When poor, shelve the dispute; when rich, claim it's been yours since antiquity
That line could be called the Celestial Dynasty's foreign-policy creed—yet somehow Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had mastered it perfectly
Konoha may have been only thirty years old, but compared to the Senju Clan stretching back a thousand years, thirty years seemed fleeting
Every word from the Third dripped with the implication that Sunagakure was a nation of upstarts with no historical depth
The Sand shinobi bristled
By that logic, they might as well hand over the entire village—after all, this land used to be Uchiha territory
And yet the Third Hokage, with his nickname "Monkey," his appearance, and even his Summoned Beast, could still command this kind of audacity
The moment his words left the Sand envoy's mouth, Danzō bristled
Did they think every Konoha ninja was a polite pushover?
The irate war-hawk jabbed a finger at the Sand delegation, roaring that they were a pack of savages
Sunagakure could take no more
Yes, they were the defeated nation, weaker than Konoha—but pride still burned in their hearts
Must Konoha smear them with stereotypes?
Which of the four great nations hadn't been battered by the Land of Fire at some point?
Had this happened at the Five Kage Summit, it might have drawn nods of approval—especially from the Third Tsuchikage
But here, in Konoha, the argument fell flat
Utatane Koharu, seated to the right, cheerfully reminded the Sand that they were simply being argumentative—and even offered to hire them at high wages
Konoha's construction projects needed exactly that kind of talent
The Sand ninja fired back just as sharply: if Konoha would release the Third Kazekage and Chiyo, they'd gladly work—argue or lay bricks, anything for the job
Homura Mitokado solemnly denounced the Sand for wishful thinking, wondering aloud what substances they might have been using to hallucinate
The negotiation devolved into a noisy marketplace, and by dusk, no useful points had been settled
Yet everyone seemed to enjoy themselves
The Third had foreseen this; Konoha's demands were simply too steep for Sunagakure to concede
Understanding did not mean compromise
Back in the First Great Ninja War, Konoha had fought four-to-one to maintain its hegemony
But that victory was hollow—Origin Qi was grievously wounded, and the village had needed years to recover
Add internal chaos, and Konoha had gained little
Many territories occupied before the war were only returned in name
The Third Hokage remembered it all
His teacher, the Second Hokage, had died in that war
Now Konoha had won again, with strength to spare, and old and new scores could be settled together
The Third was in his prime, decisive, and unyielding—a "Ninja Hero" in every sense
Meanwhile, Sunagakure began to falter
Konoha's demands were impossible
Whoever signed the treaty would become the village's eternal sinner
With the Third Kazekage captive, no one dared make a decision
Ebizo dared not intervene, so the elder stayed away
Samon dared not either, yet as the highest-ranking elder, he had no choice but to attend
His throat hoarse from arguing, he gulped another full cup—his sixth that afternoon—and still felt parched
"I'll say it again: No! Konoha shows zero sincerity
This is outright robbery!"
That sentence had been his refrain all afternoon
"Everyone knows how this war started: we went to subdue the Land of Rain, only to be ambushed by Sunagakure
We were forced to fight back and lost too many ninja
Our material consumption was severe
I trust you agree our demands are hardly excessive!"
Once again, the Third restated Konoha's stance: the village was the party in the right
And so the two sides sank back into endless bickering, each sentence sparking a fresh quarrel
Day one of negotiations collapsed: Konoha refused to retreat, and Sunagakure would not accept the price
"Who knows when this will end?" Jiraiya yawned, stretching
"No idea
We've been standing all afternoon—let's grab dinner first," Orochimaru rasped
The four agreed
Over food, they rehashed the meeting
Though they hadn't seen the treaty, they had pieced together the gist
"The Sand delegation won't sleep tonight," Jiraiya observed
"Sleep? They'll bust their guts trying to see the Third Kazekage in prison
None of them dare decide on concessions—they fear the blame"
"By the way, doesn't the ransom figure for the Third Kazekage and Chiyo sound familiar?
I swear I've heard it somewhere," Jiraiya mused after a sip of sake
Sakumo grinned
"Of course it's familiar—that's exactly what the Second Hokage asked for the Tailed Beasts"
Seeing Hayashi's blank expression, Orochimaru explained:
"When the First Hokage captured eight of the Nine Tailed Beasts, he meant to gift them at the Five Kage Summit to maintain peace
The Second Hokage vetoed that and told the villages to buy them
Today's ransom matches his original asking price
It used to be in the history books, but the Ninja Academy cut it
Your generation never learned it—no surprise"
Hayashi had actually seen it in the manga; he just hadn't expected the Third to pick that exact number
The twisted irony was unmistakable: the First Kazekage never paid, yet today the Third Kazekage would
He wondered how the "strongest Kazekage" would feel about settling grand-daddy's tab
"All right, let's head back
Next round starts at eight," Sakumo said, rising
Hayashi sighed; he could already picture the next day of talks
After all, the essence of humanity seemed to be—being a parrot
____
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