AN. Yeah sorry, I have not posted as I should have. I got into a car crash that totaled my car, which sucks; but I digress I happen to live in the Us states affected by polar vortex storms, so I needed to walk to the store to buy food. Luckily it was quite warm in comparison to other parts of the states.
_Naruto POV_
When the world stopped whirling around me, and I could finally I could see the Palace in all its glory. A building which had two structures the first was a large tapered squared tower with a smaller square spire; that had walls made of wood, and the windows were built with paper! The daimyo must be loaded.
Four Samurais were following a male who had a sash with the symbol of the nation of fire. I quickly bowed, and I could tell my two ninja entourage followed suit.
"Greetings my name is Naruto Uzumaki of Wave Country. I hope you and your lord will have good health now and always." the male with the fire sash bowed lightly and responded "my name is Michi. I am one of the personal ninja in service to Lord Hiroshi, that being said, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you and your retinue, I hope you are enjoying your visit to the capital."
I nodded "The capital is quite nice from what I could see of it. before Hiroshi summoned me to the place." I responded with sincerity
I turned to the ROOT Chunin standing to Hibiki "Find all of the Ashiguru that accompanied me as well as Tazuna and Daisuke and inform them I am in my meeting with the Lord Hiroshi." I looked at Hibiki "You will be my shadow understood." she nodded while the Chunnin dissipated in a puff of smoke.
"This won't be a problem I hope I just could not trust my safety to a foreign power?" Michi agreed and ushered me down the hall of the place; eventually, he stopped in front of a door. He knocked on the wooden part of the ornate paper door the paper was emblazoned in a fire like patterns in the color of gold.
Opening the door, I could see the room with one lone occupant. The room was small in comparison to the castle, as it was a 12x12x12 room that was very restful. Lord Hiroshi was sitting in Seiza position with teacups and seemingly waiting for me.
Lord Jiro Hiroshi, looked to be an even six foot tall, but as he was sitting, I could not accurately tell. He has long gray colored hair tied in two pony tales on both sides of his head in the Mizura style, while his eye is the reddest color I have ever seen almost ruby like even Kakashi's Sharingan pales in comparison. His face reminded me of a wolf from the way he holds himself to how he is lightly smirking as if I am a fox. Lord Hiroshi was wearing a simple amber colored kimono with fire patterns around the collar and sleeves.
"Ah, young lord Naruto how are you doing this fine summers day, was your trip to the capital to your liking?" Hiroshi questioned with a calmness that only few I have ever seen had. he subtly motioned me to sit across from me
" yes, the countryside of the Fire Nation is quite beautiful. I found the capital to be quite a breath of fresh air in comparison to Konoha." I replied truthfully while sitting down in seiza across from Hiroshi.
"Would you like some jasmine and rose tea before we discuss what my terms are for your release from service?" Hiroshi inquired.
"yes, please"I answered. Hiroshi used excellent Katon manipulation to heat the water of the teapot and started to pour me and then himself a cup of tea.
After taking a sip from the divine smelling tea, his eyes visibly sharpened as he began to speak "as you probably know you are the Kyuubi Jinchuriki as such you are wondering why you were freed from your bond of service to the leaf village?"
"Yes, but what I am more interested in is what you have planned for my little nation, lord Hiroshi?" in response he chuckled. "I wish my only male child would have the foresight to see that nothing in this world is free, but, alas I believe his much younger sister will be the one to inherit the throne." he then let out a sigh "But, you wish to hear what I want from you no? It is quite simple, I have provided the ninja now serving you, and I will give some trading convoys to ensure your country can remain focused on rebuilding from your disaster; all I want in return is an under the table trade deal between our two nations."
Oh, I thought wave country would become a satellite for fire country, not embezzle resources. I cocked my head to the side and asked, "That is all? Surely you would want more?" I asked.
Hiroshi smirked, "You see the lands of lightning and stone have the most mineral resources in the elemental continent, but, the forced trade deals my nation won from the first and second ninja wars which were instigated by my father have almost expired." I could feel my fist clench under the table in an attempt to prevent my eyes from widening, all the deaths from the first and second shinobi wars were the fault of the Fire daimyos.
"Now you may be wondering why I need your help?" Hiroshi asked while pausing allowing me to interject.
"I am curious how the smallest and poorest island nation in the elemental continent, could be of any use to you the leader of the largest and richest country, anyway?" I questioned
"Ah, when Minato Namikaze ended the war, during the peace conference, I was left out of the peace arrangements that led to a white peace that left me with nothing while the village of Konoha became placed in the minds of the people of my land as the protectors rather than me there Daimyo." Hiroshi paused to gritted his teeth while the tea in his hand started to boil in the cup.
"but I was sadly blessed by a demon because the nine tailed fox somehow attacked Konoha shortly before killing Minato leaving me with no way to safely start another war. now do not get me wrong I was planning to send Minato and a squad of Jounin as well as my army to the land of water to help with the subjugation of that land, but he died to the Kyuubi " Hiroshi continued.
I still must have looked a little confused it seems as he further explained, "You will have Gato industries under your countries control none of the northern nations would turn up the opportunity to trade with the island nation situated on the some of the best and safest navel trading routes in the elemental countries."
