"Oh?"
Akira was genuinely surprised to see someone as domineering as the Third Raikage directly admit defeat.
He looked deeply at the Third Raikage before saying:
"Raikage-sama truly has courage and decisiveness."
"I agree to this."
"As for the conditions, I'll have my teacher, White Fang, and the others negotiate with you."
"I hope you'll be straightforward when the time comes and not play any tricks."
"Prepare yourselves for heavy compensation."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind personally visiting Kumogakure."
"Believe me, that definitely won't be something you want to see."
Akira's words were filled with blatant threat.
Hearing this, veins bulged across the Third Raikage's forehead, but in the end, he forcefully endured it.
"How could this happen?!"
"Impossible! Raikage-sama actually lost?!"
"Why surrender?! We haven't lost yet! We can still fight!"
"No!!"
Meanwhile, many Kumogakure ninja in the rear could not accept reality at all after hearing this exchange.
"That's enough!"
Blue B immediately shouted angrily.
"Everything will follow Raikage-sama's decision!"
The Third Raikage also took a deep look at Akira before turning and walking back toward the Kumogakure camp.
Meanwhile, Akira flew back toward Konoha's side.
"OOOOHHHH!!!"
"Long live Akira-sama!"
"Akira-sama is invincible!!"
"We won! We won!!"
The Konoha side instantly erupted into thunderous cheers.
Almost everyone looked at Akira as though he were a hero.
"Teacher! Minato-senpai!"
Akira flew over to Sakumo and the others, landing from the sky while greeting them with a smile.
"Good! Very good! I never imagined you'd already grown to this level!"
Sakumo said with deep gratification as he reached out and patted Akira's shoulder.
Akira immediately sucked in a cold breath.
His face turned slightly pale, and blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth.
However, he quickly wiped it away, and his complexion instantly returned to normal.
Sakumo and Minato both noticed immediately.
Their expressions changed at once.
The two exchanged glances before Sakumo pulled Akira aside and asked with a frown:
"What's going on? Why do you look seriously injured? Did the Third Raikage wound you?"
Sakumo was extremely worried.
Even Minato looked deeply concerned.
After all, someone as powerful as the Third Raikage had been heavily injured and defeated by Akira so easily.
No matter how they thought about it, it still felt somewhat unbelievable.
Now it seemed Akira was not unharmed after all—
He had merely been enduring it.
"Ahem…"
Akira coughed lightly before shaking his head.
"Not exactly."
"It's more that I suffered backlash from overusing my power."
"But after some time, I should recover."
"In the end, it's still because my physique isn't strong enough. Especially my internal organs."
"Recently, I've been researching a new body-tempering technique. I already have some ideas. Once I fully develop it and train for a while, I should be able to withstand the backlash of this power."
Of course—
That "while" was probably going to be measured in years.
Earlier, during the fight against the Third Raikage, Akira had gotten a little too excited and temporarily forgotten just how terrifying the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's recoil truly was.
Only now had the effects started to surface.
His internal organs had already been injured.
Even breathing caused pain.
Furthermore, Akira could clearly feel that his muscles and bones still were not strong enough and required further tempering.
Having power that he could not fully utilize was an extremely frustrating feeling.
"So that's how it is…"
Sakumo nodded in understanding before seriously warning him:
"I won't ask what kind of power it is."
"But until you can eliminate the backlash, don't casually use this power unless absolutely necessary."
"You're still young."
"Your current strength is already more than enough. There's no need to ruin your own body so early."
In Sakumo's view, Akira completely did not need to rely on such dangerous power.
His future was still incredibly long.
"Exactly."
Minato also advised seriously:
"Your own body is the most important thing, Akira-kun."
"There's absolutely no need for you to rush."
"With your talent, it won't take long before you naturally gain strength of this level without any side effects."
Although Minato was extremely curious what kind of power had caused Akira such backlash—
He did not ask.
Prying into someone else's secrets was a major taboo.
Still, both Minato and Sakumo had already guessed the general source.
It was probably the strange ability that shattered the air during Akira's two attacks.
"Mhm!"
Akira smiled and nodded.
"I understand."
"I'll be more careful in the future."
Then Akira continued:
"The Third Raikage will send people over later to negotiate."
"I'll leave those matters to you all."
"Remember one thing—absolutely do not give up on compensation."
"Our losses this time weren't small."
"If we abandon compensation, our losses will only grow even greater."
"And Kumogakure still won't appreciate us for it."
"When it's time to attack again in the future, they'll still do it."
"Remember that."
"Absolutely remember that."
He was genuinely afraid Sakumo and the others would be influenced by the Third Hokage and abandon compensation for the sake of so-called "peace."
In the original timeline, the Third Hokage had always done things this way.
Even during this timeline's Second Ninja War, Hiruzen still behaved similarly.
The Third Hokage's reasoning was that this would prevent lasting hatred between the great villages and help maintain peace.
To Akira, that logic was complete nonsense.
The other villages had already attacked Konoha again and again.
And war itself was fought for greater interests
Konoha and the Land of Fire occupied the best territory in the ninja world.
How could the other villages possibly not covet it?
As long as interests existed, war could never truly be avoided.
Unless one unified the ninja world—
Or possessed absolute strength.
Otherwise, lasting peace between ninja villages was merely fantasy.
What did compensation have to do with any of it?
Both sides had fought wars for many years.
Each side carried countless examples of loved ones dying at the hands of the other.
They were already mortal enemies.
Did refusing compensation somehow mean the enemy would stop hating you?
What kind of unrealistic dream was that?
In Akira's eyes, compensation not only had to be demanded—
It had to be demanded ruthlessly.
Only then could Konoha recover its losses and rebuild more quickly.
Meanwhile, Kumogakure would inevitably suffer from the loss of massive resources, slowing their own development and causing them to fall further behind Konoha.
As long as Konoha could continuously maintain overwhelming strength and developmental superiority, Kumogakure would actually become less likely to wage war again in the future.
Such a simple principle—
Yet the Third Hokage failed to understand it.
Or perhaps he understood, but simply disagreed?
Akira honestly felt that even Danzō might agree with him on this matter.
That blame definitely could not be pinned entirely on Danzō alone.
Clearly understanding the deeper meaning behind Akira's words, Sakumo nodded knowingly.
"Don't worry."
"This victory was achieved almost entirely through your efforts."
"I won't allow your accomplishments to go to waste."
"I'll work together with Minato, Shikaku, and the others to finalize everything as quickly as possible."
"We won't give them any opportunities."
Clearly, Sakumo also agreed with Akira's views rather than the Third Hokage's.
Minato was not stupid either.
He immediately realized Akira was indirectly criticizing the Third Hokage.
After all, Minato had read the historical records and knew how the Third Hokage had handled such matters in the past.
Immediately, Minato solemnly assured Akira:
"Akira-kun, don't worry."
"I support your decision as well."
"Kumogakure must pay the price this time."
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