Naruto, aspiring to become a well-known figure in the ninja world

After a while.

Maki, a senior ninja from Sand Village, dressed like a normal ninja, walked into the Hokage's office. Because it was a secret meeting, Maki did not have the white turban, the symbol of the Sand Village, wrapped around his head.

"A jonin from the Sand Village..."

Minato narrowed his eyes, feeling that the matters discussed in this secret meeting were probably of a very high level.

He knew Maki, a very outstanding young ninja from the Sand Village. Judging from his achievements, he had already reached the level of an elite jonin. With time and experience, he would definitely become one of the top leaders of the Sand Village.

Minato winked at Bingzu Leidou, signaling him to go and invite Gojo Jieyue immediately. Bingzu Leidou understood and quickly left the Hokage Building.

"The Fourth Hokage."

Maki briefly expressed the etiquette of the Sand Village, and slowly told the purpose of his visit: "We in the Sand Village want to form a business alliance with Konoha, establish a business partnership, and increase the scale of our trade..."

After he finished speaking, Minato tapped the table with his fingers and got to the heart of the matter: "Commercial allies? Do you mean that we will still maintain military confrontation, but we want to expand the scale of trade with Konoha to develop the economy?"

"When the time is right, Sunagakure will brazenly launch a war against Konoha, just as they have in the past."

Maki's heart slowly sank.

I didn't expect that the Hokage of Konoha would find the loophole in his words so quickly. It would be difficult to deceive him now. The fact is indeed so. The direction of the village cannot be changed by personal will. After a period of time, when the Sand Village accumulates enough strength and earns enough gold coins from Konoha, it will still start a war.

These... are the warlike and greedy nature ingrained in the bones of the people of the Sand Village. Maki has already seen through it.

But since the Hokage of Konoha has seen through the plan, will the plan not go ahead?

Of course not. The next step is to make the people of Konoha Village let down their guard.

Maki placed his right hand on his heart and bowed slightly, minimizing his status as a Sand Hidden Avatar. "No, of course not."

"Perhaps Your Excellency Hokage doesn't know that the fighting faction in our Sand Village is declining. The current Fourth Kazekage Rasa and the faction behind him are already tired of war."

"The current Sunagakure is a village that longs for peace."

Minato crossed his arms, his expression not wavering at Maki's words.

Stereotypes are not formed in a day.

Once a war maniac, always a war maniac! There is no need to reason with him here, he was too lazy to listen. But thinking of Gojo Jieyue's "teachings" to him on weekdays, Minato still had patience and gave Maki room to perform.

"If the Sand Village was really sincere, they wouldn't have sent you to Konoha as a secret messenger." Minato sneered.

Are they afraid that the fact that they have become a business ally with Konoha will be known by the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Stone Village, and thus be jointly targeted?

Want to make money, but don't want to face the risk of war between villages. There is no such good thing in the cruel ninja world.

"No, no, no, I came to Konoha as a secret envoy to truly offer the 'sincerity' of the Sand Village's desire for peace."

"Sincerity...?"

"Yes, the sincerity of our Sand Village is...Yakura!" Maki sighed in his heart and revealed the plan that had been made at the beginning: "As long as Your Excellency the Hokage nods, we will send the elite jonin Yekura, who is called a 'hero' in the Sand Village, to Konoha to carry out a secret mission."

"At that time, Konoha can set up an ambush at will... and kill Ye Cang. This is the sincerity of our Sunagakure."

"The people of Sand Village will not know how Ye Cang died, nor will they know that she died at the hands of Konoha Village. And Konoha can also focus all the hatred towards us Sand Village on Ye Cang alone. Her death means that the past hatred between our two villages has been resolved..."

“This is the true seal of reconciliation.”

If there is a choice, who would want to send the hero of their village away and hand over the power of life and death to another village? After death, what Ye Cang did cannot even be made public. It will take several years or even decades for Sunagakure to become great again before this heavy history can be revealed and the villagers can remember this hero of Sunagakure.

Not to mention heroes, even if they are just ordinary ninjas in the village, they are also part of the Sand Village! How can they be pushed out of the village casually? But weak villages have no diplomacy. If they want to develop in-depth cooperation with strong villages, they can only use this kind of sacrifice to exchange for recognition.

It's a disgrace to the village! It's a disgrace to the village!

Maki clenched his hands tightly behind his back, his nails almost digging into his flesh.

As Minato Namikaze listened, he couldn't help but widen his eyes. He was really shocked.

"Has the militant faction of the Sand Village really fallen?"

They actually took the initiative to propose sending Sunagakure Hagura to Konoha to be dealt with at will. What kind of political implications are hidden behind this? !

Namikaze Minato's brain began to work at full speed. Under the influence of Gojo Kegetsu, Minato's perspective on major events in the ninja world became more three-dimensional.

Scorch Release - Yekura is a famous elite jonin and hero of Sunagakure. She is also a banner of Sunagakure's tough stance to the outside world. No matter what her personal stance is, in the eyes of other villages, Yekura is the representative of the Sunagakure's fighting faction.

