Recognizing the man before him, Dairi, the envoy from the Land of Earth, darkened his expression. "What are you doing? Do you think I have any reason to stay for this farce in Konoha?"
Ōnoki showed no hostility at Dairi's attitude. Instead, he sounded thoroughly sympathetic. "Sir, of course I understand your dissatisfaction. When it comes to Konoha, my position has always been the same as yours."
"The same as mine?"
Dairi froze, then came to a "sudden realization" and sneered.
No wonder people said old age brought cunning. By laying its conspiracy out in the open, Konoha had given them a chance to react, and this old bastard had come out to smooth things over.
At that thought, Dairi's tone turned sarcastic. "Since you disapprove as well, Lord Tsuchikage, why not speak up and refute them? Don't tell me Iwagakure has already thrown in its lot with Konoha?"
Kitsuchi, who stood beside Ōnoki as his guard, glanced at his father.
They had arrived in Konoha two days early. After all, the matter of Kurotsuchi participating in Konoha's Chunin Ninja Exams had yet to be fully resolved.
Before attending the meeting, they first had to clean up their own mess. Fortunately, Konoha had not made things particularly difficult for Iwagakure over this. Though Kurotsuchi had entered the Chunin Ninja Exams as a spy, she had been subdued before she could actually do anything.
Apart from spending some time in prison, she had committed no real offense, so getting her out had been relatively easy.
Yet under the guise of negotiations, the old man had clearly reached some new agreement with Konoha. At the very least, his attitude had been nothing like this before yesterday.
"Who was that person the old man met yesterday? He looked pretty friendly."
"Don't ask me!