Kumo definitely wanted to retrieve Two-Tails as quickly as possible, because there had long been an undeniable law in the world—it was an old saying: *"Careless hands destroy what they don't own."*
If things dragged on too long, who knew what Konoha would do with Two-Tails? What dangerous chakra experiments might they conduct on it?
The thought of Two-Tails screaming in agony under Konoha's torment kept the Third Raikage awake for nights on end. And even when he finally fell asleep, he'd wake up to find his pillow soaked with tears once again… showing that even this seemingly rough Kage had an extremely sensitive side. Huh? Maybe it was drool?
Forget it.
After receiving notification from Konoha, Kumo's negotiation team arrived in Konoha very quickly… The fact that the talks were held in Konoha itself and that Kumo ninja actively came here already spoke volumes.
Then both sides held amicable and formal discussions regarding the return of Two-Tails. They quickly laid down the ground rules for negotiation—Two-Tails belonged to Kumo, yet Konoha had paid an extremely heavy price to help Kumo capture it. Therefore, while Kumo could reclaim Two-Tails, they must compensate Konoha for its losses.
Whether Kumo cursed out loud during the process or exactly how many times such curses flew, Haseo didn't know. But he did know that after three straight days of talks, no agreement had yet been reached on the conditions for its return.
"How much are you asking for?"
"Eight hundred million ryo."
"Get lost."
"What exactly are you offering?"
"Eight hundred thousand ryo."
"Go crawl back where you came from, like a good boy."
For three consecutive days, their exchanges went roughly like this.
Haseo wasn't bothered by the deadlock in negotiations—at least for now, the longer things dragged on, the better it was for Konoha. The Hokage side remained calm and composed; it was Raikage who should be anxious... Under these circumstances, Kumo would surely soon display the "sincerity" they deserved.
Indeed, once realizing Konoha's stance, Kumo understood they couldn't afford to drag things out. So starting from the fourth day, negotiations finally entered a substantive phase.
The core issue between the two parties lay in the transaction amount. Naturally, Kumo understood the value of Tailed Beasts—otherwise why would they come to Konoha? Yet even though Two-Tails was absolutely irreplaceable for them, they simply didn't want to pay a high price. That kind of thinking was seriously short-sighted.
Fortunately, Kumo corrected this mindset in time.
Thus, the figure gradually increased—starting from hundreds of thousands rising steadily to millions, then increasing further to tens of millions. But by this point, Konoha still hadn't agreed, forcing Kumo to bite the bullet and raise the compensation amount to fifty-five million ryo.
At this point, Mitokado Homura sensed this might be Kumo's limit—their highest bid wouldn't go any higher from now on. Continuing to haggle relentlessly would only lead to the collapse of negotiations, which would benefit neither side.
Although it fell short of the original eight hundred million ryo Hokage initially requested, five hundred and fifty million ryo had already accomplished the mission fairly well. Kumo was notoriously stingy, so Homura felt this offer was already quite acceptable.
So at this moment, he chose to nod. As the plenipotentiary representative for the negotiations, once he agreed, it meant that everything had been decided.
…So they finally agreed like this? Konoha is like one of those annoying leeches—you just can't shake them off.
After reaching the agreement, the Kumo shinobi exhaled in relief, though he couldn't help but think this way…
…You actually agreed so easily? Where's your perseverance? Your stress resistance? Your psychological endurance?
When Haseo later learned that a tailed beast was sold for a mere 55,000 ryo, he couldn't help but berate like this. So why didn't they just send him—their top negotiator—on this mission? Pretty clear the Third Hokage messed up here.
Konoha clearly held the advantage, firmly holding onto Two-Tails and dominating the negotiation table. Then what were they afraid of—a broken negotiation? Shouldn't Kumo be more worried about that?
If you're always chasing after safety and stability, why become a ninja at all? Might as well become a babysitter.
However, the Third Hokage had his own reasons for not sending Haseo to handle such negotiations. First, he didn't want to provoke Kumo too much, while Haseo's face alone was already provocative enough for them. Second, if Haseo was sent to handle this matter, who knew what kind of "unexpected" results he might bring back?
The Third Hokage wanted no unexpected surprises. Mitokado Homura might not handle things the best way possible, but at worst, he wouldn't mess things up either—which made him the ideal candidate for these negotiations…
Just like Kumo, sometimes Haseo should consider toning down his 'approach' a bit—after all, the impression he left on others wasn't exactly positive.
Once the amount of money was settled, the remaining issue became how to proceed with the handover. The tailed beast was important, and the funds provided by Kumo were equally significant. However, mutual distrust between both sides made the transfer of Two-Tails problematic.
In theory, once a major deal like this is set, there's nothing more you should have to worry about. This transaction was backed by national credibility. Just imagine—if Konoha gave Kumo a fake tailed beast, what consequences would follow? If Kumo handed Konoha counterfeit money, what then?
Both sides understood that under normal circumstances, no one would dare attempt tricks in this deal. But what if someone broke the rules anyway? That possibility couldn't be entirely ruled out—neither from Konoha's perspective toward Kumo nor from Kumo's view of Konoha.
To each other, both sides seemed utterly despicable.
Therefore, in the end, both parties settled on a very fair yet extremely primitive method of transaction—one where money changed hands simultaneously with goods, final sale no returns, no warranty whatsoever.
...
If the Uchiha clan in today's Konoha had a pair of strong enough Mangekyo Sharingan eyes, handing over the tailed beast would actually be pretty straightforward. In fact, such eyes could even control the tailed beasts far more easily and smoothly than the Uzumaki clan… Simply using genjutsu to control the beast, in the short term, such eyes could even treat the tailed beast like a summoned beast.
However, the Uchiha currently lacked such eyes. Without the stimulus of the Senju, the Uchiha seemed to have lost its earlier drive as well.
Ninjas are meant to move forward, not dwell on the past. So why couldn't there be a decent ninja from the Uchiha clan who'd name himself "Uchiha Shengban" or at least "Uchiha Shengjian"?
You've got to have the guts to outdo your ancestors. Lose your nerve, and you're already beaten before you even start.
Unfortunately, Haseo wasn't born into a favored bloodline. Otherwise, he definitely would've believed in his ability to surpass Madara and Jianjian.
All things considered, the matter of the Two-Tails was closely tied to Haseo. While high-level diplomatic negotiations weren't exactly within his reach, guess what? The dirty work of delivering the Tailed Beast fell onto his shoulders instead.
Haseo's reputation seemed perfectly suited to intimidate Kumo, so the responsibility for returning the beast and collecting payment naturally fell to him. What's more, this mission came with strict orders to be completed "as soon as possible."
How quickly it happened didn't really matter anymore. By now, the Two-Tails' chakra reserves had already been thoroughly depleted… Draining the Two-Tails' chakra was just for an experiment. And since that experiment didn't actually require turning the poor cat-like beast into a dried-up husk, such cruelty wasn't necessary.
It was pretty inhumane, after all. Everyone knew that Haseo would never do something like that.
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