Malphegor
patreon
HSU: Ch. 214
🕑 Added 2025-03-06 18:05:50 +0000 UTCMifune set his teacup down on the table.
"So Konoha maintains its position of non-intervention."
Masashi nodded once. "Direct intervention would risk expanding the conflict further. The Hokage believes mediation is the wiser path."
"War has already reached our northern borders," Mifune said, gesturing toward a map spread on the corner table. Red markers indicated skirmish points between Kumo and Iwa forces—all disturbingly close to Land of Iron territories. "Our patrols encountered wounded stragglers yesterday."
"I understand your concern." Masashi's eyes tracked the pattern of markers. "The Land of Iron has always valued neutrality."
"Neutrality requires strength to maintain." Mifune stood, moving to the window. "The samurai will support your mediation efforts however we can. But if combat spills further into our territory, we will respond."
Masashi rose as well, recognizing the conclusion of their brief meeting. No flowery diplomatic language, no hidden meanings—just clear positions from both sides. He respected that about the samurai leader.
"I'll relay your position to the Hokage," he said with a respectful bow.
Mifune returned the gesture with the formal precision of a samurai. "Safe travels. The northern passes are treacherous this time of year."
The meeting didn't last long.
The Land of Iron wasn't usually this easy to deal with, but war had already reached its borders.
In the original timeline, the Land of Iron had even taken the initiative to organize a meeting for the Five Kage, as avoiding war was a fundamental principle of its diplomacy.
After the discussion with Mifune, Masashi headed north.
He needed to see firsthand how far the battle between Kumo and Iwa had progressed.
Saying "absolute non-intervention" was one thing, but if agreements on paper actually worked, there wouldn't have been any Great Ninja Wars.
On this matter, the Five Great Shinobi Villages only differed in how well they concealed their true intentions.
There was never any trust—never had been.
Whenever Masashi got involved in anything, his priority was always ensuring an exit strategy.
Even within the same village, internal conflicts were common, let alone between different villages.
Worse than outright breaking a contract was being forced to uphold one that had become detrimental.
---
Masashi entered the northern region of the Land of Iron.
The temperature here was even lower, with a greater forest coverage.
The sky was gray, and the snow in the woods was deep.
He hadn't encountered any large animals so far.
Perhaps they had all been hunted as game.
Hunting was a practical way to supplement military rations. Wherever ninja armies waged war, the local ecosystem often suffered severe damage.
Even superhumans needed to eat.
And yet, the logistics of war were notoriously unreliable. No matter how much supernatural power a ninja possessed, supply chains would always be a weak link.
So, when large animals appeared during a war, not hunting them for food would be a waste.
This world was surprisingly rich in wildlife. Large wild animals were common, and eliminating them from human settlements was a frequent D-rank mission for genin.
After traveling through the forest for some time, he suddenly heard a deep rumbling in the distance.
It sounded like thunder, but the rhythm was off.
With a few quick leaps, he reached the treetops.
Standing at the highest point of a tree, he surveyed the landscape. The canopy stretched like a vast meadow, but beyond that, a snowy plain came into view.
On that snowfield, flames blossomed.
Byakugan could function as a telescope, but Sharingan couldn't.
So, Masashi used the Lightened Boulder and soared forward.
As he got closer, the scene became clear.
A group of Kumo ninjas was frantically fleeing across the snowfield.
Above them, a massive clay bird was in pursuit.
It periodically swooped down, dropping clay bombs with each dive.
There was only one person capable of such a distinctive, unique ninjutsu—Deidara.
Through the Sharingan, Masashi could see Deidara's chakra. A genuine jonin-level presence.
The once-young boy had truly grown into a formidable ninja.
Becoming a jonin at his age was an extraordinary feat, even by Konoha's strictest standards.
Most importantly, in this timeline, he had not grown distant from Iwa.
In the original timeline, the Uchiha clan was wiped out two years ago, and that same year, Deidara had been recruited into Akatsuki by Itachi.
It was unclear what had changed this time, but he had not been rejected by Iwa for his obsession with explosions.
Masashi had no intention of greeting Deidara. He kept his distance.
The Kumo ninjas were fleeing toward the forest, but he doubted they would make it.
A single glance with his Sharingan revealed their chakra levels—none of them were jonin.
It was only a matter of time before Deidara wiped them out.
He was certain that Deidara had already sensed his presence. His Explosive Clay techniques required chakra-sensing abilities; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to precisely control his clay bombs for long-range attacks.
Masashi landed on the treetops at the edge of the forest, watching as Deidara, after several dives, finally wiped out all the Kumo ninjas.
