Chapter 77: Easy Mission

Everyone hoped for peace, but it wasn't something that could truly be achieved by five people simply sitting together and chatting.

"I understand the purpose of your visit, and I'm aware of the Hokage's sincerity. I will attend the Five Kage Summit as promised."

Hearing the Kazekage say this, smiles lit up everyone's faces. Hiruzen immediately took out Hashirama's handwritten letter from his robe.

"This was personally written by Hokage-sama, as a greeting to Kazekage-sama, and it also outlines the procedures for the summit. Please take a look."

Reto glanced at the woman behind him, who immediately understood, stepping forward to take the letter from Hiruzen's hand. Reto didn't open the letter at once but placed it on the table.

Instead, he continued to chat with Hiruzen for a while, just the usual small talk before seeing guests off. Hiruzen was happy to oblige. The mission had been delivered, and they had agreed to attend the summit. If they ultimately went back on their word, who knew who would face the consequences.

"Let's conclude here for today. You're welcome to stroll around Sunagakure. When you're ready to leave, just inform Ebizō." Reto said with a smile, making it impossible to guess his true thoughts. Hiruzen didn't want to continue chatting with this old fox, so he readily agreed.

"Chiyo, see the guests from Konoha off." Hearing this name meant Torifū had at least another 500 Peace Points entering his account, which delighted him.

Chiyo wasn't a particularly beautiful female ninja; she had a common face that certainly couldn't be considered attractive among Sunagakure's ninjas. However, her strength was not to be underestimated, and perhaps that was what attracted Reto, making her the most respected woman in Sunagakure. Chiyo escorted everyone out of the Kazekage Building before returning.

Koharu and Naori wanted to stroll around the village, and Kagami had to protect Naori, so the others returned to their residence to rest first.

There wasn't much to see in Sunagakure. Besides sand, there was still sand. There were quite a few handicrafts, but they were far inferior to those in Konoha. Locals wouldn't buy them, and outsiders didn't visit Sunagakure at all, so there was no way to develop the industry.

Koharu and the others walked around several times before barely picking out a few passable porcelain jars to buy. They were very small and didn't take up much space, so they wouldn't be a burden.

...

Inside the Kazekage's Office

Inside the Kazekage's office, Reto looked at the letter personally written by Hashirama, his conflicted expression deepening. Chiyo stood behind him, gently massaging his shoulders: "What's wrong? What did the Hokage say?"

Reto sighed and put the letter on the table: "It's about the same as what the young ninja said—discussing peace in the ninja world together, and hoping that the villages can engage in trade."

Chiyo was a little puzzled. Weren't these good things? Why was he still so worried? No one had mentioned this before, but now that the strongest person in the ninja world was taking the lead, it should be much easier.

"Of course I want the ninja world to be at peace, but Sunagakure needs resources to develop." He then got up and walked to the ninja world map on the office wall.

"The Land of Wind is full of yellow sand, with pitifully little water, let alone land resources. I originally intended to annex one or two small countries around us and turn them into resource countries, but now I'm afraid that will be difficult."

Only then did Chiyo understand how much her husband had considered. "We can't draw any conclusions about the summit yet. We may still have a chance."

Reto shook his head. Chiyo was still thinking too simply. Even if peace couldn't be achieved, the status quo would ultimately be maintained, and everyone would give the Hokage some face. If Sunagakure launched a war to annex other countries at this time, it would undoubtedly be provoking Konoha. The entire ninja world knew of Hashirama's strength. Even if the four Kage joined forces, they might not be able to hurt him at all, not to mention him facing Hashirama by himself.

"Alas, I can only take it one step at a time. If it really doesn't work, I'll just have to spend money to buy land. I wonder who would sell it." Born in the midst of endless yellow sand, his only dream in this life was to lead his clan to survive in the desert.

And now that the village had been established, the burden on his shoulders was even heavier, and the people he had to protect had become thousands of households. Resource scarcity, food shortages, and insufficient strength. As the weakest of the five great ninja villages, if it weren't for the peace maintained by Hashirama... Sunagakure would probably have been targeted and devoured long ago.

"How is that new technique that Shamon developed coming along?"

"It should be successful soon."

Finally hearing some good news, Reto finally breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great! If this technique can be successfully developed, the strength of our Sunagakure will increase greatly!" Seeing that her husband's mood had finally improved, Chiyo was also happy.

"Go home early today. Suna has been clamoring for his father every day."

"Okay."

....

The sky gradually darkened, and Koharu, Naori, and Kagami had also returned to their residence long ago. Everyone was sitting in the living room discussing when to prepare for the return trip.

Actually, it mainly depended on whether Koharu and Naori had had enough fun. If they were still interested in Sunagakure, they would stay for another day.

"Forget it, forget it, let's go back to the village quickly." Koharu and Naori both proposed leaving at the same time. After spending the afternoon shopping, all they got were a few small porcelain bottles and sand blown into their clothes by the wind.

The food wasn't very good either. Everything was inferior to Konoha Village. It only felt fresh when they first arrived, and now they wanted to go home on the second day.

"Okay, then if you've had enough fun, we'll set off to return to the village tomorrow." With the date of returning to the village set, everyone planned to rest early tonight to recharge their energy to deal with various situations.

Torifū returned to his room and opened the character illustration book. The portraits of Reto and Chiyo lit up.

[Ding - Congratulations to the host for unlocking the illustration - First Kazekage Reto, reward 1000 Peace Points.]

[Ding - Congratulations to the host for unlocking the illustration - Chiyo, reward 700 Peace Points.]

Not bad, 1700 Peace Points. Adding the Peace Points rewarded for signing in these past few days, Torifū now had 24400 points. It was estimated that this mission would bring in more than 10,000 points. It was already very good. An S-class mission that wasn't too difficult could easily earn 10,000 Peace Points, and it was also a trip.

After everything was done, Torifū lay on the bed and slept soundly. The cold moonlight shone on the window, appearing particularly quiet. The unceasing gale was still howling, but with the barrier of the sand wall, the good dreams of the people of Sunagakure would no longer be disturbed.

Early the next morning, Torifū and the others packed all their luggage and prepared to return to the village to report. This mission could be said to be quite smooth, except for encountering some small fries on the road.

And Ebizō seemed to have noticed it early on, knocking on the door early in the morning.