Chapter 44 Conference Part 3

It was nearing sunrise as Sakura Haruno sat behind her desk inside the new hospital looking over some paperwork as a massive storm thrashed outside her window. The rain was coming down hard and cold, so cold that it turned to ice for hours but it was currently coming down as thick wet snow. Already an icicle almost as long as her arm was hanging off the gutter above her top floor office. She recalled Ino talking about the conversation with the Green Sea Dragon leader, the storms around here were legendary strong and deadly, they even had a nickname the Southern Witch.

"Damn this is what it is like now and winter hasn't even started yet," complained Sakura as she thanked the spirits for the warmth of the hospital and the fact that they were not living in tents anymore. She rubbed her temples knowing what she looked forward to for the rest of the day; she would struggle through the snow before getting back to an empty house and an empty bed only to wake up and have a few hours with her loves one before going to work again.

"At least it is only for another ten days." added Aella who was as upset about not sleeping with Kyuubi, Lybia and even Miki.

"Thank God," Confirmed Sakura as she looked toward the photo of herself, Naruto-kun, Ino-chan and Hinata-chan all standing outside the house. Naruto was in the center with herself on his right and Ino on the left, Hinata knelt in front of Naruto. "What a strange family we have."

Beside that photo was one of Sakura's parents both of whom had found high positions in the port and in Tenten's Aldhard factory managing the movement of supplies. It was the same basic task that they had back in the supply division of the Leaf and the two of them seemed to be happy in their new lives.

"I should arrange a dinner between Naruto-kun and my parents once my night duty ends." Said Sakura to herself as a knock at the door caused her to lift her head. "Come in."

The door slowly opened as Shizune and Rin walked into the room for their normal meeting, Shizune and Rin were soaked to the bone and as they took off their coats Sakura saw that the rain and snow had gone through all the layers of wool and rain gear.

"So apart from the downpour of rain and snow anything going on?" inquired Sakura as Rin and Shizune sat down on the other side of her desk.

"Well before we came here, I got the test results for our first pregnancy and it is strange." reported Rin who as head of the maternity ward and child care.

"How strange?" inquired Shizune as she looked at her lover.

"How about the fact that judging from the date of the positive test she is supposed to be almost four months along but she and the fetus is only about two months along." reported Rin as Sakura and Shizune both raised their eyebrows at the news. "And she isn't alone, multiple cases all the same it is as if everything has slowed down."

"What could cause that?" asked Sakura as she placed her hand under her chin as she tried to think of any pathogens or viruses which could cause pregnancy to slow down but none came to mind.

"Well that is an interesting side effect." Thought Aella as the demon fox within Sakura who had to been head of the medical core before Sakura was even born.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura

"When we joined with you your lives extended remember." said Aella as Sakura's eyes widened as she put two and two together.

"I think I know what is happening." Commented Sakura as the older woman looked at her. "Remember when the demons joined with us our aging has been cut in half or so, so logically."

"It effects every cell in our body and…our children, they will age slower when they are born." explained Sakura as she took a breath "Why wouldn't it affect the children inside us?"

"Great." groaned Rin as she did some quick math "That makes 18 months of pregnancy instead of 9 and two times the time as a toddler."

"But it makes sense on some level if you look at it in the ways of population control." explained Shizune "However it is still a major pain in the ass."

"I wonder how fast it will take for this news to get around?" asked Rin

"Well hopefully this news will not get around as fast." Offered up Sakura as she handed Rin and Shizune each a file full of files with all the test results for the people in the hospital. Due to the natural healing ability of the demons minor injuries just healed themselves so they only had to worry about major injuries.

The sun had risen however, it was still hidden by the thick storm clouds and gale force winds strong enough to break tree trunks. Even deep inside the government building in the center of the village, they could all hear the wind.Inside the hall was warm as Ino stood beside Naruto and the other leaders from the other nations. Resting in the center of the large oak table was the treaty which required all of their signatures to become a treaty. The only addition to the people in the room was Hinata who stood at the far side of the table with one of the multiple copies in her hands. All the different leaders head a copy of their own which matched the original.

"So in conclusion a trade alliance will exist between the Lands of Granite, Animals, Meteors, Bronzes and Savannah in which trade shall move freely between all nations expect during times of war. A joint military alliance will also be brought into existence between the ninjas of Land of Granite, the Knights of the Land of Animals and the sailors of Meteors." Finished Hinata as she placed the document down on the table, which described all the backroom deals which had been worked out during the night.

