Ren looked across the table at Konan and said bluntly, "We came here to form an alliance with the Land of Rain."
Across the table, Konan let out a quiet sigh of relief. The tension in her shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch. Ren had made the formal proposal. Amegakure wouldn't have to beg; they would enter the negotiations on equal diplomatic footing.
But before Konan could open her mouth to accept, Kaori spoke.
"Correction," Kaori said, her voice cutting through the dim room like a blade. "We came here to form an alliance with the Land of Rain. To be precise... we came to form an alliance with the Daimyo of Rain and Hanzō of the Salamander."
Kaori slowly shifted her gaze, her eyes locking onto Nagato and Konan. "But looking at you two, and looking at the corpse sitting behind that desk... the conditions are different now."
Ren blinked. Wait, no, Mom,— Ren opened his mouth to interject, trying to salvage the straightforward deal. But before he could utter a single syllable, Kaori slowly turned her head and looked at him.
It wasn't a glare. It was just a look.
"Baby," Kaori said softly. "Let Mom talk."
The look on his mother's face promised absolute pain if she was undermined. Ren instantly shut his mouth, folded his hands neatly on his lap, and sat perfectly still like an obedient child.
Konan, realizing Kaori had just effortlessly reversed the leverage, spoke up. She kept her voice blunt, trying to reclaim the ground they had just lost.
"So," Konan stated coldly. "Now that Hanzō is dead and we are the ones who control the Land of Rain, do you want us to replace them in your alliance or not?"
"That depends entirely on you," Kaori replied.
Nagato's purple eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"It is simple," Kaori said, leaning forward slightly. "What is your intention for taking control of the Land of Rain?"
The question hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.
"We cannot simply conclude an alliance with you just because you claim you can replace Hanzō," Kaori pressed, her voice turning sharp. "What if you backstab the Alliance? What if you start a war the moment you join us? You are hiding in a dark room using a puppet to speak for you. It is obvious you have an ulterior motive."
Under the table, Konan's hands tightened into fists. Kaori had hit the nail perfectly on the head.
They did have an ulterior motive of collecting the Tailed Beasts, a plan that would inevitably ignite a world war against the Five Great Nations.
"Prove to me that you do not have an ulterior motive," Kaori challenged, her eyes boring into Nagato. "Prove that you genuinely want what is best for the people of this country. Only then will I allow you to replace Hanzō."
Konan was stuck. Kaori's wording had trapped her between her genuine guilt over the starving civilians and her absolute loyalty to Madara's grand plan. If they couldn't convince this woman of their sincerity, the Land of Rain would continue to starve.
For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the endless drumming of rain against the steel windows.
Then, Nagato finally spoke.
"We cannot prove to you that we have no ulterior motives," Nagato said. His voice was quieter. Thinner. The voice of a young man.
Kaori's eyes narrowed, but she didn't interrupt.
"But we can assure you of one thing," Nagato continued, his Rinnegan staring across the table. "We know the struggle of war better than anyone."
Nagato looked at Kaori, his face devoid of emotion, though the words carried the weight of a shattered world.
"When we were kids, before we met each other, we had a happy family. My father was just a normal doctor; we had nothing to do with ninjas. But the war took everything from us. The war destroyed my family." Nagato met Konan's gaze and continued, "Then I met Konan and Yahiko. They were the same as me—children who lost their families to the war." He looked back at Kaori. "Our condition was even worse than the boy you witnessed stealing bread. Then... the war took our friend, Yahiko, too."
Neither Nagato nor Konan showed a single trace of emotion. There were no tears. They were completely hollowed out by the memory.
"Then... a kind old man took us in," Nagato finished quietly. "He trained us so we would never be powerless again. We took this country so that no one else would have to lose what we lost."
Kaori stared at the two sitting across from her.
She had pushed for an advantage in the negotiation, intending to break their political armor. But looking into their dead, traumatized eyes, Kaori felt a sudden, sharp pang in her chest.
She looked out of the corner of her eye at Ren, who was still sitting quietly beside her.
Ren had once been very close to becoming just like them.
Kaori had won the psychological battle. She had secured the leverage. There was no need to continue any further.
Kaori let out a slow, quiet breath and leaned back in her chair.
"I understand," Kaori said softly. She glanced at her son. "Ren. Discuss the actual terms of the alliance with them."
Ren didn't miss a beat. He smoothly reached into his cloak, pulled out a thick scroll, and unrolled it across the table.
"Right," Ren said, "Let's talk."
Meanwhile, in Konoha.
The Uchiha Clan Hall
The air inside the Naka Shrine was filled with a suffocating tension.
Fugaku Uchiha stood at the head of the hall, a scroll unrolled on the low wooden table before him.
"We cannot allow this, Fugaku," an Uchiha elder spat, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "We cannot simply hand our geniuses to the village just because the Hokage asked politely!"
Following the Academy assessment of Itachi and Shisui, Hiruzen Sarutobi had met with Fugaku in private. The Hokage had proposed that Obito Uchiha be formally inducted into the ANBU Black Ops. In exchange, two of the Sannin would take Itachi and Shisui as their personal disciples.
The village elders called it a gesture of goodwill. A way to ease the lingering tension between the village and the Uchiha clan.
"I have read this scroll seven times since it arrived," another elder muttered darkly from the shadows. Each reading had only confirmed his worst fears.
"It's not a gift," the elder continued, speaking to the room rather than to Fugaku directly. "Obito in ANBU means Obito operates under Hiruzen's direct eye, day and night, for as long as the village wants him there. Itachi and Shisui apprenticed to the Sannin means their entire development—everything they will become—happens completely outside this clan's structure. They will be shaped by people who owe this clan nothing."
The elder slammed his hand on the floor. "We wouldn't be gaining an alliance. We'd be losing the next generation before it even has a chance to become ours!"
A heavy murmur moved through the gathered elders. Several members of the Hawk faction were already on their feet, their voices rising, certain that this was exactly the kind of crippling insult they had been warning the clan about for years.
Fugaku, the Clan Head, did not say anything. He remained completely silent because he understood the brutal reality—the single, undeniable fact that made refusal impossible rather than merely unpleasant.
It was Elder Kaede—the leader of the clan's Neutral faction and Mikoto's grandfather—who finally rose from his seat with the support of his crutch.
"We don't have the leverage to say no," Kaede admitted, his voice cutting through the noise of the Hawks. "Konoha's strength is at its absolute peak. If we refuse, and Hiruzen decides we've made our answer for us... there won't be a negotiation next time. But it doesn't we'd accept this proposal."
The room quieted.
"Fugaku," Kaede continued, his voice steady with the cold calm of a man who had run out of better options and knew it. "We don't have a choice but to accept. But... if the village wants proof of our sincerity, they can offer proof of their own."
The hall went dead silent to listen.
"Send the proposal back," Kaede instructed, "Tell them we accept—on the condition that the goodwill runs in both directions. If our geniuses are to serve in the village's own institutions... let the village's own children serve in ours."
Kaede looked around the room, meeting each pair of eyes in turn.
"The Hokage's son, Asuma. A handful of the Council's own heirs. Let them join the Police Force." Kaede's voice dropped to a whisper. "If Konoha's faith in us is genuine, this costs them nothing to prove. If it isn't..."
He didn't finish the sentence.