Chapter 602: Negotiation

: mayiwsk

Rain Country, Six Paths City.

After leading the team into the city, Orochimaru was quickly received by the Ninja Sect.

After all, the Ninja Sect was the official ninja force of the Rain Country. Before Orochimaru and his team came, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already contacted the Ninja Sect, expressing his attitude of wanting to resolve the issue through negotiation.

However, the Konoha ninja on the negotiation team did not relax because of this.

They knew that their demands were somewhat excessive to the Ninja Sect, and their objective doomed this negotiation to be uneasy.

Considering that Orochimaru and the others were fatigued from the long journey, the Ninja Sect first took them to the reception area to rest and informed them of the specific time for the negotiation meeting.

After resting for a while, Orochimaru gathered the members of the negotiation team for a meeting and re-emphasized some matters that needed attention.

"We must adopt a tough attitude and show the momentum of our strongest ninja village," Orochimaru said.

To make Sōsuke accept the conditions, we must apply enough pressure.

So even though in fact Konoha could not easily dispatch troops, they still had to show the momentum of "If you don't agree, I will directly send a large force to fight you."

"I wonder if the Ninja Sect in the original history was destroyed because of this reason," Shisui thought to himself.

From the history known from future Yamato, besides Muyue's death, there were three major events worth noting: the Nine-Tails Incident that caused heavy losses to Konoha, the cruel Uchiha Massacre, and the evil Akatsuki organization that ran rampant and terrorized the ninja world.

According to their calculations, Muyue's death should have been changed.

As for the remaining three events, their idea was to try their best to change them if possible, so that the future would have fewer regrets.

For the Nine-Tails Night and the Uchiha Massacre, Shisui and the others had thoughts and were taking action, but for the evil Akatsuki organization, they couldn't figure out how to change it, and temporarily didn't have the ability to change it.

There were many reasons; one very practical reason was that they were not in the same country, which made many things inconvenient.

Additionally, this matter was extremely complicated.

Before the establishment of the Ninja Sect, Yahiko and the others had already founded the Akatsuki organization, working for peace in the Rain Country. The Akatsuki at that time was unquestionably a benevolent ninja organization.

After the Ninja Sect was established, Yahiko and Nagato became disciples of Sōsuke, and all of Akatsuki joined the Ninja Sect. The Rain Country currently had no ninja organization named Akatsuki; this was the reality at present.

But in the future where Naruto and the others existed, Akatsuki was a thorough evil ninja organization, not only seizing Tailed Beasts but also killing people wantonly.

Shisui and the others speculated based on known information that the birth of the evil Akatsuki in later times was most likely caused by the destruction of the Ninja Sect during its development.

But Shisui and the others were currently just a few relatively capable Konoha jonin; they did not have the ability to influence the existence or destruction of a ninja force like the Ninja Sect.

What's more fatal was that the conflict with the Ninja Sect was with Konoha.

As Konoha ninja, wouldn't they help Konoha rather than stand on the side of the Ninja Sect?

The mission came suddenly; before Shisui could even find Kakashi and the others to discuss, he was sent to the Rain Country.

At 3 p. m., the Ninja Sect ninja arrived at the reception area on time and led the Konoha negotiation team to the Ninja Sect conference room.

After arriving at the building, the assembled Ninja Sect negotiation team met the Konoha negotiation team.

The leading Ninja Sect ninja stopped and gave a brief introduction of the Ninja Sect negotiation team.

Orochimaru took this opportunity to scrutinize the ninja of the Ninja Sect negotiation team.

The one at the lead was Kakuzu, the second-in-command of the Ninja Sect.

Normally, the leader would not personally participate in such negotiations; having Kakuzu attend was enough to show the Ninja Sect's attention to this matter.

Besides Kakuzu, Orochimaru noticed that Nagato, known as the number one genius of the ninja world, was also present.

"Meeting someone is better than just hearing their name. No wonder you are a ninja bestowed the title of Sannin by Hanzō—you have an extraordinary aura," Kakuzu said with a smile.

"Not at all, I cannot compare to senior Kakuzu. When you became famous in the ninja world, I had not yet finished my academy studies. Being able to hold talks with a senior today is truly an unexpected honor," Orochimaru responded with a nonchalant sarcasm.

If it were the previous Hanzō, then Kakuzu's words could be considered praise.

But later, Hanzō betrayed his word and was defeated by Sōsuke, and now the location was still in the Rain Country; it was clearly a mockery that the three of them had failed to defeat Hanzō back then.

So naturally, Orochimaru was not praising Kakuzu for becoming famous early, but insulting him for being an old geezer of advanced age.

Kakuzu was not annoyed either, and calmly walked into the conference room.

Orochimaru did not say anything more and led the team into the conference room.

