Stealing the Heavens and Replacing the Sun

"Continue your explanation."

The Third Raikage could not simply storm off after all. The fact that the Hidden Leaf Village had obtained information regarding Ginkaku and Kinkaku was entirely beyond his expectations, so he had no choice but to compose himself and wait for Sanshao to continue.

"On the surface, this requires a significant shift in the Cloud Village's front lines, but in reality, it does not. You only need to redirect the forces currently deployed in the Land of Fields and the Land of Sound toward the Land of Grass. Once our two nations sign a treaty, those two areas will no longer require such heavy troop concentrations."

That was stated quite simply. Sanshao was truly well-versed in the essence of political negotiation: speaking nonsense with a straight face.

The Cloud Village already had defensive lines in the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Frost. If they extended this line to the Land of Grass, they could effectively isolate the Hidden Leaf Village from Iwagakure. Who would have guessed that such a small maneuver would be of such great help to the Hidden Leaf?

However, there was one point in Sanshao's proposal that differed from Hanyu's original suggestion: she did not overly insist on Cloud Village forces inserting themselves into the Land of Rain. On one hand, that would stretch the Cloud Village's supply lines too thin; on the other, the Land of Rain was different from other small nations, especially in recent years, as it had shown subtle signs of rising power.

Although Amegakure could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Five Great Shinobi Villages, its strength far exceeded that of ordinary small villages. Currently, the village was fighting a two-front war against Iwagakure and the Hidden Leaf, so it was impossible for Iwagakure to infiltrate the Land of Fire via the Land of Rain.

After a moment of thought, the Raikage asked, "If we truly redeploy our defenses according to your suggestion, what about the supply issues? Will the Hidden Leaf provide us with free supplies, or allow our supply convoys to pass through the Land of Fire?"

"How could that be possible?" This time, it was Sanshao's turn to speak. Let the Cloud Village's supply convoys pass through the Land of Fire? What if they decided to do something while on Land of Fire territory? Not to mention anything else, what if the Cloud Village "accidentally" dropped the Eight-Tails or Two-Tails jinchuriki into the Land of Fire? If the jinchuriki happened to have a lapse in judgment while passing through and wanted to transform to relax, who could blame them?

Even if such a thing happened, for the sake of the greater good, the Hidden Leaf would have no choice but to endure it and swallow the losses—one had to remember, the current Hidden Leaf Village no longer had Senju Hashirama.

"However, in emergency situations, we can sell you supplies at cost, or even deliver them to your front lines," Sanshao added, taking a step back.

The Raikage shook his head. He was joking; he had only mentioned the supply issue to dampen the Hidden Leaf's negotiating momentum. Never mind supplies at cost—even if the Hidden Leaf delivered free supplies to the Cloud Village's doorstep, would they dare eat them? Who would be responsible if they were poisoned?

Do not speak of scheming or deceit, and do not call the Raikage narrow-minded or paranoid, because if such an exchange were to actually occur, the Hidden Leaf would truly take the opportunity to poison them... That is simply how it is between villages. If such a golden opportunity presented itself, would one even be worthy of being a Hidden Leaf ninja if they didn't poison a few Cloud Village shinobi?

"If you are concerned about the movements of the Mist Village, we can help you monitor them in exchange. We could even establish a joint surveillance agency to achieve intelligence sharing regarding the Mist Village," Sanshao added immediately, seeing that the Raikage still wanted to speak.

The Raikage's excuse was effectively blocked. At this moment, he finally realized that the Hidden Leaf's "suggestion" was not a whim, but a calculated move. Its purpose was to force the Cloud Village to tilt its power toward Iwagakure, and they had even devised a strategy to help the Cloud Village resolve its "worries" regarding the Mist Village... If the Raikage continued to prevaricate, it would easily cast doubt on his sincerity regarding the alliance. After all, while the Hidden Leaf's suggestion was beneficial to them, it was not harmful to the Cloud Village.

The Raikage had no choice but to take things one step at a time. "In principle, we can adopt your suggested defensive deployment, but we cannot make a final decision until you provide an explanation regarding Ginkaku and Kinkaku."

Sanshao glanced at Mitokado Homura and Kagami Uchiha. Seeing them nod slowly, she prepared to reveal the news about the two rogue ninja. "This is a classified matter. It would be best to tell the Raikage alone."

This request made the Raikage realize that the matter of Ginkaku and Kinkaku was likely not simple, so he kept only one person by his side and dismissed the other Cloud Village ninja.

This was the Cloud Village; he was not worried that the Hidden Leaf ninja would pose a threat to him.

"Before the Second Hokage sacrificed himself, he successfully killed your village's rogue ninja, Ginkaku and Kinkaku," Sanshao said only after most people had left.

The Cloud Village had already anticipated that the Hokage was dead, as it would have been difficult for him to escape the pursuit of a large number of elite Cloud Village ninja led by Ginkaku and Kinkaku. However, what the Raikage did not expect was that Ginkaku and Kinkaku had also died.

The Third Raikage was overcome with fury. It turned out that the Hidden Leaf's seemingly serious negotiation was merely a mockery of him. "I wanted the rogue ninja alive! Dead ones are meaningless! What is there to talk about then?"

His gaze finally turned vicious and predatory. Ginkaku and Kinkaku had to be killed by his own hand so that his position as Raikage and the stability of the Cloud Village could be secured. But now he was told that these two tools had already died at the hands of the Second Hokage. What was the point of the Hidden Leaf's elaborate negotiation?

"Wait!" Sanshao quickly reached out to stop the Raikage, who was about to turn and leave. Kagami Uchiha then stood up, his scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan activating.

The Raikage's guards immediately stepped in front, looking at Kagami Uchiha with murderous intent.

But Kagami did not reveal his eyes to start a fight; he wanted to prove that the Hidden Leaf had the ability to accomplish certain things. He said to the Raikage, "Ginkaku and Kinkaku are already dead. Arguing about how they died will not help, but as long as it can be proven that they died at your hands, then they died at your hands... As long as you bring their bodies and those powerful ninja tools back to the village, no one will doubt the authenticity of your punishment of the rogue ninja. Then, your problems—and the Cloud Village's problems—can all be resolved."

Ginkaku and Kinkaku had died at the hands of the Second Hokage, but there were ways to make others believe they had died at the hands of the Third Raikage, such as... the Sharingan and Uchiha genjutsu before him.

The Raikage could no longer suppress his anger; high-intensity lightning chakra began to flicker on his body... These outsiders from the Hidden Leaf actually wanted him to claim the Second Hokage's achievement as his own? No self-respecting powerhouse would allow such a thing to happen to them.

"Raikage!"

Just before he could strike, the guard standing beside him placed a hand on his shoulder. The clear, steady gaze of his companion instantly extinguished the Raikage's towering rage.

That single word, "Raikage," made the Third A realize his identity. He was neither a warrior who worshipped glory nor a simple ninja; he was a Kage who bore the rise and fall of an entire village. As the military head of a nation, he was a heavyweight political figure. For the sake of the village's interests, there were times when they had to endure humiliation.

Now, it seemed it was the Third Raikage's turn to endure for the sake of the village.

He slumped back into his chair and said to Sanshao and the others, "Let's end today's negotiation here. I will carefully consider your suggestions."

He had never imagined that he would be pushed to such an extent by the Hidden Leaf's delegation.