(Thank you to ScarredPunLover and MetalDragon for their help brainstorming and editing.)
"If you'll do me the kindness of waiting here, Lord Hokage," the majordomo simpered, bowing extravagantly low, "His Highness will be pleased to see you very shortly. If you or your companions are in need of any refreshment…"
"Your consideration is noted," Orochimaru replied, silky voice carrying just the right amount of flattery appropriate for a highly placed servant, who pulled double-duty as the gatekeeper to the Daimyo of Fire. "As servants of his will, it would be our pleasure to wait upon His Highness's Word."
It was, of course, all nonsense, as was most diplomacy in Orochimaru's personal opinion, but it was necessary nonsense nevertheless. A bit of patronizing theater to help grease the wheels of society. Thankfully, either that necessity was not lost on his students or they simply had the wisdom to not undermine his words in front of outsiders, because all three of the genin in attendance remained dutifully stoic as the majordomo bowed his way back out of the room.
As the doors closed behind the servant, Orochimaru sauntered across the richly appointed room to claim a couch for himself, casually running his eyes across the walls as he did so, searching for any particularly obvious peepholes. That he didn't find any meant nothing; the Daimyo was certainly wealthy enough to afford halfway competent spies.
Fortunately, Orochimaru thought, gesturing at Nagamasa, who nodded and immediately began the sequence of hand signs still necessary for the trainee to activate his Byakugan, I have a trump for all but the most competent of eavesdroppers and peepers.
As the veins began to swell around Nagamasa's eyes and temples, Akimi and Anko made their way over to join their teacher, finding seats on the couch facing his from across the narrow tea table. Behind them, his four Anbu bodyguards for the day spread out across the waiting room, with two taking up positions by the room's only door, a third crouching just under the sill of the room's window, and the fourth taking up a position in the far corner where she could view the entirety of the room.
"Two spies," Nagamasa quietly signed, his hands flashing through Konoha's standard hand-talk. Orochimaru had already taught his students the Anbu variant, of course, but it was considered ill-mannered to use that particular language when not under an animal mask. "North wall and east. One's taking notes, probably a transcript."
Orochimaru nodded, and, noticing how both the Anbu and his students tensed slightly at the news that they were under observation, smiled and signed back, "As expected. Remain ready, but calm. Follow my lead. Deactivate all activejutsu."
Three nods from his students and a slight, fractional nod from the lead Anbu were all the response the Hokage needed.
All just politics, he thought to himself, lazily beckoning Nagamasa over, who dropped down onto the couch between Akimi and Anko as his veins subsided. Only two spies? Merely a token effort. Enough to show the court respects me, without offering anything truly worth consideration as a threat. Hospitality, of a sort, for only a disinterested host would refrain from prying into his guest's business.
"So," Orochimaru said, clapping his hands to secure his students' attention. "Time for some review. Akimi," he pointed at the bespectacled boy, "why are we here?"
Orochimaru could almost see the witty quip rising to Akimi's lips; he was a clever kid, and always enjoyed any chance to prove his intellectual strength, especially when he got a chance to needle his comrades. Fortunately, he was intelligent enough to realize that this was neither the time nor the place, and gulped the remark back.
"Well," the civilian-bred boy said instead, pushing his glasses up his thin nose, "Konohagakure is a sworn vassal to the Daimyo of Fire. Without his approval and recognition, you aren't officially Hokage."
The unspoken caveat was more than loud enough for everybody in the room to hear.
"...So," Akimi went on after a moment's significant pause, "you've come to officially swear your loyalty to the Fire Lord as the Yondaime Hokage, and in exchange he will confirm your right to the leadership of the village."
"Correct," Orochimaru replied, and favored his student with a slight nod. Even that small recognition was enough to make the slouching boy sit up a bit straighter on his couch.
He has the right to be proud in his answer. It was both accurate and politically sensitive enough to give our listeners nothing to hint at disloyalty or discontent. Just as I had hoped.
"Now," the Hokage continued, turning to his next student in line, "Nagamasa, this one is for you. Why does the Hokage serve the Daimyo? Why does Konohagakure not assert its independence from the Country of Fire? After all," he added, almost rhetorically, "all of the clans were independent in the days before Lord Hashirama established the village; now that we are far stronger and more numerous, why don't we break free?"
