---Third POV---
If it was Edo Tensei, then there would be nothing he could do. The conditions for Edo Tensei were too lax, and Black Zetsu, who ran away before the war even started, must definitely have a backup of Madara's DNA.
To be safe, Ryouma still gouged out the Rinnegan, which had been sliced in half in Madara's eye socket. Without hesitation, he clenched his fist and crushed the Rinnegan.
Then, he continued to form hand seals, releasing blaze flames, burning Madara's body to ashes. If he could still come back after this, then Ryouma would admit defeat.
Next, it was time to deal with the meteor in the sky. Ōnoki was able to hold it off, but it looked like he couldn't move it away.
After roughly estimating the distance, his Rikugan instantly calculated the best point of impact.
He slightly bent his knees to gather strength, and with a bang, he shot up. The massive recoil force cracked the earth beneath, spiderweb-like fissures spreading rapidly in all directions.
---
Up in the air, Ōnoki was still pondering how to land the meteor safely, when he suddenly felt a cold breeze rush past his back.
Turning around, his heart skipped a beat.
Ryouma is charging toward me?
But he wasn't senile yet, he quickly realized Ryouma was aiming to destroy the meteor.
After sending another wave of chakra into the meteor, he immediately flew downward.
The meteor slowly descended, just as Ryouma shot up into the sky to meet it head-on.
The golden chakra rapidly expanded, enveloping half the meteor.
Ryouma actually began rapidly ascending with the entire meteor!
Once the Iwa outpost on the ground had shrunk to a mere speck, he figured he had reached the right altitude.
The golden chakra clung to Lostvayne, forming a massive golden sword that slashed across the sky. A golden slash mark appeared across the meteor, followed by countless fine cracks spreading over its surface.
BOOM!
The fiery orange explosion dyed half the sky in brilliant clouds of flame. Tons of debris scattered and rained down. But with the Rikugan's calculations, all of the fragments were nearly identical in size and would burn up completely upon reentry.
"Whew~"
Not accelerating his fall with golden chakra, Ryouma calmly enjoyed the sensation of free-falling from high altitude. The rushing wind felt like a masseuse, soothing every tense muscle in his body.
BANG!
A giant crater was left on the ground where he landed, and Ryouma leapt out of it.
"Partner!" Shukaku lunged over and hugged Ryouma tightly, rubbing up against him. It had already returned to its original size, making such gestures effortless.
"Alright, Shukaku, put me down first."
"Let me hold you a bit."
While Ryouma played around with Shukaku, Minato arrived with the other three tailed beasts.
Feeling the aura occasionally sweeping across the air, Son Gokū couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
"Human, your chakra is incredibly strong."
Upon hearing this, Shukaku proudly said, "My partner is the one prophesied by the Sage of Six Paths. It's only natural he has chakra like this."
"What?!" Isobu widened its single eye. "He's the one the Sage talked about? Why didn't you tell me last time?"
"Did I not?" Shukaku squinted, thinking hard, it seemed it really hadn't mentioned it. It had been too busy worrying about its tail getting wet in the lake at the time.
Seeing this, Kokuō quickly asked, "Then do you know what the true power really is? And in what form we tailed beasts should exist?"
"Um, well…" Shukaku had no idea. Whenever it was with Ryouma, it was either fighting or just eating and having fun in Konoha.
Still, a beast couldn't lose its pride, and since it had already talked itself up this far, it certainly couldn't just shrug and admit it didn't know.
"True power, huh? It's when my partner and I become one. Yep, that's it."
The more it spoke, the more confident it became. Its firm tone actually startled the other three tailed beasts into silence.
Ryouma ignored Shukaku's bragging and instead turned to Minato.
"Captain Minato, is Madara's summoning beast's vessel still around?"
"It disappeared," Minato replied with a shake of his head.
"Mm, probably summoned away by that plant guy."
That was within Ryouma's expectations. The Rinnegan's summoning priority for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was extremely high, regular sealing techniques couldn't stop it.
This was also why he chose to eliminate Madara immediately after extracting the tailed beasts' chakra.
