I really love how you've been practising lately. I'm very curious about your progress~"
Naruto gulped. His grip on the dessert box faltered. Just as he was about to flee, the sound of rattling chains filled the air—and the next moment, he was tightly bound in chains.
Meanwhile, after sneakily evading his son's fate, Kain arrived at an open training ground to study creation magic.
Mastering creation magic could elevate one to the level of a Legendary Wizard. Thanks to his keen perception and a trove of notes he'd collected from other Legendary mages, Kain found it relatively easy to create spells from scratch.
The real challenge, however, lay in establishing a link between the spellcaster and himself—a magical bond similar to the one used to borrow magic from the Weissandi spellbook.
Marvel's magic fundamentally follows the same principle: it cannot escape the model of borrowed power. All magic is issued by demon gods according to their own power. When others use magic, they must borrow it from these beings.
Whether it's the white magic of official sanctified contracts or the black magic of private, usurious deals, using it rarely ends well—unless you possess the power of someone like the Ancient One. Only then can you borrow power without necessarily repaying it, allowing for some degree of recklessness.
For the next period of time, Kain stayed at the Daimyo's Mansion. Apart from pacifying Kushina's occasional dissatisfaction, he focused on developing his own magic.
Thunder magic was the easiest to work with. Kain had precise control over both magic and lightning. Soon, he developed a new spell—Thunder Net.
By using incantations to mobilize and channel internal magic power, he transformed it into a net of thunder to ensnare and attack enemies.
It was faster than ninjutsu, had a wide range, and was difficult to dodge.
"This power isn't minor—it can't be classified as basic magic. Judging by its strength and complexity, it should at least be considered third-level thunder magic," Kain muttered, slightly shaking his head. "I should work on something with lower power next."
In Hogwarts terms, such magic would be suitable only for fourth- or fifth-year students at the earliest.
Nonetheless, Kain carefully recorded every detail of this spell. As someone with the Thunder Fruit, who could turn into lightning at will, he didn't need all the extra gestures. But for ordinary wizards, this spell could be extremely valuable.
As for the question of connection and borrowing, Kain came up with a temporary solution: using magic wands and pre-established magic circles. Once activated through incantations, wands and circles across different locations could connect back to Kain, allowing users to borrow his power when casting powerful thunder magic.
Unlike the demon gods, Kain didn't demand a heavy price after each casting. For him, sincere belief was enough.
As for the concept of harvesting souls—Kain hadn't fully figured that out yet. He didn't possess his own dimension to store souls. But then an idea struck him: Kamui space.
Kain's eyes lit up. Kamui, a pupil technique that resided within the eye, was a stable, personal dimensional space. It might just work as a container for souls.
"The only issue," he mused, "is the role of the soul in relation to the creator of magic. The Ancient One might know—but she definitely wouldn't tell me."
So Kain decided to investigate through the lens of black magic. In the Harry Potter world, even Horcruxes were considered advanced soul magic. For true applications of soul-based magic, however, one had to turn to demons in the Marvel universe.
Black magic there could span across entire universes—and now that the topic was the soul, he would absolutely need to locate the Darkhold once he returned.
Meanwhile...
"Obito, what are you doing? Are you planning something?" White Zetsu asked, concerned.
He looked at Obito's grievous injuries and was about to attach a clone to accelerate healing, but Uchiha Obito refused. He only requested one arm from White Zetsu's clone; the rest of his injuries, he intended to heal slowly.
"And why aren't you using your Mangekyō?" Zetsu asked again. "Without it, even going up against a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki will be difficult."
Uchiha Obito spoke in a cold, emotionless voice:
"I was merely testing the strength of the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki. As for not using Kamui... I have my own reasons."
If he had used Kamui, he could have sucked the Jinchūriki into the Kamui space and slowly drained their strength. However, the incident involving Nohara Rin's phantom projection had shaken Obito's trust in his own space.
Someone had managed to enter his Kamui dimension.
If he were to bring a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki into Kamui and that person was somehow extracted by the enemy, the consequences would be disastrous.
Obito's first suspect had been Hatake Kakashi, but after long-term secret observation, he dismissed that possibility. Even so, Obito attacked Kakashi and reclaimed the Sharingan eye he had once given him.
Although it was still only at the three-tomoe stage, Obito believed Kakashi had wasted its potential. After reimplanting it, Obito hoped there was still a chance to awaken a new Kamui-related pupil technique over time.
Besides Kakashi, Obito believed someone else was manipulating space-time ninjutsu and targeting him. This person also seemed familiar with Nohara Rin.
Perhaps Mist Shinobi had indeed sealed Three Tails into Rin's body.
"You don't need to worry about my affairs," Obito said sharply.
"Gather all available information on the Tailed Beasts immediately. The plan must be moved ahead of schedule."
"Moved ahead? But isn't Nagato still just getting used to the Rinnegan? Hey—Obito!?"
Before White Zetsu could finish, Obito activated Kamui and vanished.
Though he no longer trusted Kamui to trap enemies, it was still an excellent tool for travel. And deep down, he hoped the mysterious intruder might make a mistake—something he could catch—within the Kamui space.
…
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