Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 290: A Seemingly Equal Agreement

In the end, it was Hiruzen Sarutobi who spoke the mind of Konoha's many Jonin, "Tsunade, let's lift the state of war readiness. Our main focus now should still be on recovering our strength."

What else could Tsunade say? In truth, she also didn't want to go to war with Iwagakure at this time. However, if Konoha did nothing, then the Land of Earth would essentially gain a huge market, and Iwagakure's strength would certainly be further enhanced.

But besides the threat of war, what else could Konoha do? Even the Daimyo of the Land of Fire had shown little opposition.

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had long been envious of Iwagakure's trade routes. It was just that the Land of Fire had been constantly at war, and during the rare intervals between wars, they were busy rebuilding and had no time to deal with the bandits and rogue ninjas within their country.

Now that Iwagakure proposed to include the Land of Fire in the trade route system, it meant that the rare peace would last for a considerable time; at least the Land of Earth would not proactively break this peace. This made the Daimyo very tempted.

Over the years, the Daimyo had spent a large amount of funds on war. The Nine-Tails Rampage this time had caused another major bleed. Even with the wealth of the Land of Fire, the Daimyo felt the pain.

The Land of Fire needed a stable environment to restore its national strength; this was the Daimyo's intention.

"Then agree to Iwagakure's terms and consent to opening the trade route," Tsunade finally made the decision.

A few days later, the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth signed a trade treaty.

The two sides agreed: 1. For merchant caravans with permits issued by the other's Daimyo, the ninjas of the other party must not obstruct them for any reason. 2. Both sides can dispatch a certain number of ninjas to escort merchant caravans into the other's territory, and the other party's ninjas must not obstruct them.

This agreement was fair. The convenience and obligations obtained by the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire, Iwagakure and Konoha, were the same.

But one month after this trade agreement was signed, Tsunade, Hiruzen, and the others were dumbfounded.

Intelligence showed that a large number of Iwa ninjas had entered the Land of Fire under the pretext of escorting merchant caravans. Although restricted by the agreement, these Iwa ninjas did not enter some of a few key areas of the Land of Fire, but Iwa ninjas could occasionally be seen in most regions.

However, very few Konoha ninjas had received missions to enter the Land of Earth. Upon inquiry, they found out that ninja escorts were not needed within the Land of Earth at all. The Land of Earth already had ninjas patrolling the trade routes, and plus, it was considered the safest and most peaceful place in the entire ninja world. Not many merchant caravans were willing to spend unnecessary money to hire ninja escorts.

So, only at the very beginning would some merchant caravans from the Land of Fire hire Konoha ninjas to enter the Land of Earth, but later, there were no more such suckers.

The merchant caravans heading to the Land of Earth all unanimously chose to make the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth the end point of their escort. The caravans would drop off the Konoha ninjas at the border and then enter the Land of Earth alone. And on their return journey, some caravans chose Konoha ninjas at the border, while some chose Iwa ninjas.

Thus, more and more Iwa ninjas could be seen within the Land of Fire, while there were not many Konoha ninjas within the Land of Earth.

In the Konoha conference room, this time only Tsunade and a few advisors were present. Hiruzen said with a headache, "Tsunade, we also have to put in a great effort to clean up the rogue ninjas within the Land of Fire, just like Iwagakure."

Koharu Utatane said, "Hiruzen, if we do that, we won't have enough manpower. And once there are no more bandits and rogue ninjas in the Land of Fire, the village will have far fewer escort missions. At that time, we will have a surplus of manpower."

Homura Mitokado said, "How does Iwagakure do it? They have a considerable number of ninjas now as well."

Koharu replied, "The manpower freed up in Iwagakure because they don't need to escort Land of Earth caravans has two main destinations. One is patrolling the domestic trade routes, and the expenses for these ninjas are borne by the Daimyo of the Land of Earth."

"The other part is taking missions in other countries. The small countries surrounding the Land of Earth all like to hire Iwa ninjas, which gives Iwagakure a large number of extra mission quotas, enough to absorb those surplus ninjas."

Tsunade slammed the table and said, "Then let's wipe out the bandits and rogue ninjas, and then compete with Iwagakure for the mission quotas of the small countries."

Koharu shook her head and said, "There's another problem. If we dispatch ninjas to patrol within the country like Iwagakure does, we will probably have to bear the mission rewards for these ninjas ourselves. The Daimyo will not bear it."

Tsunade had been the Hokage for some time now. After a brief calculation, her expression turned ugly. This was not a small expenditure. With Konoha's current tight finances, to bear such a large expense again, Tsunade expressed: "How about we change the Hokage?"

Unwilling to give up, Tsunade asked, "Why would the Daimyo of the Land of Earth choose to bear this expense?"

Koharu sighed and said, "Because the Land of Earth is the center of the trade routes. The trade routes have brought huge benefits to their Daimyo. Maintaining the trade routes is maintaining this interest. The Daimyo of the Land of Earth naturally won't be stingy."

"As for our Land of Fire, although we have advantages in resources and potential, in the short term, we certainly have no chance to replace the Land of Earth's position in the trade routes. In other words, if we do the same as Iwagakure, we will only lose out in the short term."

Tsunade frowned and said, "So what if we lose out? Doesn't the Daimyo know the benefits the trade routes can bring us later?"

