The Book of Guidance, Pathways: Page 1

[1:5] She was denied shelter, bread, and water; her path was watered by the evils of hunger, sadness, and war, so that in the future its fruits would be bitter, and would only bring pain to all peoples.

[1:7] His mantle would then be black like his bitterness, where the red-tinted clouds represent the blood he was forced to shed.

[1:11] He decided that the pain had to be shared and felt, because only when everyone felt it could they truly understand.

Feared Reverence

ARV Keeper of Fire - 5 days after contacting the alliance.

Matriarch Benezia was nervous; today would be the most important day of her career as a Citadel diplomat.

A few hours ago, the great warship that would be meeting with a Fleet around it had ended communication, informing that its leaders had chosen their ambassador and that he was already on his way for the official negotiations to begin.

The last few days have been some of the most intense of his long life in the sights of those big ships. He doesn't know if that race will attack or not, but he hopes they can communicate. The good news is that they reported that a ceasefire has been put into effect; they understand that what happened was just an unfortunate incident and a massive misunderstanding between the Turian and Asari forces. They are there as part of a peace party from the galactic community to the Citadel to prevent war.

As Benezia mulled over everything that had happened, her second-in-command called out to her.

"Ma'am, we have a ship approaching, a frigate I assume it is the diplomatic vessel and they are requesting permission to dock."

"Okay, Shiala, let them know they can stall, and put me on ARV Keeper of Fire comms for the entire Tribulation."

"Ma'am, I have already granted permission for the diplomatic ship; they should arrive within ten minutes, and the communications link to the tribal council will be open in thirty seconds."

Benezia has used all her years as a Matriarch to keep her voice serious and her face as serene as possible.

Matriarch Benezia reports that the Alliance ship will be arriving within ten minutes, accompanied by their diplomatic representative.

After his speech, the entire ship was in an uproar, and many Asari listened intently.

"I know these five days have been tense, and being constantly in the crosshairs of warships hasn't helped. But we've made great progress and managed to communicate with them and clarify that this whole conflict was a big misunderstanding, caused by the Turians, but that we, the Council, are not at war with them and we don't want that, and by the goddess, it seems that they managed to understand us and will listen to us since they sent a diplomat. I'm sure you're scared, but I guarantee that diplomacy and civility will win and we'll show you the way to the Citadel. And that all of us Asari will do our best to guide galactic society.

At the end of their speech, all the tribulation seemed to disappear with a clap, and they were much more confident now. Yes, those days had been tense and frightening, but they had to remember that they represented the Citadel there and should show this species the right path. The Asaris is the most suitable for that responsibility.

Alliance Space - 2 days after contacting the ARV Frigate Keeper of Fire.

Sitting in a U-shape, the council of mankind's leaders - Konoha, Kumo, Suna, Iwa, and Kiri - had gathered to decide the future.

The first to speak was the Kazekage, who took the lead in the meeting.

"The meeting of the 396th Kage has already started. And I would like to start our official meeting by leaving the formalities behind, as we all know that we had personal meetings, and we are all informed of the appointments and about this so-called Citadel Council and that they say it was all a big misunderstanding."

"I'm sorry, Lady Kagome, but we know that this is a lie and that they are only having this peace talk because they missed their chance to subdue us."

The Mizukage finally spoke, stating what everyone already knew.

"Of course, if it had happened differently and they were the winners, we wouldn't be talking about sending a diplomat to talk to them about peace; we would be talking about our freedom in the hands of invaders who simply think they have the right to impose their laws on us. Please don't be naive; we know the truth - they would only want us to be their client races, but as we show our strength now, they run with their tails between their legs, calling their allies to a smoke story of misunderstandings when we know that if they had a chance, they wouldn't hesitate to destroy us and put us under their feet. They would make up any story for their allies, saying that we were a young race, barbarian and ignorant of the dangers we would unleash upon the galaxy and that they would guide us and protect us from our incompetence."

"You're right Gray, this is like the old days when the larger villages would simply subjugate the smaller ones, saying it was better for them to know their place. It seems we are returning to those dark times. When we thought that we humans had finally escaped it after so many years of war and strife, it seemed that peace and cooperation had finally won out. Of course, we had our disagreements in those early years, but we never went back to the way things used to be, and now with these new races coming into the mix, it seems that everything could come crashing down again."

His voice then took on a firmer, harder tone.

"But we won't let them if they want to play this game and land on innocent or savior planets. That's fine; we'll show that we're united. We're not going to give them that satisfaction. We've all established that we can't just give in to them. I want all the plans that you've crafted."

