Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 234: Initial arrogance followed by obsequiousness is laughable.
Upon hearing this news, Uchiha Touko smiled, indicating that either A or Killer Bee had awakened.

"Does your country need to send two groups of envoys to discuss the same matter?" Uchiha Touko looked at the arrogant envoy from the Land of Lightning in the hall with a half-smile.

“That does fit our stereotype of your country being fickle.” At this moment, Kazuo Miura also offered his support.

All the civil officials in the hall laughed, and the hall was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Even Yuan Yuxie, sitting on the throne, couldn't help but laugh.

The previously arrogant envoy from the Land of Lightning turned red and white in an instant.

After laughing for a while, Uchiha Touko finally spoke up: "Let's invite these envoys in as well, and see what brilliant ideas they have to offer."

Soon, the second batch of envoys from the Land of Lightning entered the main hall. If the first batch of Ni Ge's state was like that of a West Coast native who was high on drugs and didn't know his own name, which Uchiha Touko had seen in his previous life, then the expression on the face of this second batch of Ni Ge was exactly the same as when he was holding onto a police car.

When the second delegation from the Land of Lightning entered the main hall, they were startled by the appearance of the first delegation.

Did they say something they shouldn't have? Did they already submit that document?

They were sent after Ai woke up and the Daimyo learned what had happened at the front. To save time, they were led by ninjas and rushed to the border. Then, without even taking a breath, they headed straight for Konoha. But despite their haste, they were still a step too late.

"Greetings, Lord Daimyo of the Land of Fire, greetings, Minister of State," the later envoys bowed respectfully to Minamoto no Mikihisa and Uchiha Touko before forcing a question, "Regarding the ceasefire agreement between our two countries, I wonder how far the negotiations have progressed?"

“Oh, this…” Uchiha Touko raised an eyebrow. “You’ve come at the right time. Our Daimyo is just about to chop down these fools to consecrate his flag and then declare war on you. You can take their heads and our declaration of war back with you later.”

"Please calm down, Your Highness and Minister of State," the second group of envoys said, breaking out in a cold sweat upon hearing Uchiha Touko's words. "They are not envoys from our Land of Lightning, but rather a few traitors who are trying to sow discord between our two countries."

"Cameron! What are you talking about!" The leader of the first group of envoys who entered was furious after being labeled a traitor.

But at that moment, Cameron came to the other person's side and whispered a few words in his ear.

The next instant, the previously defiant envoy from the Land of Lightning collapsed, his face filled with terror.

He never expected that their Land of Lightning would suffer such a crushing defeat on the front lines!

If the war situation on the front lines is as the ministers of the Land of Lightning have predicted, with both Kumogakure and Konoha suffering heavy losses, then their mission to put pressure on the Land of Fire—whether the Land of Fire backs down and signs the treaty, or becomes enraged and directly starts a war against the Land of Lightning, even going so far as to cut them down as a sacrifice—will allow them to be recorded as heroes in the annals of the Land of Lightning.

However, the current situation on the battlefield is that the Land of Lightning has suffered heavy losses and its strength has been severely damaged. Before the Land of Lightning recovers its strength, it has no chance of winning against the well-equipped Konoha.

If Konoha is angered by their actions and goes to war with the Land of Lightning, then they will be the sinners of the entire Land of Lightning!

For these civil officials, death was not frightening; what was frightening was being condemned as sinners of the entire country for eternity after death!

"Uh, this...that...Your Highness, Grand Minister of State, it was just a little joke we were making, please don't take it seriously..." Under the pressure of being infamous for eternity, they began to speak recklessly.

"Hehe, why are you so deferential at first and then so obsequious? It's laughable!" Miura Kazuo laughed loudly at this moment. The hall was filled with shrill laughter, but at this moment, they could only endure it. The second batch of envoys could only awkwardly smile.

"To be honest, I still prefer your arrogant self from earlier. Can you come back to your old self?" Uchiha Touko said with a smile after the laughter subsided.

