By the time Hiruzen, Minato, and the others arrived, the battle had already reached its conclusion.
Yet just from the horrific state of A, Killer B, and C, there was no need for Orochimaru or Shikaku to explain, everyone could roughly piece together how things had begun and how they had ended.
"Should I say he really is worthy of being the Third Raikage's son?"
Shisui swept his gaze over the only one still alive among the dead, A, and couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration.
"The courage he showed… it's actually greater than mine."
Thinking back to how he had once challenged Garp in the Land of Water, Shisui still felt a chill of lingering fear whenever the memory surfaced.
But A was something else entirely.
The Third Raikage had just sent over a letter of surrender, and almost immediately afterward, A had sneaked in to assassinate Garp.
"Third Hokage, A looks like he's on the brink of death… is this really okay?"
After taking in A's hollow, lifeless eyes, utterly devoid of any spark, Minato couldn't help but lower his voice and speak into Hiruzen's ear.
"Hm?"
Hiruzen, who had still been immersed in the tragic state of Killer B, C, and the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, was jolted awake by Minato's words.
"The Third Raikage is a well-known brute. Even though he was crippled by Lord Garp earlier and even wrote a letter of surrender…
A is still his son, and the next Raikage. If he dies here, I'm worried the Third Raikage might act irrationally."
Minato suppressed his voice to the lowest possible level as he warned Hiruzen.
"If that happens, the shinobi world could very well be plunged back into war."
"Th-this…"
Hiruzen's heart instantly tightened.
He was no longer the peerless shinobi hero of the past.
As for another great war in the shinobi world, while he wouldn't say he feared it like venomous snakes or savage beasts, he was undeniably wary of it.
If there was any way to avoid war, he would absolutely not hesitate to use any means necessary to do so.
"Minato, your concerns are valid. But the one he tried to assassinate was Lord Garp…"
Hiruzen shook his head.
"This is no longer just an internal matter of Konoha. There's also Lord Garp's side to consider… I can't simply disregard his feelings."
If the assassination target had been a Konoha shinobi, Hiruzen would have been capable of handing that shinobi over to Kumogakure without hesitation to appease the Third Raikage's fury.
But when it came to Garp, he didn't have that kind of courage.
"But if a war really breaks out, then…"
Minato glanced at Garp, parted his lips as if to say something, only to be interrupted by Hiruzen.
"Minato, someone must bear Lord Garp's anger."
"We can't disregard Lord Garp's feelings just because of a hypothesis, a mere possibility."
"And besides, Lord Garp is not a Konoha shinobi."
The look Hiruzen gave Minato was filled with deep meaning.
"..."
Minato's expression tightened slightly.
Only then did he realize that he and Danzo had made the same mistake.
Because Garp had emerged from retirement and swept through the Four Great Ninja Villages, they had subconsciously begun to treat him as one of Konoha's own.
When viewing matters, they instinctively prioritized what would happen to Konoha, rather than considering Garp's perspective.
That was precisely why, after seeing A's resolve to die, Minato's first reaction had been to let him go, at the very least, not let him die in Konoha, but instead send him back to Kumogakure to die there.
"Iron Fist, I hope you'll keep your word!"
Suddenly, A's voice rang out, breaking Minato's inner turmoil.
"The one who went back on his word was me, not my father.
After he lost to you, he truly did return to the village and issue an order forbidding Kumogakure shinobi from setting foot in the Land of Fire."
"It was only because I couldn't accept this humiliating reality that I forced B and C to assassinate you."
"Now they're both dead. And with my life added on top of that…"
A lifted his head slightly, his gaze fixed on Garp.
"That should be enough to put an end to this whole matter, right?"
As he spoke, A maintained his kneeling posture before Garp and slowly raised his right hand.
Crackle… crackle….
Roaring Lightning Release chakra surged over his thick, powerful arm.
In the next instant, he twisted his wrist and brought the edge of his hand down toward his own neck in a vicious chop.
"Ah… I only hope the Third Great Ninja War, which has just ended, won't be reignited because of this."
Seeing this, Minato let out a silent sigh.
After being persuaded by Hiruzen, he had hesitated for just a moment, and now, even if he wanted to stop A from committing suicide, it was already too late.
A was anything but slow, and when it came to taking his own life, his movements were decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
"...No!"
But just as everyone thought A was about to die by his own hand, a sharp, urgent shout suddenly came from behind.
Orochimaru and the others instinctively turned their heads.
A flash of white light appeared, and a towering figure wrapped in bandages from head to toe materialized out of thin air.
Almost at the same moment, Lightning Release chakra covered the man's entire body.
With explosive speed, he flashed to A's side and, just before A's hand-blade struck his neck, barely managed to clamp down on his wrist.
"Father!"
A froze when he saw who it was.
He hadn't expected the Third Raikage to appear at a moment like this.
But when he noticed the shocking crimson seeping through the bandages wrapped around his father's body, his heart clenched, and the regret in him grew even stronger.
"Father actually rushed here using the Heavenly Transfer Technique…"
A lowered his head, not daring to look at the Third Raikage.
Under normal circumstances, with his father's formidable physique, he could have completely ignored the tearing damage caused by the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
But having only recently fled from Kumogakure, A knew better than anyone just how terrifying the injuries his father had suffered in his battle against Garp truly were.
To use the Heavenly Transfer Technique to rush here now was nothing short of racing here with his life on the line.
The Third Raikage had done this for one reason alone…
For him…
...
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