"Fine."
Just as Minato was about to nod and agree to Ren's plan—
"Knock, knock, knock!"
Three heavy knocks suddenly came from the door of the Hokage's Office.
Before Minato could respond, the door was pushed open from outside.
Minato and Ren both frowned slightly at the sight.
Whoever it was, barging in without waiting for permission was simply too rude and completely lacking in manners.
It was practically an open disregard for Minato, the Hokage.
But when they saw who had entered, both Minato and Ren relaxed.
Homura Mitokado, one of Konoha's elders and one of the Hokage's advisers.
At present, only a handful of those old men would dare do something like this.
"Minato, something has happened!"
Homura Mitokado seemed not to notice the displeasure on Minato and Ren's faces. He walked straight to the desk and placed a document in front of Minato.
After noticing Ren, he added, "My apologies. I was a little anxious and forgot my manners for a moment."
Although there wasn't much sincerity behind the apology, Homura's gesture left Minato and Ren with little reason to continue pressing the matter.
Minato's eyes flickered before he smiled.
"Elder Mitokado, what happened that required you to come here personally?"
"Your injuries haven't fully healed yet. You should spend some more time recovering. You can leave those minor matters to the people beneath you."
Homura said solemnly, "I wouldn't want to trouble myself either, but this concerns relations between two villages. I had no choice but to make the trip myself."
"Oh? Relations between two villages?"
Minato's smile faded as he picked up the document from the desk and began reading it.
"Have we received results from the peace negotiations with the other villages?"
The diplomatic missions to the other villages were also handled by the Administration Department. Since Homura had been absent, Minato had handed the matter over to Shikaku Nara. Now that Homura had been discharged from the hospital, it was only reasonable for him, as the head of the Administration Department, to take personal responsibility for the matter.
Homura nodded.
"We still haven't received any response from Iwagakure, Kumogakure, or Kirigakure. But Sunagakure has already given us an answer."
"Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure, said that they are willing to negotiate peace. Sunagakure is willing to acknowledge that they were the defeated party, but they refuse to pay any war reparations!"
Minato frowned upon hearing this.
Sunagakure actually had the nerve to say something like that?
That was shameless beyond belief.
Ren immediately spoke up.
"Sunagakure really is a pain that refuses to go away!"
"They were the ones who betrayed the alliance and attacked us first. Now that they've lost the war, they want to walk away without leaving so much as a single thing behind. Where do they get that confidence?"
"And what about the losses they've inflicted on Konoha?"
"The compensation, subsidies, mission rewards, and various supplies we've spent or lost during this war aren't exactly a small amount!"
Minato also spoke.
"Elder Mitokado, what Elder Uchiha said is exactly what I wanted to say."
"Since Sunagakure is willing to admit defeat, then they must pay the compensation they owe us. Not a single ryo less."
Homura's expression remained unchanged.
"Hokage-sama, it's not that I don't want to recover some of our losses from Sunagakure. But everyone knows what their situation is like."
"That desolate place of theirs has nothing but sand. There's genuinely very little we can squeeze out of them."
"This isn't the first time I've encountered such a situation. But no matter how we negotiate, Sunagakure is only willing to admit that they lost the war. As for compensation, they won't even consider it!"
"If they won't negotiate, then fight them!"
Ren's eyes widened as he glared at Homura.
"Elder Mitokado, I hope you'll first understand your position!"
"You are an elder of Konoha. Whether Sunagakure has money to compensate us is not something you should be worrying about!"
"What you should be considering is how much Sunagakure owes us."
"As for how they're going to gather that money, I don't care whether they have to sell everything they own, tear down their walls and houses, or even sell their own blood. None of that is our concern!"
"If you can't even understand something this simple, then you shouldn't remain a Konoha elder!"
Ren genuinely couldn't understand the way Homura and the others thought.
During wartime, they could trample all over the dignity of those small countries and shift Konoha's losses onto them without hesitation.
Yet after winning a war, they suddenly started looking at matters from the enemy country's perspective!
No wonder Sunagakure had been defeated time and time again yet could always recover and stab Konoha in the back again.
They simply had no reason to fear the consequences of losing a war!
When the cost of war was lowered, the likelihood of starting another war naturally increased.
Under such circumstances, how could they possibly talk about peace?
Homura's face turned livid.
He stared at Ren, fury practically erupting from his eyes.
Sunagakure was, after all, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. No matter how poor its foundations were, it couldn't possibly be that impoverished.
Although most of the Land of Wind was covered in endless sand, its mineral resources were actually among the richest in the entire shinobi world precisely because of the scarcity of other resources.
Otherwise, Sunagakure would never have developed something as resource-intensive as its Puppet Brigade.
Therefore, Sunagakure's poverty was only relative to Konoha and the other major villages.
There were two reasons Homura had said Sunagakure had no money.
First, Sunagakure's attitude really was stubborn. They simply refused to pay.
Second, Konoha wasn't only facing Sunagakure. Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure were all watching closely.
Giving up some benefits in exchange for reducing unnecessary trouble could indeed resolve the issue more quickly and allow the shinobi world to enter a period of peaceful development.
And with Konoha's natural advantage in abundant resources and fertile land, the village would already possess a considerable advantage during a period of peaceful development.
That was why Homura, Koharu Utatane, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the others had been willing to compromise on this basis.
But that wasn't how the calculation should be made.
The reason Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure had yet to send any response might very well be because they were waiting to see the outcome of the negotiations between Konoha and Sunagakure.
If Konoha was willing to compromise even with the weakest of the Five Great Villages, wouldn't Konoha also have to compromise when facing the more aggressive Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure?
And if even a village like Sunagakure could emerge from the war without suffering any meaningful losses, wouldn't the stronger Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure naturally demand something in return as well?
The other villages aside, Kumogakure was absolutely capable of making such demands.
Blindly compromising and yielding would only put Konoha in an increasingly passive position.
Especially under the current circumstances.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789