Ye Cang died at the hands of Konoha. This meant that the flag representing the Sunagakure militant faction was cut off, the threat of Sunagakure plummeted, and the possibility of actively provoking a war was greatly reduced. This was a prerequisite for the village to trust each other and start cooperation.

At the same time, handing over the heroes of this village to other villages, letting them kill or chop them up as they please, is undoubtedly putting their attitude at the lowest level. So low that... it doesn't even look like the attitude that the five major ninja villages in the ninja world should have.

Externally, it reduces the risk of war. Internally, it calms the hatred of the older generation of Konoha people towards Sand Village.

A nearly perfect solution.

Namikaze Minato's expression suddenly became complicated. Offering Ye Cang to Konoha was equivalent to offering Gojo Jieyue to Kumogakure in exchange for Kumogakure's support. In theory, it could be done, but in reality, Konoha couldn't even do something like destroying a village.

All I can say is... Sunagakure made a good move, but was too cruel to its own ninjas.

Maki saw a slight change in Minato Namikaze's expression and realized that the plan to sacrifice Ye Cang finally worked. As the Hokage, Minato Namikaze represented the will of the upper echelons of Konoha. When he let go of his defense against Sunagakure, the plan was basically successful.

The will of the lower classes of Konoha cannot change the will of the upper classes of Konoha, that is, the development direction of the village has never changed based on personal will.

Maki struck while the iron was hot and said, "We in Sunagakure have always had rich strategic resource reserves. There are gold, chakra metal mines... These resources are hidden deep underground. Sunagakure has been mired in war and has inconvenient transportation, so the resources have not been effectively developed."

"Nowadays, peace is the mainstream of the ninja world. As long as Konoha can fully open up and increase commercial exchanges with the Sand Village, these resources can be developed."

"The village has decided that as long as Konoha signs a contract with Sunagakure and shares part of the cost of building a trade route, they will be willing to share the resources with Konoha once they are mined!"

"As long as His Excellency the Hokage agrees and Ye Cang is sent to Konoha to carry out a secret mission, our Sand Village will publicly announce a business cooperation statement."

I have to say, this is a very tempting condition.

Gold is a universal currency, let's not talk about that for now. Chakra metal ore... The price of shuriken and kunai cannot be reduced, a big part of the reason is the scarcity of chakra metal ore.

The reserves of chakra metal mines in the Land of Fire have always been low, but the forging technology is quite advanced, and a large-scale ninja tool industry chain has been formed. The Sand Village is rich in resource reserves but lacks the forging technology that the modern ninja world should have...

If Konoha and Sunagakure can let go of the past, it will undoubtedly be a complementary and mutually beneficial development for each other.

Under such a filter, the construction of roads in Sand Hidden Valley and the specific allocation of resources can all be discussed in detail later.

Namikaze Minato, my heart is beating fast.

But even though he was tempted, Minato didn't agree right away. After all, he had two brains, one on his body and one external.

"What are you standing there for, Minato? Hurry up and agree to the Sunagakure envoy's conditions."

"Who is it?!" Maki turned his head subconsciously and saw a white-haired ninja wearing black silk just naturally opened the door and broke into the Hokage's office.

White hair…

Maki was feeling gloomy, and his hair color was the same as that of Konoha's White Fang.

"Hokage-sama, is it really okay for other ninjas to intrude on our secret meeting?"

"I am the Gojo Advisor of our Konoha, not some other ninja as you say."

Gojo Jieyue poured himself a cup of hot tea and said, "I heard half of your conversation. Although I didn't hear the whole thing, I roughly guessed what it was about."

"But I have a few points to add to this treaty."

Maki subconsciously looked at Minato Namikaze, and seeing that he had no objection, he shrugged and said, "Go ahead."

"First, Sunagakure needs to announce and guarantee that all chakra metal ores produced in the Wind Country in the next thirty years will be sold to Konoha first, and the currency of the Fire Country will be used for settlement, even if they are exported to other villages."

"Fire Nation currency? Aren't they all cash?"

"Although they are all cash, the stamps on the cash of each country are different. Regarding this clause, let's sign a ten-year contract!"

Maki didn't think much about this strange request and nodded slowly. It was all cash anyway, so there was no difference in using it, so he could agree to it.

Gojo Jieyue slowly put forward his second request: "Konoha needs to send a team of technical experts and Konoha messengers to stay in Sunagakure for a long time to guide the chakra metal mining work of Sunagakure and guarantee our rights and interests. Even if a war breaks out, Sunagakure cannot take action against this team, otherwise Konoha will retaliate against Sunagakure at all costs."

"That's fine. However, Konoha cannot send ninjas above the level of Chunin to join this team, and they cannot be Byakugan ninjas, and they cannot carry out deliberate sabotage against our Sand Village. Otherwise, we will unilaterally terminate the treaty."

It doesn't matter if they are just stationed there. In their own base camp, even if the Konoha ninjas want to cause sabotage or steal information, they have to consider the yellow sand all around them.

"The third point..." Gojo Kegetsu thought for a moment, "The Genin and Chunin exams of Sunagakure must be held together with Konoha. And Sunagakure must send no less than five children of school age to study at our Konoha Ninja School as a symbol of cultural exchange between our two villages. We will teach them equally."

