A few days later, after Sunagakure and Kumogakure had successively acknowledged their defeat, agreed to surrender unconditionally, and dispatched diplomatic delegations to Konoha for peace negotiations, Iwagakure, which had maintained an ambiguous stance all this time, finally lowered its posture as well, acknowledged its defeat, and sent its own delegation to Konoha.
As for Kirigakure, isolated across the sea, it had completely entered a state of isolation from the outside world, virtually severing all external contact. Even most commercial activities had ground to a halt.
The other major powers of the shinobi world selectively ignored the existence of Kirigakure and the Land of Water.
After all, transportation to the Land of Water was simply too inconvenient. Launching a large-scale campaign against it would be a complete waste of resources.
In Konoha's eyes, Kirigakure was like tasteless meat that was a shame to throw away—a troublesome but ultimately unimportant piece on the board.
For the time being, they could only set it aside and deal with it after resolving the matters at hand.
With this, the Third Great Ninja War, which had engulfed the entire shinobi world, could finally be considered completely over.
The shinobi world had once again entered a long-awaited period of peace.
Hokage Building, Hokage's Office
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the four current Konoha elders, and Shikaku Nara, the leader of Konoha's jōnin forces, had gathered together to discuss the peace negotiations with the other villages.
"Several elders, the peace delegations from Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure have all arrived in the village. How should we proceed with the negotiations? Which village should we negotiate with first?"
Minato Namikaze sat behind his desk, staring at the three peace documents in his hands with a headache.
Although Uchiha Ren's influence had helped improve Minato's political instincts and political maneuvering to a certain degree, he was ultimately still too young and lacked sufficient experience when it came to handling certain administrative matters.
Take the negotiations with Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure, for example.
There was a great deal of strategy involved in deciding how to negotiate and which village to negotiate with first.
After all, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure were all on the same side in this matter. Whichever village Konoha negotiated with first, it would inevitably reveal some of its bottom line to that village, giving the other two villages a reference point and making their own subsequent negotiations easier.
Therefore, if Konoha wanted to maximize its gains, both the order of negotiations and the terms offered had to be carefully considered.
Homura Mitokado glanced at the silent Uchiha Ren and Hyūga Hiashi beside him before speaking expressionlessly.
"Minato, before we discuss the specifics of the negotiations, shouldn't you first brief Elder Utatane and me on exactly what happened with Sunagakure?"
"Never mind the resources we seized from the Land of Wind and Sunagakure. What's the story behind the hostages Elder Uchiha brought back from Sunagakure?"
"Also, I've heard that the village intends to jointly develop a major project with Sunagakure and Amegakure. What's the meaning of that?"
"Shouldn't such important matters have been reported to Elder Utatane and me?"
It was no wonder Homura was using this opportunity to vent his dissatisfaction.
Over the past several days, Minato and the Uchiha faction had essentially been treating Homura and Koharu Utatane as mere tools.
They had endless work to do, yet no one had bothered to tell them the actual purpose behind that work.
It made them feel as though they had become subordinates of Minato and the Uchiha faction.
It was simply too much!
"Oh? Elder Homura and Elder Koharu didn't know about these matters?" Minato asked with an innocent expression. "I'm terribly sorry. I've simply been so busy these past few days that I forgot to inform you two."
Koharu Utatane narrowed her eyes.
"Minato, I certainly hope you really did forget. Otherwise, if someone with ulterior motives were to spread word of this, people might think you were deliberately eliminating your political rivals. That would be truly chilling."
Koharu's words were practically equivalent to pointing at Minato's nose and cursing him.
Yet she had the moral high ground, leaving Minato somewhat embarrassed. All he could do was force a faint smile.
However, Minato really hadn't deliberately tried to isolate Homura and Koharu.
He had genuinely been so busy that he had forgotten to inform them.
If Minato had truly wanted to isolate Homura and Koharu over this matter, he wouldn't have assigned them all those miscellaneous administrative tasks in the first place.
"Elder Koharu is joking."
Seeing the situation, Uchiha Ren stepped in to smooth things over for Minato.
"Really, you can't blame Minato for this."
"Everyone has been extremely busy recently dealing with the resources and hostages brought back from the Land of Wind and Sunagakure. We haven't even had time to sit down together, so forgetting to inform you two for a while is understandable."
"And besides, it's not as though only the two of you were left out. Aside from me, since I was personally involved in this operation, even Elder Hiashi didn't know about these matters."
Ren's words were only half-true.
He really had forgotten to inform Homura and Koharu about these matters.
But that was also because these matters were connected to the grand plan he and Minato had been developing. As a result, he had subconsciously regarded Homura and Koharu as "outsiders" and left them out.
Hyūga Hiashi, who was sitting nearby, also spoke.
"Indeed. I've been busy with matters concerning the Legislative Assembly these past few days. I actually know even less about this matter than the two of you, Elders Homura and Koharu."
Although the reforms and restructuring of the village's various departments had already been preliminarily completed, establishing the Legislative Assembly was far from simple.
Simply selecting representatives from among ordinary villagers, civilian shinobi, and clan shinobi was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
Because Ren had gone on the expedition against Sunagakure, he had entrusted this matter to Hyūga Hiashi. As a result, Hiashi had also been incredibly busy recently.
Homura saw that the situation had been sufficiently defused and decided not to press the matter further.
"In that case, it seems we were indeed judging you with a petty mind. Then we'll have to ask you and Elder Uchiha to explain the matter to us."
"Elder Homura, you're being too serious."
Minato smiled.
"It was merely a misunderstanding caused by a momentary oversight. There's no need for everyone to make such a big issue out of it."
"Ren, you were the one who directed this operation. Why don't you explain the situation to Elders Homura and Koharu?"
Uchiha Ren nodded.
He reached out and pulled the peace document concerning Sunagakure from the three documents lying before Minato.
"Everyone, Sunagakure's peace document is merely a formality to facilitate our negotiations with Iwagakure and Kumogakure. There's no need to pay too much attention to it."
After a brief pause, Ren continued explaining.
"In truth, the greatest gain from our expedition against Sunagakure wasn't the resources we brought back from the Land of Wind."
"It was Sunagakure's complete submission to Konoha."
"From now on, when Konoha says east, Sunagakure won't dare say west. If Konoha orders Sunagakure to move east, it absolutely won't dare move west."
"From this moment onward, Sunagakure is an affiliated shinobi village under Konoha!"
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