"Direct losses exceeding one billion ryo? What on earth did this kid Tatsuma do in the Land of Wind?"
Many things were happening simultaneously. The Third Kazekage of Hidden Sand Village was leading countless ninjas skilled in Earth Release to carry out flood relief operations. At the same time, a letter of accountability was prepared and faxed to the Land of Fire.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen looked at the document in his hand, the first payment requested by Hidden Sand Village, and felt somewhat puzzled.
Even he found it hard to imagine what Tatsuma had done to cause the Land of Wind to suffer losses exceeding one billion ryo, with indirect and subsequent losses still being tallied. Hidden Sand Village demanded that the Land of Fire's Daimyo and Konoha be held fully responsible.
Hiruzen had no intention of even considering compensation for Hidden Sand Village, let alone thinking deeply about it.
What troubled him was what Tatsuma had actually done. The key issue was that Tatsuma had not yet returned to the village, and no information had come in. Moreover, according to the plan, this was only the second day since Tatsuma and his team entered the Land of Wind.
After thinking it over, Hiruzen couldn't come up with an answer and could only regard it as a slanderous extortion by Hidden Sand Village. After all, one billion ryo was almost enough to rebuild an entire town.
No, for the barren Land of Wind, one billion ryo could even be enough to rebuild a city, given their generally poor infrastructure.
If Tatsuma had truly caused such significant losses directly, then what Konoha should be receiving was not a demand for compensation but rather a declaration of war.
However, this diplomatic letter could not go unanswered, but it was difficult to reply easily before confirming Tatsuma and the others' situation.
While Hiruzen was troubled, several figures appeared in the office, and Tatsuma greeted him, "Hokage-sama."
"Is everything alright?"
Seeing the four return, Hiruzen was overjoyed and quickly asked, even abandoning the diplomatic letter he was holding, and instead focused on the group.
Tatsuma nodded and said, "We have successfully eliminated a total of forty-six rogue ninjas from various villages, five Hidden Sand Village ANBU, and recovered thirty-nine rogue ninja bodies and one Hidden Sand Village ANBU body."
"Good!"
Hiruzen smiled, not because Tatsuma and his team had killed dozens of rogue ninjas, but because Tatsuma had brought back the body of a Hidden Sand Village ANBU.
Each ANBU member held many secrets, confidential, and even top-secret information of the village. If an ANBU ninja were to defect or if intelligence were leaked, the adjustments required by the village would be numerous and difficult to quantify.
If such an incident occurred in Konoha, then the barrier, defenses, codes, and encrypted messages would all need to be replaced, otherwise, more information could be leaked, potentially threatening the village's security.
Though other villages may differ, the expenditure of energy and time would be similar.
Hiruzen wanted to commend the group, but when he looked down at the diplomatic letter, he slightly restrained his smile and said, "Tatsuma, was there any incriminating evidence left from your mission?"
"I have cleaned up everything. Hidden Sand Village will not be able to find any real evidence linking the losses in the Land of Wind to us."
Tatsuma had excellent eyesight, not as good as the Sharingan or Byakugan, but still among the best of ordinary ninjas. Thus, he could also see part of the information on the documents on Hiruzen's desk.
Hiruzen nodded and noticed Tatsuma's gaze. However, he did not mind. Instead, he directly picked up the diplomatic letter, handed it to Tatsuma, and said:
"You should take a look as well. As the person involved, how do you think we should respond?"
Tatsuma quickly read through it and then smiled slightly, saying, "This is purely nonsense. The Land of Wind is fabricating stories and slandering us to extort money. They're sick themselves but are asking others to buy medicine for them. Such behavior is despicable and laughable. Let the Land of Wind play their own farce."
"Pfft~"
Hearing Tatsuma's serious remarks, Tenko almost laughed out loud but managed to cover his mouth in time, though his mask caused his lips to hurt a bit.
Hiruzen pondered Tatsuma's words and then said, "Could it be too harsh?"
"Neither Hidden Sand Village nor the Land of Wind can hide this matter. In this incident, Hidden Sand Village's response will certainly be exposed. At that time, any diplomatic correspondence between the two sides might also be leaked."
"The more resolutely we act, the more other countries will perceive us as being in the right. We need to steer the entire matter towards being seen as a self-directed act by Hidden Sand Village and the Land of Wind.
Therefore, I believe there is no issue with being firm."
Tatsuma offered his opinion, and Hiruzen nodded in agreement, saying, "You make a valid point. If we are too meek, it would indeed arouse suspicion. It might even give Hidden Sand Village the courage to demand more. However, did you really cause losses exceeding one billion ryo to the Land of Wind?"
Not only was Hiruzen curious, but Minato and Tenko also looked surprised. They had been almost constantly with Tatsuma, except for a brief disconnection of a few seconds.
If it were just the previous battle, Hidden Sand Village would have lost only five ANBU ninjas, with the rest being rogue ninjas. As for the damage to the terrain—a ruined village surrounded by desert—there would be minimal economic loss. Even if Hidden Sand Village claimed that the training cost for each ANBU was twenty million ryo, it wouldn't amount to more than one hundred million ryo at most.
For Hidden Sand Village to come up with a billion ryo, are they overvaluing their own ninjas or do they think everyone else is a fool?
But while they think what they want, Tatsuma did not respond immediately, and even Caterpillar beside him unconsciously gulped.
Although the exact events were unclear, from the strange occurrences observed when they left, Caterpillar had roughly guessed that Tatsuma's so-called gift to the Land of Wind was seawater.
Based on the density of the sealing techniques used in those two bundles of scrolls, the affected area was certainly significant.
The place where they fought was indeed a ruined village and a withered oasis, but there were several similar small oases and towns nearby. If the seawater had truly destroyed those oases, then a billion ryo in direct losses might indeed be possible. No wonder.
