Chapter 48 (Patreon)

After Shikaku arrived, Kushina explained what had happened and repeated the conditions Roy had given the Raikage.

She made one thing especially clear.

Kumogakure had to leave one of its jinchūriki in Konoha as a hostage. That was the one condition they could not give up.

As for the other demands, Shikaku could negotiate them as he saw fit.

Kushina spoke as though it had been nothing special, but Shikaku could only stare at her in disbelief.

She went out, fought the Raikage and two jinchūriki, captured both jinchūriki, and forced the Raikage to agree to negotiations.

Just like that?

If jinchūriki were that easy to capture, why would every village treat them as their strongest weapons?

And what had the Raikage been doing?

Had he simply stood there and watched while Kushina took both of them?

Shisui, who was listening nearby, looked just as shaken.

Compared to Kushina’s calm appearance, what was his earlier battle supposed to have been?

Even after using the legendary Susanoo, he had barely managed to hold back the Raikage and one jinchūriki.

Was he not strong enough?

Or was Susanoo not as powerful as the clan records made it sound?

Kushina ignored the curious looks around her.

After telling Shikaku to handle the negotiations the following morning, she said she needed to rest and returned to her tent.

She had several questions of her own.

The moment she entered her inner world, Roy spoke before she could ask anything.

“So, Kurama, how did it feel to show off in front of the other tailed beasts?”

Kurama snorted.

“Hmph. Even without your help, I’m still the strongest tailed beast. Those two were never a match for me.”

Roy was already used to Kurama’s stubborn pride, so he did not take the reply seriously.

With someone like Kurama, agreeing with everything he said would only make him even more arrogant.

But ruining his mood whenever he was pleased would not work either.

Sometimes Roy had to praise him, and other times he had to provoke him a little.

Otherwise, Kurama would simply shut him out again.

“Roy-kun, why did you ask for so much?” Kushina asked. “There’s no way Kumogakure will accept those conditions.”

Withdrawing their forces and paying compensation might still be possible.

Two billion ryō was a huge amount, but Kumogakure was one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. If they accepted the loss, they should be able to pay it.

The ninjutsu were different.

No village would willingly hand over its S-rank and A-rank techniques.

Roy had even demanded the training method for the Raikage’s Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

Unless A truly had nothing but muscle inside his head, he would never agree to that.

“That’s how negotiations work,” Roy replied. “We ask for far more than we expect to receive.”

“Far more?”

“Right. Even if Shikaku lowers half of the demands, Kumogakure will still suffer a heavy loss.”

Roy’s expression became serious.

“They need to understand that invading Konoha has consequences. If we ask for something that barely hurts them, they’ll simply try again later.”

Kushina thought about his words.

He was right.

It had happened during the previous Shinobi World Wars, especially after Hiruzen became Hokage.

Even when Konoha won, it rarely demanded proper compensation from the enemy.

Sometimes, Konoha even sent supplies to the villages it had defeated, claiming it was how a great village should behave.

But did the other villages feel grateful?

Not at all.

They only decided that Konoha was easy to push around.

If they won, they could take Konoha’s land and resources.

If they lost, they could simply withdraw without losing much.

With things like that, of course they would keep attacking Konoha whenever they saw an opportunity.

“Then why don’t we make Kumogakure admit defeat in front of everyone?” Kushina asked. “Wouldn’t that make them think twice before starting another war?”

For one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, losing its reputation could hurt even more than losing money or supplies.

“The idea isn’t wrong,” Roy said. “But we can’t corner them too much.”

“Why not?”

“Other than losing their two jinchūriki, Kumogakure hasn’t suffered any serious damage yet. Their main army is still intact.”

Roy looked at Kushina.

“If we force them to announce that they lost to Konoha, the Raikage might decide to fight until the very end rather than accept the humiliation.”

Kushina nodded slowly.

