55 Is This Really a Negotiation?

Chapter 53: Is This Really a Negotiation?

Jutsu of the day:

<Negotiation no Jutsu>

Courtesy of Yours Truly

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[Previously on NaRUS?]

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Mitsu and his party finally arrives at Maishima Island. The crucial meeting between the Warlord and the Resistence is bound to happen.

Terumi Mei, one of the leaders of the Resistence, judges the capabilities of the said 'Warlord' and is certainly surprised. As she tries to guess the identity of their guests, her eyes fall on the youngest member of the group.

Curious, as she is, she tries to pry on the identity of the child but finds nothing standing out. But little does she know that a great surprise awaits her.

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And now~

Time: Similar time as Chapter 52

Inner Meeting Room

[General]

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All the participants were present and the actual meeting was about to begin.

Mei wanted to start strong. So that the Resistance could have the upper hand on the negotiation. She was feeling a bit unnerved, but she herself could not point out the reason for it.

But something was telling her that there was an anomaly in the room. And she needed to be mindful of it.

She took a deep breath and as she was about to start her speech, a childlike voice stopped her with a simple question.

"I don't want to be rude, but where is your leader? Shouldn't he be present for such an important occasion?" asked Mitsu in a bored tone.

The sudden question surprised Mei, while the other leaders started sweating.

'Did they teach him to say that to put me in an uncomfortable position? Well nice try… But you people shouldn't have used a child…' Mei thought with a slight smile.

"Oh, why does the young lord presumes that the leader isn't here?" She asked with a smile.

Mitsu sat back down in a relaxed manner and said slowly, "Don't get me wrong, you are strong and all, but neither are you the leader of the Resistence nor are you someone with enough background to have a say in the village. So I douuuubt that you are the leader.

And as for the other gentlemen in the room…" He paused at this point and smiled in a mocking manner as he continued.

"They are at best common Jonins. I hardly see any elites among them.

I don't see even a single of those umm… what do they call them… Seven ninja horsemen? Seven ninja dwarvesmen? Oi Fuzzy what was their name again?" The boy kept mocking the leaders.

Mei kept her calm. And while the other leaders were feeling insulted, they kept it to themselves. Ao wanted to refute, but Itachi had his eye on him.

"It's the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kiri Kaneko-sama…" Even Fuzzy felt a bit weirded out because of Mitsu's behavior. But he already learned to just go with the flow, or he would have to deal with the tantrum after.

"Yea, yea, yea! THAT! So yee, I see none of those among you. And from my little knowledge, I would presume that the leader of the "RESISTENCE" would actually have someone with some strength, no?

Not that I am saying that you are weak or anything. Hehe~" Mitsu finished his sentence with a gentle smile.

Everyone glanced at Mei, to see what reaction she would show.

To everyone's surprise she had a calm appearance. It was as if whatever the young lord said, wasn't any of her concern.

But in her mind,

'Who is this child… Even if they taught him all that. It's impossible to maintain such calmness in this atmosphere.

He is in front of so many powerful ninjas. The pressure in this room is intense that even normal chunins would start sweating.

But how come this child shows no affect? Who is he?...

If their purpose was to get me off my comfort zone, then they have succeeded alright…

But I won't go down without a fight.'

"Well, it seems Kaneko-sama has quite the imagination. Hahaha, but I think you are thinking this quite shallowly.

The members you see here are just a few of the whole. The ones guarding the headquarters are the logistic specialists, who are keeping the whole Resistence running.

So if you are comparing the combat capability of our organization solely through this, then you are in for a surprise.

And who said we don't have any of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?" Mei answered with a smile without getting angry.

"Heeeeh~ Do tell me, Mei-sama~ Which of the Seven is working with the Resistence?" Mitsu asked with a little chuckle.

"Sorry young master, but that's classified information. You will just have to believe my words for it." Mei smiled lightly.

In response to Mei's smile, Mitsu started laughing.

Everyone's was surprised because of the laughter.

Itachi had his usual smile while Fuzzy was trying to hide his face with a hand.

'Sigh! What shenanigans will he cause now…' Fuzzy thought worriedly.

He has been cleaning up after Mitsu for so long that he could smell his shenanigans before it even started.

Mitsu stopped his laughter and started saying as if responding to the funniest joke he had ever heard.

"Classified information? Funny!

Because the last time I checked, the Village hidden in the Mist had only four ALIVE Ninja Horsemen! And the other three swords are still missing. Heh~

So let me make a guess.

I believe that you guys certainly don't have the genius of the Hosigaki clan, the Tailess Tailed Beast. Simply because no way in hell he would serve people weaker than himself.

So that's one down!" Mitsu declared as if a matter of fact.

This got Mei to frown. She was astonished by the amount of intel the young child or should she say the Warlord fraction had on them. While they had close to none.

'This is troublesome…

We are behind in the information sector… I wonder how much he knows.' Mei thought furiously.

"Then let's look into the owner of the giant sword, Kubikiribocho.

He is that short tempered guy that joined some mercenary organization. That cuts him out from being a member of the Resistence as well.

That leaves us with the owner of Kiba and Hiramekarei.

I, for one, know that the Kiba owner is a troubled… ummm... Lunatic? Yah I think that sums him up. I don't believe that he would work under you.

That leaves us the Hiramekarei.

Hmmm, interesting, I think the sword and the owner being a member of the Resistence is a possibility. So I will give that one to you.

Sooooo~ Mei-sama with one Horseman of Kiri, you still think you have the upper hand in this war?

Oh, don't get me wrong, I do believe that you are very strong with your two bloodlines.

I just don't believe that you are even close to facing Yagura... Yet." Mitsu finished his speech with a mocking grin.

