A Sage's Pursuit of Power

In the world of the Hidden Leaf, Aoba had made many contingency plans for its greatest enemies.

Initially, his imagined adversaries were the Third Hokage and Danzo.

Yes, from the very beginning, Aoba regarded the Third Hokage and Danzo as enemies. Later, he successfully killed Danzo and forced the Third Hokage to his death.

The next targets became Nagato, Obito, and Madara.

After many rounds of maneuvering, Nagato fell into a coma, Madara was defeated, and Obito became the biggest winner.

But this didn't mean Obito was the ultimate boss in Aoba's mind.

Though Obito's willpower and talent were remarkable, Aoba had never truly respected him.

His narrow-mindedness and extreme emotions meant he would never achieve greatness.

From the beginning, Aoba's ultimate imagined enemy was Kaguya and the Otsutsuki clan behind her.

It's no exaggeration to say that even Madara in his prime would lose all dominance in the era of Boruto.

Young Boruto already displayed Six Paths-level combat ability.

But between Obito and the Otsutsuki, Aoba vaguely sensed another hidden presence.

This figure could be an enemy or a rival. Given the chaotic state of the ninja world, Aoba never hesitated to assume the worst about others.

Thus, he had always treated this figure as an enemy.

No further explanation was necessary, everyone could understand that this figure was the Sage of Six Paths.

Although the Sage of Six Paths was portrayed as a positive figure in the original story, with minimal presence aside from helping Naruto and Sasuke during the final battle, after entering this world, Aoba constantly felt the presence of this figure.

He had never appeared directly, but the entire world bore his marks.

The Naruto world had a glaring problem: ethical collapse.

And this ethical collapse began thousands of years ago, with Kaguya's family. Her sons joined forces to seal their mother.

This moment seemed to set the tone for this world. Look at the events after the founding of the five great ninja villages:

Betrayal, patricide, coups, this was the prevailing tone of the ninja world.

Even Hashirama Senju, the saint-like figure, only began promoting his ideals of universal love and world salvation after defeating everyone else.

As a reader and viewer in his past life, Aoba saw this as entertainment. The rebellion of Kaguya's sons against their mother was explained as love for humanity and an unwillingness to see their mother harm humans.

But after living in this world, Aoba changed his view. No justification was needed, just look at this world. Those two brothers didn't rebel against their mother out of love for humanity.

The reason was simple: this world was a mess.

After sealing their mother, the brothers became the strongest beings in the world. Especially Hagoromo Otsutsuki, who walked among humans as a godlike figure.

From Aoba's perspective, if Hagoromo truly loved humanity, he could have created a utopian world.

But Hagoromo didn't. Instead, he chose to share chakra with humanity, giving everyone the ability to cultivate.

This action, at its core, is difficult to define as good or bad. According to legend, he did this to foster connections between people.

On the surface, it seemed admirable, empowering humanity to face various dangers independently.

But in reality, the result of Hagoromo sharing chakra was that the intensity of wars increased hundreds or thousands of times.

And under the pressure of high-intensity wars, countless grudges perpetuated, plunging the ninja world into a cycle of endless conflict.

And where was the Sage of Six Paths, who dared to defy his mother and seal her for humanity's sake?

He disappeared and never returned. It was as if he no longer cared for humanity, or perhaps he never truly did.

According to the traditional Chinese belief of "different clans harbor different hearts," Aoba leaned toward the latter.

This led to the fundamental question: why did the Sage of Six Paths act this way?

Aoba understood this might be the ultimate question he faced. Solving this question could unravel everything.

Given the current state of affairs, it seemed likely he had already touched on some essence of this issue. Hence, the opposing force had begun interfering in the ninja world prematurely.

Aoba's arrival in this world had caused many changes.

He altered the lives of countless people: Kakashi, Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto, Sasuke, and even the Twelve Konoha Genin.

He developed numerous techniques related to the Sharingan, chakra cloaks, and chakra nature transformation.

He spearheaded reforms in Konoha, weakened the power of ninja clans, strengthened civilian ninjas, and severed ties with the daimyo to establish an independent Land of Fire.

These changes, along with their direct and indirect effects and countless butterfly effects, had entirely derailed the ninja world from its original trajectory.

By this point, Aoba Kamikawa had changed the entire ninja world.

"Change!!"

The word flashed through Aoba's mind. In an instant, certain previously vague concepts seemed to become clear.

....

Konoha.

Tsunade and the resurrected Senju Hashirama were gambling away their fortunes at the casino.

Tsunade was thoroughly enjoying her role as Hokage. Although there were many responsibilities, Aoba, Kakashi, Shikaku, and even Hiashi helped her manage much of it.

This left her with plenty of free time.

With Hashirama's resurrection, Tsunade spent less time with Aoba and more time with her long-lost relative.

Every few days, she accompanied Hashirama to Konoha's casinos, losing spectacularly.

It's worth noting that Tsunade was no longer short on money. Thanks to Konoha's outward expansion policy, substantial cash resources flowed into the village.

As Hokage, Tsunade had full discretion over these funds. However, knowing that gamblers tend to be irrational, Aoba and the other advisors imposed restrictions on her.

They secretly created a fund within Konoha.

The fund's sole purpose was to provide discretionary spending for Konoha's leadership.

But neither Aoba, Kakashi, nor Shikaku had any interest in it. As a result, this "secret fund" essentially became Tsunade's gambling money.

Whenever she had free time, she'd take large sums of cash to the casino and lose it all.

Unbeknownst to Tsunade, the casino she frequented was the very source of the fund's revenue.

In other words, the money she lost simply circulated through the casino and returned to her. This cycle made it seem like significant losses, but in reality, there was little expenditure.

Moreover, due to the casino's high profitability, it even generated a handsome profit.

Tsunade might have noticed this but didn't mind. As long as she had fun and it didn't harm Konoha's interests, she had no reason to expose the scheme.

However, today Tsunade felt that something was off.

Because, unusually, she wasn't losing money left and right. On the contrary, she had been on a winning streak since she entered the casino, winning more than ten rounds in a row.

Beside her, Hashirama was enthusiastically cheering and shouting, but Tsunade couldn't shake a foreboding feeling.

Others might not know, but Tsunade was well aware of her own situation. Every time she won at gambling, it was always followed by some kind of misfortune.

Her first thought was of Aoba, who was out on a mission.

In the current Konoha, the people closest to her, apart from the resurrected Hashirama and Shizune, were her old flame, Aoba.

Almost instinctively, Tsunade threw down her chips and rushed back to her office. She needed to know Aoba's status immediately.

When she arrived at her office, she found Aoba waiting there, unharmed.

"Thank heavens you're okay. How did the mission go?"

"It's a bit complicated. I can only tell you for now that there were no casualties on Konoha's side. I'll explain the rest later. Where's Hashirama-senpai? I need to see him."

"Uh… Grandpa is at the casino."

"Find him. Immediately."

Aoba's tone was urgent. Without hesitation, Tsunade summoned the Anbu to search for Senju Hashirama. Officially, his cover identity was a bodyguard for the Hokage.

But after about ten minutes, the Anbu brought back news that left Tsunade baffled.

Senju Hashirama had disappeared!!!

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Currently on Chapter 302 - A Shocking Secret