The three saw that the Fourth Raikage immediately asked how the Cloud Village ninja would be dealt with. It seemed he still cared about their fate.
This was exactly what they wanted.
Uchiha Ryōsuke was the first to speak.
"Clan Head, Hyūga Head, what are your thoughts on how to deal with the people from the Cloud Village?"
The Hyūga Head was the first to speak, his voice cold.
"This war was instigated by the Cloud Village in the first place. A portion of the Hyūga and Uchiha clansmen were sacrificed. I recommend executing these bastards to avenge our two clans."
In reality, the number of sacrifices was very small; even the number of injured was quite low.
The Fourth Raikage was instantly alarmed. He had brought these people. If they all died here, then the Cloud Village would lose the majority of its elite, and it would likely fall into an extremely difficult situation.
He immediately said with a sincere attitude, "This was all the Cloud Village's mistake. We are willing to provide your village with compensation. We hope your village can spare us."
He had to bow his head. Now was not the time to be driven by emotion.
Ryōsuke saw the Fourth Raikage's intention to compensate and spoke slowly.
"Then what kind of compensation is the Cloud Village willing to provide?"
The Fourth Raikage saw there was a chance, and his face lit up with joy.
"My Cloud Village is willing to provide 500 million ryō in compensation."
This was almost the Cloud Village's entire annual expenditure. The Cloud Village's total annual spending was about 600 million ryō.
'They should be satisfied with that, right? After all, this is enough to support tens of thousands of ninja for a year.'
But the Hyūga Head spoke with disdain.
"Only 500 million ryō? Who are you looking down on? Do you think all your Cloud Village ninja are worth only that much? Or do you simply look down on our two clans and think we're easy to fool?"
Ryōsuke had no interest in this 500 million ryō; after all, he was planning to ask for 6 billion.
He spoke up. "The Hyūga Head is right. The Fourth Raikage is being far too stingy."
"The Fourth Raikage himself, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, and so many Jōnin and Chūnin... all worth just that tiny bit of money."
"If I sold you all to the black market, you wouldn't even be worth that price."
"And besides, I'd say the Fourth Raikage, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki can be considered priceless, wouldn't you?"
"Not to mention all the Jōnin and Chūnin."
"Offering just 500 million ryō... frankly, I feel like the Fourth Raikage is playing me for a fool."
The Fourth Raikage felt deeply humiliated. Selling them to the black market for money? Wasn't that treating them like merchandise?
The black market was a filthy place.
They collected human materials for experiments, or retrieved intelligence from ninja corpses. And since these people were still alive, they would probably be worth even more if sold.
If the other side really did this, their Cloud Village would probably suffer the greatest tragedy in the history of the ninja world.
Fugaku also nodded at this point.
"I agree with Ryōsuke's suggestion. Sell them all to the black market. We could easily get 6 billion."
"With the Cloud Village gone, along with so many of its elites, perhaps the Land of Lightning could even become territory of our Land of Fire."
The Fourth Raikage's expression changed when he heard this. Originally, their Cloud Village had wanted to invade the Leaf Village so the Land of Lightning could invade the Land of Fire.
But now the other side was actually thinking of encroaching on the Land of Lightning. This made him extremely anxious.
And they wanted to sell them all like slaves.
He said angrily, "You can't do this! It's too cruel! The Third Hokage would never allow you to do such a thing!"
He knew the Third Hokage was obsessed with saving face, always talking about peace.
Even if he was somewhat weak-willed at times, he wouldn't do something so terrible, for the sake of appearances.
Ryōsuke glanced at the Fourth Raikage. The man still didn't understand who was in charge. He spoke with disdain.
"The Third Hokage's words don't count right now. What my Uchiha Clan and the Hyūga Clan say is what counts. After all, you are our prisoner, not the Third Hokage's. Don't you even understand that?"
The Fourth Raikage was speechless. It was true; their lives were in the hands of these two clans. And from their attitude, it was clear the Third Hokage really couldn't command them.
Suddenly, he remembered the mysterious letter he had received earlier and said, "I have a piece of information for you. I hope it can reduce the compensation."
Ryōsuke's interest was piqued.
"Speak. What kind of information is it?"
The Fourth Raikage recounted the matter of the letter and its contents.
The expressions of both Hyūga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku darkened.
'Someone actually leaked the intelligence that our two clans were being deployed? No wonder the Cloud Village sent so many elites, even the Fourth Raikage and the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki.'
'They even wanted Uchiha Ryōsuke's head, and proposed giving concessions in a subsequent peace treaty.'
'Who else but Konoha's high command could make decisions on such matters?'
Even Hyūga Hiashi found it hard to believe.
'There's actually a traitor among the village's high command.'
But after thinking about it carefully, how could that be possible?
'If our two clans were defeated in this war, who would be left in the village to stand up?'
'Even in the subsequent peace negotiations, they would be at a huge disadvantage and might even lose significant village interests.'
So the more he thought about it, the less he believed the Fourth Raikage. If Konoha's leadership did this, it would be tantamount to suicide.
He snapped angrily.
"Fourth Raikage, stop spouting nonsense! How could someone in the high command possibly betray us?"
"What proof do you have? Or are you just trying to drive a wedge between us and the village leadership?"
The Fourth Raikage said hurriedly, "I'm not talking nonsense! The initial letter was to my secretary, Mabui, and she transferred it to me. I have no intention of driving a wedge."
Hyūga Hiashi still looked unconvinced.
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"After all, your Cloud Village tried to abduct my daughter, and then shamelessly demanded we hand over the 'perpetrator'. After doing something so shameless, wouldn't you do a second shameless thing?"
He was now more and more convinced this was one of the Fourth Raikage's schemes.
After all, sowing discord was a common ninja tactic. If his Hyūga Clan and the leadership developed a rift and began to suspect each other, it would be a very dangerous situation.
Besides, Konoha's current leadership were basically all students of the Second Hokage. No matter how you looked at it, they couldn't possibly betray the village.
They had no reason to make the Leaf Village suffer such a huge loss.
The Fourth Raikage was also annoyed now. It was true that their Cloud Village had been insidious and cunning before, but he was not lying about this.
"You can go ask Mabui. There's no way we could have coordinated this story."
"After all, before this war started, we never thought we would lose. We had no need to think this up in advance."