Kirigakure's offensive came to an abrupt end like water cut off by a knife.
The Kirigakure troops on the front line were leaderless and were withdrawn in batches by Mizunotsuki Shigure with an order. Konoha Mitokado Homura's camp on the opposite side was already empty before Mitokado Homura had time to react.
The last remaining flame of Third Shinobi World War died out quietly.
On the day when the news reached Kumogakure, Shaoyu was standing on the rooftop of Raikage Building.
He held the secret report from Kirigakure in his hand. The handwriting of Mizunotsuki Shigure on the paper was as neat as ever. In just a few lines, it described the entire process of Yagura's execution, with a sentence attached at the end.
Kirigakure will strictly abide by the covenant and will no longer use troops against Konoha. After Shaoyu read it, he folded the secret report and put it in his sleeve, looked up and looked into the distance.
Kumogakure below the rooftop is the busiest time of the day.
People were coming and going on the main street, the newly built shops were connected together, and the signboards glowed with fresh paint in the sunshine of the plateau.
There was a long queue at the ramen restaurant on the corner, and a few Genin squatted at the door holding bowls and snoring loudly.
Further away on the training ground, the twenty Eight Gates trainees led by Third Raikage were running in circles, and green chakra steam was faintly emerging from several of them.
Someone has already touched the threshold of the third door.
After all, not everyone is Shaoyu. At that time, Shaoyu directly relied on his powerful body to make breakthroughs to the extent that he could open six doors, but Kumogakure and others could not. Even Third Raikage had just reached the level of opening four doors.
Looking further away, Ninja Academy's new school building is under construction. A group of craftsmen are busy on the scaffolding. Kakuzu is standing aside with a ledger to supervise the work. From time to time, he reaches out and points, probably talking about the budget for each brick.
Thriving. These four words are not an exaggeration at all when used to describe the current Kumogakure.
After defeating Third Shinobi World War, the one with the smallest loss among Five Great Shinobi Villages is Kumogakure, and the one with the greatest gain is Kumogakure.
Konoha's side Danzo was defeated, Root was disbanded, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was captured and exchanged, Nine-Tails was exchanged, 90% of Uchiha moved away, and Kumogakure had to be compensated hundreds of millions of taels every year.
Iwagakure lost ten thousand troops and Five-Tails Jinchuriki, and his vitality was severely damaged. The old man Ōnoki is probably sitting in Iwagakure worrying about the ledger now.
Sunagakure was even worse. Third Kazekage was assassinated by the scorpion. Chiyo The old woman's brother Ebizo was hacked to death by Hanzo. The interior was in chaos.
Kirigakure is a victorious country on the surface, but in fact Kutsuki Baidiao is dead, Yagura is dead, the four tribes are in power, and Mizunotsuki Shigure is already a vassal of Kumogakure.
Kumogakure is now the most powerful force of Shinobi World. Shaoyu knows this very well.
And the reason why Kumogakure is what it is today, his personal strength plays a decisive role.
From taking away the elite Uchiha when he defected to Konoha, to convincing Third Raikage to take in Uchiha.
From Bloodline Plunder Plan during Second Shinobi World War, to defeating Danzo head-on in Third Shinobi World War, exchanging Two-Tails for Nine-Tails, and becoming Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Then secretly support the four Kirigakure clans, get rid of Kutsuki Baidiao and Yagura, and tie Kirigakure to Kumogakure's chariot.
Behind all of this, there is his shadow.
But he knows another thing better: Kumogakure does not yet have the power to completely unify Shinobi World.
With his strength, he could rush into any ninja village, take off the Kage's head and hang it at the entrance of the village.
Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Six Eyes, Ten Shadows Technique, Eight Gates.
Shinobi World can't find anyone who can compete with him one on one.
But unified Shinobi World is not a one-on-one challenge.
It is easy to defeat but difficult to hold.
Now he rushes into Iwagakure and kills Ōnoki. Iwagakure will surrender tomorrow, and then what?
He can't stay at Iwagakure as a guard forever.
As soon as he leaves, Iwagakure's old troops will rebel, as will Sunagakure's side.
Kumogakure's current military strength can crush any single ninja village, but it cannot crush the entire Shinobi World on fire at the same time, and every village conquered by his force is a volcano that may reignite at any time.
That's the heart of the matter - there's only one Shaoyu.
He is Raikage of Kumogakure, but he is also Kumogakure's strongest combat power, highest decision-maker, and greatest deterrent.
He cannot be everywhere at the same time.
If he forcibly bulldozes the four major ninja villages, he can indeed do it in the short term, but as soon as he leaves, the conquered ninja villages will rebound immediately.
He can kill a hundred rebel ninjas, but not a million.
He can put down rebellions three times in a month, but he cannot put down rebellions all over the world all year round.
An empire that does not have enough middle-level support will only need a long enough assassination to collapse. And what Shinobi World is most in need of is assassination.
So what he has to do now is not to continue to expand. He is to stop and lay a solid foundation for Kumogakure.
It's so thick that even if he's not around, Kumogakure can still crush any provocateur with its hard power.
Konoha's compensation is 500 million taels per year. This money has been locked in the previous war compensation negotiations.
Shaoyu invested most of this money in infrastructure construction - roads, bridges, water conservancy, and electricity.
Kumogakure is located on a plateau with many mountains and dangerous roads, and transportation costs are extremely high. In the past, more than half of the materials entering and exiting the village were transported by ninjas using seal scrolls, which was horribly inefficient.
Now he used the compensation money to build roads and connect Kumogakure to several surrounding towns with stone roads. The caravans can travel on horseback and no longer need ninjas to escort them in person.
He also found a preliminary plan for hydropower generation from Konoha's technical information, built a dam in the canyon south of the village, and connected electricity to all Ninja Academy, the hospital, and the Anbu building.
These things may seem less glamorous than fighting, but Shaoyu knows that the foundation of a village is not how strong the shadow's fist is, but whether the roads are accessible, whether there is electricity, and whether the caravan is willing to do business.
The reserve of ninja power is also accelerating.
Eight Gates is personally led by Third Raikage. Six of the first batch of twenty cultivators have already reached the threshold of the third door, and two of them are young people from the Uchiha Clan.
The status of Uchiha in Kumogakure is completely different from that of Konoha.
Shaoyu gave them equal treatment as other families, neither preferential treatment nor segregation. The clan is located in the center of the village, adjacent to the clans of other families. Daily training and task allocation are all integrated into the unified establishment of Kumogakure.
After five years, I saw the children in the clan taking classes, training together, and participating in Chunin Ninja Exams with local children in Kumogakure in the Ninja Academy. The more stubborn older generation in Uchiha finally stopped talking about Konoha.
After all, they can still tell whether it is good or bad.