Shisui knelt on one knee and respectfully reported:
"The other side has agreed to use the spoils they plundered from the Land of Fire over the years to ransom back the Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Their people are currently waiting at the front lines for the exchange."
Gento nodded.
Those spoils were incredibly abundant.
Food, weapons, gold, silver, cloth...
Everything Hidden Cloud Village had worked for over the past three years would now become a wedding dress for Hidden Gento Village.
With this wealth, the Land of Hot Water's finances would become far more prosperous, and the Uchiha clan treasury would gain another massive boost.
"Go take the Raikage and Killer B to the front lines for the exchange."
Shisui nodded.
"Understood."
He rose and departed.
Leaning back in his chair, Gento began considering his future plans.
The Raikage had already been controlled by Kotoamatsukami and had become his hidden chess piece.
Sending him back would be more valuable than keeping him at his side.
If handled properly, perhaps he could eventually use him to directly annex the entire Land of Lightning!
Let the Raikage continue ruling Hidden Cloud Village as its Raikage while secretly serving Hidden Gento Village.
Once the timing was right, the Land of Lightning would be in his pocket!
...
Shisui's exchange with Hidden Cloud Village proceeded smoothly.
Because they had already been utterly terrified by the Uchiha, Hidden Cloud Village did not dare pull any tricks during the exchange.
Very soon, news of Hidden Cloud Village's defeat spread throughout the entire shinobi world.
When Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village first received the news, they merely assumed it was a trick by Konoha to force them into retreat.
"The Uchiha helping Konoha? What kind of joke is that!"
"The Uchiha were forced out by Konoha. It's already good enough if they don't take advantage of the chaos. Why would they help?"
Rasa slammed the intelligence report onto the table, his face full of disbelief.
However, after they dispatched shinobi to gather confirmed information, they were all utterly shocked.
The Uchiha had actually joined the war!
And the Hidden Cloud forces led by the Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had been completely annihilated, with no survivors!
The Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had only been ransomed back at an enormous price.
After hearing the report, Rasa's face turned pale.
He remembered that back when Konoha still existed, Gento Uchiha had only been a junior… meanwhile, now, he had grown to such terrifying heights.
Indecision filled his heart.
The Uchiha had left Konoha, so their relationship with Konoha should have been extremely tense. How had they suddenly turned around and started helping Konoha instead?
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Naturally, he was unwilling to retreat.
How comfortable was it robbing the Land of Fire?
Food, gold, medicine, whatever they wanted, they had it all. It was ten thousand times better than mining gold in the desert with Magnet Release.
If he had to go back to being a gold miner, he absolutely didn't want to.
The moment he thought about the Uchiha, his head started aching again.
Perhaps they could stay and loot a few more waves.
Maybe the Uchiha were only willing to help Konoha this once.
However, just as Rasa remained undecided.
Another piece of news spread.
The Uchiha issued a declaration to the entire shinobi world that Hidden Gento Village and Konoha had formed a military alliance.
Any act of war against the Land of Fire would be regarded as a provocation against the Uchiha.
"..."
Rasa remained silent for a while before slamming the table.
"Retreat!"
The Hidden Sand forces withdrew overnight and returned to the Land of Wind.
Once Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Sand Village withdrew, Hidden Stone Village alone could no longer hold out.
Although Onoki, that old fox, was unwilling to give up, he was far more shrewd than Rasa.
He knew that even the Raikage had fallen. If his old bones went up against the Uchiha, he would just be delivering himself to death.
Besides, the Uchiha's declaration had made it clear that any act of war against the Land of Fire would be regarded as a provocation.
He had no intention of becoming the next Hidden Cloud.
Under Onoki's orders, Kitsuchi also led the front-line forces into retreat.
The Hidden Stone shinobi felt as though they had been granted amnesty and quickly packed up before retreating toward the Land of Earth.
And just like that, with the Uchiha's intervention, the war ended with astonishing speed.
In the span of only half a month, among the three forces besieging the Land of Fire, one had been annihilated while the other two fled at the mere sight of danger.
When the news reached Konoha, many of Konoha's upper ranks found it difficult to believe.
"What? Hidden Cloud retreated? Hidden Sand also retreated? Hidden Stone too?"
The game piece in Shikaku Nara's hand dropped onto the board as he sat there stunned for quite some time.
Only after the Anbu placed detailed intelligence reports before them did they finally accept reality.
Even so, they still found it somewhat unbelievable.
They had fought for three years, lost countless shinobi, and lost so much territory. They had exhausted every possible strategy without finding a solution, yet the Uchiha had solved everything the moment they acted?
The clan heads of the various shinobi clans felt even more conflicted upon hearing the news.
Once upon a time, the Uchiha had been merely another clan standing alongside them, even secretly ostracized because of the Sharingan.
Now, the Uchiha had become a colossal force within the shinobi world, one that even the Five Great Nations had to avoid.
Or rather, perhaps the era of the Five Great Nations had already passed.
The Land of Hot Water had now become the shinobi world's Sixth Great Nation!
When Tsunade received the news, she was currently negotiating at the Hyuga clan compound.
She had been painstakingly persuading Hiashi Hyuga to dispatch more shinobi in preparation for a decisive battle against the enemy.
She talked for a long time and had even begun growing angry.
Yet Hiashi merely continued sipping tea without giving a direct answer.
Right then, Shizune hurriedly pushed open the door and reported the latest intelligence to her.
Tsunade froze on the spot.
"The war... ended just like that?"
Shizune nodded frantically, her eyes filled with excitement.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade!"
"Hidden Cloud was defeated by the Uchiha, and Hidden Sand and Hidden Stone have both withdrawn!"
"The war is over!"
Tsunade opened her mouth, momentarily unsure what to say.
She had still been anxiously worrying over how to gather enough combat strength, yet now the war had already ended?
The entire thing felt unreal to her, as though she were dreaming.
Hiashi set down his teacup, a trace of complexity flashing through his eyes.
He stood up and bowed toward Tsunade.
"Lady Fifth Hokage, since the war has ended..."
Tsunade snapped back to her senses and waved a hand, signaling for him to do as he pleased.
Leaning back in her chair, Gento's infuriating face surfaced in her mind.
"Hmph! That guy's at least somewhat reliable!"
She gritted her teeth, yet the corners of her lips unconsciously curled upward into a faint smile.
Shizune nodded repeatedly from the side.
"Yeah, yeah! Lord Gento is incredible! Even the Raikage couldn't defeat him!"
Tsunade shot her a glare.
"Hmm?"
"Since when did you start calling him Lord Gento?"
"When did you two become so familiar?"
Shizune hurriedly covered her mouth.
Just as Tsunade was about to say more, Shizune suddenly remembered something and carefully spoke up.
"Lady Tsunade, there's one more matter..."
"He also sent a letter requesting permission to visit Konoha..."
"What?!"
Tsunade was shocked and abruptly sat upright.
Although she was deeply grateful that Gento had helped Konoha resolve its crisis.
The moment she remembered all the shameless things he had done to her, along with how disgraceful she had looked beneath him at the time, her teeth began itching with anger.
That bastard had taken advantage of her vulnerability.
Absolutely shameless!
She bit her lip, those memories involuntarily surfacing in her mind, causing her cheeks to grow warm.
At the side, Shizune carefully observed her expression.
"Lady Tsunade, why do you think he's suddenly coming to visit Konoha at a time like this?"
---
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