I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

Genma Shiranui

Ye Lan wasn't particularly familiar with him; they'd only eaten together twice. He knew the other was one of the more capable special Jonin of Konoha, but the way he always had a toothpick in his mouth was a bit annoying.

Ye Lan was not surprised and wandered aimlessly through the streets of Konoha, like a country boy entering a big city, glancing at everything.

Honestly, why is this guy running around instead of staying in his room? Doesn't he know this is someone else's village?

Genma thought helplessly. Since Ye Lan wouldn't stay at the inn, he could only follow him secretly. After all, the other party was a Jonin, and it would be troublesome if a conflict broke out in Konoha.

What annoyed Genma even more was the way that Amegakure ninja named Arashiha wore his headband—just casually hanging it around his waist—which brought back some unpleasant memories for him.

Ye Lan devoured the takoyaki he had bought. As expected, Konoha was far more abundant in terms of food. Although Ye Lan was not a person who enjoyed food, he had been missing it for a while since he had eaten it.

"Would you like to try the Three-Colored Dumplings, bro? They're very famous in Konoha."

Ye Lan wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings when a slightly familiar voice reached his ears, followed by a pat on the shoulder like an old friend.

Ye Lan pushed the other person's hand away and turned around to see that it was Hong Dou, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.

Ye Lan's appearance has changed drastically. He looks to be only in his early twenties, so it's normal for Hong Dou to call him "little brother".

"You're not from Konoha, are you? I would definitely remember this face if it appeared in the village, but why do I feel like I know it so well..."

Hongdou thought it was someone suspicious and wanted to go up and test them, but she started to think after seeing the other person.

Ye Lan's face showed impatience. "Are all the ninjas of Konoha this rude?"

Lan Ye doesn't know Hong Dou, and Ye Lan still remembers her persona and won't give Hong Dou a friendly look.

Just as Hongdou was about to lash out again, Genma finally couldn't help but run out and whisper a few words in Hongdou's ear.

Upon hearing this, Hongdou lowered her guard, realized she was in the wrong, and turned to leave.

Unexpectedly, even with the concealment of immortal magic, the opponent still noticed it, and it seems that Hongdou's strength has improved even further.

Ye Lan breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected to run into Hong Dou as soon as he came out. Fortunately, he managed to get rid of her. If she had recognized him, it wouldn't have been a big deal if a fight broke out, but it would have definitely exposed Ye Lan's relationship with Yu Yin.

Ye Lan lost interest in wandering around and went straight back to the inn.

The next day, led by Yamashiro Aoba, they entered Konoha's office building.

The newly built office building looks much larger than the old one, but most of it is made of wood with very little cement.

Ye Lan had already guessed that Wood Release could be used in this way. He had left early and did not know that Tianzang could use Wood Release in house construction.

"Everyone has worked hard. I hope you had a good rest yesterday?"

This is a reception room. Tsunade spoke as soon as Ye Lan and the others entered the room.

On the other side of the night, besides Tsunade, there were the two advisors, as well as Shikaku, Hiashi, and Hayama, a total of six people who formed the new leadership of the Hokage.

Ye Lan looked at the other party's personnel with some curiosity. He didn't know that Tsunade had appointed three temporary advisors, and now it seemed that the other party's lineup was quite unusual. Perhaps they took the matter of the car more seriously than they thought.

"You're too kind, Hokage. We had a good rest yesterday."

Xiu took a deep breath and said, then sat down with Ye Lan in one of the only two seats available. Liang and Ziyanghua, however, did not receive the same treatment and, as Chunin, could only stand behind them.

"We are also familiar with your village's products, but we have some questions. Could you please explain them to us?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Shikaku spoke first.

"please say."

Xiu listened to Ye Lan's advice and tried to keep his words concise so as not to arouse suspicion.

“We know that cars are popular among the nobility, but that’s not our goal. We want to ask if you have made any larger vehicles that can carry more cargo.”

Ye Lan glanced at Lu Jiu, surprised that the other party had thought of this aspect from the car. You know, what is war all about? Money. But with money, supplies must keep up.

If we follow Shikaku's suggestion and build some supply vehicles, troop transport vehicles, etc., it will greatly improve the efficiency of combat.

"Weren't we talking about how to build a car manufacturing plant? Why are you asking this?"

Xiu remembered Ye Lan's instructions: when he didn't know how to answer, he would ask a question to steer the conversation to something else.

He genuinely had no idea what Rainbow's research and development department was currently studying, and if he went along with the conversation, he would definitely give himself away.

"No, these flashy but impractical things are not of much use to the village. We hope to develop new products, just like I just said."

Shikaku stared intently at Xiu. The clever man had already discerned that the other party lacked confidence, and no matter how the negotiations progressed, he had to seize the upper hand now.

"Hmph, it seems your village has no intention of cooperating!"

Before Xiu could answer, Ye Lan interrupted, knowing that if Xiu didn't speak up, the other party would seize the opportunity to attack him.

Before Shikaku could post, Yelan continued, "We came all this way because we saw Konoha's sincerity, and now that we're here, you're saying you're going to do something else? Are you trying to make a fool of us?"

Ye Lan's words were harsh, causing the others to frown, while only Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

Chapter 166 Negotiation (Part Two)

"When did Amegakure become so arrogant? Is that old man Hanzo still alive?"

Faced with Ye Lan's questioning, Koharu Utatane retorted directly, believing that even if the two sides cooperated, Konoha would still hold the dominant position.

"It seems that Konoha has no intention of cooperating. I apologize for disturbing you, Hokage."

Although Xiu couldn't understand Ye Lan's meaning, he went along with Ye Lan's attitude and directly refused.

