Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

The Cloud Village, which expands its fighting power without any reason, and the Stone Village, which retains a large amount of power under the pretext of the Cloud Village's threat, are now facing a threat from the Akatsuki, as most of the tailed beasts controlled by the Five Great Nations are now being taken over by the Sand Village.

By taking advantage of Gaara's rampage to kill the Jinchuriki, the dead Tailed Beast will be resurrected in the wild several years later. At that time, Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast, will become a wild Tailed Beast, and they will have the opportunity to reclaim Shukaku before Sunagakure and use it for their own purposes.

"We absolutely cannot let this happen!"

Although Kankuro is not as good as Temari, and his brotherly affection for Gaara is always mixed with a fear of the tailed beasts, Gaara is ultimately Kankuro and Temari's younger brother!

Even Temari couldn't control Gaara, so how could Gaara, who never considered Kankuro a brother, possibly care about Kankuro?

"Naruto Uzumaki—!"

Gaara's face was contorted with rage, his gaze fixed intently on Naruto.

Gravel began to emerge from the gourd behind Gaara, floating in the air—a sign that Gaara was about to attack.

"You haven't grown at all compared to three years ago."

The cold words pierced Gaara's body like sharp ice spikes; with just a few words, Gaara was forced to regain his composure.

A black-haired boy appeared in front of Gaara, blocking Gaara's view of Naruto.

Wow, so fast!!

When did you arrive?!

Gaara had no idea how the black-haired boy in front of him had closed the distance between them!

Sasuke lowered his eyelids. In his eyes, Gaara was no longer the person he needed to fight with all his might.

"I showed you mercy because you and Naruto are Jinchuriki who suffer the same pain. But I advise you to restrain your killing intent, otherwise I will kill you with my next attack... Gaara."

Threat—No! The words of truth echoed in Gaara's ears.

Gaara's gaze seemed to be drawn to Sasuke's bright red eyes, and he couldn't help but stare at Sasuke's three-tomoe Sharingan.

"Under the gaze of the Uchiha, the power of the tailed beasts you rely on is utterly useless."

The next moment, Shukaku, which had been restless inside Gaara, became completely quiet just because of Sasuke's gaze. Without Shukaku's interference, Gaara was able to control his emotions once again.

"you……"

The immense pressure emanating from Sasuke forced Gaara to kneel on the ground, instinctively clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

Gaara!?

Gaara's unusual behavior attracted the attention of Temari and Kankuro.

Gaara struggled to lift his head again and looked at Sasuke beside Naruto.

Sasuke Uchiha never truly appeared before Gaara.

Everything that just happened... was just an illusion!

With just the genjutsu cast by his three-tomoe Sharingan, Sasuke easily defeated Gaara.

Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan power is now vastly different from what it used to be.

"Now that everyone has calmed down, let's get back to the topic we were interrupted about and continue in a more peaceful manner."

Naruto also noticed Gaara's situation, but Sasuke had already solved the problem before him.

He observed the people of the five great nations once more, and after confirming that no new heretics would emerge in the near future, he brought the topic back to the present.

Naruto repeated the previous question once again:

"From the perspective of the Five Kage, who can influence the future of the ninja world today—what is the essence of the Warring States period?"

……

Chapter 93 Essence

"Naruto! You've already successfully avenged yourself on Konoha, aren't you satisfied yet? What are you planning to do now?"

Nara Shikaku looked at Naruto and questioned him.

Konoha has now been literally razed to the ground, and the village's ninjas have suffered heavy casualties.

Even the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, is now suffering from hysteria caused by hemophobia and needs Silent care at all times.

To this day, Konoha and Mount Myōboku have lost contact, and there is no news of Lord Jiraiya, nor is his fate known.

Upon closer reflection, it's astonishing that all three legendary Sannin were defeated by Naruto and Sasuke in such a short period of time.

"Don't answer questions with questions."

Naruto did not respond to Shikaku Nara's question.

Naruto glanced at the group of knights, but none of them were prepared to answer his question.

"Since that's the case, then I'll just state my point of view directly..."

Naruto, who had anticipated this situation, was not disappointed. He was about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted by someone.

"The Warring States period ended long ago. You barged into the Five Kage Summit just to talk about the past?"

The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, stared at the boy before her. Among the five great ninja villages, Kirigakure was preoccupied with its own internal problems and had the least understanding of Naruto.

However, the first foreign ninja Naruto encountered was also from Kirigakure...

Mei Terumi found it utterly baffling that Naruto appeared before the Kage and discussed the Warring States period.

The newly appointed Mizukage, who has just ended the long-standing "blood mist policy" of Kirigakure, is now filled with anticipation for the future and naturally feels a subconscious aversion to those who are always entangled in the past.

Mei Terumi's unique experience in Kirigakure led her to believe that she could not embrace the future without letting go of the past.

However, the definition of "past" is not actually clear.

"The Warring States period never ended."

Naruto refuted Mei Terumi's words.

"As long as the five great powers exist, what you call the 'past' will constantly be transformed into the 'present'."

"The pain and sacrifices brought about by the three Shinobi World Wars were even greater than those of the Warring States period."

"And the culprit who caused all this, as I just mentioned, is the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."

