Chapter 53: Peace Talks
Kumogakure's encampment.
The arrival of several hundred reinforcements finally allowed the Third Raikage, A, to breathe a small sigh of relief. Although overall morale remained subdued, the army had at least been restored to a force of over a thousand shinobi.
They might lack the strength to launch an offensive—but holding the line should still be possible.
However, just as A's mood had begun to stabilize, a shinobi burst into the command tent.
"Raikage-sama! Konoha's main force has suddenly mobilized and is advancing straight toward the border of the Land of Lightning!"
"Sarutobi Hiruzen—the former Hokage candidate—has appeared. He's likely brought a large number of reinforcements with him!"
A's expression darkened instantly.
"Reinforcements…?"
"So that brat Senju Morin finally couldn't hold back anymore. Is he planning a full-scale invasion of the Land of Lightning?"
A strode out of the tent. In an instant, his entire body was enveloped in golden Lightning Release chakra, his yellow hair standing on end like the mane of an enraged lion.
"So it's our turn to defend now."
"I want to see just how many casualties this so-called Hokage can stomach."
Despite the shock, A did not panic.
He had known this day would come.
After the decisive battle, Morin had not withdrawn his forces—on the contrary, he had continued to press forward step by step. That alone made a renewed offensive inevitable.
This was precisely why A had chosen to fall back to the border of the Land of Lightning.
Unlike their position in the Land of Frost, the interior of the Land of Lightning contained massive fortresses constructed during the reign of the previous Raikage—fortifications of terrifying durability.
The Land of Lightning was surrounded by sea on all sides, with towering mountain ranges forming natural barriers within. The narrow region bordering the Land of Frost was not only the sole route for launching attacks into foreign territory, but also the only area that required defense.
Even Senju Tobirama himself had never succeeded in leading Konoha's forces through this fortress line.
Kumogakure might now be short on manpower, but as long as they relied on these fortresses to defend—
They were far from helpless.
Moments later, A led the Kumogakure shinobi up to the heights of the fortress. From there, looking down, they saw Konoha's army advancing like a tide—vast, overwhelming, rolling straight toward the Land of Lightning.
"So there are reinforcements after all…"
A's eyesight was exceptional. At a glance, he could tell that Konoha's numbers had surged—and more than that, he could clearly make out several figures at the very front of the formation.
At the center stood the Hokage, Senju Morin.
The middle-aged man on Morin's right was unfamiliar to him, but the young man on Morin's left—
He recognized instantly.
Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even before becoming Raikage, A had been well acquainted with Sarutobi. During the First Shinobi World War, when Sarutobi had been the leading Hokage candidate, the two of them had crossed hands more than once.
That realization only deepened the heaviness in A's chest.
Senju Morin alone could already fight him to a standstill. If Sarutobi Hiruzen was added to the mix, A could not imagine any scenario in which Kumogakure emerged victorious.
"If only Kinkaku and Ginkaku were still alive… How did we fall to this state…"
Though the Gold and Silver Brothers had staged a coup, assassinated the previous Raikage, and defected—inflicting catastrophic damage upon the village—A could not help but think of them now.
Kumogakure's high-end combat power was simply too thin.
Against a Konoha this strong, he alone was not enough.
A quietly resolved that once this war ended, he would deal with the jinchūriki problem at any cost.
Kumogakure possessed both the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails. Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchūriki, meanwhile, was the First Hokage's widow. If jinchūriki could be brought under stable control, Kumogakure would instantly surpass Konoha at the top tier of power.
Yet before he could dwell on it further, A sensed something off.
Konoha had deployed in full force—but they did not attack.
Instead, they halted just at the border of the Land of Lightning, forming a silent standoff with the fortress.
"What are they planning?"
A frowned deeply. Compared to an all-out clash, this deliberate restraint gnawed at him even more.
But Kumogakure had already lost the initiative.
He had no choice but to respond passively.
The two sides faced each other like this for over an hour. The atmosphere grew heavier by the minute, tension coiling tighter and tighter among the shinobi. Even A felt fine beads of sweat forming at his temples.
Then—
A sharp, piercing eagle cry ripped through the stillness.
A personally removed the bamboo tube from the messenger hawk's leg. The moment he pulled out the slip of paper, his expression shifted.
The sender had not even had time to encrypt the message.
The contents were written plainly.
After a single glance, A's face darkened to an ashen pallor. His massive right arm trembled uncontrollably.
Sensing something wrong, Dodai took the paper from A's hand. One look nearly made him collapse.
The message contained only one short line:
"The Eight-Tails jinchūriki has suddenly lost control and is rampaging in the center of the village. Immediate reinforcements requested!"
Immediate reinforcements requested!
The moment he read those words, a surge of heat slammed into A's head—while icy dread spread through his limbs.
Though he had not seen it with his own eyes, he could already picture the scene with terrifying clarity:
Collapsed buildings in swathes.
Screaming, wailing civilians.
Shinobi charging again and again—only to be crushed effortlessly by massive tentacles.
He had always feared internal unrest.
Now he no longer needed to.
At this rate… the village itself might not survive.
"Damn it! Which idiot brought the jinchūriki back into the village?!"
A roared in blind fury.
At this point, Kumogakure still did not know Konoha was behind it.
Danzō and his men—along with every eyewitness—had been completely annihilated by a single Tailed Beast Bomb. Nothing remained. Not even ashes.
The Eight-Tails, Gyūki, was still rampaging through the village.
Every available shinobi was desperately trying to contain the beast. No one had the manpower—or the presence of mind—to investigate what had caused this catastrophe, let alone suspect an outside hand.
But in his rage, A forced himself to calm down.
He had to.
The eagle's cry felt like a signal.
Almost immediately, Konoha's army surged forward, crossing the border without hesitation and charging straight toward the fortress.
As Senju Morin's face grew closer—clearer with every passing second—A's teeth ground together, nearly shattering from the force.
He wanted to smash something. Anything.
But he could not bring himself to damage the fortress.
In the end, he clenched his fist, swung it uselessly through the air… and let it fall.
"…Open peace talks with Konoha."
A said the words heavily, his voice drained.
"Didn't the Hokage propose three conditions? Agree to all of them—so long as they withdraw their troops."
"I will publicly apologize to Konoha before the entire shinobi world. The Six Paths tools will belong to Konoha from now on. As for reparations—"
He turned his head.
"Dodai. You will negotiate the exact amount with Konoha."
"Be firm. Only that way can we keep the compensation as low as possible. But the ceasefire must be concluded quickly. Konoha may not yet know what's happening inside our village."
With that decision made, A seemed to age more than a decade in an instant.
The lion's mane of golden hair no longer bristled with lightning—it fell limply around his head, drained of all ferocity.
The Raikage stood tall—
But for the first time, truly bowed beneath the weight of defeat.