At two o'clock in the afternoon, the delegation from Kumogakure entered the negotiation room under the escort of Konoha ANBU.
Inside the room, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, and several administrative shinobi responsible for recording the meeting were already seated.
The elder leading Kumogakure's delegation stepped inside with a polite smile still on his face.
"Third Hokage, may I ask why today's meeting was moved to the afternoon?"
He had not even taken his seat before asking.
Hiruzen chuckled softly, his expression carrying a trace of meaning.
"I have always valued peace. Since Kumogakure has made certain requests, I thought it would be best to invite the person directly involved."
"The person involved?"
The Kumogakure elder froze slightly.
For some reason, an unpleasant feeling immediately rose in his chest.
It was not only Hiruzen. Danzo and the other Konoha representatives were also looking at them with calm, almost unreadable smiles.
No way…
Did they call that man back?
The elder's heart tightened.
The smile on his face stiffened, and he slowly sat down.
"Third Hokage, are you…"
Before the elder could finish, Hiruzen nodded with a smile.
The Kumogakure elder's expression instantly darkened.
"Third Hokage, this is nothing less than a provocation against Kumogakure."
His voice became heavier.
At his words, the other members of the Kumogakure delegation also showed anger and stared coldly at the Konoha side.
Bang!
The sound did not come from someone slamming the table.
It was the sound of the conference room door being pushed open.
Kizaru walked in with his hands in his pockets, sunglasses on his face, and Matatabi resting lazily on his shoulder.
"Ohh~ how scary. Everyone looks so serious."
His lazy voice immediately filled the room.
The moment the Kumogakure shinobi saw him, their expressions changed.
"Shimura Kizaru!"
One Kumogakure jonin, who had personally witnessed the battle between Kizaru and the Third Raikage, stood up at once.
His face was twisted with anger and fear.
He glared at Kizaru fiercely, but no harsh words came out.
The other Kumogakure shinobi also stood up one after another.
Their village had been attacked.
Hundreds of shinobi had died.
The Third Raikage had been captured.
The Two-Tails' jinchuriki had been killed.
And their tailed beast had been taken.
Between Kumogakure and Kizaru, there was already a blood debt.
"How frightening~"
Kizaru looked at their furious faces and spoke in that slow, mocking tone.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
A young special jonin, whose brother had died at Kizaru's hands, finally lost control.
Ignoring the others trying to stop him, he rushed straight toward Kizaru.
Kizaru only smiled.
He raised his right hand and extended one finger.
Golden light gathered at his fingertip.
The instant the light began to shine, several voices rang out at once.
"Kizaru, don't!"
"Stop!"
"Kizaru!"
Two ANBU appeared inside the room and moved immediately, pinning down the Kumogakure shinobi before he could reach Kizaru.
Seeing the attacker restrained, Kizaru let the golden light fade from his fingertip. Then he lowered his hand and patted his chest with an exaggerated sigh.
"That really scared me to death~"
For a moment, the faces of the Kumogakure elder, Hiruzen, and Danzo all became strange.
Who exactly was scaring whom?
"Kizaru, sit down," Hiruzen said quickly.
He was genuinely afraid that Kizaru would cause another international incident before the negotiations even began.
Kizaru looked around with a smile, adjusted his sunglasses, then strolled over and sat beside Hiruzen.
"Third Hokage, I strongly protest this!" the Kumogakure elder said sharply when he saw Kizaru taking part in the negotiations.
Kizaru leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and held Matatabi in his arms.
"Old man," he said lazily, "I heard you wanted the Two-Tails back?"
The moment the Kumogakure delegation saw Matatabi sitting obediently in Kizaru's arms like a pet cat, the room fell silent.
That was a tailed beast.
A strategic weapon of a hidden village.
A monster that only a Kage-level shinobi could even hope to suppress.
And yet now, the Two-Tails was lying in Kizaru's arms like some spoiled house cat.
The Kumogakure elder took a breath and forced himself to remain calm.
"The Two-Tails was granted to our village by the First Hokage of Konoha for the sake of peace between the hidden villages. In return, Kumogakure paid a great sum. The tailed beasts were symbols of balance and peace."
His voice grew firmer.
"Your act of seizing the Two-Tails is an act that destroys that peace. It goes against the will of the First Hokage and tramples on the order of the shinobi world."
The room went quiet.
Even the Kumogakure shinobi behind him lowered their heads slightly.
The elder truly was an elder.
Most people would never be able to say something so shameless with such a straight face.
Hiruzen's expression twitched.
Danzo's face turned cold.
If Hiruzen had not stopped him with a glance, Danzo might have already started tearing into the man.
What a shameless old fox.
Of course, Hiruzen noticed Danzo's reaction.
