The negotiation had ended.
But the matter of compensation was far from over.
Kirigakure still needed time to gather the required resources.
And as for the first two harsh conditions Rasa had proposed, Yagura had no idea how he was supposed to actually carry them out.
The first condition was manageable.
The Hozuki Clan had already declined. If Yagura forcibly seized the summoning scroll in the name of acting for the village, he could probably still obtain it.
The real problem lay in the second condition.
Hand over Munashi Jinpachi.
Hand over Elder Genji.
Hand over Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kisame was not important.
But Jinpachi and Genji were both extremely important to Kirigakure.
One was the last surviving member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
The other was one of Kirigakure's elders.
Just thinking about it made Yagura's head ache.
"But if I refuse Rasa's terms, Kirigakure will face the deaths of thousands more shinobi."
"And besides…"
"It was Kirigakure that once made such a demand of Sunagakure first."
Yagura led a small squad back toward Kirigakure.
The remaining Kirigakure shinobi were all left under Sunagakure's guard.
Rasa did not remain at the front lines.
He left the battlefield to Pakura and rode Yatagarasu back to Sunagakure ahead of everyone else.
At the same time, a fresh issue of the Weekly Great Shinobi Events Report was spreading outward from Sunagakure.
This time, the report was not distributed by Rasa personally.
Instead, it was handed over to Sunagakure's shinobi—
as well as certain merchants who had taken the initiative to request the right to sell it.
The Weekly Great Shinobi Events Report was, naturally, filled with matters related to the shinobi world.
But ordinary civilians were interested in those matters as well.
The great ninja villages.
The wars between them.
The rise and fall of famous figures.
People talked about such topics endlessly.
And on top of that, the paper also carried the serialized novel The Kouga Ninja Scroll.
Ever since reading last week's issue, many people had been itching for the next one.
"It's finally here!"
"The second installment of The Kouga Ninja Scroll—I wonder what kind of exciting plot it'll have this time."
A young man opened the paper impatiently and began reading at speed.
"The way Yashamaru is written is really cool."
"And Hotaru is written so beautifully."
"Jichuu Juubei… well, he barely counts as human."
"…"
A nearby shinobi commented, "Compared to real shinobi, the ninja in The Kouga Ninja Scroll are too stylized. Probably so readers can remember them faster."
"The story is good, but those ninja don't really feel like real ninja."
But more people focused first on the headline.
"Kirigakure Surrenders to Sunagakure!"
"Konoha Defeats Iwagakure!"
"Konoha and Sunagakure Reach Peace Agreement, Konoha-Kirigakure Alliance Collapses!"
One headline—
four explosive pieces of news.
"Is the war finally going to end?"
A civilian from the Land of Fire looked delighted.
"That's wonderful. Konoha won!"
A civilian from the Land of Wind was full of excitement.
"I knew it. Sunagakure would definitely win."
A civilian from the Land of Water, however, looked enraged.
"What exactly is Konoha doing?"
"Weren't they allied with Kirigakure?"
"Why did they suddenly betray us and make peace with Sunagakure instead?"
"They sold out Kirigakure?"
"Shameless!"
Many people from the Land of Water cursed Konoha loudly.
In their eyes, Kirigakure had lost this war because of Konoha's betrayal.
At first, the people of the Land of Fire were left speechless.
But after reading one of the smaller sections further down in the paper, they immediately regained their confidence and began cursing back.
"The truly shameless ones are your Kirigakure!"
"You formed an alliance with Konoha, then secretly sent shinobi to attack Konoha's team!"
"You even killed one of Minato-sama's students!"
"That was the disciple of the Yellow Flash!"
The people from the Land of Water froze for a moment.
"That's impossible."
The people from the Land of Fire snorted coldly.
"It's written right here. Read it yourselves."
The people from the Land of Water hurried to look.
But they still refused to admit it and continued arguing stubbornly.
"This isn't true."
"This newspaper belongs to Sunagakure. Sunagakure is Kirigakure's enemy, so of course it would describe Kirigakure in the worst possible way. This must be fake."
"Kirigakure had no benefit at all from doing such a thing."
"They're not fools. Why would they do something that brought them absolutely no benefit?"
"So it has to be fake."
"Or perhaps Kirigakure was framed."
"For example, by Sunagakure."
"This is Sunagakure's strategy to sow discord."
Once the first wave of grief over his students had passed, Minato Namikaze also quickly realized something was wrong.
Kirigakure shinobi had attacked Konoha shinobi.
As a result, they had directly driven away their own ally.
Then, facing Sunagakure's full assault alone, Kirigakure could only end in surrender.
Did that make sense?
It did not.
From the perspective of who benefited most, Sunagakure was indeed the greatest beneficiary.
"But… was it really Sunagakure?"
One Kirigakure shinobi proposed another possibility.
"It could also have been Konoha's own bitter drama."
"Konoha no longer wanted to remain allied with us, so they staged this incident themselves. Then they could abandon Kirigakure with a clean conscience and escape."
"And besides, they had just defeated Iwagakure."
The Kirigakure shinobi opposite hesitated.
"But wouldn't the price be too high?"
"That was still the disciple of the Yellow Flash."
"Just a disciple," the first one said coldly.
"A commoner background. There are plenty of those."
"So what if he was the Yellow Flash's student?"
"If one disciple dies, he can always take another."
"And in fact, it had to be someone with enough weight behind the name to make the act sound convincing."
A Konoha shinobi nearby immediately sneered.
"It could not have been Konoha."
"Either it was Kirigakure or Sunagakure."
"If you insist on a third possibility, then it should be those Uchiha."
"That's right—the Uchiha Clan and the Kaguya Clan."
"Those two clans hate Konoha and Kirigakure bitterly."
"They would absolutely want to destroy the alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure."
"The Uchiha are evil by nature. There's nothing they wouldn't do. And with the Sharingan, they can use genjutsu to manipulate people."
"And the Kaguya Clan understands Kirigakure's internal situation well."
"It had to be the cooperation of those two that created this disaster."
The moment this view was raised, many people immediately accepted it.
That way, Sunagakure would not be blamed.
Konoha would not be blamed.
Kirigakure would not be blamed either.
And as for the Uchiha and Kaguya—
who cared what happened to them?
After hearing the ninja world's discussions, Uchiha Yashiro and Kaguya Tashi both felt utterly suffocated.
This was indeed the sort of thing they would have liked to do.
But they had not done it.
And yet now the blame had landed squarely on their heads.
"The whole ninja world is full of shameless bastards!"
"Not a single one of those villages is any good!"
"Hypocritical, bullying, and full of lies!"
Sunagakure.
Kazekage Building.
Rasa looked at the system panel before him, and anticipation rose in his eyes.
"The second rumor's points have already been fully collected."
"There's only one final ten-draw left."
"And that means I'll trigger another major pity reward."
With a thought, Rasa activated it.
"Ten draws."
"Begin."