Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Naruto. The only thing I own is the plot.

Beta: Michelle T.

Chapter 5: Blooming Land and Less than Pleased Merchants


It took another two weeks for the councils, the ninja and the civic ones, to agree on their shared observations of the Miko Kagome Higurashi. By then, the village was already changing. Nothing by much of course, not right away. The first few small ripples were only the sudden influx of the village crisis food reserves and the overnight inflation of village-sponsored rice stamp programs. State controlled contingency measures were always a must for a military village such as theirs, still, there was enough of a gap for the private industrial sector to lag behind in the face of the Miko's game changing power.

A month in and she was producing more than their entire import values for a year. Projected numbers said she would outstrip that by three times given another month and a half. The storerooms started filling up. Vagabond centers in the Eastern and Southern wards ran out of place to put all that food. The homeless themselves are happy and well-fed and by his orders, put to good work now that they were effectively on state payroll. The village R&D had more samples of her harvest than they knew what to do with. Their lab was starting to look like a Ta no Kuni farm barn the last time he visited them.

It was time. He started talking of village wide subsidies and moving labour from food production and import protocol to other parts of the economy. Previously the prices of food, the most basic of commodities, had always been high. Bringing it low, so low it was as good as free, meant a tremendous boost to the economy. People would have more money to spend elsewhere. Less cost on the village coffer, cheaper ninja services in the long run, and then there was the free labour from the once vagabonds that were now effectively on the village's payroll.

As for the labour, they had always been short on hand for so many things. Irrigation, mining and deep ground resource survey, expansion, reforestation of the village perimeter in an effort to keep the desert back, the creation of underground water tunnels as a backup water supply source, implementation of new energy generating systems. There were so many things to do… so many thing that they couldn't do when their population was tied down by food production, import, and the ridiculously high cost of living in the barren desert.

To be able to talk about such possibilities even when their village stood but a decade shy of a world war that had seen them come out in rags and tatters… it left him shaking in silent excitement. He could see, very slowly, life returning to his beloved village, the spark of promise, of power befitting of one among the Great Five budding.

Throughout all this, the girl herself didn't even lose a sweat. Her days had become a leisurely routine. Cultivation of new seeds in the morning. Tending of long-living food plants in the afternoon. Classes with him in the evening. The time in between she could use for herself. The temple in the first place didn't have a lot of space left in it and to sully a place so sacred to his people wasn't something that he would even consider so they created crash farm fields out of the Northern wasteland and every day, escorted her in secret routes to where the land was once barren. The fields had now taken over most of the higher wasteland plateau, growing green , verdant and rampant with new growths covering more and more of the desert land.

Here she grew trees and plants of all types. Rice paddies on the patchwork dirt steppes. They created irrigation tracts using a combination of Doton and Suiton and the ex-vagabond workers man the field day to day out of the Miko's swift visits. Corns, growing high and leafy and all but covered up the gray dirt and sand that made up the dead ground. The wheat field to the left was just as large. Then potatoes and soybeans and yams. The staple foods most nations couldn't do without but Suna had had to import since its beginning days.

They built a fenced garden and she grew orange trees in rows in the upper corner, apples in the lower, and pomegranates in the middle. They made a second garden and she grew culinary herbs and vegetables of all types. One day, on a whim, she grew flowers. A veritable hanging forest of blue, purple, pink and orange that overtook the hidden mountain cliffs in ropes and tangles of climbing vines. Nobody said no to her. Somebody later on informed him that the things she grew were called petunia, hyacinth, amethyst falls wisteria, and sweet summer love clematis.

He didn't even know what summer was like… The desert was in a constant and habitual burn, and if it weren't burning, then it was freezing. Such was life among the sand dunes. And as for sweet love… hah...

On the third month he stood on a high cliff and overlooked the fields. It was absolutely alien to him who had seen in its place cracked, dead land stretching to the horizon for all of his life till then. It was vast. No where near as great as the desert of course, but in its promise of the future, it seemed infinitely greater than it really was. He had been a child of the desert since he was born and while his missions and Kage duties had taken him out of the bound of the desert and into more fertile lands in the past, the sight of blooming earth was still something he hadn't prepared himself for.

