Chapter 43 Conference Part 2
The sun was just rising over the valley in the land of Granite and for the first time in a long, it appeared as if it would be a warm fall day instead of a cold one. Already snow had covered parts of the valley however with a good warm day they would melt, people in the village across the straights from them where already saying it would be a harsh and long winter. While most people were going about their business Ino Yamamaka stood on top of a small landing located near the submit of one of the large mountains which surrounded the hidden bay. From her location, she could look down onto the bay and out onto the sea. The cold wind caused her to shiver even though she had dressed in her warmest cloths.
"Good morning, Lady Daimyo." greeted a large man with a thick dark beard, he wore tall knee high boots and leather trench coat and chainmail armor over his chest.
"Lord Amund." greeted Ino as the leader of Green Sea Dragon clan from the Land of Meteors.
"Captain Amund, Lady Daimyo." corrected Amund as he moved out toward the edge of the landing smelling the salt sea air. "I love that smell, I can't tell you how many times I almost crashed on the rocks around here during a storm most of all whenever the storms come and one is coming now."
With that both of them looked out toward the sea out in the distance black storm clouds could be seen, the clouds where coming closer like some unstoppable monster.
"Well next time you can make port here," offered up Ino knowing that the bay was sheltered from the wind and waves. They have plans to make it into a small port for fishing, small cargo ships and pleasure boats. They were going to set one side of it just for a public beach but now the water was too cold for swimming.
"I will." laughed Amund "Now why is it that you wanted to talk to me here instead of in your office."
"I never really liked offices." expressed Ino as she took a breath preparing for what she had to say next. "Tomorrow I am buying the Land of Meteors from the Wind Daimyo."
That got the old warrior's attention and the nearest thing she had seen to a death glare.
"You may claim to be our ruler but just like those land loving knights who tried to take us over we will not bow to you," stated Amund with pure force in his voice.
"I don't want to rule over you and I will hand over ownership to you as long as you meet some of our demands." Offered up Ino "And we will make sure that the Knight of the Land of Animals will honor your boarders as well."
"You have my attention, go on," offered up Amund as he looked out to sea as the storm came ever closer.
Meanwhile back in the village Temari rubbed her temples as she met with the envoy from the Land of Bronze for the second time in four hours. It was the morning of second day of the joint conference between the factions, which claimed ownership of the Land of Animals, the Land of Bronze, the land of Savannah and themselves. The plan for today was for more one on one meetings in the hopes of hammering out the workings of a deal before a final joint meeting tomorrow morning.
"But Lady Temari, why is it that we have to transport the waste all the way down here to throw into this Amaterasu thing?" inquired the plump envoy of the Land of Bronze, he was one of the company owners which ruled over the entire country. "It would be easy to build our own waste removal system and have your people maintain it."
"The thing is that Amaterasu is the single hottest fire justu in the world and we can't have the technique to put it out get out." reported Temari as she sat behind her own desk in the central government building, as head ambassador it was her job to try to make this whole treaty work. "Besides we already have the railroad line set up."
"I guess but what about the risk of a spill while on route?" asked the plump man as the wooden chair under him groaned as he moved.
"Yes, that is a risk." conceded Temari but remained firm "However your containers are already leaking poising your water, air and killing your people."
"True." consider the man as Temari moved in for the diplomatic kill.
"Also the time wasted to make a waste burning center in your nation would mean those elements inside your nation who want to over throw you and your fellow business leaders will only get stronger," explained Temari as the plump man shifted a bit in his chair. "What did you think we didn't hear about those protests in your nation for better working conditions, near riots in some cities?"
"We are still in control," stated the man
"Yes, you are still in control." stressed Temari "And we want to help you stay in control by helping improve the lives of your people by removing all those industrial waste that poison your water supply and air."
"Air?" inquired the surprised envoy
"I believe you guy's developed an air filter in the past for the smoke stacks of your factories?" inquired Temari as she remembered multiple reports about it while she was in the Sand. The company owners had abounded the filters since it would cut into their profits and they would go through filters so fast they would run out of room. They had sent envoys to the Wind Daimyo to build a dump sit in the desert and dump them all in, however the Daimyo had refused them. "You will no longer have the issue of storage thanks to us."
"True but it would still cut into our profits," stated the envoy as Temari tilted her head and grinned.
