the wind daimyo slowly spoke, "since konoha can''t prove that the fourth kazekage wasn''t controlled by orochimaru and sunagakure can''t prove that he was, i propose we move forward under the assumption that the fourth kazekage was indeed controlled by orochimaru.

    in return, sunagakure will accept responsibility for their actions. they''ll accept the blame for launching an assault on konoha even if the fourth kazekage was controlled."

    thoughtful expressions appeared on the faces of ninjas on both sides. the wind daimyo''s initial words pleased sunagakure ninjas while upsetting the konoha ninjas. however, his latter words leveled the field. both sides quickly calculated the pros and cons of the proposed compromise.

    a couple of minutes later, fujin thought, ''this is rather ingenious. i guess this is to be expected of a daimyo, an ordinary human who deals with the dangerous ninjas on a daily basis...

    by accepting that rasa was controlled by orochimaru, konoha loses its biggest excuse to launch a war. it alleviates his greatest worry while giving some breathing room to sunagakure in the negotiations.

    however, by making sunagakure accept responsibility, they''ll have to pay a painful price to quell konoha''s anger and slowly mend the ties between the two villages. it also allows konoha to set terms to ensure such an attack doesn''t happen again.

    of course, any terms will be unreliable and everything will eventually depend on the actions of the next kazekage. however, if gaara becomes the next kazekage like in the original story, that''s not really an issue.''

    a sunagakure ninja suddenly spoke loudly, "this is bullshit! why should we accept responsibility when this isn''t our fault? we are the real victims here!"

    immediately, a konoha ninja snorted, "indeed, this is bullshit! who''d believe that no one in sunagakure can tell whether their kage was controlled or not? you should disband your village if you''re that weak. elder homura, i don''t think we should accept such an unfair proposal."

    while the council members on both sides stayed quiet, the other ninjas immediately dismissed the wind daimyo''s proposal and continued blaming the other side. ironically, it was all an act.

    in truth, both sides liked the wind daimyo''s proposal as it would avoid the result they didn''t want the most. however, they couldn''t accept it too willingly.

    if sunagakure ninjas accepted it quickly, it would display how weak they were to konoha and could tempt konoha to actually attack them. even though arisa claimed they would fight to the last ninja, it wasn''t a future they wanted to experience.

    on the other hand, konoha ninjas couldn''t accept it quickly either as it would show their unwillingness to go to war. it would undermine the greatest advantage they possessed to apply pressure on sunagakure.

    as things started getting ugly, the leaders on the two sides finally intervened to ease the tensions and accepted wind daimyo''s proposed compromise.

    as calmness returned to the room, yura asked, "what are konoha''s demands to put this matter to rest?"

    he paused for a moment before continuing, "then again, i suppose this was inevitable considering konoha''s rapid recovery and their increasingly audacious actions. still, i didn''t think it''d happen so quickly and that the raikage would swallow his pride and ask for our help."

    roshi said, "i don''t think he has any other option. to think that another couple of hundred kumogakure ninjas would go missing. i can only imagine how much pressure he is under. it''s no wonder he wants a war to distract the citizens of kumogakure. still..."

    he turned his gaze to onoki and continued, "such a war will be very risky. with four great ninja villages fighting, we''ll start the fourth great ninja war. even though kirigakure wouldn''t be involved, they''re already at war. what do you think, old man? do you think this is the right time to start the next great ninja war?"

    onoki put the proposal back on his desk and said, "perhaps or maybe not. if a war starts now, it''ll be quite a unique one with two villages being woefully unprepared to go to war. it might be the first war where a great village falls."

    roshi and kitsuchi saw onoki''s eyes land on sunagakure''s proposal as he spoke. needless to say, sunagakure was the most vulnerable village at that moment.

    kirigakure was embroiled in an all-out civil war while kumogakure had its share of problems. neither village was in a shape to launch a war against konoha.

    in such a situation, if iwagakure and konoha joined hands and attacked sunagakure, sunagakure would have a difficult time surviving the war without anyone forcing konoha and iwagakure to split their forces!

    ironically, instead of joining forces against konoha, the most tempting option for onoki was to join hands with konoha and wipe sunagakure from the map. would he choose to suppress his temptation and join hands with kumogakure and sunagakure to stop a rising konoha? would he fall to his temptation and do the opposite by wiping out sunagakure? or would he do neither and sit on the fence as he was known for? roshi and kitsuchi eagerly waited for their leader''s decision!

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