Chapter 112: The Storm Before Peace
The morale of the Konoha army shifted palpably. Gin, using his talent to gauge loyalty, discovered that nearly a third of the 4,000 Konoha ninja had already reached the necessary favorability threshold to sign a contract with him. The rest, even at the lowest, held over 60 points.
> "Unexpected," Gin mused with a grin. "My battle speech must have hit harder than I thought… but that's to be expected—this is a world where people kneel to strength."
Yet a detail caught his eye: over a dozen ninja had negative favorability scores.
> "Fanatics loyal to Hiruzen or Danzo... or something else," he noted coldly. "I'll need to deal with them eventually. I won't allow hostile elements to thrive in my Konoha. A rider must fully control his horse."
---
"We press on!" Tsunade's voice rang out.
"Crush the Suna forces! Shatter their strength so they dare not rise for years to come!"
With a wave of her arm, she led the Konoha army in hot pursuit of the retreating Sunagakure ninja. Hatake Sakumo and Jiraiya flanked her, their eyes sharp with purpose.
Gin, after storing the Third Kazekage's corpse, used a fire release jutsu to burn away bloodstains and hurried to rejoin the march.
It didn't take long before Konoha's forces caught up to the Suna rearguard.
---
"Damn it! They're chasing us to the end?!"
Uesugi Kazuo, a passionate jōnin of Suna, clenched his fists.
"Enough! We fight! Better to die than run like dogs!"
"Don't be rash!" shouted another jōnin, Tanaka, pulling him back.
"We need another rearguard to cover the retreat. The rest must push forward!"
"The Kazekage already died doing that!" Kazuo barked in fury. "You want us to throw away more lives?! They'll catch us anyway!"
"We're not strong like the other villages," Tanaka snapped. "If everyone dies here, what happens to Suna? We must at least deliver intel back to Chiyo-sama and Elder Ebizō! We don't get to win—we get to survive!"
Kazuo fell silent, trembling.
> "Kazekage-sama... died for this. Damn it!"
Tanaka grabbed his shoulder firmly.
"Kazuo, you'll lead 1,500 ninja. I'll stay here with 1,000 and hold the line. Get them out. That's an order."
Kazuo froze.
> "Tanaka... you..."
"Go!"
As the Suna main force vanished into the rain-veiled horizon, a thousand Suna ninja under Tanaka turned to face their fate.
"All units, halt!" Tanaka roared. "We hold this ground with our lives! Buy them time!"
---
The storm of battle exploded once more.
"CHARGE!"
Explosions, elemental jutsu, and the scream of steel filled the air as the Suna rearguard clashed with Konoha's elite. Though they held the line briefly, the might of Tsunade, Gin, Sakumo, Jiraiya, and Minato broke their formation. Even so, the Suna forces refused to yield, fighting tooth and nail in a final stand.
Half an hour later, every one of the thousand Suna ninja lay dead. Konoha lost only a few dozen, thanks largely to Gin's protection.
---
"They were maniacs," Kushina whispered, stunned. "Will we pursue the rest?"
After a quick war council, Gin, Tsunade, and the others agreed to halt the pursuit. They were too close to the Rain Country's border. The remaining Suna forces had created traps, destroyed bridges, and made escape near impossible.
"Instead, we focus on Iwagakure," Tsunade said, turning to Gin. "They're trying to steal our victory in Amegakure. We can't let them."
Gin nodded. Through his observation haki, he already sensed Iwa's presence near Ame.
> "If they take Ame, they'll cement influence in the Rain Country. That's unacceptable. We must hit Iwa hard—force them to surrender or sign a new peace treaty."
"Let me go ahead," Gin offered. "I'll use a large-scale lightning release to decimate their frontlines and stall until you arrive."
Tsunade frowned.
"Too risky. Why not teleport us all with the Flying Thunder God technique? You said you perfected the group version."
Gin hesitated.
"That'll cost at least 30% of everyone's chakra. Risky."
"We've all taken soldier pills. Chakra will recover in ten minutes. Besides, didn't you plan to kill over a thousand of them with lightning first? That'll tip the balance."
After a moment's thought, Gin nodded.
---
With Tsunade's approval, Gin created a massive teleportation seal array—a complex fuinjutsu formation embedded into the earth. It would self-destruct after one use, leaving no trace of its secrets.
Once the formation was complete, Gin left a shadow clone to trigger it and teleported away.
---
High above Amegakure, Gin emerged atop a mountain and immediately merged into the thunderclouds. From the sky, he began drawing in electric charges over a 20-kilometer radius.
The Iwa ninja below, focused on their assault, noticed too late.
"Something's wrong…"
The sky darkened. Lightning crackled unnaturally across the clouds.
"IT'S HIM! IT'S UCHIHA GIN!" Ohnoki screamed. "DEFENSIVE FORMATIONS, NOW!"
He slammed his hands to the ground, raising colossal walls of earth to shield his troops. Many elite Iwa ninja followed suit—but not all were fast enough.
---
"BOOOOOOM!!!"
Thousands of bolts rained down.
Hundreds of Iwa ninja turned to ash in moments.
Ohnoki roared in rage.
> "Damn you, Gin…!"
But it wasn't over.
Two seconds later—
"BOOOOOOM!!!"
Another wave. Those who had hidden underground mostly survived, but 500 more perished.
Gin, hovering in the sky, took a high-grade chakra and mind-restoring pill and entered meditation. Below, the Rain ninja watched in awe.
"Is this... divine punishment?"
"No… this is Uchiha Gin…"
"That power… no one should have that power."
---
Ohnoki, sensing the threat had vanished, rose from the ground.
"He's done. He can't use that technique again so soon!"
Confident, he ordered an all-out counterattack.
But before his troops could fully mobilize…
A massive golden seal appeared behind Gin.
"What is that—!?"
"Teleportation technique!"
Thousands of Konoha ninja appeared behind him in a flash.
Gin's shadow clone saluted and dissipated, returning knowledge to the original.
The battlefield froze.
---
Ohnoki's eyes widened in horror.
> "If Konoha can teleport an army instantly… then they can attack any village… even Iwagakure itself…"
Tsunade joined Gin, surveyed the battlefield, and smirked.
"Well done, kid. You killed over a thousand of them. We have the upper hand now."
She moved to prepare for battle.
But—
"Wait!" Ohnoki flew forward.
"We surrender! We'll retreat! We're ready to sign a new peace treaty—or even an alliance!"
Everyone stared in stunned silence.
> "He's serious," Tsunade murmured. "Is he… that terrified?"
Nara Shikayama leaned over and whispered:
> "He's not just afraid of the lightning... It's the teleportation. He realizes now—Konoha could appear in Iwagakure without warning."
Gin folded his arms.
"Gin, what do you say?" Asked Tsunade