(Sorry for late Chapter, today is my birthday. Thanks for your support.)
"It's… over."
For a full breath, nobody moved.
The battlefield that had just hosted a clash between gods looked like a broken world—earth split on top of earth, forests reduced to dust, and the air still humming with residual pressure, as if reality itself hadn't fully settled.
Even the wind felt cautious.
Then—
someone swallowed hard.
Someone else let out a shaking exhale.
And the spell finally broke.
"It's over!!"
"A battle between gods… this is beyond terrifying!"
"Back then, the place where Madara and the First Hokage fought was called the Valley of the End… from today onward, the place where the Fifth Hokage and the First Hokage fought—call it the Valley of the Gods!"
"Valley of the Gods… yeah! Valley of the Gods!"
"We should put up statues here! One of the First Hokage—one of the Fifth!"
Voices piled on voices. Awe turned into excitement, and excitement turned into a roaring wave that swept across the Leaf forces.
Because they weren't just watching history—
They were surviving it.
At the front of the crowd, the clan heads looked at each other in silence.
Fugaku's eyes were bright—too bright. Hiashi's stern face had finally loosened, like a weight he'd carried for years had cracked apart. Shikaku's expression was controlled as always… but even he couldn't hide the relief in his gaze.
They all understood what this meant.
Konoha would never again be forced into that familiar humiliation—
bowing outward, then paying for it inward.
If Ren stood at the peak…
then the village could finally breathe.
"So strong…" someone whispered.
"The Fifth Hokage's power truly stands above the shinobi world."
"After this… no one will ever question that title again."
Jiraiya stood among them, looking strangely tired.
He watched the shattered battlefield, then the figure standing at its center—calm, unhurt, almost bored—
and sighed, half laughing, half helpless.
"Konoha has really taken off," he muttered. "Maybe I should go back to… research."
Tsunade didn't respond.
She was staring too hard, like if she blinked, the scene might disappear.
"Even Grandpa…" she murmured. "Even he lost."
Might Guy, on the other hand, looked like he'd just witnessed the greatest sunrise of his life.
"HAHAHA! What a spectacular fight!!" He flashed his huge grin and struck a pose. "Youth is passion! The Fifth Hokage is my idol now!"
Kakashi silently took two steps away.
He didn't say anything.
His body language did.
In the center of the battlefield, the two "gods" faced each other.
Hashirama's aura had finally settled. His expression wasn't hostile anymore—just thoughtful, almost satisfied, like someone who had waited a long time to meet a worthy opponent.
"Alright," Hashirama said, spreading his hands. "Fifth Hokage… Tobirama and I should be released and return to where we belong."
Ren didn't look surprised. He simply nodded, like it was the next item on a checklist.
Hashirama's eyes narrowed slightly—then softened.
"You're very strong," he said. "Maybe… you'll walk a road none of us could."
Ren's reply was short. "Sure."
Whoosh—
Tobirama appeared atop the shattered crown of the remaining wooden statue, landing as lightly as a shadow.
His gaze was sharp—focused on Ren, not the crowd.
"Brother," Tobirama said, voice low, "your path… and Madara's path… both seem to have been wrong."
Several nearby shinobi stiffened instinctively—because coming from Tobirama Senju, that wasn't just reflection.
That was admission.
Tobirama continued, "Maybe the road this Fifth Hokage chooses… is the one that's right."
Hashirama looked at Ren again. "Everyone has their own path. Who's right and who's wrong… matters less than whether the village survives."
Tobirama's eyes flickered.
He stared at Ren for a moment longer.
His lips parted as if he wanted to say something—something heavy, something honest—
Then he closed them again.
Some rifts were too deep to patch with a sentence.
Hashirama's gaze shifted past Ren and landed on Tsunade.
He lifted his hand and waved, awkwardly… but warmly.
Tsunade's throat tightened.
"Grandpa…" she whispered.
She hadn't expected it.
Not this.
Not after everything the village had done to the Senju name—after the slow "vanishing" of her clan, after the way the Third's era treated bloodlines like threats to be strangled.
Her eyes glistened.
And for the first time in a long time…
she looked like someone remembering what home used to mean.
"Wait."
Ren's voice cut through the moment—casual, almost too casual for the weight of the scene.
Hashirama paused mid-turn.
Ren scratched his cheek, like he was about to ask a neighbor for a favor.
"First Hokage," he said, "since you're in Edo Tensei form anyway… before you get released, do some reforestation for the Land of Fire."
For half a second—
it was dead silent.
Then Tobirama's mouth twitched.
Hashirama's smile froze.
"Reforestation?" Hashirama repeated slowly, like he wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.
Ren nodded, completely serious. "Reforestation."
Hashirama and Tobirama both stared.
Not because the task was hard.
Because it was absurd.
Because the person asking was absurd.
And because it was somehow…
perfectly logical.
Ren spread his hands, sounding almost pained by practicality.
"Look. The Four Great Villages paid land and resources after the war. But the natural environment in those territories is terrible. If Konoha wants to stabilize fast, we need forests back."
He tilted his head. "You're literally built for this."
Tobirama's expression went blank in a very specific way—like a man watching the laws of dignity collapse.
Hashirama's jaw tightened.
If anyone else had said it, he might've laughed them into the ground.
But coming from the man who had just beaten him…
Hashirama could only grind his teeth.
"Fine," he said at last. "You win."
His eyes flicked to Tsunade again. The irritation softened.
"Take care of yourself," he told her.
Then he looked back at Ren.
"As for reforestation…" Hashirama sighed. "I'll do it."
Tobirama's face tightened. "Brother—"
"Let's go plant trees," Hashirama snapped, waving a hand like he was swatting away pride itself. "Consider it my final gift to Konoha."
Tobirama paused.
Then exhaled, resigned.
"…Alright."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two sharp bursts of air rang out.
Hashirama and Tobirama vanished.
Ren watched them disappear, then grinned.
A satisfied, shameless grin.
"Perfect."
Around him, the Leaf shinobi didn't know whether to be awed or terrified.
The First Hokage had returned…
fought…
lost…
and then got sent off like a village labor unit.
Only Ren could do that.
Only Ren would dare.
That night, rumors didn't spread.
They exploded.
And by morning, the entire shinobi world was shaking.
The newly appointed Fifth Hokage, Ren… defeated the First Hokage, resurrected through Edo Tensei.
It sounded like fantasy.
Like drunken nonsense.
But the people who had watched it with their own eyes…
didn't laugh.
They couldn't.
Because once you saw it, you understood:
This wasn't a "new Konoha."
This was a Konoha that had returned to the era of monsters.
The major villages went silent.
The small villages went pale.
Mercenaries and missing-nin started changing routes overnight.
And the phrase that kept appearing in whispered conversations—
in hidden letters—
in panicked meetings—
was the same:
God of the Shinobi World.
No "maybe."
No "rumor."
No "nickname."
A fact.
And as if to mock the world even further…
there was a "small" side effect.
The Land of Fire's green coverage reached record highs.
The ceded territories that used to be barren, broken, and dead?
Overnight, they were turning into lush forests—dense and thriving, as if the land had suddenly remembered how to breathe.
By the time the outside world understood what had happened…
it was already done.
Konoha didn't just win a war.
It walked away with land, resources, three tailed beasts—
and forests stretching to the horizon.
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