Uchiha's personal opinion

The Konoha Jonin responded expressionlessly, "The second most powerful person in the police department naturally has the right to carry out arrest operations in the village."

The Hidden Mist ninja of the Snow Clan were speechless.

"He's the one who murdered Master Yuan..."

"And White Fang, both of them are criminals who murdered Master Yuan..."

Whispers began to circulate among the members of the Mist Concealment delegation.

"Such power is truly a model for our ninja clan..."

The Yuki clan ninja, who had been filled with indignation, immediately changed his expression and tone from indignation to longing upon learning Uchiha Tokumitsu's identity.

"Let's get out of here! Don't embarrass yourselves!"

Hozuki Masahiko sighed, feeling utterly powerless. "Chino-kun, you only look like a woman, so why is your personality so fickle..."

"Your words are incredibly discriminatory against women!"

Chino, a ninja from the Yuki clan, was enraged.

A group of Hidden Mist ninja, led by a Jonin from Konoha, headed towards the Hokage Building.

Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't take this incident too seriously.

The Hokage Building has been quite quiet lately. Even when the Nara Clan's medicine warehouse, a staunch ally, was seized by the police department and forced to sell at a low price, no intervention was taken. Furthermore, Uchiha Tokumitsu was engrossed in researching his Mangekyou Sharingan, so he had not paid attention to diplomatic developments.

However, it's not a big problem. It shouldn't be long before Hatake Sakumo, who has found out the news, comes over to share the information with him.

As expected, in the evening, just after Uchiha Tokumitsu had finished dinner with his family, Hatake Sakumo excitedly came to visit.

"Sakumo-kun, you look much better these days~"

Uchiha Tokumitsu received Hatake Sakumo in his living room.

"The Jonin team has mostly dealt with the backlog of tasks, and nothing particularly noteworthy has happened recently, so we've had a lot of free time..."

Sakumo Hatake explained, then got to the purpose of his visit, "Tokumitsu-kun, the Kirigakure delegation has arrived in the village. Are you aware of this?"

"I know, I even ran into him this afternoon..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu felt that he was practically an expert on Sakumo, having even calculated the timing and purpose of Hatake Sakumo's visit in advance.

He also briefly described the scene when he encountered the Mist-Hidden Envoy.

"The Hidden Mist Village has two purposes for visiting, one of which is to redeem the ninja swords that have fallen into our hands." Sakumo Hatake didn't bother to beat around the bush any longer and directly revealed the Hidden Mist Village's intentions.

During a reconnaissance mission in the Land of Whirlpools, the mobile force led by Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo encountered the Kirigakure ninja army led by Kirigakure's Yagura Karatachi and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, who attempted to ambush them. However, Uchiha Tokumitsu had anticipated this and secretly summoned the Tokumitsu Red Guard of the Uchiha clan, who swiftly defeated the approaching Kirigakure forces, leaving them half-paralyzed.

Even two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist perished, their swords falling into the hands of Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo.

According to the allocation between the two at the time, Uchiha Tokumitsu received the Exploding Blade: Flying Spray, and Hatake Sakumo received the Long Sword: Stitching Needle.

However, according to the agreement made between the two sides at the time of the ceasefire and Yagura Karatachi, both Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo agreed to let Kirigakure redeem the ninja swords.

Now, the Hidden Mist has arrived.

“Returning them is no problem, but since the two ninja swords are our spoils of war, if the conditions offered by Kirigakure are satisfactory, it's not impossible to return them to Kirigakure…”

Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't seem to care. "By the way, what price is Kirigakure planning to pay?"

"Besides that, there's another..."

Before Hatake Sakumo could finish speaking, Emiko gently knocked on the sliding door to the living room and came in to say something.

"Tokumitsu-kun, the Ashina clan chief of the Uzumaki family has come to see you."

"Okay, please come in... never mind, I'll go out and greet him!"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Tokumitsu got up to go out and greet them, and Hatake Sakumo also got up to accompany him.

"By the way, what's another reason Kirigakure came here?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu recalled what Hatake Sakumo had said before he was interrupted.

"Alright, since the vortex clan chief is here, let him talk to you..."

Sakumo Hatake said with some distress.

"Sakumo-kun, how come you've become a riddle teller too?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu rolled his eyes at Hatake Sakumo.

"Chief Ashina, welcome!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu led Uzumaki Ashina into the living room, and the three of them sat down again.

“Tokumitsu-kun, I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, but I do have something to discuss with you, so I have no choice…” Ashina Uzumaki said apologetically.

"Chief Ashina, you're too kind..."

After exchanging pleasantries, the two returned to the main topic.

"The delegation from the Hidden Mist Sect has arrived today. I wonder if Lord Deguang is aware of this..."

Ashina Uzumaki sighed and said to Tokumitsu Uchiha.

“Sakumo-kun just mentioned this to me. Apparently, one of his demands is the return of the spoils we seized from Kirigakure…”

Uchiha Tokumitsu replied.

"There is another requirement..."

Ashina Uzumaki's face was tense as he solemnly declared, "Kigakure demands that the border be redrawn using the Land of Whirlpools as the boundary!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu was taken aback upon hearing this, then couldn't help but chuckle.

"This request... I thought Kirigakure had won the war..."

Both Sakumo Hatake and Ashina Uzumaki had serious expressions on their faces.

"Is that really the case? What is Sarutobi's attitude?"

Seeing the serious expressions on their faces, Uchiha Tokumitsu frowned as well. "That old monkey wouldn't be so stupid as to actually agree to Kirigakure's conditions, would he?"