"This……"

Maki hesitated.

The ninja exams of the Sand Village have always been held in their own village. He was a little confused about what Gojo Kegetsu was trying to do. First, he sent people from Konoha Village to stay in Sand Village for a long time, and then he asked people from Sand Village to come to Konoha for exchanges... What did he want to do?

"Why doesn't Konoha send children of school age to study in our Sunagakure?"

Hearing this question, Gojo Jieyue made an exaggerated expression, and under the invisible black satin, he looked at me like a fool: "Of course it's because our Konoha has a good environment and good teaching conditions! If I were to go to your Sand Village, I'm afraid I would be pissed off by the sand in two days. And don't you want the school-age children in the Sand Village to have a better childhood?"

Maki was silent. Gojo Jieyue's words were like a straight ball hitting the softest part of his heart.

Yes... If Konoha is not secretive and teaches everyone equally, they will probably learn the secret of Konoha's strength from the returning students. Besides, the childhood of the Sunagakure children is really hard, so it's good for them to go to Konoha to enjoy a good life.

"Regarding this, I cannot agree immediately. I need to seek the opinion of the Fourth Kazekage. Moreover, even if it is an exchange between ninja school students, what about the time limit?"

"Three months or more." Gojo Jieyue answered immediately: "The Sand Village can completely regard this as a 'summer camp', just as a vivid outdoor practical exchange class for the students of the Sand Village Ninja School, so that they can come to our Konoha in advance to experience what the cruel ninja world is and what a ninja genius is."

"Okay, I will go back as quickly as possible. If Lord Kazekage agrees, the students of the Ninja School will come to Konoha with the official Sand Village delegation."

Maki felt that Lord Fengying would agree to this condition.

The focus of the elders' meeting was to strengthen the "commercial and cultural" exchanges with Konoha. The latter would undoubtedly be a good way to crack the secret of Konoha's continued strength.

"the last point……"

Gojo Jieyue raised his fourth finger: "Regarding the construction of a trade route from Sunagakure to Konoha."

"What's wrong? Konoha is unwilling to pay? Isn't this a bad idea? After all, both of us benefit. It would be too unfair for only our Sand Village to pay." Maki asked nervously.

As for the Kingdom of River between the two villages... the weak village wields its sword against the weaker village, and the Kingdom of River is not within the scope of their big village game.

"No, no, no, how could you think so bad of me, Mr. Maki? What I meant is that the cost of building the trade route will be fully covered by our Konoha Village! And the escort mission along the way will be the responsibility of our Konoha Village."

Maki's expression gradually became dull, as if he was saying: I am not well educated, don't lie to me, is there such a good thing in the ninja world?

"Of course, this is not unconditional. In the next thirty years, Konoha will enjoy all the benefits of this trade route. The Sand Village side is not allowed to interfere with the operation of the trade route for any reason or excuse."

"make a deal!"

Maki shouted quickly, as if he was afraid that Gojo Jieyue would go back on his word.

Isn't the biggest function of trade routes to transport goods? What kind of profit can there be? It's nothing more than the tiny tolls, which are totally insufficient to fill the hole of road construction fees.

It couldn't be better that Konoha was willing to take over the troublesome task of road construction.

"Let's sign the contract now! Gojo...Hokage-sama! Advisor Gojo!"

……

……

Maki walked out of the Hokage Building with a sense of unreality, holding the newly signed "Musha Comprehensive Friendly Trade and Mutual Assistance Regulations" in his hands.

He gained benefits for Sunagakure that far exceeded expectations!

The road repair fee was completely omitted. How many things can Sunagakure do with this money? !

"This kind of Konoha... has lost the vigilance that a powerful ninja village should have, relying on its own wealth to squander it recklessly."

"As long as we buy enough time for the Sand Village to develop, the Sand Village will become great again, and Konoha, which has lost its sense of crisis, will fall."

Full of longing and hope, Maki walked through the gate of Konoha's new commercial street, ready to return to his village without a moment's delay.

But as a vigilant jonin of Sand Village, he was able to collect a lot of useful information.

such as:

He saw a close confidant of the Hidden Mist's supreme leader, Yuanshi, staggering out of a shop filled with an ambiguous atmosphere.

"Heh, those who are close to vermilion will be red, those who are close to ink will be black. It has only been a short time since Kirigakure formed a full alliance with Konoha, but the top leaders have become so corrupt. My judgment was correct."

He saw that at the open counter of Ichiraku Ninja Tool Shop, an ordinary water-style Genin used a strange technique to wash the shuriken seven times, and then handed it to an ordinary person to wipe it seven times... full of a sense of craftsmanship.

"It turns out that the elders' meeting mentioned that Konoha's shuriken had to be washed seven times. "

"Konoha's waste of resources and squandering of money is just like a nouveau riche without substance."

"Konoha is on the verge of destruction!"

----

Trivia: Today is the last day of June. If you don't use the recommendation tickets and monthly tickets in your hand, they will expire_(:з」∠)_