Chapter 71
Every droplet of blood that was spilled was his fault. That was all he could think of as he looked down. That was all there was to this madness. It was all him.
What had he done? Looking at Shisui, who was smiling at his teammates with his victory achieved, Hiruzen felt sick. Shisui won, sure, he did it as Hiruzen asked, and now the village was ten million ryo richer.
But with that victory came clarity in his mind. This kind of shit he was doing was a losing game. What was he even thinking? He did what he hated the most, forcing children to fight, to kill, and to bleed. And he just watched, and now he was supposed to be happy.
At this moment, Hiruzen realized he was wrong once again. He let the pressure put on him control him. Making bets on these kids made him rich now, and would even make him richer, but it was also the worst thing he could have done. Why would he even think it was fine? What if Shisui got severely hurt or even killed, and for what? Could he earn a bit of extra money?
"Forget about the bet." There was nothing he could do to reverse what he did, but he didn't deserve a reward for it either. "Your genin did a great job. He knew what he had to do the moment the fight began, and he did his best to accomplish it. In a few years, he will be an excellent shinobi any village would be envious of."
The winnings from the betting his shadow clones had done would be plenty, and they already made him sick. From the very start, he had been thinking about it wrongly. The pressure and the stress were numbing his senses, something he shouldn't have allowed to happen.
Iruka's fight and now Shisui's match have snapped him out of it. He was playing a game with children's lives at stake. And what was he thinking? Antagonizing other villages for a bit of money? No matter how infuriating they were, he couldn't fall to their standards.
His weary soul was already being pushed to its limits. He needed to do everything to make peace with the rest of the villages, no matter the price to himself. And could he say he did that? Sure, the Raikage was an idiot, but Hiruzen shouldn't make it worse.
He had won, and now it was time to end this debacle. He had forgotten that money wasn't his goal from the very beginning. It was time he did what he had to. He had to seek peace at any cost. Cost to himself and not others. He had to let it all go and try to persuade the Raikage of the same. Even if he would fail in the end.
"He wasn't as good as Shisui Uchiha, and I don't think a few years will change that." Of course, the Raikage wouldn't agree with Hiruzen on anything. "Money isn't an issue for me. Give it to the boy if you must, but don't try to reject it."
"If you are insisting, I won't refuse then." Hiruzen could only agree. "I will make it as a donation to the village's orphanages and hospitals in your name then."
But if Raikage wouldn't agree on anything with him, Hiruzen had to make another plan. He would force the Raikage to be his ally. He would make Konoha trust Kumo so much that even Kumo itself would doubt their relationship with them. First, he would pretend that the money he won was given to him as a gift for their future relationship.
And no matter what they did, Hiruzen would not make them enemies of Konoha. He was already pretending to be something he wasn't. Why wouldn't he pretend to have a relationship he didn't have?
They didn't want to accept peace that easily, so be it. Hiruzen would shove it down their throat and make them swallow it together with their pride and fear. He didn't give a shit anymore. After all of this was over, he would gladly take on the responsibility and retire from his position.
No, maybe if everything went wrong from the beginning, he could retire even sooner. Yes, then he should just force Jiraiya to take upon the mantle, and Hiruzen would be done with this nonsense. In the end, what else was he supposed to do? He could only try, after all, he might plan as much as he wished. But it didn't take much to break all plans.
Hiruzen was so lost in his thoughts that he completely missed Yamato's fight. Well, it didn't seem like there was anything he should have watched out for to begin with, so he didn't mind it. But he decided to pay attention to the next match.
Hiruzen hoped that Maki could exhaust Yugito, so in the end, Hayate wouldn't have too much trouble. But if Yugito became too dangerous, Hiruzen was ready to pull Hayate out. He didn't care about the system or the money he had bet on him.
Maki was a skilled kunoichi. She used her techniques well, so from the very beginning of the fight, no matter how aggressively Yugito fought, Maki still managed to keep her distance. If this continued, Yugito would have no choice but to exhaust herself even if she won.
At least something was going as planned. If Hayate could win, the village's financial security would be guaranteed. Then, he truly could immerse himself in the plans to secure peace. And his peaceful retirement would finally be before his eyes. He just suddenly felt so tired, and so old.
And then there was an explosion. Hiruzen didn't even glance from where it came. He moved first. He had been preparing for this to happen, so once it happened, he knew what had to be done. He wouldn't let Kumo ruin everything Hiruzen hoped for.
Before the Raikage could make his move, Hiruzen made his. There was only one thing he could do. So, he used his maximum speed to get right behind Yugito Nii and wrench her by her shoulder so he could take her hostage and threaten the Raikage to stop anything he had planned to do.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and Hiruzen could confess that he moved out of instinct without much thought. He was simply too afraid to face someone like the Fourth Raikage. He would be easily killed, so he thought that by taking Yugito hostage, he could negotiate something and maybe even avoid bloodshed altogether.
