CHAPTER 59: WHAT HAPPENED AT THE SUMMIT?

Konoha had prevailed once again. This time however there were hundreds of casualties on their side and thousands of injured. The loss was nothing compared to Iwa and Kumo who from the report attacked with eight thousand ninja each. Roughly a bit more than Konoha’s total military force to which half of it were watching the numerous borders of the Land of Fire. How such a large force made the incursion inside the country without being noticed was a question no one had the answer to.

The good news was that from their knowledge of Iwa and Kumo, their military force was diminished by 70 and 50 % respectively. The village was also mostly intact beyond the original Akatsuki attack. Another good news was that the death toll had been mitigated by the help of the Suna ninjas. The refugees from the sand village had been put in the west side of Konoha and took arms to fight Iwa. After the destruction of their village they were ready to vent their pain, anguish and anger and Iwa troops were the perfect target.

After being dragged inside his Botib by Karin, Riku had recuperated quickly thanks to the Time seal. As such, to everyone he was barely out for a few minutes. As soon as he was rested enough, he brought out Hiruzen from his seal and operated on the man with Karin, removing all the blood that was where it wasn't supposed to be. He exited the Botib afterward; a few seconds later Karin and Hiruzen joined him. The old man was as brand as new and commented that the Time seal was really the ultimate cheat. It would have been nice if Riku had had the time to put them again in the hospital. More people would have survived.

Riku had ordered to strip with dignity every dead enemy shinobis to find any information about this invasion. Something difficult to do because almost all of them had exploded from the inside thanks to Riku’s Iryoken.

Most leaf-nins, look at him with respect and with a bit of fear. After the feat he had done less than an hour ago it was understandable. People were already let out of the bunker and Riku made a resounding speech about how again they came up victorious and congratulated every one for doing his part. Telling them that their predecessors would be proud at how much everyone was enduring and moving forward to protect the peace they held dear.

He then let the Military police do its job inside the village and Anbu led the many shinobis tasked to loot the enemies. He and Hiruzen were met by a bloodstained Koharu and Homura inside the Hokage office. Nobody said a word. Riku sat at the desk and began to search for something, drawer after drawer.

“Ah!Ha!” he exclaimed in victory, pulling a bottle of sake from a double bottomed drawer. He opened it on the spot and drank from it directly. After a few mouthfuls he tossed the bottle at Koharu who caught it. She looked at it for a moment, shrugged and drank too before passing to Himura who did the same and finally Hiruzen.

“...” Riku stood up, opened his BoS and brought out his Botib. “Go in there, clean yourself up and take a rest. There are clothes you can borrow.”

“I’m good.” Homura said, pulling his own BoS and showing it to Riku as he went inside the closet.

“Me too. Plenty of spare clothes.” added Koharu who followed her friend.

A few seconds later they came out.

“Beautiful garden.” the woman commented.

“Thank you. I made it to propose to my fiance.” Riku replied with a smile.

“Lucky young lady. I wish my husband had done that for me.”

“Well… I can sell you a few mokuton tags to make a garden if you want but that's a discussion for later. Now, I would like to talk about what to do. I’m just the acting Hokage. I’m limited in what I can do, you know that, so gathering troops and sending them to fuck Iwa and Kumo is impossible for me. In a minute I’ll be open to suggestions because frankly I’m a bit lost here. That aside, their attacks don't bode well for the Gokage summit. I fear that-”

“Hoka… I mean Senju-sama. Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai have been spotted at the North gate.” An Anbu with a boar mask said as he entered the office and kneel down.

“What about my m- the Hokage?” Riku asked with worry.

“She’s not among them, however they are not alone. Kazekage Temari, her escort but also the Mizukage and hers are with them.”

“... The what now? Why the hell is the Mizukage here?” inquired Riku after blinking his confusion away.

“I don’t know, Senju-sama. They will be here soon.”

“I see… Thank you, Boar, you can go back to your duties.”

The Anbu bowed and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

“... What the fuck?” he whispered to himself. “Why is she here? If Kumo and Iwa launched an attack here, then they definitely launched an attack there. Not only did they start hostilities inside a neutral country but…”

To the side, the leaders and Hiruzen just looked at him think. More than that, they were observing him minutely.

“...Failed to make an alliance with Kiri. Understandable. Kiri has plenty of kekkei genkai users, despite the years of purge of the Yondaime Mizukage. They’re still weak and allying itself with Kumo who is known for wanting bloodlines and using underhanded tactics for that and Iwa who are backstabbing greedy pieces of shit, for the purpose of taking us down is not appealing at all. They would be next once we fell. That put a stop to their isolationism and neutrality. Suna being done for was the perfect opportunity for them to ally themselves with us instead. From their point of view we need them as much as they need us. Or at least they thought that way. If the Mizukage is here she may have witnessed the result of the battle and may change her tune. Still wants an alliance but she’d be more wary of us.” Riku spoke to himself and after a small pause continued. “They should be in the Land Of Iron. The summit started yesterday. If they are here then they use the Hiraishin to come back. Meaning the Mizukage is aware of it.”

