Chương 48: Han P.O.V.

O. V.

-----Han P. O. V. ----- Han looked at the kid who was oddly dressed like him walking toward him casually. The boy in the pink kimono and straw hat moved without any fear or hesitation, as if he were greeting old friends instead of potential enemies. Han himself was not wearing his usual red armor today. He had chosen a simple red kimono that was a little different from the boy's. It was more suitable for a formal meeting like this with the Daimyō.

Han was not a sensor, but he could tell the boy was dangerous just from the way he walked up to the Iwa team without a hint of worry. The kid raised his hand for what looked like a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, fellow fashionista. My name is Shunsui Kyoraku." Han was surprised.

'No one has ever asked me to shake hands or even said my name in a long time. But probably the kid does not know what I am.' He did not shake the hand. The Iwa genin behind him looked shocked and angry. One of them stepped forward and shouted, "Oi, Konoha brat! What do you think you are doing?" The Konoha boy gave him a calm look and replied, "I am meeting a fellow fashionista." Shunsui looked them over slowly from head to toe.

"You won't understand with your poor fashion sense. That dull gray armor makes you look like walking rocks. And those headgear? They do not even match your outfits. It is like you woke up and decided to wear whatever was on the floor. No coordination, no style, no effort. How do you expect to impress anyone when you look like you lost a fight with a laundry basket?" He continued to taunt the Iwa genin, "And the way you stand there puffing your chests out. It is almost cute.

Like little kids trying to look tough in hand-me-down clothes. If you spent half as much time on your appearance as you do on being angry, maybe people would take you seriously. But right now, you just look like a group of angry potatoes in metal suits." The Iwa genin muttered angrily, "Youuuu…" but Shunsui kept going without pause.

"Pink and red are bold choices. They say confidence. They say I do not care what you think. Your gray and brown say I woke up and gave up. Fashion is the first weapon in any meeting. You have already lost before the fight even starts." Han ignored the kid and studied the rest of the team that Konoha had sent. It was the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho formation. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The large Akimichi, the lazy-looking Nara, and the Yamanaka.

'No wonder the scouting team did not report back,' Han thought.

'Konoha has sent some of their best on this mission. These kids must not be ordinary if they were sent with them.' The boy was suddenly pulled back to his team by Choza Akimichi. The large jonin grabbed Shunsui by the collar of his pink kimono with one massive hand and lifted him slightly off the ground like a misbehaving kitten.

"Shunsui, what did we talk about regarding starting fights before the meeting even begins?" Choza said in a low, scolding voice, though there was clear amusement in his eyes. Shunsui dangled there, looking completely unbothered, and replied lazily, "I was just being friendly, sensei. Fashion is important." Choza sighed deeply and set the boy down, patting his head roughly.

"Save the fashion advice for after we win the alliance." The genin that Han was assigned for the mission muttered among themselves, "They don't look like much trouble. We would crush them easily." Han did not choose to say anything because he knew they were in for a rude awakening. He was especially sure that the straw hat boy as well as the boy wearing the weird green jumpsuit were strong.

He could see the green jumpsuit boy's rough hands filled with calluses that did not form until one had been a shinobi for at least a decade. He could also see that the boy had good muscles and moved with gracefulness of someone who was a Taijutsu master. He did not know exactly what made him think the straw hat boy was strong, but something was strange about him. It was maybe the fact that he had walked up to them, enemy shinobi, without a hint of fear.

'Or maybe the kid is just stupid,' Han thought. A samurai walked up from the Daimyo's estate gates.

"Daimyo would see both your teams now," he said. They walked inside to find a middle-aged man sitting on a throne. Both Iwa and Konoha shinobi bowed respectfully. The Daimyo looked tired but determined.

"My country and its people are suffering from bandits. Merchants cannot pass safely. Women are no longer safe on roads or even in isolated villages," the Daimyo said. He explained how entire trade routes had been cut off and how villages lived in constant fear.

"The situation has become desperate. I do not want to take help from any of your villages but with jonins leading this, my samurai would be too short staffed to take them on alone." Shikaku stepped forward calmly.

"We will be pleased to help assist you, Lord Daimyo. Konoha values peace and stable trade routes between nations. Our shinobi are ready to work with your samurai to eliminate this threat quickly and efficiently." Han was not the speaker of the team which could be told by the mask covering his face he was wearing. But that is why he had been given Ritsu for this mission. The other jonin with him stepped up.

"We are a shinobi nation that believes in strong alliances. A friendship between the Land of Earth and the Land of Claws would go a long way to strengthen our nation's positions in the region. Together we can create lasting security." Shikaku said, "And yet it is one of your jonin that is leading one of the bandits groups in the country.

What is to say that Iwa was not the one to plant him to make such a situation possible to make sure that Lord Daimyo would have no choice but to make an alliance with Iwa but sadly for you Konoha also decided to help." Shikaku of the Nara clan said. His words were calm but sharp, like a well-placed trap. Han now knew that Iwa was at a disadvantage in this discussion with Shikaku's words.

"Preposterous. That is a rogue jonin," Ritsu said defensively. He tried to continue speaking but Shikaku interrupted him smoothly.

"That is just like every village denies one of their spies or someone who assassinated one of the nobles and gets found out, calling them a rogue shinobi and acting without their village's will. The pattern is always the same. The village claims no involvement while the actions clearly benefit them. We have seen this play out many times before. The question Lord Daimyo must ask is whether this bandit leader's actions serve Iwa's interests more than they harm them.

If so, then trusting Iwa completely might not be the safest path for your people." Han watched the exchange and realized how carefully Shikaku had planned his words. Every sentence built on the last one, creating doubt about Iwa's intentions while offering Konoha as the more reliable choice. Han thought, 'We have lost the political battle. Well we lost it when Shikaku Nara had come on this mission.'