Now, with the Third Raikage and the rest of the Cloud's top brass cornered by Li Anshi, the Third Raikage had to consider the future of the village and choose to yield to Li Anshi's threat.
Without a doubt, this was a betrayal of those who had sacrificed themselves earlier.
All the Third Raikage could do now was preserve the last bit of the Cloud Village's backbone.
Reparations, yes. Surrender, no!
They had only lost the war; they hadn't all died.
If Li Anshi didn't agree, he would rather die here with everyone.
At that time, Li Anshi might be able to rout the remaining Cloud ninjas, but when those fleeing ninjas returned to the village, the Third Raikage believed that to protect the village behind them, they would muster their courage and continue to attack Li Anshi.
Who would emerge victorious was still unknown.
"Alright, if you don't sign a letter of surrender, the war reparations will be tripled."
Seeing the resolve of the Third Raikage and the surrounding Jonin, Li Anshi knew that "no surrender" was the Cloud's bottom line.
Therefore, he tripled the amount of the war reparations.
In any case, after this battle, as long as he wasn't dead, the Cloud side probably wouldn't have the guts to wage war with Konoha again.
As for whether the Cloud and Konoha would go to war if he had a falling out with Konoha, Li Anshi didn't care.
Respect the fate of others, and let go of the need to help.
Not everyone wanted to be saved, nor was everyone worth saving.
"No, three-tenths at most!" the Third Raikage refused out of habit.
"My apologies, Lord Raikage."
Li Anshi brandished the dagger in his hand. "I am not negotiating with you. I am informing you."
"You have no room to bargain with me."
"Either the war reparations remain unchanged, and your Cloud Village submits a letter of surrender to Konoha."
"Or, the Cloud and Konoha sign a truce, and you pay three times the war reparations."
"You!"
The Third Raikage was furious.
But unfortunately, as Li Anshi had said, it was the Cloud, not Li Anshi, who wanted to stop the war and reduce their losses.
In this battle, almost all the important figures of the Cloud were gathered here.
As long as Li Anshi killed them all, the Cloud's command system would inevitably be in chaos for a period of time.
At that time, whether Li Anshi continued to slaughter the Cloud ninjas or retreated from the battlefield, he could ensure his own safety.
"Lord Raikage, please make a decision as soon as possible."
Li Anshi returned the dagger to his sleeve and said to the Third Raikage and the others, "I can give you ten minutes to consider. If you haven't decided after ten minutes, then I will make the decision for you."
After speaking, Li Anshi walked to a nearby exposed rock and sat down, waiting for the Third Raikage and the others to discuss.
"A reminder: within a hundred-meter radius of me, there is entry, but no exit."
"Of course, if you can escape beyond a hundred meters before I make a move, you can give it a try."
Hearing Li Anshi's words, the Cloud ninjas were slightly speechless.
What a joke. It wasn't as if they hadn't seen him in action.
The strongest among them, the Third Raikage, would need at least two seconds to rush out a hundred meters.
And in those two or three seconds, it was enough time for Li Anshi to kill him seven or eight times.
As for the others, it would probably take them about five seconds.
While Li Anshi was negotiating with the Third Raikage and the others, the Cloud ninjas from other parts of the battlefield also gathered here.
However, under the command of the Jonin, these ninjas did not approach within a hundred meters of Li Anshi, but instead surrounded him from a distance of one hundred and fifty meters.
Once Li Anshi made a move on the Third Raikage and the others, they would risk their lives to keep him here.
Li Anshi didn't have to wait long. The Third Raikage came before him with a written agreement.
"Your Excellency Li, I am willing to accept your previous proposal."
"This is the agreement drafted by our Cloud Village, with my signature on it."
"This agreement will take effect immediately after your Hokage also signs it."
Li Anshi reached out and took the agreement from the Third Raikage's hand.
After a glance, Li Anshi discovered that in this agreement, the Cloud had embellished the war reparations to Konoha as "humanitarian aid" to Konoha, given with a compassionate heart, knowing that Konoha was in the midst of a heated war.
The total amount of aid was three hundred and sixty million Ryo.
However, the Cloud Village was not paying the three hundred and sixty million Ryo to Konoha all at once, but in installments over five years, paying sixty-one million two hundred thousand Ryo each year.
In the ninja villages, the reward for an ordinary S-rank mission was over one million Ryo.
There was no upper limit, depending on the difficulty of the mission.
The reward for assassinating an important figure in a major ninja village could exceed one hundred million.
Of course, every ninja village had such missions, but very few could actually complete them.
On average, the reward for each S-rank mission was around five million Ryo.
