Rain Village's Fence-Sitting and the Substantive Expansion of the Security Framework

The air in No. 3 Meeting Room seemed to have frozen.

Chiyo leaned against the back of her chair, her entire body as limp as if someone had pulled out her bones. The agreement she had just signed lay beside her, its white pages stabbing painfully at her eyes.

She had lost.

She had been utterly and completely defeated.

In that suffocating silence, the figure in the corner that had remained as motionless as a paper doll finally moved.

Konan stood up.

Her movements were light and soundless, but in that oppressive atmosphere, even the slightest change seemed jarringly conspicuous.

Chiyo's cloudy eyes turned with difficulty and looked toward her.

Konan walked to the table, took out a dossier from her sleeve as well, and presented it with both hands.

The dossier's cover was made of the waterproof oiled paper unique to Amegakure. A line of title had been written across it in elegant handwriting.

Baishi's gaze fell on the dossier, his eyes utterly calm, as if this sudden development had long since been within his expectations.

"Hokage."

Konan's voice was as cool as water, yet it echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

"Amegakure also needs Konoha's 'security services.'"

That single sentence sent Chiyo's heart, which had just sunk to the bottom, plunging even deeper.

Her eyes flew wide as she stared at Konan in disbelief.

An ally?

This was the ally Sunagakure had secretly contacted and placed all its hopes in?

The very next second after Sunagakure had been forced to sign a treaty that sold out its country, this so-called ally had eagerly handed over its own token of allegiance.

This wasn't merely fence-sitting. This was plainly taking advantage of Sunagakure's corpse before it had even grown cold to snatch a share of the spoils.

Baishi did not immediately