Gaara

Inside the Kazekage Building.

Gaara, the newly Kazekage, received Konoha's envoys, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha.

"Congratulations, Gaara," Sakura said with a smile, her hands clasped tightly together. "Oh no, I should say, Fifth Lord Kazekage!"

Then Sasuke stepped forward to shake hands and offer his congratulations.

Gaara smiled faintly, "Thank you... However, please don't address me so formally. Just call me by my name or the Fifth Kazekage."

Please have a seat.

"So, what brings you here from your village?" He sat back down at his desk, placed his hands flat on the table, and asked calmly.

"Can't we just simply attend the ceremony and congratulate you on becoming the new Kazekage?" the girl smiled gently.

"It's not that I don't trust you..." Gaara said in a deep voice, "It's just that these are turbulent times. Everyone chose me because they sensed the undercurrents hidden beneath the calm surface of the Shinobi World and hoped that someone could protect them."

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance, and the latter nodded, stepping forward to hand Gaara the invitation to the Chunin Ninja Exams and Tsunade's handwritten letter.

"An official invitation to the Chunin Ninja Exams?" Gaara took the document, unfolded it, glanced at it, and nodded. "We've already prepared for this year's examinees; we can depart next week."

He put down the invitation, opened another envelope, and began to read, his brow furrowing slightly.

Will the Kirigakure also participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams held by Konoha?

"Yes, that's right," the girl nodded. "The Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi, will also be attending the Chunin Ninja Exams."

"The number of allied nations is increasing... It seems everyone has realized the threat posed by 'Akatsuki'." Gaara continued reading with a serious expression, "Sakura, please tell the Lord Fifth Hokage that I will go to Konoha as promised."

Unlike Mei Terumi, Gaara read the letter very carefully, his expression remaining calm throughout, only occasionally furrowing his brow. After a while, having finished reading the entire letter, he looked up and said to Sakura Haruno, "Apart from the matter of going to Konoha to observe this year's Chunin Ninja Exams, which I can confirm immediately, we need to discuss the other matters further."

The letter contained many things. In the past, Sunagakure was leaderless, and the elders could not reach a consensus on some issues, so they kept delaying. Now, finally someone can make decisions.

They were piled together, and several long pages were written on them.

"Let's start with the trade between the Land of Wind, Sunagakure, and the Land of Fire, Konoha."

Gaara gets into character very quickly.

Although he had a good personal relationship with Sakura Haruno and others, when negotiating with the Kazekage envoy as the Konoha, he always kept his responsibilities in mind and did not let personal relationships affect his official duties; when encountering problems, he would argue his case and strive for the greatest benefit for Sunagakure.

"We fully agree to restarting the export of special minerals from Sunagakure. However, the price you offered is a bit low." Gaara produced a list and said, "Regarding the price increase, the former Kazekage and the Third Hokage actually agreed on a new price list, which should have been signed and implemented. However, due to his death, it remained unresolved. Now that I have become the new Kazekage, it is time to officially implement the new price list."

"This is the result of an agreement reached two years ago between the former Kazekage and the Third Hokage of your village." He handed over the list.

Sakura Haruno took the order, glanced at it, and frowned slightly. "The price is too high. This was the price agreed upon two years ago, but now it's too expensive. I've already replaced both sides with new Kazekage and Hokage, and besides, this result hasn't been finalized."

She smiled demurely, "Therefore, I believe the previous outcome is still open to discussion, and negotiations should begin anew."

In any world, trade between two countries prioritizes protecting their own interests and is based on national power. To put it simply, the stronger country generally gains an advantage; even if it doesn't immediately, it will always get its revenge later.

During the Third's reign, Konoha experienced numerous events and was at a low point in its strength, while Sunagakure and the Land of Wind had recovered considerably from the previous war—otherwise, they wouldn't have harbored malicious intentions. However, after the Konoha Crush Incident, Sand shinobi suffered heavy losses, while Konoha did not suffer much damage. Instead, it welcomed back Tsunade and saw many new talents emerge, Sakura Haruno's generation, which seemed to be restoring the glory days of its former glory, with a multitude of talented individuals and numerous masters.

With this shift in power, the balance of power between the two countries has returned to its previous state of Konoha being stronger Sand shinobi Village.

That's why the price of Sakura Haruno is "too high".

In reality, the subtext is that the balance of power has shifted; Konoha is now Sand shinobi Village, and the price list agreed upon by the previous Kazekage and Hokage is no longer valid.

In a relatively straightforward bilateral relationship, the rise and fall of national power will be directly reflected in these matters.

Furthermore, even if the negotiation results from that year were not ultimately signed, as long as they were signed in black and white, the Land of Fire and Konoha, as powerful nations, still had reason to renege on their agreements.

Moreover, when this matter is investigated, it is still the fault of the Sunagakure.

Why weren't the negotiations signed back then? Wasn't it because the Fourth Kazekage Konoha, under the guise of attending the ceremony and signing a contract, was actually secretly plotting a war to attack Konoha?

