Chapter 2:
Mitsuki blinked, staring back at Boruto with his usual expression. "Huh?"
"You heard me," said Boruto. "We're going to spy on my dad's meeting tomorrow."
"Yes, I heard you. But why?"
"Because he's hiding something. I'm going to find out what. There must be a reason he doesn't want us leaving the village."
Mitsuki just smiled politely and said, "I think the reasons he gave you were pretty logical. Makes sense that he would want privacy for his meeting. And if it is the same king we fled from a couple months ago, he might not be that happy to see us. If he even remembers us."
Boruto rolled his eyes, knowing Mitsuki would point that out. "That may have been what he said, but what he said isn't what he said."
Mitsuki cocked his head. "Huh?"
"What I mean is that him pointing it out the way he did makes me think more is going on. I mean, why tell us not to leave the village if we're not on a mission? We'd have no reason to leave."
"Just in case you decide to follow someone, go exploring, or are told to catch up to someone because you noticed them drop something as they were leaving. There are reasons for us to leave the village even when we're not on assignment. I might decide to go visit my parent which involves me leaving the village. Now that I know the Hokage doesn't want us leaving, I won't pay my parent a visit."
"Mitsuki, I'm suspicious," Boruto said emphatically. "Don't you get that?"
Mitsuki did understand and if this was important to Boruto, of course he would help him.
"But we don't know where the meeting is being held," he pointed out.
"Which is why we're following him. My mom's packing him a lunch tomorrow, so I know he'll have to grab it before he leaves. Even if he forgets it, he has to be leaving through the main gate. Either I'll hear him in the morning or one of us will be watching the main gate to see when he leaves. Between the two of us, we'll see when he's leaving and follow."
"What about Sarada?" asked Mitsuki. "Shouldn't we tell her about this?"
"No way," said Boruto. "She'd just try to talk us out of it or tell on us. Sarada's always trying to be the voice of reason."
Mitsuki smiled, amused. "Oh?"
"It'll just be the two of us. We'll follow my dad to his meeting and see what it's about."
"Do we really have to spy like this?" Mistuki asked, curious and a bit confused. "You could just take his word for it. I don't think there's anything dangerous going on, considering who he's meeting with. We don't spy on his Kage meetings."
"This is different, Mitsuki. Why else would he be meeting with this king if it doesn't concern us? Why else would he tell us to stay in the village? He has no ties to the king and he lives far, far away and has never contacted the village before now. Don't you think it's weird and worth looking into?"
"If you think we should. But it could be none of our business."
"If it involves us, it is our business. And we'll only know that if we spy on the meeting."
Mitsuki smiled again. "Alright. Then I suppose I'll get up early to watch the gate tomorrow in case they leave before sunrise."
"And I'll pay attention for when Dad leaves with his lunch."
"And I'll let Sarada know not to follow us."
"No! Don't tell her anything!"
Boruto ate breakfast with the whole family that morning, watching his father carefully. It seemed he wasn't leaving as early as they thought and had time to eat with them.
After breakfast, Naruto stood and told Hinata that he was off. She handed him his lunch, they kissed and Naruto was out the door. Boruto put his dishes in the sink and left as well, telling his mother he was going to do some training.
Naruto and Shikamaru met at the main gate and spoke briefly. They both turned and hurried out of the village. Boruto gave them a head start before going after them. The guard didn't seem to notice. Mitsuki was already outside the village, watching the Hokage leave from a tree. As soon as he saw Boruto, he took it as his signal to follow and together they tailed the two adults moving quickly down the road.
They traveled for hours until the adults finally slowed their pace and then stopped.
Boruto hid behind a tree, watching Naruto and Shikamaru enter an open field. It would be difficult to keep out of sight now that the trees had ended. Thankfully, there were a number of large rocks they could hide behind. As soon as Naruto and Shikamaru moved ahead, Boruto and Mitsuki changed positions.
Shikamaru exhaled, looking around. "This is the place."