In his mind's eye, Orochimaru could just imagine the listeners stiffening just that slightest degree. After all, these were the sort of questions that nobody wanted to hear out of the mouth of any shinobi, least of all one of the Kage.
"There are several reasons," Nagamasa promptly asserted, his voice steely and formally stiff, in accordance with the etiquette of his clan. "First, there is the reason that the clans swore their loyalty to the village, during the time of the Shodai Hokage. A unit alone, detached from the broader structure of society, is vulnerable in its isolation. It is also inefficient, as an independent clan or village would be forced to either produce all that it requires within its own lands, or would be forced to acquire the materials necessary to thrive from abroad at expense.
"Much of the village's food, textiles, and stocks of workable metal are imported, for example. There is enough of each stockpiled in Konoha to prevent a siege from immediately crippling the village and inducing starvation, but without the constant flow of vital resources into the village, the great leaves of Konoha would wither on the branch.
"Second," the Hyuuga continued, "while Konohagakure is strong with its own merits, it is stronger still with the backing of the might and mass of the Land of Fire and its people. If we did not have the money and soldiers of the lesser lords and of His Highness, we would not be able to control the territory of the Land of Fire, nor would we be capable of waging war upon both Iwagakure and Kumogakure while still having a hand free to cut Kiri throats."
Nagamasa paused to share a sharp-edged smirk with his two fellows, which Akimi ignored and Anko returned with a clear promise to repay the Hyuuga's taunting reminder, that his first kill had been an Iwa nin on the field of battle while his comrades had both been blooded with the lives of Kiri raiders, with a full measure of pain during their next training spar.
Ah, the fires of youth, Orochimaru thought, almost nostalgic. But, this is not the time nor the place.
"Third," Nagamasa hurriedly resumed, correctly reading his teacher's impatience, "the village prospers greatly thanks to our oath to the royalty of the Land of Fire. We are freed from all taxes, levies, and customs duties, we are permitted free and unrestrained use of the roads and of the facilities of the official messenger stations and rest-houses, we are exempt from any code of law save our own regulations, and we enjoy first pick of all contracts offered by nobles or commoners holding land within the Land of Fire. In short, we gain the benefits of the country in exchange for leal service."
"Commendably thorough," Orochimaru dryly replied, but nodded approvingly at his second student. "Glad to see that the money Lord Hiashi paid for tutors was well-spent. Anko."
"Yeah?" came the insolent reply, to Orochimaru's complete lack of surprise.
When no immediate correction came, his favorite turned and grinned at her two comrades, flaunting the slight degree of freedom their teacher had extended her. All three knew that either of the other two taking that tone with him would have earned a swift punishment.
Now that was unwise, my apprentice, thought Orochimaru with a sigh, shaking his head.It is one thing for others to know that you are superior, another to rub their noses in it.
Some correction appears necessary.
"Ssstop sunning your scales, little one," the White Snake hissed, Manda's tongue flicking between his lips as he chided his junior summoner. "There are hawkssss about. Thissss issss no time for your petty gamesss."
"Ah!" Anko guiltily jerked, wide eyes flashing back to her teacher. "Umm… Ssssorry, Massster…" she finally got out, obviously fumbling for the lessons one of Manda's lesser spawn had taught her.
Taking pity on her, Orochimaru signed a command to return to human speech.
"Thanksss…" Anko sighed, slumping slightly, a last scrap of serpentine sibilance clinging to her tongue. "Ah… What was the question again?"
"I hadn't asked one of you yet," Orochimaru stated, "but since you asked… tell me what you know of the samurai, Anko."
"Ah, the samurai, yeah…" the girl nodded, eyes alive with interest. "Yeah, they're an interesting bunch. Basically, they've got the same chakra network as we do, but they use it different.
"Some of us," she nodded at Nagamasa, "use our chakra internally. When we use taijutsu, we strengthen our blows and coat our hands with chakra. When a Hyuuga or an Uchiha uses their dojutsu, they're also directing their chakra towards an internal target.
