The Raikage Who Missed Every Course

Those who participated in signing the peace treaty knew the reason. They clearly remembered that at the negotiating table, the Iwa ninja representative said something like this.

"Our Lord Tsuchikage said that the Fourth Raikage currently thinks we're really going to war, so he's still watching the show. Once he realizes we're just playing house, there will probably be another unreasonable, big oaf at the negotiating table."

After the Iwagakure envoy finished speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Konoha's negotiator, looked extremely displeased. He felt that his decades-long Hokage career and countless years of negotiation experience had suddenly become useless.

Of course, these words had a clear effect, and the subsequent negotiations went very smoothly. The Land of Fire paid the Land of Rain a huge sum of money for reconstruction.

They also paid a mediation fee to the three kingdoms of Earth, Wind, and Water. After all, the three kingdoms had all deployed a certain number of troops to mediate the conflict between Konoha and Akatsuki Organization, so they had to pay some of the military expenses.

Furthermore, the Land of Earth, as the leader of these negotiations, also made Hiruzen Sarutobi and others agree to designate a small area within the Land of Fire that borders the Lands of Fire and Earth of Land of Earth as a free trade zone jointly managed by the two countries.

Although the Akatsuki Organization received compensation for the Land of Rain incident, it cannot be said that they profited, since the Dark Akatsuki suffered too many losses of peripheral members, including the death of their official member Juzo Biwa.

The Dark Akatsuki Organization was completely paralyzed. Yahiko and Nagato discussed it and decided to sort out the ninjas within the Akatsuki Organization, sending any members who might be intelligence ninjas from other countries to the Dark Akatsuki. Their first priority was to rebuild the Dark Akatsuki's organizational structure.

Thanks to Yichen's timely arrival and Rasa's decision not to wage war, the Land of Rivers was unaffected by the conflict. Although the Land of Rain was impacted by the war, the fighting mainly took place at the Land of Rain's Dark Akatsuki base, so the overall impact on the Land of Rain was not significant.

Therefore, although Yahiko and his two companions suffered a significant blow, they did not give up on building up the two countries.

The Mist ninja gained a considerable advantage without doing anything, greatly mitigating the various negative impacts of the Karatachi Yagura period.

At least many ninjas in Kirigakure who initially didn't really accept Kisame Hoshigaki have begun to truly accept this Mizukage.

Although it's obvious to everyone that Kisame Hoshigaki might have connections with Iwa ninja and likely has Iwa ninja backing, since he brought victory and tangible benefits to Kirigakure, everyone reluctantly accepted him serving as Kisame Hoshigaki Iwa ninja a while when Mist ninja was weak.

Ironically, this is the first diplomatic victory for the Mist ninja in all these years. Previously, Mist ninja had failed in both war and diplomacy.

Kisame Hoshigaki's decisive dispatch of troops to threaten Konoha was, of course, based on Yichen's advice.

Although it's uncertain how long this underling from the Mist ninja clan will remain obedient, it doesn't stop Yichen from giving him a little taste of the benefits, letting him know that following his big brother brings rewards. This way, when faced with the real choice of betrayal in the future, he'll hesitate for a few more days.

While the Sunagakure may not have gained much, Sunagakure actually benefited the most. Their situation is much better than before. With the Sunagakure Dark Akatsuki Organization severely damaged, the Sunagakure faces far less threat from neighboring countries.

At least until the Dark Akatsuki is fully restored, the Sunagakure can develop in peace.

The fact that the land exchange between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers was recognized by all parties at this negotiation table is the biggest gain for the Sunagakure.

The Sunagakure have opened up a path for external expansion that had been blocked by the Akatsuki Organization. The Sunagakure truly feel that the rich land of the Land of Fire is right before their eyes, within reach.

The Iwa ninja mainly received practical benefits; of the mediation fees allocated by Konoha, the Iwa ninja received the most.

At the negotiating table, after the representative from the Land of Earth spoke, the representatives from the Land of Rivers and the Land of Water followed suit without hesitation, which greatly pleased the daimyo's envoy.

Therefore, the Daimyo allocated an extra sum of military funds to Iwagakure, ostensibly to protect its two subordinate villages Land of Rivers and the Land of Water.

Konoha was naturally the biggest loser, having truly ceded territory and paid reparations. After this incident, Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige in Konoha plummeted.

Of course, Hiruzen Sarutobi had anticipated this, and he promptly handed over all his power to Tsunade, even relinquishing his position as advisor.

Tsunade then promoted one of her trusted confidants.

At this point, Tsunade will have three people in the Konoha High-ranking Officials Meeting: herself, Shikaku Nara, and this newly appointed confidante.

Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura together only make up three people.

As the Tsunade, Hokage originally possessed more power than ordinary advisors, thus finally gaining a dominant position in the decision-making of major events in Konoha Tsunade.

So even though Konoha suffered a huge loss this time, Tsunade seemed to be in high spirits, feeling that her chance to show her true colors had finally arrived.

Besides Konoha, there was another person who also felt that they were at a disadvantage.

That was the Fourth Raikage, who didn't even get to eat a single dish.

