It had barely been a few minutes since he arrived.
Yet Menma had displayed his strength with absolute, terrifying clarity. Ao believed he understood exactly how strong Mei Terumi was. The fact that Menma could unilaterally suppress her, and then cleanly execute her without paying any price whatsoever, was all the proof Ao needed to understand the massive disparity between them.
While part of this was undeniably due to a lack of intelligence regarding Menma's abilities and true strength...
When all was said and done...
Absolute power crushing the opponent was the fundamental reality.
It was exactly like how Nagato in the original timeline could effortlessly suppress and defeat almost any standard Kage.
The current Menma had reached a level where ordinary Kage-tier fighters simply couldn't make any significant waves against him.
Facing a monster like this...
Ao couldn't even muster a single thought of resistance or escape.
Clap!
He instantly brought his hands together, rapidly forming hand seals.
He intended to trigger the self-destruct seal placed over his right eye.
It was glaringly obvious he wasn't making it out of here alive. If he couldn't bring the Byakugan back, he had to destroy it. He absolutely could not let it fall into enemy hands!
Unfortunately for him...
While Ao's reaction was fast and his judgment decisive...
In Menma's eyes, the attempt was nothing more than a joke.
Swish!
With a terrifying burst of speed...
Moving faster than Ao could even blink, Menma closed the distance to point-blank range and casually swung his arm.
Squelch!
Aiming perfectly for Ao's sealing hands...
The blade punched straight through them.
"Aaaagh!?"
The razor-sharp steel effortlessly pierced flesh and bone. The sickening sound of the impact was accompanied by Ao's agonizing, bloodcurdling scream.
Menma didn't stop. Stepping fully into Ao's guard, he swung the Sword of the Thunder God again with brutal force.
A cold, deadly flash.
The blade cleanly sliced straight through Ao's wrists, severing both of his hands entirely.
Blood geysered violently from the perfectly smooth stumps. The excruciating, mind-shattering agony...
Caused Ao's face to contort into a mask of pure horror.
Giving Ao absolutely zero chance to react further...
Menma slammed his hand directly onto Ao's head. His mind raced, rapidly analyzing the sealing formula protecting the eye.
He locked onto the decryption sequence instantly.
To an ordinary ninja versed in sealing jutsu, the seal protecting the Byakugan might have been considered a high-level, complex formula. But to Menma—who had already inherited the vast majority of the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu and had recently received even deeper, more detailed explanations directly from his mother...
This supposedly "advanced" sealing formula...
Was nothing more than child's play.
"Seal! Release!!"
Forming a synchronized hand seal with his free hand...
He channeled a massive surge of refined chakra, directly targeting the seal's structural flaws. Under Menma's decryption technique...
HUM!
CRACK!
After a brief tremor, a sharp, crisp sound of shattering glass echoed out.
The black eyepatch violently fractured and burst apart.
Having effortlessly broken the seal, Menma stared at the milky-white eye now exposed beneath.
His expression remained perfectly calm. He reached out with his right hand and pressed it directly against Ao's right eye socket.
As Ao's face twisted in an expression of absolute, primal terror...
Menma dug his fingers in and ruthlessly gouged it out. The veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly with the effort.
"AAAAGGH!?"
With a sharp yank, Menma forcefully extracted the pristine, crystal-clear Byakugan.
The bloody, brutal act...
Sent a fresh wave of unimaginable agony through Ao, elevating his screams to a frantic, feral pitch.
He desperately tried to struggle, but Menma's grip held him perfectly immobilized. Looking at the Byakugan resting in his palm, Menma expanded his sensory net. He could distinctly feel the unique, concentrated source of energy radiating from the eye.
Satisfied, Menma nodded.
The next second, he casually swung the Sword of the Thunder God.
Squelch!
A flash of cold light.
The blade sliced cleanly through Ao's neck. With his head severed from his body, the agonizing screams abruptly ceased. A thick fountain of blood erupted into the air.
His life force completely extinguished.
As his head hit the ground, Ao's headless corpse collapsed limply to the side.
This veteran Mist shinobi, who held considerable fame across the ninja world and had once crossed blades with Shisui Uchiha—Elder Genji's most trusted subordinate—died right there under Menma's blade.
Ao's death was the final catalyst that shattered the Mist forces' remaining psychological resolve.
The Mist shinobi, who had barely been maintaining a defensive formation, finally lost all will to resist. The formation collapsed entirely, turning into an uncontrollable, chaotic rout.
