This was it, the time was almost at hand. The sun would be setting soon, and the dying twilight framing the Shinboku would provide the perfect lighting for this. He knew Amara and Strafe where still in the village; they Festival ended tonight, and the people were putting everything they had into making today one giant party from dawn to Midnight. In the coming weeks an exhausted silence would fall over the village as they cleaned up, packed up, and rested; overall the Festival had done it's job: the morale of the villages was through the roof, something they'd desperately needed for years now. To finally just enjoy the world as they once been able too...

It was a beautiful sight. Children playing in the snow for the first time in their lives; adults relaxed and just enjoying life; the peoples of multiple villages coming together and building bonds of friendship that would last the tests of time... this was what they had fought for. This was what their parents and grandparents and ancestors had fought to achieve for generations; and for one, short, moment in time, they had it. Life would move on, people return home, and the stresses of reality would return; but for now, happiness reigned supreme. It was perfect.

His people were ready, clan cousins stationed at strategic parts of the Shinboku; a Genjutsu of massive proportions hiding the real World Tree from view. Oh, they saw it alright; but what they saw was a tree still bare of winter blooms, scaffolding and people constantly moving around. They saw set up running long; they had no idea that the preparations had finished days ago; and that they'd been under a gentle, if massive, illusion spell. No one outside of his family and the delegates that had been up into the tree had any idea; and even then only because he'd opened the window; the rest of the inner tree was under the same Genjutsu; they would see and smell nothing but the crisp winter air; nothing of the winter flowers or the slowly burning incense lanterns. Once the jutsu was dropped, the entire village would be awash with the beauty of the winter flowering, and they would see what Hiroyuki had nearly bankrupted his clan acquiring. No village funds were used; this was his personal gift to the people. Getting his hands on that much stone, and finding anyone with the skills to work with it... Monumental task, to put it lightly.

At the moment, he stood on the balcony that the Hakage's had used to address the village for years. It was high above the main village; hundreds of feet into the tree, but that meant little. Voice amplification jutsu were well known; and there was more then enough hidden transmission equipment to take his words to his people. A trick of perception meant that everyone gathered in the Festival areas would see him as clearly as if he was just that, only a few hundred feet away, instead of nearly a mile and a half away and hundreds of feet above them. The builders of the village had really known what they were doing when they created the various districts and such. He kept glancing at the small clock that was just out of viewing range for anyone but him; the time was nearly upon them; only about 10 minutes until the unveiling would happen. In the distance, a sound reverberated through the village; the call to attention, the Hakage was about to address the people. All over the village voices were hushed; music died away and took the din of the hustle with it. All was quiet, everyone was eagerly awaiting the big surprise they'd been promised. For half a second Hiroyuki was choking, mentally anyway; his outward expression was consummate calm and confidence. He could do this, he'd done it before; but never as the Hakage. Hakage. Hakage. It was the title that chocked him, the weighty plinth of responsibility that came with it. He would never see himself as anything but just what he was: Hiroyuki. Little quiet Hiroyuki with the soft voice and daddy's boy personality. The little fish that looked like his father, but with his dad's eyes. The boy that cried when his father was sick, yet had no problems mentally breaking a bully at school. The ANBU captain by 14, the head ambassador for Niwaurushi by 16, the child playing at being an adult. That's what he saw himself as; never as the leader, the strength of his village, the shoulders that would carry them. That was his father, his cousin, anyone but him.

But it was him; now. He was the Hakage, and even if he didn't want the position, nor did he believe he deserved it; the hat was on his head now. The weight was his to bare; and bare it he would. He would do his best, that was all he ever did, after all.

8 Minutes

"People of Niwaurushi. Honored guests of Kumo and Yokuchi. It is my privilege to address you now, both as the Hakage, and as the Inuzuka pack Leader. In both aspects, I extend my sincerest gratitude for the blessings you have bestowed upon my village and my homeland. As some of you know, I was born in the old lands; born in the forest of Konoha much as my Father before me; but I was merely a child of three years when the mighty village fell; as far as my memories and my heart are concerned, Niwaurushi has always been my true home. I would do anything to protect her, and her people; just as my esteemed guests the Raikage and Kyouakage would their beloved homes and people. That being said; my highest priority is to maintain the peace we have found in this new world. With the ending of the dark Plague Times, the peoples of the world have their first chances at true, lasting, peace in more generations than any can remember. Not since the dawn of humanity has the world known true peace; we have spent so much of our history fighting over silly things and under the banners of madmen."

7 Minutes

He paused a moment, allowing the people to digest what he was saying, and to give him a moment to grab a fresh breath of air; just being able to refill the air in his lungs using Fuuton chakra wasn't enough for him to speak forever without breathing.