"But most of us," Anko leaned over so she could point past Nagamasa towards Akimi, before jumping the tip of her gesticulating finger from Anbu to Anbu, "use our chakra for external effects. Genjutsu and Ninjutsu are almost all external to our bodies like that."
"Samurai, on the other hand, keep almost all of their chakra inside themselves." Anko motioned towards her belly. "Down inside themselves, where they just cycle it through themselves over and over. They spend hours and days just sitting still, which sounds incredibly boring but means they can permanently enhance their bodies with chakra. It's a really slow process that requires a ton of focus, so it takes samurai way longer than us to gain strength, but any gain they make is permanent."
"Almost all of their chakra?" Orochimaru raised a challenging eyebrow. "Pray tell, Little Snake, what do the samurai do that is outside of their bodies?"
"They cheat," said Anko decisively. "They say that they make their swords so much a part of themselves that their chakra networks extend into the blade, so they can enhance the edge and point with chakra, but that's not true. They just coat the blade with a chakra layer, just like how Nagamasa coats his hands with chakra when he's shutting down tenketsu."
Ignoring the incredible chakra efficiency the samurai enjoy with their swords and the way that some of their best can actually align the matrix of the metal to further resonate with their own chakra…
"Broadly correct," Orochimaru announced, and gave Anko an approving nod just a shade deeper than the ones he'd given his other students. "All samurai should at minimum be considered the equivalent to a highly experienced chuunin, both in terms of strength and experience. We are fortunate that they are few in number, for they are uniformly mighty and all require a great deal of effort to kill.
"Never take on one without a plan."
Satisfied with the chorus of solemn nods from his students, Orochimaru signaled that the lesson was over and that the three could chat quietly amongst themselves. As the typical squabbling began, albeit at a lower volume than usual, the Snake Sannin closed his eyes and allowed himself just a moment to rest.
Almost before his eyes could close, though, a knock at the door signaled the return of the majordomo.
"His Highness the Daimyo of Fire is pleased to see his faithful vassal, the Kage of Konohagakure, now," came the obsequious announcement, and Orochimaru had to stifle a groan as he pried dry eyes back open. "If you would be so kind as to follow me, my lord…"
Much like the man himself, the actual ceremonial exchange of vows with the Daimyo was underwhelming.
Thankfully, it was all over almost before it began. Orochimaru had knelt, had uttered the formal words of submission and fealty, speaking more to the robes than to the man who wore them, and had risen as the Yondaime Hokage in the eyes of all.
Then had come the important part.
The mingling.
"Lord Orochimaru," the first courtier said, effortlessly elbowing his way through the unruly press the court descended into as soon as the herald announced that the Daimyo had retired from the hall. "Allow me to be the first to offer you some very overdue congratulations. Some among us have been waiting with great enthusiasm for this day for quite some time."
"Lord Hayasaka," the Hokage greeted, dipping his head into a brief nod. "Thank you most kindly. Leadership is not a burden to be taken on lightly, but I can assure you that I shall bear the weight honorably."
Hayasaka smirked at that, an expression that Orochimaru carefully refrained from returning. The man was known to him; indeed, he was something of an ally of Orochimaru's. For quite some time, he had been speaking out in favor of a more aggressive stance in the war, with more of Fire's revenues diverted to expand and equip the army. He was also the leading proponent of the resettlement of the former Uzushio as a new province of the Land of Fire, a policy whose good sense Orochimaru could only applaud.
No use leaving the bones for Kiri to gnaw at their leisure, after all.
As the lord turned away after another brief exchange of pleasantries, Orochimaru acceded to the curious weight of his student's eyes.
"He is an important man three times over," the Hokage signed, hands flashing behind his back as he greeted the next courtier come to offer his congratulations. "Once because of his considerable fiefdom, twice because of his considerable influence over the weavers' guilds of three different cities, and thrice because he can afford a retinue of five skilled samurai and two hundred lesser soldiers."
And, Orochimaru did not tell his students,because Hayasaka has been taking pains to drop my name and my accomplishments into the ears of the Daimyo's advisors for months, paving my road straight through the tangles of the court. I did not know if the Old Man would step down or not, but contingencies are never a waste to arrange.
After another four or five lesser hangers-on, another important personage made their presence known.
"Lord Hokage."
