With Karura's help, it wasn't long before the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi, also collapsed unconscious onto the ground.
The Stone Hidden army had already routed and fled under the relentless attack of the Sand Hidden army.
Even if Kitsuchi had managed to escape, Stone Hidden was now severely weakened.
For any ninja village, the loss of their Tailed Beast—the most crucial part of their heritage—to an enemy was unacceptable.
Hanzo was currently locked in a fierce battle with Cloud Hidden Village in the Land of Waterfalls, and his primary objective wasn't the land itself, but the Seven-Tails.
With a Tailed Beast, even if there was a talent gap and new Kage-level powerhouses couldn't be trained through normal means, a Jinchuriki could still step up and serve as a figurehead. Just like in the original timeline, when the Fourth Kazekage Rasa died, the Sand Village, despite its dwindling talent, could still have the fifteen-year-old Gaara take his place.
The core reason was that Gaara, as Shukaku's Jinchuriki, could at the very least become a competent Jinchuriki with Kage-level combat power.
The loss of a Tailed Beast was an unbearable blow to any ninja village. Losing all Tailed Beasts meant the very foundation of that village's status was shaken.
None of the Five Great Ninja Villages were without a Jinchuriki; this was the bedrock for maintaining a large ninja village's heritage and the most crucial guarantee of its strength.
So, as expected, Onoki grew anxious.
"Rōshi and Han, both captured?!"
The short old man suddenly leaped from his chair onto the table, pointing at Kitsuchi, who was still taller than him despite standing on the table, and shouted.
It was hard to imagine how strong Kitsuchi's mother's genes must have been for the 1.3-meter-tall Onoki to have a 2.2-meter-tall son.
"Sorry, Dad, I..."
Kitsuchi scratched his head and honestly replied, "I wanted to save them too, but I felt that even with me, the three of us together couldn't beat Sand Hidden. So I thought of getting my subordinates out first. Brother Rōshi and Han were already too far gone. We couldn't just leave the rest of our people there too."
"Is it really that powerful?"
"Yes."
Kitsuchi nodded.
"Explain in detail. I was being suppressed by Chiyo then and couldn't spare the attention to look at the other side."
"How long did it take Qingshui to take down Rōshi and Han? Was it easy?"
"Uh... probably, a while? Brother Rōshi and Han must have given him some trouble, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to withdraw with the remaining people."
"Good, that means he's not as strong as Uchiha Madara, and Konoha's Impure World Reincarnation of the First Hokage isn't the First Hokage at his peak."
Onoki floated back to his seat, letting out a sigh of relief.
If he truly possessed power as formidable as Uchiha Madara, Onoki couldn't imagine how the Stone Village would counter it.
"Dad, is this really good? We still can't beat them."
Kitsuchi's words pulled Onoki back to reality from his memories of Madara.
Now, he faced the situation where Stone Hidden had been thoroughly defeated by Sand Hidden, and two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki had been captured alive.
"Sigh... we need to negotiate. Send someone to Konoha and ask them to intervene. The First Hokage will stop this war from continuing."
Onoki said helplessly.
He didn't want this, but at a time like this, he could only rely on Konoha.
Fortunately, the Second Kazekage had told him the details of the first Five Kage Summit, giving Onoki a general idea of Senju Hashirama's personality.
He would definitely demand to intervene and promote peace. If Stone Hidden was willing to pay a sufficient price, it wasn't impossible for negotiations to succeed.
But getting the two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki back might not be so easy.
The Third Kazekage of the Sand Village and the Kazekage candidate were not Senju Hashirama; they weren't easy to reason with.
Even if they wanted to stop the war, Stone Hidden would have to pay a hefty price to satisfy Sand Hidden's appetite, let alone for two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki.
Even if Stone Hidden wanted to redeem them by selling everything they owned, Sand Hidden would certainly not be like Konoha during the first Five Kage Summit, willing to sell them for a sum of money.
"Sand Village... sigh!"
After instructing Kitsuchi to arrange contact with Konoha, Onoki locked himself in the Tsuchikage's office and let out a long sigh.
Now, Stone Hidden had lost two Jinchuriki, and Sand Hidden, located near the Land of Earth, was powerful. On the other side, Rain Hidden, led by Hanzo, was rising and was now Sand Hidden's staunch ally.
