"Not bad, you're very perceptive, Nawaki."
Li Anshi looked at Nawaki and nodded in approval.
At the same time, he marveled at the meticulousness of Danzo Shimura's mind.
Although his own shop was not in the center of the village, it was located on one of Konoha's main roads.
Yet the commotion Danzo had created had not affected this particular road in the slightest.
If Nawaki hadn't come to tell him, he probably wouldn't have even known about Danzo's move until after he had left the village.
If Danzo had ended up stealing Tsunade's credit, then even if Li Anshi had killed him in the end, he would have been disgusted by his actions for a long time.
"Then Sensei, can you tell me what they're going to do? Is there going to be a war?"
Nawaki looked up and asked him.
His voice trembled slightly.
It was excitement, and also fear.
War was a theme that had never changed in the ninja world.
Even during the reign of the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya Otsutsuki, there had been countless people who had resisted her rule.
Otherwise, the toads of Mount Myoboku would not have approached Hagoromo Otsutsuki, taught him senjutsu, and told him the truth about the God Tree, and how Kaguya had turned the people of the world into the combat weapons known as White Zetsu, causing Hagoromo to turn against his own mother.
However, even after Hagoromo and his younger brother Hamura had sealed their mother, returning the world to the rule of the daimyo and nobles, it still did not find peace and was often in a state of turmoil.
That was the era of the samurai.
Yes, an era even more chaotic than when Kaguya had ruled.
Hagoromo, who had become the "Sage of Six Paths," clearly possessed the power to end the chaotic times, but he had not done so.
Perhaps, he had a psychological aversion to "ruling the world with great power." So, in a moment of impulse, Hagoromo had wandered the world, sharing his chakra with those who followed him, so they could use it to connect with one another, to understand each other's will and achieve "peace."
Unfortunately, this bridge of "communication" had ultimately been used for slaughter by the ninjas who now possessed chakra.
Furthermore, because they possessed the extraordinary power of chakra, the destruction caused by their wars was dozens of times greater than that of the samurai.
In just a little over a decade, ninjas had swept the samurai into the dustbin of history, becoming the dominant force in the world.
Before Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had established the village of Konoha, the conflict in the ninja world had never ceased.
And as time went on, more and stronger ninjutsu were created by talented ninjas. Those with the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths even fused their abilities to create "Kekkei Genkai," pushing the power of ninjas to an even higher level.
By the generation of Madara and Hashirama, they had both reached the pinnacle of what it meant to be a ninja, possessing the terrifying power to destroy a nation single-handedly.
Under their deterrence, the other ninja clans had no choice but to gather together to form villages, and to follow Hashirama's will, bringing "peace" to the world.
Although Nawaki had been four years old when the First Great War had begun, generally speaking, apart from the children who had graduated from the Academy early, the ordinary villagers of Konoha had not really felt the cruelty of war.
Even Nawaki was no exception.
At this moment, his thoughts on war were a mix of fantasies of himself slaughtering enemies on the battlefield and becoming a "hero" who protected the village, and the fear of his own inadequacy, of his family and friends dying in the conflict.
"Yes."
Li Anshi nodded.
Although, in Nawaki's current state, a few comforting words, a white lie, would make him feel better and prevent him from being overshadowed by the clouds of war in the coming days, since he wanted to take Tsunade's place and share her burden, Li Anshi would not pass up any opportunity for him to grow.
Besides, if nothing unexpected happened, Nawaki would not be able to avoid this war.
In the original timeline, Nawaki had been a disciple of Orochimaru and had been killed by an explosive tag trap during the Second Great Ninja War. His internal organs had been torn out, a gruesome death.
Although Li Anshi had currently left a spatial mark on him and was very confident that he could save him if he encountered danger, this was no reason for Nawaki to relax.
Li Anshi could save him ten times, a hundred times.
But would he be Nawaki's babysitter for life?
The thought was impossible.
He had never even protected Tsunade in such a way.
Well, in that regard, he also had confidence in Tsunade's strength.
As long as the Kage of the five great villages didn't act personally, no one could capture her.
And if she were given a few more years, she might even be able to challenge the other Kage.
Three years was the limit of what Li Anshi could do.
If Nawaki were to die in a crisis after three years, he and Tsunade might be sad, but they would absolutely not regret it.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the ninja world will soon fall into turmoil."
"And Konoha, as the number one great ninja village, occupying the most fertile land in the Land of Fire, will once again become the center of a great war, whether it's for the village's interests or the ninjas' own ambitions."
"At that time, not just you, but even the retired ninjas will be recalled to participate in the war to protect Konoha."
"Back then, that's how I became a ninja."
"How could this be?"
Nawaki's heart sank.
He had never imagined that if a war were to break out, Konoha would once again be besieged by several great villages.
"Sensei, can't you, with your strength, stop the war from happening?"
Nawaki looked up and asked him.
"If I were to personally speak out, to let the other great villages know that I have learned the Flying Thunder God Technique and will participate in the war, it is indeed possible that they would not dare to attack Konoha."
Li Anshi with his flying dagger was terrifying, but the other great villages, if they were ruthless enough, could still kill him by sacrificing enough of their own ninjas.
They might even accept casualties of up to ten thousand.
But if they knew he had learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, they would not risk having their villages wiped out by him to attack Konoha.
"Then Sensei, you should just spread the news that you've learned it... shouldn't you..."
Li Anshi suddenly looked up, his sharp gaze making Nawaki's voice grow smaller and smaller. The last two words, if Li Anshi hadn't been standing right in front of him, he might not have heard at all.
