Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Bai's shadow clone stabbed Lao Zi's abdomen hard with its five fingers. Even in his unconscious state, Lao Zi's body couldn't help but twist, and a look of pain appeared on his face.

"Now... there shouldn't be any problems for the time being,"

As the seal took shape, a circle of jet-black incantations appeared on Lao Zi's abdomen, and Bai breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Old Purple, who had been beaten down, was completely powerless to resist for a short time, he still placed a seal on Old Purple, adhering to the principle of caution. After all, he was going to take this prey back to Konoha, and the distance was not short. It was hard to guarantee that something would not happen along the way. Having more means would make things safer and effectively improve his ability to resist risks.

[Chapter 456. Aren't you worried about triggering a new Shinobi World War?]

"...Uchiha...Sōgen?" On the iron bed in the cell, the awakened Rōshi recognized the figure outside the cell by the dim light. Strictly speaking, this was the first time he had met Uchiha Sōgen, but that did not prevent him from recognizing this hateful guy at a glance after waking up from his unconsciousness.

He sat up with great difficulty.

Enduring the various discomforts in his body, he tried his best to use his brain to sort out the current situation. If he remembered correctly, he was no match for the boy who used Ice Release, and was forced to release the Four-Tails. After that, he knew nothing. His consciousness had only just awakened, and he couldn't even be sure how long he had been unconscious.

Judging from the feeling of hunger, it should have been about one or two days ago.

Moreover, judging from the current situation,

In the end, we lost!

Even being forced to unleash the Four-Tails couldn't turn the tide of the battle.

That being said,

Now that he saw Uchiha Sogen, didn't that mean the boy who used Ice Release was from Konoha...? His gaze shifted, and he saw Haku standing beside Sogen. He understood immediately; he was indeed a Konoha ninja. A new question couldn't help but arise in his mind.

When exactly did Konoha bring the Yuki clan's bloodline limit under its control?

of course,

This issue is not important at the moment.

What he was more concerned with was figuring out what was going on and whether he could find an opportunity to escape his status as a prisoner...

"Oh! He's already awake? As expected of a Jinchūriki, his vitality is as tenacious as weeds."

Zongxian looked Lao Zi up and down with great interest.

"Sixth Hokage, what are you doing?" After roughly understanding his situation, Rōshi asked a probing question, "Are you planning to help that old man Ōnoki capture me and take me back?" His own identity was that of a rogue ninja.

Although Onoki has not seriously sent people to hunt him down over the years, his status as a rogue ninja is indeed genuine.

Rogue ninja like them,

Generally speaking, it is the ninjas of the village who are hunting down rogue ninjas. Unless there is an irreconcilable conflict, or there are personal interests at stake, or personal factors such as belligerence and bloodlust, ninjas from other villages will not specifically hunt down rogue ninjas from other villages.

Rōshi now wants to find out why Konoha captured him.

Was it for the four tails inside him?

Or are they planning to use him to deal with Iwagakure?

Both scenarios are undoubtedly terrible, and neither is easy to accept. But if he had to choose one, he would prefer the first scenario, because he genuinely didn't want to be used as a weapon against his hometown.

“Mr. Old Purple, there’s no need to think so much. If I wanted to take action against Iwagakure, I wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble.”

Zongxian smiled silently and continued, "There are two reasons why I asked you to come here. First, I need the Four-Tails inside you, and second, I need your help with a small matter, which has nothing to do with Iwagakure."

"...Please? Hmph, that's quite a unique way to ask."

Old Zi snorted coldly.

"If we don't do this, we definitely won't be able to invite you here!"

Zongxian shrugged, unconcerned by Lao Zi's rude attitude. "That's roughly the gist of it. To be precise, these two reasons are essentially the same thing... Anyway, just stay here for the next couple of days! I'll come back to you when I need help."

After saying these words,

Zongxian turned around leisurely, his back to Lao Zi in the cell, and walked away step by step. Bai followed closely beside him, not even glancing at Lao Zi.

