Pre-Chapter A/N: For the next few weeks, you might only get chapters on Tuesdays. Real life stuff is getting in the way. I will of course maintain my commitment to at least one upload per day on patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(some days there might be two like there used to be but I won't commit to that many for now). While the above statement is still more or less true, there is a real chance we might return to our regular upload schedule to kick May off. We just have to see how the next few days go. Next five chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
XXXXXX- SHIKAHIME NARA
"This is a negotiation. The intention was never to threaten. We want to build an alliance here on the basis of mutual trust and respect," she lied through her teeth. Some untruths needed to be said.
"Is mutual trust and respect what you would call it? I notice you never mention it as a negotiation between equals," he said, far more eloquent than she had expected him to be.
"Konoha is a greater power than Ame even at your best. You are far from your best," she admitted.
"Indeed. And that is why you are here, no? Because we are not at our best," he said. She shrugged. She was beginning to like talking to him, she realised. Shori was never one for playing word games. Uraume was too busy, and Kizuru was… She tried not to think of her fallen friend yet.
"I would be here either way. The fact that you are not at your best does mean that there are opportunities that we can take advantage of together, however. We can help you, and you can help us," she said.
"I can help you and you refuse to see me as an equal?" he asked with a chuckle.
"When a Lord sends his servant to fetch an item, do they become equals?" she asked.
"And so you see me as a servant?"
"Are we not all servants one way or another? If you play your cards right you could be a greater servant than I myself am," she said.
"A servant to the Leaf," he said.
"What else?"
"Or Shorirama Senju?"
"There is no difference between them as far as you are concerned," she said.
"Is that the case? There was no difference between Hanzo and Ame as far as I was concerned. Now, Hanzo is dead, and Ame? Well, look around." He gestured to their surroundings, clearly indicating the wider country and not the forest they stood in.
"Many have found Shorirama Senju a very difficult man to kill. I do not see that changing any time soon," she said.
"We thought Hanzo was immortal. Your Kage came from the skies and plucked him away and he did not return. You know what I learned from that? There is always a bigger fish," he said.
"Shall I tell you a secret?" she asked. He waved her ahead.
"Shorirama Senju did not kill Hanzo the Salamander. His teammate from when he was a genin, Uzume Uchiha, did. Now I have seen them fight with my own eyes. My Kage is better. There is no bigger fish in this ocean, Yaga. Shorirama Senju is the whale that consumes all. His appetite, insatiable, and his power? Well, the fact that you were scared enough that you came here should tell you all you need to know," she said, stepping forward. His guards tightened their grip on their blades. She felt Toad move slightly, adjusting her position so she could jump between the Warlord's contingent and Shikahime before things got bloody.
"I have met very many minnows who thought themselves sharks. Quite a few sharks who did not know a bigger shark was lurking and waiting for them. Never a whale though. Perhaps I would enjoy killing one," he ventured. She scoffed.
"I grew up with him, you know? We were in the same academy class. He was always bright, but he never cared too much about classes or whatever. He topped them without even trying. Now, he's like that but on a different level. Few things can pique his interest, and even fewer can keep his attention. He has fought so many people that even his prodigious brain would struggle to remember them all. But there is one thing he told me — he remembers everyone who ever made him bleed. Yaga-san, if I may be frank with you, if you fought Shorirama Senju, he would never remember you," she said, not even delivering a threat. It was true. Shori could fight all three of the warlords at the same time and probably not even break a sweat.
She had seen him fight Uzume, and seen him fight those monsters he called students. Shori was more than a man now. She wondered who would win between him and his Grandfather sometimes. Both of them just seemed to be larger than life. Gods in human skin.
"What an interesting way to put it. I will take you at your word then," he said. She nodded, sensing there was more.
"So now that we have partly clarified the stick, I would appreciate it if the whole thing was put on the table. If I walk away now, what would happen to me and my people?"
"You haven't even heard the offer in full," she pointed out.
"Humour me. I need to see if the consequences of refusing to negotiate are bearable," he said. Men, she sighed to herself. Powerful men were one and the same.
"If you walked away now, I would return to my Kage with word of your refusal. He would laugh, because the stupidity would amuse him —" quite a few of Yaga's men bristled at that but he waved her to continue, no offence taken. "And then he would call for the jounin and chunin of my village. They would assemble at the border, and he would lead the charge. At the tip of the spear, he would wreak havoc on your shinobi, samurai, infrastructure. He would take your refusal to kneel as an invitation to make you. Then he would hunt down you and the other warlords. He would open you from neck to waist and string you up by your entrails as a message to those who would come after," she said.
