Upon hearing Nara Shikahito's proposed conditions, the atmosphere in the room suddenly fell silent.
Nara Shikahito stared intently at Ebizo opposite him, while Ebizo met his gaze with narrowed eyes. Behind him, the Sunagakure Jonin also seemed to be thinking about something, standing in place lost in thought.
On the other side, the Iwagakure side, which had remained silent since the start of the negotiations and seemed indifferent to them, also changed their demeanor, staring intently at Ebizo, clearly very interested in the so-called giant puppet.
Shin'un's pupils darted around, his gaze sweeping across the entire room, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.
There were only six people in the room, and it seemed that only he didn't know what the so-called Giant Puppet Prototype was...
Looking down, Shin'un glanced at Nara Shikahito in front of him, but it was clearly not the right time to ask questions, as it would easily reveal his timidity.
" The Giant Puppet Prototype... judging from the name, it seems to be the origin of this type of puppet, or something like that..."
With his head tilted slightly back, Shin'un pondered the Giant Puppet Prototype.
"Speaking of which, the appearance of the giant puppets in Sunagakure is indeed suspicious. Apart from the so-called Hokage movies, this type of puppet has never appeared in the main storyline of the original work..."
"Could it be that this so-called Giant Puppet Prototype inspired the Sand Ninja to develop the giant puppet...?"
With a slight frown, Shin'un looked at Ebizo opposite him, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes, as if he vaguely realized something.
"If that's the case, then the Giant Puppet Prototype, which shouldn't have appeared in the first place, deserves further investigation..."
Thinking of this, Shin'un looked down at Nara Shikahito.
"Judging from the looks of it, Konoha should already have specific information about the Giant Puppet Prototype. We should ask them about it after this negotiation is over..."
Half an hour later, representatives from Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure left the meeting room, concluding the first preliminary negotiation.
The outcome of this negotiation can be summarized in one sentence.
The three parties engaged in friendly communication and ultimately reserved their respective opinions.
There's no way to expect a negotiation that lasts at most an hour to decide on war reparations involving huge sums of money.
What awaits Nara Shikahito in the future is at least a week of verbal sparring.
Of course, this was Nara Shikahito's business, Shin'un's mind was no longer on the negotiations.
"Squeak~"
Pushing open the gate, Nara Shikahito and Shin'un entered the small courtyard that had temporarily become the base for the Konoha negotiation team.
The courtyard is elegant and pleasing to the eye.
Pond, flowing water, swimming fish.
Artificial hills, moss, and green bamboo.
When Shin'un first came to this courtyard, he stood beside these exquisite landscapes and admired them for a long time.
It wasn't that Shin'un lacked experience; it was simply that Konoha was full of roughnecks who rarely saw such exquisite scenery.
Even the Hyuga Clan, which traditionally maintained good relations with the nobles of the Land of Fire, had no time to bother with such matters.
Wouldn't it be better to use that time to review your ninja skills?
"That's the life of the aristocracy, isn't it..."
Walking through the courtyard landscape, Nara Shikahito, who was standing in front of Shin'un, glanced at the landscape and couldn't help but sigh.
It is said that this place originally belonged to a noble family from the Land of Birds. After the daimyo of the Land of Birds heard that the Three Great Shinobi Villages were coming to the Land of Birds for negotiations, he cleared this place overnight to use as the negotiation site and the residence of the Three Great Shinobi Villages.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes."
Shin'un followed behind Nara Shikahito, nodding to himself, but had no mind to reply. His mind was full of thoughts about the Giant Puppet Prototype he had learned about during the negotiations.
Upon hearing this, Nara Shikahito turned to look at Shin'un in surprise, somewhat puzzled by Shin'un's absent-mindedness.
Shaking his head, Nara Shikahito continued walking forward.
Pushing open another wooden door, one is greeted by a sizable hall where a dozen or so senior Konoha clerks are bustling about, constantly organizing the various documents brought forth from this negotiation.
This is the workplace that Nara Shikahito chose for himself. Apart from the clerks in front of him, the other dozens of ninjas in the team are either hiding in the shadows on guard or resting in other courtyards.
