Once the Leaf camp had been fully set up, they did nothing, instead, they waited, it was deliberate even, after all they were the dominant party, the ones holding hostages, the ones who had won the last exchange, so the burden of initiating talks did not fall on them.
As expected, about an hour after the camps were completed, representatives from both the Cloud and the Stone approached the midpoint under white flags. The discussion was brief, formal, and carefully worded. Time for negotiations was agreed upon, two hours later, in a neutral tent erected exactly between the three encampments.
Two hours passed slowly.
The wind rolled across the plains in low whistles.
When the appointed time arrived, the negotiation tent stood ready, large, circular, with three entrances facing each respective camp. Inside, a triangular table had been arranged so no village would sit at the "head."
Equal angles and equal visibility or at least, the illusion of equality.
The first to arrive were the Stone representatives.
Two S-rank shinobi entered without ceremony and took their seats calmly. Aoto Suzuki and Yuito Sato. They wore the neutral expressions of veterans who had survived too many wars to be rattled by theatrics. Their posture was relaxed, but their chakra presence filled the tent like dense rock, heavy and grounded.
They did not speak, they simply waited.
A few minutes later, the flap on the Cloud's side burst open with considerably more energy.
"Yo yo, Eight-Tails flow, let the real one speak,
Heard y'all caught some Stone and Cloud, now you lookin' kinda weak.
Negotiations table but the tension real thick,
Better talk polite, or I rhyme real slick! Fool!"
Killer B strode in with rhythm in his step, sunglasses glinting under the filtered light. His presence was loud, but not careless. The man might clown around, but his chakra was coiled like a beast ready to snap.
Behind him walked Darui, composed and quiet as always. He gave the Stone S-rankers a brief glance as he sat down, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
'So Onoki didn't come himself,' Darui thought. 'Instead he sends the fake defectors.'
Everyone in the shinobi world knew the story.
Aoto and Yuito had "defected" from the Stone years ago. After that, they had been involved in a string of high-profile assassinations across minor nations. Whenever accusations surfaced, the Stone Village would simply state that the actions were those of rogue ninjas, nothing more.
There was no pursuit, no bounty and no outrage. Which meant one thing, they weren't rogue at all.
Darui understood the message immediately. Onoki hadn't come because he didn't need to. These two were enough. They were deniable assets, but when they sat openly at the negotiation table, that denial itself became a statement.
The tent flap rustled again.
From the Leaf side entered Homura Mitokado, accompanied by two senior advisers. Notably absent were the heavyweights.
That absence was also deliberate as Darui noticed.
He leaned back slightly, folding his arms. Since only Homura had arrived among the Leaf's top brass, this was an opportunity to test the waters, to probe for weakness before the real players appeared.
He smiled faintly.
"Homura-san," he began smoothly, voice light but edged underneath, "the Leaf has been making quite a bit of noise recently. There's been talk… about Danzo. Quite dramatic, from what we've heard."
It wasn't an innocent question, it was bait.
If the Leaf showed instability, if they admitted internal fracture, it would weaken their negotiating position immediately.
Homura barely shifted his gaze toward Darui and his expression did not change.
"He was a stain on the Leaf's prestigious name," Homura replied calmly, voice even. "Such stains are removed when discovered. The matter has already been handled internally."
He adjusted the sleeve of his robe slightly, as if bored.
"There is no need for distinguished individuals such as yourselves to concern yourselves with our domestic hygiene. While cleaning up that particular mess, we also took the opportunity to remove several… foreign contaminants from within the village."
The words were polite.
The meaning was not.
[Translation: Yes, it was our problem. We dealt with it, and while we were at it, we eliminated your spies.]
For a brief second, the air in the tent tightened. Darui's smile didn't disappear, but his eyes sharpened.
He understood perfectly, the leaf was going with strong-arm diplomacy. They weren't hiding anything. They were stating it openly, without stating it openly.
Killer B tilted his head slightly, tapping the table rhythmically with two fingers, as if the subtext amused him.
Across the table, Aoto from the Stone side finally spoke for the first time, voice low and gravelly.
"The Leaf seems… confident."
Homura folded his hands calmly on the table.
"The Leaf has every reason to be."
