Signing the Armistice Agreement

The next day, inside the ceasefire negotiation room at the Hokage Building.

Due to the incident that occurred yesterday, the air was so heavy it felt as though it could drip water. The atmosphere on either side of the long table was starkly different.

On the Konoha side, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat upright at the head of the table. The blue smoke rising from his pipe carried a composed, unhurried majesty. Flanking him were several high-ranking Konoha officials, along with Qi Luna and Namikaze Minato, who had been deliberately placed in prominent positions.

The two of them were not wearing their usual combat attire, but rather Anbu vests and white animal-patterned masks. Although their faces were hidden, their builds and hair colors left no doubt as to their identities.

These two newly promoted Anbu bowed their heads slightly, as if resting with their eyes closed.

However, the chakra undulating throughout the meeting room felt like a silent, crimson mountain, and an invisible pressure permeated the space.

This was especially true whenever the gaze of the Kumogakure representative, Dodai, swept over them. He could not help but recall the Chunin Exam finals from yesterday: the golden figure's blindingly fast Body Flicker and the red-haired ninja's absolute power—particularly that Super Strength Fist, named "Vortex Style: Eight Forms - Hegemonic Smash," which had crushed everything like a landslide or a tsunami!

When he considered how young they were, that fear felt like cold vines coiling around his heart.

The representative of the Kumogakure delegation, known as one of the Third Raikage's right-hand men and the "Brain of Kumogakure," Dodai, had a face as gloomy as storm clouds before a downpour.

The few Kumogakure ninja standing behind him were even more restless, their eyes lingering with undisguised trepidation.

Unlike Kumogakure, the representatives from Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Amegakure were far less uneasy. They simply read calmly through the draft of the ceasefire agreement laid out before them—a document drafted after the Second Shinobi World War that was not particularly harsh on the major hidden villages.

Only the ceasefire agreement for Kumogakure had been replaced with a second draft. While the aforementioned terms were not exactly impossible to meet, they were pressing in step by step. If they truly agreed to them, the days ahead for Kumogakure would be difficult indeed.

"Lord Third Hokage, regarding the... additional clauses proposed by your village, our side believes that this severely violates the original intent and fairness principles of the ceasefire agreement. We of Kumogakure are not the defeated party! There is no reason for us to pay fifty million ryo in war reparations!"

Dodai's voice was dry and hoarse. He suppressed his humiliation, pointing to the lines written in eye-catching red ink by the Konoha side. The most glaring clause read:

In view of the fact that Kumogakure openly violated the agreement terms during the ceasefire period by dispatching an elite ninja squad to infiltrate Konoha with the intent to kidnap Konoha residents and ninja, posing a serious threat to Konoha's safety and peaceful environment, and causing significant losses in reputation, property, and other areas!

Kumogakure is now required to pay an additional indemnity of fifty million ryo in exchange for Konoha releasing the two captured Kumogakure Special Jonin, Omoi and Karui, and ensuring their safety.

This sum must be paid in full within thirty days of the agreement taking effect in the form of convertible gold notes. Until payment is cleared, Omoi and Karui shall remain in Konoha's custody!

Fifty million ryo! That was almost equivalent to the total annual military budget of a small nation!

Moreover, during the Second Shinobi World War, Kumogakure had never taken direct military action against Konoha. This so-called war reparation was nothing but an unprovoked disaster!

Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly exhaled a ring of smoke. Amidst the swirling haze, his eyes glared, his lips and teeth sharp as blades:

"Violates the original intent? Principles of fairness?"

"When our village had laid down its weapons, opened its arms, and was celebrating peace together, your village sent a squad of Jonin, carrying secret treasures to mask their chakra, to infiltrate the heart of our village—the former residence of the First Hokage—to kidnap important members of our village... Lord Dodai, is this what Kumogakure understands as 'original intent' and 'fairness'?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice was not loud, but it carried the weight of a thousand jin. He paused, placing his pipe gently onto the table with a crisp sound; that single strike seemed to hit Dodai's heart.

"If it weren't for the timely reaction of our village's new generation of ninja, who used thunderous means to dismantle your village's conspiracy, the ones sitting here right now would likely not be us, but rather you, having abducted the geniuses of our village and made a clean getaway!"

"Fifty million ryo to trade for the lives of two well-trained but mediocre Special Jonin is indeed a bit much, but this indemnity is not just to ransom people; it is to appease the anger ignited throughout Konoha because of this incident! It is to prevent the conflict from escalating further!"

"I believe that, out of consideration for the hard-won peace, this is the greatest 'fairness' we can grant your village!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze swept over the pale-faced Dodai and finally landed on Minato and Qi Luna, who remained as motionless as if they were uninvolved, his tone carrying a profound meaning:

"Besides, Lord Dodai should be aware that if it weren't for our village's 'Konoha Red Peak' showing mercy and exercising restraint while assisting Jiraiya in suppressing those base scoundrels, those two pre~cious~ Special Jonin of your village would likely have already merged with the soil of our village's back mountain forest by now!"

"Doesn't this sentiment—the fact that he 'spared their lives' even after they kidnapped his sister—warrant this price tag?"

As he spoke, Sarutobi Hiruzen deliberately emphasized the four words "Konoha Red Peak."

Except for Dodai, the other Kumogakure ninja trembled imperceptibly, their gazes uncontrollably darting toward the red-haired Anbu behind Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The red-haired Anbu seemed to sense it; he slowly raised his head, and through the holes in his mask, those jade-colored eyes met the Kumogakure group with an unruffled calm.

There was no anger, no threat—only a bottomless, unprovoked majesty, like a giant looking down upon ants.

But that calm glance was enough to make the Kumogakure group instantly recall the horror of last night:

A crimson figure as insurmountable as a mountain peak; those nine golden chains, writhing like ferocious dragons and exuding a suffocating pressure; a chakra "Domain" even more terrifying than the chakra curtain undulating in the meeting room; and the sight of those two captured Special Jonin being dragged out, their eyes hollow, filled only with a deep-seated, bone-chilling fear of the red-haired youth!

Not worth it? Who among them dared to say it wasn't worth it? The red-haired Anbu sitting before them, wearing a harmless white falcon-patterned mask, was a living, crimson peak that no ordinary person could overcome!

That massive chakra, comparable to a Tailed Beast, along with various Kekkei Genkai and Ninjutsu-Taijutsu, was the greatest bargaining chip and deterrent Konoha had at the negotiating table right now!

Fifty million ryo—rather than a ransom, it was an expensive life-buying fee paid by Kumogakure for its own stupidity and greed in angering a Konoha filled with powerhouses!

Cold sweat soaked Dodai's back. He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but found that any words seemed pale and powerless in the face of absolute power and irrefutable facts.

He saw the unquestionable resolve in the eyes of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. After a long, suffocating silence, Dodai seemed to age several decades in an instant. He lowered his head dejectedly and squeezed a single word from his lips with all his might:

"...Sign."