"Wait! Sixth Hokage, the Four-Tails belongs to the Iwagakure ninja! This is a rule set by the First Hokage. Do you want to break the order left by the First Hokage?" Old Purple, whose hands and feet were tied with iron chains and could not leave the iron bed, roared loudly.

just,

His shouts failed to make Zongxian stop.

Bai wanted to look back, but seeing that Zongxian continued walking forward without any hesitation, he ultimately didn't turn around to take a look.

After leaving the underground prison, a biting wind blew in my face, and tiny snowflakes landed on my hair, melting and wetting my hair in an instant. The weather in Konoha wasn't very good today; the gloomy sky obscured the sun, and the cold wind was mixed with scattered snowflakes.

"Bai, just say whatever you want to ask."

Walking through the white forest, their feet crunched on the snow. Zongxian suddenly spoke up, "Within the limits, I will try my best to give you an answer." He sensed that the boy behind him was burdened with worries, and that he wasn't in a good state to help him with his work.

Taking advantage of a spare moment, the man felt it necessary to offer some guidance to the perhaps overly intelligent boy.

"...Lord Hokage, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki is just the beginning, isn't it?"

After considering for a couple of seconds, Bai finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for so long.

Since he barely regained his mobility in the hospital and began studying the scroll left to him by Sogen, he had a vague understanding of what the mission was, and this capture of the Four-Tails Jinchuriki was just the beginning in his eyes.

"You could say that."

Zongxian tilted his head back, squinted his eyes, and felt the cold wind brushing against his face. He slowly said, "However, it's hard to say exactly what the situation will be. The Four-Tails Jinchuriki is a rogue ninja from Iwagakure. I can't think of any way to bring him back to Konoha except by force. But the other Jinchuriki... we can still talk about it."

"Of course, if we can't reach an agreement in the end, we'll still have to resort to force."

Finally, before Bai could speak, he added another sentence.

"I see! I hope we can reach an agreement..." He stopped mid-sentence, realizing that this wasn't the only problem he had. In fact, this was just an appetizer; the real issue troubling him was yet to be revealed. He hesitated, wondering if he should ask now.

"Um, Hokage-sama, aren't you worried that doing this will trigger a new Shinobi World War?"

Bai ultimately didn't let go of such a rare opportunity. If he had missed it, he didn't know how long this question would have remained unresolved in his heart.

"Ha ha!"

Zongxian was amused by Bai's question.

"The Ninja World War... Why should I worry about something like that?"

Hearing Zongxian's laughter, Haku didn't express anger at being looked down upon. Instead, he said seriously, "You must have heard what the Four-Tails Jinchuriki said earlier, Hokage. The Tailed Beasts were distributed to various villages by the First Hokage to maintain peace. Now, taking all the Tailed Beasts away like this... it does indeed disrupt the situation created by the First Hokage. A new Shinobi World War might very well happen."

The boy honestly expressed his thoughts and worries.

What can be done?

Zongxian laughed again and asked the boy a question, "Since you said that the First Hokage distributed the Tailed Beasts to various villages to maintain peace in the ninja world, then... do you think he really achieved his goal of peace?"

"This is not..."

The final word "of course" couldn't be uttered. After the death of the First Hokage, the ninja world had already experienced three major ninja wars. In addition to these three major ninja wars, there were countless frictions and small-scale battles during the intervals between them.

Although it seems much better than the chaotic Warring States period described in the book, is this kind of 'intermittent and brief peace' really what the First Hokage desired? Recalling the man with the hearty laughter whom he resurrected through Edo Tensei, he felt that this kind of peace was not the peace that man pursued.

"To say that the First Hokage's distribution of the Tailed Beasts was a waste of effort... that would indeed be a bit of an exaggeration. You can't say that." Seeing that Bai Kake was speechless for a moment, Zongxian spoke up and continued, "But from the current perspective, we must also admit that the strategy of using the Tailed Beasts to maintain the balance between the various forces has great flaws. Its effectiveness is much smaller than expected, and it cannot prevent the outbreak of the Shinobi World War at all."

