Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

After examining Sasuke's body, Tsunade frowned slightly: "The damage to his meridians is quite severe. He needs to rest for a while. It seems he overexerted himself with chakra for too long. As for other injuries, there's nothing wrong with him. Who did this?"

“Your cousin,” Uchiha Touko said with a shrug.

"My cousin..." Tsunade was stunned for a moment before she reacted to the address, "Naruto?"

“That’s right,” Uchiha Touko said, shrugging.

It turns out it was the former crown prince who did it, so it's alright now.

"Wait a minute, where is that kid? Given their relationship, even if he got injured during a sparring match, he should have brought him here by now," Tsunade said, somewhat puzzled.

“That’s a long story,” Uchiha Tokko said, “but in short, your cousin’s nephew followed in Jiraiya’s footsteps.”

Tsunade tensed up immediately upon hearing this: "He went to peep into the women's bathhouse? And then Sasuke caught him, and then the two of them got into a fight?"

Uchiha Toko was speechless upon hearing this; so that was how Jiraiya was perceived by him.

"No, that's not it. It's just that Naruto ran away from the village, Sasuke went after him, and then the two of them got into a fight, and that's how it happened," Uchiha Touko said.

"Run away from the village? This kid's got too big for his britches, huh? Where is he?" Upon hearing this, Tsunade decided to teach him a lesson as his aunt.

"I couldn't catch up when I got there; they were already gone," Uchiha Touko said, shaking his head.

"Who did this kid learn from..." Tsunade hadn't finished speaking when she was made somewhat embarrassed by Uchiha Touko's strange gaze.

Who taught them? Isn't the root of the Hokage's disciples running around the world without ever leaving their villages the fault of the three of you?

"My situation is different!" Tsunade said, feeling a little embarrassed by Uchiha Touko's gaze.

"So, how do you plan to handle this?" Tsunade asked, changing the subject.

"What else can we do? Let's give it a cold shoulder. Issue a wanted notice for this kid as a rogue ninja, but only offer a token bounty," Uchiha Touko said. "Then, in a few days, send Jiraiya out to guide his training."

"I'll leave this kid to you to watch over. I still have to deal with those officials from the Land of Lightning." After saying this, Uchiha Touko turned around and prepared to leave Tsunade's residence. At this moment, Neji and Hinata, who had received Karin's message, also rushed over.

"Teacher." Neji greeted Uchiha Touko first after entering, then looked shocked when he saw Sasuke lying on the hospital bed, "Sasuke?"

Hinata, on the other hand, searched the room for a long time but couldn't find Naruto, and stood there stunned for a moment.

"Teacher, has Naruto been found?" Neji asked hurriedly after confirming that Sasuke was alright.

“No.” Uchiha Touko shook his head. “Naruto had already left when I arrived.”

"Damn it! I should have gone with Sasuke." Neji gritted his teeth, somewhat unwilling, and said.

"You all take good care of Sasuke first. I still need to go out and discuss the aftermath of the last military conflict with the envoy from the Land of Lightning. We'll talk about other things tonight." Uchiha Touko gently patted Neji's shoulder, then turned and left the Senju clan's territory, heading towards the Royal Palace of the Land of Fire.

When Uchiha Touko arrived at the palace, the court assembly had already been going on for some time. After announcing his name, Uchiha Touko then entered the court.

"I apologize, Your Highness, there has been an emergency in the village." After Uchiha Touko arrived at his place as the Grand Minister of State, he immediately bowed slightly to Minamoto no Miyako on the throne to apologize.

"What are you saying, teacher? Please rise quickly." Upon seeing this, Yuan Yuxie hurriedly jumped off the throne, walked over to Uchiha Touko with his short legs, and helped Uchiha Touko up. "Teacher not only has to worry about national affairs every day, but also has to protect the safety of Konoha as Hokage. It is understandable that you are a little busy. How could I blame you?"

"Thank you, Your Highness." Uchiha Touko took the opportunity to smooth things over, thus letting bygones be bygones for his lateness.