"Tell me what is worst losing a few dollars from your profits or losing your head when your people rise up because they can't breathe the very air?" asked Temari as the man lowered his in thought.
"I see your point and I will take your offer to my fellow business owners and recommend that we agree to it at once," admitted the envoy as he placed his hand on one of his knees to help himself up.
"Just one moment longer if you will." requested Temari as the envoy sat back down. "At the moment we are planning to build a second train line through the Black Snake Path and all the way down to us here however since it is your railroad we would want your help building it."
"We are already in discussion to build a new train line up into the ninja nations, we may not have the resources to construct both new rail lines." reported the envoy
"Well that is too bad, the rail line will be used to transport the waste down here faster, but I am sure that your people will understand while they drink poisoned water," reported Temari as the man nodded his head.
"I see, you project may be more important to our national interest at the moment." reported the envoy as Temari shock his head with a smile on her face.
"Just as I planned, you will soon be demanded on us to remove the waste from your factories. If we fall to the ninja nations you will lose that and then your people will rise up because of all the poisons you are filling their water with." Thought Temari with a smile "You may not fight for us but you will not provide help to the attacking ninja armies and all we are doing is throwing your waste into the fires of hell."
Across the world, the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village Hanabi Hyuga was having a morning cup of tea with their host Kage, Mei Terumi in her private study. The sun was rising over Kirigakure, there was no mist blocking the skyline allowing the two women to see the rows of stone towers and bridges over the multiple channels that linked the dozens of small islands that made up the western part of the village.
"I am conserved about the situation in Lightening country," offered up Mei Terumi as she spun a small spoon in her cup of tea. "Shipping has been attacked and we can't let that stand."
"Same here, however apart from a full scale invasion there isn't much was can do? They are in the middle of a civil war and their Daimyo could care less and it took the destruction of multiple towns on our boarder to convince our Daimyo to allow us to pacify the border area," stated Hanabi as she took a deep drink from her cup of tea. Knowing that the Daimyo had only let those go ten miles into the Land of Lightening. "Sometimes I wonder if the Daimyo's are worth the amount of food they eat."
"Well considering they eat a lot of food the answer is no." laughed Mei Terumi knowing that the Daimyo of the Land of Water was currently in one of his multiple million dollars homes in the mountain top hot springs. "However apart from the Land of Lightening there is the issue in the demons are still missing, after a year the civilians are growing angry. Parents are tired of seeing their sons and daughters spend months searching empty valleys far from home."
"And parents are tired of going months without seeing their kids." added Hanabi knowing that the same complaints where in her ninja core. Months on end climbing mountains and searching forests where wearing everyone down, not to mention it costs a lot of money to supply an army in the field. So far the only thing they had found was a handful of robber dens and a long abounded Sound base.
"My village will not be able to carry this on much longer, the cost is just too great." reported Mei Terumi as Hanabi's head snapped toward the older woman. "There has to be a better way to find the demons."
"We have tried using summoned birds to fly between the mountains but the winds are too fast through those narrow mountain passes for the birds to fly with a human on them. Also there are only a few ninjas that have that type of summons." explained Hanabi "I agree we need to find a better way to search these valleys, I am open to any ideas."
"I have one but you and the other Kages will not like it," stated Mei Terumi
"Why do I suddenly have the feeling I will need a stiff drink." reported Hanabi "However it is too early for that and I don't drink so just tell me."
Back in the Land of Granite Naruto sat outside of one of the side conference rooms just listening to the screams coming through the door. He could just make out what one of the knight groups were screaming but not what they were saying.
"They still at it?" asked Sasuke as he stood behind Naruto his arms crossed over his chest slightly board.
"Yes." Confirmed Naruto "I suppose we should be luckily that they are still here talking considering yesterday they were threatening to leave outright."
"They will not leave yet," reported a third voice as both Naruto's and Sasuke's head snapped around to see the sixty-year-old man with fading white hair but strong muscular arms. He wore a simple pair of pants with two spenders on. He looked more like a farmer then the envoy from the secret order of assassins, the Shadow Swords.
"Bryce of the Red Sword." greeted Naruto as he stood up from the stone bench in the center of the hallway. "I was trying to find you this morning so that we could talk."
"I know you were but when I want to be found I am found and when I am not…well you get the idea," reported the old man "However if you have time I am free now."
