Chapter 39
Rin stood beside Shisui and Kakashi behind the screen watching the kage summit go underway. Naruto sat beside Mifune; she had chosen to remain impartial during the meetings of all five kage.
She refrained from glaring at the blonde as she spoke up during the meeting. Rin didn’t understand everyone’s obsession with her. Sure, she was pretty, strong, diplomatic, fierce and knew what she wanted. But at the same time, she was annoyingly headstrong, always barrelling head-first in Rin’s opinion.
The brunette supposed being the yondaime hokage’s daughter, the adoptive daughter of a sannin and a student to another, many people saw her as a way to gain the villagers’ trust. Rin saw her as a one-way ticket to heartbreak and mistrust.
Which is what her recent dislike of the other kunoichi stemmed from- distrust. Naruto had never once mentioned being in a relationship with Kakashi, however either had anyone else. When she had been moaning to her other friends, they had all looked at her strangely as asked how she hadn’t known. The two weren’t exactly discreet whenever they had been together and the looks they gave each other in public could put Jiraiya to shame- so she had been told.
She felt like an idiot, not having seen it- not having caught wind of their two-year relationship.
But worst of all, Kakashi- her own teammate- hadn’t spoken a word of it to her. She supposed that wasn’t really the worst of it, apparently even hospitalised and insane Obito had known the two were sleeping together.
Was she that much of an idiot she couldn’t see that which the clinically insane and mentally disturbed had been able to see? Or had her once love for her former teammate clouded her sight as well as her judgment?
As much as Rin complains about Naruto, at least the blonde was able to put duty first. Rin had lost count of how many times her infatuation had led to her being distracted during missions which had caused several problems for the team, not that they ever commented on it.
She mentally shook her head, once again focusing on the summit going on, she refused to be distracted on such an important mission.
“It shall take several months if not a few years till the land has fully settled, will it not?” asked the kazekage.
“If by that, you mean the additional land that is being added to each nation as well as fully disbanding the smaller villages you are correct.” Replied Naruto causing Rin to scowl. She didn’t see anything wrong with the smaller villages having stayed the way they had been.
“Have all the necessary agreements been signed and brought here to be checked?” asked Mifune and Naruto nodded, handing them over.
“Each of the people that signed these agreements said they wished to remain leaders; however, they would not be able to retain their current titles but other ones.” Answered the young blonde.
“And which had been agreed upon?”
“None as of yet, the daimyos of each nation have yet to come up with how they intend to proceed, but they also signed the agreements which stated they would be able to retain their leadership.”
Mifune nodded as he read through the documents and all was silent as he did so. The man’s eyebrows rose at some of the signatures and agreements, “It is truly a testament to you negotiating abilities, Lady Namikaze, that you managed to not only get every significant merchants’ signatures but also the signatures of royalty. How do the royals proceed?”
“They will each be entering the daimyo’s courts as members of nobility.” Once again, Mifune nodded before putting away the scrolls to a side, clearly pleased with them which ticked Rin off a bit.
“Seeing as the discussion of merchants and land were open, how do each of us divide the land given to each of us? The daimyos alone cannot control all that burden.” Asked the mizukage, clearly confused with how they would all proceed. Mizu no Kuni was not large, even if you include the new land it will soon have, but they struggled a lot with leadership.
“I believe Lady Uzuma- Namikaze has something for that.” Corrected the kazekage.
Naruto smiled at the kage, “I don’t mind either name, Lord Kazekage. As for the delegation of the land provided, whilst I have no final word from the daimyos, I do have some rough ideas they drafted during their last summit a few weeks prior. If you have a preference, feel free to discuss them with your respective daimyos.”
She cleared her throat and took a sip of her water, “The lands will be divided by smaller cities or provinces which will be led by a single ruler either from majority rule or birthright. Those were the first two ideas that had the highest votes. The others with lesser votes was for the daimyo to send representatives from their courts to lead each city or province, and the final suggestion was to have battles to decide leaders. The last one is, however, not an actual option.
