Dorthy organized her files outside Raikage's office. The doors and walls were supposed to be soundproof, but after being blasted off their hinges multiple times, and even on a good day, A’s natural booming voice made them seem like privacy beads.
“Where’s Dorthy with lunch?! She wanted Snow cones!?” A roared.
“Here, sir. Lunch today is a gift from the land of flowers.” Dorthy walked in and, with one hand, unraveled a scroll with practiced ease across the dinning table. With barely any wasted chakra, A dozen large platters covered with Onigiri lay on the table. “These are pork and garden flower jam Onigiri. The rice is gold grade and the first-place winner of a rice quality competition. The pork comes from a wild boar that was the trophy kill in another competition, and the assorted garden flower jam is the second-place winner in a royal edible garden competition.”
C, who was also sitting at the table, took some of the files from Dorthy’s hand and started handing them out to the other shinobi around him. “Second place?” he inquired.
“The first-place recipient was suspected of cheating,” Dorthy answered, which made C shrug. “Each plate has a different flower jam the pork was glazed in: Marigolds, Lavender, Rose, Dandelion, Chives, Basil, Violets, and Broccoli.”
“Broccoli?”
“Second place.” C grimaced at Dorthy's response.
“Yes, yes, the Land of Flowers gave us the scraps off their table. Send a threat disguised as a thank-you letter. What happened to the snow cones?” A interrupted.
There are no snow cones. I believe you are talking about the Land of Snow situation. That is the files here, sir.” Dorthy gestured towards one of the files being passed around the table until it reached A’s hands.
The room had glass walls on two sides with a collection of ninjas A trusted with highly secretive information standing about, gradually approaching the table for lunch. All of them where special Jonin rank at a minimal and all had Individually proven their loyalty to the village in one way or another.
“How can we tell which one is which?” One of the ninjas asked, looking at the platters.
“Their color coordinated.”
“Why do we care about what’s happening in the Land of Snow?”
“Project Honey, and Project Hive. Both have benefited from the land. Hive more than Honey but not necessarily forever.”
“Which one are those two again?” C said around a mouth full of food.
Dorthy was a little reluctant to speak about such matters but.
“Honey is bloodline harvesting, while Hive is technology.” A said without taking his eyes away from the contents of the file. “I remember now. That swordsman is the leader of that band of deserters. Bee fought him and lost, but he did well enough to earn his respect.”
“Yes, the Snow ninjas are made up of deserters from the other hidden villages. Many were Stone and Mist Genin or lower. The Swordsmen Bee fought was a former Samurai from the land of Iron and is the current kage of their village.”
“Were there former Cloud ninjas among their ranks?”
“Yes, after the duel, they were captured and executed.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
A didn’t even blink at the news as he reached for one of the Onigiri and stuffed it in his mouth. In the file, there was a picture of the kage of the Snow village.
He was tall with brown, gray hair, thin, wispy facial hair, and small, dark eyebrows. Dorthy didn’t think the man looked like a Samurai very much, but the helmets they wore helped with the look. If he could fight Killer Bee with a sword, he must know how to use one.
“Honey means we got Bloodliner holders?”
“Yes, among the deserters were an Ice and a Swift style user. They are now incorporated into the breeding program. It was also found that the royal line of the land of Snow has a rare and difficult-to-understand bloodline ability. We are still studying it, and we currently have one of our kunoichi acting as the current ruler's wife.”
“Current ruler?”
“There was a power struggle between the king and his brother. We have received reports that the old king is dead and his castle has been burnt down.”
“Why do we care?”
“The castle held our main interest in the region. The former king was investing in high-skilled tech growth. Much of the technology he managed to cultivate was stored inside the castle for safekeeping. With it gone, Project Hive has setbacks, but there are also new opportunities.”
“Because our kunoichi just became a queen?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And we need him alive to sire more kids for Project Honey?”
“Yes, that’s correct, sir.”
“The fate of the scientists and inventors under the last reign?”
“As far as we can tell, all dead or captured, I took the liberty of instructing our spies in the field to keep an eye out for any stragglers, but our manpower in the Land of Snow is limited.”
“What’s the new ruler's objective?”
“The same as the last ones, high-skilled tech growth, but instead of infrastructure, he wishes for more military uses.”
A scuffed at hearing the information, “The man kills his own brother over a simple budget dispute, Pitiful. The last king, did he have any heirs?”
“Yes, a daughter. Her whereabouts are currently unknown. Before he died, the last king requested aid from one of the other lands, but we don’t know which. The girl was spirited away in the night.”
“Did the man create anything impressive before he was killed?”
“Yes, an artificial chakra metal. Natural chakra metal can conduct chakra roughly eight to ten times better than steel. With a good blacksmith, that number can double. The artificial chakra metal the previous king commissioned is roughly three to five.”
“Hmm, you said infrastructure before?”
“Yes, he incorporated the metal into a railroad system. Apparently, the tracks in the country freeze easily, so they use the metal to defrost them.”
“*pff* I understand the importance of railroads, especially during times of peace, but I see why his brother did what he did.” A took another bite of food while studying the file. Flipping the page caused him to pause. “The Leaf?”
“Yes, our spies in Konoha claim that the Land of Fire is going to have a more proactive approach with the Land of Snow.”
“That’s unlike them. Hiruzen is just as bad as Onoki. Why is he suddenly acting like he cares?”
“We don’t know the specifics yet, but for one, we suspect the old king requested help from the land of fire, still strange seeing the man's death at the hands of his own brother. Outside interference would be a strange change of norm for the Leaf village. Second, they want the bloodlines and technology for themselves.”
“Neither Hiruzen nor the daimyo is ambitious enough for that.”
“The Nine-Tails attack destabilized the village. They might be grasping for power or flexing what they have.”
“You think they are showing off?”
“I think both. The fire Daimyo has requested that the Land of Snow be dealt with, and the Leaf village is trying to show how strong they are despite losing the Fourth Hokage.”
A stood up from his seat and paced around the back of the room. Some of the ninjas' eyes snapped towards him when he moved, but when they saw he was just pacing, they returned to their food. A was quiet as he thought about what this all meant.
“Eww, what kinda filling is this?” C asked as he showed his Onigiri towards Dorthy
“Broccoli.”
“It’s purple!”
“Broccoli can be purple.”
“Broccoli is supposed to be green!”
“It was for an Edible garden. It’s supposed to look pretty.”
“Looking pretty, that is all this is.” A spoke aloud. “The leaf wants to show strength and act like they didn’t just get their teeth kicked in. Hiruzen stepped down after the war because he was getting old, and to make it easier for the Yellow Flash to get a clean start. This is that. They want a win to kick off a new reign.”
“Who do you think it’s going to be?” C asked curiously.
“I don’t know, if I had to guess, then it would be that Orochimaru fellow. That slippery snake in the grass was the Third's student. It was strange that he went with Namikaze in the first place.” A stopped walking back and forth and instead leaned on his chair. “Whoever they send will be important, and even better, outside the protection of their village. If we kill whoever they send, their village won’t only look weak, but they will be. Inform our inside woman to prepare and get a kill team together. I’ll leave the details to you, but we have a chance to deliver a lethal blow to the leaf, I won’t accept failures.”
“Your will be done lord Raikage.” Dorthy said and left to inform cloud Anbu of their mission.
