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"Mm! As long as you don't do anything I hate, I won't beat you up."Hayato gave a firm nod. He didn't really understand what exactly the Four-Tails, Son Goku, was thinking, but at the very least, he knew this much—the beast had definitely been scared stiff by his Hulk-like form.
"Mm, mm, mm! Actually, I'm a peace-loving tailed beast, you know. It's just you humans always force me into battle!" Son Goku quickly bobbed his head, eager to explain himself.
Hayato didn't comment. He didn't care whether the beast was truly peaceful or not—what mattered was that Son Goku stayed put and behaved. Taking the Four-Tails back to the Land of Rain would serve as a powerful deterrent to the other nations and villages. With a tailed beast under his control, the Rain would become that much harder to mess with.
So Hayato continued walking through the Land of Earth at his own unhurried pace, making no effort to conceal his presence.
And because he wasn't hiding, his movements were quickly noticed by the Iwa-nin. This time, however, the Rock shinobi didn't bother trying to ambush him again. They had been frightened into submission.
The first time they tried, Ōnoki himself had led a massive force of elite ninja, hoping to crush Hayato with sheer strength. It ended in disaster. Only Ōnoki had managed to escape.
The second time, they brought a jinchūriki, sealing teams, and a small army prepared with techniques meant for dealing with tailed beasts. That, too, collapsed into failure. The sealing squads were wiped out, their jinchūriki was killed, and even the tailed beast itself was stolen. Once again, Ōnoki was the only survivor.
Two consecutive humiliating defeats. They had tried everything and gotten nowhere. At this point, Ōnoki had no idea what strategy could possibly work against Hayato. Worse, the Land of Earth still hadn't fully recovered from the losses of the Second Great Ninja War. If they kept fighting… could they even win? Ōnoki didn't have that confidence anymore.
Recently, he'd even had his people investigate the Land of Rain's current strength. The results shocked him—the Rain had grown far stronger than he'd ever imagined.
They could choose to fight Rain head-on, sure. Whether against Hayato himself or the entire Rain Village, Iwa still had more raw power. But even in victory, it would be a pyrrhic one, leaving them bloody and broken. And with Konoha and Sunagakure sitting right next door, waiting like vultures… how could they afford such heavy losses? And if things escalated into an all-out war, what if Kumo and Kiri decided to join in and snatch a share for themselves?
The Land of Earth was one of the Five Great Nations. Iwagakure was one of the Five Great Villages. If they were destroyed, the other four would feast on the remains without hesitation.
Ōnoki's mood was worse than ever before—even worse than after losing the Second Ninja War. For someone as proud as he was, being forced into this position by a small country and a single ninja was unbearable. Part of him wanted nothing more than to throw his life away in a desperate fight against Hayato.
But he couldn't. He knew he wasn't a match for Hayato. He wasn't afraid to die, but if he did, what would become of Iwagakure? He had to think of the village first.
And now, here he was. Hayato stood calmly with a towering figure at his back—Son Goku, the Four-Tails, once Iwa's own tailed beast. Now, standing behind Hayato, the mighty beast looked almost… obedient, like a loyal underling.
Ōnoki's eyelid twitched, fury boiling up inside him at the sight. But this wasn't the time for a fight. He had come here with a different purpose, and so he swallowed his rage.
"Hayato!" Ōnoki's voice rang out, sharp and heavy. "On behalf of Iwagakure, I declare a ceasefire with the Land of Rain!"
...
"Peace treaty? Fine by me." Hayato nodded. Honestly, if it could be avoided, he had no intention of dragging the fight on forever. Otherwise, it would never end unless he completely destroyed the Land of Earth and wiped Iwagakure off the map. But that wasn't something easy to pull off—and doing so might spark the Third Great Ninja War ahead of schedule. Worse, it could unite all the other hidden villages against him and the Land of Rain.
If it were just him alone, he wouldn't care. But now… now he had someone at his side. Konan. She had already become an important bond to him, and if things escalated like that, even her safety wouldn't be guaranteed. So, a ceasefire? He had no reason to reject it.
"Phew…" Hearing Hayato agree to a truce, Iwaya Sho let out a long breath of relief.
"Then, as part of the treaty, the Land of Rain will return the Four-Tails to us in Iwagakure. As for the rest—"
"Not happening!" Hayato cut him off immediately, the blunt refusal freezing Ōnoki's expression on the spot.
"You're the ones asking for a ceasefire. Which means you can't handle me running wild inside your borders anymore. If you want peace, that's fine—but the side making concessions isn't me. The Four-Tails is my trophy. That makes it mine now.
"And don't forget—you tried to start a war against the Land of Rain, and you lost. You want peace? Then you'd better pay the price."
Hayato lifted his chin, staring Ōnoki down with eyes cold as steel. For him, the fact that the old man still thought he could squeeze some benefit out of this situation was completely unacceptable.
He wasn't some noble-hearted type, nor did he carry any lofty ideals about "the greater good." And unlike the First Hokage, he had zero interest in spreading tailed beasts around for the sake of "balance" and "peace." No—Hayato's logic was simple: I won. My fists are stronger. That means I get the spoils.
Don't like it? Then fight. Keep fighting until you give in. And if you never give in? Then die. If the Third Tsuchikage refused, fine—he'd kill him and deal with the Fourth. If the Fourth resisted, he'd smash him too and wait for the Fifth. For the sake of Iwagakure, someone would eventually bow their head.
"You—!" Ōnoki's eyes bulged, his face twisted in fury.
"....."