In this world, it all came down to fame and money.
A hundred thousand ryō was life-changing cash for most people. Enough to flip someone's entire future. So when the bounty contest dropped, eyes lit up everywhere.
"What is the Will of Fire?"
The whole ninja world started chewing on the question.
"Leaves dance where the fire burns eternal."
"Does that mean leaves are just fuel for the fire?"
"Idiot. Burning leaves is pointless unless you're roasting corn on the cob."
"Corn's gross roasted. Potatoes are way better."
"Pork belly hits different."
"Grilled fish is king!"
A middle-aged man watched the kids argue and shook his head.
"The line means a cycle. Leaves burn, turn into nutrients, feed the tree. The tree grows new leaves. Seasons pass, leaves fall again, burn again, feed the tree. Endless loop. The big tree is the village. The leaves that fall? The old ones. The ones that have reached the end of their life. If you burn the young buds instead, the tree dies."
He wrote his answer and mailed it straight to Sunagakure.
Hundreds of others did the same.
Exactly what Rasa wanted.
Anyone thinking hard about the Will of Fire eventually landed on Minato Namikaze versus Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Maybe Hiruzen really did kill Minato."
"Even if he didn't, he sure as hell didn't live up to the Will of Fire. He let Tobirama down."
"The Will of Fire in Konoha is fake now."
"Konoha's just another ninja village."
Someone asked the question out loud.
"If even the Hokage doesn't believe in the Will of Fire, why the hell are they still preaching it in the Leaf?"
Kakashi sat on the steps, lost in the same question.
He'd spent years turning over Sakumo Hatake's death. Kakashi had chosen his teammate over the mission, saved the guy, and got nothing but blame in return. Rumors flooded in. Accusations hit like a tsunami. Back then Kakashi thought his father was weak. Now he understood.
Rumors were knives. Sharper than any steel blade. They killed just as easy.
After his father died, Kakashi decided missions mattered more than teammates.
Then Obito Uchiha told him Sakumo was a hero.
Obito threw away the mission to save Rin, even if it cost his life.
Rin became the Three-Tails jinchuriki, then drove herself onto Kakashi's kunai rather than let the beast destroy the village. She leaned against his shoulder as her body went cold.
"What is the Will of Fire?"
"Was my father's suicide part of it?"
"Obito's death?"
"Rin's death?"
"Minato-sensei's death too…"
Confusion burned in Kakashi's eyes.
"Who the hell actually controlled the Nine-Tails?"
A shadow dropped beside him.
"Kakashi-senpai, mind if I sit?"
Uchiha Shisui pointed at the spot next to him.
Kakashi glanced over and shook his head. "Go ahead."
Shisui sat down. He knew Kakashi's story—White Fang's son, the kid who graduated early, Minato's student. Shisui had once seen Minato as the one person who could save the Uchiha. Then Minato died during the Nine-Tails attack. The Sharingan pattern in the fox's eyes made everything worse for the clan.
Kakashi knew Shisui too. The Uchiha prodigy. Body Flicker Shisui. One of the few Uchiha still in the village. But he couldn't figure out why Shisui was here now.
Talking about the Will of Fire?
"Kakashi-senpai… do you want to be Hokage?"
Kakashi froze. Turned slowly. He'd run through a dozen reasons Shisui might approach him. None of them prepared him for that.
Be Hokage?
Right now? From Shisui?
How the hell would that even work?
"Why ask that?"
Shisui stayed quiet for a second.
"The Leaf needs young blood."
The meaning was clear. The old guard couldn't be trusted anymore. Shisui didn't want them running things.
Shisui kept going.
"And you're the only person I see who could actually handle the hat someday."
"I'll back you with everything I've got."
Inside the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared into his crystal ball at Shisui and Kakashi. His eyes narrowed.
He picked up the latest Ninja World Big Events Weekly.
"What is the Will of Fire?"
"Rasa… what the hell are you trying to pull?"
"You really think the Leaf won't go to war with you?"
"Pushing me again and again. Getting bolder every time."
Hiruzen had already used the crystal ball to check half the village. People were arguing over the bounty contest like it was life or death. The only thing that could spark this much noise was Rasa's hundred-thousand-ryō challenge.
If it was this bad inside Konoha, what was happening outside?
The rumors they'd spread about Sunagakure had gone nowhere. Chiyo stepped up and shut them down publicly. The village stayed united while the Leaf kept eating itself alive.
And Danzo had been useless.
Letters poured into Sunagakure by the thousands, stacked in the newspaper warehouse. Editors sorted the worst ones and the duplicates first, then sent the rest to the Kazekage Tower for Rasa's final call.
Rasa picked up the next envelope.
The signature was weird. Not a real name. More like a nickname.
"Tobio…"
A guess flashed through his mind.
This couldn't be Uchiha Obito's submission… could it?
What the hell did that masked bastard have to say about the Will of Fire?