"Oh? Still pretending to be young, little slug princess."
The moment Chiyo stepped into the Hokage's Office, her words carried that trademark sting—sharp enough to cut through the formal air.
Tsunade's brow twitched. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Says the old hag who still plays with dolls. I'm surprised you can still walk without a puppet pulling your strings."
The two women locked eyes, and for a brief moment, the entire office felt heavier.
Hiruzen, caught squarely in the middle of the verbal crossfire, took a long, unhurried drag from his pipe, exhaling smoke like a man far too old for this sort of drama.
Chiyo turned her attention to him. "Hiruzen, in this entire shinobi world, it seems only you and that stubborn fossil Ōnoki still refuse to let go of your titles. You two just can't retire, can you?"
The Third Hokage chuckled, completely unfazed. "You may be right, Elder Chiyo. Though, I'm planning to step down soon. I can't say the same for you—I didn't expect the great Chiyo-sama herself would personally lead a team to the Chūnin Exams."
"Hmph." Chiyo folded her arms, the sand-colored sleeves of her robe shifting like dry dunes. "You think I wanted to come? At my age, I'd much rather die in the desert than bow my head in another village. But my useless brother and those spineless councilmen wouldn't stop nagging. So here I am—dragging these old bones along for one last stroll."
"How is Ebizō's health?" Hiruzen asked politely.
"Better than a certain chain-smoking relic," she replied pointedly, taking a seat without waiting for permission. "Now enough small talk. I've brought my team. Can we finally get to business?"
But Hiruzen, in classic form, merely smiled and asked instead about Sunagakure's climate, the state of their crops, and whether her journey had been smooth.
By the third round of evasive politeness, Chiyo's patience had evaporated. Her fingers twitched, as if itching for a puppet's chakra threads.
Then came a knock at the door.
A young man's voice requested permission to enter.
Chiyo's eyes narrowed. So this is the one, she thought. The troublesome brat who keeps meddling in Sunagakure's affairs.
Ebizō had spoken of him before—a sharp, unpredictable mind, one that could slice through politics as easily as a blade through silk. Not as reckless as Danzo, not as transparent as Hiruzen, but somehow more dangerous than either.
And now, Hiruzen had deliberately stalled their conversation until this "kid" arrived. The message was clear: Konoha was grooming this young man to lead its future negotiations.
"Come in," Hiruzen said, his tone calm and deliberate.
The door opened.
A tall young man with composed eyes stepped inside, his posture crisp, his chakra restrained to a perfect calm. He bowed deeply before speaking.
"Third Hokage-sama. Lady Tsunade."
Tsunade forced a polite smile. "Chiyo-sama, this is Jonin Roshi. Roshi, this is Elder Chiyo—advisor of Sunagakure and one of the Hidden Sand's most respected veterans."
Her eyes gleamed with just a hint of mischief. "You'll be escorting Elder Chiyo around the village. Try not to make her regret leaving her desert."
Then, almost as if in afterthought, she added dryly, "Last time you visited Sunagakure, you caused Advisor Ebizō quite the headache. Since this is his sister, you'd better behave yourself."
Roshi inclined his head toward Chiyo. "Elder Chiyo, it's an honor. On both of my visits to Sunagakure, Advisor Ebizō was most accommodating. I look forward to returning the favor."
Chiyo didn't bother hiding her disdain. "Hmph. Tell me, Hiruzen—has Konoha really run out of proper shinobi, or are you just fond of sending children to handle your diplomacy?"
Hiruzen smiled serenely through a puff of smoke. "We old ones must give the younger generation room to grow. Roshi may be young, but his judgment is reliable."
"Reliable, huh?" Chiyo muttered, rising abruptly. "Let's see about that. Come along, boy."
Without waiting for a response, she strode out. Roshi followed quietly, maintaining half a step's respectful distance behind her.
—
The two walked down Konoha's main street. Afternoon light filtered through the trees. The air was filled with laughter, chatter, and the aroma of freshly grilled food from nearby stalls.
Children ran past them, playing ninja, their laughter echoing through the square. Shopkeepers called out prices. A breeze carried the scent of blooming flowers from a nearby garden.
