Early the next morning, inside a large reception room in the Hokage Building.
On both sides of a long rectangular table:
Sitting on one side were Kisame and the Mist delegation's senior shinobi responsible for negotiations.
On the other side were Koharu and Homura, along with the advisor Shikaku.
And of course, the man who absolutely couldn't be ignored: Mitsuki.
At Hiruzen's request, Mitsuki had arrived at the reception room early. According to the crash-course Shikaku gave him yesterday, he stiffened his expression and sat down expressionlessly in his designated seat.
Shikaku stood up, lightly cleared his throat, and said:
"Ahem… Since everyone is here, the peace talks will officially begin."
As Konoha's strategist, he was naturally the best person to control the flow of the negotiations.
As for Hiruzen, he was the Hokage, there was no way he would lower himself to personally meet with the Mist delegation. Unless the Mizukage were to come himself, that simply wouldn't happen.
Once everything here was finalized, only then would the Mist delegation have a chance to meet the Hokage and officially represent the Land of Water in signing the peace treaty.
"These are Konoha's conditions."
Homura presented an unfurled scroll. It contained the terms they had discussed the previous night.
Kisame took the scroll and looked it over carefully. His small eyes widened.
"This…"
Although they expected the negotiations to be difficult, they didn't expect Konoha's terms to be this outrageous.
Keeping a calm expression, Kisame passed the scroll to the veteran Mist jōnin in charge of negotiations.
The first condition on the scroll demanded that Kirigakure compensate all citizens of the Fire Country's coastal regions for every loss caused since the war began.
The second condition demanded mental-distress compensation for Fire Country civilians affected by the war.
The third was still about money: for the next five years, twenty percent of all mission revenue from Kirigakure was to be paid to Konoha.
These three alone were astronomical.
Not to mention the many additional clauses afterward:
– recognizing that the Seven Ninja Swords now belonged to Konoha – forbidding Mist shinobi from entering Uzushiogakure territory – demanding humanitarian compensation and an apology for the attempt to steal the Byakugan during the war… and so on.
Line after line, it hit the Mist delegation like a crushing blow.
Still, their job here was to minimize Kirigakure's losses, nothing more.
Looking on the bright side, although Konoha's demands were harsh, it also meant the Mist delegation had a wide range to negotiate within.
"These are Kirigakure's terms."
Kisame handed over their own scroll to Homura.
Even though Kirigakure was effectively surrendering, this was still nominally a peace negotiation —they had the right to present their own conditions.
Homura read the scroll carefully, his glasses flashing coldly. When he finished, he nodded slightly and passed it along.
The Mist's terms were surprisingly realistic; unlike Sunagakure previously, they actually understood their position.
The first condition: Mitsuki must reveal all space-time coordinate points he had hidden within the Land of Water's territory.
The second: Konoha must return the bodies of the Third Mizukage and all Mist shinobi who died in battle. Likewise, Kirigakure would return the bodies of fallen Konoha shinobi.
The third: Konoha must return the Seven Ninja Swords belonging to Kirigakure.
There were additional supplementary terms, but nothing unreasonable.
What followed was hours of back-and-forth wrangling.
In truth, all the great shinobi villages backed by the Five Great Nations— including Sunagakure —were rarely short on funds.
Sunagakure had fallen into poverty only because repeated defeats led the Kazekage's funding being cut by the Wind Daimyō. On top of that, Wind Country civilians began trusting Konoha more and sending missions there instead, leaving Suna unable to sustain itself.
For Kirigakure, Konoha's monetary compensation demands weren't impossible — the Daimyō of the Land of Water would be footing the bill anyway.
The only truly unacceptable part was the third condition — the 20% mission revenue. That loss would come directly out of Kirigakure's pockets. And twenty percent was far too high. Even if they knew it was just an initial anchor point, Konoha's bottom line wouldn't be low.
After the Mist delegation fought desperately, they managed to cut it down to eight percent for five years.
Hiruzen had originally told them that five percent would be "pretty good".
But it seemed that the unconscious pressure coming from Mitsuki sitting nearby had influenced things.
When the most vocal bald Mist jōnin attempted to haggle further, Mitsuki lightly cleared his throat.
The jōnin immediately shut up in terror.
"Nice!" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)✧
Shikaku shot Mitsuki an approving look.
But in truth, Mitsuki's throat had only been a little dry.
Come to think of it, he hadn't expected that a situation practically guaranteed to produce credit would… not include Danzo.
Under normal circumstances, he was always the one playing the villain in these situations.
If something deviates from routine, there must be a reason.
Mitsuki activated his Six Eyes to the fullest, scanning the entire village of Konoha.
…
Konoha — Root Headquarters.
Deep beneath the maze of metal tunnels, over a dozen Root operatives knelt on one knee, all wearing their masks.
In front of them stood an elderly man leaning on a cane.
The very person Mitsuki had been thinking about, Danzo.
At that moment, a Root ninja appeared beside Danzo.
"Danzo-sama, the peace negotiations have begun."
Hearing this, Danzō's eyes narrowed.
He spoke coldly to the Root operatives:
"Hiruzen is far too naive. There is no such thing as a peace negotiation. Kirigakure must be made to kneel before Konoha's strength. Go now — kill every Mist shinobi still staying in the Konoha inns."
With Danzo's order, the Root operatives moved immediately.
Unlike Suna — where the Wind Daimyō could tolerate Konoha crippling Suna but not destroying it entirely — the Land of Wind was politically tied to the Land of Fire. If Konoha showed any sign of wanting to wipe out Sunagakure, the Daimyō would apply pressure.
Besides, Fire Country had no interest in Wind Country's deserts anyway.
But the Land of Water was different.
It was isolated overseas, often not even interacting with other great nations.
Even if Konoha launched a full-scale extermination war, the Fire Daimyō would hardly interfere. At most, he'd become wary of having a fellow great nation eradicated.
Danzō couldn't care less.
As long as it benefited Konoha, he would do anything, no matter how deranged.