Chapter 93: Jointly Protecting Peace

The Raikage's silent challenge, unsupported by strength, seemed exceptionally ridiculous.

"The Eight-Tails was indeed captured by Konoha," Hashirama stated. "But I don't believe I need to explain anything to you. All tailed beasts are unowned, and the Land of Lightning once tried to capture the Nine-Tails, which lives in the Land of Fire."

"It just seems you weren't successful."

The Raikage realized his foolishness after speaking, but the words couldn't be taken back. Being put in his place by Hashirama again truly angered him. But there was nothing he could do; what Hashirama said was indeed true. A had thought his plan to capture the Nine-Tails was unknown, but to his surprise, the Hokage knew. This was a huge embarrassment. His previous statement had already offended Hashirama greatly. If he didn't sign the treaty now, he might truly infuriate Hashirama.

"Kumogakure will also sign the treaty and, from now on, jointly maintain peace in the Ninja World with everyone."

Torifū didn't believe a word the Raikage said. After all, the First Great Ninja War was started by Kumogakure. They had mistakenly thought that Konoha Village would be leaderless after Hashirama's death, only to be utterly defeated by Tobirama. In the end, they were forced to retreat and seek peace. And the Raikage's thoughts were exactly that: in his view, the only person who could uphold this peace treaty was Hashirama. As soon as Hashirama died, the treaty would naturally become invalid. Although no one could kill the God of Shinobi, time could. The position of Raikage was passed down through generations; one day, Konoha Village could be flattened!

"Hahahaha, since everyone has signed the treaty, you must act according to its contents," Hashirama declared. "Otherwise, you will be Konoha's eternal enemies!"

Everyone had signed the treaty, and their relationship was naturally very amicable now. With the most important part concluded, everyone began to chat informally, discussing village development, the growth of their children, and so on. It looked like a harmonious scene. It truly resembled old grandfathers gathering to talk after dinner. During the casual chat, several villages also took the opportunity to foster trade relationships, which would accelerate their early development. With Konoha taking the lead, everyone felt more at ease. In the past, there was no interaction between villages; everyone was unfamiliar with each other. Now, the Ninja World was temporarily at peace, and villages were tentatively trying to communicate with each other.

They chatted for nearly two hours, ranging from the peace of the Ninja World to everyday family matters. The guards behind them repeatedly reminded them that they were getting off-topic, but the enthusiastic Kage paid no mind. It was only when they saw that it had grown dark outside that they finally called it quits, concluding the first Five Kage Summit.

"It was truly an honor to chat with all of you for so long today. I hope we will have such an opportunity again in the future." Regardless of others, Hashirama's mood today was genuinely excellent. Successfully signing the peace treaty meant that war should not occur during his lifetime.

"Haha, the same goes for this old man. It's just a pity that I probably don't have many years left to live. It's likely hard to meet again." Byakuren spoke of life and death with a cheerful smile, clearly having come to terms with it.

The mischievous Ishikawa also chimed in, "Only the Mizukage-sama and I are the oldest here; you three probably still have a long life ahead."

Hashirama smiled. Life and death were not things that humans could control. He just needed to live up to today, as even whether tomorrow would come was uncertain.

The meeting concluded, and the Kage left to return to their residences to rest. The time originally allocated for sparring had been used by these old men for chatting. So, it would have to wait until tomorrow.

That afternoon, Torifū felt quite fatigued. Standing motionless behind his teacher left his bones feeling stiff. Returning to the office with Hashirama, he saw Naori and Kagami inside, seemingly waiting to report.

"Sensei, Torifū, Tobirama-sama, you're finally done!"

Hashirama laughed, "Haha, yes, yes. We got carried away chatting with them, so the time was extended quite a bit." He then added, "Even the sparring matches have been moved to tomorrow."

While Kagami was reporting to Hashirama, Torifū briefly told Naori what had happened at the summit. Torifū knew that Naori loved to hear such gossipy stories; she had clung to Torifū for half a day for him to tell her the story of the tailed beasts.

"Ugh, good thing I didn't go with Sensei. Otherwise, I probably would have fallen asleep in that boring meeting!" Naori exaggerated, but the meeting truly wasn't very interesting. After this meeting, all Torifū gained was the politicking between the Kage, and a tired body and mind.

Kagami and Naori finished their mission reports and left after greeting Torifū. Hashirama also briefed Torifū about tomorrow's sparring matches, then told Torifū to go home and rest. But he himself seemed to have documents to organize, and Tobirama stayed with him. Torifū glanced around and, seeing that he wasn't needed, went home. He should have used ninjutsu, but since there were outsiders in the village and sparring matches tomorrow, it was best not to be too ostentatious.

Back home, Aokumo and Ryūfū had also flown back to the clan compound, nestling beside the old hen. The old hen, with maternal affection, used its beak to preen Aokumo's and Ryūfū's feathers. Seeing this warm scene, Torifū didn't disturb them much. After feeding them, he left.

He returned to his room and took a hot bath, which greatly relieved his physical fatigue and made him feel alive again. Torifū felt somewhat strange; usually, training didn't make him this tired. Was it perhaps because the environment was quite oppressive? After all, these were all Kage-level presences, and their powerful auras would naturally make one feel pressured. However, after such a scene ended, it would be difficult to witness again. The Five Kage Summit was not an everyday occurrence that could be convened casually.

After his bath, Torifū went to bed to rest. There were sparring matches tomorrow, and he needed to ensure he was in peak condition. After all, this not only concerned the honor of Konoha Village but also his Peace Points.

...

The night passed like this, and the next morning, Torifū was woken by the system. The sparring matches were in the afternoon, so there was no rush, and there was no training today, so he could rest a bit more. Torifū washed and dressed in one go, found some filling food from his space ring, ate a couple of bites, and then went out.

"Hey, Torifū, it's a day off this morning, and you're still up so early."

Torifū heard a familiar voice and turned to see Naori smiling at him.

"I'm used to it now; I can't sleep past this time."

"Me too. Otherwise, I wouldn't be out this early." Naori then said, "Do you feel confident about this afternoon's sparring matches? The ninja from the other villages are all much older than you!"

Torifū said to Naori somewhat jokingly, "It'll be a piece of cake."