"This incident was all caused by Orochimaru's instigation. Konoha deeply regrets the fate of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. These supplies are Konoha's support for the construction of Sunagakure in the spirit of friendship among allies, and we hope to express Konoha's sincerity in this way."

Inside the Sand Village camp, Mitokado Homura forced a bright smile and spoke to Sand Village ninja Chiyo.

As the truckloads of supplies were being carried into the camp, the Sand Village ninja, despite her deep loathing for Konoha, responded with a forced smile: "The Sand Village has always upheld its friendship with Konoha. If Orochimaru hadn't maliciously manipulated things, this tragedy wouldn't have happened. Thank you for Konoha's material support."

We hope your village can arrest and bring Orochimaru to trial as soon as possible!

Elder Chiyo, who received a large amount of food, weapons and other supplies from the team led by Konoha representative Mitokado Homura, felt as if she were living in a dream.

Originally, she only led people to infiltrate the Land of Fire to meet the Fourth Kazekage. The series of changes in Konoha in recent years have given the Sand Village more confidence. She was there both to support and expand the results of Rasa's plan after it succeeded, and also to meet Rasa in case of emergency.

After receiving news from the front lines, Chiyo had given up hope of any gains this time. However, her unwillingness to give up spurred her to continue her advance. Upon encountering Konoha's envoy and realizing Konoha's weakness, Chiyo decided to take the opportunity to extort more supplies to make up for the losses suffered by Sunagakure.

To be honest, she initially exaggerated the quantity of supplies by a full 20 times, expecting to get at least half or even 10% of the target. However, Konoha turned out to be more fragile than she imagined, and despite various delays in negotiations, they still agreed to half of her demands.

However, these supplies were provided in batches. Apart from the prisoners being released all at once, the first batch of supplies only accounted for 30%, but this was still more than half of what Chiyo had hoped for.

Since Konoha is so weak, could we take this opportunity to make some more money? Chiyo pondered, quickly analyzing the strength comparison between her village and Konoha, as well as the possible reactions of other villages.

"Elder Chiyo, these people from Sunagakure entered the Land of Fire because of Orochimaru's conspiracy."

Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, I wonder when you will return to Sunagakure. Even if you are allies, it's not a good thing for such a large group of ninjas to enter the Land of Fire.

Both our villages still have border posts to guard. To be honest, Onoki and Raikage A aren't exactly peaceful and obedient guys.

Seeing that Chiyo, the Sand Ninja, hadn't reacted further for a long time after receiving the supplies, Homura Mitokado got a little anxious and couldn't help but remind her in a sarcastic tone.

After listening to Mitokado Homura's words and considering the losses suffered by the Sand Village, Chiyo pondered for a long time before finally sighing and saying helplessly, "It was all Orochimaru's evil conspiracy. I hope we can maintain peace in the future."

"Sunagakure ninja, withdraw your troops and return to the village!"

Chiyo felt helpless; the Sand Village simply couldn't continue fighting, and the Fourth Hokage Rasa's body had already been found.

The number of ninjas I led in this attack was insufficient, and going deep into enemy territory alone was a major taboo, not to mention that that old geezer Onoki had always been eyeing the Sand Village covetously.

Given the integrity of those people in Konoha, if I don't withdraw my troops soon, they will definitely send someone to inform Onoki. I should just take these supplies and call it a day. Even if I can't get any more supplies, these are enough for Sunagakure to recover a lot.

"Konoha has always valued its friendship with Sunagakure and would never provoke conflict. I wish everyone from Sunagakure a safe journey home."

I also hope that our two villages can live in peace from now on.

Watching the Sand Ninja begin dismantling their camp and setting off back to the village under Chiyo's command, Mitokado Homura breathed a sigh of relief and addressed Chiyo in a formulaic manner.

In reality, both Mitokado Homura and Chiyo knew perfectly well that after this incident, the relationship between the two villages would probably be difficult to return to its former harmony, or rather, the relationship between Konoha and Sunagakure had never truly been harmonious!

......

The retreat of the Sand Ninja allowed Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others to breathe a sigh of relief. With the external pressure reduced, they began to actively plan how to make up for their losses.

Inside a hospital ward, a private conversation is taking place.

"So, the Sand Village has already retreated?"

"Yes, the Anbu report that the main force of the Sand Ninja has left the Land of Fire and entered the desert of the Land of Wind. The border defense outposts have been re-established, and this time they will have absolutely no chance of a surprise attack!"

"That's good. Then we can no longer tolerate those Hyuga clan members who have no Will of Fire. I'll leave this matter to you, Danzo."

"Don't worry about resting. I'll take care of these things. I will never allow these guys who harm Konoha to continue to exist."

......

The day after the Sand Village ninjas retreated, Kurenai Yuhi and Anko Mitarashi walked side by side on the streets of Konoha. Looking at the shops that had reopened, their gloomy mood of the past few days improved slightly, so the two went to an izakaya (Japanese pub) to drink and relax.

However, their good mood didn't last long before a noisy commotion inside the izakaya made them frown.

Snap!

A burly, drunk man slammed his glass on the table and started yelling.

"Damn it, Konoha has suffered huge losses this time. It's all the fault of those evil Byakugan Hyuga clan!"

"Keep your voice down, Jiro. Are you drunk? How did you bring up the Hyuga clan?"

The man's companions, seeing him begin to lose his composure, quickly intervened to stop him. The Hyuga clan was the largest clan in Konoha, and they, as ordinary villagers, could not slander them.

"How can we not blame them? Isn't the Hyuga clan known as the largest clan in Konoha? Where were they when we resisted the enemy's invasion? Why couldn't we see a single one of them!"

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