"Considering that those knights are going to be yelling at each other for at least a few hours, I am up for a chat," confirmed Naruto as the old man nodded his head.
"Very well but I find that the best way to have a true conversation is in a fight." explained Bryce as Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other slightly confused at why this man who was old enough to be their grandfather wanted to fight them.
"We have a training field in the basement for a needed workout." offered Naruto as he lead the old man down the multiple flight of stairs and into the large circler training field which sat on the third lowest floor of the government building. It sat just above some emergency storage rooms and the areas where water heaters and the like where stored. All during the decent Bryce hobbled a little on his right leg.
"I guess the old man wants to be embarrassed," laughed the Kyuubi as they entered the field only to find Tenten along with multiple aids setting up targets for a weapon demonstration for the knights. She looked up slightly confused at the sight of Naruto and Sasuke and the old man.
"What are you three doing down here, we still have two hours before the scheduled weapon test?" inquired Tenten as Bryce moved down the line of weapons which sat in cases built into the very walls of training field.
"The old fool wants to talk to Naruto while fighting." reported Sasuke with a grin.
"Actually I want to fight the three of you." Rebutted Bryce as three young ninjas looked at him confused "I have heard that you Lady Tenten are the best in this village if not the world in throwing weapons, Sasuke Uchiha's skill with a blade is the pride of the North and Naruto Namikaze is a living legend I want to see how much of that is true."
"You want to fight the three of us?" asked Sasuke with a laugh
"Yes, but weapons only none of these justu you are so fond of in the North." Reported Bryce
"Ok." said Sasuke with boredom in his voice as he walked over and pulled a blunted training Kanata from one the racks, Tenten followed suit by getting a few kunai and throwing stars from the racks. Naruto paused for a moment before getting his own chakra blades. All the weapons where blunted but would leave marks if hit in the right place. All three of them watched as Bryce pulled out a six-foot long wooden staff. He moved out into the middle of the field where all the eyes of the four of them.
"So what one at a time or what?" inquired Tenten slightly confused on what to do.
"Whatever you want." ordered Bryce as he sat down on the ground with the staff across his lap.
"Just end it already Tenten," groaned Sasuke "I have better things to do today."
"Something isn't right he not nervous at all." thought Naruto as Tenten threw a kunai as fast as she dared for fear of hurting the man however to her amazement the man's staff snapped up knocking the kunai away as if it was nothing more than a fly.
The three ninjas shared a glance at each other before Tenten let a tornado of kunai and throwing stars fly as fast as she would have done in battle. Each one she threw was perfectly aimed however Bryce did nothing more than block each of them with his staff. Some of the kunais she had arched so that they would come from different directions but still they were blocked. Finally, the last kunai took to the air from Tenten's arm getting past the staff, then with a snake like strike he grabbed the kunai in midair inches away from his nose.
"How could an old man do that?" asked Tenten as she studied the man, there was no sign that he had used any chakra to speed up his hands allowing him to block the attacks. "Not even Guy-sensei or Lee are fast enough to stop all my weapon throws."
"Those two are known to my order however they are just rookies trying to copy the skills of the shadow swords." Reported Bryce as he struggled to stand "I must admit for someone as young as you, you have a very skilled throwing arm, however once you have caught crossbow bolts with your kunai are easy."
"You caught a crossbow bolt with your hand?" asked Tenten
"Yes, it is one of the test of the Shadow Sword order," confirmed Bryce "I had to grab a crossbow bolt fired from ten feet away from me using only my right hand. My left was tied behind my back."
"That is it," cursed Sasuke as he bolted forward his sword dragging a bit behind him as he moved up in a giant swing only to miss the old man who had ducked to the side to avoid the slash. Then with a quick movement of his own he hit Sasuke in the foot with his staff then the back of his knee bring him down with a thud. Sasuke did not stay down as he rolled backwards and brought his sword back up. He pressed the attack his sword strikes hitting nothing but the staff and empty air. To Naruto's amazement Bryce sidestepped the attack with ease and snapped at Sasuke's hands and legs but never going for the head or chest. Bryce seemed to be getting bored then with one quick jab put his staff into Sasuke's stomach before hitting his manhood. Sasuke fell to the ground before trying to stand up only to have the staff land softy on the back of his head.
