READ WEBNOVEL Chapter 54-A Lunge Too Late!
Chapter 54
AKIHITO SHIRAHOSHI
The journey to the parley location was done in silence, as they moved through a lush forest to a rather local and obscure location already chosen and prepared for this occasion.
With the recent upheaval caused by Madara's nefarious activities, this parley was a crucial step in the right direction. It was their chance to unite their forces, to hunt down Madara and quash his evil before it could fully manifest.
"We are finally here," his half-brother began as both of them stood face to face with each other. Their two respective parties were led by their kages, who stepped forward and greeted each other.
"It is good to see Kiri and Konoha coming together to make peace," Minato began.
"Indeed, it is Hokage-san," Terumi-san replied as she shook hands with the Kage, and the tension eased slightly before she turned to face him.
"I hope that this alliance can help both our lands prosper and move forward," she said, and he nodded.
"I believe this very hope has gathered us all here despite our bloody and cruel history; this, I believe, marks a first step in the new era," he answered.
"...but before the negotiations begin, I believe you have a treasure of ours that we must see sent back," he said, facing Fushio, who smiled.
"Ahh, and what if I wished to hold on to this treasure," he teased, and he watched Minato's eyes narrow at those words, and the tension erupted once more.
"I was just kidding," he said, nodding to the guard beside her. The door to his carriage was opened once again, and an all-too-familiar face walked out.
"Your student is quite an accredit to you, Lord Hokage," he complimented as he faced Minato, whose eyes were glued to the form of Nohara Rin, and once he saw her hale and heart, Akihito saw him ease up, as he turned to face the water daimyo.
"And I am thankful to you for being a gracious host," Nohara Rin said, joining them and walking up to her sensei.
"And what about the other thing," he questioned.
"It is secure," he answered.
"I would like to meet with him before we begin the talks," he asked, and Fushio nodded.
"I will see it done," and with that, Akihito turned towards Tsunade Senju.
"Come with me, Tsunade-san. It is time for you to have your answers," and she gave him a small nod as a Kiri-nin led them towards the castle.
.
.
.
They were led into a rather detached room of the castle. The castle was a border outpost long abandoned after the demise of Uzushio. Still, it had now been reconstructed, and of fate would have it will soon be remanned as he planned to extract safe passage to Uzushio so that the Uzmkai, fewer as they were, could once call the island their home and begin clearing it up.
Sealing formulae could be seen on the bindings around this shinobi, whose black hair had grown wildly and covered half his face, giving him a wild look.
"That will be all," Akihito said to the Kiri nin, who hesitated for a bit before leaving them.
"So, this is him," Tsunade-san spoke up as she walked up to the chained Uchiha, whose chakras were kept at bay using seals.
"It is."
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TSUNADE SENJU
Tsunade Senju did not know what to think of what she was seeing with her eyes. The whole last month she had spent pouring over what Akihito had told her, trying to make sense of it, yet in the end she could not.
She had been acquainted with Akihito for years now and believed that they shared somewhat of a comradeship, and hence had quite a bit of trust in him. Yet she could not come to terms with the story he had told her, the story of how their world was under threat by a man whose prowess rivaled her own grandfather's.
Yet now, as she stared at the white material forming on the other side of the body of the young Uchiha before him, she wondered whether she had been wrong to doubt his words.
She reached for the seal, on his neck and pushed her chakra into it, chiding the Kiri seal makers for their shoddy work while doing so as she felt the chakra ripple through him once more.
And then she saw his eyes open as Akihito's chakra sharpened up behind her.
"Where am I?" the young Uchiha asked, as he looked around, his sole eyes looking around the room before it landed on her.
"...Tsunade-sama...." he whispered out.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, and then she felt his chakra spike.
"RIN! WHERE IS RIN!" he shouted as his eye turned the signature scarlet. Three tomoes spun ominously as she put her hand on his head and stopped him from struggling.
"Uchiha Obito, I have some questions for you?"