So why the fuck was he stabbed in his chest? And by none other than Yashamaru? Hiruzen glanced at the sword sticking in his chest. It would have been Yugito with a sword, probably in her heart, if he hadn't moved her out of the way.
There were many questions Hiruzen wanted to know the answers to. But only one seemed to come to his mind at the moment. Did he just get himself killed? Hiruzen was terrified as he glanced at his stats in the system. Half of his health was gone.
"Temple of Nirvana." First things first, Hiruzen used a genjutsu to put everyone to sleep.
All kinds of hell were going to break loose soon. But before it all went down, he hoped to have at least a chance to avoid the fallout and even the war that might come from it all. He was alive, and so was Yugito.
Yashamaru was quickly apprehended. Mukai moved the second Yashamaru did, but he was too late to stop him. And only after the deed was done did he manage to bring Yashamaru down. The Suna jonin didn't fight back and accepted his fate.
Maki released Yugito from her technique. And Killer Bee was already on her, ready to take the Suna kunoichi. The Raikage was stopped by Jiraiya, but he looked like he wouldn't be contained for long.
"Enough!" Hiruzen let Yugito go and pulled out the sword from his chest, decreasing his health by another ten percent. "Everyone, sheathe your weapons and calm down."
Everyone was ready to kill each other. The Kumo shinobi were most prepared to get to Suna. Konoha's shinobi were even more tense as the blood was spilled of their Hokage. The only one who held them all together from slaughtering each other was Hiruzen.
"That won't be possible," the Fourth Raikage said, though he was still in his seat with Jiraiya behind him. "The Suna shinobi tried to assassinate one of ours. I demand you hand him to me; only then will I stay my hand."
War. The most terrifying word was entering Hiruzen's head. He could already imagine what it all would come to, the senseless slaughter, the cycle of hatred and pain. The children who would have to be sacrificed.
Why? Why did Suna do this? No, it didn't matter anymore. There wasn't a reason that would satisfy anyone. All Hiruzen could see was the willingness to die for whatever reason it might be. Even Maki, who was only one step from death, looked determined. The girl knew the consequences, and she accepted them.
"Nothing happened." But Hiruzen wasn't going to accept it; he would do what he had always done. He would pretend that everything was fine. "Maki of Suna is disqualified because her sensei interfered with her match."
"You think I will accept it?" The Raikage couldn't be held back; he wasn't going to play Hiruzen's game of pretend. "I want answers. Give him to me. Or I will…"
"Or what? What will you do?" Hiruzen looked at the Raikage as he held the wound in his chest, which slowly healed with his medical ninjutsu. "How can I trust you not to put up this act? It could have been your plan all along. Kill your jinchuriki and blame it on us, demand retribution from us. But since it has failed, you now can't accept it. Would it be too far to think like that?"
"This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. On what basis could one even think of something like this?"
"All of this is ridiculous!" Hiruzen tried to calm himself down, but how could he when people around him pushed for war, for destruction, and for what? "Nothing happened. That is my decision as the one who got hurt. I do not ask you. I demand you. If you don't like it, get the fuck out of my village and never dare to return. I don't give a shit about your view of the situation, nor your useless pride, nor your struggles. Because all you have done so far is bring war to me. I won't accept it. So, sit down or get the hell out."
"And if I choose neither?" The Raikage's body was engulfed in lightning nature; his chakra was visible to anyone.
Even Jiraiya couldn't hold the Raikage in this state. And with two jinchuriki right before Hiruzen, was there anything he could do? The Suna shinobi were ready to die, the Kumo shinobi were ready to kill. All Hiruzen had to do was let them do as they wished.
"Then come at me." But they were fools, and he couldn't let them do foolish things. "Kill me. I'm weakened. I won't even stand a chance against you right now. The perfect moment to kill me. You'll probably even be able to escape the village. So, do it. Kill me, and let the people you are responsible for die. Let the world be engulfed in war. I've told you I will be the first to die."
The Fourth Raikage was as fast as Hiruzen as he suddenly appeared before him. Kakashi already had Chidori chirping in his hand, Jiraiya bit his thumb, ready to summon something that would stop a tailed beast. Hiruzen only looked at the Raikage's eyes.
At this point, what could he do? He could plan. He could despair. He could blame the world. It didn't matter. If he couldn't sustain the peace, he didn't even want to live in this world. He was a coward, and he couldn't see children die before his eyes. So, he would be the first one to go.
A.N. I am still damn sick. Just a constant cough and running nose, hopefully I will be able to survive the rest of the winter.
As always. Thanks for reading and supporting me. If you want 7 more chapters of this story and 42 chapters in total with all my current stories, please consider supporting me on pa treon ironworlf852. Thanks in advance.