Chapter 568 : The Negotiations Start!

Zabuza's clone watched as several hundred kunai with explosive tags moved towards him. He immediately weaved hand signs.

'Water Release: Water Wall jutsu!'

Immediately a water wall appeared in front of him. Around 20% of the kunai hit the water wall and exploded. The remaining 80% moved towards Zabuza's main body, which was watching over Kakashi. The eyes of both Jounins were wide.

Kakashi worriedly looked towards Zabuza and thought, 'I never imagined that someday I'd be hoping that my enemy keeps me protected! Luckily he is quite strong. Otherwise, I might lose a layer of my skin!'

Zabuza was no longer relaxed as well. He weaved hand seals with just his left hand and created a few more Water Clones who immediately used Water Wall jutsu to stop the incoming kunai. The kunai hit the water walls and exploded. Though every water wall collapsed, the explosions were stopped.

Unfortunately, Zabuza and his clones were left dumbfounded as Naruto followed up with several more rounds of kunai while thinking, 'Luckily, Fujin gave me a few hundred explosive tags. Otherwise, we would have no way of fighting against him!'

Seeing Naruto continuously throwing explosive tags, Sakura shouted, "Naruto, be careful! Don't hurt Kakashi-sensei!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke thought, 'This isn't enough. Though Zabuza looks under pressure, he is able to defend against the explosions. We need something more. But what?'

Sasuke saw another set of the Water Walls collapsing under another round of explosions. His eyes widened as he saw an opportunity.

Meanwhile, Zabuza's water clone wondered, 'How many explosive tags does this damn brat have? How freaking rich is Konoha to give such a little brat so many explosive tags? I can't let this continue. Otherwise, Kakashi will take advantage of the situation.'

Even though the Water Prison jutsu was good at trapping people, it didn't mean that it couldn't be broken from the inside. If Naruto kept Zabuza's attention on him, Kakashi could break through even if Zabuza didn't take his hand off.

`

After blocking the next round of explosions, the water clone moved forward at a rapid speed towards the place where Naruto's original body initially was. A few Shadow Clones tried to stop him but were cut apart by his large blade.

He swung Kubikiribocho at Naruto, who quickly used his kunai and barely managed to block the blade. Unfortunately, the water clone quickly followed with a kick, knocking the kunai off his hand and sending him flying backwards for a few meters. In the blink of an eye, he appeared on top of Naruto and said, "You did well. Unfortunately, your journey ends here!"

Seeing Zabuza's clone about to kill Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna became very worried. To everyone's surprise, Naruto grinned and said, "I said that I would become a great ninja and become the Hokage! Nothing will stop me until then! That's my Ninja Way!"

Zabuza's clone felt something odd. He immediately slashed Naruto, only for him to dissipate in a cloud of smoke. At the very instant, several explosive tags exploded right behind him, dispelling the Water Clone along with several of Naruto's clones!

Seeing that it was just a clone, Sakura and Sasuke sighed in relief. Sakura looked in surprise while wondering, 'Since when did Naruto become so smart and strong?'

Sasuke merely smirked and grabbed a couple of Fuma Shurikens. He waited for a few seconds before throwing them! Under the strain of the explosions, another set of water walls collapsed. Zabuza's Water Clones created another set of Water Walls. However, before they could form, Sasuke's Fuma Shuriken moved through the area and flew straight at Zabuza! He had timed his shuriken perfectly to take advantage of the opening Naruto's explosions created.

Seeing it, Naruto, who was hiding among his clones, thought, 'Nice, Sasuke! I might not need to do the next step after all!'

Naruto and some of his clones were weaving hand signs taking advantage of the chaos created by the explosions.

Zabuza grabbed the Fuma Shuriken in his left hand before noticing another Fuma Shuriken in its shadow. He jumped to avoid it as well, making Sasuke frown. Sasuke glanced towards Naruto, hoping he'd follow up.

Fortunately, Naruto and his clones acted immediately. For once, they didn't shout the name of the jutsus!

'Wind Release: Wind Levitation jutsu'

'Wind Release: Projectile Control jutsu'

One of Naruto's clones took control of the Fuma Shuriken Zabuza had dodged. The Fuma Shuriken curved in the air and moved towards Zabuza again from the back, attracting his attention.