The Waterfall shinobi pursued relentlessly.
Led by Utakata and Shibuki, they butchered the fleeing Mist forces, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
Menma remained standing where he was, looking at the bloody scene surrounding him. A faint, complex emotion flickered in his eyes, but he suppressed it a second later.
This was the path he had chosen. There was no room for regret.
After this war, we should be able to secure a period of relative peace, Menma thought silently, watching the Mist forces scatter.
It was an absolute, overwhelming victory achieved through raw power.
Both invading armies from the Great Nations had been forced into a total retreat.
However, even in retreat, the Leaf forces had managed to maintain an organized formation. Shikaku was critically wounded and near death, but Jiraiya—their most important asset—was still alive. Furthermore, in terms of sheer, hard combat power, the Leaf army was still incredibly strong.
Jiraiya could fight Menma to a standstill. Even though Menma could suppress him using the Flying Thunder God and restrict him with the Adamantine Sealing Chains, there wasn't an absolute, unbridgeable gap in raw power between them.
It was impossible to secure an easy kill.
Jiraiya would never give him that kind of opening.
Conversely, Menma couldn't afford to let the two Great Toad Sages unleash the Frog Kata, their ultimate genjutsu. Even the clash between Gamabunta and Shikkudo required Menma to constantly divert a fraction of his attention to support his summon.
Realistically speaking...
Menma could only maintain a slight upper hand over Jiraiya. He might be able to slowly grind him down, but forcefully defeating him—let alone killing him—was incredibly difficult.
And he had to constantly guard against the worst-case scenario. If he pushed the Leaf too far into a corner, what if Might Guy decided to trade his life and forcefully open the Eighth Gate? How was Menma supposed to deal with that!?
Guy in the Eight Gates Released Formation...
His raw, explosive power was beyond comprehension. Even Madara in his Six Paths state had nearly been killed by it. Menma's current body wouldn't stand a chance.
But the most terrifying aspect was the speed.
It literally shattered the physical limits of the human body.
Even possessing the Flying Thunder God, Menma wasn't confident he could dodge it in time.
Therefore, during the pursuit of the Leaf army, Menma's orders had been to inflict casualties but avoid overextending.
But the situation with the Mist was entirely different. Mei Terumi was dead, and Ao had been executed by Menma's own hand. Completely stripped of their command structure, the Mist forces were nothing more than scattered sand. He absolutely had to press the advantage and butcher them.
The rise of a new major hidden village required stepping on the corpses of the established powers. If the Leaf was too tough to crack entirely, that was fine.
With the Hidden Cloud and now the Hidden Mist serving as bloody examples...
Menma fully believed the Hidden Waterfall would inevitably become the Sixth Great Nation of the ninja world!
The Waterfall shinobi continued their relentless pursuit.
Under Menma's tacit approval, they even crossed slightly over the border into neighboring territory, only halting their advance when they spotted a fresh detachment of Leaf reinforcements arriving in the distance.
Although a significant portion of the Mist forces still managed to escape...
This battle had inflicted catastrophic, structural damage on the Hidden Mist. It was important to remember that the Mist was still in a prolonged recovery phase; deploying over three thousand shinobi had already been a massive, high-stakes gamble. Yet, this battle had permanently left at least half of that force dead on the field.
Returning to the main stronghold...
Menma quickly received the consolidated casualty reports from the Waterfall shinobi tasked with clearing the battlefield. The data was first compiled by Doran.
Then, Doran personally presented it to Menma.
The first thing that caught Menma's eye was their own casualty figures.
Seeing the numbers, Menma frowned slightly.
Even though he had poured every ounce of effort into preparation, optimized their tactics, and equipped them as heavily as possible...
The Waterfall Village had still suffered between thirteen and fourteen hundred casualties.
The fatality rate among them was nearly fifty percent.
For the Hidden Waterfall, this was an absolutely agonizing, bone-deep loss. It was genuinely difficult to swallow. But it was a price they had been forced to pay.
The combined forces of the Leaf and the Mist numbered nearly eight thousand shinobi.
Their baseline combat strength had been double the Waterfall's, and they were commanded by powerhouses like Jiraiya and Mei Terumi. It was only because Menma's side had Utakata, Fu, Muku, and Shibuki—who had literally gambled his life on the Hero Water—acting as their highest-tier combat pillars that they had managed to win this war.
