Chapter 67
Hiruzen had to control himself. After doing this, pretending for so long to be the Hokage, it still took everything he had to mask his emotions. It was more difficult than he could have ever imagined. It was a test that he would have failed a year ago, but now he was better.
Well, that didn't mean he didn't want to jump on the Raikage and kiss his beautiful face. He wanted to laugh and celebrate. How could he not, when his worst enemy so far had given him an answer to all his problems? This was the end of all his misery.
It was so simple. He could already imagine himself just chilling on his home porch, reading a book and smoking, watching as the seasons changed, and he grew old. After all the shit he went through, all the stress, he didn't give a single shit about the system.
He didn't need any more years to live if he could just have what was left with him all to himself. If he could enjoy every single year, he would be more than satisfied with his life. So, there was no reason to refuse; only he couldn't let it show how much he wanted to give up the hat that had been weighing on his head for far too long.
"You have seen Konoha," Hiruzen said. "And you will see more of what it has to offer. I took on the hat and the responsibility because, at the time, the village needed stability. Now, it has it, and you will see that its future is secured. You want me to put down my hat for peace; that is the least I can do."
Hiruzen couldn't wait for the finals to end and for him and the Raikage to go sign the peace treaty. He would just throw the hat at the first person he saw. He didn't care who it was, just that it wasn't him.
And it wasn't like anyone would refuse it. This time, Hiruzen had a perfect reason to do so. For the greater good, someone other than him would have to take the job of running this village. He would finally be free.
"Izumo Kamizuki and Samui, please enter the arena."
Hiruzen almost forgot that they were in the middle of the finals.
It was almost funny how little this fight mattered. Hiruzen didn't even care about trying to bet on it and earn extra money; he just watched as Izumo Kamizuki put on an admirable fight but ultimately lost to Samui, who was far more experienced.
"It isn't just your future that is secured," the Raikage said. "If your hat is the least you can do, what is the most you can do?"
"Do not reach for more than you can handle." Hiruzen wouldn't allow it to be played right now, not after all he had been promised. "If you want peace, you will be satisfied with my retirement as assurance for your village's future. If not, then there is nothing to talk about between us."
As Samui finished her opponent, Hiruzen glanced at the audience. None of them cared who won, unless they had made a bet or something. All they wanted was a fight, the entertainment. But to Hiruzen and the Raikage, the fights were everything.
It was proof of their village's future and the validity of their past and ideologies. Proof of their strength over other villages. Every victory and every loss mattered to them. But there was a fundamental difference between him and the Raikage. Hiruzen wasn't afraid of Kumo.
"Maki and Jay, please enter the arena," the proctor instructed the other combatants as soon as he announced the last victor.
"Your retirement isn't for my assurance," the Raikage said as the Suna and Kumo shinobi entered their combat stances. "Don't be mistaken, we are not afraid of you or Konoha. I simply do not trust you."
"It isn't that you don't trust me," Hiruzen replied as Maki used her scrolls as weapons that circled the Kumo genin like sand snakes. "It is simply that you don't want to deal with me. Trust me, the feeling is mutual. Now, you have put yourself into a situation where you don't know what to do."
"What do you mean?" the Raikage asked, as the Kumo shinobi struggled to cut down the scrolls trying to wrap around him.
"You didn't expect me to agree so readily," Hiruzen answered, as Maki, without moving from her initial position, made the Kumo shinobi run and do everything he could to evade her unusual jutsu. "You expected me to refuse, as you wanted something else. But as I said, before I will sacrifice anyone or anything else for my village, I will sacrifice myself first. That is my responsibility, so you have to be satisfied with it."
It was an unusual fight. Jay was skilled in swordsmanship, agile, and fast. But Maki was prepared for such an opponent. Her flying and endless scrolls not only moved fast and precisely to her intention, but once they wrapped around her opponent's limbs, they couldn't escape them.
It was a sealing technique. Her scrolls drained her opponent's chakra and restricted them from moving. Jay tried to escape them, but he failed. He tried to attack Maki, but the scrolls also worked well defensively, and his lightning jutsu couldn't go through them.
"Victor Maki of Sunagakure," the proctor announced before freeing Jay from her scrolls. "Yugito Nii and Moemi Onowara, please enter the arena."
It was the Jinchūriki and a kunoichi from Takigakure. From the reports, she was quite a skilled weapon user. But that was probably the extent of her skills, so it was time for Kumo to show the gap between a small village and one of the five.
"Why must I be satisfied with your sacrifice?" the Raikage asked. "It is your desire for peace, not mine. What if I want more? Will you stop me from taking it?"
The Raikage was getting bolder. Hiruzen didn't even want to guess what he wanted. It mattered little in the end, because he would make the first deal a reality. Such an opportunity, he couldn't let go.
