7.
You may have expected Larkan's troubles to be over now. Indeed, that day was the first that Chouji could remember in which he had chosen to get money from Larkan, and had been unsuccessful at doing so. However, Chouji was as unobservant, vain, and heartless as he was stupid, and the average sheep could probably beat him in a civilised argument, or in any other test of wits. Larkan may have returned that day as a triumphant hero, all be it still without his money (he had had to pay Yoriska for her help), but the next day Larkan was lucky to walk out of the academy alive. Certainly, he had lost much more than just his money by the time that Chouji had finished with him... he had lost his confidence and perhaps a good number of brain cells. He was also losing a considerable amount of blood when Hiroshu found him. Larkan was demoralised in every possible way. His plan had been brilliant, and he had somehow managed to stop himself from panicking, and had pulled it off. Still, he had not considered the effects that such a beating would have on a boy like Chouji in great enough detail.
The plan had been as follows. The wires strung around the yard were connected to nothing, but Chouji could not have known that. Whenever one was broken, Yorisha was to send a kunai flying into whoever broke it. This was supposed to create the illusion that Larkan had rigged the area, so long as Yorisha stayed hidden. It had not been a masterful plan, but it should have worked. Chouji was supposed to be demoralised by his defeat at Larkan's hands, or would grow to fear Larkan. The result should have been that he would leave Larkan alone. Larkan had not expected this reaction; although he should have, had he thought this through as much as he should have. Chouji's stupidity meant that he would not be intelligent enough to fall for a bluff that would have fooled all but the most intelligent of people, for the simple reason that he was too stupid to even see it. All that he understood was that Larkan had somehow gotten the better of him, and his vanity was enough that he instantly wanted revenge. He was heartless enough to really make Larkan pay for his slight oversight. Unfortunately for Larkan, Chouji had punished him more than he had realised. Hiroshu removed Larkan from the academy the next day. "He'll make a fine diplomat" Hiroshu told himself, but inwardly, although he knew that although the decision had been made for Larkan's own good, the seven year old would hate him for making it.
Larkan had never been the sort of person who could press on blindly despite overwhelming odds. He was all for taking a step back from such a situation and making it his own, changing the odds until they were more to his liking, but he was exceptionally weak willed all things considered, prone to giving up without a fight whenever there was little or nothing to lose. Indeed, not even Creed would be able to use sheer willpower to fell opponents much larger than himself. Perhaps the reason that Creed could never make kage was for this reason, after all, how can a ruler expect his subjects to remain brave when he had already given up himself.
Creed... who was Creed? Larkan would never become a great ninja. He was going to become a diplomat, and just as a young boy cannot move a continent with his words, so Larkan knew that Hiroshu would be immovable in this, and so he did what he did all too often... he gave up. All in all, this quality made him anything but a ninja. If a ninja could not persevere with their training, then they would never become great. Hiroshu was certain that he had made the right choice... if only Larkan could see that.
It should be mentioned at this point, that Larkan had had no parents, and had never really looked up to anybody but Hiroshu. Therefore, it was only natural that Larkan would grow to admire Hiroshu above all other things, and his dream was to become a ninja, like Hiroshu. Anyway, this is why the boy with so much potential for so much other than a ninja wanted nothing more than to become a ninja. However, it should also be noticed that in the real world, a dream is not enough. Sometimes, no matter how much a person wants something, it is simply unattainable. Larkan knew this all too well, but it did not ease the fact that his dreams were becoming impossible, so he sat down, and told himself again and again that he would not become a ninja, but he was going to become a diplomat... another worthy profession. After repeating it for barely a minute, he had already accepted the fact, and was content with it. After all, he was never going to achieve his dream anyway, so why bother trying for it... He was not pessimistic, just overly grounded. Growing up without parents, and with a mentor who made everybody else seem constantly giddy and stupid with how grounded he was, seemed to have that effect on him. Anyway, now Larkan was ready to take the world of diplomacy by storm.
Hiroshu enrolled Larkan in a much smaller school than the ninja academy. Larkan was only the sixth member of the Konoha school for diplomats and couriers, and also the youngest. Four girls, one boy, and a wash of names that he meticulously committed to memory, (a diplomat should never forget a name or a face), before taking his place near the middle of the class where he could hear all conversations, convey points to the whole room evenly, and still sink into his seat and remain unnoticed if needed. Might as well begin as he meant to go on. The woman who was teaching the class noticed this immediately, but dismissed it as chance... there was no chance that a seven year old, without training could instantly pick the most advantageous seat in the room on purpose... a seat that the others had been trying to deduce the position of for ages... no, it was chance, nothing more.
The diplomats learned by being presented with scenarios, and the arguments that they were reporting on. They were given these one day in advance, and expected to prepare for these in the time between school days. The teacher would then feedback to them on what they had done well, and what they had done badly. Each budding diplomat was supposed to represent a different village in a large scale conference negotiating over this, and that. The teacher kept a large board, full of treaties, agreements, and compromises that had been reached between villages. Since it was Larkan's first day, he wasn't expected to contribute directly to the discussion, but simply observe. Kilika (the teacher) would judge how well he had listened to the arguments presented today, and would hear his presentation skills tomorrow.
Hmm, well at the moment, the new boy seems to be completely uninterested. Typical, he's the same as most boys who come to our village... inattentive and probably dreams of becoming hokage. Right now, he is resting his head on his arms, and is probably trying to fall asleep.
Larkan gazed at the map on the wall. Hmm, from what he could tell, each child represented a different nation, and there was one who stood above the rest... hmm, might want to make an ally of her. Question is, which is she...
