This heavy question, as weighty as a mountain, was thrown out in such a solemn tone. Instantly, the lively atmosphere at the main table froze.

As though infected by some invisible force, this sudden silence rapidly spread outward like ripples.

The nearby tables that had originally been bustling with conversation also gradually noticed something unusual. One after another, they stopped talking and turned their gazes toward the main table.

Soon afterward, the noise throughout all three floors of the restaurant rapidly faded away like a receding tide.

"Wuwu, it’s so delicious..." Not far away, Obito was competing with Might Guy, Takashi Ishizuka, and the others to see who could eat faster. He was burying his head and attacking the food fiercely, but even he sluggishly sensed the subtle change in atmosphere. He blankly raised his head, half a piece of meat still in his mouth.

"Does Jiraiya-sama already have an answer in his heart?" Shinichi did not answer immediately and instead softly asked in return.

Jiraiya fell silent for a moment before nodding, his voice low.

"I think... If one day people could truly understand each other, if hearts could connect with one another, then perhaps wars would no longer break out. Perhaps the chain of hatred could be severed."

"So that is Jiraiya-sama’s answer?" Shinichi neither affirmed nor denied it. He looked toward the surrounding ninjas, who had gradually quieted down and were now turning their gazes here one after another, before speaking: "Then, before answering Jiraiya-sama’s question, I would first like to ask everyone here a question."

"Everyone, can you tell me, in your view, what exactly is the essence of a ninja?"

After a brief silence, different answers began to sound out in the quiet atmosphere.

"A ninja is the shield and blade that protects the village!"

"A ninja is an unnamed guardian of peace within the darkness!"

"A ninja is someone who completes the mission even at the cost of death!" That was Kakashi.

"A ninja is an existence that burns with hot blood, carries out youth to the end, and protects what is precious!" That was Might Guy.

"A ninja is someone who protects comrades and walks their own path!" That was Kurenai Yuhi.

"A ninja is an existence that heals the wounded, relieves suffering, and gives comrades support and hope." That was Shizune.

The answers were all different, but every one of them came from the heart.

After listening to everyone’s answers, Jiraiya was silent for a while before finally speaking slowly: "In my view, a ninja is someone who can endure. Endure pain, endure separation, endure loneliness, seek meaning through endurance, and protect what is worth protecting."

"What all of you said is correct."

Shinichi quietly listened to every answer, slowly nodding, then slowly shaking his head.

"But at the same time, all of them are incorrect. Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but these answers perhaps describe part of a ninja, perhaps even very important responsibilities, beliefs, and pursuits. Yet, they do not touch upon the most fundamental core."

He swept his gaze across everyone present and said word by word, with absolute clarity: "In my view, if we strip away all the outer layers of ideals and beliefs and look purely at social function and occupational role, the essence of a ninja is a professional executor and contractor of violence that serves power and interest, accepts commissions, and uses force to accomplish specific objectives, especially violent ones!"

"To put it more simply and directly..."

At this point, Shinichi’s gaze met Jiraiya’s complicated and indescribable eyes.

"Ninjas are tools for killing!"

Tools.

Tools for killing.

Simple, cold, yet impossible to refute!

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The atmosphere that had just been overflowing with passion, conviction, and ideals seemed to freeze instantly.

The expressions on many faces stiffened, mouths slightly open, yet unable to produce any sound.

Jiraiya’s mouth moved slightly, as though he wanted to say something in rebuttal, but in the end, he merely sighed and sank into even deeper silence.

"So then, everyone."

Shinichi’s voice sounded once more, breaking the suffocating silence. His gaze slowly swept across the hall.

"Do you think this is normal?"

Everyone present looked at one another, but for a while no one answered.

Only after a long time did a Special Jonin at a nearby table hesitantly speak up: "Captain Shinichi, even if... Even if it doesn’t sound very pleasant, this has always been the fate of ninjas, hasn’t it? Ever since the Sage of Six Paths established Ninja Creed and the ninja system countless years ago, the world of ninjas has always..."

At this point, his voice carried a kind of resigned helplessness.

"It has always been this way, hasn’t it?"

"If it has always been this way, does that make it right?"

Twelve words, there was no impassioned tone, no waving arms, merely an extremely calm rhetorical question, yet it exploded in the hearts of everyone present like thunder.

If it has always been this way, does that make it right?

"The paths and destinies we take for granted, regarded as natural law, defined by history and tradition... Are they necessarily correct? Unchangeable? Something that must forever be followed?"

Shinichi’s gaze landed on that Special Jonin, then slowly shifted away, looking toward every face in the hall, young, weathered, confused, contemplative.

"Is our fate as tools truly destined to be passed down generation after generation, forever unchanged?"

"Can we not think? Question? Even attempt to change this, so-called, it has always been this way?"

"And furthermore!"

At this point, Shinichi’s voice suddenly rose sharply:

"Has it really always been this way?!"

The Special Jonin from earlier was already sweating lightly on his forehead as he muttered: "Captain... Hasn’t it?"

"Of course not!" Shinichi interrupted decisively, his gaze as sharp as a blade. "Can anyone tell me, before the Sage of Six Paths founded Ninja Creed, what identity did the originator of ninjas, the ancestor of all ninja, possess?"

This question stunned many people.

Before Ninja Creed?

That was practically the realm of myths and legends.

Not everyone liked reading as much as Shinichi, whose knowledge could practically be said to encompass all eras.

Jiraiya, who had been silently listening the entire time, suddenly had his eyes light up as though he had grasped a crucial point.

"He was a monk! Before the Sage of Six Paths founded Ninja Creed, he was a compassionate monk who traveled the world in search of a way to save it!"

"Exactly! A monk!" Shinichi heavily affirmed. "A monk who valued compassion, pursued mutual understanding of hearts, and sought the truths of the world and the path toward peace! Then, such a monk, whose ideals centered around saving the world. After his long travels and contemplation. The Ninja Creed he created, and the chakra system he spread, were their original purpose merely to create a more precise! More efficient set of killing tools?!"

"If the Sage of Six Paths founded Ninja Creed with the intention of manufacturing more efficient killing tools, then he would not have been revered by the world as a savior! A creator god! Instead, people would fearfully call him the god of destruction! The god of ruin!"

"So everyone!" Shinichi slightly raised both hands and loudly declared: "It was never this way from the beginning!"

"Ninjas were never meant to be tools for killing!"

"Chakra, created and spread throughout the world by the Sage of Six Paths, fundamentally represents connection! It is the connection between the hearts and strengths of people! It exists so that people may better understand one another, communicate with one another, and cooperate with one another! It exists to create an ideal world without war, where everyone can peacefully coexist and prosper together!"

"This is what ninjas were originally meant to be! This is the original and most sacred mission of the ninja profession!"

"So what we seek is not change, we seek return! A return to the path that ninjas should have followed from the moment of their birth! A return to the purest and most exalted wish and ideal that the Sage of Six Paths held when he founded Ninja Creed and spread chakra!"