"Uchiha!"
When Todai's body was returned to the Cloud Hidden Ninja Village by the members of the mission who carried the humiliating unequal treaty, these three words were written out one by one by the third generation Raikage with his thick hand, and he was asked to hang it up. Inside the Raikage's office.
Organizations such as Kumogakure ANBU also followed suit and hung similar words in their department areas to show that they did not forget the shame.
In fact, the reason why Kumogakure made such a large-scale compromise was because it suddenly fell at a disadvantage in the war with Kirigakure. The last Kumogakure elite was forced to be transferred to the coastal areas to resist Kirigakure's massive invasion.
On the first day that Dodai was under house arrest as an envoy to the shogunate, Kirigakure suddenly used his six-tailed jinchūriki in a seemingly ordinary small team attack, defeating the Kumogakure ninja army who came to encircle and suppress them in one fell swoop, and tore them apart. Split Yunyin's coastal defense line, launched a large-scale land offensive, captured all the coastal counties and cities of the Kingdom of Thunder in one fell swoop, and directed its troops towards the Daming Mansion of the Country of Thunder.
Moreover, when the Third Raikage learned that the Kirigakure Ninja Army had begun to gather on a large scale, he immediately led his troops out in an attempt to annihilate Kirigakure in one fell swoop in order to end the Coastal War. Then he went south to fight the Konoha Iwagakure Ninja Army for a decisive battle. Sanshouyu Hanzo teamed up to repel the third generation Mizukage who signed the first unequal treaty in the ninja world and also appeared on the battlefield and started a fierce battle with the third generation Raikage.
The result was unexpected. With his extremely exquisite water escape, surprisingly powerful fire escape and superb genjutsu, the third generation Mizukage, who was generally regarded as a weak and incompetent person by Kumogakure ninjas, even suppressed the third generation Raikage in the battle, and in the sixth Led by the Tail Jinchuuriki and the Black Hoe Raiga, the Kirigakure Ninja Army defeated the Kumogakure Ninja Army who accompanied the Third Raikage in the battle, and the Third Raikage also fled.
After this battle, the number of Kumogakure's ninja soldiers who were killed, seriously injured, or missing was as high as 2,000. Adding in the number of casualties caused by the ninja troops who went south and the previous tug-of-war for coastal defense, Kumogakure's cumulative battle deaths and injuries reached nearly 10,000 people. many!
And there are only so many ninjas in Kumogakure!
Excluding the non-registered genin of the ninja school, even if Kumogakure squeezes out all the remaining power of each ninja clan, he will only be able to form a ninja army of more than 5,000 people at most.
As for the more than 5,000 Kumogakure, at most they could barely maintain a stalemate in the defensive battle with Kirigakure, who suddenly exploded with menacing force. As for the Konoha Iwagakure in the southern part of the Kingdom of Thunder, there was really nothing they could do.
It was during this battle that the Third Raikage truly realized the strength gap between Kumogakure and Konoha.
Although Kumogakure is extremely dissatisfied with the title of the second ninja village in the ninja world and has been eager to compete with Konoha for a while, judging from Konoha's invincible record in defeating the three great ninja villages of rock, sand and fog for the second time, Combined with the current record of the decisive battle with Kirigakure, Kumogakure is still far from the number one ninja village!
But Kumogakure didn't realize the reality until now. It was too late.
But fortunately, the Raikage mobilized all the forces in time to block the intelligence channels, so that the defeat of the battle with Kirigakure would not spread so quickly to the Konoha Iwagakure coalition forces in the south who were preparing for war.
But then Dodai sent the peace terms back to the village, which made the Third Raikage and other Kumogakure core mistakenly believe that Konoha and Iwagakure had learned of Kumogakure's defeat immediately, and had even secretly joined forces with Kirigakure, so they had no choice but to do so. Under this situation, Kumogakure, who was afraid that the foundation of the Shinobu Village would be overturned, could only accept all the truce proposals and conditions proposed by Uchiha Tokumitsu.
