Land of Flowers.
Actually, it was almost thrice the size of the Capital of the Land of Fire, the biggest city of the Elemental Nations.
This actually shows the scale of the modern cities compared to the medieval ones. Even Mid sized cities might match or even be bigger than the ancient capital cities.
Finding a hotel was quite easy in such a big city but we searched for a relatively cheaper neighbourhood where Kuroka could use her magic to get us a place to stay so that no one could track us. The bigger hotels would need some kind of ID and we didn't have anything like that on us at the moment.
Hector did say that he could patch us up with some IDs which can work for us here but that would take a few days so we had to wait.
We went directly to our room and the first thing we did was set up a few security seals while Kuroka placed some privacy spells on the room. Only after that we relaxed. I took out several bentos for us before I brought out Bulbasaur and we had dinner.
"Nyahahahaha the little guy seems to like your riceballs."
"That he does. Kasumi would love cooking for him when we go back. Eu can get a good friend too." I smiled as I caressed the bulbasaur.
I really hadn't expected Bulbasaur to follow us so easily. He hadn't complained even once after I picked him up back in the nearby forest.
So the whole day went quite easily. The coming days in this world are going to be the real test. I needed to plan.
I needed to plan in detail about what to take from this world and how that would affect my world.
This world has a higher technology level compared to the Shinobi World. Even if we ignored the pokemon and just took relevant technologies back, we could gain a lot of advantage over the other countries.
Even the lackeys of Team Rocket used advanced technologies to capture pokemon.
Laser weapons, medicine, nutrition, transport, spatially bigger bags, digital storage of matter and living entities, etc. I had to collect all the information and even get the knowledge about these things.
When it was time to go to bed, Kuroka transformed into her cat form and jumped on the bed while I lay beside her, but instead opened my Grimoire and checked the information that was updated after coming to this world.
The rituals had changed too.
Multiple new rituals, new rituals to enhance the body, mind and soul and even rituals to gain new abilities such as Telekinesis and other psychic abilities had appeared too.
Different worlds meant different ingredients.
The rituals from this world used parts from Pokemon.
For example, a vitality ritual I just checked used a Leech Seed from a Venasaur, Roots from the tree on Torterra's back, cut off limbs of a Staryu or Starmie, Leaf from a Victreebel and the Egg from a Chansey. It would give higher Vitality and even a Regeneration Factor to the user.
The Strength Ritual needed the belt of a Primeape, blood of a Machamp, Concrete Pillars made by a Conkeldurr, and the nails of a Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and a Hitmontop. The ingredients had changed completely depending on the world we were present in.
The Mind Ritual needed parts or items from Psychic type Pokemon while the Soul Ritual needed items from Ghost Type Pokemon.
I chose not to check the latter ones as my soul was already very strong at this moment. I needed to get my body to that level first before deciding anything.
While reading this, I didn't realise when but I fell asleep. My eyes opened the next day and found Kuroka laying on my stomach.
It took me a moment to realise that I was in a different world and not the Land of Flowers, in my own room.
After waking up, I checked around and found that our barriers were not disturbed.
My movements woke Kuroka up too.
We got up and got fresh and had breakfast with Bulbasaur.
"Boss, I want one too. I want a Pokemon of my own." Kuroka finally said, looking at Bulbasaur laying in my arms.
"Alright. We are going to get pokemon for ourselves as it is. But today we need to do something else."
"What?"
"Shopping." I smiled. "We are going to buy a lot of things. Actually, let me make a list."
I got down to make a list of items we need to buy. Starting from books on many subjects, clothes, electric appliances, seeds of different plants, pokemon related items like pokeballs, maps, guidebooks and several other things."
The list was so long that it didn't look like I would be able to get everything in one day with just the two of us. We might even have to use Shadow Clones to get it done in time. After a bit of thought, I rejected that idea.
If in a worst case scenario, they were dispelled due to some accident, it would cause a lot of mess.
After making the list, I handed Kuroka her share of money with the list of things she needed to buy while I went to the library.
I needed to understand more about this world.
Since Hector was going to need a few days to get our IDs made, we had to stay in this city till then.
We had time on our hands so we had to make use of it properly.
"Alright! Then let's get this done with. We can meet back in this room when we are done with our work." I said. Both of us got up and left for work.
