bookbashuk Chapter 374 Rain That Has Nothing to Do with Me
Chapter 374 Rain That Has Nothing to Do with Me
Chapter 374 Rain That Has Nothing to Do with Me
Tsunade met them in the Hokage's office. Shikamaru stood to her right, and Shizune to her left. Izumi wasn't there.
As the messenger entered, Shikamaru noticed his gaze sweep across the room. He wasn't looking for anyone, but confirming something: Izumi wasn't there. The messenger's expression changed briefly, but Shikamaru saw it. It wasn't disappointment, but a sigh of relief.
"I am the special envoy from the Land of Lightning, my surname is Akizuki." The envoy sat down in the chair in front of Tsunade, his bamboo cane resting beside his legs, his hands on his knees. "These two are the deputy envoys from the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. We are here on the orders of the Tripartite Council to discuss a ceasefire with the Land of Fire."
Tsunade put out her cigarette.
"Ceasefire? You invaded, slaughtered my people, and looted my villages. Now you can't win and you want a ceasefire?"
Qiuyue's fingers curled slightly on her knee.
"Lord Hokage, the war has already caused far too many casualties. In the battle of Rain Rift Basin, our side lost 23,000 men. Adding the previous engagements, the total casualties are approaching 30,000. This number is too high for either side."
Tsunade gave a cold laugh.
"When you called in, didn't you think the numbers were big?"
Qiuyue remained silent for a few seconds.
"Lord Hokage, I'm not here to argue about right and wrong. I'm here to negotiate terms."
Tsunade glanced at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru took a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the table. Several points were written on the paper, in neat handwriting, which Shikamaru had prepared in advance. Tsunade glanced at it, turned the paper around, and faced Akizuki.
"look."
Qiu Yue looked down. His two deputies also came over to look.
Article 1: The three kingdoms of Lightning, Wind, and Earth shall jointly compensate the Land of Fire for its war losses, to be settled in gold, with the amount to be determined by Konoha.
Article 2: For thirty years from the date of signing the treaty, the three countries shall not take any form of military action against the Land of Fire and Konoha.
Article 3: All weapons, armor, and ninja tools of all existing armed forces in the Three Kingdoms, including but not limited to ninjas, militia, private soldiers, and mercenaries, totaling more than 300,000 people, shall be handed over to Konoha Village for unified disposal.
Article 4: The weapons and supplies mentioned in Article 3 shall be melted down by Konoha Village and forged into agricultural tools, which shall be distributed to the disaster-stricken farmers in the Land of Fire.
Article 5: The three countries shall not rebuild armed forces exceeding the scale of self-defense in any form. The definition of the scale of self-defense shall be determined by Konoha Village.
Article 6: Within ten days of the signing of the treaty, the three countries shall submit a complete list of military resources to Konoha Village, including personnel, equipment, material reserves, ninja tool inventory, explosive tag stockpile, etc., and shall not conceal any information.
Article 7: If any of the three countries violates the above provisions, Konoha Village has the right to take all necessary measures to hold them accountable, and the other two countries shall cooperate in imposing sanctions.
After reading it, Qiu Yue removed his hands from his knees and placed them on the table. His fingers were trembling.
"Lord Hokage, this seventh one..."
"What's wrong with Article Seven?" Tsunade's voice was neither loud nor soft.
"The 'three countries coordinating sanctions' clause is unreasonable. Our three countries just finished a war, and there are still conflicts between us—"
"And there's resentment," Tsunade said for him. "It's good that there's resentment. With resentment, you won't cover for each other. If one of you breaks the contract, the other two will be happy to report you."
Qiuyue took a deep breath and read the third item again.
"Give all the weapons of more than 300,000 men to Konoha. Melt them down and turn them into farm tools." His voice lowered. "Hokage-sama, this is tantamount to disarming all three of our nations."
"Not all," Tsunade said. "Those on a self-defense scale can be kept. What does 'self-defense scale' mean? I'll define it. If I say you can keep a hundred, you can keep a hundred. If I say you can keep a thousand, you can keep a thousand. If I say you can't keep kunai, you can't keep kunai."
The female deputy envoy of the Land of Wind couldn't help but speak up.
"Lord Hokage, this is going too far. Although our three ninja villages have been defeated, we have not reached the point of unconditional surrender. Your terms are no different from turning our three countries into vassal states of Konoha."
Tsunade looked at her.
"The dependent states will make me pay compensation. The dependent states don't have to pay compensation. You are the ones who have to pay compensation."
The female deputy envoy's face flushed red.
The male deputy envoy from the Land of Earth, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke. His voice was very low, as if squeezed from his chest.
Where is the pond/spring?
There was a moment of silence in the Hokage's room.
Tsunade looked at him.