Shisui originally wanted to sit in the middle of the long side of the conference table, as he was too young and had little seniority.

Before he could walk over, Orochimaru called him back and arranged for him to sit on his left side.

Although Shisui wasn't very clear about Orochimaru's intentions, he still sat down as ordered, after all, Orochimaru was the team leader.

"According to our investigation, our former Hokage's assistant from Konoha was killed by your sect leader, Sosuke, while on a friendly visit to the Rain Shinobi Village. May I ask, does the Ninja Sect intend to declare war on Konoha?" Orochimaru struck first, asking coldly with a grim expression.

Although Shimura Danzo's trip to the Rain Shinobi Village was a personal action, when it comes to negotiations, you have to say things that benefit you.

From the moment Sarutobi Hiruzen decided to resolve the issue through negotiation, Shimura Danzo's action was no longer personal but a "friendly visit" backed by Konoha's official endorsement.

Hearing Orochimaru's words, Kakuzu was almost angered into laughter. Friendly assassination, huh.

"So carrying out assassination missions in Konoha also counts as a friendly visit? That's truly a first for me." Kakuzu smiled, but his expression gradually turned serious.

"Are you people from Konoha unaware of why Shimura Danzo was killed? He tried to assassinate our leader. Fortunately, our leader was more skilled and killed Shimura Danzo instead, otherwise the consequences would have been disastrous."

"Whether the Ninja Sect will go to war with Konoha depends on Konoha!"

If Kakuzu had been present, he would definitely have stopped Sosuke from killing Shimura Danzo, but since things had come to this, and Sosuke indicated that he had the strength to protect the Ninja Sect, then naturally there was no need to show Konoha any face, just go all out.

Orochimaru frowned slightly, somewhat surprised inwardly.

The Ninja Sect's attitude was too tough, unreasonably tough.

A ninja organization with only a few hundred ninja, even adding the Rain Shinobi Village, wouldn't have more than two thousand ninja. How could they have the courage to challenge a behemoth like Konoha?

Konoha not only overwhelms the Ninja Sect in ninja numbers, but also far surpasses it in ninja quality. It can be said to be a complete domination.

Orochimaru's mind raced. Kakuzu's unexpectedly tough attitude disrupted his negotiation plan.

He originally intended to use his advantage to pressure the Ninja Sect and Sosuke into submission, but Kakuzu's behavior suggested he was not afraid of war with Konoha.

This made things difficult, because Orochimaru couldn't actually declare war on the Ninja Sect on behalf of Konoha — he didn't have the authority, and his mission didn't permit him to do so.

"Oh, it seems the Ninja Sect was well prepared." Orochimaru did not remain silent while thinking.

At this point, silence would mean backing down. Even if negotiations broke down, one must absolutely not back down.

"It's Konoha that has prepared, isn't it? From beginning to end, our Ninja Sect has been the victim in this matter." Kakuzu sneered.

Orochimaru's brow furrowed even tighter.

"Is that so? Our current Hokage's assistant, Hanyu Muyue, personally witnessed Sosuke doing his utmost to kill Shimura Danzo, as if afraid of leaving any survivors."

Nagato:...

This meeting was, in a sense, a bit of a torment for him.

"If you keep distorting the facts and evading, there's no need to continue today's negotiations." Kakuzu vaguely sensed Orochimaru's bottom line.

Although Orochimaru spoke harshly, he hadn't turned hostile under Kakuzu's tough attitude, which likely meant that Orochimaru's side also didn't want war.

"If the Ninja Sect continues to lack sincerity, then there is indeed no need to proceed with negotiations. I will truthfully report the Ninja Sect's attitude to the Hokage." Orochimaru said calmly.

"Toward a neutral organization like the Ninja Sect, Konoha is willing to give chances, but Konoha won't keep giving chances."

The Ninja Sect's attitude was truly strange; Orochimaru estimated that this mission was likely to fail.

"Since we've come this far, let's stop beating around the bush and be frank." Seeing that Orochimaru was about to give up, Kakuzu decided to ask clearly.

"Since Konoha sent people to negotiate, you must not want war either. What exactly do you want? Just say it directly."

"A life for a life. If Sosuke commits suicide, Konoha will pretend this never happened." Orochimaru thought for a moment and directly stated the demand.

With Kakuzu's attitude, normal negotiation was impossible. If he didn't say it now, there would be no chance.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

A terrifying aura erupted from Nagato's body. Powerful chakra stirred up a gust of wind, blowing the documents on the negotiation table away.

Even though he knew that even if "Sosuke" committed suicide, Muyue would probably be fine, Nagato still felt an inexplicable rage burning in his heart.

This reminded him of the memory from the early days of the Ninja Sect when they were lured and ambushed by Hanzo.

