Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto; Masashi Kishimoto does. This is for fun and I am making no profit from it.
Author's note: Translations are at the bottom.
Chapter III - Interlude
Beginnings of Kumogakure no Sato
Inuzuka Ichiro took a draw from the cigarette hanging limply from his lips. Across from him sat a middle aged woman with ebony skin. Her dark locks were pulled back in a pony tail. Upon her face was a pair of crisscrossing scars, running under her right eye. The result of a failed tattooing attempt it seemed.
He sighed. "Look, accept or not." His voice was choked with smoke and ash. Next to him his partner, a great white Akita wrinkled her nose. "With the founding of those two hidden villages the rest of our clans just can't compete any more."
He knocked some ash into a tray. "I've even heard rumors of a village sprouting up in Mizu no Kuni."
She snorted in a retort. "A bunch of waterlogged rats." The gold bracelets she wore twinkled and chimed with her movement.
The meager light above them flickered and squeaked with old rust. The beam it cast twirled in the center of the table, occasionally bouncing to the side. When it did it revealed another two people, each sitting opposite each other at the same table.
Kurama Mana was a slender woman draped in fine silk robes; colored with the richest indigo. Her dark black hair was cropped to a medium length to fall around the sides of her face.
Across from her was a large, portly man dressed in ruby battle armor. His ginger hair was spiked up like a lion's mane. In front of him was a plate, piled with various foods. Every few minutes he would pause to wipe his mouth before digging back in with a new fervor.
Ichiro glanced back towards the stairs out of the bunker. "So are we going to do this or not?" He shrugged and let his hand fall down to scratch behind his partners ears. "Either way my clan is joining a village."
Above ground a rumble sounded out, tearing through the silence of his statement. The large man sighed and set down his fork. "Why does it have to be Kaminari no Kuni?" his voice was deep, and filled with authority fitting of a general.
Mana removed her hand from in front of her mouth. "Because Akimichi-san," She stressed. "Hi no Kuni has Konohagakure, Tsuchi no Kuni has Iwagakure, and;" She paused to draw in a breath. "If what Inuzuka-san has said is true then Mizu no Kuni has…" She trailed off glancing back at Ichiro.
He shrugged. "Kirigakure, I guess."
She nodded.
The Akimichi boss glanced around the table, wiping his mouth with a napkin. He motioned to a guard who withdrew from the room, returning with a few scrolls. His deep voice boomed out. "Very well."
And the third rose.
Translations:
Mizu no Kuni – Land of Water
Kaminari no Kuni – Land of Lightning