Chapter 23 Under Lock and Key
"I can't believe this is here, of all places in the world." stated Choji as he knelt down and scooped up a clump of dirt. Everyone watched as he began to run the dark brown almost black soil through his fingers "This has got to be the best soil I have ever seen and its virgin soil on top of that."
"What does that mean?" asked Naruto as he looked at Choji.
"Virgin soil is soil that has never been farmed before." explained Choji as he drew on all the knowledge that he had gained from his time on one of his clans multiple farms outside of the Leaf. "Any farmer would pay top dollar for this good of soil."
"What makes it so good?" asked Ino "It is just dirt."
"I will save you all the details but basically I could throw down some seeds and with only basic care grow a full harvest." explained Choji "It's a farmers dream."
"That's good for us since we will have to grow our own food." Explained Naruto as they moved even deeper into the massive valley. They had walked down from the tunnel exit at the base one of the multiple small rolling hills which moved around the base of the mountains and where now walking along a decent size river which flowed across the land.
"The sun should be setting in about two hours or so, we should make camp soon." explained Shikamaru
"Agreed." explained Naruto as he looked out over the large grassland.
"We should only be about half an hour away from our old village you can make camp there." offered up the Kyuubi
"There should the remains of the demon's village up ahead we will camp there." Ordered Naruto as the group kept moving. Just as the Kyuubi had predicted just over twenty minutes later they came across the remains of a stone wall which over the years had been worn down by the wind and water until it was nothing more than a waist high mass of plant covered stones.
"Am I the only one slightly creeped out by this?" asked Ino as she looked around what remained of the once great demon city. There were a few remains of some of the stones buildings covering the ground.
"I am more surprised that there are as many remains as there is." offered up Choji
"Unlike the Leaf which is mostly made of wood this village was made mostly out of stone." Explained Shikamaru as he kicked one of the knee high walls only to have it fall down. "However we will have to totally rebuild."
"One thing at a time, let's set up camp." stated Temari as she moved into the most complete building left which was nothing more than four broken stone walls which stood maybe up to Ino's stomach.
"I'll start a fire." offered up Naruto as he unsealed some firewood from one of his scrolls before making a small fire pit. While he was getting the fire started Ino, Temari and Shikamaru where setting up the tents/alert seals and Choji was preparing the food. Within moments Naruto had a roaring fire going as Choji started cooking the meal.
"You know Choji during the war I heard stories about your food in the field." stated Naruto as he sat down beside the fire as the sun started to disappear behind the mountains. "Never had it myself."
"Then you are in for a treat Naruto-kun." Stated Ino as she sat down beside him as Choji unsealed a fresh fish and some herbs. "One time he made a three course meal for five squads single handed using only field rations and a deer some Mist Ninja killed."
"Well I am not going all out this time, too tired from walking all day." Explained Choji as he put the fish into a skillet "Just some pan fried fish with lemon juice and herbs."
"I wonder what the others are up to back in the Leaf?" asked Naruto as everyone knew he was really thinking about his other mate, Sakura.
"I wish she was here too Naruto-kun." added Ino as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Meanwhile in the Leaf village Hiashi Hyuga walked around the large Zen garden located in the center of the Hyuga main house. He was dressed in his best black silk robes with white trim and belt. Hanging on his hip was his own personal sword which he had used during his own days in the ninja core and a short ceremonial sword. Walking behind him dressed in a similar outfit as her father was Hanabi only thing different was the lack of the short sword and she had red trim instead of black. Walking beside Hiashi dressed in flowing red robes with golden trim and small jewels was the Daimyo himself.
"You know I was surprised when you visited the other clans first for the ceremonial dinner welcoming you to our village." stated Hiashi knowing that whenever the Daimyo visited the village he would spend at least one night dinning with the leadership of each major clan. Normally he started with the most important clans first however instead he had waited till last to visit the Hyuuga clan.
"I know old friend but I wanted to give you space after the loss of your daughter and your beloved nephew." explained the Daimyo
"I thank you for that but duty has to come before personal feelings." explained Hiashi
"I know I have shamed your clan by not visiting your home sooner but I bring news that will ears any sign of disrespect." Explained the Daimyo "With the help of some trusted aids and members of your village council we have agreed that the current Hokage is no longer able to carry out her duties to the vest of her abilities."
"What?" asked Hiashi "I have not seen any sign that she is unable to carry out her duties."
"She may be carrying out her duties but she has too many people who she considers family as demons." explained the Daimyo "Besides she is getting on in age it is time for a new generation to take control of the village."
"And who do you have in mind to take the Hokage's chair?" asked Hiashi "A lot of the highly skilled ninjas where turned."
