"Black Mist Shiraishi met Hyūga Tenmon?"
Inside the Land of Rivers' government residence, several elderly civil officials nodded after hearing the report from their subordinates.
"Konoha and Sunagakure fought their entire Kikyo Mountain War on our northern territory. They had no dignity befitting great powers at all. And now that the war has ended, they want to carve up our natural resources as well. Absolutely despicable!"
The most important part of the Konoha–Sunagakure peace talks was the issue of River Country's natural resources.
River Country's land was just as fertile as the Land of Fire, and Sunagakure had coveted it for decades.
During the early reign of the Third Kazekage, Sunagakure had once forcibly occupied the southern region of River Country for several years. After developing that land, Sunagakure's overall strength had surged, once ranking it second among the Five Great Ninja Villages.
After the Third Kazekage went missing, Konoha reclaimed Sunagakure's River Country territory, which led directly to the later, even fiercer conflicts between the two sides.
This time, after negotiations with Konoha, the thirteen southern districts of River Country were leased to Sunagakure for fifty years.
That land made up nearly one-tenth of the entire country.
To the River Country leadership, this was nothing short of a national humiliation.
But Konoha and Sunagakure both had overwhelming military power, so River Country could not resist their will. All they could do was try to stir up trouble, ideally provoking Konoha and Sunagakure into clashing again.
On top of that, Kirigakure was also watching them closely.
Only by muddying the waters could River Country hope to gain any leverage.
Placing the two embassies together was already part of River Country's plan. That young clerk earlier had deliberately tried to provoke conflict between Shiraishi and Hyūga Hiashi.
Those petty tricks were the only hope River Country had.
They had even tried to contact Amegakure, hoping to form a joint front against Konoha—but Hanzō had been evasive and never responded.
During the Warring States era, River Country had once had its own ninja village, following the same one-nation-one-village system as the great powers. But because it was too close to Konoha, Uchiha Madara had deemed its existence unacceptable.
In a single night, Madara destroyed the entire River Village and even prepared to have the Land of Fire annex River Country—until the First Hokage opposed such outright conquest.
The Second Hokage then proposed making River Country a protectorate state: its civil administration would remain, but its ninja village system would be abolished, and its ninja clans would be absorbed into Konoha.
In the following ninja wars, even River Country's daimyō and nobility fled one after another, leaving only this coalition of bureaucrats in control.
Such a weak country was beneath even Orochimaru's concern—he had casually built multiple secret bases here without a second thought.
Inside the embassy, Hyūga Tenmon set down his teacup.
"These small countries really have sunk to this level."
The arrangement was so obvious that, once he calmed down, Tenmon immediately saw through River Country's intentions. He now smiled as he chatted casually with Shiraishi.
"In chaotic times, everything and everyone has an instinct to survive."
As long as the ninja world remained ununified, this kind of disorder would continue. Back when Madara and Hashirama had ruled together, they abandoned the idea of unifying the ninja world, which led to the present chaos.
Perhaps a future figure like them would appear—but if they followed the same philosophy, they could only suppress the world while alive. Once they died, war would return.
This was the survival instinct of small countries.
Even Sunagakure was no exception—the destruction of Kikyo Mountain had also been an act of desperation.
Everything was driven by this chaotic era.
Shiraishi's blunt words made Tenmon laugh.
"Black Mist Shiraishi… you are an interesting man. So how do you see the future of Konoha–Sunagakure relations?"
Shiraishi answered carefully.
"Cooperation outweighs confrontation. Both sides need to maintain this alliance."
Historically, Konoha and Sunagakure had mostly been allies. As the Third Ninja War escalated, Konoha had begun courting Sunagakure's higher-ups—including Shiraishi himself.
"It's a pity about the results at the Enlightenment Mountains," Hiashi said.
Sunagakure had just dealt Konoha a heavy blow at Kikyo Mountain, but then immediately suffered a crushing defeat at Ōnoki's hands in the Enlightenment Mountains, nearly being wiped out.
A weakened Sunagakure was beneficial to Konoha's current strategy. Konoha needed Sand as a partner—but also needed to keep it in check.
"I believe we will overcome this difficulty," Shiraishi said calmly.
"Anyone who underestimates Sunagakure will pay a sufficient price."
After the heavy topics, Tenmon and Shiraishi chatted about customs and cultures across the ninja world. Under River Country's intentional neglect, they talked for over an hour.
When River Country's officials finally arrived, they were shocked.
They had expected hostility—but instead, Konoha and Sunagakure were laughing together.
The actual ceremony was simple.
Konoha, Sunagakure, and River Country jointly inaugurated a new war-relief orphanage, funded by all three sides to house war orphans.
Konoha took this very seriously. Hyūga Tenmon had brought lavish gifts and supplies—far more than Shiraishi's modest offerings of food and books.
Before leaving Wind Country, Chiyo had criticized Shiraishi for bringing so little. She felt he was being stingy.
But Shiraishi disagreed.
"Sunagakure's economy is no better than River Country's. Why pretend to be a great power? We can't match Konoha's wealth—why waste resources just to keep up appearances?"
Charity was good, but burning money for show was meaningless.
So Shiraishi had collected unused books and old clothing and donated them as aid.
River Country's officials were stunned and secretly cursed Sunagakure for being ridiculously poor. Even the Hyūga clan had to admire Sand's shamelessness.
They took one-tenth of River Country's land and then donated second-hand goods.
That level of audacity was unique.
As the ceremony ended and Shiraishi prepared to leave, angry voices rose from the crowd.
"Sunagakure… you're nothing but robbers!"
"Robbers?"
Shiraishi stopped and turned calmly.
"Have you ever seen robbers bring you books filled with knowledge?"
His voice carried an overwhelming presence, infused with the oppressive aura of Black Mist chakra. Many people began sweating under the pressure.
"Knowledge changes fate. You should thank Sunagakure for giving you books that carry knowledge—not toys and trinkets that merely entertain your children."
With that, Shiraishi turned and left.
…Strangely, what he said seemed to make sense.
Hyūga Tenmon nearly twitched in irritation.
Sunagakure is becoming more and more shameless, he thought.
They don't want to spend money, yet they wrap it in such lofty words.
Those books, after all, were printed right here in River Country.
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