Chapter 98 (Patreon)

The commotion at Sunagakure’s entrance had been far too great to go unnoticed.

Ninja and civilians poured out of the village, only to freeze in disbelief when they saw the devastation beyond the gates.

Yujiro stood exactly where he had been from the beginning, his clothes barely disturbed.

In front of him, however, lay the bodies of more than a thousand Sunagakure shinobi.

Every elder who had accompanied the Kazekage had also fallen by Yujiro’s hand.

Only Rasa remained alive, and even he was covered in wounds, barely managing to keep himself standing.

The villagers slowly raised their heads and stared at Yujiro, who stood atop a platform of magnetic sand suspended in the sky.

His expression remained completely indifferent.

He did not even appear tired.

The faces of the Sunagakure shinobi turned grim.

They could not rely on the power of their tailed beast, either.

Shukaku had only recently been sealed away. If they recklessly released the One-Tail now, Sunagakure itself would likely be the first place destroyed by its rampage.

The Ten Thousand Magnetic Realm gradually faded.

When the technique finally ended, Rasa was the only survivor among the forces that had confronted Yujiro.

Even then, the Kazekage had been left grievously injured.

Yujiro manipulated his Magnet Release, causing the platform beneath his feet to descend slowly toward the ground.

“It seems Sunagakure never intended to show any sincerity.”

He let out a quiet sigh.

“In that case, I’ll have to kill you first and deal with the rest of Sunagakure afterward.”

Yujiro raised his right hand.

Dark iron gathered beside him, twisting together until it formed a long, razor-sharp spike.

With a single movement of his fingers, it would pierce straight through Rasa’s body.

“Wait!”

A desperate shout rang out.

Ten puppets suddenly soared into the air and surrounded Rasa, forming a defensive formation around him.

At the same time, Chiyo rushed toward the battlefield.

As one of Sunagakure’s senior advisors, Chiyo rarely involved herself in the village’s daily affairs anymore. For the most part, she had already withdrawn from active leadership.

But the situation before her was no longer something she could ignore.

Yujiro’s lips curved slightly as he looked at her.

“Chiyo. Are you planning to save Rasa?”

“Yujiro, I believe there has been a misunderstanding between Sunagakure and Konoha.”

Chiyo glanced at the injured Rasa behind the ten puppets before speaking in a restrained voice.

“A misunderstanding?”

Yujiro shook his head.

“I came to Sunagakure openly and without hostile intentions. Your Kazekage greeted me by surrounding me with an army and trying to kill me before I could even say a word.”

He looked directly at Chiyo.

“Tell me, how exactly should I resolve this misunderstanding?”

“I would first like to hear what you want from us,” Chiyo replied calmly.

She understood the situation perfectly.

If Sunagakure refused Yujiro’s demands today, he might truly force his way into the village.

And after what she had just witnessed, she could no longer dismiss his threat as empty boasting.

Yujiro glanced toward Shisui.

“Shisui.”

Shisui stepped forward and handed Chiyo the two documents he had been carrying.

One was a copy of the secret correspondence exchanged between Sunagakure and Kirigakure.

The other contained the compensation Konoha demanded from Sunagakure.

Chiyo read through the documents.

As her eyes moved across the listed terms, her hands began to tremble.

The demanded compensation was enormous.

If Sunagakure accepted these conditions, nearly an entire year’s worth of the village’s accumulated resources would be wiped out.

Yujiro watched her expression and gave a cold smile.

“What do you think would happen if the shinobi and civilians of Sunagakure learned that their own leaders had arranged for one of their comrades to be killed?”

Chiyo fell silent.

She turned her head and looked at Rasa.

How could he have made such a foolish decision?

Not only had he secretly arranged for Pakura to be sacrificed, but he had also allowed evidence of the agreement to fall into Konoha’s hands.

“Yujiro,” Chiyo began carefully, “you have already killed more than a thousand of Sunagakure’s shinobi today.”

She tightened her grip on the documents.

“Considering the losses we have already suffered, could you withdraw the demand for compensation?”

“I can promise you that Sunagakure will restrain itself from now on. We will not attack Konoha again.”

“They came here to kill me.”

Yujiro’s gaze remained cold.

“Was I supposed to stand still and let them do it?”

Chiyo could not answer.

Yujiro continued before she could find an excuse.

“You gathered an army at your own gates because you believed you could kill me. Now that you’ve discovered you can’t, you suddenly want to behave yourselves?”

His eyes narrowed.

“Had I been weaker than you, would Sunagakure have shown me mercy?”

Chiyo’s silence deepened.

If their positions had been reversed, Sunagakure would never have allowed Yujiro to leave alive.

In fact, they might have demanded even more from Konoha afterward.

“And there’s something else you seem to misunderstand.”

Yujiro’s voice grew colder.

“I’m not negotiating with you.”

“I’m informing you of what Sunagakure will pay.”

