Chapter 44: Déjà vu

Hiruzen was feeling dizzy at how fast everything was happening.

My mother, you're faster than the Fourth Hokage and his Flying Thunder God Jutsu!

The group of elders who thought themselves decisive had their eyes protruding out of admiration and fright.

They switched their attention back to Hachiro, dreading to find out his mind.

Hachiro was still thinking about the representatives quick thinking and reaction time, it was impressive as hell.

Although, it wasn't that surprising.

Although compared to the other major villages, Sunagakure was poorer and by extension weaker, they were used to taking risks.

They didn't have the same luxuries as the other villages and had learnt to snatch the best opportunities as soon as possible.

It would be hard for them to avoid a war now that they had publicly tried making a deal with Kumogakure.

"Ahh~ what a tempting proposal!"

Hachiro touched his chin and showed a troubled expression.

Kakashi reminded,

"Hachiro-sama, Konoha and Kumogakure are allies!"

Oh, its Hatake.

After their brief encounter in the war, they hadn't really communicated.

Before Hachiro could reply, Pakura shouted angrily,

"We, sand shinobi are allies with the leaf! You're the ones trying to start a war with us!"

"You bastards killed my brother! My sister-in-law and my future nephews and nieces!"

Asuma roared.

Pakura's expression chilled,

"Hmph, since you insist on trying to frame us, we will see you on the battlefield!"

The red eyed genjutsu lady beside him was frowning and debating about whether she should slap some sense into Asuma.

Has this fool been secretly smoking weird substances causing him to lose all his brain cells?

Can't he notice how precarious the situation is right now?

Those sand shinobi want to join forces with Kumo and start a war against Konoha!

"Mr. Hachiro! Konoha can provide similar conditions. As long as we defeat these deceiving fiends from the sand, we will give the Cloud the majority of the spoils!"

Hiruzen quickly added and tried to entice the cloud representative.

The exam's atmosphere was heavy, people were whispering to each other, still astonished at what they were witnessing.

Right now, a single sentence from Hachiro could potentially wipe a major village off the map.

Unexpectedly, he just laughed and said,

"Hokage-sama~ All together the Land of Wind has less valuables than a fifth of the Land of Fire. Why would we fight so aggressively for so little profit?"

The expression's of the Sand shinobi became uncomfortable involuntarily.

Unfortunately, they couldn't just refute it, and draw his ire right now as it might result in their village's destruction.

So far in the last three ninja wars, no country took the initiative to attack the Land of Wind but instead went to the Land of Fire.

The reason was obviously because the land of Fire possessed much greater riches.

They had natural resources, a perfect climate for crops and the inheritance of countless clan's.

Including the warring states giants, the Uchiha and Senju.

The Sand in comparison lacked any of that, so even if the leaf gave them the spoils it wouldn't be much.

The four elders felt a little speechless, though he was right.

Despite feeling slightly humiliated, Baki held back his anger and tried to continue.

"Hachiro-sama, after taking the Land of Fire, the Sand shinobi would like to form an alliance between our countries. We can arrange a marriage to show our sincerity-"

Hachiro interrupted and asked for Hiruzens attention,

"Okay, I'll consider it. But Mr Hokage-sama, I would still consider negotiation a viable option."

Upon realising that they could prevent the worst case scenario the Leaf shinobi were looking hopeful.

Hiashi felt a sense of déjà vu.

"Why does this seem so familiar? Wait..."

His thoughts were soon realised,

Hachiro pointed at the Uchiha trio and smiled,

"I would like the youngest son of the Uchiha patriarch."

His request echoed in the venue making everyone silent,

Although delayed, various spectating shinobi shouted in surprise.

"What?!"

Kakashi frowned thinking back to the kidnapping incident five years ago.

He muttered under his breath,

"First the Hyuga, now the Uchiha?"

Fugaku's anger was as violent as a flame that he struggled to contain.

Five years ago, he had a passing thought about whether they would have been able to get an Uchiha in the same way.

But he pushed that aside after he busied himself with other work.

Itachi's troubled expression warped upon hearing the request like a true bro-con.

Before he could start shouting, Shisui held out his arm and beckoned him to calm down.

Itachi remembered his ninja training and calmed down.

"Don't worry, I don't have anymore excessive demands. Same as last time, right Hokage-sama?"

Hachiro replied with a bright smile.

"We'll give Konoha 24 hours to consider and hopefully we will receive good news in your office."

"Mei, I don't think the exam will continue any further. Let's go shopping and check out those places you wanted to go to."

They got up holding hands and walked out of the battle tower.

Note: alright extra picky guy I fixed the last chapter. (I dare you to comment on this chapter I'll spam you with cat GIFs)

Cats are great