Yusuke spoke and asked one of his men to deliver a parchment to each of the Kages.

The first person to read the scroll was the Tsuchikage. "This is a proposal to end the population restriction law we've had for the last 300 years. Yusuke, I can see your argument for us to increase our numbers since we are few compared to all the species in the Citadel, but we have this law for a reason. So that we wouldn't lose control of our population and that we wouldn't spread ourselves so far across the stars if we were attacked again."

"Yes, Boruta, but it seems that it doesn't serve us anymore since we were attacked. I know that controlling our population has been something discussed for several generations, but I'm not saying that we're just going to loosen our control. Increasing our population could be beneficial. We have much more power now in our hands to maintain control. Of course, I don't want us to be scattered across the universe. Even if maybe in the future the borders between us and the Citadel open up, we can't let our people simply mix with them. Our secrets could be revealed, and they could try to take advantage of our power to use against us."

"He's right," the Raikage said, "no matter how much it pains me to admit it."

"We have little information about the Citadel, and whether all the races that comprise it are part of its Armed Forces; our numbers mean very little individually, but we seem to be much stronger than them. We also have no knowledge of their economic base or how advanced their technology is, and if they really cannot use chakra, perhaps they've never encountered it before."

"We know that humans, at first, could not manage the chakra, but thanks to the fruit of the Divine Tree, the Sages of the Six Paths, and their brother spreading this energy throughout the world. However, what prevents any of these races from being able to manage the chakra, now that they have contacted us and discovered this energy? And are trying to exploit it for themselves."

"Regarding that, Inaba, I have information from several sensor ninjas who didn't detect any trace of chakra on the bodies of the invaders in the colony. The only thing they saw were demonstrations of that zero energy, generated by soldiers who refer to themselves as 'biotics.'," the Kazekage replied.

"Even if we don't know about the other species, that's for another time. As we're discussing Yusuke's proposal, and Kagome is from Inaba, it's a valid concern. But we don't even know much about them yet, so we must decide on Yusuke's idea first." The Mizukage draws attention back to the subject of the previous conversation.

"Okay, since you want to get back to that subject, what is your opinion on it, Gray? Should we really apply this new law? I understand your point, but I still think it would be very difficult for us to be able to control the results of this choice." Despite the conversation they were having being undecided about the issue, the Tsuchikage still felt that passing the law would not be a good idea.

Yusuke knew it was a difficult choice, but they had to decide. He needed to convince them or else it would make it more difficult for the plan to be implemented in the future.

I believe we won't be able to defend ourselves in the future unless we do that.

The Raikage said, "Then we'll take a vote. I vote yes."

The Mizukage said, "Yes."

Yes.

No." The Tsuchikage said.

The Kazekage said, "No."

"Then the new law would be passed, and it would be implemented as soon as they discussed all the points and decided on how to incorporate it into the colonies." Yusuke was happy that everything was going according to his plans, and now he just had to wait patiently for everything to go smoothly.

"The decision has been made. We now have to decide who will be the ambassador. I think we all have candidates, but I propose we send our best. Do you still have Yusuke available, or is she too busy resolving the internal disputes within her family?" Gray's voice was much more sarcastic now as he addressed his friend.

"Very funny, Gray, but Hana isn't busy preventing any disputes in the family for now; in fact, we're very lucky, as I heard that she was planning to go to Shanxi to help with search and rescue with members of the Hyuga clan since the Byakugan is very useful for finding people."

Laughing at his friend's comment, he remembered his cousin, who always tried to stop arguments at family gatherings. It was a difficult task, as so many Uzumaki members had strong tempers. His cousin was sweet, but she knew how to be firm when she wanted something and didn't give up easily.

"Excellent! I'm sure everyone would agree that Hanna is the best choice for this; she's smart and knows how to get people to let their guard down around her by underestimating her, which will be indispensable as we need them to get it wrong so we can take advantage of the situation."

"Please, Kagome, don't smile like that; you look scary when you make that face. Sometimes I get scared of what's going on in your head and what that innocent face is hiding."

"Now don't be such a coward, Boruta," she said, smiling. "I can assure you that in my head there are only beautiful flowering fields."

"Of course," said Shuddering as he looked at her. "We decided to send Hana Uzu Hyuga as our diplomat; Yusuke, please inform your cousin."

"So what's our next problem?" Inaba asked as she was already thinking about it, but they had to work.

"Well, Kodai-chan, nobody said this job would be easy; if it were, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun."