The Land of Wind, Sunagakure.
The scorching sun hung like a furnace in the sky, baking the earth below. At noon, the rising heat haze from the desert meant that very few people were active in Sunagakure.
But today was different.
A figure was seen running through the streets toward the massive spherical building in the center of the village.
Inside the Kazekage's office building, the atmosphere was a stark contrast to the deathly silence outside.
A handful of people were gathered in the high-level meeting room, and the air was filled with a sense of long-awaited anticipation.
It had been days since the disastrous failure of the Konoha Crush plan. Ever since more than half of the village's fighting force was taken captive by Konoha, Sunagakure had not had a single day of peace. The village was on constant alert, both inside and out, and its strength was severely depleted.
Only today did the heavy burden seem to have a chance of being lifted.
The grueling negotiations had finally concluded. The final price was a hefty 500 million ryō. Although a huge sum, it was just within their limit of tolerance.
The person responsible for the handover had left early this morning, and the news should be back by now.
"The contract was signed this morning... The news should be here soon, right?" an old Jōnin with a masked face broke the silence, his voice trembling with an emotion he couldn't hide.
"If there are no surprises..." someone next to him whispered in agreement.
As soon as the words left his lips, both of them looked at the old woman sitting in the main seat.
It was Advisor Chiyo. With the Fourth Kazekage Rasa dead and most of the village's elites captured by Konoha, this legendary puppeteer, who had long since retired, was forced to return to lead the village.
She sat with her head bowed, her eyes closed, as if resting. Her face, marked by the passage of time, showed no signs of joy or sorrow, only a layer of exhaustion that refused to dissipate.
Gaara will be back soon... and all the other sand ninjas.
She murmured to herself, trying to suppress a feeling of unease.
Konoha had changed. That old geezer Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer "reasonable" like he used to be! In the past, they could have just found an excuse and apologized, and the issue would have been smoothed over.
But now? Not only were they forced to formally admit defeat, cede land, and pay a "war penalty," but they also had to pay an additional 500 million ryō!
500 million ryō! Sunagakure had struggled tooth and nail, begging and pleading, even selling off a significant portion of its assets, just to scrape together that sum. This massive amount of money had almost completely drained the village's already weak resources.
Sigh.
Chiyo let out a long, slow breath. The older she got, the more she feared change, and the ninja world was changing too quickly!
Whether it was Hiruzen Sarutobi's sudden demands, the betrayal of a loyal Konoha ninja like Danzō Shimura, the sudden appearance of a rogue ninja like Uchiha Obito, or the massive changes in the Land of Lightning in recent days. These rapid changes were completely unexpected.
The ninja world... even her old bones couldn't understand it anymore, and she felt increasingly powerless.
The only thought that gave her a little comfort was that once the money was paid, their captured hostages would surely be returned.
The money had been sent this morning, and the contract should have been signed.
By now, Gaara and the more than 80 captured sand ninjas should be on their way back!
"Urgent report!!!"
"Urgent report!!!"
A sharp cry tore through the air, coming from the hallway outside the door. The next moment,
Bang—
The door to the meeting room was thrown open, and a sand ninja practically tumbled inside. He was drenched in sweat, his face was ashen, and his lips trembled as he rushed toward Chiyo in the main seat.
"What happened?" a ninja near the door demanded sharply.
But the messenger ninja ignored him. With a look of frozen terror, he pushed through the questioning gazes and rushed to the main seat, shoving a small, sweat-soaked scroll into Chiyo's hand.
Chiyo took the scroll, a sense of unease flashing in her aged eyes. Could something else have gone wrong?
She opened the scroll. The content wasn't much, just a single line of text.
But upon reading it, Chiyo's aging body stiffened, and her pupils constricted violently!
Bang—
In the next moment, Chiyo could no longer suppress the anger in her heart and slammed her hand down on the meeting table.
The sudden crash caused the entire meeting room, which was already in an uproar due to the unexpected guest, to fall silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Konoha!!! This is too much!!!
In that moment, Chiyo was reminded of the tragic deaths of her son and daughter-in-law, and her deep-seated resentment toward Konoha flared up once again.
"Sister..." Ebizō's voice was filled with shock.
Chiyo's chest heaved violently. Without a word, she threw the scroll at her brother.
The content was simple: Konoha had unilaterally torn up the "treaty," and was now making another outrageous demand. The original 500 million ryō had been raised twenty-fold to a staggering 10 billion ryō!
Even though Ebizō was old and considered himself composed, upon seeing this news, his breathing became uncontrollably rapid, and he almost passed out.
10 billion ryō? 500 million was a stretch for Sunagakure, but 10 billion was something they couldn't come up with even if they sold everything they owned!
Konoha was trying to destroy Sunagakure!
As the scroll was passed around, all the few high-ranking officials and elite ninjas in the meeting room saw the message.
"This is too much!!! Konoha is going too far!!!" one ninja gritted his teeth.
"10 billion?! How dare they?!" another hot-headed Jōnin's eyes turned red with fury.
"Where is the spirit of the contract?! We just agreed on 500 million this morning!" another's voice was hoarse and filled with disbelief.
"Even if we sold our entire village... we couldn't raise that much!" an elder in charge of logistics grabbed his hair in despair.
A hot-blooded ninja suddenly stood up, his eyes burning with rage as he looked at Chiyo. "Lady Chiyo, let's go to war with Konoha! We have no other choice!"
Hearing the word "war," Chiyo clenched her hands on the table, but they finally opened limply.
Going to war with Konoha was a path Sunagakure had considered before. But the village's Jinchuriki and a majority of their fighting force were already their captives.
How could they possibly fight?
And there was also that Naruto Uzumaki... Although he was just a kid, his strength was terrifying. The newspaper reports hadn't exaggerated even a little!
Both her and Ebizō's intelligence networks had confirmed it: Naruto Uzumaki was the one who had defeated the First and Second Hokages, and with just one attack, he had taken down fifty of Sunagakure's strongest ninjas!
At that thought, she raised her head, and a sharp glint shot out from her aged eyes, making the person who had suggested war flinch in pain and his heart turn cold.
"Go to war with Konoha? Fine! Go and kill Naruto Uzumaki then!"
Chiyo's voice was not loud, but it instantly stopped the ninja's righteous anger. The color drained from his face, and his lips trembled, unable to utter a single word.
What? Me, fight Naruto Uzumaki?
This ninja had read the newspaper. He had seen the figure soaring through the sky, the fleeting glimpse of the destructive Dust Release.
He was just a Sunagakure Jōnin. How could he possibly win?
As soon as Chiyo said those words, not only did that ninja's mind instantly sober up, but the entire meeting room fell silent.
That's right!
Even a complete Sunagakure couldn't defeat Naruto Uzumaki, let alone one that had lost more than half of its strength. They were completely defenseless!
Chiyo looked around the silent room, despair washing over her like a tide.
Konoha wanted 10 billion. They had no choice. They didn't even have the right to bargain.
"Sigh!"
She sighed to herself. How did Sunagakure fall to such a state?
When she was young, Sunagakure was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Now? An ally of Konoha? No, a puppet!
"Take all the gold dust that Rasa secretly buried... and sell it all," Chiyo said, her voice dry as sandpaper.
"Lady Chiyo, but... that's still not nearly enough!" the elder in charge of finances said with a sob.
"Not enough? Then look again! See what else we can dismantle from this village to sell for money!" Chiyo looked at him. "This is the only way we can show our sincerity."
As she said those words, Chiyo felt a sense of humiliation.
Her hatred and resentment toward Konoha had never faded in her entire life, and yet, here she was, on the verge of death, having to endure this. She could barely accept the alliance with Konoha, let alone have to kneel and beg them to take less.
She took a breath, her voice trembling with suppressed frustration. "It's no longer about what Konoha wants; it's about what we have!" As she finished the last sentence, her voice became miraculously calm. She had probably accepted reality.
After saying this, she scanned the people in the meeting room. Because of the attack on Konoha, they had lost most of their elite. The majority of the people here, just like her, were at a semi-retired age.
Tsk, tsk.
Look at this room of Sunagakure ninjas, and then look at the endless monsters Konoha has...
A sense of unprecedented despondency washed over her, as if all the strength had been drained from her body.
"Go, all of you. Go see what can be sold for money!"
"Yes!" ×N
After the deathly silent response, everyone left one by one, with expressions of either anger, despair, or numbness, to carry out this most humiliating of orders.
When only the two siblings were left in the meeting room, Chiyo's forced composure instantly crumbled, and she leaned back into her chair in defeat.
"The intelligence... the reason for Konoha's change of heart?" she asked, her voice exhausted.
Ebizō silently handed her another piece of paper.
"Sister, this is the intelligence that came back with the messenger hawk."
Chiyo took it and read it carefully.
"Naruto Uzumaki? After he entered the Hokage's office this morning, did that old geezer Hiruzen change his mind again? It seems like it was the same last time?"
Chiyo couldn't quite understand the connection between these events. But then, a ridiculous thought seized her—this so-called "fine" wasn't meant to fill Konoha's treasury at all. It was more like Hiruzen Sarutobi was using Sunagakure's entire fortune to negotiate with that boy?
She couldn't comprehend it! She considered herself well-versed and had been through many wars, but she had never seen a ninja negotiate with his own village. Naruto Uzumaki was the first!
But if it wasn't a negotiation, why would Hiruzen Sarutobi use Sunagakure's captives as a bargaining chip, repeatedly raising the price?
Instantly, Chiyo began to think about what benefits Sunagakure could gain from this.
A moment later, she was completely disheartened. Sunagakure was simply too poor to have any leverage. Could the position of Kazekage really be more appealing than the position of Hokage?
Or... perhaps a different approach was needed.
A glimmer of sharp light, like a breakthrough in the fog, suddenly appeared in Chiyo's aged eyes.
Cut out the middleman. What if we deal directly with Naruto?