Ryo pushed open the warm-colored front door. Moonlight lazily spread across the wooden entryway, and the air was filled with the familiar warmth of home.
Behind him, Mikoto stepped inside a little nervously, her fingers quietly twisting under the sleeves of her kimono.
As the door opened, Kushina burst out like a flame. Her red hair flared, and the tight tension on her face finally melted when she saw Ryo and Mikoto standing side by side.
"Mikoto!" She rushed forward and hugged her best friend tightly, as if trying to fuse her into her body. Her eyes were slightly red.
Tsunade, standing behind her with arms crossed, also subtly relaxed her tense shoulders. Her sharp gaze swept over Ryo, confirming he was unharmed.
"Good, you're okay," Tsunade said with her usual firmness. She glanced between Ryo and Mikoto, seemed to understand something, and said nothing more.
The heavy atmosphere dispersed as Ryo brought Mikoto back safely.
The lights in the house cast a soft, warm glow.
Watching Kushina's emotional reaction, a gentle smile tugged at Ryo's lips.
He walked over naturally and lightly pinched her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm back."
Kushina gripped Mikoto's hand and inspected her from head to toe, as if confirming not a single hair was missing. She kept asking, "Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"
Mikoto was a little embarrassed by the barrage of questions. A faint blush rose on her pale cheeks. She softly shook her head. "No, Kushina, I'm fine. Ryo-kun protected me very well. Thank you, Ryo-kun." She looked up at him, her gaze filled with undisguised gratitude.
Ryo just smiled at her, saying nothing. The warmth in his eyes belonged only to these few people.
"Let's talk inside." He stepped aside to let them in.
The group entered the living room.
Kushina busied herself making tea for Mikoto.
Tsunade leaned casually against the doorframe again, her previous tension now replaced by her usual lazy, half-suspicious look.
Once Kushina and Mikoto settled, Ryo spoke. His tone was calm, like stating a simple fact. "Kushina, Mikoto will be living with us from now on."
Kushina froze mid-pour, then her eyes lit up like fireworks. She exploded with joy. "Really? That's amazing!"
She practically jumped up and hugged Mikoto again. "That's perfect! We can be together every day now!" Her radiant smile had no shadow to it. She was genuinely happy that her best friend had escaped the Uchiha's suffocating grip and could now live under the same roof.
"Mm." Mikoto responded softly. Her lowered lashes concealed her nervousness and a flicker of hope for this new life.
Leaving the Uchiha compound, for her, was an escape. A rebirth.
Tsunade, watching this "harmonious and heartwarming" scene from the side, twitched slightly at the corner of her eye.
She could clearly feel a familiar sourness bubbling up inside her, like little bugs gnawing away. This brat... has it too good now?
She gritted her teeth. That damn brat Ryo really lucked out this time!
Snapping her head to the side, she stared up at the ceiling.
Tsunade absolutely refused to admit what she was feeling.
No matter what anyone said, Ryo was her disciple. Even if she never acknowledged it aloud, everyone else did.
This damn status, combined with the scene in front of her, made her incredibly uncomfortable.
No, she had to break up this overly cozy "family reunion."
Tsunade forcibly changed the subject, her voice raised slightly and filled with her usual, awkward concern. "Hey, brat! Tell me, did you fight in the Uchiha compound? Did you kill anyone?"
Her sharp gaze locked onto Ryo immediately.
That was her real concern. If Ryo had actually killed someone, especially someone from the Uchiha, then no matter how strong he was, the pressure from Konoha's upper echelon would be unbearable.
If it came to that, even she would have to grit her teeth and go beg that old man Hiruzen to intervene.
Just thinking about it gave her a headache.
Ryo looked at Tsunade, completely understanding the real reason behind her question.
He knew what she was worried about.
Yes, he was strong. Strong enough to crush most shinobi. But he hadn't yet reached the level where he could ignore all rules, stand above all.
Becoming a missing-nin? Wandering aimlessly?
That wasn't the life he wanted.
