Near the edge of the flattened plain, Ōnoki, Kitsuchi, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi finally regrouped.
Akatsuchi was covered in wounds. When the Thousand-Armed Strike fell, he had shielded the others with his ninjutsu, and now he was barely conscious.
"Akatsuchi! Wake up!"
Kurotsuchi crouched beside him, her voice shaking as she gripped his shoulders.
Kitsuchi stood nearby, his face pale. The destruction around him was already beyond words. Nearly five thousand Iwagakure ninja had fallen in a single strike.
The survivors stood in silence. They no longer looked like soldiers waiting for orders. They looked like people who had just realized the battlefield itself had abandoned them.
Then Shinichi, still standing atop the giant Buddha, joined his hands again.
The four-hundred-and-fifty-meter True Several Thousand Hands stepped forward.
Boom... Boom... Boom...
Each step shook the earth. Rubble rolled down from distant cliffs, and even Iwagakure itself trembled as the giant Buddha's shadow moved closer to the village.
Panic spread through the survivors, but no one dared to rush forward. One by one, their eyes turned toward Ōnoki.
Ōnoki knelt among the rubble, listening to the desperate voices around him. Whatever resistance remained in his heart finally collapsed.
He raised his head and shouted toward the figure standing atop the giant Buddha.
"Stop! Lord Shinichi!"
His old voice was hoarse.
"I submit! Iwagakure submits! We are willing to surrender and accept Konoha's authority! I only beg you... stop. Leave Iwagakure a way to live!"
After saying that, Ōnoki lowered his head heavily to the ground.
The Tsuchikage who had once stood at the top of the Ninja World laid down all his pride for the survival of his village.
Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi froze, pain filling their eyes. What hurt even more was that they both knew this was their only choice.
The surviving Iwagakure ninja saw it as well. They saw the man who had always stood before them like a mountain, kneeling in the rubble before the giant Buddha. Some lowered their heads, some clenched their fists, and others simply stood there in silence.
With that one kneel, Iwagakure's last bit of pride collapsed.
The giant Buddha stopped.
Shinichi looked down at the kneeling Ōnoki and the broken Iwagakure army below.
"It should have been like this from the beginning."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shinichi jumped down from the top of the giant Buddha.
Boom!
He landed heavily, sending dust and rubble across the ground. When the dust settled, he walked toward Ōnoki. The Sage Mode markings on his face had not faded, and his expression remained cold.
"Lord Shinichi..." Ōnoki's lips trembled. "Iwagakure awaits your command."
Shinichi did not answer his surrender immediately.
Instead, he asked, "Where is the Five-Tails?"
Ōnoki stiffened. He had not expected Shinichi's first question to be about Hān.
"Forgive me, Lord Shinichi. The Five-Tails Jinchūriki is missing."
"Missing?"
"Yes." Ōnoki lowered his head. "Seven days ago, Hān led a team out on a mission and never returned. We lost contact with him. The only thing left at the scene were traces of battle."
His voice dropped lower.
"We are also searching for him."
Shinichi's eyes darkened.
So Hān had already disappeared.
He finally understood why his future self had needed to cross time and return to the past. His existence had already changed the future he remembered. But he did not dwell on it for long.
He looked down at Ōnoki, who was still kneeling.
"Get up."
Ōnoki slowly raised his head.
"Since Iwagakure has submitted to me and to Konoha, you will go to Konoha tomorrow," Shinichi said. "Meet the Fifth Hokage and negotiate the formal terms of your surrender."
Ōnoki's expression changed slightly.
"Go to Konoha?"
"Represent Iwagakure and settle today's matter properly." Shinichi's voice turned colder. "Remember, this is not an alliance. It is submission."
Kitsuchi hesitated before stepping forward.
"Lord Shinichi... for a matter this serious, we still need to report to the Daimyo of the Land of Earth first."
Ōnoki's face changed at once.
Shinichi turned towards Kitsuchi, and the pressure around them seemed to drop. Kitsuchi instinctively took half a step back, but still forced himself to continue.
"Iwagakure's actions, especially matters involving the structure of the country, must be reported to the Daimyo according to regulation..."
"Regulation?" Shinichi interrupted him. "Who is setting the rules now?"
Kitsuchi froze.
Shinichi looked back at Ōnoki.
"Do you listen to the Daimyo, or do you listen to me?"
Cold sweat broke out across Ōnoki's back.
He stared at Shinichi as a terrifying thought flashed through his mind. This man was not only conquering Iwagakure. He was breaking the rules of the Ninja World itself.
Since the founding of the hidden villages, the village had always been subordinate to the nation. The Kage was constrained by the Daimyo. Ninja served authority, and power obeyed the nobles.
But now, Shinichi was overturning that order.
To Ōnoki, the shock of that realization was no less than seeing True Several Thousand Hands appear.
He lowered his head. "Naturally... I listen to you."
Shinichi gave a faint sneer. "You really are a smart man. No wonder you managed Iwagakure for decades."
Ōnoki said nothing.
"Enough. Leave tomorrow. If the Daimyo has objections, handle them yourself." Shinichi paused. "In short, don't make me come to Iwagakure a second time."
Ōnoki's lips moved before he finally answered in a low voice.
"...Understood."
Shinichi looked toward the surviving Iwagakure ninja in the distance. "Don't think about resisting again. Iwagakure survived today because I allowed it to survive."
Ōnoki's face twitched, but he only let out a bitter sigh. Shinichi looked toward the horizon and said, "You are the first, but you won't be the last."
The words were calm, but Ōnoki, Kitsuchi, and Kurotsuchi all understood what they meant. Kurotsuchi's face changed.
"You're going to attack the other hidden villages too?"
Was Iwagakure not the end?
Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure... was he planning to visit the remaining Great Hidden Villages one by one?
Ōnoki stood there in silence. The fear and humiliation from earlier still weighed on him, but another strange feeling slowly mixed in.
If Iwagakure was not the only one, then perhaps, in some twisted way, the burden on his heart felt a little lighter.
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