Surviving the Cloud's targeted assault was enough to show just how strong Li Anshi had become.
Although the Cloud had greatly exaggerated their own casualties, they hadn't lied in the slightest about gathering more than three thousand of their elite to besiege him.
In this day and age, after the disappearance of both Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, let alone gathering more than three thousand ninjas to besiege a single person, even a siege of more than twenty was rare.
Even a Kage would likely warrant this level of response at most.
Of course, to truly assassinate a Kage, one would need at least one powerhouse of comparable strength, and the others would need to be at least Jonin level to have a chance of success.
Just as when the Cloud had assassinated the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. Besides using his disciples as a burden to prevent him from escaping with the Flying Thunder God Technique, there were also the Second Raikage and the Gold and Silver Brothers, three Kage-level powerhouses, as well as the numerous Jonin under their command.
In that battle, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and the Cloud ninjas were all annihilated. Not even the Second Raikage survived.
The Cloud Village's official story was that the Gold and Silver Brothers had stolen the ninja tools left by the Sage of Six Paths, defected, and ambushed the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage during negotiations.
This story was not very credible.
After all, Tobirama Senju's six disciples were all still alive.
However, when Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were ambushed at the meeting, the Second Raikage had indeed not made a move.
But if the Gold and Silver Brothers were truly rogue ninjas, then when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, fled with Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, they should have continued to attack the Second Raikage, not pursued Tobirama and his group.
When Tobirama returned to intercept the Gold and Silver Brothers, the Second Raikage should not have died on the battlefield with them.
The most likely possibility was that the Second Raikage had also attacked Tobirama Senju along with the Gold and Silver Brothers, and was ultimately taken down by him.
Unfortunately, by the time Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others contacted Konoha's ninjas and rushed back to rescue the Second Hokage, the Cloud Village had already cleaned up the battlefield and displayed the bodies of the Gold and Silver Brothers and a group of Cloud rogue ninjas.
In the end, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others brought back Tobirama Senju's remains and accepted the Cloud Village's explanation.
After all, with the death of the Second Hokage, Konoha could no longer defend its borders. They had to return to Konoha as soon as possible and prepare for battle.
Later events also proved Hiruzen Sarutobi's foresight. After the death of the Second Hokage, the Cloud, Stone, and Sand all launched attacks on Konoha.
The reason Konoha had reached its current state was most directly related to the Cloud's assassination of the Second Hokage.
Now that Li Anshi had inflicted such great damage on the Cloud, even if their propaganda was a bit exaggerated, it still made Hiruzen Sarutobi happy.
In this battle, the Cloud had lost the Two-Tails, and the new Eight-Tails Jinchuriki would also need time to grow.
Coupled with the many ninjas killed by Li Anshi, it could be said that Konoha had more or less gotten its revenge.
"However, Anshi, you are too modest."
"The Third Raikage personally issued a message that all Cloud ninjas who encounter you on a mission can directly abandon the mission and flee, and it will not be counted as a failure."
"Such an honor is unique in the entire ninja world!" the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, said with a smile.
Li Anshi was a ninja of Konoha. The more the Cloud Village feared him, the more the other ninja villages would feel Konoha's might.
And Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that when the other ninja villages gathered more information about Li Anshi, their fear of Konoha would rise several levels.
At that time, it would not be impossible for them to compare Li Anshi to the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha.
After all, after the founding of Konoha, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had almost never made a move on the other ninja villages.
Naturally, the ninjas of other villages had never encountered these two on missions, so they would not have issued such a "special pardon."
For the daimyo and nobles, they didn't care how many ninjas died.
What they cared about was whether the missions they issued were completed.
Therefore, for ninjas, the mission was absolute.
If they angered the daimyo and nobles because of a few failed missions, their mission quota would be reduced. The ninjas who relied on completing missions for a living would naturally feel the hardship.
Therefore, even the ninjas of the five great ninja villages advocated the concept of "completing the mission even if you die."
