This shouldn't be happening!
Compared to his ruthless methods against the Uchiha in the past, he felt he had been quite restrained this time. So, Hiruzen Sarutobi still didn't understand how he had managed to force the Hyuga Clan away.
Honestly, this matter was a huge blow to him!
However...
After hearing Jiraiya's words, he immediately retorted without a second thought.
"No, absolutely not!"
"The Village is currently facing a shortage of talent. We really cannot go to war again."
"Otherwise, I fear our Village will truly collapse!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was drenched in cold sweat.
There was no other way!
Because Jiraiya was merely a puppet Hokage, he had no understanding of the Village's true situation, and Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't possibly let him know.
But while others might not know, didn't Hiruzen Sarutobi know?
The Village had long since completely lost the hearts of its people, and its current precarious stability relied entirely on his high-pressure rule.
The villagers didn't want to stay in the Village; they were forced to. Otherwise, death was their only option!
In the past, he wasn't worried.
Because he had encountered such situations many times and had various ways to alleviate them.
First, give money!
As long as he could pay the pensions and war commission fees owed from the Third Great Ninja War, he was confident he could temporarily stabilize public sentiment.
Second, an outlet for frustration!
Whether it was Sakumo Hatake at the beginning, or Orochimaru's later defection, the Uchiha being slandered, or Naruto Uzumaki being rumored to be the Nine-Tailed Fox, in essence, besides other calculations, the most important thing was to give the villagers an outlet for their frustration.
Because if they couldn't benefit from the war and couldn't be allowed to resent him, the Hokage, then finding a scapegoat would allow that person to absorb all the villagers' malice and anger.
Although the Second Great Ninja War was won, there was no compensation from the defeated nations, so Sakumo Hatake became the outlet for everyone's frustration.
Underground human experimentation discovered? Let Orochimaru take the blame.
No pensions after the Third Great Ninja War? Then resent the Uchiha.
After the Nine-Tails Attack Night, the Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki bore the burden together.
But, unfortunately.
The Village currently had neither money nor a suitable outlet for frustration.
Although there appeared to be Naruto Uzumaki, the 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox,' on one hand, his identity as the Fourth Hokage's son was exposed, and even more so because Jiraiya had become the Fifth Hokage, he simply couldn't manipulate this matter.
After all, even if Jiraiya was a puppet, he lived and ate with Naruto every day.
It was under these circumstances that he came up with a third solution.
Using this peace agreement with Kumogakure to provide some spiritual encouragement to everyone, which could at least slightly loosen the taut string.
Unexpectedly.
Now that was messed up too!
Not only did it fail to alleviate the Village's tense situation, but it even forced the Hyuga Clan to defect from the Village.
Now — go to war?
What was he thinking?
Hiruzen Sarutobi was absolutely certain that if the Village dared to go to war with Kumogakure, the Ninja would likely desert completely on the way to the front lines, even before reaching them.
As for holding the Ninja's families hostage beforehand, like they do for current Ninja missions?
Heh heh!
Perhaps it worked for everyday mission requests, but doing so during wartime was courting death.
Because with large-scale Ninja mobilization, the Village didn't have enough people to guard so many hostages. If all those Ninja were to gather, as long as there was a leader who gave a signal, they could kill the Anbu guarding the hostages and directly take all their families to defect to New Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi absolutely dared not let those Ninja he didn't trust gather!
But, unfortunately.
Jiraiya didn't understand Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts; he simply thought the old man was a bit cowardly and lacked the demeanor of the shinobi hero he once was.
With a helpless sigh, Jiraiya asked, "The Hyuga Clan has already fled. How do we explain this to Kumogakure?"
"Tell them the truth."
Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a long time before saying in a faint tone, "Directly tell the Kumogakure Delegation that Konoha is willing to offer 200,000 ryo in compensation. If they are still not satisfied, they can go to New Konoha."
Jiraiya was stunned.
He looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in shock: "This—will this work?"
"Whether it works or not, we'll see." Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head. "Anyway, I don't have any better ideas."
"If Kumogakure is persistent and insists on war, then we can only follow Danzo's suggestion and try to get the Daimyo to make New Konoha fight. Our Village simply has no reserves for war right now."
"If Kumogakure invades the Land of Fire, the greatest losses will be suffered by the Daimyo and the nobles of the Land of Fire!"
"They will then force New Konoha to participate in the war!"
At this moment, he had completely made up his mind.
There was no other way!
There really was no other way!
Konoha now couldn't even be described as merely facing a shortage of talent; they definitely couldn't come up with compensation, and they had no reserves to help if a war broke out.
So, let them lose face; it was still better than the Village collapsing!
Jiraiya's face was covered in black lines, and his mouth twitched severely.
However.
He also knew that Konoha truly couldn't endure it anymore, so he ultimately sighed and could only agree.
Morning, nine o'clock.
The Kumogakure Delegation arrived at the Hokage Office, their faces filled with arrogance. In their view, Konoha could only bow its head and submit.
However, a single sentence from Jiraiya completely stunned them.
"I'm very sorry, but we cannot compensate you!"
"The Hyuga Clan has already left the Village, and according to the agreement made when the Village was founded, we cannot stop the Hyuga Clan."
"If you, Kumogakure, want compensation, then you can only look to New Konoha."
"As for us, considering that your head delegate indeed died in our Village, we are willing to offer 100,000 ryo in humanitarian compensation."
"There will be no more than that, as the Village's finances are very tight right now!"
The Kumogakure Delegation was completely dumbfounded.
They looked at the Konoha Leadership, who had completely given up, and for a moment, they didn't know what to say.
Atsui, the deputy delegate, couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid that Kumogakure will go to war with Konoha?"
"It doesn't matter, do as you please!" Jiraiya waved his hand.
Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed and added, "Konoha is too weak now. Even if you, Kumogakure, conquer the Land of Fire, we, Konoha, do not have the ability to cope with the war."
"However, the Land of Fire doesn't only have our Ninja Village. I imagine that when you conquer the Land of Fire, the Daimyo will send the Ninja Village on the Uchiha side to meet you in battle."
The subtext was quite simple!
Anyway, our Village has given up, so Kumogakure can do whatever it wants.
Atsui: "..."
At this moment, he was utterly dumbfounded.
Well, I'll be!
Konoha had just given up completely, so what should he do next?