Chapter 42 Conference Part 1
The rain fell down in stream that was almost blinding as Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze stood on top of a golden stallion getting soaked to the bone even as had dressed in a black cloak lined with fur to try to protect himself from the cold. Over the past month, the weather had turned from a perfect fall weather into a hellish nightmare as winter set in earlier then normal. Even the locals who had never left the nation had never seen the weather turn so bad so early. It had gotten so bad that construction of the bridge had to be put on hold until winter was over. They had even talked about closing the port because of the mixture of rough seas and chunks of Ice. Over a foot of snow still covered the ground as Naruto along with his company waited on horseback in front of the gates of Nadeje. Over the past few days, representatives from the Lands of Bronzes and Savannah had arrived on one of the multiple trains and they had already made it over to the island. However, the three of the groups from representatives form the samurai clans from Land of Animals and a hidden society, which also called the land of Animals home where coming today. The other samurai group of the islands of the land of Meteors had arrived by ship in the morning.
Naruto had followed both Shino's, Shikamaru's and even Temari's advice and had dressed himself the style of cloths that the samurai wear, an undershirt when then chain mail which made way to much noise when he moved then an over shirt with the new seal of the village pressed onto it in metal. He had even learned how to ride a horse all to give them a slightly better chance at relating to these people who were so unlike the samurai he had known in the land of Iron.
"Knights they must be called Knights, not samurai," thought Naruto as the sound of horses filled the air the air as a column of 25 mounted riders came out of rain. Naruto took a breath as he looked at the figures dressed head to toe in darkened plate armor, flying above the was a black raven flag.
Slowly a short man, the shortest one in the group moved forward as a long black cloak with raven feathers around the top moved forward.
"I am Lord Carac Elvey head of the Black Ravens and true leader of the Land of Animals." introduced the man as he took off his helmet only to show a short pointed beard with dark green eyes. His baldhead was wet from where the rain had gotten through his helmet.
"Naruto Namikaze." Introduced Naruto as the man smiled.
"Naruto Namikaze news of your battles have reached us even down here." reported Carac as suddenly the sound of more horses came from the west as another column of riders this time from a different road. These knights where dressed in slimier amour only they were white instead of black.
"So she has come," spat Carac as Naruto waited a moment as a woman moved up toward them dressed in a long white traveling cloak and judging from the metal sound coming with each step of her horse. The woman was at least twenty years the man is younger with long flowing black hair and deep black eyes. Her white traveling cloak had a white raven within a black circle on it.
"So Carac we meet again after the beating my forces to yours in the last season." Laughed the woman
"Oh shut it Lady Alys Azo." Snapped Carac as Naruto leaned back a bit in his saddle. He had been told by Shino that Lady Azo and Lord Carac where neither the direct decentness of last King to rule over of the land of animals. Lady Azo was the daughter of the former ruler's right hand general, who had been named next in line by the childless king only he had died in battle along with the King. With no clear ruler, the forces had become split between those who support Lady Azo to become their next ruler and the next senior general Lord Carac.
"Lady Azo I welcome you to our village and hope you don't mind traveling a little bit more to our other village on the other side of the river." greeted Shikamaru as Lady Azo smiled under her hood.
"Another group of riders are coming in," reported Shino as a bug landed on his hand before going into his body.
"Had to be the Golden Phoenixes," muttered Lady Azo as she turned her gaze toward the source as twenty-five more riders each with golden armor with a bright red fire bird on it came out of the rain. The leader raised his metal covered hand as the other two came to a stop. All together over 75 well-armed and mounted men stood before the gates luckily most wanted to kill the others more than fight him.
"I see we have all arrived here on time." greeted the golden armored man as he lifted his wing crested helmet to show deep red hair and golden eyes.
"Drake Eastman." grumbled Carac as he looked at the man who had killed the last king.
"Ah Lord Carac and Lady Azo I believe the last time all three of us where together was before I rose in rebellion after my late Uncle picked Lady Azo's father over his own blood." stated Drake as he gripped the reigns of his horse. "Now that we are all here can we get out of the rain before I have to spend hours cleaning the rust out of amour?"