He didn't even have the courage to bargain, for fear that the Konohagakure coalition forces would suddenly move northward, and Kumogakure would not be able to escape the disaster of overthrow and destruction.
As for why Dodai, who is currently negotiating, was not informed of the details of the battle with Kirigakure and the current predicament of the village, firstly, it was because the senior management of Kumogakure believed that Dodai had learned the inside story from the coalition forces, and secondly, they were too guilty to say more for fear of leaking the village. The “truth” of defense emptiness.
In this way, after signing the humiliating armistice treaty, Todai failed to insist on returning to Ninja Village due to the inner torture, so he committed suicide. The senior Kumogakure who learned about the negotiation process also fell into deep self-blame.
"It was us who killed Tutai..."
In the Raikage's office, the Third Raikage stared at the dazzling "Uchiha" sticker hanging in front of the door and sighed.
"Lord Raikage, please don't blame yourself, Kumogakure still needs you to shoulder the heavy responsibility and fight against the hateful Kirigakure invader!"
A group of Yunyin high-level officials advised him one after another.
After losing all the tailed beasts, the only strongest fighting force that Kumogakure could rely on was the Third Raikage. If he made a mistake, Kumogakure would be in a state of destruction in an instant.
Therefore, it is meaningless to investigate who is right and who is wrong in this critical moment. The most important thing is how to get Kirigakure to withdraw from the territory of the Kingdom of Thunder.
In the armistice treaty signed with Konoha and Iwagakure, abandoning vassal states, ceding territory, giving up tailed beast claims, etc. were all done, and there was no choice but to give up.
Although it was embarrassing to send envoys to Mito Kadoba and Sarutobi Shinnosuke to apologize and express condolences, Dodai could endure the humiliation and sign an unequal treaty with Konoha and Iwagakure, so it was not a big deal for them to endure the humiliation and burden for the village.
Faced with the cruel reality, the senior executives of Kumogakure have also realized that they must bow to the enemy for the sake of the village.
But the biggest problem before Yunyin is the 20 billion taels of war compensation.
And it has to be a golden judge!
As the hard currency used by major countries to issue circulating banknotes, gold standard is the foundation for the stability of a major country's financial system. Under the gold standard currency system, the currency value of the five major countries is basically the same as the so-called "gold content" and can freely circulate on its own. exchange.
With Yunyin's current savings after many wars, he cannot afford a gold award worth 20 billion.
Therefore, we can only ask the Daimyo for help again for this compensation.
The name of the country of thunder is also in a dilemma.
Although he was a firm supporter of Raikage's expansion policy, and although he understood the sacrifices Raikage had made to preserve the Ninja Village, he could not bear such heavy damage.
It was okay for the southern territory to be occupied by Konoha Iwagakure. After all, the situation was stronger than the people. Kumogakure was currently unable to regain it, and the Raikage also promised that he would regain the lost territory after reviving the ninja army in the future, so the daimyo agreed.
But if another 20 billion gold coins are withdrawn from his treasury, the monetary system of the Country of Thunder will face collapse.
Because the banknotes of the Kingdom of Thunder are also over-issued, the actual banknotes that have been issued far exceed the number of gold coins in the warehouse. However, due to the influence of one of the five major countries and the trust of the Kingdom of Thunder, wealthy businessmen and foreign nobles who hold large amounts of currency do not have Redeem immediately.
But if the news of the withdrawal of the 20 billion gold award is leaked, the Kingdom of Thunder's treasury will face an unimaginable run on the country's treasury, which will be a devastating blow to the financial system of Kingdom of Thunder.
And once confidence in a country's finances is lost, it will be much harder to regain it in the future.
Therefore, the Daimyo of the Land of Thunder also put forward a condition, which is that the payment method of war reparations is 10 billion worth of gold awards and 10 billion banknotes of the Land of Thunder, and strives to allow Uchiha Tokumitsu to falsely claim that the compensation is Kumogakure. The payment method is 20 billion Thunder Country banknotes.