"Where is the envoy from the Land of Lightning who came to negotiate?" Uchiha Touko asked, glancing back at the court.

"Reporting to the Grand Minister of State, the envoy from the Land of Lightning has not yet arrived," Miura Kazuo said at this moment.

"Not here yet?" Uchiha Touko frowned.

The negotiating envoy from the Land of Lightning should have arrived at the start of the morning assembly today, but he has been late by almost half an hour and the other party still hasn't arrived.

But just then, the announcement rang out from outside the court.

"An envoy from the Land of Lightning requests an audience with His Highness the Daimyo."

Upon hearing this, Genji Yosuke, who was on the throne, was somewhat annoyed by the other party's lateness, but still ordered the other party to come in.

However, when this group of envoys from the Land of Thunder entered the hall, they displayed an arrogant demeanor. Those who knew them might have thought they were there to discuss exchanging their own prisoners, while those who didn't might have thought they were there to sign an unconditional surrender document.

"Greetings, Your Highness, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire." After the group of envoys entered the hall, they ignored the ministers of the Land of Fire, including Uchiha Touko, and simply bowed to Minamoto no Miyazaki. Then, the leader took out a document from his robes and handed it to the eunuch below the throne.

"Your Highness, regarding the issue of this military conflict, our ministers of the Land of Lightning had already discussed it before we came. If your country has no objections, you can sign this contract."

After receiving the document, the eunuch first glanced back at Minamoto no Yukichi, and seeing that Yukichi had gestured for it to be handed over to Uchiha Touko, he turned around and handed the document to Uchiha Touko.

Before Uchiha Touko could even begin to read the document, a somewhat jarring sound rang out.

"This is a letter of state personally signed by the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning. Isn't it somewhat impolite for your country to have your Hokage open it?" Ambassador Ni said sarcastically at this moment.

Seeing this, Miura Kazuo, who was not far from Uchiha Touko, realized that the other party was probably here to cause trouble. He immediately said, "Our Hokage of the Land of Fire is still the Grand Minister of State appointed by the late Emperor. The late Emperor instructed that before His Highness assumes personal rule, all state affairs shall be handled by the Grand Minister of State. We are merely opening your letter of state. What is wrong with that?"

Uchiha Touko ignored the other party's provocation. They were just a bunch of clowns who thought they could regain some face by doing this after losing on the battlefield.

However, after scanning the agreement drafted by the Land of Lightning, Uchiha Touko was furious. Although he had guessed that the other party might not be very sincere at the beginning of the negotiations, the conditions they offered were completely treating him like a tycoon.

A limited security operation between Kumogakure and Konohagakure recently resulted in approximately 1000 Kumogakure ninjas being stranded in Konoha due to the defeat in the operation. In order to restore normalcy to the region, both sides should consult on follow-up matters.

Lei Fang, upholding his own position, proposed and advocated the following agreement:

Article 1: Symbolic Compensation

1.1 Based on “neighborly and friendly considerations”, Lei Fang agrees to pay Huo Fang a one-time compensation of 1 billion taels.

1.2 Payment method: The payment will be made in kind with the special Radiant Cloud Ore, a specialty of the northern mountainous region of the Land of Lightning. Konoha shall bear the high transportation and refining costs.

1.3 Payment Period: Payment shall be made in installments within ten years from the date of signing this Agreement.

Article 2: Prisoner of War "Randomization" and Lei Fang's Exemption from Liability

2.1 The Fire Party shall immediately and unconditionally release all approximately 1000 Cloud Village prisoners of war.

2.2 As "humanitarian compensation" for the Fire side's "minor expenses incurred in managing prisoners of war," the Lightning side agrees not to pursue "any unintentional physical or mental harm" that Konoha may have caused to the prisoners of war during their detention.

Article 3: Determination of War Responsibility

3.1 Both parties acknowledge that the recent conflict stemmed from a series of “unfortunate, complex, and difficult-to-attribute misunderstandings and intelligence failures”.

3.2 Lei Fang explicitly refused to acknowledge that his actions constituted "aggression" or to assume "primary responsibility".