Tap tap tap～
Footsteps echoed as the surviving Iwa ninjas began approaching the tailed beasts' location after seeing the meteor shattered.
Minato raised his hand cautiously, flicking out a Flying Thunder God kunai. "Even now, do you still intend to fight?"
"No, no more fighting," Ōnoki quickly waved his hand, replying, "There's no need for further battle."
He wasn't stupid, he wasn't about to start a fight with someone who just crushed Madara head-on. Especially not when Iwa had lost two jinchūriki. At this point, surrendering and preserving the village's strength was clearly the smartest option.
"Soon, I'll send people to Konoha to sign a peace treaty. This ninja war should end now."
Ōnoki couldn't quite bring himself to say the words "Iwa surrenders", but everyone present was smart enough to understand what he meant.
As the leader of a village, his words held weight. Minato sheathed the kunai and smiled kindly.
"That's wonderful news. This war really should come to an end."
"Indeed." Ōnoki nodded and looked toward the brightest figure on the battlefield, literally. "What happened to Madara?"
"He's dead," Ryouma replied bluntly.
Ōnoki trembled at those words, feeling as if a massive weight had finally been lifted from his heart.
"Thank you."
"Don't get the wrong idea. Madara was a missing-nin from Konoha, killing him was my duty." Ryouma didn't feel he deserved thanks. If these Iwa ninjas had survived the aftermath, that was their own luck and ability.
"Konoha's foundation really is something to be jealous of…" Ōnoki glanced at Ryouma, then at Minato, filled with envy.
In terms of sheer ninja numbers, Iwa didn't fall behind any village. But when it came to genius-level talent, Iwa had only his son Kitsuchi, who had decent strength, but his personality wasn't suitable for a successor, and he himself wasn't interested anyway.
Just then, at the center of the battlefield, a spatial vortex slowly appeared.
"Ryouma, I'm here to save you, huh? Where the hell am I?" Obito had just come out from Kamui's dimension, only to find himself staring at a massive lake, the former Iwa stronghold nowhere in sight.
Giant rocks littered the landscape, deep ravines crisscrossed the ground, there wasn't even a flat surface in sight.
"Obito!" Minato called out.
Obito turned toward the voice and finally saw Ryouma and the others standing together.
"Ryouma! That's great, I knew you'd be okay!" Obito ran over and bumped fists with Ryouma, his face full of excitement.
"By the way, what's the situation now? Where are the enemies? And what's up with these Iwa ninjas? Whoa, Shukaku, you've gotten huge... and ugly."
"Ugly?! You're getting more disrespectful to me by the day!" Shukaku clenched his fist, tempted to punch this fool.
"To put it simply, here's what happened..." Minato briefly explained to Obito what had happened since he left.
---
"So that's how it was resolved?" After listening to Minato's account, Obito was full of regret. "Damn, I didn't even get to see the fight!"
"Alright, Obito. What about Jiraiya-sensei? Is he okay?" Now that everything had been settled, Minato was most concerned about this.
Obito patted his chest and said, "Don't worry. I sent him straight to Konoha Hospital. Other than some excessive blood loss, his life isn't in danger."
Hearing that, Minato finally let out a sigh of relief. The war was over, and the people close to him were safe, nothing could bring greater peace of mind.
"Well then, about the Four-Tails and Five-Tails…" Ōnoki looked a bit hesitant and asked tentatively.
"Oh, good point. You reminded me." Ryouma clapped his hands and looked at the remaining three tailed beasts.
"I suggest you all come live in Konoha from now on. With my protection, at least you won't have to worry about being caught again and used as batteries. And I won't have to go through the trouble of rescuing you."
To ordinary ninjas, the power of the tailed beasts was overwhelming. But in the eyes of true powerhouses, they were not much different from oversized toys.
Setting aside the future threat of the Ōtsutsuki clan like Momoshiki, there was still Black Zetsu lurking around. Who knew when Edo Tensei Madara might show up again?
Instead of waiting passively for Madara and his crew to catch the tailed beasts and restart everything, it was better to keep them close and protected under watch.