"Not all but we have decided that your daughter is the best candidate to take the Hokage chair." explained the Daimyo as Hiashi's eyes widened at the idea of his daughter becoming the Hokage.
"Granted she is very skilled for her age but she is only 19 years old." stated Hiashi as Hanabi blessed the fact that neither one of the old men were looking at her, since she already knew this information. "She isn't ready to handle all the problems of the Hokage."
"What problems?" asked the Daimyo "The ninja nations are at peace and are allies so the chanced of war is very limited, the people are as tired as war as the ninjas themselves. The only problem is the demons and we have already taken care of that. She should have a long peaceful rule people are tired of war."
"I am betting that this honor isn't free." added Hiashi
"Is anything in politics ever free?" asked the Daimyo
"The Yamamaka clan wants a promise that their grandson or granddaughter will marry your future grandchild." explained the Daimyo "Also the Inuzuka clan wants to restart the Konoha Military Police Force under their direction of course."
"Oh course." stated Hiashi
"Restart the police force may be for the best considering the new risk of that the demons pose." added the Daimyo "The other clans have minor requests nothing much."
"I see, I am not a fan of the Yamamaka deal." stated Hiashi
"Neither am I father but that is far in the future. Also as long as Cain's child is not like him I am fine with it." added Hanabi knowing full well that Cain Yamamaka was likely already dead and the next in line to control the Yamamaka clan was an ten year old kid meaning her children would be too old to marry any of his. "This is a great honor for our clan."
"Very well but I do not want to do anything until we inform the Hokage. She has been a good leader and we should honor her by giving her a chance to retire with honor instead of removing her by force." Explained Hiashi "We will give her an honorable way out of the Hokage's chair during the next Council meeting."
"When is that supposed to happen?" asked the Daimyo
"A week from tomorrow." answered Hanabi as the Daimyo looked down shaking his head a bit.
"I hadn't planned on stay around that long, I am supposed to head toward my winter house near tea country in three days but I guess I can push it back a few days." Confirmed the Daimyo as a member of the lower Hyuga house moved toward them.
"Sir, dinner is ready." reported the lower house member
"Thank you." said Hiashi as the three of them moved toward the dining room to enjoy a feast.
After a long and rather restful night sleep the sun began to rise over the valley as Ino walked out from the tent she and Naruto where sharing. She had to smile as she heard birds singing in the nearby trees.
"Morning Ino." Said a voice as Ino turned toward the fire pit to see Temari stoking the fire as she boiled some water for some coffee.
"You know Naruto hates coffee." stated Ino as she grabbed a mug from her things before pulling herself a cup "But Sakura and I are addicted to it."
"So is Shikamaru, I personally can't stand even the smell of it but for him I'll deal with it." Explained Temari "I am sure Naruto will do the same for the both of you."
"Well he doesn't really have a choice." Explained Ino "So what is the plan for today?"
"We cheek the supply cases left behind by the demons before they sealed themselves away." Explained Temari "And then we go from there."
"Sounds like a plan." confirmed Ino as she took a drink of coffee only to make a face as Temari laughed.
"Shikamaru likes his coffee black." laughed Temari
"Do we have anything to fix that?" asked Ino as Temari shock his head as the men finally came out of their own tents. After a quick breakfast the five of them broke camp before leaving the ruined citied behind them as they headed toward the tallest mountain located on the side of the valley.
"So these supply cases are inside the mountain?" asked Naruto
"They placed them inside large rooms cut into one of their underground mines." Explained Temari as they kept moving across the fields until finally they reached the base of the mountain. Once again luck was with them as the opening to the mine was clear allowing the five of them to enter.
"So how deep is this supply case?" asked Choji as they journeyed into the darkness.
"Not far, they didn't expect to be sealed away as long as they were." explained Shikamaru as he relayed information from his demon to everyone else. The mine tunnel was large enough for the five of them to walk side by side with ease with at headroom to spare.
"Release some of your chakra." Ordered Lydia as Ino raised her eyebrow but followed the instruction of her demon as she formed a hand sign as she released some red demon chakra.
"What are you doing?" asked Naruto however before Ino could say anything a gust of air came rolling down the corridor as lights began to turn on filling the tunnel with light. "What just happened?"
"I have no idea." admitted Ino
"We placed a chakra detection seal on the door, it would open the cases and turn on the lights. However I am surprise that the lights still work after all this time." explained Lydia before a dozen of the lights above them faded into nothingness before going dead "That is more like it."
"Chakra sensing seal, turned everything on." Explained Ino as suddenly the wall just in front of them moved forward before moving to the right revealing a large hidden doorway.
"I am guessing this is the supply stash." Added Naruto as suddenly the wall just across from the door opened up to show another door. Then one after another eight more doors opened up in front of them.