"Looks like the king's here, too. Along with his caravan," remarked Naruto, looking ahead.
Their meeting spot was held in neutral territory, as agreed. It consisted of a small open area in a forest of rocks, most of which formed a natural wall around the open space, shielding the area from hidden attacks. The formation itself was too unstable to perch upon in several areas without causing a rockslide. This made hiding difficult for Boruto and Mitsuki. Any sound would alert the adults to their presence. They managed to find a large bolder to hide behind amongst the sea of stone. It turned out to be the perfect vantage point for the duo, allowing them to see the open area clearly and hear everything that was being discussed.
A table had been brought for their meeting, set up before their eyes to make sure there were no hidden weapons. Two chairs were provided as well by the king's guards. One was modest, the other elaborate and cushioned for comfort. Everyone knew who would get which chair to sit in.
Everything was put in place before their eyes in the small open space. Then servants and guards quickly retreated as the king made his way to the open area, stopping only for his name to be announced by another guard.
"Presenting his majesty, King Nita," announced the man in a clear loud voice. He kept his voice below a roar since they were not before a large crowd.
Boruto sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Just get to it, already. We know who you are, you posh jerk."
"I suppose he doesn't want people to forget his importance," Mitsuki whispered with a smile.
King Nita stood before the table, expecting Naruto and Shikamaru to bow, which they did after a moment. He barely bowed his head to them, taking his seat without a word. Two guards stood on either side of King Nita behind his chair, facing the shinobi. Neither moved nor spoke, acting as bodyguards for their king.
Naruto took his seat and Shikamaru stood beside his chair as an extra pair of eyes and ears.
"Should we get down to business?" asked Naruto politely, though he wasn't smiling.
"I believe everything was adequately explained in my letter to you." The king tented his fingers before his chest.
"Just for the record, if you please, your Majesty," Shikamaru said in a very controlled tone of voice. He didn't want to sound demanding, polite or upset, resulting in this tone.
Sighing loudly to show his annoyance, the king explained. "Two months ago, some shinobi from the Hidden Leaf came to my kingdom unannounced and during their time within my walls, two items went missing. An object from one of my vaults and my right-hand man Kai. I demand the return of both."
Boruto gave a tiny gasp. This did involve him after all. He knew it. His father was hiding something.
"If you do not comply, I will declare war on the Hidden Leaf. You can expect my army to hold nothing back."
Boruto and Mitsuki exchanged troubled looks.
"The item was returned to the spirit realm," said Mitsuki.
"And Kai was turned into a donkey," said Boruto.
"I should also like to deal with the shinobi responsible," the king finished.
Naruto inhaled slowly and said, "Your Majesty… do you have the names of the shinobi in question?"
King Nita lowered his tented fingers into his lap, sitting back in his chair. "No, I don't."
Boruto scoffed. "Couldn't even be bothered to remember our names…"
"Which is good," said Mitsuki.
The king's unwillingness to bother learning the names of guests certainly worked in their favor.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, leaning closer to the table. "I'm sorry, but without the names of the shinobi, how will we know who to bring forth? We have to make sure we're looking at the right people."
"They were young. A female and two boys. One had blond hair. The other had long sleeves which hid his hands."
It seemed the king was somewhat observant after all.
"A vague description is not enough for us to go on," said Naruto. "There are several young shinobi matching…"
"What sort of village are you running here?" asked the king. "Surely you keep records of the comings and goings of your people. They came to my kingdom two months ago. You shouldn't have to look too far to find their mission, along with who was assigned to it."
"The issue is that we get a lot of missions every day," said Naruto. "Unless the mission request came from your kingdom, it will be hard to find."
"How's that?" he asked, unconvinced.
"The mission request could have come from another village who then requested the shinobi go to your kingdom. In which case, it would be difficult to find in our records. That happens a lot on missions. Sometimes a shinobi must leave the assigned area to go to wherever the mission takes them."