As for the other clones, they controlled the pieces of broken kunai that were floating on the water by first making them levitate and then controlling them with the Projectile Control jutsu. Suddenly, several sharp shards of kunai began moving towards Zabuza at a high speed. His clones, who were still focused on blocking the kunai with explosive tags, and Zabuza, who was looking towards the Fuma Shuriken, were all caught off guard. Not having enough time, Zabuza let go of the Water Prison and flickered away!

Zabuza appeared a sufficient distance away from the area overrun by explosions and shrapnels. He looked at Naruto's Shadow Clones in rage and began weaving hand signs while cursing, 'That little runt!'

Unfortunately for Zabuza, Kakashi had broken free. In the blink of an eye, Kakashi dispelled his Water Clones and directly confronted Zabuza. Just like in the original story, Zabuza would be defeated by Kakashi before being 'killed' by Haku.

Back in Kusagakure, they informed the Konoha ninjas majority of the details regarding the rogue faction targetting them. Fujin analyzed, 'Hmm, it looks like just a normal faction. Akatsuki isn't involved. Since Iwa is supporting the rebel faction, I doubt Onoki will employ Akatsuki as they have captured Han.

Even if the rebel faction employs Akatsuki, they won't directly target Kusagakure as it'll draw too much attention. Not to mention, it didn't happen in the original story either…'

Hiroshi looked at Fujin and asked, "So, how much aid can Konoha provide us?"

Fujin smiled and replied, "Well, that will depend on what you can afford."

Hiroshi wasn't surprised. He never expected Konoha to help them for free without saying a word. No one in Kusagakure did. Everyone in the room from their side was extremely well prepared to argue and convince Konoha to help them for free.

Immediately, one of their leaders sighed. He put up an extremely pitiful expression and said, "As we said in our message, our finances are completely stretched thin due to the war. The rebels have killed dozens of our ninjas. Hundreds are injured. Several towns and villages have been destroyed as well.

We have to relocate the people from those towns and villages and arrange for their shelter and food along with treating them as well. So, there is no way for us to pay you right now."

He said it in a way to invoke maximum sympathy from the other side. Fortunately, everyone on Fujin's side was an experienced negotiator as well. None were fazed by his act. While they were sympathetic about their situation while discussing it with Fujin, there was no room for emotions during actual negotiations.

One of the diplomats on Fujin's side said, "While I sympathize with your situation, we can't provide help without getting anything in return. As much as we would like to help you, do understand the situation from our side as well. We can't ask our ninjas to come and risk their lives here without getting anything in return.

Every dead ninja's family has to be compensated. Similarly, everyone who gets crippled has to be paid a pension. The morale of our ninjas will be very low and they might even refuse to join if they aren't paid."

Another person from the Kusagakure camp argued back, "We understand your situation. However, Konoha is the richest village. I'm sure you can afford to bear those expenses."

A second person from Fujin's side responded with a sigh, "Actually, Konoha's finances are spread very thin as well. Even our forces are spread thin. We have to continuously send our ninjas to the surrounding countries to deter the other major villages from doing anything to harm you. We also had to deal with many rogue ninjas from Kiri which strained our finances further."

A third person quickly added, "In fact, we sent ninjas to the Land of Grass several times as well even though you didn't pay us. Lord Hokage had even sent Hatake Kakashi, the son of the White Fang, a few months ago to deter Iwagakure. Lord Hokage is magnanimous enough to not ask for any payments for those missions. So, we should discuss the payments you will need to make to get our help."

He was immediately countered by another person from the Kusagakure camp. The discussion went on in this manner. Neither Fujin nor Hiroshi spoke and let others do the negotiating. They just looked at each other.

As time passed, Hiroshi became more suspicious as he noticed that 4 of the usual diplomats in Fujin's team weren't speaking at all. All work was done by the 8 diplomats. He wondered, 'Is someone impersonating them? Also, Konoha is awfully stubborn today. We were prepared to owe them a small amount, but they haven't even brought up the matter of loans until now.'

For three hours, the two sides negotiated! Konoha diplomats kept attempting to start discussing how much Kusagakure would have to pay to get Konoha's help. But Kusagakure's leaders never began that discussion and instead kept arguing that Konoha could afford to help them for free.

Finally, Fujin said, "Hiroshi-san, it doesn't seem like you guys actually want a deal."

A faint smile could be seen on Fujin's face, a smile that made Hiroshi very nervous.

[A/N: Next chapter: Four Choices]

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