___________ POV Narration ___________

"What about the actual Nobility of the Lands that rule over us?"

The Raikage's voice was followed by silence. Everyone looked over at Ken once more, awaiting his answer.

No one present thought for one second that Ken hadn't already made plans on how to convince the Daimyō of each land.

The Royal families were, at the end of the day, the ones that called the shots. The Hidden Villages were all in the employ of others.

There was no way that the Blind Monster hadn't taken that into account.

"The Hidden Villages are employed by the Noble Families, true... But we also now have plenty of leverage.

All of us together should be more than enough to have the same influence as the old God of Shinobi..." The Assassin crossed his arms as he brought up the only person that he achieved something similar to what he wanted.

Senju Hashirama. By far, the man was considered the most powerful Shinobi to date.

Under him, the world flourished for quite a few good years. And it was purely because of his strength.

No one dared to cross the leaf, and when Hashirama declared that he wished to end the Warring period, none of the Daimyō dared to go against his wishes purely because of his strength.

And no one dared to start wars during his time because they knew he'd get involved.

Hell, he was strong enough to capture and give out the Tailed Beasts to the other villages as well, hoping that they would serve as a deterrent after his demise.

But even with the Tailed Beasts, literal weapons of destruction with personalities, no one dared to start fighting while Hashirama was alive.

Only after his death did the Era of the Shinobi Wars start properly.

It was the return of the Warring States almost, just with a lot more structure. But structured chaos was not that much better than regular chaos, and suffering was still all around them.

"Hmm... That might just work honestly..." Hirzuen muttered as he took a look at everyone who had gathered.

Three of the strongest Shinobi alive, one of the strongest Jinchuriki, the most powerful Assassin, and the strongest Samurai were all present.

"It's a bit brutish, forcing peace onto them using our strengths and influence... But as long as we work together it shouldn't be much of an issue. Lord knows my people need some peace as well..."

Yorihhiko humed as he seemed to agree with the Hokage wholeheartedly.

"It's still odd to think we'd be working together... But it's true that there is little we can't do if we put in enough effort." The Raikage seemed to agree, becoming rather excited as he flexed one arm with a smile.

And Killer B behind him seemed to be getting quite hyped as well.

"Heh, yeah!~ We unite, take command!

They'll bend to our will, can't withstand our might!~" The rapper immediately started spouting off, gaining a strange look from everyone present.

The Raikage sighed in concealed disappointment before shaking his head and returning to his thoughts.

The others acted similarly, but B was too busy to notice the tough crowd as he took out his notebook and started scribbling some more sick verses.

"Lord Yuichi and the Land of Iron can also help pressure the other Noble Families...

It may strain some relations, and risk affecting our usual Neutral stance, but I believe that Lord Yuichi will be willing to lend us a hand at the promise of peace." The Beheading General's statement was quite outstanding to all of the Kage present.

Mifune's position was indeed different than theirs, but they still assumed that Mifune answered to the Daimyō at the end of the day.

Only Ken didn't react much, as he was already well aware of the state of affairs within the Land of Iron.

Mifune and Yuichi were essentially family through anything other than blood, and the Daimyō had absolute respect for the Samurai General.

'If they are willing to go all in... Then I might as well join them. The Leaf will benefit a lot from this period of peace anyway.' The Hokage pondered for a few seconds before deciding to reveal his cards as well.

"We can force the hand of Iwagakure and the Land of Earth to join our Alliance in exchange for us returning Onoki alive.

They are in a very precarious position seeing as they've lost both of their Jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts. They do not have the capability to refuse our requests now."

Hirzuen smiled as he remembered the broken figure of Onoki being carried away by his Anbu.

It was a shame that the Kazekage and the One-Tailed Jinchuriki had gotten away.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya were both strong, but they weren't enough to deal with either of them currently.

By the time Hiruzen had arrived to help, the Sand leader and the Tailed Beast were already leaning on their hind legs, retreating.

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Neither Orichimaru nor Jiraiya was fast enough to keep up with them properly over a prolonged period of time.

It had turned into a chase for a bit, but the Hokage gave up on it, not wanting to risk his life needlessly by cornering the Sand Duo alone.

He could have brought either one of his students on the Nimbus cloud, but even then the fight would've been risky and prolonged.

The Sand Duo weren't that important anyway in Hiruzen's eyes, and he knew that his side had already won the war.

"Heh, crafty fucker! I'd love to see Onoki's sorry figure and kill him with my own hands. But using him as a bargaining chip might be even more humiliating..." The Raikage both praised and cursed at the Hokage.

Not that uncommon between the two of them, and everyone seemed to be too busy thinking about the implications of what the Hokage had said to notice their small exchange.

"Not only that... But the Mizukage will definitely agree and join us as well. Not that he'd have much choice. From then on it's bound to just snowball." Ken scratched his chin with a confident smile as he thought about the most important figures in the world and how they'd react.

"The Sand will also keel over. They've not even recovered fully from the Second Shinobi War yet." The Hokage also seemed to gain a cheeky smile on his face as he realised that the concept of peace was within their grasp.

They were going to do it. They were creating a period of true growth and prosperity for the world.

Ken's plan was looking more and more as not only possible... But easy.

The game board was set up in such a way for their team that they essentially had their opponents in checkmate from the start.

Mifune couldn't help but sweat a bit as his eyes traced over to the Blind Assassin that had made all of that possible.

'... Is that why he announced his age after all? Was this your plan all along?'

