"Another tireso day…" Shikaku sighed as he let out a yawn. His wife looked at him and chuckled, "Your work won't decrease just because you sigh and complain. In fact, it always has the opposite impact."
Shikaku tiredly replied, "It's all that brat's fault. Until Lord Jiraiya brings back Lady Tsunade, I'll have to suffer irrespective of how much I sigh…"
His laziness soured his wife's mood and she imdiately scolded, "You should show more enthusiasm. Your laziness has been influencing Shikamaru. He is already showing signs of the sa laziness as you and complains about everything!"
Shikaku knew very well that anything he said would only make his wife more upset. As such, he just listened to her nagging before falling onto his bed. Within monts, he fell asleep. While he always complained, he had really been working a lot as he was handling the Hokage's duties along with his duties at the sa ti!
Unfortunately, rely a minute after he fell asleep, his eyes opened up as their bell rang. Shikaku imdiately beca serious and got up. He quickly moved to the door while thinking, 'To contact at this hour, did sothing happen? However, what can be so important? Our armies are back in our territories and the negotiation team shouldn't have reached yet.'
Shikaku's mind imdiately analyzed a few dozen scenarios before opening the door. An Anbu ninja handed him a scroll and reported, "We just received an extrely important ssage from Suzuki Fujin. He added a small note to hand the scroll to you directly and imdiately."
Shikaku accepted the scroll and said, "Alright, I'll look into it."
The Anbu ninja flickered away while Shikaku entered his house again. He opened the scroll and laid his eyes on the contents inside. As soon as he did, his eyes twitched as he wondered, 'Did he have to use this cipher or did he do it just to increase my workload? The cipher team can't decode this ssage. I'll have to do it all by myself… Sigh, I hope this ssage is actually important and solves so of my troubles instead of increasing them.'
Though unwilling, Shikaku spent half an hour decoding the ssage before reading the entire scroll. His eyes widened as he thought, 'This… Shit! I told him to decrease my workload, not increase it! Why did he order the death of over 200 Kumogakure ninjas? And what does he an by doing it silently? It may not have been obvious the last ti, but it is very obvious this ti.
Besides, just because they couldn't react the last ti doesn't an that we can keep poking them. At so point, they'll explode in our faces even if it hurts them! I'll have to now calculate how they'll react and if we need to prepare for any attacks from them as well!'
Shikaku wanted to cry. He had just pawned off the work of negotiations on the Elders and hoped to have a few easy days at last. If Tsunade returned to the village in those days, he'd be free again. Unfortunately, Fujin denied him that luxury by needlessly antagonizing Kumogakure again! Even if Tsunade returned, Shikaku would have to pay attention to Kumogakure's movents.
——
Unlike Shikaku, who had a sleepless night, Fujin slept soundly. By the ti he woke up, Konoha's negotiation team had already arrived in the camp. Fujin freshened up before walking into the main tent, where the elders, clan leaders and the leaders of the army had already gathered.
Fujin yawned and muttered, "You guys are up awfully early."
Fujin's comnt earned an irritated look from the ones present. The negotiation team had arrived even before the Sun rose. They wanted to discuss so matters before heading to the Fire Capital. However, Fujin instructed his guards to not disturb him unless an enemy attacked.
While the Elders and the clan leaders were very respected, their charisma fell quite short of Fujin at the mont, especially among the ninjas Fujin led to two quick victories. The fact that Orochimaru ran away without even facing Fujin improved his image in their hearts even more. Considering that Orochimaru was one of the Sannins, many rated him even above them! As such, no one was allowed to disturb him.
Koharu comnted snarkily, "Not all of us can afford to sleep as long as we want."
Fujin took his seat and lazily replied, "Maybe if you chase the snake around for a week, perhaps you might be forced to."
Fujin's comnt left Koharu speechless instantly. She didn't think Fujin would retort in this manner. Homura's left eye twitched as he thought, 'His tongue has gotten even sharper… Sigh, I hope Shikaku talked so sense into this boy. Otherwise, it is very likely that he'll start a war between the two villages single-handedly.'
Hiromasa smirked and thought, 'As sharp as ever. Still, this isn't the first ti he retorted this sharply to the Elders. Does he have so animosity towards them? It can't be just because they sided with Danzo. After all, he has a decent relationship with Homura…'
Inoichi and Tsu watched the interaction with amusent as well while Hoka, Konomi and Illumi were shocked. None of them expected Fujin to talk back to one of the elders in such a manner. After all, Koharu's comnt, though uncalled for, wasn't particularly harsh considering that Fujin made them wait for over 3 hours.
Fujin ignored everyone's reactions and asked, "Anyway, why did you call here? Sunagakure's negotiation team should be at least 3 days away, assuming they dispatched them by now."
Homura answered, "That is true, but we need to prepare so that we are on the sa page during the negotiations."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah, Shikaku-san inford . Let's go with the sa tactic we used against Kusa…"
Homura coughed loudly to interrupt Fujin. He imdiately said, "No, we can't treat Sunagakure as Kusagakure. The two villages are very different. So are the issues we are negotiating."
Koharu added, "Kusagakure is just a minor village that specializes in diplomacy. Sunagakure, even though weakened, is still a great village. Thoug…"
Fujin cut her off and said, "Their Kage is dead, their Jinchuriki is unstable and still a kid and their only rank S ninja is even older than you two. The only two factors that differentiate them are their larger forces and a formidable terrain, both of which could be dealt with in several ways. So, there isn't much of a need to treat them differently.
While the situation is indeed different, it is even more favorable for us. They're the ones who attacked us and lost embarrassingly. It gives us so many more avenues of applying pressure on them."
An awkward silence appeared in the room. Renjiro's eyes twitched as he thought, 'I had this feeling yesterday. There is no doubt about it! He wants to carry out a few strikes on Sunagakure as well!'
At the sa ti, Hoka thought, 'Even though they were the ones who attacked us, I can't help but feel bad for them now. Poor fellows. I guess this is karma.'
Konomi, who had seen how Fujin operated first-hand, wondered, 'Does he plan on disarming Sunagakure's traps and eliminating their ambush squads one by one like how we did in the Land of Rice? A couple of weeks ago, I would have dismissed that idea as crazy. However, after what I have seen...'
Of course, the ones on the council wouldn't agree to Fujin's words. Hiromasa finally intervened, "Fujin, while your statents are logical, you're missing one aspect. That is pride.
Kusagakure is a minor village that specializes in diplomacy. Compromising isn't humiliating for them. However, Sunagakure has the pride of a great village. If we humiliate them too much, they'll refuse and go to war even at the risk of annihilation.
Even though we are in good shape right now, an all-out war against a great village is not sothing Konoha can afford to do. Anything short of a decisive victory like you had against Otogakure will be an open invitation for Kumogakure and Iwagakure to attack us. In fact, we believe they may already be in talks. So, let's calm down and discuss."
A smile appeared on his face as he added, "Besides, even though our approach should be cordial, our demands will be very strict. So, relax and let's continue the discussion."
Since Fujin had good relations with the Senju clan, Fujin didn't reply aggressively. Besides, while his ideas were good, Fujin didn't particularly care whether Konoha went to war with Sunagakure or not. He just wanted to ss with the two Elders since Hiruzen was out of commission and couldn't be bothered.
Fujin replied, "Alright."
With Hiromasa playing the diator, the tensions cald down and the group finally started discussing their negotiation strategy.
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