Hearing Rasa relent, Second Body glanced at Orochimaru and Minato. The three of them exchanged subtle glances, mainly because the price Rasa had called out was still above their bottom line.
Bang! Second Body feigned anger and slammed the table, then stood up directly. Uh, she couldn't actually look down on the seated Rasa.
But that didn't stump Uchiha Ling. She expressionlessly stepped onto the chair and then looked down at the bewildered Rasa.
"Impossible! How is this compensation amount high? It's been this price for years. Don't talk nonsense with your eyes open. Konoha has a hard time being besieged by you. Sometimes, look for your own reasons. Have military expenses increased over the years? Have you diligently tried to find gold?"
Second Body immediately started to mentally pressure Rasa. In this life, as a top-tier character, she had to make Rasa experience this kind of persecution. Can't do it? Then don't do it!
Second Body knew this wasn't Rasa's bottom line. As for what to do if Rasa didn't surrender? Of course, it was to beat him until he surrendered. He'd already entered the banquet, did he still think he could leave?
Rasa's face was ashen, and the killing intent in his eyes was almost undisguised. In all these years, it was the first time he had been mocked like this, which almost made him lose his mind.
"I've never seen such an arrogant person, and no one has ever dared to speak to me like this! As the Kage of a village, I cannot tolerate this brat spouting nonsense in front of me!"
Although he knew he couldn't win, his dignity could not be lost. Calling her a 'brat' was Rasa's last stubbornness.
"Eh! You've seen it today, aren't you mad? Come and hit me! Idiot! Nyeh nyeh nyeh!"
Second Body didn't mind provoking Rasa into action, then everyone would gang up on Rasa, and finally, after annihilating the five thousand Hidden Sand Ninja outside, they would destroy Hidden Sand Village.
"Hmph! Orochimaru! Does your Konoha really let such a mentally unsound brat negotiate with me?"
Seeing Uchiha Ling's intentions, Rasa, on the contrary, became composed. He crossed his arms and questioned Orochimaru.
"Tch, don't you like to fight? Now you're going to pretend to be a refined person? How about I let you use one hand, and we fight without hand signs?"
The information that Second Body could form hand signs with one hand was known to very few people. Most people, if they only used one hand, would have their strength directly drop by more than half, so Second Body hoped Rasa would fall into the trap she dug!
Rasa gave a disdainful glance at Uchiha Ling, who was provoking him. He wouldn't fall for it. Since this hateful brat dared to say that, she must be confident.
"Three hundred billion Ryo it is, I agree, Second Body, redraft the new terms!"
Orochimaru saw that Rasa wasn't falling for the trap and was still accepting higher compensation, so he decided to settle on three hundred billion Ryo in compensation. Three hundred billion was much higher than his bottom line of two hundred billion.
Second Body jumped off the chair, with a 'you got off easy' expression, then pulled out new blank paper and began writing the new terms for three hundred billion.
"Article Two: Hidden Sand Village giving up its mission shares in the Land of Rivers, Land of Grass, and Land of Birds is too harsh. Without these shares, Hidden Sand Village's Ninja cannot survive!"
Rasa looked at the second article with a sour face. He really wanted to just leave. Konoha was practically outright robbing them!
"Please state your thoughts!" Second Body also knew Rasa wouldn't agree, so she watched with interest to see what Rasa would say.
"The Land of Rivers can be given to you, half of the Land of Grass can be given up, but the Land of Birds cannot be given to you."
Rasa clearly wasn't good at negotiating. He actually offered a price directly at his bottom line. In reality, the mission shares of these small countries were divided up by the major nations.
Even if Rasa gave up these missions, Konoha wouldn't gain much; it was essentially better than nothing. The missions in these small countries were actually just for the convenience of acquiring intelligence.
There was no major dispute over this article, and both sides quickly settled on it, but Rasa's face was already grim. The confirmation of each article was like a dull knife slowly cutting into flesh.
The next few articles were about the resources of the Land of Wind, such as chakra metal being preferentially sold to Konoha, with preferential prices.
Things like fire oil (petroleum) were also supplied to Konoha in limited quantities, as were some desert specialties. In short, these few articles were trade agreements, and Rasa also held his nose and agreed to them.
The next few articles were the main events again, such as Hidden Sand Village announcing its unconditional surrender to the entire Ninja World, Hidden Sand Village being required to send troops to attack the Land of Earth when Konoha dealt with Iwagakure, and Konoha only returning the three Kage-level prisoners after the Great Shinobi War ended, and so on.
Rasa also had no objections. If it weren't for the prisoners in Konoha's hands, he would have wanted to directly cooperate with Iwagakure and Kumogakure to attack Konoha.
Rasa looked at the last few articles, which were about the transaction price of the prisoners. Besides the three Kage-level prisoners, other prisoners would be redeemed by Rasa for ten million Ryo each, or redeemed at a price of five million Ryo for Genin, ten million Ryo for Chunin, and thirty million Ryo for Jonin.
"Too expensive, even at the Underground Exchange, it's not that expensive! I cannot accept this price."
Rasa's face was turning green. These two prices were simply too expensive. He couldn't afford them, but he couldn't not buy them back, so he had to bargain.
The stalemate above lasted for a long time, and finally, it was agreed that Genin would be redeemed for two million Ryo each, Chunin for seven million Ryo, and Jonin for twenty million Ryo.
In reality, this price was about right. This was roughly the theoretical savings a Ninja could accumulate by the age of fifty.
The reason Second Body didn't raise the price much was mainly because Second Body, this clever girl, thought that eighty percent of these prisoners were Genin. Second Body could completely have them participate in the Chunin Exams while they were prisoners in Konoha, then make them Chunin, which would allow her to earn more money.
Fortunately, Rasa didn't know about Uchiha Ling's scheme, otherwise he would definitely be so angry he'd vomit blood. One must know that redeeming these Ninja would cost almost a billion Ryo.
Compared to three hundred billion Ryo, it wasn't much, but it was still one-twentieth of Hidden Sand Village's military expenses. If possible, Rasa didn't want to redeem them at all, mainly because Genin were like leeks; there were new ones every year, so these few didn't matter.
"Why are Pakura, Ebizo, and Bunpuku calculated separately? And Ebizo is two hundred million Ryo plus the Forbidden Technique of Puppetry, Pakura is five hundred million Ryo plus the Scorch Release cultivation scroll, and Bunpuku is five hundred million Ryo plus the Sand Release cultivation scroll, and Shukaku is one billion Ryo plus the Magnet Release cultivation scroll!"
Rasa felt a sweetness in his throat, knowing he was so angry he was spitting blood. These three were not only expensive, but they also required offering three Bloodline Limits of Hidden Sand Village, and Shukaku was even bought separately, which was truly shameless.
Actually, the prices for these three were decided by Second Body. The money itself wasn't important; Second Body mainly wanted the specific synthesis ratios of the three Bloodline Limits.
He also knew that Rasa might not agree, but her bottom line was these three Bloodline Limit Chakra types. Although Shukaku also had Sand Release and Magnet Release, directly researching complex Tailed Beast Chakra would be difficult to show results.
"The price is too high. These three are only Jonin. Why do they cost hundreds of millions of Ryo? And when the First Hokage sold Shukaku to us, it was only eighty million Ryo. Now it has more than quadrupled!"
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