"Then please stay. I'll take my leave now."
Outside the hall of the Kusagakure guesthouse, Watanabe Kensei stepped out of the room, turned around, and gave a forty-five-degree bow.
"Thank you. Please give my regards to the Third Hokage."
In response, Hada Kazune, who had come to see him off, stopped at the doorway and returned the bow as she spoke.
"Then..."
After those words, Watanabe Kensei raised one hand. With a poof, white smoke burst forth, and he vanished from where he stood.
After Watanabe Kensei left, Hada Kazune did not return inside immediately. She lingered thoughtfully at the door for a while before finally closing it and going in.
It seems this matter is more complicated than I imagined.
Still, we did come out ahead, and...
With a snap, the door closed behind her, but a worried look appeared on Hada Kazune's face.
To be honest, Watanabe Kensei's arrival this time had greatly improved their treatment. They were now basically receiving the full treatment afforded to an allied nation.
In fact, their treatment was even slightly better than that of Sunagakure, Konoha's current ally. Half of this entire guesthouse had been handed over for their free use, while across a corridor stood Konoha's other ally, Sunagakure, whose scale far exceeded theirs.
As for the other ninja villages, they had all been moved today to other guesthouses, where they were housed together.
Moreover, their treatment in every other aspect of daily life had been raised by an entire tier. It was treatment that a small ninja village could never possibly receive from any great ninja village. Starting today, Konoha would also assign Watanabe Kensei to handle all affairs related to Kusagakure's half of the guesthouse. Any request within the scope of an allied nation could be made to him.