I went to the nearest bookstore and started buying the books on my list.
After placing the order, I kinda regretted it. The shopkeeper was looking at me as if I had another head growing from my shoulder. Man… I should have brought Kuroka with me. Her magic is very useful in such cases to avoid attention.
Thankfully, I was flexible and quickly made a reason. "I am planning to build a library in my village for the kids there." I explained with a smile. "Our island doesn't really get access to books so easily."
A look of understanding came to her face and she smiled. "That's very noble of you. Would you like some recommendations? Since you are making such a big deal, I can talk to our owner and you can place the order directly to him. That way you can also negotiate for a discount." She advised politely.
"Would that really be fine? If so then please…" I requested with a polite smile.
The woman blushed slightly, my charm enhancement rituals doing their job perfectly.
Fifteen minutes later I was sitting with a man in mid twenties. He was the owner of the bookstore. I told him about my needs and he gave me some recommendations too, even offering to bring books from other cities for higher level education to fulfill my needs should I wait a few days.
I got a fifteen percent discount but even with that I had to fork over almost a million for around eight thousand books. I still think I came out on top in that deal.
According to him, the order would arrive in three days at best and I can pick it up from the shop.
I took my leave from there and went to the nearest library, took out a book on Pokemon and began to read.
I was going to choose which Pokemon I wanted to take to my world which I can use to my advantage.
They had to be cheap and easy to raise but also bring strategic advantage.
Hours of research later, I discovered a few important facts about Pokemon in this world. The first was, they could learn more than just four moves.
That thing was a game only mechanic.
Pokemon here can not only learn multiple moves but also use them in conjugation to form powerful combos which raise their powers exponentially.
Using Pokemon for wars was not unusual in this world. It has been a very big part of this world's history.
In fact, even now, the police force, rangers and the Gym Leaders of this town had the duty to protect this town… from wild pokemon.
Yes.
Wild Pokemon were a very big danger to the people.
I mean it was obvious.
Even in our world, wild animals like bears and wolves were a great danger for humans, let alone in this one where the said animals had superpowers.
Their technologies were mainly based around Pokemon too. For example, electric type Pokemon were used in their power plants while fighting type Pokemon were used in construction sites. Clothes made of Ariados Silk were a luxury item and MooMoo Milk from Miltanks were an essential part of the people's diet.
Pokemon were treated just as animals were in our world. Yes… it meant they ate pokemon too.
But then again, that wasn't a foreign thing even in the rainbows and sunshine version of the anime.
I distinctly remember that Farfetch'd was almost hunted to extinction due to their delicious meat.
We were not shown other pokemon being eaten because that would have traumatised the kids who were the main target audience back then. But this world didn't have any such filters.
Krabby Legs were just as delicious as any crab, prawn, or lobster I had eaten in my life, in both my lives.
In my research there, I also realized that this world still didn't have the evolution method of many different pokemon like Scyther evolving to Kleavor or Feebas to Milotic or even Electabuzz to Electivire. Even the evolutions of Eevee were not completely revealed. There were zero mentions of Fairy Type or Steel Type Pokemon too.
Due to these, the few Pokemon of these types that were found were insanely expensive in the market.
For example, a Leafeon could fetch anything between five hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand pokedollars while Milotic could fetch over a million… minimum. It was right there with some Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon cubs, mostly because Milotic was recognised as the most beautiful Pokemon among all. Most of the time they were just found in auctions rather than open markets.
Yes.
Apparently, people could buy Pokemon too unlike in the games.
Then again, I remember a guy selling Magikarp to people for 500 Pokedollars in the game too, although that guy was a fraud.
Magikarp goes for 50 Pokedollars at best.
Actually, no one had even discovered some of the Pokemon I knew from my previous life.
This meant that the evolutionary items were available for sale for very cheap.
After a lot of thoughts, I marked and rounded off a few names for my list.
The first was Butterfree.
Yes.
A Bug Type Pokemon, Butterfree.
They might seem weak overall in this world but that was not the case in the Shinobi World. First of all they were easy to raise, took less time to grow and could easily breed.
Next came the moveset.
A Butterfree can learn Sunny Day, Rain Dance and… Teleport.
Yes.
It can learn Teleport.
