"... You asked me, Kuroshuryō-sama?"

"Indeed ... At ease ... Yoite, do you think that when creating the village, our ancestor Shiru had envisioned all this?"

"'All this' what do you mean?" I said, getting up and approaching the view of the village to stand by his side.

"Remember the history of our village, Yoite ... he said, crossing his arms before pulling up his glasses."Our story is rather special, when you think about it ... It started with an impossible love between a human and a heart-changed Otsutsuki, Shiru Kushitsuki, Shibai's brother... The latter who offered us what makes the strength of our village since its first day, our eye, the Chiheigan ... Do you think that our first Kurobuchō, who was mocked for his kindness and generosity by neighboring countries, would become the West's greatest threat to protect those eyes?"

"They killed the daimyo of our country, his best friend since childhood," I retorted, "they had pushed him to the limit, who seeks finds ..."

"But he had implanted spies in their countries long before..."

"They laughed at him," I defended him, "he just wanted to protect his village, it's normal to take precautions with neighbors like those of the time in addition to the Otsutsuki ..."

"He put five countries at odds for this..." lamented the Kurobuchō while pulling up his falling glasses.

"Is it wrong if it's to protect his family, Kurobuchō-sama?" I asked him.

It was then that he turned to me and looked me straight in the eye, with a serious look rarer than one thinks on this face.

"On the contrary... I am ready to put the world against me for my village, just imagine for my clan ... And especially my family."

I must admit that ... Hearing him say that to me relieved me a little.

"But this sudden alliance of the countries of the Marshes, the Ogres, the Caves, the Ruins and the Crocs is for me a decisive moment that gave shape to our history ... In addition to starting the First Western War."

"Kuroshuryō-sama ... Is it true that the 1st Kage Shiru was accompanied by a few teams to attack the land of the Ruins?"

He sneered as he put his hands in his pockets.

"It seems almost impossible to destroy a country in one evening..." I continued.

"I guess you are entitled to know the truth as a chūnin... We have the archives of distress messages kept by "the troops" who attacked the country..."

"And what do they say?"

"How about you read one of them?" He said to me, making an ancient scroll appear out of nowhere in front of me that I caught up astonished. "Unroll it slowly though, you have 200 years of history in your hands right now. I know it will quickly arouse your curiosity so you— GENTLY, I said."

It smelled like old paper, very old... Actually, it was varnished to keep it longer. And what it contained was definitely worth it. My eyes started to widen from the first words. "We've never seen anything like it, it's a monster in human form... Do not look at his weapons, do not look at his hands, and above all, do not look him in the eyes, there is only death in them ... We made the gravest mistake ever made by taking his kindness for granted, and he"… The document stopped there. I read entirely in silence the edifying testimony of what the author himself described as "a massacre of which only the Bijuu are capable of", while the Kuroshuryō asked to bring him tea and two cups for him and me, while I was shocked at the end of the parchment.

"He couldn't even finish..."

"Because he was found at that time..."

"... Shiru was alone... I said stunned by this news, he was really all alone...!"

"You understand why I told you that now..."

"... And after that again, there was the night of the 500, I realized."

"Exactly... A few years later, he thwarted the planned secret summit against our village by manipulating the two most powerful nations in the West who withdrew without warning, before taking 500 of his men including the 20 prodigies holding the Chiheigan and his son Seigi..."

"Is it true that it was the association of our clan and that of the Kushitsuki that triggered the civil war between the land of fangs and claws?" I asked while leaning on the balcony.

"More or less: our ancestor Akarui was already known as a very powerful ninja slayer of samurai, great generals and daimyo but he had no first name, and was a vagabond who scattered in the West. So when people learned that he had joined the clan, it created a concern because the members all have an eye and he was the newly recognized illegitimate child of one of them, but it was the news of the legion's progress that started the war. It is said that it was also one of the most gifted at katana, which is not nothing knowing that our village was already a reference in the field at the time."

"The famous week-long civil war, I repeated with a somewhat contemptuous tone."