He looked toward the village gates.

“A village in Sunagakure’s current position does not have the right to negotiate with me.”

Chiyo remained silent for a long time.

Eventually, she looked down at the documents in her hands.

“Then… may I at least ask why you are willing to stop with only this?”

Yujiro shook his head.

“The reason is simple.”

He glanced beyond her, toward the village itself.

“I still haven’t stepped inside Sunagakure.”

Chiyo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Then she understood.

The compensation written in those documents was not the price of Yujiro’s attack.

It was the price Sunagakure would pay to prevent him from entering the village.

Chiyo took a deep breath.

“Very well.”

Her expression became solemn.

“Sunagakure accepts Konoha’s terms.”

Behind her, Rasa’s face was deathly pale.

However, he knew they had no other choice.

If they refused, Yujiro would enter Sunagakure by force.

What followed would not be a battle.

It would be a massacre.

Even if Rasa did not care about his own life, he could not disregard the thousands of civilians standing behind him.

“In that case, we’ll be leaving.”

Yujiro smiled faintly.

“Don’t try anything clever after I’m gone. My patience has never been particularly good, and I dislike people who agree to something before attempting to deceive me.”

Chiyo gave a bitter smile.

“Rest assured. Since we have accepted the terms, Sunagakure will fulfill them.”

“That would be best.”

Yujiro’s smile remained gentle.

Yet in the eyes of Chiyo and Rasa, it looked no different from the smile of a demon.

The confrontation had begun suddenly and ended just as quickly.

From beginning to end, less than two hours had passed.

Yet within those two hours, Sunagakure’s military strength had suffered a devastating blow.

More than a thousand shinobi sent to confront Yujiro had been killed.

Several village elders had died alongside them.

The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been gravely wounded.

And in the end, Sunagakure had still been forced to accept every condition presented by Konoha.

After leaving Sunagakure, Yujiro led the others toward the Land of Earth.

His next destination was Iwagakure.

After all, Yujiro was extremely interested in the village’s Dust Release.

This time, however, he was in no hurry to reach his destination.

The group travelled at a leisurely pace, taking the opportunity to enjoy the scenery and relax along the way.

News needed time to spread.

Two days later, word of what had happened at Sunagakure swept across the entire shinobi world.

A five-person team from Konoha, led by Yujiro, had marched directly to Sunagakure and defeated the village’s forces at its own gates.

According to the reports, Yujiro alone had handled the entire battle.

The other four members of his group had barely needed to intervene.

Even more shocking were the abilities Yujiro had displayed.

He possessed several kekkei genkai.

Ice Release.

Storm Release.

And even Magnet Release, the very kekkei genkai used by Sunagakure’s Fourth Kazekage.

Moreover, the Magnet Release Yujiro displayed was said to be several times more powerful than Rasa’s own.

In the end, Sunagakure and Konoha had signed a confidential agreement, bringing the confrontation to an end.

Sunagakure had lost more than a thousand shinobi, while the Fourth Kazekage had been left severely injured.

The news spread like wildfire.

Before long, it had reached the leaders of the other great shinobi villages.

Kirigakure.

Inside the Mizukage’s office, only three people were present.

Yagura and two village elders.

After reading the report, the three of them exchanged glances.

Then, almost at the same time, they began to laugh.

Kirigakure had also suffered losses because of Yujiro, but compared to what had happened to Sunagakure, their losses suddenly seemed insignificant.

After comparing the two outcomes, they could not help feeling that accepting Yujiro’s conditions had been the correct decision.

At the very least, Kirigakure had avoided having more than a thousand of its shinobi slaughtered at its own gates.

The Land of Lightning.

Kumogakure.

Ever since returning from the negotiations in Konoha, the Fourth Raikage had remained furious.

There were moments when A wanted nothing more than to gather every available shinobi in Kumogakure and launch an immediate attack on Konoha.

But they were only thoughts born from anger.

A understood better than most that Konoha’s current military strength already stood above the other Five Great Shinobi Countries.

The village that had once dominated the shinobi world was beginning to awaken once again.

When A received the report from Sunagakure, he laughed louder than anyone.

His face was filled with undisguised satisfaction, and much of the resentment he had carried since leaving Konoha seemed to disappear.

People were sometimes strange like that.

When they suffered alone, their anger only continued to grow.

But after discovering that someone else had suffered far more, their own misfortune suddenly became much easier to accept.

The Fourth Raikage was a perfect example.

However, while Kumogakure and Kirigakure were enjoying Sunagakure’s misfortune, another great shinobi village had fallen into a state of unease.

Iwagakure.

Inside the Tsuchikage’s office building, the village’s senior officials had gathered in the conference room.

The elderly council members sat around the table with deep frowns on their faces.

Judging by Yujiro’s current route, Sunagakure had only been the beginning.

His next destination would almost certainly be Iwagakure.

How could any of them remain calm?