Chapter 542: A Ninja Is Someone Who Can Endure Their Wild Nature
"And Sensei, there's one more thing you overlooked. I'm pretty sure we've already told you about this."
Taking advantage of the momentum, Maki continued, "The bond-type ninjas of today's ninja world actually originated from Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, the two who ended the Warring States Era. They established the new rules of the ninja world, and they also led it into the abyss of bonds."
"And from what I've heard, Shiromo wasn't the one who started the bond-type ninja phenomenon at all. He's actually one of its strongest opponents. His goal, along with Uchiha Hikari, in changing the ninja world is to overthrow the old world and create one where bonds are no longer the mainstream."
"So that's how it is. Then it really seems I misunderstood him. Sigh..."
Hearing that, Pakura finally relaxed.
Putting everything else aside, Maki had reminded her that the true origin of bonds lay with Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. That much could be confirmed.
Since the source wasn't Shiromo, then all of the conspiracy theories she had built upon that assumption could be discarded.
As for whether the stories about Madara and Hashirama were true, there wasn't even any need to investigate deeply. Madara's recent actions alone had already proven it.
Things like...
"His body is robust and pure."
Was that really something two ninjas with a normal relationship would ever say about each other?
"Sensei, why are you sighing?"
Now it was Maki's turn to be confused.
She knew her master's personality well. Even if being revived through Impure World Reincarnation had changed her a little, she was still the same person at heart.
Right was right.
Wrong was wrong.
After having her opinion overturned, her master should have accepted it gladly.
Why was she sighing instead?
"I just thought of another possibility."
Pakura hesitated before speaking slowly.
"If bonds originated with Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, then why didn't I notice anything like this during my own era?"
"I suspect it's because the bond-type ninjas of that time suppressed themselves. A ninja is someone who can endure anything. So they endured it. Only now, Shiromo wants to destroy the old world in order to rebuild it. That means he first has to drag all of those people hiding in the shadows out into the sunlight."
"Only after they've been exposed can they be dealt with. So while some of his actions seem to encourage the appearance of bond-type ninjas, what he's really doing is proving the saying, 'Whom Heaven wishes to destroy, it first drives mad.'"
"He isn't creating cockroaches. He's lifting up the floorboards and exposing all the cockroaches that were already hiding underneath. That's why I mistakenly thought he was the cause of all this."
Once someone accepts a viewpoint, it's only natural for them to start defending it from that perspective.
"Exactly! That's absolutely right! A lot of people simply hadn't been exposed yet. Take Kakashi's father, Konoha's White Fang. No one's ever heard who Kakashi's mother was or even who the White Fang's wife was."
"It's almost like Kakashi was born without a mother. What was famous throughout the ninja world was the White Fang using the Thousand Years of Death and the White Fang Tanto to stab people on the battlefield."
"Back then, everyone only admired how powerful he was. But if you think about it carefully now...It's absolutely terrifying. The White Fang must have fallen hopelessly in love with some male ninja but couldn't be with him. Yet he still had to continue the Hatake bloodline, and that's how Kakashi was born."
"What's even scarier is that everyone says Konoha's White Fang was an incredibly gentle and kind man, completely different from the slaughtering demon he was on the battlefield. That means Konoha's White Fang was most likely the bottom. Then there's the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō."
"It's said that when the Second Hokage stayed behind to cover everyone's retreat and chose the Third Hokage, what he was really deciding was whether the Third Hokage or Danzō would be the top and which one would be the bottom."
"Originally, Danzō already regretted not stepping forward first, which left him becoming the bottom. But what Danzō never expected was that Sarutobi Hiruzen would betray the bond between them by actually getting married and having children. So Danzō became jealous of Sarutobi Biwako."
"So on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack, he deliberately allowed the mysterious masked man into Konoha so Biwako would be killed. That way, he could have the newly widowed Third Hokage all to himself. But what Danzō never expected was that after spending so many years with his wife, Hiruzen's old bond-type preferences had completely disappeared."
"He had become a ninja with a normal orientation again. So even after Biwako died, the Third Hokage would never take Danzō back. Danzō completely snapped. He discovered that the Third Hokage often used his crystal ball to secretly peek at the women's hot springs."
"So Danzō deliberately acted as though he were plotting something suspicious to attract the Third Hokage's attention. The Third Hokage had no choice but to monitor him with the crystal ball. But every time Hiruzen watched him, Danzō would start striking seductive poses. He was either bathing or doing gymnastics, trying to turn the Third Hokage back into a bond-type ninja."
"Unfortunately, the Third Hokage's will was as solid as a rock. He never changed. During that time, Danzō also discovered that Konoha's White Fang was another bond-type ninja. He mistakenly believed the White Fang was the Third Hokage's kept bottom, and that was why Hiruzen refused to accept him again."
"Danzō was furious and decided to destroy the White Fang. So he orchestrated a public smear campaign. But Danzō had completely misunderstood him. The White Fang's true partner was actually the very comrade he had abandoned his mission to save."
"By sheer coincidence, Danzō's scheme caused that comrade to lash out at the White Fang with cruel words. The White Fang never imagined that even the person he loved most couldn't understand him. With all hope lost, he chose to take his own life."
"..."
"That's exactly it! I knew Konoha's White Fang couldn't possibly have killed himself just because people criticized him for abandoning a mission. So the one criticizing him was the love of his life! That explains everything!"
Temari clapped her hands together, her face filled with sudden realization.
"So... how do you even know all of this?"
Pakura nodded. She also felt the explanation sounded surprisingly reasonable.
But then she thought about it again and became terrified by the three girls' ability to gather gossip.
How did they even uncover secrets like these?
"Actually, we subscribed to Ninja World Secrets: Weekly Gossip."
Yukata pulled a scroll out from inside her clothes.
"Hm? What's this?"
Pakura immediately noticed a familiar emblem on the scroll.
Besides, storing newspapers inside a scroll wasn't something ordinary people would do.
"The Underground Black Market?"
Pakura realized the symbol on the scroll was the emblem of the Underground Black Market.
What kind of place was the Underground Black Market?
It was where all kinds of shady missions were posted.
For example, the bounties on important figures from every major ninja village were all announced through them.
The people who actually placed those bounties were often rival ninja villages.
And now...
They were publishing newspapers?
Gossip newspapers?
...Ah, right.
Pakura suddenly understood.
Now that the ninja world was generally at peace and the major villages had set aside their disputes to develop together, those massive bounty missions had all quietly disappeared.
Even the small bounty missions weren't enough for each village's own shinobi.
The black market was on the verge of going out of business, so it had no choice but to find another source of income.
With the black market's intelligence network, it really wasn't easy to casually dismiss these stories as fake.
(End of this chapter)