Hashirama Senju, who ended the Warring States period with overwhelming power and founded Konoha, abandoned the idea of ​​unifying the ninja world. Instead, he distributed the Tailed Beasts and devoted himself to maintaining the balance of power among the five great nations.

When Hashirama Senju was still alive, the ninja world feared his power, and the illusion of peace could deceive everyone.

Even Madara Uchiha could not shake the illusory peace that Hashirama Senju longed for.

Hashirama Senju's power was so great that he could suppress all dissenting voices in the ninja world!

But there is only one Hashirama Senju in the entire ninja world.

After Hashirama Senju passed away, the First Shinobi World War broke out.

The ninjas once again engaged in a bloody struggle for living space and resource allocation.

In the end, the ninja world never truly ended the Warring States period.

Hashirama Senju, a man of power and purpose, abandoned his responsibilities.

Having ended the Warring States period with violence by joining forces with Madara Uchiha, he ultimately seemed to deny his past and placed his hopes on achieving mutual understanding between people through peaceful means.

He never imagined that he had shown the ninja world through his own experience that power can conquer everyone!

Hashirama Senju's method of distributing the Tailed Beasts, seemingly aimed at making the Five Great Nations equal, would never bring peace to the ninja world.

When the five great powers possess power, but it is not enough to overwhelm all others, they will begin to accumulate new power.

The three Shinobi World Wars have already proven this point.

To this day, the five major powers remain the same.

The Land of Lightning, Hidden in the Clouds.

Even more than a decade after the end of the Third Shinobi World War, they continued to collect and plunder ninjutsu from the shinobi world to strengthen themselves. The Hidden Cloud Village even had profound insights into the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques.

The truth is that the Land of Whirlpools, established by the Uzumaki clan, was destroyed decades ago.

The sealing technique "Reaper Death Seal" possessed by the Uzumaki clan is so mysterious that even Konoha, which has been allied with the Uzumaki clan since the First Hokage, does not understand the principles behind it. Even Orochimaru had to spend several years after the destruction of Konoha to obtain information about "Reaper Death Seal".

Where did the Cloud Village's research on the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques come from? Even without clear evidence, the origin of the Cloud Village's information on the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques is certainly not something that can be openly discussed.

Furthermore, the ruthless methods used by Kumogakure to acquire ninjutsu are well-known information in the ninja world.

They don't care about the identity of the ninjutsu user. When Hinata Hyuga was young, she was attacked by the Cloud Village who coveted the Byakugan, which resulted in the death of Neji Hyuga's father, which made the Hyuga branch family's hatred for the Hyuga main family intensify.

The Land of Earth, Hidden in the Rocks.

Having lived through the Warring States period and the three Shinobi World Wars, Onoki could never be a pacifist. Among the Five Great Nations, Iwagakure is the one that has used the notorious rogue ninja mercenary organization "Akatsuki" the most.

Iwagakure is also the village that most extensively exaggerates the terrifying and aggressive nature of the Land of Lightning. Taking advantage of Kumogakure's expansion, they ignored the Daimyo's advocacy for reducing military strength, naturally retaining the village's military power, and relying on Akatsuki to conduct "casual" depletion of other countries' strength in a way that benefits Iwagakure.

It can be said that it was the cooperation between Iwagakure and Akatsuki, which stemmed from Iwagakure's financial and intelligence support, that enabled Akatsuki to grow so rapidly into a force that the Five Great Nations could not underestimate.

If the entities behind Akatsuki were not Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu, Onoki might have been able to use Akatsuki to achieve his goal of using others to kill the other four great nations to some extent.

The land of water, shrouded in mist.

The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was manipulated for many years, yet only a few Kirigakure ninjas like Zabuza Momochi resisted. Zabuza Momochi's status as a rogue ninja also demonstrated that the "Blood Mist Policy" remained an unwavering belief of the Kirigakure ninjas and held an important position within the village.

The best proof of this is Ao, one of the guards who accompanied the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, to the Five Kage Summit.

In his lectures to Chojuro, he inadvertently revealed his approval of the past Blood Mist policy, referring to the Hidden Mist ninja born from the Blood Mist as "excellent elites."

Even though Mei Terumi repeatedly stopped Ao from reprimanding Chojuro in this way, it did not change his deep-seated approval of the "Bloody Mist Policy".

If it weren't for the bloody and oppressive "Blood Mist Policy" that produced ninjas, causing Kirigakure to internally deplete a large number of ninja resources and damage its foundation, Kirigakure wouldn't have been forced to implement reforms.

The fact that Kirigakure discovered that the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was being manipulated might be delayed for several more years.

The Land of Wind, the Hidden Sands.

The Sand Village, now the weakest of the Five Great Nations, has a twisted and abnormal relationship with the Leaf Village, which is the best proof to deny Hashirama Senju's desire for the Five Great Nations to understand each other.

When interests are no longer concentrated but dispersed, the more solid the alliance appears on the surface, the more it proves that mutual understanding does not exist.

After the death of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's friendly attitude towards Sunagakure only resulted in the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, colluding with Orochimaru to destroy Konoha.

With the fall of the Fourth Kazekage and now under the rule of the Fifth Kazekage, Temari, the power of Sunagakure might not even be able to handle some powerful small countries on its own.

Compared to a great power capable of independent action, Sunagakure is now more like a vassal state of the Land of Fire.