Still, that didn't stop him from giving those arrogant Uchiha a painful lesson, one they wouldn't forget anytime soon.
"Relax," Ryo replied with calm certainty, tinged with a trace of amusement. "I didn't kill anyone."
He paused, thinking back to Uchiha Setsuna's blustering front and eventual retreat, and the corner of his lips curled into a near-mocking smile.
"And no one expected it... but the proud Uchiha clan actually backed down."
His words were light, but they hit like a hammer.
Tsunade's tense nerves finally relaxed.
No one died. The Uchiha themselves gave in. That was about as good an outcome as they could hope for.
With the heavy burden lifted, the awkward, sour feeling returned with even more intensity.
Watching Kushina and Mikoto fawning over Ryo, the whole scene looked disgustingly harmonious to her.
"Hmph! At least you had some sense!" Tsunade huffed loudly, her tone filled with irritation.
She straightened up abruptly, her movements slightly stiff. "If that's all, I'm leaving! I've got a pile of work waiting for me!"
She practically stormed out, flinging the door open and marching off. Her departure was hurried, like the warm atmosphere would scorch her if she stayed another second.
Kushina blinked, looking in the direction Tsunade disappeared. "Why'd Tsunade-oneechan leave so fast?"
Ryo smiled without explaining. "She's busy." Then he turned to them. "Help Mikoto pick a room."
"Okay!" Kushina answered energetically and grabbed Mikoto's hand. "Come on, Mikoto, let's find the room you like!"
The warmth of home gradually washed away the shadows of the Uchiha compound.
Time ticked forward quietly.
Even as Ryo's return brought a brief moment of peace and warmth, the gears of war still turned slowly across the shinobi world. Only now, their direction had subtly shifted.
Suna's delegation finally arrived in Konoha.
Leading them was Ebizō, a seasoned strategist known for his cunning.
Their purpose was clear and heavy: to ransom the large number of Suna shinobi who had been knocked unconscious by Ryo's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki at the Rain border and captured by Konoha.
The negotiations took place in a highly secure conference room inside the Hokage Tower.
The atmosphere was thick enough to cut.
Suna had lost the initiative in the war and was desperate to reclaim their valuable fighting force. From the beginning, they were forced into a submissive position.
Konoha, on the other hand, sat firmly in control, represented by none other than Hiruzen himself.
Their demands were brutal.
Konoha required Suna to:
Officially admit defeat in the war.
Pay enormous war reparations, so large they would suffocate the already resource-poor and cash-strapped Suna for decades to come. Rumors spread that the Third Kazekage would personally lead mining efforts deep in the desert just to extract enough gold to pay the debt and keep the village running.
Cede the majority of future mission commissions in the shinobi world to Konoha for an extended period. This meant Suna would lose a massive source of income and the opportunity to train their shinobi.
Sign a formal alliance treaty ensuring non-aggression between Konoha and Suna. Though everyone knew such treaties could be torn up at the first sign of war, at least it bought Konoha time to recover.
Each round of talks left the Suna delegation drenched in sweat and barely breathing.
Ebizō's mouth was pressed in a tight line, his wrinkles deepening.
He knew there was no room to negotiate.
Konoha held the lives of hundreds of their shinobi and Suna's future in its hands.
After several days of harsh verbal warfare, the Suna delegation finally bit the bullet and signed what could only be described as a humiliating treaty.
The ink wasn't even dry before Hiruzen sent out an urgent order to the front lines in the Land of Rain, directly to Shimura Danzō.
The command had two points:
Release all captured Suna shinobi immediately.
Withdraw all Konoha forces stationed at the Rain border.
When the order arrived at the temporary command center, Danzō was brooding over a map, calculating how to exploit the prisoners further or provoke other great nations.
The moment he read the order, his face turned livid. His lone eye burned with fury.
Bang! He slammed his fist down on the table, the solid wood cracking from the impact.
"Fools! Cowards! Utter stupidity!" Danzō's roar echoed in the tent, filled with betrayal and rage.
