In the 2nd month of the 33rd year of Konoha, Amegakure officially surrendered to Konoha, but the conditions attached to the surrender immediately caused an uproar as soon as they were announced.
Not to mention the international community, the upper echelons of each ninja village immediately realized Konoha's current weakness, and they sent ninja from their villages to infiltrate the Country of Fire to find out more about Konoha's strength.
The Iwagakure and Kumogakure ninja villages, for example, directly sent a large number of ninja to the borders of the Land of Fire to put pressure on Konoha, preventing Konoha from sending too many troops to support the battlefield in the Land of Wind and then watching from the sidelines and reaping the benefits.
Within Konoha, the villagers' original joy at their victory was instantly lost, and they even felt humiliated. No one was proud of Konoha's victory over the Amegakure anymore when meeting outsiders.
A large number of Hawk ninjas and villagers came together to protest in front of the Hokage building, demanding that Sandaime refuse the surrender of the Amegakure and restart the war in the Land of Rain.
Facing the strong protests of the Hawk ninjas, Sandaime and the two Hokage advisors were at their wits' end. They quickly contacted the heads of the various ninja clans in the village and representatives of the civilian ninja to ask them to help persuade these radical Hawk ninjas and villagers.
The leaders of the various ninja clans are naturally all shrewd people with a broad perspective on the situation. Although they do not like the way Sandaime and the two Hokage advisers are shirking their responsibilities, they still agree to help them with a heavy heart.
They all understand very well that if they do not agree this time, it is unlikely that Sandaime and the others will not make things difficult for the ninja in their clans during the upcoming war with the Sunagakure.
With the support of the various ninja clans, Sandaime was finally able to suppress the discontented voices of the Hawk faction in the village.
The war between Konoha and the Amegakure officially came to an end.
However, the controversy caused by Sandaime's appeasement policy continued to brew in Konoha Village. The voices of those secretly dissatisfied with Sandaime not only did not diminish, but instead grew louder and louder.
One week after the end of the war with the Land of Rain, at noon, in the Nawaki's family home, Kirito and Nawaki were eating together in the living room.
"I really don't know what Sandaime was thinking, agreeing to such an outrageous surrender request from Amegakure. If I were the Hokage, I definitely wouldn't accept this surrender..."
At the dinner table, Nawaki rambled on and on about his views on Sandaime's acceptance of the Amegakure's surrender, his face full of indignation, showing his strong dissatisfaction with Sandaime.
Kirito listened patiently to Nawaki's words and did not express his own opinion.
But he was also disappointed in Sandaime's appeasement policy.
In his view, peace is fought for, and peace bought through compromise cannot last long, and will only be met with contempt from others.
He believed that continuing to fight would only hasten the downfall of the Amegakure, and Konoha could easily hold out until the Amegakure could no longer hold out.
Sometimes, war is just a matter of who gives up first, and whoever gives up first loses.
There was no doubt that Sandaime gave up half a step before Hanzo, which resulted in Konoha winning, but the benefits gained were not enough to cover the losses, and other countries could see their own weaknesses.
It was truly a bad move.
Of course, he was not in the position of Hokage and could not fully understand the pressure on Sandaime, so he had no right to point fingers at him.
He could only express his dissatisfaction a little.
However, judging from the transformation of Nawaki, a simple guy who originally admired Sandaime very much, into someone who is now completely disappointed in him, Sandaime's decision has greatly damaged his prestige in Konoha, and the impression of the young ninja has changed.
Ninjas worship the strong, especially young ninjas who are full of energy and enthusiasm, but a weak person who is strong against outsiders is not someone they should worship and follow.
"The young ninjas are disappointed in Sandaime, so they will inevitably choose to follow a strong person who is strong against outsiders. In the original plot, wasn't this how Danzo's roots grew rapidly? Sandaime, do you see the hidden dangers in this?"
Kirito ate his vegetables and mused.
"Hey, Kirito, are you even listening to me?"
Suddenly, Nawaki's dissatisfied voice made him snap back to reality.
"Ah, I was listening. Go on, I'm listening,"
Kirito said perfunctorily.
"Hmph, you definitely weren't listening just now, but never mind. Since you don't want to be Hokage, you won't be able to understand the grief I, the future Hokage, am feeling right now. I really want to grow up quickly, possess the strength of a Jōnin as soon as possible, and then go to the battlefield to defeat those bastards from the Amegakure and Sunagakure."
Nawaki puffed up his mouth and stared at Kirito, his face full of discontent as he said,
"Speaking of which, he turned his grief and indignation into an appetite and quickly devoured the food on the table. Then, under Kirito's dazed gaze, he left proudly.
He was going to continue honing his strength in the training ground next.
"This idiot, I hope he won't be used as a weapon by people with ulterior motives. Speaking out against Sandaime like this is ultimately bad for him and the Senju clan,"
After Nawaki left, Kirito's expression returned to a calm one, and he sighed.
Then, he picked up a bell on the table and shook it.
Soon, a maid came in from outside. She said respectfully to Kirito, "Kirito-sama, please command."
"Please prepare another table of food,"
Kirito said pleasantly.
"Yes, I'll have someone prepare it right away,"
The maid immediately replied, then quickly withdrew, asking someone to prepare a new meal for Kirito.
"Indeed, having great power is the fastest way to gain the respect of others."
Kirito couldn't help but feel a little emotional as he watched the maid bowing respectfully to him.
Since it was revealed that he had the strength to easily kill a special jōnin, the attitude of the villagers towards him had obviously changed dramatically. No one dared to really treat him like a child anymore, and their attitude had changed from one of care or contempt to one of respect or awe.
This change in attitude has both good and bad effects on him.
The bad thing is that the distance between him and his peers has grown even wider. Many of his friends who used to play ninja games with him are afraid to greet and talk to him easily. Even if they do talk to him, they are a bit more reserved and not as casual as before.
In short, it has become exponentially more difficult to connect with his peers.
Another major drawback is that the good old days of getting discounts by pretending to be younger and buying things from shops frequented by adults are gone forever.
But there are also many advantages. The biggest advantage is that ninjas older than him no longer dare to treat him like a child. Junior ninjas will speak to him as an equal or even respectfully, and a large proportion of intermediate ninjas will do the same. Senior ninjas will at least treat him as an equal and listen to him carefully.
This change in attitude became more and more obvious after he officially became a medical ninja.
After he demonstrated his strength at the level of a Jōnin, his status as a child was no longer a minus option in Konoha, but rather a plus option.
Obviously, any ninja whose mind was not defective already understood in their hearts his potential, and this potential would most likely be realized quickly. Perhaps in another three to five years, he would become a Kage-level.
Therefore, befriending him in advance will only do him good and no harm.
For example, in the recent incident where Sandaime accepted the surrender conditions of Amegakure without compensation, which triggered protests from a large number of martial arts ninjas, Kirito felt that this change in attitude was very good.
He just 'unintentionally' revealed his dissatisfaction with Sandaime's appeasement policy to some patients during a medical consultation, and many civilian hawk faction ninjas came to him on their own initiative.
Unbeknownst to him, he has already been regarded by many hawk faction ninjas in the village as someone they can turn to.