The next morning, the door to the Hokage's office remained shut.
Inside, the atmosphere was heavy. Tsunade sat behind her desk, but the documents in front of her had not moved since morning.
Her fingers tapped against the table again and again.
Shizune stood beside her, equally distracted. For once, she did not remind Tsunade to handle official work.
Across from them, Hiruzen sat on the sofa with his pipe in hand. He looked calmer than the others, but the tobacco in his pipe had long gone cold.
"Tsunade," he finally said, "calm down."
Tsunade's fingers stopped, but she did not look at him.
"Everything we could do has already been done," Hiruzen continued. "The Anbu have been sent out, our scouts are watching Iwagakure, and Jiraiya has taken Naruto toward the Land of Earth."
He paused, then added, "If something goes wrong, Jiraiya can support Shinichi. Even if the plan fails, with Shinichi's strength, escaping should not be difficult."
Tsunade pressed both hands against the desk and stood up.
"I know that."
Her voice was low, but the pressure behind it made Shizune tense.
"But he is attacking a hidden village alone. Iwagakure is not some minor force. Ōnoki is not easy to deal with. They have tens of thousands of ninja, Tailed Beasts, and Dust Release."
Her expression tightened.
"Shinichi is only thirteen. No matter how talented he is, shouldn't he need at least a few more years before reaching Grandfather's level?"
Hiruzen lowered his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
A few more years?
Shinichi had already broken common sense too many times. Hiruzen had misjudged many people and many things in his life, but this time, he believed he was right.
Shinichi would not fall there.
The office returned to silence. Every breath felt heavy, and every passing second seemed longer than usual.
Then the door was thrown open with a crash.
A masked Anbu appeared at the entrance, one hand gripping the frame. His breathing was uneven, and his mask sat slightly crooked, as if he had rushed here without stopping.
Tsunade, Hiruzen, and Shizune turned at once.
Before Tsunade could speak, the Anbu shouted, "Hokage-sama! Lord Third! Shinichi-sama attacked Iwagakure!"
Hiruzen stood up immediately. Tsunade's gaze sharpened, and Shizune unconsciously held her breath.
The Anbu swallowed hard and continued, "The battle is over. Shinichi-sama won."
For a moment, the entire office went still.
Hiruzen stepped forward. "Report clearly."
The Anbu straightened himself with difficulty and forced his voice to steady.
"Yesterday, Iwagakure assembled nearly ten thousand ninja to stop Shinichi-sama. Ōnoki personally led them."
He took a breath.
"Shinichi-sama used Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands. The Iwagakure army suffered devastating losses. Our scouts estimate that more than five thousand Iwagakure ninja were killed or rendered unable to fight."
Tsunade's hand tightened on the edge of the desk.
Nearly ten thousand ninja, led by the Tsuchikage himself, had failed to stop Shinichi.
The Anbu's voice lowered.
"The remaining forces collapsed. Ōnoki knelt before Shinichi-sama and asked for peace."
No one spoke.
Even Hiruzen froze for a moment.
The Anbu swallowed again and delivered the most important part.
"This morning, Iwagakure sent out formal notice. Ōnoki has already left the village with a small delegation and is heading toward Konoha."
His voice echoed through the office.
"They intend to sign a submission treaty."
The room fell silent again.
Iwagakure was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, a village that had fought Konoha through multiple wars. Now its Tsuchikage was coming to Konoha to submit.
After a long while, Hiruzen asked quietly, "Is the intelligence confirmed?"
"Yes," the Anbu replied at once. "Multiple Anbu squads and spies inside and outside the Land of Earth sent back matching reports. Iwagakure has also begun notifying other forces. There is no mistake."
Hiruzen closed his eyes.
A low chuckle escaped him, then slowly grew into laughter. He gripped his pipe tightly, his voice trembling with joy.
"Good. Excellent."
This was not a victory won through negotiation. Shinichi had stood before one of the Five Great Ninja Villages alone and forced it to lower its head.
Tsunade watched him for a few seconds, then slowly sat back down.
The shock in her eyes had not faded, but her expression had already changed. Whatever she felt, she was the Hokage now, and Konoha had to prepare for something no Hokage had ever faced before.
"Shizune."
Shizune jolted. "Yes!"
"Send the order immediately. Summon Shikaku, Koharu, Homura, the Anbu Commander, and all senior officials still in the village."
Tsunade's voice became firm.
"Twenty minutes. Top-floor conference room."
"Yes!"
Shizune rushed out at once.
After the door closed, Tsunade looked at the intelligence scroll in the Anbu's hand.
A submission treaty.
Those words were heavier than any victory report. Konoha had won wars before and forced enemy villages to retreat before, but making one of the Five Great Ninja Villages accept Konoha's authority was something entirely different.
This was not just victory.
This was the beginning of a new order...
By the time Ōnoki's delegation set out for Konoha, that new order had already begun to shake the rest of the Ninja World.
Through spies, merchants, border posts, and secret channels, the news spread faster than any official announcement.