The Land of Bronzes would get more trade and their toxic waste removed but they would have to delay building plans in the North. The land of Savannah would get more trade as well as sticking it a bit to the North nations, which they hated. However, both nations would have to deal with invading armies crossing their lands whenever a war started which is why they did not sign a military agreement. The Land of Meteors would get their freedom from Ino the moment she bought the land from the Wind Daimyo however, they would have to come to the defense of the Land of Granite and Animals and mineral access for making Aldhard. The Knights of the Land of Animals would gain military aid in defeating the Samurai which currently control parts of their land but they loss some of their lands to the Land of Granite and gave up all claims to the Land of Meteors. The main thing the land of Granite got out of it was allies and more access to the material needed for making Aldhard. In the end, no one got everything they wanted but everyone got something they really wanted.

"So are we in agreement?" inquired Ino

"We are." Confirmed Lord Carac as the black raven leader looked toward the two other knight factions which would join together in the strike to gain control over their land before battling each other for control. One by one each of them passed the documents around each of them signing their names each copy of the treaty.

"Now when are we going to start planning the attack on the invaders?" demanded Drake Eastman as the head of the Golden Phoenixes stood before them all in his golden plate and mail armor. "Right now they are hold up in their strongholds through the winter months but when spring comes they will march and the war will begin again."

"Before we plan anything we need to find out the enemies plans leave that to us." stated Naruto knowing that Shino had already started gathering information. "And judging from the weather none of us will be leaving soon."

"Can we get on with signing the Wind Daimyo is probably already arrived in the other village; the Lady Daimyo needs to meet him." Stated the Savannah envoy "And I want to get out of here before the storm makes it so bad we can't leave."

Across the stormy straights from the gathering, a single train passed under a special gate built into the half finished Aldhard walls of the Nadeji. The walls where already thirty feet high and the current plan was to add another fifty feet to the walls. Standing on top of those walls dressed in thick clocks and with masks over their faces where members of the ninja core. They watched as the train passed under their walls and into the village, all of them knowing that if they are discovered it would be mean war before they are ready.

The train came to a stop as Kankuro stepped off the train first hiking up the collar on his cloak to shield him from the harsh wind and rain. He scanned the train station; it was almost empty apart from two guards dressed in what appeared to be ANBU uniformed only with chainmail amour and metal plate reinforcement in some area. They all had black masks over the bottom of their faces with dark goggles over their eyes.

"Mercenary guards." spat Kankuro as he remembered how the mercenary warriors who sold their loyalty to Madara during the war fought in countless battles for the enemy.

"Why are they wearing goggles?" asked a young Chunin aid as he looked at the two nearest guards.

"They are rain goggles common for ninjas in the field." answered Matsuri as she dropped a pair over her own eyes, the skintight goggles where designed to keep rain and wind out of a person's eyes. As she looked around, she couldn't help but notice the warriors on the walls where no longer watching the outside of the village but where now watching them. Some even had their hands on sword hilts and weapon pouches. "They are ready for a fight."

"Lord Daimyo welcome to the Land of Granite and our new village of Nadeji." Greeted an old man as he walked up toward them flanked by two men both with black hair and masks over the bottom of their faces and goggles over their eyes. Both of them had swords handing on their sides and their arms wrapped around the hilts.

"You're not the Lady Daimyo." observed the Wind Daimyo as he lumbered off the train and onto the platform with an aid holding an umbrella to shield him from the rain which because of the wind was currently coming in sideways avoiding the roof on the open air platform.

"The Lady Daimyo expresses her apology for not greeting you in person but she is currently visiting the gold mines on the island and because of the weather we are not sure she will return today so she asked me to come meet you." Explained the aid as a look of annoyance crossed the Daimyo's fat face.

"I am the Daimyo of the greatest nation in the world with a powerful ninja village under my command and she is held up by some rain." grumbled the Daimyo

"In her defense sir, this is more than a little rain." Explained the Wind Daimyos aid

"In the mean time we have your gold in a vault over here," explained the Lady Daimyo's aid as he lead them toward a small room inside the indoor waiting area. Once they entered the main building, even the cilvians glared at them with distain in their eyes. They descended down a small staircase in the corner of the waiting room and past ten more guards armed with different weapons but all of them had their face masks and goggles on. Finally they stopped in front of a large vault which had to be made out of solid steal six inches thick.

"The gold must be counted and confirmed to be real before I sign over the land." Confirmed the Wind Daimyo as the old aid started to open the safe "We agreeded on bars each the standard size."

