Peace Talks

Minato then said to her, "We temporarily agree to your conditions, but whether they will be adopted or not depends on the decision of the Third Hokage."

Pakura didn't mind and said, "That's fine, but before that, can you release the troops from Sunagakure?"

Minato looked at Jiraiya, who touched his chin and nodded, so he agreed.

"You can withdraw your troops, but if you dare to invade the Land of Fire again, we will never let you go."

It was rare for Minato to utter harsh words, and his momentum was enough to intimidate the remaining Sunagakure ninjas.

Pakura then left with the Sunagakure troops.

Jiraiya muttered, "F cup, though not G cup, still pretty good."

"Huh?" The aura that Minato had just shown immediately shattered.

The corner of Shintaro's mouth lifted slightly, "Indeed."

"Huh?" Minato turned to look at him, holding his forehead with one hand and looking disbelieving.

"Shintaro, don't follow Jiraiya-sensei's bad example." Minato advised.

Jiraiya was displeased when he heard this, "What do you mean by following my example? That's just how men are!"

Shintaro silently entertained Minato, but what was on his mind was this.

'I wasn't a good man in my past life... In this life, forget it.'

As the head of the Gojo Family, besides his wife, Shintaro naturally had many other women in his past life, and he accepted them all.

In the previous Edo period in Japan, such things were common.

Even the head of the Zenin Family, who looked serious and didn't like to play around, had three wives and four concubines.

However, the ninja world had a monogamous tradition, at least for the ninjas.

After joking around, Minato and Jiraiya were ready to get down to business.

"Orderly retreat of the troops and return to Tokushima City to count the casualties."

Minato stood up and gave the order.

As the large army was retreating, a group of reinforcements arrived in front of them.

The leader wasn't tall and wore ANBU clothing but without a mask.

According to Shintaro, this man's eyebrows were 60-70% similar to Asuma's. Combined with his identity of leading reinforcements and the strong aura emanating from his body, the person's identity could be easily revealed.

"Minato, I'm Sarutobi Shinnosuke, and the Hokage has sent me to reinforce you."

"I've long admired the name of the ANBU Captain."

Minato and Shinnosuke exchanged information.

"So, you have made peace with Sunagakure."

"Yes, but the specific details still have to be decided by Hokage-sama."

"...Hokage-sama is currently participating in peace talks with Iwagakure."

"That's great. It seems the Ninja War is almost over."

Minato showed a happy expression, but Shinnosuke's stiff expression seemed to indicate he knew something more.

"It is said that Iwagakure's conditions..."

Before Shinnosuke finished speaking, he was interrupted by a high-pitched female voice.

"Minato~!!!"

A head with red hair flew through the air, and one could instantly tell who it was.

Kushina pounced on Minato and pushed him to the ground to check his body.

"Are you hurt? I was so worried about you!"

Minato let Kushina fuss over him like a little girl, and at the same time said in a stunned voice, "I'm fine, Kushina, you should be more careful in public."

"Hmph! Are you embarrassed?"

"No, no, how could I not like you?"

Kushina asked with her hands on her hips, and Minato smiled wryly and waved his hand.

Shintaro watched the affectionate scene between the young couple in front of him with amusement.

"Kushina, the fiery one, and Minato, the gentle one."

Shintaro seemed to imagine some inappropriate scenes of the two of them in bed. Perhaps it was Kushina who took the initiative.

"Shintaro."

A somewhat cold voice sounded, and Shintaro looked up to see Kakashi standing in front of him with his hands in his pockets.

"Kakashi, why are you here too?"

Shintaro didn't care about his attitude. After all, Kakashi's experiences were tragic. Two of his dear friends had died.

Kakashi explained, "The reinforcements are all the ninjas left in the village. Besides the wounded, the village now consists of a few young Genin."

"Not just me, Kurenai and the others are here too."

"I see."

Shintaro looked up and saw Kurenai among the reinforcements.

"Here, I'll give you this."

Shintaro took two steps towards Kakashi and used Kakashi's body to block his hand.

Kakashi received what Shintaro handed over in a daze.

Then he saw Shintaro lean forward and wave at Kurenai, who was coming from behind. Then Shintaro walked towards Kurenai with a smile.

Kakashi looked down at this moment.

"Icha Icha Paradise!"

His face turned red immediately, and even the mask on his face couldn't stop the blush.

Kakashi quickly put the script into his arms and hid it while looking back.

He saw Shintaro and Kurenai hugging each other, and their affectionate gazes made many Konoha ninjas jealous and envious.

On the other side, Minato also got up from the ground, blushing and holding Kushina's hand to continue talking with Shinnosuke.

"Shinnosuke, what were you just saying?"

Shinnosuke said in a deep voice, "It is said that Iwagakure's conditions are very harsh..."

"And the timing of the Iwagakure peace talks happened just as Sunagakure was attacking Mount Kikyo."

Shinnosuke's meaning was clear.

It meant Konoha was likely to make concessions.

"Tsk, Onoki from Iwagakure is truly an old fox." Kushina cursed.

Minato also touched his forehead and asked, "Where are the peace talks held?"

"Konoha, Iwagakure sent people to Konoha for peace talks. The leader is Onoki's son, Kitsuchi." Shinnosuke replied.

Minato thought for a moment and then said, "I will return to Konoha as soon as possible. At least I will inform the Hokage about the victory at Mount Kikyo."

However, Shinnosuke slowly raised his head and said, "I'm afraid it's too late. It is said that the conditions given by Iwagakure are very detailed, and they are only within Konoha's level of acceptance."

"The peace talks started before our reinforcements departed, and I'm afraid they are already over now."

"Even if you send the news back, I'm afraid it won't change the outcome of the peace talks."

"It's impossible for Konoha to cancel the achieved agreement and renegotiate. That might trigger another war."

Minato said firmly, "Even so, I will try."

Hearing this, Shinnosuke could only say with admiration, "Minato, I admire your pure heart for Konoha. In that case, I will be responsible for evacuating the troops."

"Thank you."

Minato nodded seriously, then held Kushina's hand and said, "Kushina, I have to return to Konoha immediately, so you..."

"No, I want to go with you. It's not easy to meet you."

Kushina pouted. Even at her age now, her temperament wasn't much different from a girl.

Minato said affectionately, "Okay, let's go back together."