"WHERE IS RIN! THEY HAVE CAPTURED HER! I WILL KILL THEM ALL! ALL OF THOSE KIRI NIN! I WIL..."
"Calm down, Obito Uchiha. Nohara Rin is safe," Akihito cut in, and she saw the Uchiha's eyes land on him for the first time.
"Who are you?" he snarled in rage.
"I am Akihito Shirahoshi, the daimyo of Fire Country, and I believe we have some questions for you," Akihito began.
"Wh..."
"Answer her question, and you will get to see Rin again?" Akihito asked as he gave her a nod.
"By all reports, you were marked as dead, killed when you and your team were attacked by Iwa Nin. Yet you are alive. How?" she asked sharply and saw the Uchiha hesitate.
"I thought myself dead, too. I could not feel half of my body, it was crushed under a boulder, but somehow, weeks later, I opened my eyes once again, alive," he answered as he looked at Tsunade-sama.
"Who rescued you? Who was it?" she questioned sharply and saw him hesitate.
"Answer her, and you will be free to see Nohara Rin," Akihito added from behind.
"He was an old man. Very old, eyes like mine own, and he claimed himself to be...."
"....Mada..."
And before he could finish, she felt her senses scream and immediately backed away, pushing Akihito to the side.
"GET AWAY!"
BOOOOM!
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TERUMIE MEI
The Mizukage watched the Hokage greet his student warmly as Nohara Rin cried in his arms, and it was surprising seeing the infamous Yellow devil of Konoha like that.
Namikaze Minato was infamous for his ruthlessness annihilation of Iwa's bomber squad, where he had slain about a thousand or so nin singlehandedly, more or less ending the war himself. He was the only shinobi alive to have a 'flee on sight' rating in the bingo book because of his sheer skill set.
She had thought of him to be a hard and cruel man, yet seeing him interact with the young kunoichi was quite a welcome surprise.
The kunoichi seemed rather attached to him and was talking to him quite animatedly; there was no fear on her face, no apprehension, despite having put him in a rather compromising position.
They had trust and belief in one another and cared for each other, qualities that she wished to replicate in Kiri as she tried to pull it out of the desolate place her predecessors had led it into.
"I never knew that the yellow devil of Konoha could smile like that?" she teased and saw the man perk up as he looked towards her, and asked with a frown.
"What?"
"I said if the stories about you are to be believed, then you are the devil incarnate himself, a being so cruel that one must flee just at the sight of your hair," she elaborated before she turned towards the young kunoichi.
"..yet I never thought that you would be so attacked by your student despite her failures," she elaborated.
"Are you insinuating something, Mizukage?" he asked. There was the shinobi feared by the elemental nations, but she shook her head placatingly.
"Of course not. But I was just surprised that it is good to see that you are not the man rumors make you out to be. Such displays..." she pointed towards him and his student.
"...are not so common in Kirigakure, and through this alliance, I was hoping to I would get to see such things in my own village as well," she added truthfully.
"That is nice of you," he said as the kunoichi blushed and excused herself, leaving them all alone as their forces spread all around and formed a perimeter.
"And it is nice to see another kage striving towards such goals. I hope this alliance can help us put our bloody past behind us and make sure that our future generations do not repeat the mistakes of the past," he added and then suddenly she saw him shift as he looked around.
"We are under attack," he answered, and she perked up at that herself when suddenly she saw his eyes widen as he looked up, for she could see no enemy soldiers around them.
"Ao!" she summoned her second in command, who blurred behind her, byakugan active.
"WE ARE SURROUNDED!" he answered, and she snapped towards the Hokage.
"This was a tra..."
"No, this was not u..."
"My Lady, up there!" Ao spoke. She looked up and saw a figure floating into the skies deep in the clouds, and she felt a massive buildup of chakra.
"Get the daimyo-sama to safety! We are under attack from Kumo and Iwa!"
And though she was too far away to see, at that moment, the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure used his infamous Kekkei Touta and let out his most destructive technique.
"Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
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