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Madara accepted Hashirama's proposal for peace.
The Uchiha and the Senju had finally achieved peace.
Perhaps, in the very moment before Hashirama was about to take his own life, the ideals buried deep within Madara's heart had overcome his hatred, and that was why he had reached out and stopped Hashirama's suicide.
Or perhaps, the friendship they had shared as children had once again awakened Madara's trust in Hashirama.
But regardless of the reason, Madara, representing the Uchiha clan, had genuinely made peace with the Senju clan.
Amidst constant jostling and bumping, Kagaya groggily regained consciousness. He looked around in a daze. The scenery around him was rushing past rapidly. Clearly, they were traveling.
At the same time, there were many other Uchiha clansmen nearby, their clothes tattered and stained with blood.
And Kagaya himself was being carried on someone's back.
"Awake?"
Madara turned his head slightly to glance at the young man on his back.
Kagaya nodded.
"The war... is it over?"
"It's over."
"And we, the Uchiha..."
"Lost."
"I see. So what happened after? Did Hashirama let us go?"
"No. I reached a peace agreement with Hashirama."
Hearing this outcome, Kagaya couldn't help but be momentarily stunned. As expected, it followed the original story. The two clans ultimately constructed peace. Then, next would come the establishment of the Hidden Leaf Village, right?
Madara noticed that Kagaya on his back had suddenly fallen silent, so he inquired.
"What's the matter? Are you dissatisfied with the result of peace?"
Kagaya shook his head. "Not at all. It's just... how should I put it? A slight sense of relief."
"Relief? Does that mean you are also someone who longed for peace?"
"Unless forced by circumstances, who would want to spend their days fighting and killing?"
"That's true enough. It's only human."
After saying that, the two of them fell into silence. Neither spoke again.
A long while later.
"We've arrived."
Madara and his group had reached the Uchiha clan's settlement.
Before long, Madara brought Kagaya to his own room and laid him down on the bed. Madara teased him.
"Every time I bring you back, you're in a half-dead state. Doesn't that make me your bad luck charm?"
The last time Madara had brought Kagaya back, Kagaya had just been transported by the system, his entire body wracked with intense pain.
And this time was even more straightforward. Kagaya had been unconscious for an entire day and had only barely managed to wake up on the journey back.
Kagaya also chuckled at this thought. "I suppose you could say that."
Madara smiled faintly. After settling Kagaya in, he stood up.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to hold a peace ceremony with Hashirama. Do you want to come?"
Kagaya countered. "Do you think I can go?"
Madara shrugged noncommittally.
"Then forget it. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
With that, Madara turned around and prepared to leave.
But as he reached the doorway, Madara suddenly stopped.
"Right. Kid, I never wanted to ask you this before, but now I can't quite hold back anymore. I want to ask you something. May I?"
Kagaya looked at Madara, puzzled.
"Go ahead."
With his back still facing Kagaya, Madara spoke.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Indeed, from the moment Kagaya had arrived in this era up until now, although Kagaya and Madara had spent a considerable amount of time together, Madara had never asked Kagaya for his name. And Kagaya had never volunteered it either.
Because both of them knew that Kagaya was not a person of this era. Revealing his name was a rather taboo matter.
Since arriving in this era, Kagaya had told his name to only one person. That had been when he'd just crossed over, his mind still completely blank. Without thinking, he had blurted out his name to an Uchiha clansman. But it wasn't a big problem. In the chaos of such a massive war, that Uchiha clansman was most likely long dead beyond any doubt.
And even if he hadn't died, it was highly unlikely that the clansman would have firmly remembered Kagaya's name.
Someone you've only met once—how could they possibly keep remembering your name? Especially on the battlefield, with one's entire being focused on the slaughter, there was simply no way they'd expend any mental energy remembering an unimportant name.
So, currently, in this entire world, there should be no one who knew Kagaya's name.
Kagaya opened his mouth. Although revealing his name was indeed somewhat taboo, at this point, he and Madara truly shared an unspoken trust. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell him.
However, just as Kagaya opened his mouth, before he could speak, Madara preemptively cut in.
"Ah, forget it. Something like a name... just tell me when you're about to leave."
Leave, naturally, meant when Kagaya departed from this era.
After speaking, Madara turned his head and gave Kagaya a slight smile.
"Focus on healing your injuries first."
Then, Madara strode out of Kagaya's room.
Kagaya stared at the now-empty doorway, wanting to say something, but ultimately, the words remained unspoken.
In the month that followed, the Uchiha and the Senju together constructed peace. War completely vanished from this land.
Soon after, under the impetus of Hashirama and Madara, what would become the future Hidden Leaf Village began to be built.
During this period, Kagaya was confined to his bed, receiving care from medical ninja. That prior battle of gods, where Kagaya had recklessly activated his fully formed Susanoo and used his ocular powers without restraint, had dealt far too much damage to him.
