((Here's the next chapy. Please enjoy. Any and all ideas are welcome.))
"I have my own ninja" Da-ku said.
Kuroiryu scoffed. "You don't have me."
"How are you so special Ambassador?" Da-ku asked.
Kuroiryu cracked a wide grin, his shoulders shaking with mirth.
"Answer my question," the Kage demanded.
"Meet me at the Dragon's home tomorrow and you shall learn why I'm so important to Konoha." Kuroiryu didn't wait for a response and disappeared in a puff of smoke. He knew that Da-ku would come to his home. The man didn't like not knowing something.
"Kuroi-san, are you here?" asked a soft female voice later that night. The voice came from the front door of his mansion.
"Kuroiryu-sama is back in the dojo, Shiroryu-san," said a summoned dragon Kuroiryu had sent to lead the girl to him.
Kuroiryu was taking on four copies of himself in the dojo. They danced a dance of death as they all fought with dragon fang blades. Dragon blades of any kind were rare but deadly sharp. They never went dull.
"Kuroi-san, my mother wished me to bring you the food you ordered" Shiroryu said at the entrance of the dojo.
Kuroiryu dismissed his clones as he walked over to the only girl that had ever made him add tenshi at the end of their name. "We've been friends for ten years Shiro-chan" he said. "At least call me Kuroi-chan."
"I wasn't sure what you would prefer after so long," Shiroryu said.
"Well, now I've told you," Kuroiryu said. "Let me clean up and we can talk while we eat."
"My mother will expect me to be back at the restaurant," Shiroryu said.
"Your mother will understand" Kuroiryu said. "Besides, if things haven't changed in the last decade, tonight's a slow night any way."
"Very well," Shiroryu said. "If I get in trouble, I'll make sure you spend a week scrubbing dishes."
Kuroiryu looked aghast.
Shiroryu gave him a wicked look and both burst into laughter.
"And he's still a bit annoyed with me" Kuroiryu said. "It's funny, in my opinion. I don't think he's encountered someone as powerful in a long time, if ever."
"You have the easiest time making enemies of those that think themselves strong or powerful," Shiroryu said with a chuckle.
"The funniest part yet though is that I introduced him to my dad's Dragon Fire spice."
"You didn't!" Shiroryu said amused horror.
"It was only a minuscule pinch, hardly anything."
"You and your father were the only ones that could ingest food spiced with that stuff! Of course someone who's never had it would be running for water at the barest hint of it."
"Kakashi asked" Kuroiryu said. "And water is the worst thing you could use to quench that fire. Milk is just a bit better and bread is the best."
"So there are powerful ninja in Konoha?" Shiroryu asked.
"Kakashi is one of Konoha's best" Kuroiryu said. "But they boast many powerful ninja. The third Hokage trained the Sennin and two have remained loyal to the village. Many of the rookies are heirs to their respective clans and are well on their way to being powerful shinobi."
"Did you find what you were looking for when you left?"
"He's a knucklehead with a good heart. The kid will make a great Hokage some day."
Kuroiryu sat in the bedroom window looking down on the road leading to his mansion. Shiroryu lay on a futon sleeping. Kuroiryu wouldn't hear of her walking by herself back to her family's home and he was tired by the time she started talking about going home. His lay folded next to her.
Kuroiryu smirked as he watched Da-ku walk up the road flanked by a dozen ANBU. The man was definitely an idiot.
"I'm here Konoha Ambassador!" Da-ku shouted as he stood on the road in front of Kuroiryu's mansion. Shiroryu sat up with a start.
"Kuroiryu?" she said softly.
"I'm here," Kuroiryu said quietly not moving from where he sat. The fact that Da-ku was still calling for him outside meant that the Kage hadn't seen him from his highly visible perch.
"I need to go. Stay here until this ends." Shiroryu nodded. Kuroiryu gave her a kiss on the forehead as he passed her before he continued on to the front door.
When Kuroiryu stepped outside, Da-ku glared at him in annoyance. "Took you long enough," the man growled.
"I was eating breakfast," Kuroiryu said. "I wasn't going to leave perfectly good food sitting around to get cold."
Da-ku glared. "Now explain yourself."
"What do you want me to explain?"
"How are you so important to Konoha?"
"I'm on of the strongest ninja in Konoha" Kuroiryu said. "I know a lot of things about Shadow that would be helpful to any invasion force, should war erupt between Konoha and Shadow. I'm the strongest ninja in this village."
Da-ku and his guards laughed uproariously. "You? The strongest ninja in Shadow? Please. I am the Kage of Shadow. I am the strongest ninja in Shadow."
It was now Kuroiryu's turn to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Da-ku asked as Kuroiryu hugged his aching sides.
"You" Kuroiryu gasped out.
"How am I funny?"
"You think you're so strong when I beat one of your flunkies about two years back while I was traveling."
"How does beating a ninja two years ago compare to me today?"
"The shinobi was an ANBU" Kuroiryu said. "He was more powerful than you were ten years ago. I handed the man his rear."
"How do you know how strong I was ten years ago?"
"The dragon's hoard is in Shadow. The dragon always returns to its hoard."