"Then look through their reports to find out where they've been," said the king. "Don't you do that? My men must write up a report after an assignment for just such an occasion. This way, there's a record of where they were and who was there, along with anything they might have witnessed."
"Yes, but am I to understand that you want us to look through the past two months of records for hundreds of missions and read every report to see if there's mention of your kingdom in order to find the shinobi?"
The king gestured with his hands and sat back in his chair again to show that this was exactly what he expected.
"Such a thing would take time," said Naruto. "Can we at least agree that no one does anything until we've been given enough time to do our own research?"
The king sighed and nodded. "Very well. War is postponed until the records are gone through. A week should be enough time."
"A week?"
"I think that's sufficient enough."
Naruto exhaled slowly through his nose to keep his emotions in check. If he angered the king, they could forget about any leeway or reasonability. "Very well. We'll start going through the records once we return to our village."
Sensing Naruto seemed to believe that was the end of their discussion, King Nita held up his hand. "There's still the matter of the two things I want returned to me."
"Can you describe these things?"
"One was a wooden staff carved in the shape of a bird. The other is my right-hand man, Kai. Both are to be returned to me at once."
Everyone noticed that Kai was considered an object according to the king. Something which Shikamaru and Mitsuki both took an interest in.
"Did the shinobi happen to explain why they were there in the first place?" Naruto asked, knowing there was no way for him to ask directly without revealing that he knew who the shinobi were.
"They said they were asked to come because there was a dangerous item in the kingdom they needed to be rid of," said King Nita.
"Could it be possible that the item that went missing happens to be that dangerous item?" suggested Naruto. "In which case, it's probably a good thing it went missing."
"They could have lied in order to steal it," sad the king dismissively.
"Then why not something covered in jewels? Why a wooden staff?"
The king did not have an answer.
"The item could have been dangerous. Perhaps it exploded which is why you can no longer locate it. Sounds to me that you're better off without the thing. Imagine if it had exploded in your castle or something," said Naruto.
If this did not work, Naruto and Shikamaru discussed the possibility of carving a new one for the king as a replacement. Mitsuki had a good memory and carried that staff closely up until relinquishing it to the Sea King. He could give them the details. If it was in a vault, it was possible that the king didn't have a perfect memory of it and could be tricked. Then again, he seemed to be a lot better at memorizing details in objects than people.
King Nita sighed and waved his hand. "Very well. I may be willing to overlook that one item. However, Kai is nonnegotiable. He is to be returned to me or I shall take your village in recompense."
"A whole village for one man?" said Naruto, trying not to react. "That doesn't sound very fair."
King Nita shrugged with a chuckle. "Normally, I wouldn't consider paying a ransom for any of my people. But Kai is a special case."
Boruto and Mitsuki looked at each other again.
"What's so special about him, though?"
"Special enough to only demote him and not have him imprisoned for trying to murder a prince in front of all those witnesses."
Shikamaru, who had been paying close attention to everything that was being said and how it was said, knew something wasn't adding up. So much so, he couldn't hold his tongue any longer.
"Then why wait two months to contact us?"
The king looked in Shikamaru's direction. "Beg your pardon?"
"You said Kai's a special case. If he's so important to you, why wait two months before taking action?"
The king glared at Shikamaru. "That is none of your concern."
"Beg your pardon, you Majesty, but it seems to me that you're just using Kai as an excuse to attack a village that did nothing to you."
"Your shinobi showed up unannounced and when they did, two things went missing. It's not exactly unprovoked."
"Shinobi get assigned to places all the time. Sometimes on wild goose chases. Sometimes on assassination assignments. It's rare for a person to declare war on the shinobi village over something ranging from a minor inconvenience to murder."
The king shrugged again. "People have gone to war over less."
"I don't understand why you're threatening us with war, though," said Naruto. "That would negatively impact both sides. Lives would be lost. You'll lose more than you gain."
King Nita chuckled, and rested his head in his hand. "With my wealth, I could be emperor of the land. War may devastate you, but I can easily replace anything I lose in battle, even people."
