Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi quietly watched Lu You up above, wondering whether it was time for him to retire.
The future belonged to the young.
Minato, it looks like the pressure you'll have to shoulder will be immense...
During the first two months after the war ended, the Five Great Nations and the Land of Grass entered a lengthy phase of negotiations.
Representatives from the Grass Ninja, Konoha, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure took turns sitting on either side of the negotiating table, with revisions to the provisions taking up most of their time.
Lu You, however, did not participate in these matters.
With Abu there, these specific details would naturally be handled well. He had complete confidence in this old subordinate.
Come to think of it, Abu was not actually much younger than Hiruzen Sarutobi.
With his wealth of life experience, Abu performed excellently in the negotiations, handling probes and demands from all directions.
In the end, the four great ninja villages begrudgingly signed the terms requiring them to pay enormous reparations.
Of course, beyond that, these defeated ninja villages had something else to negotiate.
They wanted the jinchūriki whom Lu You had captured and brought to Kusagakure returned.
After all, tailed beasts were important strategic weapons.
Moreover, the jinchūriki themselves were high-ranking members of their villages.
They expressed their willingness to pay additional ransoms and make concessions on the subsequent border provisions.
However, Kusagakure's position never changed: they would not return them!
They had captured them through their own ability. Why should they give them back?
Seated across the long table, Abu responded calmly through those rounds of negotiations:
"These tailed beasts and jinchūriki are the Captain-Commander's prisoners. How he deals with them is his own choice. I have no authority to make any decisions.
"If you