Chapter 233 Uchiha Touko: Do You Think I'm a Gentleman?
"Kara?" Naruto scratched his head, puzzled. He'd heard of Akatsuki; his good brother Deidara worked there. But what was Kara? He really didn't know.
"It's okay if you can't find it. Just remember it exists," Uchiha Touko said.
"I understand," Naruto nodded.
"Alright, get lost," Uchiha Touko waved at Naruto. "Come back early on the day the war starts. Don't keep your comrades waiting."
"Okay, goodbye, teacher," Naruto nodded, then turned and left.
Uchiha Touko watched Naruto's figure disappear on the horizon before carrying Sasuke back.
To minimize the impact of Naruto's departure, Uchiha Touko didn't even alert the village's Anbu when he left.
After returning to the village with Sasuke, Uchiha Touko took the boy directly to Tsunade.
Tsunade was startled when she saw the injured Sasuke. With Uchiha Touko currently childless, Sasuke, as his disciple and the young clan leader, was practically the crown prince of Konoha. Who would dare injure him like this? After examining
Sasuke's body, Tsunade frowned slightly: "The meridian damage is quite severe; he needs some time to recover. It seems he overexerted himself with chakra for too long. As for other injuries, they're not serious. Who did this?"
"Your cousin," Uchiha Touko shrugged.
"My cousin..." Tsunade was stunned for a moment before reacting to the address, "Naruto?"
"Indeed," Uchiha Touko spread his hands.
So it was the former crown prince who did it. That's alright then.
"Wait a minute, where's that kid? Given their relationship, even if it was a sparring match, he should have brought him here already," Tsunade said, somewhat puzzled.
"That's a long story," Uchiha Touko said, "but basically, your nephew followed in Jiraiya's footsteps."
Tsunade tensed up immediately upon hearing this: "He went to peep into the women's bathhouse? Then Sasuke caught him, and then they fought?"
Uchiha Touko was speechless; so that was how he perceived Jiraiya.
"No, it's just that Naruto ran away from the village, Sasuke chased after him, and then they fought, and that's it," Uchiha Touko said.
"Ran away from the village? That kid's got some nerve, huh? Where is he?" Tsunade decided to teach him a lesson as his aunt.
"I didn't catch up when I got there; he was already gone," Uchiha Touko shook his head and said.
"Who did he learn that from…" Tsunade hadn't finished speaking when she was embarrassed by Uchiha Touko's strange look.
Who did he learn that from? Isn't the root of this Hokage disciple's wandering around the world the fault of the three of you?
"My situation is different!" Tsunade said, somewhat embarrassed by Uchiha Touko's gaze.
"So, how do you plan to handle this?" Tsunade asked, changing the subject.
"What else can I do? Let it cool down. Issue this kid a warrant for his arrest as a rogue ninja, but keep the bounty to a minimum," Uchiha Touko said. "Then send Jiraiya out in a few days to mentor him."
"I'll leave this kid to you. I still have to deal with those officials in the Land of Lightning." After saying this, Uchiha Touko turned to leave Tsunade's residence. At this moment, Neji and Hinata, who had received Karin's message, rushed over.
"Teacher." Neji greeted Uchiha Touko upon entering, then exclaimed in shock upon seeing Sasuke lying on the hospital bed, "Sasuke?"
Hinata, having searched the room for a long time without finding Naruto, froze in place.
"Teacher, has Naruto been found?" Neji asked hurriedly after confirming Sasuke was alright.
"No." Uchiha Touko shook his head. "Naruto was already gone when I arrived." "Damn it! I should have gone with Sasuke." Neji gritted his teeth in frustration. " You two take care of Sasuke first. I need to meet with the envoy from the Land of Lightning to discuss the aftermath of the last military conflict. We'll talk about other things tonight." Uchiha Touko gently patted Neji's shoulder, then turned and left the Senju clan's territory, heading towards the Fire Country's palace. When Uchiha Touko
arrived at the palace, the court assembly had already been underway for some time. After announcing his name, Uchiha Touko entered the court. "My apologies, Your Highness, there's been an emergency in the village." Upon reaching his designated spot as Grand Minister of State, Uchiha Touko immediately bowed slightly to Minamoto no Yuuki on the throne, apologizing. "What are you saying, Master? Please rise." Seeing this, Minamoto no Yuuki quickly jumped down from the throne, toddled over to Uchiha Touko, and helped him up. "Master not only has to worry about state affairs every day, but also guard the safety of Konoha as Hokage. It's understandable that you're busy; how could I blame you?" "Thank you, Your Highness." Uchiha Touko gracefully excused himself, letting the matter of his lateness slide. "Where is the envoy from the Land of Lightning who came to negotiate?" Uchiha Touko glanced back at the court and asked. "Reporting to the Grand Minister of State, the envoy from the Land of Lightning has not yet arrived," Miura Kazuo replied. "Not yet?" Uchiha Touko frowned.
