With the new A hastily appointed as the Fourth Raikage by default, Kumo's power system and infrastructure restabilised, much quicker than the Sand and Mist's. Furthermore, with his duo- B- he was untouchable and no one dared to oppose him within the Cloud ranks. However, this did not stop the Konoha squad sent to negotiate, led by Minato, who was joined by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and other Leaf shinobi. It would take far more to intimidate such a powerful group.
As the Leaf group arrived, they were ushered into a meeting room, the group receiving clear looks of hostility within and outside. Kumo as a whole hated the leaf for killing their Third Raikage and tensions were high and their delegation was met with scorn and anger. Upon entering, they saw a seated A, and next to him, B, along with a few other Cloud Village officials, looking sternly at them. There were no signs of warmth at all, and the closest they got was from B, who simply looked at them curiously.
The 8 Tails' Jinchuriki, Minato noted, like Kushina…
"Greetings," Jiraiya said, with a serious tone, which was unusual for him, but showed how the situation was looking.
After some time the majority of the negotiations had been discussed, and without much approval from the way Cloud group, B loudly said,
"These terms don't sound cool, yo!"
A grunted, approving. Kumo, like the other Great Villages, was a proud one, and refused to bow down to the Leaf's demands. However, since they had lost and accepted defeat, not much could be done, other than to negotiate the conditions to go ahead. But A was nowhere near satisfied, as were the other Cloud shinobi and officials. Their position was nowhere near as dire, as such their willingness to fight back reflected that. A tough negotiation was expected by the Konoha group, and they wouldn't leave without suitable terms agreed upon.
"If you need some time to discuss them, that's fine," Shikaku firmly said, hoping that this would make things continue much smoother, especially for what he was about to ask.
Here goes nothing. If anything does happen though, I should be fine…
"The final term we ask for is that the Hidden Leaf requests for the secrets and techniques behind the Lightning Chakra Mode, and I know-"
"YOU DARE ASK FOR MY FATHER'S CHAKRA MODE? AFTER YOU KILLED HIM?!"
"I-"
Before Minato could finish his sentence, in a split second, A (who had been already frustrated with the Cloud's loss and upset by his father's death all while pushing it down to act like a sensible leader) disappeared from his seat, dashing forwards to strike at Minato over the table, his chakra pouring out, embodying his rage. B, responding to his brother's impulsive move instantly stood up ready to assist.
In that instant as A's fist inched closer to Minato's face, he suddenly disappeared leaving A surprised at the sheer speed. As A slowed down with his attack failing Jiraiya and the other Leaf Shinobi were up instantly. The Ino-Shiko-Cho trio were already in position, handsigns ready while Shikaku thought of countless plans, and Jiraiya who had been seated next to Minato had a Rasengan in hand, finally having learned it off his disciple with Katsuro's permission.
On the other hand, the disappeared Minato appeared just as suddenly to B's side, having placed a seal on him earlier during the handshakes and greeting. His Kunai was out, pointing at his neck, but somewhat surprisingly, B's knife was also out and was ready to gut him. The foreknowledge of Minato and Katsuro's flying Raijin was showing itself here.
This man…he's the fastest shinobi alive! There's no wonder he's renowned as 'The Yellow Flash of the Leaf'! He was even able to go against my father!
B spoke as A had his own inner turmoil, "I'll take you out too if you follow through."
As the tension built, with both sides no longer making any more moves, eventually Minato spoke with a cool confidence.
"Lord Raikage, I will forgive that outburst just then. Forgive me for bringing up such a delicate matter so simply. However, note, if it happens again, the Hidden Leaf will not hesitate to retaliate." Minato said, his voice unwavering, and his face stone-cold. It was unlike Minato to be so, however, he couldn't afford to seem soft here, especially in these conditions. The Konoha shinobi behind him smiled to themselves.
No wonder he's being propped up to be the next Hokage, they thought. The way he handled and reacted to such a manner to ensure diplomacy while demonstrating the Leaf's power was simply perfect.
With those words, things calmed back down as tables were reset, and both Shinobi went back to their respective sides. The Kumo shinobi sized up their leaf counterparts, realising just how much power was in this relatively small delegation. A and B were by far the strongest powers in their village, but in that brief moment, despite how much they wanted to deny it Konoha seemed equipped to handle them with just a fraction of their power that was here. Minato was even faster than the Raikage, a fact he knew but only truly realised seeing it for himself. He dodged the blow and instantly moved to neutralise a second threat with B. A was also under pressure from the Toad Sage and the Jutsu he was holding. That blue orb radiated a sense of danger and appeared out of nowhere with no handsigns just like the Lightning chakra mode. And even with that Jutsu, it seemed like the blue ball Jiraiya formed could deal damage through it.
Not to mention the Ino-Shiko-Cho trio and other Konoha shinobi, who were ready for a fight. Despite being in their home court, the Kumogakure representation felt threatened, and scared at what they had witnessed. Seeing was truly believing, and seeing it for themselves made them realise just how out of depth they were. Even if they moved to kill them all here, somehow capturing a man who could literally teleport him and his people, they would need to face the God of Shinobi and all the other powerhouses.
The realisation forced them to reconsider their rigid stances, realising that they needed to be more compliant to buy more time, especially for the 2 tails Jinchuuriki to grow.
"Right." he said, coming out of his deep thought as he replied to Minato, "we can't accept that. As for the other terms, we will have to discuss those for now. Let's reconvene tomorrow." And with that, A exited the tent briskly, with the rest of the Kumo group following him, other than B, who lingered behind, giving Minato a thoughtful look, as if studying him, then he too left.
"That could have gone much worse," Inoichi raised an eyebrow, seeing Minato so relaxed, "the negotiations, but also A's sudden attack just then."
Choza nodded, agreeing, "Sounds like there's a lot left to do."
"Well," Minato sighed, "I guess we could have expected that." He looked around at the Konoha group around him.
"But at least we've put down the foundations of our terms," Shikaku stated, "let's wait for now. Rushing them will only raise tensions here. Our presence is already upsetting a number of Cloud shinobi, and the sooner we get this over with, the better."
Unlike the other delegations, Minato's squad stayed for quite a few days as Konoha tried to extract as much as they could, and Kumo tried to give up less. The obvious tensions and hatred were counter-productive but after the first day out burst they managed to be civil.
In the end they had agreed on pretty much everything but one.
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