The leaders were gritting their teeth while balling their fist. But they couldn't utter a sound. Mei might not have seen the child in action, but they had.

Earlier, when they went to greet the Warlord's group, they had seen Mitsu take down all the hidden ninjas under a minute. And he only said one thing after doing so, '"Geez! You guys hide like sissies!"'

And he didn't even break a sweat after taking down so many of them.

That was testament to the child's strength.

Mei didn't receive this report due to the shortness of time. So she didn't know. Even now she believed that the child was being used to get them out of their comfort zone.

So while frowning she said in a cold tone as she faced Hisashi, " I am surprised at how much you know about our situation, Warlord-sama. But I think you are underestimating us way too much.

And how do you know that the Resistence doesn't have enough strength to contest against Yagura?" She asked while gritting her teeth slightly.

Hisahsi didn't say a thing and Mitsu simply smiled.

Mitsu then started cracking his fingers and slowly said. " Well, why don't you show us your strength?

I mean if it's going to be a negotiation, then both parties need to be almost equal in strength yes?"

Mei smiled lightly, "And why do you believe that you might be stronger than us, Kaneko-sama? You do realize you are in 'Our' headquarters."

This time it wasn't Mitsu who replied but Fuzzy.

"Oh, are you implying the seventy-six hidden ninjas around the venue? Oh, umm, forgive me, I put them to sleep when entering. They seemed to have thought of disturbing the meeting, so I took the liberty.

Ah, don't worry, they aren't harmed. Just fainted… Probably." His tone was bored as always.

He spoke as if taking out seventy plus ninjas was no big deal for him… And he did so who knows how.

Mei got extremely serious this time. She was ready for combat.

"Sigh~! You scared her Fuzzzy~ Geeeeez!

Anywhoo~ Why don't we-" Mitsu was about to say more but was stopped by a cough.

*Cough*

"Kaneko! That's enough!

As the leader of the Resistence isn't here, we have nothing to discuss." The Warlord said.

Then he looked at Mei as he continued,

"When Momochi Zabuza returns, come find us…" The 'Warlord' said with dignity that was hard to refute.

'He stopped that unruly child with a cough…' Thought all the leaders.

Mei didn't say anything. Because only she understood the meaning behind the last sentence. And the weight it carried.

'They even knew about Zabuza… Just who are they…' Mei was a bit paranoid now.

The Warlord's group started taking their leave when Mitsu said to the room,

"The sooner you realize the difference in strength between you and Yagura, the faster you will be able to liberate the Water Country. So till next time~"

The room turned silent as the only ones left were the leaders of the Resistence. Every one of them had a new demon in their mind drawing at them.

[A/N: Some might think this aggression is pointless, but this was used to plaster the position of the Warlord. A Warlord whose subordinates are strong and a seemingly worthless child knows of all their information. Heh~ And simply trying to negotiate wouldn't have worked, because without proper reason a huge organization wouldn't just start following an unknown.]

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Outside the Resistence HQ

[Sanada Hisashi]

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"Sigh! Mitsu-sama… You really took a great risk there… What if they actually attacked!" I said warily. This master of mine, will get me killed from a heart attack sooner or later...

"Sheeesh! It's not like they could do anything! Fuzzy is enough to take down their whole force. And it worked out fine didn't it! And it's Kaneko-kun… You people are too… Nevermind…" Mitsu started grumbling.

"Kaneko-kun… Care to explain the point of getting the Resistence all riled up like that?" Fuse asked with a sigh.

"It's simple really. The Resistence never had the thought of helping us.

Their main idea was to integrate us into their ranks by giving our leader a leading position in their camp.

So with my little drama, it will make them think and have a higher vigilance towards our group." Mitsu-sama answered nonchalantly.

"But isn't that bad? Will they not treat us as enemies?" Fuse asked a good question. Even I was having some doubts.

"Weeeeelll! In normal situation yes! But. Hehe~

They will not have the luxury to treat us as enemies soon enough."

We were all confused by this answer from Mitsu-sama. But after serving him for years we knew better than to poke on the matter, because we won't get any better answer.

But it seemed like one of us was having some difficulties with the situation.

"Kaneko-kun, how did you know so much about them? I couldn't even get a percent of the information you had.

I feel like I have failed." Itachi said grimly.

Well, it was a question I had as well.

I simply said the things Mitsu-sama told me to say. I of course had no idea what those meant…

"Ah, don't worry too much my dear Ichi! And it's not your fault! I got these informations from a special source! You don't have to think too much on it. Now what's for dinner?" Mitsu-sama wanted to change the topic. Seems like he didn't want to share the source just yet.

Itachi took on a thinking pose and as if he understood something, he said grimly, "Is it that tentacle using subordinate you aquired? Is he a new guard? When will you introduce him to us?"

Mitsu-sama seemed to start fidgeting. As he answered while looking away, "Umm, yah, well, umm, you see the new guy is shy… So umm when he is ready I will let you all meet him. Now lets get our dinner!" As soon as he said that he ran towards our ship.

[A/N: Guruguru hasn't been introduced to the group yet. He works in Mitsu's shadow, like literally.]

Fuse and Itachi could only sigh and follow.

I slightly smiled, as the last years of my life are being filled with my master's shenanigans. I do feel young again.

"Mitsu-sama, I hope you achieve your goals…" I muttered lightly as I started following.

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[A/N: Hey there, beautiful people! I have finally migrated to Zambia and slowly settling! So, I have more free time and will be posting chapters more frequently. Sorry about all the delays and I thank all of you for sticking with me through the absence.

If you want to join the discord! The link: ht tps://discord .gg/RcZZjnKnwx ]