The Final Clash for Uzu came to a close, concluding in a way outside the expectations of all involved parties.
What followed was the boring negotiations.
Uzushio knew pushing too hard would be counter productive but they had to secure a solid enough guarantee that they would not be attacked a second time during the war.
Meanwhile, the Three Village Coalition wanted to end things fast and shift their attention to the much richer Land of Fire that would have an open backdoor into it once the Uzumaki withdrew from the war.
*
"Absolutely unacceptable!" Ay Senior shouted, cracking the negotiation table with a violent hammer fist.
The First Elder, directly across from him, did not show any particular reaction
In fact, this kind of attitude was something he expected.
Currently, a stone table had been raised from the ground just outside Uzushio's gates where the four remaining Uzumaki Elders sat facing the three Kage of the enemy Coalition.
The First, Second and Sixth Elders looked fine and sharp but the Fourth Elder was clearly wounded.
Nothing showed on outer appearances but from his posture and general demeanour, it was clear something was wrong.
And from the glare he kept pinned on the Tsuchikage, the source of that wound was quite obvious.
When Onoki struck Uzushio's forces with his Dust Release, the Fourth Elder managed to react in time with the instincts of a Kage level shinobi but alas, he had focused on trying to rescue his clansmen instead of self preservation.
The end result was that his defense was imperfect, letting some of the Dust Release's residual power slip through his barrier.
Not enough to kill but when dealing with an attack meant to disintegrate its target, even residual force can be devastating.
"We must have assurances that you will honor your agreement to no longer target our village for the duration of this war. Keeping your Tailed Beasts until peace returns is the only way I see to keep you honest." The First Elder calmly declared.
"We can sign a more beneficial treaty towards your side but letting you keep two of our strategic weapons during such a massive conflict is impossible." The Third Mizukage responded, his sentiment matching the Raikage's only with a lot more politeness.
"Tch! Please . . . The entire world knows how much your treaties and your words are worth.' The youngest and not very politically minded Sixth Elder unhesitantly mocked the Kages with a sneer on his face.
And while displeased, they could not really argue with the point.
The moment Hashirama died, all the major Hidden Villages broke treaties and agreements to set off the First Great Shinobi War and they were repeating history for this one.
And Uzushio was one of the few forces with the moral position to criticize this, they were famous for their unflinching adherence to all deals, contracts and promises they make, which is precisely why they make so few of them.
The Kage of Kumo and Kiri had no doubt that Uzushio would keep their word and return the Tailed Beasts at the end of the war.
But it was precisely during the war that having the strategic weapons that the beast were in one's hands, became most important.
Meanwhile, the Tsuchikage watched detachedly from the side with barely contained smugness.
After all, neither of Iwa's Tailed Beasts were lost so this was simply not a problem he had to deal with.
Still, as negotiations dragged on with the discussion going in endless circles, Onoki had to step in.
"Enough of this. The Tailed Beasts are the only guarantee they have, of course they won't give it up, they'd be fools to do so.
The question is, what kind of concessions are you willing to make in exchange for keeping such a fat insurance?" The Tsuchikage interjected.
His fellow Kage looked at him with restrained hostility.
'Easy for you to say!' was probably the thought in their minds.
Still, none of them could dispute Onoki's point, even if they knew the true reason he made it.
While they were allied with each other, none of the three Villages wanted the others to get ahead, by agreeing to let the Uzumaki keep the Tailed BEasts for the duration of the war, the Tsuchikage was checking Kumo and Kiri.
And this was one of the major reasons no village was ever pushed towards destruction.
Even when everyone allied to hammer a single opponent hard, relations started breaking down long before decisive victory was achieved.
*
After three full days of negotiations, terms were finally reached in the way that all parties could accept, even if it did not fully satisfy them.
Life was full of compromises after all.
The points were as follows:
-Uzushio would declare neutrality and pledge not to support any force in the ongoing war;
-Uzushio would cede the landing area where the first major clash between them and the Coalition took place, allowing the three Hidden Villages to use it as a staging ground for their incursion into the Land of Fire;
-Uzushio would become the custodian of the Two and Three Tails along with a political hostage from Iwa;
-The Three Villages would pledge not to take any direct or indirect hostile action towards Uzushio and the Land of Uzu,
-The Three Villages would hand over any and all information they possessed regarding the mysterious ally that managed to take down Uzushio's barrier;
-All terms apply until the end of the global conflict, after which all assets are to be returned to their original owners and all pledges of peace or neutrality expire;
-If the terms are broken by one party, they give up all rights to ceded assets permanently.
All of the terms were reasonable and expected though Iwa being forced to hand over a significant political hostage was something Kumo and Kiri forcefully pushed.
After all, they could not be the only ones bearing a risk.
The prisoner in question was in fact another figure that was never mentioned in the original story, likely a casualty of the ongoing war.
A disciple of the Tsuchikage bearing a rather unique Kekkei Genkai variation of Earth Release.
There were also several additional small items, mostly addressing possible loopholes and special cases, just so no party could ignore the spirit of the treaty.
And like this, the Babble for The Land of Uzu fully came to a close.
In this timeline, much like in the original, it was the first major conflict of the Second Great Shinobi War but it ended quite differently.
Uzushio stood and, despite being weakened by the inevitable losses, the Uzumaki clan remained strong.
If he was awake, Shiki would no doubt feel a great sense of accomplishment over the impact he already had on the shinobi world.
Unfortunately, he was still in a deep coma.
Even more importantly than that though, the boy's state was far from being purely recuperative.
The Ryumon Legacy was always a violent one, an inheritance found within the boundary between life and death . . .
Now, with his body falling apart, hovering near death and sustained only by the life energy within his Nirvana Seal, Shiki was becoming more in tune with it than ever before.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -