This Naruto is a player.

Chapter 149 Konoha is going too far!

The Country of Wind, Sand Hidden Village.

The blazing sun hanging in the sky scorched the earth like a furnace.

At noon, the sweltering heat of the desert makes Sunagakure Village a place where few people are active.

However, times are different now.

A figure was crossing the street and running towards the huge spherical building in the middle.

Inside the Wind Shadow Pavilion.

The atmosphere here is completely different from the deathly silence outside the window.

A few people were gathered in the high-level conference room, and the air was filled with a long-lost sense of anticipation.

Several days have passed since the disastrous failure of the Konoha Collapse Plan. Since more than half of the village's fighting force was captured by Konoha, Sunagakure has never had a peaceful day. It has been on guard day and night, and its strength has been greatly depleted.

Only now does this heavy pressure seem to be able to be relieved.

The agonizing negotiations finally came to an end, with the final price being five hundred million taels.

Although enormous, it is still within the limits of what can be sustained.

The person in charge of the handover set off early this morning, and the news should be back by now.

"The contract was signed this morning. The news should have arrived by now, right?" An elderly Jonin with a veiled face broke the silence, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances," the person beside him whispered in agreement.

As soon as they finished speaking, their eyes turned to an old woman sitting in the main seat.

The person sitting there is Advisor Chiyo.

With the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, dead and the village's elite forces captured by Konoha, this legendary puppeteer, who had long since retired, was forced to return to the scene to take charge.

At this moment, she lowered her head, closed her eyes to rest, and her face, etched with the marks of time, showed no joy or sorrow, only a lingering weariness.

Gaara is coming back soon, along with the Sand Village ninja.

She silently repeated the words to herself, trying to suppress the inexplicable unease.

Konoha has changed.

That old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi is no longer as "reasonable" as he used to be!

In the past, a simple excuse and an apology could usually resolve a major issue.

What about now?
Not only did they have to formally admit defeat, cede territory, and pay reparations, they were also forced to pay an additional 500 million taels of so-called "war fines"!
Five hundred million taels!
The Sand Village went to great lengths, begging and pleading, and even selling off a significant portion of its assets, to barely raise the money.

This huge sum of money nearly emptied the village's already weak foundation.

Call ~
She slowly exhaled a long breath, and Chiyo sighed.

The older I get, the more afraid I become of change, and the ninja world is changing too fast!
Whether it's that old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly making outrageous demands, Danzo Shimura's defection as a loyal retainer of Konoha, Obito Uchiha's sudden emergence as a rogue ninja, or the recent upheavals in the Land of Lightning.

The series of changes were completely unexpected.

The ninja world! Even she, with her old bones, couldn't quite understand it anymore, and she was increasingly feeling powerless.

The only consolation was that as long as the money was paid, their hostages would be able to return.

The money from this morning has already been sent over, and the contract should have been signed this morning as well.

At this time, Gaara and the more than eighty captured Sand Ninja should already be on their way back!

"Urgent report!!!"

"Urgent report!!!"

A piercing shriek suddenly ripped through the air, approaching from the hallway outside! The next moment,
boom--

The conference room door was flung open, and a Sand Ninja practically rolled in.

He was drenched in sweat, his face was deathly pale, and his lips were trembling as he rushed straight toward Chiyo, who was in the main seat.

"What happened?" the ninja near the door shouted.

But the communications ninja ignored him. With an almost frozen panic, he rushed straight past the astonished gazes to the head of the table and shoved a small scroll, damp with sweat, into Chiyo's hand.

Chiyo took the scroll with surprise, a hint of ominous gloom flashing across her cloudy old eyes. Had something else gone wrong?

Unroll the scroll; there's not much content, just a single line of text.

However, upon seeing the above content, Chiyo's aged body suddenly stiffened, and her pupils contracted violently in an instant!
boom--

In the next instant, Chiyo could no longer suppress her anger and slammed her hand on the conference table in front of her.

The sudden loud noise instantly silenced the otherwise packed conference room, which had been filled with the unexpected arrival of a guest; you could hear a pin drop.

Konoha!!! This is outrageous!!!
At this moment, Chiyo recalled the tragic deaths of her son and daughter-in-law, and the deep resentment she felt towards Konoha.

“Sister.” Ebizo’s voice was filled with surprise and doubt.

Chiyo's chest heaved violently, and without uttering a word, she hurled the scroll at her younger brother.

The content is simple: Konoha unilaterally tore up the "treaty" and once again made exorbitant demands, raising the previous 500 million ryo twentyfold and demanding 10 billion ryo!
Even though Ebizo was old and considered himself mature and prudent, his breathing quickened upon seeing this news, and he almost couldn't catch his breath.

One hundred billion taels?
Sunagakure could barely manage 500 million ryo, but even if they sold everything they owned, they couldn't come up with 10 billion ryo!

Konoha wants Sunagakure to die!

As the scroll was passed around, the message was seen by the few high-ranking officials and top-tier combatants in the entire conference room.

"This is outrageous!!! Konoha is outrageous!!!" a ninja said through gritted teeth.

"How dare they demand 10 billion?!" A hot-tempered Jonin's eyes were bloodshot, his gaze blazing with fury. "Where is the spirit of the contract?! We just agreed on 500 million this morning!" Another person's voice was hoarse, filled with disbelief.

