"I want you to deliver a message to that stubborn Onoki."
Garp lowered his head, looking down at Kitsuchi, whose body had been crushed in half yet whose life stubbornly clung on.
"Lord Garp…... please speak. If I still have the life to return and see my father, I will deliver your words exactly as they are."
Kitsuchi panted heavily, forcing himself to speak through the pain.
"This war ends here. I don't want to hear about Iwa-nin stepping foot into the Land of Fire again.
If it happens next time, I will personally visit Iwagakure… and take a little stroll through the Tsuchikage's office."
Garp slowly crouched down, his tone calm yet carrying unquestionable dominance.
He wasn't requesting.
He wasn't negotiating.
He wasn't giving the Tsuchikage something to consider.
He was giving orders.
"Tsuchikage's son, do you remember my words?"
Garp stared straight into Kitsuchi's terrified, restless eyes, filled with hatred he didn't dare show.
"I remember..."
When Kitsuchi first heard Garp's words, anger surged up instantly.
But the moment their eyes met, that flame was drowned as if by the crashing waves of a boundless sea.
As long as Garp lived another day… as long as his strength remained untouched by age… Kitsuchi did not dare feel anger.
"Tsunade, treat his injuries. Don't let him die here."
A hint of satisfaction flashed in Garp's eyes as he stood and spoke to Tsunade.
"Yes, uncle Garp."
Tsunade behaved obediently, without the slightest trace of the arrogance or fiery temper she showed around Orochimaru or Jiraiya.
Though she hated Kitsuchi for taking part in the siege against her earlier, once Garp asked, she immediately performed medical ninjutsu on him.
The lower half of his body, crushed into blood and flesh by Garp's manual Tengai Shinsei, was beyond salvation.
Even if it weren't, she had no intention of healing it.
She only stopped the bleeding, preventing infection and further deterioration, then let the green glow fade from her hands.
"Uncle Garp, it's done," she said as she stood up.
"Let's go."
Garp smiled, gently patting Tsunade's head before turning toward the direction of the Land of Lightning.
"Uncle Garp, you're not going back to Konoha with us?" Tsunade asked when she saw he wasn't heading toward the village.
"I will return later."
Garp paused.
"Because of the Third Great Ninja War?" Tsunade pressed.
"Yes… but not entirely. To be honest, I had no interest in watching you children play at war.
But Sarutobi brat only has so much weight to throw around.
If I return now, he'll definitely send you to another battlefield sooner or later… and then I will just have to run out again."
Garp casually raised two fingers, vividly gesturing to show exactly how "much weight" Hiruzen words had.
"You're heading to the Land of Lightning, aren't you?" Orochimaru suddenly spoke after quietly observing Garp the whole time.
"Kids shouldn't ask so many questions. Hurry and drag your companion back to Konoha."
Garp waved dismissively before disappearing from the trio's sight without looking back.
"Orochimaru, take Jiraiya back to Konoha first. I'm going to assist uncle Garp."
Tsunade smirked slightly as she looked at Orochimaru.
"Why don't you take him? Among the three of us, you're the medical ninja," Orochimaru said impatiently, glancing at Jiraiya.
Compared to escorting Jiraiya back, he much preferred witnessing the fists that legends claimed made even Hashirama and Madara pale in comparison.
Miss this chance, and he might never get another.
"If I heard right, he specifically told you to bring Jiraiya back. Are you sure following him right now won't earn you a slap that sends you flying back here?"
Tsunade said with a half-smile.
As she spoke, she intentionally glanced at the basin-sized crater beneath their feet, created by Garp's manual Tengai Shinsei.
"Hmph..."
Orochimaru thought of Kitsuchi, the hundreds of dead Iwa-nin, and the terrible destruction.
He let out a cold snort, but sweat quietly gathered along his pale cheeks.
He had no idea what the legendary hero of the shinobi world was truly like…
But judging from earlier, his treatment under Garp was nowhere near Tsunade's.
Following recklessly now might really earn him a slap.
"That's better. It's not like anyone's stopping you from coming later. Once you get Jiraiya settled, who would block your way?"
Tsunade laughed lightly, then leapt off in pursuit of the vanished Garp.
"The hero of the shinobi world… a man who seems to have walked out of myth itself. Ah… what a pity."
With a sigh, Orochimaru stopped lingering. He lifted Jiraiya onto his back and disappeared from the battlefield.
Once Garp and the others were gone, the vast battlefield was left with only Kitsuchi, lying on the ground, barely clinging to life.
"It's all my fault… Why… why does a man like that still live? This era… doesn't belong to him."
When everyone was finally gone, Kitsuchi could no longer suppress the grief, fury, powerlessness, and despair boiling inside him.
He raised his head toward the sky and let out a long, guttural scream.
He knew. His revenge…
The revenge of the Iwa-nin whose bones lay buried here… None of it would ever be fulfilled.
After witnessing the godlike power Garp displayed with casual movements…
Though Kitsuchi lived, the will of stone, the pride, and the confidence of the Tsuchikage's son were buried here, together with the hundreds of dead Iwa-nin.