"We are still missing the Shadow Swords." Stated Naruto
"No, you are not." whispered a voice from behind Naruto as he spun around to see a tall man flanked by two men of almost equal height. Neither one of the three had any armor on; instead they dressed a civilians with long rain coats on which went down from their shoulders straight to the ground. There was nothing that made them stand out; Naruto could have passed them in the market without another look. Then out from under their cloaks came short swords, none of them had any ordmintations but the steal shinned in the rain.
"Sorry for coming in anunocced but our order prides itself on being unseen." greeted the man "I am Bryce of Red Sword."
"Red Sword?" inquired Naruto as he studied the older man he was maybe forty years older then himself and white hair covering his head.
"It is my home center," explained Bryce "It would be as if you went by Naruto Namikaze of Shimagakure."
"I see." stated Naruto "Now shall we be going, the ferry cannot handle all of you at once so we will need to move across in groups."
"I heard you where building a bridge?" inquired Bryce as he looked up at the two massive towers shotting up from either side of the straights. They had formed up into a long column with Naruto in the lead with the leaders of the three other groups riding just behind him while the Shadow Swords leader walked keeping up with the horses.
"It isn't finished yet and the waves are making it impossible to work anymore this season." Explained Naruto as he looked at the empty streets, the rain had forced everyone with any brain inside but from every window, people watched them move down the streets.
"It is hard enough to build over open water and all but impossible during this season." stated Lady Ava as looked up at the stone buildings all around them. "It seems to me that outer wall you are building is not made out of the same stones as your homes."
"No they are not." stated Naruto knowing that with the stoppage of the bridge Tenten and the Aldhard factory had turned to making the giant blocks that would make up the outer walls. They rode in silence until they reached the ferry; it was not until they had crossed the straights and entered the long tunnel which connected the valley. The rain had finally stopped as they entered the valley, the visitors tried to hide their amazement as they looked over the valley surrounded on all sides by snow topped mountains. There sitting in the center of valley was a city with a half completed circular wall surrounding it and with the base of a lower plus sign shaped outer wall.
"Once we reach the city we will give you a few hours to rest up before the meeting begins in the central government building," confirmed Naruto as they headed toward the city down a long paved road.
While Naruto was preparing for a conference, the current Hokage of the hidden Leaf village was in the middle of a conference of her own. It was their annual face to face conference so all five major kages where meeting this time in Kirigakure. Outside the heavy mist which gave the village the name cloaked the streets in darkness. The villagers moving in the streets seamed nothing more than shadows.
"You dared entered my nation!" yelled the Raikage of Kumogakure Atsui as he slammed his fist on the five sided table spilling his cup of water. His gaze was locked on Hanabi Hyuga who was dressed in the red robes of the Hokage.
"Rebels from you nation attacked villages on our boarder slaughtering dozens of peaceful farmers, since you are unable to stop them we will." Rebutted Hanabi as she glared at the man who called himself one of the great five ninja kages, in truth according to every intelligence report the leader of the hidden grass village had more ninjas under his command then this Raikage.
"It's been what 9 months or so since your civil war broke out and you are not any closer to ending it." reported Onoki as he leaned back in his chair. "We need to end it for you."
"No, we are a sovereign nation and we can handle it ourselves." Snapped Atsui as Mei Terumi rolled her eyes at the comment.
"If we are done with this engaging conversation can we focus on the fact that while we are sending a bulk of our forces to search for the demons Gaara called back a large force instead of sending them out to search the next area." stated Mei Terumi as she looked toward Gaara with a glare. Teams from her village were working constantly and they had to travel a lot more distance then teams from the hidden sand village "I think that he may not want to find these demons as much as we do."
"Well Lord Kazekage do you want to find these demons?" inquired the oldest Kage Onoki as Gaara kept looking forward without blinking.
"The reasons why teams from my villages are not out searching for the demons isn't do to any lack of will." explained Gaara avoiding the question about his own personal feelings about the demons. "I have been ordered by the Daimyo to prepare a team of the best ninjas in the village for a mission to escort payment from the land of Granite up to that new Bank that the Daimyo's are using in the land of sound."