In this way, it can indeed alleviate the inventory pressure of the Kingdom of Thunder, but how to get Uchiha Tokko to agree to such conditions is difficult.
Moreover, if Uchiha Tokimitsu takes the initiative to change the compensation method agreed in the treaty at this time, and if Uchiha Tokumitsu blatantly takes the opportunity to tear up the treaty after learning about the actual difficulties Kumogakure is currently facing, then the trouble will be big.
However, Kumogakure's senior officials also understood the Daimyo's concerns, so they had no choice but to comply and go back to discuss countermeasures on their own.
"Send the envoy south..."
After discussing for a long time, there was still no result. The elder Kumogakure paused his crutches and sighed: "Continue to talk to that brat of the Uchiha family, even if it costs more in other aspects, there will be no hesitation!"
"But the daimyo is obviously rich..."
Another Kumogakure executive muttered: "Why do we have to be so embarrassed to have such a shameful negotiation with the enemy..."
"Confused!"
The Third Raikage suddenly rose up and smashed the desk to pieces with one palm.
"The daimyo is so supportive of the village! But you are talking arrogantly! You are so shameless!"
"It is a shame and a great disgrace for us ninjas to fail to fulfill our duty to defend our country. You still want to drain the daimyo's treasury to satisfy the enemy's desires. It is simply worse than collaborating with the enemy!"
"You go to the front line! I don't want to see you in the village again!"
After the Third Raikage became furious and expelled the dissenting senior officials, Kumogakure finally came to a consensus. While sending a special envoy to apologize, he secretly communicated with Uchiha Tokumitsu about changing the payment method.
…
Due to Kumogakure's blockade, Uchiha Tokko's intelligence was relatively lagging behind.
Kumogakure's predicament was reported back to the village by the ANBU spies in the village after being discovered, and was relayed to Hatake Sakumo by the Hokage Building, who then relayed it to Uchiha Tokimitsu.
But at this time, Kumogakure's envoy had arrived and vaguely mentioned the change of compensation payment method to Uchiha Tokimitsu.
Therefore, Uchiha Tokko was also in a dilemma.
After all, the 20 billion compensation is not only for the Tokoku shogunate, but also a part of the transfer payment to Konoha, Iwagakure and Amane.
After all, all parties involved in the war played their part in the war, so there was no possibility that the reparations would be pocketed by the Tokoku shogunate.
But what he is even more taboo about is the tyrannical fighting power that Kirigakure unleashed in the war with Kumogakure.
Especially the Third Mizukage, who actually defeated the Third Raikage in one battle!
"... Could it be that age spots can no longer sit still and take action in person?"
After Uchiha Tokko retreated, he was alone in the quiet room carefully thinking about the countermeasures.
He naturally looked down upon the occupied areas of the Land of Thunder. Apart from attracting Kumogakure's continued hostility and a heavy blow after its resurgence, this unsustainable occupied area did not bring many practical benefits to the Uchiha clan.
But the southern archipelago of the Kingdom of Water is the foundation of the Tokugaku shogunate. Under the leadership of the Third Mizukage on the surface and Uchiha Madara secretly, Kirigakure defeated the main force of Kumogakure in one battle, which will definitely boost the morale of Kirigakure. Inspired by this, the Daimyos of the Land of Water will surely be unwilling to accept that their country has always been in the hands of the Tokumitsu Shogunate, and the conflict between the Tokumitsu Shogunate and Kirigakure will also intensify in the future.
Therefore, it is a good choice for the Tokoku shogunate to avoid excessive bloodletting of the Kingdom of Thunder and Kumogakure and allow them to have the strength to continue fighting Kirigakure.
It’s just the compensation...
Naturally, Uchiha Tokimitsu was unwilling to sacrifice the interests of the Uchiha clan to fill Kumo Gakure's hole.
"Konoha..."
