At the start of the war, Iwagakure and Konoha had pretty much the same reason for entering the Land of Rain. Now that Iwagakure has chosen to withdraw from the battlefield, theoretically, there's no reason for Konoha to remain in this country either.
However, the first one to leave often does so most gracefully—anyone following suit afterward will appear awkward.
Plus, Iwagakure had solid reasons to pull out of the Land of Rain—reasons strong enough to shut down any criticism, inside or outside. The Third Tsuchikage was injured during his battle against the Third Kazekage. Then Iwagakure's camp suffered a surprise attack by Amegakure, forcing them to retreat from the battlefield.
But what about Konoha? Should Konoha also suffer a defeat at Hanzo's hands once?
In any case, Konoha had already started considering their options. Seeing Iwagakure's withdrawal from the Land of Rain, Konoha now planned to pull back most of its forces, leaving only a small contingent behind to monitor the war's developments.
In short, Iwagakure's departure marked a turning point in the war. Although it was nowhere near signaling the end of the conflict, nevertheless...
The original objective of Sunagakure's invasion was to eliminate Amegakure. Iwagakure's and Konoha's military involvement aimed precisely at thwarting this goal. Now that Sunagakure can no longer defeat Amegakure, let them continue fighting each other—it is only natural for Konoha, as an "outsider," to just leave.
So now the big question was: How should Konoha leave? Just disappear without a word?
......
Under a large tree, amidst the drizzling rain, Haseo and Orochimaru stood together.
"Haseo, why hasn't your arm healed yet? From what I remember, it shouldn't have been that serious," Orochimaru casually asked while crouching down to examine the battlefield scene.
"My injury really was quite severe. Think about it—I was ganged up on and brutally beaten by both Kage and Tsuchikage! They're both Kage-level ninja, yet they teamed up against a mere Jonin like me. Isn't that just too disgraceful?
Anyway, my wounds are mostly recovered now... The only problem is, I just can't shake hands with anyone for a bit."
Haseo spoke somewhat carelessly, yet his tone carried a faint sense of annoyance.
His left arm was still slung around his neck. Yet what he said simply didn't add up—shaking hands required the right hand, and it was his left arm that hadn't healed yet. What inconvenience could that possibly cause?
"..."
Orochimaru couldn't quite understand exactly what Haseo had gone through. Given Tsunade's medical expertise, there was absolutely no reason for such injuries not to heal completely by now—even if Tsunade didn't treat him, other medical ninja should have taken care of it.
"You don't need to look further. It was one of our ninjas who took out the enemy first—but their method wasn't thorough enough. As a result, before finally losing consciousness, the enemy tightly grabbed him and without hesitation detonated all the explosive tags on his body."
Orochimaru gave the two corpses a quick look before drawing his conclusion.
The two slain ninja were one from Konoha and the other from Amegakure. The manner of their deaths was especially gruesome… to put it simply, their corpses had turned into pixelated messes.
"You know," Haseo said, "this style of fighting reminds me of the last great war, when Amegakure operated exactly like this under that leader of theirs."
No matter how gruesome the condition of the corpses before them, someone like Haseo or Orochimaru would remain utterly unmoved. Yet the extreme methods now displayed by Amegakure stirred certain memories in Haseo's mind.
"I personally don't remember anything special. Aren't ninja battles always like this?" Orochimaru replied.
Haseo shot him a sidelong glance, thinking to himself, you didn't know anything back then. Sure, you've always been black-haired and long-haired, but at least you weren't wearing earrings yet, right?
He bent down and picked up the blood-soaked forehead protector from one of the corpses, clutching it tightly in his palm. Then he spoke again, "Let's go. We're heading back.
We have no reason to keep fighting Amegakure head-on like this. Our subordinates are paying too high a price...
Konoha should pull back."
Considering the entire situation, Konoha indeed ought to retreat. For once, Haseo showed a side of compassion for the broader world. Orochimaru, however, felt nothing unusual about it—To him, ninjas were beings meant to struggle for survival in harsh and extreme battlefields. Dying brutally or in large numbers was perfectly normal; a low number of casualties would be considered odd.
In a way, you couldn't really say Orochimaru was wrong either.
Once Iwagakure pulled out, it would inevitably trigger a chain reaction. As soon as Iwa withdrew, Konoha would follow. Regardless of this small area known as the Land of Rain, once Konoha retracted its claws, the war between Kumo and Iwa might also quietly fade away… Kumo surely wouldn't allow Konoha the luxury of watching idly from the sidelines.
In other words, this war could potentially quiet down altogether because of Iwagakure's actions…
Just as the two were turning around to leave and return to camp, Dan Kato suddenly appeared beside them.
"Lord Haseo, there's breaking news... Sunagakure seems to have begun redeploying its forces in batches, leaving the Land of Rain."
"Leaving?"
"That's correct. Unless something unexpected happens, Suna is returning to the Land of Wind."
"…So Konoha isn't merely one step behind Iwa—it's now also falling behind Suna? Cutting their losses at the first sign of trouble, since when did Suna become so decisive? And what about us, Lord Shimura… Is Shimura Danzō really going to let Suna leave unimpeded?"
"Well… Lord Haseo, Amegakure has unexpectedly increased its forces against us. A large number of Amegakure ninja have already moved between Konoha and Sunagakure, effectively pinning us down. Even if we wanted to take any action against Suna, we'd first run straight into Amegakure." Dan Kato further explained the sudden shift in battlefield conditions.
This stunned Haseo momentarily. "Hanzo of the Rain Village is protecting Sunagakure? Why? Has he lost his mind?"
This war basically boiled down to Sunagakure's invasion of Amegakure. Their hatred had reached an impasse, their conflicts completely unresolvable... I get it now. Precisely because their conflict was beyond resolution, when Sunagakure showed intentions of withdrawal, Hanzo immediately took action—he supported Sunagakure's withdrawal.
It was hard to understand looking at it head-on, but made more sense from another angle. As Haseo put it, if Konoha successfully withdrew and ultimately Sunagakure remained in the Land of Rain, the accumulated hatred between both sides following this great war could very likely erupt uncontrollably—that kind of bloody conflict probably wasn't what Hanzo of the Rain Village wanted to happen.
Comparatively speaking, regardless of anything else, Konoha had no territorial ambitions toward the Land of Rain.
"Hanzo is definitely a smart guy after all. Did he even turn his dead Sanshouo companion into rations? Hanzo seems particularly sharp-sighted recently..." At this moment, Haseo couldn't help but praise Hanzo.
Although Hanzo's actions weren't exactly 'driving off a tiger only to invite a wolf,' at the very least he was capitalizing on the momentum and steering things skillfully.
If the Third Kazekage hadn't been severely wounded, Sunagakure absolutely wouldn't have withdrawn so decisively. However... Indeed, the direct catalyst causing this sudden change in war was this triangular showdown involving Haseo, the Kazekage, and the Tsuchikage.
Haseo wiped the rainwater from his face with a thoughtful hum. Thinking carefully, wasn't it precisely his one offensive strike that pushed the war toward its conclusion... or at the very least, a breather?
Wait... Wait a second! Isn't this a tremendous achievement?
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