Conflict

"Fourth Hokage, please calm down!"

Dodai tried his best to persuade him, which finally calmed him down.

Ryuuzaki Eiji rolled his eyes at the Raikage, not intending to pay any attention to his provocation.

The Fourth Raikage is only in his early twenties, and his strength hasn't reached its peak yet. Is he already so eager to take revenge?

"Heh, young man, you've got quite the temper. I understand your desire to avenge your father, but without the strength, you're just wasting your life." Ōnoki raised an eyebrow, his tone sarcastic.

"What did you say, you old geezer!?"

When the Fourth Raikage heard Ōnoki mock him, he slammed his fist on the table in anger, and cracks immediately appeared on the surface. If he had used any more force, the table would have been destroyed.

"Am I wrong? Taking the Village's key fighting force to provoke other Village, only to be killed by their assassination target instead, don't you think that's ridiculous?"

The Raikage clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but remembering how his father had once described Ōnoki, he ultimately held back.

Although Lightning Release Chakra Mode is powerful, Ōnoki's Dust Release can ignore all of that and directly decompose matter. In his current state, he is far from being a match for Onoki.

We must be patient!

Seeing that the Raikage did not retaliate, Ōnoki secretly felt it was a pity.

He had intended to provoke the Raikage into testing Ryuuzaki Eiji's strength, but surprisingly, he didn't fall for it.

"Enough! I don't have time to waste on your nonsense. How can the meeting continue?"

Hanzō, as the middleman in this matter, was originally unwilling to get involved in this mess.

But he had no choice; if he didn't mediate, the war in the Land of Rain might continue, and he couldn't stay out of it.

In the end, Eiji sat down at the negotiating table, and as soon as he did, he felt the eyes of all parties focused on him.

◇

"Now let's determine who the victors and the vanquished are." Ōnoki stroked his beard. "First and foremost, without a doubt, Sunagakure was defeated, so you need to pay war reparations to the other Village."

"No way! We only lost to Konoha, what does that have to do with Iwagakure? You didn't even defeat Konoha in a direct confrontation, so you're losers too!"

Chiyo immediately retorted that she had known all along that Ōnoki wanted to take advantage of the situation, but where would Sunagakure get the money to pay the compensation? She had to find a way to get by no matter what.

"Konoha suffered an attack from Sunagakure. What will Sunagakure offer to compensate Konoha for its losses? I won't ask for an exorbitant amount. Konoha has spent a lot of money preparing for the war, and we need you to provide appropriate compensation on top of that."

Hiruzen knew that Sunagakure was short of money, and even if he asked for more, it probably wouldn't make much difference, but he at least wanted Konoha to break even.

"I will find a way to settle the reparations with Konoha, but Sunagakure will absolutely not admit defeat to any other Shinobi Village."

Rasa spoke up, saying he intended to use his Ninjutsu to think of a solution.

"But more importantly, I have a question! The Dodai!"

Raikage really didn't like listening to these people arguing. Anyway, he only had one purpose in coming here: to get things over with as soon as possible.

"Yes, a few months ago, Tailed Beast rampage occurred in Kumogakure. The Jinchūriki suddenly lost control within the Village, and we extracted a toxin from Jinchūriki bodies that caused them to go out of control."

Dodai immediately followed up on Raikage's words.

Orochimaru behind Hiruzen narrowed his eyes slightly. Tsunade noticed the change in his expression and, combined with his previous actions, roughly guessed what had happened. However, she had no obligation to reveal it, as this was a negotiation between Village.

"I strongly suspect that this was done by Ryuuzaki Eiji of Konoha. You must give me an explanation!"

Raikage slammed his hand on the table and stood up, glaring angrily at Eiji.

The person who died was his close friend, and the loss was enormous in order to control the Eight-Tails of Kumogakure.

This incident, occurring so soon after he took over Raikage, must have had a significant impact on him.

"What do you mean by that, Raikage? Do you have any solid evidence?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with an unfriendly expression.

"How can there be no evidence? He clearly wanted revenge. Everyone in the Shinobi World knows he has mastered a Ninjutsu that allows him to teleport instantly. Considering the previous grudge, isn't he the most likely culprit?"

"Indeed, that does sound somewhat reasonable."

Chiyo echoed, although she thought it was a bit stupid for the Raikage to say that, she was naturally willing to use her words to cause trouble for Konoha.

Ōnoki remained silent, wanting to take this opportunity to observe Ryuuzaki Eiji's personality.

"Let's not jump to conclusions too quickly. Let's hear what Konoha has to say first."

Hanzō spoke up, saying he didn't want the negotiations to become complicated.

"No matter what, I need you to provide evidence that you are not the murderer!" Raikage said in a harsh tone.

"Are you done talking?"

"What?"

"If that's all you have to say, then you can leave now."

"What did you say!?"

"I don't know who gave you the courage to speak to me in this tone, but since you want evidence, then I'll give you evidence."

First of all, I didn't do this. If I really had the intention of taking revenge, I would have done it much more thoroughly.

Perhaps I would consider erasing Kumogakure from the Shinobi World entirely, even though Kumogakure still exists. Is this evidence sufficient?

If you think that's not enough, I can demonstrate it for you right now.

Eiji's tone carried a hint of helplessness; he truly couldn't understand the Fourth Raikage's thought process.

His father was much smarter than him; at least he understood the law of the jungle in the Shinobi World.

"What did you say? Are you threatening me, kid!?"

The Raikage's eyes widened in anger. He had originally intended to use this opportunity to see if he could get Konoha to pay some money to Kumogakure.

If he could be compensated with a few Hyuga or Uchiha children, that would be fine too. His father made his fortune through this, so naturally he wanted to follow in his footsteps.

What kind of talk is this? Describing the disappearance of Kumogakure?

"If you insist on causing trouble, I won't show any mercy, but that would just be throwing your life away. Your strength hasn't reached its peak yet; I hope your temper won't cloud your judgment."

After speaking, Eiji pointed to his temple.

You bastard!

The Fourth Raikage's muscles were taut, his fists clenched tightly.

Ōnoki's face darkened. This arrogant attitude was nothing like that of Hashirama Senju Madara Uchiha.

This is troublesome. Ōnoki knew very well that Ryuuzaki Eiji's words were no exaggeration.

Based on his performance on the battlefield, if he were to inhumanely launch a large-scale Ninjutsu bombardment of other Shinobi Village, many people wouldn't even be able to touch the Kakuzu.

Ōnoki glanced at Chiyo, whose fingers were curling upwards.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, lowered his Hokage Clogs, and the Ninja behind him all looked tense and ready to draw their swords.

This is not a good sign. Ryuuzaki Eiji is still completely unprepared, and the more unprepared he is, the more dangerous it becomes. Can my Dust Release really break through his defenses?

This is absolutely unacceptable. It seems that to deal with Ryuuzaki Eiji, we must slowly find his weaknesses. In any case, we must not start a war here.