3.29

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The rest of the representatives arrived through the course of the day, the last ones being Kiri's, as expected, who arrived by twilight.

It hadn't been easy on Konan, as not everyone was very happy with our plans for a parlay, the hardest to deal with being Kumo, but in the end she had managed to convince them all to at least attend.

It was quite the achievement, but now that it had been done, it was time for us to attend to our guests.

I was currently in the meeting room along with the Ame Orphans, only a few minutes away from the meeting, and wearing our new coats.

As it turned out, the Akatsuki had already prepared to switch from its black bland coats to the ones from the Manga, with the red clouds on it, but hadn't been able to do it with the ongoing conflict.

But now that the war had slowed down, and the Akatsuki believed they had managed to strike an alliance with Hanzo, they had finally ordered the coats for their top members.

Things had gotten a little out of hand, but in the end every high ranking member of the Akatsuki wore the coats with the red clouds, while the others kept the black coat for now.

I, myself, was given a special coat, and it felt damn fine. Not only was it cool as a coat could get, it was also somewhat resistant to elemental attacks and tearing. This high quality and resistance was part of the reason why it had taken so long for these coats to be made, and why only the leaders could wear it.

"You killed Hanzo, you should be the one sitting down." Nagato commented, looking at me. Yahiko and Konan did not look adverse to the proposition either.

The meeting room was Hanzo's old meeting room, and it was a traditional Japanese room, surrounded by paper walls, with one large table in the center. We actually weren't sure what this room was for, nor what most other rooms in the castle were for, but out of all the rooms we found this one to be the most suited.

However, the table wasn't very large, and we had a limited number of seats. Moreover, the table was circular, but could only accommodate so many chairs. Putting anymore than ten chairs around the table would become quite challenging, and since we couldn't give more chairs to any of the village's delegation, we decided to go with one chair for each side, including us.

And now, they wanted me to be the one sitting down at the table. I smiled, flattered, but shook my head, "You three are the real core of the Akatsuki. Fighting prowess aside, I won't even be able to be around reliably, I might be gone for years at a time, so I can't be a representative for the Akatsuki. Instead, I should be more like a consultant."

Yahiko nodded along, "It might indeed not be a good idea. But who should sit down, then? And how should we place ourselves?"

I shrugged, leaning against the paper wall, which was a little stronger than it looked, and said, "You should be sitting down, you are the leader, like it or not. Nagato and Konan should be standing slightly behind you, while I'll stay here. Three people would be too much, and this should spread the message pretty well."

"What message?" Konan asked.

I smiled and pointed at myself, "That I'm more of a loose canon. You are the leaders of the Akatsuki, and you should represent peace. But peace can hardly be kept with only good intentions. You need some form of deterrent, which I would be perfect for. Which brings me to my next point, how we will work once we manage to broker peace."

Yahiko made a strained smile as he muttered, "At least there's one person confident about it."

I shrugged, replying, "You take the information I gave you as maybes, while I know they are true for a fact. Besides, is there any point in doing something you don't believe in?"

Of course, the possibility of God having changed the world and rendering my knowledge useless was still there, but I truly believed what I said, doubt would only weaken my resolve, and by extension, my strength.

Nagato's gaze always seemed quite intense because of his Rinnegan, so it was harder to tell what he was thinking as he said, "If we do manage to bring peace, what will you do then?"

I replied, "I will be spending some time either here or in the Land of Iron, if the Samurai would have me, before heading to Konoha. As the strongest Hidden Village, their inner politics are quite complicated, which is how we could get someone helpful like Minato and an enemy like Danzo. I will go there to try to shift things in our favor. For example, the nomination of the new Hokage."

Konan tilted her head as she asked, "You think you could influence this nomination?"

I smiled and said, "I do. By then, as the agents of peace, the Akatsuki would already have earned quite the reputation, and having our candidate be repeatedly seen close to me should give quite the reputation boost. Besides, I have a trick or two up my sleeve."

It was mostly bullshit, I just knew from my meta knowledge that Minato would be the one selected. The real reason for my presence would be my personal interests, although I guess I should be able to annoy Danzo.

The old geezer was stronger than me, and probably had a few men under him who could kill me too, but not only would I be much stronger by the time I get to Konoha, having an agent of peace being killed within Konoha by one of its leaders could lead to some serious issues.

And, well, obviously the real reason for my presence there is my own interest. Fighting Kyuubi would not only get me in the good graces of Konoha for the future, but it would also be a great test to see how much progress I will have made within this Return.

Soon, Kyusuke walked in. He had a bandage over his left eye, which he had lost in the fight.

"The meeting is about to begin. Can I get them in?"

Yahiko, Konan, Nagato and I looked at each other, and after a nod Yahiko sat down on the chair, and said, "Let them in, then."

Kyusuke lingered for a moment before leaving, pumping his fist as he whispered, "You got this!"

The three smiled at him, before returning to their cold faces as our guests entered the room.

In the very front was Minato, who was no longer alone. Next to him was another Jonin who had arrived a little later. He had two large scars on the right side of his face, disappearing into his spiky black hair. His bead like eyes were as sharp as a kunai as he analyzed everyone in the room. This was Shikaku Nara.

Following right behind them was the representative from Suna, another figure I knew about. Rasa, the future Kazekage. He was only a Jonin at the moment, and dressed as such. He had a stern face on as he was followed by two other Jonins I did not know.

Next was Kiri, and I did not know who their lone representative was. However, I did recognize his weapon, which they had the gale to call a sword.

Kabutowari, one of the seven swords of the Mist. It consists of a giant axe and a hammer, linked together by a chain.

Finally, for Iwa and Kumo, I did not know either of them, nor did I find anything on their person. I did know, however, from prior intel, that the one eyed representative from Kumo was their Head Jonin, but as to whether this was the one who would be involved in the Hyuuga affair a few years from now, I did not know.

With everyone here, it was time for the meeting to begin.