Uchiha's personal opinion

The Tokugawa shogunate ninjas had no objection to this. On the contrary, they felt that as members of the shogunate, they had a noble status and would not do anything so despicable as to exploit the common people. In addition, their treatment was already generous, so they naturally wouldn't care about these trivial matters.

"Lord Deguang truly lives up to his noble lineage; he is so generous and magnanimous in his dealings with others..."

The ninjas, who had just arrived and hadn't even settled in yet, were stunned by the huge pancake they received, and naturally, they all praised Uchiha Tokumitsu.

"All the ninjas who volunteered to fight are loyal and brave men of Konoha. Sakumo-kun and I have seen your dedication and sacrifice!"

At the military meeting, Uchiha Tokumitsu said, "So please rest assured, everyone, the Military Command and the Shogunate Headquarters will absolutely not treat you unfairly!"

"I pledge my loyalty to Lord Deguang!"

The veteran lackey, Kaguya Ninja, was the first to jump out and shout.

"I pledge my loyalty to Lord Deguang!"

Whether it came from the heart, from the crowd, or from a temporary measure of being obliged by those who had paid them, it didn't matter. All the ninjas attending the military meeting shouted this pledge of loyalty.

This is enough.

"Who said Kaguya is brainless and reckless? She's clearly a woman of inner beauty and wisdom..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu was satisfied with this, and in his heart, he also gave Kaguya, the very sensible ninja, another point.

Winning people's hearts is a delicate task that requires a step-by-step approach.

Unlike the Naruto lineage's habitual lofty ideal of "emphasizing dedication and not personal gain," Uchiha Tokumitsu was more accustomed to using benefits as bait to lure others to his side.

In addition, the ninjas generally had the mentality of "not worrying about scarcity but worrying about inequality," so they used artificial means and certain concessions to widen the gap in income between the ninjas who were transferred to the Tokugawa Shogunate to fight and those who stayed in the Sarutobi Shogunate. This also served to sow discord between the two sides.

After all, the ninjas who were successfully provoked by Uchiha Himon and voluntarily transferred to the Tokugawa Shogunate to participate in the war had relatively limited loyalty to the Hokage lineage.

"The village's ninjas are quite good; my opinion of them has changed."

After the military meeting, a smug Uchiha Tokumitsu spoke to Hatake Sakumo.

"The main reason is that Deguang-jun's concessions are enough to win people's hearts."

Sakumo Hatake commented.

"I've never liked eating alone; let's all make money together!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu laughed heartily, “After making the pie bigger, although the share may not be large, everyone’s interests can still be satisfied, so they will naturally be happy.”

From then on, nearly two thousand ninjas under the Sarutobi Shogunate switched allegiance, and the Iwagakure Expeditionary Force that landed on the Land of Lightning's mainland also completed its defense zone control. Nearly one-third of the Land of Lightning's territory, plus all the vassal states, fell into decline. The ninja armies of the two major ninja villages occupying the southern part of the Land of Lightning numbered as many as ten thousand, which was close to the total number of ninja armies currently existing in Kumogakure.

The envoys sent by Kumogakure to negotiate peace arrived just as the various ninja clans had finished dividing up their territories.

……

"Lord Tsuchikage! Are we really going to kneel down and grovel before Konoha to beg for peace...?"

As they traveled along the official road of the Land of Lightning, the Cloud Village delegation witnessed the devastation in the southern part of the Land of Lightning after the defeat. One of the delegation members, with red eyes, asked the delegation leader a question.

"Don't you even have the courage to admit defeat?"

Although Tu Tai was also feeling bad, he kept a straight face and didn't show any extra emotions: "If we've been defeated, then we should continue to build up our military strength for the day we can take revenge. At this point, what's the use of what you're saying?"

"Konoha... How dare they plunder so brazenly..."

The Cloud Village ninja let out a mournful wail.

The earthen platform remained silent.

As a close retainer of the Raikage, he had plotted to seize the secret techniques passed down from various small ninja villages, and bloodshed and slaughter were commonplace for him.

As for the consequences for the weak and the defeated, he had long since grown tired of seeing them in the various small ninja villages.

The only reason I feel bad now is because the defeated side is our own.

This is also a common mentality in the Hidden Cloud Village, which is the so-called "opposing defeat but not war".

"This is war."

Suddenly, someone spoke from the woods by the roadside.

The Cloud Hidden Delegation was startled and immediately switched to a defensive formation.

"Don't be nervous... Lord Deguang sent me to meet you."

A ripple spread through the air in the woods, revealing a group of nine people.

There were three black-haired, three red-haired, and three ninjas with different appearances.

Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Hozuki, Kaguya, and Minazuki from Kirigakure...

The visitors were all ninjas from powerful clans under the Tokugawa Shogunate; that's quite a high rank.

Tu Tai also had some expectations for the prospects of this trip.

But what concerned him most were the three Uzumaki ninjas who were maintaining hand seals.

It's highly likely that their barrier blocked the delegation's senses...

The fact that an elite ninja force could deceive a powerful figure like him shows that their role on the battlefield goes far beyond that; it also shows that sending someone here to receive them was not just to welcome the delegation, but also to establish authority!

Tsuchida quickly understood Uchiha Tokumitsu's intention, but his face remained expressionless.

"Thank you for your trouble, General Deguang. Please lead the way."

Tu Tai responded in a deep voice.

