This is a bonus chapter for another 50 powerstones. I forgot to check lmaooo~
The hustle bustle around the restaurant finally calmed down now that the night was closer to its darkest time. Patrons of all appearances around the restaurant started to chat and laughed, most of their stomach was now filled, heads lighter than the time they walked in.
But contrary to the light atmosphere around the dining hall, the bar counter was filled with unspoken tension.
With a soft thud of chopsticks hitting the empty bowl that sounded like the horn of wars, Minato opened his mouth. "So, Ludwig-san, Claire-san, you are going with Kushina to Tempest, the city governed by this Rimuru?"
His serious tone slithered towards both Ludwig and Claire. Beside him, Kushina sat deflated. Her countenance was dark, probably thinking he wouldn't be able to go.
"Indeed. Just like what Kushina told you earlier, we first want to go there because Rimuru told us he can bestow one of his skills to Claire. A skill that would help her tremendously in governing her city." Ludwig answered calmly, body angled closer towards Minato.
His tone took a lower tone after the precious words ended. "If you are worried about her safety, don't be. If I wanted to do something to her, I would have already done so. In this restaurant, even your Hokage is nothing."
The atmosphere dropped even lower as Ludwig finished his words. Across him, Minato's eyes sharpened, his body taut, ready to pounce if given a reason.
"Don't be too worked up," Ludwig continued, his voice as serene as a lake under a moonlight. "And if you are worried about us stealing that fox inside of her, don't be. He might be powerful in your world, but in mine, in Claire's, and in Rimuru's, it's not as strong."
Ludwig's eyes fell into Kushina's abdomen as he said that. However, what he was looking at was not it, it was deeper. A ginormous orange fox chained into the grown by golden gleaming chains.
As if sensing his gaze, no, the fox surely felt it as Ludwig made sure of it, it shuddered as its ginormous eyes looked at him.
It let out a growl, muffled due to the chains in its mouth. But the message came as clear as the day to Ludwig. He was saying the famous line of the wolverine. Minus the middle finger.
At that moment, a sound broke in the material world.
"Ludwig-san." He warned, voice quiet but razor-sharp, "if you hurt Kushina even a lit—"
"I'm not harming her." Ludwig's voice didn't waver. "I'm simply returning a greeting. Albeit quite late."
And then, he let a ripple of his mana slip. A single wave of pressure, pale-blue and cold with precision and weight.
It brushed across Kushina harmlessly. But it hit Kurama like a cage snapping shut.
The fox recoiled so violently Ludwig almost felt the mental backlash. Kurama's nine tails shuddered, slamming into the invisible floor of Kushina's inner world, scattering sparks of crimson chakra. Its pupils narrowed into thin, furious slits.
A roar trembled through Kushina's seal. And malicious mana started to leak to the restaurant, sending most of the patrons to their feet. Some of the customers from Elos even reached for their weapon deep in their Storage Ring, ready to fight back.
Ludwig leaned forward slightly, eyelids lowering. "Behave."
Kurama bared its fangs and lunged forward, jaws snapping at the invisible barrier, only to freeze mid-motion, body trembling against pressure it couldn't break.
Minato stiffened. "What are you doing to—"
"Again, not hurting her." Ludwig repeated calmly. "Just pushing back."
He exhaled through his nose, eyes never leaving the barely-contained fox.
Kurama's malice writhed. Rage. Fear. Hunger. Hate. All pressed outward like a storm behind glass.
Ludwig let a thread of killing intent seep toward it, not vast enough to shake the building, but enough to make even a demon fox reconsider its decisions.
Kurama froze.
Then it snarled again, weaker now, but still defiant.
"Behave." Ludwig repeated. "If you do, I'll consider bringing you food whenever Kushina comes to my restaurant. But try to do funny business, I'll seal you in a place so dark and cold, you start to think this place a paradise."
Kurama's ears flattened back. But defiance still in his eyes. Though, the growl had become a buzz.
