Withdrawal

"Enough! Now is not the time to discuss this. What we should be doing now is to cease hostilities immediately!"

Ōnoki tapped the table, and a member of the Iwagakure Anbu quickly appeared in the doorway.

"Notify the Frontline to withdraw their forces back to the Land of Earth; the war is about to end."

Upon receiving the order, the Iwagakure Ninja quickly departed.

"Huh? Is it over already?" Kitsuchi asked, puzzled. "But we haven't achieved any results yet. If we retreat now, it'll be a waste of a lot of money."

Kitsuchi had been learning how to manage the Village from Ōnoki, and he was well aware that preparing for war alone would cost a lot of money.

The money for Shuriken, Explosive Tag, medical supplies, and military funds for Ninja —there are huge expenses everywhere.

If someone chooses to withdraw without achieving any results, the Village Daimyo who allocated the money could accuse them of cheating him out of his money.

"What other results do you want? With his feat of single-handedly annihilating two thousand Sunagakure, plus the fact that he killed the Third Kazekage before, do you think there's any need for us to continue fighting?"

If we let Ryuuzaki Eiji continue killing like this, the Iwagakure Ninja on the Frontline will not be safe. The two thousand Sunagakure have already perished on the border of the Land of Wind are a cautionary tale!

Although he possesses the Dust Release, which is hailed as having the strongest destructive power, whether it will be effective remains to be seen.

If it works, that's good; if it doesn't, then Iwagakure will lose a major advantage in negotiations.

Just thinking about it gives Ōnoki a headache; this Ryuuzaki Eiji actually possesses both high mobility and area-of-effect Ninjutsu.

He's practically a combination of Tobirama Senju and Hashirama Senju.

With his Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai, Ōnoki recalled that humiliating night.

On the night he and the Second Tsuchikage went to Konoha to forge an alliance, there was a man with long black hair and crimson eyes— Madara Uchiha.

With just a glance, he made him unable to straighten his back. Ōnoki had no doubt that if Madara Uchiha had that thought, he would be killed by him at any moment.

And now, that terrifying nightmare seems to have returned.

Could this kid be the next Madara Uchiha?

Although Hashirama Senju was stronger, he was a very easy-going person.

Madara Uchiha was terrifying because of his strength and style of doing things, and Ryuuzaki Eiji, at such a young age, was ruthless and merciless, clearly similar in style to Madara Uchiha.

He would not show mercy to the enemy; if the fighting continued like this, he worried that the Iwagakure on the Frontline would suffer the same fate Sunagakure.

It was thought that Konoha's strength would be greatly diminished after losing Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, but the appearance of Ryuuzaki Eiji has once again disrupted the balance.

Let's prepare for negotiations. In any case, Iwagakure has not been defeated and does not need to pay reparations. The only loser in this war is Sunagakure.

Perhaps Sunagakure is already considering who should succeed Kazekage and how to gain leverage at the negotiating table.

"What about Amegakure?"

Kitsuchi scratched his head and said.

"Hanzō of sound mind, he wouldn't have provoked Konoha at this time; otherwise, he would have faced the same fate."

Even the Third Kazekage was easily defeated, so Hanzō wouldn't be much stronger than him.

Although Hanzo of the Salamander is called a "Demigod," it would be laughable if he actually considered himself a god. Most of his strength is related to poison, and dealing with Ryuuzaki Eiji, who can move at high speed, would be suicide.

Moreover, Amegakure didn't gain any advantage after this war. Ōnoki believed that he would understand from this lesson that Amegakure could never be on par with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

More than that, he wanted to see Ryuuzaki Eiji at the negotiating table.

He wanted to see those eyes for himself, and to know what kind of person he really was.

Otherwise, his strength will only increase after he comes of age, Konoha will surely become exceptionally powerful in the Future.

If he sends troops and starts Shinobi World War, Iwagakure will be in trouble if they are completely unprepared.

Kitsuchi Tu tapped his palm. "Oh, because Hanzō is roughly equivalent to the Kazekage, and Ryuuzaki Eiji killed the Kazekage, so Ryuuzaki Eiji can also kill Hanzō."

Ōnoki: "..."

Although what Kitsuchi said was largely true, after the Raikage's debate just now, Ōnoki found it all rather awkward.

The Eyes of the Blue Sky, what an extraordinary bloodline! I wish I could obtain it.

At this point, an idea slowly surfaced in Ōnoki's mind.

"By the way Kitsuchi, in your own opinion, are there any girls in our Iwagakure who are around your age and quite pretty?"

"Hey, is Dad going to arrange a marriage for me already?"

Kitsuchi looked a little embarrassed.

"I'm not looking for you, I'm arranging a marriage for Ryuuzaki Eiji!"

If, at this negotiation meeting, they can arrange for Ryuuzaki Eiji to marry a girl from Iwagakure under the pretext of forming an alliance with Konoha, then Iwagakure might gain a powerful Kekkei Genkai user in the Future.

The reason for forming an alliance was quite good, Ōnoki thought it would be difficult for Hiruzen Sarutobi to refuse the proposal.

Although Kitsuchi was speechless, he still spoke up, "Dad, you know our Iwagakure environment isn't great, and the female ninjas don't pay attention to skincare, so..."

Ōnoki is in pain again.

◇

Amegakure

The intelligence also reached Hanzo of the Salamander, and after confirming its authenticity, he immediately issued an order to consolidate his forces.

"Hanzō, this war has not given us what we wanted."

The advisor beside Hanzō spoke up.

"I know, but there's no reason for the war to continue at this point; we must stop it."

Hanzō isn't stupid. Ryuuzaki Eiji has that kind of strength, then failing to see the situation clearly is just suicide.

This war also made him realize many things: Amegakure did not have the strength to challenge the other major Shinobi Village. Rather than waging war, it would be better to honestly go back and develop Amegakure.

Ultimately, it's because I'm too weak; in the Shinobi World, weakness is the original sin.

Just look at Ryuuzaki Eiji and you'll understand.

A child from an ordinary family can quickly rise to become a famous figure in the Shinobi World simply by obtaining Kekkei Genkai.

If I also possessed Kekkei Genkai and a pair of extraordinary eyes, the situation would definitely be very different.

◇

Meanwhile, Kushina's side

The girls gathered near a stream, listening to the tall woman in front of them give a speech.

The instructor in charge of this training was a very stern-looking middle-aged woman; she was the "old woman" chosen by the Fire Daimyo.

The term "old woman" does not refer to an elderly woman; simply put, it refers to a female official responsible for managing the harem for the Daimyo.

The position was of high rank, second only to the principal wife within the Inner Palace, and was usually held by the wife or daughter of a powerful Retainer.