Chương 254: The Meeting Starts
"You all know whom to give these letters to. The receivers shouldn't be able to see you deliver the letters. That's why I have attached the letters to small arrowheads so that you can launch them from afar." Yami said. He then looked at the bat on the left which seemed different than the others. The bat seemed a little bigger and more furious looking. He also had red eyes and sharp claws. The letter on his leg didn't have any arrowhead attached to it. Yami turned to him and said "As for you I want you to break into the mansion and deliver the letter. It doesn't matter how many people are in the room, deliver the letter to the one I showed you and only come back once he has read the letter.
The big bat swiftly flew away while the others also left in different directions. 'Using such a powerful attack bat for sending a message…I am sure he is pissed.' Yami thought as he looked at the big bat flying away. He was way faster than the other ones and disappeared in the orange sky as well. Yami looked at the setting sun and said "I wonder what is happening right now. The clan leaders will probably meet with Kakashi and the others today itself."
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Terumi Mansion.
Instead of the underground meeting room, the clan leaders were sitting in the main hall of the Terumi mansion. They were sitting around a big table and there was a lot of food on it. There were also no guards inside the hall and only the Terumi siblings including Toru and Nana along with other people that Yoshiro and the other clan leaders trusted were in the hall. As always there were standing on the side of the clan leaders along with the advisors of the other clan leaders.
"Is this a meeting or a feast?" Toru asked. This was his first time in such a high-level meeting so his mind was blown away when he saw the preparations but some things were out of his expectations. When he and Nana had asked their elder sister Kana how the meetings had gone, she didn't say much but explained the serious environment around them. This time it felt like it was a celebration instead of a meeting.
Enko leaned toward Toru and said "That's because the leaf shinobis are our guests and so we must treat them as such. Sometimes envoys from other villages behave very erratically and could get offended for even small things so it is better to take care of everything. This time both the parties know that it is us that needs the hidden leaf's help."
"But don't we have 3 of their spies in our custody?" Nana who was hearing the conversation intervened.
Enko looked at her and said "Yes but if things don't go further, they will lose 3 shinobis while we face the possibility of complete annihilation. The hidden stone is now openly backing the Mizukage faction and at times like these we need the hidden leaf's help and we need to agree to any conditions that they put in front of us."
"Now that you say this…this really seems like a serious meeting. I am glad that big brother Santo brought us here." Toru said to which Enko shook his head and said "It wasn't to see the meeting but to meet the Konoha genins that have come. They are all just 13-14 years of age. Santo wants you two to be on friendly terms with them. It could be good for the future of our clans."
Before Toru could say something the door of the mansion opened and Mei walked in. The clan heads and the others who were whispering among themselves got quiet and looked toward the door. Yoshiro and Mei nodded and each other as she came in. The clan heads stood up as Asuma along with Kurenai and Kakashi walked in followed by the kids. The leaf shinobis looked around and saw the people that were standing on the side. Kakashi could sense that they were very tense but tried their hardest to keep a calm face.
Santo and Kana guided the three jonins to their chairs which were exactly in front of the clan heads while the kids were seated on either side. The kids saw that except for Toru and Nana, no one was in their age bracket.
"I hope the travels weren't too troubling for all of you." Yoshiro said with a smile as everyone sat back in their chairs.
Kakashi was not interested in all these diplomatic talks so he just sat quietly and let Asuma and Kurenai take the lead. "The travels went well and we got to rest at the guest house Patriarch Yoshiro had arranged. Lady Mei and her cousins took good care of us." Asuma said. The clan heads smiled a little openly as they heard Asuma regard Yoshiro as the Patriarch. They were worried that the leaf shinobis would try to provoke them as they were the ones in need.
Asumi tried to take things a step further and said "I hope your father the 3rd Hokage is well. He is someone I hold in high regard and was saddened to hear that he was injured." Asuma only nodded and the old man continued but now looking at Kurenai and Kakashi "Miss Yuhi we have heard a lot about your family's genjutsu prowess. And who won't know the son of white fang, the copy ninja Kakashi Hatake."
Kurenai nodded while Kakashi didn't say anything and looked at the 3 empty chairs that were at the table. Everyone followed Kakashi's eyes and also looked at the three chairs. The clan heads understood what this meant and turned to Elder Wu who was standing at the side.
Elder Wu stepped forward and said "Hideki and the twins are preparing for this meeting. They will be here any minute now. I apologize for this mishap…I should have escorted them here before the envoys had arrived." Elder Wu also did a small bow.
The Terumi siblings and Enko were shocked to see that Elder Wu who always walked with his head high bowed so readily in front of someone.
'It was such a small thing but Elder Wu had to bow down for that?' Santo and his siblings thought. They felt a little frustrated by that but didn't say anything as they knew this wasn't a provocation from Kakashi but Elder Wu chose to do it himself.
Kakashi who saw this quickly stopped Elder Wu and said "Elder, please do not bow your head for such a small reason."
Asuma nodded and said "He is right Elder Wu…You are someone who has stayed and protected the land of forests for so many years from bandits and pirates."
The mist shinobis were a little shocked when they heard this. "You know about me staying in the land of forests?"
Yami had already mentioned a little about the Terumi siblings and their 2 protectors from the land of forests. Asuma also did some homework when he came here. His father had already collected a lot of intelligence about them and had also monitored them to see what their intentions were. Luckily when he found out that it was nothing nefarious, Hiruzen didn't delve any further and only kept a small report of their activities.
Asuma didn't explain but only said that "Father made sure that nothing that the land of forests couldn't handle reached near the shores." Everyone understood that the Terumi siblings were always being monitored by the 3rd Hokage and the only reason they didn't know was because Elder Wu and the others held no ill will.
'So when we thought that we were staying in the shadows, we were being watched the whole time. Sister Mei was right when she said that the great villages are way stronger than everyone thinks.' Santo and Kana thought.
Just then the side doors of the mansion opened and followed by AO, Hideki and the twins entered the hall. The leaf shinobis looked at the three of them. Mainly they were trying to see any signs of torture or any method used to extract information. Asuma and the 2 jonins sighed in relief when they saw that the three of them looked fine and fresh.
They didn't seem like they were kept in any kind of prison. But they looked a little embarrassed. That was understandable as they had caused such a ruckus and the Hokage had to send jonins to free them. As a veteran spy, Hideki couldn't just push the blame on Yami even though it was because of Yami that they were caught.
"Have you all been well?" Asuma asked to which Hideki nodded and said "Yes we were treated respectfully here and faced no problems. I apologize that I troubled you all to come here."
Asuma was about to ask them more but Kakashi waved his hands and said "That's good…now get seated here. We will talk later. I think we all have a lot of things to talk about and a lot of decisions to make."
Kakashi looked at the clan leaders as he said the last part. He already had enough of the goody-goody speaking and he knew that the clan leaders hadn't realized the severity of the issue in front of them yet.
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