Danjo finished his speech at last and received a smattering of applause, definitely not from the majority of the audience.
“Next is Lord Ikkyu,” Shikamaru said, and Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he nodded.
Ikkyu took the floor. He did not offer an exaggerated greeting like Danjo had. He simply bowed his head matter-of-factly to the people assembled and thanked them for coming. And then he looked around the room and began to speak, a calm look on his face.
“I would like to ask you.” Ikkyu smiled slightly. “Can ninja really only thrive in the throes of battle?” He glanced at Naruto, then raised and lowered his chin slightly, only enough for Naruto and Shikamaru to notice, before turning back to the other attendees. “As I listened to Lord Danjo, I simply couldn’t rid myself of this sense of dissonance. Because it sounded to me as though he believes the ninja themselves want to fight. Is that really the case, though, in the end?” Ikkyu paused for a moment. “I can say with certainty that it is not.”
Ikkyu’s voice was quieter and weaker than Danjo’s, which came up from the bottom of his stomach. But the softness of it settled deeply into the entire venue.
“Right now, all the daimyo of the continent are gathered here, regardless of the size of the nation. Rich or poor, strong or weak. We have come together now as comrades, working on behalf of our respective countries. Fortunately, there was not a single daimyo who refused our call to be here today. This is truly unprecedented. Every daimyo on the continent coming together to discuss a single issue. Perhaps some have considered the idea before, but they thought that such a summit would be impossible to realize and so gave up before they had even started. But today, we have made just such a meeting a reality.”
Everyone in their room held their breath so as not to miss a single word. Ikkyu’s gentle speech had drawn them all in.
“We could not have managed this historic feat without someone making that first move. In fact, the war we discuss would have already started long ago. A month—no, ten days. And if everything failed, even a day ago… I know of someone who has bought us this time, someone who has fought desperately right up to the last second to prevent a war however he could.”
Something warm tightened in Shikamaru’s chest.
“I am indeed the one who advocated for this meeting. But what I did is truly insignificant. My decision to cede the Land of Fire’s territory was a product of watching a man who would fight until the bitter end, someone who would never give up even as he was forced to crawl. Compared with this brave soul, I have done nothing. I have never sweated blood to make something happen the way he has. My father was the daimyo of the Land of Fire. I have merely run along the rails laid out for me. I never thought to fight a stronger power or run the opposite direction on those rails. But I feel that, by watching this man fight, I have changed. Now, I would push back against any rapids, no matter how they raged, if it meant that the world would remain at peace.”
Here, at last, Ikkyu raised a hand. His fingers were pointed at Naruto.
“The man who changed me is a ninja. A man who rejected the fight, who fought against war harder than anyone I’ve seen before. A man who struggled valiantly up to the last moment to avoid a fight. A man Lord Danjo said could only live in the midst of a fight. A ninja.”
A clamor rose up in the venue, and Ikkyu was silent for a moment as he waited for it to calm down. He then slowly opened his mouth once more.
“Can we truly say that the only way to fight is by carving flesh and breaking bones? The ninja who has changed my life and my heart is a man who has worked to find his way from one harsh environment to another. And yet no matter how difficult a position he found himself in, even if it was a situation in which your average person would simply give up, he never lost faith in his victory and charged ahead full speed. And this is indeed the figure of a fighter. But his fight did not lead him to blood or tears or bodies in the end. It led him to this summit now. The passionate spirit that lives inside of this ninja does not exist solely for the purpose of hurting others. Now that I myself am changed with him by my side, I can say this with utter certainty.” A light shone in the eyes of the Fire daimyo. “It is precisely because the ninja are on the very frontlines of war that they desire peace more strongly than any of us!” Here, Ikkyu smiled. “Rather than me going on at length, there’s someone else here who can communicate to you much more clearly what it is I wish to say, so I would like to hand him the baton now. May I do so?”
Applause erupted from the audience.
“Naruto!” Ikkyu called.
Shikamaru’s friend stood up beside him, and the applause in the makeshift hall grew even more thunderous.
“I want you to hear what he has to say!” Ikkyu cried, his voice the loudest it had been that day.
Naruto looked at Shikamaru.
He smiled at his partner. “Go on then.”
“Yeah.”
Naruto stood at the podium vacated by Ikkyu. After watching him go up there, Shikamaru got to his feet.
“What’s the matter, Shikamaru?” Mirai asked, a look of surprise on her face when he was about to pass in front of her at the end of the row. “The Lord Hokage is about to speak.”
“Cigarette. Going for a smoke. It’s no smoking in here, right?”
“At a time like this?” Mirai looked at him contemptuously, and Shikamaru turned his back to Naruto at the podium.
Ikkyu had said he would fight together with them, and of course he had set Naruto at the podium. Shikamaru also thought Naruto should speak if the meeting came to a tense impass. He’d anticipated that Ikkyu would make that happen. In his head, he could clearly see how the game would play out. And Naruto wasn’t the sort of man to bungle this. If Naruto spoke, it would all be okay. Shikamaru had an absolute faith in that.
The game was over. There was no longer any need for him to be there.
“Our Hokage is an idiot, but no one can beat him when it comes to heart. Brace yourselves and listen,” Shikamaru murmured to the representatives of each country, who were focused on the podium, and left the venue.
His job was done.