Silence followed and the tent flap lifted again.
This time, the temperature inside seemed to shift before anyone even saw who entered.
Itachi walked in first.
He moved quietly, without flair, without unnecessary presence. His expression was composed, almost detached, but there was something different about him. His chakra felt… deeper and smoother. Like a blade that had been reforged.
He took his seat to Homura's right after leaving one seat in the middle without a word.
The scrutiny in the tent sharpened immediately. Darui's eyes lingered on him. Aoto's gaze narrowed slightly. Even Killer B stopped tapping the table for a moment.
Then the flap lifted again.
Ren walked in with swagger.
He didn't look around to assess the room. He didn't measure the atmosphere. He simply walked forward and pulled out the central seat of the Leaf delegation, positioned between Homura and Itachi and sat down like it had always belonged to him.
He leaned back comfortably, one arm resting lazily on the chair's backrest.
The message was clear.
He wasn't a supporting member.
He was leading.
Aoto from the Stone Village frowned immediately.
"What is this, Homura-san?" he said, tone firm but not yet hostile. "You do not expect us to discuss matters of this magnitude with two children, do you? Perhaps you should call Jiraiya. Or even Kakashi Hatake. At the very least, someone with… experience."
The insult wasn't subtle, it wasn't meant to be.
Negotiations were warfare without weapons. If you could destabilize the opposing side emotionally, you gained ground before numbers were even spoken.
The tent waited to see how the Leaf would respond however Homura did not move and Itachi did not blink.
Ren, however, did something none of them expected. He leaned back further in his chair, completely relaxed, almost amused.
"Alright then," Ren said casually, as if discussing market prices. "For those words just now, two Stone shinobi currently in our custody will be executed."
He paused briefly, tapping a finger against the armrest.
"Alternatively, I can take one arm from your commander, Kitsuchi. Your choice, I'm flexible."
Silence.
Not the tense kind, the absolute kind. Even Killer B stopped moving and Darui's eyes sharpened instantly.
Aoto's expression froze, not because he was frightened, but because this wasn't how negotiations were supposed to begin.
Threats were implied, not declared, pressure was applied subtly, not bluntly and yet Ren had just thrown a blade onto the table without hesitation.
Homura did not intervene and Itachi did not react. Which meant this wasn't improvisation, this was policy.
Aoto slowly exhaled through his nose.
For a split second, he remembered Onoki's warning before departure.
"Do not treat Ren Senju like a child. He is not one. He has the strength of someone who trained a lifetime, and he does not think like the Leaf shinobi of the past. If you corner him, he will not compromise, he will escalate. Keep discussions directed at Homura. Avoid provoking the boy."
At the time, Aoto had assumed the Tsuchikage was exaggerating.
Now, sitting across from Ren, he understood.
The kid wasn't posturing. There was no anger in his voice, no emotion at all. Just a statement of consequence and that was the dangerous part.
Darui leaned forward slightly, breaking the silence before it hardened into escalation.
"Surely," Darui said carefully, tone even, "we can agree that executions before negotiations begin would be… counterproductive."
Ren glanced at him.
"Counterproductive for whom?" Ren asked mildly.
The question wasn't rhetorical and Darui didn't answer immediately.
Ren continued, still calm. "You ambushed me on neutral border territory. You brought a Jinchuriki, an S-rank sensor, a commander-level shinobi and hundreds of troops. That is not a misunderstanding, that is a military operation."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I did not declare war afterward, I did not march on your villages, I did not display the corpses publicly."
His eyes shifted to Aoto.
"And yet you walk into this tent and open by calling us children."
The air grew heavier.
Killer B leaned back in his chair, sunglasses reflecting the tent's dim light.
"Yo, yo, this kid ain't playin',
Stone talk slick, now they prayin'."
Darui shot B a sideways look but didn't interrupt.
Itachi finally spoke.
His voice was calm, almost soft, cutting through the lingering tension without force.
"Calm down, Ren-san," he said lightly, as if addressing an overexcited teammate rather than the acting head of a major delegation. "They only spoke out of line because of our age. I'm sure they won't let something as small as that put a damper on the negotiations, right?"
