Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
A's scream made Mabui tremble, and all her struggles and hesitations were completely shattered.
Devil!
"Put... put down... your weapons..." She gritted her teeth, her voice dry, as if forced out of her throat.
The shinobi tool pouch dropped to the ground with a thud.
The other Kumogakure shinobi, each with faces full of shame and heartache, prepared to give up resistance.
"Pick it up!"
Just then, an angry roar exploded!
It was A!
He watched the Kumogakure shinobi below, who were constantly putting down their weapons, his eyes about to split!
"All of you... pick up your weapons!" His voice was filled with grief and anger. "You... are not allowed to kneel!"
A struggled madly, his broken limbs sending sharp pains through him, but he didn't care.
His village.
The pride of Kumogakure.
It was being crushed before his eyes!
"Kill me! Mabui! I order you, kill me!"
"Use my death... to regain the dignity of Kumogakure!"
A's roar, like a sharp knife, drove fiercely into the hearts of all Kumogakure shinobi.
They looked at the man suspended in mid-air, the man who was once an unbeatable symbol in their hearts.
Now he was begging for them to kill him.
A young Kumogakure shinobi could no longer hold back, tears streaming down his face.
He loosened his grip on the kunai, letting it clang to the ground.
Then, under A's disbelieving gaze, he knelt heavily.
His forehead pressed tightly against the cold ground, his heart slowly turning cold.
"I'm sorry... Raikage-sama!"
"Please... no matter what, please live!"
This action, like a domino effect, triggered the collapse of Kumogakure.
The dull thud of weapons hitting the ground formed a continuous sound, eventually turning into a dead silence.
All Kumogakure shinobi knelt on the ground.
"Don't kneel!" A roared, tears of blood streaming down his face!
The Kumogakure shinobi lowered their heads even further, as if to forever carve this shame and sorrow into the ground beneath their feet.
Above the city wall, Nara Shikaku looked at the nearly three thousand prisoners below, feeling his temples throbbing.
"Minato... this is really troublesome now!" He leaned toward Minato, lowering his voice.
"There are too many people. Should we..."
He didn't finish the rest of his sentence, but the meaning was clear.
The eight hundred Konoha shinobi currently on guard, plus the help that would return later, would not be enough to serve as jailers.
This victory was too great, so great that it became a burden.
Minato also had a worried expression. He naturally knew what Shikaku meant.
If there were only a few dozen, or even a few hundred, for the safety of the village, with a hardened heart, killing them would be acceptable!
But now there were three thousand living people. If he really ordered a massacre, Konoha's reputation in the entire shinobi world would drop.
At that time, they would be branded with the notorious name of Bloody Konoha. Moreover, the daimyo has not yet spoken.
Minato scratched his head in frustration. "First, use barriers to trap them in batches, then slowly think of a solution."
"We can only do that for now." Nara Shikaku sighed.
Shin heard their conversation clearly.
Trouble?
Burden?
He almost laughed out loud.
A group of tools, bound by so-called morality.
He stood comfortably on the city wall, looking down at the grand scene he had created with his own hands.
On his face, there was a satisfied smile.
In his eyes, these kneeling people were not three thousand troubles.
The heads of these people were the most valuable things.
When three thousand heads belonging to the Kumogakure elites were built into a high platform on the border of the Land of Lightning, when this skull tower stood tall within the sight of all shinobi villages, this world would truly quiet down.
This was the first great gift he wanted to give to this troubled era.
As for now, Shin held back his killing intent, taking on a look of watching a play.
He wanted to see how these Konoha higher-ups, bound by soft compassion, would deal with these troubles.
Just then, the Anbu who had come to report finally couldn't help but speak again, anxiously saying, "Fourth Hokage-sama! Kushina's situation..."
Kushina?
Minato's body instantly tensed, the color draining from his face somewhat.
Right.
Kushina!
That masked man!
Worry instantly surged into his heart. He really wanted to immediately activate Flying Thunder God, return to his beloved's side, and confirm if she was safe.
But below the city were swarms of prisoners, and beside him were companions with serious expressions.
As the Hokage of Konoha, how could he abandon the war, abandon the village for personal feelings, and leave when the war was not completely over and a huge hidden danger had not been solved?
He couldn't do it.
"I understand!" Minato clenched his fists, forcing himself to calm down, his voice shaking slightly. "Hasn't the intruder already been driven away?"
"But... Kushina, she..."
"No buts, this is an order, retreat!" Minato coldly refused. He dared not listen any further, fearing that he would waver.
He believed Kushina would understand him.
"Yes!" The Anbu acknowledged the order and left.
Just then, Hiruzen's shadow clones all turned into smoke.
Then their main bodies appeared on the city wall.
When they saw the vast army of Kumogakure kneeling below the city, and the Raikage brothers hanging there, even with the information relayed by the shadow clones, they were all speechless.
"This... this is..." Hiruzen bit his pipe, unable to speak a complete sentence for a long time.
Orochimaru's vertical pupils, however, gleamed with an unprecedented excitement.
This is the daimyo's power?
"My lord." Hiruzen quickly adjusted, stepping forward, bowing to report. "The village is safe."
"It's just that the intruder had a very strange space-time ninjutsu, which allowed him to escape."
Tsunade added, "His body can become pass-through, immune to any physical attacks, making him very troublesome."
"Pass-through?" Shin repeated the word.
Kamui, huh.
Obito, you still couldn't hold back.
"He's just a rat that can't see the light of day." Shin dismissed it.
"Compared to that, don't you think there's a more important matter to be concerned about?"
"Three thousand Kumogakure shinobi." Shin clasped his hands behind his back, tapping his fingers lightly, casting his gaze downward. "They got past the border defenses, marched straight in, and attacked the city."
"Only after they appeared at Konoha's gates did you realize it."
"Don't you think you should first figure out how these Kumogakure shinobi sneaked into our home?"
These words instantly exploded in the ears of the Konoha people.
That's right!
They had been so focused on this sudden great victory and the problem of how to deal with the prisoners.
Yet they had overlooked this fatal question!
How exactly did Kumogakure get in?
If this question wasn't cleared up, then today it was four thousand Kumogakure.
Tomorrow it could be five thousand Kirigakure!
The day after tomorrow, it could be ten thousand Iwagakure!
Konoha's defenses would be useless!
In an instant, a chill arose.
"Damn it!" Tsunade's face was full of regret. "I almost forgot about such an important matter!"
"The daimyo is right!" Minato's expression was serious. "This is our failure!"
He suddenly turned around and loudly ordered the Anbu behind him, "Take all the Kumogakure captain-level prisoners to the interrogation department!"
"Have Ibiki and his squad report immediately!"
"I don't care what method you use, even if you have to crush their brains, you must pry open their mouths!"
"I want to know all the routes and methods they used to sneak into the Land of Fire! Not a single detail can be missed!"
"And that Mabui that the Raikage mentioned." Shin cast his gaze downward. "She must know something!"
"Yes!"
Several Anbu shinobi instantly vanished.
The atmosphere on the city wall suddenly became extremely tense.
Unless this hidden danger was removed, they would not be able to rest easy.