Another Humiliating Treaty

After regaining his composure, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly said, "Tsunade, I'm getting old and no longer fit to lead the village. From now on, the village is entirely in your hands."

Tsunade was taken aback and was about to speak when she heard Hiruzen Sarutobi continue talking to himself.

"The repeated failures have long proven that my policies were wrong, but I've never dared to admit it. Over the years, Sunagakure has been improving and nurturing talented young talents. Cloud ninja has also been improving and nurturing talented young talents. Iwa ninja has achieved amazing success in one field after another. Only we in Konoha have been fighting amongst ourselves."

"It was my fault. I failed to manage the First Hokage and Second Lord of the family. From now on, you will be in charge of making important decisions about the village. If Koharu and Homura are still confused, I will persuade them."

"As for Danzo." At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly realized that once he completely stepped down, he would no longer be able to control Danzo.

Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt somewhat dejected, fearing that he would no longer be able to maintain a dominant position in his interactions with Danzo.

With a sigh, Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "You'll have to deal with Danzo yourself. We managed to retrieve the Seven-Tails -Seven-Tails, but it's probably in Danzo's hands now."

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Danzo well enough to know that Kakashi definitely couldn't protect the Seven-Tails.

"Given the Tsuchikage's personality, he'll definitely try to extort money from us after this defeat. I'll sign this settlement myself." After a pause, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued.

Tsunade instinctively called out, "Teacher Hiruzen."

Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand and said, "Tsunade, I'm sorry. From now on, I won't interfere with how you treat the Uchiha Clan. You've always wanted Shisui, haven't you? You can have him."

After saying that, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up, intending to leave. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Be careful of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa. Although I don't know the situation in the Land of Rivers, I have a feeling that the Kazekage might not act according to our pre-arranged plan."

"To be able to seize power so quickly without any foundation, this Kazekage is actually quite formidable. We were just too focused on the Tsuchikage and underestimated him."

Tsunade nodded, then watched Hiruzen Sarutobi leave.

From this moment on, she is the Hokage.

Tsunade stood up and said to the ANBU Anbu Danzo to return."

Teuchi to take advantage of Danzo's recent defeat and, under the guise of righteousness, seize the Seven-Tails.

Unfortunately, Danzo did not use the main gate. When they were still some distance from the Konoha Gate, Danzo had the other ninjas use the main gate as usual, while he himself led his Root subordinates through the Root's private passage.

At this point, whether Hiruzen Sarutobi or Tsunade, Danzo will no longer have any advantage. For him, the most important thing now is to secure the Seven-Tails. Only when the Seven-Tails is completely in his hands will Danzo go to see Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade.

Tsunade failed, but seeing the large number of wounded in the group, Tsunade had no time to worry about anything else; saving lives was the priority.

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had predicted, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, Rasa, quickly did something that gave Tsunade a headache.

Information from the Land of Land of Rivers soon reached Konoha: Rasa had not clashed with the Akatsuki Organization. Not only did he not clash, but Rasa had also acquired territory in the southernmost coastal region of the Land of Rivers —a territory that directly connected the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.

The territory was small, with only a narrow passage, so narrow it couldn't even be marked on a map. But this one passage instantly changed the dynamics between the Land of Fire and its neighboring countries.

The Land of Fire suddenly has another neighboring country, a powerful nation that is going to great lengths to be adjacent to it. The malice behind this is self-evident, greatly increasing the military pressure on Konoha!

Upon receiving the news, Tsunade was so angry she almost cursed. The Tsuchikage had taken this alternative route from the Land of Grass, preparing to invade the Land of Fire at any moment. Now the Kazekage had pulled the same stunt; they were both treating the Land of Fire like easy prey.

There really was meat in the pot, and everyone got some.

Suppressing her anger, Tsunade asked the intelligence ninja, "Is there any other information?"

The intelligence Anbu replied, "The Kazekage may have already led a large army towards that passage. They might be planning to invade our Land of Fire."

"Bang!" Unable to hold back any longer, Tsunade slapped the desk in two.

The Land of Rain.

Yichen created several clones to examine the bodies of the 1,600 to 1,700 Konoha ninja died in the First Shinobi War.

Although Yichen had seen a lot in his life, he couldn't just give up the spoils of war from the Two Thousand Army.

Yichen had just discussed it with Nagato; most of the supplies that would help rebuild the Land of Rain base would go to the Dark Akatsuki Organization. The corpses would also go to the Dark Akatsuki Organization.

Yichen mainly packs up high-quality items that are easy to carry, such as well-made weapons or even weapons that can transmit Chakra.

In short, Yichen takes the good, and Dark Akatsuki takes the more.

The two sides quickly divided the spoils.

