Chapter-15

{Land of Mountains/Tanigakure}

In the Land of Mountains the atmosphere in the village of Tanigakure didn't change much compare with Konoha, the only major change was the light tension of the families whose relatives where on the frontlines along with the reinforcement of the daily patrols as well as the garrison. On the Office of the tanikage, four people where having a negotiation, given that of these four people only two belong to Tanigakure, Hanckock and her advisor, her right hand woman, Akemi Kenkō, although her strength only reach mid-level chunin her administrative capabilities are top-notch and to make up for this lack of strength she was given a pokemon as her companion, external people may speculate that this pokemon was an Arbok due to her relationship with Hanckock or perhaps a mightyena or an arcanine since they are the specialty of the village, but even then people will still fail to guess correctly. The other two people on the office were a young man with blue hair styled in a moused-up manner. He also wore a talisman in each ear with a kanji written on them, the other one was also a man with short and spiky, dark-colored hair but what set them apart where they're forehead protectors and uniforms, both representing different villages, Kirigakure and Kumogakure.

"Ao and Dodai both of you have come here as envoys of your respective village to confirm the next steps in the war against the land of fire. If you could Akemi?"

After saying that Akemi put a war map on the table showing the progress of the war and how it may developed.

" As Kirigakure's envoy you should have some power to make certain decisions, is it not? "" Yes, before coming to this reunion Mizukage-sama grant me some power to make certain choices, but they all depend o the scale and consecuencies of said action for Kirigakure"

"Kirigakure's job this time will be to be use as a decoy so that Konoha's troops on the south doesn't suspect anything apart from this they will provide us with 20 ships large enough to transport personnel and materials to the south coast of the Land of Fire where we will create an outpost here and here, on the other side Kumogakure's job is to also provide a distraction in the north, avoiding the involvement of Otogakure but forcing Konoha to pay attention to you. While we make this move our forces in the surroundings of the Golden Valley will fall on their ambush on purpose, while the reserve force will cut their reinforcements, at the same time they will encircle the troops on the battlefield. If successful their entire east front will collapse."

"Although I'm not trying to oppose Hanckock-sama's arrangement why would Kirigakure, a neutral village, interfere in this ninja war?"

"Your assumptions only devalue your price the more you talk Ao, or is this the Third Mizukage's strategy to get more benefits, we know perfectly what Kirigakure yearn for, and for the right price you can get it, but for this operation and the entrance of Kirigakure in the war, Tanigakure is ready to pay 1.000 black kunais, 7.000 shurikens, 300 black swords, and an exclusive technique of our arsenal"

Hearing the price the faces of both envoys changes through different emotions at the same time before both regain their poker expressions while their minds tried to process what they have heard. That offer could cost millions of ryos to a Hidden Village but for Tanigakure this seem like a small price for the interest of their village and not only that both Ao and Dodai as their respective village counselors perfectly understood what such a sum mean for a village.

"I will have to present this to mizukage-sama, please wait for our response"

"Tanigakure does not wait for others indefinitely, you have three days, if at the end of the third day there is no response we will terminate all commerce with the Land of Water"

Upon hearing this the atmosphere in the office became incredibly tense to the point that it could be cut.

"I must excuse myself Hanckock-sama" After this Ao exit the room follow closely by the ninjas of Kirigakure at the door. "Send this message to Mizukage-sama immediately is of utmost importance that the response come back in less than tree days" "Yes Ao-sama" A full squad of Kiri-nin exit that day Tanigakure heading to Kirigakure.

Meanwhile in the office a Rokku operative appear next to Hackock whispering in her ear, of course this behavior can only be accept because this was not a rokku operative but Max posing as one.

"Hanckock don't display any outward change, but for now I will be posing as a rokku operative while I test and train the new batch of them, so please in public refer to me as Shiro" "Yes Max-sama, I will also appoint you as the head of the Rokku from now on it will be yours to command"

After finishing their conversation Max employ the Body Flicker technique to leave, his destination the Rokku base. Meanwhile still in the office Dodai after seeing the exchange between the two deduce that the other person must be also have a high position in the structure of Tanigakure, from his attire he could also deduce that he must be from the anbu branch, different from the rest of the ninja village, Tanigakure's uniform for they're black ops consist on pure black clothing covering the entire body, a black or white flak jacket, metal arm guards, gloves and boots. This one wore the same uniform with a black flak, but what distinguish him from the rest was his mask, the normal mask that he has seen while being escort in the village was that of a jester, but the one in this person was completely different, the mask was divide in two part with two colors black and white, the white side has a star like pattern in the eye zone while the black one had a strange red continuation on the mouth part of the mask, it extended from the lips almost reaching the ears like a macabre smile. Apart from that he also deduce that the strength of this person must be at least at the elite jonin level, and after feeling more of the momentum of this mysterious person he couldn't be sure of his sure victory even though he was also at the elite jonin level. After that figure disappears, he finally relax himself fully aware that the Great Ninja Village had yet to see the total strength of Tanigakure and making a mental note that this must also be report to the Third Raikage-sama.