For a great ninja village like Sunagakure, being unable to defend against the enemy outside the national borders was already a complete failure. Just think about it, what were the small countries placed between the great nations when the one-village-one-nation system was established for? Weren't they meant to be buffer zones and battlefields?
Now Sunagakure had two thousand Konoha ninjas thrust in their face. Honestly, at this point, they had to surrender whether they wanted to or not, because there was no way to fight… Being invaded by forty or fifty people was a heavy blow, but what about being invaded by two thousand people? The village was definitely doomed.
Because of the surprise attack a few days earlier, Sunagakure's internal operations were almost at a standstill. They were busy rescuing the injured, rebuilding the village, and restoring the system and command structure. They simply didn't have the conditions to fight another war against a strong enemy.
In short, due to a series of domino effects, Sunagakure was now in a crisis of life and death.
Of course, if Orochimaru really ordered these two thousand Konoha ninjas to attack Sunagakure, it would be a war of annihilation, and these two thousand people would definitely be sacrificed here… A team of fifty people could maneuver and retreat freely, but two thousand people couldn't.
But what benefit would Konoha gain from spending a heavy price to take down Sunagakure? The answer was basically nothing. Konoha didn't want the wretched desert of the Land of Wind. So after entering the Land of Wind, Orochimaru simply stationed his troops outside Sunagakure, making a show of force and intimidation, acting as if he might go all out at any moment.
However, they wouldn't really go all out.
Although Konoha's forces were at a serious disadvantage in terms of numbers, their morale was sky-high. In contrast, Sunagakure… In short, Sunagakure finally understood the meaning of "the wise submit to circumstances."
Overall, the current state of affairs was still due to the Fourth Kazekage's foolishness and Sunagakure's refusal to accept the olive branch. Wouldn't it have been better to just sign the peace treaty? Just because they couldn't gain enough benefits and self-righteously believed that even if they refused the agreement, Konoha couldn't do anything to them, the Kazekage just had to act up a little?
And then he really died.
After Konoha stationed its troops outside Sunagakure for two days, Sunagakure surrendered.
Chiyo, along with more than ten Sunagakure ninjas, came to the Konoha ninja army and handed over the letter of surrender to Orochimaru… The surrender matters had definitely been communicated beforehand.
The Land of Rivers? Originally, Sunagakure could still occupy a part of it, but now they couldn't even dream of it.
Orochimaru accepted the surrender document, which stated that Sunagakure would not only surrender unconditionally, but also wanted to form an alliance with Konoha… Of course, the meaning of forming an alliance here wasn't to become equal allies. On the contrary, it was Sunagakure's subtle expression of its willingness to become Konoha's subordinate.
They had no choice but to become a subordinate. After this battle, Chiyo calculated and found that the gap in high-end combat power between Sunagakure and Konoha seemed to be a bit obvious. She alone couldn't hold the fort.
So, since they had to surrender, they might as well surrender completely.
"We accept Sunagakure's surrender in principle, but the specific terms of surrender and what kind of sincerity your side should show need to be decided by the Hokage. Until we receive a reply from the Hokage, our army will temporarily remain stationed here," Orochimaru said, handing the surrender document to Habara standing behind him.
Orochimaru certainly wouldn't believe in Sunagakure's integrity. They had gone back on their word more than once.
If they directly withdrew after hearing that Sunagakure had surrendered, then after they recovered, it wouldn't be so easy for Konoha's army to penetrate deep into the Land of Wind next time. So, since they were already here, they might as well stay for a few more days, as a sort of vacation abroad.
"Habara, you take Sunagakure's surrender document back to Konoha and inform the Third Hokage. Let him decide how to accept Sunagakure's surrender… Send the reply as quickly as possible. Neither our side nor our Sunagakure friends can wait too long," Orochimaru then said to Habara.
Habara nodded to show his understanding. He accepted the surrender document, thinking to himself, a peace treaty turned into a surrender document. Who was to blame?
However, just as he was about to leave, Chiyo unexpectedly spoke up, "Wait."
"Is there anything else?" Before Habara could speak, Orochimaru spoke first, and his gaze towards Chiyo became dangerous.