“The whole Elemental Nation is aware.” commented Koharu.

“Pardon?”

“Does an Anbu have a recent bingo book?”

A Tori appeared in front of Riku and gave him a small black book then disappeared again.

“You’re saying that I’m… Noooo. Really?!”

“See for yourself.” the woman said.

Riku opened the book and began reading. Turning page after page when he saw that the picture on the page wasn’t his. He reached page 69 and began to read his own entry.

Name: Senju Riku (formerly Warudo Riku)

Title: Green Death

Affiliation: Konohagakure

Rank: S (Jonin)

Skills:

Taijutsu: S

Ninjutsu: S

Genjutsu: Unknown

Bukijutsu: Unknown

Fuinjutsu: SSS

Nature affinities: Main: Wind, Secondary: Earth (possibly)

Known Jutsus

: Wind Release: Gale Palm, Wind Release: Great breakthrough,  Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, Hiraishin.

Supplementary information: Use special shurikens in battle (explosive, smoke, blinding and barriers)

Relations: 

- Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage. (Father, deceased)

- Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage. (Mother)

- Copy-ninja Hatake Kakashi (Teammate)

- Green Beast of Konoha Maito Gai (Teammate)

- Uzumaki Karin (Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi)

- Uzumaki Naruto (Fake jinchuriki of the Kyuubi)

Known for:

Slaughtered by himself a thousand Iwa shinobis in less than half a minute by using the Hiraishin. Unlike his father, Senju Riku’s flash is forest green.

Bounty:

Iwa: 30 Million Ryo

ORDERS: FLEE ON SIGHT

Riku couldn’t help himself, he laughed.

“Apparently, I’m rated S in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu! That’s… So wrong. I feel like a fraud now. Then again it’s Iwa so, meh who cares? I think the cherry on top of the cake is the difference in size font for the Hiraishin in the known jutsu section. They must be traumatized by now. That begs the question, why did they make an assault despite knowing?”

“Maybe they thought you would accompany Tsunade to the Summit.” Hiruzen voiced his thoughts.

“That would make sense, yeah.”

Riku may be in possession of an army killer jutsu but if he is not present to use it it is useless.

A knock on the door was heard and Riku took a deep breath before allowing entry. Kakashi followed by Gai, then Temari got inside. Behind them was the Mizukage accompanied by a short blue haired spectacle… kid? Riku was a bit confused, but considering his own age he was no one to judge. Especially when he noticed the shark teeth and the sword wrapped in bandage on the shinobi’s back. Riku got a flashback of Kisame and thought that odds were in the favor of him being one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Or the last one since all of them seemed to have defected during the civil war.

“Now that’s a bit offensive. It’s the first time that a man doesn’t devour me with his eyes in a first meeting.”

Riku looked from the bodyguard to the Mizukage herself. She was taller than the average woman by a lot. If he had to guess at least 175cm give or take a couple cm. She had long auburn hair reaching her calves which hid her right eye while the left presented a beautiful azur color. Her dark blue dress revealed her naked shoulders to the world and the top of it was made of fishnet that half hid what he believed a nice view of her cleavage. She seemed to be in her late twenties early thirties and was an absolute beauty. Her demeanor was seductive but between Ino's attitude and his mother's beauty, Riku was immune.

“When your mother is the most beautiful woman in the Elemental Nations, your sense of beauty becomes screwed a little bit. As an apology I can spend the day admiring you if that’s your wish but I believe we have more important things to discuss. Like introducing ourselves. Senju Riku, Temporary Acting Hokage. This is Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage and his teammates, Elder Utatane Koharu and Elder Mitokado Homura. Welcome to Konohagakure, Mizukage-dono. You and your bodyguard.”

“This is Chojirou and I’m Terumi Mei. We appreciate your welcome.” replied the woman.

“Kazekage-dono, it’s a relief to see you back. You too, Kakashi, Gai.”

Kakashi was already leaning against the wall reading his porn and Gai gave him a nice guy pose, with a smile full of teeth and a thumbs up.

“Now that the introductions are over, can someone fill me in on what happened in the Land of Iron. Kazekage-dono?”

He knew that asking Temari was the safer bet. Kakashi was already zoned out, completely disinterested in the conversation. He didn’t know the Mizukage and her bodyguard (wondering where the other was) and Gai was… Gai.