"There is nothing to be proud of, do I need to remind you of the damage Seigi caused after his father's death?"

"It's true", I remembered, "the two-year civil war"...

"Oh, but it wasn't just that, this man was already crazy when he took office, organizing deathmatches to sort out the most powerful clan members before launching it by taking advantage of our ancestor's escape to smear our name..."

"Whereas if he fled it is only because of him ... It is fortunate that his son Arata had not activated his eyes and was able to pass himself off as a normal child thanks to the wife of our ancestor ..."

"But nevertheless, I wonder what he had for an Otsutsuki to want to become his wife at all costs, it's a mystery ..."

"Arata," I repeated, amused thinking of my uncle, "it's also because of this that some call him the eye of the Sneaky ..."

"While all dōjutsu do this, they were just jealous because ours is the most beautiful in the West..."

"Arata still killed his own father," I recalled.

"He had gone too far... Going back to war to use it as an engine for your men is not the ways of doing for a real Kage ... The poor man had to pick up the torch by ceasing the civil war, but there was still the second war of the West on his doorstep..."

"Kuroshuryō-sama, I don't want to sound psychopathic but... Isn't it good that this war happened?"

"Ah, you are one of those who think that the Sannin would not have revealed themselves without this war?"

"And also because their master told me," I said, smiling at him.

"If it was Hiroshi who told you," he said defeated with a nostalgic smile.

"Speaking of him, he became Shuryō some time after the second Western war, right?"

"Indeed, about a year later ...

"He was supposed to become one sooner but the inclusion of the Kuzunoha clan in the village was more complicated than expected... They had A LOT of enemies before and during this war... That was what they had in common with him. He himself had some in the village, he was 'the child of the clan of the Wanderer' and he totally stood out from the others who were discreet by nature. He was appreciated by commoners but not important clans since he was beating their prodigies for the fun of it. He loved women too much, seemed all the time elsewhere ... And when he took part in the war, everything changed: he had become the person everyone wanted to see on the battlefield to reassure the morale of the troops and finish the job ..."

"I still have a hard time believing he was only eighteen years old when he mastered the 5 chakra natures..."

"Don't underestimate this old man," he said, looking at the sky with a proud smile on his face. "This man ... He is indeed a genius ... A genius like no other ... He has brought so much to our village, whether it is ninjutsu where he popularized the use of Jiton or the creation of long tar roads secured by our men on the national and international scene, we have made a leap of 20 years forward in less than 5 ... It is thanks to his talent in strategy that we enjoy the rich village we have, but also that we emerged victorious from the last war of Smiling Lake. Where Arata the Wise had opened the way for us to the neighboring countries with which we were at war, Hiroshi continued it. This visionary has seen even further... He allied himself with other villages and countries that desperately wanted our roads and with whom we were not in good terms yet like Kesshō and Daiya... Who wanted the head of Hagane No Mami at that time..." he said with a look of reproach.

"... I wasn't born yet," I recalled.

"Which brings us to today... A hidden village that is at its 5th Shuryō, one of the biggest villages in one of the smallest countries and yet we're still at the top of the basket ..."

"Said like that, it's pretty amazing..."

"Isn't it !?" He said proud and excited, "yet its essence remains the same, despite more than 250 years of official history ..."

"I think Shiru would be proud... Because as you said, the essence and the goal remains the same ... Destroy the Otsutsuki."

"… Partly."

" Partly?"

"Certainly we are moving forward, the objective remains unchanged ... But can you remind me of our village's motto, Yoite?"

The long diversion to get straight to the heart of the matter out of nowhere, as expected of Kuroshuryō ...

"'A child of the village is the child of all of us…'"

"..."

I knew it, this the real reason I wanted to take my breath before ...

"Your last mission to stop a nuke-nin was a success by seeing the results, but the reports are somewhat disturbing from a global point of view."

"... I've been honest with them..."

