The main road within the Land of Fire was broad and level.
Heavy iron wheels rolled over the hard earth with an unbroken rumble.
Sixty large wagons laden with spoils formed a long procession, piled high with Lightning Release ninja tools and Hidden Cloud supplies.
Behind the wagons, more than five hundred Hidden Cloud prisoners trudged with their heads hanging, bound in chakra-suppressing chains.
Eight hundred soldiers of the Seventh Guerrilla Legion marched along either side in heavy, ink-black armor.
These young men held their chins high, their eyes brimming with pride.
Konoha's gates appeared on the distant horizon.
The open ground outside the gates was already packed with people.
"Look! They're back! They really came back!"
A sharp-eyed civilian shouted from beneath a watchtower.
"Heavens, are all those people behind them prisoners?"
"They are! I heard they even beat the Raikage's heir into the ground!"
Cheers erupted, sending birds scattering from the woods.
Konoha's civilians, wounded soldiers, and members of the great clans who had remained in the village crowded both sides of the road.
Even the White Fang of Konoha probably had not received such a grand welcome when he returned after his great victories.
Several elders of the Hyuga Branch Family squeezed to the front and immediately spotted Tianfeng at the head of the ranks.
The elders rubbed their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.
"That armor Tianfeng is wearing looks even finer than the Main Family's."
"Doesn't it? I heard he killed more than a dozen enemy Jonin at Blackwater Marsh!"
Members of the Uchiha clan crowded the other side as well.
Seeing Uchiha Yan leading the troops with such high spirits, they immediately began talking among themselves.
Qian Ye rode a tall horse at the very front, casually waving to the villagers on either side.