"People are not…"
"A fallen soldier is nothing to me. He can be replaced by any boy looking to join my guard because he finds it cool. I see them playing swords in their yards and chasing each other in the street. Stopping to stare with admiration at the passing guards or the ones stationed outside my palace. Any of them would gladly jump at the chance to be a soldier. Depending on battle, we could even send them out early after a rushed training session."
Naruto clenched his fists on the table, which the king saw and scoffed at.
"You're shinobi. You should be used to the idea of being nothing but tools that are easily replaced once broken. Soldiers are no different."
"They're people. They have families. Children who expect their parents to come home to tuck them in at night and tell them they're loved. You can't throw such things away," Naruto said through clenched teeth. "Going to war over whims is stupid and pointless."
The king grinned. "Given that you see things that way, you'll have no problems adhering to my demands. Unless you want lives to be sacrificed, you'll return Kai to me at once and those shinobi will be held responsible."
Shikamaru knew this could either be a bluff or the king being that heartless. Naruto, who wore his heart on his sleeve, couldn't fake being detached to his family in the Hidden Leaf, which the king seemed to be testing. However, Naruto could bluff when he wanted to, something the king either didn't seem to know or care about.
Naruto forced himself to grin, trying to call out the king's own bluff. "Who said I was talking about shinobi lives? I'm more worried about your own people."
"Oh?" King Nita inquired.
"You may be able to replace your guards, but for how long? You'd even stoop to sending children in to battle for you? At some point, there will be no one left to protect you. The people will either all be dead or have revolted against you. Eventually, you'll lose, doing things that way."
King Nita scoffed in response.
"Shinobi are powerful. We can easily defeat your soldiers, no matter their numbers. And we have plenty of allies who cannot be bought." Naruto leaned forward with a smirk on his face. "War would devastate both sides, but is that something you really want? How long before your people rise against you for roping them into a pointless battle? Especially if they know you wouldn't make this much effort for any of them in their time of need."
The king looked at Naruto and saw no weakness in him. Naruto seemed to understand that there was only so much the people could take before fighting back. His kingdom may have been prosperous, but the people wouldn't care if their lives meant nothing to their ruler. Jewels embedded in the sidewalks shone less when splattered in blood.
For now, his people were content, but war always brought out the ugliness, especially when pushed to the brink. His current wealth was vast when compared to years ago, but it would only get him so far. If he could not replenish it, his kingdom would never recover. What would his people do then? How many of his loyal guards would reject and abandon him?
Naruto understood this.
His understanding of the human condition impressed King Nita. This Hokage was younger than he was yet was so knowledgeable. Ignorance and fear would give rise to hate, which anyone could understand, but what Naruto was doing was a step beyond that. How this man came to understand how a person's perception of themselves and others could impact so many lives was beyond his knowledge.
In all honestly, the king did intend to go to war, but it was a decision he made halfheartedly. His main intent was for his bluff to cajole Naruto into giving him what he wanted. A standard bullying tactic that worked for Kai, but King Nita wasn't as gifted in that department.
"Well…" said King Nita as he sat up in his chair. "Let's hold off on any declaration of war for now, hm? At least until we settle the matter of my missing man."
"You mean Kai?"
King Nita nodded. "I still want him back. So depending on your answer…"
"There's no record of Kai in our village," said Naruto. "If he had been taken hostage by our shinobi, he would be on file. Since he's not, we know he's not in the village."
"Then find him," said the king.
"Unless you have a photo or something with his scent, there's only so much we can do for you. Our tracking shinobi will require something to go on."
Shikamaru was beginning to understand and addressed the king again during a long pause between the two leaders.
"That's why you waited two months to contact us, isn't it?" he asked the king. "You were conducting your own investigation."
The king's lack of response was all he needed to know the answer.
"What were your findings?" asked Naruto, curious if the king actually knew what became of Kai or not. "Did you uncover anything about what may have happened to him?"