"So, I want to try to see if I can change this situation."

Zongxian stopped in his tracks.

Turning around, he became serious, his bright eyes staring directly at the boy. "As the Sixth Hokage, I don't want to just sit in that chair and enjoy a peaceful decade or two, until the day I kick the bucket, just like the First Hokage after his death, when I can no longer rely on my own strength to suppress the ninja world, and then a new round of ninja war breaks out... I don't want to see such a future. I want to try to see if I can change this hateful cycle."

"So, you're going to capture the Jinchūriki?"

Bai murmured unconsciously.

"No, that's not it."

Zongxian's answer left Bai speechless, his mouth agape as he stared at her in disbelief.

What the heck?

After babbling on about a bunch of profound principles, he was almost convinced, but then he immediately said it wasn't the same thing.

simply,

My head is about to explode.

“Wait, you can’t say that so absolutely. Capturing Jinchuriki… is to target the mastermind behind all the chaos in the ninja world, and it can also be considered a contribution to changing this cycle of turmoil.” Zongxian pondered for a moment, completing the logical integration. “That’s right, that’s it! Capturing Jinchuriki is beneficial to the peace of the ninja world from all aspects.”

Bai's eyes twitched, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

He didn't know the true identity of the mastermind, but he hadn't forgotten how he'd been ambushed by that pitcher plant-like freak who always hung out with Obito Uchiha, nearly dying in the snowstorm outside Konoha. And he hadn't forgotten Madara Uchiha, whom Obito had resurrected using Edo Tensei…

"White, you also know what Payne wants to do, right?"

Zongxian suddenly asked another question.

"Huh? Yeah! I know."

Bai licked his lips. "Pain... that man wanted to gather all the tailed beasts to create the strongest tailed beast weapon, and then... make the world feel pain, hoping that true peace would be born from this pain."

This is no secret.

After Sogen's successful raid on Amegakure, he had already spread the news. Moreover, Haku had also infiltrated the Akatsuki organization with Orochimaru and learned about various aspects of the Akatsuki organization from Orochimaru.

"So, do you think Payne's idea has any chance of coming true?"

Zongxian asked again.

"This... should be somewhat feasible!" After thinking for a moment, Bai gave an answer that he wasn't entirely sure about.

"That's right, it's feasible to some extent."

Zongxian nodded. "Although Payne failed, it doesn't mean his strategy was a failure. Of course, his failure also proves that his ideas were biased. It is true that pain can make people yearn for peace, but peace obtained in this way is too tragic. Moreover, painful memories can be forgotten. We can't let the world suffer every few decades, can we? It's like a woman's menstrual cycle."

"Compared to such a troublesome and tragic peace, I think the peace that the First Generation maintained while he was alive was quite good."

"But Hokage, you also said that war broke out immediately after the First Hokage died, and peace vanished."

Bai immediately retorted.

“That’s right. That kind of peace was entirely tied to the First Hokage himself. As soon as something happened to the First Hokage, the Fourth Shinobi World War broke out.” Zongxian took a deep breath. “So, I’m thinking, if we gather all nine tailed beasts in Konoha, making Konoha a collective with power strong enough to replace the First Hokage’s position, and directly link Konoha to peace, as long as Konoha always has the power to suppress the shinobi world, could we maintain peace in the shinobi world for a few more years?”

At this point, Zongxian couldn't help but sigh.

"Of course, I understand that there is no perfect system or eternal peace in this world. At the very least... I think such things do not exist. The future I envision also has many flaws and problems. However, what I pursue is peace for as long as possible, not the kind of peace that has broken out in the past four or five decades, including the three Shinobi World Wars and countless small-scale conflicts and frictions. The peace of the past... was far too short-lived."

This time,

Bai did not refute, but lowered his head and began to think seriously.

"...Worth a try."