The Ninja World's Banquet Table, Akatsuki Ninja Village Wants a Seat at the Feast

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

Tobirama Senju almost instinctively shouted his objection. There was no way he could agree to Uchiha Makoto's proposal. As a thick-skinned and ruthless man, Tobirama Senju clearly understood what benefits Konoha would gain if this plan were implemented: it could bring all the shinobi clans in the Land of Fire under its control without shedding a drop of blood.

Uchiha Makoto smiled without saying anything.

He naturally knew that Tobirama Senju could never agree to such a proposal. This involved Konoha's core interests, after all. But negotiation was all about asking for an exorbitant price first, then bargaining it down. This was merely laying the groundwork for his other demands later.

Such tactics were extremely common in negotiations.

The three of them then fell silent for a while. At a time like this, whoever spoke first would be at a disadvantage.

In the end, Tobirama Senju compromised. Circumstances had forced him to lower his head.

"Then let's do this. Konoha can join forces with Akatsuki Ninja Village to establish a mission distribution platform. After that, Konoha and Akatsuki Ninja Village will divide the missions belonging to their respective villages according to an agreed ratio."

To be honest,

Tobirama Senju had made a tremendous concession.

Before Tobirama Senju came to the Land of Fire, he had not even known that such a backwater shinobi village existed there. In fact, Akatsuki Ninja Village was still a backwater shinobi village for now. The entire village could barely scrape together a few jonin.

Uchiha Makoto was actually abusing his authority for personal gain. If he had not already secured the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire's support, then forcibly raising Akatsuki Ninja Village to Konoha's level and having it cooperate with Konoha would have been out of the question. At most, it could only eat some leftovers behind Konoha.

Uchiha Makoto nodded, accepting Tobirama Senju's proposal. Given Akatsuki Ninja Village's current situation, this outcome meant it had gained both face and substance.

"Then how should the missions be divided between our two villages?"

"It's better to make this clear right now."

"Let's tentatively set it at a three-to-seven split. Konoha gets seventy percent, and Akatsuki Ninja Village gets thirty percent."

Tobirama Senju paused briefly before stating the proposed division.

"No!"

"Fifty-fifty!"

Uchiha Makoto pressed his advantage, wanting to split the missions evenly with Konoha. When he did business with the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire, they always split things fifty-fifty.

"Impossible!"

"This is already the highest ratio!"

Tobirama Senju did everything he could to suppress his temper.

He would never agree to a fifty-fifty split. If not for the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire's sake, Akatsuki Ninja Village would not even have been qualified to sit at the table and eat in his eyes!

"Forty-sixty!"

"At worst, we can go our separate ways. Think carefully about Konoha's current situation. I can represent the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire's position. You can leave right now if you want. The Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire has already decided to support Akatsuki Ninja Village anyway. Even if Akatsuki Ninja Village has to handle this alone, we can still do it!"

Uchiha Makoto said this.

Of course, he was only saying it in front of Tobirama Senju.

This was a ruthless ploy.

Just because Konoha was capable of doing something did not mean Akatsuki Ninja Village was capable of it as well. He was not the God of Shinobi, after all. Those clans driven into a corner would not dare attack the nobles, but they would truly dare to assault Akatsuki Ninja Village.

Besides, even with a fifty-fifty split, Akatsuki Ninja Village did not have enough shinobi to handle so many missions. Thirty percent was already a huge number of missions. After all, that workload covered the combined missions of the entire Land of Fire and even the surrounding countries, while Akatsuki Ninja Village barely had anyone.

"What?"

"Nothing to say?"

Uchiha Makoto pretended not to care in the slightest. Applying maximum pressure was his specialty.

If Tobirama Senju really stormed off—

Hehe!

I was only teasing. Three-to-seven it is!

"No!!"

Tobirama Senju practically ground the words out through his teeth. Konoha was already suffering a bloody loss with a three-to-seven split. More importantly, he could not keep retreating in front of Uchiha Makoto.

Tch. He's pretty stubborn.

Uchiha Makoto felt somewhat disappointed. Trying to use tricks to gain even more advantages in front of Tobirama Senju was simply too difficult, so he changed his tone.

"Since that's the case, I'll take a step back as well."

"Considering Akatsuki Ninja Village's current small scale, we can temporarily implement a three-to-seven split. But this isn't set in stone. If Akatsuki Ninja Village grows larger in the future, the division ratio must be renegotiated."

"But in exchange for my concession, if Akatsuki Ninja Village is attacked in the future, Konoha must send troops to assist us unconditionally. This point will be written into the agreement and witnessed by the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire."

Uchiha Makoto also took a step back.

Akatsuki Ninja Village was still far too weak. It would take a long time to convert money into actual combat power. As the saying went, an innocent man came to ruin because of his wealth. Now that Akatsuki Ninja Village had become a rich target, it needed a powerful "backer" to protect it.

"Hmph. At least you know your limits."

Tobirama Senju snorted coldly. He had not expected Uchiha Makoto to change his attitude so quickly.

But he agreed to the matter nonetheless. He had great confidence in Konoha's current military strength. With Big Brother around, protecting an unknown little shinobi village would not be a problem. It was just that the fact that Akatsuki Ninja Village would nominally stand on equal footing with Konoha left him extremely displeased.

Thus, the two sides reached an agreement.

With the core issue settled, the remaining matters were much easier to resolve.

Uchiha Makoto, representing the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire, would recognize Konoha's existence politically and issue a statement. In turn, Konoha and Akatsuki Ninja Village would recognize each other's legal status in the Land of Fire. Upholding the principles of equality and mutual benefit, they would establish a mission distribution platform together.

The Land of Fire would implement a one-country, two-village system. Konoha and Akatsuki Ninja Village would jointly defend the Land of Fire and maintain the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire's ruling position there.

All of this was nearly identical to the original work, except for the addition of Akatsuki Ninja Village. Tobirama Senju had prepared extremely thoroughly. After looking over the proposal he had brought, Uchiha Makoto nodded and raised no objections.

"Tobirama Senju, how much financial aid does Konoha need?"

After finishing the political matters, the two began discussing the financial ones.

Building a shinobi village from scratch was simply too expensive. Uchiha Makoto had experienced this firsthand. Without financial aid from the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire, Konoha's days would be extremely difficult.

"As for the financial aid, I can represent the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire with full authority," Uchiha Makoto added.

Damn it. Could this naturally evil Uchiha brat have used genjutsu to control the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire? How can he make every decision? Once these negotiations are over and I meet the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire, I must check his condition!

Tobirama Senju thought this, and then Uchiha Makoto once again used the authority granted by the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire to seek more benefits for his own Akatsuki Ninja Village.

"Tobirama Senju, if you agree to work for me, I can actually take a more lenient attitude toward the financial aid Konoha is requesting."

Uchiha Makoto stared at Tobirama Senju and spoke slowly.