"I am sorry Lord Daimyo but we have a problem there." Stated the aid as the safe opened up to revealed a stack of gold bars much bigger than the standard size. The Daimyo's eyes widened as he looked at the stack of gold bars just standing in the center of the room not knowing that the bars of Gold had been mined by demons millions of years ago and they used a larger size bar then the humans "The only gold bars we had where double the standard size. We gave you the same amount of money; I hope that isn't too big of a problem."

"Well Gold is Gold in the end." stated the Daimyo with a smile as his eyes glimmered with the light bouncing off the gold bars.

While the Wind Daimyo was looking at the mass of gold which would soon be his the five ninja kages where gathered around the table for the last time. Their conference in the land of water was coming to an end today and most of them would board ships heading toward the main land by sundown.

"So yesterday Mei Terumi came up with a proposal for dealing with our struggles in finding the demons." opened Hanabi as the other kages looked at her with slightly unsure eyes. She was the youngest person at the table and the two older kages had been fighting for years before she was even born. "Now this is sort of a gamble but it may be our best bet."

"What is that?" asked Onoki

"We stop the search." explained Mei Terumi as the male kages heads snapped toward her "Well most of it anyhow. We limit the search to a dozen or so small six men squads from each nation armed with radios and have them stand at different forward operation bases and wait."

"Wait?" asked Gaara confused

"Yes, the demons have gone to ground and right now we are sending thousands of ninjas most of whom have no experience in search missions searching some of the roughest terrain in the world." Explained Hanabi as she crossed her arms over her chest "The demons are smart they are likely hiding in the deepest darkest hole and keeping everything under tight control because we have so many ninjas in the area. They are being careful and hiding everything carefully, we need to make them think we have given up on that area and moved on."

"Like a fox who has gone into his den, if you keep making noise outside they will not come out." Explained Onoki as Hanabi nodded her head as the old man placed a hand under his chin "When he believes we are gone he will come out and make a mistake allowing us to find him and kill him."

"Correct." confirmed Mei Terumi "Also it would give our ninjas a rest and allow time to train more for any military actions."

"And there will be military actions because we will be giving them more time to prepare; we have to keep hunting them." snapped Atsui as the Raikage slammed his fist onto the table even as the other kages rolled their eyes at the demands of the Raikage. Because of the civil war in lightening country they had sent only two three men squads to search the mountains. The other four ninja nations where sending out thousands people they had only sent six, meaning they could care less what the Raikage said the Raikage was more there for tradition than anything else.

"Let's get things straight if we do follow this plan it is a major risk they will be preparing for us as much as we are preparing for them," offered up Onoki

"They will focus on feeding themselves first," stated Hanabi with a slight smirk "They are probably starving in the woods somewhere eating barriers and roots."

Across the world, a microwave oven was counting down as a half asleep Karui waited for breakfast to finish cooking. It was more like her lunch considering it was past one but she had woken up so it was breakfast to her. Owning the only bar in the village caused her to stay up past three almost every night. She rubbed sleep from her eyes as the microwaved beeped; quickly she got out the oatmeal and took a bite.

"Damn that is hot," cursed Karui as she placed the bowl back down to let it cool, she looked around her house which was located above her bar. Her gaze turned toward the couch across the room from her the couch where she had woken up beside Kiba Inuzuka.

Flashback

A sense of warmth and peace filled her body as sleep began to leave her body; she opened her golden eyes only to see a mass of white in front of her. At first, she believed it to be her pillow but it was moving up and down ever so slowlyonly a strange smell filled her nose it was a smell of the forest along with something else she could not place at first.

"Dog." thought Karui as her brain went into over drive as she titled her head up only to see the sleeping face of Kiba Inuzuka, his red triangle shaped birthmarks marked his face as his wild brown hair covered some of his eyes. Unwelcomed her heart fluttered a bit like it had not since her girlhood crush. As she gazed into his face she noticed the placement of her and his hands. One of her hands was resting on his hip one of her fingers resting under his belt as if she was wanting to rip off his paints. The other hand was resting on his chest while she was using one of his arms as her pillow and the other was holding her close to him.

"What do I do?" thought Karui, she could tell from the fact that their cloths where on and that there was no smell meant they had not slept together.

"We could fuck him?" offered Karui's demon Cloe, Karui responded to Cloe's recommendation by moving her hand away from Kiba's pants however she couldn't bring herself to get off the couch they where sharing. So she turned over so that she didn't have to face him but there was no way she could escape his intoxicating scent even if she wanted to or the feeling she now had.

