Settled

The Land of Wind, Sunagakure.

On the morning of the second day, Konoha's envoys, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, appeared calm on the surface, but their hearts were bleeding.

In contrast, the two advisor elders of Sunagakure, Grandma Chiyo and Ebizo, looked worried and sighed repeatedly as they entered.

"Oh, Sand Ninja, I really don't know how you're going to get through these next few years."

At this moment, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had a "WTF" in their hearts that they didn't know whether to say or not, but the two of them took a deep breath as they returned to the negotiating table.

Utatane Koharu slowly put down her teacup, and decided to be frank, saying in a deep voice, "We don't need to beat around the bush regarding the battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools."

"After the Third Shinobi War, Sunagakure and Konoha formed Alliance. Now, Konoha needs its ally Sunagakure to restrain Iwagakure."

They didn't give the other side any more chance to stall for time; after all, time was of the essence, and they needed to end the turmoil on the border as quickly as possible.

The Nine-Tails' Rampage and Orochimaru's actions, both extremely damaging incidents, have not only severely harmed Konoha but also caused turmoil on the border. Konoha urgently needs to end the Border Instability as quickly as possible to give the Konoha time to recover.

"Stone Ninja? It's not that our Sunagakure is unwilling to fulfill our obligations as allies, but we simply lack the resources. The village has no extra funds, and moreover, our Ninja Academy is preparing to implement Elite Plan."

Faced with Utatane Koharu's directness, Chiyo also spread her hands with a bitter face, "We're broke. The Sunagakure is so poor these days, there's nothing we can do to help."

Utatane Koharu scoffed inwardly, but her face remained calm and unreadable. She spoke in a deep voice, "We are well aware of the Sunagakure's predicament, therefore we are willing to reduce our annual mission quota by five percent."

They didn't mention at all that this was a treaty of defeat, but instead said they would take five points less from the twenty percent share you provided to Konoha.

Before Chiyo could say anything, Ebizo next to her, immediately showed an excited expression and said directly to his sister, "Sister, with five points of mission workload, the annual funding will finally be enough to buy the kids at the Ninja Academy a decent set of clothes and Tool Pouch."

"What a shameless bastard!" Koharu Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura cursed inwardly upon hearing Ebizo's words. Wasn't this blatantly saying he was just trying to fob off a beggar with this meager treat?

Ebizo sneered inwardly. "You think you can get us to defend against Iwagakure just by returning five percent of our mission load? Dream on."

"The Land of Fire occupies the most fertile land in the Shinobi World and possesses countless abundant resources, while our Land of Wind is plagued by sandstorms and suffers from severe shortages of various resources. We hope that Konoha can be lenient and abandon the war mission treaty. Our Sunagakure is willing to form an eternal Alliance with Konoha and stand with Konoha through thick and thin."

Grandma Chiyo immediately put on a pitiful, elderly look, as if to say, "You're all so wealthy, do you really need these little things from us? Don't bother taking them."

How shameless! They talk so nicely, but all they want is to take back all these tasks. It's blatant extortion.

"Ahem, it's not that Konoha is unwilling, but the losses from the Third Shinobi War were so great that almost all of these missions were allocated to the major clans in Konoha that suffered the heaviest losses. We have no choice but to accept it."

Mitokado Homura appeared helpless in his explanation, but a hint of toughness emanated from him. The profits from these missions had already been divided up, and now you want them all? Do you think the major ninja clans of Konoha would agree? Trying to snatch such a lucrative prize from the ninja clans will only provoke them to start First Shinobi War with you.

Just haggle like crazy, as if anyone can't do that.

"Alas, the sandstorms of our Sunagakure, our children..."

They kept talking back and forth, with Sunagakure constantly complaining about being poor. Both sides were arguing and bickering, and in the end, they both stuck to the same point about the bargaining chips, neither willing to back down.

"Twelve percent."

Only eight percent.

By the end, both sides were red-faced and their necks were thick with anger. Their initial restraint had long since disappeared, and the two old women Utatane Koharu and Chiyo, were staring at each other across the table.

"Utatane Koharu, you want us, the Sunagakure, to keep the Iwagakure in check for you? Everyone in the ninja Shinobi World knows how strong the Iwagakure. As for an 8% share of the mission, we Sand Ninja can at most cheer them on. As for sending troops to intimidate them, don't even think about it. The Sunagakure is so weak, this small benefit isn't worth us taking such a big risk."

