At the gates of Konoha, Kamishiro was completing his village entry registration. It was a bit of a hassle, but an absolute necessity; preventing fires, theft, and enemy spies was the top priority.
He had already changed back into his original mission attire. Setting aside his second-stage transformation into a flying gourd-carrying kid, the key right now was wearing his Konoha forehead protector.
In a sense, it served the exact same function as a student ID badge—you weren't getting through the school gates without wearing it.
The forehead protector served as the simplest external decoration to signify that he belonged to Konoha... but it was strictly an external identifier. Relying on it to actually prevent enemy infiltration was impossible.
After all, no idiot ninja would waltz into Konoha wearing another village's headband. If such a scenario actually occurred, the protocol was: first, contact the Konoha Military Police Force, and second, contact the psychiatric ward at Konoha Hospital.
The ninja guarding the gate simply treated this as a routine return. He had no way of knowing that the young ninja standing in front of him had just completed a top-secret mission.
Or that this youth had just carved his name in a war between two of the Great Ninja Villages.
As he filled out his ninja registration number and name, Hagoromo noticed the ninja across from him showed no special reaction. This made him breathe a sigh of relief. Clearly, he hadn't been declared dead just yet.
He also hadn't been post-humously molded into a lone hero to be used as propaganda material for the "Will of Fire."
This was excellent news.
Practically speaking, Hagoromo should have reported back to Jiraiya first. However, considering the geography, Konoha was actually closer than the front lines when traveling from the Land of Iron.
Furthermore, even if he went to the front lines to report to Jiraiya, the Hokage's office would likely just summon him back to the village anyway... So, to save everyone the extra steps, Hagoromo had simply returned straight to Konoha.
Upon entering the village, he headed straight for the Hokage building.
He looked exactly the same as he always did. Judging purely by his outward appearance, no one could possibly imagine that not too long ago, he had assassinated the strongest man in the ninja world—a man who stood above tens of thousands of ninjas, one of the Five Kage.
Looking at his calm and unbothered demeanor, it was even harder to imagine that he had nearly been beaten to death by an angry mob attack of thousands people.
Acting completely unfazed like this... forget about someone who just finished an S-rank mission; even a ninja returning from a D-rank cat-catching mission wouldn't look this nonchalant.
Along the way, he heard people constantly discussing the war between the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Cloud. After all, it was currently the biggest event in the ninja world.
As expected, Kushina's name was being brought up with incredibly high frequency.
Hagoromo nodded, feeling quite satisfied.
Naturally, ordinary ninjas had no way of knowing the detailed truth behind the event. But this ambiguous, highly sensationalized rumor mill was exactly the effect he had aimed for.
He had perfectly achieved what Kushina had wanted.
Once Hagoromo reached the Hokage building and stated his name, he was granted an immediate audience with the Hokage.
Inside the Hokage's office, several of Konoha's highest-ranking officials were currently analyzing the geopolitical situation.
"The massive battle between the Stone and the Cloud is still ongoing. The Cloud has not yet publicly acknowledged the news of the Third Raikage's death. However, Jiraiya is controlling the flow of the battlefield exceptionally well. As long as we maintain the balance of combat power between the Stone and the Cloud, the inevitable outcome will be... mutual destruction!"
"This is the most advantageous situation possible for Konoha," the Third Hokage said, one hand holding his pipe, the other resting on the intelligence reports scattered across his desk.
Once a massive war like this begins, it can't simply be stopped on a whim. Even if both the Stone and the Cloud knew perfectly well that continuing to fight would ultimately benefit their powerful enemy, Konoha, they had no choice but to keep fighting. Only after one side completely beat the other into the dirt could they turn their guns back toward Konoha.
Or rather, only then could they reconsider how to deal with the threat Konoha posed.
If the war continued on this trajectory, the ultimate result would likely be a fundamental reversal of fortunes. The Land of Fire, which had been besieged on all sides and fighting multiple enemies simultaneously for years, would suddenly leap to become the war's biggest winner.
