Prelude to the Coming Storm

"I heard someone visited you last night." Pakura squinted, his smile somewhat insincere.

Sakura Haruno wasn't surprised that he found out so quickly; it would have been surprising if they hadn't been monitoring the residence!

"Then I quickly kicked him out," the girl said calmly.

She had not formed any illicit relationship with those people, so she had no reason to feel guilty and answered Pakura's question frankly.

"Oh, really?" Pakura carefully examined the open and honest Sakura Haruno, then didn't press further. "That's good."

"Don't worry, I'm always on your side," Sakura Haruno said, hands on her hips. "The smugglers think they can sway me with some paltry sums? They just have a vivid imagination."

Pakura chuckled.

"You have a rather vivid imagination..." he repeated, then asked, "What kind of benefits would entice you?"

"At least let me gain power comparable to the Sage of Six Paths!" The girl blinked her clear eyes and smiled. "Alright, never mind that. What's the plan for today? Didn't the Mizukage manage to subdue them yesterday?"

"A bunch of blockheads, don't bother with them." Pakura said with a wry smile, "Let's just show our faces in the conference room first. Once the meeting starts, they're bound to start arguing, and then Mei Terumi will use that as an excuse to let us out. That'll be our chance to slip away and carry out our mission!"

Sakura Haruno stared at him intently.

"It's really rough around the edges," she complained.

Pakura shook her head dismissively. "As long as it works. Let's go!"

They had arrived at the conference room door of the Mizukage Building, and the five of them pushed the door open and went inside.

"Ah, the envoy from Konoha has arrived." The Grand Elder turned his head and said calmly, "Welcome."

Though he offered a welcome, the Grand Elder's tone carried a hint of sarcasm.

Sakura Haruno glanced at him dismissively and gave him a disdainful smile.

The air still seemed thick with Yakumi. When the five people sat down, Sakura Haruno clearly felt that the entire conference room had been divided in two. One half of the people had friendly eyes, while the other half had cold eyes, and no one knew what they were thinking.

The arrival of Sakura Haruno's Team brought a brief pause to the heated argument for about ten seconds. Once they were seated, the Mist Ninja resumed their bickering, completely disregarding the fact that the Konoha ninjas were still watching.

Amidst the heated argument, the students in Sakura Haruno's Team were somewhat at a loss.

"Look, this is the result of our discussion yesterday." Pakura leaned closer and whispered in Ying's ear.

"Are all these dissenters from the Suikazan Clan?" Sakura asked softly, lowering her head and covering her mouth.

"Some of them come from the Suikazan Clan and the Aono clan, which they have a marriage alliance with. Others have either been won over by their favors or deceived by them, believing their words to be true. These people can be won over; they are not die-hard loyalists of the Suikazan Clan," Pakura whispered in reply. "That's why we need to gather evidence and win people's hearts."

Sakura glanced around; the argument among the Mist Ninja was escalating, and some had even started resorting to personal attacks.

She couldn't help but shake her head. Facts are the standard for testing truth. Just like online debates, sometimes you can't get the truth out of words. Often, the debate will escalate into insults and personal attacks, as if they think that by discrediting and defeating their opponent and proving that he is a fool, they can also prove that his words are unreasonable.

Online insults can escalate to offline fights, a scenario with many precedents in my past life. However, if the debaters are ninjas, further escalation could become very dangerous...

"When will the mission begin?" Sakura Haruno asked, a bit of a headache in her eyes.

Pakura glanced at Mei Terumi's face on the stage and said, "It's almost time. The Mizukage is barely able to contain his anger."

He was right. Sakura looked over and, sure enough, her face was drooping with depression, like a volcano about to erupt at any moment.

On the other side, Pakura had already started the countdown: ten, nine, eight,...

Based on his deep understanding of Mei Terumi, he figured that when the countdown reached one, that would be when she would lose her temper!

... three, two--

Bang!

A loud slam on the table instantly silenced the commotion! The ninjas present were startled, stopped arguing, and turned to look at the person who had slammed the table on the platform.

--It was actually the Grand Elder!

Mei Terumi face contorted with anger, also looked over in surprise. The First Elder snorted coldly and rebuked the crowd below, "Look at yourselves! Arguing like this in front of the Mizukage and the Konoha envoy—what kind of decorum is this!"

Sakura Haruno secretly rolled her eyes. Wasn't it you who directly challenged Mei Terumi yesterday? Stop pretending...

The Fifth Mizukage remained silent, watching the Grand Elder's performance. He then said, "You're making such a racket, are you two about to start a fight? Chunjiao, Zhicheng, you've even drawn your swords! Who gave you the audacity to try and harm your fellow villagers?"