Iwagakure had lost. Ōnoki had knelt. Iwagakure had accepted Konoha's authority.
And in the formal notice sent from the Tsuchikage's office, Tejima Shinichi was acknowledged with a title that had not appeared in many years: God of Shinobi.
Kumogakure received the news in a packed conference room.
Jonin, advisors, elders, and commanders had all been summoned to the Raikage's office. Even Yugito Nii and Killer B, who rarely attended meetings of this kind, were present.
Fourth Raikage A sat at the head of the table, arms crossed over his chest. His face remained expressionless, but the deep crease between his brows showed he was far from calm.
Mabui stood beside him with the intelligence scroll in hand. She had already read the summary once, but the room was still silent.
No one wanted to be the first to accept it.
Yugito finally spoke, her voice tight. "A thirteen-year-old Konoha jonin defeated Iwagakure and made Ōnoki kneel?"
No one answered.
Everyone in the room understood the weight behind that report. Even their Third Raikage had died in the end against Iwagakure's sheer numbers. That battle was one of Kumogakure's proudest legends, and one of its deepest wounds.
But Shinichi had faced Iwa alone and forced the Tsuchikage to lower his head.
Yugito stared at A, disbelief clear in her eyes. "And he really did that alone?"
A few people muttered about false intelligence, or a trap set by Konoha and Iwagakure together. But even they did not sound convinced.
No hidden village would announce its own submission unless it had no other choice.
A finally opened his mouth. "The matter is true."
The room fell silent again.
A's gaze swept over everyone present. "Iwagakure has formally notified the Ninja World. From today onward, they accept Konoha's authority."
His voice grew heavier.
"And they have honored Tejima Shinichi as the God of Shinobi."
The room became colder than before.
Killer B's usual carefree expression disappeared as he called out to the Eight-Tails inside him.
"Gyūki... has someone like that really existed before?"
Gyūki let out a deep hum.
"The last man called the God of Shinobi was Senju Hashirama. As for those before him... you do not need to know that yet."
B's eyes narrowed. Around him, the meeting room remained silent.
If Shinichi could make Iwagakure bow, then what would happen if he came to Kumogakure next?
No one asked it aloud.
They did not need to.
At almost the same time, Sunagakure received the report.
In the Kazekage's office, Gaara sat behind his desk, reading the intelligence in silence. Chiyo stood beside him, while Baki, Kankuro, and Temari waited across from the desk with heavy expressions.
Kankuro thought back to their first meeting with Shinichi in Konoha, then to the Chunin Exams, where that wooden Buddha had already felt impossible to overcome.
But that was only the beginning.
Now, Shinichi had forced Iwagakure to submit.
Temari's fingers tightened around the report. "That monster got stronger again."
No one refuted her.
Back then, Shinichi had shown them the gap between ordinary geniuses and someone truly abnormal. Now, even that comparison felt meaningless.
Chiyo let out a long sigh. "For that stubborn old fool Ōnoki to acknowledge him as the God of Shinobi... the structure of the Ninja World is truly about to change."
Her eyes darkened.
"Why does Konoha always produce monsters like this?"
Gaara slowly lifted his gaze. In his mind, Shinichi was still the same boy he had seen in Konoha... calm, quiet, and impossible to measure.
Sunagakure had only just begun recovering from Rasa's decisions and the failed invasion of Konoha. The village was still weak, and its internal problems had not fully settled.
Now, another shadow had fallen over them.
Far away, in Kirigakure, the atmosphere was no lighter.
Inside the Mizukage's office, Mei Terumi sat at the head of the long table. Elder Genji sat to her right, while Ao and Chojuro stood nearby.
The same intelligence scroll lay open on the table.
Mei's hand rested on its edge as her eyes stayed on the words for a long time.
"So it's true."
Ao nodded, his expression strained. "I confirmed it repeatedly. The battlefield outside Iwagakure is still there. The damage cannot be faked."
Silence settled over the room.
Genji spoke quietly. "One person forced Iwagakure to submit. Kirigakure has only just begun leaving the Blood Mist era behind. The village needs reconstruction, and the people need stability."
His aged fingers tapped the table.
"Now the Ninja World has produced someone capable of subduing an entire Great Village alone. Iwagakure has already knelt. Who will be next?"
Mei did not answer immediately.
Mei's gaze shifted to another document on the table. It was Shinichi's file. Her eyes stopped on one line.
Age: thirteen.
After staring at it for a while, Mei let out a quiet laugh, though there was no humor in it.
"Only thirteen," she said. "Even diplomacy becomes difficult when the person across the table is still a child, yet already strong enough to decide the fate of a village."
No one replied.
Sunagakure was still carrying the consequences of defeat and internal unrest. Kirigakure had only just begun to crawl out of the Blood Mist era.
Neither village was ready for another storm.
But Iwagakure had already lowered its head.
Shinichi had been named the God of Shinobi.
From that day onward, every hidden village had to consider the same question...
If Iwagakure was only the first, who would be next?
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