Yuji's words genuinely moved Onoki and the others toward a degree of belief.
Because the current ninja world was exactly as Yuji had described. Pharmaceutical resources were no longer the Sand Village's exclusive advantage. Konoha was actively dismantling the Sand Village's commercial empire.
So this was the Sand Village's response to being pushed too far. The Fourth Kazekage was flipping the table entirely.
"The Fourth Kazekage has quite a temper," Kitsuchi said with a seemingly naive smile. "Even if Konoha is stealing your market share, your Sand Village can still profit from what remains. There is no real need to share this industry with others, is there?"
Who would turn away money?
As long as there was still revenue to be earned, it still held value for the Sand Village.
The Fourth Kazekage had single-handedly developed the Sand Village to its current state. That alone demonstrated extraordinary intelligence. Even if he genuinely resented Konoha's moves, he would not act purely on emotion.
"The Land of Rain situation began with Konoha colluding with Hanzo. Danzo's scheme to pull the Land of Rain into an adversarial position against the Land of Wind left clear traces that can be followed. I am not fabricating this. Our Sand Village's seizure of the Hidden Rain Village was a defensive counteraction, something of a reluctant necessity.
Even if Hanzo had been temporarily suppressed, given his nature, it would have been very difficult for him to maintain neutrality over time."
"Eventually he would have shifted toward Konoha anyway."
"The Land of Rain holds critical strategic value for all three of our major countries. Knowing the Hidden Rain Village could never be a genuine ally of the Sand Village, allowing Hanzo to continue operating there unchecked would have been no different from raising a tiger to invite future disaster.
Therefore, from the village's strategic perspective, our military action against the Hidden Rain Village was absolutely necessary."
Yuji continued with a sigh that carried just the right note of reluctance.
"Furthermore, I would imagine the Third Tsuchikage has already met privately with the Hokage?"
"When the entire ninja world was condemning the Sand Village's military ambitions, I assumed your two villages would naturally take the opportunity to prepare and discuss your options. That is only human. I understand completely."
"Striking at Konoha is only one dimension of this. The cooperation with your village is also about drawing the Hidden Stone Village closer, while signaling clearly that our Sand Village's seizure of the Land of Rain does not include any intention of launching military action against the Land of Earth."
Everyone exchanged glances.
So that was it.
The purpose was to preemptively break apart any potential alliance forming against the Sand Village.
Laid out that way, it actually made complete sense.
But in order to prevent the Hidden Stone Village and Konoha from forming a united front, the Fourth Kazekage was apparently willing to make an exchange this large. That demonstrated how seriously he viewed the Hidden Stone Village as a factor.
"Among the Five Great Hidden Villages, the Hidden Mist Village has a Fourth Mizukage who only just took power with an unstable internal situation. They have no energy to respond to your Sand Village's moves. If Konoha wants to rally opposition against the Sand Village's threat, the only villages they could realistically align with are ourselves or the Hidden Cloud Village.
The Hidden Cloud Village suffered devastating losses in this war with Konoha playing a direct role in causing them. Although the Raikage holds resentments toward you as well, he would not necessarily set aside the bad blood with Konoha so easily."
"So the only possible alliance partner available to Konoha is our Hidden Stone Village."
"You see the situation clearly and precisely. A cooperation with our village kills two birds with one stone. It strikes at Konoha while simultaneously securing the Sand Village's own stability," Onoki said in a low voice.
"Exactly right," Yuji nodded, entirely composed.
"So. Do you want to cooperate?"
Onoki did not answer directly.
"This kind of matter requires internal discussion within the village before I can give you an answer."
"Kitsuchi."
"Here."
"Take the Kazekage to rest."
"Understood."
Onoki issued the order to dismiss his guest first.
"Kazekage. This way please," Kitsuchi gestured.
Yuji gave a slight nod and followed with Baki and Yura as their escort departed.
He understood what was happening. Onoki had not responded immediately because he was still worried there was a trap somewhere in the arrangement and wanted to think through it carefully first.
But Yuji's framing had successfully guided their line of thinking, and the reasoning he had presented was clean, direct, and intuitive.