The two most impulsive ninjas in the audience immediately snapped to attention, sheathed their weapons, and sat down with their heads drooping in fear.

After a few reprimands, the order in the conference room immediately eased considerably, demonstrating the Grand Elder's formidable power.

He then looked to the other side. "Tomoaki Aono, I think you're the one arguing the most. What's there to argue about? Show yourself in public!"

Mei Terumi's lips curled into a cold smile as she looked at the Grand Elder.

It's quite a lively scene with everyone singing in unison!

Whatever tricks they try to pull at the meeting, it'll all be a farce after today; she'd like to see what kind of trouble they can cause!

Tomoaki Aono stood up, his face still flushed with excitement, and shouted, "I just stated a fact, and they insulted me and even tried to attack me with a knife!"

"The acting is quite realistic," Sakura Haruno scoffed, dismissing it with disdain.

The elder lowered his eyes slightly and slowly said, "What did you say?"

"I, Konoha, have only lost a dog bone, yet some people in our village are so lowly as to crawl on the ground and gnaw on it like dogs!" he shouted.

Mei Terumi frowned slightly.

Upon hearing this statement...

The entire room was astonished!

This is blatantly offending half of the Hidden Mist Ninja Village, even the Fifth Mizukage was called a lowly dog who eats handouts!

Sakura Haruno and the others were not spared either. In this set of excuses, the four of them became useless bones sent out by Konoha at will!

Sakura closed her eyes and took two deep breaths before suppressing the urge to immediately pounce on him, pin him to the ground, and give him a good beating. He'd already been beaten twice; hadn't he learned his lesson?

Mei Terumi's eyes were already showing a hint of killing intent. Was she about to break off all ties by openly insulting the Mizukage and half of the Mist Ninja?

She glanced at the Grand Elder, her eyes narrowing slightly with a dangerous glint in them. The latter rebuked her sharply, "Insolence! Who taught you to speak like that? Ran Aono, Ichikou Aono, what kind of sons have you raised? Drag them away!"

Two ninjas suddenly stood up from their seats, their faces contorted with anger, and stepped past the crowd to drag their son away who had uttered such outrageous words.

But before his parents could arrive, Tomoaki Aono spoke rapidly, "The last time Konoha sent someone to visit our village, they had Sharingan and Byakugan, and even the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake! They valued us so much! But after seeing the state of our village, they immediately sent a pretty but useless girl with three immature children! Don't you understand what they mean?"

The two men had already reached Tomoaki's side, but instead of pulling him away, they let him go. "Gentlemen of the Mist Ninja, what do the people of Konoha Mist Ninja us for! Establishing diplomatic relations is such an important matter, and they send such insignificant pawns! Look at them, do they look like high-ranking ninjas? And they dare call themselves the Hokage's disciples! It's clear that Konoha has no sincerity in establishing diplomatic relations with us. They—"

"That's utterly contemptible!"

"Should we really be so eager to curry favor with a diplomatic ally that they turn their backs on? We, the Mist Ninja, are not that despicable!"

After Tomoaki finished speaking, his father slapped him twice across the face and dragged him away.

A poor performance.

Sakura Haruno coldly watched Tomoaki being dragged away, her expression indifferent. The three students behind her, however, were trembling with anger, but dared not utter a word.

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat strange; quite a few people actually thought his words made sense, their eyes darting around as they whispered among themselves.

Others, including Mei Terumi, remained indifferent and watched from the sidelines.

The elder waited a moment before speaking, "Although Tomoaki Aono's words were crude and full of contradictions, I also have the same question... I would like to ask the envoy from Konoha."

He looked at Sakura Haruno, and their eyes met in mid-air.

"Ask away." Sakura's eyes were as cold as frost.

"Many people in the audience probably have the same question: Is Konoha really looking down on us?"

"So, you're questioning my strength, thinking that Konoha just sent some random Chunin and Genin to negotiate with you, and therefore you don't take me seriously, right?" The girl turned to the crowd below the stage and smiled.

Sakura found it amusing. Those people had already tested her strength once last night and knew she was quite capable; now they wanted to confirm it again! Did they think Tomoaki Aono was too weak to gauge her power?

Or... is there some other conspiracy?

Everyone present turned their attention to Sakura Haruno.

Sakura and Pakura exchanged a discreet glance, and the latter nodded slightly.

"It's very simple. Anyone who doubts that I'm not a Konoha Jonin or questions my strength can fight me and test my abilities firsthand. That way, you'll clearly see how much Konoha values you!"

Whatever schemes you have, you can try them out and see if you'll be smashed to your head in the face of absolute power!

Sakura Haruno's smile became unusually dangerous!

(Second update! Guaranteed minimum update/.)

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