Chiyo angrily spread her hands and said, "We've already gotten down to business, why are you still talking about being reserved? If you get it, you'll be a hero."

Utatane Koharu, seeing Chiyo's shameless demeanor, sneered coldly, "Chiyo, don't put it so harshly. The Sunagakure is so weak because you started this war against us without provocation. You only have yourself to blame, eight percent! If the Sunagakure agrees, we can still be allies."

"If you disagree!" Utatane Koharu retorted with a cold laugh, feigning weakness, "Just as you said, Konoha enjoys the greatest resources in the Shinobi World. We can afford to wear them down, but none of you can sit back and watch us and the Mist Ninja wear each other down while you recuperate?"

"Since you're going to drag this out, then let's drag it out together!"

"Do you want war?!" Chiyo's eyes widened, filled with a threatening gaze, while Utatane Koharu coldly snorted, "Do you dare? Or does Ōnoki dare?"

Diplomacy between the two countries relies on the deterrence of military force. Only under such circumstances can friendship be discussed. Without the support of force, you are just a piece of fat meat, and no one will talk to you; they will just take a bite out of you.

Seeing Utatane Koharu's blatant provocation, Chiyo glared angrily and said, "Fine, if that's how it is, then go back. The Sunagakure cannot accept Konoha's kindness. But rest assured, under our Alliance, the Sunagakure will not attack Konoha."

The last sentence is utter nonsense; it's like they don't take action openly, so no one knows what they're doing behind the scenes.

This is just a contest of courage. Anyway, our Sunagakure is so poor, who's afraid of who?

Chiyo gritted her teeth and thought, "Damn it, I don't believe Konoha would really dare to fight the Four Great Ninja Villages at a cost. They'll just end up benefiting a small country."

"Alright, calm down. We represent two great ninja villages."

"Exactly, exactly, sister, why are you still so impulsive?"

Mitokado Homura and Ebizo stepped forward, each trying to smooth things over with smiles. Both sides played the same game, one acting as the good cop and the other as the bad cop.

"Nine percent, that's the most we can go." Utatane Koharu looked like she was gritting her teeth, as if she were saying that this was the limit for Konoha. It seemed so real. But after the arrival of Iwagakure yesterday, they discussed with the Third Hiruzen Sarutobi, and relaxed the initial bottom line of ten percent to thirteen percent.

Seeing Utatane Koharu's furious expression, Chiyo said to Ebizo with a sense of frustration, "Brother, even if we get back 20% of the mission quota, our Sunagakure won't be doing well. With the Daimyo cutting funding, we're suffering."

"Twelve percent, that's really the lowest we can go. Your Konoha clan is so powerful and wealthy, this is nothing to you, but for us Sand Ninja, it's nothing short of a life-saving grace."

First, she pleaded poverty, then immediately put on an act of gratitude, saying, "If you give me a little more, I'll be eternally grateful." Chiyo completely abandoned all pretense of saving face; both sides were truly pulling out all the stops.

As they shamelessly argued and complained about being poor, Mitokado Homura and Ebizo eventually took turns bargaining.

"Eleven hundred and fifty percent."

"Eleven hundred percent it is. We, the Sunagakure, for the sake of our friendship with Konoha, for our eternal Alliance, will do it."

After countless exchanges and heated debates, finally, when the sun was high in the sky, both sides reached a mutually acceptable agreement.

Chiyo and Ebizo, beneath their smiles of "for our Alliance and friendship," secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed they would have to put on a good show to defend Konoha against Iwagakure. However, the painful part was Iwagakure's demand for 3% of the mission's share. Fortunately, Stone Ninja only needed it for five years, after which it would all be theirs.

Meanwhile, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, on the Konoha side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief beneath their forced smiles. At least their bottom line of 13% had been breached, mitigating 1.5% of their losses. Over time, that adds up to a lot of money.

What they saved was what they earned; they had reduced the village's losses. If the situation hadn't been so urgent, they could have pushed the price even lower.

The battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools was extremely brutal. Under the policy of the Mist Ninja's Bloody Mist, almost all Mist Ninja were desperate criminals. Although the Konoha side was on the defensive, due to the dispersed forces, although there were no huge casualties, almost everyone was injured due to the continuous attacks by the Mist Ninja for three days.

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!"

The fighting on the battlefield came to an end with the arrival of Konoha's reinforcements. One by one, Konoha Ninja transferred from the rear charged into the battlefield with high morale. Although the number of reinforcements was not large, their quality was definitely elite.