Turning carefully, and concealing a twist in his hands that set the silent Anbu guards lurking in the corners of the grand throne room on keen alert, Orochimaru met the gaze of the austere new arrival with a level smile.
Just as he had allies at court, such as Hayasaka, so too did he have enemies. Some of those antipathies were deeply personal, born of personal grievances escalated to points of political contention or vice versa.
Fortunately, the blade-thin man with the drooping mustaches and the narrow beard reaching for his sternum was not one of those enemies. Sakakibara Shosuke, patriarch of the Sakakibara Clan and Captain-Minor in the Army of Fire, simply held all shinobi in contempt. This was hardly surprising, considering the man's position as one of the leading samurai in the Land of Fire and a powerful landowner in his own right, to the point where the Daimyo had appointed him as shugo, constable, over considerable stretches of the northern marches on the border with Earth.
Meaning that above almost anybody else with a voice in court, Shosuke has both the material stakes and the temperment to see the war against Earth firmly prosecuted for all the damages they have done to the lands under his supervision.
Orochimaru could only imagine the samurai's reaction to his teacher's "Peace Without Rancor."
And while he might delight in dressing like a bureaucrat, sword aside, only a fool would take the 'Head-Chopper' for a mild-mannered scholar-prince.
"Captain-Minor," Orochimaru acknowledged, with a nod that verged on a shallow bow. Deeper by a degree then the nods he had given the other lords who had come to see and be seen by him. "Honor and endurance to your house. Keeping your blade sharp?"
"Care to test it, shinobi?" Shosuke's lips parted to reveal a row of surprisingly small, yellowed teeth in what could charitably be called a grin.
The almost rodent-like effect was somewhat jarring against the man's otherwise immaculately neat appearance, but Orochimaru ignored it as so much theater.
Besides, the Hokage thought, smiling to himself,what sort of snake fears a rat, no matter how sharp its teeth might be?
Still, he kept his eyes fixed on the captain-minor's own. Even the least of samurai could be incredibly dangerous foes, at least when not taken unawares. Shosuke was far from the least of that breed, and while he was unarmored at court, the sword that was his badge of office remained at his hip. A ceremonial weapon it may be, but Orochimaru was well aware that a samurai of Lord Shosuke's caliber would never deign to strap a purely decorative weapon to his belt.
"You know me, Lord Shosuke," Orochimaru replied, returning the samurai's grin with one of his own that left his fangs, a side-effect of the summoning contract he had tattooed onto his forearms for ready access, bared. "When we were both holding the line against Iwa, did I ever decline our gracious guests' invitation to dance?"
Around them, the crowd murmured at the comment, and Shosuke's lips tightened at the response. Still, he had to give ground in the face of the, at least apparently, reconciliatory comment.
Of all the two hundred or so courtiers and attendents gathered here, perhaps only ten people in attendance actually risked our own skins in the war, not including my students or my Anbu. And so only we would know that Shosuke argued in favor of a tactical retreat in the face of Earth's last offensive, before Minato broke their spines and made him look like an overly-cautious fool in hindsight.
"You did not," the samurai acknowledged, and every word emerged reluctantly from between his jaws, like snakes pulled from their burrows with tongs and hooks. "All know of the contributions of the White Snake. So many soldiers from Lightning found in their beds with throats crushed, so many surprising instances of Earth or their Stone allies finding their water supplies befouled or their rations poisoned… Work well worthy of a shinobi."
"I'm honored you think so, Captain-Minor," Orochimaru lightly, almost graciously, replied. "But I can hardly claim all the credit for the hard work of my fellow Leaf-nin; not even the greatest serpent, after all, could envenom an entire battalion in a single night! But, many hands make for very light work."
It was uncomfortable saying as much; admitting that sort of limitation went against Orochimaru's own natural proclivity to maximize his own profile in the eyes of others.
But I am the Hokage now, and representative of all of the village, he reminded himself.Maximizing the individual in that capacity is absurd, especially when maximizing the reputation of Konoha's general capacities could improve our standing in the eyes of magnates and lords, leading to higher commissions when it comes time for new contracts.
Besides,Orochimaru thought, more than a bit smugly,I only had Anko's help for that bit of work, and since she's essentially just an extension of me, I could claim responsibility for the mass poisoning of the Saroma Village garrison if I so chose. But why would I want to when I can tweak Shosuke's nose instead?
