Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

After many trials and tribulations, we have come to this day.

She finally had a definite guess about Diablo's true identity.

Proficient in medical ninjutsu, with a base in the Land of Fire located near the Forest of Death, the Five Kage Summit was held shortly after the Akatsuki was established, the Shadow Guards went to great lengths to intercept and kill the Second Hokage, and sent a notification immediately after Danzo's escape...

Furthermore, her relaxed tone suggests she can easily summon a special intelligence ninja whose intelligence capabilities match Nakime's, making her suitable for monitoring Danzo. Isn't this ability precisely the counterpart to the Hyuga's Byakugan?

With countless fragmented clues piling up, the identity hidden beneath the mask became completely and clearly revealed in Uchiha Yan's mind.

Despite having mentally prepared himself, Uchiha Yan was still shocked when the truth was confirmed.

She never imagined that the person behind Diablo's mask would be that person.

"If you know the answer, keep it to yourself and don't say it out loud."

She didn't deny it, and thus tacitly accepted the fact.

Even if Uchiha Yan guessed his identity, so what?

Can we turn against him?

Previously, his life goal was to defeat Uchiha Chiri; now, his goal is to resurrect the deceased Uchiha Bin. He has both of these goals firmly in mind.

Shen Er ended the communication, and Uchiha Yan fell into a long silence.

...

Several days later, envoys from the four major ninja villages arrived in Konoha one after another.

The Second Five-Image Conference was officially convened under the leadership of Shen.

This meeting is limited to the five major ninja villages; other smaller countries are not even eligible to participate.

The atmosphere at the meeting was oppressive and heavy.

In Konoha, Zenji firmly holds the dominant position.

His attire was almost identical to that of twelve years ago, with a simple and elegant haori cloak covering his body. The only distinguishing feature was the inscription "Third Hokage" embroidered on his back, clearly indicating his supreme status as the current Hokage.

Shen Er remained calm, his hands folded on the table. In his eyes, this meeting, which could influence the entire ninja world, was nothing more than an ordinary clan meeting.

Negotiations have reached a stalemate.

On the four seats opposite, the envoys of the four major ninja villages sat upright.

The Hidden Mist Village, having not yet engaged in direct combat with the Leaf Village, appeared relatively relaxed. In contrast, the envoys from the other three major ninja villages all had furrowed brows, their tense faces revealing undisguised anxiety and solemnity.

"Gentlemen," Shen Er broke the silence first, looking around, "what have you decided?"

Sunagakure's representative, Shikai, had no choice but to speak up.

"Third Hokage, we have indeed come to negotiate peace with sincerity, but this compensation clause is far too harsh..."

The peace treaty clearly states in black and white that it costs 1 billion taels.

If divided among the three major ninja villages, each would have to pay more than 300 million taels in reparations in order to completely end this war.

When war breaks out, peace treaties are like pieces of paper, easily torn up. Now, the price to regain peace is a thousand times, ten thousand times higher.

As for the Hidden Mist...

Because the raids only target the Peace Arc led by Konoha, the costs are relatively low. There's not even a need for monetary compensation; it can be repaid through special agreements in maritime trade.

She responded with a smile:

"This compensation was determined by Konoha after careful calculation."

"The funds cover Konoha's wartime material losses, compensation for fallen ninjas, damaged border defense facilities, and the losses in mission revenue Konoha has indirectly suffered over the past three years due to this war."

Xi Hai said hesitantly, "We suffered the same losses, or even more."

"That's what you all brought upon yourselves, isn't it?"

Shen Er bluntly stated, "If it weren't for the fact that Kumogakure broke their promise first and used the lame excuse of 'a team of ninjas disappearing on the border of the Land of Fire' to humiliate Konoha, the war wouldn't have started, much less ended in this way."

"Konoha is passionate about peace, but Konoha is not afraid of war. Konoha can afford to fight any war!"

"If you all feel that the compensation figure is unreasonable, then please leave. Go back and tell your shadows that the war must continue."

The three messengers' hearts raced at Shen'er's threat; the pressure was overwhelming.

The indemnity of 300 million taels was a heavy burden, almost amounting to the loss of national sovereignty and humiliation.

If they sign their names today, they may become sinners in their respective ninja villages.

But what if you refuse to sign...?

The villagers were exhausted, and their war-weariness was high. They were powerless to conquer Konoha and would only be trapped in an endless war of attrition, turning the battlefield into a bloody grinding mill that devoured everything.

No one can be sure whether, in the end, Konoha, with its "Will of Fire," will be able to persevere, or whether the ninjas from the three great ninja villages will be able to endure more hardship.