Unfortunately, he died before he could achieve his goal; the Fourth Kazekage was killed by Orochimaru on his way to Konoha.

In short, this can be seen as the Sunagakure effectively abandoning the results of the negotiations, so the documents Gaara presented could naturally be regarded as worthless by the Konoha.

The reason behind this was perfectly clear to Gaara, the Kazekage, and the high-ranking members of the Sand shinobi.

Gaara's ability to casually produce these documents was merely an initial probe.

However, Sakura was not a naive child after all. She had lived for several decades in total across her two lifetimes and had already experienced a similar situation once in the Mist Ninja, so she was not easily intimidated.

If I really can't think of a way to refuse her, then Tsunade didn't authorize this, so let the Kazekage and the others go to Konoha to discuss it again.

"The price isn't high anymore," Gaara. "There's a reason for the price increase. Some special metal materials, like Gold Dust, were created by the previous Lord Kazekage using the Magnet Release secret Ninjutsu. Now that he's passed away, our village no longer has anyone capable of using the Secret Technique to produce Gold Dust on a large scale, so production has drastically decreased, and we can only manufacture small quantities."

"If we continue to export at the old prices, we might as well not export at all."

As the Kage of a village, he is also responsible for producing valuable materials to subsidize the village's finances, which is quite unique in the Shinobi World.

Based on Sakura's experience, the last person she knew to do this was the daimyo of the Land of Snow Kazahana Koyuki, who made money for her country by making movies.

However, this also proves that ninjas were a highly productive unit, not just for combat.

Especially for ninjas at the "Kage" level, in their areas of expertise, one person is more than capable of operating a large factory.

The Magnet Release of Sunagakure has not been lost, just as the Fourth's Flying Thunder God Technique can still be used by the Fourth Hokage's guards. However, that level of Magnet Release is not very efficient for producing Gold Dust. Sand Ninja has never considered training specialized production-type ninjas to research this manufacturing Ninjutsu. They can only use combat ninjas to inefficiently produce Gold Dust, which is a waste.

The production of ninjas, or even workers possessing Chakra and mastering specific manufacturing Ninjutsu, might be the next direction of change in the Shinobi World; according to textbooks from my previous life, a significant increase in productivity always has a profound impact on production relations...

At the meeting, Sakura Haruno didn't delve into that topic; she focused her energy on the heated debate with the Fifth Kazekage and other high-ranking Sand Ninja.

The principle remains the same: when it comes to them, they claim they lack the authority. The Sand Ninja Village can't do anything about it either. After all, Konoha is much stronger than them now. If they want to seek their own space in the alliance, they have to play by Konoha's rules; if they can't defeat Konoha in war, they shouldn't expect to win against Konoha at the negotiating table.

Of course, Sakura Haruno knew that Konoha wouldn't Sand Ninja too hard. Tsunade's approach was to hope for a win-win situation, as this kind of alliance was more likely to last; playing a zero-sum game and taking all the advantages would easily turn allies into enemies...

Konoha and Sand Ninja, as allied ninja villages, are not always harmonious and often have many conflicts, ranging from trade imbalances to border clashes. These are issues that the new Kazekage will face after taking office. As Konoha's "brother" and the weaker party in the alliance, how should Sand Ninja conduct itself? Should it be subservient or arrogant?

At least from Sakura Haruno's perspective, Gaara handled the situation well, being both reasonable and dignified, which is truly rare.

He's clearly a very calm person with a clear mind, knowing what he needs to do, and is completely different from Naruto.

The scrutinizing look in the eyes of the Gaara who were assisting him gradually disappeared, indicating that Gaara's outstanding performance had dispelled many people's concerns.

Of course, as envoys of Konoha, Sakura Haruno and her companions would not betray Konoha's interests for the sake of their friends' personal feelings. They kept a clear distinction between public and private matters.

The meeting didn't end until the sun was setting.

Since Gaara will be going to Konoha soon, most things will have to wait until then to be resolved, allowing the Kage to discuss them face-to-face. This meeting is just a warm-up for both sides, a way to gauge opinions and lay the groundwork. It concerns the vital interests of the ninja villages, and the relationship between the two sides, and even the three sides after the Mist Ninja joins in the future, is complex, so no matter will be decided easily.

"That concludes this session." Gaara smiled slightly, signed the memorandum, and stood up to announce the end of the meeting.

Everyone shook hands in greeting and then left in an orderly fashion. Gaara led Sakura Haruno out of the conference room.

"This is your second time visiting Sunagakure, right? How about I show you around the village?"

(Guaranteed update 1/. I'll leave yesterday's two chapters and today's remaining chapter unfinished~)

(Because of various things, I've been a couch potato for two days~ I'll tell you that in order to get inspiration, I devoured several books that I'd been saving for a long time, and I couldn't put them down, so I was too lazy to write!)

(I'll end my lazy bum life tomorrow!)