The kages stopped chatting as another man joined them.
Hisen, the leader of Takigakure, came in quietly. He was a middle-aged man with tired eyes and a simple green robe.
Since his village was small and hidden, not one of the great five and his personal strength was not comparable to the two kages, he bowed deeply to both Rasa and Ōnoki.
The bow showed respect. It showed that he considered them superior and stronger shinobi villages. Shota had no doubts that this soothed the ego of both Onoki and Rasa. Powerful men liked being treated as powerful men.
'Hmm, I have definitely seen him somewhere. Ah right in the anime. He is the father of the cowardly leader of Takigakure, Shibuki.' Shota connected the dots. He remembered the man from the filler arcs.
Hisen was a good leader who tried to protect his village, but he was weak compared to the great kages. His son Shibuki would grow up to be timid and afraid. Shota felt a little sorry for the man already.
And then the real meeting began.
'Oh so the Daimyō is not going to join us. Well, he probably does not want to get caught up if the two kages start fighting. And just being in his estate means that the deal has his blessing and he is guaranteeing Iwa would not double cross Suna in the deal.' Shota thought.
The daimyō's absence made sense. He was the ruler of the country. His presence would make the meeting too official. If Rasa and Ōnoki argued or fought, the daimyō would be dragged into it.
By staying away, he kept his hands clean. But his estate was the meeting place. That alone showed he approved of the deal. It showed he would enforce it if anyone tried to break it. No village would dare betray a deal signed under a daimyō's roof. It would mean war with the entire Land of Earth.
Onoki asked, "You made sure that you came without anyone knowing that you left?"
"Yes, I have not informed anyone about my absence. I have left a body duplicate to keep up the pretense." Hisen said.
'Ah that makes sense. Neither Taki, Iwa or Suna would want the deal to be leaked to anyone. Konoha or Kumo might try to stop the deal somehow. They would not want one of their enemies getting another nuclear bomb.'
'And Taki elders might not want to lose their only village weapon that acted as a deterrence to other villages.' Shota thought.
Hisen said with a sad smile, "I am willing to part with the 7 tails."
The straightaway give away of the tailed beast surprised Shota a little bit, not the two kages who had expected this.
'He must be really desperate. Why would he otherwise willingly give away a tailed beast?' Shota sympathized with the man a little.
Hisen continued as he explained why he decided to give away their tailed beast so easily to prevent the Kages from seeing it as a trap, "Our current jinchūriki is the only seal master we have. With his death. There would be no one else to monitor the seal. We can't have the tailed beast loose in the village. So it's better to give it away for some concessions."
Shota could see some words that Hisen did not choose to speak. 'He did not mention that the tailed beast might attract other villages attention and they might just take the tailed beast with force like Iwa or Suna. He can't take help from Konoha either as they would ask for the tailed beast themselves to protect it. And they might not even give them any benefits.'
Onoki asked, "Get straight to the point Hisen. What do you want in exchange of this?"
"I want Iwa's and Suna's protection against other shinobi villages and hunt down our rogue shinobi that are in other countries. We have lot of rogue shinobi after the last war."
Rasa said, "Suna would give you protection but you would have to enter into a shinobi alliance with us."
Onoki added, "A separate alliance with Iwa too. With you being allied with two great villages not even Konoha would do anything to you."
"I accept." Hisen said with a sad smile. He knew that he was being scammed but he had to do this for the safety of his village as its leader.
Shota could also see this. 'These kages are really deadly in politics. The alliance would stop other villages from attacking Taki. But an alliance would mean easy movement of Suna or Iwa shinobi through the Land of Waterfall, less taxes on merchants from Land of Wind or Earth and thus better trade for the two countries. And a few more benefits of an alliance.'
Then Hisen said, "And our jinchūriki has another condition that the next jinchūriki would be his soon to be born grandchild. He would seal it into the child himself and Suna can take it as soon as possible."
"He believes that his grandchild would have a better future as a jinchūriki in one of the greater villages with another of their kind. As for why he wants his grandchild to be a jinchuriki, I don't know his reasons. And since it would be his grandchild, you can rest assured that he would place the best seal possible."
"Very well, We will take the child." Rasa said.
'It would be an infant so he or she would be easily be made loyal to Suna. And it also saves Rasa the headache of finding and choosing a suitable candidate for jinchūriki. And Suna seal masters are not that good in sealing tailed beasts anyways. So it would be better for someone else to do so. Just look at Gaara who called Shukaku his mother.' Shota remembered how terrible the seal was on Gaara who could not sleep because Shukaku kept speaking to him.
Hisen said,"The child would be born in 4 months. You can send a squad around that time to take the child awya. Please ensure his or her protection."
Rasa just nodded.
With that the meeting ended.
-----Author Notes---------
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