With a soft creak, the door to the room was gently pushed open. Ueno Kei appeared before Baki and the others. Baki showed little reaction, but Kankuro and Temari were slightly taken aback. Ueno Kei was simply too young. They had seen him during the Chunin Exams, but at the time, the two of them had assumed he was merely some young Chunin.
Yet now, he looked like one of the main figures here to negotiate.
Baki of Sunagakure naturally did not react the way Kankuro and Temari had. The moment he saw Ueno Kei enter, Baki stood up and greeted him with a smile. As one of Sunagakure's higher-ups, he knew Ueno Kei's status well enough.
This man was the Third Hokage's disciple and the current Fifth Hokage's junior brother. There were even rumors that he had escaped unscathed from Orochimaru's hands—though he had actually been seriously injured, but rumors were rumors. Furthermore, while this was internal information from Konoha, it was not particularly confidential. Thus, the higher-ups of many ninja villages knew that this boy, only one year old, was already the head of Konoha's Anbu. Great authority! Great strength! Great status!
Therefore, Baki did not dare show him even the slightest disrespect.
"Isn't this Kei-kun? It seems you are Konoha's representative for these talks, then?" Baki said with a smile. Before Ueno Kei, he placed himself in a very low position, even using honorific language. In truth, Baki had no need to do so. After all, he had come to negotiate on behalf of Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Villages.
But as the saying went, when under another's roof, how could one not bow one's head?
Sunagakure was currently in precisely such an awkward position. So even when facing someone like Ueno Kei, who could practically