Chapter 195: 195
The conditions listed on the paper were these: the Uchiha and Hyuga clan members whose bloodlines had taken root in the Sand Village would remain there permanently, with all ties to the Leaf Village formally severed.
Konoha would officially acknowledge the status and bloodline of these Uchiha and Hyuga members as Sand Village citizens. Furthermore, the Leaf Village was required to provide the Sand Village with certain necessary ninjutsu scrolls and materials.
Hiruzen had initially braced himself for something far more outrageous. But after reading through the contents, he could only let out a quiet sigh.
The Sand Village’s peace conditions were numerous, though most fell within a range that was at least negotiable, with the exception of the first two, which presented genuine difficulty. One was the matter of ninjutsu resources. The other was the bloodline limit issue.
After finishing, Hiruzen passed the paper to the others present for them to read as well.
Yuji watched Hiruzen’s reaction carefully throughout.
He understood very well that if he made excessive demands, the people of Konoha would choose to continue fighting rather than accept humiliation. That was simply how Konoha operated.
However, this kind of opportunity to extract concessions from Konoha was not something he intended to let slip away. He had been waiting for exactly this moment. Therefore, the conditions he had written down were calculated to sit just within the range Konoha could realistically accept, painful enough to sting but not so extreme as to be rejected outright.
Hiruzen was visibly startled when he saw the line about the Hyuga clan’s continued existence in the Sand Village.
The Hyuga member who had been captured and brought down into the river had been from the branch family. With the Caged Bird Seal confining branch members like fish in a bowl, the Sand Village should not have been able to obtain a functioning Byakugan under any normal circumstances.
In fact, regardless of whether they were Uchiha or Hyuga members, even as prisoners, after realizing how difficult survival would be, they almost always found ways to destroy their own eyes or take their own lives before anyone could extract their abilities. One should never underestimate the awareness and resolve of members of these two great clans.
Now it appeared that the Uchiha clan head Fugaku himself had been fighting on the battlefield partly driven by revenge for his captured clansmen. And based on the Fourth Kazekage’s established status as the foremost medical ninja alive, conducting Sharingan research and transplantation work was certainly within his capabilities.
But no one had imagined the Uchiha bloodline would actually begin flourishing within the Sand Village.
"Controlled," Hyuga Hizashi said instinctively, looking up at the smiling, narrowed-eyed Kazekage.
They were already aware of the Fourth Kazekage’s reported capabilities. Judging from the way the two clan members had been taken without successful resistance, his observational and perceptual abilities were extraordinarily powerful, capable of producing effects that could counteract even the Sharingan and Byakugan.
"How about it? My conditions are reasonable, are they not?"
Yuji exchanged a look with Hiruzen.
"Are they still alive?" the old man asked directly.
"Of course. If I am making this condition, they are certainly still alive. Since I captured Kimu and the others, your Leaf Village has attempted many methods to investigate and gather intelligence related to them. Danzo in particular has been quite active in this regard. But unfortunately, certain small measures I took prevented those efforts from yielding anything useful."
He said it quietly and with complete calm.
The descendants of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans had already been born in the Sand Village. This fact would not remain secret indefinitely, nor was there any particular need to hide it. His so-called measures had simply involved disguising Kimu and the others and erasing their previous identifiable information and records.
While the Sand Village was being rebuilt, Danzo had remained restless, sending spies disguised as people offering technical skills in order to infiltrate the Sand Village through recruitment from small countries and villages. But preparations had already been made for exactly this. All three spies had eventually been caught.
"The Uchiha and Hyuga matter is settled as far as the Sand Village is concerned. War has its price. You play, you pay."
He continued.
"In truth, there is no particular need to even negotiate this with you. It is simply that Konoha appears sincere in wanting to reach an arrangement with us, so we are giving you this opportunity. Furthermore, considering the continuation of bloodlines and the matter of legal identity, as Kazekage I naturally want to handle these things properly for the sake of the village’s future generations. This way you cannot raise the issue again later."
Hiruzen said nothing.
"Regarding ninjutsu resources, Konoha has certainly made preparations and has most likely already heard the details of our arrangements with the Hidden Stone and Hidden Mist Villages. Both of them have already provided our Sand Village with substantial materials through those dealings."