"Your guarding a money transfer?" inquired the Mizakage knowing a mission was like was a B level mission at most, a few jonin would do the job and yet the Kazekage was holding back high ranking combat tested ANBU members.
"Did I forget to mention it is a 75 million dollar worth transfer of gold bars across multiple boarders." Added Gaara as that got the attention of the other kages. "It seems that the land of Granite has just bought the land of Meteors from the Wind Daimyo."
"Where did the backwater piss of a nation like the land of Granite get 75 million dollars of gold from?" yelled Atsui bluntly.
"We can't be sure but stories coming up from up from the South is that a lot of buildings are going up and even a new bridge going up across the straights between the mainland and the island." Reported Gaara whos nation was closest to the land of Granite.
"Again where did the land of Granite get all this gold?" inquired Hanabi as she remembered the elder's Nara belief that the demons went south.
"Could the demons had somehow crossed all those boarders and somehow took over that nation?" thought Hanabiit was a possibility however it was next to impossible that so many people could cross boarders without being seen. A population of civilians like the ones that had escaped would have stripped the countryside bare of food on the march south and there was no reports of that. "Either way we may need to investigate that possibility sooner then I originally planned."
"Rumor Is that the company that bought the nation from the original daimyo's family found some massive gold deposit." added Gaara as most suspicion left the Kage's mind. Finding new mineral deposits where not uncommon. The land of Earth had found five new small tin despots during the war and two decades ago a large diamond deposit had been found in Land of Rivers and that had transformed the small poor nation into among the richest in the world.
"Lucky son of a bitch then." cursed Atsui as he reached into a small tin can and pulled out a small amount of chewing tobacco into his mouth only to get a glare from Hanabi and a few other Kages.
"Learn some respect." cursed Onoki as he glared at the young Kage. The eldest Kage was known for having a cigar ever so often but never at the office "If you are going to chew wait until the meeting is over."
"It is over." snapped Mei Terumi as she and Hanabi both glared at Atsui in disgusts before they stood up and left.
"Stupid girls." cursed Atsui only to get a glare from Gaara as well as Onoki.
While the Kages where ending their meeting across the world another meeting was taking place, the room had been carefully set up with large rectangle table in the center of the room with the flags of every group taking part hanging behind their assigned seats. Naruto and Ino entered the room first and headed toward the head of table, Naruto was in his black Omikage robes and Ino in her blue and white Komodo.
"This is going to fun isn't it?" inquired Ino as she looked toward Naruto as Sasuke and Shikamaru took up positions behind the two of them flanking the large banner with their village symbol. Sasuke stood with a sword hanging across his back and a kunai on his hip while Shikamaru had a small stack of papers under his arm.
"As fun as a root canal." Commented Naruto as the different knights group entered the room each of the knights leaders where flanked by two more knights dressed in plate armor with chain mail under it all. All of them had weapons of some kind on them either a long sword or dagger. Once the three knight's leaders had taken their seats, the repressive from the Sea Dragon Warrior clan from the land of Meteors entered the room. Naruto's and Ino's eyes widened as they looked up the giant of a man, he had to be almost seven and a half feet tall with a thick black beard which went down to his belt. He had a scared face and thick muscular arms and legs the smile that he gave everyone lifted both Naruto's and Ino's hope. Next came the leaders of the Land of Bronze a group of three business owners who would speak for the collation of business which owned the land of Bronze and then the leader of the Land of Savannahs an old man with balding hair and a thin rope thin white beard dressed in a white robe. The last person to enter the room was the leader of the assassin group, the shadow swords, unlike the others he did not bring any guards or aids he did not even dress in armor or carried a weapon.
"What a strange person." thought Naruto as he looked at the almost sixty-year-old man with a long white beard. "Yet judging how everyone is acting around him he may have more bodies to his name then any of us."
"First I would like to welcome you all to Shimagakure." greeted Naruto as he stood up smiling at all the new comers. "As you can see we are building a new village here and we hope to forge strong relations with our neighboring nations."
