"Hiruko was captured alive by the Raikage?"
In the Hokage's Office, Sarutobi Toru was stunned when he suddenly heard the news from the front lines.
The Third Hokage took a slow drag from his pipe, then nodded. "That's right. Detailed intelligence from the front lines has already arrived."
"Kumogakure's Raikage used the Heavenly Transfer Technique last night to teleport himself to the foremost battlefield in the Land of Frost. Before our frontline forces could react, he exploited the timing gap. Hiruko had the misfortune of being chosen as the first target and was captured alive on the spot."
Sarutobi Toru curled his lip. Hiruko's luck really was terrible beyond measure.
Of course, that also had something to do with how outstanding he had performed on the front lines. He was a Wood Release ninja, after all! Otherwise, he would not have become the Raikage's first target.
"So what do we do now? Enter negotiations, or keep tangling with Kumogakure?"
"Mm, ultimately, we'll definitely have to negotiate with the Cloud Shinobi. But there's a major difference in who submits the request for negotiations first."
"It concerns the advantage we hold during future negotiations. Therefore, directly proposing negotiations now is definitely unrealistic."
Sarutobi Toru nodded. When two armies were at war, whoever proposed negotiations first was the side that could no longer endure. Naturally, they would lack confidence at the negotiating table.
Although Konoha held the upper hand in its battle against the Cloud Shinobi, Hiruko, the commanding general, had been captured. Thus, the current outcome of this war put Konoha at a disadvantage.
Though that was the result of the Raikage personally stepping in and bullying the young, no matter what, negotiating now would clearly do nothing to curb the Cloud Shinobi's arrogance.
"So, we must at least hurt the Cloud