But no one noticed Kizaru's smile growing a little wider.
"You want the Two-Tails? Fine. I agree."
As he spoke, Kizaru placed Matatabi onto the conference table.
"ROAR—!"
In an instant, Matatabi's body expanded several times over, nearly covering the entire table.
The Two-Tails lowered its head and roared directly at the Kumogakure elder.
Cold sweat immediately slid down the elder's forehead.
Even after living for more than seventy years, this was the first time he had experienced a tailed beast's roar from such a close distance.
The Kumogakure shinobi around him instantly stood up.
Their faces were filled with shock and anger, but also fear.
They all knew very well that if the Two-Tails attacked here, none of them could stop it.
The elder forced himself to maintain a calm expression and looked past Matatabi toward Hiruzen.
"Kizaru," Hiruzen said with a smile, seeing that the intimidation had gone far enough, "don't frighten our friends from Kumogakure."
"Sensei, I'm only meeting their request."
Kizaru smiled innocently.
Then he paused deliberately, as if he had suddenly understood something.
"Ohh~ I see. Then how about this? I'll take Matatabi to Kumogakure myself and return it to them properly."
"No!"
The Kumogakure elder finally lost his composure and shouted before he could stop himself.
Right now, the Third Raikage had been captured. Most of the shinobi remaining in Kumogakure were from the younger generation.
If Kizaru really brought the Two-Tails back to the village like this…
The elder could not even imagine the result.
If that happened, Kumogakure might not recover for the next fifty years.
"Oh? No?" Kizaru tilted his head with a smile. "Then thank you very much~"
The elder opened his mouth, wanting to say that was not what he meant.
But under Kizaru's gaze and Matatabi's cold stare, the words stuck in his throat.
His life did not matter.
But if Kizaru truly took the Two-Tails to Kumogakure, then even dying ten thousand times would not make up for the damage.
"Kizaru," Hiruzen said smoothly, not missing the chance, "shouldn't you thank Kumogakure's great elder?"
"Thank you very much, Grandpa from Kumogakure~"
Kizaru smiled brightly.
Danzo also smiled.
"On behalf of my nephew, I thank Kumogakure for its generous gift."
Three shameless bastards.
The Kumogakure elder felt his blood pressure rising.
Facing the three men from Konoha, who were smiling politely on the surface while mocking him openly underneath, he almost felt his vision darken.
"Back then, the First Hokage gave two tailed beasts to Kumogakure. Now, returning one to Konoha can also be considered a symbol of friendship between our two villages."
The elder forced those words out through gritted teeth.
"Hahaha! The great elder speaks wisely."
Hiruzen laughed, feeling the frustration from the past two days finally ease.
Calling Kizaru back had been the correct decision after all.
"Come back, Matatabi."
Seeing that the elder had already yielded on the matter of the tailed beast, Kizaru called out lazily.
Matatabi shrank back down into the size of a cat, turned around, and leapt back onto Kizaru's lap.
Once Matatabi left the table, Hiruzen continued the negotiation.
"Ahem."
He coughed twice, drawing everyone's attention.
"Now that the matter of the tailed beast has been settled, let us continue discussing the compensation for the armistice."
"The tailed beast presented to your village by Shimura Kizaru already represents Kumogakure's sincerity," the elder said, forcing himself to recover. "I hope Konoha will also show proper sincerity in return."
Since the Two-Tails could no longer be recovered, he could only try to reduce the compensation Kumogakure had to pay.
Hiruzen nodded but did not answer immediately.
Instead, he gestured to the assistant behind him.
The Konoha staff member stepped forward and handed the newly prepared treaty document to the Kumogakure elder.
The elder accepted it and began reading carefully.
The terms were simple.
Compensation for defeat: one billion ryō in funds and twenty percent of Kumogakure's mission quota for five years.
Ransom for the Third Raikage: two billion ryō in cash.
Since Kumogakure was different from Sunagakure and still retained considerable strength, Konoha demanded more cash but a smaller mission quota.
The Kumogakure elder's face sank.
"Third Hokage… is this your sincerity?"
Compared with yesterday's demand of twenty-five percent of Kumogakure's mission quota for eight years, today's demand of twenty percent for five years was still barely within the range he could accept.
But three billion ryō in cash was far too much.
That was not compensation.
That was cutting into Kumogakure's foundation.
With such a huge sum, Kumogakure could not pay it alone. They would have to rely on the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Lightning.
And once Kumogakure, after suffering defeat, went to the daimyo and nobles for financial aid, the village's voice within the Land of Lightning would inevitably weaken.
The daimyo and nobles would gain more reasons to interfere in the village's internal affairs.
Neither Kumogakure's higher-ups nor the Raikage could accept such a result.
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