As far as I remember, three members of the Special Jonin/Jonin Team, Minato's Personal Guards were needed to do such a thing in the Shinobi world and that was quite difficult and needed a lot more preparation too.
There was also the case with the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu or whatever that thing from Kumogakure was called but that method was very risky and only a few people could use that. Overall, teleportation was freaking rare in the Elemental Nations and yet Butterfree could do so quite casually.
Eat your heart out, Tobirama.
Sunny Day and Rain Dance would help me control the weather of a place, perfectly alleviating any probable famines or crop failures in the future too.
Just these three abilities makes it a perfect pokemon for the Land of Flowers and that was not even considering the other skills it uses.
The three powders are ingredients of medicines, String Shot can be used to make threads and fabrics, Psychic and Confusion as well as other attacks are almost out of the book in the Shinobi World too.
Overall, Butterfree is a very great choice for me.
Next in the list will be Chansey.
These Pokemon were hard to get but not impossible.
I didn't need to explain why Chansey was so good.
Healers were something we needed at all times.
Chansey was one of the best healer Pokemon in this world.
This was more than enough of a reason to get some for myself.
Next in the list were Pidgey. A common Flying Type Pokemon but with extremely great potential when it evolves. Air advantage was extremely good in the Elemental Nations.
The Land of Sky's ninja themselves were average at best but just because they had a sky advantage, they were able to perform far beyond their original levels, becoming a threat to the Five Great Villages too.
Pidgey and its evolutions are far far better than those gliders of the Land of Sky.
A Pidgeot can also travel at Mach 3 Speeds.
With them and Butterfree, delivery and transportation would change drastically. Our Land of Flowers would be the number one in terms of logistics and transportation. I can already foresee the future Air Force of the Land of Flowers.
Next in the list were Growlithe for a very simple reason.
They were just that good.
Dogs will be a good help for our Tracking or even Units the Police force that I was making. Even the police officers of this world used them for a reason. Growlithe were very loyal and strong. They would easily match ninja dogs.
And when they evolve, they can become Arcanines, who are considered Legendaries in this world. They can run over 6 200 miles in a day. That's almost one end of the Elemental Nations to another.
That was almost twice or even thrice of the length of the borders of the Land of Flowers.
Even the fact that Growlithe needed a Fire Stone to evolve wasn't exactly a problem for me. Actually, it was quite good. Even if by chance one was kidnapped, they would never be able to get the full potential of the Growlithe without an evolution. And I had checked with the Grimoire, I can do a ritual to substitute for various items to evolve pokemon so it was never a problem for me.
Apart from these, I was considering finding Digletts or Drilburs to help excavate underground but they were not exactly priorities as Ninjas could do this too.
Milotics could be a great advantage in seas. Miltanks would be good but they needed Tauros to breed with Miltank as they were a full female species. Meganium can revive dead plants.
Dachsbun emitted an aroma which could make wheat grow faster.
Mareep could allow me to build wool farms of high quality wool. Whimsicott could do the same for cotton.
Electric Type Pokemon are used here to produce electricity in Power Plants.
This was a sector which had just started to be developed in the Elemental Nations. The Land of Flowers had electricity in a rare few cities. The technology tree of the Elemental Nations was messed up.
I remembered that during the Fourth Shinobi War, the Daimyo were communicating with old fashioned CRT screens attached to huge wires. Only the Land of Snow had trains. And while there were short range radio transmissions, telephones were nonexistent. Even now, these things hadn't developed.
On the other hand, they had advanced medical apparatus to do things like cloning.
Then after the Fourth Shinobi War, in just a decade or two, things changed so much that there were Virtual Reality games.
It was unbelievable but also understandable.
Most of the Elemental Nations were embroiled in war for at least two to three years every decade which caused heavy losses.
In normal worlds, this would mean that technologies get developed even faster to gain an advantage in the war but that was not the case as the ones fighting were ninjas and they were completely averse to technology as it could reduce their value. They never develop technologies and neither do they let others do such a thing.
Actually, even electricity also came into the picture just a decade and half ago when the Elemental Nations calmed down after the formation of villages. The next two decades were without any wars due to Hashirama's fist hovering above as a threat. This allowed nations to focus on other things.
Many useful technologies like Radio Transmission, Cameras, etc were developed during this time.
But then Hashirama died and the wars restarted and progress stalled once more.
