With a single order from Uchiha Makoto,
the shinobi of Akatsuki, the Uzumaki clan, and Konoha were already rubbing their hands, then began forming seals.
"There's a misunderstanding!"
"Lord of Light and Shadow, there must be a misunderstanding!"
"Do not start a brawl!"
"Uchiha Makoto, calm down!"
"Figure it out first, then decide. All Konoha shinobi stay where you are. No one moves!"
The First Tsuchikage made one last effort, and so did Senju Tobirama, but their efforts failed.
The shouts to kill drowned them out entirely; or perhaps Akatsuki, the Uzumaki clan, and Konoha heard them and chose to ignore them.
Days of pent-up emotion finally erupted today. Everything was in place.
Even Konoha's shinobi were the same.
Once shinobi are swept up in emotion, there's no stopping them.
Everyone's forming seals and charging. If you stop now… relax, the law won't punish the crowd.
Uchiha Makoto stood on the platform, admiring the beautiful scene before him.
His smile grew even brighter.
Yes.
Everything that just happened was orchestrated by Uchiha Makoto alone.
Only the one who frames you knows how wronged you are.
The Second Raikage could request a performance of "The Injustice to Dou E." It happened to be late summer—if heaven sent "snow in June," it would be perfect.
The Kumogakure shinobi was controlled by Uchiha Makoto's genjutsu.
He had already vanished into thin air—no witness, no evidence.
It was a plan crafted with care.
From the moment Uchiha Makoto learned Iwagakure would meddle in the war, he knew it was time to prepare to end it.
Akatsuki could handle Kumogakure alone, but absolutely could not fight two at once against a Kumo–Iwa alliance. And—whether the "naive" Senju Hashirama or the ambitious, naturally scheming Senju Tobirama—those brothers would never allow Akatsuki to expand the war. They would only drag Akatsuki down.
As for agreeing to unconditional ceasefire—impossible.
Akatsuki had achieved only a bit more than half its strategic goals.
He had slain the First Raikage, led Akatsuki in killing over a thousand Kumo shinobi, and taken the first and second lines of defense.
If not for Iwa's sudden intervention, the third line would have fallen too.
Kumogakure could already be regarded as the defeated side.
This battle to establish might
was indeed a success.
After the war, Akatsuki's standing and influence across the ninja world would surge.
Akatsuki shinobi would have spines hard as titanium.
Few would dare provoke them. Merchants from the Land of Fire and the wider world would funnel investment into Akatsuki, and the chain of positive effects would unfold just as Uchiha Makoto predicted before he started the war.
However,
the goal of weakening Kumogakure remained unfinished.
To press that, they had to squeeze the surrender terms.
But how to maneuver Konoha and Iwa into helping Akatsuki achieve that—now that was a test of finesse. They wanted an unconditional ceasefire between Akatsuki and Kumo.
After much thought, Uchiha Makoto chose to advance by retreating.
First, he feigned refusal before Senju Tobirama, letting Tobirama ratchet up pressure on Akatsuki. Then he would accept unconditional ceasefire, and take the slope to ask Tobirama to jointly publicize that "Akatsuki will, for peace in the ninja world, accept an unconditional ceasefire."
Humans need meaning.
To have a rightful cause and occupy the moral high ground has always been something Uchiha Makoto must secure.
Now the entire ninja world—and even Konoha's Senju Hashirama—praised Uchiha Makoto's high virtue, a moral man who would compromise for peace, while Kumo was the loser getting a bargain.
Now that Kumo attempted to assassinate Uchiha Makoto mid-negotiation, how could an unconditional ceasefire possibly stand?
Akatsuki would not accept it.
The Uzumaki clan would not accept it.
Konoha and Iwa could no longer push such terms.
Even the perennial good man Senju Hashirama would have nothing to say—kneeling wouldn't help.
"Raikage, what are you waiting for?"
"Take your people and run. Or do you really want a melee with Akatsuki, the Uzumaki clan, and Konoha? If you plan to keep this war going, Iwagakure won't go mad with you. A perfectly good unconditional ceasefire—ruined by you!"
The First Tsuchikage's face was pitch-black as he prodded the still-stunned Second Raikage.
Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha had already formed seals and charged. The wisest choice now was to flee without looking back.
And they absolutely could not strike back.
They must not brawl with the three forces; once it started, there would be no turning it around.
Akatsuki and the Uzumaki never wanted unconditional ceasefire. Only because Uchiha Makoto was magnanimous—and Konoha mediated and pressured—did they barely accept it.
Now Konoha was fighting too.
After today's brawl, ceasefire was a pipe dream.
They'd have to keep fighting.
How could the First Tsuchikage really want to stand with a half-crippled Kumo against Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha?
He came to mediate and sell favors.
If a fight broke out, he had thinking to do.
"I… I understand!"
"All Kumo shinobi, retreat!"
"It is strictly forbidden to clash with Akatsuki, the Uzumaki clan, or Konoha!"
The Second Raikage was no fool. The First Tsuchikage had struck his sore spot precisely.
Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha were already upon them; he had no time to ponder who that Kumo assassin was. If the three forces brawled, Kumo had only one end: death.
Iwa wouldn't truly wage total war against Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha for Kumo's sake. They could pat their backsides and leave.
"Go, now!"
"I'll hold them off for you!"