Article 4: Validity and Signing of the Agreement

4.1 This Agreement shall come into effect upon signature and seal by the representatives of both parties and shall be deemed the “final, comprehensive and irrevocable solution” to this incident.

4.2 The Fire Party shall sign this Agreement and implement the release of prisoners of war within 24 hours; otherwise, the Thunder Party shall consider the Fire Party to be “deliberately undermining the peace” and reserve the right to “take all necessary measures in response.”

Putting aside how absurd the draft contract's promise to unconditionally release the 1000 prisoners was, the ten billion taels of reparations offered by the Land of Lightning was an utterly insincere figure. Ten billion taels? And it was ten billion taels to pay off the debt with the Land of Lightning's famous mineral waste, the Glow Cloud Ore.

Everyone in the ninja world knows that although these Huiyun ores can be used to extract chakra metal, the purity and quality of the extracted chakra metal are far inferior to those from the Land of Iron and the Land of Waterfall. However, the Land of Lightning has set an extremely high price for this ore. In other words, if the 1 billion ryo in reparations were to be paid off with minerals, it would only be worth about 300 million ryo at most.

If this contract were in Uchiha Touko's previous life, even Li Zhongtang would have had to think twice before signing it. Moreover, if Uchiha Touko remembered correctly, it seemed that Konoha was the victor in this war!

Uchiha Touko felt that, apart from that scumbag Chiang Kai-shek, no one else would be willing to sign such a treaty after winning a war.

Therefore, when faced with this contract, Uchiha Tokō felt that he had been greatly insulted.

"It seems your Land of Lightning is quite keen on starting a full-scale war with our Land of Fire." Uchiha Touko put down the documents and coldly glanced at the envoys from the Land of Lightning.

"What do you mean by that, Hokage? We from the Land of Lightning have come with sincerity," the Nie envoy said arrogantly, his head held high.

"Fine, fine, so your sincerity is just 300 million worth of mining waste, is that it?" Uchiha Touko said with a sneer. "Go back and tell your Daimyo and Raikage to wait for our Land of Fire to declare war. As for those thousand-plus prisoners, don't worry, I'm not a cruel person. My Land of Fire is planning to develop a cotton plantation in the south. Let them go there to do hard labor to make up for the losses caused to my Land of Fire in this military conflict."

In fact, Uchiha Touko overlooked one thing: of the Cloud Village troops that clashed with Konoha at the border, apart from the more than a thousand who were captured, only A and Killer Bee were fortunate enough to escape back to Cloud Village. However, the two of them probably haven't woken up yet. Therefore, neither the court of the Land of Lightning nor the people left behind in Cloud Village knew the specific details of that battle and could only speculate based on common sense.

In their minds, given the heavy losses suffered by Kumogakure, Konoha's situation must be no better, much like what Hiruzen Sarutobi encountered during the Third Shinobi World War. That's why they were so aggressive after having tasted success with Hiruzen Sarutobi. If they knew the true situation on the battlefield, they probably wouldn't have dared to present this contract to Touko Uchiha.

"Your Highness, is this also your plan? If our two countries go to war, it will be the Fourth Shinobi World War." The envoy from the Land of Lightning turned to look at Minamoto no Miyako, attempting to bypass Uchiha Touko and put direct pressure on Minamoto no Miyako.

"Let's start a war! The Land of Fire has never feared war!" Genji Yuxie couldn't stand this. In his mind, anyone who dared to kidnap his good brother should have been met with a full-scale attack from Konoha that night, making the Land of Lightning pay the price. It was only after Miura Kazuo pleaded with him for a long time that the boy didn't cause trouble for Uchiha Touko in the rear. And now, with the other side provoking him like this, Genji Yuxie's response was simple and direct: "Men, kill a few of them as a sacrifice!"

"Hmph, we were prepared to die for our country before we came to the Land of Fire! The army of the Land of Thunder will avenge us!" Ambassador Ni, who was in the lead, had a face full of fearlessness.

This expression made Uchiha Touko laugh in anger: You guys are even playing the Han envoy trick now?