Throughout all of this, no matter how hard they put her to work or how unreasonable the output demands they placed on her, the girl neither protested nor faltered, instead always taking to work with an easy smile on her face. She did not tire, did not run out of whatever fueled her miracles even while producing three times as much as a village could eat. And as for her power… these days the reports came back that she did not even need to touch them. The miko needed only walk along the paths throughout the fields. The plants, trees, fruits and flowers seemed to gain sustenance by her sheer presence alone.

For all intents and purpose, it seemed the power of her yet nameless Kekkai Genkai did not have a limit. They had not even managed to catalogue the end of its reach. From all that they had seen thus far, hers was a power as immeasurable as the fabled sea.

For that reason alone, he quietly feared her.


The complaints started first from the private sector. Food merchants and masters of the precious few trade routes that passed through Sunagakure who had previously held almost total control of the village food trade. Understandable since they had replaced a significant part of their income in a matter of weeks.

Still, he treated them gently, far gentler than he could have. He kept the girl's and the highland farm field existence from them. These vermins who preyed upon his people's weakness needed not know of Sunagakure's boon from the desert.

"... a new jutsu in development, Sahi-san. Merely. New jutsus are known for instability and strange developments. You have nothing to fear. Sunagakure will surely continue our mutually profitable partnership." He said, face not showing an ounce of his true thoughts. "Though, the senate members will most likely want a renegotiation on prices of import items that we can now produce ourselves. I am sure you will not mind."

They no longer needed the second rate imported food but to stop the in-flow so suddenly would send a definite signal to the other nations and their respective hidden villages. A signal that said Suna had found a new keystone to their village economy.

Too soon. They needed more time to prepare.

Before long there were voices from the senate and the advising council that called for export of the Miko's harvest. They had more food in store than they knew what to do with and the village could surely use another source of income.

He turned down those voices for the same reason. Too soon. Too risky. Opening their export gate right now may bring in a short live rush of income but would, in effect, advertise the Miko's existence to other villages. It would be as good as flaunting a treasure they could not, for now, fully protect. It would be a foolish and short-sighted course of actions.

He watched the process of his senate trying to turn the girl into a political commodity in silence… but not in inactivity. He well understood the hidden truth that his government was hardly of one voice as it tried to portray itself.

This was hardly the first time Suna had seen the appearance of a first generation Kekkai Genkai, but none before the Mikos had had such far reaching ramifications. Whereas other powers tended to stop as valuable military asset that might, keyword being might, hold vital strategic advantage in the right hand, the Miko's power, if utilized to its full potential, would change the entire landscape of Sunagakure.

The common people would love her, that much he had seen. But those in power who used to make money from what she now provided for free or those too attached to the status quo of an isolationist village with a fragile economy almost entirely dependant on handouts from the daimyo, those would want her gone.

It was for this reason that the full truth of the Miko's powers was still concealed even to members of the senate thanks to Chiyo's machinations behind the scene. Her very existence itself was an unconfirmed rumours beyond the wall of the village. It was but one more of the many rumours they had seeded pertaining to Sunagakure's sudden surge in agricultural production power. Soon, probably sooner than he would like, hands would reach out from the shadow to make a grab for the Miko.

He set about preparing to counter them.


The kunoichi were all hand picked by him over a matter of weeks. Anbu operatives and tokubetsu jounins made up their ranks. Sunagakure did not lack for competent female kunoichi but he had been out for a different sort. Young, preferably in their teens and early twenties, pale of skin and dark of hair. Majority of Suna population favored looks of tanned skin and lighter, sunburned hair, and to add to that they had to be especially trustworthy with backgrounds that excluded them from any possibilities of being sleeper agents from rival villages. In all of Suna he scrounged up a handful who adequately fulfilled the requirements.

Standing in the same room, they looked as though they might have been sisters of the same blood. If he were to put the girl in their midst, she would blend in as another grain in the sand dunes.

Perfect.

"Your purpose is to protect the Miko… at all cost." He stated without preambles. "Wear your clothes, your hair, your dresses, your face, and your manner as she does. Speak as she does. Move as she does. Blend in with her. If a foreigner were to look upon you I want for him or her to not be able to discern which is the true Miko. Protect the real one with your life. Do not trust anyone, not even I."

