From this moment on, Arata knew that every move he made would have to be carried out with extreme caution. Whenever he used the system, he would need to stay out of everyone's sight—even deliberately avoiding those closest to him.
After all, Black Zetsu's abilities were never clearly explained in the original story. Arata couldn't be certain whether Black Zetsu could manipulate others, or even probe into someone's memories. Judging from how Black Zetsu had subtly influenced Uchiha Madara and Indra in the past, it was entirely possible that he possessed abilities in that regard. Arata had no choice but to be vigilant.
Next came Shizune and Kushina.
Since Arata had already accepted these two girls as family, protecting them was non-negotiable. Going forward, he would need to arrange additional guards around them. Otherwise, there was no telling whether the insidious Black Zetsu might exploit them somehow. That creature was the type who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals—if he resorted to hostage-taking, Arata wouldn't be surprised in the least.
Fortunately, Konoha's defenses were solid enough. Combined with the people under Arata's command, it should be sufficient to make Black Zetsu think twice.
In the original story, Black Zetsu had never acted openly within Konoha itself. That suggested he harbored some level of fear toward the village—perhaps toward the Hokage who resided there, or toward the Nine-Tails. If that was the case, then Black Zetsu's own direct combat power was likely not that great. He was simply hard to kill.
Once he had a rough plan in mind, Arata turned his attention to the remaining system options.
One of them was the promise he had made to Uzumaki Mito. Although Mito was already dead, the option was still active. As long as Arata became Hokage, the reward would presumably still be granted as usual. But he no longer cared much about that reward—it was merely a function that allowed him to distinguish friend from foe.
Compared to the next option, it wasn't even in the same league.
The following option concerned Kushina: helping her grow into a peak super-Kage-level powerhouse and eventually become the Fifth Hokage. This would take a long time, but it would also trigger a system upgrade. Among all the options Arata had encountered so far, this one offered by far the most generous reward.
After sorting through his unfinished options, Arata gained a clearer picture of his future plans.
First, he would immediately head to the Land of Rain to provide support—and, while he was there, bring Tsunade back to Konoha. By now, Arata had already crossed paths with Uchiha Madara, which meant he had indirectly exposed himself to Black Zetsu's attention. Under those circumstances, leaving Tsunade on a dangerous battlefield was unacceptable.
Even though Tsunade was already quite strong, with power approaching Kage level, that meant little if she were targeted by Black Zetsu's schemes. With a bit of manipulation—stirring up a few Kage on the battlefield—it would be more than enough to put her in serious danger. In the original story, a single Hanzō of the Salamander had once completely crushed the Three Sannin. Even if they weren't at their peak back then, the fact that Hanzō could do that meant his strength was at least close to peak Kage level.
More importantly, Arata still hadn't claimed his reward yet. The trip to the Land of Rain had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
Once Arata went there, the Second Great Shinobi War would effectively come to an end. After that would come the postwar reckoning. With achievements of such magnitude, Arata's prestige would skyrocket in a very short time. By placing a few well-chosen labels on the Third Hokage, he could smoothly initiate the Hokage selection process.
In the past, such maneuvers might have been difficult. But now, Arata's reputation was on the verge of reaching the peak of the entire shinobi world. At that point, every nation would know his name and his strength.
If the Third Hokage still shamelessly clung to power, Arata wouldn't mind demonstrating a bit of force to persuade the old man to step down.
Once Arata unified the entire Land of Fire, he could begin focusing on training Kushina and laying out plans for the other countries.
On the surface, unifying the shinobi world seemed simple—reach peak super-Kage level, and there would be no equal in battle. But what Arata wanted was absolute control.
At the very least, when he issued an order, it had to be carried out without deviation—not twisted into something else by the time it reached the lower ranks.
That was the real difficulty of governing a nation.
Back in its prime, Konoha had possessed three super-Kage-level powerhouses and still failed to unify the shinobi world. The reason was simple: administration was too troublesome. The shinobi world was vast—no smaller than the planet Arata had lived on in his previous life. Even with the speed of shinobi, it was nothing compared to modern communication tools like telephones.
And even in Arata's former, technologically advanced world, corruption had never disappeared. In remote regions, local officials often behaved like feudal lords all the same.
Conquering a land was easy; ruling it was hard. Arata understood this all too well.
But there was one thing he could do that Hashirama never would.
If Arata unified the shinobi world, he would place seals on his subordinates, ensuring their absolute loyalty to him—instead of naïvely talking about winning people over with love.
People could never truly understand one another's joys and sorrows. Relative understanding was more than enough. He would control his officials with the Mind-Root seal and grant ordinary civilians the freedom to live their lives.
Arata suspected that the Second Hokage had once planned something similar. Otherwise, he wouldn't have developed so many forbidden techniques. Even the Root of the Heart seal that Arata possessed was recorded as having been invented by Senju Tobirama himself.
It was just that the benefits eventually fell into the hands of the Sarutobi clan.
Those who understood Tobirama knew what kind of man he was—a ruthless schemer. Much of Konoha's darkness could be traced back to policies that evolved from his era.
There was no denying Tobirama's talent in developing jutsu, but his ultimate failure stemmed from insufficient personal strength. He knew too many techniques without mastering any single one, and his own power only reached early super-Kage level.
That level of strength might intimidate later generations of Kage, but in the period right after the Warring States period—when top-tier experts from every nation were close to super-Kage themselves—Tobirama lacked an absolute advantage.
Arata was different.
His strength was firmly at peak super-Kage level—several times greater than Tobirama's. Under those conditions, executing a plan similar to Tobirama's would face virtually no resistance.
At the very least, he wouldn't be pushed into a corner by two peak-Kage-level opponents working together.
Tobirama hadn't been able to do that. In the original story, he died at the hands of the Gold and Silver Brothers—two individuals who were, at most, peak Kage level.
The exact details of that battle were unknown, but the Gold and Silver Brothers disappeared from the shinobi world afterward as well. It was likely they were left half-dead after the fight.
Still, a super-Kage trading his life for two peak-Kage opponents was hardly impressive. Tobirama's strength might scare a weakened, late-era Orochimaru—but against any other First-Generation Kage, he wouldn't have inspired much fear at all.
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