"Grand Minister is joking... Please forgive my previous rudeness..." The man speaking had fine beads of sweat on his dark bald head, and under the sunlight streaming in through the window, he looked just like a freshly boiled egg.

This scene improved Uchiha Tokō's mood considerably after he had just cleaned up the mess caused by his disobedient disciples. However, Uchiha Tokō did not intend to let these people off the hook.

Uchiha Touko narrowed his eyes and looked at the second group of envoys who had entered. He asked slowly, "Envoy from the Land of Lightning, if I remember correctly, who did you say these people were?"

As soon as Uchiha Touko finished speaking, the legs of the first group of envoys who had arrived trembled like leaves.

Upon hearing Uchiha Touko's words, the later envoys also showed a hint of reluctance. However, they were now at the mercy of others and had no choice but to abandon the other side in order to gain a chance to catch their breath.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the Grand Minister of State, they are all traitors who intend to undermine the unity between our two countries," the later envoy said through gritted teeth after a moment's hesitation.

Upon hearing this, the first group of envoys collapsed to the ground. They knew that, for the sake of their country's future, they had been abandoned.

"So they're traitors," Uchiha Touko said meaningfully. "I knew the higher-ups in the Land of Lightning wouldn't be so brainless. But since they're traitors trying to sow discord between our two countries, why don't we, the Land of Fire, handle them for you?" "Your Excellency, there's no need for you to take action. In this time of friendly negotiations between our two countries, let's avoid bloodshed. How about we, the Land of Lightning, deal with these people? Rest assured, we will definitely give an explanation for their offenses against you and His Highness the Daimyo."

"Friendly negotiation?" Uchiha Touko's expression changed. "But I don't think there's any room for friendly negotiation between our two countries on this matter!"

"During this joint Chunin Exams, Konoha received your visit with the highest honors. I humbly believe that Konoha has done nothing to offend Kumogakure. Yet, your Raikage kidnapped the grandson of our Third Hokage before leaving. Your Raikage's blatant provocation shows a complete disregard for the feelings between our two nations. This behavior is not only a provocation against Konoha, but also a complete humiliation of Konoha's Will of Fire! Do you think there is any friendship left between our two countries?"

"Teacher, stop wasting your breath on them! If you ask me, just chop them all down as a sacrifice to the flag, then send those prisoners to grow cotton, and declare war on the Land of Lightning!" At this moment, Gen Yuxie spoke up from his throne.

Uchiha Touko turned around and glared at the kid. Gen Yuxie shrugged and stuck out his tongue.

However, although this kid was causing trouble, he inadvertently put a lot of pressure on the other party.

"Grand Minister, please reconsider. It is indeed a grave mistake made by our Raikage in a moment of impulsiveness. Our Land of Lightning is willing to make compensation for this."

"Compensation? You'll use 300 million worth of mining waste as compensation?" Uchiha Touko said with a sneer.

"Regarding this matter, perhaps Your Excellency, the Grand Minister of State, should review our official documents from the Land of Lightning before making a decision." Cameron, the envoy from the Land of Lightning, was sweating profusely and hurriedly took out a document from his robes, respectfully handing it to Uchiha Touko.

After taking the document, Uchiha Touko glanced at it and thought, "Hmm, this document does seem much more sincere."

Firstly, in terms of official matters, the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning acknowledged that the military conflict was caused by the irrational behavior of Raikage A, and promised in the document that A would be punished.

Then there's the compensation. Compared to the previous compensation of using 3 million ryo of mining waste to offset a debt of 10 billion ryo, which treated Uchiha Toko as a fool, this time the Land of Lightning offered 400 billion ryo, to be repaid in cash over ten years.

Furthermore, regarding those prisoners, the Land of Lightning offered ransoms of 5000 million ryo for Jonin, 3000 million ryo for Special Jonin, 1000 million ryo for Chunin, and 500 million ryo for Genin, totaling approximately 260 billion ryo, which will be paid in ten years along with the indemnity.

Seeing Uchiha Touko looking at the treaty, Cameron tentatively asked, "What does Minister of State think of this price? Our Land of Lightning is absolutely here to negotiate with your country with the utmost sincerity."