Logically, the envoys from the Land of Lightning should have arrived at the start of the court assembly today, but he was already nearly half an hour late. Why hadn't they arrived yet?
Just then, a voice announced from outside the court.
"The envoys from the Land of Lightning request an audience with His Highness the Daimyo."
Upon hearing this, Minamoto no Yuuki, though somewhat displeased by their lateness, still ordered them to enter.
However, this group of envoys from the Land of Lightning entered the hall with an arrogant demeanor. Those who knew them might have assumed they were there to discuss exchanging their prisoners, while others might have thought they were there to sign an unconditional surrender document.
"Greetings, Your Highness the Daimyo of the Land of Fire." After entering the hall, the envoys ignored the ministers of the Land of Fire, including Uchiha Touko, and simply bowed to Minamoto no Yuuki. The leader then took a document from his robes and handed it to the eunuch below the throne.
"Your Highness, regarding this military conflict, our ministers of the Land of Lightning had already discussed it before we arrived. If your country has no objections, you can sign this contract."
The eunuch took the document, glanced back at Minamoto no Yuuki, and seeing him gesture for it to be handed to Uchiha Touko, he turned and presented the document to him. Before Uchiha Touko
could even begin to read it, a somewhat grating voice rang out.
"This is a letter of state personally signed by the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning. Isn't it somewhat impolite for your country to have your Hokage open it?" the eunuch said sarcastically.
Seeing this, Miura Kazuo, who was standing not far from Uchiha Touko, realized that the other party was probably there to cause trouble. He immediately spoke up, "Our Hokage of the Land of Fire is still the Grand Minister of State, appointed by the late Emperor. The late Emperor entrusted all state affairs to the Grand Minister of State before His Highness assumes personal rule. We are merely opening your letter of state; what's wrong with that?"
Uchiha Touko ignored their provocation. They were just a bunch of clowns. Did they think they could regain some face by doing this after losing on the battlefield?
However, after scanning the agreement drafted by the Land of Lightning, Uchiha Touko was furious. Although he had guessed that the other party might not be very sincere at the beginning of the negotiations, the conditions they offered were completely treating him like a charlatan.
Recently, a limited security operation occurred between Kumogakure and Konohagakure, resulting in approximately 1,000 Kumogakure ninjas being stranded in Konoha due to the defeat in the operation. In order to restore normalcy to the region, both sides should consult on the follow-up matters.
Lei Fang, upholding its own position, proposes and advocates the following agreement:
Article 1: Symbolic Compensation
1.1 Based on "good neighborly relations," Lei Fang agrees to pay Huo Fang a one-time compensation of 1 billion ryo.
1.2 Payment Method: Compensation will be made in kind with Huiyun ore, a specialty of the northern mountainous region of the Land of Lightning. Konoha will bear the high transportation and refining costs.
1.3 Payment Timeframe: Payment will be made in installments over ten years from the date of signing this agreement.
Article 2: Prisoner of War "Randomization" and Lei Fang's Exemption from Litigation
2.1 Huo Fang shall immediately and unconditionally release all approximately 1,000 Kumogakure prisoners of war.
2.2 As "humanitarian compensation" for Huo Fang's "minor expenses incurred in managing prisoners of war," Lei Fang agrees not to pursue any "unintentional physical or mental harm" that Konoha may have caused to the prisoners of war during their detention.
Article 3: Determination of War Responsibility
3.1 Both parties acknowledge that the recent conflict stemmed from a series of "unfortunate, complex, and difficult-to-attribute misunderstandings and intelligence failures."
3.2 Lei Fang explicitly refuses to acknowledge that its actions constituted "aggression" or bear "primary responsibility."
