And so, under those circumstances, the entire Takigakure fell into dead silence.
Looking at the unconscious Seven-Tails jinchūriki, both the Kumo shinobi and the Takigakure shinobi had faces filled with extreme shock.
"Yugito… sorry."
"There's no way I can beat the Fifth Hokage either. I'd only get crushed."
After an unknown amount of time, the Two-Tails was the first to recover its senses. Trembling, it said, "This Fifth Hokage can already stand shoulder to shoulder with the legendary Sage of Six Paths. So… you're on your own."
Hiss!!
After saying those hopeless words, the Two-Tails immediately withdrew all of its tailed beast chakra in fright.
It wasn't stupid.
After seeing the Seven-Tails get dealt with so effortlessly, charging the Fifth Hokage head-on would just be suicide.
"This…"
Feeling herself forcibly exit her fully transformed tailed-beast state and collapse to her knees, Yugito naturally revealed a bitter expression.
What was there to say?
Even the tailed beast inside her had been scared out of fighting.
Just what kind of terrifying monster was this Fifth Hokage?
"Sigh…"
Suien let out a long sigh, despair filling his face.
Everything was over.
Faced with the near-overwhelming power of the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, he had no other option but to kneel and submit.
In the end, he had still lost by a single step.
Mabui looked at the Kumo shinobi kneeling on the ground, all of them having given up resisting, and shook her head in complete frustration.
She had thought this mission would let them smoothly seize both Takigakure's Hero Water and the Seven-Tails.
Now it seemed that everything they had done had only ended up preparing the way for Konoha.
In the end, Kumogakure was the one left to swallow the loss.
As for Takigakure's young leader, Shibuki—
he let out a heavy breath of relief.
The stronger the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Ren, proved himself to be, the more it showed that his decision to lead Takigakure into submission to Konoha had been the correct one.
In other words—
surrendering to Konoha was the smartest possible choice.
"Hmph."
Ren, meanwhile, paid no attention to all of that. After glancing at the unconscious Seven-Tails, he let out a cold snort.
Hiss!!!
As if influenced by that snort, the Seven-Tails' chakra rapidly withdrew back into Fū's body.
In only a few seconds, the Seven-Tails' massive form disappeared, leaving behind the unconscious Seven-Tails jinchūriki, Fū.
"That settles everything."
Seeing this, Uchiha Ren calmly shook his head. Then his gaze shifted to Yugito and the others kneeling on the ground.
"Submit or die."
Originally, after checking in at Takigakure, Ren had planned to act immediately without restraint.
But then he discovered that Kumo shinobi and Takigakure traitors had joined forces.
With the thought of wiping them all out in one move, he had chosen to stay hidden inside Takigakure and wait for the right moment.
What he had not expected was that Kumogakure actually intended to swallow Takigakure in secret, even going so far as to send high-level forces like the Two-Tails jinchūriki and Mabui.
So—
Ren had waited a little longer.
Only when the Two-Tails jinchūriki and the Seven-Tails jinchūriki were about to fight had he stepped in.
And that led to the current scene.
Without even needing to try, he had suppressed everything, leaving both the Two-Tails and Seven-Tails jinchūriki completely broken in spirit.
Buzz!!
The instant those calm, flat words were spoken, they exploded like thunder in the minds of every Kumo and Takigakure shinobi present.
Pfft! Pfft!
The sound of people vomiting blood rang out.
Under that pressure, people like Suien and Mabui turned even paler. Some rolled their eyes and collapsed onto the ground, having been shaken unconscious.
"Fifth Hokage-sama… I, Shibuki, leader of Takigakure, am willing to submit to Konoha."
At that moment, Shibuki—still kneeling—forced down the fear and turmoil in his heart. A determined look appeared on his young face as he stood up and added,
"In truth, I've wanted to lead Takigakure into submission under Konoha for a long time. I just never had the right opportunity."
"But now, I am willing to lead Takigakure into submission to Konoha."
"I see."
Hearing this, Uchiha Ren frowned slightly, glanced at Shibuki, and said blandly,
"A wise choice."
"From this day forward, Takigakure's Hero Water and the Seven-Tails jinchūriki belong to Konoha. Do you have any objections?"
"No objections."
Shibuki nodded at once, even sounding relieved.
"As long as Konoha wants it, you may take it. Especially the Hero Water and the Seven-Tails jinchūriki."
After saying that, he cast a complicated look toward Suien, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said with faint ridicule,
"Master… this will be the last time I call you that."
"I never imagined you would collude with Kumogakure and move against Takigakure."
"But now Takigakure is part of Konoha."
"If you've got the courage, then go ahead and attack the Fifth Hokage."
"Shut up!"
Suien had already been furious, but after hearing that, he began trembling with rage and roared in humiliation,
"If you had just handed the Hero Water over to me, none of this would have happened! I wouldn't have needed to work with Kumogakure! This is all your own fault!"
"Heh."
Shibuki let out a disdainful laugh.
"You don't deserve the Hero Water."
"You're asking to die—!"
Whether from fury or because he could no longer hold back, Suien suddenly sprang up from the ground and lunged at Shibuki with lightning speed.
Since his plan had completely failed, he might as well make one last desperate attempt to take Shibuki down with him.
Whoosh!
Unfortunately, dreams were one thing, reality was another.
Just as Suien was about to strike—
a streak of white light flashed across his neck.
"Why…?"
Suien's body froze in place.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but not a single word came out.
Thud.
In full view of everyone present, a thin line of blood appeared across his neck—
and then his head dropped cleanly to the ground.
Blood sprayed out.
He was dead beyond any doubt.
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