Chapter 338: Prelude to the Coming Storm
"I heard that someone visited you last night," Hagura said, squinting his eyes and smiling a little falsely.
Haruno Sakura was not surprised that he knew the news so quickly; rather, it would be surprising if they weren't monitoring this residence!
"And I quickly kicked them out," the girl said calmly.
She had not reached any illicit cooperation with those people, so naturally, she didn't need to feel guilty. She faced this question frankly and answered Hagura.
"Oh, really?" Hagura carefully sized up the candid Haruno Sakura and didn't pursue the matter further. "That's good."
"Don't worry, I'm always on your side," Haruno Sakura said with her hands on her hips. "For those smugglers to think they can move me with some petty profits, I can only say that they have a rich imagination."
Hagura laughed.
"Rich imagination..." he repeated, then asked, "Then what kind of benefits would tempt you?"
"At least give me power comparable to the Sage of the Six Paths!" The girl blinked her clear eyes and said with a smile. "Alright, let's ignore that. What's the plan for today? Did the Mizukage fail to convince them yesterday?"
"A bunch of blockheads, I can't convince them," Hagura said with a wry smile. "We'll show our faces in the meeting room first. Once the meeting starts, they'll definitely start arguing. At that time, Lady Mei Terumī will use that as an excuse to let us out. We can take the opportunity to escape and carry out the mission!"
Haruno Sakura looked at him steadily.
"That's really crude," she complained.
Hagura shook his head indifferently. "As long as it works. Let's go!"
They had already arrived at the door of the meeting room in the Mizukage's building, and the five of them pushed the door open and went in.
"Ah, the envoys from Konoha are here," the First Elder turned his head and said faintly. "Welcome."
Although he said welcome, the First Elder's tone carried a faint sarcasm.
Haruno Sakura glanced at him indifferently and revealed a contemptuous smile.
The air seemed to be filled with the smell of gunpowder. When the five of them sat down, Haruno Sakura clearly felt that the entire meeting room had been divided into two halves. Half of the people's eyes were friendly, while the other half had cold eyes, and she didn't know what they were thinking.
Team Haruno Sakura's arrival paused the intense debate for a dozen seconds. After they were seated, the Mist ninja continued to argue, completely ignoring the fact that the Konoha ninja were watching from the side.
Amidst the fierce quarreling, the few members of Team Haruno Sakura felt a little out of place.
"See, this is the result of yesterday's discussion," Hagura leaned over helplessly and whispered in Sakura's ear.
"Are these dissenters all from the Suikazan clan?" Sakura also lowered her head, covered her mouth, and asked softly.
"A small part of them are from the Suikazan clan and the small clans like the Sōno clan that are married to them. The others have either been won over by their petty favors or deceived by them, believing their rhetoric to be true. These people can be won over; they are not diehard loyalists of the Suikazan clan," Hagura whispered back. "That's why we need to collect evidence and win people's hearts."
Sakura glanced around. The Mist ninja's quarrel was intensifying, and some had even begun to resort to personal attacks.
She couldn't help but shake her head. Facts are the criterion for testing truth. Just like debates on the internet, sometimes truth cannot be explained by words. Often at such times, the debate escalates into abuse, and the topic escalates into personal attacks. It seems that they think that by criticizing and scolding the opponent, proving that he is an idiot, they can also prove that what he said is unreasonable.
Further escalation of online abuse leads to offline fights. There were many such examples in her previous life. However, if the people debating were ninja, then further escalation would be very dangerous...
"When do we start the mission?" Haruno Sakura asked with a headache.
Hagura glanced at Mei Terumī's face on the stage and said, "Soon. Lord Mizukage is about to lose control of her anger."
He was right. Sakura looked over, and sure enough, her face was so gloomy it was drooping, simply like a volcano that could erupt at any time.
On the other side, Hagura had already started the countdown: Ten, nine, eight...
Based on his deep understanding of Mei Terumī, probably when the countdown reached one, that would be when she exploded!
...Three, two—
A huge sound of slamming the table instantly drowned out the noise of the whole room! The ninja present were startled, stopped arguing, and turned to look at the person who had slammed the table on the rostrum.
—It was actually the First Elder!
Mei Terumī, whose face was full of anger, also looked over in surprise. She heard the First Elder snort coldly and reprimand the people below the stage, "Look at yourselves, arguing like this in front of Lord Mizukage and the Konoha envoys. What a disgrace!"
Haruno Sakura secretly rolled her eyes. Wasn't it you who directly challenged Mei Terumī yesterday? What are you pretending for...
The Fifth Mizukage didn't speak either, just watching the First Elder perform. He continued, "Arguing so outrageously, do you want to fight? Harujiao, Shimei, you two even drew your swords! Who gave you the guts to attack your comrades in the village, huh?"
