Clearly, the primary target of this precaution was not the Village Hidden in the Sand, famous for its poison techniques, but Shinichi himself.
The Four Great Ninja Villages were obviously afraid that Shinichi might actually carry out an infiltration and mass poisoning operation, so when it came to the clauses concerning poison techniques, all four parties pushed them through with unusual firmness and near-perfect unanimity.
Everyone assumed Konoha would strongly oppose them, since they were essentially placing restraints upon themselves.
Yet, to everyone's surprise, Konoha's side did not argue the matter, and with Shinichi Higashino's nod of approval, the clause passed smoothly.
At that moment, seeing the matter resolved so effortlessly, everyone was stunned for a moment before silently withdrawing their gazes with complicated expressions.
Quite a few people present unexpectedly found themselves thinking the same thing: Perhaps Shinichi Higashino genuinely wanted to add even the slightest moral bottom line to this world.
Pakura, in particular, as the Village Hidden in the Sand's representative, felt especially conflicted.
Immediately after the first day's meeting ended, she ordered the two Sunagakure ninja accompanying her who specialized in poison techniques to analyze the three poisons that Shinichi had produced.
The evaluation they returned consisted of only three words: "Never seen before."
It should be known that these two Sunagakure ninja had personally witnessed Elder Chiyo's mastery of poison techniques and had even received guidance from her.
In other words, Shinichi Higashino truly possessed such an ability.
Afterward, through private discussions with the other Three Great Ninja Villages, every side arrived at the same conclusion: there was simply no defense against it.
Precisely because of that, Shinichi's willingness to nod in agreement and voluntarily place restrictions upon himself only made Pakura understand this young man even less.
Unlike everyone else, whose minds were filled with different thoughts, Shinichi himself had no objections at all. He had never intended to carry out any large-scale poisoning operation by infiltrating other ninja villages in the first place, and he could not even be bothered to devote much study to poison techniques.
To everyone else, this restriction was a chain, but to him, it was merely a card conjured out of thin air. Of course, if he ever wished to overturn it, he could simply draw that card again at any time.
Besides this clause, the conference also passed another provision that was clearly aimed at Shinichi.
It prohibited infiltrating other ninja villages or triggering a tailed beast Jinchūriki to lose control outside combat zones, so as to avoid harming civilians.
Shinichi likewise had no objections and readily agreed. In any case, with his current abilities, directly killing his targets head-on was no longer beyond him.
Naturally, the conference was not solely focused on discussing how to restrict Shinichi Higashino; the Five Great Ninja Villages also held substantive negotiations over the contents of the convention.
Clauses such as treating prisoners humanely, providing medical treatment to wounded enemy personnel after the war, and prohibiting attacks on rear-area medical facilities were all unanimously approved.
However, provisions such as prohibiting attacks on Medical Ninja and prohibiting attacks on underage ninja were revised.
After all, Shinichi Higashino himself was a minor and also counted as a Medical Ninja. It would hardly make sense if only he were allowed to attack everyone else while no one was allowed to attack him.
As a result, the clause was revised to state that Medical Ninjas stationed in the rear second line would be protected from attack, and underage ninjas carrying out non-combat duties such as escorting supplies would likewise be protected.
Medical Ninjas directly operating on the front lines, or underage ninjas assigned to patrols, sentry duty, or other missions that might involve combat, would still be treated as combat personnel.
After all, in this extraordinary world, it was difficult to determine whether a Medical Ninja who possessed considerable combat strength could truly be regarded as merely medical personnel, or whether a talented underage ninja really lacked combat capability.
In addition, attacking logistical supply lines remained permissible, but battlefield hospitals could no longer be targeted.
If an underage ninja was encountered and that underage ninja fought back, they would likewise be treated as combat personnel.
Shinichi naturally knew that these clauses contained countless gray areas and opportunities for manipulation.
For example, a ninja could simply insist that those underage ninjas had been fighting back at the time, or claim that an attack on a rear-area hospital had merely been an accidental strike; even prisoners who had clearly surrendered or lost the ability to fight on the battlefield could be declared to have never surrendered or to have still been fighting.
There were simply too many loopholes to exploit. Even in his previous life, hardly any nation's military had ever fully complied with the so-called Geneva Conventions.
But everything was exactly as Shinichi had said before, and it was precisely because of this that rules had to be established first.
The very existence of this convention would allow people to know what was right and what was wrong. It might not yet be perfect, contain many exploitable loopholes, or be able to restrain everyone, but with it, justice would have one more measuring stick by which it could be judged.
Going from zero to one has always been the hardest step, and now that first step has finally been taken.
From this day onward, bystanders would have a standard by which to judge right and wrong, giving the Shinobi World, at last, the standing to say, "This is wrong."
The successful adoption of this convention also laid another brick upon Shinichi's path to sainthood, gave him greater confidence to settle old scores in the future, and even provided the moral foundation for unifying the Shinobi World.
When, one day, his strength became sufficient to overwhelm everything, he would be able to stand upon the moral high ground and, in the name of a civilized force, hold accountable those who violated the convention, allowing himself to become the sole sun of the Shinobi World and make everyone bow beneath his radiance.
Shinichi understood very well that conquest itself was not difficult. What was difficult was governing, winning people's hearts, and smoothly integrating conquered forces into his own system of rule. That was the true challenge.
Shinichi had previously said that in five years, he alone would be able to kill everyone in the other Four Great Ninja Villages, and that truly was not an exaggeration.
By his own estimates, at his current rate of growth and with the gradual implementation of all his future plans, it would take at most five years for him to become unrivaled in the world.
When Shinichi drafted this convention and established rules and bottom lines for the Shinobi World, his true objective had never been that Shinichi Higashino was especially kind-hearted.
From beginning to end, all he wanted was to plant a tiny seed for the future unification of the Shinobi World.
Besides that, two other noteworthy events occurred during this conference.
The first was the formal proposal by the Land of Iron for the concept of an international union conference; as soon as the idea was introduced, it was swiftly and unanimously approved by the Five Great Ninja Villages and the representatives of the smaller ninja villages present.
According to the preliminary agreement, after the conference concluded, every nation and ninja village would dispatch permanent representatives to the Land of Iron, thereby creating a long-term platform for consultation and deliberation.
Check my Patreon for 150 more chapters
Pa treon. com/SweetestDeath