"As you say," Shosuke replied, just a touch woodenly, and then shifted topics. "Tell me, Lord Hokage… Do you mean to follow in your predecessor's, in your teacher's, footsteps?"
And suddenly every ear is bent our way, Orochimaru thought, suppressing a chuckle at the sudden silence filling the hall. Now, I know what he means, and he knows that I'm not unaware… But let's make him be the one to broach the topic.
"My teacher, the Sandaime Hokage, is a wise man and a great leader, with a long and distinguished career," said Orochimaru, wearing an expression of earnest humility. "As such, he left quite a few footprints to follow throughout his long years as Konohagakure's head… Perhaps you could be more specific, Captain-Minor?"
To Orochimaru's delight, Shosuke's already pinched features somehow gained an additional air of constipated frustration.
"Most certainly, Lord Hokage," came the testy reply. "The war. Tell me, are you, Orochimaru the great Snake Sannin, one of very few to fight Hanzo of the Salamander blow for blow, veteran of two great wars and innumerable skirmishes, willing to settle for a peace without rancor and without victory? Have your ambitions softened into your teacher's contentment with your assumption of his office?
"Will there be war now, or war again in another decade?"
…Does he really not know? Orochimaru thought wonderingly, searching the samurai's stony features for any hint of a trap.Does he not know about the Hyuuga Incident? Is the news truly so slow to spread?
Are the Fire Lords truly so lax that they haven't inserted spies into Konoha's civilian population? Or is this just typical samurai contempt for the affairs of their lessers, meaning the rest of the world, biting Shosuke in the back?
If so… Then thank you, my Lord Captain-Minor, for the splendid opportunity. I could not have asked for a better opener.
"Almost a month ago," said the Hokage, pitching his voice to slither through the still air and shadows of the vast throneroom of the Fire Daimyo, "envoys of humbled Iwagakure came to my predecessor's gate to seek peace. In the spirit of his renowned compassion, the Sandaime Hokage gave them peace, and concluded that the war against Iwa was over.
"And why shouldn't he have concluded as much?" Orochimaru paused, letting the question linger. "He had forgiven them their initial attack. He had forgiven them their despoiling of our northern provinces. He had forgiven them the cross-border raids before the war.
"My predecessor, in his mercy, thought that he had found a peace at last."
As soon as the first mutterings began to disrupt the stillness of his pause, Orochimaru resumed his speech, wrapping the errant whispers in coils and crushing them into nothing.
"Emboldened, Kumogakure came, hat in hand, to beg for peace before our gate! No lesser than Yoshitaki, second only to the Raikage himself, came to swear Kumo's bond to the peace. And so, just as with Iwa's envoys, the Sandaime Hokage offered guesthood to the Head Ninja and his retinue below the auspices of the spreading Leaf."
As he described the hospitality offered, Orochimaru spread his own arms over his head, shaking back the voluminous white sleeves of his official robes to reveal his bared arms, tattoos black and livid red against his opalescent arms, the skin the same color as Manda's scales.
"Yet Kumogakure did not come to negotiate peace," the Hokage revealed, anger flaring in his voice like a cobra's hood, fraught with menace and threat. "Yoshitaki did not come in good faith, nor did he come as a guest! He came as a thief and a bandit, without truth on his tongue or honor within his hands!
"He snuck past honor guards and invaded the home of no less than Hyuuga Hiashi under cover of night, violating the hospitality he had been so freely offered and making my predecessor a liar by offering harm to a clan of Konoha while under his protection! And harm Yoshitaki offered, for he did not come to assassinate Hiashi or pillage his treasury, but instead he came for his dearest treasure: His newborn, still in swaddling clothes in her crib!"
This time, Orochimaru allowed the swelling anger of the crowd to take voice, for the roiling shock to froth into scattered shouts of outrage.
"But!" the Hokage interrupted, holding up a quelling hand, "keen are the eyes of the Hyuuga, and deadly are their wrath! No less than Hyuuga Hiashi himself hunted down Yoshitaki. Lord Hiashi cleaned himself of the besmirching dishonor of the thieves of Kumo with nothing other than Yoshitaki's lifeblood! He returned to his clan's compound with his heiress in his arms!"