"I'm talking about disobedience to orders and excessive violence on your target... If we have accepted that you become ninjas, it is not to turn you into insolent sadists who torture them and ignore orders to follow his own path ..."

"But I'm not a machine, and no one was reassured knowing the techniques that he learned. 2 of them were injured. The Sensei was leading us straight into an obvious ambush even though he ordered the escape and did not want to go anywhere else."

"Yocchi–"

"Don't 'Yocchi' me, we're at work right now," I involuntarily overflowed.

"Yet I am your father 24 hours a day," I have no time clock for that.

"... !! ... Well played," I admitted embarrassed between my teeth.

"Thank you, but listen to me, I am serious.

"Whatever is at stake. The purpose of recovering our nuke-nin is not to simply punish them in the cruellest of ways as you have allowed yourself to do, moreover you do not have this authority. As you know, normal chūnins don't go after nuke-nins for multiple reasons, their emotional maturity being one of them. That's not what you've shown during this mission."

"…"

"And you chose the worst way to show your leadership: with a mutiny."

"… I retrieved ambush evidence …"

"Without those, you wouldn't even be a ninja anymore and there would be probably nothing I could've done about it."

"… !!!"

I have to say … I had not planned this at all… Because of course, I was not counting on his influence to get me out of this situation, but if the clan council decides to relieve me of this function, these 10 years would've been wasted because I went overboard …

"Now, you realise …"

"… I do."

"Pure violence is not a solution that the last two Shuryōs and I believe in... If this is your case, then you have not understood the essence of what a ninja of the hidden village of Black Gold is."

"..."

"Have I been clear, chūnin..."

"Very clear, Kuroshuryō-sama," I replied, embarrassed and sulking a little.

I must admit, I still had his remark about the time clock across my throat, but after the rest, that part was a cake walk ... It is in these auspicious moments when he uses his "Father" card and he offends me more easily than others.

"Anyways, did you sleep well, son?" He said with a big smile like nothing happened.

"Dad, please read the room..."

"But we're outside, haha!!"

I could only sigh as I heard him laugh out loud at his own joke like his father the 4th.

"Oh I just remembered: there were major wars in the East, so why didn't you participate?"

"Because I was too strong, haha!"

"..."

I turned to stare at him openly with disgust... And he is surprised that his first two sons are so pretentious ...

"The fact that you doubt your father is quite insulting. But seriously, we already had our wars to manage.Gaara asked for help and we helped them by sending a special forces team that I lead against Madara and Obito, but we didn't fought them directly. But it was one of the 'nasty bets' that your grandfather is so fond of … The riskiest mission that we did because our 4th Western War was starting its most bloody year so we didn't even celebrate, let Gaara explain afterwards and came back to end our war which took a year. We made names for ourselves in the East against the white Zetsus though ... Also there's some wars that we're still managing."

"'Still managing'? We're at peace for the most part ..."

"… So it did work …" Said my father surprised.

"What worked ?" I asked intrigued.

"You using your position like your brothers to get answers, now" he continued after a sigh.

"I … Didn't even tr–"

"We made sure that you don't see it."

I stopped for a moment.

"Why are you talking in the present ?"

"Because we're still at war, you actually went on battlefields while thinking it was just the mission for the day …"

"Since when ?" I asked calmy, but without hiding my dissatisfaction.

"… When did you become a genin, again ?"

… I was flabbergasted. This man used us …

"We have wars on smaller scales as you already experienced ..."

That's when it hit me.

"Oh, the Land of Toads incident !"

"Battle, my Dad rectified. I know you're still in denial and your friends too because you killed people that day, but let's state the facts : it was a real battle. That's an example, even though we don't call them that to not startle you, it is what it is. For now, it's inevitable to maintain the leverage that we have without resorting to all out wars. "Currently, there are wars but not as grand and frequent as in the past, and surprisingly that's a bit of rest in our history, the inhabitants did not have this kind of time and our village wasn't a very good place to live in before. "Still in my generation we learned to handle shurikens and kunai at 6 years old, we wrote and used explosive scrolls at 9 years old, sent on the battlefield at 10, as at the time of the first western war ... And it was like that until I took up the mantle of Kuroshuryō because your grandfather was paranoid. Except from Gaara which ... I don't think I need to explain ..."

