Chapter 496: , A Straw to Save One's Life

In the dark night, the Waterfall Ninja leader sat numbly in front of the campfire. Under the flickering firelight, his numb face had a bit more unpredictable taste.

At this moment, he was listening to the report of his subordinates, but his face was still numb, making it impossible to tell whether he was really listening or just staring at the campfire in a daze.

"Leader..."

The Waterfall ninja called out to the Waterfall Ninja leader in front of him with worry. His call seemed to wake up this dazed Waterfall Ninja leader, and a strange color flashed in his eyes.

"Go and call all the elders over."

He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse and dry.

After all, he hadn't had a drop of water since he retreated from the battlefield until now, so it was expected that his throat was dry and his voice was hoarse.

"Yes!"

After the Waterfall ninja took the order, he immediately went to execute it, leaving only this numb quasi-Kage powerhouse sitting in front of the campfire, dazed and sad.

Before long, a group of elders with uncertain expressions were brought to the leader by the Waterfall ninja.

The Waterfall Ninja leader twisted his stiff neck and scanned the ten familiar faces in front of him.

"Everyone, I think you should all be clear about the situation."

"Now come up with a way."

The Waterfall Ninja leader once again used his dry throat to make a hoarse and unpleasant sound like rust.

Hearing this, the elders looked at each other, but no one was willing to speak.

Whether they were pro-war or pro-peace, they were all speechless and stood silently on the spot, as if they were wooden people who couldn't speak.

As the high-level officials of the Waterfall Ninja Village, these elders naturally had their own intelligence channels, and they were naturally very clear about the tragic defeat at Waterfall Lake during the day.

In such a scene, it was hard to imagine that it was this group of people who had argued until their faces were red and their ears were red for their respective propositions not long ago.

Seeing no one speak, the Waterfall Ninja leader turned his neck and looked at one of them with numb eyes like a dead fish.

That person was the elder who had insisted on surrendering earlier. Under the pressure of the Waterfall Ninja leader's strange eyes, he finally spoke with a choked throat.

"I propose..."

"We can try to seek peace talks with the Hidden Stone..."

The surrender faction elder said somewhat reluctantly. He originally thought that the "old rivals" present would jump out and raise objections.

But who would have thought that as soon as his voice fell, the Waterfall Ninja leader said impatiently.

"Very good!"

"Since that's the case, this matter will be fully entrusted to you."

"Please be sure to go and negotiate overnight."

At this moment, the Waterfall Ninja leader's tone was decisive, so decisive that everyone was taken aback.

Clearly, today's defeat had completely shattered the lucky thoughts in the Waterfall Ninja leader's heart. After seeing the combat power of the Stone ninjas, he no longer held any hope for resisting stubbornly.

Now he gathered these ten elders to come for the matter of "seeking peace."

But who would have thought that after hearing this, the face of the surrender faction elder turned green.

He looked around, whether it was the five political enemies who once had a pro-war stance, or the four "teammates" who once had the same stance as him.

Actually stepped back tacitly at the same time, as if they were blind and didn't see his livid face at all.

This made this banner figure of the Waterfall Ninja surrender faction instantly miserable.

When facing a strong enemy, the emergence of two completely different ideas of war and surrender is actually easy to understand.

And these elders who insisted on seeking peace, no matter what their purpose was, were ultimately cowardly and for the sake of preserving themselves.

As elders of the Waterfall Ninjas, they could be considered famous characters in the shinobi world. How could they not know the darkness and cruelty of the shinobi world?

Once the Waterfall Ninjas were defeated, being looted and annexed was inevitable, but more importantly, the Waterfall Ninjas would likely face a purge by the Hidden Stone next.

This surrender faction elder had asked to "negotiate peace" several times before, actually harboring a thought of offering a "letter of surrender" to the Hidden Stone in advance to avoid the Hidden Stone's purge.

But the problem remained: you can't just surrender if you want to.

Fighting requires capital for fighting, and surrendering also requires "capital" for surrendering.

In fact, the truth is also very simple.

Before the outbreak of the Battle of Waterfall Lake, although the Waterfall Ninjas were defeated one after another, their overall combat power was not damaged, and they still had the ability to resist stubbornly and fight to the death.

At this time, if they went to surrender, the Hidden Stone would inevitably choose to take it seriously and then weigh the pros and cons.

It was very likely that the Hidden Stone would accept the Waterfall Ninjas' "peace negotiation" to avoid losses.

And now, the Waterfall Ninjas were defeated again, and they were beaten into a rout in one battle, clearly unable to fight anymore.

In this situation, the Hidden Stone could easily destroy the Waterfall Ninjas by just raising their hands, so why accept the Waterfall Ninjas' so-called "peace negotiation"?

....0

After all, as long as they could take down the Waterfall Ninja Village, wouldn't everything belong to the Hidden Stone?

Therefore, the failure of the Battle of Waterfall Lake not only made the Waterfall Ninjas lose the capital to continue fighting and resisting, but also directly lost the capital for "peace negotiation."

At this moment, if this surrender faction elder went to negotiate peace again, the best result he would get would be an unconditional surrender and waiting for the reply of being dealt with.

And most importantly.

Taking the initiative to surrender before the war is a great achievement.

And now rushing to surrender, this is clearly a last resort.

How could this make this banner figure of the surrender faction not turn green?

"Yes..."

But in the end, all words could only be turned into a response full of bitterness.

No matter how unwilling he was, he could only swallow this bitter task for now.

Seeing the surrender faction elder agree, the Waterfall Ninja leader was clearly relieved.

But almost everyone knew that this was probably because the leader had lost his composure and was seeking medical advice in a hurry. He treated the "peace negotiation" proposal as a straw to save his life.

Thinking of this, the remaining nine elders looked at the Waterfall Ninja leader and the surrender faction elder with a hint of pity.

— Author's Notes —

·· ····Seeking flowers··· ····