Seven days later, Konoha Village, Hokage Tower, Hokage's office.
"This is Temari, and this is Kankurō. They are the eldest daughter and second son of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
"This is Karura, the wife of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. The child in her womb is Rasa's third child, who has yet to be given a name.
"This is the wife and child of one of Sunagakure's senior officials...
"For the foreseeable future, they will be staying here in Konoha. I'll have to trouble you, Hokage-sama, to arrange suitable accommodations for them!"
Uchiha Ren introduced the large group of women and children he had brought back from Sunagakure to Minato Namikaze one by one.
Every one of them was the wife or child of a powerful figure in Sunagakure.
They were also the weak points of those powerful figures!
After reaching a preliminary understanding with Elder Chiyo, Ren had held another round of negotiations with the various high-ranking officials of Sunagakure.
Although the negotiations had not gone smoothly, after Ren had patiently explained the situation and made the consequences clear to them, the senior officials of Sunagakure ultimately chose to compromise.
In the end, Uchiha Ren and the entire leadership of Sunagakure reached a preliminary agreement!
The reason it was only a preliminary agreement was not because of Sunagakure, but because of Konoha.
An undertaking of this magnitude was something Ren could not simply decide on his own. Naturally, he first had to discuss everything with Konoha.
Furthermore, the East-to-West Water Diversion Project was no small undertaking. It would require the coordinated deployment of resources by three villages, so for now, it had only been formally proposed.
The date when construction would officially begin would also have to be determined after the three villages held further discussions!
Thus, after arguing and negotiating with Sunagakure's senior officials for quite some time, Ren finally returned to Konoha with a group of hostages.
Although using hostages to indirectly control the leadership of Sunagakure was an extremely old-fashioned tactic, there was no denying that it was highly effective!
Not to mention, Ren had practically captured the entire next generation of Sunagakure's leadership in one sweep.
If Sunagakure went back on its word, the village's entire next generation would be wiped out!
Sunagakure was already an impoverished village. If its next generation were lost as well, it would be little different from being crippled!
Ren was confident that Sunagakure would not take such a risk.
"Er... Kakashi, Kakashi!"
Looking at the dozens of women and children crowded together, Minato Namikaze felt a headache coming on. Even the smile on his face had become somewhat stiff.
"Hokage-sama!"
Kakashi Hatake, wearing his ANBU mask, appeared in the office in a flash. He dropped to one knee and respectfully awaited Minato's orders.
Minato pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Take them to Elder Koharu. Have Elder Koharu arrange suitable accommodations for them."
After some consideration, Minato simply handed the matter over to Koharu Utatane.
When it came to this sort of trivial administrative work, Koharu was the professional.
It was also part of her responsibilities.
"Yes. Everyone, please follow me."
Kakashi nodded and rose to his feet. He gestured for the people from Sunagakure to follow him before leading the way out of the Hokage's office.
The people from Sunagakure did not say anything. One by one, they lowered their heads and silently followed behind Kakashi.
Almost all of them were members of Sunagakure's elite.
They naturally understood their current situation and had no intention of causing trouble at a time like this.
"Phew... Ren, what exactly is going on? What are you planning?"
Once the footsteps of the people from Sunagakure had faded into the distance, Minato finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward Uchiha Ren with a somewhat reproachful expression.
Although Ren had sent word back several days earlier that he would be returning with some prisoners from Sunagakure and had even called it a "surprise," Minato had never imagined that the "some" Ren mentioned would mean dozens of people—practically the entire future of Sunagakure!
This kind of surprise was more like a shock!
"Don't rush. Let me explain everything."
Ren smiled and casually took a seat opposite Minato before carefully recounting everything that had happened during his time in Sunagakure.
After hearing the entire story, a hint of excitement appeared on Minato's face.
"So the entire Sunagakure has joined our plan?"
Ren nodded.
"Sunagakure is relatively poor, which actually makes it easier to control. Once the East-to-West Water Diversion Project is fully implemented, I believe most of the common people in Sunagakure and the Land of Wind will stand on our side!"
"When the time comes, all we need to do is create a single disturbance and wipe out the remaining obstacles in one stroke. Then we can bring the entire Land of Wind under our banner!"
"The Land of Rain is even less of a problem. There are hardly any nobles there, so we won't have much trouble on that front."
"The real problem is our own Land of Fire, as well as the other three Great Nations of the shinobi world!"
"Still, there's no need to rush this matter. We can wait until the East-to-West Water Diversion Project gets underway before deciding what to do next!"
Minato nodded upon hearing this.
This was indeed not something they could rush.
Ren continued.
"There's another matter that's somewhat troublesome."
"What is it?" Minato asked.
Ren said, "Although we brought back the 'future' of Sunagakure, we can't simply leave Sunagakure itself unattended."
"We need someone capable and intelligent stationed there to keep an eye on things. Only then can we be at ease."
"Originally, the most suitable candidate would undoubtedly have been Senior Orochimaru. But there are quite a few matters in Konoha that we can't afford to have him leave, so we'll have to choose someone else."
Minato pondered for a moment before speaking.
"That is indeed troublesome. Jiraiya-sensei certainly has enough strength, but... he's somewhat lacking in other areas!"
"As for those three, not only would we be uncomfortable using them, they might not even be willing to go."
"After considering everything, the only suitable candidate is probably Senior Tsunade."
Ren shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Tsunade would indeed be suitable, but she already turned me down."
Minato was surprised.
"You already asked Senior Tsunade what she thought?"
Ren nodded.
"Something like that. When I explained my plans to Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure that day, I revealed some of the things we intend to do in the future."
"You know that Tsunade isn't only one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin. She's also a princess of the Fire Daimyō's family. She is naturally destined to stand against us, so how could she possibly support us?"
"I didn't say it outright, but I could still see Tsunade's hesitation."
"The fact that she is remaining neutral and refusing to help either side is already helping us."
Minato, however, shook his head.
"No, Ren. I think you're overthinking this."
"It's true that Tsunade is a princess of the Fire Daimyō's family, but she isn't a princess of the Wind Daimyō's family!"
"She might refuse if we asked her to help us deal with the Fire Daimyō's court. But if we simply ask her to keep an eye on Sunagakure and the Wind Daimyō's court, she won't refuse."
"Besides, sending her to Sunagakure would allow her to remain outside the conflict and prevent her from being caught between Konoha and the Fire Daimyō's court."
"That way, she won't have to put herself in a difficult position."
Uchiha Ren thought about it.
It seemed that Minato really did have a point.
He had simply made an assumption earlier.
Minato continued.
"Leave this matter to me. I'll speak with Senior Tsunade personally in my capacity as Hokage."
After a pause, Minato suddenly changed the subject.
"By the way, you probably don't know about Shimura Danzō yet, do you? Let me tell you—we made a huge profit this time!"
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