Under Tsunade and Kitazawa's pummeling, Yagura Karatachi was forced out of full Tailed Beast Mode. He didn't pass out, but he'd lost the ability to fight.
The disappearance of Isobu, the Three-Tails, instantly drew the Mist shinobi's attention.
"Go save the Mizukage!" Ao took one look, eyes widening, and shouted anxiously.
Tsunade and Kitazawa were standing there without a scratch—there was only one way to read that. Yagura had been beaten, and beaten badly.
Ao was shocked, but this wasn't the time for that—saving the Mizukage came first. The problem was, Hyuga Hiashi had him tied up and he couldn't break away. The two were about even—or, to be precise, Ao was a shade weaker.
Mei Terumi was the fastest to move. She'd been handling three opponents at once, but Yakushi Kabuto, Kurenai Yuhi, and Uchiha Izumi weren't pressuring her enough. The moment she heard Ao's shout, she broke off and flashed to Yagura's side. Several other Mist shinobi also rushed over.
Kitazawa glanced toward Kurenai's group; once he was sure they were fine, he relaxed—then he couldn't help but smile. Momochi Zabuza tried to go help Yagura, but Uchiha Itachi seized the opening, knocked him out, and took him prisoner.
"I've figured it out—the Fourth Mizukage is being controlled," Kitazawa murmured in Tsunade's ear, now that the timing was right.
"What?" Tsunade's face changed. Even she couldn't stay calm hearing that.
A Kage stands at the very top of the shinobi world. The Five Kage are the five most powerful, most influential shinobi alive, and the prerequisite for the title is overwhelming strength. Each Kage is a peerless force. And now Kitazawa was telling her a Kage could be controlled? It sounded impossible.
"You're not joking?" Tsunade pressed.
"You know I'm a genjutsu-type shinobi," Kitazawa improvised. "During the fight I tried to catch the Fourth Mizukage with genjutsu—nothing stuck."
"He's a perfect jinchuriki. Genjutsu doesn't work on them. You must be misreading it," Tsunade still wasn't buying it.
"Perfect jinchuriki shrug off genjutsu because the beast inside helps break it," Kitazawa countered. "But what if the genjutsu is strong enough to seize both the host and the Tailed Beast?"
"How is that possible?" Tsunade frowned and shook her head. "What kind of genjutsu is that terrifying?"
"It exists," Kitazawa said after a beat, then offered a hint. "Think of the Nine-Tails incident."
He'd wanted to say "Mangekyo Sharingan," but in his current identity he shouldn't know that—unless Tsunade or Uchiha Itachi had told him, which they hadn't. Citing the Nine-Tails' Rampage worked just as well.
"The masked man who controlled the Nine-Tails back then?" Tsunade's eyes hardened.
"Maybe," Kitazawa said with a blink. "It's just an example."
"If you're right, then the Fourth Mizukage's sudden declaration of war makes sense," Tsunade mused. "Looks like this mysterious enemy is trying to weaken Konoha."
Kitazawa paused. The guess wasn't exactly on the nose, but it fit well enough—the outcome was the same. The one controlling Yagura and the one behind the Nine-Tails' Rampage were the same masked man: Uchiha Obito.
"Mm," Kitazawa nodded. Letting Tsunade know early wasn't a bad thing. Once she became Hokage, Konoha could prepare.
Later, Kitazawa could "order" an investigation and quietly pass Akatsuki intel to Tsunade. Shinobi wars are won on intelligence. With the right intel, Akatsuki wasn't so terrifying—except for Nagato and those Rinnegan.
That was a stat-monster with broken mechanics. Even with forewarning, he'd be hard to beat. Still, Konoha had its own stat-monster: Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki. But that was for later.
"For Konoha and the Mist to fight to this point because some mystery man pitted us against each other—it's disgraceful!" Tsunade drew a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone, stand down!"
Kitazawa thought, figures. Once Tsunade understood Obito was out there, she didn't hesitate to halt the war. Continuing a manipulated war only lets the enemy in the shadows get what he wants. Even with Konoha on top, winning outright would still cost a lot.
At Tsunade's command, Konoha's shinobi disengaged. The Mist side had their minds on Yagura and didn't press the fight either.
"Consider yourself lucky," Hyuga Hiashi told Ao, then turned to head for Tsunade.
In moments, the two sides were facing off across the water. Everyone except Kitazawa was puzzled—especially the Mist shinobi. Why stop now when Konoha had such a clear advantage?
"Kitazawa, you explain," Tsunade said, catching all the eyes on her.
