Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode.

Chapter 95 A Abundance of Talented Individuals

The Dark One of Sunagakure still holds considerable prestige within the village. Although she has recently faced criticism for failing to assassinate Mito Uzumaki, resulting in the waste of a high-ranking spy who had infiltrated Konoha for many years, the general public understands her situation given Mito's strength and the protection Konoha provides for her.

At least on the front lines, this Dark One of Sunagakure did a very good job. It was thanks to the various useful intelligence provided by the large number of intelligence personnel under his control that Sunagakure was able to gain the upper hand in battles against Konoha.

With him as guarantor, everyone suddenly felt there was a great chance of redeeming Akasago and Sasara.

"Elder Ebizo, thank you for your trouble. Please make sure that the voices within Amegakure are in favor of Sunagakure."

The Third Kazekage was satisfied with Ebizo's words and said with a smile.

"Yes, Lord Kazekage."

Under Chiyo's watchful gaze, Ebizo readily agreed.

The next topic of discussion was quite simple: how much it would cost to redeem Akasago and Sarashima.

After all, even if Amegakure is inclined to return the person to Sunagakure, Sunagakure would still need to spend a lot of real money. At least the price they offer cannot be much less than that of Konoha and Iwagakure, otherwise Amegakure would not release the person so easily.

At this point, the opposition, which had remained silent, began to exert its strength.

Redeeming Akasago and Sasara is politically correct, and they don't oppose it, but now that their fundamental interests are involved, they can't sit idly by.

They were well aware of the immense value of Akasago and Sagara, and in order to redeem them, Sunagakure would inevitably have to pay a huge price, which would undoubtedly have to be shared by all of them.

Spending your own money just to save the son and daughter-in-law of your political enemy is a terrible deal no matter how you look at it.

They must recoup their losses from other sources; that's their bottom line.

After a long and heated wrangling, as dawn approached, the supporters and opponents, after a complex exchange of interests, finally reached a relatively satisfactory result.

That is, in this ransom, the supporters and the opponents paid in a 73 ratio.

The meeting concluded, and the high-ranking members of Sunagakure departed.

On the way back, Chiyo, who was already exhausted, couldn't help but ask her younger brother Ebizo, "Zou, how confident are you in saving Akasago and Sunashira?"

"Sister, don't worry. As long as our ransom is no less than that of Konoha, and no other unexpected events occur, there is still a good chance."

Ebizo wasn't really sure, but to be considerate of his sister's feelings, he tried to say the best possible thing.

"Hmph, stop spouting nonsense to comfort me. I'm already mentally prepared. Damn Amegakure, damn Hattori Masanari."

Chiyo instantly saw through Ebizo's trick. She lowered her head and spoke with deep hatred.

Ebizo remained silent.

How can we blame Amegakure or Hattori Masanari for what happened tonight? It was Sunagakure who provoked them, and they were outmatched and ended up getting taught a lesson. The fact that no one died is a testament to their mercy. No matter how you look at it, Sunagakure has no right to complain.

But this world is not a place for reason.

If your fist is big enough, then there will be a reason.

Ultimately, it's just a matter of the strong preying on the weak.

This time, it's because the Sand Village's fists aren't big enough, which is why they're in the wrong.

Over the years, he has hidden in the shadows and has long seen how hopeless this world is.

But what can he do even if he sees it clearly? He has no power to change anything and can only go with the flow.

"When will this world finally have some peace and quiet again, Hashirama Senju? You died far too soon."

Ebizo looked up at the faint crescent moon visible in the hazy sky and couldn't help but miss the innocent and somewhat adorable ninja god.

If only there were more powerful idiots like Hashirama Senju in this world.

. . .

In Konoha, in the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage was smoking, staring blankly at the newly brightening sky outside.

He stayed up all night again last night because of a message sent back by his troublesome disciple Jiraiya, which forced him to urgently summon three Hokage advisors for a high-level meeting.

The outcome of the discussion both pleased and troubled him.

The reason for their joy was that once they successfully traded Akasuna and Sunagakure, two elite puppeteers from Sunagakure, with Hattori Masanari, Konoha would gain access to a great deal of information about Sunagakure and the secrets of its puppeteers. This would greatly help in the war between Konoha and Sunagakure.

The reason for their worry is that Konoha is bound to be ripped off by Amegakure, and a huge financial loss is foreseeable. This will undoubtedly make matters worse for Konoha, which is already not very wealthy.

"I didn't expect that Amegakure ninja named Hattori Masanari to be even more powerful than I thought. If it's really as Jiraiya said, Amegakure is likely to rise to prominence this time. With him and Hanzo joining forces, other ninja villages will have to think twice before trying to take over the Land of Rain."

The three generations sighed.

The rise of the Land of Rain was not what he wanted, but judging from the current situation, it seemed impossible to suppress it. So he might as well go with the flow and use this prisoner trade to give Hattori Masanari strong support, so that a force close to Konoha could emerge within the Rain Village.

In his judgment, as long as Hattori Masashige is within the Land of Rain, he is invincible unless he is a Kage-level powerhouse.

But Kage-level powerhouses are extremely rare. Konoha currently has only about five, and his three disciples combined make up one and a half.

Other ninja villages have only slightly fewer ninja than Konoha.

The number and quality of Konoha Jonin are also greater and better than those of other ninja villages.

Logically speaking, with so many Kage-level powerhouses and outstanding Jonin, Konoha should not have suffered a defeat against Sunagakure on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, there are too many ninja villages in the ninja world that are hostile to Konoha, all of which covet the land of the rich and resource-rich Land of Fire. The number of Kage-level ninjas and Jonin is simply not enough. Konoha cannot send all its forces to the battlefield and must allocate a portion of its forces to be constantly vigilant against the major powers in the ninja world.

Not to mention the distant Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Mist Village, the Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village, which are right in front of us, have always been eyeing Konoha with covetous intent.

If it weren't for the fact that Sunagakure and Iwagakure also had many conflicts, and that the Land of Earth had formed an almost irreconcilable feud due to the Land of Wind's encroachment on part of the Land of Wind's territory, making it virtually impossible for them to join forces, Konoha would have been unable to withstand the combined might of these two ninja villages.

"As expected, we still need new Konoha sprouts. Once the next generation of Konoha sprouts grows up, Sunagakure won't be as arrogant as it is now."

The Third Hokage pondered and pondered, but still couldn't come up with any useful way to break Konoha's current predicament of being surrounded by enemies on all sides. He could only place his hopes on the next generation of Konoha's young buds who would inherit the Will of Fire.

Thinking of the tender shoots of Konoha, many young faces immediately came to mind for the Third Hokage, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

The quality of this new generation of leaf buds is quite good.

Leaving aside Kirito, who is already confirmed to be a Kage-level powerhouse, Nawaki, Chizuru, Karen, and Minato Namikaze, a young Konoha scion, also have promising futures and a high probability of becoming Kage-level powerhouses in their own right.

Konoha remains as full of talented individuals as ever.

"My main responsibility now is to stabilize the current situation in Konoha, keep the enemy out of Konoha, and buy more time for new Konoha sprouts to grow."

The Third Generation looked at the rising sun in the sky, exhaled a long puff of smoke, and thought to himself.

Suddenly, his sense of responsibility surged again, and he continued to work with great enthusiasm to deal with the mountain of documents on his desk.

It's tough for a new author to get ahead, so I hope all my fellow readers will visit often to increase the readership. After you finish reading, I hope you'll vote for this book and invest in it. If you could give me some monthly tickets and rewards, I would be extremely grateful. It's so hard for a new author and a new book.

(End of this chapter)