No wonder Tatsuma, who had become ruthless towards enemies, still hesitated before using the technique and appeared heavy-hearted afterward.
As the thoughts turned in their minds, Tatsuma nodded. Having completed his preliminary calculations, he said, "The direct loss of one billion ryo is about right. The indirect and subsequent losses are estimated to be three to five times that amount.
Of course, this is assuming the area affected is not restored. If Hidden Sand Village and the Land of Wind do not consider restoring the affected areas, they might not have to spend any additional money."
Silence fell, a strange silence in the Hokage's office. In contrast to the silence, everyone's faces displayed various shades of shock. Even Shikaku in the shadows couldn't help but gape.
"What exactly did you do?"
Hiruzen didn't even realize that his voice trembled as he spoke. Billions in losses—if he were to cause such havoc, he might not even be able to inflict such terrifying losses on other major countries.
"Uh, the East-West Water Transfer Project."
Tatsuma tried to brush it off, but under the increasingly curious gazes of everyone, he continued, "I dumped about 250 million cubic meters of seawater into the Land of Wind."
Upon hearing this, Hiruzen's hand trembled violently. 250 million cubic meters—the largest lake within the Land of Fire holds less than 3 billion cubic meters of water, which is roughly equivalent to the entire Land of Fire's water consumption for a year.
Yet Tatsuma had dumped nearly a month's worth of water consumption for the Land of Fire into the Land of Wind in one go, and it was seawater!
An inland country submerged by a massive amount of seawater would see its flora and fauna within the affected area likely perish. The area would be completely irrecoverable in the short term, and if this seawater polluted the already limited freshwater resources in the Land of Wind...
"Do you understand the consequences of this?"
Hiruzen asked. To his surprise, Tatsuma nodded and then took out six scrolls from his sleeve, saying, "I had prepared a total of one billion cubic meters. However, after assessing the situation at the time, I believed that the Land of Wind could handle less than 300 million cubic meters of seawater, so that's what I deployed."
250 million cubic meters of water, or 250 million tons, may sound like a huge number, but it essentially represents a lake 5 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide, and 10 meters deep.
Given the desert's natural infiltration and the evaporation rate in such high heat, as long as Hidden Sand Village responds in time, it's all within manageable limits. In fact, it might even increase the rainfall in Hidden Sand Village this year.
The desert terrain's water retention capability is almost nonexistent, so the spread might be a bit larger, but considering the surrounding environment Tatsuma assessed, this amount of water is unlikely to cause significant damage to Hidden Sand Village and the Land of Wind.
At most, for the next month, the elite ninjas of Hidden Sand Village would be unable to carry out missions and would need to be fully engaged in flood relief efforts.
Tatsuma shared all these considerations with Hiruzen. After hearing this, Hiruzen's hands and voice stopped trembling.
Indeed, Tatsuma was not the impulsive type who acted on a whim. Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Are you certain that no traces were left behind? After all, the affected area is so large."
"That's exactly why, with such a large affected area, it's impossible to leave traces."
Tatsuma responded. Hiruzen nodded. With so much water washing over the area, any traces would have been wiped away. This meant that even though Hidden Sand Village knew it was Tatsuma and his team, they would have no strong evidence to present.
Eyewitnesses are of no use in such matters, especially when those witnesses are only from Hidden Sand Village itself.
"To put the entire Hidden Sand Village into a prolonged semi-stagnation state is an achievement that's extremely rare, even in wartime. You've done an excellent job. If there's any reward you desire, just let me know."
Hiruzen smiled as he looked at the group, his gaze first falling on Caterpillar, who wore sunglasses and seemed extremely calm.
However, when Caterpillar spoke, his voice was trembling. He said, "I want to retire early."
Although Tatsuma spoke of control and calculations, as a teammate who had been with Tatsuma until the very end, Caterpillar knew just how reckless Tatsuma could be. He didn't want to experience such a heart-pounding situation again.
Perhaps it's just as Vulture said: when you reach middle age, it's time to retire from such high-risk positions. In fact, working in the corpse disposal team or focusing on clan research isn't so bad either.
As he finished speaking, both Tatsuma and Hiruzen looked awkward. Hiruzen still nodded and said, "The process will be expedited. Badger, what about you?"
As the first ANBU from the Uchiha clan, Hiruzen had high hopes for Tenko. Tenko was still processing the previous information and, when suddenly asked, hadn't fully recovered and replied:
"I want to see it with my own eyes. Ah, no, that's not what I meant!"
In a disaster scene like that, who would want to see it? Would saying this make Hokage-sama think he's a pervert? Or even think that all Uchiha are perverts?
"What I want is…"
Tenko thought hard but wasn't very familiar with the village's valuable rewards. He could only say, "I want to learn other Fire Release techniques from the village. While the Uchiha clan's Fire Release is powerful, I want to absorb the essence and concepts of other Fire Release techniques."
"This practical experience has made me see many of my own shortcomings and has shown me that working in isolation is not a viable path."
Hearing this, Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction and looked at Tatsuma, saying, "As the leader of the team, you should pay more attention to the growth of your subordinates. The Uchiha clan indeed has its unique aspects in Fire Release.
You two can learn from each other and make progress together, is that alright?"
Without hesitation, Tenko nodded directly. Tatsuma's eyes narrowed slightly, realizing that Hiruzen might be planning to have Uchiha's Fire Release techniques included in the village's resources.
"Of course, there's no problem."
Tatsuma still smiled and nodded. Compared to Sarutobi's Fire Release, Uchiha's techniques might suit him even better.
Hiruzen then looked at Minato, whose frown relaxed, as if he already had an answer.
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