"And why is a bunch of people from the Northern countries down here building villages down here?" asked the leader of the sea dragons.
"We are down here because we have demons joined with us and we have a bounty on our heads." Stated Ino as she got straight to the point.
"So you're the ones those Northern cocky SOBs are looking for?" laughed the Sea Dragon Leader his body shaking a bit as he laughed. "Welcome down to the South."
"Are you kidding if they find them down here the ninja nations will march down here and distory us all." Reported the Savannah envoy as Naruto leaned back a bit in his chair.
"We are preparing for that but remember we have some of the strongest ninjas in the world down here." Reported Naruto
"And that was even before they had demons joined to them." added Ino "Anyway we want to form a joint alliance with all four nations."
"The Land of Bronze doesn't fight in wars." Reported their envoy
"Ours will only fight if attacked." added the savannah envoy as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Which is why we only want an economic alliance with the two of you," explained Naruto as the two envoys smiled at that news "We want a military alliance and economic alliance with the Land of Animals."
"If you wanted to do that then why did you invite them?" grumbled Lord Carac Elvey as the head of the black raven clan crossed his arms over his chest. "I am the true ruler of the Land of Animals."
"Really because last time I checked I have more men following me, old man." laughed Drake Eastman as he spun a small cup of wine in his hands. "And even if that wasn't the case, wouldn't Lady Alys Azo be the ruler since she is the daughter of the old king's chosen successor."
"Knights will never follow a woman," grumbled Lord Carac Elvey
"Our numbers are the same," rebutted Lady Alys Azo
"And your true enemy has over three times the numbers of each of you." interrupted Naruto as the three so called rulers glared at him. He had been briefed from Shino that while the groups before him where the original rulers of the Land of Animals that about seven years into their civil war a group of samurai from the Land of Iron in the North came down to claim the nation for themselves. It was a group of mostly second and third sons, which could get no land of their own up in their homeland and believed a nation in the middle of a civil war to be easy pickings.
"You each all yourselves rulers but what is it that you rule?" inquired Ino "The samurai from the land of Iron which want to claim your homeland for themselves now control what 45% of it by themselves. They are just sitting back and letting you destroy yourselves before marching in."
"In the end none of you will rule." added the old man Bryce as the shadow sword member sat with his eyes close as if he was bored with everything going on around him.
"They are right," stated the representative from the land of Savannah a dark skinned man with so many golden necklaces and rings on him that Naruto had stopped counting. "This war has done nothing but caused trouble for your nation. Your civilians are flocking to the people who want to take over your nation because you are fighting each other."
"So what do you recommend?" inquired Alys Azo
Naruto took a deep breath this was not something he wanted to recommend but he saw no other way.
"By rejoining you three into a single nation," reported Naruto "Together the three of you along with help from us we will reclaim your homeland and defend us all from any invasion from the North."
"And how do you recommend we do this?" inquired Lady Alys Azo as Naruto took a breath everything rested on this move.
"By marriage," Explained Naruto knowing that just like in the ninja nation's marriages between great clans was a sign of friendship and alliance making.
"Marriage?" asked Lady Alys Azo with distain in her voice as she looked at Drake Eastman, they were the nearest in age while Lord Carac Elvey was closer to her late father's age.
"Yes between you and Drake Eastman and then any children you have will marry one of Lord Carac Elvey's grandchildren." offered up Naruto as he felt like throwing up from suggesting forcing a marriage on two other people and some people who hadn't even been born yet.
"It is for peace for all." Reassured the Kyuubi inside Naruto's head as Lady Azo slammed her hand onto the table before storming out followed moments later by Lord Carac Elvery and Drake Eastman.
"I recommend that we resume this meeting tomorrow maybe some sleep will clear their heads." Offered up the representative from the Land of Bronze "However no matter what we do wish to talk to you more about the removal of our chemical waste with this black fire you have."
"Very well." answered Naruto as they all slowly left the room.
