Successful Peace Talks?

Sarutobi Ippei led the way.

Everything along the route was familiar to Uchiha Feng.

Every time he returned to the Uchiha Clan from the Ninja Academy, he had passed through here.

"Honored guest, this was originally Uchiha Clan property, but after certain events, it was taken over by our Sarutobi Clan.

"We had originally planned to take you to the guesthouse, but the Land of Water's peace delegation is currently staying there.

"Of course, the main reason is that it's in a bustling area without enough room to practice swordsmanship.

"Training Ground No. 2 is right beside this place. It originally belonged to the Uchiha Clan and is perfectly suited to your training.

"Are you satisfied?"

Sarutobi Ippei wore a fawning smile as he explained his arrangements.

This place was now Sarutobi Clan property. By arranging for someone to stay here under the name of a distinguished guest, he would not even need to pay hospitality expenses.

That way, the more than one million ryō would all be pure profit for him, and he would not need to share any of it with Konoha.

Uchiha Feng was immersed in his memories.

He looked at the places around him, familiar yet strange.

This place before him had once been where the Uchiha Clan entertained distinguished guests in the village. Since it was located within the village, it had suffered relatively little damage during the clan's extermination.

Now, it had been completely renovated. There was not even a trace of the Uchiha Clan left.

"Not bad. You've put a lot of thought into it. I want the top floor."

Uchiha Feng praised him generously, though it was impossible to tell how much sincerity was in it, then made his request.

"Of course. No one is staying here right now, so please choose whichever room you like!"

Sarutobi Ippei patted his chest in assurance. Who would come to this godforsaken place at a time like this? Didn't everyone stay at the bustling inns in Konoha?

Only his request was so strange.

After the day's journey ended, Uchiha Feng stood on the top floor of the inn.

From here, he could see the changes in what had once been the Uchiha Clan's territory.

New shops had sprung up one after another, and the layout of the Uchiha Clan's former buildings was no longer visible at all.

That was all thanks to King Piccolo [First Generation] and that final earth-shattering explosion.

The entire Uchiha Clan compound had been turned into a massive pit. During the reconstruction, there had been no need to demolish anything. They only needed to fill it in.

That explosion had given Konoha an excuse: all of the Uchiha Clan's assets had suffered devastating losses in the blast.

Uchiha Sasuke had not inherited any of the Uchiha Clan's assets as he had in the original story.

The current Uchiha Sasuke was not nearly as well-off as people imagined. It was only because Uchiha Itachi still held some deterrent power that the Third Hokage had taken care of him and allowed him to live relatively comfortably.

If Uchiha Itachi had died as well, Sasuke would probably have lived like Naruto Uzumaki—drinking expired milk and eating expired instant noodles.

A term that did not exist in this world surfaced in Uchiha Feng's mind—devouring an orphan's estate.

It was Konoha's traditional specialty. Otherwise, where had the Fourth Hokage's and the Uzumaki Clan's inheritances gone?

"No wonder they're so confident about negotiating with the Hidden Mist Village, which has been driven mad by poverty. They're carving up the Uchiha Clan's flesh and dividing its corpse!"

Uchiha Feng's gaze landed on a newly constructed building atop the Uchiha ruins. The clan crest above it had changed from the Uchiha Clan's flame fan to the Sarutobi Clan's crest.

Other buildings stood around it, each bearing the crests of different clans.

Sure enough, when an avalanche occurred, not a single snowflake was innocent!

That meant he did not need to have too many misgivings.

Uchiha Feng closed his eyes, his brow tightly furrowed as sweat continued to stream down his forehead.

"Dumpling, get ready! Welcome your guests."

Uchiha Feng activated his telepathic ability and connected with Dumpling outside Konoha.

"Konoha's barrier has been strengthened again!

"Tien, spend more time walking around Hidden Leaf Village lately and find the barrier's weak points. There might not be a next time!"

Uchiha Feng sensed Konoha's changes. At the moment, Konoha was tight on the inside and loose on the outside, trying not to appear so weak.

"Got it!" Tien replied.

Inside the Hokage Building.

Ao was negotiating with Danzo. This time, the Third Hokage had given Danzo plenty of face.

Because of that, Shimura Danzo had even been reinstated as an advisory elder.

The two sides had already gone through a fierce first round of confrontation, and the second round of peace talks had now begun.

"Elder Danzo, the facts are right before us. Do you still intend to deny them? Do you want to start a war with the Hidden Mist Village?"