Konoha had already secured peace with the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Rain. After this current bloodbath, the Cloud and the Stone would be left crippled at best. Furthermore, the two villages were now mortal enemies, and the Stone still had to deal with the Sand...
Ignoring the minor nations' combat strength, practically speaking, the only enemy Konoha had left with a relatively intact military was the Hidden Mist.
And Konoha's severely stretched forces would find immediate relief as their enemies cannibalized each other.
As for Jiraiya controlling the battlefield exceptionally well... Although the main event was the war between the Stone and the Cloud, Konoha actually dictated a crucial part of the war's tempo.
A very vital part.
Almost exactly when the Hidden Stone launched their invasion, Konoha simultaneously launched an offensive against the Hidden Cloud, applying massive pressure through a coordinated pincer strike.
This is what forced the Cloud to deploy the Raikage to the Stone front, ultimately leading to his death.
But the key difference between Konoha's and the Stone's attacks lay in the location: The Stone's massive army directly invaded the Land of Lightning's homeland, whereas Konoha and the Cloud were fighting their life-and-death struggle within the borders of the Land of Sound.
For the Hidden Cloud, it went without saying which enemy had to be prioritized.
Konoha's offensive was largely just posturing—the sheer pressure of the attack was far more important than achieving actual territorial gains.
The moment they received intel that the Stone was gaining the upper hand on their battlefield, Konoha would immediately ease their own offensive pressure, allowing the Cloud to pull troops from the Konoha front to reinforce their defense against the Stone.
Conversely, if the Cloud gained the upper hand, Konoha would instantly ramp up their attacks, completely cutting off the Cloud's ability to quickly expel the Stone from their borders.
This was what could effectively be called an open conspiracy. Even if all three sides knew exactly what Konoha was doing, the enemy was powerless to effectively respond.
The stubborn Onoki had made a terrible move. He didn't regret attacking the Cloud; he regretted handing Konoha the perfect opportunity to reap the spoils while the other two villages dragged out their fight.
The only faction capable of breaking this stalemate right now was likely the Hidden Mist—since the Sand was already Konoha's ally. But the Mist... they were probably quite happy to sit back and watch the show.
The Mist was the historical mortal enemy of the Stone. During the previous Great Ninja War, their respective Kage had even killed each other in battle. Why would they ever do anything to benefit the Hidden Stone?
Plus, the Mist and the Cloud were currently having their own sporadic border skirmishes.
In a World War like this, every village looked out for itself. They all desperately prayed their enemies would beat each other's brains out. Now that they actually had front-row seats to watch rip themselves apart, why would they intervene?
Launch a massive offensive against Konoha right now? Heh.
Maybe after the Stone and the Cloud finished bleeding each other dry.
Therefore, for Konoha, the overarching trajectory of the Third Great Ninja War had become entirely clear following this single battle.
"Um..."
Just as the Third Hokage's words fell, Hagoromo walked into the room.
He had caught the tail end of the conversation.
"The Third Raikage is definitely dead. I can prove that," he volunteered before the Hokage or anyone else could even ask.
Then, he began to pull out his evidence.
Of course he had evidence. He had the corpse.
Reaching into his ninja pouch, he pulled out a scroll and rolled it out onto the floor.
Within the circular sealing formula, the character for Corpse was written dead center.
Hagoromo wove a quick series of hand signs, instantly releasing the seal. A body materialized on the floor.
Danzo Shimura, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane all shifted their gazes to the corpse. After staring at it for a second, their eyes immediately snapped back to Hagoromo.
The emotions conveyed in those four pairs of elderly eyes ranged from sheer bewilderment and deep confusion, to serious concern and mild fury.
Sure, he brought a corpse... but who the hell was this guy?
"...?" Hagoromo was also surprised for a moment before instantly realizing his mistake.
"My apologies, I grabbed the wrong one. This is the corpse of a friend from the Hidden Stone..."
He wasn't the least bit worried about them misinterpreting his words. What kind of Konoha ninja would actually have a friend in the Hidden Stone anyway?
Then, he finally pulled out the correct scroll.
There was no mistake this time. The corpse of the Third Raikage tumbled out onto the floor.
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