Satisfied with Kurama's answer, Ludwig returned to the material world.
Claire was looking at him with pointed looks, probably disagreeing with how he opened one of the cards he had. Minato was looking at him with wariness, Kushina was one of the reasons, but the other was probably about how easily he suppressed Kurama.
Kushina herself was… she was lost in a daze. Her brows were furrowed, her face serious.
Before anyone could speak, Ludwig opened his mouth. "Sorry for that everyone. Enjoy one tankard of Ale, on the house. Those who didn't drink ale, tell my employees what drinks you want."
His words echoed through the restaurant even without him shouting it out loud. A heartbeat later, the crowd cheered. Even the mercenary of the Shadow Hand had a rare smile on their face.
Bilo drew closer to him, hands working quickly to fill the tankards he brought out. The other employees also moved swiftly, noting orders for those not drinking tonight.
Satisfied with how his employees moved, Ludwig returned his gaze towards Minato. "See? If I want to do anything, that fox would have left Kushina's inner world by now."
Minato finally opened his mouth. But just before any words came out, Kushina's voice chimed.
"T-the Nine-Tails… It stopped fighting me…"
Minato quickly whipped his head toward her. "W-what do you mean, Kushina?"
"I-It said…" Kushina started. "As long as Ludwig gave it food, it would stop attacking me."
Minato was at loss for words, obvious from how his mouth was hanging wide.
"Lud, how did you do tha—" But again, Kushina stopped midway. "No, no, how do you know about the Nine-Tails?"
The new question cut through the stillness. Now the ball was in his field, it was his turn to weave a believable lie.
However,
"Kushina." Claire's voice barged into the conversation. "We joked about it so many times. I even remembered you laughing about it. Remember? Nothing in this restaurant went past Ludwig's eyes. Even Raon's invisibility is useless against him."
Kushina's eyes looked at Claire. Then, she moved her head to look at Ludwig. "AH~"
Claire rolled her eyes, but at the same time her hand moved to pat Kushina in the head.
"Even if it's not for that, in the night when you found your Hokage here, we all felt it. With the Great Sage, Ludwig, and me, of course we will know that there's something inside you. Those mana were far too evil for it to originate from you."
Kushina nodded her head, enjoying the pat she regularly felt.
Claire's eyes now landed on the blonde guy beside Kushina. "I personally treat Kushina like my little sister. No harm should befall here when I'm with her. And Tempest is just outside the door, Minato. Even if some world-ending entity decides to attack Tempest the moment we step there, with Ludwig's power, we will be able to return to the restaurant safely."
Silent descended around the bar as Claire's words fell.
Ludwig let out a sigh no one could hear but himself. To be honest, that was also the explanation he wanted to give to both Kushina and Minato. But after seeing Claire being the one who delivered it, he thought it only made sense.
He had shown Minato his power, and surely he would bring the news to Hiruzen Sarutobi sooner rather than later. In the explanation she also included herself and Rimuru, though by calling out The Great Sage. That should make Konoha think he was not the only one they couldn't touch, there's also them with him even without them displaying their power.
A great move in his eyes.
Minato kept his silence. But his face was telling them he was currently thinking.
"I just worried about Kushina, that's all." He started. "She is… an asset to the village. In our world, she would be hunted the moment she appeared outside the village. Everyone wants a power inside her."
Claire nodded, and Ludwig followed suit.
"Understandable." Claire's tone became softer. "But again, I can assure you nothing will befall her when she's with us. It's just a 2 day journey. She will return to Konoha first thing in the morning of the third day."
Minato once again took a serious face. "I-If I may, can I accompany her?"
Ludwig snorted softly at his words. That's probably the compromise the Hokage tried to achieve. While guarding her, Minato should be able to gather enough Intel about Tempest.
If Rimuru was here, he would just shrug and let him tag along. That's also what their brain-storming session concludes.
Unfortunately for both him and Rimuru,
"No." Claire's answer came fast and sharp.
