Striking First

Hozuki Shingetsu's calm voice echoed through the room. His three questions made every Uzumaki elder present tense up.

This is bad. He's got us cornered!

Everyone there knew Hozuki Shingetsu was just being difficult. At most, Uzushio Village had received word that Kirigakure was sending people only two or three days ago. Contacting Konoha in such a short time, then having them send people to choose a location and lie in wait—unless every step had gone off without a hitch, it would have been impossible.

What's more, Uzushio Village had no reason to fall out with Kirigakure. Though Uzushio Village and Konoha were traditional allies, that didn't mean they were joined at the hip. And even if Kirigakure was Konoha's enemy, Uzushio Village would only help Konoha defend against foreign invaders, not help it seize new territory.

With the Shinobi World in such turmoil, Uzushio Village, with its sparse population, needed to be extra cautious. At the very least, it couldn't become the spark that ignited the Second Shinobi World War.

That was the logic of it, but the words were another matter.

After all, as an envoy from Kirigakure, Shingetsu had unquestionably been ambushed by outsiders on their territory. That was an objective fact. The key question was how the information had leaked, and no one knew. Unless someone in Kirigakure had leaked it amid internal strife, from an objective standpoint, Uzushio Village was indeed the likeliest culprit.

At this point, the many Uzumaki elders present couldn't help but feel displeased with Konoha. The two villages were allies, but you sent people to cause trouble on my territory without telling me first. Do you really think so little of me?

And if you were going to send people, fine—but they got killed instead. Four against one, and they still lost. If you're that useless, why try to ambush anyone?

And to make matters worse, they were captured alive, leaving no room for an explanation.

That was far too sloppy!

Uzumaki Takumi couldn't help but sigh at the thought. Unless Uzushio Village truly intended to fall out with Kirigakure, as Hozuki Shingetsu had suggested, they would certainly have to placate him.

As for how to do that, it was simple.

"Ahem, why don't we discuss the details of the exchange first?" At Uzumaki Takumi's signal, the Uzumaki Elder beside him stepped forward and smoothly changed the subject.

Hozuki Shingetsu knew when to stop and didn't push his luck. This sort of thing was only useful for making a show of force. If they really dug into it, Kirigakure had no solid ground to stand on either.

"Here is the list of goods we're prepared to offer in exchange. Please take a look, Daimyo."

As Hozuki Shingetsu spoke, Karatachi Yagura handed over the list written in Ren's own hand.

Uzumaki Takumi took it and looked it over. For the most part, the goods Kirigakure could offer in exchange were money, food, and a selection of secret jutsu.

However, it was obvious that the total value of the goods on the list fell somewhat short of the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki sealing technique held by Uzushio Village. Uzumaki Takumi also understood that this was nowhere near Kirigakure's bottom line. They were waiting for him to bargain.

Ren had to be given credit: he'd done a very good job of keeping up appearances. At least an outsider wouldn't be able to spot anything amiss from the list.

"You've come a long way, and you've just been through a battle. You must be exhausted. Shoshi, take them to rest. We can discuss the details in a couple of days."

After giving it some thought, Uzumaki Takumi decided to put things off for now. Whether they should trade with Kirigakure was something he needed to discuss with Konoha first. He also needed to inform Konoha about what had happened here and warn Sarutobi Hiruzen not to reach so far into their affairs.

Otherwise... the Hokage was no longer a Senju. Whether Uzushio Village should continue its alliance with Konoha was something that needed careful consideration!

Besides, what to trade and how to trade were questions that couldn't be settled in a moment.

Hozuki Shingetsu and the other two had just followed Uzumaki Shoshi out the door when they turned back and came in again.

"By the way, I forgot to hand this one over to you."

As he spoke, Hozuki Shingetsu made a show of handing Aburame Ryoma, whom he was holding, to an Uzumaki clansman nearby. Just as the man was about to take him, Shingetsu drew a senbon from his ninja pouch with his right hand and drove it into Aburame Ryoma's head in full view of everyone present!

"On second thought, if I just hand him over like this, outsiders might think Kirigakure is afraid of Konoha—that we'd even let someone who tried to assassinate us get away with it. If we did that, wouldn't every Tom, Dick, and Harry try to kill me from now on?"

Hozuki Shingetsu slowly pulled out the bloodstained senbon, ignoring Aburame Ryoma twitching at his feet as he smiled.

"I think a corpse should be proof enough that he was from Konoha, shouldn't it?"

Uzumaki Takumi opened his eyes and rose to his feet. His face was stern, and a tremendous force surged from him.

He'd killed someone right in front of him. Did Shingetsu take him for a dead man?

At Uzumaki Takumi's movement, all the Uzumaki clansmen present stood up as well, their eyes fixed on Hozuki Shingetsu.

Seeing this, Karatachi Yagura and Yukinagi immediately raised their weapons and went on guard.

The atmosphere instantly grew tense.

"I only killed an assassin. Does the Daimyo's reaction prove my point? Does Uzushio Village really intend to move against Kirigakure?"

Hozuki Shingetsu seemed calm on the surface, but inside, he was uneasy too. He could feel it from Takumi's presence: besides being the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools, Uzumaki Takumi was also the leader of Uzushio Village and the head of the Uzumaki Clan—a powerful shinobi who'd seen countless battles.

Perhaps Hozuki Shingetsu's words had done the trick. After the tense standoff had dragged on for a while, Uzumaki Takumi coldly uttered two words.

"See them out!"

Having achieved his goal, Hozuki Shingetsu didn't press his luck. He obediently followed the Uzumaki ninja out of Tenshukaku.

Though he'd come hoping to win the Uzumaki Clan over to Kirigakure, he couldn't lower himself from the start. Acting like a groveling sycophant would only make people look down on him. Instead, he needed to show his strength at the right moments. Only by taking a firm stance could he give the Uzumaki Clan some sense of security when Uzushio Village faced a crisis later on.

As for whether the Uzumaki Clan might kill him on the spot if things went wrong... as long as Uzushio Village had no intention of joining Konoha, and as long as Kirigakure didn't threaten Uzushio Village's core interests, Uzushio Village would never take the initiative to attack Kirigakure.