The time from Iwa's declaration of war to its end was so short that it far exceeded everyone's expectations. The ninjas arriving to reinforce Konoha's defensive line were so astonished their jaws nearly hit the ground.
Hating the war, they had made their way to the Land of Grass in silence. They had barely arrived at the defensive position when they heard the news.
If they hadn't slapped themselves and used a technique to dispel genjutsu, they would all have thought they were dreaming or caught in a powerful illusion.
But even though they doubted themselves, none of them doubted Hatake Sakumo. When it came to matters on the battlefield, Hatake Sakumo never lied.
He wasn't a man who would tell lies.
The lightning strike had been as fast as lightning. The war was over in no time at all. This had completely overturned the history of warfare in the Shinobi World!
As they watched Hatake Sakumo sitting calmly in the commander's seat in the camp, their admiration for him rose uncontrollably.
The Iwa border was now barely defended, and the Iwa ninjas had lost the will to fight. The people of Konoha had no intention of invading the Land of Earth, either.
The Land of Fire had the most fertile soil and the most abundant resources in the world. They simply weren't interested in the Land of Earth's barren territory.
As mere ninjas, they didn't have much of a sense of the bigger picture.
Not having to fight a war was the best outcome they could hope for.
In their minds, war meant loss. No one was foolish enough to suggest that Hatake Sakumo lead them in another charge against the Iwa ninjas.
The idiot who was about to suggest it had already been pinned to the ground by his comrades.
"Commander Hatake, where are the Uchiha Clan members?" asked a ninja who was on good terms with the Uchiha Clan.
By "on good terms," he meant he owed them a million.
"Right, didn't they come back with you?"
"They went ahead to raid the Kumo ninjas on my orders. Or, you could say they launched an assault on them."
"The aim is the same as it was with this surprise attack on Iwa: to bring peace."
When he said "on my orders," Hatake Sakumo's tone turned a little strange. But everyone in camp was caught up in their joy, and nobody noticed.
Hatake Sakumo recalled the outrageous scene when they parted, and couldn't keep the smile from tugging at his lips.
Given how poor the Kumo ninjas were these days, stealing a single load of supplies would be enough to end the war and send them back to their hard lives.
Still, though the Kumo ninjas were struggling, they weren't desperate enough to go mad. Their situation was at least much better than that of the Suna ninjas in the Land of Wind.
The daimyo of the Land of Lightning was a hothead, too, and gave the Kumo ninjas his full support. The daimyo on the Suna side only cared about enriching himself and completely neglected the Suna ninjas, slashing their funding again and again.
Ninjas didn't work in production to begin with. With their funding cut, life for the Suna ninjas in that harsh environment was truly nothing but sand in their mouths.
Uchiha Yuji's original plan was to cross the Land of Waterfalls after dealing with the Iwa ninjas, bypass the Land of Hot Water, where the Kumo and Konoha front lines were, then break into the Land of Moon and steal a load of supplies from the Lightning ninjas.
But circumstances had changed a little.
"Clan Head, are you sure this is all right?"
"If they keep following us like this, we won't be raiding them anymore." Uchiha Toshihiko glanced over his shoulder and said gravely, "We'll be marching to wipe out the Kumo ninjas."
The other Uchiha members also wore strange expressions.
To travel as quickly as possible, the Uchiha group had formed a triangular assault formation and taken the lead. Behind them came an army wearing Iwa Forehead Protectors, following close on their heels.
If you ignored the clan crests and forehead protectors and looked only at the formation and positions, there was no doubt that the Uchiha were leading the Iwa ninjas into battle.
The strangeness of the situation was beyond anyone's comprehension.
The Uchiha were not the only ones at a loss for words. The Iwa ninjas were just as silent.
Anyone who saw this scene would be left speechless, or couldn't help laughing.
Uchiha Yuji looked around at the silent Iwa ninjas, watching them trudge along with their heads down. A faint smile touched his lips.
Their pent-up feelings were like dark-chocolate-covered liqueur chocolates: smooth and oppressive, with a faint spiciness spilling out at the end. It was a rather nice flavor.
"It's fine. If they want to follow us, let them."
"I said it before: plans are only plans."
"Your plan from the start was to defeat the Iwa ninjas and then head for the Kumo battlefield to deal with them. What a confident plan."
Ōnoki floated in front of the Iwa ranks. He had heard every word of the Uchiha's conversation.
On the battlefield, death could not be prevented. When two sides were enemies, killing the other by any means was perfectly normal.
Ōnoki was furious that Uchiha Yuji had killed the Iwa ninjas, but that didn't stop him from being grateful that Yuji had spared them in the end.
Even if that outcome had been caused by Ōnoki's own arrogance.
Though his anger outweighed everything else, he couldn't win, so he had to endure it.
"If we didn't have at least that much confidence, we wouldn't have sent a lone army all the way into the Land of Earth." Uchiha Yuji replied calmly.
"We're confident we can defeat your Iwa ninjas, so of course we're confident we can defeat the Kumo ninjas, too."
Those words left Ōnoki speechless.
He could have just talked about the Kumo ninjas. There was no need to bring up the Iwa ninjas, too.
It was like saying, "I can criticize my own country all I want, but if some foreign bastard says something bad about it, he's asking for a beating."
"As expected of the Uchiha. No matter the era, you're always just as detestable," Ōnoki snorted. His flying speed slowed, and soon he had dropped back into the Iwa formation.
Uchiha Yuji didn't care about the stubborn old man's arrogance.
Just as he was a poor match for the Third Raikage, he was a poor match for the Third Tsuchikage, too.
The Land of Waterfalls wasn't particularly small. Before they reached the Land of Moon, the Iwa ninjas stopped to rest several times.
Uchiha Yuji didn't believe Orochimaru could deal with the Kumo ninjas quickly, either, so he replenished his supplies from the Iwa ninjas' provisions a few times.
After all, they were marching as an army, not a small squad. They weren't going to live on Military Ration Pills; dedicated supply personnel cooked their meals.
I beat them, so what's wrong with eating a few of their meals?
With that thought, Uchiha Yuji naturally joined Ōnoki at the dining table. The old man was deeply displeased, but he couldn't argue with the stronger fist.
And then, just as they were making their peaceful journey and foraging in harmony, that calm was broken one evening.
The leader of a band of Kumo brutes, who had also come to steal supplies, appeared not far from the camp and locked eyes with Ōnoki and Uchiha Yuji.
"So the Iwa ninjas have joined forces with Konoha?"
The Third Raikage looked at Ōnoki and Uchiha Yuji eating at the same table and asked the question that was weighing on his soul.
His expression was the very picture of a classic, baffled Black man.
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