"Phew~"
Standing at the doorway, watching the dozen or so clerks bustling about inside, Nara Shikahito sighed deeply, then turned to Shin'un, put his hands on his hips, and said:
"Alright, I need to quickly think of some negotiation strategies for the next step, and I also need to discuss things with the Lord Hokage who stayed in the village as soon as possible."
"Don't worry, nothing will happen here. You can go and do what you need to do, or you can go for a stroll in the town..."
As if suddenly remembering something, Nara Shikahito leaned close to Shin'un and whispered:
"I remember Jiraiya saying that although this town isn't big, it has several bathhouses, one of which is mixed-gender..."
At this point, Nara Shikahito winked Jiraiya made faces, acting like a lewd old man possessed by Jiraiya.
" Nara- senpai."
Shin'un narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows twitching as he looked at Nara Shikahito in front of him, and said:
I am fourteen years old.
"Cough cough~"
Nara Shikahito was taken aback for a moment, then straightened up, coughed a few times, and became serious again.
"If you'd like, you can have some tea here, but I don't have time for idle chatter."
Seeing this, Shin'un shook his head, pondered for two seconds, and then asked:
" Nara- senpai, is the Giant Puppet Prototype from Sunagakure information recently obtained by Konoha?"
"Huh?" Nara Shikahito was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.
"So that's why you seemed a little distracted earlier; you were thinking about this."
Tilting his head slightly, Nara Shikahito recalled for a moment and then spoke:
"It's not that we only recently obtained this information. The earliest information about the Giant Puppet Prototype was about half a year ago, but that information wasn't detailed enough..."
"Huh? That's not right." Thinking of this, Nara Shikahito suddenly looked at Shin'un with a puzzled expression.
"You submitted this intelligence yourself, didn't you know?"
Hearing this, Shin'un was somewhat stunned. After thinking for a moment, he asked in return:
"Huh? What information? I don't know."
"I don't know?" Nara Shikahito shook his head, and after a moment's thought, said:
"At the time, our plan was to flank and attack the Sand Ninja camp. Orochimaru encountered Chiyo's puppeteer force, who used a giant puppet army—the first of its kind on the battlefield—to overwhelm Orochimaru's team, preventing him from rejoining us in time."
" Orochimaru later sent us a letter; that was the first time we learned about the giant puppets of the Sand Ninja."
"We received the letter, and after discussion, you decided to lead the team back to the Sand Ninja Village front. On the way, you encountered..."
"Wait, I remember now." Upon hearing this, Shin'un finally recalled the source of the information Nara Shikahito had mentioned and Teuchi Nara Shikahito.
"I led the team back, and on the way we encountered a giant tiger-shaped puppet. We captured three puppeteers inside the giant puppet and obtained detailed information about it from them."
"Only..."
Shin'un's eyes were filled with confusion as he said uncertainly:
"I only remember learning about the giant puppet's biggest weakness, the so-called ' Optimal Control Position,' which would allow ordinary ninjas to deal with the giant puppet."
"Could it be that the intelligence report also mentioned Giant Puppet Prototype?"
"My God!" Nara Shikahito covered his face with his hands, shook his head, and said, "Didn't you even bother to look at the information you gathered yourself?"
"This..." Seeing this, Shin'un smiled somewhat embarrassedly.
"At the time, I was only concerned with what weaknesses the giant puppet had, and I only asked the interrogating ninja about it briefly. I didn't carefully review the detailed report that was later submitted to Konoha..."
"Alright." Hearing Shin'un's words, Nara Shikahito didn't know what to say. After a moment's pause, he said seriously:
"Regarding the Giant Puppet Prototype, it was a giant puppet that suddenly appeared three years ago along with a giant crater; its creator is unknown..."
At this point, Nara Shikahito stopped, glanced at Shin'un who was eagerly waiting in front of him, and shook his head, saying:
"Telling it verbally is too troublesome, so let me just show you the complete intelligence report compiled into a booklet."
Turning around, Nara Shikahito beckoned a clerk and ordered him to bring a thick document about the Giant Puppet Prototype, which he then handed directly to Shin'un.
"Find a place to look at it at your leisure. Although it's a confidential document, since you're the one who wants to see it, it's fine."
"Just don't leak it out carelessly."