Hanzo stared at Seiki in shock. "You won't kill me?"
In his mind, wasn't Konoha's original plan to kill him first and then have the Akatsuki organization take over the Rain Country?
Seiki shook his head slightly. "This is a one-time deal. If you still choose to block our path next time, you won't be this lucky!"
After all, he hadn't obtained the [Amaterasu Rain Control Technique] yet. How could the scapegoat exit the stage prematurely?
Hanzo paid no attention to Seiki's words. His face twisted with pain as though venomous snakes were gnawing on his insides.
"Cursed! I've actually been deceived by those brats. They deliberately sought out Konoha, pretending to be its puppets, just to provoke conflict between me and Konoha and get Konoha itself to eliminate me!"
"What terrifying scheming!"
Recalling his earlier assessment of those three young kids, Hanzo felt a chill inside. What innocent faces they had! Those weren't naïve children—they were devious, ruthless devils who even managed to trick him, a mastermind himself!
Hanzo inhaled deeply and looked seriously at Seiki. "As long as you remain within Konoha, I will never oppose Konoha again."
Chiyo, standing nearby, watched in amazement. She knew well how proud Hanzo was; not once had he regarded the Kage of the Five Great Hidden Villages as equals.
That was indeed the truth. Without the support of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, their own Kazekage would never have had the standing to speak as Hanzo's equal.
Yet now, such a proud and mighty man had uttered words of retreat before Seiki.
Still, she could understand Hanzo's helplessness.
One dawn, one sunset—he lost to Seiki this time; he would certainly stand no chance against him in the future.
Rather than suffer endlessly in despair, it was better to face reality early.
Thinking about this, Chiyo sighed softly. "The younger generation's era has come… and more than that—his era!"
Unfazed by the implications behind Hanzo's words, Seiki simply turned and bellowed, "Stop fighting! The war is over!"
The Rain Village shinobi immediately dropped their weapons, clearly relieved—their courage shattered the moment Hanzo fell.
At the same time, Yahiko, whom Hanzo regarded as deviously scheming, cried out in amazement, "Unbelievable! Hanzo himself was actually beaten by Seiki!"
Konan covered her mouth in surprise. "And he actually spared Hanzo!"
"Only killing brings hatred!" Yahiko declared, puffing his chest with pride. "Looks like our persuasion last time did make some difference after all!"
Meanwhile, Nagato seemed to have opened a new world, murmuring to himself, "Power is the fastest way to end wars, and ending wars quickly can preserve peace. So… is obtaining great power the key to preserving peace?"
In a corner of the battlefield, Black Zetsu gritted his teeth angrily. "Damn it! It was almost there! What so-called Demigod of the Shinobi World? He's nowhere close to Hashirama Senju!"
"But he should already be nearing his limit..." Black Zetsu thought excitedly, yet quickly abandoned the reckless idea in his mind.
His survival without being discovered by White Zetsu relied entirely on cowardice anyway.
"Never mind, we'll make plans after he goes to the Iwa battlefield!"
...
The next day, back in the Land of Earth.
In the Jonin Meeting, everyone was in high spirits.
"Haha! Konoha really took a huge loss this time!"
"Even *we* didn't expect Lord Roshi to pull off the Tailed Beast Ball!"
"What a pity though—Lord Roshi said his control still isn't sufficient yet; he can only use the Tailed Beast Ball twice at most."
"That's more than enough. At least it's boosted the morale of those mercs and missing-nin through the roof."
"Turns out that guy's training trip wasn't completely useless after all," Onoki nodded approvingly, then sighed slightly, "It's just a pity Han still can't achieve this."
Magze agreed, "Although Lord Han's strength is indeed formidable, this kind of thing also requires cooperation from the tailed beast."
Both human and bijuu forms can use the Tailed Beast Ball, but there's a catch. In human form, using the technique demands extremely precise chakra control. As for the tailed beast form, without the beast's cooperation, there's a very high risk of losing control and going berserk.
If you lose control on the battlefield, you'll end up launching indiscriminate attacks against allies and enemies alike.
That's why they couldn't leverage the Tailed Beast Ball to gain battlefield advantages like Kumo had done.
At this moment, Hikka cautiously raised a concern, "I heard that at the Kumo battlefield, both Minato Namikaze and Seiki Shimaseki used the Flying Thunder God Technique to redirect Tailed Beast Balls. What if they do the same again, even transferring the Tailed Beast Ball over to us..."
"Don't worry," Onoki smiled confidently, "as long as we keep Danzō and Rasa pinned down on this battlefield, they won't be able to rotate out for replacement! With Sanshouo Hanzo's strength, even Seiki Shimaseki and Chiyo combined would struggle to contain him. If Seiki Shimaseki dares to leave alone, forget about wanting control over the Rain Country battlefield anymore. When that happens, we will rendezvous with Sanshouo Hanzo..."
As he was speaking, a Chunin rushed into the room in great haste.
"Tsuchikage-sama, bad news! The Rain Country has surrendered to Konoha!"
Onoki's face darkened instantly. "Damn it! That bastard Sanshouo still dared to play games with me!"
The reporting ninja trembled nervously. "It doesn't seem to be a ruse—he apparently survived because Seiki Shimaseki spared *him*."
At these words, the entire room exploded into uproar.
"How is that possible? That was Sanshouo Hanzo!"
"A figure who stands at the peak of the shinobi world, how could he possibly lose to just a pubescent brat barely out of puberty?"
They could question Sanshouo's character, but never his power.
None of the Kages from the Five Great Shinobi Villages held the title "Demigod of the Shinobi World," which clearly illustrated his strength.
At the very least, Sanshouo's title as the Demigod of the Shinobi World was far more justified than Konoha ninja shamelessly hyping up the Third Hokage as the 'God of Ninja.'
Onoki asked solemnly, "Exactly what happened?"
The reporting ninja shook his head. "Not entirely sure myself, but apparently it was because Seiki Shimaseki could neutralize Sanshouo Hanzo's poison."
Onoki's expression remained extremely grim. While Sanshouo's poison was certainly one reason he maintained his demigod status, it wasn't by any means the only one—Sanshouo's Taijutsu and Water Release were terrifyingly strong too!
Defeating him could only mean one thing: Seiki Shimaseki had long surpassed anything as simple as being "terrifying"!
"Seiki Shimaseki... why does such a genius always come from Konoha?"
The gathered jonin — elite shinobi captains — all wore grim expressions. Defeating Sanshouo Hanzo, even with Chiyo's assistance, carried consequences far graver than defeating mere members of the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist.
This news would surely unsettle both mercenaries and wandering ninja.
After all, these fighters came from nearby small countries who all knew just how powerful and feared Sanshouo Hanzo truly was.
More importantly, now that Seiki Shimaseki had been freed from the battlefield in the Rain Country, their war asset — [Tailed Beast Ball] — could no longer be used casually.
Just thinking about this gave the jonin splitting headaches.
Just how did the addition of one warrior — Seiki Shimaseki — completely turn the tide of war?
"We must expand our advantage before Seiki Shimaseki arrives..." Onoki said seriously, before suddenly tensing. "Wait, when exactly did we hear of Sanshouo Hanzo's defeat?"
The reporting chunin hesitated. "Apparently yesterday."
Kitsuchi slammed the table in fury. "How could intel arrive this late?!"
Onoki waved a weary hand. "Don't blame them. If I had to guess, our 'ally' probably sat on this info on purpose."
"Now, let's focus on dealing with this sudden boost in the Allied Ninja Forces!"
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