Clap, clap, clap!
After the initial excitent died down, Sanada Nobuhisa clapped his hands to draw attention. "Alright, everyone, calm down. I still have so matters to discuss!"
Hearing this, the room quickly fell silent.
As the eting room regained its quiet atmosphere, the smile on Sanada Nobuhisa's face gradually faded, replaced by a more serious expression.
Seeing his change in deanor, everyone imdiately understood that what he was about to say wasn't good news.
And indeed, it wasn't.
Clearing his throat, he spoke in a heavy tone: "According to the information from the village, while we've reached a ceasefire agreent with Iwagakure, the formal signing of the treaty will only take place a week from now."
"A week later?"
The faces of everyone in the room grew solemn at this news.
There was no other way to interpret it—Iwagakure's attitude throughout these negotiations had been frustratingly evasive. Either they should refuse the ceasefire outright and continue fighting, or finalize the matter directly.
Instead, after twenty days of negotiations over four rounds, even after agreeing to the ceasefire, they had pushed the signing ceremony to a week later. Clearly, this left far too much room for complications.
The people in the room couldn't figure out why Iwagakure was acting this way. However, Seii (Aokami) could make an educated guess: the opposition within Iwagakure itself was likely too strong, forcing Onoki to compromise.
To be fair, while Onoki held supre authority in Iwagakure and commanded great respect, matters involving the interests of multiple factions required careful balancing.
However, Konoha couldn't allow indefinite delays.
Thus, the extra ten days leading to this week were likely the result of a compromise between Onoki, his village's opposition, and Konoha.
...And perhaps even Konoha's own radicals played a part.
In Seii's mories of his past life, Danzo was notably opposed to ending this war. Near the war's conclusion, he had even led the Root mbers disguised as shinobi from other villages to stir up chaos in the Land of Rain, already a powder keg.
Notably, the first leader of the Akatsuki, Yahiko, lost his life to Danzo's sches.
Wait a mont—
Seii suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity.
If Danzo planned to collaborate with Hanzo of the Salamander to target the Akatsuki, Danzo would definitely appear in the Land of Rain.
By keeping an eye on Agakure's movents and linking them to the Akatsuki's activities, Seii reasoned he should be able to locate Danzo.
With his current strength, resolving this issue seed manageable.
At this thought, Seii's heart began to race, but he forced himself to calm down and analyze the potential risks.
After a long contemplation, he decided to abandon the idea.
It wasn't because he feared Hanzo or Nagato's strength.
True, Hanzo at this stage still carried the charisma of a warlord and wasn't as paranoid as he would later beco. Still, his strength was within a predictable range, and Seii was confident he could escape unscathed even if defeated.
As for Nagato—
At this point in ti, he was still under Yahiko's "protection" and had yet to fully develop the powers of the Rinnegan. Thus, Seii wasn't overly concerned.
So why give up the opportunity?
The reason was simple: the conflict between the Akatsuki and Agakure drew too much attention. Both Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu were silently watching.
At this stage, Seii wasn't ready to expose his anomalies to either of them.
For now, he could only abandon this opportunity.
"Such a pity..."
Sighing inwardly, Seii pulled his thoughts back to the one-week buffer period Sanada Nobuhisa had ntioned.
Undoubtedly, this week was a window Onoki left for Iwagakure's radical factions to act.
During this ti, these radicals were certain to stir up trouble.
If Konoha managed to handle the challenges they posed, the opposition within Iwagakure would naturally subside, allowing the peace treaty to proceed as planned.
However, if Konoha displayed any weakness or was forced to reveal vulnerabilities, then Onoki would almost certainly overturn the previous negotiation results.
In that case, the peace treaty wouldn't be signed as expected.
At the very least, Iwagakure would demand a greater share of benefits.
Thus, the coming week would be critical, requiring Konoha to remain vigilant.
This didn't just apply to the Land of Rain battlefield against Iwagakure but also to Konoha itself.
The radicals in Iwagakure wouldn't hesitate to use Kirigakure to add pressure on Konoha.
After all, they had done the sa before.
What wasn't clear was whether Kirigakure would go along with this tactic again.
Over the past two weeks, Kirigakure's full-scale offensives had inflicted heavy losses on Konoha, but they themselves had suffered greatly too.
Under these circumstances, Seii wasn't sure whether Kirigakure had the resolve to continue the war.
Thus, he could only wait and see.
As Seii deliberated, Sanada Nobuhisa's voice interrupted his thoughts. "In the coming days, I need everyone to remain on high alert and ensure no openings are left for the enemy to exploit."
It was clear that what Seii had considered was already on the village leadership's radar.
Indeed, the latest orders reflected this understanding.
The group exchanged glances and nodded in agreent.
Soon, the eting concluded.
Leaving the eting room, Seii didn't linger. Finding an open area, he imdiately used Wind Release: Wings of Wind to ascend into the sky and flew beyond the base.
Out of sight, he created several shadow clones to carry out tasks for him, then moved far from the battlefield to a secluded spot and began his daily training.
Five days later, around noon.
In a remote forest, far from human activity, Seii stopped using Mystical Palm Technique to strengthen his body. Glancing at his surrounding shadow clones, he dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique with a thought.
Poof, poof, poof!
Chakra smoke burst into clouds as all the clones vanished, returning their training experience and mories to Seii.
Closing his eyes, Seii carefully absorbed the knowledge and experience, converting it into skill proficiency.
Minutes passed in silence.
About fifteen minutes later, he opened his eyes, a spark of clarity flashing in them.
After a mont's thought, Seii ford hand seals. In the blink of an eye, he perford a jutsu—Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
Ignoring the rapidly rising earthen wall, Seii focused intently on the seamless sensation of executing the jutsu.
Indeed, it was the hallmark of mastering a technique to perfection.
With a thought, he opened his skill proficiency panel.
Just as he expected, after more than a week of practice, his Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall had advanced from Lv6 (7700/10000) to Lv7 (0/0), reaching its perfect state.
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