Nawaki was indeed frightened by his gaze.
He had never seen his teacher look at him with such a terrifying expression.
It was as if, if he were to say another word, he would be instantly killed.
"Nawaki, what do you think is the essence of war?"
Putting down the wood carving in his hand, the sharpness in his eyes softened, allowing Nawaki to breathe a sigh of relief.
If it had continued any longer, he felt he would have suffocated.
Is this the pressure exerted by a top-tier powerhouse?
This was also the first time Nawaki had felt just how vast the gap was between himself and a true master.
Although his grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and after the deaths of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, it would not be an exaggeration to say she was the strongest in the world, and his sister, Tsunade, was already an elite jonin of Konoha, neither of them had ever shown him their full strength.
It was precisely because of this that he knew very little about the difference between a top-tier ninja and an ordinary one.
Now, Li Anshi had taught him a very good lesson.
In front of a top-tier powerhouse, a chunin like him, if in a large-scale battle, would be fine. Surrounded by comrades, with a shared enemy, one's spiritual resistance would be greatly increased, allowing one to fight without fear of death.
But if faced alone, under the pressure of a top-tier powerhouse's aura, an ordinary chunin, let alone fighting back, would probably be forced into a death illusion by their aura, losing control of their own body.
"The essence of war?"
"Isn't it that the other villages covet our Konoha and want to destroy us?"
Li Anshi shook his head.
"Nawaki, your vision is still too narrow."
"Although the era of the villages has only been established for just over twenty years, if nothing unexpected happens, while there may be winners and losers in a war between the five great villages, it is impossible for a village to be completely destroyed."
"Because that does not align with their psychological expectations."
"Those people?"
"Who?"
Nawaki was startled by his words.
In his eyes, the five great villages were the most powerful existence in the entire ninja world.
But in his teacher's words, in the wars between the villages, there was someone even above them?
"Who else could it be?"
"Isn't it the daimyo and the nobles of the five great nations?"
"How is that possible?"
Nawaki simply didn't believe it.
"Don't the daimyo and nobles often give us missions?"
"I heard that many ninjas rely on the mission rewards from them to live."
"If they didn't give Konoha missions, the number of ninjas in the village would be reduced by at least half."
Li Anshi rolled his eyes.
He hadn't expected that even after he had made it so clear, Nawaki still couldn't figure it out on his own and had to ask him instead.
Sure enough, his political wisdom was still too low.
If Nawaki were to strive to become "Hokage," then in the future, if he didn't have a strategist from the Nara clan by his side, he probably wouldn't even know when he had been screwed over by the other clans or by the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire.
"Heh, Nawaki, when ordinary people can't survive, some will choose to go up the mountains and become bandits, robbing merchant caravans."
"Then do you think that if ninjas can't survive, some of them might think of killing the daimyo and nobles and taking their wealth to live?"
Li Anshi sneered and asked him in return.
"Huh?"
"How is that possible?"
Nawaki shook his head. "Aren't ninjas just people who complete missions to get paid?"
"If you kill the client, and no one posts missions in the future, how can you get paid to live?"
"Ha, that question of yours is truly naive."
"The wealth of the daimyo and nobles can support so many ninjas in a village."
"Why do you think that ninjas who have seized that wealth would still need to rely on mission rewards to live?"
"This..."
Nawaki was at a loss for words.
That's right. In the end, a ninja was just a profession.
Ordinary people relied on farming to survive.
Merchants relied on buying low and selling high to make a profit and survive.
This was no different from ninjas relying on completing missions to get paid and survive.
In this world, only the nobles and the daimyo relied on their "noble" status to oppress and control the world's situation.
The nobles relied on oppressing the common people and merchants to survive.
The daimyo, in turn, relied on the support of the nobles to stabilize their power.
In the era of the samurai, although their strength was not bad, it was still within the realm of "ordinary people."
Even the strongest samurai could, at most, kill a few, or a dozen people.
In the face of the armies of the daimyo and nobles, which numbered in the hundreds or thousands, the samurai had no choice but to bow their heads and become their "attendants," following their orders.
But ninjas were different.
Although their way of life was very similar to that of the samurai, there was one thing that made it so the samurai could never compare.
That was, ninjas had mastered the extraordinary power known as "chakra."
Ever since the Sage of Six Paths had established the ninja sect by passing down chakra, and Indra had discovered "seals" and "jutsu," ninjas had possessed all sorts of magical abilities.
Cloning, transformation, spewing water, breathing fire, palm wind, controlling lightning...
Let alone ordinary people, even samurai with superb swordsmanship could be easily killed by ninjas.
Under these circumstances, the daimyo and nobles naturally could not treat ninjas the same way they treated samurai.
As rulers, they clearly knew that when faced with an existence beyond their control, they could not use forceful means.
Otherwise, just like a few hundred years ago, they would be overthrown by an extremely terrifying woman.
If not for the fact that that woman had ended up turning against her own two sons, they would probably have been raised in captivity by her, just like their ancestors.
However, it was also because the initial way of life for ninjas was similar to that of the samurai that the daimyo and nobles had indirectly achieved the goal of controlling them through the form of "missions."
"Nawaki, you must know that all the disputes in the world are born from the conflict of interests."
"For the daimyo and the nobles, the most important thing is how to better control the ninja villages and prevent them from developing rebellious thoughts."
"And to achieve this, you cannot let the ninjas be at peace."