"According to sources, after Kirigakure presented their conditions during the meeting, the Hokage's attitude was rather ambiguous..."

Sakumo Hatake lowered his head slightly and answered softly.

The so-called ambiguity means that there was no direct refusal.

That leaves room for speculation.

Is there any room for negotiation in this matter?!

Uchiha Tokumitsu clicked his tongue and mentally gave Shinobu a thumbs up. "Clan Chief Ashina, has the old monkey already mentioned this to you? What was his attitude?"

However, the Land of Whirlpools was once an ally of Konoha. Even disregarding the millennia-long friendship between the Uzumaki and Senju clans, the Uzumaki clan sent valuable sealing techniques after Konoha was founded. They also helped Konoha defend its eastern coastal region in the past. Now that their ally has declined and is no longer able to rely on others, they are using their former ally's old territory as a bargaining chip. How can this not be infuriating?

"No one has mentioned this to me directly, but since even I have received this kind of information, it's clear that..."

Before Ashina Uzumaki could finish speaking, he shook his head and smiled bitterly.

After the death of their ancestor, Mito Uzumaki, the Uzumaki clan chose to align themselves with the Uchiha clan, and their relationship with the Hokage's faction became distant. They also lacked connections among the Konoha leadership. The fact that Ashina Uzumaki, who was focused on guarding his clan and teaching the younger generation, was able to obtain the content of the Hokage's discussion with the Hidden Mist envoy suggests that someone deliberately leaked the information to test the Uzumaki clan's reaction.

Although the Uzumaki clan, which had suffered heavy losses, abandoned their roots in the Land of Whirlpools and joined Konoha.

Although at this time, the Land of Whirlpools was already a worthless ruin.

Although the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans were very close, their relationship with the Hokage's faction was not very good.

However, this does not mean that Konoha can use the Uzumaki clan's ancestral home as a bargaining chip to exchange with other ninja villages without even a word.

Especially since it is Kirigakure, which has a blood feud with the Uzumaki clan.

Uchiha Tokumitsu frowned even more deeply.

"There is absolutely no possibility of compromise on this matter!" Uchiha Tokumitsu's tone turned cold.

"Sakumo-kun, what's your opinion? Don't forget, the Land of Whirlpools is where the Mobile Force sheds blood and tears!"

"Perhaps... the Hokage is just stalling for time... after all, the Sand Village and Cloud Village have been making moves lately, and the pressure on the border is immense..." Sakumo Hatake sighed, "But... there is absolutely no room for us to cede the Land of Whirlpools' territory to anyone else!"

Sakumo Hatake was also extremely angry.

Perhaps it was difficult to refuse outright at the moment, or perhaps it was indeed a delaying tactic, but the Land of Whirlpools was, after all, an enemy he had fought against, and now it was being used as a bargaining chip, with the aggrieved party even finding out about it...

Ashina Uzumaki's heart was also filled with mixed feelings.

Although the Uzumaki clan, weakened by a major blow, has no chance of returning to the Land of Whirlpools, the Land of Whirlpools, the Whirlpool Village, and that sea breeze and mountains are still the ancestral land that the surviving Uzumaki clan members yearn for. Even knowing that this generation has no chance of restoring the country, it is still a place of longing and remembrance, and a spiritual anchor for the Uzumaki clan.

"The Land of Whirlpools is the territory of the Whirlpool Clan; this is an indisputable fact."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said to Uzumaki Ashina, "First of all, no matter what factors the village is considering, the Uchiha clan will always be the Uzumaki clan's strong backing and will definitely support the Uzumaki clan's legitimate demands."

"Thank you for the support of the Uchiha..." Ashina Uzumaki's eyes also welled up with tears as he bowed his head. "We all know that there is no possibility of returning to our ancestral land to restore our country, but we do not want our old land to fall into the hands of others, especially the enemies of the Uzumaki... Otherwise, even if we return to the Pure Land, we will have no face to face our deceased ancestors."

Uchiha Tokumitsu quickly helped Uzumaki Ashina up and offered her words of comfort.

"Sakumo-kun, if Kirigakure wants to redeem the ninja sword, they will definitely need to ask for our opinion. We hope you will lend us a hand at that time."

Uchiha Tokumitsu turned to Hatake Sakumo and said.

"That's exactly why I'm visiting!"

Sakumo Hatake readily agreed.

"However, leaving the Land of Whirlpools idle and abandoned is not a solution. Why not move the garrison of the eastern border defense forces to the Land of Whirlpools..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu thought for a moment and then made another suggestion, "What does Chief Ashina think?"

It is a common practice for Konoha's various border armies to station their main camps in neighboring small countries. The purpose is to expand their sphere of influence and power, so that even if a war breaks out, it can be fought within the territory of the small country, thus minimizing the impact on the Land of Fire's homeland.

However, in the past, the Eastern Coastal Region was protected by the Land of Whirlpools, and the Eastern Border Defense Force was notoriously weak, so the Eastern Border Army was always stationed within the Land of Fire.

"Absolutely no objection!"

Ashina was overjoyed.

If this is feasible, it would be a pleasant surprise for Ashina Uzumaki and the entire Uzumaki clan.

Even if there is no possibility of restoring the kingdom, if the border troops are moved to the Whirlpool Kingdom, then the Whirlpool people can occasionally return to their ancestral land to worship.

"What do you think, Sakumo-kun?"

"This is feasible, but the current strength of the eastern border defense forces is insufficient to simultaneously transfer the main force to the Land of Whirlpools while maintaining operations along the coast..."

Sakumo Hatake thought it was feasible, but also pointed out the existing difficulties.