The news that the Hidden Stone Village had been reduced to rubble spread rapidly across the ninja world within just a few days.
At the same time, the disappearance of Senju Hideki, Uchiha Kamito, Aburame Shiken, and Inuzuka Ryoha also became widely known.
Both the Hidden Mist Village and the Hidden Sand Village grew restless.
Just as they were preparing to launch a counterattack, a streak of yellow light tore across the sky of the ninja world, instantly extinguishing any thought of retaliation from both sides.
Perhaps because something had happened to his friends, Namikaze Minato appeared unusually furious.
On the Hidden Mist battlefield, upon learning of Aburame Shiken's disappearance, before Aburame Shibi and Aburame Shikuro could erupt in rage, Minato had already arrived.
He tossed two large bags of tri-pronged kunai to Aburame Shibi and Aburame Shikuro.
"Help me throw these out. Thanks."
On the coastal battlefield, everyone hurled the tri-pronged kunai into the air.
Then they witnessed an unbelievable scene.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish...
Golden flashes flickered endlessly.
The Hidden Mist vanguard force—over two hundred people—fell to the ground within five minutes. Some sank into the sea, but without exception, each had a thin line of blood across their neck.
After finishing, Minato tossed down a kunai and said, "If anything comes up, notify me."
With that, he vanished, leaving Aburame Shikuro and Aburame Shibi staring at each other in shock.
Since when had Minato become someone they could no longer understand?
...
On the Land of Rivers battlefield, Hatake Sakumo watched as yellow sand surged endlessly, harvesting the lives of Sand ninjas under Minato's assault.
He couldn't help but rub his increasingly thinning hair.
How in the world did he achieve this?
Even the Second Hokage didn't reach this level, if I remember correctly!!
...
Land of Lightning, Hidden Cloud Village
"Are we really just going to let the Hidden Leaf Village do as it pleases?"
Having officially succeeded to the position of Raikage just days ago, becoming the Fourth Raikage, A slammed his fist on the table.
"Raikage-sama, calm down."
Dodai advised from the side.
Sigh.
He had already given up on the idea of cultivating a wise Raikage.
Rather than turning the Raikage into a strategist, it was more practical to train a strategist to assist him.
That plan had much more potential.
Dodai placed the intelligence shared by the Hidden Stone Village before everyone.
As for why the Hidden Stone Village released this information, there were two reasons.
First, to show everyone just how powerful the Hidden Leaf Village truly was—if they didn't unite, it would already be too late.
In fact, it was already too late.
Second, it was a demonstration of force: the Hidden Stone Village had managed to take down four of the Hidden Leaf Village's top genius ninja in exchange, and had now gone into hiding. If anyone wanted to provoke them, they'd better consider whether they had strength comparable to the Hidden Leaf Village.
After Dodai explained the details of the Thousand-Hand Buddha, the Black Armored Giant, the overwhelming insect swarm, and the hundred-headed giant wolf to the Cloud's high-ranking officials, their morale sank even further.
Could they really afford to provoke such a powerful Hidden Leaf Village?
Not to mention that on the border of the Land of Lightning, Hyūga Hiyasu was watching them.
Knocking out the current Raikage, crushing the Eight-Tails, and killing the Two-Tails—those feats were still hard for the Hidden Cloud Village to believe.
"Dodai-sama, what should we do now?"
Although A's current strength didn't match his father's, he had inherited his father's good trait—he listened to advice.
Whatever Dodai said, he would follow.
"Raikage-sama, we must now seek forgiveness from the Hidden Leaf Village. Whatever they want, we give it to them. There is only one condition: as long as they don't take our village or step into the Land of Lightning, we will give them anything they ask for."
"Dodai, we are proud and unyielding Cloud ninja. How can we lower ourselves like that?"
A heavily injured Cloud ninja spoke up.
Smack.
"Dodai-sama's command is my command. Everything will proceed according to his plan. I will bear all responsibility. We lost, so we must accept all consequences. Otherwise, do you want to see the Hidden Cloud Village turned into a wasteland?"
After A issued his order, all divisions of the Hidden Cloud Village sprang into action.
On one hand, they prepared compensation for casualties; on the other, they prepared war reparations.
Since ancient times, which defeated nation hadn't been forced into ruin by compensation?
Wait… hold on.
A senior Cloud official in charge of finances suddenly had an idea.
"Um, Raikage-sama."
"Speak."
"Could we negotiate the compensation with the Fire Daimyō instead, or directly hand the reparations to the Land of Fire? That way, the Hidden Leaf Village would receive less money."
The official spoke somewhat hesitantly.
After all, this would go against Cloud customs.
To his surprise, Dodai immediately supported the idea.
"Raikage-sama, this is an excellent proposal. First, compensating the Fire Daimyō might reduce the amount we have to pay. Second, once we set the precedent, the other three nations' ninja villages will follow suit. That way, the Hidden Leaf Village won't receive too much money, which could at least slow down the growing gap between us and them."
After hearing the analysis, A immediately agreed.
Dodai was delighted.
So the Hidden Cloud Village wasn't lacking in intelligent people after all.
Education must be promoted.
From now on, Cloud ninja should study cultural subjects for two years before anything else.
...
Hidden Sand Village camp
Rasa and Ebizō were in discussion.
"Ebizō-sama, the situation is extremely critical. What should we do?"
"Rasa, I am merely a sinner now. I have no right."
"Please don't say that, Ebizō-sama. What does Sasori's mistake have to do with you? What matters most now is how the Hidden Sand Village should move forward in the coming days. I need you to guide me."
At this point, Rasa performed a half-teacher's bow to Ebizō.
"Please teach me."
"Rasa, then don't blame this old man for speaking bluntly."
"Please, go ahead."
Ebizō glanced around before lowering his voice.
"Rasa, can you tolerate Pakura? I can tell she also deeply desires the position of Kazekage, and…"
"And in this war, she performed far better than I did, right?"
Rasa knew it himself—throughout the war, he had been completely suppressed by Inuzuka Ryoha.
Meanwhile, Pakura had fought Inuzuka Rinko on equal footing.
"The Kazekage position is just that. In the past, I would have wanted it desperately. But now, with the Hidden Leaf Village as a great enemy before us, we cannot afford any internal conflict. If Pakura insists on becoming Kazekage, I am willing to yield the position to her."
"Rasa, now you finally have the mindset of a Kazekage. As for Pakura, my sister and I will handle it. Withdraw the troops, prepare the war reparations for the Hidden Leaf Village. For a long time to come, we will have to live under its shadow."
"Perhaps our generation—and yours—will never escape that shadow. But the next generation, and the one after, might."
"Just like Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara now—everyone in the ninja world is waiting for their deaths."
After Ebizō finished speaking, Rasa's expression turned grave.
But he also understood that this might truly be their last chance.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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