Chapter 390: Another Treaty Signed Under Duress
After collecting his thoughts, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly said, "Tsunade, I am old. I am no longer fit to lead the village. From now on, the village is completely in your hands."
Tsunade was taken aback. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Hiruzen continue, as if talking to himself.
"Failure after failure has long proven that my policies were wrong. It's just that I never dared to admit it. These years, Sunagakure has been progressing, cultivating its talented next generation. Kumogakure has also been progressing, also cultivating its talented next generation. And Iwagakure has made astonishing achievements in one field after another. Only our Konoha has been constantly mired in internal strife."
"I was wrong. I did not manage the legacy left by Lord First and Lord Second well. In the future, the major affairs of the village will be decided by you. If Koharu and Homura cannot come to terms with it for the time being, I will persuade them."
"As for Danzō..." At this point, Hiruzen suddenly felt that once he completely stepped down, he would no longer be able to suppress Danzō.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen felt a sense of loss. In the future, he would probably no longer be able to hold the dominant position in his relationship with Danzō.
With a sigh, Hiruzen said, "As for Danzō's side, I'm afraid you'll have to deal with him yourself. We retrieved the Seven-Tails this time, but it is likely in Danzō's hands right now."
Hiruzen still understood Danzō. He knew that Kakashi would certainly not have been able to hold on to the Seven-Tails.
"With this failure, given the Tsuchikage's character, he will definitely extort another sum from us. I will be the one to sign this treaty," Hiruzen continued after a pause.
Tsunade subconsciously called out, "Master Sarutobi..."
Hiruzen waved his hand. "Tsunade, I have wronged you. In the future, I will no longer interfere with how you want to treat the Uchiha clan. Haven't you always wanted Shisui? He's yours as well."
After speaking, Hiruzen stood up, intending to leave. After a moment's thought, he added, "Be careful of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. Although I don't know the situation on the Land of Rivers side this time, I have a feeling that the Kazekage probably did not act according to the plan we had agreed upon."
"To be able to quickly seize power without any foundation, this Kazekage is actually not simple. It's just that we were always focused on the Tsuchikage before and underestimated him."
Tsunade nodded, then watched Hiruzen leave.
From this moment on, she, the Hokage, was the true Hokage.
Tsunade stood up and said to the Anbu hidden in the shadows, "Go to the village gate. I will wait for Danzō's return."
Tsunade intended to take advantage of Danzō's recent defeat and, with the justification of righteousness, get the Seven-Tails into her hands first.
Unfortunately, Danzō did not use the main gate. At some distance from it, he had the other ninja proceed through the main entrance as normal, while he himself took his Root subordinates through Root's exclusive passage.
At this time, whether it was seeing Hiruzen or seeing Tsunade, Danzō could no longer gain any advantage. For him, the most important thing now was to properly secure the Seven-Tails. Only when the Seven-Tails was completely in his hands would he go to see Hiruzen and Tsunade.
Tsunade, having come up empty, frowned slightly. But seeing the large number of wounded in the returning ranks, she had no time to dwell on other matters. Saving people was the priority.
And the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, just as Hiruzen had guessed, soon did something that gave Tsunade a massive headache.
Intelligence from the direction of the Land of Rivers soon reached Konoha. Rasa had not clashed with the Akatsuki. Not only that, but Rasa had instead acquired a piece of territory in the southernmost coastal area of the Land of Rivers, a piece of territory that could directly connect the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.
The territory was very small, only a narrow corridor, impossible to even mark on a map. But just this corridor instantly changed the situation between the Land of Fire and its neighboring countries.
The Land of Fire suddenly had a new neighbor that was also a great power, and a great power that had tried every means to become its neighbor at that. The malice was self-evident. The military pressure on Konoha increased immensely!
After receiving the news, Tsunade was so angry she nearly cursed. The Tsuchikage had acquired such a path from the Land of Grass, ready to invade the Land of Fire at any time. Now the Kazekage had pulled the same stunt. Were they all treating the Land of Fire as a piece of meat in a pot, for everyone to have a share?
Tsunade suppressed her anger and asked the intelligence ninja, "Is there any other intelligence?"
The Anbu who had delivered the report replied, "The Kazekage may have already led his army towards that corridor. It's possible he is preparing to invade our Land of Fire."
"Bang!" Unable to hold it in any longer, Tsunade smashed her desk in two with a single slap.
...
In the Land of Rain.
Ishiro created several clones to go down and inspect the bodies of the sixteen to seventeen hundred Konoha ninja who had died in this battle. Although Ishiro had seen his share of the world, he couldn't just turn his back on the spoils of a two-thousand-strong army.
He had just discussed it with Nagato. Most of the materials that were useful for rebuilding the Rain base would go to the Dark Akatsuki. The bodies would also go to them.
Ishiro mainly packed up the high-quality items that were easy to carry, such as well-made weapons, and even chakra-conductive weapons.
In a word, Ishiro took the quality, and the Dark Akatsuki took the quantity.