If someone were to pay close attention, they would notice that the reinforcements this time were almost all elites from Orochimaru's old guard. It could be said that the battlefield of the Land of Land of Whirlpools had become a gathering place for Orochimaru's former elite forces.

The advantage of doing this is that, with the arrival of Shin'nosuke Sarutobi, he can place his own people everywhere along the border defenses facing the Land of Water, and the elites who were once his obstacles are now being deployed to the front lines to provide support.

After Konoha's reinforcements landed, they quickly began to rush to the aid of various battlefields.

In the war-torn forest, dazzling Ninjutsu danced, Explosive Tag roared, and countless hidden weapons flashed, turning this place into a veritable Forest of Death.

"Fat pig, something seems off about your Great Sword: Samehada."

In the dark, damp forest, Uchiha Yoruro, wielding the Kusanagi Sword, revealed a mocking smile. A tiny fragment of Great Sword: Samehada in his opponent's hand, could be seen on the blade—this was only because he had stopped fighting at the last moment.

As the two clashed with their ninja swords, Suikazan Fuguki turned extremely ugly. He suppressed his anger and said in a low voice, "Kid, you've been keeping this a secret. Just say what you want."

Although Suikazan Fuguki has a rough appearance, he is an extremely cautious and meticulous person despite his rugged exterior. The fact that he has not publicized his attempt to steal Great Sword: Samehada, and that he has deliberately held back in the clash of weapons during their current fight, clearly indicates that he has a conspiracy.

At Uchiha Yoru's signal, Suikazan Fuguki let out a cold snort with an extremely ugly expression. Then, as he suddenly appeared to be wounded and transformed into Water Clone, a thick white mist immediately rose in the forest.

Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique

Despite the thick fog, the sounds of clashing swords still echoed through the forest, but with their vision obscured, the two had shifted from delivering deadly blows to holding back and putting on an act.

"The mistake of losing the Great Sword: Samehada is something even you Suikazan Fuguki, can't bear."

Upon hearing this, Suikazan Fuguki's face turned even more ashen. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were elite ninjas who carried out highly difficult missions for the successive Mizukage. Legend has it that the seven of them could conquer a small country in a single night if they joined forces.

This is an inheritable title in Kirigakure (Kirigakure) of the Land of Water. It can be said to be a title based on a sword, and these seven ninja swords are the symbol of Kirigakure, making them extremely significant.

The responsibility of losing a ninja sword would likely have made most people want to defect, but Suikazan Fuguki, holding a high position, was reluctant to give up his current status and believed there was still a chance to reclaim it.

When Suikazan Fuguki saw the other party's sinister smile, although he was filled with anger and resentment, he was also secretly relieved. It seemed that this brat had secretly gone into hiding and had not reported it. There was still a chance for things to turn around. The interests between individuals are different from those between countries.

If this knife is reported to involve the two major ninja villages, then his situation will become very serious, and it will be beyond the control of the two of them.

But this is clearly a private matter between the two of them, driven by nothing more than self-interest. It's far better than letting the village know he lost his ninja sword. Suikazan Fuguki knows the importance of the ninja sword very well. If his secret is exposed, even if he survives, he'll never be able to shake off this disgrace, and he'll never be able to stay in his position.

"Kid, what do you want? Ninjutsu? Secret techniques?"

He knew the other party's identity clearly; with the Uchiha Clan behind them, how could they possibly lack money? So there were only two possibilities.

Seeing Suikazan Fuguki suppressed rage as he questioned him, Uchiha Yoru revealed a sinister smile. He would use this as leverage for the rest of his life.

"Ninjutsu and secret techniques? Do you think I lack them? Or are you looking down on my Teacher Orochimaru, or rather, looking down on the Uchiha Clan's heritage?"

With a sarcastic smile and a question, the Suikazan Fuguki glared angrily and hissed, "What exactly do you want, brat?"

"I need people!"

When Uchiha Yoru's voice came, Suikazan Fuguki widened. He didn't think the other party wanted him. In the Shinobi World, the people who were often mentioned were probably either Kekkei Genkai ninjas or some young geniuses.

"Impossible! You want my Mist Ninja's genius boy. I would never betray the village. Forget about it!"

Despite the angry rebuke from Suikazan Fuguki, who seemed like a loyal and devoted man willing to sacrifice everything for the village, Uchiha Yoru, who was well-versed in the original story, revealed a mocking smile.

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