"This isn't funny. What you're doing is no different than being held hostage by you," one of the men who works for the daimyo started spitting insults at me.
We left the capital of the Iron Kingdom a day ago, and now, halfway there, I decided to detour to another country for my own convenience.
While he was talking to me, I just smiled at him, hoping he'd shut up.
"So we have to go back to the capital of the Fire Kingdom as agreed; that was part of the contract and the mission," the man said.
I was picking my nose, just to get something out and spit it in his face, showing my complete lack of respect and how little I cared about what they were saying.
"Well, all of you, if you want to follow me, do so; if not, don't," I explained to the other traders there. "I'm going that way; if you want, follow me," I said, pointing in the opposite direction from where we had come.
Without another word, I started walking to the side while everyone exchanged confused glances.
"Wait," I heard someone say.
I unconsciously turned around to see who it was; it was the daimyo's official representative.
"Now what?" I asked, already bored. If they weren't who they were, and if there weren't two people in that group who worked exclusively there, I would have killed them all by now.
"What's all this about?" the man asked, clearly confused.
"Look, I proposed bringing him here without any complications, and that was the mission's purpose, just a one-way trip, you understand? There's nothing about bringing him back safe and sound, you understand?" I explained simply so you'd understand.
"How is that possible?" the other man said, trying to brush off my disrespect.
"Easy, I spoke with the daimyo about going there, not coming back, and besides, guess who does A-rank missions and above," I reminded the man, making several of them pale.
If that was the case, and they didn't follow me, they'd end up alone in the middle of nowhere in the snow, with a high chance of being robbed, kidnapped, killed—whatever you think is worse.
"Now, I don't mind you following me in what I want to do, since sooner or later I'll return to the Land of Fire and I'll have to inform the daimyo about the mission's completion," I reminded the group, urging them to move forward.
"Are you following them?" someone in the group asked.
"We're the Hokage's bodyguards, not you," Yamayo clarified, and they began to follow. Kurenai and Katsuki exchanged glances, ready to do the same.
Not long after, I saw the two people who worked for me start to follow, and then several more joined them.
I glanced at this and smiled.
"You're evil, forcing these humans to follow your demands and manipulations," I heard a voice in my mind.
"Do you think so?" I asked mentally.
"Somewhat, but I don't understand much about these matters; I think the grumpy fox would know more about this," it replied.
"Are you talking about that orange fox with human hands?" I thought to myself.
"A strange way to describe it, but yes," said the bujii that was locked inside me, or rather, sealed, or not quite.
"Well, I'll mentally add it to the list of things I'll do sometime in my life."
"You just need to say you don't want to do it; you shouldn't have been so sarcastic," the six-tailed fox replied.
"I thought you didn't know about these things," I questioned.
"One learns by watching you; it doesn't surprise me that that little red-haired human is so arrogant, considering you're her role model," the mass of chakra spoke.
"No comment," I said, ignoring the obvious.
With that, I continued on my way to my destination.
...
The idea here is to begin forging both political and economic alliances with other villages—politically, as Hokage, and economically, as a future super-tycoon.
So, taking advantage of the fact that the crossroads are beginning in the Land of Iron, the plan is to travel through Grassland, Rainforest, and the Land of Birds and finally end up in the Land of Rivers.
The idea is to make two journeys; this would be the first, and the second would be to go the other way, where the other smaller countries are located, which are there so I can exploit them to my advantage.
I intentionally omitted the Land of Rice Fields, since that country intentionally made deals with Orochimaru to create its own village. I don't know if that's already underway, but with all my luggage, I'm not in a position to confront him, because if I encounter him head-on, he won't attack me.
With this in mind, while I'm talking to the leader of Taki Village, my staff will secretly make their move to begin expanding the village and establish a link to grow the company, and incidentally, a way in and out of this truly hidden place.
But to do that, I need to get inside first.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Kurenai asked me from beside me, near some caverns.
I could only scratch my head.
"Maybe," I said, then looked at Katsuki. "Let's look for some Taki ninja; meanwhile, you two," I ordered, pointing at Kurenai and Yamato, "set up camp, since they might refuse us entry the first time."
"Is that a possibility?" Yamato asked.
"It's a possibility," I stated, implying that it could happen.
"And what happens if that does happen?" Kurenai asked.
"Well, we'll do what a real ninja would do: blackmail, threaten, infiltrate, assassinate the village leader, and get someone promoted who wants to make deals with me—I mean, with the village," I explained.
Kurenai looked at me incredulously.
"Are we really going to do something like that?" she asked doubtfully.
"I'm not kidding, hehe, just kidding, a real joke, don't take it seriously, it's a 100% joke, hehehehe," I started to say, but I don't think I convinced her much, judging by her face.