Yichen said to Deva Path Pain, "Nagato, I plan to put pressure on Konoha to extract some funds from Konoha. I think Rasa won't let this opportunity pass. You can join in too."

"When the time comes, the three of us will stand together and show Konoha how foolish it is to invade a peace-loving country."

Nagato hesitated for a while, and after discussing it with Yahiko and Konan, he reluctantly agreed.

Yichen smiled and said, "Don't worry, you just need to send people to cooperate with us. We, the Iwa ninja and the Land of Earth, will send professionals to lead all the negotiations."

Deva Path Pain nodded.

"Alright, I still have a lot to take care of, so I'll be leaving now," Yichen said.

Deva Path Pain said, "Yichen, thank you very much this time. If it weren't for your intelligence, and if we had rushed to support the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers might have been conquered by the Sunagakure."

Yichen waved his hand and said, "It's nothing."

At that moment, Kakuzu walked over and said, "Tsuchikage, settle the payment for killing the Konoha ninja."

Yichen laughed and said, "Don't worry, just name your number, and I'll have someone bring the money over in a few days."

Yichen has gained a lot this time and is about to take a cut from Konoha, Kakuzu he naturally doesn't care about Yichen wages.

Kakuzu was satisfied with Yichen's answer and immediately gave Yichen a detailed list.

After accepting Kakuzu's list, Yichen left the Land of Rain. However, Yichen did not return to the Land of Earth, but went to the Land of Fire instead.

Previously, the Iwa Ninja Anbu had already located the temporary base of the Konoha Army. Now that the Konoha Army has been wiped out, Yichen naturally wants to seize a batch of spoils.

You don't know the cost of firewood and Yichen is now in charge of a huge household, so he naturally can't miss any opportunity to increase his income.

When Yichen flew over the Konoha camp, the dozens of Konoha ninja left behind were packing their belongings, preparing to evacuate.

Clearly, they had received intelligence that Konoha's army had been defeated and would not be returning. They needed to pack up and transport the large amount of war supplies they had stored at their base back to the village.

However, at this moment, Yichen, that shameless Tsuchikage, personally arrived...

A few minutes later, the dozens of Konoha ninja abandoned all their equipment and left the temporary base empty-handed.

As the group of dozens walked, they kept glancing back at the mountain of supplies. Their faces were filled with suppressed anger and resentment.

It's one thing if the supplies are lost, but our group worked so hard to pack all that stuff, and in the end, it all went to the Iwa ninja.

One of the Chunin, clearly still quite young, muttered under his breath, "How could the Tsuchikage do such a thing..."

A nearby Jonin quickly interrupted him, hissing, "Shut up! You're lucky to be alive. Hurry up and follow me."

While urging the dumbfounded Ishinose Kiyoshi to quickly notify the village and send people to transport the spoils of war, Yichen leisurely strolled around the temporary encampment.

As he walked, he nodded repeatedly. The supplies for the Two Thousand Army were plentiful, and Yichen was very satisfied.

After delivering the message, Ishinose Kiyoshi followed behind Yichen, not daring to look up. Although there was no one else here besides him and Yichen, he still felt ashamed.

If this were done by an Elite Jonin, it would be a great achievement, and recording an S-rank Ninjutsu would be quite normal.

But for someone as powerful as the Tsuchikage to do something like this personally, don't you have any pride?

Yichen naturally knew what the disciples behind him were thinking, but he disdained to explain. "Little brats," he thought, "Only those who haven't experienced the harsh realities of life care so much about saving face."

Compared to tangible benefits, what does face matter? Can face help me nurture future generations? Can face support the expenses of cultivating Senjutsu?

The village acted swiftly, relaying the message directly to Kitsuchi, who was advancing towards the border Lands of Fire and Earth. Upon hearing Kitsuchi, Huang Tu immediately dispatched a team of a hundred men to transport supplies to Yichen's location.

The Ninja World, which had been at peace for only a short time, was once again thrown into turmoil, following the second loss of the Seven-Tails by Takigakure.

Konoha mobilized Two Thousand Army to seize the Seven-Tails, which Akatsuki Organization had placed in the Land of Rain, much to the delight of the many onlookers.

The subsequent heavy losses suffered by Konoha in the Land of Rain made all sides feel that the situation was changing too quickly, and some were unable to keep up.

Afterwards, the three kingdoms of Earth, Wind, and River deployed their troops to the border of the Land of Fire, causing a chill to run down the spines of onlookers. Was the Fifth Ninja World War about to begin again?

Subsequently, amidst the busy reconstruction efforts, Kirigakure also dispatched a small force into the Land of Waves, posing a military threat to Konoha and further fueling suspicions.

The Fifth Ninja World War did not break out, and the four nations quickly signed a peace treaty with the Land of Fire. Moreover, the speed at which this peace treaty was signed puzzled everyone outside the Ninja World.