They're close friends. Like really close friends. I met him and his son once when we celebrated our alliance five years ago in Suna where I also met War Heroes, but it was the only time ... He actually encouraged me to go visit him when he goes to see him, but I'm not really a talkative one ...

"Some crossed paths, obviously like Shiru who faced and defeated the 2nd Kazekage, Seigi who crossed Madara Uchiha during a trip to the East, and Uh ..."

I immediately looked at him worried, because his body language changed. The confident gestures like his smile and his gaze gave way to the gaze at the ground and the two glued indexes as if he had let a shy girl possess him ... This man wants to confess his wrong deeds again ...

"Don't say that to your mothers but I, uh ... I had a, uh ... Thing with the 5th Mizukage for a while when we were younger so I met her too ..."

"A thing ? What thing ? Oh ... She a she," I realised disgusted again, knowing him.

"Don't look at me like you look at Yōjirō, please, feels wrong."

On a coffee terrace in the center of village with his two male bestfriends, surrounded by multiple kunoichis of his age, all while his chūnins were looking for him throughout the village after he gave them a hellish training, Yōjirō was having a great time before suddenly sneeze out of nowhere, before turning his head to look at the Shuryō's palace. Nothing special, just gut feeling.

"But these are our only official interactions. A good third of our history has been spent in the blood left on the battlefields... And I'm here to stop that. We grasp the quietness I'll admit that, but I want our inhabitants to grasp real peace during my time as a Shuryō" continued my father on the roof of his building next to me.

"Good luck, in any case, I would not like to be in your place ..."

"Are you sure, my son?"

"Certain," I said, putting my hands in my pockets while he sat down and we brought him his tea.

"If anything, the only place I would take is being a Kuroshuryōkage." "Politics is your thing, I'm good with my team really far from it."

"I know, seeing how you love mine ... And frankly, maybe in a few years I can see it happening … The Clans council would love it for sure …"

"Yeah well they're not you or your actual Kuroshuryōkage so it doesn't matter …"

My father turned around to look at me and smile before petting my head like when I was 5 … This type of moment always bring back memories of each other, so I let him do it. And he knows I'm not ... Great with words so, I guess he takes what he can ...

"Speaking of which where is he, where's Kaen ?"

"Making sure that we don't start other wars ..."

"... Makes sense."

"If you say so, my boy … In addition to what I said previously, both sides of the world we had… Really bad timing: the First Western War took place at the same time as the First Eastern Ninja War within weeks of each other, according to Suna documents. It was a difficult time when all countries needed land and resources. Even if the association of Uchiha and Senjuu during the creation of Konoha was important and calmed several conflicts, it had no impact on us because as I tell you, it was not our problem at that time, and the ninjas never went further than the desert after Suna. As for those who managed to come to us, either they stayed and never left, or they died on arrival... According to the Kazekage Gaara, the first war of the West was a much more savage war from a moral point of view than the war of the East because women and children had become the most prominent ninjas even on battlefields, the samurai were spreading, adding fuel to the fire. But Shibai... Shibai the Good became Shibai the Ruthless and made them disappear from our part of the world with a simple but effective ploy in less than 6 months. The destruction of the Land of Ruins was enough for the daimyo of the Oil Kingdom to ask for a non-aggression pact first, in exchange for his silence on our village. A rule that was passed from father to son, since other countries only discovered our existence at the end of the 3rd Eastern War when we were about to start ours."

"And the clash between Kazekage and Kuroshuryō?"

