At those words, everyone raised their heads and silently stared at the speaker.
Thud!!!
The Konoha Chunin who had spoken pleaded with everyone through tears, his voice choked with sobs.
"Please, even if you don't think about yourselves, you have to think about your families. We've already done everything we could for Konoha."
If he alone chose to surrender, he would die whether he surrendered or not.
Only by dragging everyone into surrendering with him would they have a chance of being accepted by the Empire and preserving their families.
Silence...
Everyone remained silent and gave him no response.
But the Konoha Chunin was already overjoyed. The fact that they had not killed him meant they were wavering.
"Everyone... we are Konoha's last seeds. There are plenty of people from Konoha in the Empire. We aren't betraying Konoha; we're merely joining the Empire."
The Konoha Chunin racked his brains and used every excuse he had ever come up with in his life.
Those words gave them a way out and became the final straw that shattered their hesitation.
"He's right. We aren't betraying anyone; we're joining them. Pretty much every ninja clan in the village has joined the Empire. How could we possibly count as traitors?"
"That's right. I'm leaving darkness for the light. I'm returning to the Empire's embrace."
"Let's go. We'll trade Tsunade and Jiraiya's whereabouts for a chance to live. They're the real traitors."
"That's right, let's go."
"Let's go."
In an instant, their minds became much more flexible. They shifted from being traitors to being the ones betrayed and stabbed in the back.
Between those who wanted to surrender and those who wanted to die, the ones who wanted to surrender naturally ran faster. They did not need to worry about encountering Imperial ninja; they were