Chapter 348: Epilogue: Cooperation
Mei Terumī looked at Haruno Sakura with a smile.
"Don't tell me that the previous letter was the real handwritten letter." She said with a smile, her eyes curving. "It was mostly official jargon, meant to fool the First Elder, right?"
Haruno Sakura smiled faintly, admiring the woman's perceptiveness.
"I'm sorry, we didn't know if you had substantive control over the Mist, so the previous letter could only be written like that."
Some things could only be discussed with the Mist under Mei Terumī's rule, especially some intelligence about the Akatsuki!
If it were written in the letter from the beginning, it was hard to say whether the Akatsuki spies hidden in the Mist, like the First Elder who was discovered later, would report to the so-called Uchiha Madara!
"This letter contains what my master really wants to say." Sakura looked around, then unbuttoned her Jonin vest, took out a letter from the inner lining of her clothes, and handed it to Mei Terumī.
The Fifth Mizukage took the letter, which was still a little warm, and read it in the sunlight.
Unlike the previous letter, this one omitted the opening pleasantries and nonsense, and got straight to the point in a very Tsunade-esque style.
Mei Terumī only read the first few paragraphs, then looked up at Haruno Sakura in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Haruno Sakura was putting her clothes back on. Sensing her gaze, she asked a little strangely, "Did my master say anything?"
"It's full of substance!" She waved the letter paper in her hand and said with a smile.
The first issue discussed with the Fifth Mizukage in the handwritten letter was the handling of ninja or property originally belonging to the Land of Water that had ended up in Konoha Village.
Mei Terumī looked the girl up and down, looking at her face and hair with interest, and said, "Haruno Sakura, excuse me for asking, but your Ice Style... do you have Yuki blood?"
"Hehe... of course not!" Sakura laughed dryly.
There were some people in the village who liked to gossip, and there were rumors about the color of the hat of one of her direct male relatives. (1)
The rumors were quite vivid.
Since there were members of the Terumi clan in Konoha, it wouldn't be surprising if there were members of the Yuki clan. Changing their names and living in Konoha as ordinary ninja or something, and the Yuki clan was famous for handsome men and beautiful women. Maybe someone couldn't control themselves, and someone's head turned green. That would be a very normal thing...
Such rumors were only whispered in private and couldn't affect her family; especially after Haruno Sakura's strength rose, she was promoted to Jonin, and stood at the pinnacle of Konoha ninja, these rumors completely disappeared.
In the past year, no one had dared to arrange her like this in private.
So hearing the Fifth Mizukage say this, she was a bit dumbfounded. Sakura hurriedly clarified, "I mastered the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai myself!"
"Is that so..." Mei Terumī pondered for a moment. "The characteristic of the Yuki clan is black hair and black eyes. It seems you really developed Ice Style yourself. Amazing!"
"It was also a coincidence!" Haruno Sakura said modestly. "You have two Kekkei Genkai, much more amazing than me!"
Her situation was similar to Mei Terumī's. She had an innate spiritual aptitude suitable for cultivating Kekkei Genkai, which saved her years of hard work practicing Wind Style.
However, the difference was that Mei Terumī's strength lay entirely in the two Kekkei Genkai she had developed. Boil Style had extremely strong attack power, and Lava Style had both offense and defense. among ninjutsu-type Kage-level ninja, she was also a very strong type!
As for Haruno Sakura, even without using Ice Style, her strength would not be greatly reduced; relying on the Sakura Rush secret technique, the Yin Seal secret technique, nin-taijutsu, and Water Style alone was enough for her to rank among the Kage level!
"Let's not flatter each other," Mei Terumī stopped their mutual flattery and said seriously. "Zabuza's Executioner's Blade and the Ice Style girl who used to be with him are now in your village, right!"
"Eh?" Haruno Sakura blinked, not knowing whether to answer this question truthfully.
"Don't underestimate our Mist intelligence capabilities!" Mei Terumī had already seen the answer in the girl's somewhat flickering eyes.
Although this Konoha girl was strong, she wasn't proficient enough in lying!
She smiled. It turned out that besides the awe-inspiring side during battle, she also had such a green side. This reminded Mei Terumī of Chōjūrō.
"Before, you and Orochimaru made such a big noise in the Land of Waves. That place is not too far from us. I was worried that it would threaten the safety of the Mist, so I sent someone to check. The result was some very interesting discoveries!" She shook her slender, scallion-white index finger and said, "It turns out you Konoha killed Zabuza here, and also took away the girl beside him..."
Since Mei Terumī had said all this, Sakura knew it was useless to deny it.
"Yuki Haku is already a ninja of our Konoha."
Mei Terumī stared at her for a few seconds.
"Is her name Yuki Haku? A very nice name... but you didn't even plan to hide her surname!"
She paused and added, "The Mist Village in the Land of Water is Yuki Haku's hometown. She was born here. Her mother's clan, the Yuki clan, was once one of the initial cornerstones of the Mist Village... Now the Mist Village has re-implemented the policy of peace and openness, welcoming the ninja who were forced to leave the Mist back then to return home!"
Mei Terumī wanted to take advantage of Konoha's request to the Mist to let the Yuki clan return to the Mist.
As Konoha's representative, Haruno Sakura naturally had to reject her righteously.
"I understand what you mean, but Konoha is now Haku's new home. She cannot and will not be willing to leave Konoha." Haruno Sakura said firmly, "Haku is my friend!"