“The amount of compensation is as stated, but I will only give you three years to pay it off,” Uchiha Tokō said. “In addition, the ransom for the prisoners must be increased by 30%, and installment payments will not be accepted. We will release the prisoners only when you have paid off the ransom. Furthermore, you will be responsible for all expenses incurred by the prisoners during their imprisonment.”

"This... Your Excellency, this is a bit too much. Our Land of Lightning's finances simply cannot afford to come up with so much money all at once," Cameron said with a wry smile. If what Uchiha Touko said was true, if they wanted to take all these prisoners back, they would have to pay nearly 500 billion ryo in cash in the first year, but their Land of Lightning's annual fiscal revenue was only a little over 1000 billion ryo.

"This is your own business," Uchiha Touko said with a sneer. Pay it off in 10 years? What a joke! Who knows what the Land of Lightning will be like in 10 years? Besides, if we don't put some economic pressure on them, given the nature of those barbarians in the Land of Lightning, they'll probably go back and start a war to develop their military and try to avenge their defeat. Uchiha Touko certainly won't give them that chance.

Under this enormous financial pressure, the Land of Lightning and the Hidden Cloud Village had only two choices: either reduce military spending to pay off Konoha's debts first, or further exploit the civilians to restore their strength.

In this way, no matter what choice they make, Konoha will be the only beneficiary. The former goes without saying, but if the Land of Lightning chooses the latter path, then when Konoha's heavenly soldiers enter the Land of Lightning, they will be the liberators.

Regarding the possibility of the Land of Lightning uniting its people amidst internal and external troubles, Uchiha Touko stated that this was possible before rap culture became popular in the Land of Lightning. Now, the black and white people in the Land of Lightning are practically fighting tooth and nail, especially after the defeat caused by the actions of the black leaders in the Land of Lightning. The white people in the Land of Lightning, who were already extremely dissatisfied with black rule, will definitely take action.

"Furthermore, it's not just Konoha that has suffered losses in this military conflict. The war you instigated on the border of the Land of Hot Water has also deeply hurt the feelings of the people of the Land of Hot Water. As an ally of the Land of Hot Water, I feel that the Land of Fire has an obligation to seek justice for them," said Uchiha Touko.

"I wonder what Your Excellency, the Grand Minister of State, thinks we should do to compensate the Land of Hot Springs for its losses?" Cameron said with a sigh. The situation was now very clear: Konoha was asking for an exorbitant price, and he would have to go back and consult the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning before he could negotiate a lower price. The conditions that Uchiha Touko had just given were already beyond his authority to agree to. Therefore, he decided to listen to Uchiha Touko's conditions before making a decision.

“I remember that during the Second Shinobi World War, your country forcibly occupied nearly 10,000 square kilometers of land in the Land of Hot Springs, including their northern port. I think you should just return this land to its rightful owner,” said Uchiha Touko.

"This... I'm afraid our daimyo will find it difficult to agree." Cameron's face showed a troubled expression after hearing Uchiha Touko's words.

Territory is secondary. This port, located at the border of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Hot Water, is extremely important to the Land of Lightning. Although the Land of Lightning has a large coastline on its eastern coast, there are only a few areas suitable for use as ports, and most of them are located at a latitude that is far north. In winter, the entire port would freeze over. The port that Uchiha Touko mentioned, which they seized during the Second Shinobi World War, is the only ice-free port in their territory.

"Since that's the case, it seems your Land of Lightning isn't very sincere," Uchiha Touko sneered. "Or do you think the Land of Lightning considers the losses of a small country like the Land of Hot Springs insignificant? Well, let me tell you, the Land of Hot Springs is now a loyal ally of Konoha, and their affairs are Konoha's affairs! Furthermore, as a responsible major power in the ninja world, the Land of Fire has a responsibility to stop your Land of Lightning's hegemonic behavior!"

"You're right!"

"The Grand Minister is absolutely right!"

After Uchiha Touko finished speaking, the civil officials in the hall raised their voices in praise.

(End of this chapter)