Smoke rose from the mountains, a grim reminder of the fierce battle that had taken place.
Swish!
Two figures, one large and one small, approached the battlefield at a slower pace. They were Minato and Tsunade. At Tsunade's insistence, Nawaki was being carried on her back.
Seeing the two arrive, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Sakumo walked over to meet them.
"Where's Chiyo?"
Tsunade's gaze swept over the fallen bodies scattered on the ground, her brow furrowed and her voice filled with anger.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru exchanged a glance before Jiraiya gave a bitter smile. "She escaped."
Tsunade's expression darkened with frustration, though she had half-expected this outcome. Her eyes then fell on Sakumo, who was covered in bruises.
Minato, standing nearby, smiled lightly and said, "Tsunade-sama, let me take care of Senior Nawaki. I've regained some of my strength."
Since removing the poison from Nawaki, Tsunade had used her medical ninjutsu to help treat Minato's injuries as well.
Tsunade nodded and handed Nawaki over to Minato. He gently lifted Nawaki's arm and hoisted him over his shoulder.
Tsunade approached Sakumo, her hands glowing with chakra, and began treating his wounds.
Sakumo didn't resist, knowing that Tsunade was healing his injuries.
"This time, it's fortunate that you formed a survey team. Without it, we'd be in real danger," Tsunade said. When Sakumo had initially suggested it, she had thought it unnecessary, but now it was clear that Hatake Sakumo's decision had saved Konoha's reinforcements—and likely Konoha's entire front-line troops.
Without these supplies, they would have struggled to survive in the Land of Rain.
Sakumo smiled, shaking his head. "I was just doing my job. Has the poison in Nawaki been fully cured?"
Tsunade nodded slightly in response.
"Have the losses been tallied?" Tsunade asked, turning to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya nodded and began detailing the losses in both personnel and material.
The reinforcements had lost many ninjas, and their leader, Sarutobi Chiba, had died in the ambush. However, the supplies weren't as severely affected, since most were sealed in scrolls. Even though many of the transport personnel had died, the scrolls remained largely intact.
Despite this, Tsunade's slender hands clenched tightly upon hearing the report, veins standing out against her pale skin.
"We must inform the Third Hokage immediately about the information leak. If we don't, we'll keep getting ambushed here in the Land of Rain!" Tsunade said angrily.
It was clear why the Sand Ninja had been able to plan such a precise ambush. Despite not knowing the exact route of the Konoha reinforcements, they had struck with deadly accuracy. Had it not been for Hatake Sakumo's survey team, Konoha would have been completely unaware of the danger.
The others nodded solemnly in agreement.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and said, "However, the Sand Village lost nearly 300 elite ninjas in this battle. They're now severely weakened, and with Chiyo fleeing, they can no longer hold their ground on the Land of Rain's battlefield."
In the Second Ninja War, the three major nations had fought in the Land of Rain, turning it into a warzone. Konoha, despite suffering two major setbacks, had dealt crippling blows to both the Rock and Sand Ninja forces. The Rock Ninja Army had been destroyed, and the Sand Ninja Army had suffered heavy losses, even losing Chiyo, who had fled.
With no force capable of standing against Konoha in the Land of Rain, the war was far from over, but this was a significant victory.
"This can be considered a great victory for us. Everyone has worked hard for so long. It's time to rest and report the heroic efforts of all the ninjas in these two battles to the village," Jiraiya said with a faint smile. He finally felt a sense of relief as the war shifted in Konoha's favor.
"In this battle against the Sand Ninja, Sakumo is the true hero." Jiraiya clapped Hatake Sakumo on the shoulder with a grin.
Tsunade and Orochimaru clearly didn't disagree, but Sakumo simply shook his head.
"I don't deserve all the credit. Without your support, I would never have been able to form the survey team." Sakumo waved his hand, then turned his gaze to the slender figure next to him. "If we're talking about who deserves the most credit in this battle, it's Minato."
The others were momentarily stunned, as was Minato himself.
Sakumo gave a weak smile and continued, "Even I couldn't match Chiyo from the Sand Village. If Jiraiya and Orochimaru hadn't arrived in time, I would have been killed by her."
"And the huge summoned beast that allowed the two of you to arrive in time—that was Minato's doing, wasn't it?" he added, gesturing to Minato.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru nodded in confirmation.
"And he saved the First Hokage's grandson, killed several enemy Jonin before that. Minato is undoubtedly the greatest hero of this battle," Sakumo declared.
"Haha, no arguments there!" Orochimaru chuckled. Though Nawaki was only a temporary Chunin, his identity was special—he was one of the few descendants of the First Hokage.
As Nawaki's teacher, Jiraiya naturally smiled proudly, and Tsunade didn't object, knowing that Minato had saved her brother's life.
Seeing the four of them acknowledge his role, Minato waved his hands modestly and said, "I don't dare claim the credit. I'm no match for Chiyo, and I couldn't cure Nawaki's poison. I only did what I could."
"But without your actions, Jiraiya and Orochimaru wouldn't have arrived in time to save Hatake Sakumo, and I wouldn't have been able to remove the poison from Nawaki," Tsunade said, stepping forward to pat Minato on the shoulder, her eyes full of approval.
"That idiot Jiraiya's apprentice is so outstanding, it makes me jealous," Tsunade teased with a smile.
Jiraiya, standing behind her, wasn't upset by her words. Instead, he laughed heartily. No teacher would be unhappy to see their student excel.
Minato wanted to protest further, but Sakumo stopped him.
"No matter what you say, Minato, while your strength may not be the greatest among the Konoha forces, your quick thinking saved the entire battle. You are without a doubt the biggest contributor to this victory."
What none of them realized was that, in the previous battle against Iwagakure, it had also been the young man before them who had saved Konoha.
Though Minato didn't yet possess the extraordinary power he would later wield as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, he had already shown his ability to change the course of a battlefield.
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