Naturally, Someone Would Deal with Them

The clan members below immediately lit up with excitement.

Although the five clan leaders led by Masashige Hagoromo had died, and the main forces their clans had sent to the battlefield had either been killed or captured by the Uchiha Clan,

their respective clan territories still retained a certain military foundation. Of course, their strength had undoubtedly fallen sharply.

After Izuna raised the issue, voices erupted from below. Quite a few people had bloodshot eyes and were filled with righteous indignation:

"Kill them! Charge in!"

"Wipe out those five clans!"

"They dared to take advantage of the Uchiha Clan while we were recuperating. Let them learn the consequences of offending us!"

Many people's comrades and relatives had died in this war.

The moment Izuna spoke, more than eighty percent of them proposed exterminating the five clans.

Izuna could not help rolling his eyes inwardly. What a bunch of hotheads. Could they not see the situation clearly?

At present, fewer than two hundred people in Northwest Stone City could still fight, while the combined forces the five clans had left behind in their territories numbered at least a thousand. Even two thousand was probably a conservative estimate.

Two hundred against two thousand? Were they insane?

Even if Madara sent reinforcements from the clan, it would still be a hard battle.

Fortunately, while there were plenty of hotheads, there were also quite a few smart people.

Understanding Izuna's meaning from his expression, Sora Uchiha stepped forward with his cane and said, "Silence, everyone!"

The heated crowd gradually quieted down. Sora Uchiha continued, "Listen to the Vice Clan Leader!"

Everyone turned their eyes to Izuna again, awaiting the supreme commander's decision.

Sora Uchiha nodded to Izuna, signaling for him to continue.

"Right now, we do not have the strength to launch a full-scale extermination campaign against all five clans. Therefore, we will first focus on one clan."

After a brief pause, Izuna's tone grew even more murderous. "The Hagoromo Clan, the mastermind that dared to incite the four clans to attack the Uchiha Clan, must pay the price!"

Cheers erupted once more, but someone soon asked unwillingly, "But, Vice Clan Leader, are we just letting the other four clans, including the Fūma Clan, go?"

Izuna smiled. "Someone will naturally deal with them."

Many Uchiha clan members had already grown accustomed to Izuna's habit of saying only half of what he meant.

If this had happened in the past, they would probably have grumbled inwardly.

But after their resounding victory in the northwest, everyone was completely convinced by Izuna and no longer had any objections to his decisions.

Before long, the four northwestern clans—the Fūma Clan, Watanabe Clan, Saitō Clan, and Onikawa Clan—received letters from Uchiha envoys.

The letters declared that the war was over and their clan leaders had been slain, but the Uchiha Clan still held a considerable number of prisoners from each clan.

If they wanted to preserve those prisoners' lives, they would have to offer a large sum of money as compensation.

With their clan leaders dead, the highest-ranking decision-makers remaining in the territories of the four clans were their elders.

When they met the Uchiha envoys and read the letters, every one of those elders was horrified.

A year ago, they could never have imagined that this battle would end in defeat.

Although the Senju Clan had remained inactive for nearly a year, which had greatly surprised them, the Five Allied Clans Army had still possessed several times the Uchiha Clan's strength!

How could they have lost?

And all five clan leaders had been killed!

Ise Uchiha, serving as the envoy, showed no courtesy toward the Watanabe Elder, who was nearly twice his age. "Watanabe Elder, please decide quickly. Do you want your money, or do you want your clansmen's lives?"

The Watanabe Elder's beard trembled with rage. There was essentially no choice to make.

Money could be earned again, but if people were gone, it would take years, perhaps even decades, to cultivate new successors!

"But... this amount is truly... could you perhaps show some mercy and lower it a little..."

Before the Watanabe Elder could finish, Ise Uchiha said mercilessly, "When your clan answered Masashige Hagoromo's call and attacked the Uchiha Clan, did you ever consider showing mercy?"

The Watanabe Elder was left speechless. More importantly, the disparity in clan strength left him with no way to argue.

In the end, he could only sign and seal the compensation agreement.

Over the following month,

cart after cart loaded with goods could be seen entering Uchiha Northwest Stone City.

When opened, they were filled with copper and silver coins of every kind.

These were the reparations the four clans had signed over in exchange for their prisoners.

During the Warring States Period, paper money had not yet been invented. The common currency consisted of copper and silver coins. Gold coins existed as well, but they were too rare and valuable to be convenient for use.

As chest after chest of reparations was transported into Uchiha Stone City, Sora Uchiha released the imprisoned ninjas of the four clans from the dungeon in the same order that each clan's payment arrived.

As they left, the ninjas of the four clans could not help looking back at the city. This place would probably become the nightmare of their lives.

After the Watanabe Clan, Onikawa Clan, and Saitō Clan, the reparations from the last of the four clans, the Fūma Clan, also arrived, and Sora Uchiha's group released them.

At that point, the Hagoromo Clan ninjas, the only ones still imprisoned in the dungeon, began to panic.

Could it be that the elders in their clan were unwilling to pay to save them?

Were they simply going to leave them here to die at the Uchiha Clan's hands?

A Hagoromo chunin gripped the iron bars of his cell and shouted to Sora Uchiha outside, "Hey! Has our clan's money not arrived yet? That can't be possible!"

Sora Uchiha, who had been severely wounded in the previous battle, still leaned on his cane with bandages wrapped around him.

Hearing this, a cold smile appeared on his face. "No. We never sent an envoy to your clan territory at all."

The hundred or so Hagoromo ninjas in the prison were collectively shocked. "W-What does that mean?"

"You do not need to know."

Sora Uchiha raised his left hand, the one not holding his cane, and waved. The dozen or so Uchiha ninjas on guard turned around in unison, their hand seals already complete.

"Y-You... what are you trying to do!!??"

Ninjas of the Warring States Period should have long since become numb to death.

But when death truly descended, no one could remain entirely free of fear.

"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!"

"Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Yet the only answer they received, and the only thing that led them toward death, was endless flame—and the merciless Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan beyond the cages.

Besides the reparations, the two hundred reinforcements Izuna had asked Madara Uchiha to dispatch had also arrived.

Nearly a year had now passed, yet the Senju Clan still remained inactive, which allowed Madara and the others in the main clan to relax somewhat.

Madara had assigned two hundred men to Izuna as reinforcements for attacking the Hagoromo Clan territory and exterminating the clan completely.

With this, their chances of success were even greater.

But this battle had to be ended quickly.