Private Transaction
The first day of private negotiations ended on an unpleasant note.
Hanzo disagreed with refusing missions related to the Land of Rivers, believing it would cause considerable losses to Rain Hidden Village and require additional compensation.
He was essentially making exorbitant demands for money and resources, asking for too much for anyone to agree.
The Fourth Kazekage was ambiguous, hardly speaking proactively and not accepting the benefits offered by the Third Hokage.
Everyone knew that the Land of Rivers would ultimately benefit the Land of Fire the most once pacified. Therefore, Rain Hidden Village applied pressure, and Sand Ninja Village didn't cooperate, making the atmosphere of the first day of negotiations somewhat rigid, leading to a hasty adjournment.
During lunch, Ebizo from Sand Ninja Village, whom Lin Ke had met once before, came to the Hot Spring Inn.
"Our demands are simple: return the Jinchuriki, give us Scorpion's puppets, and let us meet with Maki," he stated.
"Impossible," the Third Hokage refused even more decisively. He was kind, not an idiot. The three countries at this negotiation were allies.
The internal strife in Rain Hidden Village wouldn't yield much profit. Sand Ninja Village had just surrendered and didn't have much ability to resist. This three-country negotiation was essentially the Land of Fire wanting a pacified Land of Rivers, giving its two little brothers some benefits to keep them from causing trouble.
Now, they were asking for the Jinchuriki and wanted to take away a batch of priceless puppets for nothing. Moreover, meeting with the deceased Maki required their own genius's secret technique.
These were demands that could not be agreed to under any circumstances.
Ebizo frowned, proposing conditions little by little, like squeezing toothpaste, such as money, Ninjutsu, Quicksand Gold, and intelligence. Sand Ninja Village only had so much to bargain with.
The Fourth Kazekage using newly developed techniques and Quicksand Gold to exchange for money was no longer news; it was common knowledge in the ninja world.
In his youth, he was an intelligence expert in Sand Ninja Village. Even in his old age, he still possessed a wealth of information, much of which couldn't be measured by money, making it perfect for exchanging for the Jinchuriki.
The two old men haggled back and forth for a long time, finally reaching a deal: a batch of Quicksand Gold + partial intelligence sharing, and an advance payment from the surrender agreement after the Konoha Crush Plan, in exchange for the Jinchuriki's return. Sand Ninja Village would also stand with Konoha Village during this three-country negotiation.
The Third Hokage turned to look at Lin Ke, who was standing beside him, and said, "Regarding the puppets, they are Lin Ke's spoils of war. If you want to buy them, you can ask him personally."
He didn't mention the matter of meeting with Maki.
"Do you have any conditions?" Ebizo was very patient, haggling for over an hour without showing any impatience.
"Money or Ninjutsu." Lin Ke took out a prepared notebook and handed it over. It contained the different prices he had set for each puppet after Kankuro had assessed their value.
Ebizo took the notebook, glanced at it, and said, "We don't have money." He was joking. The Scorpion puppet ranked first on the list cost 350 million Ryo. Sand Ninja Village couldn't afford that even if they sold everything they had.
Not to mention the other puppets.
However, his purpose wasn't to buy all the puppets. Those things were meaningless to Sand Ninja Village. Poor people couldn't afford to play with puppets. The once-famous Sand Ninja Village puppet squad had long since died out or been lost. With Chiyo's retirement, the entire squad was as good as canceled.
Otherwise, the village's most talented Puppet Master wouldn't have picked up Scorpion's old works left in the village to use.
They really couldn't afford it and had long abandoned Puppet Technique in their overall strategy.
Buying puppets was only for the 'Scorpion' puppet and the Third Kazekage's puppet. The others they couldn't afford, couldn't repair, and couldn't use.
Lin Ke sighed inwardly. It was expected that he wouldn't get money. Ninjutsu was okay, but he didn't know if he could sell it to the village.
"We want to take back the Third Kazekage's puppet." Ebizo's goal was clear. He took out a Scroll. "You can choose ten Ninjutsu from inside."
Lin Ke took the Scroll and handed it to the Third Hokage.
As a 'good child,' he shouldn't be good at negotiations. Moreover, he certainly didn't know as much about Ninjutsu as the Ninjutsu professor next to him.
"These." The Third Hokage glanced at it and pointed. "Some of the Ninjutsu inside have already been sold to us before..."
Sand Ninja Village had already sold some Wind Release techniques once. The village would definitely teach Lin Ke the techniques they had in the future, so there was no way they would buy them again.
The two old men started discussing again.
In the end, fifteen Ninjutsu were traded, all C or D-rank Wind Release techniques. The Scroll Ebizo gave didn't contain any high-level Ninjutsu. Moreover, the Third Kazekage's puppet was so rotten that Kankuro didn't know how to repair it. Logically, it couldn't be sold for a high price.
Lin Ke was just treating it as garbage disposal.
Then came the transaction for the 'Scorpion' puppet, which was truly complete and ready to use. Any Puppet Master with a little skill could at least unleash the strength of a Jonin. There was no reason to sell it cheaply.
They negotiated for a while without reaching a satisfactory agreement.
Ebizo shook his head and said, "In that case, let's postpone the purchase of the 'Scorpion' puppet for now." His sister valued the 'Scorpion' puppet, and to ensure she wouldn't cause trouble, only he came with the Kazekage for this negotiation.
From his perspective, excluding emotional factors, there was no need to take down the 'Scorpion' puppet at all.
He left the Ninjutsu Scroll, handed it to the Third Hokage for verification, and stuffed the Third Kazekage's puppet into his sleeve, saying, "Regarding Maki..."
The Third Hokage didn't speak, turning his face to look at Lin Ke.
He was determined not to make the decision himself.
"Want to see Maki..." Lin Ke should have agreed immediately. Getting money or Ninjutsu to let them meet didn't seem like a big deal.
But he always felt something was off. Maki wanted to see the Kazekage, and Ebizo also wanted to see Maki. Did they have some information to exchange? "I want high-level Ninjutsu, secret techniques, or Forbidden Techniques of B-rank and above." After thinking about it, he really didn't have much information to expose to Maki.
The Akatsuki theoretically knew more information than Maki could know, and wrong information was sometimes even more troublesome.
Ebizo's eyebrows twitched. This kid really dared to ask for a lot. The price he had discussed with Temari and the others before was still...
Forget it, dwelling on that was meaningless. When the pricing power was in someone else's hands, arguing about inconsistent prices was really unnecessary.
"Are you sure you need Forbidden Techniques too?" As he said this, he squinted at the Third Hokage.
Pursuing Ninjutsu was a common problem for ninjas, but pursuing Forbidden Techniques was a bit strange. As far as he knew, the last genius from Konoha Village who pursued Forbidden Techniques was now an S-rank missing-nin.
However, he only saw the Third Hokage's calm expression.
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