“In addition, each daimyo agreed that with the expansion of the nation’s sizes, the hidden villages would also expand and would have different branches. So instead of each nation having one hidden village at the far reach of each nation, there would be smaller ones away from the main village.
“This ensures people will be able to send in their mission requests as not everyone is able to do so. For example, it is sometimes impossible for someone from the back of Suna to reach the beginning of the desert land in order to reach the village. The land is hot and is not forgiving. People choose to suffer instead of travelling further out to seek our help. This new system would allow them to ask for help, meaning an increase of missions for each nation. But this also mean each kage will need to have a second and possibly third in command ready to lead those smaller hidden villages.”
Minato interrupted her, “And what would the sizes of each hidden village be?”
Naruto looked up from the scroll she had been glancing at in concealed surprise before once again clearing her throat, “The main hidden villages will become twice the size depending on what is doable for that land. For example, if your land is currently approximately 15 miles wide, it will approximately become 30 miles. The smaller hidden villages will be approximately the same sizes as simple towns and cities currently, but they will be addressed as villages and not hidden villages.”
“If they will not hold the official title of hidden villages, will they hold the same facilities provided to only hidden villages?” queried the raikage.
Naruto shook her head, “Yes and no. They will have a number of training fields, shinobi trained medics, and a headquarters but they will not have shinobi only libraries, shinobi academies or any other facilities we are granted such as ANBU, T&I etc.”
There was silence in the room as everyone took in the information, “Of course, the final document will be given to each kage when the daimyos have actually agreed on something solid. As of now, the information I have is draft at best.”
They all nodded their head and murmured quietly. Rin was able to make out some faint whispers that they would be talking to the daimyos about certain things. They clearly did not want to be given any more surprises. Plus, they would be able to advise them to a degree.
Mifune stood up and addressed them all, “I do believe there is not much left to discuss. The five of you have been maintaining contact throughout the negotiating period and the official contract is being written as we speak. I suggest an adjourning of the meeting for lunch and everyone to return in say… five hours. By then, the contract would have been written and enough times for each nation to take a copy and sign.”
The kage murmured their agreements and one by one left the room. The tsuchikage was the first to get up, levitating in the air as he complained of his back-ache, then it was the mizukage. Next the raikage, kazekage then the hokage.
Naruto had remained behind to have a word with Mifune, or so she assumed. There was no other reason for Naruto to remain there.
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Mifune sat down as Naruto went through one of her scrolls looking for a particular set of images. She had managed to persuade the samurai to help her whilst she tried to do her best in resolving conflicts. It helped that she promised extra land and better contracts for the Land of Iron.
She sat down and placed a variety of images on the table, “These are different angled shots of the only person in the five nations I consider an actual threat to mankind. This… thing never dies and has no chakra to be sensed through. He isn’t like you samurai, who do not mould chakra. Instead he has none. He can manipulate chakra around him but not his own. I wish to know by the time we leave, if any of your samurai have seen him.”
Mifune tugged on his beard twice before nodding his head, “Whilst I have not seen the black one, I have seen the white counterpart. I believe it during my short trip to the land of Tea to gather some tea herbs. He was in one of the houses. Of course, the house was suspiciously burnt to the ground a few hours later when no one had been in the house but there was nothing to be done about it after it was gone but rebuild. I left and returned, thinking nothing of the figure I had seen.”
He seemed lost in thought for a moment before nodding his head and reached towards the pictures. “Will it be possible for me to keep hold of some of these, I will, of course, cooperate as much as I can in this endeavour. If this thing is as powerful as you claim him to have been in your last missive, then even I would be willing to help.”
Naruto nodded and thanked him for any and all help he would be willing to provide before leaving to check on everyone. Her head was beginning to ache and she was concerned, but not enough to ask Rin for help.
Kakashi and Naruto had not gone to speak to Rin yet the girl was acting formal. Naruto wasn’t overly concerned with the brunette. What she thought and did was of no concern to Naruto, which could be said about everyone around the blonde.
Rin could even say straight to Naruto’s face that she was a back-stabbing traitorous demon bitch from hell and the blonde would merely raise an eyebrow and say her comment was not original.
