The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #22

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Naruto or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let’s goooo!

Konoha, Land of Fire

–Kenta Senju–

He was moving with the entourage, hidden and unseen, as he preferred it to be, despite the Twelve Guards keeping an eye out for him. He expected no problems to arise for the Daimyo, for it was a pretty much guaranteed death sentence for anyone who tried to attack a Daimyo, even of an enemy country, because that would result in a war that would not be supported by the Daimyo of the offending country.

There was an unwritten treaty between all the Daimyo, an open secret that was as brutal as it was pragmatic.

Over the last fifteen years of his life, he had been quite fortunate, to have observed the cycle of wars, what happened before, during and after shinobi wars, and who benefited the most and what the end result was, from outside the war itself.

Over the years, he had come to realise that shinobi, despite being strong enough to raze entire cities overnight, were not the strongest force on the planet. They shared that position with the Daimyo, who were in a somewhat symbiotic relationship with their shinobi villages.

Now, sometimes, this balance tilted in the favour of either side but mostly, it was balanced as it allowed for the most stable growth.

The Daimyo, they were not as strong as the shinobi but they were the ones who gave purpose to their shinobi, the ones who issued the missions, the ones who facilitated the transfer of goods, currency, resources, and food.

All shinobi villages knew that, which is why no Hidden Village ever targeted the Daimyo of any Large Country, for the consequences were dire. Their own Daimyo could turn on them, removing crucial resources from their arsenal. Which is why despite outright wars happening in their territory, no Capital was ever attacked or even touched by invading shinobi forces.

Obviously, some insane rogue shinobi popped up sometimes but they never had a good end and if it was found that someone, even someone high up, from any Hidden Village was involved, the Kage themselves would take care of the problem.

Now, coming to the brutal part. The shinobi, they were large in number but the missions were limited, especially during peacetime.

The Daimyo, they felt threatened by the growing number of shinobi in any village, especially during peacetime, as it allowed the Hidden Villages to sharpen their fangs for any upcoming conflict. Conflicts arose because of resources, bloodlines, chakra weaponry, or sometimes, even petty slights between Daimyo or Kage.

Whatever the reason may be, he foresaw the Great Wars becoming a cyclic thing, something that happened regularly, irrespective of the circumstances of the Great Countries and their prosperity. Something would give and near instantly, peacetimes would turn into war times where drafts would become more and more commonplace.

That is because, to the Daimyo, most shinobi are nothing more than cattle. Dangerous Cattle, but cattle nonetheless.

Something that needs to be culled when it threatens to grow beyond the control of the owner, beyond the requirement. During peacetime, the missions issued are not just fewer in number, but also come with less money, since the overall danger levels were low.

Now, what would happen if an increasing shinobi force, growing larger by the years, found no missions? Nothing to do? 

That is where the Shinobi War came into play. A way for the Great Villages to utilise the shinobi they had been bringing up for slaughter, get some resources or concessions during the war, and then, end up with a vastly reduced shinobi force, ripe for growing once more.

He did not know if all the Kage and Daimyo were this cruel but knowingly or unknowingly, every single one of them was playing into this cycle, staining their hands red, not just with the blood of the shinobi they kill today, but also of the shinobi they help raise tomorrow, during peacetime, since the next person in charge would just use that resource for something.

Idle hands were the Devil’s hands and idle shinobi were worse than devils for the Daimyo, so they sought to use those resources for something. Worst case scenario, they lost all the resources without gaining anything in return, which was fine because then they would not have to deal with the hanging sword above their heads.

Plus, the Daimyo were left alone anyway, whether they lost or won, so for them, it’s always a win-win situation.

To be honest, he had no idea how something like this, something spanning across all countries and Hidden Villages, could even begin to be transformed into something else.

First of all, the number of shinobi, both active and under training, would need to be drastically reduced, something that no Kage alive would ever approve of as all it did was reduce their power, and since there was deep mistrust between everyone, that would never come to fruition.

It was more of a curse than a blessing. To be able to look on from the outside with a detached, analytical eye. He knew what was happening, but he was just powerless to stop it, despite being one of the stronger shinobi. 

That did not mean he wouldn't try. Getting the village back into working shape was step one, despite how contrary it might sound. Once that was done, he was going to look into having the shinobi diversify their crafts.

Medical shinobi was one thing. Tsunade’s continued stay was paramount for that.

But other things as well, something that would put the shinobi’s kunai away from the neck of their targets and towards something more productive, something that would generate money and get them work but without any of the bloodshed.

Killers would still be necessary but he was going to propose a quality over quantity approach, and have only half of the specialised shinobi be killers, with the rest doing something else.

Sure, it would draw flak from the civilians but over time, he hoped to have shinobi do stuff that civilians would not have been able to do in their entire lifetimes, creating ever evolving complex problems that only shinobi could solve, thereby turning shinobi into a necessary component of the day to day life.

A multi-generational undertaking but if there was to be any change in the current cycle, it had to be slow and with the firm but strong hand of the strongest shinobi village. 

He sighed, as the burden of these thoughts made itself known to him. It was exhausting, to know that he was finally in a position capable of change, and yet, there was no one he could talk to about this.

It would have him branded a crazy person at best and a traitor at worst. He had to take it slow but even then, he was old, and tired. Did not really have the drive required to bring about this change.

Jiraiya’s words about the Child of Prophecy were amusing but he could see that the man was using that as a coping mechanism, to justify all the pain and hatred he had seen and personally orchestrated, all in the hopes that the prophesied Divine Child would come in and bring about everlasting peace, washing away all of Jiraiya’s sins.

He did not know if the Toad’s prophecy would come true or not but one thing was for certain, they most definitely needed someone like that. Someone both strong and charismatic, capable of effortlessly connecting with people, to bring about change.

He wondered if he too could search for this child, for it would be the greatest pride of his life to have bestowed upon his knowledge and skills to the person who could do what he did not have the capacity to do.

Change the cycle. Yank the future from the cycle’s hands and put it back into the hands of the people.

Because, as it was now? Everyone was just another pawn in the cycle. 

Some enjoyed it a bit more than others, but everyone was just another pawn, destined to suffer from the cycle.

The shinobi, the lower genins to the highest Kage, and the nobles, from the lowest Barons to the Daimyo themselves, all of them were just unwitting players of this cycle, perpetrating another round of violence for multiple generations to either experience, witness, or impart.