"That could have gone better." added Ino as she placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder "But at least they don't seem to be leaving the village so there may yet still be hope."
Far away from the warmth of the meeting halls and up in the mountain wilderness which surrounded the Land of Granite a line figure sat before a roasting piece of meat over an open cook fire. The figure sat on a small stool trying to stay warm as nigh gathered around him. Beside him sat his partner, Akamaru and behind him was the small log cabin he had made on the edge of a small cliff in a clearing in the wood in case he had to spend months in the woods trying to win over the wolves.
"I have to come sometime." offered up Kiba as he warmed his hands against the fire as snow began to fall, all around him the forest of pine trees and old tall oaks began to darken as strange shapes began to take shape inside the shadows. Kiba closed his eyes as his mind went back to the time he had spent in his new village, normally it would go to his friends but this time it went to the woman he had spelt beside on drunk night. They had not done anything more then look at each other but he could not stop thinking about how she seemed to fit perfectly against his body. His thoughts where interrupted as a low growl filled the air as Kiba looked up only to see three pairs of dark eyes which seemed to glow in the darkness.
"So you have finally come," said Kiba in the language of the dog, which his clan had learned countless generations ago. While the language was close, enough to the ones used the wolves for each other to understand the other. Slowly three wolves moved closer to the fire, each wolf was over five feet long and almost 180 pounds of pure muscles, fur and razor sharp teeth, teeth that could rip a man's arm off with a single bite. Kiba found himself looking into the eyes of the leaders of the largest pack of the legendary man killer dire wolf pack of the mountains.
"You entered our land again human," growled the lead wolf a female she wolf with deep red fur.
"Yes, I want to offer you once again to join me," offered Kiba as he pulled a knife only to get a growl from one of the two large male wolves, which flanked the she wolf. Slowly Kiba cut off five pieces of meat from the cooked chicken. He tossed three of the pieces toward the wolves who looked at the warm meat even as Kiba took a bite of his own.
"Tell me, how many pups have you lost throughout the years?" pointed out Kiba who had spent so long in the woods trying to find a pack of wolves which had the ability to channel chakra and this pack was his best bet. "What I am offering you is a chance to have a stable food supply and a place to have medical help whenever you want it."
"We are not dogs, we are not pets." snapped one of the males.
"I am not asking you to be that, I am asking you to be our partners and to help us in any wars," explained Kiba "On top of that how would you like to be the only pack on that huge island over there?"
With that, he pointed toward the large island, which dominated the horizon, in the distance they could see the artificial lights of the city coming on as night descended on them all.
"Go on." Confirmed the she wolf as she sat down in front of the fire while the other two males ripped into the still warm chicken.
Night had fallen as Ino Yamamaka stood in her greenhouse tending her plants, outside the thick glass snow was falling but inside it was warm and somewhat humid as she trimmed some of the thorns off the roses she was growing. Even as she worked at her plants, her mind turned back to the meetings which had taken up the rest of the day. While the meetings with the envoys from knight factions in the land of Animals had ended the moment a marriage alliance was offered the meetings with the envoys from Savannah and Bronzes went on.
"At least those went somewhat well," said Ino to her roses
"I think it went well, we got a trade alliance with the two of them and while those nations will not take part in any war they will not help the ninja nations either." Offered up Lydia as the demon fox joined her thoughts to Ino's.
"Still will they honor it?" asked Ino out load
"Honor what?" asked a new voice as Ino looked up to see Hinata standing there.
"Nothing just worrying a bit about the trade deal we made with the Land of Bronze and Savannah." Explained Ino as she moved to water the plants which would be used to landscape come spring. She had handpicked all the plants personally with an eye that came from growing up in a flower shop/plant nursery.
"Judging from the rumors are going around a deal wasn't in any risk of not happening." explained Hinata as she walked over toward some tiger lily flowers. "Doesn't the Land of Brones want us to destroy all their industrial waste with those black fires of Sasuke."
"They do." explained Ino "However what will happen when the armies of our former homes come marching down on us."
"We will find out when that happens." confirmed Hinata as she moved to a small sapling tree which sat in large pot of earth. "I didn't know you were growing a tree in here."
