Chapter 65: Bet with the Shark

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Kisame said, "You are quite devoted to your people. Fine, tell me, where do you think I should put my men?"

I sent a look outside, although it was dark outside, I could still see the river in the distance. Sorry Itachi for what I'm about to do, but I'm sure you'll manage.

"If Konoha wants to do anything to us, then they need to regain some of their reputation. To do that, the stick and the carrot is by far the easiest method. The stick, cripple our country, to show off their strength. The carrot, deal with one of our problems at the same time."

Kisame suddenly smiled dangerously as he said, "Funnily enough, we've thought of that ourselves. But doing this would be useless if they can't do anything to the Daimyo, don't you think?"

I shrugged and replied, "Unless they already have someone inside, someone who could easily kill the Daimyo, even with your presence."

Kisame's grin widened, showing his sharp shark teeth as he said, "That makes you a prime suspect."

I looked at him unbothered by his obvious threat and said, "Or not. I'm not the one who said we shouldn't worry about Konoha. I'm not the one who said to focus all of our forces onto the capital."

Kisame's grin faltered a little as he said, "It is a serious offence to accuse her of treason."

"If groundless. Why don't we make a bet?"

Kisame asked, "What bet?"

Still looking at the river, I said, "If the Great River gets successfully impacted within a week, I win. If it doesn't, you win."

Kisame asked, "What about the good thing they would do for you? Don't you want to bet on it?"

I shook my head and replied, "All you have to do to win is to defend the location successfully, which you will most probably do. But I don't see a reason to stop Konoha from helping our land, so we'll only bet on what I actually wish to defend."

Kisame argued, "This seems quite unfair. No matter what happens, you win. If I defend it, you get the river defended, and if I don't and there is an attack, you win the bet."

"It all depends on the bet then. If winning the bet gets you a better reward than actually defending the location costs you, that would make it fair."

Kisame finally seemed interested as he said, "I'm listening."

Dead serious, I said, "If you win, you will be getting 10% of the city's income for the next 5 years."

Kisame grumbled, "Good offer, but I don't care about money."

Oh Kisame, your shark teeth are almost turning cartoonish. Not only am I not betting my own money, the question itself was a trick.

If Kisame was still completely loyal to Kiri, he would have never thought the money would go to him, but to the village. However, be it a slip of the tongue or remains of the poison acting up, Kisame replied a little too fast, and exposed himself. He was having doubts about the village, and he may not be far from deserting to the Akatsuki. It really was huge.

"I'm not offering them to you, I'm offering them to Kiri. If a war were to break out with Konoha, those additional funds could be a game changer."

Kisame probably realized his mistake, but 'thankfully', my character wouldn't understand what his slip of tongue meant. Only a ninja would know that such thinking was not very Shinobi friendly.

Kisame thought of the offer for a moment, before asking, "What if I lose then? You are betting something big, but to honour our deal you would need to either convince the Daimyo, or become the Daimyo yourself."

I nodded and replied, "That will not be a problem. If you lose, I only want a favour from you."

Kisame questioned, "A favour?"

"Yes. If I ever need help with something, I'll be able to use this favour to have you help me. Of course, if it something that goes against your core values or against your village, you may refuse."

Kisame crossed his arms and said, "Fine, I'll do one thing for you if you win."

I smiled, and shook his hand before watching him leave.

Unfortunately for Kisame, he had signed a bet he couldn't win. Even if he had time to send people to the Great River, they wouldn't be able to stop Itachi and Bear. I didn't know much about the rest of my team, but Itachi was definitely not someone that could be stopped by anyone else than Kisame here.

But the question of who would win did not even deserve being answered as Itachi and Bear were probably already attacking the river, and maybe had already destroyed it.

So it didn't really matter what I bet, for I had won a favour from Kisame.

Doing my best to ignore the ninja spying on me, I went to sleep, although in reality I was doing more meditation than sleep.

As the next day arrived, Jiro arrived early in the morning. Sticking with his act, he kneeled at my doorstep and said, "Princess, the Great Leader has asked for your presence in the main room. He has prepared these clothes for you."

In Jiro's hands was a long colourful dress, called a nagabakama. This was the dress worn by female nobles in ancient Japan, and in this world too. And if you ask me, it was a bit ugly. I would rather stick with my current Geisha clothes though.

I approached Jiro, and feeling the fabric, I said, "It seems father believes me too… but I can't wear this."

Jiro looked confused, so I added, "As long as he doesn't recognize me as his daughter officially, I would only be humiliating myself by putting this on."

Jiro scratched his head and said, "But you cannot wear a geisha's clothes Princess, it would be unbecoming of your status!"

I shook my head and said, "I'll go shop for my own clothes. I'm not in a hurry to see my step mother anyway."

Jiro nodded, and was about to leave when I added, "While you go report to my father, tell the leader of the Kiri Ninjas to send the Ice wielder to accompany me. And ask quietly, we don't need anyone else knowing."

Jiro looked surprised, but he still nodded before leaving. A few minutes later, as I finished applying my make up, someone cleared their throat from outside my door. I hummed lightly, "You can come in."

The paper door slid open, and the Yuki clan member was revealed. Bowing slightly, he said, "You asked for me?"

I nodded, approaching him, and said, "You saw what happened yesterday. If it doesn't bother you too much, I would like for protection while I go shopping."

As I said that, Jiro came in too, and handed me an envelope with money inside. Before leaving, he said, "Be safe, Princess."

Bold move, calling me Princess in front of the Yuki Clan member.

As Jiro left, Yuki tilted his head and asked, "He believed your story quite fast."

I asked, "And you don't?"

Yuki shrugged and replied, "It doesn't matter to me whether you are the Princess or a pretender. My mission today is to protect you, and it is what I intend to do."

I smiled sweetly and said, "A real prince charming."

Yuki blushed slightly and coughed as he looked away. Hmm, you need more training young man. Well, I'm not going to complain, for a 15 years old boy charm was the way to go.

Bypassing him, I asked, "By the way, I haven't asked about your name."

He replied from behind, "My name is Roka Yuki."