"I guess there is more than one supply case." explained Temari as they turned into the nearest supply case only to come to a complete stop.
"My God." stated Ino as she and everyone looked at the massive room cut from the rock itself. It wasn't the size of the room which was amazing it the fact that the room was almost totally filled by three columns of shinning bright gold bars stacked from floor to ceiling.
"This must be the treasury." stated Choji as he walked over and picked a gold bar from a low column of Gold which ran down the center of the room before joining with the larger columns which ran around the side of the room and across the entire back wall. "Damn this bar is probably worth more then what I make in a year."
"That is a ten pound bar of Gold so it worth say $224000 or so." stated Shikamaru as Choji's eyes widened as he looked at the bar of Gold before looking down the line at all the other bars which were just sitting there.
"Ok, a lot more then I make in a year." stated Choji as he looked around the room "How much do you think is in here?"
"Given the numbers in each row and how high they are stacked up, I would have to say about 2.5 million bars or so." added Temari "It would make this room the largest single stash of gold in the world."
"Well then you shouldn't look across the hall because it's full of Gold too." added Ino as everyone snapped their head toward the room across the hall only to see the bright shin of Gold bars along with what looked like stacks of golden coins. They entered the room only to find that unlike the other room it was mostly filled with stacks of gold coins instead of bars.
"Wow…starting a village just got a lot easier." stated Naruto as they left the room and precede down the hall checking the next set of room.
"I have what looks like silver bars and coins in here!" yelled Ino as she checked out the next room.
"Same here." yelled Temari back as she moved through a matching room across the hall from Ino. "How about you little boy? Do you have anything?"
"Just some building materials, pre cut stones and the like." explained Shikamaru as he and Choji walked through the largest room which had to be over two hundred feet long and filled with rows of precut stones and other building supplies.
"I have the same thing over here." yelled Naruto as he walked in a matching room across from them. After checking the first six rooms they met once again in the hallway before moving toward the last four rooms. The next three rooms where filled with nothing but scrolls which held nothing but sealed food stocks either in the form of canned food or seeds ready to go into the ground. The last room held the historical artifacts of the demon civilization.
"Well it seems like we are now very rich." stated Ino as they stepped out from the mine and back into the sunlight. "Two rooms filled with gold and another two full of silver."
"True but we will have to give up some of it in order to get what we need." explained Shikamaru as Ino raised an eyebrow.
"What do we need, we have the seeds to start farming so we can grow our own food. We have material needed for a village and this place is hidden from the world. All we have to do is get everyone else down here and live our lives." added Ino
"And what happens when the Daimyo's start looking for us? This land is still owned by the Daimyo of the Land of Granite. Which mean if he finds us he can send the ninja forces down on us." explained Shikamaru "We need to remove that threat to us."
"How, by buying the island?" asked Naruto
"No because the island is part of the Land of Granite and the Daimyo would still control most of the country even if we owned the island." Stated Temari
"So how?" asked Choji
"We buy the whole nation." said Naruto as Temari and Shikamaru nodded their heads "If we own the nation then that solves a lot of problems."
"I hate to say this but if we buy the nation then we will become the rulers of the poorest nation on earth and humans have not been big fans of us lately." added Choji as everyone lowered their heads.
"Well these people have just as bad lives as we have and they have had it longer than any of us." added Naruto "If we treat them like they should have been treated and take care of them they will treat us as equals."
"Worth a shot." stated Temari "Besides if the ninja nations ever find out where we are, we will need all the people we can get in a defense group."
"So we are really going to buy a whole nation?" asked Ino
"No." stated Naruto before grinning at Ino "You are, you're the Daimyo after all."
Hours later the sun was already going down as Naruto, Shikamaru and Ino stood in the waiting room of the Daimyo's hill side palace. They had quickly dressed into their best cloths and to finish off their plan they had placed on dark glasses over their eyes.
"Man it took all day to get back to this shit hole of a city." complained Ino as she looked up at the gold painted candle holders on the white painted walls. Everything about the Daimyo's place was second rate apart from the painted candle older and walls there was the faded paint on the outside of the building and the water marks on the ceiling. The only thing which stood out as top of the line was the beautiful granite floors in the entrees hall. Another sign of the lack of power of this Daimyo was the fact that there was only one guard watching them and they had only seen one aid. Suddenly the bright red doors located to the side of the entrees hall opened up as an elderly man dressed in a faded black robe stepped out.
"The Lord Daimyo of the Great Land of Granite is ready to see you." stated the aid in an almost whisper like voice as the three of them entered the office of the Daimyo. Unlike most of the other Daimyo's who were either in their late fifties or older this Daimyo was about their own age with deep brown hair and brown eyes. Just like most Daimyos he was dressed in the best cloths of red silk however unlike the other richer daimyo's of the Northern ninja nations his cloths were somewhat faded and worn.
