With the demise of thousand high-ranked Iwa ninjas, the war came to a screeching halt.

Iwa was put on a heavy stopper since their ranks suffered immensely and their overall power dropped. Plus the families of strong and influential ninjas were usually other strong and influential ninjas. Needless to say, Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Butcher, as they started to call him in Iwa, became the public enemy number one. ​​

Despite everyone in Iwa wanting nothing more than to kill him, they didn't have enough power to continue the war. Many died, a lot of money was wasted, the country became poorer and the Daimyo was pushing for the war to end for almost half-year now. The loss of one thousand ninjas was just the last straw. A very painful last straw at that.

Iwa... ceased all hostilities.

Sunagakure gained a considerable edge at this time and could push deeper in Land of Earth territory but they had their own problems. The new Kazekage, Rasa, was utterly incapable of having a cordial relationship with the Wind Daimyo. In short, the village suffered a shortage of supplies and lacked monetary support.

Rei thought the Wind Daimyo was an idiot since the second Suna lost the war, his head would roll and the Land of Wind would either get a new ruler or collapse into a brutal civil war between the various nobles and their territories in the country. Both options were quite nasty... alas, the Wind leadership just didn't see it.

This made Rasa unable to continue the war and also cease all hostilities with Iwa. In short, Suna was now out of the war and exactly nothing changed between Iwa and Suna from what was before the war. No borders were redrawn, no monetary satisfaction was paid, nothing. The war was a complete waste of time and lives. The only thing that really changed was that both villages were now weaker... this having a much worse effect on Iwa than Suna. Then again, Suna was much weaker than Iwa initially anyway.

Kumo was complicated. They wanted to continue warring, if only against Konoha but since the 3rd Raikage died, A, the new Raikage wanted to hear nothing about a more offensive approach. Especially after the debacle near the shores of the Land of Earth where thousands of Kumo troops were destroyed by mercenaries of all things. That sealed the deal and Kumo became defensive in nature.

As for Konoha... nothing changed. Through the entirety of the war, they were on the hard defensive, creating stalemates and barricading their enemies from attempting to cross the border of the Land of Fire. Rivers of blood flowed to ensure the war was fought in smaller countries between the major nations.

And while the war was as good as over when Minato triumphed against Iwa's last offensive, for the next few months, a sort of a cold war continued since no peace treaty was signed. The date of such signing was currently in a month in the Land of Iron. Half-year the countries just sat on their eggs, watching and waiting for what would happen while trying to preserve whatever strength they had remaining. And when they realized their enemies had no strength to continue... only then was decided the war would end.

Konoha however cemented their position as the strongest nation and as the one that came out on the top in this conflict, the second Minato became the Fourth Hokage. There was an incredible blockade to that by the Uchiha clan that wanted one of their own as Hokage, the Hyuuga that wanted a clan ninja other than an Uchiha as the Hokage, and surprisingly by the Aburame and Inuzuka clans that didn't think having someone with such a ridiculous Bingo Book picture should represent the village. After all, Minato did become a sort of a laughing stock all over the nations despite his SS-rank. One peek at his Bingo Book picture and nobody would take him seriously.

This meant Minato was on the edge. The most influential clans didn't want anything but say fuck you to his face for various reasons while the Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and many clanless shinobi wanted him in the office. Surprisingly the Ino-Shika-Co clans decided to stay strictly neutral in this conflict. Well, the Nara clan did and everybody knew who called shots in that particular alliance.

And then, much to Yozora's amusement, it all came crashing to the decision of the Senju clan. With the influence Tsunade's clan had in Konoha, her word could either make or end Minato's career. And Tsunade did exactly as was expected of her. She safeguarded Rei's interests and made sure to get a whole lot of concessions for herself by giving Minato her vote. In short, come the next war, she would not even be expected to help Konoha and they were utterly unable to make a missing-nin out of her. Considering the economical advantages in favor of the Biri-Biri company she asked for... Minato ended up wanting to rip his hair out after that particular meeting with 'old blond greedy hag'.

Needless to say, he underestimated the range of Tsunade's hearing and was… reprimanded for such an insult. Poor lad couldn't leave his bed for a week due to pain. Thankfully, it took only a week for Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the entire council to succeed in begging Tsunade to finally heal Minato's injuries that even the best of the best medic-ninjas in the village couldn't heal.

The second the war officially ended, Tsunade would be out of the village too without anyone being able to stop her, no matter what kind of law or regulation they pull. No way was Rei having his sweet gentle Tsu in the village when Kyuubi gets ripped out of Kushina and this way it would at least be all legal rather than having Tsunade run away and depend on Hiruzen's softness for his students.

Minato became the Fourth a week after his legs were finally pulled out of his ass, nobody said Tsunade was particularly merciful, and that meant Konoha had SS-rank ninja as the Kage and the God of Shinobi as someone who could move freely. Hokage, after all, could not leave the village for long periods of time either due to his administrative obligations or because he was the main protector of the village. But with Hiruzen no longer being the Hokage and his newfound ability to be sent into the field...

Yup, the war really ended in the favor of Konoha, now it only had to be officially documented. No matter what Kumo would like to proclaim, they didn't have enough firepower to even utter a word against Konoha and other nations didn't either. In the end, Konoha once again prevailed as exceptional ninjas rose during the conflict, their path paved by the rivers of Konoha fresh blood. As usual...

And while the other nations were preparing to attend the treaty meeting, the Mizukage was preparing to attend the treaty meeting AND schemed one last stunt during this war. After all, no village would have their respective Kage in their village since every single one of them was heading to the Land of Iron shortly and as long as his plan happened before he put his signature on that damn paper saying the war was over, nobody could legally say anything to Kirigakure about being underhanded. As if he left the killing of Himeno unanswered.

Little did the Mizukage and the other leaders of villages knew... he was not the only one seeking to take advantage of Kageless villages.