"We're going home!"
A brief silence.
Then—
"Going home!!!"
"Back to Konoha!!!"
"Long live Lord Hokage!!!"
Cheers erupted like a tsunami!
Tears, laughter, roars, embraces... all the pent-up emotions were completely unleashed at this moment!
The deck trembled, the waves churned, and even the receding shores of the Land of Whirlpools seemed infected by the joy of returning home.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood beside Kumoi, watching the fleet boil over and the relieved smile on his junior's face. At last, he revealed the first genuinely relaxed expression he had worn in days.
He spoke softly, so only Kumoi could hear him:
"Sometimes I think... you really were born to be Hokage."
Kumoi smiled without answering, merely looking east—
There, beyond the horizon, lay the Land of Fire, Konoha, and... the direction of home.
The flagship slowly turned around. Twelve warships spread out in a flying-geese formation, facing the rising sun as they cleaved through the blue sea.
The bloody chapter of the Land of Whirlpools had temporarily come to an end.
And Konoha's voyage home had only just begun.
While the fleet was still on its way back, the Ninja World had already been turned upside down.
The Ninja World Daily's special edition was like a boulder thrown into a placid lake. Within just three days, through intelligence networks spanning every nation, merchant channels, and even black-market back routes, it smashed the truth and details of the Land of Whirlpools' destruction into every ninja village, every capital, and every tavern and teahouse.
The front-page headline was shocking:
"Four Kage Allied Forces Raid Hidden Eddy Village! A Millennia-Old Sealing Clan Wiped Out Overnight!"
The subtitle was even more blunt:
"Konoha's Third Hokage Rushes to Aid Them Alone, Fighting Three Kage Single-Handedly! Post-Battle Assessment: Could a Modern-Day 'Hashirama Senju' Have Appeared?!"
The inner