And built upon the foundation of those agonizing casualties...
Menma's forces had reaped a massive, disproportionate harvest.
At the main stronghold, the confirmed Leaf casualties were roughly equal to the Waterfall's. However, during the subsequent pursuit, the Leaf had lost several hundred more. Strictly comparing the main battlefield, the Leaf's losses actually exceeded the Waterfall's.
And that didn't even account for the left flank, where the Mist had suffered a complete, devastating rout.
The confirmed body count of Mist shinobi already exceeded a thousand. Factoring in the bodies that couldn't be located or had been completely vaporized by jutsu, the initial estimates placed the Mist's dead at around thirteen to fourteen hundred.
The number of critically wounded Mist shinobi who had managed to flee was impossible to calculate accurately.
This meant the combined casualties suffered by the two Great Nations were at least three times higher than those of the Waterfall. It was an undeniable, overwhelming victory.
When Doran first reviewed the data, a profoundly relieved and ecstatic smile had spread across his face.
The conclusion of this massive war directly signified that the Hidden Waterfall had firmly established its footing. From this day forward, every nation in the ninja world would be forced to treat them with an entirely new level of respect and caution.
The thought that decades of ambition were finally being realized today...
Made Doran tremble slightly with sheer excitement.
When he looked at Menma, his eyes held a fanatical reverence far exceeding anything he had shown before.
Following this battle...
Menma had established absolute, unquestionable supremacy within the Hidden Waterfall.
As of right now, unless Menma explicitly ordered them to commit mass suicide for no reason, the Waterfall shinobi would likely execute any command he gave with absolute, one-hundred-percent obedience, without a single shred of hesitation or doubt.
This was the most direct, tangible result of leading them to victory in a brutal war.
After reviewing the report, Menma passed it down the line. Sitting closest to him, Shibuki took the scroll. When he saw the staggering casualty numbers for both sides, a faint look of profound sadness crossed his eyes.
Ultimately, Shibuki was still a soft-hearted leader.
He knew perfectly well that in this short span of time...
Nearly a thousand of his own shinobi had died. They had lost almost a quarter of their total combat force.
How could Shibuki not feel heartbroken?
But the victory was undeniable.
He could only comfort himself with the thought that his comrades' sacrifices hadn't been in vain.
Sitting further down, Fu felt a similar pang of sorrow when she read the report.
Unlike the vast majority of Jinchuriki, Fu had enjoyed a relatively happy life. Thanks to the care of the previous village leader, Shibuki, and her own bright, outgoing personality, Fu was incredibly well-liked and had deep connections throughout the Waterfall Village.
In these past two wars...
Many of the Waterfall shinobi who had died were people Fu knew personally.
Even if they weren't her closest friends...
They were still her people.
Unless someone was truly cold-blooded...
How could they not feel the pain of that loss?
But this was the brutal reality of war. This was the price the Hidden Waterfall had to pay for its survival. Thankfully, this was the best possible outcome. They had won the war; the sacrifices of their comrades held true value!
Grandpa Satoru, your choice was right. Menma truly is the one who can lead the Hidden Waterfall to greatness!
Both Shibuki and Fu took deep breaths, looking at Menma's profile as the thought echoed in their minds.
The casualty report quickly circulated among the core leadership.
Everyone's face displayed varying degrees of relief and joy.
To achieve a result like this... truthfully, it had exceeded almost everyone's wildest expectations. Even Menma himself hadn't anticipated it going this smoothly. His original plan had been to forcefully suppress the Hidden Cloud, then use various tactical and political maneuvers to stall and threaten the Leaf, keeping them constantly wary and hesitant to launch a full-scale invasion.
His ultimate goal had simply been to maintain the village's sovereignty and stability.
He never expected to successfully crush three Great Nations in rapid succession.
He now held absolute control over the tempo of the war.
If Menma wanted to, he could absolutely launch a counter-invasion right now. But doing so would force his side to shoulder an immense amount of unnecessary risk.
Therefore, the moment the thought crossed his mind, he discarded it. What the Hidden Waterfall needed right now was a safe landing. Thoroughly absorbing and consolidating the gains from this victory was the optimal choice.
"I believe everyone here has a clear understanding of the current situation. It's safe to say we hold the absolute initiative in this war. As for our most appropriate next steps... I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts," Menma said, pausing slightly as he looked at the assembled leaders.