Soon, the two sides had finished dividing the spoils.
Ishiro said to Tendo Pain, "Nagato, next I plan to put pressure on Konoha and extract some funds from them. I imagine Rasa won't pass up this opportunity either. You all can join in as well."
"At that time, our three parties will advance and retreat together. We will let Konoha know just how foolish it is to casually invade a peace-loving country."
On the other end, Nagato hesitated. After discussing it with Yahiko and Konan for a while, he reluctantly agreed.
Ishiro smiled. "Don't worry. You only need to send people to coordinate with my side. All negotiations will be led by professional personnel sent by our Iwagakure and the Land of Earth."
Tendo Pain nodded.
"Alright, I still have many things to deal with. I'll be leaving now," Ishiro said.
Tendo Pain said, "Ishiro, thank you for this time. If not for your intelligence, and if we had rushed to reinforce the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers might have been conquered by Sunagakure."
Ishiro waved his hand. "It was a small matter."
At this moment, Kakuzu walked over. "Tsuchikage, it's time to settle the payment for killing the Konoha ninja."
Ishiro laughed loudly. "Don't worry. Just give me a number. I'll have someone send the money over in a few days."
Ishiro had gained a lot this time and was about to carve a piece of flesh from Konoha. He naturally didn't care about this small bit of wages for Kakuzu.
Kakuzu was very satisfied with Ishiro's answer and directly gave him a detailed list.
Taking Kakuzu's list, Ishiro left the Land of Rain. However, he did not return to the Land of Earth but went to the Land of Fire. The Iwa Anbu had already discovered the location of the Konoha army's temporary base. Now that that army had been annihilated, Ishiro naturally had to go and seize a batch of spoils.
One doesn't know the cost of firewood and rice until one is in charge of a household. Ishiro was now in charge of a very large household, and he naturally couldn't miss an opportunity to generate some revenue.
When Ishiro flew over the Konoha base, the dozens of Konoha ninja left on guard were packing things up, preparing to evacuate. Clearly, they had already received intelligence that the Konoha army had been defeated and would not be returning. They had to pack up and transport the large amount of war materials stored at the base back to the village.
But at this moment, this shameless Tsuchikage, Ishiro, had personally arrived...
A few minutes later, these dozens of Konoha ninja, having abandoned all their equipment, left the temporary base empty-handed. As they walked, they would from time to time look back at the mountain of supplies, their faces filled with a grief of daring to be angry but not daring to speak.
It was one thing to lose the supplies, but they had been busy working, risking their lives to pack up so many things, and in the end, it had all been for the benefit of Iwagakure.
A chunin who was clearly still young couldn't stop muttering in a low voice, "A dignified Tsuchikage, how could he..."
A jonin beside him quickly interrupted, hissing in a low voice, "Shut up! You're lucky to have kept your life. Now hurry up and keep moving."
Ishiro, on the one hand, had the dumbfounded Kiyoshi Ishizawa quickly notify the village to send people to transport the spoils of war, and on the other, leisurely strolled around the temporary base. As he walked, he nodded. The supplies for a two-thousand-strong army... quite a lot of things. Ishiro was very satisfied.
After Kiyoshi had relayed the message, he followed behind Ishiro, not daring to look up. Although there was no one else here besides him and Ishiro, he still felt ashamed.
If this had been done by an elite jonin, it would have been a great merit, and it would have been normal to record an S-rank mission.
But for you, a dignified Tsuchikage, to personally do this kind of thing, do you have no face?
Ishiro naturally knew what his disciple behind him was thinking. He disdained to explain. Brat. Only those who haven't been beaten down by society care so much about face.
Compared to tangible benefits, what is face? Can face help me cultivate the next generation? Can face support the expenses of my Sage Art training?
The village's response was very fast. The message was directly passed to Kitsuchi, who was marching towards the border. Upon hearing it, he immediately dispatched a hundred-man team to transport the supplies from Ishiro's location.
...
The ninja world, which had been peaceful for a short while, was once again stirred by a storm. The sequel to the incident of Takigakure losing the Seven-Tails for a second time had arrived.
Konoha had dispatched a two-thousand-strong army to seize the Seven-Tails that the Akatsuki had placed in the Land of Rain, causing the long-waiting gossip-mongers to shout with excitement.
And the subsequent heavy losses of Konoha in the Land of Rain made all parties feel that the situation was changing too quickly, and they couldn't keep up with the rhythm.
After that, the three countries of Earth, Wind, and Rivers all amassed their troops on the border of the Land of Fire, which made the onlookers' hearts tighten. Could it be that the Fifth Great Ninja War was about to begin again?
Subsequently, Kirigakure, in the midst of its busy reconstruction, also sent a small army into the Land of Waves to exert some military pressure on Konoha, which further deepened everyone's suspicions.
Of course, the Fifth Great Ninja War did not break out. The four countries quickly signed a peace treaty with the Land of Fire. And the speed with which this treaty was signed left all the outsiders in the ninja world baffled.
(End of Chapter)
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