The king gave a noise somewhere between a groan and a sigh while giving yet another dismissive wave of his hand. "Just some nonsense from the few witnesses I had."
"Nonsense?"
"The only thing more than one person could agree on was the fact that Kai confiscated something from your shinobi contained in a purple bag. After that, it was handed to a servant." The king scoffed. "From there, the servant's the only witness we have and his story makes no sense at all."
"What'd he say?"
"That he followed Kai's orders to cook the contents of the bag. Then he left the room to fetch the shinobi they left locked in the vault. When they came back, they found a donkey bucking around the room. Ha! The servant, when pressed, insists the animal was Kai transformed. Like I said, nonsense."
The shinobi at the table and hidden behind a rock all shifted their gaze at the remark, knowing that was actually what happened.
"Since no one else was there to witness it and I refuse to relay on that servant's word, I want Kai returned to me, preferably by the shinobi responsible."
"What makes you think the shinobi are the ones responsible?" asked Shikamaru.
"And how do you know that donkey wasn't Kai as the servant claims?" added Naruto.
"Because no one actually saw him change forms. No one was in the room at the time," said the king. "The servant left Kai alone to fetch the shinobi and when they returned, there was an animal bucking around the room. Ample time for the shinobi to act, replacing him with an animal in an attempt to fool us."
"The same shinobi that were left locked in a vault?" Shikamaru inquired with a raised brow. "How could they be responsible if they weren't in the room when it happened? If they were locked in a vault, which had to be opened and from there were in the company of a servant, how could they have done this? Your witness was with them the whole time they were out of the room."
The guards standing at attention behind the king made no movement at the remark other than a shifted gaze. The king could not see this but the shinobi were pleased to know the guards could see reason.
The king sighed tiredly, as if this were tedious to explain. "They could have had a spy; a fourth member who made the swap. I only counted three but shinobi can be a tricky sort."
"I've never been to your kingdom, but I assume, as a king, you live is a palace, yes?" said Naruto.
"Correct."
"Even if there were another member of their group, how would they have been able to carry a donkey into the building unnoticed? If this wasn't on the first floor, they would have had to carry it up the side of the building through a window and back down with a full-grown man on their back. How is that possible? They probably would have required Kai's help, in which case, maybe he wasn't captured but simply left."
King Nita wasn't convinced. "Kai is loyal to me. He would not leave of his own accord."
Naruto shrugged. "The other possibility is that the dangerous item was with Kai and when it blew up, Kai went with it which is why you can't find him."
"And I told you there was no record of any explosions." King Nita banged his fists on the table, making it rattle. "Quit stalling. Quit taking me for a fool. My demands are simple. Return Kai to me or I will make you regret it. And I want those shinobi responsible, too."
Naruto paused, thinking about his next move carefully.
"It will take time to figure out who came to your kingdom," Naruto reminded him. "After that, we should be the ones to deal with them."
"Out of the question," said King Nita. "They are to be turned over to me."
"That's not in your jurisdiction," said Shikamaru.
"What would you do to them?" Naruto asked before Shikamaru could get the last word out.
Knowing this was the first question Naruto asked revealed what kind of ruler he was, being more concerned about his people than a king overstepping his bounds. This made the king believe he could reenter a declaration of war back into the mix as an idle threat.
"That is none of your concern," said the king. "Those shinobi were on my property when the incident occurred. Therefore, I am blaming them."
"That's like blaming a squirrel entering your yard for a family feud. Just because they happen-"
"I was not addressing you," the king told Shikamaru firmly.
Shikamaru shut his mouth, trying not to glare in the king's direction at the remark.
King Nita looked at Naruto. "It all points to the shinobi being responsible. They show up unannounced, Kai disappears. I'm pretty sure I know who's to blame."
"I still say the dangerous item is to blame, but I was not there to witness it." Naruto gave the king a calm but stern look. "Though, you did mention Kai taking something from the shinobi's belt. Did he know what it was? Did anyone there know what it was?"
