The instant the ten-minute limit passed, the fighting ended.
Tsunade didn't hesitate.
"Retreat!"
Konoha's remaining shinobi disengaged and fell back toward the coast.Neiki made no move to pursue—he simply stood there, upright and silent, watching them go.
Tsunade was the last to board the ship.Staring at Neiki—mockingly calm, mocking merely by existing—she clenched her fists and shouted:
"Don't get too cocky, Neiki! The Flying Thunder God isn't invincible! One day, we'll make you pay!!"
She wasn't wrong.
The Flying Thunder God Technique itself was not perfect.There were no perfect jutsu—only perfect shinobi.
Konoha's defeat today came from lack of information and preparation.Once they returned to the village…Once they repelled Kumogakure's impending invasion…Once their tacticians analyzed every scrap of data from this battlefield…
Countermeasures would come.
Tsunade believed that with every fiber of her being.
"I look forward to it," Neiki replied quietly.
When the last Konoha shinobi stepped aboard, Tsunade inhaled, gave Neiki one last long look, and said:
"This fight isn't over. Konoha will survive this war. I hope you can last long enough for us to find you."
Neiki's reply was a slow, strange smile.
"The battle," he said, "is far from over."
Tsunade didn't understand the meaning behind his smile.But something about it made her stomach twist.
A Heavy Departure
As the ship pulled away, the deck was crowded with wounded ninja.
Konoha had suffered devastating losses.
Many stared back at the coastline with clenched jaws, furious they had failed to kill Neiki.Ten minutes felt too short.Some even wished Neiki would rush in and attack the ship—so they could die fighting instead of retreating.
But Neiki remained on the island, silent and unmoving.
He simply watched.
And then—as the ship drifted farther—
he vanished.
"What is he after… really?" Tsunade muttered.
He had intervened out of nowhere.
He had tested his sword on both Konoha and Kirigakure.He had shown no specific objective.He had gained no obvious advantage.
And worst of all—
He had willingly exposed his mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique to two major villages.
That didn't match Neiki's known personality.
After the night of the rebellion, Tsunade had learned that Neiki was practical and greedy—never doing anything without a calculated return.
So what was the profit this time?
Could it be that his "profit" was already achieved elsewhere?
The thought made Tsunade's heart drop.
But recalling Suzaku and Hayama—the two men she might've relied on to answer that question—only deepened her regret.
Shizune quietly handed her the casualty list.
Tsunade opened it.
Her grief instantly gained weight—forty names, sixty names, eighty names…Until finally—
Only a handful out of the original two hundred Konoha elite remained alive.
The Wounded
"Treat as many as you can… Cancel the next strategy meeting. I need to help."
Tsunade walked into the first ward.
Dozens of shinobi lay lined up, many with limbs cleanly severed—each cut by Neiki's black sword.
Rage flared inside her.
The Flying Thunder God combined with that blade…
This was her first time seeing its deadliness up close.
"Reattaching severed limbs is difficult… but not impossible," Tsunade told them.
In truth:Medical ninjutsu could do it.Resources could not.
Kumogakure was preparing to invade.Konoha needed every healer focused on saving lives—not regrowing lost arms.
The injured shinobi understood.
Some even laughed bitterly and encouraged her:
"It's fine, Tsunade-sama. I can still fight those Cloud bastards with one arm!""Look—I'm already practicing my left-hand sword!"
Tsunade forced a smile.
After finishing her rounds in the first ward, she entered the second.
Inside, Neji was peeling an apple for Miyamoto Yoru.
Seeing Tsunade, Neji stood immediately.
Tsunade raised a hand, signaling him to sit, and checked Miyamoto's condition. She comforted him just as she had the others—assuring him that his legs could possibly be reattached someday, and that Konoha would compensate him generously.
Miyamoto nodded, fully trusting her.
Then Tsunade turned to Neji.
"Neji, you performed well."
Despite being sealed on her orders after Neiki appeared, he had fought bravely against Kirigakure.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. I only did my duty."
"Don't be modest. We all saw it. Miyamoto has nothing but praise for you. You've shown you're nothing like your brother. You understand comradeship. You embody the Will of Fire."
A faint warmth touched her eyes.
"You remind me of a young Konoha shinobi I know. After this battle… I want to introduce you to him."
Neji blinked.
A "young, renowned Konoha shinobi"?Maybe she wanted him to become someone's apprentice.But "young" made him uneasy—would such a person have the status he imagined?
Before he could speak—
"Tsunade-sama," Miyamoto said suddenly,"Neji actually hopes to become your apprentice."
Neji nearly dropped the apple.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, glancing between them.When she saw Neji's red face, she smiled softly.
"After this battle… that might be possible."
When she left the ward and closed the door, she paused.
A minute later—
Cheers erupted inside, the two youths celebrating.
The sound reminded Tsunade of her little brother, Nawaki.
Her smile deepened, bittersweet and warm.
The Third Ward
Tsunade headed to the final ward—where the medical kunoichi who fainted during the battle with Neiki had been taken.
Remembering the girl's embarrassing panic, Tsunade straightened her face, preparing to scold her.
She pushed the door open sharply.
"Hanabira—!"
Her voice died.
Her breath caught.
Her eyes widened.
Inside the room—
Neiki was sitting casually on the bed, eating an apple.Hanabira was pressed against the far edge of the mattress, pale as a ghost.
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