Scattered cheers and applause rose, but the crowd was still keen, still eager, following Shosuke's cue to remain silent and intent, aware that Orochimaru had not yet answered the question.
"That very night, only five sleeps ago," Orochimaru announced, "the Sandaime Hokage issued his penultimate command to his village, ordering the immediate execution of all of Yoshitaki's companions! His last order, issued the following morning, was that I was designated as his successor, at which point he resigned from his office, leaving Konohagakure's future in my hands, and in the hands of His Highness the Daimyo."
Almost forgot to throw that sop in, Orochimaru chided himself. Sloppy, sloppy.
"Two mornings ago," the Hokage continued, "I dispatched a mission to the front lines near the border with Kumogakure. This mission, two platoons led by Jonin Namikaze, the Yellow Flash himself, and including no less than three Hyuuga clansmen, did not go to avail themselves of Kumogakure's hospitality, nor did they go to bandy words with that crew of oathbreakers and abductors. Instead, they went only to deliver nine wooden boxes, each three hands by three by three.
"Let it not therefore be said that Konohagakure does not return its guests home in a befitting manner, nor that the Leaf is slow to avenge our honor. Lord Shosuke," said Orochimaru, dropping his arms and locking eyes with the samurai general again, "I forced the copy of the treaty Yoshitaki signed between his jaws myself, but before I did so, I blotted away Konohagakure's mark, lest faithless blood stain our name. It shall be war, Captain-Minor, at least with Lightning and Cloud."
"Good," Sakakibara Shosuke spat, jerking his head in a spasm of a nod as the courtiers cheered. "then Iwa will join, when Kumo calls upon their alliance. They will have no other choice, not if they wish to retain their reputation.
"Too many escaped the Yellow Flash in the rout. My honor is not clean yet, nor shall it be until every man of Earth and Stone who set foot upon my constabulary offers their blood in apology to the land they befouled."
"Then war it shall be," agreed Orochimaru, repeating his own words as he extended an arm to the samurai. "Konohagakure always stands ready to assist the Land of Fire in its efforts."
"The Army of Fire shall welcome the guile and poisoned blades of the Leaf," confirmed Captain-Minor Sakakibara, grasping Orochimaru's forearm in reply. "On this, we shall stand united."
And then when the peace comes, Orochimaru clearly read in Shosuke's eyes as his own fingers closed around the samurai's arm, confirming the pact in the eyes of the court, we shall go back to trying to plant our knives in one another's backs.
But until then…
"May your sword find you worthy enemies, samurai."
"And may you find your enemies sleeping, shinobi."
"Quite the show you put on out there."
"One tries," Orochimaru replied with poorly feigned modesty, accepting the proffered cup of tea from Suna's envoy to the court of the Fire Daimyo.
He could have done a better job concealing his pleasure at the compliment, backhanded though it was, but Orochimaru knew that Lui, the Suna jonin, wouldn't have been put off by the display. Not for nothing was she called "the Sandhawk" in captured Iwa bingo books.
But if I didn't at least make an attempt, the implication that I cared little for her and Suna's opinion would have been obvious.
Orochimaru lifted the cup served by the poisoner's hand and took a long slurp, heedless of the steam.
Ah, delicious tea. Every cup a statement of intent, and every sip a gesture of faith in Suna's commitment to our alliance.
Across the low table from the Hokage, empty save for the samovar, Lui lifted her cup to her lips and took a much smaller sip, sealing the implicit offer of guest-right she had extended with the tea in the act of reciprocity.
A flower with lurking thorns, that token of friendship, considering that single steaming cup contained sufficient poison to kill any three shinobi Orochimaru cared to name.
Now, when was it that she poisoned the tea? Orochimaru wondered. She certainly poured both of our cups from the same pot, so perhaps painted the inside of mine with a water-soluble toxin… Though that could have been risky, had I insisted on swapping cups… Unless she took an antidote before I arrived?
It was difficult to not spiral into paranoia around the people Hidden in Sand. While they were generally reckoned second to Konoha in all things, the great exceptions were poison and puppetry, of which Suna's masteries were world-renowned. Nobody could manipulate the limbs of another quite like a Suna puppeteer, and all of the most exotic toxins came from the Land of Wind.