"For many years now, the sum total of the dreams and power of humanity has been focused solely on survival; finding of new lands where we could gain some measure of safety from the dangers of the world. Such focus allowed for the genius of the human mind to create entire ecosystems where non existed; to carve the vary mountains into a microcosm of the outside world. The creation of glacial dams that changed the very climate of an entire mountain range. The creation of an entire underground city so full of the precious desert water that it might as well be a sea port. Even within the shadows of the Darklands; like the phoenix rises from the ashes, the people of Makkura work to rebuild and return to the light they once knew. The Northern Tundra returned to the world; forgotten for generations. While the Darklands and Tundra have chosen not to join us in our celebration of unity; one day we may be able to include them at the tables of peace and friendship. This is something I sincerely hope for; I am a creature of peace; the peace of the deep forests. The peace of the Mountains. The peace of the Desert. Peace of the world."

5 Minutes

"It is in the name of the peace that I bring forth a gift to all the peoples of the world. It was... well, it was one hell of a task to do this; I wasn't sure we would finish in time. However, we were able to finish the preparation on time, and make sure everything was ready for the great revealing. As many might have noticed; the presence of on-duty Niwaurushi ninja has been extremely low for the duration of the Festival. This phenomena has two causes. The first, a sign of trust for the people; we were sure that you could handle yourselves without oppressive rules and Big Brother watching. Second, I've needed as many hands as possible for the preparation processes. The assistance of our allied ninjas has been highly beneficial, and I extend my personal gratitude for your aide. Because of them, we have been able to finish on time; something that would not have happened, otherwise."

3 Minutes

"Now, as I am starting to ramble; I believe it is time to return to the point of my speech. As I have said; the point of this Festival, while indeed to celebrate the Winter itself; was to foster growing friendships between the villages. Through this Festival, new routes of trade, both of supplies, information, and ideals high arisen from the ashes of the isolationist tendencies that kept us divided before. The path to a truly open world has been laid; we need only to maintain and encourage it for the future to continue to be bright for everyone."

1 Minute

"And with that, I step aside. The reveal of the big secret is here; people of the world, I give you this gift in hopes that it's meaning and purpose are never forgotten, and that we are able to remain friends forever more. I give you a new monument to peace; a monument to honor those that gave their lives to allow our world to exist; and all those heroes, named and unknown, that blazed the path to the future!~"

The Genjutsu around the tree released; and with it the binds that kept the floating, drifting petals of the winter flowers as well as the scent of of the tree and the gigantic stone that now wrapped around the great trunk. It was... complex; but simple at the same time. Stones of all manner of shades and colors, taken from everywhere the masons could find it, brought together to paint a mosaic of the world; all of the living villages were represented, as were the dead; stone from Konoha, Kusa, Kiri, Ame, even the blasted hell fields of ancient Iwa had been worked in; a tie between past, present, and with the stones of Niwa, Yokuchi, Kumo, and even Makkura and the tundra lands of Kori, ties to the future. A portrait of the world; old and new. Carved into the various rocks; the symbols of the great villages, all of them without exception; no amount of anonymity and anger between them would stop the representation of the people of the world. Smaller, and far harder to see; names by the thousands. Tens of thousands. The names of the ninja that had fallen; retrieved from the archives of the old worlds, as well as the names of the new heroes; faces of the Kage of the world in the tradition of Konoha, still so fresh in the minds of many of the forest dwellers. No one face was larger then any other; they where all equals and equally important; even the newest of them, the deceased Korikage and newest of the Kuraikage, the hot-headed phoenix boy; they had their place just as well as the rest. To deny the present was to deny the past, and to deny the past was to repeat the mistakes of the world. He would be damned if that happened under his watch.

"I give to you, the people of the world; this gift. Our history, our present, and hopefully, our future. A world united, a world at peace. A world of equals and a world that had learned from it's mistakes. We strive to make our future better then our past; but we must not forget where we came from. Too much of human history has been lost and twisted to fit the needs of some blood thirsty tyrant. No longer. We are many people; but we are just that. People. Humanity. We are one race, one giant family. The lesson our forefathers were unable to learn. If we can come to be just that, one family under the same brilliant blue skies, then we can finally rest easy knowing that the wars and hardships of the past are over."

His speech was... fervent, to put it mildly. He truly believed that his words would come to be, if not in his lifetime, then soon. He wanted to see a world without all the petty in fighting, without the discrimination and sin of the oppressive rulers of old. He was a boy that dreamed of peace; dreamed of a peace that he would work his entire life to bring to the world. A peace the world would want for itself; not forced down it's throat. The peace of truth, the peace of real happiness.

It was the dream of a boy not yet a man in the eyes of many; untested and unknown. He would show them all just what a boy could do. And when he was done, they would understand the power of his spirit, and of his mind. The mind of the wild beast, barely civilized. The mind of the scholar, trained and tempered. The spirit of the forest and of the people combined into one. He was the son of the Inuzuka and Ookamizuka and the Kamizuki. He was the Psychic Inuzuka. He was the Hakage. He was, plain and simple, Hiroyuki.

And he could do this.

At least, he hoped he could.