Uchiha Ling found Orochimaru and Rasa's bickering a bit boring. It was clear that both sides couldn't come up with a good solution, which was why they were at a stalemate.
"Kazekage-dono, you've come all this way, not just to talk here, right? You only have one option: surrender. You can propose the terms of surrender, and we will consider them as appropriate."
Uchiha Ling narrowed her eyes, smiling as she interrupted Orochimaru and Rasa's conversation. If they kept dragging it out, it would be dark soon, and she didn't have time to waste her life here.
As for "considering terms as appropriate," anyone who has been in an organization knows this means you can ask for anything, but whether they agree depends on the situation, and most of the time, it means they won't consider it.
"Oh? So this is Uchiha Ling, who has a bounty of 300 million ryo. Do your words count?"
Rasa looked at the short Uchiha Ling, a sneer flashing across his lips. The intelligence reports said this kid was good with Exploding Tags and flying Ninjutsu.
"What Uchiha Ling said, I also agree with, Rasa-dono. Konoha is a Village that loves peace. If we can maintain the vision of peace, I believe our Hokage will agree."
Orochimaru wasn't lying. The Third Hokage was too soft and appeasing. As long as Rasa's demands weren't outrageous, the Third Hokage would probably agree.
However, Orochimaru didn't care. He just wanted to end the war quickly and go back to researching his Eternal Life Forbidden Technique, instead of eating sand here.
"Let's not talk about the demands for now. I brought the Village Ninja all this way. We can't just surrender directly, can we? Sunagakure doesn't have a Kazekage who surrenders without a fight."
Rasa was somewhat unwilling to surrender directly. He wanted to play it safe. Otherwise, if he rushed to the front lines to fight and then surrendered without even throwing a single Shuriken, it would truly be a disgrace to his army and country.
"Hmph, if you don't surrender, do you expect us Konoha to pay for your travel expenses? You just want to have a fight, but you don't want an all-out war, afraid of losing control of the situation, right?"
Uchiha Ling easily understood the hidden meaning in Rasa's words. Rasa was like a general in ancient times who had to show his strength before surrendering to gain enough leverage for peace talks.
"What do you think, Orochimaru-dono? We each send out a combatant. If my side wins, Konoha returns all the Hidden Sand Village Ninja, how about that?"
Rasa was full of confidence. He believed his Magnet Release sand gold was invincible, and no one on the opposing side could defeat him in a one-on-one fight.
"Hehe, we can fight, but we need to decide how many matches and what the rules are. However, it's impossible to return all the Hidden Sand Village Ninja to you. That needs to be discussed."
Orochimaru naturally couldn't return all the prisoners. Otherwise, if Rasa directly attacked, the three of them might be fine, but the two thousand five hundred Konoha Ninja would be almost wiped out.
"How about three matches? The winner can continue fighting. If my side wins once, we redeem one of Ebizo, Pakura, or Bunpuku. As for if my side loses two matches, then I will surrender in the name of the Kazekage, how about that?"
Although he said three matches, Rasa had already decided to fight all three matches himself, one person at a time. Besides Orochimaru, the other two were at most Elite Jonin, and he was confident enough.
"Alright, that's fair. For Konoha, only the three of us will fight. You can choose freely, but I hope Rasa-dono doesn't go back on his word in front of thousands of Ninja from two Villages."
Orochimaru smirked. He didn't even need to think to know that the other side would definitely choose Uchiha Ling first. When that happened, he would surely give Rasa a surprise. This was the advantage of information asymmetry.
"As Kazekage, my words naturally represent the will of the Village. I also trust the credibility of the Cold Lord Orochimaru, so my side chooses Uchiha Ling, how about that?"
Rasa looked at Orochimaru. He was very satisfied with the one-on-one agreement reached by both sides. However, he still decided to let Karura or Baki go first to defeat Uchiha Ling. Even if they lost the second match, he would have information on the opponent, making it easier to win.
Rasa didn't notice the eye signals from Pakura and Bunpuku at all. But they also didn't dare to use hand signs, as their Chakra was sealed, and they could be killed by the Konoha Ninja guarding them at any moment.
Actually, Rasa did see Pakura and Bunpuku's gazes, but without any tacit agreement, they couldn't understand each other's meaning. However, he still felt something was off.
"Huh? Me, alright. Why does everyone like to treat me like a soft persimmon? When you meet me, Uchiha Ling, you've kicked an iron plate."
Uchiha Ling took a few steps forward, looking at Rasa and Karura, curious about who would fight her. At this time, Karura should be stronger than Baki.
Baki and Karura exchanged glances. Both wanted to go up and try. Although Karura had a premonition that the Uchiha Ling opposite her was definitely not weak, she didn't know how strong she specifically was.
"Kazekage-sama, let me go! I'll teach this Konoha brat a lesson!"
Baki didn't believe that the Uchiha Ling, who was not yet ten years old, was that powerful. At that age, no matter how strong, there were limits. One had to follow basic principles. She couldn't be some kind of cheat, could she?
"Baki, Rasa, let me do it. My Sand Release has a higher fault tolerance, and I'm better at dealing with Uchiha's Fire Release."
It must be said that Karura's analysis based on common sense was indeed very accurate. Baki, who specialized in Wind Release, was indeed not good at dealing with opponents who specialized in Fire Release.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that Uchiha Ling was a cheat, an outlier. Her five elemental Ninjutsu nature transformations were all at Elite Jonin level, and she had no weaknesses in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, or Ninjutsu.
"No, I'll do it. Since Orochimaru didn't send out those experienced Jonin, but chose this young Uchiha Ling, then her strength must not be underestimated."
Rasa decided to play it safe and decided to personally deal with Uchiha Ling. For the Kage of a Village to take action, it was definitely a great show of respect for Uchiha Ling.
However, Rasa hadn't considered what would happen if he lost. Not only would he lose face completely, but he would also lower the prestige of a Kage.
Stepping on the scorching dunes, Uchiha Ling harmonized the Sage Art Chakra she had accumulated early with her own Chakra, then entered Sage Mode, and then used Technique Reversal of the Twin Curse Method.
In an instant, Uchiha Ling's strength surged dramatically. Whether it was her physical data, Chakra reserves, or Curse Power, they all reached a terrifying level.
No one knew that Uchiha Ling, in that instant, had risen from early Kage-level to the ceiling of Super Kage. If Uchiha Ling hadn't restrained her aura, Rasa would probably have peed his pants.
Rasa crossed his arms, manipulating the sand gold to wrap around his body, and looked at Uchiha Ling with a calm expression, wanting to see if Uchiha Ling's strength was worth his attention.
Letting Uchiha Ling make the first move was clearly a major taboo for a Ninja, and he would pay for this arrogance.
Uchiha Ling was thinking about what Ninjutsu she could use to shock everyone present to the greatest extent. Water Release! Using Water Release in the desert to suppress Rasa's sand gold would definitely make them question reality.
However, even for Uchiha Ling, creating a large amount of water in the desert was somewhat inefficient, but using Full Elephant's ability combined with Water Release made it much simpler.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"