Hiruzen chimed in, "The situation in the ninja world is constantly changing. Who can guarantee that we can maintain peace until the trade routes become profitable?"

Tsunade was stunned for a moment, then concluded, "Is it because of Iwagakure's performance in the Third and Fourth Wars that they have gained credibility? Those merchants trust the Land of Earth, trust Iwagakure?"

As a veteran gambler who had borrowed money all over the ninja world, Tsunade knew the importance of credibility. It was precisely because Tsunade never robbed, never stole, and never used ninja means that those casinos would welcome her.

And the money Tsunade owed would eventually be paid back by treating nobles, which was why she could always borrow money.

It was just that getting Tsunade to pay back the money required a battle of wits.

Hiruzen nodded in agreement with Tsunade's words.

Tsunade thought for a moment. It seemed that no matter what she did, it was not good. Too actively suppressing bandits would waste manpower. If the already tight manpower was drawn away, it would increase the opportunities for Iwa ninjas to enter the Land of Fire to perform escort missions.

If she did nothing, with Iwa ninjas freely entering and exiting the Land of Fire, the hidden danger would be too great.

Just as Tsunade was still pondering countermeasures, Danzō spoke, "Fifth, send the Anbu and Root into the small countries to assassinate Iwa ninjas and make Iwagakure lose its credibility. Or enter the Land of Earth and sabotage the trade routes."

Danzō didn't say much, but his meaning was clear. Since he couldn't get any benefits from the merchant caravans, then no one should have a good time.

Hiruzen expressed his opposition before Tsunade could, "We cannot have a conflict with Iwagakure now. We need to recover our strength. We have to wait until the new shoot with the Will of Fire has fully grown."

Danzō wanted to continue objecting, but considering his main target now was the Uchiha clan and he needed to obtain their Sharingan, he ultimately chose to shut up.

The Konoha high-level meeting ended without a result. Tsunade tacitly allowed Iwa ninjas to wander around within the Land of Fire.

Danzō, on the other hand, returned to the Root base. He came to a secret laboratory in Root, "Hei, how is the experiment progressing?"

"Lord Danzō, Orochimaru's research direction should be correct. The Sharingan can indeed suppress the First Hokage's cells. But to achieve this, we need a large number of Sharingan. If it's just one or two, they will easily be devoured by the First's cells."

"Moreover, our research on the First's cells is not as good as Orochimaru's. Even if we obtain a large number of Sharingan, it's impossible to research a transplantable version of the First's cells in a short time."

Danzō's face was very ugly. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Hei, "Go and contact Orochimaru. See if Orochimaru needs anything. If possible, I want to cooperate with Orochimaru."

"Yes." Hei immediately complied, then quickly left the Root base.

Danzō was not the only one who wanted to contact Orochimaru. For example, Nagato also had his eyes on him.

However, unlike the original story where Nagato often left the Village Hidden in the Rain with Konan to recruit rogue ninjas, in this life, neither Nagato nor Konan was willing to leave Yahiko. So the task of recruiting Orochimaru could only be assigned to Jūzō Biwa, Sasori, and another unknown throwaway character who had already joined the organization.

To ensure the success rate of the mission, Nagato also contacted Ishiro, hoping he could help Jūzō and the others.

The ninja world knew about the cooperation between Ishiro and the Akatsuki, but very few knew that Ishiro had personally joined the Dark Akatsuki.

Ishiro didn't want to be exposed. Even in front of the other Akatsuki members, he didn't want to leak intelligence. He had told Nagato and the others about this before.

Because Ishiro was afraid that Obito would learn about him joining the Dark Akatsuki early on and then make some moves against him.

So, after receiving Nagato's request, Ishiro made a set of a black windbreaker and a mask. The entire set of equipment was also painted with a sealing jutsu to prevent detection by the Byakugan.

However, before leaving, Ishiro still needed to get the approval of the advisory council.

This was actually not easy. The Akatsuki was developing too fast, and Ōnoki and the others' attitude towards the Akatsuki was becoming more and more wary.

Including Konan and Sasori, the Akatsuki already had four Kage-level individuals. Fortunately, Ōnoki and the others didn't yet consider Sasori as Kage-level in their minds.

In this life, Sasori had been defeated by Ishiro twice in a row, and even lost the Third Kazekage human puppet. This made the ninja world not so wary of the so-called Sasori of the Red Sand.

But for the Akatsuki to recruit an S-rank rogue ninja like Orochimaru, who was a solid Kage-level, Ōnoki and the others would inevitably be vigilant.

This kind of matter could not be brushed over just because Ishiro had a good relationship with the Akatsuki.

The growth of the Akatsuki would sooner or later clash head-on with the five great hidden villages. Now that Konoha was no longer a superpower, Ōnoki and the others also occasionally thought about problems from the perspective of Iwagakure as the hegemon of the ninja world.

Under this mode of thinking, the Akatsuki was an out-and-out threat.

"How should I persuade the advisory council?" Ishiro had a bit of a headache.

Not long after, the advisory council, notified by Ishiro, gathered again in the Tsuchikage's office.

As soon as Ōnoki and the others entered the door, they knew Ishiro's thoughts from his attire. This restless Tsuchikage was going out to stir up trouble again.

Having had countless experiences, Ōnoki and the others exchanged a look, and then one by one, they looked at Ishiro in silence.

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