Hiruzen stayed silent for a minute. The silence made the Nobles from the Land of Tea nervous. Fujin noticed it and thought, 'I remember that in my previous world, some politicians used to have long silences in their speeches. Looks like it is quite an effective tool here as well.'
Finally, Hiruzen said, "It isn't a matter of money. However, I can't ignore the suffering of the people here. I'll deploy an Elite Jounin along with 4 dozen ninjas at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Tea on the coast.
You can issue your missions to them. That will reduce the journey time from a week to one or two days which wouldn't be much longer than deploying ninjas in this or any other city. However, you will have to pay an appropriate cost for this."
Jirochi asked, "What is the cost, Lord Hokage?"
Kyuroku snickered in his mind as he thought, 'Great! Take all the fool's money away!'
Hiruzen maintained another few seconds of silence and said, "I'll need 400 Fire Crystals and 400 Wind Crystals every year that we deploy the ninjas here."
Hiruzen's request surprised all the people from the Land of Tea. Choza and Homura already knew that Hiruzen would ask this. It was the main reason why they accompanied him. However, Fujin was surprised.
He quickly looked at Hiruzen as his left eye twitched and thought, 'Don't tell me! He brought me all the way here to tell me that he knows I'm using the Wind Crystals and he wants me to decrease the rate of using them because Konoha is running out of them?'
Hiruzen noticed Fujin's gaze but didn't look back at him. He thought, 'Though this isn't the main purpose of bringing him here, it is a nice bonus. He should be smart enough to notice the hidden message. It'd be great for the village if he doesn't consume them at such a ferocious speed!'
Fujin's initial consumption speed was already giving Hiruzen headaches. However, in the last month, Fujin focused a lot on meditating there. Due to this, his rate of consumption increased several times! In the last month alone, he had consumed the energy in around eighty Wind Crystals by himself.
Fujin immediately removed that thought from his head and analyzed, 'No, how can the Great Grand Hokage ask a young and promising ninja to reduce using Wind Crystals? I feel ashamed of thinking so little of the leader of my village!
I'm sure that he brought me here to tell me that no matter how many Wind Crystals I use, he has my back. Even if Konoha runs out of Wind Crystals, he will visit smaller neighbouring countries and ask them for Wind Crystals.
This way, I can keep absorbing their energy without worrying that the village might run out of them. Sigh, he is such a great guy. Going up to such lengths to reassure the younger Generation. I'll work hard and absorb energy from more and more crystals to repay his faith in me. It's a shame that Shadow Clones can't absorb this energy. Otherwise, I'd have repaid all faith.'
The Tea Daimyo was relieved. He nodded and said, "Alright, but I still have one issue. I can pay you 400 Fire and Wind Crystals each for the first year as we have some stock. But, I can't sustain it for every year after that. I can only pay 100 Fire and Wind Crystals each."
Hiruzen already knew that they wouldn't be able to do that. He said, "That's too low. But understanding your difficulties, how about you pay me 200 Fire and Wind Crystals each from the 2nd year?"
The Tea Daimyo thought for a bit and said, "That's reasonable. Let's do this deal, Lord Hokage."
The Tea Daimyo's limit was 230 crystals. He willingly agreed.
Choza said, "In addition, we would also like to discuss additional imports of herbs from your country and some discounts on the tea you sell."
Jirochi smiled and said, "Alright, but our population needs additional meat and some other food items."
They immediately began negotiating for discounts on both sides. Fujin watched with interest as both sides negotiated for benefits nonstop shamelessly.
The officials from the Land of Tea were unwilling to offer discounts on Tea until Homura pointed out that they have eliminated almost all bandit groups from the Land of Fire and that the new post could slowly bring the same change in the Land of Tea. So their business won't be as risky anymore.
Fujin was especially impressed by Homura's expertise at negotiating without any shame. He thought, 'Looks like all of Hiruzen's friends are as shameless as him. No wonder they never fight. Why bother fighting and risking your life when the younger generation is willing to do that enthusiastically? I wonder if this is why Jiraiya doesn't want to be the Hokage.
Still, negotiating seems fun. Never thought I'd enjoy seeing it. It's kinda the way I kept bugging Hiruzen and Renjiro for stronger jutsus. I wonder if Hiruzen brought me along to show that my shamelessness is still not enough and for me to take inspiration from Homura and these Nobles and Ministers. That said, I wonder if the legendary Talk-no-jutsu would work during negotiation between shameless politicians.'
After a long discussion, the Land of Tea agreed to export multiple rare herbs to Konoha. They even agreed to a 5% discount on it as Konoha would buy them in bulk. In addition, they agreed to an 18% discount on their Tea exports.
As for Konoha, they agreed to a 7% discount on the meat and food items exported to the Land of Tea and agreed to increase it to 12% after the bandit groups in the Land of Tea were eliminated.
After some more discussion about smaller matters, the meeting finally ended. Hiruzen and Homura exchanged glances. Both were satisfied with the outcome. As usual, Homura acted as an aggressive negotiator while Hiruzen acted as a peaceful and empathic negotiator. The officials from the Land of Tea were also satisfied with the results.
The meeting concluded with a toast, a symbol of unity and cooperation between the Land of Tea and Konoha. After exchanging pleasantries and bidding farewells, the Konoha group left as quickly as they came. However, the discussions in the grand hall weren't over. Instead, they were just about to get very intense. And unlike the discussion so far, it would be extremely unfair to one person!