At that time, Hanzo, condescending, had tried to use the Ninja Sect as a threat to force Muyue to commit suicide.

At that time, Nagato couldn't control the Rinnegan's power and wasn't strong. To this day, he could not forget the helplessness he felt when Muyue was injured trying to save him.

Now Orochimaru was again trying to force Mu Yue to commit suicide from a position of superiority—how could Nagato not be angry?

"Compared to before, he has become much stronger."

Shisui took Nagato as his hypothetical enemy and found that even using the Mangekyō Sharingan, it would be difficult for him to defeat Nagato.

Because his Tsukuyomi might not have a good effect on Nagato; Nagato's eyes are the legendary Sage's Eyes.

"Such strong chakra." Orochimaru was surprised; he actually felt a considerable threat from the young Nagato.

Who was he? He was one of Konoha's top combatants. How old was Nagato? Fifteen? Sixteen?

"Terrifying to this extent," Orochimaru could only use this phrase to describe Nagato's ninja talent.

The title of the greatest genius in the ninja world, which seemed like praise to set someone up for failure, felt quite appropriate when applied to Nagato.

"It seems the Ninja Sect was indeed prepared for this." Orochimaru said, taking a deep look at Nagato.

"Nagato has a high threshold for humor and can't stand low-level jokes. Please forgive him." Kakuzu said leisurely.

"Negotiations? What the hell is there to negotiate!"

The Ninja Sect could lose anyone but not Sōsuke. Even setting aside Sōsuke himself, Kakuzu would never agree to such a foolish condition.

"Then am I to understand that the Ninja Sect refuses to resolve the issue through negotiation?" Orochimaru asked.

"As long as Konoha's demands remain unchanged, there's nothing to discuss." Kakuzu was too lazy to argue with Orochimaru.

"Don't you want to report to Sōsuke first?"

Logically, for such a major diplomatic incident, Kakuzu wouldn't have the final say.

"You Konoha folks have your noses in everything." Kakuzu did not answer Orochimaru's question.

At this point, the negotiation could not continue. Kakuzu and Orochimaru stood up one after another, and their subordinates also stood up and left the meeting room.

Orochimaru did not return to the Ninja Sect's reception area but directly led his team back to Konoha.

It wasn't that he was worried the Ninja Sect would harm them and keep them there; in war, emissaries are not killed, and generally the lives of negotiators are not endangered.

Orochimaru felt that the Ninja Sect's attitude was too strange and needed to report to Sarutobi Hiruzen as soon as possible, then investigate.

On the way, Orochimaru did not forget to comfort Shisui to gain goodwill, saying there was no need to mind such mission failures and that the fault did not lie with those carrying out the mission.

Unfortunately, Shisui was in no mood to listen to Orochimaru's comfort; he was thinking about the Ninja Sect matter.

"If this continues, the Ninja Sect will be destroyed, and the surviving ninja might form an evil Akatsuki organization. What should be done..." Shisui fell into deep thought.

He didn't know why the Ninja Sect could be so tough, but no matter what, the Ninja Sect could not be a match for Konoha; the gap in strength between the two sides was too great.

History from the future also proved that the Ninja Sect's end was very unfavorable. Naruto and Yamato had never mentioned the Ninja Sect as a power.

If Nagato and the others were evil by nature, things would be easy to handle—just strike early and nip them in the bud.

But the Ninja Sect was not evil; on the contrary, in the Rain Country and the ninja world, the Ninja Sect was a highly praised ninja organization, which made things very perplexing.

Was he supposed to stand by and watch a group of peace-loving good people experience suffering and eventually become terrorists?

"Maybe I should confess to Mu Yue-sensei about changing the future." Shisui thought.

Mu Yue's attitude toward the future was very subtle. He refused to let Namikaze Minato seal his memories, yet never asked Uzumaki Naruto and the others about the future.

Kakashi and the others couldn't figure out Mu Yue's thoughts. Moreover, the future intelligence was obtained secretly from Mu Yue, so they, as his disciples, had always been working hard in secret without telling Mu Yue.

Now that the future had been changed a lot by them, even if Mu Yue had objections, he couldn't go back and change history.

Moreover, Shisui felt that given Mu Yue's personality, he probably wouldn't want to see a good ninja organization fall and turn dark.

As the Hokage's Assistant, Mu Yue could do far more than Shisui and the others.

Just being able to voice opinions in high-level meetings was something Shisui and the others could never do.

Of course, if Mu Yue also failed to prevent all this from happening, Shisui would still eventually find a way to nip the evil Akatsuki organization in the bud.

He was not familiar with the ninja of the Ninja Sect, but Asuma, who would be killed by the Akatsuki organization, was his friend.