Chapter 117 Make the Hidden Stone Hurt, Make Them Fear Konoha!

"The battle over there should be over by now, right?"

Jiraiya gazed toward the distant battlefield.

That enormous Susanoo, which had been taller than a mountain peak, had been visible even from here earlier.

But now, it could no longer be seen.

Not only that.

The earth-shaking explosions and earthquakes that had spread across dozens of miles had also stopped.

If Uchiha Reiji hadn’t been killed, then that meant the battle was already over.

After waiting a little longer, Jiraiya made a decision and led the Konoha Shinobi back toward the previous battlefield.

Even though Jiraiya had been mentally prepared, he still couldn’t help sucking in a breath of cold air when he saw the devastated battlefield and the corpses of Stone Shinobi scattered everywhere.

Uchiha Reiji...

Just how many people had he killed?

"Could the entire Stone army have been wiped out too?"

"Maybe. I wonder if the Third Tsuchikage managed to escape."

"No matter what, the war is finally over. We won!"

The Konoha Shinobi all breathed sighs of relief, their expressions relaxing.

The pressure of fighting such a massive number of Stone Shinobi earlier had been enormous.

The Konoha Shinobi looked at Reiji with eyes filled with awe.

The fact that they had managed to win the war against both the Hidden Cloud and Hidden Stone was almost entirely due to his efforts alone!

Once the results of this battle spread, the other villages would definitely not dare to start another war against Konoha.

"You arrived at just the right time."

Reiji had already dismissed Susanoo.

He looked at the Konoha Shinobi and ordered,

"Clean up the battlefield as quickly as possible. If there are any Stone Shinobi still alive, don’t kill them. Let ōnoki pay to redeem them."

Reiji hadn’t continued pursuing ōnoki to the bitter end.

Compared with the shamelessness of the Hidden Cloud Village and the Raikage, his hatred toward the Hidden Stone Village was somewhat weaker.

He hadn’t completely exterminated the Stone Shinobi.

There were probably around a thousand Stone Shinobi who would manage to escape back to the Hidden Stone Village this time.

And that was just right.

He would let these people live with the memories of today.

Let them remember the fear they had experienced today.

Once the fleeing Stone Shinobi brought the outcome of this war back to the Hidden Stone Village, the Hidden Stone would probably not even dare to think about revenge anymore.

The Konoha Shinobi obediently followed his orders and began dealing with the bodies of the Stone Shinobi.

Jiraiya walked forward and suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart before reluctantly trying to persuade Reiji.

"Actually, you could have ended the war in a better way."

"As long as you had demonstrated the power of that Susanoo earlier, the Hidden Stone wouldn’t have dared to continue fighting."

Although the Hidden Stone had been the one to invade the Land of Fire first, Jiraiya still found the enormous number of casualties from this battle difficult to accept.

More importantly, there had clearly been a better way to pursue peace!

If Uchiha Reiji had lacked the strength and could only stalemate with the Hidden Stone, then killing so many people during the stalemate would have been understandable.

But he clearly possessed the strength to crush the entire Stone army, yet he had still chosen to fight such a meaningless battle!

As long as he demonstrated enough overwhelming power to make the Hidden Stone despair, this battle could have been avoided entirely.

So many people would not have died meaninglessly.

Reiji glanced sideways at Jiraiya.

"The First Hokage also possessed the strength to defeat thousands of shinobi by himself, but he didn’t do so. Instead, he chose to pursue peace with the other villages."

"And so, after his death, the First Shinobi World War broke out almost immediately."

Jiraiya was momentarily speechless before arguing,

"The two situations are different!"

"How are they different?!"

Reiji immediately shot back.

"The First Hokage wasn’t being attacked by other villages at the time. This time, the Hidden Stone invaded us first!"

"In this situation, if I don’t make the Hidden Stone hurt and make them afraid, do you think your so-called peaceful resolution will make them grateful for my mercy?!"

"Since the Hidden Stone dared to invade us first, then I’ll simply destroy their ability to wage war!"

"Otherwise, what happens if I die like the First Hokage one day and another Shinobi World War breaks out afterward? Who will stop it?"

"You? Do you even have the right to?!"

At this point, Reiji had completely lost all respect for Jiraiya.

Before meeting Jiraiya, Reiji’s impression of him had still been fairly positive because of the memories of his previous life.

But after actually meeting him, Reiji had become increasingly disappointed.

He talked endlessly, yet accomplished nothing useful!

During the Second Shinobi World War, while Konoha was still fighting a war, Jiraiya had simply remained in the Land of Rain to teach Nagato and the others.

After the Third Shinobi World War ended, Jiraiya immediately left the village to search for the Child of Prophecy.

As a result, he wasn’t there during the Nine-Tails’ attack.

He wasn’t there when Orochimaru defected either.

When the Hidden Cloud threatened the Hyūga Clan with war, Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen.

When the Uchiha Clan was exterminated within the village, even after Jiraiya learned about it, he did nothing.

During the Konoha Crush, Jiraiya killed a few snakes and then called it a day.

Putting everything else aside, couldn’t he at least have dealt with Shukaku?

Why leave everything to Naruto and the others?

He was always hoping for peace in the shinobi world, but what had he actually contributed to that peace?

All he did was foolishly search for the Child of Prophecy and cling to a nonsensical philosophy of the shinobi way!

What did he mean by saying that shinobi were people who knew how to endure?

Shinobi were simply killing tools who possessed power and made money through hired missions!

It was only because Naruto had become so powerful that things had turned out differently.

Another person who had believed in Jiraiya’s teachings, Yahiko, had already been forced into suicide.

If Jiraiya possessed the strength of Hashirama, Madara, Naruto, and Sasuke, then perhaps his ideas could have been realized through sheer power.

But he didn’t!

Jiraiya was someone who didn’t have Hashirama Senju’s fate, yet somehow inherited Hashirama’s illness!

He was simply childish to the point of being laughable!

"You!"

Jiraiya’s face flushed red with anger, but for a moment, he couldn’t find anything with which to refute Reiji.

In this battle against the Hidden Stone, how much had he actually accomplished?

Not only him.

The other Konoha Shinobi hadn’t contributed much either.

It could be said that the entire war had been won by Uchiha Reiji alone.

But even Jiraiya’s temper couldn’t accept such contemptuous words.

"I don’t want to hear your nonsense."

Seeing that Jiraiya was about to argue, Reiji said coldly,

"In my eyes, your shinobi way and your ideas are both laughable to the extreme."

With that, Reiji directly activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and returned to Konoha.

The Konoha Shinobi nearby looked at Jiraiya, who was practically about to explode with anger.

Not one of them dared to say anything.

They silently moved farther away.

However, deep down, they also disagreed with Jiraiya’s ideas.

The Hidden Stone had already invaded them.

And he actually didn’t want to demonstrate overwhelming strength and force the enemy to back down?

They should beat them first and talk afterward!

Jiraiya noticed the looks from those around him and couldn’t help feeling dejected.

"Little Jiraiya, that Uchiha Reiji is very likely the person mentioned in the Great Toad Sage’s prophecy."

Sage Fukasaku reminded him worriedly.

"I understand."

Jiraiya’s voice sounded utterly exhausted.

"I’ll do my best to find a way to correct his beliefs."

Uchiha Reiji intended to establish order and bring peace through force.

But in Jiraiya’s view, the peace created in this manner would only be peace under absolute power and oppression.

And even worse!

As time passed, Uchiha Reiji might very well become a second Kaguya under the corruption of absolute power.

He couldn’t let that happen.

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