"Yahiko and the others are in trouble."
"What do you plan to do?"
Inside an earthen house at the Akatsuki camp in the Land of Earth, only Nonō and Nagato were present.
"Of course, we're going back."
Nagato looked directly into Nonō's eyes and answered without hesitation.
"And you're just going to leave things here as they are?"
Nonō knew that once they withdrew, the Iwa-nin stationed here would be able to return and reinforce Ōnoki.
That would increase the pressure on the Kumo-nin significantly.
The Third Raikage, upon hearing of their retreat, would undoubtedly pull out of the Land of Earth imdiately.
A stabilized Land of Earth was not the outco they wanted.
"I never said we'd just abandon it."
"Just because we leave doesn't an the Iwa-nin here will be able to reinforce right away."
Nagato's lips curled into a slight smile as he reached out and smoothed the crease between Nonō's brows.
"So what do you an?"
Nonō still didn't quite understand Nagato's plan, and her brows furrowed once more.
"It's simple."
"Even if we can't wipe out the Iwa-nin here, crippling their main force is easy enough."
"Once we leave, they won't be in any condition to rush to Ōnoki's aid."
Nagato explained his strategy clearly, no longer bothering to smooth her brow again.
To him, she was just as endearing even when frowning.
"I see!"
"That's actually a pretty solid plan."
Nonō nodded in agreent but soon seed to realize sothing.
"This will definitely delay their reinforcents."
"But at this point, it's already certain that the Kumo-nin won't be able to take down Ōnoki."
"I think the only reason they haven't retreated yet is that they've already invested too much."
"Once we withdraw, even if they know there won't be reinforcents for a while, there's still a high chance they'll choose to leave imdiately."
"In that case, no matter what we do, the end result stays the sa."
After analyzing the situation, Nonō felt that if she were in the Raikage's position, she would also choose to retreat.
Rather than waiting for enemy reinforcents, it would be better to leave before it was too late.
Sotis, making a decision was just a matter of timing.
News of Akatsuki's retreat might just be the final straw that pushed the Raikage toward withdrawal.
"You have a point."
"But there's a fundantal difference between the two scenarios."
"If we simply leave without doing anything, the Kumo-nin will feel an imdiate and urgent need to retreat."
"They could pull out before Ōnoki even has a chance to react."
"But if we severely injure the Iwa-nin who would otherwise reinforce him, Kumo won't feel that sa urgency."
"And by the ti Ōnoki realizes what's happening, will the Kumo-nin still have a chance to escape?"
Nagato had a firm grasp on human nature—psychological warfare was sothing he understood well.
Just a slight delay in reaction ti, and he was confident Ōnoki wouldn't simply watch as the Kumo-nin retreated.
Not a 100% guarantee, but at least a 90% chance.
Ōnoki would do whatever it took—dragging things out with sheer manpower if necessary—until Rōshi and Kitsuchi could reinforce him.
"Hah! The Raikage is going to hate you for this."
"You've set up such a massive trap for them."
Nonō realized that Nagato's plan had a high chance of unfolding exactly as he predicted.
She imagined the predicant the Kumo-nin would find themselves in and couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, can't be helped."
"Kumo definitely knows by now that Yahiko and the others lost the battle."
" leaving at this point is completely reasonable—what can the Raikage do about it?"
"Besides, I'm even doing them a favor before I go. I'd say that's pretty generous of , don't you think?"
Nagato shrugged, feigning innocence.
Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was the one being wronged.
"Taking advantage and still playing innocent."
"Oh, and you should let Senior Brother Minato know."
Nonō put away her smile and shot Nagato a look.
This guy was getting more and more devious.
"I'll contact him later."
"Not sure if he'll be available."
To avoid exposure, Nagato rarely took the initiative to contact Minato.
"No rush. Worst case, just reach out in the middle of the night."
"No way soone's keeping watch over Minato while he sleeps."
Hearing this, Nagato nodded slightly.
With business settled, their conversation naturally drifted elsewhere.
They talked about everything—daily life, dical ninjutsu, reminiscing about the past, imagining the future.
It was a wonder how they always had so much to talk about despite being together every day.
...
At midnight, Nagato successfully reached Minato and inford him of his plan to withdraw.
Minato wasn't surprised.
The mont he heard about Akatsuki's defeat in the Land of Hot Water, he knew Nagato would have to leave.
In the end, the two agreed to put on one last act to wrap this entire charade up properly.
...
With Minato as his insider, Iwa's troop movents were never a mystery to Nagato.
Previously, he had rarely taken direct action, rely coordinating with Minato's performance.
But this ti, he had no choice but to act. Ti wasn't on his side, and Yahiko was still waiting.
At dawn, Nagato led Akatsuki straight to the Iwa-nin's hideout.
A fierce battle erupted.
To Rōshi and Kitsuchi, it was as if Nagato had been injected with raw power.
His strength now was far beyond what he had shown before.
Previously, the two of them—working alongside Minato in Sage Mode—could hold Nagato in check.
But now, they couldn't even do that.
From the very start, Nagato dominated the fight.
Ten minutes in, Minato was the first to go down.
The mont Sage Mode wore off, Nagato's Asura Path laser cannon struck him dead-on.
His chest was scorched black, and after coughing up blood, he collapsed, his condition unknown.
Seeing this, Kakashi shouted, "Minato-senpai!" and rushed forward, hoisting Minato onto his back before bolting.
The emotion in his voice was so raw that no one would have guessed it was all an act.
"My feet are dragging on the ground," Minato muttered from Kakashi's back, still finding the energy to complain.
"Deal with it."
Kakashi rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he could do anything about his height.
As Kakashi quickly disappeared from the battlefield, Rōshi and Kitsuchi were left in dire straits.
They knew they weren't Nagato's match, but the mont they thought about escaping, he cut them off.
Even as they fought desperately, it made little difference.
Before long, both were covered in blood, gasping on the ground, barely clinging to consciousness.
"That should keep you down for a while."
Looking at the unconscious Rōshi and Kitsuchi, Nagato nodded in satisfaction.
His objective was complete. There was no reason to stay in the Land of Earth any longer.
After casually eliminating a few unfortunate Iwa-nin, he watched as Rōshi and Kitsuchi were rescued right under his nose but made no move to stop it.
Soon after, both the Iwa-nin and Konoha forces began a large-scale retreat.
Nagato led Akatsuki in a half-hearted pursuit, only stopping once the enemy was completely out of sight.
The battle was officially over.
Without allowing his team any ti to rest, Nagato imdiately gave the order to return to the Land of Rain.
On the way, he didn't forget to send word to the Raikage.
The ssage was simple: Akatsuki had withdrawn.
However, he assured the Raikage that Iwa wouldn't be able to send reinforcents anyti soon, so there was no need to worry.
If Kumo still wanted to take the Land of Earth, now was the ti to strike.
Nagato could already picture the Raikage's reaction upon receiving the ssage.
It was going to be priceless.
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