bigabreads Chapter 618 Hiruzen Sarutobi, you are still the same as before... your charm remains unchanged.
Chapter 618 Hiruzen Sarutobi, you are still the same as before... your charm remains unchanged.
That sentence was still buzzing in Mei Terumi's mind.
Kiln firing?
On this dock that had just been soaked in blood and fear, after dozens of Kaguya clan elites lay on the ground, their fates unknown, the first thing this unfathomable man from Konoha, this legendary ninja professor, cared about was whether his Lava Release technique could be used to fire ceramics.
What kind of thought process is this? Is it extreme contempt, or pure... madness?
She couldn't understand it; her mind felt like it was filled with a tangled mess.
Yagura's condition wasn't much better than hers.
His youthful face, which always feigned profundity, was now completely stiff.
He could even feel a slight vibration emanating from the enormous coral staff on his back, a vibration imperceptible to ordinary people, caused by the trembling of his own hands.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile deepened.
He strode off like a true tourist, his hands behind his back, walking leisurely half a step behind Yagura.
The twenty Anbu members behind Uchiha moved in perfect unison, like twenty shadows blending into the darkness, without making a sound.
The path from the dock to the Mizukage's office wasn't long, but for Yagura and Mei Terumi, it felt like walking on a red-hot iron plate, each step an ordeal.
The carnage perpetrated by the Kaguya clan was merely an appetizer.
What made them even more panicked was the look in the eyes of the villagers along the way.
Fear, numbness, and a glimmer of hope?
Yes, I'm looking forward to it.
When they saw the team representing Konoha, and the man walking at the very front, a faint light flickered in the eyes hidden behind the dilapidated doors and windows.
Yagura's heart sank to the bottom.
The Blood Mist Village is rotten to the core.
The villagers no longer believed that the village leaders could bring hope; they preferred to place their hopes on an outsider who had just brutally suppressed their compatriots.
What a tragedy this is.
Mei Terumi noticed even more details.
She saw that the girl named Hozuki Shiori twitched her nose twice unconsciously as she passed a stall selling dried grilled fish.
Hozuki Kaigetsu kept his head down the whole time, his gaze sweeping over the uneven stone path and the dilapidated wooden houses on both sides, muttering to himself as if he were calculating something.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was at the very front, simply walked and looked around.
His gaze swept over the child huddled in the corner, over the patched-up old fishing nets hanging outside, and over the pile of foul-smelling garbage in the corner.
He didn't say anything, but Mei Terumi felt that he had said everything.
This silence is more oppressive than any words.
Finally, we arrived at the Mizukage's office.
Pushing open the heavy wooden door, a strong smell of medicine wafted out.
The office was simply furnished, even rudimentary.
Directly opposite the door was a large desk. Behind the desk, a emaciated old man lay half-reclined in a chair, covered with a thick blanket. Only his cloudy eyes still managed to maintain a sliver of light.
Yuan Shi.
The acting elder of Kirigakure, a living fossil who has been active since the time of the Second Mizukage.
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi walk in, Genji struggled to get up, but was interrupted by a violent cough.
He coughed so hard it was excruciating, and his whole body curled up like a dried-up shrimp.
Yagura and Mei Terumi quickly stepped forward, one to soothe his breathing and the other to bring him a glass of water.
Hiruzen Sarutobi watched this scene quietly.
Looking at the man in front of him, who was at least twenty years older than himself, he felt a pang of sadness that surprised even himself.
In the original work, Master Yuan shouldn't have been like this.
Although this elder was old, he was tough and resolute, and was one of the village's most steadfast defenders.
Now, he is like an oil lamp about to burn out, with only a last glimmer of light remaining.
Did my arrival change everything?
"Elder Master Yuan,"
Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, his voice gentle and devoid of emotion, "It's been many years. How have you been?"
After finally stopping his cough, Yuan Shi raised his eyes, which were almost completely covered by his eyelids, and carefully examined Hiruzen Sarutobi. His cloudy gaze revealed complex emotions.
"The Third Hokage..."
His voice was like a worn-out bellows, "You... are still the same as before... as charming as ever."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward and, to everyone's astonishment, reached out and gently patted Genji's skinny arm.
"You've been working too hard."
This abrupt and seemingly unrelated statement struck a chord with Genji, Yagura, and Mei Terumi.
Overworked.
Yes, how can we not be overworked?
The Third Mizukage died in battle, and the village's elite forces were mostly lost in the Land of Whirlpools. Internal conflicts between bloodline limits and commoners intensified, and the Kaguya clan seized the opportunity to rise to power. The entire Hidden Mist Village was like a leaky, dilapidated ship, only held up by the old mast of Genji to prevent it from sinking immediately.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's slap and the words "You've worked too hard" seemed to instantly pierce through all his pretense and strength.
Master Yuan's lips moved, but in the end, it only turned into a long sigh.
He abandoned all pretense and harsh pretense, and said in an almost pleading tone, "Please sit, Hokage-sama... Kirigakure has nothing left to offer you."
The negotiations began in this bizarre way.
Beside the long table, hidden in the mist, Yuan Shi sat in the center, with Yagura and Terumi Mei seated on either side.
Kaguya Honebami was also brought in, like a tiger with its teeth pulled, exuding a violent aura that kept strangers at bay, yet she could only sit at the very end in humiliation.
On the Konoha side, Hiruzen Sarutobi took the seat of honor without hesitation.
Hozuki Kaigetsu and Hozuki Shio sat to his left.
Uchiha Shisui stood quietly behind Hiruzen Sarutobi, like a perfect sculpture. He didn't even sit down, but his presence carried more weight than anyone else who was sitting.
Mei Terumi personally served Hiruzen Sarutobi a cup of hot tea.
This was the best tea that Kirigakure could offer, but in the eyes of the people of Konoha, the tea soup was murky and the aroma was bland, making it unworthy of being served.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, didn't care at all.
He picked up his teacup, gently blew on the steam rising from the water, and sipped it slowly.
Then, there was silence.
A long, suffocating silence.
In the office, only the suppressed breathing of Master Yuan and the occasional rustling of tea leaves by Hiruzen Sarutobi could be heard.
Kaguya Honebami's fists clenched so tightly under the table that they cracked, and the veins on his forehead throbbed. Several times he wanted to slam his fist on the table, but each time he met the cold gaze from the other side and forcibly held back.
He was afraid.
Kaguya Honebami, the successor of the Shikotsumyaku (Shikotsumyaku) lineage and the most ferocious warrior of Kirigakure, experienced for the first time in his life what it meant to feel fear from the depths of one's soul.
That feeling was worse than death.
Yagura and Mei Terumi are also under tremendous psychological pressure.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's silence was like an invisible mountain weighing on their hearts.
He remained silent, not daring to speak first.
What did you say?
Condemning Konoha's atrocities? The dozens of still-bleeding bodies on the dock are the most merciless mockery.
Questioning Konoha's intentions would be tantamount to handing over the initiative in negotiations.
Time passed by, second by second.
The atmosphere in the office was as heavy as iron; the air seemed to have turned into thick syrup, making it difficult to breathe.
Hozuki Kaigetsu watched all of this.
He looked at Kaguya Honebami's face, twisted with anger and fear, and at Mei Terumi's furrowed brows.
This is an opportunity for him to prove himself, given to him by the Hokage.
The show of force at the docks was destructive. Now, it's up to him to rebuild.
If he cannot completely subdue his fellow villagers with words at this negotiating table, then he is not qualified to carry out the grand blueprint that he regards as divine revelation.
His hand, inside his sleeve, gripped the edge of the scroll tightly.