Naruto: The Ninja World's Life Buyer

Chapter 261 The Art of Compromise for Peace

boom!

Just then, the conference room door was pushed open. Or rather, smashed open. Wood chips flew everywhere.

A woman walked in.

Tsunade.

She was still wearing her white coat, which smelled of disinfectant and blood.

Her face was gloomy, and the Yin seal on her forehead faintly glowed with purple light.

"Orochimaru, I overheard you saying outside—who are you going to reincarnate?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly.

"This is for the village's victory, Tsunade. The power of the First and Second Hokage is the key to breaking this deadlock—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Tsunade disappeared.

"boom!"

Her fist slammed squarely into Orochimaru's face.

Superhuman strength.

The floor of the conference room was recessed into a deep pit centered on Orochimaru.

The entire Hokage Building shook violently.

"If you dare touch my grandfather's grave, I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Tsunade roared.

However, no blood splattered from the pit.

Tsunade felt as if her fist had struck a pool of extremely resilient, cold water.

Orochimaru's neck stretched backward a full two meters at an extremely bizarre angle, defying the structure of human bones.

His body from the neck down was smashed.

But the pieces of flesh did not bleed. Instead, they transformed into countless white snakes.

"Hiss—"

The white snakes intertwined in the deep pit and reunited.

Orochimaru's upper body rose from the swarm of snakes, completely unharmed.

Perfect Sage Mode, plus Orochimaru-style Substitution Jutsu.

Physical attacks are no longer likely to cause fatal injuries to him.

"Tsunade, you're still as irritable as ever."

Orochimaru twisted his neck, making a cracking sound.

"But I am the Hokage now. If you attack me here, do you intend to betray the village?"

His voice was cold and sinister.

"You bastard who defiled the dead, you don't deserve to wear that straw hat!"

Tsunade clenched her fist again, and chakra crackled between her knuckles.

"Whoosh!"

Sakumo Hatake also moved.

In a flash, he landed behind Orochimaru, forming a pincer attack with Tsunade.

In his hand, [White Fang II] was already unsheathed, its bone blade wreathed in high-pressure chakra.

"Orochimaru, retract that technique."

Sakumo's murderous aura had already locked onto Orochimaru's throat.

"Otherwise, the next Hokage will be chosen in this conference room today."

The three top fighters of Konoha completely broke off relations in the highest conference room.

Shikaku stood in the corner, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

He couldn't intervene. This was beyond the scope of what strategy could solve.

"My lords, could you please set aside your murderous intent?"

Sousuke walked between Tsunade and Orochimaru.

"If you demolish the Hokage Building here, Takaya Trading Company won't reimburse you for the reconstruction costs."

"Get out of the way, Sousuke."

Tsunade's eyes were sharp.

"This is a matter of principle. Anyone who dares to harm the ancestors of the Senju clan, I will kill them."

Sosuke sighed.

"Lady Tsunade, even if you and Lord Sakumo join forces, can you really kill the current Hokage? Even if you do, what will the ninjas and villagers outside think?"

"The village's high-ranking officials are involved, and the Hokage has been killed. Once this news gets out, Kumogakure and Iwagakure won't even need to release their tailed beasts; they can easily sweep through Konoha on foot."

Sosuke turned to look at Sakumo.

"Sakumo-senpai, you are a man of principle. Swords are for fighting enemies, not for fighting your own Hokage."

Sakumo remained silent.

At heart, he remained a traditional ninja. Disrespecting superiors was a grave taboo.

After hesitating for a moment, he slowly sheathed [White Fang II].

But he kept his eyes fixed on Orochimaru: "If he dares to touch the soul of the previous Hokage, I will kill him. I mean it."

Orochimaru sneered, about to utter a sarcastic remark.

Sousuke pressed down on Orochimaru's shoulder.

"Hokage-sama," Sousuke said in a low voice, "Give me the honor of coming to your office for a talk."

Orochimaru glanced at Sousuke, the coldness in his eyes fading.

"Since Sosuke-kun says so—"

Orochimaru brushed the dust off his sleeves.

"Then let's go have a cup of tea."

The Hokage's office.

Orochimaru walked behind the desk and sat down, casually tearing off the tattered fabric from his clothes.

Sosuke pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down.

Orochimaru looked at him, his golden vertical pupils narrowing slightly.

"Sousuke-kun, you stopped me just now, not for some village unity thing, were you?"

"Of course not."

Sousuke confessed.

"I just did some calculations."

"Lord Orochimaru, if you really bring out the First and Second Hokage, the nature of this war will change."

"Those two old foxes, Onoki and Killer Bee, will be pushed to the brink. They'll definitely use the three tailed beasts as detonating tags and throw them right into the border of the Land of Fire."

"At that time, the forests and farmlands of the Land of Fire, as well as all my properties, will be razed to the ground by the Tailed Beast Ball."

Orochimaru let out a low laugh.