The giant clay bird circled in the sky for a while before flying in his direction.
As it reached the forest's edge, it began to descend.
It landed not far from Masashi.
Standing on the back of his clay mount was Deidara, no longer a child but a young man.
"Masashi," Deidara looked at the Konoha ninja who had once captured him. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"It's been a long time, Deidara," Masashi smiled. "Did Kurotsuchi come with you?"
Years had passed, and both had changed significantly.
Now that Deidara had grown into a young man, Masashi couldn't help but wonder—was this timeline's Deidara born earlier? In the original timeline, Deidara had died before turning twenty.
Yet here, Naruto and his generation hadn't even graduated from the Academy.
Then again, considering that Konohamaru was also born earlier in this timeline, Masashi figured there was no need to overthink it.
"Kurotsuchi is with our teacher," Deidara replied. "I heard you and Pakura have a child now. Congratulations."
"Thanks," Masashi nodded.
Back then, Minato had left Deidara and Kurotsuchi in his care, and he, in turn, had passed the responsibility onto Pakura.
Perhaps because she hadn't fully integrated into Konoha at the time, Pakura had been quite kind to the two Iwa children. To Deidara and Kurotsuchi, who were living among enemies, she wasn't an enemy but more like a caring older sister.
By the time they were released, they had already formed a bond with her.
When Masashi got married, Deidara and Kurotsuchi even sent gifts to Pakura.
Of course, that was the extent of their relationship. At the end of the day, they still belonged to different ninja villages.
No one knew how long the peace between Iwa and Konoha would last.
Masashi never expected Iwa to remain oblivious to his strategic moves forever. As time passed, they inevitably caught on. As it turned out, anyone capable of running a ninja village wasn't foolish.
Over time, Iwa learned the game and began implementing countermeasures. However, the key element, the bounty exchange station established within the Land of Grass, was still in operation.
As long as that exchange station continued functioning, Iwa and Konoha remained allies.
Through that station, both money and intelligence flowed, and Konoha had been profiting immensely from Iwa for years.
Meanwhile, Iwa had to compensate in other areas and had even structured its wartime mission distribution system independently of that platform.
Now that war had erupted, Konoha could gauge Iwa's actual mobilization scale through the drastic drop in transaction volumes at the exchange station, but more detailed intelligence still required active reconnaissance.
"Are you here in the Land of Iron for mediation?" Deidara asked, seemingly curious about the matter.
"One man alone doesn't have that kind of authority or capability. I'm just here as an observer, providing the observation team with accurate battlefield reports," Masashi replied.
"Do you need any help?" Deidara offered enthusiastically.
"I appreciate the gesture, but as a third party, I have to remain objective," Masashi said, waving his hand with a smile.
"Alright, but if you ever need anything, just let me know."
As Deidara flew away, Masashi kept a smile on his face and even waved at him.
However, as the clay bird ascended into the sky, the smile vanished from his face.
The world knew he targeted Kumo specifically.
But in truth, he never targeted any village in particular.
Jumping down from the treetops, he stepped toward the area Deidara had just bombed.
The remains of Kumo ninjas were scattered across the snowy plains, torn into pieces.
Dead beyond any doubt.
After confirming that there were no survivors, he left the scene.
For the next few days, he occasionally appeared on the battlefield.
Iwa aside, even Kumo had caught wind of his presence.
But their reactions were different.
---
In the Iwa military camp, Ōnoki held a meeting that day and proposed a plan that surprised the attending jonin.
"Tsuchikage-sama? We've worked so hard to reach this position, why would we suddenly retreat?"
"Yes! Konoha has yet to respond to our request for support, but now that the White Ghost has arrived, it means they're no longer staying neutral. We should seize this opportunity to drive the Kumo ninjas into the sea!"
After that statement, the Iwa ninja in the tent all felt invigorated.
For a long time, whenever Iwa fought against other villages, if Ōnoki himself did not intervene, their forces would always be at a disadvantage against an army of the same size.
The fundamental reason was that the basic combat strength of Iwa ninja had always been weak—they relied purely on numbers.
After the Third Great Ninja War, Iwa was generally recognized as the third most powerful village, yet their basic combat strength still ranked the lowest among the Five Great Villages. Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed an army of over ten thousand to simply wear down the Third Raikage to death.
If a force of ten thousand Konoha ninjas had surrounded the Third Raikage, he certainly wouldn't have just died of exhaustion.
Back then, the Second Hokage had also died of exhaustion, but his attackers were the Kinkaku and Ginkaku, not an entire army of Kumo ninjas.
