After another ten days stationed there, Konoha's forces gradually began to withdraw.
Kaede Tsukasa, as part of the first group to retreat, would return to the village first for rest and recuperation. This arrangement pleased him greatly.
What he needed most now was time. Training in the village was far better than being constrained at the main camp.
The reason not everyone was recalled at once was to guard against the enemy launching another surprise attack.
After all, their opponent was Sunagakure. Compared to other ninja villages, Sunagakure's country was clearly fragmented, and the village was always looking for opportunities to wage war to prove its worth to the Land of Wind.
But after the entirety of the Second Great War, Sunagakure had gained absolutely nothing.
Invading the Land of Fire, facing Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade, they neither captured fertile territory, stole valuable ninjutsu, nor inflicted significant damage on Konoha's geniuses—a complete loss.
On another front, when Iwagakure invaded, both sides clashed evenly, ending in a stalemate. The Third Kazekage, said to be the strongest Kazekage, brought the One-Tailed Jinchūriki and had full capacity to resist the Third Tsuchikage's assault.
After all, Iwagakure's main forces were focused on Konoha, having to face the troops led by Orochimaru directly.
The Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga clans, three great bloodline families, led a host of smaller secret technique families under Orochimaru's command.
This also revealed that Konoha deployed distinctly different forces against Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
This doesn't even account for the Uzumaki clan. Five years ago, at the start of the Second Great War, the Land of Whirlpools suffered devastating attacks from Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and rogue ninja groups, leading to the clan's near destruction.
Kirigakure used a massive Water Release flood to submerge the Land of Whirlpools, Kumogakure destroyed its large-scale barrier with Lightning techniques, and the rogue ninja groups kidnapped Uzumaki clan members to sell them on the black market.
"Once I return to the village, I need to master the one's own life reincarnation Jutsu as soon as possible to strengthen myself. If I can choose, I'll avoid participating in the war against Iwagakure," Kaede Tsukasa thought.
The pressure Iwagakure posed to Konoha far exceeded that of Sunagakure.
As long as Kumogakure in the northeast and Kirigakure in the southeast remained inactive, Iwagakure was actually Konoha's strongest opponent.
Sunagakure was already impoverished. Their painstakingly trained puppet troops and poisons were completely countered by Hatake Sakumo and Tsunade. This meant Konoha didn't have to expend many resources to deal with Sunagakure's attacks.
Iwagakure, however, was a bigger problem. They had two Jinchūriki, the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, both participating in the war against Konoha.
On Konoha's side, the 75-year-old Uzumaki Mito did not fight. Otherwise, her presence—scolding the Nine-Tails as if it were her son—might have accelerated the end of the war.
It's worth noting that, like Uzumaki Naruto, Mito had the ability to sense the hearts of people, distinguishing good from evil. Such an all-encompassing, terrifying perception rendered ambushes, surprise attacks, and flanking tactics useless.
This was likely due to her age and the devastating blow her clan suffered years ago. She was now fully devoted to training Uzumaki Kushina, teaching her various sealing techniques.
If you add the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzo stationed in Konoha…
"This period in Konoha… it's truly overflowing with talent. I remember the Third Hokage's son and daughter-in-law, Konohamaru's parents, were still alive at this time, serving in the ANBU," Kaede Tsukasa thought, marveling at Konoha's setup.
It was lavish in every way—Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, total manpower, number of Kage-class shinobi… all-round superiority.
In a way, it was remarkable that the Third Hokage would later almost squander such a luxurious configuration step by step.
"Any conflict involving Iwagakure, I need to be extremely careful—death rates will be high."
By next year, at the end of the 40th year, the battles would reach their fiercest intensity.
"Even after the Second Great War officially ends, conflicts between villages continue, until the Third Great War breaks out…"
Kaede Tsukasa recalled the contents of 'The Tale of Minato', lost in thought.
Truthfully, he had no intention of participating in these dangerous battles before mastering the one's own life reincarnation Jutsu.
"In the end, I still need to master the incomplete one's own life reincarnation Jutsu as quickly as possible. A normal person might take years to learn an S-rank forbidden jutsu; I must do everything to compress that time."
Ideally, no more than a year!
By the end of next year, a decisive battle between Konoha and Iwagakure was bound to erupt. As a newly promoted secret technique ninja, Kaede Tsukasa would almost certainly be sent to the front lines.
"By then… I wonder if I can dodge the Tailed Beast Bomb with the Void Technique…"
…
Kaede Tsukasa returned to the village with the troops, receiving a warm welcome from countless villagers.
Cheers and flowers filled the streets, as if the war had completely ended. Driving out Sunagakure alone had already given the villagers hope of victory; everyone believed the war would soon be over.
"We've lost so many comrades, yet the survivors are basking in applause… this kind of thing…"
Takuno Kazematsuri let out a low sigh. Looking at the smiling faces, he couldn't feel happy for some reason.
He remembered he should have died back in the Land of Rain. It was only thanks to Kaede Tsukasa pulling him out at a critical moment that he avoided the poison mist trap.
How many of these cheers were really for him?
"Stop overthinking. Don't you see Lady Tsunade waving to everyone?"
"But… I feel Lady Tsunade's smile is a little fake…"
Of course it was.
Nawaki Senju had died on the battlefield, and the way he died was careless and indifferent. Even with the war against Sunagakure over, Tsunade could not truly be happy.
Fortunately, Kato Dan was unharmed. Without Kaede Tsukasa's intervention, he likely will die within two years, at which point Tsunade would have collapsed, succumbing to psychological trauma.
"The future is uncertain. All we can do is seize the present, follow the Will of Fire, and do everything in our power to protect this village."
Kaede Tsukasa also waved to the surrounding people, imitating the other ninja.
The welcome ceremony was mainly to boost morale. Kaede Tsukasa only wanted to end all this quickly and enter training mode.
But soon, he received a new assignment.
"What? Lady Tsunade… the village is appointing me as head of the corpse handling unit?"
Kaede Tsukasa put on a surprised expression. "How can this be? I'm just Lord Morino Isuke's assistant."
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