Chapter 44 - 44. Political Mission
Konohagakure,
Today, Hokage had asked the only remaining sennin of the village, Jiraiya, to come to the office. It was a matter of grave concern to him.
"Lord Hokage, you asked for me?" Jiraiya entered the office without even knocking.
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to look at him, his brows furrowed, "Why are you soaking wet? I don\'t think it rained today."
Jiraiya embarrassingly scratched his head, "Well, I was doing some research for my new book."
"You and your stunts. Did you hear anything about Orochimaru?" Hiruzen asked, ignoring the shenanigans of his former student.
Jiraiya turned serious and affirmed, "Yes, I believe he has left the Akatsuki, reason is unknown, as is his whereabouts."
"Hmm, I wish I had seen the darkness in that child\'s heart when I first started teaching your team. But we have more pressing matters now. While you were away, a great saddening progress occurred. I am sure you have heard about it by now. The Uchiha clan is no more. Only one boy is left, Sasuke Uchiha…
Leaving this aside, I need you to go to the Tea Country, now known as Dama country. You will go there to form official ties with its Daimyo." Hiruzen ordered.
"Why? Sure, they\'re pretty rich now but they\'re very weak." Jiraiya carelessly said.
Hiruzen shook his head, "That\'s where your intel has betrayed you, Jiraiya. I wouldn\'t be wrong to say they are the strongest nation in the world. They alone can stomp on all of the 5 great nations."
"Haha, I thought you had stopped with your jokes, sensei." Jiraiya laughed.
But Hiruzen\'s expression didn\'t change. Prompting Jiraiya to stop laughing and feel shocked.
"H-How? They don\'t even have a hidden village." He inquired, standing seriously still now.
"Read this." Hiruzen passed a scroll to Jiraiya.
Opening it calmly, Jiraiya read the name of the writer. "Lord First\'s scroll?"
"This is a big secret in the uppermost level of the village. The story of how Lord Hashirama caught all the tailed beasts, and how he came to regret that action later on. Read it." Hiruzen ordered him.
Jiraiya patently read it. He furrowed his brows as he read further. Slowly, he started to sympathise with all the tailed beasts. He couldn\'t imagine himself being trapped in a dark empty prison.
"Ha? Why is the part from here missing? It was just about to talk about the looks of this person." Jiraiya pointed out.
Hiruzen dashed to him and took the scroll. His face contorted in anger, "This... Someone tampered with it."
~DANZO, YOU...~ Hiruzen immediately knew who it was.
Hiruzen just told him verbally, from Itachi\'s account, "He looks middle-aged and has white long hair like you. However, he\'s taller and muscular than you."
"Got it, do you want me to find him? Now that he\'s out of his sleep we should try to find out his exact motivations." Jiraiya suggested.
But Hiruzen denied, "No, you need to form official good ties with the country. The Elder council and Danzo foolishly suggested that we attack the country and take over it."
"We cannot let that happen, Jiraiya. We have already touched his family, if we do it again, I\'m afraid not a single person will be left alive in this village.
"That giant lake south of here, Lake Moon, it was formed by a single attack from that person. You can estimate his power by that. Lord Hashirama himself wrote that if it was him alone fighting then he would have lost. The information for the third person who was fighting them is classified for you, but know this, this Shiroken person has saved our world from a great calamity already. He is not an enemy of ours, and it\'s in our best interest we don\'t make him one." Hiruzen said, showing a face he had never shown anyone before. A face of weakness, fear and anxiety.
Jiraiya felt a shiver run down his body. Of course, he had seen that lake. It was called Lake Moon because it was perfectly round and so big that it felt like the moon once bumped into the earth there.
"How should I initiate there?" Jiraiya questioned, ready to take notes.
Hiruzen smoked his pipe, before pushing a file towards him, "Give this to them. It has the location and names of all the tailed beasts Jinchuriki."
Jiraiya skimmed through it. But he frowned soon, "Sensei, you put Naruto\'s name in it too."
"We have no choice. The only way for a peaceful solution is to tell them who the Jinchuriki is before they come and forcefully ask us." Hiruzen replied, totally ready to sacrifice the boy.
