Hui eventually fell asleep, and when he awoke the next day, it was the rising sun that greeted him, not an unexpected disaster.
“Captain, we’ve received a mission from the village,” a mber of the Anbu reported, approaching Hui. This was the liaison between the First Unit and Konoha, using a bird summons for communication.
Hui unfolded the slip of paper with the mission details and paused when he saw only four words written on it. His expression softened, and a smile curved his lips.
Turning to his subordinates, who were all watching him closely, Hui spoke.
“The mission is over. We can go back to the village.”
His words left everyone stunned for a mont, but then their faces, hidLightning beneath their masks, lit up with joy.
“The mission is over…”
“Back to the village…”
“We’re finally going ho!”
“Great! The mission is over!”
In an outburst of excitent, one of the Anbu couldn’t contain themselves and shouted out loud.
“We’re going ho, back to the village!”
“Hahaha, the mission is finally done!”
“One year—this mission has finally co to an end!”
The Anbu mbers, who had beco somber and cold over the course of the bloodshed, suddenly felt the warmth of joy, as though sunlight had pierced through the darkness in their hearts.
For nearly a year, they had been away from Konoha, constantly surrounded by killing and death. Now, the thought of returning ho lifted their spirits.
“It’s been a long ti. We should go ho,” Lightning said, feeling a sense of longing. He ca from a clan and had many family mbers and friends in the village. After such a long absence, he had missed them dearly.
“Yes, you should go back and continue your blind dates, settle down, and start a family. How wonderful that would be,” Hui teased Lightning with a mischievous grin.
Lightning: (▼ヘ▼#)
That damned brat!!!
Amidst the joyful laughter, the long and bloody Cold War finally ca to an end.
Spanning a full year, this war had affected the entire ninja world, drastically altering its power dynamics.
According to incomplete reports, over fifty small nations and HidLightningvillages were wiped out, thirty ninja clans were annihilated, and more than 100,000 innocent civilians perished. The number of small nations left in the ninja world had dwindled to fewer than twenty.
This war reshaped the political landscape of the ninja world, bringing it closer to the form it would take decades later. The five great nations expanded their territories and eliminated potential threats.
However, the cost was steep. The Anbu forces of all five great villages suffered severe losses. By the end of the war, the combined death toll of the Anbu units across all five villages had reached over 1,500.
Had these villages not been continually replenishing their Anbu ranks, the entire initial deploynt of Anbu would have been wiped out.
This war had led to a significant turnover within each village’s Anbu forces. Over half of those who had first entered the battlefield were now dead. Even in Hui’s First Unit, the loss had been substantial.
The First Unit had started with forty-one mbers, including the unit leader. By the ti Hui took command, there were only thirty-two left, including himself.
Now, at the end of the war, only twenty mbers remained, aning more than half of the original team had died, never to return from the smaller hidLightningvillages where they had fallen.
Throughout Konoha’s Anbu forces, more than 260 mbers had perished in this war. It was a brutal and bloody conflict, with a higher death rate than even the Great Ninja Wars.
Yet, in every war, heroes erge—those who stand out, blazing brightly, becoming legends.
Iwagakure’s hero, Ōnoki, with his Dust Release, had crushed countless opponents, earning a fearso reputation. Many skilled ninjas had been disintegrated into atoms by his jutsu. Ōnoki’s na beca one that struck fear into the hearts of the Anbu from other villages, as they hoped never to face him.
But even Ōnoki couldn’t outshine Mochizuki Hui. This battlefield had been Hui’s stage, where no one could stop him from performing.
His path of invincibility began with the killing of Iwagakure’s Anbu commander, Ishigawa, and from there, it was an unstoppable march. By now, Hui’s na was known across the entire ninja world.
The titles "Light of Konoha" and "Konoha’s Ghost" were enough to make countless Anbu tremble in fear at the re ntion of his na.
However, Hui’s fa was mostly confined to the shadows, discussed among the high-ranking officials and elite ninjas of the major villages.
Given that the Cold War was conducted in secrecy, the events that transpired were hidLightningfrom public knowledge. Even though it was well known that the five great nations had played a role in the upheaval, as long as the great villages didn’t acknowledge it, it was as if it hadn’t happened.
As for Hui, who had openly revealed his na, he was officially seen as rely carrying out his standard missions, unconnected to the destabilization of the smaller nations.
Regardless, everything was now over. The political landscape of the ninja world had been set, and the likelihood of another ninja war breaking out in the near future was slim. A long period of peace awaited the ninja world.
After receiving news that the war was over, Hui and his team couldn’t wait to return to Konoha. They hurried back, eager to finally go ho.
Three days later, they arrived in Konoha.
There was no grand ceremony to welco them back. After all, they were Anbu, people of the shadows, invisible to the light.
Just as they had silently left Konoha to fight in the shadows, risking their lives countless tis to protect the village, they returned just as quietly.
There was no glory or fanfare for them. They simply returned to their dusty hos, as though they had never left at all. For many of them, the only trace of their departure was the knowledge that so of their comrades would never return.
When Hui returned, he went straight to the Senju Clan and headed for Tsunade’s ho.
The mont he saw her, he pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his head against her hair as he whispered softly:
“I’m ho.”
…
The year was Konoha Year 22, and it was the darkest year for the smaller nations in the ninja world. Dozens of small countries were annihilated, and countless ninja clans were wiped out.
This year also set the stage for the geopolitical landscape that would shape the ninja world for decades to co.
And in this year, the twelve-year-old Mochizuki Hui erged from the shadows, forging a legendary na for himself. To the Anbu of the four other great nations, he was the Reaper—the Ghost, whom they feared so much they were permitted to abandon their missions if they encountered him.
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