"We bled to capture these Suna shinobi. They're the perfect leverage to control Suna and intimidate the other nations. Hiruzen, you damn fool!"
He paced furiously, voice hoarse. "Just some reparations? Mission quotas? A worthless alliance? That's all it takes to satisfy him? Pathetic! If I were Hokage..."
He stopped mid-step. His lone eye gleamed with cold fanaticism.
"I would've forced Suna to become our vassal, bled them dry for the sake of Konoha. That's what victory should look like!"
But reality slapped him hard.
He wasn't Hokage.
The name on top was still Hiruzen's.
He had no choice but to obey.
His fingers clenched around the scroll until his knuckles turned white, as if trying to crush it.
"Carry out the order." The words came through gritted teeth, thick with bloodlust. He turned away from the messenger, shoulders stiff.
It was an order. He had to comply.
His unwillingness and fury had nowhere to go, only sinking deeper into the shadows of his heart. Utterly impotent rage.
Escorted by Konoha shinobi, droves of listless and tattered Suna prisoners began to leave the Rain border camp like a receding tide.
At the same time, Konoha's war-weary troops also withdrew.
The smell of blood and gunpowder that had hung over the Rain border for years finally began to fade.
The successful negotiations and prisoner exchange between Konoha and Suna sent shockwaves through the shinobi world.
It wasn't just a ceasefire.
It marked the end of the Second Shinobi World War.
The Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, the main instigators who had dragged the Land of Rain into war, had backed down.
The news spread like wildfire across the shinobi world.
At the Iwa border, the Third Raikage A clenched the intelligence report, his fingers cracking. His broad chest heaved with anger.
"Damn Konoha. Damn Suna!" he growled, forcing himself to calm down.
Should they keep fighting Iwa?
Konoha had already backed out. If Kumo and Iwa kept bleeding each other, in the end...
Konoha would benefit.
Konoha's foundation was too deep. Once given breathing room, it would recover faster than both Kumo and Iwa combined.
The longer the war dragged on, the wider the gap would grow. A strategic nightmare.
Elsewhere, Ōnoki also read the same report with a heavy heart.
He too saw the trap.
"Cunning monkey," he cursed under his breath.
But the situation left him no choice.
Continuing to clash with Kumo would only weaken Iwa, leaving Konoha the ultimate victor.
Though the war machine had yet to grind to a full stop, Kumo and Iwa's frontlines clashed a few more times out of stubbornness.
But under pressure from both villages' top leadership, orders came down swiftly.
Kumo's shinobi retreated into the rugged mountains of the Land of Lightning. Iwa's troops pulled back behind the fortresses and cliffs of the Land of Earth.
The frontlines finally fell silent.
Still, the wounds ran deep.
Bloodshed, resource battles, territory struggles—Kumo and Iwa now bore hatred they could not easily shed.
This temporary truce did not mean peace. It was merely a storm in waiting.
Hatred had taken root, waiting for the next spark.
The noisy shinobi world suddenly fell into an eerie, exhausted silence.
The years-long war, like a beast ravenous for blood, had finally paused.
The deserts of the Land of Wind. The forests of the Land of Fire. The peaks of the Land of Lightning. The wastelands of the Land of Earth. Every village that had been scorched by war shared one reaction—silence.
Villages began to rebuild in the ruins. Hospitals overflowed with broken shinobi. Condolence lists grew suffocatingly long. The cries of newborns could not drown out the grief of those who had lost everything.
Resources had been drained. Missions declined. Every grain of rice became precious.
At the ninja academy, the new students wore faces too heavy for their age.
The upper echelons tended their political wounds, calculating gains and losses, watching enemy recovery closely, and preparing.
Now, every hidden village could only lick its wounds in silence.
The wind had stopped. The rain had ceased. But the skies remained overcast, still heavy with the stench of iron and scorched earth.
Beneath the surface of peace was exhaustion, sorrow, and festering hatred.
An era had ended, leaving behind nothing but scars.
No one knew how long this fragile calm would last.
But one thing was certain, the Second Shinobi World War had ended.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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