Chapter 88.5- One Thousand Hands

“That seems unnaturally generous” Kagame pointed out, speaking for the first time since she’d given her name.

“In ten years, I’ll see to it that they pay the price of their actions when we can actually punish them. For now, we will say we cede the right to vengeance when in truth we can’t do anything either way” I said.

“So your terms of peace as to tell them we will not be doing something which we couldn’t even do if we wanted to?” She clarified.

“Precisely”

“Your relationship with the truth is just as interesting as your Granduncle’s” She said, and left it at that. I’d push her on that in a more private setting lest she divulge something best left buried.

“And what if they know we are lying?” Toshiro asked.

“Uraume?” I asked.

“We’ve found what I suspect to be the last of the spies belonging to the other ninja villages” She said. I nodded.

“Bring them in. It’s about time we move on them. Have Inoken get us everything he can from them, and treat as necessary.” I said.

“You’ve been hunting the spies? How did you even get close to finding them? And if you’ve found them, why didn’t you do something sooner?” Uzume asked.

“Yes, to the first.As for the second, Danzo did know who most of them were and he left records to that effect behind. Finding the rest was just a matter of leveraging the incredible talents of the clans we have here. And then there were a few false flags here and there to see who would bite on what bait. We can’t say for certain who was spying for who, but I do believe Uraume when she says she’s found the last. And as for why we didn’t do anything sooner, moving too early would have made the others go to ground. Even bringing one spy in could have made all the others too cautious for us to catch.” I explained, giving the hints of what Uraume and I had been working together on for months.

“So that’s what we do then? We give terms of peace and hope they get accepted?” She pressed, switching tacks.

“If they know what’s good for them, they’ll accept the terms. I am not my Grandfather. If the other Kage refuse to behave, then I will bring them to heel”

“I thought we didn’t have any army to do anything with”

“If push comes to shove, I am more than an army” I said, and it probably said something about hoe the fight against the Raikage had changed how my closest friends saw me that none of them said anything about the objectively arrogant statement.

“Then let’s hope it doesn’t” Kagame snarked from her seat.

“Now moving on to other matters…”