And most importantly, Kagaya's physical body had always been relatively weak. For the same level of injury suffered by a ninja of his caliber, Kagaya would definitely recover much slower.
Another month passed. With a group of ninja contributing their labor, the construction of the Leaf Village had already taken considerable shape in just one month. Although it was still very rough around the edges, it was generally habitable.
The Senju clan, the Uchiha clan, and several smaller clans that followed the Senju all moved into the village one after another.
It was during this period that Kagaya entered the Leaf Village.
Twisting his neck, Kagaya—who had been bedridden for two whole months—had finally recovered. Although his body hadn't completely healed, there were no longer any major impediments. As long as he avoided any mishaps, he would naturally recover fully after some time.
"So, how does it feel? Lying down for two months. Comfortable?"
After arriving in the village, Kagaya had stayed for a few days in the village's rudimentary hospital before he could be considered thoroughly healed. So now, Madara was waiting for him at the hospital entrance, teasing him.
Kagaya didn't respond to Madara's jest. Instead, he took a deep, deep breath of air.
"Ah... the scent of freedom."
Being confined for two months was genuinely unbearable.
Beside Madara, Hashirama let out a hearty laugh.
"Hahahaha! Kid, for the next little while, you can have fun exploring the village. Even though it's only just been built, it'll be improved and completed very quickly."
Kagaya smiled slightly.
"Do you need my help?"
Madara scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. No matter how shorthanded the village is, we don't need someone who just recovered from his injuries to help with construction."
Hashirama nodded. "Madara's right. You've just gotten better. Relax and have fun. Don't worry about village matters. Hahahaha."
Kagaya was also perfectly willing to accept that.
"Then I'll take you up on that. Hahaha."
And just like that, Kagaya began his leisurely journey of enjoyment in the Leaf Village.
Since he had made the difficult trip to the Warring States era, he naturally wanted to have some fun in this newly founded Leaf Village.
However, from the very moment Kagaya had stepped into the Leaf Village, he had cast a genjutsu over his own face. This genjutsu made it so that when others looked at him, they would see a different appearance.
There were two reasons for doing this. First, the Warring States era wasn't particularly close to the era Kagaya came from, so he didn't intend to alter any of this era's events. As such, he naturally had to conceal the existence of his "outsider" self.
Second, with the establishment of the Leaf Village, Black Zetsu of this period might already have turned his attention toward the village. To prevent Black Zetsu from remembering him, he needed to disguise his looks.
Half a month later.
After playing around for half a month, Kagaya could finally say he was completely satisfied. Now he had truly experienced the customs and atmosphere of the newly founded Leaf Village.
Then, Kagaya went to find Tobirama.
"What do you want?"
Tobirama regarded the Kagaya in front of him with an ice-cold expression.
Kagaya nodded. "I want something!"
Tobirama spoke with a hint of impatience. "Spit it out!"
Kagaya spoke up. "That Flying Thunder God technique you used against me before... can you teach it to me?"
Tobirama first froze, then carefully scrutinized Kagaya from head to toe, looking him up and down. Then, somewhat uncertainly, he spoke.
"Did half a month of playing around make you stupid?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"If you haven't gone stupid, what on earth makes you think I would teach you the Flying Thunder God? Am I running a charity here?"
"..."
That was a fair point. Tobirama had absolutely no reason to teach Kagaya the Flying Thunder God. It was practically Tobirama's unique, signature technique. Of course he wouldn't teach it to Kagaya.
Kagaya scratched his head. "What if I said... I'm already on the verge of learning it?"
Tobirama shook his head in disappointment.
"Yep. Definitely played yourself stupid."
Was the Flying Thunder God that easy to learn? You see it performed once and you can just learn it? Dream on!
Of course, what Tobirama didn't know was that Kagaya had actually started studying the Flying Thunder God jutsu over two years ago. The technique was indeed difficult. Even for someone with Kagaya's extraordinary talent in Body Flicker techniques, it had taken two years of study to barely approach the threshold of success.
Kagaya pulled out a kunai, blocking Tobirama, who was turning to leave.
"Hey, don't go."
There was no way Kagaya was going to let Tobirama leave. Whether or not he could master the Flying Thunder God now depended entirely on Tobirama.
Even though approaching someone so bluntly for guidance was somewhat shameless, Kagaya truly had no other choice. He felt like he was on the verge of mastering the Flying Thunder God, but he was frustratingly stuck right at that final step, unable to advance even an inch. In other words, Kagaya had hit an insurmountable bottleneck.
If things continued like this, Kagaya wouldn't be surprised if he remained stuck for the rest of his life.