The enemy ninja often targeted Radio Towers and Power Plants of the enemies to put them at a disadvantage and those things were hard to build so even the Daimyo rarely built any other than for their capitals and most important cities. Even the Land of Flowers lost five Power Plants in the previous invasion of Iwagakure, something we haven't been able to recover from even now.
Well, there was also the fact that Daimyo of most lands just didn't give a fuck about the commoners having electricity or not. Why would they spend so much money for those peasants? It was ugly but it was the truth.
But this world had no such problems.
Even the most remote corner has had electricity for several hundred years due to Pokemon being available.
This fact alone showed how different things could be if people changed and focused supernatural powers towards creation rather than destruction.
Ninja had this chance too but they never really focused on it.
Anyways, the main Pokemon used in Power Plants were Voltrobs and Magnemites and their evolutions.
So many choices.
I wasn't hoping to get any Pseudo Legendaries or Legendaries. That was up to fate.
Those creatures were not the anime version but the manga and lore version. A Dragonite could circle the globe in sixteen hours and Metagross' punch is said to be as strong as a meteor. I didn't think I was ready to tame such beings.
My current problem was the fact that getting all these Pokemon was not going to be easy. Catterpie, Pidgey, Mareep and Miltalk were still easy to get but when it came to Chansey and Growlithe, things changed.
These pokemon were rare. Growlithe was mainly contracted by the Police Departments so there was never a shortage of their demand.
I would need to go through special channels to get them.
Chansey was even rarer.
Feebas, while from another region, were so common that even if I exported them or just went there to get them.
I could get five hundred of them for just a few thousand.
By the time I left the library, it was already dark outside and the street lights had been turned on.
I hadn't realised the time and didn't even eat lunch. For me that wasn't exactly a problem. With my rituals, even if I didn't eat for a few days, it won't be a problem for me.
But I wasn't alone right now. I had Bulbasaur with me.
With this thought, I actually went to the nearest Restaurant.
There were some places in the city which served both people and pokemon alike. They even had menus for both.
I went inside and ordered food for both of us. Bulbasaur was looking around with curiosity. It was his first time in the city, having lived in the forest since birth. Everything was new to him.
"Are you excited, buddy? Oh! I just realised that I haven't given you a name yet. So what should I name you?" I thought for a moment and then a smile came to my face. "Actually, Buddy is a good name too since you have a Bud on your back. How about it?"
"Bulba!" He jumped excitedly.
"Great. Then your name will be Buddy from today." Man, I suck at naming. Kanae or Kasumi could have given him a much better name.
As we were talking and looking around the Restaurant, I noticed some other trainers had come with their Pokemon too. Just across from our table, was an older woman with a Snubbull who was chewing on a large piece of meat from a bone.
On another corner was a family with a Pikachu and Eevee.
A while later our order arrived. They had brought pokecubes for Bulbasaur and a different order for me.
Bulbasaur seemed to enjoy the Pokeblocks so I made a point to keep one of them aside so that I could scan it with my Grimoire and get a recipe for them.
The dinner was actually quite good. I wonder where Kuroka is?
"Did you enjoy the dinner, Buddy?" I asked, picking Bulbasaur who seemed to be in a very good mood.
"Bulba!"
"Great. Let's go back." I stored him back in the pokeball and left for my hotel.
Back in the hotel, Kuroka had already returned.
She was laying on the bed, sipping a drink and watching tv.
"Boss!"
"How did it go?" I asked, as I slumped on the couch beside the bed.
"Awesome. This world has so many great things." She pointed towards some gadgets she had bought. "There are even bags which have some kind of space technology to have increased space inside."
"Did you get the Pokeballs?"
"Yup. All done. Twelve hundred pokeballs." She replied and then quickly added. "I bought them from different stores, using Shadow Clones and Henge. No one is going to doubt anything."
"Good. Repeat the same thing a few days later until we have enough pokeballs. What about the rest?" I asked.
"I found out that there are some places which sell pokemon as pets. There are both legal and illegal places which sell pokemon. From what I found, there are official Pokemon Daycare Centers and Pokemon Ranches which raise young pokemon for people to buy for different purposes. They even take orders. I have brought a list of big Pokemon Daycare Centers and Ranches in this region, their rates and the pokemon which they sell." She took out several brochures from her storage space and handed them to me.