Chiyo first hesitated, then finally sighed and said, "We hope that your side can assist us in properly recovering the Fourth Kazekage's remains. This concerns the dignity of a nation, after all."
To be fair, from the moment the Fourth Kazekage was killed by being bombarded with twelve thousand explosive tags, he had no dignity to speak of. However… well, respect the dead.
Habara was still wondering. It had been several days, and Sunagakure still hadn't managed to get Rasa out of the sculpture. He didn't think that, in a moment of life and death, who would have the time to care about a dead man.
Orochimaru glanced at Habara without a word, and then said, "Of course, we can. It's what we should do."
Habara certainly couldn't enter Sunagakure again. Honestly, the Sunagakure ninjas also didn't want him to enter their village. So, after a short while, a golden flower sculpture was carried out by Sunagakure ninjas.
Then Habara stepped forward and extended his hand towards the "golden flower." And as a professional, out of respect for the deceased, Habara felt that he should recite a passage of the Sutra of Rebirth at this time, so…
"Namo Gatling Bodhisattva, Six roots purified by depleted uranium rounds, Three thousand six hundred revolutions per breath, Great compassion to save all beings. … Goodbye to you."
After Habara finished chanting, the "golden flower" had already transformed into a coffin. Next, as long as the Sunagakure ninjas opened the coffin lid, they could see their beloved Kazekage.
And while Habara was performing his technique, Chiyo had been silently staring at him… Undoubtedly, this Habara was indeed from that ninja clan.
After finishing his work, Habara raised his head and said to Chiyo, "We feel deeply grieved by the death of the Fourth Kazekage…"
These words sounded familiar, because just a few days ago, the Fourth Kazekage had indifferently said a similar sentence, and now he had become the object of mourning in other people's words.
"However, when peace is becoming the general trend, those who still vainly attempt to provoke war should be lying here, shouldn't they? Those who do not cherish peace will be swallowed up by the flames of war sooner or later, regardless of whether this person's status is noble or lowly, and this is merely reaping what one sows."
Were Habara's words harsh? No, he was speaking the truth. It was just unknown whether Rasa regretted his decision. But to the ears of the Sunagakure ninjas, these words were somewhat unpleasant. Many ninjas showed expressions of wanting to perish together with certain people.
However, Chiyo wouldn't be provoked by such words, because she knew that at this time, she needed to show a stance of standing together with Konoha. So she said, "I'm sorry, we regret the Fourth Kazekage's rash decision."
Yes, the living were not wrong, and Sunagakure was not wrong. The only one who could be wrong was the already dead Kazekage. Shifting the responsibility to the Kazekage was the best decision. At worst, Konoha could drag Rasa out and whip his corpse.
"Habara, go and carry out the order."
Orochimaru stopped Habara's intention to continue talking nonsense. He could tell that this person really liked to seize the moral high ground and was a bit unforgiving.
So Habara, Kakashi, and Tenzo left Sunagakure with this surrender document. Next, they smoothly crossed the Land of Wind, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Fire, and returned to Konoha several days later.
And when they stepped inside the Konoha gate, they immediately saw a dense crowd.
Various colorful ribbons were flying in the sky, and the cheers of the people were endless.
Huh?
Although the whole process was a little more complicated than originally envisioned, since Habara and his two companions had brought back "peace" as promised, the Third Hokage also kept his promise and arranged a grand publicity and welcoming ceremony.
Well, before Habara brought back the official surrender document, Orochimaru had of course already reported the front-line intelligence to the Hokage through secret channels at a faster speed.
In general, although this kind of cheering was cheap, it also foreshadowed that the war was truly coming to an end.
Honestly, Habara was a little uncomfortable with this kind of occasion, let alone this kind of occasion in this world. So, facing the cheers, praises, applause, and smiles of the Konoha people, he was somewhat at a loss. So he could only let his mind wander to distract himself.
Peace, war… And just as Habara was thinking about the grand narrative of this world, he suddenly heard Kakashi's low mutter…
"Truly, 'one family laughs, one family cries'…"
Uh, can you read the atmosphere?
Habara glanced at this kid, and thought to himself…
You-know-what, shallow.
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