Capitulation, Crushing Defeat and Disappointment

_________ POV Narration _________

Ken hadn't expected the Alliance to start falling apart just as he was about to leave.

He decided to stick around a bit more when the first Kage left, and he was glad to have done so.

'At this rate, I'll be able to just give the Uzumaki Clan the good news that they no longer have anything to worry about... For now at least.'

After so many Nations had left the alliance, the ones that were left now were forced to have a meeting, to debate whether or not it was worth it to continue the operation in any way.

The last villages present hadn't suffered many losses, especially the great ones.

But now they didn't have any assurance whatsoever that they'd be able to win the war in any way.

Ken decided to do his best and listen into their meeting, clutching onto the ship that the meeting was taking place in and popping his head out of the water just slightly.

The sound of the crashing waves still annoyed him a bit, but he could still hear the meeting take place, much like he could the last one.

And the meeting went about as well as he had expected it to... The remaining nations made the unanimous decision to retreat and regroup for now.

They went as far as to sport white flags, to avoid any attacks on their way back.

Now, the Raikage was absolutely livid at that. The fate of his son hadn't even been confirmed yet, but now the entire operation was being called off...

Unfortunately for him, his son wasn't going to just appear on his doorstep anytime soon.

He, much like all of the other Kage involved in the Alliance, was forced to return home with bad news.

A failure on all observable factors and measures. One so monumental that they couldn't hide it at all, no matter how much they wanted to.

So, they decided to just tell the world what had happened on those seas...

Despite Yusuzo's insistence that there was only one perpetrator, the whole ordeal was blamed on a previously unknown special division of the Uzumaki Clan, which had derailed their invasion completely.

For now, the only face they had for that division was a man they could only call 'The Grey Fox'. One that, from Raikage's testimony, was powerful enough to stand on his own against most Shinobi, though his abilities on land weren't tested.

One thing was clear... The previous members of the Shinobi Alliance needed to do some proper information gathering before they even dared to come close to the Uzumaki once more...

Either that, or they needed some other way to reach it.

The waters were far too dangerous if the Uzumaki were capable enough to mobilize someone like the 'Grey Fox' and his Anbu Squad.

They didn't know the identity of anyone involved in the Anbu Team, so they weren't able to give any Kill-On-Sight orders at all.

One order was issued for the Grey Fox though...

It was a 'Run-On-Sight' order, mostly issued by the Smaller Villages. The Rock Village also issued it, as Onoki didn't want to take any chances.

Even if only underwater, someone capable enough to face the Raikage and his son at the same time was not something a regular Shinobi could handle.

The entire expedition turned into a monumental waste of resources, time and reputation.

All of the Villages involved became somewhat of a laughingstock for the rest of the Shinobi World.

But, at the same time, everyone became just a little bit more afraid of the Uzumaki Clan...

Even the Leaf Village couldn't help but become shocked at the news of the Uzumaki successfully repelling the invasion.

They had completely resigned themselves to having to watch their long-time allies die.

Hiruzen, the Third Hokage and current God of Shinobi, could barely wrap his head around the fact that not only had they survived, the Shinobi Alliance hadn't even made it to their shores.

Hearing that it was the work of a 'Special Division' that specialized in 'Underwater combat and Sabotage Tactics' didn't make things much better.

The Third Hokage thought that he had a good understanding of the Uzumaki Clan's strength...

'It seems our long-time allies have hidden quite a few things from us...'

Although a bit disappointed, Hiruzen couldn't blame them. He fully understood their position and respected them nonetheless.

Unfortunately, one of the leading figures in the Leaf Village didn't see the situation quite as favourably...

Danzo had already resigned himself to never being able to become the Hokage as long as Hiruzen was alive.

The destruction of the Uzumaki was something he all but expected. He didn't care much for them as allies, he just saw them as a nuisance, especially since they weren't all that willing to share their techniques fully with the Leaf Village.

Only a few select people were taught Fuinjutsu by the Uzumaki, and they were selected carefully and not allowed to share what they had learned.

Danzo had tried to get one of his 'loyal subordinates'(brainwashed puppets) to be selected, but he hadn't managed to.

He hoped that Fuinjutsu would become more widespread with the fall of the Uzumaki, so he wasn't all that pleased to hear that they had essentially crushed the Alliance of Nations that had come together against them.

Finding that the Uzumaki Clan had hidden such significant power also made him extremely uneasy.

Especially when hearing of a figure that everyone titled 'The Grey Fox'. The Uzumaki Hiding a person powerful enough to scrap with the Raikage, even if only underwater, was scary.

'It might be worth becoming less trusting of the Uzumaki in general... I should speak to Hiruzen about that soon...'

But, no matter how shocked the world was. No one was as shocked as Yorihhiko, the Uzumaki Clan leader, and the Uzumaki Clan by extension.

Someone coming out of the blue and helping them was in itself appreciated. Yorihhiko had received an anonymous message not long after the leader of the Dark Brotherhood had left.

It had given him instructions on evacuating the civilians within the clan before the war actually happened.

Yorihhiko hadn't actually gotten around to doing that. He knew that they would just get hunted down regardless.

