the two sides started their negotiations just as they previously did. as konoha predicted, sunagakure was more resistant to their demands and slowed the talks. with homura and koharu easing up the pressure, the sunagakure side gained more confidence and slowly started to test where konoha''s true limits lay.

    arisa observed, ''something is different. they seem far more patient and enduring today. their elders have mellowed down as well. no wonder the council asked us to slow down the talks. something disadvantageous to konoha must have happened. i don''t know what it is, but it''s the best time to check their bottom lines.''

    in actuality, the konoha ninjas were puzzled too. while they planned on letting off the pressure, they didn''t plan on doing it suddenly to this extent. it was just that fujin had asked for the aggressor''s role, causing others to anticipate the havoc he''d create and mellow down even more as a precaution.

    however, fujin didn''t perform the role he asked for. while the two sides discussed, fujin didn''t speak a single word. minutes passed and soon turned into hours, yet fujin didn''t even move his lips. instead, he did just one thing. he stared!

    for two hours, his eyes stayed on the sunagakure ninjas. while they weren''t bothered by his stare initially, nearly every sunagakure ninja was spooked after being stared at constantly for 2 hours by one of the strongest ninjas in the world! even if they were prepared for death, no one wanted to be kept on the edge of death for hours. it was torturous. even so, they did their best to not let his stare affect the negotiations.

    as the discussions continued, yura said, "this is unacceptable for sunagakure. we can''t have konoha interfere in who we select as our kazekage. that will be too big of an interference in our internal matters. no sunagakure ninja will endure such humiliation."

    in order to ensure that the next kazekage doesn''t make stupid moves like rasa, konoha wanted veto power in the appointment of the fifth kazekage. while they wouldn''t appoint the fifth kazekage, they wanted to have a say in whether the one selected by sunagakure should become the kazekage.

    seeing how compromising konoha was during the 4th round, yura took the opportunity to raise this point. however, before others could reply, they heard, "i''m afraid we must insist."

    everyone''s gazes turned to fujin, who had spoken for the first time. yura frowned and replied, "just becau..."

    fujin interrupted him and calmly said, "this point is non-negotiable. you fellows may be suicidal enough to choose another incompetent fellow, but konoha has had enough of backstabbing from sunagakure."

    while fujin was calm and his statement wasn''t too outrageous, one word in his statement was. neither the konoha ninjas nor sunagakure ninjas could believe that fujin used it. the two daimyo were in disbelief too and stared at fujin in shock.

    tsume smirked and thought, ''he''s something. to openly say that... does he want to ruin the negotiations? no, he isn''t short-sighted. what is he planning?''

    at the same time, homura thought in disbelief, ''did he call the kazekages ''incompetent''? even though i agree with his assessment, it is not something you openly say especially when we want to reach an agreement!''

    hiromasa, inoichi and others from konoha''s team did their best to hide their surprise and glanced at fujin. they were curious about what his plan was. on the other hand, sunagakure ninjas didn''t care what fujin''s plan was. fujin had just insulted their leader!

    one of their ninjas cursed, "bastard!"

    the only one who was amused was tsume, who thought, ''no wonder shikaku asked us to switch roles. if he played the aggressor from the start, sunagakure and konoha would have already met on the battlefield.

    still, this is surprising. he should understand the consequences of his actions. how can he recover from this situation? or, does he want to force a war between our two villages and replicate his achievements in the land of rice?''

    arisa glanced at yura, her gaze containing some annoyance. his words gave a reason for konoha to become aggressive once again. unfortunately, it was too late. she said, "you mis..."

    once again, the poor lady was interrupted by fujin, who got up and said, "it''s pointless. there is only one side negotiating in good faith. with the way you''re acting, we''d negotiate for years without reaching a consensus. the fourth round of talks ends now."

    without waiting for anyone''s response, he turned around and walked out of the room. the move was so unpredictable that everyone else sat dumbfoundedly in the room. the konoha ninjas, sunagakure ninjas and the two daimyos stared at each other awkwardly, wondering for a moment what they should do.

    hiromasa was the first one to gather his wits. he got up and followed fujin, following which the remaining konoha ninjas did the same. yura and arisa looked at each other, both wondering, ''what the hell happened?''

    ————————————

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