Mei Terumi called back loudly, "We're all here. What do you want?"
"Surrender and you'll be spared!"
Beside Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Choji guarded him.
"Look at Kisame Hoshigaki and Zabuza Momochi beside you! They're the best examples!"
Shikamaru pointed toward Kisame and Zabuza nearby. They had put away their swords, but still radiated an oppressive presence.
Though both had once been S-rank rogue ninja from Kirigakure, they now looked remarkably "at home" among Konoha's forces, even carrying themselves with the ease of men who had "turned away from darkness."
"They were once Kirigakure ninja too, and they were once Konoha's enemies. But now they've chosen a wiser path. They've chosen to follow true peace and a better future!"
Shikamaru raised his voice a little and began laying out his vision.
"As long as you lay down your weapons and join Konoha, Konoha promises not only to guarantee your safety, but also to fully support Kirigakure's postwar reconstruction and development.
Konoha will help Kirigakure recover and give its people better lives!"
He paused, his tone growing more earnest. "We in Konoha launched this war not to conquer and destroy, but to end the cycle of war and hatred that has plagued the shinobi world for decades, and to establish a truly united, peaceful, prosperous new order!
People of Kirigakure, you're ninja too. You've suffered through war. Don't you want to see your children grow up in a world without fighting?
Don't you want Kirigakure to escape the shadow of the 'Bloody Mist Village' and truly embrace the sunlight?
Surrender! For your own sake, and for Kirigakure's future!"
Shikamaru's speech was both psychological warfare and, in part, a reflection of Naruto's ideas for postwar governance.
Military conquest would go hand in hand with conciliatory integration.
He tried to use more practical