After seeing the paper bombs that explode in the sky, the shinobi from Otogakure are retreating. Meanwhile, shinobi from Suna and the hired mercenaries are confused because they weren't briefed about this kind of signal.
They don't know that they are being manipulated by Orochimaru and are now being used as shields to protect the retreating Otogakure ninjas. The ninjas from Otogakure are more useful for Orochimaru and Akatsuki, unlike the ninjas from Suna, after all.
Luckily for the Suna ninjas, Minato knows that Orochimaru is manipulating them because he has seen Rasa's Edo Tensei. Also, Minato doesn't want to prolong the war or it will only benefit Orochimaru and add the damage to Konoha.
So he goes to a high place and uses a jutsu that enhances his voice to make an announcement. He tells the Suna ninjas that they have been deceived by Orochimaru and that their Kazekage has been killed by the man who now has retreated, abandoning them.
"If you still want to fight, then Konoha won't back down and you won't be able to leave this village alive. But if you retreat now, we will not chase you and let you leave as soon as possible. Take your dead comrades with you too because we won't bury them in our village. If you understand what's good for you, then take your feet off this village now!"
It may sound like Minato is being soft and just sparing their enemies' lives. But he just doesn't want to increase the damage and benefit Orochimaru who caused all of this. If this continues, the damage to the village will increase and people will die unnecessarily.
Luckily, the Suna ninjas are not that stupid. They see the Oto ninjas retreating and realize that there's something wrong with the alliance. Then when they hear what Minato says, their spirits crumble because they realize they have been toyed with by Orochimaru.
So their high-ranking ninjas quickly decide to retreat and give the retreat order. Whether it's true that Rasa has been killed or not, it's true that they can't continue to fight without Oto ninjas or they'll be overwhelmed by Konoha ninjas, so they need to retreat.
Besides, most of them realize that Rasa's death is true. After all, if he is still alive, then he would appear to prove Minato wrong. But for Minato to dare to announce that Rasa has died must've meant that it really is the case.
As Minato has ordered, they retreat while picking up their dead comrades. Gaara is also picked by his team leader, Baki who quickly leaves as soon as he grabs Gaara. No Konoha ninja stop the Suna ninjas as Minato has ordered to avoid more conflict.
Meanwhile, Zoro has left the scene and goes to the stadium. Well, he plans to go there to meet Hiyori who must've been very worried this whole time. But being someone with the worst sense of direction, he gets lost even though the stadium is visible from everywhere.
Luckily, he finds Naruto who is resting in the shade after fighting some enemies. He strangely got chased by many enemies, especially ninjas from Otogakure. They were trying to kidnap him, but he was tougher and more slippery than they thought.
"Oi, kid, do you know where the stadium is?"
"Huh? Oh, it's you, brother green hair." Naruto opens his eyes and gets a bit surprised when he sees Zoro.
"Show me where the stadium is." Zoro keeps telling Naruto to point the way to the stadium.
"What? Why are you even asking me? You can see it for yourself." Naruto points at the stadium's tall wall that can be seen clearly from there even though it's quite far.
The kid raises an eyebrow because he doesn't know that Zoro has a very poor sense of direction. But his answer pisses Zoro off, so Zoro grabs his back collar and orders him to guide him to the stadium.
Naruto reluctantly agrees because he doesn't want to get beaten up by Zoro again. Besides, he wants to ask Zoro some questions now that they are together. The previous crisis has made Naruto realize that he isn't strong enough to protect himself, not to mention others.
"Brother Green Hair, how do you get so strong?"
"I train consistently, keep pushing my limits without overdoing it too much to avoid breaking my body, I keep fighting strong people to polish my skills, and I have a clear purpose to keep my focus."
"What do you mean by clear purpose?"
"Like why do you want to be strong? What will you use your power for? How strong do you need to be to achieve what you want? Things like that. Basically, just set goals for yourself. Without a goal, you will just walk aimlessly."
"Oh, then I already have a goal. To be a Hokage so people will acknowledge me and I can protect the ones I love."
"That's an admirable goal, a good one. Now, you just need to find your way to reach that goal."
"There's more?"
"Obviously. There are many ways to reach a goal. When crossing a river, some people use the bridge, some use boats, and some might even swim. How you reach your goal is up to you, but my advice is to use what you're best at. Take me for example. I'm not good with jutsu and can't really learn them without being a part of a hidden village or any ninja organizations. My talents for chakra and learning jutsu are also bad, maybe even worse than Guy. So I focus on improving what I'm best at, swordsmanship and physical power. Try to find what you are the best at and focus on them instead of trying to learn everything at once."
"Will that make it easy?"
"Easy? If you want to be strong the easy way, then just sleep and you'll dream of it. At least in my eyes, there's no easy way to be strong. Do you see these?" Zoro opens his shirt and shows Naruto all the scars on his body.
Naruto is surprised by the amount of scars on Zoro's body. Most of them are small scars and aren't so visible, but Zoro's whole body is full of scars from his battles.
"They would be bigger and more visible if I didn't treat them correctly with good medicines. But that's not my point."
"I know. Your point is that achieving your current level is not that easy."
"Right. I almost died many times and there were times I wanted to just stop, but I kept pushing myself because if I lost my purpose, I would just become an empty husk. For me at least, dying when trying to achieve my goal is better than living without any purpose. So, will you die for your goal or will you let it go for your life? Well, it's better to live and reach your goal. My point is to have a principle that you hold strongly."
Zoro is sure that Naruto, the main character of this world won't lose his way. But he also can't be so sure because he has changed a lot of things, so Naruto might grow up with a different attitude and personality.
That's why he still gives the young Naruto serious advice. Though now he feels like he has butted in too much in these young ninjas' lives. He has taught them too many things even though he isn't even their teacher or even someone from this village, after all.
Anyway, they finally arrived at the stadium after walking for a while. Zoro immediately goes to find Hiyori by following her presence. She is still with Torao, Kushina, Menma, and Mikoto on the audience seats.
Kushina looks very relieved when she sees Naruto comes with Zoro while Mikoto still looks worried because she doesn't know her sons' conditions yet. But she also can't just leave because she needs to protect Kushina and the kids.
They have fought many enemies even though they only stayed here. There are many corpses thrown into the stadium and most of them are killed by Torao. He threw all of them away from the kids after they killed them.
Mikoto and Kushina were very surprised by Torao's power and skills. They didn't know that Zoro's summoned beast could be this strong. It made them understand why Zoro left Hiyori with Torao in here with them.
Instead of them protecting Hiyori, Zoro actually left Torao here to protect all of them. Their task wasn't really to protect Hiyori, but to accompany her so she won't be afraid and lonely because if it's just to protect her, then Torao alone was enough.
An incredibly powerful man and a very strong beast. Kushina and Mikoto know that anyone who dares to hurt Hiyori won't have a good end. She might be the safest girl in the world now.
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Chapter: 172. Soloing All Edo Kages
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