Chapter 172: Busy
The next day, news of the peace talks between Iwagakure and Konoha began to spread throughout the ninja world.
This was because previously, both sides had conducted negotiations secretly, without making them public.
The ninja army Iwagakure had assembled to pressure Konoha, in the eyes of spies from other countries, was seen as a sign that the battle between Iwagakure and Konoha was about to escalate.
And Konoha's preparations to reinforce Kikyo Castle were also perceived by other countries as a response to Iwagakure's large-scale offensive.
Therefore, although the peace talks between the two sides encountered many difficulties in reaching a unified outcome, they did not suffer external interference. Until the treaty was signed, the other major powers were still kept in the dark.
Now that the news had spread, the leaders of various factions suddenly felt like they had thrown out their backs.
"What? Iwagakure and Konoha had peace talks? And the talks have already concluded? Iwagakure has already withdrawn its troops?" In the Sunagakure encampment, cries of astonishment erupted from a group of high-ranking officials.
Sunagakure could be said to be the biggest victim of the peace talks between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, because the pressure they faced would now increase manifold.
Needless to say, Konoha's reinforcements were definitely arriving soon; there was no longer any hope of breaching Kikyo Castle.
"How about we withdraw our troops? Should we also negotiate peace with Konoha?" a high-ranking official quietly proposed.
However, his suggestion was immediately opposed by several people, the reason being that Konoha, having successfully negotiated peace with Iwagakure, would no longer offer Sunagakure too many benefits. Now was not the best time for peace talks.
Then, the Sunagakure high-ranking officials descended into a cacophony of arguments.
Rasa and Chiyo watched quietly. As Sunagakure's two strongest individuals, they had no decision-making power.
Chiyo, burdened by Sasori of the Red Sand's actions, had long since withdrawn from the center of power. She held the title of elder but no real authority. This was different from the original story, where Chiyo, although she also retired later, did so because of old age. At that time, Sunagakure was unaware of Sasori of the Red Sand's deeds.
In this timeline, Chiyo had been implicated by Sasori of the Red Sand twice. Now, Chiyo didn't even have the right to speak in high-level meetings.
Rasa, on the other hand, was too young. His strength had improved too quickly, and the speed of his status elevation couldn't keep up with the speed of his strength improvement. Therefore, Rasa didn't have much say among the higher-ups. In fact, these Sunagakure higher-ups, fearing the emergence of a powerful Kazekage, were even subtly trying to suppress Rasa.
Sunagakure, after arguing for a long time without result, could only passively continue its confrontation with Konoha. Although Chiyo and Rasa wanted to oppose this most foolish approach, they both wisely avoided direct conflict with the higher-ups.
Over in Kumogakure, the Third Raikage directly smashed a desk with a punch. Then, he quickly assembled his forces, preparing to emulate Iwagakure – first beat Konoha soundly, then force Konoha to cede benefits.
Of course, Kumogakure also considered whether to turn around and start a war with Iwagakure to teach Ōnoki, that traitor, a lesson, but ultimately gave up the idea. Because starting a war with Iwagakure would bring no benefits to Kumogakure.
And Iwagakure, having just won a battle, was at the peak of its morale. Starting a war with Iwagakure at this time would inevitably result in heavy losses for Kumogakure.
Only Kirigakure reacted with surprising calmness to this outcome. They neither made moves to expand the scale of the war nor showed any intention of retreating, as if the peace treaty signed between Iwagakure and Konoha had no effect on them.
In fact, it really didn't affect them.
After Konoha got rid of Iwagakure, a major enemy, it would inevitably free up its hands to deal with the other nations, but no matter how one counted, it wouldn't be Kirigakure's turn to worry.
Because confronting Kirigakure were the two great clans not favored by Konoha's higher-ups: the Uchiha and the Hyūga.
When reinforcements were available, Hiruzen Sarutobi would definitely choose to first support his disciple Orochimaru and his good old buddy Danzō. It certainly wouldn't affect the Land of Whirlpools battlefield for some time.
Therefore, the confrontation between Kirigakure and the Uchiha and Hyūga clans still appeared rather lukewarm.
Iwagakure and Konoha suddenly signing a peace treaty caught all factions off guard. Not only were the three nations of Water, Wind, and Lightning astonished, but even other uninformed individuals within the Land of Fire and Land of Earth did not expect it.
For example, Konoha's Danzō Shimura, as well as the Uchiha and Hyūga clans.
The Uchiha and Hyūga were slightly better off. After learning that Hiruzen Sarutobi had signed the peace treaty with Iwagakure only after Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze were defeated, they both just frowned slightly.
Although they were displeased that Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't even consult them on such a major matter, at this stage, letting Konoha win was everyone's common goal.
As long as others didn't achieve monumental merits, it was fine.
From this perspective, Hiruzen Sarutobi using the position of Fourth Hokage as bait to make the Uchiha and Hyūga clans fight to the death was indeed a good move. At least until the contest for the Fourth Hokage position was settled, these two clans would behave themselves.
However, Danzō Shimura's thoughts were completely different. Although he, like the Uchiha and Hyūga, hoped to rise to power through this war, Hiruzen Sarutobi signing a treaty that forfeited power and humiliated the nation was completely contrary to his consistent political stance.
When Danzō heard the news, he even wanted to return to the village immediately to question Hiruzen Sarutobi face to face: why stop the war? Why not send the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki to the front lines?
And what angered Danzō the most was that he, as the village's second-in-command, the esteemed Hokage's Assistant, had absolutely no prior involvement in such a major event as signing a peace agreement.
