Obito Succeeded

Within Iwagakure, at a location far from the battlefield, three elderly men with worried expressions had gathered.

One of them was Koji, Iwagakure's First Elder, whom Shisui had spared earlier.

As for the other two, they were the remaining two of Iwagakure's three elders—the Second Elder and the Third Elder.

Like the Iwa ninja outside, all three wore expressions of despair.

Ōnoki, in whom they had placed their hopes, had now been defeated and gone missing. His fate was unknown.

Given their experience, Koji and the other two knew full well that the missing Ōnoki had either become Konoha's prisoner or already perished.

Iwagakure had only three top-tier combatants to begin with: Ōnoki, along with the two Jinchuriki, Roshi and Han.

Now, Ōnoki had been defeated and was missing, Roshi had become the enemy's captive, and though there was still no news of Han, the three guessed that Han had likely met with misfortune as well.

If things were truly as the three of them imagined, then Iwagakure, having lost all three of its top combatants, was like a ferocious beast stripped of its fangs. Against an enemy of the same level, it would have virtually no chance of winning.

What was more, Konoha's overall strength far surpassed Iwagakure's. The two had never been on the same level to begin with.

"Do we really have to surrender to Konoha?!"

At that moment, the youngest of the three, the Third Elder, was the first to speak. His helpless tone carried a trace of unwillingness.

At his question, both First Elder Koji and the Second Elder chose to remain silent.

Surrender—no matter when it happened—was a word that brought immense humiliation.

With Ōnoki missing, the three of them had temporarily become Iwagakure's leaders. If they chose to lead the Iwa ninja into