The Uchiha clan, which was wiped out entirely, lacked vision.

Chapter 116 Using one tiger to devour another

Chapter 116 Using one tiger to devour another

As dawn breaks and dusk fades, the light of day breaks.

After a night of fierce fighting, all sides began to rest, clean up their battlefields, and gradually retreated.

The sounds of fighting ceased, but the deathly silence of the battlefield was more suffocating than the clamor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi loosened his grip on the blood-stained Vajra Cudgel, allowing the Monkey King to dispel the summoning and return to rest.

His gaze swept across the ravaged battlefield and landed on the makeshift field hospital not far away.

Medical staff hurried in and out of the tent, and rows of stretchers were carried in, accompanied by bursts of painful groans.

The suppressed, low sobs sounded like a dull knife cutting into his flesh, drilling into his eardrums again and again.

Outside the tent, a long line of corpses stretched out, their stiff limbs arranged with difficulty, yet still unable to conceal the chilling stillness of death. Under the cold, gray light, the corpses resembled a lifeless, withered forest, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood there, his back seemingly more hunched than before, and even his shoulders slumped slightly.

He didn't move or speak, but just stared at the corpses and tents, as if he had aged ten years in that instant.

Although Jiraiya returned in time, there was still a very short window of opportunity, which allowed the Hidden Leaf Village to be overwhelmed by the enemy.

Without Jiraiya's restraint, the Raikage brothers went on a killing spree on the battlefield, invincible. It was only thanks to Konoha's sacrifices that they were able to hold back Kumogakure's offensive and prevent the battlefield from collapsing.

Even after Jiraiya returned, the situation only improved slightly.

Including Kakashi, who was taken down by Hiru's Breathing, and the dozen or so Chunin and Jonin killed by An, the losses in combat power on Konoha's side were actually quite significant.

If the Land of Wind hadn't hesitated to join the attack, Konoha would likely have suffered even greater losses.

Looking at Jiraiya, who had fallen silent, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and shook his head silently.

A merciful general cannot command an army!

My disciple is good in every way, but he is too impulsive and is really not cut out to be Hokage.

If we had decisively abandoned Kakashi tonight, the enemy wouldn't have had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and would have been forced to fight normally every day, thus avoiding such heavy losses.

But it's no use saying all this now. He walked behind Jiraiya and patted him on the shoulder.

"Jiraiya, don't blame yourself too much, it's not your fault."

"That's what war is like; it will stop at nothing."

"What we need to do is to carry on the will of those fallen comrades, better protect Konoha Village, and make their sacrifices more meaningful."

Jiraiya lowered his head dejectedly, but the anger in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

"Old man, Itachi is right. We need to deal with that Uchiha An first, otherwise it's easy to dodge a spear in the open but hard to guard against a hidden arrow."

"We are a ninja village, with a large and powerful population. We are not afraid of any number of enemies, no matter how many come to fight us head-on."

"But Uchiha An is different; he is an assassin."

"He will suddenly appear and attack you when you are least expecting it."

"Once he succeeded, he showed no hesitation and immediately withdrew from the battlefield, not giving us the opportunity to overwhelm him with sheer numbers."

"We don't know when he'll come next, and it's impossible for us to be on high alert every day."

"Only by killing him first, or at least preventing him from having the time and energy to cause us trouble, can we concentrate all our efforts to end the Fourth War."

After hearing Jiraiya's words, the Third Hokage was naturally moved, and he now hated Uchiha An intensely.

"But we are currently short-handed and have no way to spare any more manpower to hunt down Uchiha An," the Third Hokage said, shaking his head.

"This is what I think." Jiraiya lowered his head, brought his mouth close to the Third Hokage's ear, and whispered, "Hasn't the negotiation with Sunagakure been at a stalemate?"

"They don't want to form an alliance with us and fight side by side, lest they weaken the fighting strength of their own village."

"They probably won't back down from this condition easily, and we don't have that much time to waste arguing with them."

"Let's use Uchiha An as the terms of the deal."

"As long as Sunagakure kills Uchiha An, we will release the Kazekage Rasa."

"I see—" The Third Hokage's heart stirred, and he nodded thoughtfully. "This method is not bad. I will send someone to talk to Sunagakure."

The Third Hokage handed over the tasks here to the new Jonin class leader, Nara Shikakage, and turned back to the village.

After he sat down in his office, he sent someone to invite Kazekage Rasa over.

Although Luo Sha was captured, he still enjoyed the treatment of a Kage-level officer. Now that he had been invited over, he knew that negotiations were about to begin again, so he immediately bowed his head and compromised, saying, "We can take another step back on the conditions we offered last time."

"In this battle, the Land of Wind acknowledged its defeat and agreed to sign a peace treaty with Konoha, promising never to commit such an act again."

"But it's impossible to fight against the other three countries together with Konoha. Even if I agreed, the daimyo wouldn't agree."

"The defeat had already caused the village a great deal of loss, and we don't even know where we'll find compensation for the dead and wounded ninjas and the supplies burned in the war!"

"If we were to wage another war with the other three kingdoms that would bring us no benefit, I'm afraid the daimyo would rather replace him with another Kazekage than agree to it."

"Not enough." The Third Hokage, pipe in mouth, exhaled smoke, his expression hidden behind the smoke. "I understand Sunagakure's concerns. Personally, I would also be willing to let the two countries cease hostilities and restore peace."

"But if simply withdrawing from the war and acknowledging defeat can make it seem like this never happened, then wouldn't all the ninjas who died in battle have died in vain?"

"The Land of Fire has always loved peace and is willing to treat neighboring countries peacefully."

"But this peace cannot be a one-sided effort by the Land of Fire; the Land of Wind must also set an example for peace."

Rasa frowned upon hearing this, his gaze flashing briefly at the Third Hokage's face, but the smoke obscured his expression, making it impossible to discern his true feelings.

He carefully considered the words of the three generations and seemed to detect a hint of compromise in them.

"Then, in your opinion, Hokage, what should the Land of Wind do to set an example of peace?" Rasa asked politely.

The Third Hokage took another drag of his cigarette, exhaling a long plume of smoke, and said meaningfully, "This Shinobi World War was originally unnecessary, but because of the machinations of a certain rogue ninja from Konoha, a conflict was stirred up between Amegakure and Konoha."

"Under the influence of various factors, the fourth war finally broke out again."

"You...you don't actually want Sunagakure to attack Amegakure, do you?"

Luo Sha was so shocked he almost jumped up, waving his hands repeatedly in refusal, "No way!"

"As I said before, the Daimyo will not agree to Sunagakure engaging in war with any other ninja village, not even a small country."

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