After the battle, Yukimichi Uchiha stood before the corpse of Commander Sarutobi and nodded slightly. "Although you were stupid, and although I couldn't understand what you did at all..."
"But your courage is indeed commendable; it's quite impressive that you dared to challenge the Uchiha. However, this is the only thing I can praise you for."
After finishing his Yukimichi Uchiha slightly raised his head and looked towards the distant capital of the Sarutobi Clan.
The last obstacle in the Uchiha Uchiha's path has now been cleared, and their journey to the Sarutobi Clan's capital is unimpeded.
Yukimichi Uchiha could almost see his medals beckoning to him; he didn't want to stay a moment longer, his heart pounding with excitement.
He will achieve instant fame today, becoming the first student from the military academy to receive both the Outstanding Graduate Award and the First-Class Merit Medal.
He would become the first military academy graduate to be praised by the Uchiha and even the entire nation! He could almost picture his achievements being sung by everyone, and everyone looking at him with eyes of admiration.
"Just thinking about it makes me breathless, my dear Miss Medal, I'm coming!"
In the capital of the Sarutobi Clan, the imperial court, anxiously awaiting good news from the front lines, received not the news of the complete annihilation of the Uchiha, but instead the news that all remaining troops they had dispatched had been wiped out by the Uchiha.
Upon hearing the news, the Sarutobi Clan chief slumped into his chair, his expression one of utter despair, muttering to himself repeatedly.
"It's over, completely over! We're utterly finished!"
All the other civil and military officials also lowered their heads, their expressions no better.
The civil official who had initially opposed the plan simply shook his head slightly, sighed, and said, "If only he had known then what he knows now."
The Sarutobi Clan chief, who had been hanging his head with a mournful face, suddenly looked up and said to the civil official, "By the way, since you were able to foresee this, you must have a way to save us, right? You must have a way to cover everything, right?"
The civil official's eyes widened, and he pointed to himself. "Why don't you look at what you're saying? What do you mean by 'I have the ability to foresee it, so I have the ability to cover it up'? What kind of bullshit logic is that? I've already said it before, what we're doing is courting death."
This kind of thing can only be done at noon, because it'll be too late in the morning! The only thing we can do now is pack up, write a letter of surrender to the Uchiha, express our attitude, and try to appease them to avoid them retaliating later.
After the civil official finished speaking, he completely muted himself and stopped talking.
The other military commanders jumped out to criticize him. "What is this guy talking about? Surrender? Does the Sarutobi Clan have to bow down to the Uchiha Clan? We won't accept it!"
"What's the use of you not accepting? The Uchiha have already come to our doorstep. Unless you can deal with the Uchiha Clan who are attacking us now, you have no choice but to accept."
Once the country has been conquered, it will be too late for you to write a letter of surrender.
Another general gritted his teeth and said, "We still have allies, we can still struggle. We can go to the Senju Clan, we can go to the Uzumaki Clan for help! They still have enough troops, and they can still fight the Uchiha."
The civil official merely glanced at him indifferently, then curled his lips into a contemptuous smile and said, "Are you kidding me? It's hard to say how far the Senju Clan is from here."
" The Uzumaki Clan is separated from us by the entire Uchiha. How do you expect the Uzumaki Clan to cross the Uchiha's defenses to support us?"
The military officer who had spoken was speechless. Clearly, he had only spoken rashly in an attempt to refute the civil official, without considering the logic and feasibility of the matter.
Glancing at the speechless military general, the civil official coldly waved his sleeve. " The Uchiha Clan is now at our gates. The most rational and optimal course of action is to surrender directly and preserve our Sarutobi Clan."
Otherwise, if the Uchiha Clan enters the city and massacres our Sarutobi Clan, how can we resist? We don't even have a single ninja left!
If the Sarutobi Clan were to be wiped out by the tides of history, how would you and I face our Sarutobi Clan in the afterlife?
The Sarutobi Clan chief bit his lower lip and asked, "Is surrendering really our only option? Is there really no other way? We could try to escape, or we could try..."
"Don't even think about it! Escape? Where can we escape to? There's nowhere left to go in the vast Land of Gold, and the Uchiha Clan won't allow us to escape."
The civil official finally saw the faces of these people clearly and, no longer wanting to engage in pretense, loudly proclaimed:
"Open your dog eyes and look! We have failed! We have failed utterly and completely! Our army has been wiped out, our country is destroyed, and our homes are ruined! This is the work of you insects!"
How can a country be governed well with a bunch of vermin like you? Corruption, ignorance, stubbornness, and constantly changing policies! It would be an injustice if such a country didn't perish!
These words were utterly merciless, tearing away the fig leaf from everyone in the court and the public, and even throwing it aside, offering a scathing mockery.
At this moment, the faces of all the civil and military officials in the court and among the common people turned ugly, and every one of them glared angrily at the civil official standing in the center.
The civil official glared back defiantly and sneered, "Did I say anything wrong? A bunch of arrogant, self-important fools..."
Civil officials are different when they curse; they can say so much without using a single vulgar word, yet their sentences are full of derogatory terms, rendering everyone in the court and the country utterly worthless.
Watching the civil officials in the main hall constantly mocking the others, the Sarutobi Clan chief finally slumped weakly into his chair and softly said, "Pass on my order... the Sarutobi Clan... surrender."
Upon hearing the Sarutobi Clan leader's order, the military officers and some civil officials turned around in shock, their eyes wide, opening their mouths as if to say something.
However, the head of the Sarutobi Clan ruthlessly waved his hand, silencing their words: "I know what you want to say, you just want me to continue resisting."
Resistance is futile; we have failed, utterly and completely failed! Now, everyone step back, let me have some peace and quiet.
As the words fell, the head of the Sarutobi Clan slowly rose from his seat and walked forlornly into the shadows.