Starring:
Maia, Sanosuke, Hashiramako
Date: Unknown (log received July 8, 2010)
Summary:
None given
"Diplomacy with the Hokage!"
Unknown location
An eagle arrived in the village's aviary, a courier from the Land of Lightning. The message was deciphered and relayed to the Kage's office. The message was nothing out of the ordinary, just a note to be expecting a diplomatic visitor to be arriving with her entourage. Hashi nodded to the reporting shinobi, "Just tell the desk to send her back if I have no one with me when she arrives. If I do, I suppose she'll have to wait." She said, "Apart from that, make sure that arrangements have been made if she decides to stay a day or two before returning home." With that, Hashi returned to the never ending stack of reports, stamping her signature where needed before calling in an assistant to go and file them away appropriately after updating personnel files. "Man, I wish they would make up something that would automate all this." She muttered.
Well, the eagle had actually arrived after the fact already. There was a knock on the door. It was said envoy from Kumogakure waiting outside as she had scrunched her nose, just rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Instead of bringing her full entourage to the meeting (i.e. all of Team 01), she instead just had her the mandatory Saito bodyguard at her side. She pursed her lips and took a deep breath before she peers her head through the door.
"Or a secretary can help." Maia speaks up as she smiles cheerily towards the Hokage.
The Saito bodgyguard in question remained ever vigilant as he stood by Maia's side, his eyes constantly on the move despite the territory they were in being a place of relative safety. The small Murakumou Sword at his hip remains there in its saya with his hand upon it, the boy being very cautious. Of course, when Maia sticks her head in the Hokage's office door and speaks to her before being summoned he nearly falls over backwards. "Ya-" He clears his throat, almost having said her last name again. "Maia-dono… you might want to wait…"
It was already too late, and the Saito finds himself once again wishing Maia had shown a little more restraint. Oh well! Throwing caution to the wind the boy simply runs a hand through his hair and sighs, "I'm going to need a drink after this…" He whispers quite to himself as he waits to see just how the Hokage would react to the intrusion. And hopes she won't react violently.
Hearing a small bit of commotion outside of her door, Hashi finished looking over a report, then signed it off and set it aside. "Come in Maia-san." She said calmly. "Either that bird is slow or Kumogakure's postal service is overtaxed and/or inept." She said dryly, knowing the birds were usually sent out ahead of the team. "I am relieved to hear the war is over between you and Kirigakure." She said as she stood, walking over to a overflowing basket of strawberries that sat on a pedestal near the Kage's desk. "Berry? They're nice and fresh. Picked this morning and delivered to me by the Akimichi themselves." She said with a smile.
"It's a mixture of both actually. I hope you don't mind that one of the Saito clan is with us. The Raikage is a bit overprotective and it seems that we require bodyguards now." she says with a soft chuckle of amusement as she shakes her head while motioning Sanosuke to come along. "The war is over. We reached a treaty detailing certain terms and conditions over the Land of Waves." Maia knows of course since she was there when the whole thing happened.
"But either way, I do not know if news of this has reached your ears, but Kumogakure is in ruins. The war was ended with many of our people dead, buildings destroyed, and even many of the Land of Lightning's government officials assassinated." she says matter of factly.
Sanosuke bows his head lightly, as is customary of one of his station when they're in the precense of a Kage. As Maia speaks he stands near the door and is very quiet and observant as befits one of his station. Both a Saito and a Senshi, its clear why he choose this proffession. A keen attention to detail as his eyes move to look at the Strawberries, the boy tilting his head to the side. He hadn't seen anything like that back home. Of course, now wasn't the time to ask as his head and eyes immediately reset and he just simply waits for the whole meeting to be over. Sometimes this job was boring…
Hashi plucked a berry from the basket holding it by the stem; she bit into it as Maia spoke, feeling the cool sweet juices trickle through her mouth. She then motioned Sanosuke to partake of some fruit if her desired to. She chewed the berry slowly as she walked away from the berries. She listened to Maia for a moment as she chewed and swallowed that tip end of the strawberry, the rest of it held in her hand. "Well, that's the cost of war. Hopefully, our efforts helped to defend the civilian populations caught in the crossfire. They will be vital to rebuilding Kumogakure and your country's economy." She stated. "But anyway, I know you're not here to state what is the obvious to anyone who has ever been involved in the aftermath of war. You are here for something. What does Kumogakure need?"
"As per your orders, there were no Konoha shinobi available during the attack on Kumogakure. Kirigakure did not attack us in the Land of Waves where your men were stationed." she said firmly and resolutely and perhaps with a little bit of annoyance to that fact. Many people had died that day afterall. "What I am here for, on behalf of the Raikage, is to ask for supplies. You have offered humanitarian aide to the people of the Land of Waves and now ours, too, is a war torn country. Our shinobi cannot be the ones doing most of the building as we have an unstable government due to people being assassinated in the Land of Lightning. Peace and order must be kept, I am sure you understand that we're a little stretched in resources at the moment."
