Chapter 486: The Desperate Allied Ninja Forces
"Will you mount a desperate, futile final resistance, or will you live to witness an unmatched golden age..."
"In my eyes, your stubborn persistence is nothing more than a meaningless stumbling block on the road to absolute peace."
Uchiha Akira sat upon his elevated seat, his posture relaxed, almost languid. He straightened slightly, waving a hand with utter disinterest.
"Enough."
"I didn't expect you two to be able to make a decision immediately. After all, this is a major matter concerning the lives of tens of thousands of people."
"Go back."
Uchiha Akira looked down at the two battered envoys, issuing his order of dismissal.
"Take my words, exactly as they are, to Ōnoki and that general from the Land of Iron."
"Two hours."
Uchiha Akira raised his right hand, extending two fingers. The air in the tent seemed to drop several degrees.
"I will only give you two hours to consider."
"Two hours later, if I don't see the result I desire..."
Uchiha Akira paused. A chilling, abyssal light flashed within his dark eyes.
"Konoha's army will flatten the Allied Forces' camp."
"And at that time, it won't be as simple as merely disbanding your hidden villages."
"I will personally ensure the names 'Kumogakure'and'Iwagakure' are ground into dust, erased completely from the annals of history."
"Get out."
As that final syllable dropped, the very air warped. An invisible, crushing repulsive force erupted outward.
Darui and Kitsuchi didn't even have time to brace themselves. It felt as though a mountain had slammed into their chests. Their bodies were launched backward uncontrollably, tearing through the tent flaps and tumbling clumsily across the dirt outside.
"Cough, cough..."
Darui coughed violently, a thick trail of blood spilling down his chin. He struggled to his knees, his dark skin coated in pale dust. He didn't bother wiping the blood away. Instead, he stared back at the silent, imposing silhouette of the tent. It no longer looked like a command center; it felt like the gaping maw of a demon waiting to swallow the world.
Darui ground his teeth together, his voice raspy and strained.
"Go back quickly!"
The Allied Forces' camp was a graveyard of morale. A suffocating gloom hung over the rows of tents, spreading like a plague among the weary shinobi.
Inside the central command tent, the atmosphere was even heavier.
Ōnoki paced the floorboards. His hands were clasped tightly behind his back, his wrinkled face etched with deep lines of anxiety and unease.
Nearby, Mifune sat cross-legged on a woven mat. The samurai general kept his eyes closed, projecting an aura of calm meditation, but the faint, erratic twitching of his eyelids betrayed the storm raging in his chest.
Just then.
The heavy canvas flap was suddenly thrown aside.
Darui and Kitsuchi stumbled into the dim light, looking battered and utterly defeated.
"They're back!"
Ōnoki's small frame jolted. He practically flew across the room to meet them.
"How was it?"
"What did Uchiha Akira say?"
Faced with the Tsuchikage's rapid-fire interrogation, Kitsuchi opened his mouth. His jaw worked, but no sound came out. Finally, the massive shinobi simply lowered his head, his face twisting in deep agony.
Seeing his son's reaction, Ōnoki's heart plummeted into an icy abyss.
"What exactly happened?" Ōnoki barked, his voice cracking with sudden dread. "Speak!!"
Darui let out a long, ragged exhale and met the old man's gaze with the bitter truth.
"The infiltration unit... has been completely wiped out."
Ōnoki swayed on his feet. The color drained from his face, and he nearly collapsed backward.
"Impossible! That was our elite..."
"Nothing is impossible."
Darui interrupted, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping his lips.
"Konoha had already spread their net. They were just waiting for us to walk into it."
"Our so-called trump cards... in Uchiha Akira's eyes, they were nothing more than a pathetic joke."
A suffocating silence descended upon the command tent.
Every man present understood the gravity of those words.
Their final bargaining chip had been burned to ashes. Now, they were fish on a chopping block, entirely at the mercy of the butcher's blade.
"Then... what are Uchiha Akira's conditions?"
Mifune opened his eyes. His voice was dry, scraping like sandpaper.
With their use gone, they had no choice but to listen to the victor's terms. Even if it meant ceding vast territories or paying crippling war reparations, as long as their heritage survived...
"Disbandment."
Kitsuchi choked out, the word tearing at his throat.
Ōnoki froze. He stared at his son, certain his aging ears had deceived him.
"Disband Kumogakure and Iwagakure."
Kitsuchi suddenly threw his head back, his voice trembling with raw grief and burning indignation.
"Not only must the hidden villages be dismantled, but all active shinobi must be merged into Konoha's ranks and undergo complete reorganization!"