"Hehehe—Sousuke-kun, you're such a selfish guy. I thought you would really consider the bigger picture."

"Deaths, the nation, and righteousness are not as important as your business."

"That's what you call being pragmatic."

Zongjie remained unfazed.

"In short, reaching that point will not benefit your experiment in any way."

Orochimaru remained noncommittal.

"Moreover, waging such a total war would take too much time."

Sousuke continued.

"Lord Orochimaru, you have now mastered the perfect Sage Mode. You possess gene samples of over thirty different bloodline limits. You also have Hashirama cells."

"Now that the crisis at the front has been temporarily resolved, your immediate priority should be to focus your energy on the next experiment."

Orochimaru's eyelids drooped slightly.

Sosuke's words reminded him.

These days, he has been delayed far too long because of the urgent situation at the front. For someone who has just opened the door to the truth, this is a waste of life.

"Using a verbal promise to stop using the Impure World Reincarnation in exchange for a ceasefire agreement with the three great nations is a good deal. Anyway, the ninjutsu is in your hands, and you can use it whenever you want."

"This way, you can openly return to the basement to conduct your experiments. Takaya Trading Company will continue to provide you with an endless supply of funding and live subjects."

"As for other government affairs, I will handle them for you."

Orochimaru thought about it briefly and agreed that the suggestion was good.

"Sousuke-kun, you always manage to offer deals that are impossible to refuse."

He took out a blank document and quickly wrote a few lines on it.

"While the Impure World Reincarnation technique is interesting, it's something the Second Hokage already knew about. My current research is indeed far more advanced."

He stamped the Hokage's seal on the ceasefire document.

"But in return, Iwagakure and Kumogakure must withdraw their troops and sign a peace treaty."

Sousuke smiled.

He stood up and put the official document into his pocket.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Hokage-sama."

In the corridor outside the Hokage's office.

Nara Shikaku was waiting. When he saw Sousuke come out, he immediately went to greet him.

"How is it?" Shikaku asked nervously.

Sosuke handed the signed and stamped official document to Shikaku.

"It's settled. Lord Orochimaru is a man of great wisdom and has decided to seal away the forbidden technique for the sake of peace in the ninja world."

Shikaku looked at the Hokage seal on the official document and let out a long sigh of relief.

"How did you convince him?"

Shikaku stared at Sousuke in disbelief. Orochimaru, that madman, actually compromised?

"I told him that if the village was destroyed, there would be no money to approve his research funding."

Sosuke made up a lie on the spot.

"I'll leave the rest of the diplomatic wrangling to you. I need to go back to sleep; I'm exhausted from all the meetings these past few days."

Shikaku looked at Sousuke's retreating figure with admiration in his eyes.

This merchant averted a catastrophe that would destroy the ninja world.

A few days later, at the border of the Land of Grass.

Hidden Rock Camp.

When Onoki received the official ceasefire document from Konoha, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"call----"

"At least we've regressed."

Huang Tu, standing to the side, was somewhat unwilling: "Father, are we really going to retreat like this? Those three tailed beasts—"

"You really think I want to release the Tailed Beasts?!"

Onoki glared at his son.

"That's a suicidal attack! We can flatten the Land of Fire, and Konoha's Nine-Tails can retaliate in kind!"

"We've already gained an advantage by forcing Orochimaru to abandon that disgusting ninjutsu. Order a retreat!"

Konoha Village. Takaya Manor.

As the sun sets, it dyes the clouds on the horizon orange-red.

Sosuke returned home.

In the courtyard, Xi Yan was teasing Bai Su with a feather. Bai Su cooperated by wriggling her body to pounce on the feather.

"dad!"

When Yugao saw Sousuke, she immediately ran over.

"You're back!"

Sosuke bent down, picked up Yugao, and kissed her sweaty forehead.

"Where's Mom?"

"Mom is cooking in the kitchen. Aunt Kushina is here too, she brought lots of delicious food."

Sosuke carried Yugao into the hall.

The soft laughter of two women talking drifted from the kitchen. It sounded exceptionally pleasant.

Kushina, wearing a pink apron, was frying tempura in a pan of oil with long wooden chopsticks. A speck of white flour clung to the tip of her nose, and her red hair was slightly damp with sweat.

Kaori stood in front of the cutting board and sliced a piece of pork tenderloin into thin slices.

"Lady Kushina, you can turn the heat down a bit. The shrimp tails are done when they change color."

Kaori reminded him softly.

"OK!"

Kushina took the golden-brown fried shrimp out and placed them on the draining rack.

Sosuke quietly walked over and extended his hand.

While Kushina turned around to get a plate, he picked up a freshly fried tempura shrimp with two fingers and stuffed it directly into his mouth.

"hiss"

The freshly cooked dough was so hot that he gasped for breath.

He chewed it a couple of times and swallowed it. The shrimp meat was fresh, sweet, and springy.

"Hey! What are you doing, sneaking food!"

Kushina turned her head and caught them red-handed.