Just as the samurai guarding the palace gates were about to enter and drag away and kill the envoys from the Land of Lightning, another announcement rang out from outside the palace: "The Land of Lightning's urgent envoy requests an audience with His Highness the Daimyo and the Grand Minister of State!"

Chapter 234: Initial arrogance followed by obsequiousness is laughable.

Upon hearing this news, Uchiha Touko smiled, indicating that either A or Killer Bee had awakened.

"Does your country need to send two groups of envoys to discuss the same matter?" Uchiha Touko looked at the arrogant envoy from the Land of Lightning in the hall with a half-smile.

“That does fit our stereotype of your country being fickle.” At this moment, Kazuo Miura also offered his support.

All the civil officials in the hall laughed, and the hall was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Even Yuan Yuxie, sitting on the throne, couldn't help but laugh.

The previously arrogant envoy from the Land of Lightning turned red and white in an instant.

After laughing for a while, Uchiha Touko finally spoke up: "Let's invite these envoys in as well, and see what brilliant ideas they have to offer."

Soon, the second batch of envoys from the Land of Lightning entered the main hall. If the first batch of Ni Ge's state was like that of a West Coast native who was high on drugs and didn't know his own name, which Uchiha Touko had seen in his previous life, then the expression on the face of this second batch of Ni Ge was exactly the same as when he was holding onto a police car.

When the second delegation from the Land of Lightning entered the main hall, they were startled by the appearance of the first delegation.

Did they say something they shouldn't have? Did they already submit that document?

They were sent after Ai woke up and the Daimyo learned what had happened at the front. To save time, they were led by ninjas and rushed to the border. Then, without even taking a breath, they headed straight for Konoha. But despite their haste, they were still a step too late.

"Greetings, Lord Daimyo of the Land of Fire, greetings, Minister of State," the later envoys bowed respectfully to Minamoto no Mikihisa and Uchiha Touko before forcing a question, "Regarding the ceasefire agreement between our two countries, I wonder how far the negotiations have progressed?"

“Oh, this…” Uchiha Touko raised an eyebrow. “You’ve come at the right time. Our Daimyo is just about to chop down these fools to consecrate his flag and then declare war on you. You can take their heads and our declaration of war back with you later.”

"Please calm down, Your Highness and Minister of State," the second group of envoys said, breaking out in a cold sweat upon hearing Uchiha Touko's words. "They are not envoys from our Land of Lightning, but rather a few traitors who are trying to sow discord between our two countries."

"Cameron! What are you talking about!" The leader of the first group of envoys who entered was furious after being labeled a traitor.

But at that moment, Cameron came to the other person's side and whispered a few words in his ear.

The next instant, the previously defiant envoy from the Land of Lightning collapsed, his face filled with terror.

He never expected that their Land of Lightning would suffer such a crushing defeat on the front lines!

If the war situation on the front lines is as the ministers of the Land of Lightning have predicted, with both Kumogakure and Konoha suffering heavy losses, then their mission to put pressure on the Land of Fire—whether the Land of Fire backs down and signs the treaty, or becomes enraged and directly starts a war against the Land of Lightning, even going so far as to cut them down as a sacrifice—will allow them to be recorded as heroes in the annals of the Land of Lightning.

However, the current situation on the battlefield is that the Land of Lightning has suffered heavy losses and its strength has been severely damaged. Before the Land of Lightning recovers its strength, it has no chance of winning against the well-equipped Konoha.

If Konoha is angered by their actions and goes to war with the Land of Lightning, then they will be the sinners of the entire Land of Lightning!

For these civil officials, death was not frightening; what was frightening was being condemned as sinners of the entire country for eternity after death!

"Uh, this...that...Your Highness, Grand Minister of State, it was just a little joke we were making, please don't take it seriously..." Under the pressure of being infamous for eternity, they began to speak recklessly.

"Hehe, why are you so deferential at first and then so obsequious? It's laughable!" Miura Kazuo laughed loudly at this moment. The hall was filled with shrill laughter, but at this moment, they could only endure it. The second batch of envoys could only awkwardly smile.