Not for nothing was Sunagakure disparaged as the "Village of Spiders".
Of course, Orochimaru himself would be a poor "White Snake of Konoha" if any poison, be it ever so refined, could fell him with a sip.
"I must compliment you on your blend," the Hokage said, speaking with an air of experience only a true Mithridate could command. "This cup has an edge of refinement almost as well honed as your own. Do I taste… belladonna, perhaps?"
"Of course you do, yeah!" the jonin confirmed with a chuckling laugh that carried just the echo of a hawk's screech. "I find they add quite a pleasant aftertaste, you know. A shame so few would live to appreciate it, yeah?"
"A tragedy indeed," Orochimaru agreed, and allowed himself a single, theatrically gusty, sigh, shaking his head as if in disappointment with the tasteless fragility of the masses. From across the table, Lui chuckled again, the two poison masters sharing a private joke that only members of a select brotherhood could fully enjoy. "Few of my colleagues," the White Snake added, "are as appreciative of the refined art."
"More's the pity, yeah," Lui shrugged, resigned. "Though with you in charge… maybe the winds'll change beneath our wings."
"...Perhaps they will," Orochimaru thoughtfully replied, mind already turning back to his own current student.
Anko will be a poison mistress in her own right within the decade, if she doesn't choke on her damneddangobefore then. She might even be rightfully a master before the war ends, depending on just how deep Kumo digs in its heels.
That was not a reassuring thought, considering how stringent Orochimaru's own standards of 'mastery' were.
Just how long would it take…?
"To business," Orochimaru said, setting his cup, and his thoughts, aside. "Much as I compliment you on your selection of tea, Sandhawk, I am certain you didn't request a moment of my time merely to enjoy a quiet cup."
"Right, right," the Sand jonin agreed, setting her own cup aside. "Nothing gets past you, eh?"
Unsure if that had been a joke or merely a statement of the obvious, the Hokage simply waited, smiling patiently as the Sand envoy shifted on her cushion.
"Alright," Lui sighed, rubbing at her headscarf. The dun bandana almost covered up her dusty pink hair entirely, but a few errant bangs had escaped the cloth's confines. They and her blue eyes were the only splashes of color in a form otherwise swaddled in mottled shades of gray and tan. "So, your speech back in the throne room kinda answered the most important question for me right off the mark. War's still happening, yeah?"
"Indeed," Orochimaru confirmed, and then took another sip of tea. Business or not, it would be a shame to waste such a flavorful cup. "Kumo's made any other course unthinkable, so it will be war with them and probably Kiri, at the very least. Iwa is still questionable."
"You think they'd bow out if Kumo came calling?" queried Lui, her raptor-slitted pupils fixed on Orochimaru.
Like most long-term summoners, some of her secondary characteristics had warped to reflect her contracted animal.
I wonder if the eyes are as far as it goes? If anybody could replicate the Land of Sky's technique for chakra-powered flight, it could be the Sandhawk… She's as famous for her Wind mastery as she is for her summons…
"I think that the Yellow Flash inflicted absolutely devastating damage on the Earth forces only a month and a half ago," the Hokage replied, contemplatively running a finger around the rim of his cup. "Of course they want revenge, but Onoki didn't accept my predecessor's offer of peace on a lark. I doubt Iwagakure is in any reasonable shape to rejoin hostilities."
"Which, of course, leaves the way open for the unreasonable, mmm." Lui nodded solemnly, his meaning not lost on the veteran. "They could see it as their last chance," she noted. "If Kumo goes to war without them and gets crushed, they'll be all alone with your village and mine. They might be thinking that we can't be in much better shape than they are."
"I don't think Onoki's quite that stupid," Orochimaru snorted. "His advisors might delude themselves, but he's never had any difficulty seeing over that warty nose of his. But, if he was afraid of being left on his own, well… He always was a bit of a gambler."
"...So," Lui slapped her thighs, disrupting the brief, reflective silence, "Iwagakure will either be getting involved once you move on Kumo, or it could just continue to threaten involvement and act as a pressure on your supply lines. Either way, you'll be needing someone to keep an eye on them, yeah?"