Once the Land of Waterfalls was taken by Hanzo and became the Sixth Great Ninja Village, Stone Hidden Village would be firmly confined to the northwest of the Ninja World continent by the Wind-Rain alliance, and then it would likely become even more dangerous.
But even knowing this, what could he do?
Hanzo could block Cloud Hidden Village, Mist Hidden had been defeated by Konoha's Uchiha Fugaku, Konoha had been forced to cede territory and sue for peace by Sand Hidden, and his own Stone Hidden was simply no match for Sand Hidden. So what could he do?
If he had known this would happen, then in this Third Great Ninja War, they should have united and suppressed Sand Hidden, just as they had suppressed Konoha in the past two Great Ninja Wars.
Onoki felt regret, but no remorse.
After all, he had been doing this from the start: suppressing the emerging challenger, Sand Hidden, alongside Konoha, the established powerhouse.
Konoha had indeed shown incredibly deep reserves during this process. After the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi died, many outstanding ninja emerged to stabilize the situation, which made Onoki envious.
Whether it was the Sannin or Minato Namikaze, in Onoki's eyes, they would all be excellent Tsuchikage successors if they were in Stone Hidden. Yet, Konoha seemed to have them in abundance.
But even Konoha, despite its strength, and even after Impure World Reincarnation of the First Hokage and Second Hokage, still couldn't defeat Sand Hidden.
It was a pity that Onoki hadn't been able to win over Cloud Hidden Village, Mist Hidden Village, and other forces from the start to jointly attack Sand Village.
But reality offers no "what ifs."
Turning our attention back to Sand Village.
The two Jinchuriki, unconscious with their Tailed Beasts, lay side-by-side on the ground, not only covered in sealing jutsu formulas but also bound tightly by iron chains.
"From now on, these two Tailed Beasts belong to our Sand Village."
Qingshui spoke softly, his hands clasped behind his back, as he looked at the two Jinchuriki imprisoned in the cell.
From the moment he captured these two Jinchuriki, he had no intention of letting these Tailed Beasts go.
No matter what the masterminds behind the scenes were planning—whether it was resurrecting Kaguya or the Ten-Tails—Tailed Beasts would always be central to their schemes.
Therefore, keeping the Tailed Beasts under his direct control and supervision was the best approach.
Chiyo also agreed with Qingshui's idea.
"Then bring the Jinchuriki back to the village as soon as possible. We'll extract the Tailed Beasts from them and transfer them to new containers. Also, Bunbuku's time is almost up. When we return to the village, I'll leave the Tailed Beast transfer ceremony for him and Uzumaki Ayane to you. The Sealing Squad has records from the last Tailed Beast transfer; you can just look them over yourself, as they're not very useful anyway."
The last time a Tailed Beast was transferred was during the early period of the Second Kazekage's reign. At that time, Sand Village's sealing jutsu wasn't very strong, and the transfer even caused a Tailed Beast rampage, which took considerable effort to quell. So, those old transfer records are of little reference value to the current Sand Village.
Not to mention, Sand Village's sealing jutsu has made significant progress now. Even if a Tailed Beasts were to rampage, Qingshui could easily suppress it.
"Oh, by the way, Elder Chiyo, something came up suddenly when we deployed, and I didn't get a chance to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Before I left, the Third Generation told me that once the war here is settled, we can begin the Fourth Kazekage's succession ceremony."
Chiyo's expression froze upon hearing this.
"The Third Generation is stepping down?"
"Yes, but I think we need to first make preliminary arrangements for the village's post-war affairs. The appropriate time will be once things have stabilized both internally and externally, so it will probably take another two or three months."
Qingshui nodded slightly.
"That would be around the end of the year then."
Chiyo responded, still a little stunned.
When she took him on as a disciple five years ago, she had never imagined that this talented student in puppetry would one day have the chance to touch the Kazekage's throne, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon.
How old was Qingshui now?!
"Since the Five Great Ninja Villages were established, there has never been a Kage under twenty years old. Someone your age, it's unlikely anyone will ever break that record."
Chiyo couldn't help but exclaim with emotion.
"Who can truly predict the future?"
Qingshui shrugged, chuckling.
If not for the changes he brought about, according to the original timeline, in another twenty years, the Kazekage of Sand Village would have been even younger than him.
However, Qingshui achieved this through sheer hard work, military merit, and powerful strength, whereas Gaara was a choice made out of desperation when Sand Village was in decline.