The Samurai had already pieced it all together, well most of it anyway. From the people present, he was the closest to and knew most about Ken.

He realized it now, but everything. Every minute detail of the War that had just occurred seemed to have lined up favourably for Ken and his interests.

It wouldn't have been farfetched to say that he had been behind the war itself happening right?

Well, it would have been. The entire compound was destroyed, and a lot of things that happened couldn't possibly have been under his control.

But Mifune still got that strange feeling in his gut, that he and the other people present were not actually players in the game, but just pawns on the board.

It would have been an upsetting thought for most. But Mifune saw no issue in that.

If Ken's plan was going to be of help to his people, then he truly didn't care that he was a pawn. He would fully accept his position if it granted his people peace.

He was sure the others would agree as well if they came to the same realization that he did. But there was no way that Ken could have accounted for that.

'I'm starting to question myself more and more... Ken, you are certainly our greatest ally, and I trust your judgement at the end of the day. But god I wish you were easier to read at times...'

Mifune internally sighed as his gaze turned to the side, and he started to pay more attention to the conversation happening around him once more.

"Perfect... In that case, we can start as soon as we all get home and get some rest. The Dark Brotherhood does still need to handle rebuilding itself..."

Ken nodded at everyone present, his smile almost contagious as he then craned his neck towards the barrel that Yorihhiko had brought with him.

"By the way, what's the deal with the extra baggage?"

His question seemed to take the Uzumaki leader by surprise a bit. Yorihhiko glanced over at Hiruzen for a second before shaking his head.

"Well, it's official business of the Leaf Village from my knowledge..." The Uzumaki Leader spoke with a rather careful tone, clearly not willing to divulge more about the situation.

Ken simply nodded, understanding that it wasn't something for Yorihhiko to divulge in the first place.

"Well, at this point the Leaf's business is your business as well. And since you are involved in this matter, you deserve to know." The Hokage seemed to sigh, as his expression turned quite grim.

He walked over to the sealed barrel and undid some of the seals around the lid, opening it up with a slight hum.

Steam came out of the barrel before it shook and toppled over.

The Hokage's expression seemed almost regretful as he shook his head and turned it slightly to the side.

Out of that barrel crawled the limbless figure of a man.

He had short, dishevelled black hair, he was missing one eye, and all of his limbs were severed. He wore grey clothing, well, the remains of a grey yukata at the very least.

From the smell, Ken could safely deduce that most of the blood on Yorihhiko's jacket and blades was from that man.

And he could also recognize his chakra signature.

"Danzo Shimura... Seems like he finally stepped over the line, huh?" The Raikage scoffed when seeing the man.

"Haah...Ha..." Danzo breathed slowly as his eye adjusted to the light, and his gaze finally fell on the people observing him.

He already knew everything was over, so he wasn't shocked or startled upon seeing Hirzuen.

He knew things had gone awry ever since the groups he and some other smaller Kage led were intercepted by the Uzumaki.

It wasn't long before they were captured either.

Danzo was relatively strong, but he was a far cry from Yorihhiko, who didn't even need to use the Adamantite Sealing Chains against him.

"As you can see, or feel I guess... My old companion decided to go rogue. You were the one to bring this to my attention discretely back then.

He has brought shame onto our village, so he will be punished properly, though it looks as though he has already been punished quite a bit..."

Hirzuen couldn't help but wince a bit when seeing his old friend and comrade in such a state.

"Well, he did try to put up a fight, and I didn't want him struggling too much during the sealing process..." Yorihhiko simply shrugged unapologetically.

"No, you handled it well... But I will take it from here." Hiruzen walked over to his old friend and patted him on the shoulder before pushing him back into the barrel and setting it upright.

"I still need a bit more time to find out the true extent of his crimes... His roots ran deep into the Leaf Village.

He always acted for its benefit, but I believe his desire to be in control overwhelmed his reasoning as of late..."

Hiruzen seemed to have quite a lot to say, his gaze was complex and the emotions within him ranged from sadness to anger, to apathy and sorry. A jumbled mess as some could call it.

It was clear that Hiruzen was the sentimental sort, but he was still very well composed.

"Thank you for quenching my curiosity..." Ken slowly nodded towards HIrzuen who slowly raised and harnessed the barrle on his back.

"No problem, we are all allies now... We shall speak again soon." The Hokage nodded as a yellow cloud seeped from the bottom of his sandals and slowly lifted him off the ground.

"Yorihhiko, are you coming with me?" The Hokage said as he turned to the Uzumaki Leader. The two were headed in the same direction after all.

And the Uzumaki Leader agreed, only looking towards Ken one last time. "We shall catch up at a later date over a cup of tea... Till then, do take care of my son!" Yorihhiko shouted as he jumped on the nimbus cloud.

He then nodded towards the others present, specifically Mifune, as he was still not in the mood to act friendly with the Raikage.

"Well... Me and B can stay and help you rebuild for now, we still need to rest and recover some chakra before we get going."

The Raikage turned towards Ken with a smile as soon as the two had left.

"That would be greatly appreciated..." The Blind Monster nodded once more, smiling as he did so.

The Raikage laughed a bit, turned around whilst grabbing B by the collar and started walking towards the remains of the compound.

"My Samurai can also help set up temporary residences for the children..." Mifune looked towards Ken, his gaze a bit complicated, but at the same time also composed.

"Thank you, you are reliable as always Mifune... We do have plenty of work ahead of us."

"Indeed. But things are looking quite hopeful, aren't they?"

"... Yes. They certainly are."