Chapter 7: Retribution
The Imperial city of Dào shi
It had been a week since Naruto had interrogated Durai and ever since a feeling of dread had followed him.
He had ordered the 10th legion to remain in Xinjiang as well as the 3rd fleet to continue patrolling the western sea.
Since the attack a sense of paranoia had spread through the Empire, of foreign invaders attacking the far of edged of the young Empire. The hyper social nobility had made a great fuss about the incident and particularly about the origin of these attackers.
Many questions had arisen among the ruling class. For no general had ever heard of the tactics they used nor had any traveler recognised their attire.
Yet Naruto knew better, he knew exactly where they come from, who they were and with what he had learned from Durai he also knew what they wanted.
He had missed the Festival in celebration of his conquest, in normal circumstances he would have welcomed the distraction from the pompous festivities and overly expensive decorations. If only he could find an excuse to leave the Capital now.
"We must act"
"This cannot be tolerated"
"Who are these foreigners"
"Your majesty we must investigate"
"Something must be done and quickly, the Empire must not be seen as weak" a random lord said from within the throne room.
"And what would you suggest my Lord?" Responded Xin Hao the Imperial Chancellor
"We know that the attackers came from lands west beyond Lū dào, we must send a legion and retaliate accordingly" the Lord said
"And go where, we know nothing of what lie west beyond the sea!"
"How about we learn why they attacked before before we go to war" Xin said.
"If these foreigners can walk on water and shoot bolts of lightning as was reported by Lord Huang then we are lucky that it was only a hundred that attacked and not a thousand" said a middle aged man whom sat second on Naruto's right in the circle of thrones
"Do you doubt the Imperial army King Xiu?" Xin asked the man who wore long white robes with black trimmings.
"Not at all Your Majesty, but we cannot be overconfident in such a situation such as this…" the King then stood from his throne and proceeded to walk to the centre of the hall, turning to address the crowd "... if these foreigners can do as Lord Huang said they could then we cannot treat this like a pirate raid or quiet skirmish, we must take action."
"What would you propose we do then your grace?" Asked Xin Hao.
"I say we respond to this attack as if it were an invasion." The King said, mumbling could be heard through the crowd as Naruto's eyes narrowed towards Xiu. "These foreigners came to our land and captured the villagers in Lū Dào like they were cattle, what's to say they won't come again?" He let the question hang in the air. "...they came to our land with a hundred. I say we go to their land with a legion…" he observed the faces of the nobles gathered, seeing their emotions being torn over what to do "What if they attacked Xian to the north, or the Bay of Jing, what if they sacked Xinjiang or Beihai?"
Naruto could see what the King was doing, he saw the looks the nobles had as they heard Xu speak.
'What do you think Kurama?' Naruto asked the fox in his mind
"He has a point, if shinobi came to clear out and colonise the islands they think the land is theirs and you know well enough that shinobi will die for what they think is theirs. What's to say they won't come again with greater numbers or perhaps if they were to attack the mainland?"
'I doubt they would try' Naruto replied 'the shinobi world doesn't even know of the Empire, why would they invade us?'
"The shinobi world may not know of what lies to the east but how long will it remain that way?" The Fox said rather seriously "don't let your feelings of the past get in the way of your duties as the Emperor Naruto, these people invaded your territory, captured your people and would have taken them to who knows where. Shinobi are arrogant and prideful, the Raikage would see you as the aggressor for occupying his territory and would attack without hesitation"
Naruto remained quiet, not knowing what to say. He remembered how he felt when he saw Lord Huang's message, he remembered how he felt traveling to Xinjiang with the 10th legion in tow as if he was about to go to war, he remembered how he reacted when he saw the Kumo headband and how he acted when he had Kurama torture Durai.
" …if we do nothing, then we are inviting these foreign invaders to come and take what they will" Naruto heard the King say as he finished his speech and went to sit in his throne again.
"I don't believe this attack to be the beginning of an invasion as you make it out to be King Xiu" said the elderly King Zhou who wore long blue robes. "Something must be done, that I do agree, but to treat this as an invasion is overdoing it"
"The Empire hasn't seen war in five years, since then we have seen peace and prosperity for all our peoples, why would we jeopardise it all for the sake of a hundred foreigners attacking the most remote province of the Empire" Xin said to the nobles gathered, no one replied as a silence hung in the air.
