A year passed in the blink of an eye. The three young ninja under Shinku Yuhi's squad—Gekko Ryo, Izuno Hiroshi, and Shiyu Uchiha—had already graduated for over a year and had long since become qualified ninja.
Moreover, after Shinku Yuhi had served as a jonin team leader for a full year, Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally confirmed her as a full jonin, and she left her students behind to head toward the frontlines.
However, before departing for the frontlines, Shinku Yuhi recommended Shiyu Uchiha to take over as team leader. Naturally, the Third Hokage did not refuse Shinku Yuhi's request, even promoting Shiyu Uchiha to chunin rank.
Still, they had yet to recruit a suitable genin to complete their four-member squad. For now, the current trio plus one cat worked together quite harmoniously, so they had no immediate plans to invite any new members.
All three of them had significantly improved in strength. Gekko Ryo and Izuno Hiroshi had both become experienced genin. Once they matured further and their chakra reserves increased, their abilities would reach chunin level.
As for Shiyu Uchiha, he had surpassed his swordsmanship through mastery of Fire Release techniques. With the increased chakra reserves that came after awakening his dōjutsu, his power could already be considered tokubetsu jounin level.
His swordsmanship, however, remained at the chunin level. The main reason was that his foundational sword techniques lacked enough destructive power. Advancing further required deep accumulation—refining his own unique sword techniques from foundational sword techniques. Thus, his fire techniques outpaced his swordplay.
One day, while Shiyu Uchiha was returning to the village for rest and recovery after completing a mission, he overheard everyone eagerly discussing news about the War in Ame. After listening carefully, he realized that the conflict in Ame was ending, meaning the Second Ninja War was drawing to its final phase.
It seemed likely that this news had been deliberately released by the village leadership to break the oppressive atmosphere within Konoha. That heavy mood had stemmed mainly from the excessive number of lives Konoha had lost during the War in Ame—nearly half of all the lives Konoha had lost throughout the Second War.
When Shiyu Uchiha saw these numbers, he suddenly understood why, at the peak of his power, Hiruzen Sarutobi had nearly been overshadowed by Hatake Sumao, a rising talent. Surely, it had mostly been due to too many deaths caused by his mistakes during the war.
Ninjas weren't born from rocks, so every one of them had families and friends. When their descendants and juniors grew up, they carried resentment toward Hiruzen's leadership. At the same time, they naturally supported the greatest hero of the Second War—Hatake Sumao—and this would eventually lead to that disastrous event.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru each arrived in Ame in turn, taking over the defense line there. Using their personal strength, they led from the front lines, fighting across multiple battlefields and wiping out every invading Suna-nin and Iwa-nin squad, securing small but significant victories and boosting morale, stabilizing the defensive lines.
At one point, to cover their unit's retreat, the three of them stayed behind as rearguard, placing themselves in extreme danger. Through several life-and-death situations, they finally managed to fight their way out thanks to their exceptional skills and a bit of luck.
This kind of strategy, combined with news of victories on other fronts, finally restored the troops' morale and convinced the Shinobi Forces that Konoha would ultimately claim victory. In reality, the trio did not disappoint.
In the later stages of the war, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade personally led their units into a decisive battle against the Iwa-nin and Sand-nin in Ame. The Sand Village launched this decisive confrontation first—they were desperate for a final showdown due to severe supply shortages.
Meanwhile, the people of Ame, along with Sanshouo Hanzo, had grown tired of the chaos caused by the conflict among Konoha, Iwa, and Sand. As a result, they pretended not to notice the decisive battle unfolding within their land while secretly profiting from it. After all, when some villages ran low on wartime supplies, they had no choice but to buy what they needed locally.
Furthermore, there were no Ame civilians left in the area—Hanzo had warned them ahead of time, so they all evacuated. As for where those warnings originated, all three great nations were involved; it had been an unspoken hint beforehand.
At the start of the war, the Iwa-nin and Sand-nin, leveraging a slight overall advantage in strength, launched a joint attack toward Konoha's forces. However, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade successfully held back both the Sand and Iwa units by summoning three gigantic beasts from the Ninja World's three great sacred lands.
Then, working together with their summoned beasts, the trio launched a fierce counteroffensive against the Sand and Iwa forces, cutting through enemy ranks mercilessly and quickly gaining the upper hand.
However, soon afterward, Jiraiya and Orochimaru encountered equally formidable opponents—the commanders of the Sand and Iwa forces—who managed to halt their advance. Although the two, alongside their summons, continued to maintain dominance, securing a full victory would take more time.
At the same time, Tsunade ordered her summoned beast, Katsuyu, to begin splitting itself and crawling onto the shoulders of several allied ninja, healing the wounded while also serving as a communication relay so that Tsunade's orders could be accurately transmitted across the battlefield.
As Tsunade's outstanding command skills began to shine, the Konoha ninjas unleashed one hundred and twenty percent of their combat potential. This dramatically changed the situation on the battlefield, significantly improving Konoha's previously disadvantaged position and even allowing certain localized areas to gain the upper hand.
The turning point came when Tsunade personally defeated several Jonin who were attacking her, after which she began actively launching offensives herself. The effect was maximized, gradually pushing toward victory. Once Orochimaru had also defeated his opponent, the outcome of the battle was essentially decided.
Later, the trio formed a Special Forces Unit composed of elite warriors and pushed the frontline deep into Ame, advancing toward the Land of Earth. This was mainly because, after realizing they couldn't win, the Sand Village wanted to minimize losses and had already prepared for complete surrender. At the Land of Rivers, peace negotiations that had lasted nearly a year were progressing rapidly and were about to finalize the ceasefire agreement.
As for the Land of Wind, due to its defeat at the Chū River Campaign and with little hope of success remaining in Ame, it could only hold out this long thanks to the persistence of Lady Chiyo and her brother Motoi. Now, however, they had no choice but to bow to reality. Therefore, the Land of Wind withdrew its forces from Ame, selling out the Land of Earth at a high price to reduce their own reparations.
No one could really tell what Hiruzen Sarutobi was thinking. Maybe he just wanted to get the peace deal signed as quickly as possible, so in the end, the Land of Wind only had to accept a symbolic defeat and pay ten percent of the Sand-nin's reward money over the next decade—thus finalizing the peace agreement with the Land of Wind.
When the news spread, many shinobi who had risked their lives on the battlefield were furious. After all, such a small amount wasn't even close to covering Konoha Village's losses. But because of the Hokage's orders, that anger was kept under wraps—for now—further eroding Hiruzen Sarutobi's authority as Hokage.
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