"Calm down, everyone. Xiu is our guest. This is the kind of attitude you have when someone comes to the village to cooperate with us."

Tsunade first reprimanded her subordinates, then turned to Xiu with a smile and said.

"It seems everyone is not in good condition today. Xiu, go back to the inn to rest for a while. We'll talk another day."

Xiu initially made some excuses, saying he wanted to return to Amegakure, but Hiashi acted as a peacemaker, so Xiu took the opportunity to stay for a few more days.

After Ye Lan and the others left, Tsunade's smile instantly vanished.

"This is really difficult. Amegakure's attitude doesn't seem too good. And why did you even think of developing this aspect? Is it really necessary to do something like this?"

Tsunade didn't actually want to come. If no one had mentioned it, she wouldn't have known that such a thing had suddenly become popular among the nobles. In her opinion, a car was just a toy.

"Lord Hokage, don't underestimate this kind of thing. Just like I said, if an efficient means of transportation were to appear, it would definitely change the course of the war. Although the Amegakure people haven't used it yet, I feel it's not that simple. In particular, another Amegakure ninja is someone I'm very concerned about."

Shikaku stroked his beard as he spoke.

"Tsunade, do you know that both Orochimaru's invasion and Uchiha Yelan's defection have caused huge losses and cost a lot of money? Konoha's finances are in dire straits now. The opportunity to make money is right in front of us. We must seize it!"

It was Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu who suggested seeking cooperation with Amegakure. They simply saw Amegakure's ability to amass wealth and couldn't wait to jointly ask Tsunade to send a cooperation invitation to Amegakure.

Tsunade had no hope that Amegakure would reply, but she couldn't refuse the advisors, so she tentatively wrote a letter. To her surprise, Amegakure actually sent someone.

"I didn't expect the Amegakure people to come. Hanzo is even older than me. Could it be that they've already found a successor?"

Mitokado sighed.

Since the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure has never been active in the shinobi world again, and Hanzo, who was known as a demigod of the shinobi world, has also become deserted. It is unclear what the meaning is of their renewed cooperation with Konoha.

Tsunade rubbed her temples. She had once sent Kakashi to Amegakure to gather intelligence, but he was discovered by them. Everyone knew that Amegakure had something wrong, but no one had any concrete proof.

Something always feels off, but you can't quite put your finger on it. This vague, confused feeling is the most annoying thing.

"Lu Jiu, after we met once today, I'll leave the rest to you. I still have a lot of things to take care of, so let me know when you have more results."

She simply stopped thinking about things she couldn't understand. Amegakure couldn't compare to other major powers no matter what, and Tsunade was already being generous by meeting her once.

She had hoped that with Tsunade's help, they could reach an agreement in one go, but now it seems to have turned into a protracted battle, and she doesn't have time to waste on this.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

In fact, Shikaku wanted Tsunade to investigate the people of Amegakure, but since he felt that they hadn't done anything wrong in Konoha, he kept the idea to himself.

-

Ye Lan and the others remained silent the whole way until they returned to the inn, at which point their expressions relaxed.

Xiu was about to speak when Ye Lan raised her hand to stop him.

He first closed his eyes to sense if there was anything unusual in the inn, and only spoke after confirming that there was nothing amiss.

"That's all, go ahead and say it."

Xiu took a breath and said, "My performance just now was alright, right, Yoru... Junin-nin Arashiha?"

Xiu was so nervous that he almost blurted out Ye Lan's real name.

"It's so-so, but the other side probably didn't notice anything. But it's also my fault; I didn't expect them to have other motives."

Ye Lan had not expected Konoha to have such an idea. Regarding the production of vehicles, he was more concerned about how to install chakra cannons on them.

Xiu didn't know how to answer for a moment, and he didn't blame anyone else.

"If they make such a request again, we can say that the details of large cargo transportation are classified information by Rain Village, and this price is not worth it at present."

Unlike cars, which are barely usable on city roads, these things would definitely make you feel nauseous in the wild. Even the best shock absorbers wouldn't help. There are many more factors to consider when transporting goods in the wild. Adapting to different environments is a challenge in itself.

"Are we capable of doing this now?"

Liang asked with some curiosity, she had seen cars before, but she had never heard of large transport trucks.

"No, I'll go back and talk to the R&D department. We can develop in this direction."

Ye Lan spoke frankly, and he also learned from this lesson that even if Xiu was just a person in the public eye, he still needed to know some inside information, otherwise it would be easy for him to be exposed if he didn't know anything.

"Ahem, so how should I make my request?"

Xiu gave Liang a look, stopping her from asking any more questions. He hadn't expected that something he didn't even know would be used as a bargaining chip. He wondered what the people of Konoha would think if they found out.

"At the very least, we need to reduce the amount of medicines and supplies we import from Konoha by 50%. It would be even better if we could give a few exchange student slots. Also, we need to give 30% of the profits from the factory's output."

"Isn't that a bit too much?"

Xiu was shocked by Ye Lan's outrageous demands.

"The sheer number of people who came today shows that they have a huge demand for this kind of thing. If I'm not mistaken, Konoha is probably short of money right now."

People like them are not worth almost all of Konoha's high-ranking officials getting involved, which shows that Konoha really wants to achieve this cooperation.

"Don't feel pressured. Try to meet the requirements as much as possible, even if they are a little lower."

Ye Lan comforted him, saying that since it was practically a free lunch, he had no psychological burden at all, and in the end, Yu Yin would definitely be the one to profit.

Afterwards, Ye Lan and Xiu finalized some details, and before they knew it, it was dark.

Gurgle—