Signing the document will at most incur the dissatisfaction and criticism of the villagers.

If they don't sign, all that awaits the villages is internal collapse and turmoil.

The lesser of two evils.

This character indicates a successful fortune telling.

Several envoys signed the treaty in succession.

After doing all this, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyway, this damn war is finally over!

Shen Er smiled and sealed the treaties away, then warmly extended an invitation: "Gentlemen, would you like to rest in Konoha for a few days?"

“No need.” Xi Hai’s face was grim as he stood up first. “I need to return to the village to report to the Wind Shadow.”

Me too.

"..."

At other times, they might have stayed in Konoha for a while. But having just signed this humiliating and unequal reparations agreement, they were in no mood for it.

Furthermore, as an envoy, he would certainly be closely monitored by Konoha's Anbu, and wouldn't see anything of value, so he simply left.

Shen Er got up and personally saw off these "gods of wealth" who all looked depressed.

This may be the last time in their lives that they come to Konoha as envoys of a defeated ninja village to sign a humiliating peace treaty.

It is impossible to predict what kind of fighting power the four ninja villages will display when the Second Shinobi World War begins, or whether they will come up with new warfare tactics and achieve any outstanding results.

But he was certain that the four great ninja villages would no longer be able to start the Third Shinobi World War.

The Five Shadows Summit has come to a close.

Standing atop the Hokage Building, he officially declared the war over, with Konoha emerging victorious.

The news quickly spread throughout the village, and villagers flocked to the streets to celebrate this hard-won historic moment. The commercial street was bustling with activity, fireworks were lit again, and the noise and excitement overshadowed the shadow of war, recreating the prosperous scene before the First Shinobi World War.

A victory that should have been Tobirama's was stolen by Shinji.

The villagers attributed the credit for ending the war and securing reparations to Jin, and some even judged him by his achievements, boasting that Jin was the "strongest Hokage of all time."

This time, it really wasn't Hiruzen Sarutobi bragging.

It was all because of those scoundrels' boasting that he got dragged into this mess.

At this moment...

Hinata Kotone slipped to his side and whispered something in his ear.

Shen Er nodded and then left the Hokage Building.

As he walked down the street, villagers and ninjas greeted him every moment, and he responded with a smile to each one.

The signing of a peace treaty propelled his prestige to the pinnacle of Konoha, a position unmatched by anyone else.

Shen Er broke away from the crowd and arrived at the new Dark Division base.

With the Dark Side about to expand, there will be more and more new classified experimental projects, and the original base will not be enough.

Following Shen's instructions, the entire Anbu was relocated to an area near the Forest of Death in Konoha, which is closer to the Zen clan's territory and makes it more convenient for Shen to make daily round trips for inspections.

The base still uses a two-layer structure above ground and underground. All members of the standby ANBU squad are stationed here, with the security and defense level at maximum and the guard extremely tight.

The base also employs a dual structure, both above and below ground.

Most of the standby squads are stationed here, and the security and defense density is extremely high.

The roots are located in the core area underground.

Hinata Kotone arrived at the underground entrance, placed her hand on it, and whispered, "Release!"

thump...

With a muffled thud, the door leading to the underground opened.

They even entered the root stronghold.

The underground area was excavated to be extremely spacious, and cold white light illuminated rows of precision instruments.

Inside rows of glass-enclosed cold storage rooms, various materials were displayed, including many reagents whose names I couldn't identify. On the tabletops were numerous drawings with detailed data annotations.

Eleven researchers, dressed in pure white lab coats and personally recruited by Shen, were performing their respective duties, disassembling and analyzing the first Kazekage puppet placed in the center.

When the person in charge, Nara Masato, saw Jin, he was delighted and said, "Lord Jin, you've arrived."

"Hmm. I heard from the report that there has been a breakthrough in the research on puppets?"

"Yes, after repeated testing, we have basically mastered the technology of creating ordinary puppets."

Basic mastery...

Shen Er narrowed his eyes slightly. He disliked the word "basic" because he found the ambiguous and face-saving feeling unpleasant.

Nara Masato didn't notice Shinji's expression.

After years of research, a breakthrough has finally been achieved in the field of puppetry, which is truly exciting.

He described to Shen: "To be precise, what we cracked was the manufacturing technology of conventional puppets."

The puppets of Sunagakure are divided into two types: human puppets and ordinary puppets.

Human puppets can retain the chakra and ninjutsu of the deceased, and their fighting style is closer to that of living ninjas; ordinary puppets are simply equipped with various mechanical weapons, focusing on functionality, and their shapes are also bizarre and varied.

Ordinary puppets can be humanoid, but they do not possess the characteristics of human puppets.