"I WON\'T, I won\'t let this happen. I\'m his godfather... I sent so much money for his well-being every month. You denied him access, saying a boy shouldn\'t have so much money. I stayed silent when you made his life hell. But I can\'t now, or else I won\'t be able to face Minato in the afterlife." Jiraiya loudly protested.
*Sigh*
But Hiruzen monotonously replied, "He would\'ve done the same. Minato knew about this person, yet he sealed the beast in Naruto. Do you know what his last words were before dying?
"Minato looked at the 9-tailed fox in the eyes and apologised, for forcing him to be away from his family," Hiruzen revealed.
Jiraiya tiredly sat down in the chair. "That... Of course, he would do such a thing. He was too kind for his own good. *BAM* I should\'ve been here that day." He slammed his fist on the table, cracking it.
Hiruzen got up and walked to the disheartened Jiraiya, "Orochimaru was no less of a threat to the village, you going after him was justified. No one could have imagined such a tragedy would befall us. Get up now, have some rest and leave for the Dama Country in the morning. Tour the country well and check their powers as well as weaknesses."
Jiraiya took a long breath and picked up the file. Just as he reached the door, Hiruzen called him again.
"One more thing, beware of any Genjutsu. A woman with the Mangekyo Sharingan lives there. She is very close to this mythical being. Be respectful to her."
Jiraiya nodded, and not being in the mood to talk anymore, he just left.
...
Kirigakure, Mizukage office
"I know you have the information about your six-tails Jinchuriki. So tell me or I will be forced to make you blurt it out." Shiroken threatened the Elder of the village. Only he was the remaining one from the last generation of the Mizukage, so he was the only one with the correct information.
The ceremony for the new Mizukage had already taken place and Mei was officially the new Mizukage now. But even she was helpless as Shiroken superseded her in both political ranking and strength.
"Just tell him everything, Genji. Don\'t waste our time here." She ordered, giving clear permission.
Genji started, "W-We don\'t exactly know his location, but only the region he\'s in. If need be, we can quickly look for him this way. He\'s somewhere in the Land of Waves."
Shiroken nodded. "Tell your Shinobi to keep an eye on him. You can leave now."
"B-but I am the elder, my Lord." Genji stammered.
Shiroken\'s red eyes shined dangerously, "But I am here right now, are you saying you are more important than me?"
"Ah, no, no... I will leave." Genji left. Shiroken knew this man was a bit neutral but he still had biases towards the Kekkei Genkai clans, so he didn\'t like that he heard about his plans.
Now only Mei, Shiroken and Shisui were present, Shisui was here slowly falling into Shiroken\'s ideology and had started to believe there was something wrong in himself.
"You do understand that you are now bound by the laws to obey my commands when it comes to administrative policies?" Shiroken asked her.
Mei nodded and replied professionally, "Yes, Lord Daimyo."
"Good, the first thing you must do is change the school system. Make it less ruthless. Next, prepare to care for all orphans in and around the village in some radius. They are your future. They have nothing right now, as long as you give them some love and food, they will be loyal to you.
"Now, here are the economic policies you need to implement." He started teaching her about business. What to export, what to produce based on her county\'s geography and other countries that lacked what they had.
Shiroken had learned all these things from Gyuki, who for some reason knew about nearly everything.
"See, nearly everything you have are things the Wind country is in need of. You also have what the frost country lacks. Focus on fishing, create a village centralised fishing company that will act as a mediator to sell all the village\'s produce to other countries.
"Focus on agriculture, as some things that grow here do not in other places. Such exotic things have a market too.
"There is money everywhere, you just need to look. But remember, peace promotes business, and war destroys the economy. As long as you don\'t provoke someone, and someone still attacks you, instead of starting a war, you can tell me. As the Supreme Daimyo, it will be my duty to stop all conflict." He explained and taught her.
But Mei had one confusion, "What does the position of Supreme Daimyo exactly mean? How are you different from normal Daimyo?"
"Daimyo rules over one country and all its villages, right?" He asked.
She nodded, so he continued, "Just like that, I come above every single Daimyo in the world, which indirectly means I rule each country. Though I have not taken a pledge from other countries yet, but you can be assured it won\'t take too long."
"Y-you... Doesn\'t this make you like the... King of the world?" Mei exclaimed loudly in shock.
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