The only way they had to leave the Land of Whirlpools was the place that the Shinobi Alliance was supposed to attack them from after all...

The letter did instruct them to put them on a few ships on the opposite shore, claiming they would guide them through the treacherous waters, but Yorihhiko wasn't about to put the lives of his people in the hands of a random person.

So, he had only moved the civilians to bunkers that had been built in preparation. But it seemed that it wasn't even needed anymore.

At first, Yorihhiko thought that the Leaf Village had somehow pulled through, and managed to assist them. But that also didn't make much sense.

After the war, the Leaf wasn't left in a state in which they could afford to spare any resources to assist them. Sending a specialized squad to completely derail the invasion was completely out of their capabilities at that time.

Just as more questions were rising in Yorihhiko's mind... Someone coincidentally came to visit him again...

_________ POV Ken _________

Now that the Shinobi alliance is retreating, I can go back to negotiating with Yorihhiko.

I'm sure that the news will travel all over the world by the time I get there, so he'll surely be curious...

The true question is, how much of my involvement should I reveal to him?

Outright stating that this was all my doing might not work out all that well for me. Especially if Yorihhiko decides to use that information against me down the line.

In the future, my Dark Brotherhood will have nothing to fear, but it would be troublesome if he tries something funny right away.

But at the same time, telling him the truth will reap the most benefits... Make him feel indebted to me in some way.

In the end, all of my worries lie in whether or not the Uzumaki Clan's integrity can be trusted. And it's quite difficult for me to rely on their integrity when I don't know them all that well.

I think I'll just go the safer route and just imply that I had something to do with this, that way Yorihhiko wouldn't be able to hold anything against me, and I have some plausible deniability if the Raikage comes to me later on.

I still have that cover I prepared beforehand, the public sightings and all which will certainly be useful.

After all, if Yorihhiko claims that I had visited them not long before the War was to happen, they still wouldn't be able to connect me to the attack itself thanks to said cover.

Yes, that does sound like the best idea. Wherein comes the most pressing issue... My hair is currently shorter than it was when I last visited Yorihhiko.

I cut it to avoid having others draw too many similarities between 'The Red Dot' and the one facing the Shinobi Alliance.

A good move, but things didn't fully go to plan. I didn't think I'd meet up with Yorihhiko so soon, or at all.

I didn't think I'd be able to fully stop the invasion after all, my plan was to just slow them down, then go and assist the civilians in crossing to the Land of Hot Water.

Granted, I didn't receive any confirmation that Yorihhiko would go along with this plan, but that way at least my consciousness would be clear.

I didn't just sit by and watch thousands of innocent lives get snuffed out while fully being able to help them.

That's commendable in itself.

I also saved many more lives today... Since I essentially stopped the Shinobi War that the Raikage was going on about in our last meeting.

Well, I think I just postponed it for a few years. At least I hope I did. But that remains to be seen.

Back to my short hair, which remains the most pressing issue currently. I could use transformation Justsu and try to make it match my previous hair.

There is the worry that I wouldn't get the right shade of Black though... There's also the fact that other Shinobi will be able to detect me more easily and tell that I am transformed.

There's always the option of leaving and returning a few months later to talk with Yorihhiko. But striking the iron while it's hot would likely reap the most benefits...

I do have a theory now that I think about it... I was never much of a nerd, I do remember studying a lot about Anatomy at some point.

I faintly remember that Hair Growth as a process works in a very similar way to the process of Regenerating Wounds. It's not entirely the same, but very similar.

Nature Energy can speed up regeneration to great degrees...

How far of a stretch would it be to use this energy in order to manipulate my Hair Molecules to form and attach to the old ones faster?

Well, it did sound like a bit of a stretch at first, but I managed to do it after a few hours of trial and error.

Turns out, Nature Energy is a lot more versatile than I had thought... I might have to look into other ways of manipulating my body using it in the future...

That's for later though. After regrowing my hair back to its usual length I continued making my way towards the Uzumaki Clan's Village.

I also pulled out my armour, coat and mask from the seal on my wrist. I changed quickly, I'll also later have to burn the clothes that I wore during this whole operation.

But I might keep the mask, just in case I ever need an established identity in the future.

Making my way back towards the Uzumaki Clan wasn't difficult thankfully, I still remembered the way.

Gaining a meeting with Yorihhiko also shouldn't be hard some people there already know me.

It was a bit disappointing to see that Yorihhiko hadn't actually listened to the letter that I sent him. But that was to be expected anyway, if the war was to happen, all of these deaths were to be on his hands.

He probably wouldn't care though, they're part of the Village after all... Giving their life to the Village is a privilege in itself... Or at least that's how most brainwashed shinobi see it...

Whatever, no use in moping about it. That's just the way this world works. There's no changing it.

At least I'll benefit a lot from this matter.

... Let's see just how sincere Yorihhiko's gratitude is...

__________________________________________________________________

Hope you liked the chapter!

A lot of benefits to reap both from the corpses and the Uzumaki. Overall this was rather profitable for the mc :))

Anyhow, the next chapter will be the Uzumaki's time to pay their dues.

Also funny number chapter

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 6 chapters in advance (or 3 depending on tier)