"From this day forward, there will be no more Five Great Nations in the ninja world!"
"Only... the Land of Fire!"
Ōnoki let out a furious, ear-piercing roar. He lashed out, his foot shattering the low wooden table in front of him. Splinters rained across the floor.
"This is too much!!"
"He wants to sever our roots!!"
"Force us to dismantle the village my predecessors built? Make us Konoha's obedient dogs?!"
"In his twisted dreams!!"
"Even if I am ground to dust, I will never agree to this!!"
As a veteran who had bled through three Great Ninja Wars, Iwagakure was more than a village to Ōnoki; it was his very soul. Allowing him to tear it down with his own hands was a fate far worse than death.
"But... do we have a choice?"
Darui murmured, his gaze fixed on the floorboards.
"Uchiha Akira issued an ultimatum."
"Two hours."
"If we do not submit by then, Konoha will launch a full-scale general offensive to wipe us out."
Ōnoki's raging tirade caught in his throat. The fire in his eyes flickered against the cold reality of their situation.
"Right..."
Darui suddenly straightened, recalling the final piece of the puzzle. He took a deep breath and looked directly at Ōnoki.
"There is one more thing."
"Regarding the Jinchuriki."
Ōnoki snapped his head toward the Kumogakure shinobi.
"Uchiha Akira personally denied capturing Killer Bee and Han."
Darui stated, his tone dropping an octave.
"He claimed that the ones who abducted the Jinchuriki were Uchiha Obito and Orochimaru!"
Both Ōnoki and Mifune stiffened in shock.
"Uchiha Obito? And Orochimaru?"
"Exactly."
Darui nodded grimly.
"Akira stated that Konoha was also attacked by the Edo Tensei."
"According to him, this entire war, the disappearances... it is all a grand conspiracy orchestrated by Uchiha Obito and Orochimaru."
"Damn it all!!"
Ōnoki cursed, his fists trembling at his sides.
"Those filthy rats scurrying in the gutters!!"
Yet, the flare of anger was short-lived.
After the adrenaline faded, Ōnoki looked incredibly frail. In the span of a few minutes, he seemed to have aged another ten years.
Silence reclaimed the tent once more.
The despair in the air was so thick it felt like a physical weight pressing down on their shoulders.
A long time passed.
Finally, Ōnoki slowly closed his eyes. Two lines of muddy tears slipped past his wrinkled eyelids, tracking down his weathered cheeks.
"Withdraw."
The single word carried an ocean of exhaustion.
"Lord Tsuchikage?"
Kitsuchi stared at his father, utterly bewildered.
"Withdraw?"
"Withdraw to where?"
"Back to the Land of Earth."
Ōnoki opened his eyes, a hardened, desperate resolve replacing the grief.
"Even if we have to hide in the deepest mountains and the oldest forests. Even if we must abandon the very site of our village."
"As long as our people draw breath, the Will of Stone will not be extinguished."
"We cannot allow ourselves to be completely annihilated here."
"But Lord Raikage is still in their hands!!"
Darui roared, suddenly surging forward. His bloodshot eyes locked onto the old Kage.
"Are you going to run away?"
"Are you going to abandon your allies to save your own skin?!"
"This isn't running away! This is preserving the sparks of our future!!"
Ōnoki flared up, his small body levitating off the ground as he pointed a trembling finger right at Darui's nose.
"You fool!"
"What is the use of staying here?"
"To throw your lives away in a suicidal charge?"
"If you all die, who will be left to save the Raikage? Who will rebuild Kumogakure?!"
"I don't care!!"
Crackling blue lightning erupted from Darui's skin, illuminating the dim tent with violent flashes.
"Kumogakure breeds no cowards who abandon their comrades!"
"If you want to tuck your tail and run, then run!"
"But even if it costs me my life, I will rip Lord Raikage from Uchiha Akira's grasp!!"
Ōnoki's beard quivered with sheer rage.
"Unreasonable!!"
"Since you are so eager to throw your life away, I will not stop you!!"
"Kitsuchi! Pass down the order! Assemble the entire Iwa army! Prepare to break through their lines and retreat!!"
Kitsuchi ground his teeth together, his jaw muscles bulging. He spun on his heel, ready to rush out and sound the alarm.
Just then.
Inside the tightly sealed command tent, the very fabric of space twisted with a sickening, unnatural distortion.
A pitch-black vortex spiraled into existence out of thin air, rotating like the eye of a dark storm.
"Who is it?!"
Ōnoki and Darui reacted with the honed instincts of elite shinobi. In a fraction of a second, they dropped into combat stances, chakra flaring to life as they stared warily into the swirling abyss.
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