The money to be transferred to Iwagakure and Amegakure can be delayed for a while, but as for the village's share, Uchiha Tokumitsu plans to create chips out of thin air.
For example, the area occupied by the Kingdom of Thunder was "sold" to the village in exchange for the village's share of the compensation.
As for other compensation shares, Uchiha Tokumitsu also had an idea.
…
After asking the attendant ninja to summon Kumogakure's secret envoy, Uchiha Tokumitsu officially launched his "mouth escape".
"Kumogakure's request to change the method of payment of compensation is very rude! It is also a reckless move that ignores the armistice treaty!"
If you get straight to the point, naturally you will suppress it first.
"But it is not easy to read Yunyin, so the method of payment of compensation is not impossible to change, but it requires an additional condition."
"...Lord Tokumitsu, please speak."
The Yunyin messenger, whose mood was up and down, wiped his sweat and answered cautiously.
"I allow Yunyin to pay the gold judgment worth 10 billion in advance and change the method of payment of another 10 billion compensation."
Uchiha Tokumitsu said in a compassionate manner: "But the Daimyo of the Land of Thunder must issue 10 billion bailout bonds on the Minamigagawa Stock Exchange with family status and tax revenue as guarantees."
“…bailout bonds?”
Special envoy Kumogakure was confused.
As a senior member of Yunyin, he is naturally not unfamiliar with bonds. After all, Yunyin has also issued some bonds in the same way, but the fundraising effect was not very good.
And with this defeat, it seems that the bonds Yunyin discovered before are about to expire. It's just that due to the emergency of the war, Yunyin can't spare the time to deal with the matter for a while.
Uchiha Tokko nodded.
"I would like to ask Mr. Deguang to elaborate on this. I really don't know how to operate it..."
Kumogakure's special envoy asked carefully again.
"To put it simply, Kumogakure handed over 10 billion banknotes to the Minamigagawa Stock Exchange for the purpose of issuing 10 billion bonds that can only be purchased with the currencies of other countries. At the same time, the tariffs of the Land of Thunder and the reputation of the daimyo were used as Guarantee to ensure that the bonds can be cashed out as scheduled and the corresponding gold judgments are issued.”
Uchiha Tokko explained.
"...You mean to use the banknotes of the Kingdom of Thunder as collateral to issue bonds, and they can only be purchased with the currencies of other countries?"
Yunyin envoy asked.
"Yes!"
Uchiha Tokko nodded firmly.
"And you have to use taxes and the reputation of the daimyo as a guarantee?"
"That's right!"
"In the future, the mortgaged banknotes, that is, bonds, will be redeemed in the form of gold bonds?"
"Hey... In addition to this, the bonds issued also have to pay interest!"
Uchiha Tokumitsu smiled brightly, "With the current situation of the Kingdom of Thunder and Kumogakure...the interest rate is set at 10%, which should be enough!"
"Lord Tokuguang, according to what you say, wouldn't it mean that our noble country of thunder has become a beggar on its knees?!"
Although Special Envoy Kumogakure was extremely angry, he still did not dare to fall out with Uchiha Tokumitsu.
"What you said is wrong, this is called a bailout bond! How can it be called kneeling down to beg for food?"
Uchiha Tokumitsu was very dissatisfied, "You still have to see if other people are willing to buy the bonds of the Kingdom of Thunder! This is a ten billion tael gold award! Can you, an ordinary person, kneel down at that time!"
"Lord Tokumitsu...please be lenient..."
The messenger Yunyin begged bitterly.
"I've given you a lot of face!"
Uchiha Tokumitsu immediately turned his face after hearing this, "Go and report it to the village yourself! If you don't agree to this, then hand over the 20 billion gold award!"
"It's better to hide under the front of Konoha Iwa, and there will be no chickens or dogs left in Yunlei Gorge!"
"Mr. Messenger, I think you don't want to see Yunyin perish like this..."
I just came back from a business trip today, and I will update twice tomorrow. I hope all of you book friends will pay attention~
(End of chapter)