But how could Kagaya accept such an outcome? After two years of painstakingly figuring out the Flying Thunder God, being just one step away from learning it—only to be stuck for a lifetime?
That was absolutely unacceptable!
So, no matter how shameless, no matter how brazen, Kagaya had still come to find Tobirama. If he missed this opportunity, he might never learn the Flying Thunder God in his entire life.
Tobirama watched as Kagaya pulled out a kunai to block his path and slightly furrowed his brow.
"What are you doing?"
Having coexisted in the same village for some time now, Tobirama had come to understand Kagaya somewhat. This guy was definitely not someone who would casually start a fight. So, if he was drawing a kunai right in front of him, there must be another purpose.
Kagaya placed his right hand on the kunai.
"Just wait a moment."
As he spoke, Kagaya's right hand subtly gathered chakra, his expression filled with extreme caution.
Cold sweat trickled down Kagaya's forehead. It was obvious he was being extremely careful, afraid of making the slightest mistake.
A short while later, Kagaya released his hand. And then, on that very kunai, an extremely crooked and distorted marking had appeared. It was severely twisted, a complete and utter half-finished product. In fact, even calling it half-finished would be overestimating it.
But it was precisely this thing—something that couldn't even be considered half-finished—that caused Tobirama to instinctively stare with wide eyes and an agape mouth. It was genuine, jaw-dropping shock. His eyes bulged, and his mouth fell open.
The scene before him had dealt an impact to Tobirama that was far, far too immense. From Tobirama's perspective, the Flying Thunder God was a technique of extraordinary difficulty. He believed that perhaps, in the entire future history of the shinobi world, he would be the only person capable of learning this technique. Having made that judgment, one could imagine just how monstrously difficult the Flying Thunder God was.
But this very same ninjutsu—someone had watched him perform it a few times, then started learning it himself, and had reached this level in just two and a half months?
At this moment, there was only two words in Tobirama's mind.
God Dammit!
The distorted marking before his eyes—Tobirama could sense that it was indeed a Flying Thunder God mark. But because the technique hadn't been completely mastered, the mark was extremely twisted and hadn't formed a unique signature mark. It should be noted here that every user of the Flying Thunder God develops their own unique, personalized marking.
Although this was an intensely distorted and blurry marking, the difference between being able to inscribe a mark and not being able to inscribe a mark was like night and day!
It was just like the Sharingan. Was awakening a one-tomoe Sharingan particularly powerful? No, it wasn't truly powerful. But why did awakening the Sharingan always earn someone such high regard? That was because awakening even a one-tomoe Sharingan proved not the eye's power, but the talent of the one who awakened it!
A person capable of awakening the Sharingan could never have poor talent. At the very minimum, they were starting at the level of a Chunin!
How could such a person not be held in high esteem?
The same principle applied here. Being able to inscribe a Flying Thunder God mark—even a distorted, blurry, utterly useless mark—on that point alone, Tobirama had no choice but to be shocked by Kagaya's talent. This Flying Thunder God mark proved exactly one thing: Kagaya's innate genius!
Tobirama stared intently at Kagaya, looking him over again and again, his face full of bewilderment.
"The Sharingan shouldn't be able to copy the Flying Thunder God. But this... this is..."
The Flying Thunder God was an exceedingly advanced space-time Body Flicker technique, one that even involved the power of space itself. Of course the Sharingan couldn't copy it.
But that was precisely Tobirama's question. Since it couldn't be copied, how on earth had this guy learned it to such a degree in just two and a half months?
Could it be... could it really be that someone could watch the Flying Thunder God once and then learn it to this level in a short time?
But that... that was just too damn ridiculous! How was that even possible? Was this guy even human? It should be impossible!
Looking at the blurry mark, Tobirama frowned and turned to Kagaya.
"Are you casting a genjutsu on me right now?"
Kagaya: "..."
Kagaya could more or less understand what Tobirama was feeling. This mark was the fruit of over two years of Kagaya's labor. If someone truly had achieved this in just two and a half months, Kagaya himself probably wouldn't believe it no matter what! He wouldn't believe it even if you beat him to death! And if you didn't beat him to death, he'd believe it even less!
But Kagaya couldn't exactly tell Tobirama that he was a time-traveler. So, Kagaya had no choice but to patiently explain to Tobirama that he "truly" had learned it to this degree in "two and a half months."
During this explanation, not only Tobirama, but even Kagaya in his own heart, didn't believe it.
Two and a half months? Who was he trying to fool?
Oh, right. He was trying to fool Tobirama!
And just like that, with Tobirama's face full of disbelief and his mind steadfastly refusing to acknowledge reality, Kagaya began patiently explaining to him: one must face reality, one cannot run away from the facts, one must dare to confront difficulties head-on. Keep pushing forward!
Even though, in his own heart, Kagaya didn't believe it either.