Chapter 594: The Great Ninja War Ends

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Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's reply, Onoki was not surprised.

Konoha was currently the dominant side; after the battle ended, Iwa's losses would only be greater than Konoha's.

"Iwa is willing to compensate Konoha for the losses suffered in the war, and is also willing to form an alliance with Konoha to advance and retreat together," Onoki said quickly.

With Muyue around, no ninja village would be able to contend with Konoha for the next few decades—this money, Onoki regarded as protection money paid to Konoha.

"Before the compensation is finalized and paid, you will need to be a guest in Konoha," Sarutobi Hiruzen replied after thinking for a moment.

What was the Great Ninja War fought for? Profit.

Now, making peace with Iwa could both reduce losses and gain benefits—Sarutobi Hiruzen had no reason to refuse.

Fighting and killing were not the goal; they were merely the means to achieve the goal.

"Since the Hokage invites me, naturally I will go," Onoki agreed.

It was dangerous for a Tsuchikage to stay in Konoha, but to reduce Iwa's losses, Onoki was willing to take that risk.

Onoki believed Konoha would not do anything to him, because it would not serve Konoha's interests.

If Konoha really took this opportunity to permanently keep him in Konoha, it would turn Iwa into a mortal enemy, and at the same time make the other three great ninja villages wary.

Konoha did not need to take such a risk; they only needed to let Muyue train peacefully for a few more years, and they would naturally become the hegemon.

After reaching a verbal agreement, Onoki immediately flew above the main battlefield and shouted loudly:

"Iwa-ninja, stop fighting and fall back! We are about to enter peace talks with Konoha; we are no longer enemies!"

In order to minimize Iwa's losses as much as possible, Onoki split into a shadow clone and quickly ordered all Iwa-ninja on the battlefield to cease fighting.

When the Third Raikage heard Onoki's voice, his face darkened involuntarily.

You organized the alliance, yet you surrendered the fastest.

"Kumo also wants peace talks with Konoha! All Kumo-ninja, come to my side! Stop fighting!"

The majority of their alliance's ninjas were from Iwa; the other villages had only brought some elite squads. Once Iwa surrendered, how could they withstand Konoha's main force?

With so many strong individuals on site, even the Third Raikage could at most guarantee his own escape, not that he could lead his subordinates away.

But the Third Raikage could not bear to part with Kumo's elite squads—these were the pillars of Kumogakure.

Actually, before the Third Raikage spoke, Rasa wanted to say that Suna would also talk peace, but he was severely wounded and in no way could match the Third Raikage's vigorous voice.

"Quickly say loudly that we of Suna want peace talks," Rasa hurriedly ordered the Suna-ninja beside him.

He was badly injured and urgently needed treatment; if the fighting continued, even if he wasn't killed by Konoha's strong, he might die from not receiving timely treatment due to the severity of his wounds.

As Suna announced its intention to negotiate peace, this great melee ended with victory for Konoha and Kiri.

"We won!"

"We are the victors!"

Some Konoha-ninja shouted excitedly.

Although this battle did not last long, it was unquestionably a major victory—a victory with far-reaching significance.

It was much more meaningful than the previous battle that had eliminated over a thousand enemies.

Because this battle involved all the great ninja villages, with the Kage of all five great villages participating.

Even in the history of wars throughout the ninja village era, this was a very heavyweight battle.

"Haha, finally I can rest and go gather material," Jiraiya showed a sincere smile.

He believed that this battle would end the great melee that had persisted for several years in the ninja world, ushering in a temporary period of peace.

At the very beginning of the war it was okay—Konoha was large and prosperous, not lacking a strong shinobi like Jiraiya.

Later, after being challenged successively by Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri, Jiraiya's good life ended, and he spent most of his time on the battlefield.

For Jiraiya, such a life was sheer torture; he only held on through the breath of determination to protect Konoha.

"The future should be completely changed now," Kakashi also relaxed inwardly.

At the start of this battle, it was truly frightening. Kakashi almost thought this was Muyue's certain death situation.

Three Kage appeared in succession — these were Kage, not common cabbages; there are only five in the entire shinobi world.

"Muyue the Sage is invincible!" Obito wildly cheered for Muyue in his heart.

In this war, Muyue was definitely the coolest guy. The attacks of multiple Kage could do nothing to him, and with one strike he severely wounded the Kazekage.