It could be said that the "special pardon" issued by the Third Raikage regarding Li Anshi completely contradicted the "mission-first" principle that ninjas had always followed.
However, the Cloud ninjas who had witnessed Li Anshi's power were very supportive of such a "special pardon."
This was a collision between a ninja's emotions and their mission, and also the first time that emotion had defeated "mission."
This time, Li Anshi said nothing.
Indeed, he was still far from those two.
But in terms of deterrence against ordinary ninjas, he was not far behind.
After all, those two had already gone to the Pure Land, while he was still alive.
"By the way, Lord Hokage, this is the truce agreement signed by the Third Raikage of the Cloud."
After exchanging pleasantries with Hiruzen Sarutobi, Li Anshi took out the paper from his pocket.
At this time, he discovered that in his pocket, besides the agreement signed by the Third Raikage, there was also the last will and testament written by the sensory ninja, Raiya Okazaki, who had carried his message to the Cloud.
Originally, Li Anshi had planned to give this will to the Cloud before fighting them.
Unfortunately, the Cloud side had not given him a chance to speak, starting with a Tailed Beast Bomb, which had truly angered him.
Later, needless to say, surrounded by more than two thousand Cloud ninjas, Li Anshi had forgotten that he still hadn't delivered this will to the Cloud.
Li Anshi separated the Cloud's truce agreement from Raiya Okazaki's will and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Lord Hokage, I originally wanted to have the Cloud sign a letter of surrender."
"Unfortunately, the Third Raikage would rather pay three hundred and sixty million Ryo in war reparations than sign a letter of surrender."
"In the end, they only signed a truce agreement and a five-year compensation agreement."
"However, the Third Raikage insists that this is not war compensation, but humanitarian aid from the Cloud to Konoha, which is mired in war…"
"If Lord Hokage does not accept the Third Raikage's statement, I can go to the Cloud again."
"Oh?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the agreements from Li Anshi and, after reading through the contents, was instantly filled with regret.
He had never thought that after a victory in war, not only could one make the defeated party sign a letter of surrender and an alliance treaty, but one could also make them compensate for the losses suffered in the war!
What a loss, what a loss…
Three hundred and sixty million Ryo was not a small sum even in Konoha.
It was almost half a year's income from Konoha's commission on ninja missions.
With this compensation, whether it was for casualty benefits or village construction, Konoha's financial pressure would be greatly reduced.
Looking at the two agreements Li Anshi had brought back, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of the agreements he had signed with the Stone and the Sand, and only wanted to give his past self a few good slaps.
If he could have scraped a layer off the Stone and the Sand like Anshi had, then in this war, Konoha would not only have not suffered much loss, but would have actually made a considerable profit.
Indeed, Li Anshi has the mind of a 'Kage'.
"Very good, Anshi. You truly have not disappointed me."
Putting down the agreements, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. "However, whether it's war reparations or humanitarian aid, as long as the Cloud Village's funds are in place, our Konoha doesn't care what they say."
"Thanks to you making this trip, we can now announce that the war is over!"
That was right. For Konoha, the First Shinobi World War ended after the Stone, Sand, and Cloud Villages signed letters of surrender and truce agreements one after another.
As for whether the other four ninja villages would continue to fight among themselves, that had nothing to do with Konoha.
Among the five great ninja villages, only the Mist had not signed any agreement with Konoha. But after the other three villages were defeated by Konoha, the Mist wouldn't dare to attack Konoha.
What a joke. Konoha had held its ground when fighting three against one.
Now, fighting one Mist Village would be like child's play.
"Alright."
Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi say this, Li Anshi could only apologize to Raiya Okazaki in his heart.
He had promised his body that he would deliver his will to the Cloud Village, but now it seemed he couldn't do it himself.
"Lord Hokage, this is a Cloud ninja's will."
"After killing him, I promised to deliver his will to the Cloud Village for him."
"But since you won't let me go to the Cloud Village again, I'll give this will to you. When the Cloud Village's envoy comes to Konoha with the war reparations, let them take it back."