"Ok, what the hell is wrong with you?" demanded Cloe clearly upset with her "We have a wild man right behind us and it wouldn't take much to have some fun with him."

"Just because your family ran a whore house doesn't mean I want to whore." Snapped Karui back as Cloe rolled her demon dog eyes.

"Yes, my family ran a whore house as you call it and my sisters where madams but I wasn't which is why they sent me into the ark while they died." Explained Cloe tired of this talk with Karui "I ran the bar not the rooms upstairs and we are enjoying doing that here aren't we?"

Karui said nothing as she rolled over slowly so not to wake Kiba deciding to deal with the awkwardness when he woke up. All the while, she enjoyed the warmth of Kiba's body.

End flashback

"Admit it you miss that dog?" said Cloe as Karui tried to force her from her mind but that was next to impossible so she turned to gaze out the window at the raging storm it had slowed down from when she looked out when it had woken her up a few hours ago but it was still pouring rain.

"I don't miss Kiba." said Karui back as Cloe grinned

"Then why did you sleep in the guest room where he slept last night?" inquired Cloe as Karui blushed a bit knowing one of the reasons why she slept there was on the off chance she could smell some remains of his scent.

"I slept there since it is an inside room with no window to try to get away from the sound of the storm." lied Karui as she went back to eating.

Across the straights from her on the main land Ino gathered her thoughts as she dropped a veil over her face to shield her silted eyes from view. She had done a hedge justu to change her hair color to a darker shade of blonde, make her slightly shorter and add a few pounds to her frame all in an attempt to hide who she really was. However the silted eyes was a fixed trait and couldn't be changed and that could give the who game away. Standing behind her dressed in the same uniform as the other ninjas were Naruto and Hinata. They had not bothered with any hedge justu since they would be covered with masks and googles however; Hinata had put her hair up into a tight bun and pulled a hood over it all.

"Ready?" asked Naruto who looked more like Kakashi with blonde hair right now.

"Yes." confirmed Ino as she took a deep breath as she stepped out into the large dining hall where the Wind Daimyo was already feasting. The knight factions and the others she had just meet with in the morning was not invited not because they were not welcomed but because they did not want to give away the fact that they were allied now.

"Lady Daimyo." greeted the fat man who did not rise as Ino took her seat across the table from him with standing behind her on the right and Hinata on the left. She knew outside the large oak door which lead out into the hallway was three squads of ninjas led by Sasuke. However her eyes moved to the two sand ninjas standing behind the Daimyo. "Allow me to introduce my guards Matsuri future wife of the Kazekage and his brother Kankuro."

"It is an honor to have such highly regarded ninjas in my village." greeted Ino as lifted a spoon full of soup under her veil.

"First business." stated the Wind Daimyo as he passed over a scroll to Ino. Ino took it in her hand and carefully opened it to see that the Wind Daimyo had signed over the Land of Meteors to her.

"Good, you are happy with the gold I guess." confirmed Ino

"I am and I have seen some of the improvements you have done to this nation and I am most impressed." burped the Wind Daimyo as Ino nodded her head.

"I have to thank the hard work of the men and women who have poured their blood and sweat into making this village what it is now." explained Ino

"And the gold mines on that massive island of yours doesn't hurt either." laughed the Wind Daimyo "Just how big is the Gold deposit anyhow."

"Large enough to support our needs," stated Ino forcefully as the Wind Daimyo blinked at her, he was not used to having anyone refuse to answer a question.

"We'll have you heard that the Fire Daimyo has selected the city for our meeting?" inquired the Wind Daimyo

"Really?" answered Ino knowing the importance of the meeting. Whenever the ten day meeting between all the kages, Daimyos and business leaders where held was when they would be discovered. There was no way the Daimyo of the land of Granite would be allowed to miss it.

"Yes, we are meeting in the border city of Celin in three years," reported the Wind Daimyo as Ino smiled a bit knowing that if they made it through this day undiscovered it was likely that they wouldn't be uncovered until that meeting.

"Yes, it will be a great lots of food, socializing and of course drinking." laughed the fat Daimyo as he raised a glass of wine and took a deep drink. Suddenly he slammed the glass back down almost breaking it. "Oh where are my manners I forgot to thank you for hosting me."

"No problem however I regret to bring this up but I understand your current plans are to stay three days here before heading back." started Ino as the Daimyo nodded his head.