The two ninja below the stage who looked the most impulsive immediately shivered, retracted their weapons, and sat down with their heads drooping, silent as cicadas in winter.
Under a round of scolding, the order in the meeting room immediately eased a lot. The First Elder's prestige was evident.
He looked to the other side again. "Tomoaki Sōno, I see you were arguing the most excitedly. What exactly is there to argue about? I'll give you a chance to say it in public!"
The corner of Mei Terumī's mouth curled up in a sneer, looking at the First Elder.
Singing a duet, very lively!
No matter what tricks they wanted to play in the meeting, after today, it would just be a farce; she wanted to see what kind of trouble they could stir up!
Tomoaki Sōno stood up excitedly, the flush on his face not yet dissipated, and shouted loudly, "I just stated a fact, and they scolded me and even wanted to hack me with swords!"
The acting is quite realistic. Haruno Sakura scoffed, sniffing at this.
The First Elder lowered his eyelids slightly and said slowly, "What did you say?"
"I said, Konoha just threw a dog bone, and some people in our village were so cheap that they lay on the ground like dogs to gnaw on it!" he shouted.
Mei Terumī frowned slightly.
As soon as these words came out.
The whole room was shocked!
This was simply a naked offense to half of the Mist ninja, and even the Fifth Mizukage was cursed by him as a cheap dog gnawing on handouts!
And Haruno Sakura and the others were not spared either. In this set of rhetoric, the four of them became useless dog bones casually sent by Konoha!
Sakura closed her eyes and took two deep breaths before suppressing the thought of jumping up directly and pressing him to the ground for a violent beating. He's already been beaten twice, hasn't he learned his lesson?
Mei Terumī's eyes already vaguely revealed killing intent. To openly insult the Mizukage and half the people of the Mist like this, was this a complete falling out!
She looked at the First Elder, her eyes narrowed slightly, carrying a dangerous divine light. She saw the latter scolding sternly, "Presumptuous! Who taught you to speak like this? Sōno Ran, Sōno Ichikuren, what a good son you've raised! Drag him down!"
Two ninja suddenly stood up from their seats, pulled long faces, crossed the crowd, and were about to drag away their son who had spoken wildly.
However, they heard Tomoaki Sōno speak extremely quickly before his parents walked over: "The last time Konoha sent people to visit our village, there were Sharingan and Byakugan users, and the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi. How much they valued us! After seeing the current situation of our village, they immediately changed to a vase-like little girl bringing three wet-behind-the-ears brats over! Don't you understand what they mean yet?"
At this time, the two people had already walked to Tomoaki's side, but they were not in a hurry to drag him away. Instead, they let him continue, "Everyone in the Mist, what do the people of Konoha take us Mist ninja for! The matter of establishing diplomatic relations is so important, yet they sent such insignificant pawns over. Look at their appearance, do they look like high-level ninja? And she even dares to call herself the Hokage's disciple. It is clear that Konoha has no sincerity in establishing diplomatic relations with us at all. They—"
"Are simply looking down on people!"
"With a partner like this for establishing diplomatic relations, do we still have to rush to stick our warm faces to their cold buttocks! We Mist ninja are not that cheap!"
After Tomoaki finished these words, his face was slapped twice by his father, and then he was dragged down.
A clumsy performance.
Haruno Sakura looked coldly at Tomoaki being dragged away, her expression indifferent. On the contrary, the three students behind her were trembling with anger, but they didn't dare to speak.
The atmosphere in the field was a bit strange. Quite a few people felt that his words made sense. Their eyes flickered, and they whispered to each other.
Others, including Mei Terumī, watched coldly from the sidelines.
The First Elder waited for a while before saying, "Although Tomoaki Sōno's words were vulgar and contradictory, I also have a similar small question... I would like to ask the Konoha envoy."
He looked at Haruno Sakura. Their gazes met in the air.
"Ask." Sakura's eyes were as cold as frost.
"I believe many people in the audience have the same question, and that is... is Konoha despising us?"
"In the end, you are questioning my strength, thinking that Konoha casually sent some Chunin and Genin to negotiate with you, so they don't value you, right?" The girl turned to the crowd below the stage and revealed a smile.
Sakura only found it funny. Those people had already tested her strength last night and knew that she was strong; now they wanted to confirm it again! Do they think Tomoaki Sōno is too weak to measure her power?
Or... is there another conspiracy?
Everyone present focused their eyes on Haruno Sakura.
Sakura and Hagura exchanged a hidden glance, and the latter nodded slightly.
"It's very simple. Anyone who doubts that I am not a Konoha Jonin, or questions my strength, can fight me and personally verify my strength. This way, you can clearly see how much Konoha values you!"
If you have any conspiracies, you can try them and see if you will break your head and bleed in front of absolute power!
Haruno Sakura's smile became unusually dangerous!
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