Chiyo said nothing, her expression unreadable. But her sharp eyes took in everything—the neat storefronts, the bustling civilians, the carefree smiles.
Even after the Nine-Tails' attack, even after years of war… Konoha had rebuilt. It was vibrant, alive.
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
The Land of Fire… truly blessed by its soil and fortune.
Behind her, Roshi said nothing. But he knew what she was thinking—that same envy mixed with silent resentment that many smaller nations harbored toward Konoha.
Prosperity was a kind of power too, and Konoha had it in abundance.
When they reached the end of the main street, Chiyo stopped, pretending to glance at the market stalls, though her gaze lingered elsewhere—on the Hokage Monument rising in the distance.
"Konoha has always been… indulgent," she said at last, her tone calm but carrying years of bitterness. "Even after destruction, you rebuild with smiles. You people don't know what it means to truly starve."
Roshi's reply was quiet, but his words held weight.
"Maybe that's why we work so hard not to forget it."
For the first time, Chiyo turned to really look at him—her sharp eyes meeting his steady ones.
A small, humorless smile crept onto her lips. "You've got a sharp tongue for a youngster. No wonder Ebizō mentioned you."
Roshi merely inclined his head. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Chiyo huffed, looking away. "Don't. It wasn't."
But the corner of her mouth betrayed her—the faintest twitch of amusement breaking through the lines of age and weariness.
For the first time that day, the tension between Sand and Leaf softened—if only slightly.
And for just a moment, the two shinobi—one hardened by decades of war, the other shaped by its aftermath—walked side by side through the heart of Konoha, the village that refused to die.
"Konoha truly is…blessed."
Chiyo's voice was faint, almost like she was talking to herself. Her sharp eyes wandered over the bustling marketplace, the laughter, the aroma of roasted chestnuts and freshly grilled meat wafting through the air. "This land is always rich, always overflowing."
Roshi followed half a step behind, hands calmly folded behind his back. "That richness," he said evenly, "is the result of generations of hard work—both from those before us and those living now."
"Work?" Chiyo's voice dropped to a whisper that only the two of them could hear. "People born in the Land of Wind fight for life the moment they open their eyes. Every breath, every drop of water, every grain of rice—bought through struggle."
Her words were heavy, sand-laden. "It was that way in my time. It's still that way now."
"The will to endure such a world," Roshi said politely, "is admirable."
Chiyo stopped walking. Her old eyes glinted beneath her hood.
"If you're tired, Elder Chiyo," Roshi said, pausing with impeccable courtesy, "I can escort you back to the guesthouse at once."
"Hmph." She turned away, her cane tapping sharply against the cobblestone. "A boy raised in a greenhouse will never understand what it means to breathe sand instead of air—or what those pushed to the brink are capable of."
With that biting remark, Chiyo ended the conversation and turned back toward the guesthouse.
Guesthouse Reception Room
The room was quiet except for the soft clinking of teacups. Chiyo sat cross-legged, her gaze sharp and unwavering.
"Let's not waste time," she said finally, cutting through the silence. "The old monkey is waiting for you to speak first. So, tell me—what does Konoha really want?"
Roshi calmly poured her tea, the steam rising between them like a curtain. His expression remained unreadable through the haze.
"Lady Tsunade only instructed me to ensure your comfort, Elder Chiyo—and to convey Konoha's goodwill," he said evenly. "As for specific negotiations, I haven't been authorized to speak."
"If you have particular requests, I can pass them directly to Hokage-sama and Lady Tsunade."
Chiyo leaned back slightly, her tone turning cold. "Then I'll be direct. Food. Supplies. The Hidden Sand needs a stable, affordable trade route—and soon."
Roshi didn't flinch. "If this is a matter of commerce, Konoha can introduce you to several reputable merchant guilds. Trade could—"
"Trade?" Chiyo interrupted with a bitter laugh. "You think we have the money to trade? My people can't fill their bellies with coins we don't have."
Her eyes hardened. "We have kunai. We have shuriken. And warriors willing to use them."
Her tone grew sharper with each word. "Don't misunderstand, boy. Sunagakure doesn't want chaos. I've seen the cost when ninjas run wild—I've buried too many children to crave another war."
