42 Oncoming War

The mission of saving Six-tails was a success and it went very well for Konoha and Kirigakure considering this mission led to the demise of 4 Akatsuki members. With Saiken joining Naruto's mini group of Tailed Beast Utakata had managed to have a sound conversation with Saiken.

Utakata was not an unreasonable guy and despite his scaring past, he was someone who was willing to move on forgetting what had happened. Naruto told him Kirigakure had new Mizukage and she was giving her all to change their village's past.

And it was Utakata's choice to whether to help her or leave with them to Konoha. Utakata decided to go back to his village on the spot. Every man and women in their village had dreamt of getting rid of the village's ugly traditions but were unable to do so due to the village elders.

With new Mizukage rallying against the village traditions maybe there was a chance for the village to come out of its shell. And this was something Utakata wouldn't mind sacrificing his life for.

Naruto also had no intentions of bringing Utakata to Konoha since it could make cracks on the new relationship between Kirigakure and Konoha. Six-tails belonged to Kirigakure and in these hostile times, it was not ideal for Konoha to take Six-tails from Kirigakure.

Seeing Utakata had decided to return to his village, Naruto and his gang decided to escort Utakata to Kirigakure and meet with the new Mizukage personally. If there was something required to be done then they would help for the right price.

Guy's nightmare began again as the group of four made their way to Kirigakure on another boat. Land of water was a collection of many islands and with Kirigakure being hidden in one of the largest islands across the sea. The island-like many other was hidden by mist through which its name came from.

While the village went through multiple wars and some internal strife the village was still well-developed. Due to the tight rule of 3rd Mizukage, the village was well-developed as there was no one to oppose his decisions during his time.

4th Mizukage was Obito's puppet but he still had considerable influence over the village. The blood mist village was not covered in blood as one would expect. The only flaw in the village seen by Naruto was its dense mist that gave a lazy feeling to people.

The shinobi from Kiri had some hostile gaze but they didn't act on whatever grievances they had in their past. The previous war had created this wave of feuds and series of revenge and it people could write a whole page about the vengeance they needed to take but was it worth it?

There was no village who hadn't sinned in the war and the first village to move from these grievances would be the one to develop in a peaceful manner. Shinobi from Kiri knew this first hand as their previous practice of killing their members of the class to come out on top was not strengthening the village but destroying it from within.

With these thoughts out of the way, Naruto and his group were welcomed warmly by Mizukage and few unsatisfied village elders. Looking at Mei Terumi the fifth Mizukage of Kiri Naruto nodded as saw why Jiraiya was daydreaming when he spoke of her.

Being in her late 20s Mei was someone who would lose out to Tsunade when they stood side by side. The body ratios were on a similar level and the red hair with the slightly wild aura she projected definitely on the top five most beautiful women Naruto had seen.

"Thanks for your help. The words cannot express how grateful we are but we'll show thanks by our actions. I'm sure you don't want to talk about politics so let's just enjoy the nice meal we've prepared for you. This way please." Mei said with a bow in a very soft manner and brought Naruto and his gang towards the dining hall.

The meal was warm and pleasant with the variety of seafood they had. The grim faces of the village elders relaxed after hearing Utakata would stay loyal to the village and help out Mei in her revolution she was trying to bring to the village.

Naruto had no interest in these type of formal gathering and stayed silent occasionally replying to the questions asked to him. Kakashi was doing the talking as he brought out the matter of peace treaty Kiri was going to sign with Konoha.

Jiraiya probably had already talked about what terms they needed to implement to Kakashi and he was doing his part. Might Guy was busy munching on the food as there were some dishes here that was not available in Konoha.

Besides he was the same as Naruto with no interest with how politics was handled. He was happy as long as there was a sound relationship established between the two hidden villages and the country as well.

The day was over and quite successful according to Kakashi and they were led to their rooms. Kiri's hospitality was good as the trio got their own room and the room they got was could be considered luxurious.

During the night Naruto had an unexpected visitor but he didn't mind if the visit as it was Mei Terumi. "Never thought Mizukage would be sneaking into a man's room so late at night? So what do I owe this honor of your presence?" Naruto said as he looked at the beautiful figure standing next to the window.

It was a full moon and the mist was not able to hide its light from falling into Mei showing her beautiful body. "Sneaking into a man's room. That's quite a statement coming out from a 13-year-old boy." Mei giggled as she replied.

Naruto gave a slight shrug to her response. "I was interested in the famous Yellow Nightmare. It rare chance to meet such a prodigy." Mei said again as she sat down near the window and gazed outside.

"I suppose there is more to the story," Naruto said as he walked towards Mei and sat down a few steps away from her.

"We just got the news that four-tails has fallen to the Akatsuki's hand. And there has been rumors that the Akatsuki originated from Kirigakure. You should know what this means right even if this rumor is baseless." Mei said to Naruto with a sigh.

"While it's unfortunate that Akatsuki has their hands on two of the tailed beasts but they are far from achieving their goal. As long as we secure the remaining tailed beasts Akatsuki and whatever they are planing can be stopped." Naruto said to comfort Mei.

"You still don't see the real problem. Iwagakure has lost both of their Tailed beasts and is forced to act. Knowing that old man Onoki he'll go for the Akatsuki by himself rather than look for an alliance. His pride won't allow him to look for the alliance since he rejected the Konoha previous approach. Either way, war will spark and it will be ugly." Mei replied with a helpless expression.

Now that he thought about it, Iwagakure had lost both their tailed beast before any other hidden villages. This put them in obvious disadvantage and they would act much earlier than in the series. The war against Akatsuki will happen and looking at how things were, this war would with their being an alliance between hidden villages.

It was a matter of pride for Iwagakure and Naruto had literally humiliated kumogakure so he didn't see much prospect of Kumo coming into an alliance. At least there was Kirigakure and Sunagakure which already had a firm relationship with Konoha.

Moreover, the hidden villages still didn't know how much power Akatsuki possessed since they were only seen as a Mercenary group on the surface.

"There will indeed be a war but it will be much uglier than everyone is expected it to be," Naruto said shaking his head.