"And what if I did not allow you to leave? You said you grew up with him, yes? But that is not the whole story, is it? The letter to meet her was planted in my study by one of your spies — a subtle message, I am sure. But I have spies of my own. And they tell me that you are his cousin. That there are few others he values as much as he values you. What would the Butcher do if I held his dear cousin as a guest in my castle? Would he still make me kneel as you say? Would he open me from neck to waist and string me up by my entrails?" The anbu were visibly on edge at that threat. She did the math very quickly. Yaga the Beheader was an S-class threat. She knew his strength — she'd stand no real chance without help. The strength of the guards with him was unknown but it was safe to assume they would be at least as strong as the average jounin. They outnumbered her group by 1.5 to 1, so they had that on their side as well. Could Toad defeat Yaga? Perhaps. It did not matter though. Because he would not dare.
"Have you seen Iwa? What remains of it?" she asked.
"The ruins. I sent a few messengers to take a look. I needed to know if it was real — what they said." She smirked.
"Touch me and my cousin will make Iwa look tame when compared to what he will do to you," she said.
He brought his hands together in a clap that made quite a few of her escorts near-flinch.
"Yes, I did think that that would not go in my favour as well. From everything I have heard of the butcher, he is not the type to have his hand stayed by any means. In that case, we can then move on to hearing your offer," he said. She nodded. She could see what his plan was now.
He wanted to get as much information from them as possible, yes, but he was also trying to drive home a point of some sort. Perhaps he was trying to make sure his people understood he had no choice but to agree to the partnership. Shorirama did have a reputation — unjust as it was — for killing people who irritated him en masse.
"The Hidden Leaf offers you the following terms. We will offer you weapons, medical supplies, food, seals, and equipment to allow you to take the fight to the other warlords with the goal of seating you on the throne of Amegakure, and in return you will swear Amegakure as a vassal village to Konohagakure. The Hokage will have the final say on all things where the village is concerned, but you will maintain operational control over the day to day activities of the village," she said.
"What an offer. Total vassalage in exchange for trinkets," he scoffed, shaking his head.
"We have the best weapons in the world. The Uzumaki clan calls Konoha home now. We have the potential to offer fuinjutsu enhanced tools en masse. I doubt you can honestly call those trinkets with the potential they have to change the fate of your war effort."
"I've played this game before. You start with your worst possible offer and then improve it with every iteration. Neither of us has the time for that song and dance however, so why don't we do this. You give me the best offer you can spare and I tell you whether it works for me or not."
XXXXXX- SUIREN HOZUKI
He gazed down at the field of recruits as they went through another set of kata. He did not think much of them in truth. The dregs of the dregs. The least of those who were found to have the potential to become shinobi. This is what Kiri had become now. Konoha was constantly expanding, Iwa was dead, Suna were cowards, and Kumo was preparing for the inevitable return to hostilities.
The Hidden Mist would not be left behind this time. Peace had only been reached with Konoha when the Butcher had sent his message. He had torn a scar into the middle of Iwa and dared the rest of the world to piss him off after that. No one had. Suiren himself had known he stood little chance. Two Raikages, two Tsuchikages, and only Sage knows how many S-rank shinobi had fallen at his hands. Suiren was proud of his power. He gave himself good odds against any of his fellow swordsmen on his day but he didn't think he could kill a Kage. Not even his Kage would fall to his blade if he tried. And if he couldn't kill a Kage, how would he beat a man who had fought four in his lifetime and killed them all.
But that did not mean the Mist would surrender. The Three Tails had already been sealed into a young boy from the class with the most potential who had shown a strong compatibility with the beast, and his training was progressing well. The Six Tails would reform in time and be sealed as well when it did so. He had learned a lot from fighting the Three Tails and anticipated that the next time he faced a jinchuriiki he would not need to rely on a fluke of luck.
"What do you think of them, Suiren?" his Kage, and cousin, asked.
"I think it is shameful that we need to rely on these dregs," he said, not mincing words. His Kage was not one who enjoyed being lied to or deceived for whatever reason and he could smell those small deceits like a shark could smell blood in the water.
"I think so as well, but to defeat Konoha when the time comes, we will need every able body holding a kunai," he responded, his gaze flickering to Suiren's own face as if he wanted to see what he thought about the response.
