I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 188 Even if you have made a mistake, don't fall into the trap of mental exhaustion.

"Are those Konoha ninjas? They're so powerful."

On a cliff, a boy with orange hair peered out at the distant battlefield, his face filled with shock. Beside him, a little girl with purple hair nodded gently and said:

"He seems even stronger than Lord Hanzo."

Looking at Lord Hanzo, who was surrounded by only three people and unable to escape, and then at the Konoha ninja who had just wiped out a battlefield with a single ninjutsu, the little girl's face was filled with shock.

"But...they are Konoha ninjas."

Behind them, a little boy with dark red hair and bangs that completely covered his eyes spoke with some dissatisfaction, his tone a mixture of anger and sorrow.

The boy with orange hair didn't turn around, but said, "We just want to find someone to teach us how to become ninjas. After we become ninjas, we can help the Land of Rain become better. It doesn't matter who we learn from."

"But."

The boy with dark red hair wanted to retort, but as soon as he spoke, he heard footsteps behind him, and he quickly shrank into a ball.

The other two quickly covered themselves with their raincoats, but the footsteps around them stopped.

"There are three children, Captain, what should we do?"

"Perhaps they are spies from Konoha? Let's deal with them first."

As soon as the words were spoken, footsteps sounded again, getting closer and closer to them.

"Rustling sound~"

Several shuriken flew towards them, as if testing them, since they weren't aimed at the three of them. But the three of them were still so frightened that they got up from the ground. Seeing the three of them get up, the Rain Ninja quickly threw kunai with explosive tags attached at them.

"Bang bang bang~"

The explosion rang out, and the red-haired boy, who was originally at the back of the group but turned around to be at the front, was the first to be hit. However, when the explosive tag detonated, an invisible chakra shield appeared.

But no one cared, because although the explosive tag didn't hit them directly, the rocks beneath their feet were still blown up, and the three of them fell. Fortunately, there was a river below the cliff.

The river was still quite full during the late flood season. Although they fell from the sky, they did not sink to the bottom, but were swept away by the current.

The Rain Ninja, having resolved this minor incident, quickly rushed to the main force to provide reinforcements. However, squads of Konoha ninja appeared, blocking their path and causing them to tremble.

After a long time, Konoha won the battle. There were almost no Rain Ninja left who could stand. Even the few Rain Ninja who were still capable of fighting had thrown away their weapons and were filled with despair.

The number of Rain Ninjas who came to provide support was far fewer than expected, and they had all become part of the defeated army.

In the center of the battlefield, Hanzo looked at the three young ninjas in front of him, panting heavily and needing to support each other to stand, and then looked around at the devastation all around him. He couldn't help but feel a deep sadness.

The little he had achieved after half a lifetime of struggle was almost completely wiped out in this battle.

Tatsuma also stood at a distance, gazing in this direction. With his intervention, Hanzo was having a much harder time than in the original story. Compared to the original story where his clothes remained intact until the very end, the current Hanzo looked rather disheveled.

His shirt was torn to shreds, and his pants had numerous holes. The bleeding on his body had stopped, but the wounds had not yet healed. Even Ibuse had been injured and forced to retreat. Unfortunately, none of this could cause Hanzo any real serious damage.

Perhaps, as Hiruzen Sarutobi said, Hanzo's strength is comparable to that of the Five Kage. Without the Five Kage's intervention, there is almost no one who can defeat Hanzo, not even...

The sheer number of enemies that could kill the Third Raikage might not be effective against Hanzo, given the sheer power of Hanzo's poison, which is why Konoha insisted on isolating him for battle.

Hanzo's gaze also swept over Tatsuma, who was looking in this direction. Compared to before, Hanzo no longer had any killing intent in his heart, because even if he killed Tatsuma, it would be a futile effort.

It might even anger the ninjas of Konoha, as Amegakure is just ten kilometers behind them, and Hanzo couldn't accept that kind of price.

Withdrawing his gaze, Hanzo turned it back to the three people who were supporting each other, their summoned beasts also being driven back to the sacred land. He spoke again, saying, "It seems that Konoha has won this war."

It may sound like a fear, but the situation is actually quite clear. Although some of the fishmen still retain some fighting power, they have lost their will to fight and can no longer be considered as fighting power.

Even Hanzo himself had lost the motivation to continue fighting.

Even though it was a normal day, Hanzo maintained his condescending aura and said to the three of them, "I'll spare your lives."

Hearing Hanzo's continued arrogance, Jiraiya, who was supporting Tsunade, angrily said, "I don't need your sympathy. I can continue fighting!"

"Stop talking! Jiraiya!"

Sensing the injuries within Jiraiya's body, Tsunade quickly tried to stop him, but Hanzo didn't care at all.

He's long past the age of getting hot-blooded after a few provocations. Now, he usually plays the other role, speaking in the tone of an elder:

"The three of you are all very powerful, even managing to survive my battle. From this day forward, I, Hanzo, will call you the Legendary Sannin of Konoha."

You shall live on, bearing this title earned with your lives.

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Tatsuma in the distance. His injuries began to sting again. His tone carried a hint of barely perceptible resentment as he said, "And you, Ryoma of Konoha."

No, from this day forward, you have taken flight; you will become the Dragon of Konoha.

