Chiba issued his orders without the slightest hesitation. The fleet was to return immediately to Kirigakure, while communication units were dispatched to contact the other division led by Mei Terumi and report the full results of the battle.
Before long, the two forces that had advanced separately regrouped in the outer waters surrounding Kirigakure. Mei Terumi approached with a bright, confident smile, calmly presenting the outcome achieved by her route. In her heart, this victory was already unprecedented,more than enough to be considered a decisive triumph.
She even believed it would be sufficient to earn Chiba's acknowledgment.
However…
The moment she learned of the results from Chiba's battlefield, her smile froze.
She was rendered completely speechless.
Mangetsu Hōzuki, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the others reacted no differently.
The Kazekage, Rasa, captured alive.
Elite jōnin such as Maki and Yura taken prisoner.
Several hundred Sunagakure shinobi captured.
Four to five hundred enemy casualties inflicted.
Meanwhile, Kirigakure's losses amounted to only forty to fifty men?!
And even more shocking,
Nearly the entire Sunagakure fleet had been seized intact.
What kind of monstrous battle record was this?!
It was simply inconceivable.
For a long moment, Mei Terumi, Kisame Hoshigaki, Mangetsu Hōzuki, Ao, and the others could only stare at Chiba in stunned silence, their admiration for this newly appointed Mizukage reaching an unprecedented height.
In the end, Chiba led the forces back to Kirigakure to rest and reorganize, while the battle results were formally compiled and recorded.
Kirigakure casualties: one hundred and fifty-six.
Sunagakure casualties: nearly one thousand.
Captured prisoners: over eight hundred.
Seized warships: twenty-eight in total.
As for ninja tools, weapons, materials, and funds,there were simply too many to count.
Notably, Chiba's battlefield differed greatly from Mei Terumi's route. Rather than widespread destruction, most of the Sunagakure forces had been frozen solid and captured directly, leaving ships, supplies, and equipment almost perfectly preserved.
Without question, this battle represented an absolute, overwhelming victory for Kirigakure.
…
Meanwhile, far across the sea…
Mukade, having barely escaped with the only remaining Sunagakure warship, drifted helplessly across the ocean. Using Sunagakure's emergency communication methods, he soon established contact with Chiyo.
The remnants of both defeated forces regrouped temporarily on a nameless island.
Only then did the full reality become clear.
Both attack routes had suffered catastrophic defeat.
Even worse,the Kazekage himself had been captured alive.
A humiliation beyond redemption.
Mukade's face was pale with despair as he looked toward Chiyo.
"Lady Chiyo… what should we do now?"
Chiyo let out a long, heavy sigh.
"I never imagined that Chiba,and the Kirigakure under his rule,would become this powerful," she said slowly. "We underestimated them completely."
"This battle has turned Sunagakure into the laughingstock of the entire shinobi world."
As she gazed upon the exhausted, broken remnants of their ninja forces, silence fell over everyone present.
At last, someone spoke hesitantly.
"Lady Chiyo… the Kazekage-sama…"
"Of course we must save him," Chiyo replied without hesitation.
"That Mizukage deliberately chose capture over execution. His intentions are obvious,he wants to negotiate."
"And with several hundred of our shinobi taken prisoner…"
"We have no alternative."
Mukade clenched his fists.
"But we've already suffered defeat against Iwagakure and surrendered enormous concessions. If Kirigakure makes excessive demands as well, Sunagakure may truly collapse."
Chiyo's gaze hardened instantly.
"So what?" she snapped.
"Do we have another choice?"
"Should we abandon the Kazekage,and hundreds of our captured comrades,to death?!"
Mukade's expression changed dramatically, and he immediately fell silent.
"No matter what conditions they demand, we must accept them first," Chiyo said firmly.
"Remember this,land and wealth can be lost, but people must never be lost."
She understood this truth better than anyone.
She had already lost far too much.
Her son.
Her daughter-in-law.
Even her most beloved grandson,gone.
And before that, the Third Kazekage had vanished without explanation.
She could not allow Sunagakure to lose yet another Kazekage.
Otherwise…
That would be true despair.
As one of Sunagakure's founding elders, Chiyo clearly understood the stakes.
"We won't return to Sunagakure," she declared.
"We'll go directly to Kirigakure. I will personally negotiate with the Mizukage."
The others exchanged uneasy looks.
"Is that wise? Acting without the unanimous approval of the elders' council?"
Chiyo sneered coldly.
"If we waited for their approval, the Kazekage would already be dead."
"And besides," she added, her voice sharp, "those people might not even choose to save him."
Her judgment was painfully accurate.
In past events, when a Kazekage fell into enemy hands, Sunagakure's elders had chosen abandonment over rescue. That reality had shaped the village's cold, utilitarian nature.
This time, Chiyo refused to repeat that mistake.
She gathered what remained of both defeated forces.
In the end, all that was left were seven or eight warships, and barely five to six hundred exhausted shinobi.