"I don't think they could accomplish much in front of the Butcher's army. Konoha will be relentless in the next war if what happened to Iwa, and then the New Stone in quick succession is to be taken as an indication of policy moving forwards. There is always the option of staying out of it and biding our time. Konoha and Kumo can go to blades, and Kiri can swoop in at the end and reap them both," he said.
"Konoha will be too strong after Kumo. If we do not face them when Kumo and Suna do, then we never will stand a chance of victory," his Kage said.
"You speak of an alliance? With the other villages?"
"Iwa and Kumo working together could not defeat Konoha. A war on four fronts could not defeat Konoha. They have the lives to waste, and they have the leaders willing to waste them on all fronts to get the victories they need. A war on one front is what must happen. A single front. All three villages committed to the same goal. And Kiri will not be the least of this alliance," he said.
"If Kumo and Iwa had not betrayed themselves, they might have won," he said.
"No. They would have still lost. Shorirama Senju is a man of his Grandfather's ilk. He must be beaten and soundly beaten in one battle. He must be killed. His army must be shattered. Anything less than that will not be enough," he said.
"I am, of course, willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve our aims," he deferred even as he disagreed. A shinobi alliance had only one outcome. It was just a matter of whether they would wait to defeat Konoha before they turned on each other or if Konoha would come and find them gorging themselves on each others' flesh. He would be ready for either outcome. That was his duty as one of the Seven.
"You are indeed. Your contributions will be expected to match the privileges you have been given," his Kage said, and he nodded. He would do his duty. He always did.
XXXXXX- BUNPUKU
He moved the sand with his will. He had long graduated past needing gestures to exert his will on his environment. When he willed it, the desert moved, and everything that stood in his way either got out of it or was moved out of it. Today, he faced one of the few who could bear to stand and not be moved.
Rasa's gold dust rose in a wall that divided the wave of sand in two halves. Both of them passing him by and leaving him untouched. That golden dust now thickened into a series of tendrils that reached out, seeking to grasp a hold of him and bring this game to an end. His sand was there to hold them off.
Gold dust was heavier than sand, but that did not matter when Rasa was forced to control limited amounts to keep his chakra expenditure at sustainable levels and to avoid overstressing his mental faculties. Neither of those were problems that Bunpuku had to face. The seals that had now become part of his personal identity around his wrist had seen to it that he had become divorced from the base human limitations one would have to face.
Sand deflected tendrils of gold dust, and the dance began anew. More and more sand was brought under Bunpuku's control — no, that was a wrong way to say it. He had control over the whole desert already.
It was just that sometimes he allowed some of the sand in his range to act independently of that control. He changed that now, moving bigger and bigger waves to test Rasa's defences and concentration. For the most part, he proved himself up to the challenge. He increased the density of the gold dust that shielded him, changing the shape of his defence with each onslaught, rejecting the attempts Bunpuku made to 'infect' the gold dust with his own sand to allow him to snatch control like he had done many times before by consistently purging them, and then still fighting the battle beneath the surface to prevent Bunpuku's sand from rising beneath his feet and bringing an end to the game.
"Brace yourself," he called as he upped the ante. The sand around the both of them lifted into the air, forming an orb above their heads that cast a persistent shadow over the battlefield. The raised sand's absence created a sinkhole that began to draw them in. And then he got the first glimpse of Rasa's subterranean defence. He had felt it with his sand, of course. But feeling was different from seeing. It was truly impressive that he could maintain six inches of compact gold dust beneath him at all times which resisted all kinds of approaches. Brute force, casual insertion, infection. None had worked.
Rasa's platform shifted to form a dome that covered him from all sides as the sphere of sand above them had shifted its form in warning before it began to fall as a series of sand bullets. Each one hit with enough force to dent the dome made of dust Rasa had formed. He was given three choices. Run out of chakra enhancing the density of the dome he stood within to allow him to beat the onslaught that would not be ceasing for a while. Or he could reroute from dust beneath his feet to shore up his above ground defences and then Bunpuku would have an easier job taking him from beneath. Or his final option was to abandon everything and go all out for a flicker of a chance at victory.
Bunpuku knew what he would choose even before he did so. In a lot of ways, Rasa was like his Uncle, Bunpuku's friend more than he knew. He pushed against the ground, body flickering forwards and closing the distance between them. Bunpuku reduced the speed of the sand drops that would hit him, making them bruise rather than tear holes through his body. He lashed out with a punch, Bunpuku caught it in his grasp and then triggered his trap. His form turned to sand that wrapped around Rasa.
The floating sphere parted to reveal him at its core.
"I win," he said simply.
A/N: Just a look at the other villages for a bit. Next five chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.