Nothing about Rin was original.
Naruto wasn’t being harsh, however, as a student of the hokage, Naruto thought the other girl would take some initiative to do something about her power level however the girl didn’t seem concerned.
Even Sakura and Ino had taken training seriously and tried their very best to improve their skills. Granted, for a good chunk of time, it had been to impress Sasuke but still, they put the effort out there. Both were formidable foes on the frontlines even if Ino was trained more for infiltration and similar branches.
Obito couldn’t exactly train given his current mental state but when he was sane, he had also taken training seriously and done his best to progress.
Then there was Kakashi who took training as serious as religion. He trained almost every day he could and worked hard to produce new jutsu, perfect those he knew, or amplify the ones he knew by adding elements to them.
The same could be said about many shinobi. This was the sole reason Rin was stuck at chunin despite her having every possible resource lain before her to move forward.
Naruto as a child had tried to train more than Rin had for shodai’s sake.
‘Enough of your ramblings you're making my head hurt.’
‘sorry Kurama, but you know how I get about training.’
‘Whilst I do not think everyone out there needs to progress further, some people should and the girl should have progressed somewhat in the years. The only thing she has slightly improved on is her healing but even that is limited.’
‘If you let me out, I would be willing to thoroughly teach her.’ Spoke the haikage.
Naruto deadpanned, ‘No. you wouldn’t thoroughly teach her, you’d thoroughly wreck her.’
Male Naruto tilted his head, ‘Isn’t it the same thing in the end?’
‘No!’ yelled Naruto and Kurama as the blonde began massaging her head. Honestly, she needed to get this day over with and sleep.
Sighing she began jumping on the rooftops, she was the only one with the clearance to actually use chakra here since she was a neutral party and key negotiator in these discussions.
She quickly made her rounds, each kage and their party had been strategically placed at different points of Mountains Graveyard where they were far enough to not cause trouble but close enough to be able to defend each other if necessary. Whilst the samurai took patrols and entry to the Land of Iron far more serious than the hidden villages, breaches were possible.
Once only needed to look at the kage summit in Naruto’s original time where Zetsu and Sasuke appeared. That had been a disaster.
Naruto’s last destination to check was the Konoha representatives and then she was free to go to her own residence in the centre of all the kage’s.
She landed silently outside their door before knocking and waited for entrance like she had done with the others. Kakashi was the one who opened the door and gave her a smile as he ushered her in.
“Has everyone settled in fine? Was there anything you needed?” she asked, more informal than she had with the others but what she was saying was the same thing essentially.
Minato shook his head, “So far everything’s fine. We just wanted to know what we were going to do about dinner later.”
“Everyone will be convening at the house I’m staying in where myself and some of the samurai will be preparing food.” She replied and Minato nodded with a frown.
“Is there no way we could talk you into just staying here with us?” asked Kakashi and she shook her head.
“I’m considered a neutral so I need to remain neutral especially here. We wouldn’t want to earn the wrath of anyone here when we’re so close to getting the alliance that’s been in the works since the end of the third war.” She explained.
She gave the back of her neck a quick massage before turning around, ready to head out, “Oh, Shisui, come outside with me for a few minutes?” she asked.
The Uchiha gave a quick glance to the hokage who looked to be actively avoiding their gaze and shrugged, going outside with her.
It was cold outside; the Land of Iron was full of snow and ice that Naruto wondered how the samurai wore metal armour. It must sting to touch when they remove it.
“Did you want to talk abou-” he didn’t get to finish his question since Naruto pushed him against the wall and hugged him close to her. He furrowed his brows slightly and held her to him.
He was used to her occasional overly physical displays of affection however this one seemed very random.
He gave a gentle kiss to the top of her head, his arms tightening around her waist as she seemed to slowly loosen her hold, “What’s up?” he whispered, afraid if he raised his voice, he might startle her.
She didn’t reply immediately and instead looked up at him for a moment, “I just really wanted you to hold me.” She replied in a shaky voice and he suddenly felt more concerned than before.
He lowered his head to touch his forehead to her own and was surprised to feel it was at normal temperature. This wasn’t a good sign.
