Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 579 The Feast at Hongmen?

Chiyo's weathered eyes were now fixed intently on the vibrant tomato slices on the plate.

Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

I thought of the children in Sunagakure who were emaciated and pale from long-term malnutrition, and who didn't even have the strength to pick up a kunai.

Why did they wage war, sparing no sacrifice and at any cost?

Isn't it all for the sake of enabling the villagers to live a better life?

But now, what they couldn't obtain despite their best efforts is merely dessert for guests in Konoha.

A tremendous, indescribable sense of absurdity and powerlessness, like a storm in the desert, instantly engulfed Chiyo.

For the first time, her will wavered.

"You two don't need to be so polite."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice rang out at the right moment. He picked up a white porcelain wine cup on the table, which was filled with a clear liquid.

His face still wore that gentle smile that made people feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze.

"Please try some of Konoha's local specialties. A few days ago, Sakumo and Jiraiya from our village made a friendly visit to your village. They may have been a little too rough, causing some misunderstandings. I'm here to offer tea instead of wine on their behalf to apologize to you both."

After saying that, Hiruzen Sarutobi drank the contents of his cup in one gulp.

Snapped.

The stone wine glass in Onoki's hand shattered with a crack.

A friendly visit?

Misunderstand?

With just one sword and his might, Hatake Sakumo dominated the entire Sunagakure village, making it impossible for them to lift their heads.

The three ninjas teamed up and utterly crushed the Third Tsuchikage, nearly breaking his back in the process.

In their eyes, these were shameful humiliations that could never be washed away, a crushing defeat nailed to the village's pillar of shame!

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, it actually became... a misunderstanding that the young man had been a little too rough?

The extreme humiliation, like boiling magma, instantly surged to the top of Onoki's head.

He was so angry that he was trembling all over, his teeth were grinding so hard that he almost crushed his own finger bones.

But he couldn't refute it with a single word.

Because what Hiruzen Sarutobi said was true.

Compared to the terrifying strength that Konoha has now displayed, which is enough to crush the entire ninja world, those two battles can indeed only be considered a misunderstanding.

Just then, Hiruzen Sarutobi placed his empty sake cup on the table.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

The entire tent fell silent instantly.

Ai, who had been enjoying her meal, stopped eating, and Hanzo, who had been chewing slowly, put down his chopsticks. All eyes were now on the man in the main seat.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile slowly faded.

The gentle aura vanished without a trace, replaced by a chilling sharpness that seemed to pierce through everything.

His hand rested lightly on the table, his fingertips tapping rhythmically.

"We drank the wine too."

"We ate the meat too."

"So, what's next..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head, his dark eyes like two bottomless pools of ice, fixed firmly on Onoki and Chiyo.

"We should really settle the score for your invasion of the Land of Lightning."

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the entire tent became tense.

The plate of glistening, oily roasted meat on the table, torn off by Ai, now carried a hint of bloody rust.

Fugaku Uchiha's hand, resting on his knee, curled up almost imperceptibly.

Standing behind him, Uchiha Shisui and the Uchiha elites responsible for carrying the plates remained unchanged, but their hands, hanging at their sides, moved an inch closer to the hilts of their swords.

A silent killing intent, like a spider web, spread from these silent Uchiha clan members, instantly enveloping the entire space.

Onoki and Chiyo, two veteran powerhouses who had dominated the ninja world for decades, clearly sensed this change.

Almost simultaneously, a fine layer of cold sweat appeared on their backs.

However, at this point, there is no turning back.

"Cough...cough cough..."

A dry, hoarse cough, as if it were about to rip out its lungs, broke the deathly silence.

Chiyo, with her wrinkled and scarred hand, tremblingly picked up the teacup, took a sip, as if to lubricate her rusty throat.

She put down her teacup, raised her cloudy yet still sharp eyes, and looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was in the main seat, her voice hoarse.

"Lord Hokage... As you know, our Sand Village is located in the southwest of the continent, in the heart of the Land of Wind... There, besides sand, there is only wind that never stops blowing."

"The land is barren and resources are scarce; even a sip of clean water is incredibly precious. Many of the children in the village don't even have a full meal."

"We...are simply unable to pay any war reparations. This deployment is not out of greed, but rather...a desperate measure to find a way to survive."

Her words were filled with sorrow, every word conveying a sense of desolation, as if she were not defending the defeat, but rather denouncing the injustice of the world.

Onoki, who was standing nearby, immediately understood.

He straightened his not-so-tall frame, trying to maintain his last shred of dignity as the Third Tsuchikage, and said in a deep voice, "Advisor Chiyo is absolutely right! Our Iwagakure village stands atop the mountains, and is surrounded by earth and stone all year round. Looking around, all we see is stone."

He paused slightly, his voice taking on a heavy tone: "We too are impoverished, and the national treasury is empty. Hokage, you are the victor, and you should possess the mercy and magnanimity of a victor. Driving us to the brink of despair will do no good for Konoha, or for the entire ninja world."

What a charade!

They sang in unison, one recounting the tragedy, the other explaining the consequences, lightly packaging the crimes of aggression into a tragic epic of fighting for survival.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat there quietly, listening without any change in expression.

He even had the leisure to pick up his chopsticks and take a slice of char siu from his own bowl.

Yes, it's rich but not greasy, and melts in your mouth—truly a top-notch experience.

But... why does this line sound so familiar?

Oh, I remember now.

Isn't this just like those department managers in my previous life's company who messed up projects and complained to the boss about being poor at the year-end summary meeting?

"Boss, our department's performance this year is poor, it's not because we didn't work hard! It's because the market environment is bad, the competitors are too cunning, the clients are too picky... In short, it's all someone else's fault. You still have to approve the budget, otherwise the brothers won't be able to survive next year."

The same.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained completely unmoved; he even felt a slight urge to laugh.

But before he could even laugh, a deafening roar, accompanied by a violent flash of lightning, exploded with a deafening roar.