The First Tsuchikage charged forward, hurling every earth technique he had to block Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha.
In the process, tempers in Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, and Konoha flared again.
Kumogakure isn't any good.
And you Iwa—are you saints?
Showing up to play good cop is just aiding the wicked. Birds of a feather—hit them all.
A brawl began on the spot.
Iwa stuck to a no-retaliation policy—constant footwork to evade Akatsuki, Uzumaki, and Konoha, throwing up earth walls to hinder pursuit.
Kumo shinobi burned with anger. Getting beaten for no reason would enrage anyone.
But anger aside, their feet were swift.
Iwa's interference helped.
The Kumo elite jōnin present, though beaten and bloodied, escaped and made it back to their third line.
"Tsuchikage, listen well."
"I've given you your face. Go tell Kumogakure's shinobi to wash their necks. This war will not end so easily now."
"If Iwagakure wants to stand in my way, to be my enemy, I'll accompany you to the end."
"Everyone—are you afraid?"
Uchiha Makoto's face was stone as he looked at the lingering First Tsuchikage.
After this stir, unconditional ceasefire was off the table.
"Not afraid!"
Akatsuki, the Uzumaki clan, and Konoha roared back.
The First Tsuchikage wore a death mask.
What did I even do to deserve this?
Iwa had taken a random beating alongside Kumo. Aggrieved as he was, he still had a job.
Kumo had to be preserved.
Forcing himself to move, he squeezed a flower-like awkward smile onto his old face. "Lord of Light and Shadow, what happened today must be a misunderstanding. Kumogakure genuinely wishes to accept unconditional ceasefire with you, and Iwagakure has no desire to be your enemy. It's all a misunderstanding."
"For the peace of the ninja world, please don't let anger blind you."
"I promise you this: Kumogakure will give you a satisfactory answer for today."
The First Tsuchikage spent all his courtesy. As a village leader, speaking so humbly should have earned some face, but Uchiha Makoto's expression stayed dark; he had no intention of yielding. He was waiting for someone else to speak.
"Lord Tobirama, say something!"
"I know you wish to preserve peace in the ninja world. Today truly was a misunderstanding. That Kumo shinobi fled in panic and never raised a hand against your shinobi. That alone proves—it was a misunderstanding!"
With no choice, the First Tsuchikage sought reinforcements. First target: Senju Tobirama, that naturally scheming Senju. In the brawl just now, Tobirama had done much to keep order. If he hadn't held back scores of fired-up Konoha shinobi, things would be even messier.
"…"
Senju Tobirama's face looked awful.
One thought gnawed at him.
Uchiha Makoto had completely bypassed him to issue orders to Konoha shinobi—and they obeyed. How was this not mutiny?
As commander of the expeditionary force,
to have your shinobi mutiny under your nose—terrifying.
That loss of control felt like thorns in his back.
Damn it.
Why did it feel like a pair of great hands was orchestrating everything today?
"Lord Tobirama…"
The plea finally pulled Senju Tobirama back.
What lay before him was another headache.
A perfectly good unconditional ceasefire—wrecked by a random Kumo assassin.
He could not let Uchiha Makoto's stance spiral things further.
The war could not be allowed to spread.
Before he left, Senju Hashirama had clasped his hand and entrusted this to him.
When his elder brother asks him solemnly, he takes it to heart and will do everything to fulfill it. Now that it had been botched by nonsense, he had to fix it. Ah! Those damned Kumo brutes—I'll kill you all.
And I have to beg again.
Beg that naturally scheming Uchiha brat again.
Uchiha Makoto watched Senju Tobirama's grim face. He could hardly wait.
Time to collect interest.
Weren't you strutting the last few days?
Leaning on your brother's name to pressure me?
And now?
Keep this up and your brother will have to come beg me in person.
Uchiha Makoto had calculated everything.
Given the situation,
ceasefire was the trend.
If Akatsuki, the Uzumaki, Konoha, Iwa, and Kumo truly clashed, that would already be a ninja world war.
Senju Hashirama would never watch such a war erupt before his eyes,
with Konoha as a participant.
So he would come to end it, and he wouldn't use force to mediate. If he ever would, the future wouldn't have unfolded like the original story.
It would be the same old refrain—because too many shinobi have died to war, because too much blood has been shed, many conflicts can be solved by dialogue, negotiation, discussion—just endlessly smoothing things over, as if possessed by Ashura.
But Uchiha Makoto, the moral man who made the great concession and agreed to unconditional ceasefire for peace, had now been assaulted by a Kumo assassin during talks.
Even if Senju Hashirama arrived, it wouldn't help.
Moral paragon and victim—together they meant that, before Senju Hashirama, as long as Uchiha Makoto didn't relent, there was every reason to keep pushing.
If Hashirama truly knelt to him, that would be different—the ceasefire would stand.
Given Hashirama's temperament,
for the peace of the ninja world—
Senju Tobirama might indeed sacrifice and kneel to Uchiha Makoto. Even then, the ceasefire would not be unconditional as before.
In any case,
Kumogakure must pay a price.
Of course Uchiha Makoto wouldn't actually push it to the brink.
His current hard stance, looking ready to keep fighting, was to set the table for the formal ceasefire talks—maximum pressure, then knowing when to pull back. That was his aim.
Senju Tobirama was part of the play.
Senju Tobirama—you wouldn't want your elder brother groveling before me, would you?
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