Ao's words were aggressive. He no longer cared that the man before him was Shimura Danzo, the darkness of Konoha. He had already prepared himself to die.

The documents on the table were the intelligence on Shisui and Itachi that Uchiha Feng had leaked.

They had now become the Hidden Mist Village's bargaining chips!

The Hidden Mist Village had adopted the stance of a victim, demanding compensation from Konoha.

"Elder Ao, have some tea.

"These materials are all unverified intelligence.

"Shisui Uchiha died long ago, while Uchiha Itachi has become a Konoha S-rank wanted criminal. He no longer has much to do with Konoha!

"However, out of sympathy for the Hidden Mist Village, we can provide one hundred million ryō in humanitarian aid."

Danzo took a sip of tea, his expression unchanged and without the slightest trace of urgency.

"One hundred million ryō? Not enough!

"When these events occurred, the Uchiha Clan was one of Konoha's great clans.

"Does Konoha truly intend to deny it?

"The Uchiha Clan used to be the ones fighting the Hidden Cloud Village. Konoha's pressure should be quite great now, shouldn't it?"

Konoha had already shown signs of compromise, but Ao was still dissatisfied with that amount of compensation. It was still some distance from Genji's bottom line of one hundred and twenty million ryō.

They were supposed to be the side holding the initiative, yet Shimura Danzo was leading them by the nose.

The negotiations were already thick with the smell of gunpowder. Ao's words could now be considered a threat.

"Ao, your intelligence is outdated!

"The Eight-Tails has gone berserk in the Hidden Cloud Village, so they have been behaving themselves lately.

"Now, are you sure you want to make an enemy of Konoha?

"Can you represent the Hidden Mist Village?"

Danzo's voice carried absolute confidence. With no threat from the Land of Lightning, Konoha felt no pressure whatsoever in dealing with a weakened Hidden Mist Village, especially with the sea between them.

What they feared most was the Hidden Mist Village making reckless raids against them. That was why they had considered compromise.

Ao's expression changed drastically. For the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki to riot at a time like this, someone must have been behind it. And Konoha was using it as a bargaining chip, making the culprit obvious.

"One hundred and fifty million ryō!

"Konoha will revoke my wanted order, and this Byakugan will belong entirely to me from now on.

"I can represent the Hidden Mist Village and sign a peace agreement with the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Ao's voice was strained. Those brutes from the Hidden Cloud Village always dropped the ball at crucial moments. No wonder they would forever be second-best in the ninja world.

"Agreed! Congratulations to us both for securing the best possible terms for our villages. However, the peace agreement must not be made public.

"This is all for the Uchiha Clan's dignity. Since they have already been exterminated, let them fade into the past. What do you say?"

Shimura Danzo picked up the intelligence on the table and tossed it into the trash can.

One hundred and fifty million ryō was within his acceptable range. Compared to the two hundred million ryō he had promised Hiruzen Sarutobi, he still had fifty million ryō left to build some shops on the Uchiha Clan's land and recover his losses.

"Agreed!"

Ao's eye twitched as he gained a new understanding of Shimura Danzo's shamelessness.

For the Uchiha Clan's dignity? Why had he not asked whether the Uchiha Clan was willing when he implanted those Sharingan in his arm?

Still, he was quite satisfied with obtaining one hundred and fifty million ryō!

The Hidden Mist Village had been poor for far too long!

The negotiations ended just like that, without the participation of either side's highest leader. Both sides could accept the result.

The only one that had suffered, perhaps, was the Uchiha Clan.

At Uchiha Feng's residence.

He was practicing Blade Meditation.

He stood at the doorway with a sword in hand, poised to strike at any moment.

Only he was here now. Tien had followed his orders and gone to investigate the weaknesses in Konoha's barrier.

"Young Clan Head, I'm back!"

Tien called him that title somewhat awkwardly. Uchiha Feng had forced Tien to use it according to the traditions of the Land of Iron.

"What? Did you find something unexpected?"

Uchiha Feng was somewhat surprised. Tien held a set of weighted training gear, with a stack of clothes beneath it.

"Today, I pretended to train while circling Konoha's barrier and met an interesting person. The two of us exchanged a few moves, and he gave me a set of equipment!

"I saw that you had not gone through body training, so this equipment should be useful to you. That's why I accepted it!"

As Tien spoke, he placed the weighted gear on the ground, and cracks immediately spread across the floor.

"Could it be?"

A figure appeared in Uchiha Feng's mind.