For this trip outside the village, Yuji had brought not only Baki and Yura as personal escort alongside his regular guards, but also a formal diplomatic delegation dispatched specifically by the Daimyo's office.
Because the cooperation being negotiated with other nations was not simply being conducted in the Sand Village's name as a hidden village. It required representation at the national level of the Land of Wind itself.
As Kazekage, Yuji could only formally represent the Sand Village. For negotiations of this scope between nations, the Daimyo's office needed to be the face at the table.
The other consideration was that this kind of formal meeting between Daimyo-level authorities normally required advance notice to be sent ahead of time, giving the other party time to prepare before a delegation actually arrived. But Yuji had dispensed with the standard protocol in the interest of speed. No advance notice was sent. He simply traveled directly to each nation's Daimyo.
Time was critical. The faster these cooperation agreements could be finalized the better. He needed to move before Konoha had time to react. If Danzo learned that the Sand Village was planning to hand over pharmaceutical factory construction rights to other nations while simultaneously making its research materials publicly available, there was a meaningful chance that Danzo, with the mentality of someone determined to cause damage on the way down, might try to sell Konoha's own counterfeit medicine information commercially as well, directly undermining the value of what the Sand Village was offering.
That old schemer harbored a bone-deep hatred for the Sand Village at this point. Something like this was entirely within his character to attempt.
But as time moved forward and Yuji personally stepped out as Kazekage with the Daimyo's office backing him, the negotiations concluded with remarkable speed. One nation after another reached agreement in very short order.
The Land of Rivers was a particularly clear example. It sat sandwiched between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, and with the Land of Wind having just absorbed the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers was quietly terrified that the Land of Wind's next step would be turning toward them, igniting another round of war. And there was currently no ninja force anywhere with the capability to stand against the Sand Village.
Whether you called it paying for protection or simply seizing a good deal when one was offered, the Land of Rivers had absolutely no grounds for refusal.
Furthermore, Yuji had not issued any threats. He had simply laid the cooperation terms on the table.
The only thing the Land of Rivers' Daimyo found genuinely puzzling was this: the entire ninja world knew the Sand Village was spectacularly wealthy. With its pharmaceutical industry still running even under Konoha's competitive pressure, the Sand Village continued generating consistent revenue. By any logic the Sand Village should not need money. And yet it was apparently willing to sell its pharmaceutical factories and research materials, both of which were closely guarded secrets.
But the substance of the cooperation was one hundred percent beneficial for the Land of Rivers with no downside. Having a pharmaceutical factory meant their domestic medicine supply was secured. They would no longer need to spend heavily purchasing from the Sand Village or Konoha going forward.
Most importantly, everyone understood this was a tremendously profitable arrangement. So there was genuinely no reason to refuse. When Yuji made his intentions clear, the Land of Rivers' Daimyo reacted as though a gift had fallen from the sky and agreed immediately. He paid a substantial sum upfront and signed the contract on the spot.
He was not particularly worried about the Sand Village reneging or changing course. After all, the Land of Wind's Daimyo's office was a guarantor. And the Sand Village had been playing the economic market game from the start. If it broke its agreements or violated contracts, the story becoming public knowledge would deal a devastating blow to the Sand Village's credibility. The Land of Rivers' Daimyo was confident the Fourth Kazekage was not foolish enough to allow that.
Both sides reached agreement at a remarkable pace.
After concluding with the Land of Rivers, Yuji immediately rode on without stopping to the Land of Birds.
He intended to resolve every neighboring nation surrounding the Land of Wind in one continuous sweep.
Simultaneously, each cooperation agreement would include provisions confirming that the Sand Village could make certain terrain and geological adjustments within their borders. The concessions being made on the cooperation side far outweighed the significance of such minor terrain work in the eyes of these nations' rulers.
After all, pharmaceutical resources were still extremely valuable in the current ninja world.
Within a single month, Yuji had completed cooperation agreements with every nation neighboring the Land of Wind.
Never mind that some of these same nations and villages had been loudly and aggressively condemning the Sand Village just a short time before. When they actually sat face to face with Yuji, every single one of them was privately extraordinarily enthusiastic. And when they learned that the Sand Village was essentially offering them a free meal, whatever lingering hostility or resentment they had harbored vanished completely.
