Atsui opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
Truly—aggrieved!
Facing this group of Konoha Leadership, who had completely given up and didn't care about appearances, his mind instantly went blank.
How was he supposed to break this deadlock? The Village hadn't taught him this!
Finally.
He could only say coldly, "You will regret this!"
"I am the—coughcough!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi subconsciously wanted to retort, but suddenly remembered that the person in front of him wasn't Danzo, and he wasn't the Hokage anymore.
So, besides an awkward cough, his old face flushed terribly for a moment.
Jiraiya's mouth twitched.
As Hiruzen Sarutobi's student, he naturally knew the truth: the Old Man had simply slipped up.
To put it plainly, it was just a subconscious reaction!
After all, the Kumogakure envoy's words sounded too much like that old guy Danzo's.
"Huh? What's wrong with him!"
Atsui, the Kumogakure envoy, was stunned, clearly confused about the situation.
In the end, he could only roll his eyes before storming out of the Hokage Office. He then used a summoning animal to contact the Village, briefly explaining the current situation, and received a reply from the Fourth Raikage that same afternoon.
First, go check out New Konoha, and see if there's any opportunity before making a move!
And then?
They didn't even enter New Konoha; they were stopped right outside the Village gates.
After the gatekeeper Ninja contacted the Hokage Office, they immediately received instructions from Uchiha Jin regarding the matter.
"One word: Scram!"
"Scram as far away as you can. Kumogakure can do whatever they want!"
"War?"
"If you have the guts, bring Kumogakure's Ninja army to the border!"
"Tell the Kumogakure envoy those exact words, without using any rhetoric."
When the New Konoha Ninja relayed these words, Atsui's face turned green with rage.
Holy cow!
Old Konoha had completely given up, but New Konoha was even more arrogant than their own Raikage.
They lacked even the most basic courtesy; they didn't personally receive him, the Kumogakure envoy, and wouldn't even let him enter the gates of New Konoha.
Too much!
Absolutely outrageous!
But—what could he do?
Feeling helpless, Atsui naturally had to temporarily return to Old Konoha and use a summoning animal to contact his Raikage.
Kumogakure Building.
Upon receiving this news, the Fourth Raikage furiously smashed his desk to pieces.
"That damned Uchiha, I swear I'll kill him!"
"How dare he tell me to scram, and even refuse entry to the Kumogakure envoy?"
"I absolutely will not accept this humiliation! I must destroy the Uchiha's New Konoha!"
The Fourth Raikage was completely enraged.
After all, he had never suffered such humiliation in his life. Even though he knew Kumogakure was currently ill-suited for war, he wanted to lead his army to properly reason with Uchiha Jin.
But, unfortunately.
Mabui immediately stopped the Fourth Raikage: "Lord Raikage, you must calm down! The Village cannot withstand another war!"
"A, calm down." Dodai spoke up helplessly, "Mabui is right."
"The Village cannot afford a war right now. Our goal this time was only to probe Konoha and see if we could gain any advantages."
"If we can't gain anything, so be it. The peace treaty still needs to be signed!"
"The big picture, everything is for the big picture!"
Veins bulged on the Fourth Raikage's forehead, and he trembled violently with rage.
Clearly.
He genuinely wanted to charge into the Land of Fire and smash Uchiha Jin's skull.
But—sigh!
After a helpless sigh, he could only reluctantly calm down.
After all, as the Raikage, he knew the current state of the Village better than anyone. Thus, he finally spoke with deep dissatisfaction: "Just don't give me the chance, or I swear I'll kill that bastard Uchiha Jin!"
Ultimately.
The matter was thus settled.
Atsui, having received the message from his Village, was also quite unhappy, but he reluctantly signed the peace treaty with Old Konoha and eventually left shamefacedly with 100,000 Ryo.
However.
If Atsui and Kumogakure were unhappy, Hiruzen Sarutobi was even more displeased.
Looking at the peace treaty in his hand, his entire old face darkened completely, and he started shaking violently from anger.
"It was this simple?"
"Hahaha, just this simple?"
"Damn Kumogakure, you mother..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was utterly dumbfounded.
If he had known earlier that Kumogakure's true goal was merely to probe Konoha and see if they could gain some benefits, how could he have considered letting the Hyuga Clan take a loss?
But now?
Due to his own misjudgment, he had so easily abandoned the Hyuga Clan.
Damn it!
I truly deserve to die!
Meanwhile, Jiraiya also felt terrible.
There was nothing he could do.
If they had figured out Kumogakure's true intentions earlier, why would they have all this mess now?
Although the peace treaty was signed, he couldn't feel happy about it at all.
However.
Before he could even complain about Hiruzen Sarutobi, he suddenly saw Hiruzen Sarutobi starting to lose it.
Instantly, his scalp tingled!
Jiraiya quickly stepped forward, trying to help him breathe while offering words of comfort.
"That's enough, Old Man!"
"No one could have predicted this kind of thing. Let bygones be bygones; we need to look toward the future."
"At the very least, the peace treaty is signed, and we can now recuperate and properly develop our Village."
"..."
Even though he was extremely frustrated and slightly blamed Hiruzen Sarutobi, he kept it bottled up for now and tried his best to persuade Hiruzen Sarutobi.
There was no alternative!
The Village's current situation was dire, with only himself and Hiruzen Sarutobi as Kage-level experts.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi were to collapse now, it would not be good for Konoha.
Fortunately, however.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had also weathered many storms. Although he had suffered such a massive loss this time, he quickly recovered completely with Jiraiya's continuous persuasion... Meanwhile, in New Konoha.
Kakashi stood respectfully in the Hokage Office and reported the signing of the peace treaty between Kumogakure and Old Konoha.
Then.
The look in his eyes toward Uchiha Jin became filled with endless admiration.
In fact, it wasn't just him; even Tsunade was full of emotion.
"Jin, you were right!"
"Kumogakure was just trying to scare us; they didn't dare to start a war arbitrarily."
"That Old Man Hiruzen Sarutobi must be furious enough to die right now."
"He suffered such a huge loss only to realize, after all that, that he was just scaring himself."
Uchiha Jin sat behind the Hokage's desk, his expression remaining perfectly calm.
Since it was something he had already anticipated, there was naturally nothing surprising about it.
After setting down his teacup, he spoke softly.
"Alright!"
"Since the peace treaty has been signed, it's time for us to make our move."
"Tell Nara Shikaku to prepare for action!"