[Konoha Village, Hokage Building]
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, received information sent by Orochimaru.
The war had ended, in a way that no one had expected.
Namikaze Minato had actually captured the Fourth Kazekage alive, using him to force Sunagakure to retreat.
Because of Minato's actions, although Konoha suffered some casualties, they weren't too severe. Konoha had preserved a large portion of its forces, which could now be deployed to other battlefields.
The pressure of being attacked on three fronts was suddenly cut in half.
Hiruzen hadn't expected this surprise to come so suddenly.
Minato had accomplished more than he imagined.
However, Sunagakure even went a step further. They intended to form an alliance, with the only condition being that Minato succeed him as the Fourth Hokage?
A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. In fact, this was exactly what he wanted.
Thinking of this, he summoned a trusted member of the Anbu and ordered, "Spread the word about Minato's deeds. Do your best to build momentum for him."
The Anbu hesitated for a moment and asked, "Lord Hokage, are you really planning to step down? But you're still in good shape."
Hiruzen shook his head, "Go now. Do as I said."
The Anbu said no more and disappeared in an instant.
Hiruzen stood up and walked to the door of the Hokage's office.
He suddenly thought of something quite amusing.
'If Danzo was still around right now, he'd probably come storming in angrily.'
'Saying something like Minato is too young, Hiruzen you'll regret this.'
'Then the door would suffer again.'
Thinking of this, Hiruzen chuckled softly and couldn't help saying, "Danzo, I'll soon no longer be Hokage. We'll be even very soon."
———
[Sunagakure, Kazekage Building]
Rasa looked at Ebizo, who had come especially to see him.
He asked, "Elder Ebizo, where is Elder Chiyo?"
Ebizo replied, "My sister is currently investigating something, regarding the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. She seems to have some leads, but she's still not sure."
Rasa couldn't help but take it seriously, "What leads?"
Ebizo pondered and said, "It may be related to her grandson, Sasori. She suspects the Third Kazekage was already killed by Sasori."
Rasa was shocked, he hadn't expected such a thing.
Just as he was about to speak, Ebizo interrupted, "This is only speculation for now, so let her investigate. It's not suitable to make this public."
"I came to see you because of something else."
Rasa said, "It's about me agreeing to withdraw our troops, right?"
A hint of seriousness appeared on Rasa's face, "Elder Ebizo, there are many things I can't talk about."
"I can only tell you that Minato is extremely remarkable. But what he wants to do poses no harm to Sunagakure. For now, it may even bring us great benefits. That's why I compromised," As he spoke, Rasa opened the sealing scroll that Minato had given him and took out the chakra converter inside.
"Elder Ebizo, I hope you can find someone to test this device as soon as possible."
Then he explained the function of the machine.
After hearing the explanation, Ebizo's eyes lit up.
He hadn't expected this machine to be so useful, and he already guessed it must have been part of Rasa and Minato's deal.
But he didn't expose it.
He only said, "I'll go test it right now."
With that, he hurried away with the machine.
After Ebizo left, Rasa muttered, "This machine was actually made by Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Minato's wife Uzumaki Kushina. Minato, you're terrifying…"
———
[Kirigakure, Mizukage Office]
The Third Mizukage slammed the table hard.
"Damn it!"
His plan to sneak attack while Konoha and Sunagakure were fighting had failed.
First, because the Fourth Kazekage had actually been captured alive by Konoha's Yellow Flash, which forced an end to the war and caused Sunagakure's army to retreat, they had no choice but to withdraw.
Second, because Sunagakure produced a skilled Scorch Release user, Pakura, who managed to delay their invasion long enough for the main forces to return.
'That damned Pakura, I can't be satisfied until she is dead.'
He immediately summoned an Anbu and ordered, "Tell Rasa to hand over Pakura, or Kirigakure and Sunagakure will fight to the bitter end!"
The Kirigakure Anbu hesitated and said, "Sunagakure will never agree to our request. Pakura is their hero, after all."
But the Third Mizukage showed a sinister smile, "Onoki has his own ideas about Sunagakure. Their foundation isn't as deep as Konoha's. If Iwagakure makes a move, we won't hold back either."
"Rasa will make the right decision."
———
[Tsuchi-Lightning battlefield, Iwagakure encampment]
Onoki had just received the intel: the war between Sunagakure and Konoha had ended.
It ended with Sunagakure retreating.
His expression was gloomy as he folded his arms behind his back and paced back and forth, cursing as he walked.
"Rasa really is a useless fool, to actually be captured alive by Konoha's Yellow Flash."
"And that Yellow Flash is this hard to deal with?"
How could Onoki not be angry?
He didn't care who won the war between Sunagakure and Konoha. Ideally, they'd fight to the death.
The problem was, while they were still besieging Konoha, Sunagakure had already withdrawn. And worse, they didn't inflict much damage on Konoha before leaving.
Suddenly, Konoha could catch its breath and throw more troops into resisting Iwagakure's advance.
Now, breaking through Konoha's front lines had become more difficult.
And the Yellow Flash must also be guarded against, his ghost-like ability to come and go as he pleased posed an immense threat.
Thinking of this, Onoki narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Looks like we'll have to stabilize the war with Konoha for now and focus our forces to attack later."
"Best if we can pass through Kusagakure, using the shortest route and fastest speed to strike directly at Konoha."
As for how to get through Kusagakure, Onoki was confident.
Kusagakure might claim to be Konoha's ally, but that fence-sitting village even dared to sell fake intel, what else wouldn't they do?
As long as the price was right, they'd betray at any time.
By then, they would go through the Kannabi Bridge…
Just then, Kurotsuchi entered.
The expression on Kurotsuchi's face wasn't too pleasant.
Onoki asked, "What's wrong?"
Kurotsuchi said, "We tried to shift part of the battlefield with Kumogakure into Amegakure, but Hanzo the Salamander is being extremely firm, he's killed many of our people who entered Amegakure."
At the end, Kurotsuchi added, "Of course, the same happened to Kumogakure. I heard that after entering Amegakure, they encountered an organization called Akatsuki and were wiped out."
Onoki was stunned. He had known that Hanzo had issued a ban, but he thought it was just for show, he hadn't expected him to actually follow through.
He furrowed his brows, "Hanzo still dares to challenge the Five Great Nations?"
"Without the Land of Rain as a battlefield, this really is inconvenient."
"What's Kumogakure's response?"
Kurotsuchi said honestly, "I heard the Third Raikage flew into a rage and said that this Akatsuki was too arrogant, he'd personally deal with it."
"He's already led troops into battle."
Hearing this, Onoki couldn't help but laugh, "That Raikage guy really has a bad temper! But this is also an opportunity."
"Immediately give the order, we'll deploy forces too. Since the Land of Rain is being disobedient, let's teach them a lesson. A small country should act like a small country. Just because they have a demigod, they think they can do whatever they want?"
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