"Ha ha ha ha ha."
In Kumo, the Third Raikage A laughed loudly without holding back at the report he had just received.
"With this, even if Iwa manages to recover, they will never be a problem again. I do not even know if they can still be called a ninja village," A mocked.
In reality, even though this was a united front between Kumo and Iwa against Konoha, Kumo never intended to truly defeat Konoha. They knew that even in their current state, Konoha was still the strongest village, and defeating it was nothing more than an illusion.
Kumo's true target had always been Iwa, and even if Konoha were not in its current weakened state, with the whole world spreading rumors about its flaws, Kumo would have gone to war with Iwa anyway.
Kumo had simply decided to ally with Iwa, taking advantage of Konoha's reputation, hoping to weaken Iwa before turning around and attacking them.
But now, it seemed there was no longer any need for that.
Although many of Iwa's ninjas were spread across the battlefield of the three nations, nearly ten thousand men had been killed, representing at least sixty five percent of their forces. Their losses this time were colossal.
However, this also created a problem.
"The red-haired demon, where is she right now?"
"Most likely, she is heading toward Kumo's front line at this very moment," explained Dodai, the Third Raikage's advisor.
"As expected," the Raikage said.
"What should we do?" his advisor asked nervously.
"Withdraw all troops and send a letter to Konoha to negotiate a truce."
"This... I do not know if that will work," the advisor said doubtfully.
Although he did not know Kushina personally, killing ten thousand people in a single attack spoke not only of her power, but also of her character. Someone capable of wiping out an entire army without mercy, would she really let them retreat?
However, the Third Raikage had already considered that, so he spoke.
"I will deal with Kushina," he said in his deep voice as he stood up from his chair.
Once on his feet, his muscular, dark figure looked even more intimidating.
"You are going to the battlefield? That is impossible..."
"Do not worry. If she could use attacks like that all the time, she would have done so already. She clearly used all her chakra, or that strange energy she controls, to carry out the attack that wiped out Iwa. That means that, at most, she is equivalent to ten thousand ninjas.
Isn't that a coincidence?" the Raikage laughed. "My strength should be around that level too."
Hearing his words, the advisor nodded. If anyone else had said it, he might have thought they were boasting or being arrogant, but coming from the Third Raikage, recognized as the strongest in history, he could not help but feel that he was right.
Because of the news, not only Kumo, but the entire world feared the red-haired demon, and perhaps because of that, for a moment, they forgot that they also had their own monster.
---
At Kumo's front line.
Minato was facing several enemy ninja squads at the same time.
Behind him were his three students, whom Minato himself had asked to follow him as part of his personal team during the Third Ninja War.
Unlike Kushina, who had no students, Minato had three whom he had begun training years ago and continued to train until now, although their training had been interrupted by the outbreak of war.
The three students stayed by their teacher's side without showing fear. From right to left, one was a dark-haired Uchiha, Uchiha Obito, another was a brown-haired civilian girl with long hair, Nohara Rin, and lastly there was another civilian ninja who had shown talent and joined the team, Miyagi Jun.
Minato nodded at them, and even without saying a word, the three knew what to do and moved immediately.
Since Minato was the strongest ninja on the front against Kumo, it was not the first time they had been ambushed by several teams at once, so they knew how to react.
While the three hid among the trees, waiting for Minato to create openings with his ability, he directly activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, which he had mastered through practice during the war, and appeared behind the obvious leader of the Kumo groups.
However, this time was different. The moment he appeared, he felt a premonition and immediately returned to where he had come from.
Just after he disappeared, a massive spear of fire at least one meter in diameter shot through the area at full speed, killing all the Kumo ninjas and leaving a huge scar on the ground.
"Minato, I knew you would dodge it," Kushina said, appearing in front of the group that had gathered after seeing the scene.
"I have leveled up quite a bit these past months," Kushina murmured as she looked at the scar her attack had left on the ground.
"Kushina? What are you doing here?" Minato asked, confused.
"The Iwa front is clean, so they sent me here," Kushina replied with a proud smile.
"Clean? Did Iwa surrender?"
"No. They lost."
"They lo..."
"Minato!" a ninja said, suddenly appearing and interrupting his doubts.
"It is good that you are safe. Thank you for saving him, Lady Kushina," he said with a level of respect that surprised Minato. Not even he, as the camp leader, received that kind of treatment.
"Kurei, what happened during the days I was gone?"
"Lord Minato, this is urgent!" Kurei said, becoming alert again. "We have received reports from all camps that Kumo is retreating."
"This... is great news," Minato said with a smile mixed with confusion. "Why do you look so shaken?"
"We tried to ask them about the situation, but they gave no details. They only said, 'If the red-haired demon does not agree, tell her to go to the nearby port, I will be waiting for her.'"
"Waiting for her?" Minato immediately understood the implications. Only one person could give orders to all of Kumo at once.
And since they clearly held that red-haired demon in high regard, it was easy for anyone to guess who was waiting for her.
'But why? And it seems he came in person in case that demon causes trouble.'
"Who is the red-haired demon? Did something important happen while I was away from the camp?" he asked.
Kurei hesitated for a second and looked at Kushina for approval.
Not only Minato understood, but so did his students.
"Big sister, they call you the red-haired demon? That is such a cool nickname," Obito said excitedly.
"As expected of big sister Kushina," Rin said, who had already been her fan.
"How did you get that nickname?" Jun asked.
"It is a very long story," Kushina said. "You just need to know that I am amazing. I have to go."
"You are leaving already?" Minato said, disappointed.
"I was sent to help the Kumo front. Now that they surrendered, there is no need for me to be here. I only came to help you because Kurei asked me to."
"Even so, you should return to the camp. We can go together later."
"Impossible," Kushina refused. "I have a date."
"A date?" Minato said, but he got no answer, because Kushina had already left at full speed.
Realizing what she meant, he looked at his students seriously.
"Follow Kurei and return to the camp. I will go after Kushina."
"Wait, Minato, there is no need," Kurei said.
"She went to see the Third Raikage. No matter how strong she is, the Raikage is on another level, comparable to the Third Hokage," Minato said worriedly.
"Minato, let me tell you how she became the red-haired demon before you go. You can catch up to her quickly with your technique anyway."
Minato hesitated for a second before accepting. What had happened while he was away was clearly important.
Both fronts, Iwa and Kumo, had surrendered, and both were connected to Kushina's new nickname.
'Is it possible that Kushina has built a reputation strong enough to force two great villages to retreat at the same time?' he thought, but dismissed the idea. Even Hanzo, the demigod of the ninja world, could at most force one to retreat.
However, as Kurei continued telling the story, Minato's expression changed more and more.
Although he knew he had lost the position of Hokage, Minato was happy for Kushina and for the fact that she had fulfilled her dream.
In the end, he decided not to go after her, to show that he trusted her.
"With that level of strength, an incredible battle will probably happen when she meets the Third Raikage. It will last a long time, so let us return to the camp and prepare everything," Minato said.
"Yes!" his three students replied, following him.
______________________________________
Hey, I just published the first chapters of a new fic: To Love Ru: Chaos.
If you're interested or want to support me, go read it and leave some Power Stones.
But it's literally the complete opposite of this series, so I recommend reading the 'Before You Read' section to see if you'll like it.
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)