Does this mean they don't deserve fame because they didn't earn the nickname themselves?

Chenma thought to himself, having long since gotten used to nicknames over the past year.

After all, with the nickname "Jade-Striking Hand," any other nickname seemed pretty good. The reason why Tatsuma gave up and stopped worrying about nicknames was because the nickname had already spread far and wide.

Even in Konoha, a lot of people call him that. Even many elderly people who don't know the meaning of this nickname call him that. After being called that so many times, he naturally gave up.

Now that he has a new nickname, and one that sounds pretty good at all, it's actually a blessing for Tatsuma. If he could, he really wouldn't want to be known as the "Jade-Striking Hand" anymore.

Moreover, he had already restrained himself a lot. In today's battle, he almost never used the Jade-Striking Technique. There were only a few that he couldn't dodge, but he couldn't give up attacking, right?

「叮~【贤+9731】、【忍+8765】、【精+7956】、【力+5431】、【速+5369】、【体+4972】、【印+4738】、【幻+213】，是否拾取？」

Just then, the system completed its assessment. Looking at the incredible array of talents available for pickup, Chenma showed no excitement whatsoever, simply choosing to pick them up out of habit.

Although Hanzo declared Konoha's victory, the Konoha ninja present were not in high spirits, not only because of the heavy casualties in the battle, but also because of the "good" and "evil" revealed by both sides during the battle.

Before they set out, they thought they would become heroes who would end the war.

But as the fighting went on, they discovered that they were actually the villains, the ones who oppressed others and harmed people from other countries.

Therefore, this victory was the most bitter one they had ever experienced, and if they could, they wished they hadn't been a participant in the war.

Orochimaru remained conscious, though his mood was low. He quickly took charge of the battlefield, handling the dead, treating the wounded, and Tsunade even summoned a live slug again to treat some Rain Ninja.

Regardless of how well the war went, now that the war is over, repairing relations between the two countries has become the most important thing.

Orochimaru also discussed a deeper issue of reparations with Hanzo, which was not about the defeated Land of Rain paying reparations to Konoha, but rather Konoha offering voluntary assistance to the Land of Rain, which had been ravaged by war.

However, this is only an indicative negotiation at present. Whether or not compensation will be paid, and how much, will be discussed in a separate meeting later.

It took both sides longer than the battle itself to complete the post-battle procedures. After the bodies were handed over, Hanzo led the remaining Rain Ninja back to a nearby village, while the remaining Konoha ninja spontaneously began to assemble and retreat.

Despite the great victory, all the Konoha ninjas walking on the road had their heads down and no one spoke. They were even more silent than when they were on the way to the battle, as if they were carrying out a secret mission.

Although Tatsuma remained silent, he wasn't thinking about these issues, because he knew that thinking about them was pointless and would only lead to endless self-blame.

He was thinking more about how this war would change the situation in the ninja world. Unlike people, there are far too many things involved between countries.

First, Iwagakure lost its "agent," but the war ended in a complete victory for Konoha, which was clearly not what Iwagakure wanted to see, and they may have their own plans afterward.

Whether it's targeting Konoha, the war-torn Land of Rain, or several small countries still embroiled in unrest, they have far too many options and too much to consider.

Next is Sunagakure. Sunagakure has not announced its withdrawal from the war, perhaps because it is observing the situation. If Konoha suffers continuous losses during this period, they may do their best to persuade the Daimyo to send troops again.

However, now that Konoha has achieved a positive victory, it is almost impossible for the Daimyo of the Land of Wind to allocate war funds. The focus of Sunagakure will likely be on contacting the various small countries and organizations that were previously involved to prevent the entrusted orders from falling through.

Next is the Land of Lightning. It can be said that the Land of Lightning gained nothing in this war, but it didn't lose much either. Although it lost some people in the small-scale battle with Konoha, it didn't hurt either side much.

Moreover, the Land of Lightning is far from the main battlefield, and if they want to participate, the journey is long and they are easy to be discovered. However, the Hidden Cloud Village is full of reckless men who might suddenly come up with some "good idea," so the defenses cannot be relaxed immediately.

Then there's the internal situation in Konoha. Konoha suffered too much loss in this battle. Almost all of the Senju clan's fighting force was wiped out, which will inevitably cause turmoil. The Uchiha clan also suffered many casualties in the north in this battle.

These two clans will be unable to take any action for at least the short term, especially Tsunade, who may completely consider the Senju clan to have disappeared.

In addition, Danzo's Root organization will certainly be restricted in its operations in the coming period, since Konoha's only major defeat was caused by Danzo's leadership.

The Shimura clan, who were associated with Shimura Danzo, dared not step forward to compete for the spoils at this time.

The real beneficiaries are the Hyuga and Sarutobi clans, while the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Inuzuka, and Aburame clans also benefit considerably.

The Sarutobi clan, in particular, truly exemplifies the truth that "as long as I don't make mistakes, my rivals will hand over their share." They don't need to do anything; they just need to wait for others to make mistakes.

I'm afraid Konoha will change a lot in the next two or three years, but it will eventually develop in a positive direction.

Just as Tatsuma was pondering, the Konoha team also temporarily stopped to rest. As they rested by the river, something seemed to be constantly rising and falling on the water in the distance.

(End of this chapter)