I took a quick look at them while she continued the report.
"The illegal places sell pokemon for a cheaper price but the quality is not guaranteed. They might sell stolen pokemon which might get the buyers in trouble although they sell pokemon from different regions too."
"Hmm." That opens up many possibilities. I will have to go there and check for myself before deciding anything.
Kuroka went on. "As for Evolution Stones, those were very expensive. In fact, they were almost five to ten times more expensive than baby pokemon. I just got one each and didn't buy more of them."
"That's not a problem. I already know of a few places where I can get Evolution Stones. There is no need to waste money on them." I thought of something and asked. "How do they feel?" I asked. "Can you sense anything from the stones?"
"Yes. They certainly have a different aura about them."
"Do you think you will be able to sense them if we go to a place with plenty of these stones?" I asked.
"That shouldn't be a problem."
"Great. We will put aside time to excavate a buttload of Evolution Stones then." I replied.
There were some places with plenty of Evolution Stones around like the Evolution Mountain and Mount Moon.
"What about the Pokemon Trading Machine?" I asked.
"Oh those, yes, we can buy them. They are a bit expensive but some clubs have those too." Kuroka explained.
Some pokemon needed to be traded to evolve them. Although rituals could be done to bypass the process, why waste resources when I can just buy a few of these machines.
"What about the prices of the things I asked you to find?"
"Done. Most of those things were quite cheap. Prism Scales were slightly expensive because they are used to make ornaments but they can be found at a much cheaper price in the Seafoam Islands or Port cities. Saffron city had those but they were very expensive here."
She then went on to give a detailed report of the items she had bought. From medicines to TMs, electric appliances, pokemon care items, daily use items, etc.
"You did good." I rubbed her head lightly.
Her ears twitched as she smiled widely at the praise. "But I used up all my budget, Boss. We would need more money if we wanted to buy more things." She said, seriously.
"That won't be a problem. We will be going to Hector's place to sell off the gold vase too. It's almost time for our meeting." I added after one more look at my watch.
x_
It was almost nine thirty when we reached Hector's shop.
Saffron City was still wide awake, people and pokemon roamed the streets and the night life was at its full glory.
We entered Hector's shop and found that the place was almost empty. We rang a bell at the counter and a moment later, Hector came from the backdoor.
His face lit up when he saw us.
"Gon. You have arrived. Come come. I have already arranged the payment. You have bought the item with you, right?" He asked.
I nodded and brought out the vase from my bag and showed him.
"Good good. Come here. The price is a bit high so we have to go back to my warehouse. I didn't want to bring such a large amount to the shop." The man said quickly.
I exchanged a look with Kuroka and then gave the man a nod.
"Come, follow me." The man quickly closed his shop and led us through an alley beside his shop to a warehouse almost five minutes away.
The area was surrounded by other warehouses and the atmosphere was very eerie and different compared to the vibrant nightlife of Saffron City.
"Come." The man opened the lock of a warehouse and went inside and we followed.
The place was dark… until he flipped a switch and everything became visible. The entire warehouse was empty… actually, it wasn't exactly empty as there were six people and twelve pokemon surrounding us.
They were wearing a black uniform of sorts and had a red R on their shoulders.
The shopkeeper, Hector, went and joined them, bringing out a pokeball and releasing a Mightyena from his Pokeball.
"Is this really something you want to do, Hector?" I asked quietly.
The man grinned and shrugged. "Normally I don't do such a thing but the things in your hands are just too valuable. Now, hand over the vase and the three million you took from me yesterday and tell us where you got these from. Do that and we might let you go after we verify the news of the ruins. Don't and… we have many ways to make you answer. Trust me, you don't want that." As he said that, he licked his lips, eying Kuroka for a moment.
As if almost a signal, the rest of the Team Rocket members also took one step forward and their pokemon followed.
I looked at the crowd.
Golbat, Arbock, Weezing, Nidorino, Victribell and a Beedrill.
My silence was taken as a sign of fear from them as the Mightyena growled at us.
I let out a sigh and looked at Kuroka.
"Are there any more of them in this place?" I asked.