The king didn't move.
"You said there were witnesses who saw Kai take the bag from the shinobi. Without knowing what it was, how could we be sure that isn't to blame?"
The king smirked. "If he took it from the shinobi, then the shinobi's to blame. It was on his person."
"But without knowing what it was, the owner of the item is irrelevant," said Naruto. "Anything in the hands of a novice can be considered dangerous. A shinobi would know how to use his tools, but if Kai snatched it away without knowing what it was, the fault lies with him and not the shinobi. Not knowing how to use it properly could have led to something happening to Kai."
King Nita frowned. "But it belonged to the shinobi. That makes him responsible."
"Did any of the witnesses who saw Kai take it also hear the shinobi tell him not to?"
King Nita withdrew slightly. "Well, uh…"
"Did the shinobi not protest, demanding it back? Did they not tell Kai to stop? Was Kai told repeatedly to return the bag and not take it for himself?"
King Nita sighed and nodded. "Yes, they all said the shinobi made quite a fuss."
"Then they were trying to warn Kai to prevent him from doing harm to himself or others and he ignored them. I fail to see how the shinobi could be held responsible when it sounds like they tried repeatedly to protect Kai after he took something he didn't understand from a shinobi."
The king was getting agitated. He couldn't believe he was losing this argument to someone almost half his age. This Naruto had an answer for everything. All plausible, too. He wasn't being smart-alecky about it either. He wasn't raising his voice and was trying to piece together the whole story and not making impulsive decisions. At this rate, the king was not going to get his way. Something which he found unacceptable.
Finding something he could use, the king said to Naruto, "But if it's a ninja item he took, then you must know how to fix it."
Shikamaru bit his lip, knowing this would come up in the conversation at some point.
Naruto fumbled for an answer. "Well, there are so many ninja items. That would also take time to…"
"All you have to do is find the shinobi and ask him. If he had it on his person, he must know how it works." King Nita chuckled and leaned back in his chair, feeling like he had the upper hand again in the conversation.
"Hypothetically speaking," said Naruto, "what if the effect of the item cannot be reversed and whatever happened to Kai is how things are for him at this point?"
"Then you better find a way to fix it."
"And if we can't?" Naruto asked warily.
"You better," said King Nita. "Or I'll make sure the shinobi in question suffers the same."
Shikamaru didn't see how the king could do such a thing, but he wasn't about to comment on this for fear of making things worse.
"I'll make it simple," said the king. "Either I get Kai back, or your whole village is going to suffer. And I want the shinobi responsible, too."
"And again, hypothetically," Naruto began, "what if it turns out that Kai is in fact a donkey? Technically you have him, so…"
"I want Kai, the human, returned to me," the king said firmly. "Get it done or else."
Naruto sighed. They were going to have to address this in some way. It couldn't be ignored. The king would probably be reckless and foolish enough to start a war over this, even if the result would be bankruptcy and lives lost, not to mention devastation to their homes and land. Even if it was just an idle threat and something the king wouldn't actually make good on, it was too big of a risk to take at this point in time. As long as Naruto made an effort, the king might be more compliant in their future meetings.
"Do you still have the donkey, by chance?" Naruto asked the king.
"We do."
Naruto sighed again. "Well… in accordance with your demands, we will look into the shinobi business and see what we can do about Kai. Until our next meeting when we report our findings, neither side will make any moves. Agreed?"
"Agreed." King Nita reached across the table to shake Naruto's hand.
Naruto shook it which didn't make him feel any less uncomfortable.
"I expect results when we next meet," said King Nita, "two days from now. Same place and time."
"Two days? Before you said a week-"
"Two days," repeated the king. "Same place and time."
Boruto and Mitsuki looked at each other as the adults started to pack things up.
"Are they serious?" Boruto whispered, rushing away with his friend before they could be found. "They're not seriously going to help the guy get Kai back, are they?"
Mitsuki had no answer to give him as they fled the area together.