"Mm, that's no problem."
Hiruzen Sarutobi put away the dozen or so sheets of the will and said to Anshi, "You've worked hard, Anshi."
"If not for you in this war, our Konoha would surely have suffered great losses."
"By the way, Tsunade seems to be in a bad mood these past few days. If you have time, you should go see her."
Li Anshi was someone Hiruzen Sarutobi felt had the "mind of a Hokage," and Tsunade was the granddaughter of the First Hokage.
Both of them were juniors Hiruzen felt could be cultivated as "Hokage."
Therefore, he did not intend to interfere with Tsunade and Li Anshi's contact.
In fact, it was exactly what he wanted.
In the future, whether Li Anshi became Hokage or Tsunade became Hokage, they would be each other's best partners.
"I understand."
Li Anshi naturally felt the goodwill released by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
However, he was not sure if this was Hiruzen's true intention or a compromise he had to make for the stability of Konoha.
But regardless, as long as the Konoha Four, led by Hiruzen, didn't have any ill intentions toward him, Li Anshi had no intention of falling out with them in the short term.
If they used the same methods on him as they did on Sakumo Hatake, Li Anshi would let them experience the same despair the Cloud had faced against him.
…
Boom!
Looking at the seventy or eighty-centimeter-sized crater Tsunade had made in the spot where he had just been standing, a few drops of cold sweat ran down Li Anshi's face.
Monstrous strength, this is definitely monstrous strength, right?
"Tsunade, it's been so long, and this is how you welcome me?"
Li Anshi had never thought that when he met Tsunade again, she would not only not welcome him, but would also attack him.
Just now, if he hadn't dodged and used Revolving Heaven, he definitely would have been injured.
"Hmph, you deserve it!" Tsunade snorted coldly and continued to chase after Li Anshi, attacking him.
Green chakra shone on her fists and feet, giving each of her punches and kicks immense power.
Rocks were shattered, the ground was smashed into large pits, and trees were directly broken…
For a time, Tsunade seemed to have transformed into a maniac of destruction, causing a great deal of damage to the surrounding environment.
"Damn it!"
A few minutes later, in the ravaged training ground, a panting Tsunade looked at Li Anshi, whose clothes were not even stained with a speck of dust, and said hatefully.
"Don't mind it, Tsunade."
"At your current age, to have such power is a very remarkable thing."
Seeing Tsunade's dissatisfaction, Li Anshi comforted her, "Of course, if we were the same age and fought, you might kneel down and cry."
"Oh?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Anshi, don't look down on people."
"Even if I lose, I will absolutely not cry."
"And I won't kneel!"
"No, Tsunade, you misunderstand my meaning."
"I'm saying, with one punch from you, I might kneel down and cry, begging you not to die!"
"Pfft…"
Tsunade was stunned for a moment, then realized what Li Anshi meant and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Anshi, were you really that weak back then?"
"Lady Tsunade, at your age, I was weaker than you can imagine."
Hearing Tsunade's laughter, Li Anshi sighed, as if he had once again remembered his days at the Ninja Academy.
Although he was a transmigrator, Li Anshi had not been lucky enough to be born into the Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki, Hyuga, or Kaguya clans, which were related by blood to the Sage of Six Paths. He was just an ordinary commoner in Konoha village.
Perhaps an ancestor had followed the Sage of Six Paths and received a chakra seed, giving Li Anshi the ability to refine chakra.
But other than that, Li Anshi could be said to be no different from other commoner ninjas.
If not for obtaining the training memories of Li Xunhuan's Little Li Flying Dagger, Li Anshi wouldn't even have been qualified to be cannon fodder in the ninja world.
And before he had successfully cultivated the Little Li Flying Dagger, his only good grades were in shurikenjutsu.
Never mind at seven years old as a second-year. After leaving the Ninja Academy, the twelve-year-old Li Anshi was still no match for the current Tsunade.