"This kid is really eerie." Yagura Karatachi, holding an iron staff with arms crossed, couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

He was in charge of Kirigakure's battles against Konoha, so he had dealt with Muyue quite a few times.

On second thought, Yagura realized that whenever Muyue was on the opposite side, he never had it good.

The first time, he not only lost five ninja swords and some elites, but also a Jinchuriki.

The second time was even worse — not only was the ninja unit he led utterly defeated, he himself was captured.

Yet before that, he had actually defeated a ninja unit led by Konoha's high-level.

"Better avoid opposing him as much as possible."

This time, Yagura truly behaved himself.

He had never been so humiliated in his life — being captured alive by the enemy.

If given a choice, Yagura would rather face a ninja unit alone than fight Muyue.

Because when facing a ninja unit, even if he couldn't escape, life or death was still in his own hands.

"Konoha will be great again — in my hands, in Muyue's hands!" Watching the enemy ninja villages laying down their weapons on the battlefield, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a surge of pride.

He believed Konoha would reach a peak under Muyue's leadership, and his deed of discovering Muyue from the Ninja Academy and from Root would be remembered for ages.

The world might forget that he trained the Sannin, but they should not forget that he discovered the second God of Shinobi.

Muyue's current achievements were mainly due to his own talent and effort, but Hiruzen felt he also deserved some credit.

If he hadn't taken Muyue out of Root and more boldly nurtured him, giving him more resources, even if Muyue would eventually become extremely powerful, it wouldn't have happened as quickly as now.

Hiruzen knew his old friend too well — even with subordinates, Danzo Shimura would first question, then doubt.

In such an environment, Muyue couldn't get good resources nor cultivate in peace.

Otherwise, with Muyue's talent, Hiruzen felt he should have become famous long ago, not only starting to shine after leaving Root.

"Danzo, I will avenge you." Thinking this, Hiruzen couldn't help recalling Danzo's remains.

Danzo Shimura was, after all, Konoha's Hokage Advisor; he couldn't die so inexplicably.

Hiruzen had long planned two investigation directions, but Konoha was busy with war, so it was delayed.

The first was to investigate from the ninja master Sōsuke.

He didn't know what role Madara Uchiha played in Danzo's death, but one thing was certain: the person who killed Danzo was Sōsuke — a fact witnessed by Muyue and many Rain ninja.

The second was Madara Uchiha, but Hiruzen didn't plan to put much effort into that.

First, Madara was suspected to have been killed by Muyue; second, there was no starting point — he didn't know where to begin investigating.

Danzo, who knew the information, was dead; Madara himself was also dead. Where could he investigate? The Uchiha clan?

Seeing the war end, Muyue dismissed the Wood Human Technique and returned to the ground.

"Muyue, are you injured?" Hiruzen put aside his thoughts, showed a concerned expression, and walked up to Muyue to ask.

Actually, he had many things he wanted to discuss with Muyue.

For example, Madara Uchiha whom Muyue killed, and the matter of becoming Hokage's assistant.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Third. I'm fine." Muyue shook his head with a smile.

This battle was much easier than fighting Madara Uchiha.

Although the combined strength of the enemies was greater than Madara's, his teammates were fierce enough this time.

Not only were there elites from various ninja clans, even Hiruzen himself rushed to the battlefield to support.

"Glad you're fine. In this battle, you achieved the greatest merit." Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

In this battle, although Muyue didn't kill many enemies, a careful count of his contributions would reveal an astonishing number.

The greatest achievement was capturing a large number of Kirigakure prisoners, causing Kirigakure to defect and side with Konoha in the war.

The second greatest achievement was Muyue risking his life to act as a decoy.

After Kirigakure defected, Sarutobi Hiruzen gave Muyue two choices: one, to play along and have a decisive battle with Iwagakure and the others; two, to return to Konoha and receive the best protection.

For Konoha to achieve victory as quickly as possible, Muyue resolutely chose to act as a decoy, laying the foundation for the subsequent great victory.

Then there was quickly finding a breakthrough and defeating the Kazekage, and so on.

"The Third Hokage-sama and the Mizukage-sama also made great contributions." Muyue did not belittle himself and chose to speak more about others' contributions.

There was no need to be too modest this time. After all, he truly had a large share in the victory. Forcing modesty would have been too deliberate.

"Truly young and promising. When I was as old as you, Muyue, I was still worried about whether I was capable of being a qualified Mizukage guard, yet you already have the strength to defeat a Kage." The Third Mizukage said with a smile.

