After a day of high-intensity travel, Battalion Yellow Dog arrived outside Amegakure.
Yellow Dog deliberately revealed himself, standing on the water surface outside the village.
His subordinates, including Yōkō, hid inside nearby abandoned pipes.
Amegakure was a strange village, full of pipes – horizontal ones and thick vertical risers.
The buildings here were all modified from large pipes.
Soon, a team of Ame-nin emerged from the village.
Their leader was named Lizard Rain, a high-ranking official in Amegakure.
Lizard Rain stared at Yellow Dog and asked, "What are you doing here, Konoha Anbu? Don't you know our villages are at war?"
Yellow Dog took out a scroll and threw it to Lizard Rain:
"Our Lord Danzō of Konoha once met with your village leader, Hanzo.
Hanzo said that if Konoha showed sincerity, Amegakure would consider a ceasefire.
This is our sincerity. You can take a look."
Lizard Rain opened the scroll, only to find the ink wasn't waterproof and had bled under the rain.
Knowing this was one of Konoha's little tricks to gain leverage, Lizard Rain quickly scanned the contents.
After reading the scroll, the confusion in Lizard Rain's heart was resolved.
The Suna-nin had been skulking around in the Kikō Mountain Range for a long time... so they had found several connectable limestone caves.
By linking a few caves, they could channel the Land of Rain's water into the Land of Wind.
Lizard Rain immediately thought, Couldn't we use the Yoshimizu River to pressure the Suna-nin then?
If Amegakure is displeased, we could completely block or divert the Yoshimizu River.
This was important intelligence.
Lizard Rain discarded the completely smudged scroll and said:
"I understand. I will relay the message to the leader. However, your actions are too slow. Leader Hanzo is probably already engaged with your Konoha forces.
I wonder how many of your Konoha troops will remain by the time we arrive."
Yellow Dog's expression changed. He immediately led the battalion towards the main battlefield.
After several hours, Yōkō saw vast clouds of poison mist covering the rainforest in the distance.
Avoiding the areas with dense mist, they burst out of a patch of forest, and the battlefield unfolded before them.
Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade stood panting in the mud, surrounded by gruesomely killed corpses.
There were bodies of Konoha shinobi and Ame-nin alike.
The fighting had been so fierce that all their subordinates had been wiped out.
On top of his salamander, Ibuse, Hanzo glanced into the distance and saw Lizard Rain and Yellow Dog.
He had met Yellow Dog outside the capital last time and remembered him well.
Seeing Lizard Rain and Yellow Dog standing together now, Hanzo understood that Lizard Rain had obtained the outcome Amegakure desired.
Hanzo looked down at the three Konoha Elite Jōnin below Ibuse. He couldn't defeat these three quickly either.
Sarutobi Hiruzen taught three excellent students. Truly enviable.
Might as well seize this opportunity to back down.
Hundreds of his own loyal subordinates had died. Loyal followers were hard to find, with rebel organizations everywhere in the Land of Rain.
War between hidden villages isn't about winning or losing a single battle, but about overall comprehensive strength.
He had suppressed Orochimaru and the others, and with his occasional assistance, over 700 Ame-nin and 400 Konoha shinobi had annihilated each other.
Konoha could easily field another force of several hundred, but Amegakure couldn't withstand many wars like this.
Hanzo withdrew his sickle from in front of him to his back and said, "Consider Konoha the victor of this battle, for now. I spare your lives."
Jiraiya shouted, "Take back your pathetic pity! Come on! I can still fight!"
Hanzo said:
"You have held out against me until now. Your strength is commendable. From this day forward, I, Hanzo of the Salamander, name you Konoha's Sannin (Three Ninja).
Henceforth, you shall call yourselves by this title, earned at the cost of your lives."
Ibuse turned and left the corpse-strewn battlefield.
Jiraiya still wanted to charge forward but was held back by Tsunade.
"Jiraiya! Calm down!"
Battalion Commander Yellow Dog appeared with a Body Flicker next to Orochimaru.
Seeing Yellow Dog, Orochimaru initially thought he had brought reinforcements, but turning his head, he saw that Yellow Dog's Anbu battalion was also understrength.
After a brief report from Yellow Dog, Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't expected that the compromise negotiations he had sneered at would become a key factor in prompting Hanzo's departure.
Battalion Yellow Dog began clearing the battlefield.
Yōkō saw a man standing motionless and was about to tell him not to slack off.
Looking closer, it was White Ram.
At White Ram's feet lay his fiancée, the one he had fled to avoid marrying, Aburame Chima.
Chima's body was covered in a thick layer of Parasitic Destruction Insects, most dead, a few still alive.
White Ram knelt down and stretched out his hand.
Small, dense holes appeared on his forearm.
The living insects from Chima lined up and filed one by one into the holes in White Ram's wrist.
White Ram had once said his insects strongly resisted Chima's insects.
Now that Chima was dead, their insects became a new colony, no longer resisting each other.
Each insect seemed to grieve; a low, continuous chirping emanated from within White Ram's body.
Yōkō found the bodies of the logistics team and retrieved sealing scrolls from their tool pouches.
The scrolls contained over four hundred body bags – the logistics ninja's worst-case preparation for the worst outcome.
Processing 400 Konoha shinobi bodies was heavy work, taking several hours to complete.
Handling so many corpses left Yōkō exhausted.
He stared blankly at the Ame-nin bodies.
Why wasn't Amegakure coming to retrieve their dead? They'll rot quickly soaked in water.
Orochimaru approached again, specifically requesting the Fox Squadron to follow him.
Yōkō felt apprehensive.
He soon realized it was just simple corpse collection.
In shinobi warfare, one important prize for the victors was the bodies of the defeated side's ninja.
Orochimaru walked among the Ame-nin corpses, pointing at one every few steps. Yōkō ordered his subordinates to collect them.
These Ame-nin bodies might yield valuable intelligence.
Amegakure had few bloodline clans. After picking and choosing, Orochimaru deemed only thirty or so corpses worth taking.
Hanzo had issued a stern parting remark, but he evidently considered Amegakure the loser; otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed Orochimaru to pick through the Ame-nin corpses here.
The next day, Konoha reinforcements arrived. The reinforcement ninja took charge of the Konoha shinobi bodies.
Battalion Yellow Dog returned to the Land of Grass headquarters camp with the reinforcements.
They waited for several days, but only Orochimaru and Tsunade returned.
Orochimaru said that Jiraiya had stayed behind in the Land of Rain.
Jiraiya had encountered the child of prophecy spoken of by the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku.
Yōkō looked towards the Land of Rain, thinking, The gears of fate have begun to turn.
Nagato's power will soon increase rapidly.
I wonder why Uchiha Madara was so certain Jiraiya would take Nagato in.
Perhaps if Orochimaru and the others posed a threat to Nagato, Uchiha Madara would have immediately emerged to protect him, even killing the Sannin.
With Black Zetsu and White Zetsu scouting, Uchiha Madara's control over the Rinnegan remained absolute.
Nagato was far too important to him.
Hanzo announced the ceasefire, bringing the war in the Land of Rain to a temporary close.
Yōkō embarked on the journey back to the village.
Battalion Commander Yellow Dog would apply for a Tokubetsu Jōnin position for Yōkō.
***
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