If it weren't for the dire situation, with Kumogakure truly powerless to withstand the siege of the three great ninja villages, Tsuchida would have even planned to organize a group to abduct a few living Uzumaki ninjas to take back and study them properly.

If the Hidden Cloud Village also possessed the secrets of the Uzumaki sealing technique, coupled with the fighting power of the Uchiha clan... then it would be an easy task for the Hidden Cloud Village to dominate the ninja world!

"The Uchiha clan and the Konoha Hokage lineage have a long history of conflict. The Grand Elder's scheme to sow discord during this peace negotiation may prove surprisingly effective..."

As Tu Tai thought of this, his heart warmed, and a sense of ownership arose within him, a feeling of selfless dedication to Yun Yin, regardless of personal gain or loss.

Chapter 235 Each with their own ulterior motives

Uchiha Tokumitsu did not receive the Cloud Village delegation immediately. Instead, he arranged accommodations for them and had them surrounded by men, leaving them to their own devices for several days.

Since we are the victorious side, there's no need to rush into any peace talks.

Furthermore, some time needs to be allowed for the newly assigned ninja clans to scavenge the land.

Otherwise, if the Cloud Village really agreed to Uchiha Tokumitsu's exorbitant demands, he would feel embarrassed to go back on his word.

It wasn't until the fifth day after the Cloud Village delegation arrived at the Shogunate's temporary base that Uchiha Tokumitsu invited Hatake Sakumo, Uchiha Himon, Salamander Hanzo, and Iwagakure's dispatch army commander, Kyoto, to prepare for a meeting with the Cloud Village delegation.

It was just a "talk," not a formal peace negotiation.

In other words, what is said in the talks is not binding and does not constitute a legally binding agreement.

"The Cloud Hidden Barbarians have always been utterly untrustworthy, so we don't need to be too polite to them."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said to Iwagakure Commander Huangtu, who had come from afar, "Maximizing our interests is the goal we should pursue."

"It's just a pity that we couldn't completely destroy Yunyin..."

Huang Tu felt it was a great pity.

However, he was well aware that although it was currently a three-way siege of Kumogakure, the three ninja villages each had their own ulterior motives and were hoping that the other would deplete Kumogakure's strength, so there was no way to launch a truly coordinated attack.

However, with the power of just one village, there is no way to shake the foundation of Kumogakure.

"The one village, one country system is, after all, an order established by Lord Hashirama, and the foundation of peace. Although we, as his successors, are not entirely satisfied with this system, we cannot actively try to undermine it..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said hypocritically.

On the surface, Huang Tu would nod and agree, but inwardly he was already complaining non-stop.

Throughout the entire ninja world, who doesn't know that you, Uchiha Tokumitsu, are arrogant and domineering, not taking your own village's Kage seriously? The shogunate system has brought chaos to the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. As a member of the Uchiha clan, you still pretentiously mention Senju Hashirama. Don't you have any shame?

However, Huang Tu thought about it again and realized that this might be the reason why Uchiha Tokumitsu was able to succeed. So he put aside his prejudices and took the initiative to carefully analyze the intentions behind Uchiha Tokumitsu's every move.

"The contents of the meeting are invalid, so if Iwagakure has any requests, please feel free to raise them."

Uchiha Tokumitsu secretly urged.

"Iwagakure doesn't ask for much; its only goal is peace in the ninja world..."

While answering, Huang Tu pondered Uchiha Tokumitsu's intentions, "But the current situation in the Land of Lightning was still won by Lord Tokumitsu's forces, so Iwagakure should still follow your wishes..."

This guy isn't easy to fool!

Such a thought popped into Uchiha Tokumitsu's mind.

"Several vassal states of the Land of Lightning have affected the balance of the ninja world, and the vassal relationship must be severed."

Sakumo Hatake interjected.

"That's exactly right."

Uchiha Tokumitsu nodded repeatedly.

The two sang in perfect harmony, their voices perfectly synchronized.

"...How should the affiliation of vassal states be determined?"

Huang Tu took the initiative to ask.

This concerns the interests of both Iwagakure and the Land of Earth, so we have to take the initiative.

Perhaps the daimyo of the Land of Earth wouldn't be willing to sacrifice the tacit understanding between the daimyo and nobles of various countries to gain these trivial benefits, but Iwagakure doesn't care. At worst, they can just follow the example of the Tokuko Shogunate and directly divide the land for control.

"The northern part of the Frost Country can be assigned to Iwagakure, while the southern part will be jointly administered by Mr. Himon's Northwest Shogunate and Iwagakure. The specific allocation will be discussed again in three years."

Sakumo Hatake said.

The implication is that other small countries have no place in Iwagakure.

Although Huang Tu was not satisfied, considering that the southward ninja army of Kumogakure relied entirely on Uchiha Tokumitsu to defeat them, and that Iwagakure, despite sending a large number of troops, had never encountered a major battle, it was not easy for them to bargain.

"Mr. Shuo Mao is right..."

With a simple, honest smile, Huang Tu nodded repeatedly to Hatake Sakumo, then turned to Uchiha Hidetoshi and said, "I hope General Hidetoshi will continue to support the rule of the Land of Frost in the future."

Uchiha Himon nodded calmly.

"So, does Iwagakure have any other requests?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu continued the conversation by asking a question.

"...Considering that Kumogakure is the source of war in the ninja world, I suggest that we occupy the southern region of the Land of Lightning according to our current occupied areas, and then exchange territories after Kumogakure abandons the militant faction's expansionist ideology."