I thought about this while drinking my tea "Ok but I will want reduced cost for lumber imports as well as the convoys you mentioned. The lumber is for my country, to help with the rebuilding. We can also use this as an excuse to transfer some of the northern supplies to your nation without drawing attention, but, I have one minor amendment; a military non-interference clause which in two years will degrade into a non-aggression pact for another two added in to ensure the sovereignty of my nation. As wave country bares most of the responsibility and would receive the majority of the backlash; from Lightning and stone countries, for laundering the material supplies into fire country, sound fair?"
Hiroshi seemed to like this idea as he started smiling as he gave his verdict, "Oh this is excellent we would be able to ensure both of the needs of our nation are met, while I will have plausible deniability. I agree I will have my minister of commerce draft this treaty as well as adding a non-aggression pact clause with you for a minimum of two years after that you will need to continue trade with my nation to keep the non-aggression clause active, is this fair?"
"I agree, Wave country should benefit greatly from this arrangement. I also hope we can continue this relationship of mutual benefit between us?"
for the next hour and a half, we continued small talk, mostly about him managing his country as he wanted to try to aid me in understanding how to effectively run a country.
"I hate to do this, but I need to need to go talk with my ministers. I will need to leave, but, I would like to offer an invitation to enjoy the fruits that the capital has to offer." Hiroshi said in apology
"I would love to tour Keishi; it seems like a wondrous city, and I would like to thank you for your kind offer," I stated while bowing slightly to Lord Hiroshi.
Hiroshi then let out a small chakra pulse, Michi soon appeared outside of the closed door "You summoned me, my lord." Michi questioned
"Escort the Young lord to the gates of the palace. I will wish to speak with the young lord again." He commanded, Michi giving a short, courteous bow before standing at attention, Hiroshi's gaze set on me once more. "So before you leave the capital, would you care to join me for tea," Hiroshi ordered more so than asking.
I nodded and followed Michi down the winding corridors. I could tell Hibiki had fallen into step behind me walking three paces away from me. "Hibiki would you mind training me more of the ninja arts. To my knowledge from what I've observed you seem to have very high proficiency in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, so I ask; will you teach me what you know?" I questioned the ANBU Jounin
"Yes, I will train you as you have ordered my lord" Hibiki spoke in her usual tone, lacking much emotion. I let out a small sigh and lightly shaking my head.
She may never reach a normal human's level of emotional development which I find to be very sad, but, I can always hope she will eventually be able to use some of her emotions.
I was brought out of my inner ramblings by our escort Michi "Lord Naruto we have reached the palace gates, you and your shadow may leave." Michi said while bowing before he could leave I cleared my throat "You would not happen to know where I can find a ramen stand or shop in the city would you?"
Michi visibly paused while cocking his head "One moment please" He requested while flagging over one of the palace's Ashiguru "I believe you live in the lower districts of the city, escort the Daimyo of Wave to a ramen shop for me" he ordered.
he turns to me and gestures to the Ashiguru, "He will guide you to the store you seek" he said then he turned on his heel and left back towards the palace.
After being lead to a small restaurant, the Ashiguru bowed and left Hibiki and me. When we entered, we were quickly lead to a table and given a little menu pamphlet, we both ordered some ramen Hibiki wanted the simple miso ramen while I wished to have two of every type of ramen available.
"Hibiki What areas do I need to improve, off the top of your head?" I questioned. She thought for a few minutes "Before any training takes place you will need to change the orange jumpsuit you have with something more sedate." She must have heard my groan of annoyance and tried to placate me.
"You can still have orange in your attire, but, you must tone it down; for example instead of a completely bright orange jumpsuit you could have burnt orange as a secondary trim color. does that sound ok?" Hibiki spoke softly, at some point during her instructions our ramen arrived and we began eating.
I still groaned, but I could see her point, so I relented "fine, but I want to still use some form of a jumpsuit why because jumpsuits are awesome!" I said with some bravado, Hibiki just nodded and went back to eating I sighed and shook my head.
After some small talk, Hibiki spoke up "I would like to start training your Taijutsu first, as from what I could see from your foot positioning; when you were training with Haruto Daisuke, you have terrible hand to hand combat skills, it resembled something closer to a drunken street brawler more than a trained ninja." Hibiki bluntly stated in a monotone that felt like a knife was being stabbed through my chest.
Before I could respond, she continued "I will not teach you Kenjutsu because Haruto is already guiding your swordsmanship. I will teach you more chakra control methods to help you reign in you abundant chakra reserves; after you develop more control, I will show you how to use the jutsu I know. Though my style of fighting is heavily reliant on Fuinjutsu and hand to hand combat, I am better suited to assassinations and T&I operations, but I will try my best."
"But what about your bladed tonfas? Aren't, they weapons kinda like a sword? Wouldn't they fall under Kenjutsu?" I Asked confused.
"No the way you fight with a tonfa is very similar to Taijutsu but allows for more debilitating strikes. An example is in Taijutsu I would need to reinforce my fists with Chakra to break someone's bones to prevent them from being able to use that limb. While using my tonfa, I could merely slice the deltoid muscle and stop that limbs movement even if they had some pain-reducing drug or kekkei genkai; that is why I use the bladed tonfa I can quickly immobilize my target and then interrogate them." she explained.
Hibiki looked over to the window and turned to face me "My lord we should head to the hotel soon, so Tazuna and Haruto do not send out some ninja in search of us." I nodded and let some Ryo and a bit extra as a tip.
"Would you mind using shunshin to take me to our hotel?" I asked politely she nodded and gripped my shoulder then the restaurant blurred out of my sight.