Chapter 224 I'm Not Good at Running
Under Kakashi's genjutsu, the Sharingan pattern resembling the Fuma Shuriken quickly appeared in the Two-Tails' eyes, and then it lowered its head.
Kakashi turned to Uchiha Touko and shrugged, everything understood without words.
"Get lost." Seeing this, Uchiha Touko removed the sealing jutsu binding the Two-Tails, then waved his hand at Kakashi, signaling him to get lost and stop getting in the way.
Kakashi's lips twitched slightly, but he knew this wasn't the time to joke around with Uchiha Touko. After opening a spatial portal beside him, he and the Two-Tails disappeared from the center of the battlefield.
At this moment, Uchiha Touko also raised his head, looking at the thunderclouds in the sky that had grown so large that they covered the battlefield for several miles. The thunderclouds created by the Third Hokage's combination ninjutsu were larger than any of the Lightning Release: Kirin Uchiha Touko had ever used before. The thunderous power contained within them was something even Uchiha Touko secretly feared. If he were to unleash Kirin, would there be any survivors from the Hidden Cloud Village on this battlefield?
"Old man, you're quite efficient." Uchiha Touko turned to look at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was bombarding the battlefield with combination ninjutsu. Hiruzen Sarutobi, sensing Uchiha Touko's gaze, nodded at him.
The next moment, Uchiha Touko's Susanoo rose from the ground, its wings flapping, and its body slowly ascended to the foot of the thunderclouds.
After Kakashi returned to the village with the tailed beasts, Inuzuka Jax, who had taken over command of the battlefield, ordered a full retreat.
For a moment, the pressure on the Cloud Village forces on the main battlefield was greatly reduced. However, seeing this situation, Xi's face showed horror. According to the intelligence they had gathered on Uchiha Touko, if the Lightning Release: Kirin was successfully activated, they would all perish in such a large area of thunderclouds.
"Hokage! We are willing to surrender, please have mercy!" At this moment, Xi disregarded the lightning that could fall from above at any moment, took the initiative to stand on higher ground, and shouted at the top of his lungs. With the Raikage's life or death unknown, they had already lost a Jinchūriki. If a third of their forces were to perish here, it would be something the Cloud Village simply could not afford.
Therefore, no matter the cost, Xi had to do everything he could to save the lives of the Cloud Village forces currently on the battlefield.
"Oh? Willing to surrender?" Uchiha Touko looked down at Xi, his eyes flickering slightly.
If he could, he wouldn't want to start a full-scale war with Kumogakure at this time. After all, if the two sides were to enter into a full-scale war, then that old codger Onoki and Mei Terumi, who was determined to reclaim the rightful inheritance of Kirigakure, would not waste the opportunity. In that case, it would directly lead to the Fourth Shinobi World War.
With Konoha's current strength, even if war broke out now, Uchiha Touko was confident he could win the Ninja World War and unify the ninja world. However, this would contradict his plan to accumulate strength, quickly conquer the ninja world, and then gather its power to combat a future alien crisis.
If war broke out now, the entire ninja world would inevitably suffer heavy losses, and even after unification, Uchiha Touko would have to spend considerable time cleaning up the mess. He hadn't forgotten that besides Kaguya, who was sealed on the moon, there was also a member of the Otsutsuki clan lurking in the shadows, watching with predatory intent.
Therefore, faced with Xi's voluntary surrender, Uchiha Touko temporarily stopped what he was doing, looked down at Xi, and coldly said, "Want to surrender? Fine, have your people lay down their weapons and then accept the chakra seal."
"Okay, please give us some time, Hokage!" Xi nodded hurriedly, looking at the increasingly violent lightning in the thunderclouds. The most urgent task now was to preserve the lives of these ninjas as much as possible.
"You only have 10 minutes, otherwise, go talk to my Lightning Release: Kirin." Uchiha Touko said slowly, his back to the lightning.
"Yes, thank you for your mercy, Hokage." Xi said, and at the same time began to give the order to lay down their weapons.
After receiving this order, the white ninjas in the Cloud Village formation immediately laid down their weapons and lined up, while the black ninjas seemed less than convinced by Xi's order.
"We've lost so many brothers, and Lord Raikage and Lord Killer Bee are both seriously injured. Are we just going to surrender like this?" A black elite Jonin from Kumogakure, his face covered in blood, said.
Faced with the current unrest within the ranks, Xi felt utterly helpless. He couldn't help but miss the days when Kumogakure was united regardless of skin color. But since the rise of rap culture in the Land of Lightning, Xi knew that things could never go back to the way they were.