"Once again I am impressed but still you fight like a young man instead of a warrior. You believed I was an old man weak and not a threat so you charged into battle." Stated Bryce "True if you used that wonderful Sharingan eye of yours or some justu you would have done better."
"Son of a bitch." groaned Sasuke as he got back up holding his soar manhood, slowly Bryce knelt down and leaned toward Sasuke's ear.
"I can also tell that you were holding back and that you didn't pick the weapon you really wanted." whispered Bryce as he stood up to face Naruto. "Just the two of us then,"
Naruto began to circle Bryce his chakra blades at the ready, then he started forward carefully studying his enemy who had been limping all the way down here on his right leg. With that in mind, he launched his attack on the left side, which one would think to be the stronger leg since it was not limping on it earlier. Naruto kept his attacks coming and coming on the left side of Bryce before finally one of his blows hit home drawing a small amount of blood from the old man lip. Bryce then got the staff behind Naruto's neck and then with one smooth movement he flipped Naruto over his back. Naruto landed on his feet before spinning back around to face the old man.
"Very good Namikaze, I must admit that move got your father on his back when we meet all those years ago." Reported Bryce as Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the old man. "Yes, 30 years ago when your father was a new jonin I fought him, almost killed him in truth."
"So it was you I heard about." said Naruto "So why are we here, why are we fighting like this?"
"It is a demonstration; Namikaze." said Bryce "If I can could do this with a simple wooden staff what could I do with a true blade in my hand."
"And what we could do to you if we used justu." cursed Sasuke
"True if you used justu the fight would be different however your regular humans don't have time to become fully trained in the ways of the ninja." stated Bryce "at Least not in the amount you need them to be to defend this new nation of yours."
"True." admitted Naruto
"The Shadow Blades can help you out with that." offered Bryce "We can train your people both ninja and none ninja in our ways and how to use our weapons. We will fight for you and die for you if you meet our price."
"What weapons are we talking about?" inquired Tenten as Bryce grinned a bit with his eyes.
"Question how many times in the north you have faced a war hammer, a pike or ballistas on a wall?" asked Bryce as neither one of them spoke up "I have seen your walls that you are planning to build and what you are making it out of."
"How could you know our designs for the wall, those are secret." said Naruto as the old man grinned. "No matter, go on."
"A wall is only as good as those who stand on it, now imagine if you could call up thousands of men and women to defend the walls with crossbows, longbows and ballistas raining death on any attacking force." added Bryce "My order will train your people who want to do this."
"Not everyone wants to be a warrior, we can't make them fight." Reported Tenten
"In a way we could." Said Naruto as he placed his hand under his chin "Just make them into a home village defense force where all able bodied adults have to train once a week in range weapons and personal defense. They wouldn't have fight unless the village came under attack."
"A wise plan Lord Onikage." said Bryce as Naruto looked at the old man who had beaten the buts off some of the best ninjas in the world.
"But what do you want out of this?" asked Naruto
"My order was born out of the want for the people to govern themselves," explained Bryce
"I thought you were assassins and spies," rebutted Tenten as Bryce shrugged.
"We have to take outside jobs to help pay for our war of freedom from the King of the Land of Animals." defended Bryce "Whoever ends up ruling the Land of Animals will not let us be as free as we want to be, but you may."
"I don't follow," stated Naruto
"Our order is based in the mountains just on the other side of your boarders," explained Bryce "We want you to annex our land and let us join your nation. We will join as a semi-independent province and fight for you whenever you need us."
Naruto placed his hand under his chin.
"I would like to see that but I don't see the others factions going for that." expressed Naruto
"They would if you make it part of any military aid to them." corrected Bryce
It was nearing ten at night as a train crossed over a bridge over a slow moving blue green river, which marked the border between the Land of Bronze and the Land of Granite. Even though it was late, Matsuri was still up and to make matters worse she had been invited to have a dinner with the Wind Daimyo himself in his private train car. That dinner had taken up the better part of the evening and it still was not over. As the train was rocking and rolling as she looked out the window at the giant mountain range which had loomed above the horizon for hours but now there where at the base of them. She was trying not listen to the fat man with the thin pointed facial hair talked about what he expected of the future wife of the Kazekage. How she was supposed to entertain the Daimyos whenever they visited and proved emotional support to Gaara. The thing that pissed her off the most was when the old man advised her to stay out of politics and focus on home life only.