"But," she said, leaning forward, her voice low and edged like a blade, "if the so-called 'peace' of this world demands Sunagakure's starvation as its price, then we won't keep playing along."
Her gaze pinned Roshi in place. "Didn't you tell Ebizō before? That Konoha could intercept merchant caravans heading toward Kumogakure if it really wanted to balance power?"
She smirked, but there was no warmth in it. "Then I'll tell you this—when Sunagakure stops caring about consequences, the Land of Fire will lose its peace, too."
"Send a handful of shinobi across the border every day. One success, and a single town burns. How long before even your rich soil turns to ash?"
Her voice grew harsh, filled with years of suppressed fury. "You can retaliate however you like. Come to the Land of Wind and see for yourself—there's nothing left to destroy. We've already lost everything."
The tea between them had gone cold.
Roshi's calm didn't waver, but in his eyes flickered a faint, unspoken understanding.
Sunagakure's hunger wasn't just for food. It was for dignity.
—
Kusagakure—Underground Meeting Chamber
Far away, in the dim-lit depths beneath Kusagakure, another kind of hunger festered.
After days of fruitless searching, the Kusa elders had finally given up on finding the vanished Uzumaki mother and daughter. Their efforts turned once more toward their greater ambition—though progress had become painfully slow.
Something had changed.
Teams sent to capture missing-nin and rogue shinobi began vanishing one after another. Their "supplies" were being cut off by an unseen hand.
A new, unseen force haunted the borderlands—precise, merciless, and terrifyingly efficient. Unlike Kusagakure, this group didn't capture their targets. They erased them.
Entire operations crumbled under sudden ambushes. In each case, the outcome was the same—their prey dead, their own operatives scattered.
The message was unmistakable. Someone was cutting their lifeline on purpose.
Tsutakawa, the leader of Kusagakure, slammed his palm on the table. "It's Konoha."
His voice was filled with certainty—and fear. "The timing is too perfect. Ever since that Konoha envoy left, trouble hasn't stopped."
He glared around the chamber. "And don't tell me it's a coincidence that the mother and daughter disappeared right after their visit. No ordinary shinobi could've done that so cleanly."
"But we have no direct proof," one elder hesitated.
"Proof?" Tsutakawa barked. "Every anomaly began after Konoha's visit. Who else has the strength and the motive to meddle?"
He took a long breath, forcing down his fury. "We can't delay any longer. Konoha's interference will only grow worse. Once they learn about the Box of Paradise, all our sacrifices will be for nothing."
He looked around, eyes burning with desperate conviction. "Concealment means nothing now. We must activate the Box immediately—before Konoha fully intervenes."
An elder paled. "But… the sacrifices aren't enough yet."
Tsutakawa's voice was cold and final. "They'll be enough."
He repeated it—twice, softly—and the room fell silent.
Several elders exchanged horrified glances as realization struck.
He intended to use their own shinobi to complete the ritual.
"This—! Tsutakawa, those are our people!" shouted one elder from the Kusa's Peace faction.
"Yes!" another cried. "The wars have ended. If we keep the Box hidden, Konoha won't—"
"Enough!" Tsutakawa's roar silenced them all. "You still don't see it. The child that man brought—Kazuma's boy—that's what they were after. Once Konoha realizes he's here, they'll come. And when they do, it'll be too late."
His voice rose to a fevered pitch. "Look at the state of the world! Iwagakure turns west, Kumogakure hides its claws, Sunagakure can barely stand, and Konoha—" he slammed his fist again, "—Konoha is tired!"
"This is the moment the gods have given us!"
Tsutakawa's eyes gleamed with madness and glory. "Now is our time—Kusagakure's time! To cast off our fate as the world's stepping stone and seize our rightful place above the Five Great Nations!"
His words echoed off the stone walls.
"To achieve that dream…" he hissed, his voice trembling with fanatic zeal, "…what is a little sacrifice?"
Silence followed—cold, suffocating, and final.
The elders didn't respond. But the flickering light of the torches reflected in their eyes—fear, doubt, and something darker—as the will of their leader began to twist the fate of Kusagakure beyond return.
--------------------------------
AN: Check out my P@treon For +50 extra chapters.
Thank You For your Support!!
[email protected]/noviceauthor777