"Resting, huh..."
Hearing this, the samurai opposite muttered a few words to himself. Seeing that Furina didn't seem to be lying, his expression softened somewhat.
"Alright, if that's the case, no problem. I just hope you won't do anything extra. Otherwise, my sword isn't for show."
After issuing the warning, the samurai turned to leave, but before he could take a step, Furina called out to him again.
"From what you said, it sounds like some Konoha ninja caused trouble here before, which is why you're so wary of my Konoha ninja identity.
Could you tell me about it? There might be some misunderstanding."
Furina naturally wouldn't let him leave so easily. She hadn't known anything before, so it was fine but now, being half-informed like this was really uncomfortable.
Anyway, she was idle right now. Might as well get the whole story straight.
The samurai opposite indeed paused at her words. He turned back to look at Furina, his gaze carrying scrutiny. Furina showed no fear at all, simply smiling as she met his eyes.
"You?"
"Yes, me."
After staring for a while, the samurai realized he couldn't see through her and could only withdraw his gaze. He then signaled the restaurant owner to find them a private room.
"Go ahead and talk. What's the matter? I can tell from your eyes you're not unreasonable."
Once they were seated in the room, Furina spoke first, her tone neither flippant nor particularly serious.
That was normal, though for her, this was just something to pass the time. If she was interested, she'd get involved; if not, she'd pretend she hadn't seen anything.
The samurai didn't mind Furina's casual tone. After a quick glance at Uchiha Hikari beside her, he began recounting the whole story from beginning to end.
...
The matter wasn't complicated in fact, it was a bit melodramatic. The prince of a neighboring country, the Land of That, was being held here as a hostage to maintain cooperation between the two nations.
But the Land of That didn't want to keep enduring such a humiliating arrangement. Not long ago, they commissioned Konoha to bring the prince back, after which they would end their cooperation with the Land of This and instead form an alliance with Konoha.
Naturally, Konoha wouldn't refuse a deal that brought benefits, so they dispatched ninja to "kidnap" the prince. The embarrassing part was...
Perhaps due to inexperience, they actually got discovered during the "kidnapping," and their Konoha ninja identities were exposed. That naturally blew everything up.
"I see."
After hearing the full sequence of events, Furina let out a meaningful "oh." She didn't mean anything by it she was just surprised that Tsunade would send such unreliable ninja on a mission.
After all, though the Land of That wasn't large, it was still a country, and this counted as a moderately significant political incident. Tsunade would definitely have personally reviewed the personnel involved in something like this.
No wonder she hadn't heard about it. If Tsunade had really let her know, she would definitely have teased her hard sending ninja who could screw up even in a place like this. Come on, sis, are you capable or not?
Tsunade: 10-4
"So what do you think, Mr. Tachi? Although you said the daimyo here is deeply resentful about this, I feel like you might have some other opinions."
"Yes. While the daimyo despises this matter intensely, in my view, peace maintained through hostage-taking can't last long. Sooner or later, the two countries will erupt into even fiercer conflict because of it.
So I don't oppose the prince returning to the Land of That only that way can the issues between the two countries truly be resolved. The only unfortunate part is those few Konoha ninja who got exposed during the operation..."
When mentioning those Konoha ninja, Tachi's tone clearly shifted. Evidently, even he was somewhat exasperated by them. How could they be so unreliable?
"Indeed."
After listening, Furina nodded lightly. She didn't oppose Tachi's thinking, but she didn't agree with it either. The idea was nice, but reality might not go as planned.
Even if the plan hadn't failed what then? The Land of That commissions Konoha to "abduct" the prince, then switches to an alliance with Konoha. How would the daimyo of the Land of This see that? Pure betrayal.
Though peace maintained by hostages was unreasonable, Furina didn't think a lofty daimyo accustomed to power would think that deeply. In their eyes, anything not going their way was simply wrong.
As for the Land of That allying with Konoha and the Land of This not daring to act that was even more far-fetched. You can find a backer, but I can't? They'd just keep grinding against each other like that. Even without Obito opening the Fourth Great Ninja War, it would probably happen sooner or later anyway.
In short, Furina was pessimistic about the other side's plan. As for why she still didn't oppose it despite that the reason was even simpler.
She didn't have a better solution, so what was she supposed to oppose? Just pointing out problems from on high and then washing her hands of it that would make her a complete idiot.
"I can tell your strength is very impressive, and you're also a Konoha ninja. Would you be willing to help make up for the previous regret?"
"No way!" Seeing that Tachi had finally revealed his true intentions, Furina rejected him immediately.
Sure, getting the person out would be easy there was no one here who could stop her. But then what? What happens after?
Because of those previous people's screw-up, the daimyo of the Land of This already harbored resentment. If she got involved now, it would probably explode even worse. War breaking out the next day wasn't impossible.
And if she participated this time, what about the next time something happened between these two countries? Could she just stand by and watch? Trouble would probably come one after another. Better to pass.
"But..."
"Boom"
Before Tachi could persuade her further, he was interrupted by a massive explosion from outside not just once, but continuous.
"Boom" "Boom" "Boom"...
When they stepped out of the restaurant and saw the white bird flying in the sky, Furina more or less understood what was happening. Though she found it a bit strange that he would be here, if it was explosions and a white bird, there was no one else in the entire ninja world it could be but Deidara.
And if Deidara was here, Sasori was probably around too.
"Alright, no need to guess anymore. They're definitely here."
As crimson-red puppets rose one after another from the distant daimyo's mansion, Furina's guess was confirmed.
When Sasori's Hundred Puppet Performance was introduced, it mentioned he had once conquered a country probably this was the time.
The strongest person Furina had seen in this country so far was Tachi, who had already gone to support the daimyo's mansion. But his strength was only at the level of jonin to elite jonin a skilled expert, but still a step below Sasori.