Since he had already betrayed the three great shinobi villages and Konoha had obvious development prospects, the Third Mizukage didn't mind following Konoha for a few decades.

Rasa, who was lying nearby receiving treatment, happened to hear this, and his face instantly turned even darker than the Third Raikage's face.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't beat the Third Mizukage and was injured, he would really want to fight the Third Mizukage.

He could already foresee the newspapers of the major shinobi world presses after today.

The headline would surely be "Konoha and Kirigakure Alliance Crushes Iwa, Kumo, and Suna; Five Great Shinobi Villages Negotiate Peace."

The content after that would probably be about Muyue defeating him.

Rasa could guess what titles those editors would choose.

"Shocking! The Fourth Kazekage Defeated with One Punch!"

"Konoha Newcomer Defeats Sunagakure's Kazekage! Is There Also a Gap Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages?"

The more Rasa thought about it, the worse his expression became.

He thought of Hanzo, who was defeated by Sōsuke.

Hanzo had roamed the shinobi world for half his life and was revered as the Demigod of the Shinobi World.

As a result, just one loss to Sōsuke completely ruined his reputation. Everywhere it was said that Hanzo was defeated by Sōsuke, that Hanzo's Water Release could not surpass Sōsuke's Fire Release.

He feared falling into the same situation as Hanzo and then earning the title of the Weakest Kazekage.

That would really make Rasa spit blood from anger—his teacher, the Third Kazekage, was called the Strongest Kazekage.

"This junior's talent is truly once in a century." The Third Raikage nodded, acknowledging Muyue's excellence.

Muyue's performance on the battlefield truly shocked him.

He could actually match his full-power Lightning Release Chakra Mode in taijutsu—the only one in the entire shinobi world.

The only regret for the Third Raikage was that later Muyue used the Wood Human Technique instead of using taijutsu to settle the score with his Hell Thrust.

The Third Raikage had always thought his taijutsu had no rival, but today Muyue taught him a lesson.

No matter how gifted a taijutsu ninja is, they still need hard training. For Muyue to have such taijutsu strength, he must have undergone unimaginable training.

Therefore, even though he was an enemy, the Third Raikage couldn't help but feel admiration for Muyue.

Of course, admiration aside, the Third Raikage still wanted Muyue dead.

A non-Kumogakure ninja being so excellent was truly terrifying.

Seeing even the Third Raikage praising Muyue, Sarutobi Hiruzen's smile grew even more pronounced.

Muyue was practically his half-disciple, often coming to him to ask about various training matters.

However, Sarutobi Hiruzen was now not planning to take Muyue as a disciple.

There was no longer any need. Even without the boost of being his disciple, Muyue was still unmatched on the path to becoming Hokage.

If he took Muyue as a disciple now, it would instead make him seem a bit opportunistic, seeking the reputation of being Muyue's teacher—not worth it.

"Father, I'm sorry." Huangtu walked over to Onoki with his head lowered.

With the defeat in battle, as a high-ranking officer of the forces, he could not escape blame.

Listening to the Kages praising Muyue, and looking at his own son, who was covered in dust and dirt and dared not speak loudly, Onoki became extremely angry.

How could the gap between people be so great?

Not to mention that in strength he was inferior to Muyue, even in character and conduct, Kitsuchi could not compare to Muyue.

"Address me by my title while working!" Onoki said with a dark face.

"Forgive me, Tsuchikage-sama."

Looking at his son's honest face, Onoki rubbed his brow and sighed, ultimately choosing to offer a word of comfort.

This campaign's failure was due to Kirigakure's betrayal, and due to not being able to gather all of Muyue's intelligence; it had nothing to do with Kitsuchi.

Given Kitsuchi's strength and fame, he was not even qualified to take the blame for the defeat.

After the miscellaneous matters were handled, Hiruzen Sarutobi had Muyue use Wood Style to create a conference room for a meeting to discuss the specific peace treaty.

Strictly speaking, this could be considered the Second Five Kage Summit, the second time the Five Kages gathered in one place for a meeting.

However, unlike the first time, this time the Five Kages were not meeting as equals; they were divided into two camps: the victorious villages and the defeated villages.

As defeated villages, Onoki and his group did not even bring guards into the meeting room this time.

After all, having just been defeated and still being on the battlefield, there was no point and no qualification to bring guards.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had Muyue act as his guard and attend the meeting with him, while the Third Mizukage brought Yagura Karatachi to attend the meeting.: sjwx→