Chapter 171: Visit to Konoha

"Welcome in Konoha, Miss Kona." Hiruzen greeted the representative of Biri-Biri, a pale-skinned woman with shoulder-long blue hair, clad in an azure kimono as her discerning and sharp amber eyes glanced right and left from person to person, measuring them. Hiruzen's stomach sank at the sight. He never expected the 'negotiator' would be the previous president of the Biri-Biri company!

Konan, or as she was known by her alias, Na Kona, came to Konoha to negotiate the reimbursement Yukigakure would receive for the attempt to kidnap a member of the Yukimi clan, the founding clan of Yukigakure, and a blatant attack on the village, which was actually a breach of the peace treaty signed after the third ninja war between all the ninja villages.

Most villages in one form or another broke the treaty but the important thing was to keep it all hush-hush. If it came to the light and was important enough... a situation like this could easily happen. Konan couldn't help but grit her teeth hard in order to prevent herself from mockingly grinning like a loon and she was still unable to wipe the smile from her face completely. The most she managed was to keep her lips set in a small gentle smile.

Normally, an accusation such as this would mean shit and would be completely ignored. Normally, Konan would be laughed off with some crap-like excuse from the Hokage and that would be it but...

'Rei really had a good idea with making Biri-Biri the picture of neutrality and making connections with every important Daimyo family there is. One word from us and suddenly, this became the talk of the year... better yet, nobody can accuse us of siding with Yukigakure, much less being the one who orchestrated all of this. I mean… what could possibly be our reason to do so, right?' Konan mirthfully thought while exchanging pleasantries with Hokage and his council. The Biri-Biri company was simply too important to ignore and so this entire thing was blown out of proportion so fast, Konoha had no time to counter-attack.

A mere dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure became something every country closely watched. This... was the closest the countries got to the start of the fourth ninja war since the third ended. Konoha was weakened beyond belief after the Kyuubi attack and only the peace treaty and Hiruzen's swift orders to strengthen the borders prevented the war from breaking out again right after that incident. God knows Kumo certainly wanted to jump at Konoha at the earliest opportunity.

And now… who would have thought Konoha would have the guts to blatantly break the peace treaty when that piece of paper was half the reason why Kumo and Iwa sat tight in their villages instead of marching to Konoha and razing it to the ground out of sheer spite.

The reason why Konan found this situation so hilarious was that she knew Konoha was completely innocent in the matter. After all, it was her who took Yuriko away from Yukigakure and Yuriko was in no way a happy citizen as it was portrayed in the complaint. The supposed ROOT ninja was just Mei in disguise and yet... Konoha was unable to say anything in their defense because of the division in the village. Heck, most jonin doesn't even know that ROOT existed.

Danzo can say his ROOT didn't do it all he wanted but Hiruzen has no idea what ROOT actually does. He knows nothing about their missions and Danzo's assurances were, quite literally, worthless in this situation. Even if Danzo let the ANBU search through ROOT headquarters and gave all documentation to Hokage, which he would never do, it would not help because a simple 'you must be hiding the documents' or 'you already destroyed them' would suffice to completely shut him up. There was simply no proof ROOT didn't do it and at this point, it didn't even matter if ROOT actually was responsible. Konoha had to grit their teeth and pay up to prevent a war they were in no shape to fight.

"I must say, I am very grateful to the Biri-Biri company for stepping in and preventing a war from breaking out because of this incident, Miss Kona." Hiruzen amiably said, gesturing at a pre-prepared chair for Konan.

Konna chuckled, unable to keep it in. The man was actually thanking HER.

"No, no... war would simply postpone too many of our projects so we decided to step in and use our influence to resolve this dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure." Konan answered while shaking her head as she sat down on the luxurious chair.

Any Konoha ninja would know Konan was somebody important the second he got to know she received a chair in front of the council. In order to show their importance, anyone answering to the council was left standing in front of them.

"Well, then, gentlemen..." Konan took the lead in the discussion. She crossed her legs and put her hands on her knees while leaning her body slightly forward as her amber eyes gleamed in excitement. "Shall we begin the negotiation?"

...

Konan naturally didn't come to Konoha alone. She was supposed to be an important person and that meant a bunch of bodyguards and attendants. These people were currently housed at the best hotel in the village, finally resting after a long trip. It was already evening when they arrived in Konoha and they knew they would probably stay a few days in the village until the negotiations were over. Moreover, tomorrow, Konan will most likely assign them some kind of work so they wanted to enjoy their free time to the fullest while they could.

