"With the blessing of the gods, it will take less than three months for the Land of Rain to become the strongest nation in the world."
The Feudal Lord's son sneered through gritted teeth. "Once that happens, no other country will ever dare to invade us again!"
"..."
Tsunade was utterly stunned. She questioned in disbelief, "Have you never considered that the vast majority of your people — nearly a million lives — will die for this?"
"Hmph!!!"
The young man let out a cold laugh. "If sacrificing a million people secures prosperity and peace for the Land of Rain for centuries to come... is that not worth it?"
"And precisely because of this, I ask that you ninja from Konoha do not interfere in the internal affairs of our nation!" He pressed his forehead to the ground.
"There is no conspiracy here, nor are there monsters. There is only the Land of Rain, desperate for peace!"
In an instant, the thousands of commoners waiting for the Divine Grace knelt in unison, echoing his sentiments. Tsunade had no words left to say, and no means left to act...
She stood with her mouth open, hesitating for a long time, yet unable to utter a single word. In that moment, she wished these people were merely being deceived.
If that were the case, she could simply go defeat the mastermind behind it all and be done with it.
But... it wasn't that simple.
She could defeat one mastermind, but she could not defeat an entire nation.
Just then, a white figure suddenly fell from the branches above.
"Aha ha ha! The great Jiraiya has arrived!"
Jiraiya's wild white hair was full of twigs and dead leaves; it looked like he had suffered quite a journey getting here. Truly, same mission, very different fates...
"Hmph. You speak with such fine words." Jiraiya looked coldly at the young man.
"If this is truly for the sake of peace, then why have you surrounded the combined shinobi forces of the three great nations?"
Witnessing everything along the way, Tsunade had been too close to the situation to see clearly — she had forgotten their true purpose for coming here.
They were not here to maintain peace in the Land of Rain. They were here to rescue the Allied Shinobi Forces, trapped thousands of miles away...
Three days had already passed. The Allied Forces were dwindling with every battle.
Meanwhile, the numbers of the Serpent-Cursed Soldiers were only growing, thanks to the relentless operations of the Divine Grace Compound.
The situation was critical...
At Jiraiya's words, the Feudal Lord's son involuntarily glanced toward Tsunade, then quickly averted his eyes in fear. He nodded solemnly.
"We are willing to withdraw our forces surrounding the alliance. In return, we ask that you never set foot on the land of the Land of Rain again."
Tsunade wanted desperately to say more, but Jiraiya grabbed her arm firmly. "Let's go."
Quickly, he pulled her away from the Land of Rain. At the same time, the Serpent-Cursed Soldiers opened a gap in their encirclement, allowing the Allied Shinobi Forces to retreat.
"Why did you stop me?"
Tsunade was furious. She simply could not bear to watch an entire nation destroy itself.
More importantly, she felt sure these people could still be saved — otherwise, they wouldn't have treated her with such courtesy.
"Use reason, will you?"
Jiraiya suddenly pulled open his shirt. Clearly visible on his chest were two deep fist marks, causing half of his ribcage to be completely caved in.
"At first, I didn't take these commoners seriously either..." Jiraiya gritted his teeth bitterly.
"But when I tried to extract information from a bar hostess, she punched me and caved my chest in with one blow."
"I haven't been able to rest for even a single minute since then." Jiraiya swallowed hard, a look of genuine terror in his eyes.
"From elders of eighty years old, down to children of six or seven... they all rushed at me like madmen. Punching, kicking, biting!"
"You cannot imagine how terrifying it was." Jiraiya spoke through clenched teeth, his voice low.
"This entire country... has gone insane."
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