- 1 day later -
Koyuki and Kakashi sat at a table, negotiating terms for a potential alliance between Konoha and the Land of Snow.
"What I'm gathering from this country is essentially poor, despite or rather because of the advancements. You need more money to advance, and Konoha could use your technology to advance itself. We can pay the money you need to stabilize your position and your country. We can provide the financial backing for your engineers to continue their work. The system used to melt the snow isn't fully automated yet, and can only be used for a period of time without overloading."
"You guessed that much just by looking at it?"
Koyuki blinked in surprise.
"I'm well attuned to certain things."
Kakashi waved it off, not seeing it as important.
"So, what do you think? The Land of Snow can't formally enter an alliance and contribute nothing, so I believe that Lady Hokage would be willing to take a gamble on you and kickstart your country again with a flow of cash, and between you and me, I believe that despite her luck, she'd win this gamble."
Kakashi chuckled, leaning back in his chair, waiting for her decision.
Koyuki read over the discussed terms, over and over, before picking up a notebook to write anything he said that she felt was important.
"What if the other nations seek us out?"
Kakashi thought this over carefully; the easy answer would be 'we'd go to war', but not everyone in Konoha would like to go to war for another distant country.
"The Land of Iron is considered a neutral country that supplies an even distribution to every nation when paid the required amount. They're honorable samurai who, despite knowing they're weaker than the 5 great nations, don't fear going to war to defend said honor. I feel that could be a possibility for your land as well if you're willing to do it. Just be careful when negotiating with Kumo and Iwa. The Kumo under the third Raikage liked to use intimidation; the Fourth uses underhanded methods, but he has calmed down a bit since the Hyuga incident. No one would do business with him for a while, blocking any potential alliances, even with the smaller nations. The Third Tsuchikage is a stubborn man who doesn't mind letting time drag on to put pressure on others. He's very hard to deal with if you're younger because he sees everyone as a little brat."
"What about the new Mizukage?"
Koyuki asked, knowing little other than that she's a woman and supposedly has two kekkei genkai.
"Ahh, yes, the Mizukage."
Kakashi sighed softly, lost in thought for a bit before he replied.
"They just got done with a civil war, so I suspect that throwing money into your country would be unrealistic at this point. They likely won't trust the Land of Snow with large sums of money if they don't know they'll get a return on their investment."
"And the Kazekage? No, they don't have one yet, do they?"
Koyuki asked, taking notes on the individuals she might deal with, but she also noticed the pause when she brought up the Mizukage, smiling like a gossip behind her little notebook.
"Not at this moment. They're run by a collective council of Jonin and elders for now, but they're in a similar situation to the Mist village; It's highly unlikely that they'd put money into your country when they themselves are scraping by. Unless you had something to change portions of their environment, they'd no doubt pay top dollar for a machine that can make it rain in Tsuna, or something that would break pieces of their land into farmable land, like an isolated space for farming."
"You mean like a greenhouse for food products?"
Kakashi nodded.
"Tsuna already has isolated greenhouses for various things, but your technology could be the difference maker for them. If you want a deal with them, I would consider cutting a fair price and demonstration."
Koyuki laughed, looking at Kakashi weirdly.
"You'd think you're a sand ninja with the way you're talking."
"Let's just say that I have hope for the newer generation of the Sand village. They're less influenced by the past generations."
Kakashi smiled a bit, thinking about the bond that Naruto forged with Garra; it was apparently even stronger than it would have been.
Naruto, standing behind Kakashi with Sasuke on his right and Karin on his left, smiled, thinking about his friend and wondering how he was doing.
Kakashi gestured to the scroll with the written preliminary negotiation points.
"Well?"
"I like it, but how can we sign any agreement without the Hokage?"
"Naruto."
Kakashi tossed the scroll behind him, Naruto catching it and vanishing in a flash of yellow.
"That is a very convenient jutsu."
Koyuki said with a hint of awe, the ability to teleport anywhere at any time was something anyone would want.
"It's very convenient."
Kakashi nodded, Naruto returning a few minutes later with a stamp of approval on a copy and a scroll filled to the brim with cash.
"And done, easy as that."
Kakashi handed over the scroll of agreement and a cash-filled scroll.
Koyuki placed the scroll in the inner pocket of her kimono, feeling a little off balance by how fast the supposed negotiations went.
"I'm actually somewhat glad you're taking that train; it's an eyesore."