So, even though Iwa managed to exhaust the Third Raikage to death in the war, it was hardly a glorious achievement.
But this time, things were different.
Ōnoki was present, but he had barely intervened.
Iwa's forces had been able to hold their own against the Kumo ninjas, despite having roughly equal numbers. In fact, they were even slightly ahead.
So in the eyes of the Iwa ninjas, if Ōnoki seriously joined the fight, they could definitely drive the Kumo ninjas into the sea. Their long-standing reputation of relying solely on numbers would finally come to an end.
"If you push the Kumo ninjas into the sea, he will secretly start killing you instead." Ōnoki coldly looked at everyone.
There was something he didn't say out loud. Are you all stupid, or is your brain made of stone?
Who gave them the false impression that Masashi was against Kumo? Did they really think that? Just the fact that he wasn't as extreme as Madara was already considered a courtesy.
After leading this bunch of idiots for decades, he felt like his life had been way too difficult.
"Tsuchikage-sama, perhaps you're overthinking this?" one Iwa ninja suggested. "We've had some disagreements with Konoha over the years, but Kumo has always been a greater threat to them. As long as Kumo hasn't been eliminated, Konoha won't break the alliance."
"They already have." Ōnoki stated. "Otherwise, Konoha would've sent troops to fight alongside us against the Kumo ninjas."
"But don't they want to make money? Even he wouldn't allow that, would he? He was the one who pushed for the alliance in the first place."
"If it's not Iwa, it'll be Kumo or Suna." Ōnoki sighed. "Do you know why I never targeted the exchange office? Because Iwa needs Konoha more."
"Enough. This is not a suggestion, it's an order. Withdraw the battle lines. I don't want to see our village's young men dying meaningless deaths."
Ōnoki had no doubt that if Masashi saw Iwa maintaining the upper hand while fighting on two fronts, he would start eliminating Iwa ninjas in secret.
They were the same kind of people—doing such things wouldn't trouble his conscience.
Rumor had it that Masashi also possessed Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Given his signature style of never leaving survivors during solo operations, Iwa wouldn't even have evidence to accuse him.
Hiding observers nearby wouldn't work either—there was no technique in Iwa capable of avoiding the Sharingan.
The Second Tsuchikage once had such a technique, but no one had inherited it.
Seeing that the Tsuchikage had given a direct order, the jonin in the tent didn't fully understand, but they were used to this.
They didn't need to understand. They just needed to follow orders. This was how Iwa had always operated—if they had survived through tougher times before, they would survive now.
Watching his men leave without a second thought, Ōnoki sat alone in his tent and wondered what karmic debt he had accumulated to be stuck babysitting these fools every day.
But at least these fools followed orders without question.
---
Soon, despite having the upper hand, Iwa's forces began withdrawing.
This allowed the Kumo ninjas to regain control of several battlefield positions.
During this process, they also managed to wipe out some Iwa squads that either didn't receive their orders in time or were delayed in retreating.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, combined with the news of Masashi's presence, Dodai believed he had figured out the Third Tsuchikage's strategy.
As a longtime aide to the Third Raikage, he wasn't known for decisive action, but he had a keen sense for analyzing broader trends.
For once, he made a swift decision—to go with the flow.
If Iwa was acting weak, Kumo would seize the opportunity and push forward.
Let's see if they really dare to withdraw from the Land of Iron.
After issuing this order, he couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
To reach the level of influence that Masashi had as a ninja—now that was a life without regrets.
A few days later, the effect of this decision was fully realized.
The battlefield had completely flipped.
The Iwa forces, who had been winning, were now being chased down by Kumo ninjas, to the point where Deidara had to come back out to start bombing again.
But he was just one person. While his clay bombs were effective, he couldn't cover all of Kumo's widely dispersed units.
Iwa's maneuverability was significantly restricted.
This led to widespread complaints within the Iwa forces—no one could understand why they had suddenly backed down despite performing well.
Tsuchikage-sama, you need to trust our strength!
---
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Masashi was speechless.
Had Ōnoki started going senile?
This strategy was terrible—did he really think he could fool him?
Still, he gained insight into Iwa's strength.
Even while pretending to be weak, they managed to maintain their defenses. Clearly, Iwa had improved drastically over the years.
No doubt about it, Iwa had grown strong while Kumo had weakened.
More precisely, Iwa was too strong, and Kumo was too weak.
A weakened Kumo was no longer a threat to Konoha.
Masashi didn't make any more contact with either side.
Silently, he withdrew from the battlefield.
