Chapter 136 - 31: Eight Million Each, Have Fun With It!
"Alright, alright, let's stop here for now. Third Raikage, please don't pound the table anymore, or it might really collapse. Third Hokage, enough with the smoking, I'm choking to death."
Jinghang couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, cursing under his breath.
Since the red, yellow, green, brown, and blue hats formed a complete circle on the round table, all sorts of arguments had erupted.
Don't be fooled by how passionately Jinghang delivered his peace speech, with the old guys nodding and standing to salute. When it came to fighting for interests, they turned into fighting cocks in the arena, fiercely competing for every inch.
Territorial scope, border disputes, distribution of ninja missions—various conflicts emerged.
The layout of the ninja world was basically established during the first Five Nations Conference, but only "basically." There were no clear boundary markers or national borders, as the major nations didn't actually share many borders, with many small countries in between.
However, with the outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War, many small countries were directly annexed, and the territories of the major ninja villages inevitably clashed.
Fortunately, the war is over now, and the villages have fought to exhaustion; otherwise, they wouldn't be sitting down to talk. Jinghang proposed the first agenda item: clarifying "national borders," establishing boundary markers, and defining territorial scope.
This is no small matter; it concerns the survival of the ninja villages. Where does the income for ninjas come from? Partly from the daimyo's support, but the rest must be accumulated bit by bit through missions. The larger the territory, the more population, naturally leading to more missions and income. As leaders, they understand this, and at this critical juncture, they naturally strive to gain as much territory as possible for future decades.
The main arguments revolved around Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Raikage Ai, and Fourth Tsuchikage Tsuchi, as they had the most shared borders and the fiercest disputes.
Using "verbal battles" to describe it is not an exaggeration. With Third Raikage Ai's hot temper, he often threatened the table with his large fists. Fortunately, Jinghang foresaw this and ensured the negotiating table was made of pure steel, though it was dented in places, it should still be usable after some repairs.