"What if someone is willing to return? They were originally ninja of the Mist Village!"
"In principle, no matter who they were before, as long as they are registered, they are Konoha ninja and cannot leave the village casually, otherwise it is tantamount to treason." On such a matter of principle, Sakura would certainly not relent.
Mei Terumī curled her lips. "You really are a blockhead. Can't you accommodate a little! Forget it, let's put this aside for now. You can't fully represent Konoha Village and decide such things."
Her eyes rolled, and she said, "Then what about the Executioner's Blade? It hasn't been registered by you, has it!"
Mei Terumī's negotiation technique was to first propose an impossible condition for Haruno Sakura to reject first. According to human nature, the other party would think that since they had already rejected the first condition, it would be difficult to reject the second request.
Although the technique was rough, the opponent was even more inexperienced.
However, Haruno Sakura's response was also simple.
"Ahem, this matter is of great importance, and I can't decide either."
When encountering difficult questions, just say you don't have the authority. This was Tsunade's advice.
"Besides, if it is to be returned, should Ao's Byakugan also be returned to our Konoha?"
Mei Terumī was instantly anxious. "That's different. This is our spoils of war!"
Compared to the Byakugan, the strategic value of the Executioner's Blade was not that great. Previously, finding the secret base and warehouse of the Suikazan clan was thanks to Ao's Byakugan!
"The Executioner's Blade is also our spoils of war!" Sakura said somewhat amusingly. "You can't have a double standard."
If she had to choose one of the two, what would Mei Terumī choose? Haruno Sakura looked into her eyes and felt that she would mostly choose the Byakugan.
However, Mei Terumī said, "First, the Executioner's Blade is stolen goods taken from the Mist Village by Zabuza, and should be returned to us; second, there are only seven ninja swords in total, while your Byakugan can always have new Hyuga clansmen born; third, your Konoha simply doesn't have matching sword techniques, and there aren't even ninja who use large swords. What's the use of keeping the Executioner's Blade!"
"Sophistry!" Sakura dismissed her reasons with a light sentence. "In short, I don't agree! If you have any other ideas, talk directly to Lord Fifth Hokage."
"You don't agree to this, you don't agree to that!" Mei Terumī rolled her eyes. "Then where is your sincerity?"
"Don't worry, look down. There should be more content below!"
The Fifth Mizukage shook her head and continued reading the letter.
"Inviting the Mist Village to participate in this year's Chunin Exams?"
When she read this, she was a little dazed.
Hadn't the remaining four great ninja villages always excluded the Mist Village from the mainland?
Mist ninja appearing on the stage of the Chunin Exams in a mainland country, how many years had it been since this happened?
Konoha's invitation was equivalent to bringing the Mist Village into the field of vision of the mainland countries, giving them a hand up, and giving them an excellent opportunity to advertise!
This meant that from now on, the Mist would also receive mission orders from mainland countries!
"This is to help you announce to the world that the Mist has shaken off the name of the Village of the Bloody Mist and implemented a policy of peace and openness." Haruno Sakura explained. "Consider it a call for peace."
In this way, three ninja villages would achieve a fragile but at least superficial peace.
On the Sand Ninja side, Gaara was also aiming for the position of Kazekage. His performance in the past year or two had been obvious to all. In the hearts of many people, he had already shaken off the image of a brutal and cold Jinchuriki, and there was great hope for him to become the Kazekage. With his relationship with Naruto, Sakura, and others, as their status in their respective ninja villages became higher and higher, the alliance between the Sand and Konoha would become stronger and stronger!
In this alliance that had not yet been formally established, Konoha had the strongest strength and the most resources, and shared a meal with two younger brothers, naturally occupying the top position of the three-country alliance.
Leaving aside who was second between the Mist and the Sand, the remaining Stone Village and Cloud Village among the five great ninja villages would also pay more attention to Konoha's opinions from now on.
Although Konoha had made concessions, it did not mean that Konoha's interests would be damaged. After achieving peaceful coexistence among the three countries, resources would complement each other, the economy would become more active, and after the cake was made bigger, although Konoha's share would be reduced slightly, there would be more to eat.
As for the Sand and the Mist, they could naturally get more mission orders from a more prosperous economy and get their own benefits.
This could be considered the result of the win-win policy implemented by Tsunade since she took office in recent years.
In contrast, war is a zero-sum game, or even a lose-lose game.
Mei Terumī took a deep breath and slowly calmed down.
With this invitation as a foundation, the following content was not a big deal.
"Open up the trade channel between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water?" Mei Terumī smiled and nodded. "This is as it should be!"
As long as it wasn't the Treaty of Nanking, mutual exchange was a win-win situation. The Mist had many advantageous industries, such as ninja tool manufacturing: the seven ninja swords were their masterpieces!
Of course, this was only a general intention, and the specific agreement would be discussed in detail later.
She continued reading.
"Intelligence sharing on the Akatsuki? No problem." Mei Terumī had no objection to this point either. One of the most important reasons for establishing diplomatic relations with Konoha was to cooperate against the threat of the "Akatsuki."
The next few items of cooperation had no major objections, and the intention was finalized.
Then the next one.
Mei Terumī's body shook violently.
"The Three-Tails, Isobu?"
For a whole paragraph, she only read out this noun.
(1) "Wearing a green hat" is a Chinese idiom for being cuckolded.
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