Even though he was at the front lines, which meant he was temporarily outside the decision-making circle, Hiruzen Sarutobi could have at least sent an Anbu member with a secret letter to inform him. Was it necessary to keep even him in the dark?
The more Danzō Shimura thought about it, the worse it tasted. His mind couldn't help but drift back to the time when Tobirama Senju stayed behind to cover the retreat.
"If I had been a bit faster, a bit more decisive than Hiruzen Sarutobi back then, the current Hokage should be me. If I were Hokage, Konoha wouldn't be in its current state."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, you have disappointed this old man too much. Even if Sensei were still alive, he wouldn't support your current actions."
After indulging in past memories for a moment, Danzō instructed his subordinate, "Hei, make a trip to the Land of Whirlpools. Go see Uchiha No. Tell him I want to form an alliance with the Uchiha clan. I can help his Uchiha clan suppress the Hyūga in the subsequent war, and what his Uchiha No needs to do is to join me in impeaching Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Minato Namikaze."
"Yes, Lord Danzō." From the shadows, a figure wearing an animal mask suddenly appeared. Although this person didn't understand Danzō's actions, they still decisively accepted the task.
Although the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth had signed a peace treaty, the situation in the entire ninja world had not eased. Konoha mobilized all its combat power to support the Kumogakure and Sunagakure battlefronts.
It could be said that after Iwagakure withdrew from the war, the other major powers fought even more fiercely than before.
Only Iwagakure took this opportunity to begin post-war reconstruction and reward meritorious service with great fanfare. As Ishiro had said, at this time, the Land of Earth needed to create an image of being the only country capable of maintaining order in a chaotic world.
This way, major merchants from various countries would definitely choose the Land of Earth first when doing business, and might even transfer their assets to the Land of Earth.
Disregarding these subsequent impacts, just from the peace treaty with Konoha alone, the Land of Earth had obtained enormous benefits from the Land of Fire. Therefore, the Daimyō of the Land of Earth was very generous to Ōnoki this time, allocating a large amount of funds.
For the Land of Earth and Iwagakure, this was the first time they were wealthier after a war than before it.
It was said that when the Daimyō of the Land of Earth received the reparations from the Land of Fire, he repeatedly praised Ishiro, the genius who had proposed the peace talks. When the Daimyō learned that Ishiro was also the ninja who had opened up trade routes, making the Land of Earth much more prosperous than before, he even subtly asked Advisor Mei if Ōnoki had considered letting Ishiro succeed as the Fourth Tsuchikage.
Ishiro knew none of this. He would never have imagined that a suggestion for peace talks would make him the best candidate for the Fourth Tsuchikage in the Daimyō's eyes.
Ishiro was currently leading a thousand ninjas and a large amount of supplies to the Eastern Front encampment. Upon arriving at the Eastern Front encampment, Ishiro immediately buried himself in his own affairs.
Matters such as the village's pensions for the bereaved, rewarding meritorious service, etc., had nothing to do with Ishiro. Ōnoki had already let Ishiro copy the three A-rank and ten B-rank ninjutsu obtained from Konoha. What more reward could Ishiro ask for?
These ninjutsu were considered Ishiro's reward for this war, drawn in advance.
Because Ishiro had been escorting a large amount of supplies previously, it took a total of three days to travel from the Southern Front to the Eastern Front. By the time Ishiro reached the Eastern Front encampment, Kitsuchi had already selected the location for the new camp.
Thus, Ishiro's days became busy again. The arrangement of the sealing barriers for the new camp, the training of his three new disciples, guiding the growth direction of his three older disciples, practicing the newly obtained ninjutsu, researching the Lightning Release stimulation method, developing Fire Release, and developing Wind Release.
The war had just ended, and Ishiro suddenly found himself incredibly busy.
"How did time suddenly become so insufficient? Sigh, I still have to learn S-rank ninjutsu after returning to the village. So many things, when will it ever end? I really want to go out and roam. Before long, the major battles between Konoha and Sunagakure, as well as Kumogakure, will erupt. It would be too much of a pity not to go and take a look."
Ishiro had a bit of a headache. The foundations of his three new disciples were too poor, and they weren't familiar enough with each other, requiring numerous missions to bond. As their teacher, Ishiro couldn't let three newly graduated disciples carry out missions on their own. This took up most of Ishiro's time.
Fortunately, the strength of his three new disciples was too low, and the missions they took were all simple D-rank missions and low-danger C-rank missions. Sometimes, Ishiro only needed to simply follow behind the three of them.
This, however, gave Ishiro ample time for contemplation. Whether it was the development of Fire, Lightning, and Wind Releases, or learning new ninjutsu, Ishiro needed time to think carefully.
And it had to be said, the effect was quite good. After a month, when the new camp construction was completed, Ishiro had managed to learn most of the ninjutsu obtained from Konoha.
Apart from a few Wind Release jutsus that he couldn't learn, Ishiro had completed learning all the other ninjutsu. Although these jutsus couldn't yet be used in actual combat, they greatly enriched Ishiro's ninjutsu foundation. This was very important. As a ninja who wanted to develop Kekkei Genkai and make it his main pursuit, a wealth of knowledge was necessary.
The ninjutsu Iwagakure had listed this time were all ones they greatly desired but couldn't obtain. Most of them were to fill certain gaps in Iwagakure's arsenal.
For example, genjutsu. This time, Iwagakure had listed several A-rank and B-rank genjutsu, but Konoha ultimately only gave two B-rank genjutsu.
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you