Chapter 95: Post-War Turmoil
The Hokage Building.
The rain outside was falling in a way that made one feel restless and irritable; those were clouds drifting from the Land of Rain, carrying a scent of rust that seemed impossible to wash away. The air inside the office was so thick it felt as if it were about to solidify, with only the occasional "puff" from a pipe barely proving that time was still flowing here.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the chair that symbolized the pinnacle of the Ninja World, yet he appeared exceptionally hunched.
An Anbu appeared before the desk in a flicker of movement, kneeling on one knee, his body unable to stop trembling slightly. Rainwater dripped from his mask onto the floor, spreading into a small, dark puddle.
"Hokage-sama, the messenger hawk from the Hidden Rain Village has arrived."
The Anbu's voice was dry as he presented a scroll with both hands.
The scroll was not the usual blood-letter used to declare war, nor was it a document for seeking peace; instead, it was an elegantly mounted long scroll that even emitted a faint scent of ink. On the cover, a line of large characters was written in extremely neat and graceful calligraphy, exuding a sense of business-like indifference:
— "Inventory of Loss Assessment Regarding the Illegal Armed Invasion of the Land of Rain by the Hidden Leaf Village."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand holding the pipe suddenly stiffened.
He had imagined countless possibilities: the coordinates of corpses, Yahiko's mockery, or even a manifesto of war. But the one thing he had never considered was that the other party would send... a bill?
With a sense of absurd unreality, Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly unfurled the scroll.
The very first line he saw made him gasp.
There was no nonsense, no diplomatic jargon, only a suffocating list of names followed by a string of zeros.
[Nara Shikaku: Fixed price of 50 million Ryo.]
[Akimichi Choza, Inoichi Yamanaka: Bundle price of 50 million Ryo.]
...As his gaze continued to move down, Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils suddenly constricted when he saw a certain name.
[Uchiha Fugaku (Uchiha Clan Chief): 80 million Ryo.]
[Special Note: Since this prisoner carries a precious Kekkei Genkai (Sharingan), if payment is refused, we will remove his eyeballs as assets to offset the debt.]
"Bastard..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's fingers turned white from gripping so hard, and the edges of the scroll were wrinkled by his squeeze. How was this a ransom? This was clearly tearing off Konoha's Face, throwing it on the ground to be trampled, and then selling it by the pound!
Trembling, he pulled the scroll to the very end.
[Total: 1.06 billion Ryo.]
[Payment Method: Gold and strategic materials are accepted for conversion. If cash flow is insufficient, we accept Konoha Ninjutsu and secret technique scrolls (including but not limited to the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Edo Tensei research manuscripts, etc.) to offset the debt; specific exchange rates are negotiable.]
[Signature: Rain Shadow of the Land of Rain, Yahiko.]
*Clack!*
The pipe that had accompanied Hiruzen Sarutobi for many years fell onto the desk, sparks splashing across the surface. He seemed drained of all strength, slumping back into his chair with a vacant stare.
One billion Ryo!
What kind of concept was that? After the Daimyo cut the budget this year, the total tax revenue of the entire Konoha Village for five years was only about that much! If they were to scrape together this sum, Konoha would have to tighten its belt and eat thin porridge for the next ten years.
What was even more heart-wrenching was the option to "offset the debt."
Trading forbidden techniques for people? This was practically digging out the roots of Konoha! But if they didn't trade... *BANG!!*
The office door was rudely slammed open, and Danzo Shimura marched in leaning on his cane, a raging fire burning in his single eye.
"Hiruzen! I've heard the news from the front lines!"
Danzo grabbed the bill from the desk, and after just two glances, his entire Face turned the color of pig's liver, the veins on his neck bulging.
"Absurd! This is utterly absurd!!"
Danzo slammed the scroll onto the floor and struck his cane heavily, piercing a hole in the floorboards. "A Rogue Ninja leader from a tiny country actually dares to blackmail Konoha, the head of the Five Great Nations? And he wants our forbidden techniques?! If word of this gets out, where will Konoha's prestige be?!"
"Then what do you want to do?" Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up his pipe again but did not light it, his voice sounding as weary as a man in his twilight years.
"Fight back, of course!" Danzo said, Killing Intent surging as spit flew from his mouth. "This kind of humiliation is absolutely unacceptable! Mobilize all the elites of the Anbu and Root immediately; even if we level the Hidden Rain Village to the ground, we won't give them a single cent! That Yahiko wants money, doesn't he? I'll send him to the Pure Land to burn paper money!"
"If you're still worried about the hostages, then let 'Root' execute a decapitation strike! Once the leader is killed, that rabble will naturally scatter!"
The more Danzo spoke, the more impassioned he became, as if he could already see the Hidden Rain Village turning to ashes in a sea of fire.
"Level it to the ground?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly laughed, a laugh filled with sorrow.
He pulled a blood-stained intelligence report from a drawer; it was the testimony that the sole survivor from the front line had risked his life to bring back. He didn't speak, but simply pushed the report gently in front of Danzo.
"Take a look, Danzo. This is the enemy you want to Face."
Danzo picked up the intelligence suspiciously, his eyes scanning those few lines of shocking descriptions:
[The man calling himself 'God' simply raised his hand...]
[A massive repulsive force erupted instantly, like an invisible meteorite striking the ground...]
[The topography was permanently changed, leaving a crater kilometers in diameter... five thousand allied forces, wiped out in a single blow.]
A deathly silence fell over the office.
Danzo's hand froze in mid-air, the fire in his single eye slowly extinguishing, replaced by an emotion called horror. Although he was arrogant, as a veteran Ninja, he knew exactly what this kind of destructive power meant.
That wasn't Ninjutsu.
That was a natural disaster.
"A single blow... destroyed five thousand people?" Danzo's voice was somewhat dry, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. "This... this must be an exaggeration, right?"
"The Yamanaka family has already checked the memories," Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a long breath, his gaze profound. "It's real."
"If your so-called 'Root' elites charge in, the result won't be any better than those five thousand allied forces. Other than sending more corpses, it would be meaningless."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at Konoha Village through the curtain of rain.
"Besides, Danzo, do you think we have a choice?"
"The people on this list are the Clan Chiefs of the Ino–Shika–Chō clans, the Clan Chief of the Uchiha Clan, and the backbone of Konoha."
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around, his gaze becoming incredibly sharp as he stared intently at Danzo. "If we refuse to pay the ransom, the day those hundreds of heads are sent back will be the day internal strife breaks out in Konoha! What will the Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Uchiha families think? They will think the Village abandoned their leaders for the sake of so-called 'Face'!"
"When that time comes, without the Akatsuki even needing to lift a finger, those two hungry wolves, Iwagakure and Kumogakure, will take advantage of our internal division to tear the Land of Fire into pieces!"
Danzo opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but found himself speechless.
It was an Open Scheme.
It was an Open Scheme that held a blade to Konoha's neck, forcing you to bow your head and swallow this bitter fruit.
"Dammit..." Danzo gritted his teeth, his cane creaking under his grip, until finally he could only throw his sleeve back in hatred. "One billion Ryo! Hiruzen, you can explain this bill to the Daimyo yourself! This is simply the greatest disgrace since the founding of Konoha!"
Having said his piece, the hawkish leader, with a dark Face, slammed the door and left pathetically.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the unfurled bill on the floor; the name "Yahiko" appeared particularly glaring in his eyes at this moment.
"Has the era... changed?"
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