"Because I didn't want Naruto-kun to know about it." explained Ino as she moved forward placing a hand on Hinata's shoulder before kissing her cheek "See Naruto isn't the only one with a memory for details."
"What are you talking about?" asked Hinata confused as Ino smiled.
Flashback
The sun was shining as Naruto and Ino sat on the sun deck watching the waves go by the cruise ship as it headed south toward the Land of Granite.
"So do you think we can find a home down there?" asked Ino
"I hope so." confirmed Naruto "Or else everyone else back in the Leaf village is screwed. I hate to ask this back can we talk about something else."
"Sure." Said Ino with a smile as she closed her eyes and leaned back a bit and worked on her tan "Well tell me how your parents met? I mean I know they were never married and all."
"Who says they were never married?" laughed Naruto as he let the warm sun bounce off his body.
"But the text books in school always said the 4th Hokage never married." Explained Ino but then again until recently Minato Namikaze never had a son either.
"They had to get married in secret." corrected Naruto "I read about it in my mom's journey, the two of them got married under a red maple tree outside the village with only two witness."
End Flashback
"Naruto-kuns parents got married under a red maple tree so I am going to make it the center piece of everything." explained Ino as Hinata nodded her head in understanding.
"I wonder what our marriages will be like?" asked Hinata as Ino laughed a bit, that was one of the thousands of small problems that had to be overcome. They had finally settled on letting the couple themselves decide what to do. Some had a single massive wedding for everyone while others had decided one on one wedding where each bride had their own day and the groom just had to go to multiple different weddings and honeymoons.
"Well first Naruto-kun would have to ask us to marry him." Explained Ino but she knew that was not likely to be long. "So where is Naruto anyhow?"
"He fell asleep in his office over some paperwork and I didn't have the heart to wake him," explained Hinata as an idea entered Ino's mind.
"Well since forehead is working the night shift at the hospital this month why don't we have some fun?" offered up Ino as Hinata smiled
"That wouldn't be fair for Sakura," pointed out Hinata
"I am sure Naruto will give her some one on one time to make it up to her?" offered up Ino
Far to the North a group of fifty high ranking ANBU and Jonin from the village hidden in the Sand where gathering in the port city of Celin, the city sat on the wind side of the board of Savannah country. It was the playground of the rich and powerful with multiple multi-million dollars beach side mansions side by side with each other and towering beach side hotels for those who have less money to spend. While the golden sand and beautiful clear blue ocean water where mostly empty because of the late hour the nightclubs and bars where full of people.
"Damn I really wish I could go out and have some fun." complained the head of the village hidden in the sand ANBU core Kankuro to his future sister-in-law Matsuri. The soon to be Mrs. Kazekage simple glared at him before rolling her eyes.
"Gaara has ordered us to go south to the Land of Granite to pick up this gold shipment and then bring it to the Land of Sound," explained Matsuri as they and the other ninjas moved toward the train station and the train that would take them on their day and a half journey south. "Would you rather be climbing up the side of a mountain in the Land of Earth trying to find your sister or riding in a train?"
"I honestly don't have an answer for that," admitted Kankuro "I want to see Temari but…"
"If we find them, then there will be war," said Matsuri as she looked down at the engagement ring Gaara had given her. They had spent almost a year searching the mountain valleys in the Land of Earth but they still had countless numbers of hidden valleys and passes to go. The extra hard winter had stopped their search and pushed back the time schedule. The best estimates didn't have them finishing the search for another two years or more.
"I heard this place is the top contender for the Daimyo's to hold that grand meeting of theirs." reported Kankuro as the puppet master changed the subject as they entered the train station and moved onto the private armored train and car that the Wind Daimyo had rented to transport his gold up North. "You will have a lot of fun down here with Gaara and the other Kages when that happens."
"That isn't until four years, things change." commented Matsuri as she took her seat, until they reached the Land of Granite there was nothing to do but relax, the risking part of the operation didn't start until they got the gold.
Well I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you followed all the new players in the story. Now until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75