"Since Shukaku says you're the one the Sage of Six Paths prophesied about, I'm willing to follow you." Kokuō was the first to agree to Ryouma's suggestion.
"Haha, I'll go with you too. I hope you really are that person." Son Gokū might appear rough on the outside, but it was actually sharp. Now that even the Ten-Tails' shell had surfaced, if they didn't find someone strong to rely on, they would be wandering out there and surely get caught.
"I'm willing too." Isobu was the first one captured and had spent enough dark, suffocating days inside the Ten-Tails' shell. Thinking of that, it gave Shukaku a side-eye. This dumb tanuki, no wonder Kurama couldn't stand it
If Shukaku had told it earlier that this human was the one from the Sage's prophecy, it would've gone to enjoy life in Konoha already, instead of being beaten up and stuffed into the Ten-Tails' shell.
"Wait… You guys too?" Shukaku was struggling to keep up. This was supposed to be its moment to brag to the other tailed beasts, so how did it suddenly turn into a recruitment drive?
It turned to look at Ryouma's shoulder and imagined having to fight three other tailed beasts for space. No way, that was not happening.
"I object!"
"Objection overruled, Shukaku." Ryouma had already made up his mind: as long as the majority of the tailed beasts stayed in Konoha, he wouldn't have to worry about the Ten-Tails being forcibly revived by gathering the chakra of the remaining seven tailed beasts. He could just wait in Konoha and catch the enemy when they came.
After all, time was on his side. Ideally, Black Zetsu would spend a few more decades planning, and by then, he'd be fully geared up and more than ready to protect the tailed beasts.
"Oh, right." He suddenly remembered Ōnoki had just called him. "Tsuchikage-sama, what was it you wanted to say to me?"
Ōnoki twitched the corner of his mouth and forced a kindly smile. "No, it's nothing. I'm very reassured with the tailed beasts being placed in Konoha."
But deep down, he was crying. After all, they had paid real money to buy those tailed beasts from the First Hokage back in the day. But there was nothing he could do. Ryouma hadn't even dismissed that golden chakra cloak yet, what did that imply? It meant that if he said anything the wrong way, that golden meteor would come crashing down on Iwa. And he didn't believe Iwa had any means to defend against the current form of Ryouma.
"I'm fine with Konoha protecting the tailed beasts, but I do have one condi—uh, I mean, one request."
"It's great that you're so understanding. If there's something you need, just tell me." Ryouma replied with an easy smile.
Having lived with Tsunade for so long, he'd picked up a bit of her bold and generous nature.
Seeing how approachable he was, Ōnoki didn't hesitate anymore and got straight to the point.
"I would like to hire you."
"Oh?" Ryouma raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What for? Just so you know, I don't take long-term missions."
With Iwa's surrender, the shinobi world had finally entered a rare period of peace, and Ryouma had no interest in burdening himself with long-term tasks.
"Of course not. What I want is for you to become my granddaughter's teacher."
"Your granddaughter? How old is she now?"
Ryouma couldn't quite remember the details on Kurotsuchi, but judging by Deidara's age, she couldn't be more than five or six.
"Kurotsuchi just entered the Ninja Academy," Ōnoki said honestly.
"Right, then let's wait until she graduates. If you still have that intention at the time, I can consider taking her as a student."
Ryouma could more or less guess Ōnoki's motives, he was clearly trying to strengthen ties with Konoha, now that Konoha had grown so powerful. This world was never short of schemers trying to overturn the balance of the Five Great Hidden Villages.
But he had his own view. A kid that young leaving home to study under him in Konoha? That was some old-school melodrama stuff. A child should just stay home and study. What he said just now was more of a polite brush-off.
"Since you've said that, I'll focus on training her. When she's qualified, I'll send her to become your student." Ōnoki had only intended to bring it up for now anyway. His plan was to wait until she was older before sending her to Konoha.
Although it was common in the shinobi world for students to end up killing their teachers, in reality, teacher-student relationships were one of the strongest forms of alliance-building in the shinobi world. They often leaded to things like succession to the Kage position or inheritance of unique clan techniques.
30 advance chapters!
/Malphegor