Upon entering Hidden Mist Village's war room, Jiraiya immediately frowned.
In the vast war room, the tactical sand table and military maps occupied only a corner. The central and prominent positions were filled with over a dozen sofas—apparently made of soft sea cow leather—with a beautiful female attendant standing behind each one. (Not bad, actually.)
Before each sofa sat a massive tea table. One end held tea stoves, tea kettles, tea cups, tea pets... everything complete, while the other end was laden with various fresh fruits and tea snacks.
What kind of setup was this? Was this a war council or a tea party?!
Jiraiya looked toward Koharu Utatane. Koharu's expression was unpleasant, but she said nothing.
"Come, come, sit, sit! Make yourselves at home."
Yagura Karatachi was quite enthusiastic, politely inviting the Konoha group to sit.
Koharu shot Jiraiya a look and sat silently in a subordinate position. Jiraiya and Fugaku Uchiha took seats on either side. Minato Namikaze had already returned to the village.
Yagura was in no hurry, leisurely leading a group of Hidden Mist ninja to sit down with great fanfare.
"Let me make introductions."
Yagura smiled.
"This is Ao, head of our Hidden Mist Village's ANBU, responsible for intelligence support for this campaign."
The black eye-patch wearing Ao stood and bowed.
Koharu nodded slightly in return.
"This is Aopeng, a commander of our Hidden Mist Village, responsible for logistics coordination for this campaign."
Aopeng stood.
Koharu returned the bow.
"This is Zabuza Momochi, an elite jōnin of our Hidden Mist Village and vanguard for this campaign."
Zabuza stood.
Koharu bowed.
"This is Fuguki Suikazan, an elite jōnin of our Hidden Mist Village..."
...
After meeting over a dozen Hidden Mist Village "generals" in succession, Koharu had memorized their faces. This was reasonable—after all, this was joint warfare, and they needed to know the heads of each department. This work was necessary.
After introductions concluded, Yagura spoke seriously.
"I'm sure you all know that at the invitation of Konoha's Third Hokage, we'll join forces to subjugate Hidden Sand Village. You all know that Hidden Sand Village..."
What followed was a string of repetitive nonsense that made Koharu's mouth twitch slowly.
"...So I hope everyone will work together with united hearts to win this campaign for maintaining peace across the ninja continent."
Finally, Yagura concluded his long-winded pre-war mobilization speech. Koharu was about to say something when enthusiastic applause erupted. Koharu had no choice but to awkwardly clap a few times.
The applause continued for quite a while before Yagura pretentiously raised his hand to quiet them.
Yagura poured himself tea and moistened his parched throat.
"Well, it's getting late. After lunch, we'll continue..."
Without acknowledging the three stunned Konoha representatives, he swept out of the war room with the Hidden Mist group.
Koharu and Jiraiya stared at each other.
That was it?!
They'd spent the whole morning just meeting these people?
They hadn't discussed any real "substance" at all.
Was he playing them for fools?
Jiraiya shrugged helplessly.
"Troop assembly alone takes two months. What's the use of our urgency? At least today we got to know everyone. Not bad."
He also stood and headed toward the dining hall.
After lunch, Koharu brought Jiraiya and Fugaku to the war room, only to find it completely empty. A cleaning attendant cheerfully informed Koharu that the afternoon meeting was canceled.
Koharu asked why. The answer was that during lunch, Fuguki Suikazan had inexplicably challenged Lord Mizukage to a drinking contest. Once they started competing, they got carried away, and now both were in the medical department getting IV drips!
When would the meeting resume?
Lord Mizukage said tomorrow.
Oh, tomorrow.
So the three Konoha representatives waited a full three days.
...
"Ah, sorry, sorry! I told you—no drinking at lunch! Fuguki Suikazan! You too—why start a drinking contest for no reason? I must criticize you! A war council—such an important matter—delayed this long because of you! Come, quickly apologize to Elder Koharu."
Yagura scolded.
Fuguki grinned and bowed to Koharu, saying in a muffled voice,
"Sorry."
His attitude resembled a troublemaking student giving a review to the disciplinary office director.
Koharu didn't want to waste time on this matter.
"Suikazan jōnin, be careful next time."
"I'm not surnamed Suika. I'm surnamed Suikazan."
"Oh, alright..."
Then Yagura spoke up.
"With war imminent, I'm issuing a death order: from today forward, all Hidden Mist officers are absolutely forbidden from drinking at lunch. Violators will be charged with dereliction of duty!"
Koharu frowned. Something sounded off about this—absolutely no drinking at lunch? What about dinner—keep drinking then?
"From today, our Water-Fire Allied General Staff is established. As for commander, I'll personally lead. After deployment, Hidden Mist Village will be overseen by Elder Genji. These three are Elder Koharu Utatane, Jiraiya jōnin, and Fugaku Uchiha jōnin from Konoha—they're Konoha's liaison officers and also advisors for our Hidden Mist forces' military affairs. Everyone get acquainted."
The three Konoha representatives stood and acknowledged. Koharu breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they'd established the framework.
"Elder Koharu, why don't you share Konoha's thoughts first?"
Seeing Yagura actively inquire, Koharu stood and approached the sand table. Yagura waved, and the Hidden Mist group crowded forward, surrounding the already small sand table completely.
"Please make some room."
Koharu pushed against Fuguki's mountain-like bulk.
"Currently, the Wind-Cloud Allied forces' main strength is here—about twenty thousand troops, blocking Konoha's vital passage..."
"What's this place called?"
Zabuza interrupted.
"This is a road. It currently has no name."
Koharu patiently explained.
However, Zabuza showed no self-awareness.
"Then let's give this place a name. Otherwise it's inconvenient to refer to. I see this place connects in all directions—how about calling it Four-Way Road?"
"Uh, alright..."
Koharu prepared to move on to the main topic.
But Fuguki beside him disagreed.
"What Four-Way Road? Four-way? Sounds like having an affair—unlucky! I think Eight-Way Road sounds better."
"What's with eight-way, nine-way—are we delivering packages? Four-Way Road is better!"
"Eight-Way is better!"
"Four-Way is better!"
Their argument grew increasingly heated, eventually reaching the point of drawing swords.
This commotion lasted until dusk.
"Enough! It's just a place name—what's worth fighting over? I've decided: it'll be called Connecting Road."
Finally, Yagura made the final decision.
"Good!" "Good!" "Excellent!"
Everyone seemed satisfied with this name.
"Alright, it's getting late. Let's stop here today and continue tomorrow."
"Lord Mizukage, tomorrow is the weekend."
Someone timely reminded him.
"Oh, then we'll continue Monday."
He swept out with the Hidden Mist group, leaving the three Konoha representatives bewildered in the wind.
What exactly had they accomplished in a full day of meetings?
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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