After the battle

When A heard that Dodai had been killed in battle, he exploded on the spot. Lightning lashed around his body, shattering even the rocks beneath his feet.

Dodai had been his old comrade-in-arms as well as Kumogakure's strategist. This move by Konoha had utterly enraged him.

Killer B stopped rapping and hurriedly held A by the shoulders.

He knew that if his big brother went berserk, the entire force would suffer. As the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, he had to use the tailed beast's power to restrain A.

Shiroi knelt on the ground, his nails digging into his flesh.

He was filled with regret. Why hadn't he realized at the time that Konoha was luring the tiger away from the mountain?

Minato Namikaze and the Uchiha had appeared separately precisely to draw the reinforcements away.

If he had insisted on staying to defend the camp, Dodai might not have died.

Although A had calmed down a little, his murderous intent had not diminished at all.

He gave the order outright: "Forget the original battle plan. The entire army's top priority is to hunt down the Uchiha and Tsunade!"

Dodai's death had to be avenged with the heads of these elite Konoha shinobi.

Killer B was the first to speak, his tone unusually serious. "Big brother, the angrier you get, the easier it is to fall into their trap. Konoha deliberately wants us to act rashly. If we attack them head-on now, we're bound to suffer."

As a jinchūriki who could fully control the Eight-Tails, he understood the consequences of losing control better than anyone. In the past, the Eight-Tails had nearly destroyed half of Kumogakure when he went berserk.

So his attempt to reason with A now came not only from logic, but also from bitter experience.

Shiroi immediately followed up. "Lord Dodai always valued strategy above all else. If we sacrifice our main force for revenge, we'll be going against the very principle he held most dear."

He deliberately brought up Dodai's way of doing things because he knew A listened to this strategist more than anyone.

Shiroi himself had fallen for Konoha's lure-the-tiger-away-from-the-mountain tactic, so he knew better than anyone how cunning the enemy was.

The lightning around A slowly weakened, but he still clenched his fists in fury.

Seeing this, the two immediately proposed a compromise.

Killer B would lead troops in pursuit of the enemy, while Shiroi would take men to cut off Konoha's supplies.

This would allow them to seek revenge without taking too great a risk, and only then did A reluctantly agree.

Unlike the Kumogakure camp, the Konoha Camp brimmed with the joy of victory.

Fugaku stood beside the bonfire, wearing a rare smile of approval.

Dodai, that old fox, had caused Konoha no shortage of trouble in the past. This time, Yūto had finished him off with a single combination of attacks while giving a clear demonstration of the Uchiha's Sharingan tactics.

He patted the clansman beside him on the shoulder and said quietly, "Yūto truly brought honor to the Uchiha in this operation."

Minato was reviewing the battle with several jonin, his eyes shining with satisfaction.

As the architect of their tactics, he understood the risks of this operation better than anyone.

If Yūto had not anticipated Dodai's every move so precisely, the entire plan could never have succeeded.

"That child always finds a way through a desperate situation," Minato remarked to his colleagues. "He has both courage and strategy. He's bound to achieve great things."

Tsukimi sat quietly beside a tent, lost in thought, her fingertips unconsciously stroking a kunai.

Her mind was filled with how dashing Yūto had looked charging into the Kumogakure camp, and the sight of his back as he blocked a lightning-wreathed punch for her. The tips of her ears quietly reddened.

When the kunoichi beside her teased her for being lovestruck, she pressed her lips into a smile and retorted, "The way he fights... he's very dependable."

Tsunade leaned alone against a support post of the medical tent, glaring at Yūto's back from a distance.

She could still feel the sensation of chakra flowing through the meridians in her thigh. Such a boundary-crossing method of treatment was simply unheard of.

When the medical team asked why her face was so red she looked feverish, she forced an answer through gritted teeth. "That brat is no hero... he's just a shameless, lecherous bastard!"

At the other end of the camp, Yūto suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose in bewilderment.

When news of Yūto killing Dodai reached Konoha, the Third Hokage stood before his office window and took a deep draw on his pipe. The creases between his brows finally eased a little.

As Kumogakure's strategic mind, Dodai had been a major threat to Konoha for years. Now that he had been eliminated, the pressure on the front had dropped sharply.

He turned to the ANBU beside him and said, "Notify the front lines. Continue advancing steadily and cautiously. Do not rush ahead."

Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound, the clansmen could hardly contain their excitement.

Dodai had once devised tactics specifically against the Uchiha. His death at Yūto's hands undoubtedly enhanced their prestige.

The younger clansmen gathered together, their voices full of pride. "That's our genius for you! This is how the Sharingan should earn its fearsome reputation!"

Even the usually stern Uchiha elders nodded slightly. "This operation truly showed the village the Uchiha's value."

When Konoha's ordinary villagers heard the news of victory, proud smiles spread across their faces.

In the taverns, merchants raised their cups in celebration. "It's because we have such powerful shinobi that our village can live in peace!"

Many people also changed their view of the Uchiha. They had always thought them arrogant and cold, but now they realized that the clan was also an important force protecting Konoha.

At the orphanage, Yakushi Nonō gently closed the medical notes in her hands and let out a long breath.

She had constantly worried about Yūto's safety on the battlefield. Now that she knew he was not only safe but had also earned great merit, she could finally set her mind at ease.

She smiled and told the children, "Your big brother Yūto has done something wonderful for the village again."

Meanwhile, in Root's gloomy base, Danzo leaned on his cane, a trace of coldness flashing through his lone eye.

Yūto's performance had been far too outstanding, and the Uchiha's prestige had risen along with it.

He said quietly to the subordinate beside him, "Pass down the order to increase surveillance on the Uchiha. A genius like this, if he cannot be put to use by Konoha..."

As the war settled into a stalemate, Killer B and Shiroi's tactics met with one setback after another.

The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, combined with the Yamanaka Clan's mental sensing, left every flanking surprise attack by Kumogakure with nowhere to hide.

The Aburame Clan's insect swarms also sealed off every covert infiltration route, completely ruining Shiroi's plan to cut off supplies.

Killer B stood on high ground in the camp, the Eight-Tails' chakra flowing slowly within him.

He had intended to use the tailed beast's superior senses to find gaps in Konoha's defensive line, but the Hyuga Branch Family's shinobi maintained a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree surveillance net without a single blind spot.

"Big brother, forcing our way through will only waste our troops," he said, dropping his rapping cadence for once. "Konoha's defenses are tighter than we expected."

Shiroi stared at the insect swarm activity zones marked on the sand table, his nails unconsciously tapping against the tabletop.

He had once proposed using Lightning Release to clear a wide area, but the Aburame Clan's kikaichū could actually absorb chakra, leaving Kumogakure's shinobi to suffer an unexpected loss instead.

"A full assault now would be sending ourselves to our deaths," he told the staff officers, his expression dark. "We have to wait for Konoha to expose a weakness first."

Inside Konoha's command post, Tokuma Hyuga was monitoring Kumogakure's movements with his Byakugan.

Seeing that the enemy was holding position, he turned to report to Shikaku Nara. "Kumogakure's supply lines have already contracted as far as they can. They can afford a prolonged fight even less than we can."

Shikaku rubbed his temples. This was exactly the outcome he had wanted. Through precise countermeasures, Konoha had successfully dragged the revenge-hungry Kumogakure into the mire of a war of attrition.

Now, in the buffer zone at the center of the battlefield, patrols from both sides occasionally faced off at a distance, but neither side ever attacked.