Sand Village Announces Unconditional Surrender, Minato's Moment in the Spotlight

Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders, Danzo handed over command of the troops.

"Could it be that, at this very moment, I was destined to be overwhelmed by sorrow?" After one last look at the camp, Danzo reluctantly left with the Root ninjas.

Minato suddenly became the highest-ranking commander of Konoha's ninja force at Kikyo Mountain.

It was his first time independently commanding a ninja force.

A little nervous.

He thought that, like the Third Hokage, he should first memorize everyone's names in this unit.

Minato spent some time calling the ninjas at Kikyo Mountain into his tent one by one, getting acquainted with them and assigning their tasks.

The Konoha ninjas were highly cooperative with this outstanding ninja who had arrived with reinforcements and saved their lives. The younger ones thought the Flying Thunder God Technique he had used to break the siege was incredibly cool, while the older ones seemed to see the Second Hokage brought back to life.

On the way to Minato's tent, praise for Minato could be heard everywhere.

The twelve-year-old boy felt that his teacher ought to understand the Third Hokage's intentions now, right? He was practically laying his cards on the table and saying that he wanted Minato to become Hokage.

"Masaichi, Obito often mentioned you to me," Minato said, looking at Masaichi seated across from him.

"I'm sure none of it was good."

Minato scratched the back of his head. That was indeed true.

The atmosphere became a little awkward. Minato could chat with anyone else for a few words, but this Masaichi seemed somewhat hostile toward him.

"I don't think there's any misunderstanding between us, is there?" Minato sighed, looking wounded.

Yet Masaichi remained unmoved.

Smiles were reserved for one's own people.

He did not know how it looked from someone else's perspective, but from his own, Minato truly was his greatest "enemy."

He could smile at Danzo, but he could not smile at Minato. Perhaps it was because of Hiruzen Sarutobi's favoritism.

Strictly speaking, Minato was Jiraiya's student, while he was Orochimaru's student. They were actually of the same generation.

To be fair, did Jiraiya and Minato's combined contributions surpass those of Orochimaru and himself?

Yet Minato had it far smoother than him in Konoha.

All the spotlight was on him. All the discussions were about him.

He knew Minato was a good person. All of this was Hiruzen Sarutobi's sin.

But now that things had come to this, there could be no good ending between Orochimaru's faction and Minato's faction.

Rather than Orochimaru versus Minato,

Masaichi felt it was more like Tobirama's ideology versus Hashirama's ideology.

One was private ownership, while the other was public ownership.

"Oh, right, Rin said..." Minato suddenly recalled something and smiled.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me in detail, Minato. What did Rin say?"

Masaichi suddenly perked up and listened attentively, making Minato click his tongue. This kid really was realistic.

Minato smiled bitterly to himself.

He had once thought Kakashi was Obito's greatest rival for marrying Rin.

But now, it seemed...

"Go on." Masaichi tugged at the bitterly smiling Minato.

"Yes, yes."

"But Masaichi, do you still like little Rin?"

"None of your business."

Masaichi and Minato drove the Sand Village forces that had invaded the Land of Fire out together.

The Sand Village announced its unconditional surrender, withdrew from the Land of Fire, and signed an alliance agreement with Konoha.

"Minato, please."

Rasa could endure humiliation as well. Before the cameras, he bowed to Minato and presented the letter of surrender.

Once that image was released, there was no need to explain what kind of influence Minato would have in Konoha.

It was exhilarating!

"Konoha and the Sand Village will surely remain at peace forever. Even in our children's generation, I believe it will still be so, because the Kazekage seems to be someone who loves peace as well," Minato said pleasantly.

Rasa felt that the humiliation under the spotlight had diminished somewhat.

If Masaichi had not helped Orochimaru capture "little white mice," rob graves, collect dirty money, and dig up Hashirama's coffin... he definitely would have followed Minato.

But at some point, he too had become a "stinking bug" in the gutter.

If he wanted to shake off the stigma of being a stinking bug, he had to become Hokage like Tobirama. Becoming Hokage had nearly turned into Masaichi's obsession.

After the press conference ended,

Masaichi grabbed Rasa as well. "Kazekage, would you like to learn about fitness training?"

After suffering for so long at Kikyo Mountain, Orochimaru took pity on him and arranged a new set of fitness equipment for him.

As for the old equipment... he put it up for trans...

Ahem, he planned to use the old equipment to expand his gym business outward.

During wartime, the other ninja villages were prone to underhanded dealings.

The Sand Village had happened to surrender to Konoha, so Konoha's businesses needed tax-exempt policies there.

In truth, there was no difference between new and old fitness equipment. Masaichi guessed that his teacher simply did not know what he liked or what gift to give him, so he conservatively chose fitness equipment.

Sigh.

His teacher really did not put any thought into it.

If it were Nawaki, his teacher would surely rack his brains to prepare a gift, right?

Why did his teacher dote on Anko? Well, Masaichi guessed it was because Anko's reckless personality resembled Nawaki's. Great, Anko had become a substitute.

"Fitness training?" Rasa looked confused.

In the Ninja World, only the Land of Lightning had any concept of fitness training. The Land of Fire had only begun to see it spread on a small scale among ninjas because of Masaichi.

In a place like the Sand Village, where they could barely get enough to eat, only someone bored out of their mind would work out.

"Yashamaru." Seeing that Masaichi was merely a Chunin with little fame, Rasa called over his brother-in-law to handle it.

After his brother-in-law arrived and saw that Masaichi was merely a Chunin with little fame, he called one of his subordinates over to handle it.

At twelve years old, he stood there like a mere lackey.

Masaichi was about to hate Hiruzen Sarutobi to death. If his achievements in the Hidden Cloud Village had been announced to the Ninja World, would these two dare look down on him like this?!

But whoosh!

Sand Village!!!

Masaichi was somewhat petty.

This ninja village had better not come begging him for help someday.

After finishing the business discussion, Masaichi left resentfully.

"Let's go."

Now, he had subordinates too.

Two Genin, both freshly graduated from the ninja academy and assigned to him.

One was named Kiba. He looked fair and clean-cut, and Masaichi felt he would look better if he had the same hair color as Kakashi.

The other was Sakata Yujin, a passionate and sunny boy.

There had originally been three boys, but one had died. Sigh, war was cruel.

"Teacher, my birthday is in a few days~" Kiba was especially fond of acting cute around Masaichi.

Oh my, he called me teacher.

Then as his teacher, I definitely could not shortchange him.

"Teacher, could you give me an annual gym membership card in a few days?"

"Oh? It's your birthday too?"

"No, not really."

"Then you don't get one."