Following this, Yuji escorted the Daimyo's diplomatic envoy and traveled together to the Hidden Stone Village.
The Hidden Stone Village was, in Yuji's honest assessment, genuinely the most deserving of sympathy among all the parties involved.
Throughout the Third Great Ninja War, the other major villages had been run circles around by the Sand Village's pharmaceutical resource leverage and had suffered under its industry dominance for years. Now Konoha had pushed its counterfeit medicines to market. Onoki had responded by trying to corner the raw medicinal ingredient supply, but compared to the value of finished pharmaceutical products, the margins available in raw materials were simply not large.
Claiming that Onoki held no jealousy toward the Sand Village and Konoha would have been impossible.
So Yuji had decided to set a trap for him.
Unlike the smaller nations, this visit to the Hidden Stone Village was a formal diplomatic engagement. Advance notice had been sent to the Hidden Stone Village as required, though to avoid Konoha's detection, Yuji had sent the letter personally rather than routing it through official channels.
Furthermore, because the journey had been deliberately concealed and disguised, and because the Land of Wind's Daimyo had not personally set out, the operational security had been maintained at a reasonably effective level.
At the Hidden Stone Village.
Onoki, his son Kitsuchi, and several other senior village figures stood at the village entrance, preparing to receive the approaching Land of Wind envoy delegation, and with them, the Sand Village's Fourth Kazekage Yuji.
Even up to this moment, Onoki and Kitsuchi could barely bring themselves to believe it.
The Fourth Kazekage had actually dared to come to the Hidden Stone Village in person, and claimed he had some kind of cooperation to discuss.
Was he genuinely not afraid that the Hidden Stone Village might let him in and never let him out?
But with the Daimyo's office and political considerations involved, even if they wanted to move against Yuji, they would have to think very carefully before acting. Setting everything else aside, given the Sand Village's current military strength, if something truly happened to the Fourth Kazekage inside their walls, the consequences for the Land of Earth would likely not be ones the country could absorb.
Because this Fourth Kazekage's reputation within the Sand Village and throughout the Land of Wind was, by any measure, the strongest of any Kazekage in the village's history.
"Why does my right eyelid keep twitching," Onoki muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked out toward the road beyond the village entrance, feeling something stir quietly in his chest.
He could not shake the feeling that something about this was off in a way he could not quite articulate.
After all, one village's Kage personally visiting another village was genuinely extraordinary. And their relationship with the Sand Village was not warm enough to justify something like this. During the Great Ninja War, the Hidden Stone Village had cooperated with the Sand Village on pharmaceutical resources, but that had been a matter of necessity and wartime interest. Whatever mutual resentment existed between them had never actually been resolved.
And for Yuji to suddenly want to come here, doing so quietly without any public announcement, and specifically requesting the Hidden Stone Village to keep it discreet.
The more Onoki thought about it, the more convinced he became that something was wrong.
Based on his understanding of this particular Fourth Kazekage, this young man was extraordinarily cunning. He had never once taken a loss. Coming to the Hidden Stone Village and calling it a cooperation visit almost certainly meant he was nursing some kind of scheme.
"Father. They are approaching," Kitsuchi said in a low voice from beside him, offering the quiet reminder.
Because Yuji had specified in his letter beforehand that outside of the senior leadership assembled here, no one else in the Hidden Stone Village should know the Fourth Kazekage was among the envoy group. Everyone else was to be told they were simply receiving the Land of Wind's Daimyo delegation.
Even from a considerable distance, Onoki's sharp eyes had already spotted the Fourth Kazekage moving within the column.
Yuji had disguised himself relatively convincingly, presenting the appearance of an envoy escort guard.
The moment Onoki saw him, his instinctive reaction was to draw a sharp breath and tighten his fist involuntarily.
His expression darkened by several degrees despite himself.
But he managed to control his emotions just enough to avoid making an outward misstep.
"That little devil never comes knocking without something up his sleeve. I need to be very careful about this one," the thought passed through Onoki's mind in an instant.
...
New Fic: A Decent Man in the Shinobi World. Give this a try, you people will love it.