"Shiru had many advantages over the Eastern countries, including the kazekage at that very moment: he had inflicted a crushing defeat on him to such an extent that Suna's ninjas thought he was going to kill him, his men were described as 'ninjas with godly aptitudes, intellect and reflexes' by the survivors, not to mention the fact that at that time, this same Kazekage knew basically nothing about the West, still thinking that the countries after the Oil Kingdom were countries without ninjas. Despite all that. He preferred to impose the secrecy of our existence."

"Okay, but what about the other wars?"

"We had spies sent by Seigi to the countries of the East, and he sensed the second war just before it exploded..."

"I thought Seigi was for war..."

"Not with a world he knows so little about, he was crazy but intelligent like his father before him, and not suicidal... What an irony when you think about it: he saw the damage of the war that left the countries in ruins to start two others some time later ... It might sound weird but the Western war allowed the countries of the East to stay in their corner so it was quite beneficial for us even if we do not want to admit it ... No one wants to pile one war on top of another."

"But you told me you met some Konoha ninjas during the third eastern war..."

"I did, and during the 4th eastern war too .. During my trip where I traveled their ocean I went there ... To tell the truth, I was mostly on the run because the war was in full swing, but passed Konoha, the country was calmer. I met them shortly before the end of the war. I pretended to be a merchant, but sometimes I had to participate unintentionally just to leave no trace... When I think about it among the four ninjas I met, the jonin Minato became Kages... Actually his pupil Kakashi too …"

"What happened to the other two?"

"One died... To ensure the victory of her country and the other ... Caused the 4th Eastern War ..."

"... !!?"

"It's a long story, you don't have anything planned today anyway, you're leaving tomorrow ..."

"I have to go and train..."

"If you think I'm going to pass up a chance to keep you here for once you don't spend your day training, sit down... Shuryō's order," he said with his mischievous smile.

"Authority abuse ..." I said after blowing my long hair out of my face.

"Did you forget who is Minato Namikaze's son ?"

"…"

How can I …

"Naruto became the 7th Hokage just after this war... Sasuke Uchiha also participated... And the man I saw, Minato was there too …"

"..."

I could leave, I risked nothing... But my father knew I was curious, and he baited the heck out of me. Especially with these two men, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Although I met them when I was just a child at Suna, I remember their appearances, but also the feeling I had after meeting them. And that's why I would never forget these men. I had never felt so much chakra and power in anyone besides my father before these two legends, and we know very little about them. Two sons of fallen clans and one of them is the host of the most powerful bijuu that exists... Inevitably it intrigues. I wonder how he is after these 5 years...

I still remember how uncomfortable he was because I stared at him without speaking for long minutes... I think it's justified on my part, I was already wondering how he could still be alive... And in history class, the Eastern wars are all flown over, except the last one which has much more details ... Finally, details are more like snippets about the prowess of these two ninjas, and they have inspired more than one, even up to us ... The Shuryō had brought a table, two chairs and a parasol with his pot of tea, his pot of sugar and two cups ... Even if seen like this, Shuryō's life seems easy, it's not for me at all. I sat down and pinched his hand without letting go of it, which he looked at with a raised eyebrow.

"... You thought I was a fake..." He said a little disappointed.

"No, the real one is always more talkative than the others..."

"That's your mother's insolence right there..."

"But knowing you, it is better to always check."

"What a lack of confidence, seriously... But hey, since you're on the subject, let's talk a little about your mission tomorrow first..." he said after a sigh.

"I wasn't on the–"

"So ! Tomorrow …" He continued after ignoring what I said.

"Okay …" I said defeated, serving myself before drinking my cup a little.

We sat there talking for an hour during which my father does what he does best in this role: encourage me and let loose pearls of wisdom while enjoying the unstoppable view of our big house that is this village. And after that, he tells me ninja stories like the 4th eastern war he told me about that day.

Gradually, he teaches me to appreciate these moments of tranquility, because we know it, the less beautiful days are never that far away ... So we might as well take advantage of those who are. Even if he has to lecture me first, it always ends up with me listening to him talk about his love for our village, his history. For me, this is not and will never be a bad time. For me, it's just my strange daily life in my hidden village of Black Gold.