Sunagakure was the first to provoke war against Konoha, and they were also the first to surrender.
They were the type who loved to act fierce but lacked the strength to back it up—howling arrogantly the moment restraints were loosened, yet begging for mercy the instant a hand closed around their throat.
When news of Sunagakure's plea for peace with Konoha spread through various channels, many naïve people across Ninja Villages, large and small, believed the war was finally coming to an end.
They were wrong.
Anyone who truly understood the situation knew that the war was far from over. On the contrary, it had only just begun.
The Third Great Ninja War was slowly entering its second stage—the most chaotic and tragic phase of all.
The Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had grown as shrewd as a fox with age. He was not driven by hatred; everything he did was calculated to extract the greatest benefit at the lowest possible cost.
Hatred was merely a tool to stir subordinates into action. Profit was the true foundation upon which a Village survived and grew.
The only flaw in his calculations was an unexpected variable: Konoha had produced a ruthless commander like Orochimaru, who crushed Sunagakure at minimal cost.
Unlike Sarutobi Hiruzen, Ōnoki greatly admired this cold-blooded approach, considering it the correct way to wage war.
Although Konoha had not bled as heavily as he hoped, Sunagakure was now crippled. And that meant opportunity.
After the Battle of Kikyo Pass, taking advantage of Sunagakure's internal chaos while they scrambled to reorganize their forces, Ōnoki ordered Iwagakure's Ninja to continue plundering the fertile border regions of the Land of Wind.
Since the establishment of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages, the structure of the world had largely stabilized.
The chaotic Sengoku era—where Daimyo and generals fought endlessly, and borders shifted overnight—had become history.
Each of the Five Great Nations now possessed clearly defined territories, while the smaller countries in between served as buffer zones in times of peace and battlefields in times of war.
Small countries were allowed to fight among themselves, but they were never permitted to annex others and grow too strong.
The Five Great Nations would not tolerate the rise of any power capable of threatening their dominance.
The last person who attempted such a thing—Hanzō of Amegakure—was crushed by the combined forces of the Lands of Fire, Earth, and Wind.
Their Ninjas turned the Land of Rain into a war zone, leaving it scarred and broken, creating countless civilian tragedies and directly giving birth to the organization later known as Akatsuki.
The Five Great Nations could not annex neighboring small countries either. Any such move would immediately provoke intervention from the others.
No one was foolish enough to sit idle while a rival expanded unchecked.
Moreover, without buffer states, the great powers would be forced into direct confrontation, leaving no margin for safety.
Unless someone first defeated the other great Ninja Villages and unified the Ninja World entirely, this balance could not be broken.
And in the meantime, it was always the civilians of the small nations who suffered most—yet no one cared.
With territorial expansion nearly impossible, how could a Village profit during a Great War?
The answer was simple: money, precious metals, rare resources, valuable jewelry, gifted children, forbidden techniques, secret jutsu—anything that could strengthen a Village was fair game.
This was exactly what Iwagakure was doing.
By the time Sunagakure finally gathered its forces and marched north, the fertile borderlands near the Lands of Birds and Rain had already been ravaged beyond recognition.
Sunagakure's Ninjas had barely finished bleeding against Konoha before being forced to fight Iwagakure again, eyes red with exhaustion and rage.
At the same time, in the direction of the Land of Grass, Iwagakure continued harvesting benefits while quietly preparing to strike the Land of Fire—waiting patiently for another predator to enter the hunt.
Sure enough, seeing Iwagakure reaping gains, the aggressive warriors of Kumogakure could no longer remain still. They soon chose to join the war.
They had always been the ones robbing others—there was no reason to stand aside and watch someone else enjoy the spoils.
Contrary to Ōnoki's expectations, once Kumogakure entered the battlefield, the situation slipped beyond his control.
Kumogakure's Ninjas invaded the Land of Fire through the Land of Hot Springs while simultaneously entering the Land of Rice Fields, aiming to drive out the Iwagakure forces stationed there.
Konoha had only just concluded the western front campaign and now had to redeploy forces once again to face threats from both the northwest and the north.
Chaos returned.
Iwagakure found itself locked against Sunagakure in the south, increasingly clashing with Konoha in the Land of Grass, and simultaneously guarding against Kumogakure in the Land of Rice Fields.
Sunagakure marched north to resist Iwagakure, yet still had to leave troops on its eastern front to prevent Konoha from striking them from behind.
Although the two Villages had signed an alliance agreement—and Konoha was unlikely to betray it—trust was the cheapest commodity in the Ninja World. Agreements were nothing more than scraps of paper.
With Kumogakure's entry, three great powers now faced one another directly. Each fought its own enemies, and the entire Ninja World slid toward total instability.
All that was missing was Kirigakure.
In truth, if the four great nations united to attack Konoha, it would not withstand the pressure—but such unity would never happen.
That was the nature of the Ninja World.
Without a common enemy, the Five Great Ninja Villages distrusted one another, guarded against one another, and secretly wished for each other's destruction. Cooperation and trust simply did not exist.
Before the Battle of Kikyo Pass, the situation along the Land of Grass had actually been relatively stable.
Iwagakure and Konoha experienced only minor squad-level skirmishes, with no large-scale engagements.