"Indeed, who can know what the future holds? But if that day truly comes, I'm afraid this old woman won't be around to see it."
Chiyo shook her head, then smiled at Qingshui.
"Alright, Fourth Kazekage, go attend to your duties."
...
...
The next morning, Stone Village sent an envoy to request peace talks and to ransom the Stone Hidden ninja captured by Sand Village.
Qingshui did not meet the envoy from Stone Hidden Village, as he had already departed with a contingent of several hundred Stone Hidden troops, embarking on the journey back to Sand Village.
Because these Stone Hidden ninja were all wounded soldiers from the previous war, the group's progress was slow, taking a full week to return to Sand Village.
Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze, the envoy Konoha had sent to the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, had already arrived three days prior.
Minato Namikaze was an exceptionally intelligent individual. Due to his youth, Orochimaru had assigned the elderly head of the Nara Clan as his deputy to assist him.
However, Qingshui trusted Chiyo to handle the people from Konoha and Stone Hidden Village, as the latter two were the ones requesting peace talks.
The old woman had lived for so many years, fought wars for most of her life, and herself wielded real power. She had long held a position just below the Kazekage as a high-ranking village official. Her vision and capabilities were still sharp; Qingshui didn't need to worry about such matters.
After being away on campaign for over half a year, Sand Village's internal affairs were still developing according to the strategies Qingshui had left behind. Although the pace of development had slowed slightly due to the war, there were still many changes.
And now that Sand Village had defeated Konoha, a long-standing dominant power, their development speed would only increase.
Even now, upon hearing that Sand Village had defeated Konoha, many clients were more willing to entrust their missions to Sand Village.
Previously, Konoha was the strongest, so naturally, they received the most missions. Now that Sand Village was the strongest, it was their turn.
The closer Qingshui's team got to Sand Village, the more bustling the flow of people became.
Until the team reached a few kilometers outside Sand Village's outer wall.
The road here had been temporarily closed.
And only the team led by Qingshui was allowed to pass.
Just two days prior, the Sand Village gate had already seen a similar scene. That time, it was for the first group of two thousand ninjas returning from the eastern front. This time, in addition to welcoming these few hundred people, the most important purpose was to greet Qingshui.
If Sasori and Pakura were the war heroes who made a name for themselves and the Sand Village during this Great Ninja War, then Qingshui's prestige as a Kazekage candidate had been further elevated through successive victories.
Winning battles and killing many enemies are certainly commendable achievements, but most importantly, it's about how much benefit you bring to the people.
Through three Great Ninja Wars, the Sand and Konoha fought three times, countless lives were lost, and an unknown amount of time and resources were spent, until finally, under Qingshui's leadership, a vast, fertile land was seized from the Land of Fire.
This was the greatest accomplishment!
Coupled with Qingshui's past achievements and deeds, for the people of the Sand Village, Qingshui's current prestige was in no way inferior to that of the Third Kazekage, who had led them for many years—perhaps even surpassing him.
"You've gone to great lengths, Ebizo-sensei."
Qingshui looked at the villagers lining the path behind the gate, welcoming them, and the merchants observing, then spoke to Ebizo, who stood at the forefront of the crowd.
"I merely announced your impending return. The villagers' welcome is spontaneous."
Ebizo clasped one hand behind his back and chuckled as he patted Qingshui's shoulder.
Qingshui smiled back.
"Let's get people into the village first. It's not good to have so many people blocking the gate."
"Then you should greet the villagers first."
"Right."
Qingshui nodded, then looked at Pakura and Sasori, who stood on either side of Ebizo.
They had returned to the village two days earlier, along with two thousand other Sand ninjas.
The Third Kazekage and Rasa remained in what was formerly the western part of the Land of Fire and is now the eastern part of the Land of Wind. There, they continued negotiations with Konoha over remaining minor details, while leading the remaining four thousand-plus Sand ninjas in stabilizing this newly occupied region.
After all, this was formerly Land of Fire territory and closer to Konoha. The Third Kazekage needed to first implement the Sand Village's existing systems, including taxes and local governance, and also establish defensive strongholds facing the Land of Fire.
Because of its relative proximity to Konoha, if Konoha were to break the agreement and attack one day, even if they couldn't stop Konoha's main army, they would at least need to be able to send word back to the Sand Village for it to be considered a basic defensive system.
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