So with nowhere to run the hidden stone and lose almost half of the remaining shinobi before Kitsuchi and the others manage to retreat to the land of Earth. Orochimaru decided not to pursue the fleeing shinobi.
At the end it was the night when the hidden leaf gained his first victory against the hidden stone.
…
The end of the first major conflict
Sakumo Hatake took deep breaths to calm himself down. His mission has turned out to be a disaster. As a shinobi of the hidden leaf he had gone through many difficult missions in his life. But by far it was the hardest of them all. She didn't know who leaked the information about their mission to destroy the rear logistic base of the hidden stone. Or maybe the hidden stone was simply too cautious….
"No, even if they were cautious, they shouldn't have any means to know our exact location. Someone from our side has leaked this information. But what should we do now ?" Sakumo asked himself. Their team was attacked once they were 20 miles inside the land of Earth. It was an entire Amush team led by the five tails jinjuriki, Han. The location where they were ambushed was perfectly in favour with the Iwa shinobi. They will have to travel two more miles to reach their logistic camp and then destroy it by planting the 1000 paper bombs he was carrying with him. But will it be worth it ? His entire team except for himself has been captured. And if he was not wrong then they have taken them to the logistic base nearby. With his level of stealth skill, he could easily go past their security and plant the paper bombs before destroying the entire camp. Considering that it has only been 10 minutes since he has been separated from his team, he had roughly 20 minutes left to complete his mission. If the stone shinobi found out about their plan from his captured companions, then with the increased security he wouldn't be able to complete his mission.
Now there are two things he could do in the next 20 minutes.
He could either complete his mission and return alone or he could go and save his teammates and return without completing the mission and take the blame for the failure. If he completed the mission then the hidden leaf will get a lot of breathing room in the upcoming war against the hidden sand. But in that case he will have to sacrifice his entire squad. With a heavy sigh, Sakumo finally made his choice. He was ready to take all the blame and accept any punishment from the hokage. But no matter what he could never abandon his teammates.
With his final decision, Sakumo moved swiftly. Determination filled his heart as he went towards the ambush team which was moving through the rocky terrain, with his captured squad members.
Unknown to Sakumo, his decision had temporarily saved his life. Because both Danzo's root agents and the real Jinjuriki of the five tails were waiting for him near the logistic base to end his life. But his decision will also turn out to be a shame, which will force him into committing seppuku.
…
That night, many things happened. By the sunrise, Minato, Tsunade and Usagi's team had captured the four tails jinjuriki alive. On top of that, Orochimaru had led the hidden leaf army to completely cripple the army of the hidden stone and had forced them to move back to the hidden stone. In this entire operation, more than 2100 Iwa shinobi have been confirmed dead. But with this good news, there was also bad news for the hidden leaf. Sakumo Hatake, one of the strongest shinobi of the hidden leaf, has failed to complete his mission which could have given the hidden leaf an edge in the upcoming war.
Among the five great Nations, the hidden send and the Hidden cloud village were paying special attention to the war between the hidden stone and the Hidden leaf.
Hidden Cloud was already preparing in secret to wage war against the other three shinobi villages at once. The hidden cloud wanted the fertile lands of the land of Fire. It wanted to fight the hidden stone because of their previous grudges. And the Hidden sand was their target because the Raikage felt like with no strong shinobi left, the hidden sand should also retire from the position of one of the five great shinobi villages.
Hidden sand on the other hand was desperately trying to stabilize their own Nation after the news of the truth behind the death of the third kazekage became public. That's why they had formed a temporary alliance with the hidden stone and were already ready to attack the hidden leaf.
Among these chaotic situations, the tsuchikage Onoki, also known as the 'fence sitter' was analyzing their recent mistake and was discussing their next move with his council members. With how things have turned out, Onoki was very sure that Sakumo's infiltration was the real decoy while the hidden leaf's main goal was a frontline victory. Of course anyone else in his position would also think in that way. After all, Sakumo Hatake didn't even show up near their logistic camp. Han only took out a squad of root shinobi hiding nearby, trying to cause trouble. While they were focused on taking out the white fang of the hidden leaf, Orochimaru decimated their main forces and even forced them back into the land of Earth. To add salt to their injuries, the hidden leaf somehow managed to capture Roshi alive inside the land of Fire, if they would have captured him in the land of forest then he wouldn't have been so worried. But according to the original treaty designed by the first Hokage, if the Jinjuriki of one great village is found in another major Nation under the orders of his village, then in case the Jinjuriki gets captured then the village that has captured the Jinjuriki will be its owner. But if that doesn't happen then no matter what the tailed beast must be returned to their original village. Although no one cared about an old treaty, everyone followed it since it acted like a safe zone for the other villages. If a Jinjuriki got captured by another Nation then the village could simply declare them as rogue shinobi and demand the tailed beast back. But the problem was that Roshi was a good friend to Onoki and was loyal to the hidden stone. Not to mention he also had the lava release kekkei genkai which made him a perfect Jinjuriki for the four tails which also has the Lava release attribute. So Onoki didn't want to declare Roshi as a rogue shinobi. At the end of the council meeting, against everyone's suggestion he decided to declare a temporary ceasefire and talk with the hidden leaf about peace.
On the other hand, Hiruzen also had complicated feelings about the outcome of the recent conflict. He was not against what Sakumo did. In fact, weaknesses like those made shinobi controllable. But he would have appreciated it more if Sakumo would have completed his mission. It also made him rethink his decision to make Sakumo the next hokage. It was the main reason why he didn't try to suppress the ugly rumours that Danzo was spreading against the man even before he reached the village. In his mind, Sakumo had already lost his position as the future hokage. So why not use this chance to take down his reputation so that there will be no one objecting against his candidate.
The second thing that happened was the combined victory of Orochimaru and Tsunade. Minato and Usagi also performed exceptionally. Especially Usagi, who played a major role in the overall success of the hidden leaf. Hiruzen didn't want Orochimaru to be the next hokage, considering the darkness in his heart. But the new options were not bad either. With the Senju clan gone, Tsunade becoming the next Hokage wouldn't affect his own Sarutobi clan in any way. And on top of that, considering the personality of Tsunade he will be able to indirectly restrain the movement of Danzo and the other two elders to a great degree.
But the matter of the hokage aside, even if Sakumo's mission had failed, the hidden leaf has gotten more breathing room. With the four tails jinjuriki in their captivity, and their victory in the front line, they won't have to worry about a direct confrontation against the hidden stone for quite some time now.
After two days when the proposal of the peace came straight from the Tsuchikage, Hiruzen became even more assured about their victory. So after deploying Jiraiya, as the commander of the hidden stone front and called Tsunade, Orochimaru, Minato and Usagi to the village. With the hidden stone backing down, the hidden sand didn't dare to make unnecessary moves for the time being. So even after the official beginning of the war, the hidden leaf managed to achieve a temporary victory.
…
Next chapter: Meeting Kakashi
AN:
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