He replaced the girl's handmaidens with his carefully chosen group of Kunoichi.


Six months.

He sat in his chair, quiet and still, twiddling a kunai in one hand as yet another member of the House of Commons, the political counterpart to his ninja council, attempted to pound logic of the shallow and the self-interested into his skull.

"... It is for these reasons that we believe the Miko Kagome Higurashi must be set free." The man announced with aplomb, hands around a six foot long scroll bearing the shared manifesto of the merchant guild and a half of the House of Commons. A clique of his peers flanked him. "She is no kunoichi under your jurisdiction but a civilian, a mere minor, a child. By our own law, she should be taken care of as part of our orphan welfare program and seen to by the representatives of the House of Commons. But does that happen? No!"

He was getting quite passionate about his speech now. His scroll flew from one hand as he made wild gestures to illustrate his points. His sole audience, the Kazekage, on the other hand, wasn't at all interested in what he had to say. The kunai flew a little faster from nimble fingers to nimble fingers.

"Instead, for the last six months she has been put to work like a slave. Unpaid, unappreciated. She does not even have a work permit or any kind of social insurances, and of course, absolutely no form of formal education whatsoever. The fruits of her labour freely given away without her say-so. Why, if such were to happen to a civilian child, the public would not have tolerated this. I have here in my hands a list of respectable civilian families whose greatest pleasure will be to take care and provide for her until such a time comes that she feels she needs to set out among the world."

And on he went… He wasn't quite pointing fingers at his Kazekage for hiding the girl away for his own gains just yet. He had a bit more tact than that, as well as more survival instinct. But he was slowly gathering the bravado to get there. Satoosa could tell by the way his cohorts leaned forward, as taken as the man was by his own speech. Best put a stop to this. The kunai stopped cold in its track. He set it down on his desk with a crisp, curt clap.

"Madarame-san…" He stopped the representative at least, eyes going behind the man to set upon the receding sun on the horizon of his village. The twirling mixture of twilight colors, orange, red, and purple, made him think of the Miko in her temple, no doubt up to her usual shenanigans again. "... I am glad to receive your…" he gave a miniscule incline of his head at the people behind the man "... concerns regarding Miko Kagome Higurashi. Regardless of what the gossipers believe however, I do not keep the girl against her will in a secret dungeon under my private residence and do with her as I will. She is in no prison…"

"But we saw…" Madarame started, then quieted when he speared the little man with a pointed look.

"The Miko Kagome Higurashi, as she is a self proclaimed woman of faith, is staying with her fellow priests at our most sacred temple. I myself cannot see a more fitting place as her abode. If you believe a common house of civilian, regardless of how upright the owners are, is greater than that of our forefathers great temple, or that our most respectable priesthood are indeed harboring such despicable practice as slavery, you will have to take it up to the head priest and his staunchest followers…" who would not at all be happy to hear a philistine slandered and belittle their faith. Religions followed by shinobi and civilians alike in hidden villages are peculiar things. Ruled by and designed for those who made violence a living, such religions had different values and virtues. For some, having seen the worst that humanity could offer, they could be far more forgiving than normal religions. But for others, the depths of faith, of spiritual devotion required those who wielded death for daily living... could turn the act of worshipping to the extreme, the bloodthirsty Jashinism being a prime example.

The strain of Theravada Buddhism practiced in Sunagakure… well, Satoosa himself had seen nonbelievers exiled from the village for less. They weren't normally prone to extreme responses, but for shinobi, what passed for normal might be well in the excessive by the standard of non-shinobis.

Madarame seemed to get it because he suddenly shut his wide open mouth.

Satoosa did not stop there.

"As to her status, Miko Kagome Higurashi is registered as a ward of the state. She is protected by the state. While it is true that she is a minor, she is in no way being neglected or abused."

"But… her labour…see right here..."

"Please do not mistake her kindness and generosity for naivety." He bulldozed over the man's argument. "Or perhaps it was not a mistake you made, but a deliberate warping of the truth…"

They stiffened, with looks on their faces that resembled rats caught in iron cases.

