In a fraction of a second, Kamishiro realized he was about to eat dirt.
There was good news and bad news.
The bad news: his realization was entirely correct. He was about to slam into the ground.
The good news: he could at least guarantee he wouldn't land face-first...
Thank god he had directed the Yatagarasu to fly at a low altitude earlier. Otherwise, this wouldn't just be a light tumble. If he had dropped from his previous high-altitude cruising height, he would have been flattened into a pancake.
In the fraction of a second he had, the only thing Kamishiro could do was subconsciously coat his body in a layer of defensive chakra to protect himself. As for using more advanced jutsu to break his fall, it wasn't a matter of not having enough time, but rather that it wasn't the right moment to show off those skills in front of a crowd.
And so, Kamishiro Hagoromo—who had drawn quite a bit of attention during this war—first made a highly dramatic, low-altitude flyby over the battlefield. Then, abruptly, the summoning beast beneath his feet vanished, and he flailed his arms and legs as he plummeted from the sky.
Now he had everyone's attention.
Fortunately, he wasn't afraid of heights, nor did he let out a pathetic scream. Objectively speaking, he remained quite calm. A sheer drop of seven or eight meters wouldn't cause any serious damage to a normal ninja. Taxonomically speaking, ninjas belonged to a very durable sub-category of humans.
Thud!
The sound wasn't thrilling at all. It sounded more like two people hefting half a pig carcass and slamming it down onto a butcher's block. Kamishiro hit the ground, rolled a few times, and kicked up a small cloud of dust.
Tuck the chin, protect the head, curl the body. Kamishiro executed the technical textbook landing perfectly, rolling through the dirt until his momentum finally stopped.
He winced, baring his teeth. The fall itself hadn't done much damage, but the impact had violently yanked at his existing injuries.
After his face cycled through a storm of painful expressions, Kamishiro finally lifted his head.
And the very first thing he saw was a foot hovering right in front of his face. It was a good thing he had stopped rolling exactly when he did; otherwise, he might have needed the help of a "good Samaritan" to bring him to a halt.
Even if that "help" came in the form of unapologetically stepping on his face, or punting him back the way he came like a soccer ball.
Because the owner of that foot was the battlefield commander, Tsunade, fully dressed in her combat gear.
Kamishiro had actually picked a great spot to crash-land. Tsunade, Minato, and the Third Hokage were all gathered right here, likely conducting a post-battle briefing.
Seeing that Kamishiro had stopped moving, Tsunade casually retracted her foot as if she hadn't just been preparing to kick him.
Due to the obstruction of certain key female characteristics located between Tsunade's shoulders and waist, Kamishiro couldn't see her facial expression no matter how hard he craned his neck from the ground. But he genuinely suspected she had a look of disappointment on her face right now, as if some deep desire of hers had been denied.
Yeah, good thing I stopped in time. If I hadn't hit the brakes, she definitely would have kicked me into the next time zone.
"So? How were the results of the infiltration raid?"
Even though the key figures had been in the middle of discussing important matters, Tsunade still took a moment to ask about his mission after he dropped out of the sky.
The Third Hokage and Minato Namikaze looked slightly confused by her question.
"He just flew to the Sand Village," Tsunade explained. "He used that flying, explosive summoning beast to execute a sabotage mission."
She was essentially covering for him. Although she didn't state it explicitly, phrasing it like this made it sound like Kamishiro had gone to bomb the Sand Village under her direct orders, rather than acting entirely on his own.
Otherwise, Kamishiro might have been slapped with a charge of battlefield insubordination.
"Now that you mention it, I really didn't see him during the latter half of the battle," Minato said, recalling the flow of the frontline clash.
It was true. Halfway through the battle, Kamishiro and his bird had vanished from the sky. Minato had originally assumed Kamishiro's summoning jutsu had been forcibly canceled for some reason. Hearing Tsunade's explanation, it turned out he had gone to execute a highly dangerous infiltration mission.
To take on a mission like that at his age—Kamishiro certainly had guts. But did he succeed?
With just a few sentences, Tsunade and Minato had clarified Kamishiro's actions. Hearing this, the Third Hokage didn't speak immediately, but he looked at Kamishiro with an expectant gaze.
Kamishiro didn't answer Tsunade's question right away, nor did he respond to the Hokage's gaze. First, he had something much more important to do: peel himself off the ground.
Even though the topic of conversation was serious, their eyes completely betrayed them... Why was everyone looking at him like he was some kind of rare zoo animal?! He didn't want to play the trapeze artist! Did they have to stare at him like that?
Kamishiro finally stood up, expressionlessly brushing the dirt off his clothes, and then observed the three people in front of him.
Tsunade had stayed in the rear command tent and hadn't fought, so she was perfectly clean. Even though Minato had charged the frontlines, his combat style ensured he didn't get a single drop of enemy blood on himself.
As for the Third Hokage... well, he had already changed out of his combat gear and returned to his usual attire. If he hadn't, he would be completely drenched in blood, making it impossible for him to stand anywhere near Tsunade's line of sight.
Despite suffering significant casualties, Konoha had won the war, so the general mood among the leadership was relatively positive.
"Kamishiro?" Tsunade prompted him again.
Kamishiro snapped back to reality and quickly answered, "The raid was a success. The enemy lacked effective anti-air measures. My primary objective was destroying key enemy facilities. However, because I didn't have detailed intel, I had to rely on my own subjective judgment and visual impressions to pick the targets. So, I can't confirm the exact impact."
Kamishiro didn't speak too confidently. What if he had just bombed a bunch of useless, unimportant buildings?
To his surprise, after hearing Kamishiro's report, the Hokage immediately waved over an Intelligence Squad ninja, gave him a few quick orders, and sent him off. The ninja quickly returned with a map.
The Hokage unrolled the map himself and shoved a pen into Kamishiro's hand. "This is our espionage map of the Sand Village. It's not perfectly detailed, but it's generally accurate. Kamishiro, mark the locations you destroyed."
Kamishiro took the map, feeling a bit annoyed. If you had shown me this map beforehand, I could have conducted a much more precise bombing run.
He had already completely forgotten that his trip to bomb the Sand Village was an entirely impromptu, impulsive decision.
After Kamishiro drew circles around the locations he had destroyed, a wide smile spread across the Hokage's face.
"It's done. Although some of these are minor locations, you destroyed several critical facilities," the Third Hokage said happily. "Considering the massive losses the Sand suffered on the battlefield today, once the Kazekage returns and sees that key parts of his village have been destroyed... his only option left is to sue Konoha for peace."
The Hokage's smile then faded, replaced by a complex, heavy tone as he softly declared:
"The war on this front... is finally over."