Temari spoke on the spot. Her team and Tsunade encountered Mei and her team on the road to the summit. Of course there was mistrust between the two groups but nothing happened. They arrived late in the day at the Samurai fortress and were welcome by Mifune who assigned them rooms for the duration of their stay. Onoki of the two scales, the Tsuchikage of Iwa and A of Kumo had already arrived earlier in the day. Talks were supposed to start in the morning. During the night, Mei found a way to meet in Tsunade’s quarters without being caught and revealed to her that Iwa and Kumo had asked for an alliance earlier in the evening. Just as Riku had thought, Mei saw the writings on the wall and requested an Alliance with Konoha instead. So far she didn’t give an answer to either Onoki or A and was considered neutral in these talks and would stay that way unless they acted offensively. Still from Temari’s mouth, Tsunade had come to see her afterwards and shared the content of the conversation. The consensus was to be cautious and act accordingly.

When morning came, A began to talk about Akatsuki, pointing fingers at everyone but Suna for obvious reasons. Onoki ‘opened his mouth’ and laughed at the sand village’s situation or rather its lack of situation since it didn’t exist anymore. He went on with mocking Temari and her people saying that without a village Suna had no business having a kage and no business being at a kage summit. Tsunade intervened and asked if Onoki was present to be a jester or to discuss the terms of his surrender, after all he lost a thousand of his ninjas in trying to finish Suna. A village that by his own terms didn’t exist anymore. ‘Then again Iwa’s ninjas had always been subpar.’

When he heard what his mother had said, Riku almost snorted.

Tsunade didn’t stop there and ignored the outburst of anger from the Tsuchikage. She said that talking about Akatsuki was a bit late now. Konoha had supported Suna for the request of a kage summit almost a year ago to talk about the terrorist organization, the threat they represented and their goal. Yet with the exception of Kiri (which was a lie) no one answered favorably. Now a year later when they have lost their jinchurikis, Konoha wasn’t interested in anything Iwa or Kumo had to say. They defeated half the organization already and if this summit was just a way for Iwa and Kumo to ‘cry like little bitches’ because they didn’t have their weapons anymore while Konoha still had theirs then she was going home.

Things went south from there. A broke the table in front of him ready for a fight and Onoki joked that even if she got out of here alive there was no Konoha for her to return to as they spoke. Both men broke the non-aggression pact and attacked with their bodyguards. The tremor of a huge explosion was felt in the whole fortress and Onoki revealed that it would be their tomb.

After an intense fight with Mei and her entourage siding with his mother and Temari, it was revealed that Iwa and Kumo had come with a thousand thousand troops each. It was less to kill Tsunade and company but more to deal with the samurai forces that would have gotten in the way. Mifune had upped the security like he had promised nearly a year earlier but his men were outnumbered four to one.

Tsunade acted fast and broke the floor everyone was on, separating both sides of the conflict. She told everyone they could bail out in a flash and everyone understood what she meant. Everyone grabbed a member of Konoha's delegation and a flash later they were inside Tsunade’s own Botib at the border of the Land of Iron. She apologized to Mifune for what happened but he waved it away saying it was Iwa and Kumo’s fault. She led everyone outside and the people not in the know were shocked to learn they had been inside a simple closet. The leader of the samurai wished them good luck and promised an exceptional alliance to deal with both shinobi villages to which Tsunade agreed along with Temari and Mei.

Afterward the ninja got out of the country and made a beeline to Konoha. Once close enough for the Hiraishin of the village to work they used it again and arrived  at a location prepared for that kind of arrival.

“I see…Thank you for sharing this information, Kazekage-dono. As you may have seen, Iwa and Kumo did decide to pay us a visit. They liked it so much they stayed to serve and feed the trees. Permanently. Neko, Inu.”

Two Anbu appeared in front of Riku in a kneeling position.

“Please, politely escort the Mizukage and her entourage to our diplomatic quarters. Be at her disposition if she needs anything.”

““Yes, Senju-sama.””

“Mizukage-dono, whatever talk you wish to have, I’m sure it can wait tomorrow. The day is only half over and I’m sure we could all use a bit of rest.”

Mei nodded and gave a short nod of salute to everyone in the room before following the two Anbu assigned to her.

“Temari. I already thanked them but I want to thank you for the help your people gave us by fighting Iwa’s troops by the Konoha ninjas. There were no casualties and a few wounded but nothing that can’t be fixed from what I’ve been told. Even though I know you don’t need it, please allow Gai to escort you to your destination.”

The desert blonde thanked Riku and left the office with Gai in tow.

The only one left was Kakashi and he had already stashed his porn book back into his back pouch. Riku’s eyes landed on him and he was blunt with his words.

“Kakashi. Where the fuck is my mother?”

“Well…”