Chapter 56: Negotiation
Mei was at her office desk in the Terumi clan hideout, Kenji's words still echoing in her head as she looked at the scroll he had given her. This scroll would call out to the current leader of the Uzumaki clan which if true could mean having the support of this clan in his newly initiated effort to free his country from Yagura's clutches.
'I guess it's already past the time Kenji told me' Mei thought to herself as she prepared to summon the owner of the scroll.
Her heart filled with anticipation and anxiety, the meeting she will have in a few moments will dictate the fate of her entire country. Although she didn't know too much about the current Uzumaki clan, she had heard rumors of their resurgence and of their rapid rise in recent years.
Suddenly something happened that brought her out of her thoughts, a tall blonde haired man appeared in the room. And just as he had appeared he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Mei was confused and frightened by what had just happened when again the same man appears, but now accompanied by a red-haired woman.
"Hello, nice to meet you Terumi-san" Minato said with a friendly smile.
Mei was taken aback by what had just happened, suddenly three people had appeared at her office without alerting anyone completely bypassing her security system. She didn't know what Kenji meant when he said their leader was going to appear in front of her, but now she knew he meant it literally.
When she recovered from the initial shock of Minato and Kushina's sudden appearance, Mei took to analyzing the newcomers. First she looked towards Kushina, she was what you could call a characteristic Uzumaki, her crimson red hair was a clear indication of her ancestry.
Then Mei shifted her gaze and took to analyzing Minato 'Blonde hair, quite tall, pretty face, very handsome' Mei thought as she looked at Minato until she suddenly realized something 'Wait, blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty face and he can appear out of nowhere as if he teleported.... He is the fourth Hokage' Mei thought. She automatically got on her guard
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE WATER COUNTRY HOKAGE?" Mei said as she prepared to attack him.
Minato looked at her confused and said "weren't you the one who called me?"
"Uzumaki Kenji told me that the scroll would summon the leader of the Uzumaki clan and not the Hokage of Konoha" Mei replied.
"If you are looking for the leader of the Uzumaki clan here she is" Minato said to a still angry Kushina. "She is Kushina Uzumaki, current leader of the Uzumaki clan and queen of the whirlpool country. I am Namikaze Minato, current Hokage of Konoha, but today I come not as the Hokage but as Kushina's husband and second in command of the Uzumaki clan" Said Minato introducing himself and his wife.
...
Kushina seeing that Mei didn't say anything said "Don't be stupid Minato, this way you will scare the girl" Kushina said looking at Minato. Then she slowly approached Mei and said "Hello, my name is Kushina Uzumaki. Nice to meet you Terumi-san" Kushina said as she held out her hand to greet her.
Mei looked at her hesitantly, she hadn't expected that the current Hokage was married to the leader of the Uzumaki clan and had personally come to talk to her. Usually, leaders of countries or great powers did not appear in other countries without announcing their presence, failure to do so could be considered invasion. That was why Mei had been so startled to see the current Hokage inside his office desk.
Mei took a deep breath and relaxed, then put a smile on her face as she took Kushina's hand "Nice to meet you Uzumaki-san, my name is Terumi Mei, I am the current leader of the Terumi clan. Come, sit down so we can have a chat" Mei said pointing towards their table.
Minato and Kushina nodded and sat down, Mei did the same but the other side of the table.
"Sorry for not being able to offer you some coffee or tea, our supplies ran out about a week ago" Mei apologized
"No problem Mei-san, I just had some tea until a certain someone interrupted me" Kushina said as she looked towards Minato who was scratching his head and looking up at the ceiling.
Kushina doing this accidentally broke the tense atmosphere that was building up in the room.
Mei seeing this relaxed, she expected the leader of the Uzumaki clan to be a serious and intimidating person, but what she saw was the opposite of that
"Well, we would like to know the reason why you called us Mei-san" Minato said to change the subject and make Kushina concentrate on the meeting and forget about what had happened
"Uzumaki Kenji came to offer us shelter in the land of whirlpools, but I refused. I cannot simply abandon my country and the innocent people who are perishing daily. But I thank you for the offer anyway. In return I suggested that if you really want to help us you can support us in our effort to take control of Kiri and kill Yagura once and for all to end his madness" Mei said.
Kushina thought about her words, she felt a little sorry for Yagura since he wasn't to blame for what was going on, it was Obito and Akatsuki's fault, but she couldn't reveal this information right now. "What exactly do you need from us? Since you didn't accept the asylum offer" Kushina asked changing her previous expression to a serious one.
"Anything you can offer us, weapons, soldiers, food, money.... We currently lack everything" Mei said with a serious look.
"It's not little what you ask of us" Kushina said wordlessly, Mei and her newly started rebellion had nothing. "Hmm... Ok, we will be able to offer you some things, but"
"But everything has a price right?" Mei said completing Kushina's sentence.
"Exactly, if you had accepted our offer of asylum we wouldn't have charged anything, just that you would help in rebuilding the country, but you're asking me to fund your whole war that could last for years. We can't just donate everything" Kushina said.
"Ok, I didn't expect you to give us all that for free, but we can only pay you back once our rebellion succeeds" Said Mei
"Well, we can offer you loans to pay us back once your rebellion is over, we can also sell you weapons at 70% of the usual price, we can also offer supplies, but as for soldiers we currently lack a large amount. But, to compensate we will be able to offer you a good variety of fuinjutsu scrolls ranging from small and large scale traps, to chakra batteries to refill the chakra of exhausted soldiers instantly. Having our fuinjutsu in your hand will represent a great advantage on the battlefield" Kushina said.
Mei was encouraged to hear that they were willing to help them, but she found a problem "That all sounds great, but there's a problem, we don't have the money to pay you and I don't think we can do it in the future without compromising Kiri's economy once we take over either"
Kushina chuckled and said "That's what the loan is for, you can use the loan we will give you to pay for the supplies, besides there are many other ways to pay us besides money"
"But there are some conditions before you accept the deal" Minato said suddenly.
"One, once you overthrow Yagura you have to be the next Mizukage. Two you will sign a full alliance between Kiri and the Uzumaki clan once you become Mizukage. Three, you will support the Uzumaki clan unconditionally even if we face the Daimyo of the water country in the future. Four, you will facilitate and support the entry of the Fuinjutsu guild into Kirigakure" Minato said with a serious expression.
Mei's expression turned serious when she heard the third condition "Are you asking me to betray the Daimyo of the water country? Impossible" Mei said
"The same Daimyo who has done nothing to stop Yagura's actions. All he cares about is maintaining his position, status and his money. If he can maintain that he doesn't care if people die or not. Besides, I didn't say that you betray him, but that if the situation arises in the future where the Uzumkai clan is pitted against your Daimyo you will support us and not him," Minato explained.
Mei became thoughtful, she didn't know if she should accept or not. If she accepted it meant that she would be tying her village to the Uzumaki forever.
To be continued
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