Zabuza's S.Adventures 18 (Patreon)

Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 18

-VB-

When Kushina saw Mei and he enter her office room, she greeted me with a small smile. “Thank you for coming, Terumi-san and Zabuza.”

In the room itself were ten important individuals: Godaime Hokage Uzumaki Kushina, Jounin Commander Nara Shikaku, the three elderly advisors, Uchiha Clan Head Itachi, Hyuga Clan Head Hiashi, and others he was not familiar with.

Mei raised an eyebrow and glanced between them briefly before assuming her position as the leader of the rebel remnants. Kushina greeted her with a nod, and Mei bowed.

Due to the way hierarchy worked in the Elemental Lands, Mei was the one who had to bow while Kushina only had to nod. Kushina was the Godaime Hokage, an elected lord - specifically a daijinke, a noble, in the court of the Fire Daimyo - and ruler of Konohagakure and its surrounding lands. Through her official position in court, she could accept refugees and the like; it was illegal and punishable by execution for lesser nobility or commoners to accept refugees of other countries when such an act could spark unwanted skirmishes or, if it got really bad because the refugee in question was a political refugee, war.

Normally, even a normal daijinke would not be allowed to discuss such matters of importance, but the Hokage was not only the Court of the Fire Daimyo’s local daijinke but also its one of two military advisors and minister of military.

If those refugees could boost Konohagakure's military prowess - and thus indirectly the military might of the Land of Fire - then all was well. If not…

Zabuza knew that this was what this meeting was about: for the Hokage to determine whether or not the Kiri rebel remnants were worth their weight in power.

“Thank you for meeting me, Hokage-dono,” Mei spoke with her head still bowed before raising her head up. Because she was not a subject of the Land of Fire, she had no need to wait for Kushina to tell her that she could raise her head up.

Zabuza glanced at the woman while moving himself to the side of the room.

“I won’t say that it is a surprise to see you here, Terumi-dono,” Kushina replied with a blank face, giving nothing away. “I was under the assumption that the rebellion had higher quality and quantity of troops. Pray tell, what could have happened for you to lose?”

‘Which are true on both accounts,’ Zabuza thought to himself.

The Kiri rebels had nearly ten percent more manpower than the loyalists and more than three-fourths of high ranking fighters. With such a significant advantage, they should have won, even at the cost of high casualties.

So why didn’t they?

Kushina’s question was also two-fold. First, she wasn’t asking just about the actual events of the short-lived rebellion but also why Konoha should accept losers of a rebellion into their fold.

After all, once a rebel, always a rebel and all that. There were reasons why political purges were the norm.

Well, perhaps not here in Konohagakure. He’s never heard of a political purge here.

“We did manage to defeat Yagura, the current Mizukage, but it is what happened afterward that ruined us." She paused for a dramatic effect. "Kumo came to help them."

Murmurs broke out in the room.

Even Zabuza frowned. Why the hell would Kumo ally with Kiri?

… unless?

"Why?"

"Because Yagura promised to hand over five bloodline clan members to Kumo for their help."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes while he saw the Hyuga clan head grit his teeth in anger. 'Of course, the cloud bastards are still at it.'

"Who exactly came?"

"Both of their jinchuriki."

Kushina's eyes widened for the first time.

"That … is serious. Do you have proof?"

Meh nodded and slowly reached into her robes. The unseen guards in the room tensed but did not act as Mei pulled out a broken katana. She set it down on the ground in front of her and waited.

An ANBU ninja dropped into existence in front of her, took up the blade, and set it down gently and respectfully on Kushina's waiting hand.

The Hokage inspected the blade for a moment before huffing. "It is one of the blades carried by the Hachibi Jinchuriki."

"Why would Kiri even accept such poor terms for help? Kumo might be their ally now but it won't always be the case," Itachi hummed.

Meh spoke up. "It was why the rebellion happened in the first place. Yagura is intentionally sabotaging Kirigakure."

Kushina took all of the information before looking back to Mei. "Does this not mean that you will be returning to Kiri once Yagura is dealt with?" she asked.

It took a while but Meh shook her head. "No. There is very little left for us there. Yagura managed to rile up the citizenry into a frenzy. They are all zealots for the cause of removing any 'tainted blood.'"

"Perhaps. But then what would Konoha gain by accepting you. At the very least, Kumo and Kiri would not be happy with us. At best, you will be adding clan members without the sufficient numbers to contribute meaningfully to Konoha."

Meh looked surprised but not too much. "You already know how many of us there are."

"We wouldn't be hiding in the trees if we cannot tell who is hiding with us. Roughly three thousand civilians and five hundred ten ninjas, right?"

"...yes."

"What clans are with you?"

"Hoshigaki, Hozuki, Haromani, Badiki, and the Terumi clans."

Those were some powerful clans right there…

"In addition to the last surviving members of the Uzumaki of the Land of Water branch.

Zabuza froze for a second before his eyes widened.

"... My clan?" Kushina hissed.

"Despite history stating otherwise, Kirigakure did not kill Uzumaki they came across in the siege of Uzushiogakure. Five weaker if knowledgeable members were caught … And there are now twenty-six of their number among us."

Zabuza winced as he felt Kushina's relief and anger 0our out at the same time. No one needed to say what might have happened to those initial five.

But could Kushina turn her own clan away?

"Proof.v"

Mei nodded.

An hour later, a hooded elderly woman entered the Hokage Tower.

And then she took her hood off.

Zabuza never saw how quickly Kushina burst into action.

He supposed that it was only expected. Family reunions and all that.