Regardless of the village, the ninja world was distinctly a stratified society.
Status disparities genuinely existed; ninjas of different statuses had access to completely different things. A pyramid-shaped organizational structure meant the information accessible from top to bottom formed a completely inverted pyramid.
Given Hagoromo's personality, it was hard to imagine him actively seeking something like "status." This had its pros and cons: the benefit was that he gained the "freedom" to follow his true nature; the downside was that he was often the last to know about many things.
The Land of Fire's Hidden Leaf Village—strictly speaking, it wasn't a village. It should be considered a medium-to-large-scale town. The number of ninjas alone exceeded ten thousand. Adding the civilian population, its scale shouldn't be described as a "village" by any metric.
However, since it was named a "village," it was easy for people's perceptions to be drawn in, truly treating it as one. Within the framework of a village, whatever status one sought, the absolute peak was merely becoming the "village head."
Although the "village head" in this plane of existence was indeed a world-class boss, and Hagoromo was well aware of Konoha's intricate and complex systems, within this framework, saying he had no desires or ambitions might be an exaggeration. But he genuinely didn't have anything he needed to obtain through status.
Therefore, he didn't need status.
Even if he became Hokage, it wouldn't yield much more for Hagoromo, so why deliberately drag himself into that mess?
Clocking in normally and working hard at his own post was perfectly fine... This was already a massive improvement from his initial, passive laziness.
"Danzo's current activities stem from established events from several years ago. Regardless of the outcome, according to the treaty, Konoha is fulfilling an obligation. Therefore, even the Third Hokage has no grounds to stop his actions."
Hagoromo first explained the mission he executed alongside Danzo a few years ago, and then added this.
He was reminding everyone that whatever the results of Danzo's activities right now, they were ostensibly for a "righteous cause"—even if this righteous cause was a problem Danzo himself had created and justified.
But regardless, this was official business, whereas certain emotions Jiraiya was currently displaying seemed tainted with personal feelings.
So Hagoromo ruthlessly punctured this point... Of course, only Jiraiya himself noticed it.
Jiraiya was an incredibly important character in the overarching story of Naruto. Many events were interwoven with his actions acting as the thread. And his three disciples—Nagato, Minato, and Naruto—were all considered the "Child of Prophecy." These relationships were among the very few plot-oriented details Hagoromo actually knew about Naruto.
Precisely because Hagoromo was a One Piece fan, he had specifically looked into the trivia regarding Naruto's name.
That was why he could sort out the relationships among them.
For the current Hagoromo, there were many things he didn't care about, and very few things he did. What happened to the Land of Rain, what Danzo was up to, whether Nagato lived or died?
Although bluntly saying "they can die for all I care" seemed a bit harsh, these were genuinely unfamiliar matters involving unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar country. What did it have to do with him?
This wasn't because Hagoromo was narrow-minded or lacked a grasp of the bigger picture; he just genuinely felt it was none of his business.
He already had his hands full caring about the things that mattered to him; the things he cared about occupied all his energy. As for everything else, he couldn't care less.
Reaching this current period, the war had entered its final stage of attrition. Considering the timeline, Hagoromo had already made up his mind to step back from the front lines.
There were more important things waiting for him to do.
Saying "step back from the front lines" might be inappropriate; in short, he was preparing to return to his Konoha home base.
Therefore, if Jiraiya were to assign some Land of Rain mission to Hagoromo personally or to the Minato squad right now, then sorry, he wouldn't accept it.
Under normal circumstances, something like the Great Ninja War naturally warranted utmost attention. But sometimes, what did the Great Ninja War even matter?
"..."
Hagoromo's words plunged Jiraiya into silence. Naturally, he wouldn't think Hagoromo said this intentionally, because certain matters were things only he himself knew; it was impossible for Hagoromo to know them.
That was why such "unintentional remarks" were the most sobering.
Yes, Hagoromo genuinely had a point. Jiraiya was a Konoha ninja; he too had his own missions and duties. Compared to the disciples far away on the horizon, the disciple right beside him was much more important—immensely more important.
Compared to the gloomy and introverted Nagato, Minato Namikaze—who perfectly embodied every positive ninja ideal—seemed far more like the true Child of Prophecy.
Moreover, he was about to become Hokage.
Thinking of this, Jiraiya buried his personal feelings deep in his heart. Indeed, the Danzo situation was unsolvable. The time to stop it was years ago, not now. Too late was simply too late.
Letting the matter go, Jiraiya shifted the topic, saying, "Speaking of which, Minato, your wedding date is approaching, isn't it?"
This topic change was stiff and clumsy, but it also indicated that Jiraiya had chosen to simply wait and see regarding Danzo's actions.
Minato was clearly stunned for a moment, then somewhat sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yes, probably within these next few months."
"This guy... that look of bliss is seriously making me jealous."
If—just if—in the future, Jiraiya could spend the time he used chasing his best buddy Orochimaru on chasing Tsunade instead, he would probably be a winner in life too. His envy index would definitely be much higher than the current Minato's.
Tsunade, the Slug Princess, was someone even enemies respectfully called "Lady Tsunade." That kind of treatment was unique in the entire ninja world.
However, hearing Jiraiya say this, Hagoromo also chuckled. Saying "envious and jealous" was actually a cover for blessings and gratification. There was nothing more joyous than seeing someone you cared about find happiness.
However, Jiraiya primarily felt this from Minato's standpoint, whereas Hagoromo was the opposite.
"Not at all. However, it's been hard on Kushina all these years," Minato's tone was filled with apology.
Kushina was power-type ninja. She graduated from the Ninja Academy at twelve and became a Jinchuriki at seventeen. That period was the most active phase of her ninja career. In just those four or five short years, the frequency of high-rank missions she executed was enough to prove her strength: over 30 A-rank missions and over 20 S-rank missions. This data surpassed what the vast majority of ninjas achieved in their entire lifetimes.
But even with such strength, due to Konoha's attitude regarding Jinchuriki, she could only remain alone in the village.
In reality, from the Second Great Ninja War to the Third Great Ninja War, the actual time Minato and Kushina spent together wasn't much. This was precisely what Minato felt sorry about.
Everyone naturally understood the meaning behind Minato's words, so Jiraiya continued, "Right now, our overall situation with the Hidden Cloud is a complete stalemate and a macro-level silence. Only small-scale skirmishes are continuously happening. But regardless, the end of the war is not far off."
Although this conclusion had been given several times before, Jiraiya spoke with great certainty this time. Because it was the truth, even if the low-level ninjas couldn't necessarily see it.
And precisely because of this, Minato's wedding date was set.
However... the war being "about to end" meant the war hadn't ended yet; it was still ongoing, so missions had to continue.
On the confined battlefield of the Land of Rice Paddies, inevitability existed amidst coincidence. Crossing paths time and time again without meeting didn't mean they would never meet. The strongest encountering the other strongest on the battlefield was a form of fatalism, as well as an inevitability in the theory of balanced combat power.
The battle between the ninja world's universally recognized fastest, the Yellow Flash and future Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, and the Hidden Cloud's strongest and fastest, the designated Fourth Raikage 'A', fell entirely within the ranks of this inevitability.
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