Koyuki spoke with Kakashi a bit more, sharing her concerns about any remnants of Doto's forces.
Listened to her concerns and spread his observation haki to cover the entire country, standing up, sword appearing in his hand, before he leaped from the large Diamyō estate, blurring through the streets with lightning flickering at his feet.
*Shink
"Hmm?"
An older man turned at the sound, but didn't see anyone there.
"That's weird, I was sure that a young man was behind me a moment ago… My age must be catching up to me."
Up on the roof above the old man, Kakashi left the corpse on the roof and leaped to get the rest.
'12 in total, all with at least genin level chakra, some with chunin, and one with chakra close to jonin level."
Kakashi's figure blurred, carving up the genin with ruthless efficiency, with no wasted movements, and no panic among the people, as he was already gone by the time they could look.
The chunins died just as easily: a slash to the throat, one-handed neck snaps, and getting stabbed in the heart were the ways they died.
Kakashi wiped the blood of the last chunin on the corpse before leaping to a house at the edge of the town, landing on the front lawn, and casually opening the door.
Kakashi watched the man attack him in what might as well have been slow-mo, spinning to the left and behind the man, Kakashi grabbed the back of his arms and slammed him to the ground with his left foot.
"How many of Doto's men remain in the Land of Snow?"
Kakashi asked, twisting his right arm until he started to sweat.
"We only have 11, including myself, in the capital. The rest ran away after Doto's death."
The man winced in pain, Kakashi's observation Haki detecting no lies.
"I'll make this painless."
Kakashi's Sharingan activated, and he was caught in a genjutsu. The man had lived a life away from all the fighting, settled down with a family, and lived to a ripe old age surrounded by grandchildren before he passed on.
Kakashi stepped out of the house, slinging the blood of the blade and sealing it again.
'That takes care of the Doto problem, now the only thing needed would be finishing her movie, and then we're done.'
- Time Skip, 4 days later, back in Konoha -
"So, you've completed the mission, well done, but what's with that monstrosity outside our village walls?"
Tsunade asked, her forehead throbbing as the commotion frightened the civilians and put the Anbu on high alert.
"That's the train the new Daimyō gave to Konoha, it's a bit beat up and could use some remodeling, but it's a very special machine."
Kakashi explained, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"How did you even get it here? There's nothing but ocean separating our two countries… Did you seal it until you got to land? No, don't trains need tracks?"
Tsunade asked, not being too familiar with trains, since there was only maybe this one in the entire world, and very little was known about it.
"No, we rode the train over the surface of the ocean. The bottom of it can release chakra to cling to surfaces, like tree walking and water walking. It regulates the chakra needed to water walk on the fly and compensates with more chakra volume to stay afloat."
Tsunade's eyes no longer held the hint of annoyance at the mass panic it caused; she wouldn't care if it continued to cause mass panic. The villagers will have to suck it up and get used to it.
"Amazing."
Kakashi stepped forward and unsealed the two suits of chakra armor and the bits of the one Naruto destroyed.
"This is the famous chakra armor of the Land of Snow under Doto, but it's much more advanced than before. This bulkier suit of armor can hold a Jonin's worth of chakra, and this newer one, which belonged to Doto, can hold Kage-level chakra in it. The weakness of this chakra armor is that it overloads and either blows up or melts when pushed beyond its limits."
Tsunade's eyes sparkled, inspecting the armor with careful hands.
"Well done, Kakashi. I'll see what our research department can make of these; perhaps we can use this as a template to start making our own inventions."
"It was an interesting place, Lady Tsunade, definitely worth keeping in our good graces."
Tsunade nodded, understanding the meaning.
"Only you or I will ever have contact with them from our village. Danzo is dead, the two elders are forced into retirement, and Sensei is training his grandson, Konohamaru. The village has never been so under control, even during the time of my Grandfather and Granduncle. We're making waves; the other villages will notice."
"They already have, they're simply being more cautious. With the alliances with Mist and Sand, though weakened, Iwa and Kumo don't want to act rashly and start something when we've had peace for so long."
Tsunade rubbed her temples, already annoyed with the postering Kage of Iwa and Kumo. The Raikage wasn't so bad now, but he was still hot-headed and quick to anger. The Tsuchikage was a bitter old man with a grudge against Konoha, always eager to pick and prod wherever he could.
"We'll think on this later, you're dismissed. Bring that train to the top of the Hokage monument."
- Chapter End -