"They will come again..." Naruto broke the silence "...their leader ...revealed… to me their intentions behind the attack..." Naruto stood from his throne and began walking to the map painted in the centre of the hall "...apparently Lū dào is claimed by a foreign power, whom received word of people inhabiting the island, our people…" he stood over the islands of Lū dào and looked west over the map "...they will come again, they will attack again and when they learn of what exists beyond the islands of Lū dào they will not be friendly."
The whole room remained quiet after the Emperor finished.
"What shall we do your majesty?" Asked the Chancellor breaking the silence.
"Have Lord Huang take command of the 10th legion, he will the use the 3rd fleet to sail west past Lū dào." The Emperor said before turning to the crowd of Nobles "All the Legions throughout the Empire are to march to Xinjiang and all of our fleets are to sail to the Bay of Jing. I will personally sail west with the rest of the Imperial army and meet up with Lord Huang." The Emperor finished
"An all our war with the shinobi world, are you sure this is what you want Naruto?" Kurama asked the Blonde Emperor.
'When they hear of their defeat I doubt Kumo would take such an embarrassment without further conflict. If the other great nations hear of what happened at Lū dào then other shinobi are sure to come. I can't have shinobi in my Empire nor can I take a chance with Kumo retaliating' Naruto paused as he saw the crowd react to his declaration 'it will take an the full night of the Empire to put down the shinobi world and I will not wait for them to make the first move'
"Good...your thinking like an Emperor."
Kumogakure
In his hotel room near the centre of the village hidden among the clouds, one Shikamaru Nara was explaining the current political climate to one Hinata Hyuuga.
Officially the Hyuuga was sent as the representative of the hidden leaf and to act as the voice of the Hokage. In response to the implied accusations that the Raikage was making of the other great villages Tsunade had thought it appropriate to send the Head of the Hyuuga clan in her stead despite Kumos history of attempted theft of the Byakugan
Really it was a message to say the Konoha doesn't think much of Kumo of its accusations.
There were other emissaries sent from the other great villages as well but they aren't important.
"... and so the Raikage has decided to bring the annual five Kage summit forward a few months in order to resolve any tensions." Shikamaru said sarcastically.
" I see, well there's not much we can really do besides wait until Lady Tsunade gets here, the Raikage won't divulge anything until he can meet face to face with the other Kage." Hinata replied
" yeah I know… what a drag" Shikamaru said as he leaned on the doorway
A moment of silence passed before Hinata spoke "It's a shame to see the Alliance under such pressure over something so stupid, I mean who would want the Islands of Yoshimaru anyways?"
A smirk appeared on Shikamaru's face "shinobi can do amazing things, peace though, shinobi just can't do it"
Hinata frowned at this " you have a point I guess…" she paused "... still this alliance is the best bet for a long term peace and I doubt a few remote islands in the middle of the ocean will undo all that has been accomplished"
Shikamaru made his way to sit beside Hinata in the bed in the hotel room " If the Raikage openly accuses any other village of illegally occupying the islands then lines will be drawn and tensions will grow, push may come to shove and I have no idea where the leaf will fall into this"
"Lady Tsunade won't let that happen and I doubt the other Kage would either…" Hinata said back to him "... the great alliance survived the war we can survive a bit of gossip"
" It's easy to stay united against a common foe, but what do we have in common now. Akatsuki is gone and now the Kage are itching to take advantage of the weakness of the other villages."
Hinata turned to look her friend in the eye and gave a soft smile "You know your a lot more depressing than you were as a child"
Shikamaru smiles back " and you talk a lot more than you did as a girl, I wonder what changed in you"
Hinata smiled sadly as she looked down to her hands as she played with them just as she did as a genin "He had a habit of changing people for the better, I guess he helped me become more confident." She said softly "What changed to make you see the such evil in the world?" She asked.
Shikamaru paused for a moment as he frowned "If someone as good as him could lose all hope for a better future then to me that's proof that there isn't one." He said as he rose to his feet and left the room.
Hinata, now alone, laid down on her bed and stained at the ceiling 'Naruto…' she thought to herself.
'What happened to you?'
Raikage Office
A was not a patient man nor was he a well tempered man and it would take a genius to realise that this was not a good mix.
