— — — — — —
"It's probably not just an issue with my Lightning Release technique—at least, not entirely!"
Kaito shook his head, analyzing the situation:
"Before you all were transported here, Onoki was still asking about Kazekage and the others, and he was secretly gathering chakra, clearly ready to attack me at any moment!"
"So, the problem isn't on my end."
"It's likely the group teleportation ability Uncle Shikayama mentioned."
"I didn't think too much about it before, but now it's clear—this ability, if used on a battlefield, would indeed be a decisive weapon!"
"No wonder Onoki backed down after seeing it. You can't fight against something like this!"
"Fair point. So what's next? Do we fight, or do we agree to peace and an alliance?"
Tsunade nodded and looked at Kaito for direction.
Jiraiya and the others also turned their eyes to Kaito. After the last two battles, his reputation and achievements had skyrocketed. Naturally, they started deferring to him.
"Either works. But if we negotiate, Onoki has to pay a price—no way around it," Kaito said, shaking his head nonchalantly.
"Agreed!"
The others nodded in unison.
Kaito took a step forward and said to Onoki:
"Peace talks and alliances are fine, but you need to show some sincerity!"
"Offer enough compensation, or I'm fine with settling this in a fight."
"Honestly, wiping out the 3,000 Sand shinobi and taking down the Third Kazekage wasn't even that satisfying."
"Right now, we clearly have the upper hand. I don't mind leaving you here too, haha!"
"Do you realize that if we finish this, Konoha will have years of peaceful development ahead? What do you say, Tsuchikage?"
Hearing Kaito's words, Onoki initially felt furious. But when he heard they'd really killed the Kazekage and wiped out 3,000 Sand shinobi, his pupils shrank sharply.
He wasn't sure if Kaito was bluffing, but many of the Konoha shinobi did bear signs of recent battles.
Some were even lightly or heavily injured.
It was obvious they'd been through serious combat.
Considering the absence of any Sand shinobi reinforcements, Onoki believed about 70% of what Kaito said.
Still, the idea of compensation was hard to swallow.
He'd only chosen to surrender to avoid further losses!
"Why is this brat so aggressive?" Onoki thought, feeling deeply frustrated.
But he knew it was reasonable.
If he were in Kaito's position, he'd probably do the same.
Taking a deep breath, Onoki forced down his anger and frustration before speaking:
"What compensation do you want? I can authorize a reasonable amount."
"But don't go overboard, or I won't hesitate to go down fighting!"
"Sure, my forces are at a disadvantage right now. But after that massive lightning attack of yours, how much chakra do you have left?"
"You want to talk about high-level combat power—"
Before he could finish, Kaito raised his hand, cutting him off:
"You can't match us in high-level combat power either!"
"Even without me, we still have Lady Tsunade, Master Sakumo, and Master Jiraiya—three Kage-level shinobi. What do you have to compare?"
"You know the havoc a Kage-level shinobi can wreak in a non-Kage battlefield!"
"And don't assume I'm out of chakra."
As he spoke, a terrifying surge of chakra exploded from Kaito.
The sheer density of it was palpable, almost materializing into a visible form.
This wasn't just because Kaito's ninja skills had reached the peak of Kage level.
For years, he'd been practicing a technique to refine his chakra to its purest form.
Both the quantity and quality of his chakra had been steadily increasing.
Now, his chakra levels and purity had reached an absolutely terrifying point.
"Damn... How is this possible? How can you still have such strong chakra? Are you even human?" Onoki exclaimed in shock, overwhelmed by the intensity of Kaito's chakra.
This chakra could almost rival that of a tailed beast.
And the quality? Incredibly high.
"This kid is only what, ten? Or are you actually the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths?" Onoki ranted internally, feeling utterly defeated.
At the same time, his heart was filled with bitterness and despair.
He didn't even have the confidence to beat Kaito alone, let alone handle the rest of them.
"Of course, I'm human! What's that supposed to mean, old man? Are you trying to insult me?" Kaito pretended to be offended. "Hurry up and give me a straight answer—fight or pay up?"
Though Onoki felt humiliated, he couldn't deny reality.
Honestly, even if they could win now, it wasn't worth the risk of fighting.
Not unless he could figure out how to counter Konoha's group teleportation technique.
Sigh...
Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "Fine, I'll compensate you. But first, let me see the Kazekage's body to confirm you really defeated the Sand forces."
It was a final act of resistance, a desperate attempt to negotiate from a better position.
If Kaito and his team could produce the Third Kazekage's body, he'd pay up.
"Oh?"
Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I'll indulge you."
With a wave of his hand, he produced the body of the Third Kazekage, which he'd stored earlier.
When Onoki saw this, his eyes widened, and he thought to himself, "Could this be a new Konoha invention? Have they made some major breakthrough in storage seals? Or has this brat achieved something new with the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
However, Onoki quickly pushed those thoughts aside. They weren't important right now. Instead, he carefully examined the body of the Third Kazekage.