Article 4: Effectiveness and Signing of the Agreement
4.1 This Agreement shall come into effect upon signature and seal by the representatives of both parties, and shall be deemed the "final, comprehensive and irrevocable solution" to this incident.
4.2 The Fire Party shall sign this Agreement and implement the release of prisoners of war clause within twenty-four hours; otherwise, the Lightning Party shall consider the Fire Party to have "deliberately disrupted the peace" and reserve the right to "take all necessary measures in response."
Leaving aside how absurd the unconditional release of the 1,000 prisoners in this draft contract is, the Lightning Country's proposed 1 billion ryo in reparations is an utterly insincere figure. 1 billion ryo? And is it using the Lightning Country's famous mineral waste, the Glow Cloud Ore, to offset the debt?
Everyone in the ninja world knows that while this Glow Cloud Ore can be used to extract chakra metal, both its purity and the quality of the extracted chakra metal are far inferior to the chakra metal mines of the Iron Country and the Waterfall Country. Yet, the Lightning Country officially prices this ore extremely high. In other words, if this 1 billion ryo in reparations were used to offset the debt with minerals, it would be worth at most around 300 million.
In Uchiha Touko's previous life, even Li Zhongtang would have hesitated before signing this contract. Moreover, if Uchiha Touko remembered correctly, Konoha was the victor in this war! To sign such a treaty
after winning a war, Uchiha Touko felt that only that scum of a human, Chiang Kai-shek, would do such a thing. Therefore
, facing this contract, Uchiha Touko felt deeply insulted.
"It seems your Land of Lightning is eager to wage a full-scale war against our Land of Fire," Uchiha Touko said coldly, glancing at the envoys from the Land of Lightning after putting down the documents.
"What do you mean by that, Hokage? We from the Land of Lightning have come with sincerity," the envoy from the Land of Lightning said arrogantly, head held high.
"Fine, fine, so your sincerity is just 300 million worth of mining waste, is that it?" Uchiha Touko said with a sneer. "Go back and tell your Daimyo and Raikage to wait for our Land of Fire to declare war. As for those thousand-plus prisoners, don't worry, I'm not a cruel person. My Land of Fire is planning to develop a cotton plantation in the south recently, so let them go there to do hard labor to make up for the losses caused to my Land of Fire in this military conflict."
In fact, Uchiha Touko overlooked one thing, which is that of the Cloud Village troops that clashed with Konoha on the border, apart from the thousand-plus prisoners, only A and Killer Bee were lucky enough to escape back to Cloud Village. But the two of them are probably still unconscious. Therefore, the court of the Land of Lightning and the people left behind in Cloud Village do not know the specific details of that battle, and can only speculate based on common sense.
They reasoned that given the heavy losses suffered by Kumogakure, Konoha's situation couldn't be much better, much like Hiruzen Sarutobi's during the Third Shinobi World War. Having tasted success with Hiruzen, they were being incredibly aggressive. If they knew the true situation on the battlefield, they probably wouldn't have dared to present the contract to Uchiha Touko.
"Your Highness, is this also your plan? If our two countries go to war, it will be the Fourth Shinobi World War," the envoy from the Land of Lightning said, turning to Minamoto no Miyako, attempting to bypass Uchiha Touko and directly pressure him.
"Let's start a war! The Land of Fire has never feared war!" Genji Yuxie couldn't stand this. In his mind, anyone who dared to kidnap his good brother should have been met with a full-scale attack from Konoha that night, making the Land of Lightning pay the price. It was only after Miura Kazuo pleaded with him for a long time that the boy didn't cause trouble for Uchiha Touko in the rear. And now, with the other side provoking him like this, Genji Yuxie's response was simple and direct: "Men, kill a few of them as a sacrifice!"
"Hmph, we were prepared to die for our country before we came to the Land of Fire! The army of the Land of Lightning will avenge us!" The leading ambassador, Ni Ge, had a face full of resignation.
This expression made Uchiha Touko laugh: So you're playing the Han envoy trick now?
Just as the samurai guarding the palace gates were about to enter and drag the envoys from the Land of Lightning away and kill them, another announcement rang out from outside the palace: "The Land of Lightning's urgent ambassador requests an audience with His Highness the Daimyo and the Grand Minister of State!"
Can't wait for the next chapter?
100+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)