"Those two brothers are right! I bet the Hokage would love nothing more than for us and the Hidden Stone to tear each other apart. Better yet, we'd all die on the front lines and never come home. Then he could sit easy in that chair!"
"That's vicious! No wonder the peace talks dragged on for ten whole days. They waited until the last possible moment to send someone. I thought they were genuinely too busy, but they did it on purpose?"
"Of course they did! The fighting's over. How much could there possibly be to do in the village? They couldn't even spare a few people to come negotiate?"
The jeers and curses reached Utatane Koharu's ears without the slightest attempt to keep them quiet. Her aged face darkened further.
This is bad. I've botched it. She had never expected resentment toward Hiruzen to run so deep in the village.
Could she really carry out the delaying task Hiruzen had given her?
Utatane Koharu's confidence began to waver. She even doubted whether she could hold out.
Without a decent excuse, all she could do was stall. She feared the people outside might get worked up enough to tear her apart.
Worse, Uchiha Yan and that traitor Danzo were there to fan the flames.
Utatane Koharu felt the task was all but impossible.
Still, she gritted her teeth and resolved to hold firm. As long as nothing goes wrong on my end, those people outside will have no reason to come after me.
She stopped wasting time, sat down across from Ōnoki, and began the negotiations.
Ōnoki had seen the whole farce clearly.
He sneered to himself. *Hiruzen Sarutobi, one blunder after another. All you do is make foolish moves. Now you've lost the people's support. Let's see how much