The next day, a memorial service was held in front of the Memorial Stone to commemorate the two advisors, Torifu Koharu and Mitokado Homura, who were murdered, as well as the nearly twenty heroes who sacrificed themselves to protect Konoha in this war.
Even the Third Hokage, whose injuries had not yet healed, was pushed to the scene in a wheelchair by Biwako, with an elderly Fat Man standing beside him.
Akimichi Torifu, like Danzo and others, was one of the six members of the original Second Hokage's guard team. Unlike the other teammates who remained in high positions, he retired early due to his age, spending his days eating and drinking at home, content to be a happy Fat Man.
Hearing the bad news about his three old friends, he made a special trip to see them off.
Akimichi Torifu stood next to the Third Hokage, looking at Minato, Tsunade, and Jiraiya in front of the Memorial Stone, at Asuma, Kakashi, Guy, and other excellent Konoha ninjas in the crowd, and at Naruto, Sasuke, and the other children. He patted the Third Hokage's shoulder and said with emotion, "Hiruzen, our era is over..."
"Yes, Tobirama-sensei once taught me to become Hokage and then cultivate people worthy of entrusting the next era to. Now, not only the next generation, but even the generation after that has begun to grow."
Torifu said regretfully, "If Danzo could have understood this, today wouldn't have happened. It's a pity for Koharu and Homura."
The Third Hokage was silent. The betrayal of his best friend had hit him hard. He now understood Jiraiya's feelings when he searched the world after Orochimaru's defection.
Minato summarized the merits and deeds of the sacrificed in front of everyone—the nature of ninjas meant that many things could not be explained in detail.
Afterward, everyone offered white flowers to express their condolences. The families of the victims sobbed softly, both proud and grieved.
For those with adults in the family, Minato naturally gave them the compensation they deserved. Those with only children were sent to the orphanage, and the compensation was distributed monthly as the children grew older.
Nono Yu and Kabuto naturally would not refuse. They ran the orphanage for children like these, and Kabuto had recently received a lot of bonuses, so the funding was ample.
Minato was doing his best to do what the Hokage should do for them, and the remaining difficult-to-resolve sadness could only be left to time.
...
Several days passed after that, and the Hidden Sound Village and Sunagakure Village sent delegations to Konoha to negotiate.
There was not much to say about the Hidden Sound Village. They had not been established for long, and their strength was not very strong. This time, Orochimaru had gambled most of their elite forces, which had hurt them badly.
If they did not properly beg for Konoha's forgiveness, seek an alliance with Konoha, and ask their big brother to continue to protect them, they might be taken advantage of by neighboring countries.
Especially those small countries that followed Konoha's lead, who might say, "You offended our big brother and still want to run?" and then happily start a fight.
The Hidden Sound Village sensibly stated that they would make reasonable compensation for Konoha's losses and would also cooperate with Konoha to clear out Orochimaru's remaining forces in the Land of Rice Fields.
They requested Konoha to release the Hidden Sound Village's prisoners, except for Orochimaru's die-hard subordinates, of course.
Konoha did not make things too difficult for them, after all, the Hidden Sound Village's attitude was very good and their sincerity was sufficient. This little brother could barely be taken along.
The Sunagakure Village was different. As one of the five great ninja villages of the five great countries, their status was a notch higher than that of the Hidden Sound Village, so they had some unrealistic fantasies.
The leader of the Sunagakure Village's delegation was Granny Chiyo.
Chiyo had actually retired long ago. She dug a reservoir at home, and her greatest hobby every day was fishing at home and pretending to be dead to tease her younger brother Ebizō.
The reason why she was invited out was because Sunagakure Village really had no one to offer.
The Kazekage died inexplicably, and they finally found his bones in the desert—Orochimaru was really something, killing people without even burying them.
There was once a hero, Scorch Style Pakura, but according to rumors, she was designed and killed by Rasa.
Later, there was an excellent ninja who was the Kazekage's brother-in-law, named Yashamaru, but he was also killed by Rasa's series of bad moves.
As for Maki, he felt that as a prisoner who was released by Konoha to deliver a message, it would be a loss of face for Sunagakure Village to be the leader.
In the end, the higher-ups of Sunagakure Village had no choice but to invite Granny Chiyo out of the mountain.
Naruto caught a glimpse of the envoy group from afar, then unlocked the new Transformation Technique: Swimsuit Chiyo, planning to give Jiraiya a chance to appreciate it.
For Sunagakure, the negotiations were not going smoothly, because at the beginning they wanted to adopt a relatively tough attitude, striving to pay as little compensation as possible, or even no compensation at all, and even wanting to gain some benefits.
Because according to Chiyo's experience of living for so long, Konoha's foreign policy has always been to value harmony.
During the era of the most powerful First Hokage in Konoha, if the village ran out of money, they could try to attack Konoha. At that time, if they cried miserably, as long as they were not killed on the spot by Madara Uchiha, then Hashirama might not care, and even give a little bit of assistance.
In the era of the Second Hokage, if the village ran out of money, they could still try to attack Konoha. Although Tobirama's attitude was a bit tougher, he generally still supported his brother's philosophy and pursued peace. As long as they admitted their mistakes properly, they would not end up too badly.
When it came to the Third Hokage era, that was the best time for Sunagakure. If they ran out of money, they would first consider attacking Konoha. Even if they were defeated in the end, as long as they had a tough attitude, they might be able to obtain benefits as if they had won.
And now it is the era of the Fourth Hokage, Chiyo plans to be tough first, to test the attitude of the Fourth Hokage, but she was rebuffed.
The Fourth Hokage, who looks amiable, cheerful and sunny, is completely unsentimental in this regard. If you hurt our Konoha comrades, then it is only natural to pay the price.
Moreover, when Minato, Tsunade, and Jiraiya sat opposite Chiyo, she had no confidence even if she was tough. Any one of these three could easily beat the entire envoy group, so what could she use to be tough with them?
Walking out of the conference room, Chiyo looked at the vibrant scene on the streets of Konoha, and sighed that times have changed.
Konoha has an excellent Hokage and is becoming more and more powerful. What should Sunagakure do in the future?
Thinking of those high-level officials who only know how to sit at the conference table and fight for power, Chiyo felt a headache. Yes, the high-level officials of Sunagakure can completely be compared to the previous generation of high-level officials in Konoha in terms of being terrible.
Forget it, Chiyo shook her head, I am old too, let the next Kazekage worry about it, and then she had a headache again, she found that it seems that it is difficult to find a capable person to be the Kazekage in the entire Sunagakure.
The final alliance treaty was completely dominated by Konoha. Although Sunagakure is still nominally one of the five major ninja villages of the five major countries, I am afraid that in the future, all aspects will depend on Konoha's expression.
Chiyo felt that after returning, she would probably become a sinner of Sunagakure, right?
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