"Haven't you noticed something wrong with your Fourth Mizukage?" Kitazawa stepped forward.
"What do you mean?" Ao's heart lurched. They'd long since noticed Yagura's odd behavior, but never found a cause.
"The Fourth Mizukage is under genjutsu. Everything he's done lately wasn't by his own will," Kitazawa said bluntly.
"Impossible!" Ao denied on reflex. Mei and the others all wore the same stunned look. If Yagura was controlled, that meant they'd been following a stranger's orders all along. The whole war felt suffocatingly pointless. Those who'd died—especially the bloodline limit clans—would have died as fools, for nothing.
"You have the Byakugan—look for yourself," Kitazawa said evenly. "Check the chakra in his brain."
Genjutsu, at its core, manipulates the five senses—or rather the brain's chakra pathways—to launch a mental attack. If Yagura were under genjutsu, there would be a mass of chakra in his brain that wasn't his. Of course, it wasn't easy to spot. Ao had used his Byakugan in battle and noticed nothing, largely because Yagura's own chakra—and the Three-Tails'—caused too much interference.
At Kitazawa's words, Ao activated the Byakugan and focused on Yagura's head. A second later his body jolted, and his face froze. Kitazawa was…right?
For a moment he didn't know how to feel. If he'd found it earlier, could this war have been avoided?
"H-how is it?" Mei asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure whether to hope it was true or false.
"It's true," Ao said, expression knotted.
"What?" Mei involuntarily took half a step back. The rest of the Mist shinobi struggled to accept it. They'd thought they were serving the Fourth Mizukage Yagura—turns out, they weren't. So what did that make everything they'd done?
Ao moved to Yagura's side, formed hand seals, and dispelled the genjutsu. Badly injured, Yagura didn't resist. Once the illusion broke, he stood there, stunned, as memories flooded back—everything he'd done while controlled.
His expression turned…complicated. As Mizukage, he was supposed to protect his people. Instead? Under control, he'd doubled down on the "Bloody Mist," and countless Mist shinobi died because of him—especially those with kekkei genkai. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the Mist had been weakened by a third because of him.
"Mizukage-sama," Ao sighed.
"I'm not fit to be Mizukage," Yagura said after two seconds of silence. "Once the war's over, we'll choose a new one."
Ao hesitated. Strictly speaking, Yagura wasn't truly at fault—the only "fault" was not being strong enough to avoid control. But could anyone in the Mist have done better? Yagura was already their strongest. Even so, he'd indirectly brought ruin to the village. Keeping him as Mizukage would be wrong.
Yagura steadied himself. For now he was still the Fourth Mizukage, and he had to clean up his mess—starting with stopping this war.
"Princess Tsunade, the Hidden Mist concedes," Yagura said to Tsunade. "We'll send a delegation to Konoha to negotiate peace."
At this stage, you don't erase a war with "oops, misunderstanding." The only path forward was to concede, negotiate, and pay reparations. It had to be done. Otherwise, Konoha could keep pushing until the Mist begged for mercy.
"Good. Then this war ends here," Tsunade nodded. The Mist's stance satisfied her. She sympathized, but at the end of the day, the Mist and Konoha were enemies—and Konoha had paid dearly too. They had to recover those costs; at minimum, they couldn't take a loss.
War is attrition—it burns money. The fallen need compensation, the heroes deserve rewards—that all takes funds, and it would be settled at the table with the Mist. The victor claims spoils. There was no need to keep fighting: if the Mist chose mutual destruction, Konoha would bleed too—and Cloud and others were still watching like hawks.
"Please treat our captured shinobi fairly," Yagura added. "We'll exchange for them in due time."
"Of course," Tsunade said after a moment. "And we'll take our captured Konoha shinobi back in the exchange."
"I understand." Yagura bowed slightly. "Finally—thank you for your timely discovery, Princess Tsunade."
Whatever losses Konoha had inflicted, without Tsunade he'd still be a puppet—and the outcome could have been far worse.
"The one who pitted us against each other is an enemy to both Konoha and the Mist," Tsunade waved it off. "Helping you is helping us."
"Princess Tsunade, I hope our two villages can share intel on this mystery man," Yagura said after brief thought.
"No problem," Tsunade agreed without hesitation. Two villages hunting one target—much more efficient.
"Then we'll take our leave." Yagura turned to Ao, Mei, and the others, guilt tightening his chest. "I've wronged you."
"Mizukage-sama, we're shinobi of the Mist. No need to say more," Mei shook her head. "What matters now is ending this war and finding the one who controlled you."
