The agreed-upon day arrived right on schedule.
All three villages moved fast.
A temporary eting hall was thrown up in record ti, built by Grass Village ninja under the watchful eyes of supervisors from Sand, Leaf, and Rock.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Ōnoki arrived by carriage.
Rasa left later but got there first.
Yatagarasu was just that fast.
The giant crow hovered above the eting hall. Rasa leaped off, dropping freely through the air until, just before he hit the ground, a platform of gold dust ford beneath his feet.
He landed smoothly.
On one side, Hiruzen stepped down from his carriage, back slightly hunched.
He didn't look like much at first glance.
Tobirama and Hashirama used to call him "monkey"—not just because of his summoning contract with Enma the Monkey King, but because of the way he actually looked.
Still, after decades as Hokage, the man carried the unmistakable presence of soone who sat at the very top. One look and you knew he wasn't ordinary.
Compared to Hiruzen, Ōnoki was even shorter.
But the aura rolling off him was pure fire.
The two locked eyes the mont they saw each other, sparks flying.
Their war had only just ended.
Hiruzen's gaze held a hint of smug satisfaction.
Ōnoki, the loser, let out a cold snort.
On the other side, the Grass Village leader kept his head down, posture as low as it could go.
He was seething inside, but there was nothing he could do.
The entire eting was about Grass Village's fate, yet as leader he had zero say. He could only listen—and was forced to host the damn thing while choking down his rage.
The Grass leader felt his chest burning. His heart was bleeding.
"Lord Kazekage. Lord Hokage. Lord Tsuchikage. This way, please."
The three Kage entered the eting room.
One round table. Three chairs.
The Grass Village leader didn't even qualify to sit. He could only stand off to the side and serve.
Pakura stood behind Rasa.
Yuuhi stood behind Hiruzen.
Kitsuchi stood behind Ōnoki.
Just from the lineup alone, Sunagakure looked far stronger than the other two.
"Grass Village's cris are unforgivable. We're all in agreent on that—no need to discuss it further. They must pay a heavy price to make up for our losses."
"This price can be broken into two parts."
Ōnoki's brow furrowed.
"Two parts?"
Rasa looked at Hiruzen.
"The two parts are compensation and reparations."
"Compensation ans we calculate based on each village's actual losses—caravans raided, civilians killed, ninja killed, plus the cost of deploying our armies."
"Hokage, that sound fair to you?"
Hiruzen's eyes flicked.
Under this system, both Sunagakure and Konoha would co out ahead. Iwagakure had shown up late, reported fewer losses, and spent less on their army.
He nodded.
"Sounds reasonable."
Ōnoki's face darkened.
"I don't think it's reasonable at all. Grass Village hurt all three of us. All three of us are here. The only fair way is to split everything equally."
Ōnoki could already see Rasa and Hiruzen were working together.
"Tsuchikage, I'm talking about compensation. Splitting compensation equally doesn't make any goddamn sense. Are you saying killing one person causes the sa damage as killing two?"
"You're not being reasonable here."
Rasa turned back to Hiruzen.
"Hokage, you agree, right?"
Hiruzen nodded.
"The Kazekage makes sense. Compensation is compensation. Actual losses should be paid back accordingly."
"If you can't even accept that much, Tsuchikage, then feel free to walk out. Konoha and Sunagakure will handle this ourselves."
Ōnoki went quiet.
One Iwagakure facing both Konoha and Sunagakure at the sa ti? No chance.
They'd already lost to Konoha once.
Even if Iwagakure used to dominate Sunagakure in the past, this wasn't the sa Sunagakure anymore.
Even Ōnoki wasn't confident he could take them down.
The room grew heavy.
None of the three n moved, but it felt like they were waging a silent war of presence.
The Grass Village leader could barely breathe.
The worse the tension got, the more he secretly hoped they'd start fighting.
But he was disappointed again.
Ōnoki was pissed, but he didn't explode.
After decades as Tsuchikage—and with many more years ahead—he had serious political instincts behind that explosive personality.
He'd used human-wave tactics before to win, but he knew when to hold back. He wasn't going to let this beco another political stain like the ti Roshi got so angry he left the village.
(That old man was basically Iwagakure's version of Tsunade now—wandering outside, hard to count on.)
"So what about the reparations?" Ōnoki asked.
The atmosphere eased a little.
Rasa smiled.
"I've thought of two ways to handle reparations."
"An even split is probably sothing none of you can accept, so let's settle it the shinobi way."
"War has already cost all three of us too much."
"We need to decide with strength, but we can't afford heavy casualties."
"So let the next generation decide."
"One: an arena tournant. Age limit—under twenty."
"Two: a joint Chunin Exam. Each village sends the sa number of genin teams."
Ōnoki and Hiruzen glanced at each other.
Both thods were acceptable.
But Rasa had proposed them, which ant they were obviously rigged in Sunagakure's favor.
They needed adjustnts.
"Let's go with the arena tournant," Hiruzen said. "The Chunin Exam takes too long and is too much trouble. But twenty is too old—too many candidates to sort through. Let's cap it at eighteen."
Ōnoki's eyes flashed.
"I agree with the arena format. But eighteen is still too high. Sixteen. And as for fighters… three per village. How's that?"
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