"Why are you asking him that?"
The male deputy envoy's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
"I want to know if he's still alive. If he is, how badly is he injured? If he is injured, how serious is the injury? If he's disabled, how long has he been disabled?"
Shikamaru spoke coldly from the side.
"Are you asking these questions to determine whether Konoha currently has the confidence to negotiate with you?"
The male deputy envoy did not deny it.
Tsunade stood up.
She wasn't particularly tall for a character in Naruto, but when she stood up, the atmosphere in the entire Hokage's room changed. Akizuki's bamboo staff slid off her legs and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Where is Chi Quan? How badly is Chi Quan injured? Is Chi Quan crippled or not? These things have nothing to do with your terms." Tsunade's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a nail. "Your 300,000 men were crippled by Chi Quan alone. Your western front commander, Rasa, was driven away by Chi Quan alone. Your 30,000 allied troops were buried in the Rain Rift Basin by Chi Quan alone."
"You're sitting here negotiating with me now because Chi Quan's knife that day didn't pierce any of your hearts."
.
She paused for a moment.
"You want to determine if he still has the strength to stab again? You can try. He's in the rightmost ward on the third floor of the medical department. You can go see him. See if he can stand up, if he can hold a knife, if he can kill another 30,000."
Qiu Yue bent down to pick up the bamboo cane, her knuckles turning white as she gripped it.
"Lord Hokage, we have no authority to agree to your conditions. I need to return home and await the council's reply."
"Pass on the message." Tsunade sat down again. "My conditions remain unchanged. Not a single one. If you agree, sign the peace treaty. If you don't agree, go back and continue fighting. Konoha doesn't need the lives of tens of thousands of you, nor does Izumi."
Qiuyue left with her two deputies. The tapping sound of her bamboo cane on the ground echoed in the corridor for a while before being cut off by the closed door.
Shikamaru picked up the contract paper on the table, folded it, and put it back in his pocket.
"They will agree," he said.
Tsunade looked at him.
"Are you so sure?"
"They can't accept the third point the most, but the seventh point is the real shackle," Shikamaru said. "The three countries monitor and sanction each other, which is equivalent to them locking themselves up. In the future, no matter which country wants to secretly expand its military, the other two will be the first to report it."
Because they were also afraid of the other side expanding its army.
Tsunade lit a cigarette.
"Three hundred thousand armed men, melted down into farm tools. Who came up with this idea?"
Shikamaru remained silent for a second.
"Chiquan."
Tsunade paused her smoking for a moment.
When did he tell you?
"Before the rain-splittered basin, he told me the whole plan. Earth Release, luring the enemy, Helian, and the cleanup," Shikamaru said. "He said that after the war, if we didn't take away the enemy's weapons, we would fight again in a few years. If we took them away, melted them down, and made them into molds and hoes, we would distribute them to the farmers. The farmers wouldn't use molds to fight. When weapons become tools, the war would truly be over."
Tsunade took the cigarette out of her mouth and looked at the glowing ember.
"An armed force of 300,000 men. The combined ninja tool stockpiles of the Lightning, Wind, and Earth kingdoms exceed 300,000. Their kunai..."
Shuriken, explosive tags, ninja tool pouch, headband—melted all of them, how many farm tools can you make from that?
Shikamaru thought for a moment.
"It will take twenty years for farmers in the western part of the fiery country to grow."
Tsunade put out her cigarette.
"Twenty years. That's enough."
She stood up and walked to the window. The village of Konoha outside was quiet in the afternoon light. People were walking in the streets, drying blankets on rooftops, and children were chasing each other in the alleys. In the distance, the shouts of new recruits echoed from the training grounds, uneven but full of spirit.
"How is Izumi doing today?" Tsunade asked.
Jingyin answered from the side, "He had eighteen stitches in his left palm, six stitches in the web of his right hand, and twelve stitches in the self-inflicted stab wound in his thigh, which didn't damage an artery. The wound on his abdomen was re-stitched and a drainage tube was added. Seventy percent of the remaining toxins in his lungs have been cleared, but he's still coughing. He hasn't fully recovered from dehydration and needs three IV drips a day."
After listening, Tsunade remained silent for a while.
Has he gotten out of bed?
Shizune hesitated for a moment.
"I'm logging off."
"When?"
"This morning, while I was at the pharmacy getting my medicine, he walked to the end of the corridor, glanced at the branches of the persimmon tree outside the window, and then went back inside."
Tsunade didn't say anything.
Shikamaru suddenly said something.
"Didn't all the leaves on the persimmon tree fall?"
Silent nod.
"It's fallen."
"What is he looking at?"
Silent didn't answer.
The rightmost ward on the third floor of the medical department.
