Chapter 363: If You Won't Give It to Us, We'll Take It Ourselves!

Although Uchiha Ren was confident that Sunagakure would not attack him during this meeting—and even if they did, he was confident he could escape unscathed—he could not rule out the possibility that Elder Chiyo might resort to some underhanded trick.

Chiyo was an expert in poisons. Bringing Tsunade along would therefore provide an additional layer of security.

Hyūga Hizashi had also thought of this, so he said nothing more.

Soon, an hour passed.

When Uchiha Ren and Tsunade appeared side by side on a small sand dune ten li outside Sunagakure, Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizō also arrived nearby with Yashamaru and Shira.

When Chiyo saw Tsunade standing behind Ren, she frowned slightly.

Although they had known that whoever Ren brought as his guard would certainly be no ordinary shinobi, they had not expected him to bring Tsunade herself as his escort.

"Everyone, it's been a long time."

Ren was the first to break the silence. He smiled and cupped his hands toward the group opposite him.

"Uchiha Ren?"

Chiyo spoke while sizing Ren up from head to toe. This was the first time she had ever dealt with him at such close range.

"Indeed."

Ren raised a hand and unfurled a large camping cloth, spreading it across the sand.

"Everyone, I apologize for the simple arrangements. Please, have a seat."

"Hmph! Uchiha Ren, shouldn't those words be coming from us?"

Ebizō spoke coldly.

"This is the territory of our Sunagakure. You Konoha shinobi are the guests here—and uninvited ones at that! If anyone should apologize for the poor hospitality, it should be us."

Ren sat cross-legged on the camping cloth and replied indifferently,

"I can't say I've found Sunagakure's hospitality lacking this time. After all, Konoha has been eating so well in Sunagakure and the Land of Wind that we've practically had grease dripping from the corners of our mouths."

"You!"

How could Ebizō fail to understand the sarcasm in Ren's words?

Thinking of the Konoha squads that had been rampaging across the Land of Wind, plundering resources wherever they went, his blood immediately began to boil.

"All right."

Chiyo intervened at the appropriate moment. She sat down opposite Ren and continued,

"There's no need to trade barbs. Let's sit down and talk."

Ebizō gave a cold snort but said nothing more, sitting down beside Chiyo.

Ren took out a storage scroll. After releasing the seal, he summoned several exquisite dishes and bottles of wine onto the camping cloth.

He took out three wine cups. After pouring himself a cup, he poured one each for Chiyo and Ebizō.

"Time is short, so the dishes are rather simple. I'll first punish myself with a drink. Cheers."

With that, Ren raised his cup and drained it in one gulp.

"Lord Uchiha, you're joking. Sunagakure is a poor and barren place. These dishes are already quite exquisite by our standards."

Chiyo raised her wine cup but showed no intention of drinking.

Instead, she looked toward Tsunade standing behind Ren and spoke with apparent emotion.

"I've heard of the name of Konoha's Crimson Sun for quite some time. I simply didn't expect Lord Uchiha to be so young. For even one of the Legendary Sannin, Lady Tsunade, to serve as your guard... truly, heroes emerge among the young."

Her words sounded calm, but there was a hidden edge to them.

Not only was she attempting to portray Ren as a disrespectful junior who had no regard for his elders, she was also trying to sow discord between Ren and Tsunade.

Everyone present was intelligent enough to understand the implication behind Chiyo's words.

However, before Ren could respond, Tsunade behind him spoke first.

"Old Chiyo, you don't need to be so sarcastic. Uchiha Ren is now one of Konoha's Four Elders. Although I'm his senior, serving as a guard for a Konoha elder is perfectly reasonable."

Chiyo raised an eyebrow.

She truly had not known this.

Ren had only recently taken up the position of Konoha Elder. Moreover, Minato Namikaze becoming the Fourth Hokage had attracted most of the attention, so news of Ren's appointment had yet to spread widely.

Chiyo promptly lowered the wine cup in her hand and looked at Ren.

"Well, it seems this old woman has been rather uninformed. I didn't know about this until now."

Ren waved his hand dismissively.

"It's nothing important. It's perfectly normal that you hadn't heard about it."

Chiyo shook her head.

"No wonder. Konoha recently replaced its Hokage with the young Yellow Flash, and now a young Crimson Sun has become one of Konoha's elders."

"No wonder your Konoha would suddenly change its usual approach and take the initiative to invade my Sunagakure."

"No, no."

Ren calmly shook his head.

"Elder Chiyo, you're mistaken. Konoha did not invade Sunagakure. We were acting in self-defense."

"Don't forget that not long ago, Sunagakure sent a large army into the Land of Fire and fought all the way to Kikyō Mountain. What Konoha has done this time is merely answering an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

"Kikyō Mountain?"

Chiyo frowned.

"It is true that Sunagakure initiated the battle at Kikyō Mountain. But we paid a terrible price for it, and we've already acknowledged that Konoha won that war."

"We were preparing to negotiate peace. What more do you want?"

"You were preparing to negotiate peace, but the negotiations haven't happened yet."

Ren spoke calmly.

"If we haven't reached a peace agreement, then the war isn't over. So there's nothing wrong with Konoha taking certain measures in response, is there?"

After a pause, Ren lowered his voice and added,

"And if I remember correctly, when Konoha sent Sunagakure a proposal to negotiate peace, your village directly rejected it."

Chiyo's expression turned solemn.

"Elder Uchiha, you shouldn't make baseless accusations. Sunagakure has never refused to negotiate peace."

"We simply had some disagreements with the terms proposed by Konoha."

"Isn't negotiation precisely about discussing terms? It's perfectly normal for both sides to have different opinions about a peace settlement. We could simply sit down and discuss them slowly."

"Instead, Konoha launched such a massive attack against us over this alone. Isn't that reaction somewhat excessive?"

Ren shook his head.

"Negotiation is indeed about negotiating terms. But some bottom lines are not negotiable."

"As the defeated party in this war, Sunagakure caused enormous losses to Konoha. Yet you don't even want to provide us with the slightest compensation. Isn't that rather unreasonable?"

"This war is meant to make one thing crystal clear to everyone in the shinobi world."

"Today's Konoha is not the Konoha of the past."

"It is the New Konoha led by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"In the past, the Third Hokage might have compromised with you for the sake of the greater picture."

"But for Konoha today..."

"If you won't give it to us, we'll take it ourselves!"