In other words, for the next five years, the Cloud Village would be completing more than ten S-rank missions, which might involve Elite Jonin, for Konoha for free.
"Tsk."
"Humanitarian aid…"
"When it comes to playing with words, you thick-skinned people are the best at it."
"However, I am just an ordinary Jonin of Konoha. I cannot guarantee that the agreement you have drafted will be recognized by Lord Hokage."
"If Lord Hokage does not recognize your agreement and asks me to come back to you to sign a new one, the war reparations you will have to pay will need to be doubled on this basis."
Hearing Li Anshi's words, the Third Raikage's face darkened.
"Impossible!"
What a joke.
Did he really think the Cloud Village's money grew on trees?
That was the reward the Cloud ninjas earned after completing mission after mission with their lives.
Although the Cloud Village, as the military force of the Land of Lightning, would receive aid from the Land of Lightning's daimyo and nobles.
But the aid from the daimyo and nobles to the ninja village was not a direct allocation of funds, but rather through the issuance of a large number of missions, which the village's ninjas would complete to get paid.
These missions could be S-rank missions to guard the daimyo or nobles on their travels, or D-rank missions to find cats and dogs that noble ladies had let loose after bringing their pets to the ninja village to play.
Three hundred and sixty million Ryo—even for the Cloud Village, under normal circumstances, the total funds from completed missions in a year was about this much.
However, the Cloud Village couldn't possibly use all its funds to pay compensation to Konoha.
Otherwise, the ninjas of the Cloud Village would probably not even be able to make a living, which would inevitably cause dissatisfaction.
When they had to struggle just to survive, how could these ninjas have the extra energy to be loyal to the Third Raikage?
Dividing the bill into five years was already the Third Raikage's plan to take a portion from the village's mission commission each year and supplement it with funds from his clan to prevent other major problems from arising due to financial issues.
Five years—they could endure it.
But if the amount of compensation was doubled again, extending the time to ten years, did the Cloud Village even want to develop anymore?
"Three hundred and sixty million Ryo is the Cloud Village's limit."
"Any more, and we'll see each other on the battlefield!"
The Third Raikage couldn't help but be angry.
In this battle with Li Anshi, they had lost substance. If they couldn't even save face, they really couldn't explain it to the villagers.
Moreover, if the Third Raikage hadn't made a move because of Blue B's severe injuries, they might have been able to keep Li Anshi here.
The Third Raikage had to bear this responsibility.
But if Li Anshi's request was too outrageous, the Third Raikage would rather lead the remaining ninjas in a fight to the death with Li Anshi than make any more concessions.
"That's something you can discuss with our Lord Hokage after he has seen the agreement you've drafted."
Li Anshi was not intimidated by the Third Raikage's tone.
Putting away the agreement, Li Anshi rose from the rock, turned his back to the Third Raikage, and walked toward the Land of Grass.
Looking at Li Anshi's back, the Third Raikage's expression changed. His right hand rose, but in the end, he slowly lowered it.
He really had no confidence he could kill Li Anshi in an instant.
As Li Anshi moved forward, the Cloud ninjas' encirclement also slowly opened up.
From beginning to end, their distance from Li Anshi was always more than a hundred meters.
The Third Raikage watched Li Anshi's retreating figure, his expression grave.
He knew that there might never be such an opportunity to besiege Li Anshi again.
After the lesson from this time, Li Anshi would only be more difficult to deal with in the future.
Besieging him with less than three hundred ninjas would be a joke.
And with more than three hundred, Li Anshi probably wouldn't charge directly into their formation like this time, but would use roundabout sneak attacks.
In that case, even a team of five hundred would probably be directly crushed by Li Anshi.
If Li Anshi found other ways to carry more daggers, even more manpower would be needed.
After leaving the Cloud's encirclement, chakra erupted from under Li Anshi's feet. With a few flashes of the Body Flicker Technique, he disappeared from the Cloud ninjas' sight.
I was too arrogant.
Li Anshi leaned his upper body forward, his hands behind him, and ran quickly toward Konoha in the Land of Grass.
Before my strength reaches the Six Paths level, a ninja's battle is a battle of intelligence.
Even someone as strong as Nagato Uzumaki was defeated by Naruto Uzumaki after his intelligence was known.
Even Madara Uchiha's Reanimated body was shattered a few times.
In this battle with the Cloud, I have exposed no small number of weaknesses.
As he ran, Li Anshi was still reflecting on the gains and losses of this battle with the Cloud.
Three hundred daggers are enough for me to wipe out the enemy in a small-scale war.
But if I encounter a ninja force of more than a thousand with good coordination, without support, I will be in great danger.