Chi Quan leaned against the pillow, his left hand wrapped in a thick bandage and placed at his side. His right hand rested on the blanket, the bandage on his thumb gleaming white. He was wearing a light blue hospital gown with a wide collar, revealing a drainage tube protruding from under the bandage on his abdomen. The tube connected to a drainage bag beside the bed, which was half-filled with pale red liquid.
The curtains were drawn, leaving only a slit. Light squeezed through that slit, falling on the foot of the bed like a thin, golden thread.
There was a knock on the door twice.
It wasn't a silent knock. A silent knock is three short, urgent knocks, like urging someone on. This knock was two, neither too loud nor too soft, neither too fast nor too slow.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open.
Kiba walked in, with Akamaru at his feet. Kiba was carrying a paper bag with the sign of a confectionery shop printed on it. It was the old shop on Konoha East Street, which had been open for over forty years and sold red bean cakes and glutinous rice balls.
Ya put the paper bag on the bedside table and pulled over a chair to sit down.
"Red bean cake. No sugar in it. Don't you not like sweets? I asked him to put in half the sugar."
Chi Quan glanced at the paper bag.
"Thanks."
Tooth wasn't used to hearing him say thank you, so the tips of his ears turned a little red. He pretended not to hear it and lowered his head to touch Akamaru's head.
"You got out of bed today?"
"Um.
""
"To the end of the corridor?"
"Um.
""
"To see the persimmon tree?"
"Um.
"The persimmon tree has lost all its leaves. What's there to see?"
Chi Quan thought for a moment.
"The tree trunk is still there."
Ya didn't understand, but he didn't ask any further questions.
He took a piece of red bean cake from the paper bag and handed it to Chi Quan. Chi Quan took it with her right hand, took a bite, and chewed very slowly.
"Is it good?" Ya asked.
"good."
He smiled slightly.
"That means it's delicious. If you say 'it's okay,' then it's delicious."
Chi Quan did not refute.
He finished the red bean cake, folded the wrapper twice, and placed it on the bedside table. Then he leaned against the pillow and looked at the crack in the ceiling. The crack was a little longer than the last time he saw it, stretching from the lamp base all the way to the corner of the wall, like a thin, gray snake.
"tooth."
"Um?"
"The Allied forces have arrived."
Ya paused for a moment.
How did you know?
"Shizune said it. She said it when she was changing her bandages. She said three people came, one from the Land of Lightning, one from the Land of Wind, and one from the Land of Earth. Lady Tsunade met them at the Hokage Tower."
He leaned back in his chair.
"Peace talks?"
"It should be."
"What are the conditions?"
Chi Quan remained silent for a while.
"I don't know," he said.
He lied. He knew it. He and Shikamaru drafted the terms together; he read every sentence and calculated every number.
The armed force of 300,000 men was melted down and turned into farm tools, which were then distributed to farmers. This is what he said. Written by Shikamaru.
What he didn't know was whether Tsunade would agree.
Those conditions were too harsh. He knew it. The third one was especially harsh. The entire force of 300,000 men had to be surrendered, which meant that Lei...
For many years to come, the kingdoms of Wind and Earth will be incapable of waging any significant war. They will become toothless tigers, possessing claws but unable to inflict any real pain.
This is what he wanted.
He didn't want the Three Kingdoms to submit, to kneel, or possess their land and people. What he wanted was for the Three Kingdoms to stop fighting.
We must no longer attack the Land of Fire, no longer attack Konoha, no longer attack any ordinary person. Melt their swords into plowshares, forge their kunai into hoes, and remelt their headbands into molten iron, pour them into molds, and turn them into things that farmers hold in their hands.
A farmer holding a shovel wouldn't think of killing someone.
A farmer holding a hoe wouldn't think of invading.
A farmer, holding a sickle, only bends down to harvest rice in the autumn. When he straightens up, he wipes his sweat, looks at the sunset, and thinks about whether this year's harvest will be good or not, not about whether the people in the village across the street deserve to die.
Chi Quan closed his eyes.
He remembered the rain-cracked basin. He remembered the outstretched hands buried under the earth and rocks. He remembered the cries for help echoing through the dust and mist. He remembered Helian leaning against a large rock, the hilt of his sword protruding from his abdomen, blood pooling on the ground, his eyes half-closed, a smile still lingering on his lips.
The images were vivid in his mind. They weren't frozen in time like in a photograph; they were in motion. Hands were moving, sounds were being heard, and blood was flowing.
But he did not avoid these images.
He just stared at them like that.
Like watching a rain that has nothing to do with you.
Kiba was playing with Akamaru nearby. Akamaru put its front paws on Kiba's knees, and Kiba held Akamaru's two front paws in his hands, opening and closing them as if shaking hands. Akamaru's tail wagged very fast, hitting the armrest of the chair with a slapping sound.