Naruto: The Clan That Got Lost In History

Nara and I were guided inside, offered a sit behind a round table and left alone.

The room looked to be an office. A huge, around 200 metres square, but still an office. Tall window-frames were letting a hazy light of the clouded sky inside of this structure. The walls were full of shelves with scrolls, books and even weapons. Warhammers, katanas, kunais of different shapes and quality, tantos, daggers, maces and so on... Does Salamander like collecting weaponry?

The silence, that was only disturbed by the melody of falling raindrops, was cut into pieces by the steady, sharp and determined sounds of footsteps. A figure emerged from behind one of the shelves. Secret exit? Nah... He wouldn't show it to potential foes.

We exchanged sizing gazes. Tall, long-haired, blonde, young and masculine guy. He is wearing a respirator for some reason. Is he allergic to dampness or is just afraid of air transported poisons? Whatever. I've seen many of the shinobi from Ame wearing them.

Well, overall, he gave the feeling of a person you could follow. His charisma is quite high. I could clearly see how much people trusted him.

It seems that he was also satisfied with us. I made myself appear to be around twenty-years-old. My forearm had Konoha's hitai-ate. Shinuma wore his jounin uniform and the hitai-ate. We have already put all of the papers on the desk and now we're ready for negotiations.

"Greetings, Jana-Ishvili Malika and Nara Shinuma"

"Thank you for having us." - I spoke and Nara just nodded solemnly. - "Those are the terms that Konohagakure no Sato is proposing to your country, Hanso-sama."

"Good." - He sat down, took the doc.u.ments and emerged in the world of sly phrases. We were served tea and waited for him to finish.

"Excuse me?" - Nara and I were a little startled. I mean, we have clarified all of the possible terms, made sidenotes with explanations to some confusing parts and even left a lot of room for further negotiations... - "What do you mean by 'games', Hanzo-sama?"

"Do not take me for a fool. There is no merit, nor reason for you to come to me with this," - He shook the bandle in his hands, - " unless there is something that you plan on doing to this land. The Great War is going on and the only explanation I can come up with is that you plan on making this all into a show for your other great foes. Ame is a rising star which may be inconvenient to many, so when other villages will come to wipe us off, Konohagakure would be suddenly busy and unable to come 'for the rescue'."

Wow... I sat there bewildered while Shimuna was making calculations in his mind. Hanzo is... pessimistic, or rather, realistic about these kinds of things... Sorry, I'll have to shatter your view a little.

"No games or schemes are involved in this, Hanzo-san." - I weighted him with my glare. - "We are already allided with Uzumaki. During the joined attack of Kumo and Kiri, Konoha never took their words back and the attack was brushed away. Is this not enough to prove that we are good allies?"

"Heh, It would be the same as comparing a village and a capital. Uzumaki had their fuinjutsu to offer, whilst Ame has nothing but things it is already providing."

"And this where you are wrong. On our way here, I've done some investigating and have found a lot of unused resources..." - I told him about ores that their land has and another type of chakra-conductive trees. Shinuma also gave other examples that he saw: their poisonous swamps have many rare plants and insects that can fetch a high price in the World market.

Hanzo then raised the subject of our profit from telling him all of this. Moreover, with time, they would've found all of those by themselves.

"The contract also includes a line where it was mentioned that Konohagakure will get a discount on the big orders, that is why we benefit from this alliance even more. Furthermore, I do not think it would have been possible for your country to discover some of the resources. You have said it yourself - the war is going on."

"Hm? Are you implying that we would be abstracted by it? In my opinion, if we will not stick out too much, we would grow into a powerhouse of our own."

Hanzo Salamander is very smart. Although he is young and can make such miscalculations he is learning from his mistakes. He sat back and pondered over our conversation again. His aura was moving wildly with a fierce mixture of emotions. Rage, fear, calmness, happiness, wariness... A lot of them, yet none of them shoved on his face.

"...Alright." - he nodded as if allowing himself to speak further. - "I have a few more questions before I am ready to sign the treaty." - He gave in. Not. He only found this solution to be the best out of all possible outcomes. Our help to the Uzushio is very well known in the world... Huh, I wish I could be here and help as well...

"What are the things that you wish to ask, Hanzo-sama." - Nara spoke up.

"First of all, how will Konohagakure send their shinobi in time if the attack was launched suddenly? The distance between us is not to be joked with." - Reasonable worry.

"We have a method to transport a large number of people in a short duration of time. We cannot reveal it as of yet since the treaty is not signed."

Hanzo nodded and continued to fish out the information from Nara. I was sitting quietly and sometimes correcting the amount of information being revealed.

Soon, Shinuma and Hanzo moved on to discussing or specifying different clauses of the contract.

A few hours later, we finally came into agreement and signed all of the papers.

"Well now, Hanzo-san, can we go back, rest and then start with fulfilling some of the promises our side made?" - I stood up and stretched my limbs. I hate formal/important/boring meetings! However, this will be my life when I return, that is why I'm taking this as an opportunity to get used to them as much as possible.

"Thank you, Hanzo-san." - I appreciated his offer and decided to ask something. - "Hanzo-san. all of those weapons in the room, do you enjoy collecting weaponry?"

"Sort of. All of the gear in here was used by me at some point. They are a little like a memento of the time I mastered their use." - He spoke with a sly glint in his eyes, while I was... shaken. He is indeed very powerful... and if my information is correct, and it is, he has a contract with Salamanders. The reason he has this kind of the last name.

"I would like to ask you something in return, Malika-san."

"What is it?"

"Could you, please show you true appearance?" - I think our reactions were amusing to him since I could hear a slight snicker from behind of his respirator. - "I was reported that the delegation had a young girl with interesting hair colour and heterochromatic eyes and yet, I see a grown-up, beautiful lady with those exact features."

"What makes you think that the child form wasn't a disguise, but rather this one?"

"A gut feeling."

"Heh, interesting. Very well then..." - a light enveloped my body and soon, I was standing in my original form. I could make it less showy and spare those poor bodyguards from a heart attack, but, hey! Why should I?!

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"I warned you." - I shrugged my shoulders with indifference, while Kuro was smirking in the distance. He knew I was enjoying this. - "This is the same structure I made in the Uzushigakure a few decades ago."

"A?... ok..." - the client had disconnected from the line, please try to reach him later... beep.