"No nyaa~ These are all the people in this district. My Shadow Clone followed them all day yesterday. This guy went to their base and met with the guy with the Pitcherplant and they called the other five. They were planning to rob and lock us up here until they verified the location of the ruins and then they would kill us so that we can't inform anyone else. After that they would get wherever they could out and then inform their bosses. This guy often robs people who come here to sell things to him."
"Hmm. Did Eric know about this?" I asked.
"No nyaa. That guy has no idea."
"Well that's good." I let out a sigh.
Indeed, it was good for me to take some measures after leaving the shop.
After all, anyone could slip for such a large sum of money.
Hector had shown some obvious signs of deceit when he had asked us to come the next day. Kuroka had noticed it immediately.
The reason we didn't directly hypnotise and get everything out of him was because the place had cameras.
Although in a disguise, we didn't want to reveal our powers in front of a camera.
So when we changed back to a different disguise in the alleyway, Kuroka also sent a Shadow Clone to keep an eye on the man. It was also why we had put security seals and security magic around our room before sleeping last night.
Now it seems, my thoughts were not unbased.
Our conversation made the eyes of the people widen and Hector quickly understood something was wrong.
"Mightyena, Shadow Ball." He quickly commanded but before the pokemon could do anything, roots erupted from the ground and bound the pokemon and the trainers tightly, draining all water from the pokemon's bodies immediately.
Golbat dodged due to the air advantage but not for long.
Kuroka appeared from the air and knocked it out with a single blow.
I walked towards the restricted Team Rocket members and saw a look of terror on their faces. My first thought as I looked at them was… why in the fuck would they wear the logo of what was a large scale crime syndicate on their clothes?
Wasn't that a sure shot way to get caught?
I didn't waste time questioning them normally and directly had Kuroka hypnotise them and get everything out of their heads. Names, addresses of their bases, their stashes where they kept their valuables, people they had robbed and killed before that, things and money they had robbed, the number of people they had in this town and what pokemon they had, every bit of information was extracted.
We found that they had a vice commander stationed in Saffron City but he was away for a week so the one in charge was Hector.
My first thoughts after hearing this were… 'Seriously, he was in charge? This weakling?'
But it later became clear.
We never gave them the opportunity to bring out the rest of their pokemon or they could have thrown over four dozen pokemon at us.
I quickly took their pokeballs and stored them in my Grimoire after hearing this.
"What do we do with them, Boss?" Kuroka asked.
"What else?" I shrugged and stored them in my Grimoire.
They could be of use later.
I doubt anyone would mind a few less scum in the city after today. In fact, before leaving, I was planning to make a list of their crimes with evidence and throw them at the Police Station.
But before that… we had things to do.
"What's the plan now, Boss?"
"Tell me Kuroka, is stealing from a thief good or bad?"
"Eh, doesn't sound bad to me." She answered, looking confused and then her face lit up. "We're going to rob them, aren't we?"
"Yes."
"Didn't you say it was hard to find Pokemon from other regions in Kanto through legal contacts? Guess what?" I smiled.
Our goal was set.
- Jiraiya -
"Danzo! What do you mean Danzo as the Hokage?" Tsunade asked, slamming the table in rage. "That bastard was one of the advisors, one of those involved in this whole scandal. How can he become the Hokage?"
Even he was stunned at the sudden news.
"It's an order from the Fire Daimyo himself." Sakumo said, looking tired.
"The Fire Daimyo?" The words drove all their anger off and even Tsunade looked at Sakumo in surprise. He exchanged a look with Tsunade and both of them looked at Sakumo with a questioning look.
Konoha had changed too much in the past few months.
First, due to Hiruzen Sarutobi's actions, it was decided that the Hokage couldn't be allowed such absolute power over the village or such an incident could happen again.
To achieve this, the leaders of the Clans of the Village and some of the Elite Jōnin of the village made a council which would elect members in rotation to form a committee of five members at all times who would monitor the Hokage and his actions.
Apart from this, many divisions were taken away from under the Hokage's power and under the Committee's control. These divisions included the finances, research and development and the mission department. Their reason was that this was done to restrict the Hokage's power and monitor him and his actions closely.
Since there was no hokage at the moment, these reforms were passed without any arguments. The current five members of the council were the Heads of the Uchiha Clan, Hyuga Clan, Nara Clan who represented the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Sakumo Hatake and Dan Kato who represented the Civilian Ninjas.
Neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade were chosen. Their reason was that Jiraiya was a student of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade was directly involved and wasn't suitable to remain unbiased in the current time.
Tsunade wasn't even called to the recent meetings after her first outburst and she didn't go there after that herself.
Orochimaru was still missing and the reason that Kumogakure hadn't come to their door demanding that they hand over the Eight Tails was because they were still gathering their shattered remains after the attack of the Uzumaki.
The committee had obviously questioned Hiruzen Sarutobi and his advisors about the mission but they had directly denied ever sending Orochimaru to any such mission. They firmly insisted that they knew nothing about the Eight Tails but no one believed them. It was also this point that made anyone too apprehensive to push them too much.
After all, no one wanted to face the wrath of the second strongest Tailed Beast especially after they had just seen the effect a single Tailed Beast Ball could have on a village or city.
The Tailed Beasts had become a thing of horror once more.
Looking at their questioning looks, Sakumo let out a sigh and explained.
"The Fire Daimyo's court has sent a message calling for an immediate assignment of Danzo Shimura as the hokage. Their reason was that they had trusted the choice of the shinobi with Hiruzen Sarutobi and it had disappointed them and caused a massive loss to both the Land of Fire and the Elemental Nations as a whole after the Uzumaki debacle. Until now, the Daimyo has been agreeing with the choices but this time, they will be appointing a hokage themselves and we have to accept. If we fail to do so…"
"Those bastards will cut the funding of the village, won't they?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes." Sakumo nodded. "Right now the smaller nations have all stopped sending any missions to us due to the reveal of our betrayal of the Senju and the Uzumaki Clans. We are more dependent on the Fire Daimyo for our funds than ever. If we deny him, we will lose all missions from the Land of Fire too and we just can't afford to do that. I know that you are angry. Believe me, others are just as angry. You should have looked at Gorou Uchiha's face. But at this moment, we are powerless to do anything."
"But why would they do such a thing? The Daimyo have never interfered in the affairs of the Shinobi Villages so why?" Jiraiya asked.
"It's because they are afraid." Tsunade explained. "They have always used shinobi as tools against others. It's the first time one of them has died from the same tool. This suddenly made them aware that shinobi are not just tools but people with emotions and feelings too. If the capital of the Land of Earth can get destroyed today, what's stopping other villages from attacking and destroying the capital of the Land of Fire tomorrow? That's why they are making these power moves… and we have no choice but to accept. If we deny, it will confirm that their thinking is correct. That will make Konoha the public enemy of the entire Elemental Nations just like the current Uzumaki." She looked at Sakumo and asked.
"What else?"
"Excuse me?"
"What else have they demanded?" She asked.
Sakumo nodded and continued. "They want me to go to the capital of the Land of Fire and become the Guardian Ninja of the next Fire Daimyo who is going to ascend to the throne in a month or two. Apart from this, they have also received several requests from smaller nations who don't want our ninja in their territories. It was one of their conditions for restarting trade with the Land of Fire."
"That's ridiculous. He wants to leave us with no alternative." Jiraiya complained.
"Yes. That they do." Sakumo nodded calmly. "Would you leave an opportunity for the other side if you were in their place?" Sakumo asked, making him quiet suddenly.
"But why Danzo? How could someone like that catch the eyes of the Daimyo?" Jiraiya asked. "If anything, it should have been you who became the next hokage in such a situation." He added.
Sakumo shook his head. "I have no idea."
It was Tsunade who broke the silence. "Probably because Danzo knows about the skeletons buried in his closet. That guy is too shady but has always been covered by Sarutobi. Do you truly think that the Daimyo had no idea about what was happening?"
"Tsunade!" Sakumo raised his voice, his eyes widening but he didn't say more.
It was then that the idea struck Jiraiya and chilled his heart.
An oppressive silence spread over the whole place.
"When will you be leaving?" Tsunade asked Sakumo.
"I don't know. Maybe in a week."
Tsunade nodded and then became quiet.
Sakumo sighed and then looked at him. "The village has a mission for you."
"Mission?" Yes. He had been roaming around for several months and then sitting in the village for the last month.
No village could allow their ninjas to go so long without missions.
"What is the mission?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"You have to go to the Land of Flowers to investigate the recent war between them and the Land of Earth." Sakumo said.
