Chapter 4: Kumo

The journey from the capital of Kaminari no Kuni to Kumogakure was quite pleasant. War did not start yet so there were not many dangers along the road. Some bandits here and there but the ninja hired to protect us were all jonin so no problem there.

We arrived at Kumogakure and it was instantly obvious something is amiss. The security was amped up to quite a high level and the gatekeepers were checking everyone who went through the gate. It was a clear indicator. War will start sooner than later.

The village though was as peaceful and lively as it gets. Civilians didn't really care about the war yet. It was mostly shinobi who were preparing themselves. Our convoy actually attracted a lot of attention but eventually, we came to Raikage tower to greet uncle A.

"Hello, sister, squirt!" Uncle A greeted us boisterously.

"Hi, A." My mother smiled at him as I pulled her sleeve. "Ah, Rei would like to talk to you about something."

That attracted the giant's attention and I shyly nodded.

"You see, I have a new seal, it's called Seal of Truth and…" I proceeded to explain the workings of the seal to him. The more I talked, the more astonished he became. Heh, if what I said is true, I just made a profession of interrogator useless, after all.

"Hmm, that's… incredible, Rei." He patted my head. Sigh, what's with this man and head-pats!? "But, I know you. What do you want for it?" His serious expression softened and his lip curled to an amused smirk.

"You know me so well, uncle!"

"Hah, after price negotiation for your seals I quickly understood that you are greedy!"

For the next hour, we proceeded with business talks while my mother and her servants just amusedly watched us, the mountain of muscles that protects this country and small six-year-old lanky child, to seriously negotiate.

The next day I found myself alongside my mother in the council room. The plan of Raikage and myself started.

Do you remember how it looked in the council room in Konoha in many fanfictions? Every civilian monkey-howling, clan heads didn't do shit and Hokage was but a decoration. Now, Kumo is the complete opposite. There is no civilian council and there are no clan heads. Council is made of Raikage and five advisors selected from respected jonins and heads of various divisions of the shinobi corps. For example, the head of ANBU, head of R&D, and so on. There are ten of them. So, all in all, sixteen people.

"Hello, esteemed council." I greeted them as my mother stood behind me. This surprised the entire council. Well, at least they had enough intelligence to not shout at me for speaking to them. After all, I was the second son of the boss of their boss. I really doubt I would get the same amount of respect in Konoha…

"So, we gathered here today because the seal master of our Daimyo made a new seal." The entire council revealed a shocked and excited expression. Raikage? He was just sitting on his chair while smirking smugly. Knowing what is to come I was also barely holding in a smirk.

"What is it?" One councilor couldn't hold himself and ask.

"Well, you see…" I explained the function of the seal to them, making them astonished.

"The kicker? This room is already sealed and you will be the test subjects for this seal." I finished with a soft laugh.

Needless to say, there was a lot of discontent with that. Poor saps had no choice though. And so, everyone was interrogated using my Seal of Truth, surrounded by a shitton of ANBU. And wasn't that a good move? We found out that one of the advisors is a spy for Danzo and another a spy for Iwa. Sigh, how the hell were they able to infiltrate ranks so high is anyone's guess…

Thankfully most of the council were at most shady or criminals... well, we ARE in Kumo. At least they were no traitors.

Uncle A was very glad we cleansed council like this before the war. Fewer distractions and information leakage. He also requested enough seals to check his entire ANBU force which I instantly rejected. Hah, for that, I will really need shadow clones. I just had to wait and see the treasures the prison of Kumo holds.

Yes. The second part of our plan was to use my seal to interrogate the prisoners held in Kumo prison. There were not many people compared to the ANBU force so it was possible for me to create the needed amount of seals. Only about 10 jonin, 21 chunin, and few genins. Interrogating genins is pointless though so it was only 31 seals altogether. The deal was that I will provide seals for free, much to my grief, and they will pay me for the techniques they manage to get from prisoners.

Hah, it was quite a list of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu these 31 foreign shinobi knew. I earned billions after the week of interrogations. I also gained what I wanted. The scroll with shadow clones! I instantly told uncle and brother A to learn it because it will help them with Kage work and made many deals concerning seals. I might be able to create only one clone for now but even that one additional clone can double the efficiency of the seal creation!

The next perk of our deal was getting a free pass to the entirety of the Kumo shinobi library. Heh, me, a civilian could access forbidden scrolls there. I am so glad only uncle A, my mother, and I know about the deal. Otherwise, I would be the target of most villages.

The last part is what I needed the most. Access to the spymaster of Kumo. God, you wouldn't believe the number of places Kumo spies infiltrated! They may not hold high positions in the enemy government, but Kumo had many merchants doing spywork for them. The most informed they were of was Kirigakure. Other villages had quite a lot of security but in Kiri, they mostly liked to kill themselves off rather than tightening their security.

So, from the deal, I gained money, information network, and technique that will further my improvements. Not bad!

Needless to say, the entirety of my month was spent in my room thinking of new seals while my clone made seals for Kumo non-stop. I was well aware that the second we return to the capital I will have to continue my hellish body training. Sigh.

My mother spent most of the time with her brother while my very own brother actually caught the eye of Killer Bee. Geez, I really hope he won't start rapping. Learning to use seven swords at the same time is enough of an oddity…

All in all, I didn't interact with the Kumo population much. But the result of my seal development behind the closed door was enormous. I made a breakthrough that will change the board for me.