Normally in his duties as Raikage he could remain calm in the face of adversity and maintain his composure when forced to wait. During the war he lead the Alliance as the Supreme Commander and was forced to remain at HQ as Allied forces fought all over the continent
When the first battle was fought he waited and they won, when the Akatsuki found his brother he controlled his emotions and remained calm and when the siege of Konoha was broken he took the advantage in wiping out the enemies forces, and when the Allies stormed the Enemies HQ he took solace in the fact that he had avenged his brother and defeated his enemy.
Yet now he was quite irritated, he was frustrated and by god was he on the edge. During the war at least he had a constant flow of communication from the front lines while he was waiting. Now though all he could do was wait, wait for Durai to return with new of who was occupying his territory and hopefully give him the chance to show that Kumo was still strong despite the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Durai was meant to arrive back in the land of Lightning three days ago and yet he had received no word of his right hand man.
Word had spread among the great powers of his movements and so he was forced to make accusations of his allies so as no to seem too suspicious. He was never really that good at politics.
The Five Kage Summit was due to be held in two weeks and with no word of Durai, A was becoming increasingly anxious of the situation.
A knock on the door disturbed the Raikage from his thoughts "Enter" he said firmly.
An average looking Receptionist dressed in plain grey clothes and blonde hair walked inside the office to lay down a pile of Paperwork in front of the Raikage. Among the papers were many ornate scrolls decorated with the Elemental symbols of the other shinobi villages.
"Raikage-sama" the receptionist said respectfully as she left the office.
It seemed that with his accusations the other villages had sought to counter his accusations with rumours of their own. Suna has accused him of stockpiling weapons on the islands and he was now seeking a cover story to hide them. Iwa accused him of seeking to underhand the Alliance and sow mistrust in order to assert Kumo's dominance. Konoha in the other hand had plainly denied the claims that any shinobi village had occupied the islands and the Hokage had even proposed the idea of bringing the next Kage summit forward in order to address the issue.
A didn't miss the hidden message behind the polite message Tsunade had written nor did he miss the fact that it was delivered by the Head if the Hyuuga clan alone. Konoha had always remained the greatest supporter of the Alliance since the end of the war and it was unsurprising that Tsunade would want to release the tension.
Yet Konoha would not appear weak, resorting to shows of political strength to maintain its reputation.
A really wished that Durai was here to offer his opinion on the matter, he was alway better at this political bullshit then A ever was.
The Raikage took a deep breath as he relaxed into his chair, for the moment he would cat it all aside and begin with his paperwork for the day.
Xinjiang
Inside his private residence Lord Huang sipped his tea as he stood in front of his window looking out over the sea as it shone in the moon light.
He had not long received word from the capital and starting tomorrow he was to begin preparations to begin an armed expedition with the 10th legion to go west in search of were the foreigners had come from.
It was quite unnerving when all the direction he was given was to 'go west until you have gone past your maps and land upon the first land that you see'
The Emperor had also ordered him to prepare a foothold for more legions to arrive once the fleet had returned to the Empire.
He was to travel beyond the known sea, find a land he knew not where it was and to send back his ships to bring more soldiers. Great plan
While he didn't agree with what the Emperor was planning to do he nevertheless could see the merit in such a move. From what he saw these foreigners were strong and quiet different from the Empire.
If they were to attack the mainland then who knows what would happen. Despite this Huang was a man who had seen enough war and wasn't keen on seeing any more death.
The strange thing was that in the message the Emperor had given detailed instructions on how quickly he needed to get moving as well as to remain constantly vigilant.
This had got him thinking
It seemed that the Emperor was purposely going overboard in sending the whole army as a way to exaggerate the threat, a hundred solders attack an island so the Emperor sends a million men in return.
Perhaps to create a common foe to unite against.
Perhaps these foreigners were powerful enough to deserve such a response, but then why was the Emperor so afraid of these foreigners that he would essentially mount an invasion.
But why would he take such a risk, why take the chance in sending the Empires combined strength across the ocean into unknown waters if he wasn't sure they would return. Huang knew that the young Emperor was not one to risk life so needlessly therefore what was it that was giving him such assurance.
Oh well, that was for tomorrow, tonight he wanted to relax, to have one last moment of peace before he left home not knowing whether or no he would come back.
