"We, the people of the Land of Whirlpools, have lived in peace on this small island surrounded by sea, rarely involved in worldly affairs. Yet who would have thought that our centuries-old sealing techniques would one day bring upon us such an unwarranted disaster.
Fortunately, with the aid of the Konoha shinobi, we narrowly avoided complete annihilation. But I am also well aware that such tily support may not always arrive in the future, and we cannot afford to antagonize all four Great Shinobi Villages at once.
That is why I propose a deal.
You've already taken most of our sealing techniques. What you have is more than sufficient to seal the tailed beasts of each village.
We of Uzushiogakure will consider this our misfortune and are willing to gift you these techniques, along with ships to return ho. In exchange, you must never again raise arms against our village.
If you accept these terms, then please, take the ships and leave.
Of course, if you refuse... then die here with us. We, the sons of Uzushiogakure, do not lack the courage to fight to the death and take our enemies with us."
These words might have sounded submissive and disgraceful on the surface, but in truth, Uzushiogakure had nothing more to lose.
The sealing techniques from the outer scripture vault were ones they had already deed irretrievable—and in truth, not even important.
They could be rewritten at any ti. Among the thousand-odd survivors, if each contributed to restoring a technique or two, the entire collection could be replenished.
As for the so-called request that they not attack Uzushiogakure again—it was aningless. After this incident, Uzumaki Ashina had already resolved to follow Mito's advice and relocate the entire clan to Konohagakure.
Any promises made now were just for show. Once this ordeal was over, it wouldn't matter if they were broken.
What mattered most was preserving the lives of his people. Everything else was secondary.
After hearing Uzumaki Ashina's speech, the joint forces of the four great villages fell into silence.
Each person calculating their own interests.
The elders of the four villages exchanged glances and tacitly gathered together.
The Kumogakure elder squinted toward the high wall where Ashina and Hoshiyomi stood, then muttered:
"Sothing's fishy. I bet their reinforcents haven't arrived—or maybe it's just a small group. They're bluffing to scare us off."
The Iwagakure elder rolled his eyes and sneered:
"What if we attack and Konoha's elite are lying in ambush? Every shinobi we lose is a blow to Iwa. I'm not risking that."
"What are you trying to say?" The elder from Kumo, already short-tempered, flared up at the open mockery—but he was all bark and no bite.
Even though he was fuming, he didn't dare lash out. This was a joint operation of four villages, not sothing he alone controlled. If anything went wrong, he couldn't bear the consequences alone.
They glared at each other for a while but didn't escalate further.
The true elder of Sunagakure, Monzaemon, was likely already dead, so soone else now held decision-making power.
This Sand elder pondered in silence for quite a while before ultimately choosing to follow the crowd.
After all, Suna had co hoping to gain sothing by going with the flow.
Now that things had gone south, his inexperience left him at a loss, so he decided to keep watching and let others lead.
And so, three sets of eyes turned toward the Kirigakure elder.
The elder from Kiri adopted a thoughtful expression, but in truth, he was gauging how many sealing scrolls their jōnin had managed to steal from the outer scripture vault.
Seeing the paltry number made him frown deeply.
He had assud all the treasures were stored inside and hadn't cared about the outer vault. But now, with the main vault impenetrable, Kiri had co out the worst.
The mont he laid eyes on Hoshiyomi, the elder had already decided to retreat.
He knew full well that any Konoha ninja standing here represented the village's stance.
And this one wasn't just any ninja—it was Gekkō Hoshiyomi, a prodigy.
Such talents were never casually deployed by the major villages. The fact that he stood alone atop the wall was proof of Konoha's confidence.
There had to be backup—maybe not here yet, but certainly on the way.
Even if Kiri were to launch an all-out assault, escape without heavy casualties was unlikely.
Better to consider how to maximize benefits rather than throw lives away.
The elder knew the value of ships at sea—without Uzumaki Ashina's ships, they had no way of leaving alive.
He wanted the ships. He also wanted the sealing techniques.
How to get both? The answer lay in these so-called "allies."
He glanced slyly at the three other elders.
Geographically, Kumo was closest to them and its ninjutsu naturally countered theirs—best not to offend them.
Suna was furthest away and poorly suited for naval combat. So of their jōnin even got seasick on the way over—they were the easiest target.
Iwa and Kumo were never on good terms. They had just argued again.
So, if he conspired with the Kumo elder to eliminate the Suna and Iwa shinobi at sea, the two remaining villages could divide the sealing techniques and report back successfully.
Perfect plan.
The Kiri elder raised his head with a genial smile:
"Now, now, let's not argue amongst ourselves in this ti of crisis."
The two elders glared at each other but cooled off slightly, huffing in irritation.
He continued:
"The Kumo elder has a point. The other side may well be bluffing—but we must also admit they wouldn't dare to negotiate without so leverage.
If there were no reinforcents behind them, they'd be too anxious to sit down and talk. Don't you agree?"
The others nodded. That was precisely why they had hesitated.
The Kiri elder pressed on:
"So why not play along for now? Let's take what we can and retreat. Once the Konoha shinobi leave, we'll return and attack again. This ti, without giving them a chance to call for help.
The only reason they slipped through our grasp this ti is because we didn't know the terrain. But now that we've mapped out the Land of Whirlpools, they won't be so lucky next ti."
Everyone nodded in agreent.
Konoha could protect them once, but not forever—why throw away lives now?
The four elders shared a glance, then rose and turned to Uzumaki Ashina.
"Very well. We accept your offer. We will retreat and no longer attack the Land of Whirlpools. Send down the ships."
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