His dark eyes shifted toward the Stone representatives, it was subtle opening and Yuito Sato, who had been silent until now, immediately caught the rope Itachi had thrown.
"That's right," Yuito said quickly, forcing a faint smile. "We are here for important discussions. Aoto-san did not mean disrespect. It was merely… unfortunate phrasing."
Aoto did not contradict him.
Ren leaned back again, drumming his fingers once against the table.
"Hm," he hummed lazily. "See that it doesn't happen again."
And just like that, the edge receded.
Darui watched the exchange without missing a single beat.
Good cop, bad cop.
Textbook, except the "bad cop" had started by threatening amputations before even introducing demands.
If someone who studied negotiation theory had been sitting there, they would've torn their own notes in frustration. You were supposed to anchor with numbers first, not blood.
But that was precisely why it worked.
Ren had destabilized the baseline. Itachi had restored civility. Now the Leaf delegation appeared reasonable, because they had already demonstrated what unreasonable looked like.
Darui's eyes flicked briefly between Ren and Itachi.
Two days ago, Ren Senju had been publicly declared successor to the Hokage. Now he was sitting at the head of the table.
Itachi, who until recently had been at the center of clan tension, was clearly aligned beside him, not in rivalry, but in coordination.
That alone changed everything.
The Senju–Uchiha friction had defined Konoha's internal balance for decades. If that subtle rivalry truly ended under this generation, then the Leaf would become frighteningly unified.
No Danzo pulling strings from shadows.
No divided leadership.
Just raw strength and a clear direction.
Darui's mind worked quickly.
'We cannot increase top-tier power in the short term,' he thought grimly. The Raikage was the pillar. He himself was rising and there was Eight-Tails and Two-Tails. But beyond that, their S-rank bracket was thin. If conflict escalated, they would struggle in prolonged war.
'Then we increase numbers, expand trained forces and strengthen mid-tier command.'
But then he shook the thought away. This was not the time to think about future mobilization.
The negotiation had finally begun.
Homura cleared his throat.
Unlike Ren's casual dominance or Itachi's measured calm, Homura's presence carried the weight of bureaucracy and experience. He unfolded a scroll slowly, deliberately.
"For the transgression of Cloud and Stone shinobi crossing the Fire Nation's border and attempting to assassinate the future Hokage of the Leaf," he began, voice steady and formal, "we present the following demands for compensation."
The tent grew quiet.
"Two hundred million ryo each for Kitsuchi of the Stone and Yugito Nii of the Cloud."
Darui's eyebrow twitched slightly but Homura continued without pause.
"Ten million ryo for each captured Jonin. Five million ryo for each Chunin."
The air thickened.
"In addition," Homura went on calmly, "the Stone Village will reduce heavy earth fortifications near the Fire–Earth border."
Aoto's expression hardened immediately.
"The Cloud Village," Homura continued, "will refrain from organizing any large-scale troop concentration near the Fire border for the next twenty years."
Killer B stopped tapping his fingers entirely now.
"Furthermore, one hundred kilograms of Earth-attribute chakra metal from the Stone, and one hundred kilograms of Lightning-attribute chakra metal from the Cloud. An additional fifty kilograms of neutral chakra metal from each."
Darui's calm face finally showed the faintest crack.
"And," Homura finished evenly, "future chakra metal purchases by the Leaf shall receive a forty percent discount."
He closed the scroll gently.
"Lastly, both villages will issue a public acknowledgment that the aggression originated from their side."
Silence fell over the tent like a heavy cloth, not in tension but in shock.
Even in negotiation culture, where exaggerated demands were expected, this was beyond inflation.
This wasn't anchoring high.
This was daylight robbery with official seals.
~~~~~
{Writing Ren acting all crazy is so fun, especially when he casually threatens to kill or take an arm away.}
{Also, do you want a Ren vs Killer B rap battle?}
{One more thing, the two S-Rankers from the stone are OC's obviously, I did this to make some balance after a lot of you suggested I do something like this, to not make the leaf too one-sided and I agree completely.
So, except from the Sand (or maybe sand too) each village will gain some additional S-Rankers, not too many, but just enough that they aren't too weak as compared to the leaf, hope you don't have any problem with it.}