"That went well." Shiki commented as he and Mito arrived back at the Uzumaki mansion.
"It did but one thing I agree with the Monkey on is that you should stay as far from the Land of Lightning and its neighbours as possible." Mito warned in response.
"The negotiations back then were not easy and, as the main culprit of their suffering, they'll take shots if given the opportunity." She added.
"I'm aware, Mito-sama." Shiki replied.
"I was telling the truth when I said I was not going to hang around those areas." He declared.
"Good then. Best you go and tell your little shadow to prepare herself and try not to stay away for too long, the world is getting increasingly dangerous." The Uzumaki matriarch cautioned and the boy agreed.
Tensions between Kumo and Konoha were exceptionally high in particular, the two villages being the second strongest and the actual strongest respectively only made things more serious.
The negotiations had taken a whole year to get settled and not on friendly terms.
Kumogakure, in line with their belligerent nature, did not want to take the matter lying down.
Konoha's higherups did not expect the negotiations to be that hard as they held an absolute advantage considering their superior power as a village and the value of their hostages but unfortunately, Kumo did not want to play by the rules.
They had tried to turn black into white and put the blame of aggression on Konoha's shoulders and demand not only the immediate return of the hostages but also further compensation lest they call on other villages to punish their infractions.
However, Hiruzen was not yet his softer older self whose policy was very partial to preventing conflict at nearly all cost and so, he had taken a much harder stance, backed up by Konoha's superior economic and military might.
As such, Kumo had no choice but to back down and shamelessly switch their tune, claiming instead that "perhaps" the blame was slightly on them as well and they would be satisfied with just the return of the hostages.
Naturally, no one in their right mind would hand Ay Junior, the Raikage's son and a Kekkei Genkai wielding Elite Jonin like Dodai back for nothing.
In the end, after much back and forth terms were eventually reached.
Kumogakure was forced to fork over a portion of their wartime supplies, harming their reserves while further boosting Konoha's abundant stock.
They got their hostages back in pristine condition but the grudges between them and Konoha were only further exacerbated and it was certain that their conflict with Konoha in the coming war would be extra bloody.
*
Back to the present day, Shiki went to find Benihime so that they could plan their little expedition.
Well, the boy would be doing most of the planning, the outing was to fulfill his personal objectives after all, but explaining things to Beni would make it easier on the both of them.
"So we're going on a trip?" The girl inquired.
"Yeah-" Shiki was about to explain more but Beni had already followed up with a second question.
"Just the two of us?" Her eyes burned with an intensity that did not fit her cold expressionless face.
"I guess so." The boy casually replied.
"You're looking quite cute right now you know?" He carelessly added.
Suddenly, Beni's previously blank expression gave way to a blushing, quiet smile.
'Kids in the shinobi world mature way too fast . . .' Shiki internally shook his head.
He found Beni cute in the way an adult coos when they see a child performing a cute action, nothing else, though Benihime likely did not interpret it that way.
"So what are we going to do?" After a few moments of silence, the girl asked.
She was aware that Shiki was not the type for casual outings for no reason in particular, especially given his political situation.
"One main objective, two smaller ones." The boy started.
"We'll try to knock out the smaller ones first, a visit to the Fire Temple to check out the training and methods of the Shinobi Monks there and the recovery of a certain jutsu I've heard a certain unaffiliated clan in the Land of Fire possesses." He explained.
"The first is relatively straightforward but the latter is just rumour and myths. I'm not sure how easy it will be to locate what I want."
"As for the main task, we just need to extract a secret location from a wandering caravan of nomads and claim the hidden treasures there." Shiki revealed the overarching goals, specifics would come later.
Benihime just firmly nodded and went off to get her things, her beloved katana and a few more essentials in case the pair ever needed to camp out.
*
The Fire Temple, an interesting place from Shiki's research.
It was a gathering of shinobi trained in a particular tradition, a reasonably powerful, independent group of fighters in the Land of Fire, allowed to recruit members as just a simple religious group.
It was the equivalent of a small Hidden Village in terms of combat potential yet there were no checks on it from either the Daimyo or Konoha, they were not even required to join in any war effort of their country.
'Seems highly irresponsible to leave that kind of force just hanging around . . . Are they a small balancing factor allowed by the Daimyo to counter Konoha's ever growing importance?' Shiki wondered.
Their religious and martial practices seemed tied to Shintoism in entities like the Tengu and their followers in legend, the Yamabushi.
But their signature jutsu, Welcoming Approach: Thousand Armed Murder, alluded to Buddhism in the Bodhisattva Kannon as per the Japanese nomenclature.
It seemed like a reference to Shugendo of Earth, a practice taking inspiration from Tantric Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism and more.
More such Shinobi Temples existed throughout the world, all with similar practices that enabled them to master a special chakra known as the Gift of the Hermit Group, though the only example shown in the series was the Fire Temple.
'A whole religion with several Shinobi Temples, separate from the Sage of Six Paths and the Otsutsuki lineage . . .' Shiki wondered about their origins and why every country never seemed to pay them any attention.
They did not show up in his Ancestral Memories, the inheritance of the Ryumon clan, so they were not that old.
A post Otsutsuki Kaguya and Isshiki phenomenon.' The boy guessed.
'Doesn't matter though. The goal is to figure out the usefulness of their jutsu and their special chakra, the Gift of the Hermit Group.' He thought.
Manifesting a giant Buddhist Avatar made of light to strike down one's foes or block attacks seemed great and Shiki wondered if he could adapt their technique into a budget Susanoo of sorts.
More than that though, the boy was curious about the mechanics of their special power and whether he could glean something useful from them.
This way, even if the jutsu themselves were useless to him, Shiki still stood to gain something from his visit to the Temple of Fire.
That said, it was not like he was planning on knocking on their front door and asking for training.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -