After the meeting, Uchiha Fugaku returned to the Hokage's office.
He found a beautiful wooden box on his desk.
He opened the wooden box and saw a flame-shaped artwork made of pure gold lying inside.
In this world, gold is also an extremely precious metal. It must have been very expensive to make such a large artwork with pure gold.
"Who sent this?"
Uchiha Fugaku asked the Anbu ninja at the door.
"Hokage-sama, this is a gift from the Hidden Sand Village to congratulate you on becoming the Fifth Hokage."
The Anbu ninja at the door replied.
"A gift from the Hidden Sand Village?"
Uchiha Fugaku showed a playful look on his face.
Although the Hidden Sand Village had been actively responding to Konoha's calls and acting very respectful in recent years, how could he not know the wolfish ambitions of the Sand?
After all, in the original timeline, the Sand Village joined forces with Orochimaru and attacked Konoha during the Chunin Exams.
Obviously, the Hidden Sand Village was not as respectful as it appeared and even held a grudge.
Their recent submissiveness toward Konoha was clearly a tactic to lull the village into complacency.
"You're good at disguising yourself..."
Uchiha Fugaku sneered.
The Third Hokage had clearly been deceived by the Sand and lowered his guard.
If he hadn't known the Hidden Sand Village's true ambitions, he might have been tricked as well by this valuable gift.
"We must be more vigilant against the Sand Village."
The Third Hokage was dead, and Orochimaru and the Sand Village would not attack Konoha together now.
However, the fact remained that the Sand Village was ambitious. If they found an opportunity, they would attack Konoha without hesitation.
Therefore, it was necessary to strengthen the border security near the Wind Country to prevent being caught off guard.
Bang, bang, bang!
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in!"
As Uchiha Fugaku spoke, a ninja wearing an Anbu mask entered and handed him a letter.
"Hokage-sama, this is a letter from Iwagakure."
"A letter from Iwagakure?"
Uchiha Fugaku looked surprised and reached out to take it.
Iwagakure had failed to steal Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and its relationship with Konoha had reached a freezing point.
Now, they were sending a letter? That was indeed unexpected.
After the Anbu ninja left, he unfolded the letter and read its contents.
"What the Third Hokage didn't agree to, why would you think I would?"
After reading, Uchiha Fugaku sneered, crumpled the letter, and tossed it in the trash.
In the letter, the Third Tsuchikage congratulated him on becoming the Fifth Hokage, then proposed the redemption of the more than twenty captured Iwagakure Genin.
Of course, he would not agree.
If they could simply redeem prisoners with money, how would Iwagakure learn a lesson?
As for offending them—he didn't care.
Because of their attempted kidnapping of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the relationship between the two villages was already hostile.
...
"You don't know how to appreciate kindness!"
After receiving Konoha's reply, the Third Tsuchikage quickly opened the letter and read it.
His expression turned grim.
The letter clearly stated that the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku, refused to return the captured Genin.
"The Fifth Hokage refused the redemption?"
Next to the Third Tsuchikage stood a bearded man—his son, Kurotsuchi's father, and Tsuchikage's aide: Akatsuchi.
Seeing the Tsuchikage's expression, he immediately guessed the outcome.
"Yeah."
The Third Tsuchikage nodded darkly.
"Because of these detained Genin, the village's mood is unstable. If we can't redeem them, it'll seriously affect morale."
Akatsuchi frowned and offered a suggestion.
"Father, I suggest we send an elite squad to rescue them."
"There are too many of them. It's hard to safely get them out."
The Third Tsuchikage shook his head, clearly not optimistic.
More than twenty Genin were captured, and most were weak.
Even if a strong squad was sent, escaping Konoha's pursuit would be difficult.
The Genin were slow and couldn't conceal their chakra. They'd only slow the rescue team down.
"What should we do?"
Akatsuchi frowned deeper.
The Third Tsuchikage fell into thought. After a moment, his eyes narrowed.
"The only way to redeem them now is to exchange hostages with Konoha."
"But we don't have any suitable hostages."
Akatsuchi was puzzled.
"If we don't have them, we'll capture them. That's much easier than rescuing the Genin directly from Konoha."
The Third Tsuchikage sneered coldly.
Rather than send a team to sneak into Konoha and take high risks, it would be better to send a team into the Land of Fire, capture Konoha ninjas alive, and bring them back as bargaining chips.
"I understand. I'll put together an elite team for the mission."
Akatsuchi nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait."
The Third Tsuchikage stopped him.
Akatsuchi paused.
"Do you have more instructions?"
"In order to avoid another failure like the Jinchuriki incident, we need to send a Kage-level ninja this time."
"Isn't that too cautious?"
Akatsuchi was a bit surprised.
"Better safe than sorry. This mission must not fail. It's safer with a Kage-level shinobi."
"Who's available right now—Rōshi or Han?"
The Third Tsuchikage asked.
Rōshi was the Four-Tails Jinchuriki. Han was the Five-Tails Jinchuriki. Both were adults who had mastered their tailed beasts.
Unlike Uzumaki Naruto, who was still young and unable to fully control the Nine-Tails, both of them could fight at Kage level.
"Rōshi is still on a mission. Han is currently free."
Akatsuchi replied after recalling.
"Then send Han to lead the squad."
The Third Tsuchikage made the decision.
"Understood."
Akatsuchi responded, then left to make preparations.
A few hours later, a team of over a dozen Iwagakure ninjas quietly departed from the village and headed toward the Land of Fire.
Among them was Han—the Five-Tails Jinchuriki—whose strength rivaled that of a Kage.
(End of this chapter)
***
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