It didn't take long for him to confirm that this was indeed the Kazekage.
"Ah, to think I saw you alive and full of spirit just half a day ago... And now you're just a corpse. Life is unpredictable," Onoki sighed.
After a moment of reflection, he pulled himself together, looked up at Kaito, and said, "Let's talk about compensation. What do you want? Don't go overboard, or I won't agree to it!"
"You should know that much."
"Understood! We'll discuss it among ourselves. Hold on for a moment," Kaito replied with a knowing nod. He waved his hand, storing the Third Kazekage's body again, and walked back to Konoha's forces to consult with Tsunade and the others.
After some back-and-forth, they settled on a general number. This time, Kaito brought Nara Shikayama along to negotiate with Onoki.
Perhaps it was because Onoki was eager to finalize the talks and quickly retreat with his men from this area that he didn't push back too hard on the compensation demands.
After over an hour of intense negotiations, both sides reached an agreement.
The terms were as follows: Iwa would compensate Konoha with 1 billion in funds or resources.
The first payment of 400 million was to be delivered to Konoha within a month. The remaining balance would be paid off over two years.
If Iwa couldn't pay in cash, they could substitute the equivalent value in minerals.
Once the compensation agreement was signed, Onoki hurriedly pushed for the peace and alliance treaties to be finalized as well.
After that, he wasted no time rallying his troops. Once they had cleaned up the battlefield and gathered the bodies of their fallen comrades, the Iwa-nin swiftly retreated from Amegakure, carefully on guard as they left the Land of Rain and returned to Iwagakure.
It was clear that as long as Onoki couldn't figure out a way to counter Konoha's group teleportation technique, he wouldn't dare declare war on them anytime soon.
If necessary, he could always focus his efforts on Suna.
After all, one thing was certain—the Kazekage was dead.
As for whether Konoha had truly wiped out 3,000 Sand shinobi…
"Kitsuchi! Take two elite squads and head straight for the Sand frontlines," Onoki ordered a few kilometers away from Amegakure.
"Investigate along the way and see if you can find any traces of Konoha's battle with the Sand. Search for signs of the battlefield. Finally, scout around the Sand's base camp to confirm whether they've truly suffered heavy losses."
"Yes!" Kitsuchi immediately accepted the order. However, his expression grew serious as he asked, "Father, are you planning to make a move against the Sand?"
Onoki's face darkened as he snapped, "Address me by my title when we're in the field!"
"…Understood, Tsuchikage-sama."
The next moment, Onoki's stern expression softened slightly, and a sly glint appeared in his eyes. "Indeed, I'm considering it."
"This war was supposed to bring us significant gains to stabilize the village's finances. But instead of profiting, we've lost over 1,500 comrades and have to pay 1 billion in reparations."
"This loss is unacceptable."
"When have I ever taken such a hit before?"
"Still, attacking Konoha or the Land of Fire right now is unrealistic and unwise. Without a way to counter their group teleportation technique, there's no way we can fight them effectively."
"Who knows? They might use it to bypass our forces and teleport directly to our village, taking it over!"
The senior Iwa-nin around Onoki listened to his reasoning and finally understood why their Tsuchikage had chosen to surrender to Konoha, even swallowing his pride to offer compensation.
They had been puzzled before. After all, this wasn't like Onoki at all. Everyone knew their Tsuchikage was notoriously stingy and hated losing out.
Many had been dissatisfied with the idea of compensation, harboring complaints in their hearts.
But now, everything made sense.
"True, if we can't counter that technique, we really can't afford to fight Konoha. Otherwise, one misstep and we're finished!"
"Exactly! Tsuchikage-sama is as sharp as ever. I didn't even think of this before!"
"Tsuchikage-sama is brilliant!"
The group of Iwa-nin expressed their admiration, their previous doubts turning into respect.
"Ha! Good that you understand!" Onoki said, clearly pleased. His tone then grew serious again. "That said, the fact remains that we've suffered a significant loss and haven't achieved our goals.
"If Konoha is off-limits for now, that leaves us with other options.
"Normally, I wouldn't consider attacking the Sand. They're too poor to be worth the effort.
"But if they've truly suffered heavy losses, then we can easily take them down and strip away whatever resources they have left to cover our losses."
"If we play our cards right, we might even make a profit!"
"So, Kitsuchi, move quickly. Gather as much information as possible and don't miss the opportunity."
Of course, Kumogakure was also on Onoki's radar. Recently, they'd been clashing over some mineral-rich islands in the sea.
Though the conflicts weren't intense yet, Onoki had taken note of them.
"Yes! I'll leave immediately!" Kitsuchi replied, wasting no time as he led two squads out on their mission.
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