Only one of Konan's tag-alongs did not share this mindset.

Ringo sneaked out of her room, clad in black clothes heading to fulfill her own mission while Konan provided a distraction by requesting the council to gather despite it being practically already a night.

'Heh, everybody is so focused on these negotiations, even the patrols are lighter than what they normally should be.' Ringo thought as she slipped past two chunins hidden on a rooftop, watching the still-busy street. She basically stood only a few meters away from them but Ringo was not one of the best Kiri assassins for nothing. The chunins had no idea she was ever there. 'Hmm, correction. Konoha is just incompetent.'

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Continuing through the empty back alleys and occasionally using rooftops to get to her target, Ringo finally landed in a crouch on the rooftop next to the orphanage. Staying hidden for an entire hour as she observed the surroundings.

Done with observation, her eyes darted to the right, towards an old house opposite the orphanage, while narrowing, 'The first set of guards...' She spotted the ninjas occasionally taking a peek through the window. Ringo clicked her tongue as she looked to the left where a restaurant was located. 'Two watching from there.' These two were actually very well hidden and only their unnatural interest in the orphanage gave them away.

"And if my chakra sensing is true, three more are hidden inside the orphanage. Daaamn~, this is pain." Ringo quietly complained to herself as her body started to move again.

While she was observing the situation, a clone of hers disguised herself with make-up and found a spot close-by the two observers in the restaurant. Getting a signal from the original, it quickly used an invisible chakra string to trip a nearby waitress, causing her to spill the contents of her tray right onto the disguised ninjas. Needless to say, both of the observers quickly stopped paying attention to the orphanage when their hair was full of sticky noodles.

The two in the restaurant solved, only the two in the house opposite the orphanage became a problem. Well, not really. They only looked out of the window occasionally unlike the two in the restaurant who stared at the building almost religiously. Ringo simply sneaked inside the orphanage right after the ninja behind the window turned around.

'And I only have to avoid the three nuisances inside.' She thought as she silently walked through the dark hall. By now, it was way past curfew and the children were already asleep while the workers could be heard talking in the kitchen, the only lit room in the whole building. Ringo simply silently ran like a shadow around the open door to the kitchen, heading towards the room with the younger kids.

Finally getting to the door behind which her target slept, she could feel three adult presences inside. Suddenly, Ringo's smile widened into a predatory grin when one of them felt somehow emotionless. 'Heh... let's see how this will work!'

Crane, a member of Konoha ANBU, was watching the young two-year-old Jinchuuriki sleeping after yet another day of being rejected by the kids and caretakers alike. It was a bit of a bother to stay silently put in the corner and observe the kid. Really, for two years nobody even came close to threaten his life, and yet, he and Bear had to watch him.

'Maybe it's time to finally resign from ANBU?' Crane contemplated, knowing well he took this mission upon himself because he was as lazy as any Nara. After all, two years of peace in ANBU? He basically exploited the situation to make his career skyrocket! And...

Suddenly his eyes were attracted to a closet inside the room where a small amount of lightning crackled. Crane's eyes widened as he realized, 'Shit! We are not alone!'

Before he could even attempt to sign his companion, Bear, to be silent, a man wearing a mask with ROOT on the forehead ran out of the closet and in one move jumped outside through the window.

The two Konoha ANBU watched dumbfounded for a second before their brains rebooted and both promptly gave chase...

Ringo stepped into the room through the door, amusedly watching both guards running after the ROOT operative. Honestly, she thought one would stay behind to watch the kid but she was apparently wrong.

"Well, an easier job for me, I guess." She shrugged and approached the sleeping blond kid.

Putting her pointing finger on his forehead, Ringo flared her chakra into her hand, activating the seal put there by Rei before she left Uzushio. She watched as the Kanji from the seal slithered down her hand onto the kid's forehead where they set themselves in a circle before promptly disappearing under his skin.

"Rei said he has no idea what to expect from this, kid," Ringo whispered to the sleeping boy, "but I hope, for your own sake, you won't end up like me. Brainwashed and willing to sacrifice yourself for ungrateful ingrates who couldn't be bothered to throw you away on the first opportunity after you lose your usefulness. I guess... only time will tell."

Ringo turned around and silently left. The rest... was not her problem.

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