"Those mountains are supposed to be impassable." Reported Matsuri in a hope to change the subject as the Daimyo looked up from his seventh cup of wine in the past two hours.
"Yes, I believe they are but we are going through the Black Snake Pass." Reported the Daimyo as the train began to turn as it made its way through the narrow path which snaked through the mountains. The mountains shot straight up over two hundred feet above their heads and a small river ran with them other than those features the land seamed normal.
"You know Lord Daimyo you didn't have to come with us." reported Matsuri "We are capable of guarding your gold for you."
"I am sure that you could however when one is dealing with this amount of gold and the selling of this amount of land I must go personally." Explained the Daimyo as he held down a burp "Besides none of my other daimyos have meet this Lady Daimyo in person yet, some are asking what she looks like so that they may approach her about marrying their sons or grandsons."
"I see." reported Matsuri wishing she could leave or at least slap the sexist fat man.
While Matsuri was praying to leave Sakura Haruno was praying that it would not end as Naruto, Ino, Hinata, and herself ate a very late super inside Naruto's office in the Onikage building. They were eating this late because she had taken the night shift this month and that started at 11pm and went to 9am.
"I not looking forward to tonight." complained Sakura who was eating her breakfast before starting her night shift at the hospital. Most of the night she spent up in her office looking over paperwork about installing all the new medical equipment being installed, when she wasn't do that she was looking over the shoulder of the new doctors.
"And I am not looking forward to another day of being all diplomatic." stated Ino "I just want to curse them out for being such pig headed."
"Well you have to keep your cool tomorrow unless we want a war right away," added Hinata as she took a drink of water. "We have the Wind Daimyo coming along with ninjas from the land of Wind coming to get the gold for the Land of Meteors."
"Luckily the Wind Daimyo has never met me so all I have to do is keep my eyes covered and I will be good," said Ino as her silted blue eyes marked her as a demon just like everyone else in the village.
"But the sand ninjas may have." confirmed Naruto "This is a dangerous moment and we have to be careful."
"What is our plan if they do discover us?" inquired Sakura as she took a bite of her salad
"Shino wants to arrange a train accident and Sasuke just wants to kill them all outright." Explained Naruto as he took a deep breath before looking at Ino "However if it comes to that, I would rather have you just use your memory erasing justu on them."
"Naruto-kun, that doesn't always work." admitted Ino "And it can be broken by another mind walker say a member of my clan."
"True but a train accident killing the Wind Daimyo would draw a lot of eyes down here and a mass slaughter would be even worse," explained Sakura "The Mind justu may be for the best."
"Let's talk about something else." Said Hinata before looking at Sakura across the table from her "I heard that a we will soon have a lot of children running around the village."
"I can't share medical information Hinata," explained Sakura with a grin which confirmed Hinata's statement all the same.
"So forehead anyone we know?" inquired Ino as she looked at her best friend.
"I can't say anything," restated Sakura as she put some food in her mouth.
"In other words yes." laughed Ino as a knock at the door caused all four of them to turn toward it.
"Lord Onikage." reported a former mist ninja who now wore the symbol of her new village as she stepped into the room. "I have a message from the three knight factions they have reached an agreement on who will rule the Land of Animals."
"They have?" asked a stunned Ino
"Yes, they have." confirmed the aid as she handed the draft agreement from the three knight factions to Hinata who handed it to Naruto.
"They agreed to a marriage alliance?" asked Sakura
"No." reported Naruto "They are going to fight each other."
"What I thought they were going to fight together to defeat the Samurai from the land of Iron." Groaned Ino
"They are." added Naruto as all three of his vixen's raised an eyebrow "After they defeat their enemy they will each choose a champion and as they put it "We will put the future of the Land of Animals into the hands of God, the champions will fight each other and the winner clan will rule."
"So after they kill God knows how many people they will each pick a person and then they will fight to the death. Then whoever is left standing is the ruler?" Inquired Sakura as Naruto nodded his head "So stupid."
"Well if it works for them." Shrugged Ino "Now all we have to do is draft a final agreement between all the groups and sign it. We may have just formed a military and economic alliance that can stand up against the ninja nations."
"In a few years maybe," Thought Naruto "And we may not have that long the war may start tomorrow."
Well the meetings are almost over and I hope you liked the little fight, now I hope you liked this chapter. Now until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.