“And Konoha can’t afford another large war right now,” Roy continued. “Making Kumogakure admit defeat would sound impressive, but what would we actually gain from it?”

Nothing except the name of the victor.

That would not solve Konoha’s real problems.

“If Kumogakure loses this quickly, the other villages will become afraid of Konoha,” Roy said.

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

“Not with Konoha’s current strength.”

Roy shook his head.

“If the other villages think Konoha has become too powerful, they may put aside their own grudges and attack us together.”

If the enemy believed you were overwhelmingly strong, then you had better truly be that strong.

But Konoha was not.

The village had lost many experienced shinobi, and its finances were already strained.

If several villages joined forces against Konoha now, the village might not survive.

“I understand.”

Kushina looked at Roy with admiration.

“You really thought about all of that.”

Only now did she realise how complicated war truly was.

Winning the battle in front of you was not enough.

You also had to think about what the enemy would do afterward, how the other villages would react, and whether Konoha could handle the result.

A choice that looked good at first could easily cause an even bigger problem later.

No wonder every Hokage needed advisers and assistants.

No matter how capable the Hokage was, there were always things one person might overlook.

That was why other people were needed to point out what the Hokage had missed.

Of course, if those advisers were people like Danzō, Homura, and Koharu, then it might be better for the Hokage to make the decisions alone.

There was one thing Roy had not told Kushina.

She had not won because she was powerful enough to defeat A, Yugito, and Killer B head-on.

She had won because they knew almost nothing about her abilities.

They had also been too cautious at first, then became careless once they believed there was no ambush.

If they had known Kushina’s identity from the beginning, or understood what Roy’s techniques could do, the battle would not have ended so easily.

Capturing both jinchūriki and forcing the Raikage to stop the war might have been impossible.

Kushina might not even have escaped without being injured.

Roy and Kushina’s abilities were at their most dangerous during the first battle.

Their enemies had no idea what to expect.

In that way, they were somewhat similar to Hidan.

Anyone who did not understand Hidan’s curse technique could be killed after giving him a single drop of blood.

It did not matter whether the opponent was an elite jōnin or even a jinchūriki.

But once the secret of his technique became known, Shikamaru had been able to form a plan and defeat him.

That was how shinobi battles worked.

Strength mattered, but information could decide the entire fight.

If Kushina could kill every enemy who saw her abilities, then there would be no problem.

But with Konoha’s current situation, that was impossible.

Some enemies would always survive.

Sooner or later, information about Kushina’s abilities would spread to the other villages.

That was why she had to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

She also needed more ways to fight.

The more techniques she possessed, the harder it would be for the enemy to prepare for all of them.

Even if they discovered one of her secrets, she could still catch them off guard with another.

Kushina was always eager whenever training was mentioned.

However, before they began, she suddenly remembered something.

“What about you, Roy-kun?” she asked. “You absorbed some soul energy, didn’t you?”

While Kushina had been away, Dodai had ordered Kumogakure’s forces to launch a fierce attack against Konoha’s defensive line.

Both sides had suffered casualties.

The bodies had only recently fallen, so traces of soul energy still remained around the battlefield.

Roy nodded.

After returning, he had absorbed all the remaining soul energy he could find.

His spiritual pressure had increased slightly.

He also felt that something inside his spiritual body had begun to change.

However, he could not tell exactly what it was yet.

Perhaps he had not absorbed enough soul energy for the change to fully appear.

At the Kumogakure camp, Dodai was asking A what had happened.

Three of Kumogakure’s strongest fighters had left together.

Yet one person had defeated all three of them and captured both jinchūriki.

Even Konoha’s Yellow Flash had never done anything this ridiculous, had he?

Dodai remembered the woman who had lured the three of them away.

She had black hair.

But the woman who returned with Yugito and Killer B had bright red hair, and her face seemed strangely familiar.

Then there were those golden chains.

Dodai had already reached an answer.

As he put all the clues together, however, his expression became rather strange.