"This is an order!" Right now, Xi had no choice but to be firm. Otherwise, once the lightning struck, they, black and white, would all be reduced to charred corpses.
"Hmph, you white people want to seize power while Lord Raikage is injured? Don't even think about it!" the black elite Jonin said through gritted teeth.
"Shut up! Do you want everyone to die with you?" Xi roared.
"Do you still think A can continue to be the Raikage?" At this moment, a white man said through gritted teeth, "If he hadn't provoked Konoha, we wouldn't be in this situation."
"You bastard, have you forgotten the Will of Lightning?" the black Jonin shouted back without backing down.
"Shut up, all of you!" At this point, Xi was also furious about the argument stemming from skin color. He gritted his teeth and forcefully stopped the fight. "Now that the Raikage is away, I am the supreme commander of this war! We surrender now to preserve the village's fighting force for its future! So, put aside your ridiculous skin color prejudices and obey orders!"
Once Xi was truly enraged, this man, who had always been the Raikage's second-in-command, used his usual prestige to forcefully take command of the army. Then, under the watchful gaze of Uchiha Touko in the sky, the remaining Cloud Village soldiers laid down their weapons.
At this moment, Uchiha Touko released his Susanoo and landed on the ground. After a series of hand seals, he set up a large-scale sealing jutsu array on the ground, signaling the others to line up and step forward.
Xi sighed and then led the way onto the sealing array. In no time, a series of sealing runes wrapped around his body, sealing all his chakra.
Xi had some knowledge of sealing techniques, so the moment he was sealed, he examined the sealing runes on his body. However, after some exploration, he could only shake his head with a wry smile. His sealing technique skills weren't bad, but at this moment, he couldn't even understand the runes on his body.
After the remaining Cloud Village troops had been sealed, the Konoha ninjas stepped forward to receive the prisoners.
Without Uchiha Touko's guidance, the cumulonimbus clouds in the sky only produced a brief burst of lightning and thunder before turning into a torrential downpour, washing away the blood from the battlefield.
At this moment, Uchiha Touko and Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived before Xi.
"You must be Xi, the one that A called his right-hand man. Nice to meet you," Uchiha Touko said coldly.
"It should be me who says it's a pleasure to meet you, Konoha's Azure Lightning Dokko, you truly live up to your reputation." Although Xi was covered in sealing runes, unable to use any chakra, and handcuffed, he still maintained basic courtesy when facing Uchiha Dokko.
"To be honest, I thought you would just retreat." Uchiha Dokko sized up the man before him and then said with a smile.
"I'm not good at running." Xi shook his head and said, "Besides, I don't think we can escape the range of your Lightning Release ninjutsu in a short time."
"Heh, compared to your Raikage, you are much smarter." Uchiha Dokko laughed, "If you were the Raikage of Kumogakure, I think none of this would have happened."
Faced with Uchiha Dokko's almost provocative question, Xi chose to subtly avoid the topic, after all, he didn't want to become Kumogakure's Takagi Seiman.
"I wonder what your plans are for us, Hokage?" Xi asked.
"Heh, that depends on the sincerity of your Land of Lightning," Uchiha Touko said. "In any case, you'll have to stay in the Land of Hot Water's prison for a while."
Seeing this, Xi could only remain silent.
Soon, the group of Cloud Village prisoners were taken to the Land of Hot Water's prison. After throwing the Two-Tails into the Tailed Beast Protection Area within its borders, Kakashi arrived in the Land of Hot Water to guard the prisoners.
As for whether the Two-Tails would cause a disturbance in the protection area, the combination of Saiken, who had been enjoying good food and drink in the Tailed Beast Protection Area, and Fu and Chongming, who were currently serving as rangers in the Land of Fire's Tailed Beast Nature Reserve, would teach the little girl a lesson.
After Kakashi took over the guarding of the prisoners, Uchiha Touko returned to Konoha that very night.
If Cloud Village wanted to exchange these prisoners, it would simply be a matter of ceding territory and paying reparations, but these matters couldn't be resolved quickly. On the contrary, Uchiha Touko had more important things to do now.
This was, after all, the first military conflict Konoha had experienced since he took office. Although they had won a great victory, due to the special status of the person who sparked the conflict, if Uchiha Touko didn't handle the post-war affairs properly, it could easily lead to unrest within Konoha under the manipulation of some malicious individuals.
Therefore, upon returning to the village, Uchiha Touko immediately ordered that the names of the ninjas who sacrificed their lives in this military conflict be engraved on the Konoha Heroes' Monument, and announced that a public memorial service would be held for the fallen ninjas three days later.
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