Naruto: Fooling the Ninja World, I'm Hailed as a Savior

"..."

Hanzo opened his mouth, but no words came out. He hadn't expected Konoha to understand the current plight of the Land of Rain and the Hidden Rain Village to this extent.

During the Second Great Ninja War, why had he reached his breaking point and declared war on the Five Great Nations? It was important to remember that the Second Great Ninja War hadn't fully erupted yet; the disputes between the Five Great Nations were still restrained, with localized skirmishes. At that time, the Land of Rain hadn't refused to be a buffer zone for the great nations.

However, the Hidden Sand and Hidden Stone had been utterly despicable, especially those poverty-stricken Hidden Sand ninjas. In the Land of Rain, they not only attacked ninjas but also completely disregarded civilian casualties during battles. Many Hidden Sand ninjas even resorted to burning, killing, and looting, and even the Kazekage turned a blind eye. This was because the Hidden Sand Village's finances were already in poor shape, and looting civilians could actually alleviate their financial burden. After all, they weren't robbing the civilians of the Land of Wind; the lives of small nation civilians were the cheapest.

Therefore, the then-young Hanzo had been pushed to his limits, directly flipping the table and leading the Hidden Rain Village in defiance of the Five Great Nations. But he had been truly young then, truly proud, full of ambition and fantasy, brimming with vigor. He swore to change the Land of Rain, to bring it peace, believing he could change the world by himself. He thought he was special, that he and his companions were like protagonists in a story, and protagonists and their companions wouldn't die.

However, when he was injured in the war and his hand touched the bloody corpses of his comrades, when he watched helplessly as more and more people were dragged down and starved to death, he understood: no one in this world was special, no one.

So, having faced reality, he spared Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, his enemies. Because at that time, the Land of Rain and the Hidden Rain Village were almost completely depleted of resources, utterly unable to withstand Hiruzen Sarutobi's hysterical wrath after losing his disciples.

Therefore, having faced reality, he collaborated with Danzo to kill Yahiko, who was much like his younger self. Because in his view at the time, everything Yahiko said was nothing but impractical fantasy that would only shake the power and status he had so painstakingly stabilized, and would only push the Land of Rain into an unfathomable abyss.

But now, Hanzo regretted it somewhat. If that young man were still alive, if that fellow named Nagato were still here, if he hadn't attacked the Akatsuki organization then, if the Hidden Rain Village had a successor...

The Land of Rain's ability to neither win nor lose the Second Great Ninja War was solely due to his, Hanzo's, existence. And at that time, he was still at the peak of a ninja's power, but now he was old and feeble, meaning the Land of Rain had completely lost its last bargaining chip.

Now, facing the shameless plundering of the Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Sand Village, unless he and the Hidden Rain Village chose not to resist, if they chose to resist again, they would swiftly fall into a state of depleted resources once more.

So, their only choice now truly seemed to be cooperating with Konoha... No, to put it nicely, it was "cooperation," but in reality, it was "subservience."

"..."

After a long silence, Hanzo shifted his gaze to the Rain ninjas behind him, his voice slightly hoarse. "What do you think?"

At these words, he suddenly felt a surge of nausea. He knew he wasn't giving them a choice; he was passing the responsibility of the choice onto them. He was escaping, escaping the decision that should have been his, escaping the responsibility that should have been his to bear. He couldn't even look himself in the eye now. He had become the kind of person he had most detested in the past.

And the Rain ninjas, just as he expected, fell silent. They were not unaware of the Hidden Rain Village's current predicament. The Land of Rain simply couldn't produce the resources to sustain its logistics right now; it couldn't support a second war like the Second Great Ninja War. The foundations and power of a great nation were simply incomparable to the Land of Rain.

But even so, they still wished to see Lord Hanzo act as decisively as he had in the past, making Konoha understand that the Hidden Rain Village was not weak or easily bullied, and Hanzo's prestige was not something a mere teenager could challenge. Even if the consequence of such a choice was their sacrifice and loss of life, they would willingly follow Hanzo.

But now, Lord Hanzo had compromised...

Disappointed? Perhaps, but this was the best option for the Hidden Rain Village now.

Understood? Perhaps, but aligning with a great nation with whom they had blood feuds was difficult for them to reconcile within their hearts.

Humiliation, anger, unwillingness, confusion, helplessness...

The resolve that had once burned within them now seemed to dissipate, and the hands gripping their weapons felt weak.

Seeing this, Kakashi felt a sigh of relief. He understood that Hanzo had truly changed, and this negotiation should go smoothly. Just as he was about to say something,

Splatter...

A drop of red liquid fell from the tower's ceiling, hitting the ground and splashing, breaking the suffocating silence and oppressive atmosphere.

Splatter... splatter...

Shinda, standing beside Hanzo, subconsciously looked up, and a few drops landed on his parched lips. The familiar metallic stench of blood startled him.

Crack!

An incredibly sudden sound rang out, piercingly sharp in the desolation, as crisp as a silver vase shattering. The glass dome at the top of the tower had shattered, and shards of glass rained down from above onto the crowd below. It was as if a giant hand had pulled back a curtain, and roaring wind surged in from above.

Immediately after, a whistling wind resounded overhead, and a dark shape plummeted at high speed, landing precisely between Kakashi and Hanzo.

Boom!

The Konoha and Rain ninjas instinctively retreated a few steps, but crimson blood squeezed out, splattering onto their faces, leaving dark red streaks. They looked at the ground in shock and uncertainty, at the distorted figure that had fallen from above.

It was a corpse, its entire body twisted and deformed, its head rotated several times, connected to its neck only by skin. Its face bore a visible expression of astonishment and terror, and shocking amounts of blood flowed onto the empty ground. There were no gruesome wounds on its body, but rather distortions as if it had been violently wrung out. Like a towel vigorously twisted dry, bones and flesh exploded outwards, pale bones piercing through the skin like thorns—a brutal and painful sight.

"It's you..."

Hanzo instinctively narrowed his eyes, looking at Kakashi, but he saw Kakashi returning the same gaze.

"It's not him."

"Someone interfered."

They looked at the surprise in each other's eyes, realizing it almost simultaneously, and instantly looked upwards.

Just outside the shattered glass dome, a figure stood suspended in the air. The faint moonlight behind him illuminated the surroundings from his center, clearly revealing the terrified and panicked faces of the crowd below. All the filth and depravity within the tower were exposed without a doubt.

"Truly disappointing."

"The once unyielding Hanzo has now had his spine broken, becoming an old dog."

He looked down at the crowd below, his condescending words filled with mockery, announcing his presence.