Most importantly, on the surface this cooperation appeared to offer the Hidden Stone Village pure benefit with no downside. Even as pharmaceutical resource values continued declining, the Hidden Stone Village would certainly not lose money from this arrangement.
So even if Onoki turned it over in his mind from every conceivable angle, there was genuinely no grounds for refusal.
Holding pharmaceutical resources in hand meant that when the next war eventually came, the Hidden Stone Village would not find itself economically constrained by the Sand Village or Konoha. That was a consideration that absolutely had to be factored in.
Therefore Yuji was completely calm about waiting for Onoki's reply.
After being shown to the accommodations the Tsuchikage had arranged, Yuji took a stroll through the Hidden Stone Village.
Kitsuchi, of course, accompanied him the entire way.
These outsiders who had arrived from beyond the village's walls were all under surveillance. Yuji was fully aware of this.
As Yuji had predicted, several hours later he met with Onoki again.
The cooperation was confirmed.
Although it was the Sand Village that had taken the initiative to extend the offer, the Hidden Stone Village still needed to pay an enormous sum in exchange.
The Hidden Stone Village had money.
Never mind that the Great Ninja War had only recently ended and the Hidden Stone Village was still in the early stages of its recovery. The reason Yuji had specifically chosen to set this particular trap for Onoki was precisely because he knew the Hidden Stone Village's financial reserves were substantial.
Why?
Because during the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Stone Village had used the advantage provided by the Sand Village's pharmaceutical resources to seize a portion of the Land of Lightning's territory in the early stages of the conflict.
In the subsequent peace negotiations, the Land of Lightning had paid a massive sum to buy back the lost territory from the Land of Earth, which was what had finally caused the Hidden Stone Village to withdraw its forces.
That payment was exactly what Yuji was targeting.
Reaching this cooperation agreement meant the Hidden Stone Village could now produce medicines of extraordinary therapeutic quality, and not merely Konoha's counterfeit versions. These would be genuine products equivalent to the Sand Village's own output, along with an entire production chain that any nation would covet.
So regardless of how Yuji structured the pricing and the purchasing terms, the final figure the Hidden Stone Village committed to would naturally be very high.
Having already agreed to cooperate with the Sand Village, Onoki did not excessively agonize over the financial side. This deal also resolved a persistent concern that had been weighing on him.
But across the negotiating table, the two of them still could not avoid a sharp and spirited battle of words before each side finally reached terms they were satisfied with.
After the agreement was concluded, at early dawn the following morning Yuji's group departed the Hidden Stone Village.
He understood clearly that the Hidden Stone Village was not particularly enthusiastic about their continued presence. Staying longer would only strain their hosts' patience.
So he moved quickly.
He had another customer waiting and no time to spare.
The Hidden Mist Village.
The Hidden Mist Village might not have deep pockets, but that did not mean the Land of Water's Daimyo's office lacked funds. Whatever could be extracted was worth extracting.
Unlike the situation with the Hidden Stone Village, the Hidden Mist Village's Mizukage was almost certain to agree to cooperate. And potentially more readily than Onoki had.
Because for Yagura Karatachi, who had only just taken the position, the urgent priority was consolidating his standing as Mizukage. And the Sand Village's pharmaceutical production chain was famous throughout the ninja world.
Yuji coming to seek cooperation at this moment was essentially handing Yagura a significant political gift, helping the Hidden Mist Village bring this industry into the Land of Water and giving Yagura a major policy achievement to point to in the early days of his tenure.
Therefore Yuji was ninety percent certain the Hidden Mist Village cooperation would come through without major difficulty.
Once pharmaceutical resources across the entire ninja world stabilized in price and lost their monopoly premium and outsized profits, whoever could push the furthest in pharmaceutical innovation and responsiveness to market needs would remain the industry leader.
And Konoha's competitive position would be diluted by the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Mist Village both entering the space.
This was a war without smoke or gunfire.
It was also a ruthlessly calculated move at the commercial level.
And it was a lesson Yuji was delivering specifically to Danzo and Konoha.