Naruto: Dual System Power At The Beginning

The Fourth Raikage saw hope and was overjoyed.

"Our Kumogakure is willing to offer you five billion ryo in compensation."

This was almost an entire year's expenditure for Kumogakure, as its annual expenses were approximately six billion ryo.

The other party should be satisfied, right? After all, this was enough to support tens of thousands of ninja for a whole year.

At this moment, the Hyuga clan leader spoke disdainfully.

"Only five billion ryo? Who are you looking down on? Do you think that so many ninja from your Kumogakure are worth only this little money? Or do you simply look down on our two clans, thinking we're easy to fool?"

Ryosuke was completely uninterested in this five billion ryo; after all, he was planning to ask for sixty billion ryo.

He spoke up, "The Hyuga clan leader is right. The Fourth Raikage is being too stingy."

"The Fourth Raikage himself, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Jonin, Chunin—so many people, yet they're only worth this tiny amount of money?"

"If I sold you all to the black market, I wouldn't get such a low price."

"And I think the Fourth Raikage, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki could all be considered priceless treasures, right?"

"Not to mention a large number of Jonin and Chunin."

"Just five billion ryo? To be honest, I feel like the Fourth Raikage is playing me for a fool."

The Fourth Raikage, hearing these words, felt deeply humiliated. Selling them to the black market for money—wasn't that treating them as mere goods?

The black market was a filthy place. They collected human materials for experiments or extracted intelligence from ninja corpses. And since they were still alive, they would be worth even more if sold.

If the other party really did this, then Kumogakure might suffer the greatest tragedy in ninja world history.

At this moment, Fugaku also nodded in agreement. "I support Ryosuke's proposal. Selling all these people to the black market would easily fetch sixty billion."

"With so many elites gone, maybe in the future, even the Land of Lightning could become our Fire Country's territory."

The Fourth Raikage's face changed upon hearing this. Originally, Kumogakure had wanted to invade Konoha, allowing the Land of Lightning to invade the Land of Fire.

But now the other side was thinking about seizing the Land of Lightning instead—this made him extremely anxious.

They even wanted to sell all of them as if they were slaves.

He angrily said, "You can't do this! It's too cruel! The Third Hokage would never allow you to do such a thing!"

He knew that the Third Hokage was a man obsessed with maintaining face and always talked about peace.

Even if he was sometimes weak, for the sake of his reputation, he would never do something so atrocious.

At this moment, Ryosuke glanced at the Fourth Raikage. The other party still didn't understand who was really in charge here.

He spoke disdainfully. "The Third Hokage's words don't count anymore. Only the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan's words matter now. After all, you are our prisoners, not the Third Hokage's prisoners. Do you not even understand that?"

The Fourth Raikage was speechless. Indeed, their lives were currently in the hands of these two clans. Judging from their attitude, it was clear that the Third Hokage had no authority over them anymore.

Suddenly, he thought of a mysterious letter he had received earlier and spoke up.

"I have some information to share with you. I hope it can reduce the compensation amount."

Ryosuke became interested. "Speak. What kind of information?"

The Fourth Raikage revealed the details of the letter and its contents.

Hyuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku's expressions darkened.

Someone had leaked information about their two clans' deployment—no wonder Kumogakure had sent so many elites, even including the Fourth Raikage and the Jinchūriki.

They even aimed to take Uchiha Ryosuke's head, and they were willing to offer favorable terms in a subsequent peace agreement.

Who else but Konoha's high command could have made such a decision?

Even Hyuga Hiashi found this hard to believe.

There was actually a traitor among Konoha's leadership. But thinking about it carefully, how was this even possible? If their two clans had lost the war, who in the village could still stand?

Even if negotiations resumed afterward, Konoha would be at a huge disadvantage, suffering heavy losses in village interests.

The more he thought about it, the more he refused to believe the Fourth Raikage's words. If the high command really did this, it would be no different from suicide.

He angrily rebuked, "Fourth Raikage, stop talking nonsense! How could someone in the high command betray us?"

"Do you have any evidence? Or are you just trying to drive a wedge between us and the village leadership?"

The Fourth Raikage quickly said, "I'm not lying! The first letter was originally sent to my secretary, Mabui, who then forwarded it to me. I have no intention of stirring up discord between you."

Hyuga Hiashi still looked unconvinced.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"After all, your Kumogakure tried to kidnap my daughter and then shamelessly demanded we hand over the 'culprit.' If you could do something so despicable once, why wouldn't you do it a second time?"

At this point, he increasingly believed that this was the Fourth Raikage's scheme.

After all, deception and psychological warfare were common tactics among ninja. If the Hyuga clan started doubting the high command, it would be incredibly dangerous.

Moreover, the Konoha high command consisted mostly of the Second Hokage's students. It was unthinkable that they would betray the village.

There was no reason for them to allow Konoha to suffer such enormous losses.

At this moment, the Fourth Raikage was also enraged. Yes, Kumogakure had been deceitful before, but he wasn't lying about this.

"You can ask Mabui yourself! She and I had no chance to collude beforehand."

"After all, before this war even started, we never thought we would lose. There was no need for us to prepare an excuse in advance."

Hyuga Hiashi, hearing the Fourth Raikage's words, said grimly, "We will, of course, investigate this matter thoroughly."

What the other party said could be easily verified. It had to be investigated.

If there really was a traitor, then the Hyuga clan was in danger.

This would mean the high command was dissatisfied with them.

In the ninja world, such things happened frequently. Usually, this kind of betrayal was reserved for traitorous ninja or criminals, but the Hyuga clan had never wronged Konoha.

At this moment, Fugaku already believed the Fourth Raikage. His face was dark and silent.

He hadn't expected the high command to actually make a move against the Uchiha clan—and by using an outsider's hand.

Ryosuke had once captured the Third Hokage's son, Sarutobi Asuma. This was probably the Third Hokage's revenge. Otherwise, why specifically target ryosuke?

Fortunately, Ryosuke was here; otherwise, the Uchiha clan might have suffered enormous losses.

While they were fighting an external enemy, the high command had resorted to such a despicable trick.

'Damn Konoha high command.'

Uchiha Ryosuke, however, was unsurprised.

Though this wasn't in the original timeline, his presence had already changed the course of history.

He found it entirely plausible that Konoha's high command had done this. If not the Third Hokage, then it was definitely Shimura Danzo.

They had always viewed the Uchiha as an evil clan that needed to be eliminated.

To them, the village would only be peaceful without the Uchiha.

They might even believe that losing to Kumogakure was preferable to letting the Uchiha survive.

It seemed that a final battle between the Uchiha and the high command was inevitable. They had already been pushed to this point.

He said sternly, "We will verify this with Mabui as the Hyuga clan leader suggested."

"But this kind of information is worthless. Are you trying to instigate a civil war within Konoha?"

"Now, let's return to the matter of Kumogakure's compensation."

Though he was inclined to believe it, was he going to storm Konoha right now? There was no solid proof—just a letter. That wasn't enough.

Ninja were often blindly loyal. If he killed the Third Hokage or Danzo, loyalists would resist, and though he could eliminate them by force, it would be troublesome.

Konoha wouldn't be stable.

And Uchiha Ryosuke didn't want that kind of Konoha.

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