Hyūga Hiashi heard the Fourth Raikage's words and said with a grim face, "We will naturally investigate this matter thoroughly."
What he said could indeed be easily verified.
It had to be verified.
If there really was a traitor, then their Hyūga family was in danger.
It would prove the high command was dissatisfied with their Hyūga Clan.
This kind of thing was all too common in the ninja world, but it was usually reserved for dealing with ninja traitors or those who had committed grave crimes. He was confident his Hyūga Clan had done nothing to let down the Leaf Village.
At this time, Fugaku, his face silent, already believed the Fourth Raikage's words.
'To think the high command really made a move against our Uchiha Clan, and using the hands of an outside clan at that.'
'Ryōsuke once captured Sarutobi Asuma, the son of the Third Hokage. This must be the Third Hokage's revenge. Why else would they specify killing Ryōsuke?'
'Fortunately, we had Ryōsuke this time. Otherwise, our Uchiha Clan might really have suffered enormous losses.'
'While we were fighting an outside clan, they were actually thinking of such a despicable plot. Now I understand why the village leadership was unwilling to send reinforcements. They just wanted to send our two clans to be eaten like steamed buns.'
'Those detestable Konoha high command!'
Uchiha Ryōsuke wasn't particularly surprised.
Although this had never happened in the original story, his appearance had already interfered with the world's trajectory.
He felt it was highly possible that Konoha's high command was behind it—and if not the Third Hokage, then it was the shadow of the Leaf Village, Danzō.
They had always viewed the Uchiha Clan as an evil clan and wanted to eradicate it.
To them, perhaps the village would be at peace without the Uchiha Clan.
They might even feel that losing to the Cloud Village was not as important as destroying the Uchiha Clan.
'It seems a battle between the Uchiha Clan and the village leadership is inevitable. They've already pushed us this far.'
He said seriously, "Regarding this matter, just as the Hyūga Head said, we will find Mabui to confirm it later."
"But this kind of information is worthless. You're just trying to incite infighting between us and the village leadership, aren't you?"
"Let's talk about the Cloud Village's compensation instead."
Although he was already leaning toward believing it, was he supposed to just kill his way back to the village right now?
There was no concrete evidence, just a letter. The consequences of doing so would be severe.
Ninja were blindly loyal. Killing the Third Hokage and Danzō would inevitably be met with resistance from a batch of these blindly loyal ninja. Although he could kill them with force, it would be very troublesome, and the village would not be at peace.
That was not the kind of Leaf Village Uchiha Ryōsuke wanted.
The Fourth Raikage hadn't expected them to think this way, but what he said was true.
Although, he himself felt it sounded a lot like a divisive plot.
He couldn't help it if others didn't believe him. It seemed a major bleeding was unavoidable this time.
"Say it. What will it take for you to spare my Cloud Village's people?"
Ryōsuke also spoke up at this time.
"The Hyūga Head wants to kill all of you. I think that's very reasonable."
"After all, we are enemies. But I am not willing to cause a large-scale slaughter."
"Now you are all our prisoners. Pay a ransom, and you can be released. After all, we don't want to become mortal enemies with your Cloud Village."
The Fourth Raikage relaxed upon hearing this.
'As long as they spare us, a large price is acceptable.' If they didn't accept, they might be sold to the black market. That was a result they absolutely could not accept, so a large compensation was better.
Seeing the Fourth Raikage had no objection, Ryōsuke continued.
"10 million ryō can ransom one Chūnin. 30 million ryō can ransom one Jōnin."
"As for the Fourth Raikage, plus the two Tailed Beast Jinchūriki, I'll count you all as Jōnin. That's giving you face. Just pay a 30 million ryō ransom."
"Additionally, your Cloud Village should give the Hyūga family an explanation. A compensation of 200 million ryō will do."
The more the Fourth Raikage listened, the darker his face became.
'They're actually pricing me, the Fourth Raikage, and two Tailed Beast Jinchūriki at the ransom of a Jōnin? Are they looking down on our strength?'
'Well, remembering how he attacked me, it's true, in front of him I was no different from a Jōnin. It doesn't matter if they look down on my strength, but this compensation is just too enormous.'
'One Chūnin for 10 million, one Jōnin for 30 million.'
'I brought a lot of people this time, conservatively estimating 400 people. That's a full 6 billion ryō, plus 200 million for the Hyūga family.'
'This is equivalent to 10 years of the Cloud Village's financial expenditure!'
'Even if all the ninja in the village didn't eat or drink, it would still take 10 years to pay this off.'
This was simply an exorbitant price. He said with some resentment, "6.2 billion ryō is far too much! My Cloud Village simply doesn't have that much money to pay."
Then he said through gritted teeth, "A flat price of 1.2 billion, paid off over 6 years. This naturally includes the compensation for the Hyūga family. We really can't produce any more than that."
Hyūga Hiashi was a bit surprised to hear 1.2 billion ryō.
'That's a huge sum of money. Even if we take three-tenths, that's at least 400 million ryō.'
'That's enough money for the Hyūga family's development for decades. And that's with providing generous benefits to the clansmen.'
He was very tempted by this number, but it wasn't the number Ryōsuke wanted. He could only suppress his joy and say with a look of disdain, "A mere 1.2 billion ryō to send us away? Do we look like people who are short 1.2 billion ryō?"
"Ryōsuke, let's just kill them."
The Fourth Raikage was furious. 'A mere 1.2 billion?! How dare you Hyūga say that!'
'That's enough money to support the entire Cloud Village for two years!'
'This is equivalent to all the ninja in the Cloud Village working for these two clans for free for two years!'
And they were still not satisfied.
How could he not feel aggrieved? But he didn't dare taunt this guy right now.
From his earlier behavior, it was clear the Hyūga Clan detested their Cloud Village ninja and even wanted to kill them all.
The Cloud Village was in the wrong first, but their murderous intent was too strong.
And what made him lose his composure even more was realizing that the young man who defeated him was Uchiha Ryōsuke.
'The person the letter said to kill. The person who could give them concessions in the peace treaty.'
'Knowing that only two clans were coming, and that Konoha's high command had leaked the information... that was why he had wanted to launch this large-scale war.'
'But I never expected this Ryōsuke to be so terrifying. Those bastards in Konoha's high command misled me!'
'The Cloud Village had just wanted to intimidate them a bit and get more benefits in the peace treaty. We never intended to have a full-scale war; after all, our Cloud Village's situation isn't good either.'
'Konoha's high command gave them false information.'
'It led me to start this mistaken war. It's all Konoha's high command's fault!'