A Tailed Beast Bomb slammed into the Konoha camp without warning—like a sudden ambush.
"BOOM—!!"
Blinding light engulfed the entire battlefield, swallowing the Konoha camp whole.
"Withdraw."
Watching the camp drown in the glow of the Tailed Beast Bomb, the Third Raikage calmly raised his hand and gave the order.
"Huh?"
The command left A and the other Cloud shinobi momentarily stunned.
"Father, why are we pulling back?" A frowned, unable to understand. "If we keep fighting, we can win completely!"
To retreat now—what a waste of an opportunity that would be!
The Third Raikage glanced at his son. After being suppressed for an entire year, finally gaining the upper hand, it was only natural for A to want to press the advantage.
But the old Raikage shook his head, his tone steady.
"It's pointless. That Golden Lion was only transferred away. He isn't dead."
"If we continue, he'll return."
"…!"
The words fell like cold water.
Not just A—several Cloud ninjas who had supported continuing the assault also fell silent.
To fight that Golden Lion again…
Just imagining it sent a chill down their spines.
It felt like digging their own graves and then inviting their death.
"But being able to retrieve Yugito Nii this time is already a great victory."
Noticing the drop in morale, the Third Raikage smiled faintly and waved his hand.
"Regardless, we won."
Indeed.
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki had been successfully rescued.
Yugito Nii narrowed her eyes slightly, gazing toward the distant ruins of the Konoha camp.
There was no hatred in her eyes.
Only something closer to nostalgia.
For an entire year, she had been imprisoned but not humiliated.
And over that year… she and Shiki had spoken more than once.
That man.
A man with terrifying ambition buried deep in his heart.
Perhaps it was their first meeting.
Or perhaps their last.
Yugito realized—quietly, unexpectedly—that she might have come to like him.
The man who sought to dominate the world.
"Yugito? What's wrong?"
The voices around her snapped her out of her thoughts.
"…Nothing."
She shook her head.
That thought remained unspoken, and no one suspected anything. They simply assumed her emotions were unsettled after a year of captivity.
The Third Raikage waved his hand decisively.
"Alright! Let's return and celebrate! As for the war— we'll plan properly later."
"Yes!"
The mood instantly brightened, and the Cloud forces withdrew in high spirits.
The Konoha camp—now the losing side—had been completely annihilated by the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Out of over two thousand shinobi…
Only a little more than a hundred remained alive.
Nearly a thousand had died in Cloud Village's final strike.
Minato's dream of becoming Hokage—
Ended here.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato Namikaze had barely escaped the Eight-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.
But when he turned back and saw the ruins…
He froze.
His eyes went vacant.
He couldn't speak for a long time.
"I told you," a cold voice said from behind him, "you were never qualified to be compared to Lord Shiki."
Nara Shikaku's voice echoed through the wreckage.
Pulled from the ruins by Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chōza, Shikaku looked battered. The three of them had barely survived by working together.
One of Shikaku's arms hung limply—clearly broken.
He didn't care.
With medical ninjutsu, an injury like this was trivial.
His gaze remained indifferent as he looked at Minato kneeling in the rubble.
Inoichi and Chōza said nothing, but the suppressed anger in their eyes was unmistakable.
"I—"
Minato tried to speak, but no words came.
Around him, the surviving shinobi stared with resentment burning in their eyes.
It's your fault.
If you hadn't insisted on replacing Lord Shiki—
This wouldn't have happened.
Shikaku walked slowly to Minato's side.
"The only one who could defeat Cloud Village was never us," he said flatly. "It was always Lord Shiki alone."
Cloud Village wasn't weak.
Shiki was simply too strong.
Minato hadn't understood that before.
Now—he did.
"Ah—!"
Minato cried out in anguish.
For a brief moment, he wished he had died under the Tailed Beast Bomb.
He was a sinner.
A sinner of Konoha.
Only after facing them directly did he truly understand how terrifying the Third Raikage and the Cloud forces were.
Their ninjutsu were useless.
Even the Flying Thunder God could only be used to save lives—not to win.
Overwhelmed, Minato collapsed unconscious.
No one rushed to help him.
Shikaku's eyes were cold.
After surveying the battlefield, he finally sighed and waved his hand.
"Take him away for treatment."
"He can't die here."
"Yes."
No matter the resentment, Minato was still the commander of this front.
Thus, the battlefield against Cloud Village ended in disaster.
The Konoha camp was destroyed.
Only a hundred survivors remained.
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki was rescued.
Minato was defeated.
The news spread across the entire ninja world.
The Third Hokage was stunned.
He could already imagine it...
Minato's reputation was finished.
And worse, he himself had appointed Minato as commander.
His own reputation would suffer as well.
Back in Konoha, the reaction was explosive.
"How is that possible?! We lost?!"
"Wasn't Cloud Village getting crushed before?!"
"It's Minato! That sinner!"
"I used to admire him—he's nothing but a disgrace!"
"He should've died on the battlefield!"
The civilians' rage was understandable.
Among the dead were their husbands.
Their sons.
Their brothers.
Their families.
They had waited, believing reunion would come after the war.
Now—everything was gone.
And all of it was blamed on Minato.
As for the Third Hokage…
His long-maintained image of benevolence shielded him—for now.
Most of the anger was directed elsewhere.
"I wonder when Minato will return…"
Because of the war, Uzumaki Kushina wasn't even allowed to leave the village.
Day after day, she wandered aimlessly through Konoha.
If not for Uchiha Mikoto, her close friend from the academy, accompanying her—
Kushina felt she might truly go mad from the waiting.
Compared to Kushina's restlessness, Mikoto walked beside her calmly, her demeanor gentle as always.
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