"There's nothing to talk about then," Hiruzen said. "Because you already broke your word, the moment I called your bluff, nobody could ever trust you anymore. That worthless piece of paper has now become even more worthless. And one last thing, boy, I desire peace, but I do not fear war. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can manipulate me by using such tricks."
"But can you afford it?" the Raikage asked. "You did an admirable job rebuilding your village. But I'm curious how much it costs. I don't play games, old man. I will not be satisfied until I have everything I need to secure my village."
"Everything you want, not need," Hiruzen corrected him. "You don't need anything to secure an alliance with us, only the will to do so."
"But that is not enough," he said. "Not enough for me, not enough for my village, and certainly not enough for our future."
Hiruzen breathed out a sigh as he looked at the Jinchūriki using Fire Release ninjutsu expertly. No one would deny that she was far surpassing the skill of a genin. Her opponent had to use everything to defend against her, and that wasn't enough.
The flames devoured everything that the Taki kunoichi could throw at the Jinchūriki. She couldn't even get close, running in circles, trying to find an opening as she used everything at her disposal, but nothing worked, and the end of the match was nearing.
But suddenly, the ground beneath the Jinchūriki's feet exploded. She was too agile and quick to be hit by it, but it created a dust cloud for the Taki kunoichi to move through without being seen. And the fight suddenly turned in the other's favor.
"It is good to be young, isn't it?" Hiruzen asked. "To want to prove something to others. I don't have that drive. I don't have anyone to whom I need to prove anything anymore. I understand many doubt you, the new and young Raikage, so you need results that would speak for themselves."
"I was made for battle," the Raikage quickly steered away from the topic. "Not for games. Or politics, the likes you like to use. My words you say can't be trusted any longer, well, maybe I will let my actions speak for me then."
This time it was Hiruzen's armchair that was being destroyed into dust as he couldn't control his grip strength. All this nonsense was getting on his nerves. He was promised retirement, and now he was denied it? That simply was not acceptable.
He played his cards well. He said what the Raikage should have wanted to hear. But he suddenly changed his mind. How could Hiruzen just accept it? He saw it then, the future where he would be stuck in this position for years to come.
Being a slave to the position, to the system that he would rather forget, as it grew more useless with time. All of it made him quite angry, and he thought he had all the justification for it. So, if he just ripped the Raikage's head off his shoulders, shouldn't his actions be justified?
"Victor Yugito Nii."
No matter how clever the Taki kunoichi tried to play it, she was outmatched in sheer strength, chakra volume, techniques, speed, and every other aspect. In the end, she was below the Jinchūriki's league, and she was defeated.
Then the next match began soon enough as Ken from Amegakure and Iruka Umino entered the arena. Nobody knew much about them. Compared to Darui, Yamato, Shisui, Yugito, and even Maki, neither of those two looked to be anyone's favorite to win.
"You never said what you want." Finally, Hiruzen calmed down and decided to accept his defeat and accept that today wouldn't be the day he could retire.
"They are the things I need, not want."
"I don't want to hear, then." It was clear to Hiruzen that the Raikage was either an idiot or simply pretending to be one. "You are afraid. That's all I know, and the rest I will have to see with my own eyes. But I can promise you one thing: you won't get anything else out of me, simply because you are afraid of betting on it."
From the very beginning, this was a joke to him. Hiruzen's dreams were just a joke. And that was unacceptable. So, Hiruzen saw no reason to entertain him any longer. He wanted to act like a child, Hiruzen would treat him like he was a child.
He came here prepared to do something underhanded from the very beginning anyway, and Hiruzen would see what it was and would stop him. The Raikage will never get what he wanted.
Damn, where the hell was Rasa? With the Kazekage by his side, Hiruzen thought he could push the Raikage a bit more. But someone just had to interfere; it was probably the Raikage's work too. That would make sense.
"Oh, but I am," the Raikage said. "I am more than just willing to bet and not just on myself but on everyone in my village for its future."
"Is that so?"
Hiruzen looked down to see the two Jinchūriki. And he didn't need to look anywhere else to see the other shinobi he brought with him. The question was who or what was their target. Well, either way, it didn't matter. Since the Raikage had forgotten where he was.
Jiraiya was standing in the audience, a jump away from Killer Bee. Kakashi was watching everything from the sidelines. Fugaku was hidden among the masses with his best shinobi. Tsunade was on standby with her best medics. They could do their worst, and they still wouldn't leave a mark on this village.
Then, Hiruzen would see how the Raikage could refuse his deal. Any deal at that. And his retirement would finally be secured once and for all. But before any of that, Hiruzen will bleed the Raikage dry, since he was so willing to bet with him.
A.N. As always. Thanks for reading and supporting me. If you want 7 more chapters of this story and 42 chapters in total with all my current stories, please consider supporting me on pa treon ironworlf852. Thanks in advance.