Hashi nodded, "As I told you before, my personnel were sent to protect the civilian populations of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Waves. But anyway, you are right. Your police structure in Kumogakure relied heavily on your shinobi corps. Your country's military corps also took a hit during this war. While rebuilding takes place, order must be maintained and to maintain that order, the basic needs of the people must be met. Their needs for shelter, food, medical care, and some resemblance of normalcy should be a priority." She said, walking over to her desk and pulling out a book of ledgers. "I can provide for medical assistance. I need to talk to the Akimichi about food surplus that they may have available. I will contact the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to see if we can supply some military tents for temporary shelters. Once you have most of the debris carried away, I will personally visit Kumogakure and assist in the physical rebuilding of the village."
Blink. blink. That turned out better than she had thought. Maia puts her hands together as she nods and bows low for a few moments, holding her position at a perfect ninety degrees before easing on up. "Thank you. I am sure my people will appreciate such a kind gesture. We are a war torn land, though I suggest that you consider your neutrality towards the Land of Water. Their Mizukage has ambitions even stronger that Hamada-san's." she says softly as she motions towards Sanosuke to make sure the door is closed.
"As you know, I am Yamayuki. Sound is our purview, and while I was negotiating the Mizukage, he had whispered a few things when I convinced him the folly of attacking our country. The next threat on his list is Konohagakure. While he doesn't think I heard the whispers to his Death Hand elite, I did, and he has his eyes set on your lands. I had heard of Kirigakure ambassadors trying to sway you towards their side of the conflict in the war, but I figured you should know that the Mizukage's ambitions are perhaps stronger than our Daimyo's."
Hashi nodded, not at all surprised by the possible threat from the Mizukage. "That is Mitsuo for you. He is a conniving and manipulative pain. Keep in mind, he is Kaguya, and a reputation like theirs may be exaggerated, but it doesn't come without at least some justification." She said. "I'm not sure what your Daimyo is after, Kirigakure pursued us onto the outskirts of my country during this whole ordeal. All because we killed some of their shinobi. Big deal, they killed ours too at some point as well." She chuckled. "Anyway, I figured the Mizukage may be more ambitious than the Raikage and the Daimyo of Lightning. Part of the reason I don't hesitate to offer help. The Land of Waves wanted Kiri there, which is why we remained neutral then." She stated. "I hope that your leaders would assist us if we were in need as well."
"I am sure Hamada-sama and the Raikage would offer their assistance. If it is one thing we have had, it was the strength of our nonshinobi military in helping keep the peace and order in our lands, but alas, the war has decimated our population. Our losses have been greater than expected and so we're in a bit of a bind." she admits ruefully, pursing her lips as she lets out a soft and nervous chuckle while scratching the back of her head. "But I did just want to let you know of the looming threat. The reputation of the Kaguya is not exaggerated." and she points to the new scar under her left eye that runs down her cheek. "This, I received from fighting their Jounin."
Hashi chuckled, "I remember crossing Kaguya Yasushi earlier. I am sure he could be a challenge to most opponents. I just don't like to promote reputations, because then they get overboard and way off the truth. Why give them ammunition for psychological warfare?" She then looked closer at the scar. "If you like, I could have one of my Medical Jounin take a look at that scar. They could perhaps reduce it for you if you desired. Then again, some shinobi see scars like that as a rite of passage and something to be proud of."
"I figure I will keep it. I no longer go on tour anyway, and with it came my promotion to Jounin." Maia admitted ruefully as she let out a soft chuckle escaping from her lips. "And yes, Kaguya Yasushi is a brutal opponent. He had us hospitalized for a while as well. If Kirigakure does end up attacking your village, I will try to send information we have on their shinobi if they do attack, though I must warn you that one of their ninja is an infiltration specialist who blended in seemlessly with our people until she was found out. So do be careful."
Hashi nodded slowly, "That would be very much appreciated. As far as an infiltration specialist, those are a challenge. We have some of our own, but every village approaches it slightly differently." She said. "Anyway, thanks for the information, I need to send a hawk to the Capital about requesting the tents and I need to go to the Akimichi about providing food. Then, I need to talk to my council about filling in for me to head to Kumogakure for a week or two."
"Well thank you for your time. If I may use one of your hawks to send a message to the Raikage giving a brief summary of the meeting, that would be much appreciated. We'll just need to restock on supplies and we'll be on our way back to Kumogakure." Maia replied with a bright smile. It went better than she had thought and she bowed once more.