"Wasn't the army of the Land of Earth destroyed by Uzumaki?" Tsunade asked.
Sakumo however shook his head.
"No. The Uzumaki didn't attack them. Iwagakure has been keeping the exact details of this war under cover, but we received some information through our spies. It turns out that one of their jinchuriki, the Jinchuriki of the Five Tails rebelled against Iwagakure and Onoki due to their failure in the Uzumaki debacle. Apparently, his family members were among the canon fodder sent to Usushiogakure and all of them died. He killed the army that he was leading and disappeared somewhere. The reason why Iwagakure hasn't placed a bounty on him is because they are afraid that other villages might try to capture him and get the Five Tails. Right now, except the Ichibi, all villages have lost their jinchuriki."
"What of the Four Tails?" He asked.
"That's the problem. Four Tails and the Explosion Squad as well as a thousand strong army of Iwagakure was destroyed by another force."
"Another force?"
"Yes. At first we thought that they were caught in the traps of the Uzumaki but that was not the case. An investigation of the sight revealed that they had fought a battle. A battle which destroyed multiple mountains. One of those mountains looked as if it had been sliced clean in half."
"That's…" Even the quiet Tsunade's eyes widened. "But who can do such a thing? Such a person would surely not be an unknown." She asked.
It was true. If there was such a person in this world, they would surely know about him through their intelligence network. But they didn't know of anyone who had such power.
"It is suspected that they were destroyed by the army of the Land of Flowers." Sakumo answered solemnly.
"The Land of Flowers?" Tsunade asked, stunned at the reveal.
"Hmm." Sakumo nodded. "I know it is unbelievable but I investigated the place personally and we found that the Land of Flowers has undergone some very big changes in the past year and half."
"What changes?" Jiraiya quickly asked.
He was there in the Land of Flowers where he met that man but apart from that he hadn't noticed many changes there.
"They have introduced new agricultural methods among their farmers which is giving almost double yields compared to before. This method has come from their Prince and the one next in line for the position of Daimyo, Kazuya Katsuyoshi. Apart from this, they have started training many samurai and making new factories and even several new towns in their country."
Sakumo went on to explain everything in detail.
The trade agreements and treaties which the Land of Flowers had made using their increased agricultural produce, them recruiting orphans from different countries and training them as new samurai, the marriage with the Princess of the Land of Stairs and their merger. It was hard to believe that so many things had happened in a country in just a short span of one and half years. But then again, maybe not.
Everyone had been busy in war during this time.
It was normal to miss the changes in a small nation like the Land of Flowers.
Sakumo continued. "Anyways, I investigated their forces and found out some information. Apparently, they had gained intel that the Land of Flowers was going to be attacked by Iwagakure and had sent an army to intercept. The one behind Iwagakure's defeat is the Samurai who led the army. Your job is to investigate that man."
Jiraiya nodded, his mind still full of various thoughts.
Sakumo went on. "But be careful. The Crown Prince of the Land of Fire has signed a treaty with the Land of Flowers that no shinobi from the Land of Fire will ever step foot in the Land of Flowers without their permission. We cannot go against this order, especially at a time like this or things will get from bad to worse. If the threat wasn't so sudden and hidden, we wouldn't even think of sending someone right now so be careful. If you get caught… we will have to declare you a rogue to save the village's interests." His words were heavy but he added. "If you don't want to accept, I understand. You can deny the mission if you want? No one will blame you, I assure you of that."
Jiraiya however shook his head.
Right now, he wanted to get away from this village.
First, if there was even the slightest bit of chance, he wanted to investigate the whereabouts of Nagato.
And second… the current environment of the village… it suffocated him.
"I will accept the mission."
"Alright." Sakumo nodded and took out a scroll from his pocket and passed it over to him. "This contains the details of the mission."
Jiraiya accepted the scroll while Hatake continued. "Be careful, Jiraiya. Before I personally entered the scene, any ninja who entered the Land of Flowers, be it from Konoha or any other village… have all gone missing."
"What?"
"Yes. None of them have returned. The Land of Flowers have publicly declared that they do not allow Shinobi in their lands anymore and it seems like they are very serious about it."
Jiraiya was about to question back however something happened which made him freeze. He noticed the name of his target of investigation.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni.