The number of votes in favor was rising, but before long, a vote suddenly appeared in the opposing tally.
This abrupt change naturally caught quite a few people's attention.
"It's actually real?"
Inside one room, two men stared at each other.
They came from a small ninja village under the Land of Water, a group that usually handled outsourced missions for Kirigakure.
Even calling them a group was flattering. They were really just a little village formed by rogue ninjas gathering together. Never mind a conference involving the entire shinobi world—they weren't even notified when the Land of Water, or occasionally Kirigakure, invited neighboring groups to smaller meetings or banquets.
They were nobodies in the truest sense, unable to get a seat at the table even for a meal.
Yet even they had received a Konoha Invitation.
At that moment, one of them had his hand pressed on the option to oppose.
"It really went up?"
"Wait, didn't you say Konoha was definitely just going through the motions, and whatever we picked would count as a vote in favor?"
The shorter man suddenly caught on and panicked. "What do we do now? Whatever else this federation involves, we'd get to learn Konoha ninjutsu. That's definitely a good thing for a little village like ours that barely gets any missions! Why vote against it?"
"How was I supposed to know... It's fine, it's fine. We're the only ones who voted against it. It's not that big a..."
His companion looked rather embarrassed and tried to change the subject, pointing at the opposing tally on the stage. But the instant he pointed, the number, which had only been one, shot upward.
In an instant, it caught up with the votes in favor.
"..."
"..."
The man stared dumbfounded at the opposing tally,