Because of this, Higashino Jiro, Uzuki Yuwa, and many Konoha Ninjas were able to rotate back to the Village for the New Year, enjoying a brief period of rest.
But Sunagakure's collapse and the sudden upheaval of the broader war turned Iwagakure's and Kumogakure's movements into sparks thrown onto dry powder.
In an instant, the situation tightened—on the brink of explosion once more.
The Land of Grass, the Land of Rice Fields, and the Land of Hot Springs were unable to withstand the invasions of the great nations and were forced to seek aid from Konoha.
Compared to the other powers, Konoha's reputation—built upon the legacy of the God of Shinobi—was far better.
Among the Five Great Nations, Konoha's Ninja at least appeared somewhat more humane.
This was a world where everything was relative: when everyone else behaved like bandits, the least cruel party naturally became "justice."
Under these circumstances, Higashino Jiro missed his son's birthday for the first time, rushing toward the Land of Grass with the main force.
The birthday celebration that once included the whole family now had only five people in the house because of the war.
Uchiha Shisui, Uzuki Yūgao, and Gekkō Hayate all came to celebrate with him.
Among the four of them, Shin's birthday came first, at the end of March.
The other three all had birthdays after October—Yūgao's and Hayate's were even just one day apart and were usually celebrated together.
Under the gaze of his friends, Shin once again made his wish seriously.
He wished that both Higashino Jiro and Uzuki Yuwa would return alive.
In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person. After arriving in the Ninja World, he was still born into a civilian family.
He did not possess a bloodline that was anywhere related to Ōtsutsuki, nor did he have some kind of system in his mind, let alone a miraculous panel that could add dozens of stat points every day.
The only thing he had was a cheat ability discovered at the age of four: a slightly special soul that allowed him to filter White Natural Energy.
Yet even that came at a cost—white energy was the rarest form of Natural Energy, and its absorption speed was painfully slow.
Aside from that, all he relied on was ruthless self-discipline.
He had studied and trained relentlessly since the age of three, and that was the only reason he possessed decent strength at seven years old.
But that strength was only enough for self-preservation.
To intervene in the Third Great Ninja War? He simply didn't have the qualifications.
Just look at the monsters that emerged once the war entered its chaotic phase.
On the Sunagakure front, after being tricked by Orochimaru, the Sand Ninjas turned their fury on Iwagakure.
A young Ninja named Rasa rose rapidly to prominence, his Magnet Release: Gold Dust burying countless Iwagakure lives beneath shimmering dunes.
At present, his prestige within Sunagakure was extremely high, and he was already showing signs of becoming the Fourth Kazekage.
Yet his rival, the stunning Pakura—whose Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai reduced Iwagakure Ninjas to dried corpses—also commanded immense support.
One mountain could not hold two tigers, unless one was male and the other female.
Unfortunately, Rasa was already married. His wife, Karura, was already pregnant, and their child was close to being born.
On the battlefield of the Land of Hot Springs, the son of Kumogakure's Third Raikage led his brothers into battle.
The future AB Combo was temporarily unstoppable, battering Konoha's forces until mid-year—when they finally encountered Konoha's blond menace.
Minato Namikaze stood firm in a two-on-one confrontation that included the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki. Relying on the Flying Thunder God Technique, he forcibly halted Kumogakure's offensive.
Konoha's Yellow Flash lived up to his name. For ordinary Ninjas, encountering him meant certain death—running was meaningless.
With Orochimaru disheartened, Tsunade gone, and Jiraiya fully devoted to paving the road for his student, Minato became the brightest star on Konoha's battlefield.
Using Flying Thunder God, he shuttled between the fronts against Iwagakure and Kumogakure, striking fear into enemy ranks.
As long as Konoha's Ninjas saw that flash of yellow light, they knew victory was close at hand.
Then, in October, a major event shook the entire Ninja World.
After a prolonged intelligence struggle between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, Kumogakure fell into Ōnoki's trap.
The Third Raikage, A, personally led an elite force to the border region where the Lands of Rice Fields, Fire, and Waterfalls converged, attempting to intercept a massive shipment of plunder seized by Iwagakure.
Instead, he fell into a layered encirclement of ten thousand Iwagakure Ninjas.
The troops under his command were all elites—seasoned veterans with terrifying combat power.
To preserve this core strength for his Village, the Third Raikage tore open a path of retreat and then remained behind alone.
He fought for three days and three nights. In the end, he died of exhaustion.
The Raikage's death not only demonstrated to the world the terrifying might of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode—it also pushed the Third Great Ninja War completely beyond control.
Carrying the hatred of their Raikage's death, Kumogakure's Ninjas launched a full-scale clash against Iwagakure.
At the same time, Konoha seized the opportunity while Iwagakure was heavily diverted, pushing its front lines from the border back into the Land of Grass.
Did Kumogakure and Konoha cooperate? No.
They were still killing each other in the Land of Hot Springs. Cooperation was impossible.
Sunagakure also accelerated its efforts to drive Iwagakure's forces out of its territory.
For a time, Iwagakure seemed to have become the final boss of the Ninja World—of the four great nations involved in the war, three were now fighting them.
Ōnoki: "…"
This wasn't right. Why had everything turned out like this?
Why had he become everyone's target as the war dragged on?
But by this point, there was no turning back. All he could do was grit his teeth and endure until the very end.