For a reporter, being able to personally witness a scene destined to be recorded in history was a stroke of luck beyond imagination. Some had already begun composing headlines in their minds.
"The conference collapses! Konoha unilaterally declares unrestricted war!"
"The Shinobi World without limits! How the five-village summit fell apart!"
"Shinichi Higashino: I will bear every sin and every infamy alone!"
… And many more.
It was easy to imagine that once published, the newspapers would sell out instantly and spark an unprecedented storm of public opinion throughout the Shinobi World.
Whether they were representatives in the audience or members of the press, after recovering from their astonishment, they all turned their eyes toward the delegations of the other Four Great Ninja Villages, eager to see how they would respond to Shinichi's earth-shattering declaration of unrestricted war.
Would they accept it?
How exactly would they react?
Explode in fury?
Slam the table?
Or simply dismiss it?
It's far too extreme.
In reality, their reactions were completely different from what everyone had imagined.
The instant those words left Shinichi's mouth, the first thought that arose in the minds of the representatives of the Four Great Ninja Villages was almost astonishingly identical.
Even A Yotsuki, who had the hottest temper among them, thought the same thing.
Everyone was a ninja. Wars were fought for resources, land, payment, and to settle long-standing grudges. No one truly wanted a war to the bitter end that would destroy an entire nation and wipe out its people.
Even if such a war were ultimately won, the victor would inevitably suffer catastrophic losses and might even fall out of the ranks of the Five Great Ninja Villages altogether, reduced to a second or third-rate power.
Once they came back to their senses and looked at the cold-faced young man before them, the representatives of the Four Great Ninja Villages all found themselves in an extremely awkward situation.
They simply did not know how to respond.
Whoever responded first would very likely become the example Shinichi used to kill the chicken and warn the monkeys.
Whether Shinichi's claims about the second Hokage's forbidden techniques were true remained uncertain, but Shinichi himself genuinely possessed the ability to infiltrate enemy territory and poison people to death on a massive scale. Combined with Minato Namikaze, infiltrating any hidden village would be absurdly easy.
As long as Shinichi brought Minato into the sky and Minato scattered Flying Thunder God Kunai below, they could enter and leave at will.
Who could possibly defend against that?
Yet remaining silent was equally impossible.
Silence would amount to admitting defeat and bowing their heads, ruining their reputations if word spread.
Thus, the representatives remained frozen where they stood, secretly sizing one another up from the corners of their eyes. No one was willing to speak first. They were all waiting for someone from another village to take the lead.
But this deadlock could not continue forever, because the longer it lasted, the more it would appear that they had all been rendered speechless by Shinichi Higashino's declaration. Once word got out, it would look little different from showing weakness and admitting defeat.
Unfortunately, when the Four Great Ninja Villages had held their private discussions beforehand, none of them had anticipated such a situation.
No one had expected Shinichi Higashino to simply flip the table over.
Had they prepared a contingency plan in advance, they would not have found themselves in such a passive position now.
Compared to the representatives of the Four Great Ninja Villages, each harboring different thoughts, Konoha's delegation remained outwardly calm while their hearts had already become a raging sea.
As the chief strategist of the delegation, Shikaku Nara had tried several times to step in and smooth things over while Shinichi was speaking.
Yet every time the words reached his lips, Shinichi's next sentence pushed the situation even further toward an irreversible point, until he finally declared unrestricted war outright.
At that stage, if Shikaku tried to walk things back, it would only make it seem as though Konoha itself was divided, producing an even worse outcome.
Moreover, before their departure, the third Hokage had personally instructed that all matters were to be handled entirely by Shinichi. They could offer advice, but they were not to interfere.
Judging from the reactions of the Four Great Ninja Villages, Shinichi's actions had actually produced remarkable results.
As for Minato Namikaze, serving as the deputy representative, he could not help recalling something that had happened half a year earlier.
After the battle of Rinkai City, the two of them had stood side by side atop those ruins.
At the time, he had asked Shinichi if this conference truly came to pass, and if Shinichi stood there as Konoha's representative, what attitude he intended to adopt toward the other hidden villages.
Back then, Shinichi had remained silent for a very long time, and just when Minato thought he had no intention of answering, the young man finally spoke, saying something that Minato found profoundly meaningful.
"If you seek peace through struggle, peace will endure. If you seek peace through compromise, peace will perish."
At the time, Minato had vaguely sensed the weight of those words, but he had not fully grasped their meaning, nor had he truly agreed with them.
By nature, he was gentle. He firmly believed that the day people would come to understand one another, as his teacher had spoken of, would eventually arrive, and he also believed that peace could only be achieved through genuine sincerity and communication.
But now, as he looked at the representatives of the other Four Great Ninja Villages standing there in awkward silence, caught in an impossible dilemma, Minato suddenly felt as though the clouds had parted and the truth had become crystal clear.
So that was it.
They had to clearly see the cost of making an enemy of you.
They had to know that you possessed the power to make them suffer and the resolve to make them fear.
Only then would peace cease to be charity begged from others and instead become a choice made after both sides had weighed the consequences.
At that thought, Minato straightened his back ever so slightly.
He still did not approve of war and still longed for peace, but he had also come to realize one thing.
Perhaps true peace sometimes required first confronting one's opponent with the firmest possible stance, forcing them to sit down at the same negotiating table.
Though it seemed like a long time, only a brief moment had actually passed. While the hall remained deathly silent and everyone was lost in their own thoughts, General Mifune stepped forward once again, intending to mediate.
Unexpectedly, someone else spoke before he could.
"What Benefactor Shinichi Higashino has said is indeed true, and this humble monk also believes that the benefactor possesses such capability."
The speaker's voice was clear and gentle.
It was none other than the mysterious young monk, famed for wielding Wood Style and possessing an appearance that seemed almost inhuman, Genjo.
As he spoke, everyone's attention naturally shifted toward him.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Genjo pressed his palms together. His eyes were as tranquil as still water as he continued, "However, if matters proceed in this way, then ninja warfare will no longer have any limits, and the suffering of all living beings will only grow greater. That would run contrary to Benefactor Shinichi Higashino's original intention in convening this conference. Moreover, once karmic sins are sown, they become exceedingly difficult to erase. I therefore hope the benefactor will reconsider."