It's Over, It's Over Over Over Over

"I'm back..."

Yukina's weary voice drifted in slowly with the sound of the door opening. These past few days, because of the New Year rotation schedule, she had needed to assign the Anbu personnel sent over by the Third Hokage and complete the shift arrangements. She had spent every day buried in paperwork. Today, like the previous six days, she had not made it home until seven or eight in the evening.

During this time, every ninja village involved in the Third Great Ninja War seemed inclined toward a ceasefire. Conflicts at the front lines had gradually decreased. Perhaps because the New Year had arrived, all the ninja villages had slowed their pace of battle, with even small units withdrawing back to their villages.

Konoha was included. A considerable number of the original Defense Force had been recalled. It was precisely because of this recall, along with the Third Hokage having some Anbu join the rotation, that every Defense Force ninja could have one day during the New Year to go home and spend time with their family.

This fully showed that the Third Great Ninja War was nearing its end. Just as Chiba had said, next year, when spring began, if there was no peace negotiation, there would be one final decisive battle. And after that decisive battle, the peace negotiations that had not come in spring would arrive.

After all, if the other ninja villages had no intention of ending the war, they would never have recalled their troops. That alone was already a sign. Of course, it could not be ruled out that it was bait, but these actions showed that they had begun to retreat—or rather, that they intended to end the war. Since the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War, this was the first