"Even if we sold our entire village, we still couldn't raise the money!" An elder in charge of logistics grabbed his hair in despair.

Another hot-blooded ninja suddenly stood up, his eyes burning with rage as he looked at Chiyo and pleaded, "Lady Chiyo, let's go to war with Konoha! We have nowhere else to go!"

Upon hearing that the war had begun, Chiyo's hand on the table tightened, but in the end, it opened weakly.

The Sand Village had considered the path of going to war with Konoha before.

However, the village's jinchūriki, including most of its fighting force, had already become prisoners of war.

How to fight this?
And then there's Naruto Uzumaki.
Although this person is just a little kid, his strength is terrifying.

The newspaper article was not exaggerated in the slightest!

Both she and Ebizo's intelligence channels have verified that Naruto Uzumaki is capable of defeating the First and Second Hokage, and even defeating fifty strongmen of Sunagakure with a single blow!

Thinking of this, she raised her head, and a sharp light shot out from her cloudy old eyes, making the person who made the suggestion feel pained and even more chilled.

"Go to war with Konoha? Fine! Go and kill Naruto Uzumaki!"

Chiyo's voice wasn't loud, but it abruptly stopped the man's raging anger. His face drained of color, his lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Huh? I'm fighting Naruto Uzumaki?

This ninja had seen that newspaper before, that figure dancing lightly in the air, that fleeting, world-destroying dust escape technique.

He's just a Sand Village Jonin?
Hit him on the head?
Upon hearing Chiyo's words, not only did the ninja's mind instantly calm down, but the commotion in the conference room also quieted down in an instant.

Yes!

Even a fully-fledged Sunagakure might not be able to defeat Naruto Uzumaki, let alone a Sunagakure that has lost most of its power.

They were completely powerless to resist!

Chiyo looked around the deathly silent room, and despair overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.

Konoha wanted 10 billion, and they had no choice.

They don't even have the right to bargain.

"Hey!"

She sighed inwardly, wondering how Sunagakure had fallen to such a state.

When she was young, Sunagakure was one of the Five Great Hidden Villages. And now? An ally of Konoha?

No, puppets!
"Dig up all the gold dust that Rasa secretly buried before his death and sell it." Chiyo's voice was as dry as sandpaper.

"Lady Chiyo, that...that's still far from enough!" The elder in charge of finances said, his voice trembling with tears.

"Not enough? Let's look again! Let's see what else we can salvage from Sunagakure to exchange for money!" Chiyo glanced at him. "This is the only way we can show our sincerity."

Chiyo felt humiliated as soon as she said those words.

Her hatred and resentment towards Konoha were hard to resolve throughout her life, but now that she's about to be buried, she has to go through this ordeal.

She already found it hard to accept an alliance with Konoha, let alone now having to kneel down and beg Konoha to cut her flesh a little less.

She took a breath, her voice trembling with suppressed frustration, "Now it's not about what Konoha wants, but about what we have!" Miraculously, she calmed down by the last sentence.

I guess I've accepted reality!
As soon as she finished speaking, she glanced at everyone in the conference room.

Because of the attack on Konoha, almost half of the elite troops were lost, and most of the people here were at a semi-retired age, just like me.

Gee
Look at this house in Sunagakure, and then look at the endless stream of monsters appearing in Konoha.
An unprecedented sense of despondency made her feel as if all her strength had been drained away.

"Go down and see if there's anything you can exchange for money!"

"Yes!"×N
After a deathly silence, the crowd filed out silently, their expressions a mixture of anger, despair, and numbness, to carry out this utterly humiliating order.

Once only the siblings remained in the meeting room, Chiyo's carefully constructed aura crumbled instantly, and she slumped back in her chair.

"Information. The reason for Konoha's change of heart?" Her voice was exhausted.

Ebizo silently handed over another note:
"Sister, here~ this is the intelligence that came back with the Flying Eagle." Ebizo handed over a slip of paper.

Chiyo examined the results carefully.

"Naruto Uzumaki? Did that old bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi change his mind again after he entered the Hokage Building this morning? It seems like he did the same thing last time?"

Chiyo didn't really understand the relationship between these things.

But suddenly, an absurd thought seized her—

This so-called "fine" is not intended to replenish Konoha's treasury at all; it's more like Hiruzen Sarutobi is using the entire wealth of Sunagakure to negotiate with that boy.
She couldn't understand!
She prided herself on being knowledgeable and experienced in many wars, but she had never seen a ninja bargain with her own village.

Naruto Uzumaki was the first!
But if it weren't for bargaining, why would Hiruzen Sarutobi use Sunagakure prisoners as leverage to repeatedly threaten and raise prices?

In an instant, Chiyo began to ponder what benefits Sunagakure could gain from this.

A moment later she was disheartened.

Sunagakure was simply too poor; they had absolutely no bargaining chips.

Even the position of Kazekage, is it more attractive than that of Hokage?
Or, try a different approach.

A glint of light, like a piercing ray of light breaking through the fog, suddenly burst forth in Chiyo's cloudy old eyes.

How about we cut out the middleman and talk to Naruto directly?

(End of this chapter)