"And therefore, I must conclude that if you intend to transport your goods through the land of sea, then it is only reasonable to exact a toll for the hiring of shinobi to escort the caravan through these lands. It would be unreasonable to expect the land of sea to undertake such a venture as to finance this themselves, or to feel at all secure with a caravan from an unallied nation moving through its borders every year. Therefore, I must insist that if this is to go ahead, the land of thunder must pay a toll, as of yet undecided, but I suggest that we first negotiate on how many shinobi must accompany the caravan. Not that I am suggesting that you would attempt to attack the land of sea through said caravan, but you must..."
Hmm, the land of sea is currently behind the land of thunder in martial power... hello, there is a blank nation... the land of sun? Is this my nation now...? Larkan kept his head rested on his arms, attempting to convey the idea that he was not listening. The land of sun eh... well, let's see what we have as resources. Hmm, seems like they only have a very slight martial presence, but have spies everywhere in other nations. They also have some exceptional scouts. Hey, this is pretty detailed. Apparently, we are quite prosperous as a nation, but have barely any samurai, and even less shinobi. We have a set of natural defences in the fact that we are pretty secluded from the other nations, and hence receive word of any potential attack through the no man's land of the moordeeb sea weeks before it arrives. The island is also surrounded by rocks, making it almost impregnable by boat. Shinobi would be required to threaten the land. Apparently further details are known only to me, but I don't know anything else yet... ah well, might as well make use of what we have...
"The land of thunder must therefore withdraw its offer of trade with the land of wood unless a more favourable arrangement can be reached" it was the boy who was speaking.
Larkan disinterestedly raised his head and rubbed his eyes. It was time to start making some connections.
The land of thunder stood geographically between the land of sun and the other nations. If he was going to make an ally, the land of thunder would be the most advantageous partner to gain. Still, he wasn't quite certain if he was supposed to do what he was about to do... oh well, no harm in trying. "The land of Sun must comment at this point that if the land of thunder was to so wish, our considerable might as scouts and spies may be useful to them in this scenario. The land of Sun could easily smuggle a caravan through the land of sea."
Larkan waited to see the impact of his comment on the other students. By saying this, he had not only simultaneously made an enemy of the land of water, and a friend of the land of water, but he had also just directly threatened the land of water. Not only this, but now, the land of water would have to renegotiate in order to stop such an action from taking place. However, he wasn't quite done yet. Realistically, he didn't really care about the trade caravan, but there were other matters that could be exploited from this scenario.
Kilika was outraged. Not only had this child just indulged in some childish fantasy of war, but he had just acted, forming enemies of his nation without any instructions from his kage. Larkan did not know this at the time, but in actual fact, each student was given "the wishes of their kage" in a note, which expressed what they were allowed to do, and what they were supposed to achieve through this talk. The land of sun, having only newly entered into this council would have a purpose of simply observing and attempting to formulate an idea of how proceedings work. A diplomat could definitely not declare war on others, or make threats to, or even enemies of other nations, without the approval of their kage. This approval could be negotiated for, but made up on the spur of the moment, definitely not. This boy would not see another day of the academy. Still, he obviously had been paying slightly more attention than she had credited him for. Perhaps his inattentiveness was just a ruse. No, he was a young boy with violent fantasies. He was anything but diplomat material.
"I am certain that the implications of this are not lost on you. Therefore, I think that we may wish to renegotiate the set of agreements that have been so far made with regard to the trading caravan. The land of sea may even have to pay for the privilege of having the trading caravan in plain sight..."
Again, there was silence.
"However, for reasons that the land of Sun will for the present keep to itself, it has a different proposition. In return for both being able to use the trade route opened up by this caravan, and military support from the land of thunder should the need ever arise, the exact details of which are yet to be decided, the land of sun would be more than willing to pay the land of sea's toll."
Larkan could feel the whole room slowly exhale. There was now a potential way out of what was looking like a potential war with just a simple nod. This way was going to be advantageous for everybody involved. The land of the sun, with its substantial wealth would barely feel the weight of the toll, and the toll would inevitably come back to them in the ability to use the trade route. Meanwhile, the land of sea got its toll and its ninja escort for the caravan, and the land of thunder and the land of wood got their trade route, and the land of thunder got out of having to pay what would have been for it a substantial toll in return for simple military support. Meanwhile, the land of wood, and the land of thunder both got a trade route with the impressive wealth of the land of sun. Overall, there was nobody who seemed to come out lower from this, except for the land of corn, and the land of steel, and they really were only here for the fact that one was allied to the land of sea, and the other to the land of wood. In fact, through their alliances, they may come to benefit from this much more than the alternative, which could have been disastrous for them. Ultimately, Larkan had only mentioned the alternative for this reason, to quell resistance from these two nations. Kilika was actually impressed. Maybe this boy could be a diplomat after all. She hastily made some edits to the notes that she had been writing to the students from their kage. Tomorrow, she would find out just how much of a natural this boy was. In fact, she was beginning to doubt that even his choice of chair was coincidence. No, perhaps everything this boy did was coolly calculated before its execution. Well, tomorrow she would find out. From somewhere else, two more beings also watched Larkan. One of these moved along the rooftops as he went home, following him without being seen.
"Larkan... a diplomat? Oh no, you my friend are going to be much more than that. Larkan Senju, you cannot change your blood, even if you wanted to. Do not give up on your dream yet my brother..."
The second being was a pure white owl. This owl took a strange interest in the boy as he moved through the streets. For reasons unknown to all but itself, it decided to keep watch on this young boy. It was just a feeling, but maybe, just maybe, he was the one.
Author's Note: Well I hope that you have enjoyed this, and I apologize for the amount of time since the last update. Still, for those of you who like this story, please review, favourite, etc. It is really demoralising how little this has been reviewed/favourited, but for what I do have, I am very grateful. Anyway, enjoy, and remember that for those of you who are interested, I am still looking for a beta. Observer Shade has observed, and documented.
