"This is the treaty I drafted. Everyone take a look. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I will answer them."
Uchiha Ling sat in a seat next to Orochimaru, looking at the letter of appointment the Third Hokage had given her. Compared to the impressive resumes of the other Jonin, Uchiha Ling's was still lacking quite a bit.
"Uchiha Ling, this reparations clause... isn't it too harsh? Rasa probably won't agree to it."
As soon as Minato began reviewing the so-called peace treaty, he saw the first line: Hidden Sand Village must pay Konoha five trillion Ryo in reparations, payable in installments.
Although Hidden Sand Village had a gold miner (Rasa), the Daimyo of the Land of Wind allocated very little military funding to Hidden Sand Village. Even if Hidden Sand Village's annual military budget plus the money Rasa earned from panning for gold were added together, it would only amount to twenty billion Ryo.
If Hidden Sand Village tightened its belt and dedicated half of that money to paying Konoha, Hidden Sand Village would still need five hundred years to pay the reparations—five hundred years! Hidden Sand Village has only been established for a little over forty years.
Hidden Sand Village would likely be destroyed before the reparations to Konoha were fully paid. However, if Rasa, the Kazekage, did nothing else but pan for gold every day, he might be able to pay it off within his lifetime.
"Is it too much? Didn't I just put it out there to discuss whether it needs modification?"
Uchiha Ling felt a little guilty. In truth, she didn't have a good grasp of the actual value of money, mainly because she directly converted the amount into Exploding Tags. Five trillion Ryo was only about two billion Exploding Tags.
Compared to Konan's six hundred billion Exploding Tags, her amount wasn't even a fraction of the total. Since the Akatsuki Organization could be so wealthy, surely Hidden Sand Village wasn't far behind.
"Five trillion Ryo is indeed too much, but five hundred billion Ryo should be acceptable. Hidden Sand Village could pay it off in fifty years, or if Rasa works hard, perhaps even in ten or twenty years."
Orochimaru thought Uchiha Ling's reparations policy was excellent. With so much money involved, he only needed to make a small move and manipulate things slightly, and his research funding would definitely be secured.
Uchiha Fugaku gave Uchiha Ling a strange look, realizing she had calculated the money based on the value of Exploding Tags.
Oh, my little ancestor! Selling too many Exploding Tags will cause their value to depreciate. The Uchiha only sells an amount each year that ensures the Uchiha's stable development; the surplus is absorbed internally by the Uchiha.
Akimichi Choza and Aburame Shibi exchanged glances, silently mourning for Rasa. Having encountered two ruthless individuals like Uchiha Ling and Orochimaru, Hidden Sand Village would likely lose its shirt in the future.
Seeing that everyone agreed on five hundred billion Ryo, Uchiha Ling casually crossed out the character for 'ten thousand' and replaced it with 'hundred.' She felt that Rasa might not even agree to this number.
It would have been better to start with five trillion Ryo, then negotiate slowly downwards. Perhaps they could have secured even more reparations than five hundred billion Ryo.
The natives of the Ninja World simply lacked foresight and culture, but since everyone agreed, she couldn't insist on her own way.
"Uchiha Ling, this clause about ceding all of Hidden Sand Village's mission quotas in other minor countries is also a bit too extreme, isn't it?"
Minato looked at the second clause and was immediately shocked. Without the mission quotas from these minor countries, the Ninja of Hidden Sand Village would barely have any income.
In short, after a full day of revisions, Uchiha Ling's peace treaty was officially finalized. She believed Rasa would be moved to tears when he learned how much had been reduced.
The day Rasa came to sign the peace treaty quickly approached, marking the end of the Land of Wind front. Next, Konoha would face the attacks of Iwa Ninja and Kumo Ninja.
And so, Rasa, accompanied by his two Kazekage guards, Karura and Baki, walked into the Konoha main camp with a solemn air, like the wind whistling over the Yi River.
Orochimaru, smiling broadly, greeted him along with Minato and Uchiha Ling. Some Jonin who were watching the spectacle looked at Rasa as if he were a gullible fool.
Upon arriving at the conference tent in the main camp, the Konoha representatives and Rasa sat on opposite sides of a long table. Neither side wasted any words, preparing to sign the agreement.
However, Rasa still didn't know what he was about to face. During the Second Great Shinobi War, the two sides had only signed a ceasefire agreement.
This meant Rasa had never encountered a so-called reparations treaty before. He wasn't too worried, as he didn't think it would be overly harsh.
But when he picked up the peace treaty Uchiha Ling handed him, his calm expression instantly shattered as he read the first line.
"What! Impossible! Hidden Sand Village absolutely cannot produce five hundred billion Ryo! Konoha has no sincerity about making peace!"
Rasa's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. He blinked again, afraid he had misread the text, but finally confirmed the words. The entire paper seemed to scream the characters for "man-eating."
"First, since we proposed this clause, we must have determined this figure after comprehensive consideration of Hidden Sand Village's economic status and revenue capacity. Moreover, Kazekage-dono earns money very quickly, so there is no need to worry."
"Second, this is not a ceasefire negotiation, but a surrender agreement. The nature of the two is different. If we hadn't considered that the Land of Wind holds little strategic value, we might have simply annihilated Hidden Sand Village."
Uchiha Ling's rather official statement made Rasa's face darken. He knew Konoha was determined. If he didn't agree, the three of them probably wouldn't leave the main camp alive today.
"We can pay reparations, but the amount must be renegotiated. This level of compensation is unprecedented in the Ninja World, and it is extremely unreasonable!"
Rasa argued vehemently. He absolutely would not sign such a harsh treaty, or his time as Kazekage would surely come to an end.
"Heh heh, Kazekage-dono, you should know that this is the price after we reduced it by tenfold. Previously, Uchiha Ling proposed that you pay five trillion Ryo in reparations!"
Orochimaru didn't mind selling out Uchiha Ling in the slightest, solely to make Rasa accept the current price, seemingly implying, 'Look how kind we are to you; we even reduced it by tenfold.'
"Five trillion Ryo! Are you planning to burn it like firewood!"
Rasa's eyes bulged, bloodshot, as he glared fiercely at Uchiha Ling, who showed no sign of embarrassment.
"So, five hundred billion Ryo is a small amount, right? You just need to sacrifice some of your time and pan for gold in the desert every day; you can pay it off in ten years or so. You can even pay in sand gold, you know? Isn't that easy?"
Uchiha Ling's peach blossom eyes curved into crescent moons. She felt absolutely no remorse about swindling Rasa.
"Furthermore, didn't this happen because you willfully insisted on starting the war? These are merely the consequences of your own actions. Shouldn't you be the one to sign and pay for them?"
"No way, right? No way? Kazekage-dono made a mistake, and now he doesn't want to admit it? You wouldn't refuse to pan for gold to pay off Hidden Sand Village's debt, would you?"
Uchiha Ling covered her mouth to hide her smile, but Rasa could still see the mockery in the curving eyes of the hateful brat, making him want to punch her directly.
"Three hundred billion Ryo at most. Otherwise, I will not agree. Even if the three of us die here today, and Hidden Sand Village is destroyed by you, everyone in Hidden Sand Village will still refuse!"
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