Lord Ebizo is still very prestigious in Sunagakure. Although in the recent period of time, the failure to assassinate Uzumaki Mito has resulted in the waste of a senior spy who had been lurking in Konoha for many years, and this has led to some criticism, people also understand considering Uzumaki Mito's strength and Konoha's protective power over her.
At least on the front battlefield, Lord Ebizo has done a pretty good job. It is precisely because of the various useful information provided by the large number of intelligence personnel under his control that Sunagakure has repeatedly seized the initiative and gained the upper hand in its battles with Konoha.
Now that he has vouched for them, everyone suddenly feels that there is great hope for redeeming Akashige and Sara.
"Elder Ebizo, thank you for your trouble. On this matter, please go to some trouble and make sure that the voices within Amegakure are inclined towards our side, Sunagakure."
The Sandaime Kazekage was very satisfied with what Ebizo had said and smiled.
"Yes, my lord Kazekage."
Under the gaze of Chiyo, Ebizo very readily agreed.
Next, the content of the discussion was very simple, which was to discuss how much it would cost to ransom Akashige and Sara back.
After all, even if Amegakure was inclined to return the people to Sunagakure, Sunagakure would also need to spend a sufficient amount of real money. At least the price offered could not be much less than Konoha and Iwagakure, otherwise Amegakure would not be able to release the people so easily.
At this time, the opposition, who had been silent, began to exert their influence.
Redeeming Akashige and Sara was politically correct, and they did not oppose it, but now their fundamental interests were involved, and they could not sit idly by.
They knew exactly how valuable Akashige and Sara were. In order to redeem them, Sunagakure would have to pay a huge price this time, and that price would undoubtedly have to be shared among them.
Spending their own money just to save the son and daughter-in-law of their political enemies was a deal that would lose them money no matter how you looked at it.
They had to make up for the loss of interest somewhere else, and that was their bottom line.
After a long and heated debate, and as dawn approached, the pro- and anti-regime factions finally reached a relatively satisfactory outcome after a complex exchange of interests.
That is, the pro- and anti-regime factions would pay the ransom in a 73:27 ratio.
The meeting ended there, and the Sunagakure executives left one after the other.
On the way back, Chiyo, who was already exhausted both mentally and physically, couldn't help but ask her younger brother Ebizo, "Ebizo, how certain are you that you can save Akashige and Sara?"
"Sister, don't worry. As long as our ransom is not worse than Konoha's, and there are no other accidents, the chances are still good."
Ebizo didn't really have any confidence, but in order to take care of his sister's feelings, he said the best he could.
"Humph, don't say such nonsense to comfort me. I'm already mentally prepared. Damn Amegakure, damn Hattori Masanari,"
Chiyo instantly saw through Ebizo's trick. She lowered her head and spoke with deep hatred.
Ebizo, who was standing nearby, remained silent.
How could they blame Amegakure or Hattori Masanari for what happened tonight? It was clearly they Sunagakure had gone to provoke the others, but instead of learning anything, they had been taught a lesson. They were lucky to be alive, and it was only because the others had been merciful. No matter how you looked at it, they, from Sunagakure were in the wrong.
But this world is not a place where reason prevails.
As long as you have a big enough fist, then you have reason.
It's all about the weak being preyed upon by the strong.
This time, it's just that their fist is not big enough, and that's why they don't have reason on their side.
For so many years, he has hidden in the darkness, and long ago he saw clearly just how hopeless this world is.
But what good does it do to see clearly? There is simply no power to change things, and one can only go with the flow.
"When will this world be able to calm down for a while? Senju Hashirama, you really died too early."
Ebizo looked up at the faint crescent moon visible in the grey sky and couldn't help but miss the naive and somewhat cute God of the Shinobi.
If only there were more powerful idiots like Senju Hashirama in this world.
...
Konoha, in the Hokage's office, Sandaime was smoking a cigarette and expressionlessly looking at the sky outside, which had just brightened.
He stayed up all night again last night because of the news relayed by his troublesome disciple Jiraiya, which made him urgently call the three Hokage advisors to hold a high-level meeting.
The result of the discussion made him happy and a little worried.
He was happy because if they successfully traded the two elite Sunagakure puppet masters, Akashige and Sara, from Hattori Masanari, then Konoha would become familiar with much of Sunagakure's intelligence and the secrets of the puppet masters, which would be of great help in the war between Konoha and Sunagakure.
The reason for their worries is that Konoha will definitely be heavily bled by Amegakure. A major loss is foreseeable, which will undoubtedly further exacerbate the current situation of Konoha, which is already not very wealthy.
"I never thought that, that Ame-Nin named Hattori Masanari was even more formidable than I imagined. If it is really like Jiraiya said, I'm afraid Amegakure is going to rise this time. With the two of them joining forces, other ninja villages will need to think twice before they try to take another look at the Land of Rain."
Sandaime sighed.
The rise of the Land of Rain is not what he wants, but from the current situation, it seems that it cannot be stopped. It would be better to take advantage of the situation and use this prisoner exchange to give Hattori Masanari strong support, so that a force within Amegakure will be close to Konoha.
In his judgement, as long as Hattori Masanari is within the borders of the Land of Rain, he is invincible as a Kage-Level ninja.
However, kage-level ninjas are extremely rare. There are only about five in the entire Konoha, and his three disciples together are also considered one and a half.
Compared to Konoha, the other villages have fewer ninjas.
Konoha also has more and better jōnin than the other villages.
In theory, with so many kage-level ninjas and outstanding jōnin, Konoha should not lose to Sunagakure in battle.
Unfortunately, there are too many ninja villages in the ninja world that are hostile to Konoha, all eyeing up the land-rich and resource-rich Land of Fire. The number of kage-level experts and jōnin is simply not enough. Konoha cannot send all its forces to the battlefield, and must set aside some of its strength to be on constant alert against several major powers in the ninja world.
Not to mention the distant Kumogakure and Kirigakure, the nearby Sunagakure and Iwagakure have always been eyeing Konoha.
If it weren't for the fact that Sunagakure and Iwagakure are also full of contradictions, and have an almost irreconcilable feud because the Land of Earth has occupied part of the Land of Wind's territory, it would basically be impossible for them to join forces. Otherwise, if these two ninja villages were to join forces, Konoha would be hard-pressed to handle them.
"It really does depend on the new Konoha Buds. As long as the next generation of Konoha Buds grows up, Sunagakure won't be able to be as arrogant as they are now."
After much thought, Sandaime still could not think of any useful way to break the current embarrassing situation of Konoha being surrounded by enemies. He could only pin his hopes on the next generation of Konoha buds who would inherit the Will of Fire.
Thinking of the Konoha buds, Sandaime's mind immediately flashed with the faces of many young people, and a smile could not help but appear on his face.
The quality of this new generation of Konoha buds is quite good.
Not to mention Kirito, who can already be confirmed as a shadow-class strongman, but also Nawaki, Chizuru, Hanare, and another Konoha sprout named Minato Namikaze are also promising.
Konoha is still full of talent as always.
"My main responsibility now is to stabilize the current situation in Konoha, keep the enemy out, and buy more time for the new Konoha sprouts to grow,"
Sandaime thought as he watched the sun rise in the sky and let out a long puff of smoke.
For a moment, he felt a renewed sense of responsibility and continued to tackle the mountain of paperwork on his desk with energy.