"Grass Ninja Village…", Inside the Hokage office, Aoba, who had just finished talking with Kazahana Koyuki, also felt quite surprised.
Not only Koyuki, even he himself could not figure out why the ninja of the Grass Ninja Village were not staying in their own village and instead chose to go to the Land of Snow at this time.
But he only thought about it for a moment before stopping.
He would just catch them when the time came and find out.
In any case, it was only the Grass Ninja Village.
Back when Tsunade was Hokage, she had always been rather against outward expansion, so she never made a move against that fence sitting Grass Ninja Village and planned to leave it to Aoba to handle.
Now that Aoba had become Hokage, he naturally had no more scruples.
Just in time, Karin's strength was already sufficient, and although Uzumaki Kasui had always focused mainly on medical ninjutsu, when it came to real combat, with Adamantine Sealing she was not weak either.
When the time came, the two of them could personally put an end to their old grudges.
Konoha could also take this chance to bring the Land of Grass under its control.
The environment of the Land of Grass was actually not bad. After all, it was next to the Land of Fire, so at least it was much better than Iwagakure and Sunagakure.
It was only because its national strength was insufficient, and because it happened to be stuck between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, often playing both sides and betraying allies, that it was so disliked.
And the reason it had been able to keep playing both sides for so long without being wiped out was largely because it knelt and surrendered quickly enough.
Plus, it also served as a war buffer zone. Even if it were destroyed, it would be hard to manage afterward, making it a thankless task, so no one ever bothered with it.
But once everything was unified, it would no longer have a reason to exist.
What is more, aside from the Grass Ninja Village, the Land of Grass also had the Demon Lantern Prison that the entire ninja world maintained together, specifically to hold special prisoners.
Even Kakuzu had once been locked up there for a while.
Having made up his mind, Aoba did not continue staying in his office and went to Konan's office next door.
At this time, Shizune was relaying Aoba's earlier instructions to Konan. She was a bit surprised to see him suddenly come over.
"Aoba, did you forget to say something else?", Shizune asked in confusion.
Aoba gently shook his head and smiled, "It's just that Koyuki contacted me just now. Something happened in the Land of Snow, and I need to go over there, so I'll have to leave the work to you for now."
When Shizune heard this, her heart immediately skipped a beat and she asked right away, "How long are you going for?"
Back when Tsunade was Hokage, she had already dumped most of the work on her. Was Aoba going to copy Tsunade now too?
"Uh… it shouldn't take long. I should be back by the afternoon."
Aoba guessed what Shizune was thinking and could not help feeling speechless, 'Am I really the type to slack off?'
Even when he did those things in the office, he did it inside a barrier space, all right.
His time management was absolutely not a problem.
"That's good. There are many things that need you to handle, so come back as soon as you can," Shizune obviously let out a sigh of relief.
As long as he was not dumping everything on her.
"..."
———
[Land of Snow]
Just as the three Grass ninja were quietly discussing things in the main hall.
Before long, there was movement from the back of the hall. As the doors were slowly pushed open, Kazahana Koyuki came out with her guards.
After sitting down in the main seat, she calmly swept her gaze over them, her eyes looking down at the three of them one by one.
Her expression did not change at all, remaining composed from start to finish.
"Envoys from the Land of Grass have come from far away. May I ask what business you have here?"
The glasses wearing jonin among the three smiled and immediately stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, we are jonin from the Land of Grass. We are passing through your country this time and wish to discuss cooperation between our countries with Your Majesty."
"Passing through? The Land of Snow is remote, and even farther from the Land of Grass. How could you be passing through?", Kazahana Koyuki said coldly. She knew their intentions were not pure and could not be bothered with polite talk.
"Hehe! Although the Land of Snow is remote and the environment harsh, the Land of Grass has always loved to help other countries. So after learning of your country's difficult situation, we had the intention to cooperate and help your country change its current predicament."
The glasses wearing Grass ninja made things up with a calm face. He could spout nonsense like this all day.
"Change our predicament? Then I would like to hear what kind of cooperation you have in mind,".Kazahana Koyuki looked down at them and asked calmly.
"As fellow small countries, we naturally understand how hard it is for small countries to develop. If we reach a cooperation, the Land of Grass is willing to inject funds into the Land of Snow, helping its development in the economy, military, and all other aspects."
The glasses wearing Grass ninja confidently and calmly explained the contents of their cooperation.
"Oh?", Kazahana Koyuki raised an eyebrow. It was not that she was interested in their so called cooperation, but that she realized that if possible, they might be able to get a large sum of money for free.
"This cooperation sounds somewhat interesting. But… what is the price?"
"The price is that the Land of Snow must become our vassal. Of course, this can still be discussed. As for how to discuss it…"
The arrogant Grass ninja spoke up, a ferocious grin on his face.
"…that will depend on whether the Land of Snow has that kind of strength."
That was already basically a threat.
The glasses wearing Grass ninja frowned slightly and could not help scolding him, "That's enough. We came to negotiate with sincerity, not to invade with weapons."
"Tch!"
The arrogant Grass ninja just clicked his tongue and did not say anything else.
The glasses wearing Grass ninja then looked back at Kazahana Koyuki on the throne and put on a smile again, "We are willing to provide money and military force to show our sincerity. I trust the Land of Snow will not disappoint us, right?"
Kazahana Koyuki quietly watched this painfully fake act. Instead of getting angry, she actually smiled.
"Of course. Your terms are indeed very sincere. However, this matter is extremely important, and the Land of Snow is not mine alone. Please give us some time to discuss it. How about we give you our answer tomorrow?"
The three exchanged looks, all showing joy and relief in their eyes.
After all, this was a major matter of national cooperation. Asking for just one day to think it over was perfectly reasonable.
Besides, they believed that the Land of Snow would not dare to play tricks in front of the three of them. If they were pushed too far, they could directly cause destruction in the Land of Snow.
With the little strength they had seen today, it would be hard for them to stop the three of them.
So they did not object and happily agreed to the request.
After the three from the Land of Grass left, the smile on Kazahana Koyuki's face gradually cooled and turned into a sneer.
Asama Sandayu, who had been standing not far from her, also frowned slightly and bowed to Kazahana Koyuki.
"Lady Koyuki, those people…"
"No need to worry about them. Sandayu, go handle your own affairs. You don't need to worry about this."
Kazahana Koyuki waved her hand casually, "Someone will come deal with it later."
Aoba was about to come over. It was still early. If there was no rush, maybe they could even go out on a date later.
She had already started thinking about where to go have fun with Aoba.
Hearing this, Asama Sandayu only raised his head slightly.
Seeing his daimyo's look, how could he not know what was going on. He only opened his mouth but did not speak.
After acknowledging, he slowly retreated.
———
Elsewhere, after the three from the Grass Ninja Village left the Snow Country palace, they split up.
They planned to gather more information about the Land of Snow.
But not long after they split up, one of them was already ambushed by ninja who had been hiding in the dark for a long time, wearing Iwagakure headbands, and was bagged and tied up.
[T/N: I hope you all are enjoying and if you are, please do give some reviews, be it bad or good, and keep commenting in the chapters to let me know that there are actually people reading it. It makes my day and I really read every single comment that comes on every one of the books. Have a nice day, y'all~]