"Kozu…" He called. The Anbu to his left dropped from his hiding spot and into the House of Common representative's full view. "... remind me again from which does Madarame-san make his fortune?"

"Processing of grain imports, Kazekage-sama. Madarame-san owns a third of the rice trade."

"I see… How surprising." He let the vindictiveness in his heart curled the edge of his mouth into a cutting smile. "And these esteemed guests of our office?" He made a vague gesture at the ones standing behind Madarame.

Kozu rattled off a report on the spot as he watched the faces of the representatives paled one by one. Operator of private trade routes. Owners of cotton farms in far off countries who made big money in Suna. Chief officer of import licensing office who might be running something else off the table. Bean and coffee morgul who … used to… own the market.

"Fascinating…" He drawled "I suppose it is only from the goodness of your heart that you beg to take care of she who has been putting free food on your table with one hand while taking coins from your pockets with the other."

He leveled a look at them.

"But that is neither here nor there. Forgive us shinobi for collecting anecdotal rumours on your most venerated persons. It is simply a part of our job." He softened his stance momentarily.

"This is a no doubt a time of change for our village. A trying time during which many a petty individuals will be seeding ill rumors about our lady of kindness and generosity. Therefore, I feel I must set the record straight for those who come to me with such concerns."

He smiled, baring teeth.

"The Miko Kagome Higurashi is of utmost importance to Sunagakure." He said this slowly, stressing the words as if speaking to children. "Her ability means much to the future progress of the village. Her relationship with the village is one of perfect symbiosis. She provides us with the harvest of her power and in turn the village protects her, nurtures her, sees to her specific needs. It is not unheard of for children of first generation kekkai genkai to be abused, neglected, or misunderstood. In times past, children of particularly strong or strange kekkai genkai have been killed by ignorants or by those who seek to use them with little regards to their welfare. With the village's protection however, the same will never happen to the Miko."

He looked at each of them.

"She is now a ward of the state and her guardian the officers assigned to watch over her. In the future, a family may be appointed as her official guardians until the time she reaches maturity. I certainly have no sway over what kind of family it will be, civilian… or shinobis… however…" He paused for a second. "... the responsibility of acting guardians over such important personage… is not to be taken lightly. If… during this time, harms were to come to her, the person whose power has been boosting our entire village, the person who has been putting food on the table of half of our civilian population and all of our shinobi population, who has single handedly reversed Sunagakure's less than stellar trading power on the international market…" his voice dropped low, cold, thin and edged with intent "... if such an event were to occur…"

Madarame and his ilks recoiled under the weight of his gaze.

"...retribution of equal proportions will be reaped."


End chapter 5


1. I know I promised Gaara in this chapter but ecopolitical thoughts, planning and world building happened and if I really want to put Gaara in this chapter I will have to write another 5k words to get to the part where he finally meets 'that strange tickle that keeps pulling at his senses that turns out to be this daft civilian older girl who he is not quite sure what his mother feels about because she is suddenly cowering in a corner' in secret and against his father's wishes. And she ends up giving him an apple and pat him on the head and shows him that he actually has another mother who really really loves him. He's not quite sure what to think about her either because while he likes the apple and the second mother he kind of want to call her out on her naivety and cowardice and complete lack of response on being used and lied to by his father.

…. kinda….

This chapter was initially named Maiden and Chimera (pretty sure you know who the title refers to) but because of these changes it has been renamed.

2. If you are not into long private thoughts and ecopolitics, this chapter probably will read pretty dry to you (especially when compared to previous chapters). It is required though as part of the world building in long term (so bear with me). Next chapter we will have a bit more on the political structure of Sunagakure, the Kazekage's conversation with Kagome on what she wants out of life, him personally showing her the effect her power has on his village and people (in an attempt to build her bond with the village), why he's been keeping her cooped up in that cloister (for her own protection), a bit more on Kagome's circumstances and why and how she landed into the Naruto verse, and finally Gaara… kinda…. I'm not really sure yet (Am I really ever a hundred percent sure about anything? I'm too spontaneous for that I think, and like to screw with people's expectations too much)