"We have no shortage of ordinary jutsu information. But for Konoha specifically, ordinary fire release techniques or a handful of standard ninjutsu hold no interest for us."
He extended one finger.
"What we want is forbidden jutsu. Sealing techniques, healing ninjutsu, or certain techniques developed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama."
Upon hearing this, Hiruzen’s pupils narrowed sharply.
"Impossible," he said with unmistakable firmness.
"Is that truly too much to ask?"
Yuji scratched his head with a self-deprecating smile, as though genuinely reconsidering.
"It is not that much, actually."
A second later his tone shifted entirely. He looked directly into Hiruzen’s eyes with steady calm.
"You call this peace negotiations. But your actual purpose in coming here is to replicate our Sand Village’s medicine, is it not?"
The moment those words were spoken, Hiruzen’s expression changed instantly. It was as though every thought he had been carefully concealing had been read through completely.
"There is no need to be surprised. I had already anticipated this. If any village in the ninja world were to be the first to successfully replicate our medicine, my guess would be that it would most likely be you, Konoha."
He smirked.
He had made this particular demand because he was already fully aware of the situation in the Land of Fire and Konoha. Their trade in medicine with the Sand Village would not escalate to the simple exchange of resources the way the Hidden Stone and Hidden Mist Villages had done.
Konoha needed medicinal resources partly to overcome the immediate crisis they were facing. But another reason, the deeper one, was to obtain a large volume of medicinal samples for targeted research into their components. Because medicinal resources had proven so extraordinarily valuable on the battlefield, Konoha could not afford to remain dependent on a single external source indefinitely.
Even without sufficient energy, time, or manpower to devote to it, they would find a way. Under no circumstances could they allow the Sand Village to maintain a stranglehold, letting the monopoly on pharmaceutical resources be used to manipulate every other village at will.
It had to be said that the people of Konoha were quite intelligent. From the events of this Great Ninja War, they had already grasped the underlying logic of how the Sand Village had managed to turn its position at the bottom of the rankings into the strongest strategic footing of all five villages.
Upon receiving Konoha’s letter initially, he had immediately analyzed the true intentions behind the senior officials’ decision to reach out.
Although drug analysis and reverse engineering were genuinely difficult, so difficult that even Tsunade had not been able to accomplish it immediately, as long as Konoha obtained a sufficiently large quantity of finished products, they could experiment continuously.
With Tsunade’s abilities and Konoha’s existing technical foundation, eventually replicating the core components was absolutely achievable.
Hiruzen was momentarily speechless.
These few simple sentences seemed to suddenly remind him once again of who was standing before him. This was the strategist who had caused Konoha so much difficulty from the very opening of the Great Ninja War.
"Very well. I will not ask for anything else. I want only two techniques. One is the Flying Thunder God Technique. The other is the Impure World Reincarnation."
He used a tactic of retreating in order to advance, having long anticipated that Hiruzen would not yield easily on the first demand.
"Just two forbidden techniques. If you are unwilling to even discuss these, then the Leaf Village truly lacks sincerity."
He continued.
"You should understand that selling the Leaf Village a large quantity of finished medicinal products means that the Sand Village will be accepting losses in its most advantageous industry and bearing considerable risks in the process. In a certain sense, what we stand to lose from this arrangement is even greater than what you stand to lose."
He said this with complete seriousness, even though inwardly he understood that once the war ended, the Sand Village’s pharmaceutical monopoly profits would almost certainly be eroded regardless.
Konoha would most likely produce counterfeit versions in the near future. But none of this stopped him from using it as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Third Hokage.
"Impossible," Hiruzen said, closing his eyes. His tone was completely unwavering.
"Then just the Impure World Reincarnation. That one alone."
Yuji’s tone was equally firm.
"Otherwise, there is nothing further to discuss regarding the ceasefire."
The Impure World Reincarnation was also available through the system. But it required an exorbitant number of experience points to acquire. Compared to spending that, obtaining it here for free through negotiation was considerably more appealing.
This technique, in Yuji’s assessment, carried a value that could not be underestimated or replaced by anything else available to him.
...
Stones 💎
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