He frowned and brought her back in, “Lord hokage, I’m going with her to watch over her. She isn’t well and above all else, she’s my responsibility.” He ignored Naruto’s insistence that she was fine and just needed a nap.
Minato immediately got up and gave a quick inspection of the girl, placing his hand on her head and recoiled. Naruto was never at normal temperature. “Can I have a look at your seal?” he asked quietly, not wanting to startle her.
She shook her head, “There’s really no need. It hasn’t changed since the last time.”
Minato silently agreed, the seal his counterpart had placed on his daughter couldn’t weaken, so there was no reason for her to be ill.
“I’m sure you’re not allowed to leave the group are you Shisui?” asked Rin, drawing all eyes to her.
“I don’t have to remain with you guys. I came here as additional personnel since I need to guard Naruto. All the other Kage have only two guards. I’m not guarding Lord Minato, but Naruto.”
Rin nodded and slowly made her way over to the group, Kakashi having strategically stood behind them in case the other jonin fell back. A pang of envy coursed through her however she begged it would go away long enough to make a short assessment of her.
Her hands glowed green as she attempted to feel for what was wrong with her, however as she wasn’t used to Naruto’s body, she wouldn’t be able to tell instantly.
After giving her a thorough check over she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, however, “Naruto, have you ingested any poisons recently?”
Naruto tilted her head to the side as she gave it a thought and Rin mentally facepalmed over the fact the other girl had to think it over.
“No, I haven’t. Plus, poisons don’t affect me.” She answered and Rin slowly nodded her head.
“I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary for the average kunoichi but I know you and Kushina sensei have slight biological differences compared to others. Since I’m not your main medic, I won’t be able to help much.”
Naruto nodded in understanding but Shisui was not so appeased. “Is there nothing at all you can do?”
“If I don’t know what’s wrong and how it’s affecting her, I’m not able to help.”
He grits his teeth and replied, “Then I’m just going to take her.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he hoists her up with an arm under her knees and on her back and shunshined a few times to the house she was staying in.
Gently he laid her down on her bed, wrapping her up in the blanket provided and ran his fingers down the side of her face, “What do you need?” he practically pleaded, slowly infusing his chakra into her as he sat beside her.
Her breathing had turned into slight panting as she looked at him through hooded eyes, “Just a short nap. Can you wake me up an hour before we’re supposed to head back to the meeting?”
He didn’t want to but he nodded anyway, knowing if he made her sleep any longer, she would become mad at him.
“Do you want to eat anything?” he asked and she shook her head no before falling asleep, her breathing still in slight pants but not as bad as before.
Shisui wondered if this was how Naruto felt each time he fell ill or someone she cared about fell ill. The girl had no experience with it herself so it must frighten her to be so far into the unknown.
He stayed there, sitting by her side as he slowly ran his fingers down her skin or through her hair, till it was time to wake her up.
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Naruto honestly couldn’t recall the last time she had felt so shitty. If she bothered thinking of her past life she would, of course, recall during the fourth war when she passed out from chakra exhaustion and blood loss, but she didn’t have the brain capacity for that just yet.
All she could focus on was the meeting at hand. Shisui had decided to move beside her and after a brief explanation to the other kage and General Mifune there was no trouble.
Unless you included the looks the mizukage was giving her boyfriend a problem in which case, they had major problems. She contemplated snapping at the woman but knew that would only gain her ire.
Despite all the work Naruto had been doing the past few years to finally get to this point, she wanted nothing more than for them to hurry up and get on with it so she could rest.
She mentally swore that she was going to book a whole month off active duty when they returned.
The five kage read each of the documents presented, making sure none of them was different from the other as they signed the first section, under their signatures were their guards had signed and below them were Mifune and Naruto’s signatures. At the bottom was Shisui’s, just below Naruto’s to mark him as her guard.
Once everything had been signed, they all began to make their way to their given residences. They would be able to return tomorrow afternoon when the storm outside let up.
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I hope you all enjoyed this and don’t forget to comment and review! Till next time!