The Raikage wants to emulate the Iwa ninja and act as a predator. He has already secretly gathered his forces, waiting for the war to break out. When the time comes, regardless of whether it's the Iwa ninja, Konoha, or Mist ninja, as long as one of them shows a weakness, he will not hesitate to pounce and take a bite.

But who would have thought that these people, who were shouting so enthusiastically as if a major battle was about to break out, would end up straining their backs the very next moment?

If I had known you weren't planning on fighting, I would have gone to Konoha to scavenge for some loot.

The Raikage felt he had lost a large sum of military funds.

The Raikage was even more upset when he heard that even a minor member of the Mist ninja clan had received a large sum of so-called mediation fees.

The Iwa ninja, Sunagakure, and River ninja at least participated in the chaos in the Land of Rain. What makes the Mist ninja think they can get a share of the spoils just by joining in the fun?

This Ninja World is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.

Back when my father was teaching me, he never mentioned that ninja warfare involved such maneuvers as "fighting before the battle even begins."

While the Fourth Raikage was furiously smashing his desk, Yichen was in a meeting counting his spoils of war.

The proceeds from this Iwagakure were divided into three parts. The first was the equipment left behind by nearly two thousand Konoha ninja who died in the battle. Of course, Yichen only took the best part of it.

It must be said that Konoha's ninja foundation is quite good. The equipment that Yichen obtained, when put together, can raise the strength of at least twenty Anbu Squad in Iwagakure to a higher level.

Aside from equipment, the Konoha ninja didn't carry many Ninjutsu Scroll. Konoha's objective this time was clear: to fight. So, except for a few who might have special circumstances, the other ninjas didn't bring Ninjutsu Scroll.

The second part is the supply for Konoha's 2,000 Ninja Army. Although these supplies are not as high-quality as those in the first part, they are plentiful.

In times of war, that would be enough for several thousand Iwa ninja to use for a month or two. In peacetime, it would be enough for the entire Iwagakure to use for about a month.

Seeing these supplies, Ming was very satisfied; this was real money. Saving such a large sum of money could allow for so much research.

The third source of income was Konoha's mediation funds. However, Konoha was in financial straits, so apart from a small portion in cash, the remainder was paid in the form of Ninjutsu and supplies.

Konoha promised Iwagakure ten B-rank ninja villages and one A-rank Ninjutsu.

Yichen proposed exchanging several Yin-Yang Release Ninjutsu, but Konoha refused, and they eventually exchanged them for Genjutsu. Of course, this time the Genjutsu was a true B-rank Genjutsu that could be used in actual combat.

Yichen immediately handed over these B-rank Genjutsu to Katsuya and Natsuki, hoping that their research on Yin Release would proceed smoothly.

Iwagakure has made great progress in recent years, but behind the surface of its prosperity, the village's expenses are actually enormous, far exceeding those of the past.

In the past, Iwagakure didn't need to spend a lot of resources on one person every day to train in Senjutsu.

Each training session in Senjutsu requires a large amount of money and resources, and this has become a fixed expense for Iwagakure.

Ever since Yichen learned the method of absorbing Natural Energy from the Giant Panda, the Iwagakure has been setting up Natural Energy Seal almost every day.

The initial research and the intensive training during critical periods may require dozens of drills every day.

This expense was terrifyingly large. Even the Tsuchikage Yichen, dared not calculate the cumulative cost. It was a figure no less than that of waging a Fourth Ninja World War.

Currently, in Iwagakure, Senjutsu training is conducted twice a day. One session is for Ikura, and the other for Matsutani Shinya.

Unfortunately, the original order of training in Senjutsu in the village was Yichen, Ōnoki, Dango, and Ikura. Now Yichen, Ōnoki, and Dango have completed Senjutsu training, and it's Ikura's turn, but then Matsutani Shinya joined them.

The village faces immense financial pressure, a situation difficult for outsiders to comprehend.

This is just one of many studies conducted by Iwagakure.

Of course, other research methods are much less expensive than Senjutsu. These include Lightning Release, Genjutsu (which has recently been upgraded to Yin Release), Medical Ninjutsu, Sealing Jutsu, Hand Seals, Sharingan, Byakugan, Space-Time Ninjutsu, and so on.

That's why Yichen wanted to keep causing trouble and shamelessly went around making money.

This truly proves the saying that the economic base determines the superstructure.

Iwagakure is able to support such a large expenditure thanks to the Daimyo. The Land of Earth has developed rapidly in recent years, both militarily and economically, so the Daimyo is very satisfied with Iwagakure and is never stingy with funding.

Yichen's sole purpose in taking charge of Iwagakure is to seize resources from other countries to develop his own strength. The more resources he seizes, the faster he develops; the less he seizes, the slower he develops. It's blatant imperialist thinking.

Therefore, although Konoha's participation in the Land of Rain incident, which was initiated by Iwagakure, was not particularly high, their High-Level Meeting lasted for an exceptionally long time.

With Tomoko by his side, Mei carefully calculated all the income, including the two sums of money allocated by the daimyo. One sum was the money Mei obtained when he went to the daimyo to explain the situation of the military deployment.

Another reward was given by the daimyo to his envoy because he felt the Land of Earth's international standing had risen at the negotiating table and told the daimyo about it.