"So what do I owe this sudden visit?" asked the Daimyo as he sat behind a desk made out of solid black granite stone. All over the desk were multiple papers and letters that would have normally been on the desk of an aid.
"We have a proposal for you." stated Ino as she took the lead taking a seat across from the Daimyo as Naruto and Shikamaru took positions on either side of her.
"A proposal?" asked the Daimyo
"Yes, we want to buy your country from you." stated Ino as the Daimyo leaned back a bit as he tried to hide his surprise at the stunning news.
"I don't even know who you are you are asking to buy my nation from me." stated the Daimyo as rage began to fill his voice "You insult me, my great, great, great grandfather build the company which allowed our family to rule this land."
"Who we are doesn't matter." added Naruto as he put his hands behind his back "What matters is if you are going to sell or not."
"In fact you are not in the position to turn us down." added Shikamaru as the Daimyo turned his gaze toward him "Those ancestors you are so quick to turn to as an example as to why you will not sell is the reason why you have to sell."
"What do you mean?" asked the Daimyo
"Did you think we wouldn't have done our research on you and your nation?" asked Shikamaru "You are the poorest nation on Earth, with next to nothing in natural resources. Added to that grandfather ran the business into ground by giving all those Northern Daimyo's free granite in an attempt to gain their favor. Then your father gambled away almost everything else and then took up a lot of loans to keep up his habits."
"How dare you insult my family!" yelled the Daimyo as he jumped to his feet as he slammed his palm onto the desk.
"It isn't an insult if it is true." added Ino as the Daimyo lowered his head "How much do you owe the loan collectors in the North?"
"North of 300 million plus interest." Added the Daimyo as he sank back in his chair. "And with the war over the collecting agents will make the journey south to collect."
"And they will either demand their money or something else in return namely your land." Explained Shikamaru "And they will take your land at rock bottom prices, we will pay top dollar for it."
"Top Dollar?" asked the Daimyo
"Top Dollar." restated Ino with a grin "Now you owe 300 million to your family's creditors so how about we pay say 600 million dollars' worth in gold bars?"
"600 million?" strutted the Daimyo knowing that he was the poorest Daimyo and 600 million in gold was more than the rightest man in the world had. Even with the fact that he would have to pay 300 million to become debt free would still leave him among the richest person in the world.
"650 million if you sign off the land today and all parts of your family's granite mining and exporting business." Added Naruto as he sweetened the pot "Along with everything else you own."
"So the choice is do you want to be a poor former daimyo when those collators from the North come down and take everything you have or do you want to be a rich former Daimyo?" asked Ino as she leaned forward a bit "The choice is yours because I am sure that once those collectors come down we can get the land for a cheaper price."
"But we would have to deal with multiple deals and that can be such a pain." added Shikamaru as he looked toward Naruto.
"Easier to just do it all at once." confirmed Naruto
"So Daimyo will you sell your land?" asked Ino as the Daimyo leaned back a bit as he thought about his options.
"Do you have the Gold here right now?" asked the Daimyo as Naruto pulled out seven scrolls and placed it on the Daimyo's desk.
"It's sealed in there, 100 million worth in each scroll with one having only 50 million." Added Naruto as the Daimyo opened one of the scrolls to reveal a seal. "Place your hand on the seal."
"Alright." Added the Daimyo as he placed his hand on the seal as over a dozen gold bars appeared in a puff of smoke. Slowly the Daimyo picked up the gold as he watched the fading sunlight bounce off the gold.
"There are multiple seals on each scroll each holding Bars." added Naruto as he took the scrolls back "And all of it can be you as soon as you sign over your nation."
"I'll have my lawyer draw up the paperwork as soon as he finishes the land is yours." Confirmed the Daimyo as he offered his hand to Ino who quickly took it.
'Thank you, we would also require you prepare a newsletter for your newspapers about the sale." Added Ino
"Of course." added the Daimyo with a smile on his face "I will even call a meeting of the smaller land owners for you in the morning?"
"Thank you." added Ino with a smile as she stood up "Now we will return in the morning to sign the paperwork. Will that be enough time for your lawyer to draw up the paperwork?"
"More than enough." confirmed the Daimyo.
Important message. Well they now own their own nation and I hope you liked this chapter. To my readers in the United States I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Now until next time please keep reading. I have posted a poll on my profile on if you the reader want this story to become a Naruto/Sakura/Ino/Hinata story or not. I will have the final say in the end but I want to see what you think. Next week I plan to have not only the next chapter in this story but the Lost Tribe and Clash of Wilkins75.