"Yes, what of it?" asked the Daimyo

"We have gotten reports that a massive snow storm is making its way toward us and it could burry us in feet of snow within a couple of days." explained Ino as the Daimyo's eyes widened. Ino had heard stories from the guards protecting the Kages during the war she knew the Wind Daimyo hated the cold and would complain if it dropped below 65 degrees. "I would hate to have you get trapped down here without the comfort of your own mansions in a snow storm."

"Yes that would be such a painful experience." expressed the Daimyo as Ino lifted her own wine glass for a drink "Also the gold must be deposited in the Sound Nation Bank within a couple of days."

"Sound National Bank?" asked Ino amazed that she did not spit out her wine. "As in the Sound Nation?"

"Yes, all the Daimyo's are using it now." confirmed the Wind Daimyo "It is run by the former Daimyo of this very nation with Kabuto as his right hand man."

"I see." Said Ino as she swirled her wine a bit wondering how to dig for more information without tipping the two ninjas standing on either side of the Wind Daimyo off who she was however the Wind Daimyo spoke up first.

"I want to offer you some help, My youngest son who could be down here within a couple of weeks to assist you in ruling this nation." offered the Wind Daimyo as Ino blinked "I would also offer a marriage alliance between our two nations so that in time we could control three nations at once. Think my second son and you would link you to the greatest Daimyo in the world."

Ino's eyes narrowed as she fought the basic instinct to jump over the table and rip the fat man's manhood off and shove it down his fat mouth before cutting his throat. She knew that he did not care about the people in the nation or their well being. He only cared about the Gold on the island and if he knew who she really was he would try to kill her inside of trying to marry her to his son.

"He never even asked me for my name before trying to convince me to marry his son." though Ino as her blood kept boiling.

"No, I think not." stated Ino in a strangely calm voice as she swirled a cup of wine in her hand.

"Lady Daimyo I don't think you grasp how an alliance between us could benefit you." offered the Wind Daimyo as he pressed his offer "My family can assist you in the task of ruling this nation. It can a heavy weight for anyone most of all a young woman."

"And I already have a boyfriend so your offer of marriage to your son is pointless and I find it very offensive that you believe I need your help to run this nation." Stated Ino "Tell me how much grain was produced in your fields this past year?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked the Wind Daimyo amazed that this woman was standing up to him, one of the greatest Daimyos in the world.

"Everything because I know how much food, gold and other material which was produced within my nation in the past year while under my rule and I also know who much was produced under the old Daimyo for the past five years." stated Ino "Do you?"

"There is no needed, I am one of the richest Daimyos in the world." stated the Wind Daimyo his own blood boiling at being insulted by a woman.

"And you got richer because I bought a nation you didn't even know you had." stated Ino as she leaned back a bit in her chair she was sick of playing the weakling to the Daimyo. She was supposed to be the first female daimyo and she was going to be a strong Daimyo "I am going to be totally honest with you, I share the same distain for you and your northern self-centered Daimyos and the sooner you leave the better we will feel."

"You are just some backwater nation who thinks they are great." stated the Wind Daimyo "I could crush you."

"I am sure you could." said Ino

"For the moment at least." Added Ino to herself knowing that Tenten was already producing the weapons that the Knights would use to first reclaim their homeland before joining with them.

"And my nation doesn't want conflict with your nation we just want to be left alone." explained Ino "We want just to build or nation and be left alone in peace. Peace benefits us all in the end."

"That is true Lord Daimyo, besides we have to worry about the demons whenever they are discovered." added Matsuri as the Daimyo's head snapped toward her even as Matsuri looked straight at Ino. "Besides what would any war gain us? All they are asking is to be left alone, let them."

"Fine, I will let this woman waist away down here while I go sit in the lap of luxury with my new gold. She isn't even worthy of strapping on my sandals yet alone marrying one of my sons." cursed the Wind Daimyo as stood up and with some help from the two ninjas "Good day Lady Daimyo enjoy those poison filled islands and your damn fish."

"Oh I will." confirmed Ino after the Daimyo had left.

"Did you have to tick him off?" asked Hinata as she looked at Ino "We wanted him gone which is why we lied about the snow storm but to piss him off."

"I didn't have to but it sure made me feel better to shove it to that fat man." explained Ino as she stood up "Also who said I was lying about the snow? The weather squad says we can expected about 9 inches of snow in the next day. We will be snowed in for a couple of days at least."

"The knights will want to plan their military campaign against the Samurai." Added Naruto

"I can think of a few better things to do in a snow storm." Laughed Hinata playfully.

Well I hope you like this chapter, the meetings are over and now the war can begin. Until next time please keep reading, Thanks Wilkins75