"Let's go home," Yagura said, pulling himself together. They gathered the bodies of their fallen and headed for the Mist's main camp. As for the captured—like Momochi Zabuza—they'd have to endure captivity for a while.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune hurried up. "Are you both alright?"
"I feel better than ever," Tsunade smiled at her worried gaze.
Shizune blinked. Now she was sure Tsunade's hemophobia was truly gone—otherwise she wouldn't have been able to thrash Yagura. With Kitazawa also safe, it was a double blessing.
"Kitazawa!" Kurenai grabbed Kitazawa's hand.
"I'm fine," he gave her a reassuring look.
"This isn't the place to talk. Back to the main camp," Tsunade said, glancing at Kitazawa.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Hiashi, Itachi, and the others answered in unison.
They retraced their route. Before they reached Konoha's main encampment, Nara Shikaku arrived with a group to meet them.
"Shikaku, notify all jonin—meeting in the command tent," Tsunade said. "And cancel all remaining war assignments."
Shikaku froze for a heartbeat, then guessed the rest; joy spread across his face. An order like that meant the war was over. Otherwise there'd be no reason to cancel every mission.
"Understood!" He tamped down his questions and went to work.
"We'll wait in the command tent," Tsunade said, striding inside first, with Hiashi and Kitazawa right behind. Plenty of Konoha shinobi had been asleep, but once the order went out they assembled at top speed. In under ten minutes, the tent was packed with jonin.
"I have an announcement," Tsunade said, smiling. "The Hidden Mist has formally conceded!"
"Conceded? So the war's over?"
"That fast?"
"We…won?"
Most jonin's first reaction was confusion, not elation.
"Shizune, you field their questions," Tsunade said. She knew why they felt that way—the ending was too sudden, too dramatic.
"Alright," Shizune said, and recounted everything that had happened tonight—from Kitazawa falling into the Mist's trap, to the genjutsu on Yagura being lifted, to the Mist conceding.
When she finished, the tent fell deathly silent. From anyone else, they'd have thought it was a joke. The night had been so twisty and surreal it felt like listening to a story: Kitazawa going toe-to-toe with the Mizukage, then discovering he was under genjutsu.
"You all performed excellently in this war," Tsunade said after a pause. "Once we're back, the Old Man will definitely hand out extra rewards. Especially Kitazawa—his contribution is the biggest reason we wrapped this up so quickly."
Uchiha Yashiro, Hyuga Hiashi, Shikaku and the others all nodded. Even if they wanted to claim credit, they couldn't—Kitazawa had shone too brightly: killing strong Mist shinobi like Ringo Ameyuri, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Suikazan Fuguki; leading Kurenai, Kabuto, and the team through more high-difficulty missions than any other squad; and, tonight, holding off the Fourth Mizukage and uncovering the genjutsu that ended the war.
"Shikaku, spread the word," Tsunade said, turning to him. "And send a report to the Old Man."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Shikaku replied quickly.
"Alright. You've all been up all night—go rest," Tsunade said, cutting the impromptu meeting short.
When everyone else had left, only Kitazawa remained.
"Kitazawa," Tsunade said after studying him for two seconds, "thank you."
"For what?" Kitazawa shook his head. "If you hadn't arrived when you did, I'd be a corpse at the bottom of the sea."
"I meant…for the hemophobia," Tsunade said, the dreams she'd had flashing through her mind. She glanced away, a touch flustered.
"That was mostly Yakumo," Kitazawa demurred.
"I know whose doing it was," Tsunade waved him off. "Go get some sleep."
"Mm." Kitazawa turned to go.
"Kitazawa," Kurenai met him at the flap of the tent.
"Kitazawa-sensei," said Yakushi Kabuto, Aburame Torune, and Uchiha Izumi, hurrying up as well.
"It's over. Go get some real sleep. We'll talk tomorrow," Kitazawa said with a smile.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei," the three breathed out in relief.
"You scared me half to death tonight," Kurenai huffed, elbowing him.
"Sorry, my fault," Kitazawa said with a blink. "I'll make it up to you tomorrow."
Kurenai blinked, then her cheeks flushed. She'd caught his meaning.
"Quit it. Sleep," she glared, diving under the covers.
Kitazawa and Kurenai drifted off, but the rest of Konoha's camp lay awake, too excited by the news of victory. After two and a half long months, the war was finally over—and overwhelmingly in their favor. The whole camp was buzzing. Next came rewards and commendations; everyone would get something.
While they celebrated, a squad of Anbu slipped out of camp at speed, heading straight for Konoha.