Kushina, Minato, and even Ludwig himself couldn't help but to look at her. All of them were for once in the same frequency tonight, surprised and lost.
"Coming to a new city, or world altogether meant an Intel. Both your village and my city ran on the same principle, Intel is everything. WIth me coming to Tempest means I will get Intel about Rimuru's city, on top of that, I'll also get a skill, something that started this whole conversation of going to another world.
"However, I don't want it to be free because he's my friend. I am currently paying, and will still pay it whenever Rimuru asks me to. The next part of the trade is that I will also invite him to my city in the future. Ludwig too, he would invite us to his world soon enough.
"It'a a trade, an agreement. If you want to follow Kushina to Tempest, you have to give us the same thing. A tour all over Konoha."
Claire's calm and confident voice faded out.
Did we have that kind of agreement? Ludwig asked himself. They had indeed talked about going to each other's world, but it wasn't anything like Claire said. Just a method to gather more samples about their Mana became richer after going to Latina's world.
But Ludwif knew better than voicing his thoughts out. Even when it's him and Rimuru teaming up against the Head Administrator, they would still be no match for her. Forget about him alone with no intelligence of the Great Sage.
Kushina made herself smaller and smaller in front of the two people. Ludwig too, wanted nothing but turned invisible at the moment. But if he did that, he knew Claire would try to extort more, after all that was her nature.
"I-I…" Minato stuttered.
"I know, you don't have the authority to decide on something so big. That's why I refused your request. Because my two friends…" Claire looked at Ludwig before returning her sight to Minato. "They will probably allow you. Not thinking about your gains at all."
Ludwig winced as he heard his personality being called out. He really didn't fear anyone from Ninja World. Bar probably Kaguya on the moon. But that stemmed from lack of knowledge rather than him fearing her ability.
Naruto the manga was simply too long for him to finish.
So, in his mind, anything Konoha decided to do to him would be insignificant. The battlefield would be in this restaurant, a place where his power was amplified to a scary degree. A palace that he believed even the Demon King would be powerless at.
Even if it happened in a different place altogether, he still didn't fear them. His own power should be enough to at least run away if things went awry.
"W-what if I could invite you all to Konoha?" Minato's voice echoed through the restaurant again.
Claire's mouth curled in astonishment. "Don't tell me, you are going to use Ludwig's promise to guide you in one of your Jutsu to invite us to Konoha? If so, you need to pay Ludwig with another favour."
Ludwig flinched at Claire's words. Her expression was terrifying, and her action was… well, just as terrifying.
Moreover, that was his promise with Minato. He didn't even think about asking for payment at all. After all, he had set his mind on altering the Canon event of Konoha. If things became like this, wouldn't it mean that even though Minato would still get stronger, he lost some of his trust points?
Did Claire even think that far?
Politics is hard… Ludwig sighed in his mind.
"What kind of favor do you think will be suitable? As long as it's not harming my own village, I'm willing to do anything." Minato said, his voice firm and unrelenting.
"Let's see…" Claire crossed her hands and looked at Ludwig.
For some reason, he sensed something was wrong. The air stirred, and his gut feeling was telling him to stop her.
But before he could interject,
"I heard from Ludwig that some Ninja had come to this restaurant in the dead of the night, demanding Ludwig to follow them as your Hokage had summoned him. How about giving him the one responsible for that attack? Mind you, not those Ludwig had beaten so thoroughly. I mean, the head. The one who ordered the attack."
Minato's brows furrowed so deep at that moment. Kushina looked at Claire with wide eyes.
Across the counter, Ludwig was also sent reeling. But the reason was probably different from the future absent parent of Naruto. He simply never thought Claire would use that attack on him to drive a bargain. If she only demanded the Ninjas who were present in the restaurant that night, solving it would be as easy as walking a dog.
But the one who orders them?
It meant Claire wanted Danzo to be turned in.
In a way, it was also altering the timelines. But, wasn't that too fast?
Moreover, would the Hokage even be willing to do that?
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