"That's right," the Hokage agreed, feeling the air shift as the bargaining began. "Suna's been enjoying that subsidy on grain prices, haven't you? Naturally, we would continue to extend the wartime prices for our prized allies in the Sand. And we'd continue to ignore the Wind Daimyo's attempts to contract Konoha shinobi to fill contracts that really should be Suna's, of course," he added generously.
"That's pretty good," Lui nodded, eyes narrowing, "but not quite good enough. We want Birds."
"Birds?" Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at that. The Land of Birds was one of the small countries that scattered the borders of the Great Countries. Birds had the misfortune to be stuck squarely between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, just like how the Land of Rivers was wedged firmly between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire. While the Land of Birds hosted a hidden village just like the Land of Rivers, neither had sufficient pull to stand outside of the orbits of the Great Villages. "Why do you want Birds? There's nothing about that country that makes it worthwhile."
"Its location, probably," Lui shrugged, clearly ambivalent about her superiors' demand. "It would be nice to have a buffer between us and Earth, I guess. Besides, they're gonna be paying protection to someone, so it might as well be us instead of Iwa. All those temples must've something valuable in them, yeah?"
"Hmm…" Orochimaru rolled the idea over in his mind and narrowed his eyes at the Suna jonin, whose pointed face gave nothing away. He felt as if he was missing something in this demand, some meat within a hidden crook of the shell, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what that overlooked morsel could be.
Perhaps the better question is, do I care?
"...Very well. If the Kazekage wants dominion over the Country of Birds, I won't stand in his way," agreed Orochimaru after the silence of his pause began to echo in the small guesthouse, punctuating his decision with a lazy shrug, "Perhaps he would see fit to advance his defense perimeter into his new dependency now, before Iwa finds its feet again? If he could also expand his defense perimeter to cover the zones in northern Rain Country and the westernmost parts of Fire's frontier, that would be even better."
Which would mean that I could pull Konoha out of those zones and send everybody old enough to grow stubble east to Kumo, while everybody else can be cycled back to Konoha, fulfilling my promise to the clanheads and giving the village a chance to preserve our youth for the next war.
"...Deal," the Sandhawk nodded, and, picking up her cup, lifted it in a salute and then drained her dregs. "Bitter."
"Hopefully you didn't just curse our pact," Orochimaru teased, mimicking her gesture. "But, Lui, while I'm here, I also wanted to work out another deal with Suna. Do you have another moment?"
"...Depends," the Suna jonin equivocated. "Should I brew up more tea?"
"It would be a pleassure," the Hokage grinned, allowing Manda's tongue to slip a bit further than usual from between his fangs, "far be it from me to deny myself another sssinfully sssweet cup."
"Keep talking," Lui directed as she lowered her head to the samovar's burner. Orochimaru saw a flash of moving fingers before the Suna kunoichi exhaled a burning cloud. "Let me just get a bit more water…"
Fire aerosolized with air? Orochimaru wondered, distracted by the Sandhawk's technique. But what would the incendiary medium be to hold and retain the heat as it traveled? And that was definitely an abbreviated hand seal series, so combined with the lack of verbalization, it must be a signaturejutsuof hers… Which means she probably won't willingly share it.
A pity.
"To put it simply," the Snake Sannin said, talking as he continued to think about the unknown jutsu, "I propose something of an exchange of skills between our villages."
"Ah, uh huh." Lui bobbed her head, a distinctly avian motion. "Risky ground, that. Step carefully, snake."
"Surely you mean slither?" Orochimaru asked, utterly straightfaced, only smirking when Lui looked mildly confused. The shoe on the other foot, he went on, "But yes, I understand the unwillingness to share secrets. I also fully understand that you will have to check back up the chain before agreeing to anything.
"But consider how we could both profit from a comparatively simple exchange? Say… advice from a fuuinjutsu master regarding the maintenance and upkeep of a jinchuriki seal, paid for with the expert assistance of a team of Suna alchemists in getting a small chemical refinery up and running? Not enough to compete with the Land of Wind's own refineries, of course, but enough for a few… bespoke batches, shall we say?
"How would that sound, oh Sandhawk?"