"Shin?" Before long, Hanzō came out with his men after receiving the report.
"Hanzō, hello!" Shin greeted him warmly.
Hanzō snorted coldly and said with a frosty tone, "We're not that familiar. If you have something to say, get to the point."
"Straightforward as expected." Shin didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I'm here for only one reason, to give Ame a chance to continue existing."
"How arrogant!" a jonin standing beside Hanzō shouted in fury, "Shin, do you think we won't attack you?"
"Hahaha!" Shin laughed mockingly. "Whether you attack or not, I don't know, but can you actually live long enough to tell someone about it?"
"You're welcome to try."
"But think it through. The moment you make a move against me, it means we've completely torn off all pretenses. And I will then have no scruples in unleashing a massacre in your camp, a full release of the rage I've been suppressing for so long."
The jonin was about to speak again, but Hanzō stopped him with an outstretched hand. He said coldly, "I've looked into your information. I admit you're very strong. But do you really think your threats scare me?"
"Whether you're scared or not has nothing to do with me," Shin replied. "But you'd better recognize one reality, I do have the ability."
As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished on the spot.
Moments later, multiple violent explosions erupted from several corners of the Ame camp.
Before Hanzō and the others could react, Shin reappeared in front of them, smiling.
"You're too presumptuous!" Hanzō gripped the scythe in his hand tightly, clenching his teeth in fury.
"So what if I am? What can you do about it?"
"If it weren't for Hiruzen being afraid that I'd outshine him and threaten his position, refusing to let me join the war, do you really think Ame could've held out for half a year? So now that I'm willing to talk nicely, you'd better listen."
They all knew Shin's intel. He moved unpredictably and couldn't be attacked by conventional means. If they acted rashly and provoked him, he might be fine, but they would be doomed.
Soon, a nervous ninja emerged from the camp and reported, "Multiple explosions just occurred within the camp, but no casualties. It was my failure to monitor properly. Please punish me."
"It wasn't your fault. You may go," Hanzō said, not even turning his head, instead offering a rare word of reassurance.
The ninja was stunned, then bowed and hurriedly left, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.
"Did you like that little 'greeting gift'?" Shin asked with a grin. "No casualties this time, but I can't promise the same next time. I don't get along with the Hokage, but since he let me out, surely you understand what that means?"
Hanzō let go of his scythe and exhaled slowly. "How about we talk inside the camp?"
"I'd be delighted."
---
Inside Ame's war council chamber, Shin held hours-long negotiations with Hanzō and the village's top leaders.
Faced with his ultimatum, either agree to a ceasefire or fight to total annihilation, and especially after seeing the new type of antidote he brought… Even Hanzō had no choice but to compromise.
They were already on the losing side. Continuing the war would only lead to inevitable defeat. The only reason they had kept going was sheer refusal to give up. After sacrificing so much and gaining nothing, who could accept that?
But now, Shin's overwhelming power and the new antidote left them no room to resist. He even demanded that they compensate Konoha for initiating the war. The compensation included death benefits for fallen Konoha ninjas and the material losses from the war.
It wasn't an outrageous amount, but it was enough to give Konoha a reason to back down gracefully. Though it hurt Ame financially, it wasn't devastating.
In return, Shin made it clear to Hanzō that Konoha would now focus all its energy on the southern front.
As long as Ame no longer violated the Land of Fire, they would be left alone.
While saying this, he kept his gaze fixed on the map, specifically on the Land of Iron.
That was already a clear hint.
The implication was simple: if Ame took advantage of Konoha's war with Suna to attack the Land of Iron, or even the Land of Grass or the Land of Birds, Konoha wouldn't intervene.
Under Shin's mix of carrot-and-stick diplomacy, Hanzō agreed to pay compensation and signed a peace treaty with Konoha.
The next day, in front of many witnesses, Orochimaru and Hanzō officially signed a ceasefire and peace agreement.
After agreeing on the timing and method for compensation and delivery of supplies, Konoha's ninjas began to withdraw from the Land of Rain in an orderly fashion and returned to their original camp.
The news spread quickly across the shinobi world.
Naturally, it also reached Konoha.
This war was now declared over, with a complete victory for Konoha. Everyone in Konoha, from top to bottom, was thrilled upon hearing the news.
Stories quickly spread of how Orochimaru had devised brilliant strategies, struck at Ame's weaknesses, and delivered a decisive blow.
And how Shin, after developing a new type of antidote, went alone to the enemy's camp, demanded war reparations, and singlehandedly crushed the morale of the Ame ninja.
These tales were told with exaggerated flair, vivid, detailed, and full of dramatic flair.
Hiruzen was also overjoyed and immediately arranged for Orochimaru's achievements to be widely praised and recorded. He also took the opportunity to bring up and highlight his own past contributions once again.
As for Shin?
"There are plenty of people singing his praises among the common folk. I don't need to bother with that," was Hiruzen's attitude.
However, his joy only lasted three days before two pieces of bad news arrived.
The first was that Tsunade, using a diversionary tactic, misled and stalled the enemy while secretly dispatching Sakumo to lead a deep-penetration strike force over five hundred miles behind enemy lines. They launched a surprise attack on a major, poorly-defended Suna base.
In that battle, Sakumo and his team killed over a hundred enemies and burned enough supplies to feed Suna's army for a month, a great victory.
They even made it seem like they were preparing to attack other enemy camps, forcing Chiyo to divert her forces back in response.
During this operation, Tsunade had someone notify Danzō, hoping he would take advantage of the enemy's confusion and launch an offensive to expand their gains.
But the second piece of news revealed that Danzō had scoffed at Tsunade's plan, thinking she was deliberately misleading him. So when Chiyo heard about the crisis at the rear and became disorganized, Danzō chose to sit still.
It wasn't until the next day, when he realized Chiyo had actually begun retreating, that Danzō ordered a pursuit. But by then, his isolated force walked into an ambush by Chiyo and suffered massive losses, even Danzō himself was seriously injured.
These two reports caused a huge uproar in Konoha.
After all the victories on the frontlines, this wasn't the first defeat, and every single loss seemed to involve Danzō.
Public patience for him had finally reached its breaking point. All across the village, people openly cursed him in the streets.
Members of the Shimura clan didn't even walk outside. And even so, people were still throwing rotten eggs, vegetable scraps, and stones at the Shimura compound, terrifying the residents into staying huddled indoors.
After a day of escalating outrage, the citizens could no longer bear it. They gathered spontaneously in front of the Hokage Building and demanded that Hiruzen remove Danzō from his position and appoint Tsunade as the new commander of the left flank.
Faced with the pressure, Hiruzen had no choice but to appear in public.
He claimed the war effort was at a critical stage and that Tsunade's strength was too essential on the frontlines, so he would transfer Orochimaru to take over command on the left flank instead, only then did the situation settle down.
But no one knew that Hiruzen was actually the most frustrated of all.
Because the vanguard force that followed Danzō into that failed assault, and was nearly wiped out, was mostly composed of Sarutobi ninjas he had just personally deployed.
If he hadn't heard that Danzō was seriously injured too, he might have even suspected the whole thing was intentional.