"It makes sense to me," Yamato added, supporting my idea.
I unconsciously gave her an imaginary thumbs-up. The only good thing Danzo does with his Root ninjas is make them think like real ninjas.
"Well, let's get started, since I don't like leaving that old monkey in power for too long, because that mummy might show up and start giving him bad ideas," I told myself. Thank goodness it doesn't have my signature or stamp for official documents. It's only there to circulate missions and in case something really important happens, nothing more.
Now that I think about it, the seven-tailed monster should be locked up in the village, so I immediately retreated into my mind's space.
...
Back in my own mind's eye, I walked through the brightest corridor only to enter a forest very similar to the Shikkōtsu Forest where Katsuyu lives, since both are slugs.
After walking for a few moments, I found myself facing the Six-Tails, completely free, with nothing to bind it—no prison, no barriers, nothing.
The slug was practically reclining, reading a manga while flipping through the pages with one of its tails, which momentarily stuck to the paper.
"Hey, Saiken," I exclaimed, finally making it look at me.
"Oh, are you here to deliver my weekly manga?" it asked casually.
"Have you finished reading what I gave you?" I asked, exasperated.
It was currently reading the Fullmetal Alchemist manga.
When I first spoke with the Six-Tails, I had made things clear about what was happening and why I had done this.
Wanting the cooperation of this tailed beast, I decided to be completely honest with it. To make it believe my point of view a little more, and taking advantage of the fact that we were inside my mind, I created a giant version of the Naruto manga for it to read.
At first, it didn't buy it, but as the days passed and it finished reading, I decided, for the benefit of the doubt, to believe me for the time being.
Finally, it promised not to escape and to cooperate with me on just three conditions.
First, that it wouldn't be imprisoned; basically, it would destroy the seal. Second, it could see and hear what I saw and heard in real time, and third, it would bring different manga to pass the time.
It wasn't difficult for me to fulfill any of these conditions, so I accepted. I released it, let it see and hear what I saw and heard, and finally, as a second manga for it to read, I gave it Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, which it finished about three days ago.
"No, but I feel like I'll finish this one soon, since it's really good. And if you can, the next manga you send me, let it be a mystery, something like that, if it's not too much trouble," I told myself, continuing with the manga.
"I'll write you a novel for that," I said, exasperated.
"What's a novel?" Saiken asked.
"That's not the point. I came to ask if you could sense the location of your brother, the Seven-Tails, since we should be close to him. I want to enter the village where he is, but I can't," I explained.
"Something you can't do, the sky will fall!" he exclaimed, wriggling like jelly, his tails whipping from side to side.
Faced with this blatant mockery, I simply crossed my arms and glared at the biju.
"I think I'm regretting letting you see and hear what I do," I said, since this is something I'd said to Shikaku once to tease him.
"I'm just learning to socialize through you; I thought these responses were normal," he replied, leaving me no choice but to stay silent. Having someone who can hear and see everything I do could expose all my dirty laundry and hypocrisy, and I could end up losing.
"Never mind, can you detect the Seven-Tails?" I asked again.
"Yes, no problem. From the first tree at your 8 o'clock, just keep going straight and you should get to where I was," she explained, returning to her reading and ignoring me.
At this response, I just sighed.
"I'll be back," I declared, stepping out of my reverie to rejoin the others.
...
After walking with Katsuki for about two kilometers, we reached a wall that seemed to stretch endlessly upwards.
I just looked at him, and he immediately understood what I wanted him to do, so he activated his Byakugan and looked directly in one direction.
"There are two people over there, probably ninjas because of their large chakra reserves," I told myself, nodding.
"Perfect," I said, indicating where the ninjas should be.
I knelt down to touch and perform the jutsu I had stolen from Minato a while ago, which helped me better focus on my own sensory abilities.
The moment I detected them, I performed two hand seals, and a tunnel opened up, leading to where they were.
"Done," I said.
"What do we do now?" Katsuki asked.
"Wait."
"Wait?" he asked.
"We're here with the intention of forming an alliance with Taki; if we infiltrate by brute force, we'll only make it seem like we're enemies. I did this just so he'd know we're here and someone would come to greet us," I explained my idea, to which he simply nodded.
"Who's there?" came a voice from nowhere, and two ninjas appeared beside us. They were smart enough not to go through the tunnel. There were no traps there, but I could easily have planted explosive tags.
"How are you? We're uninvited guests. I don't know if you'd mind speaking with your leader. Tell him the Hokage is here to forge a small alliance between our villages," I said with a smile.
The Taki ninja just stared at me with his eyes closed.
"What would a Kage be doing here in our country?" he asked.
"That's none of your business," I replied, sitting down in a wooden chair I conjured out of thin air. "I know perfectly well that her village is beyond, and it wouldn't be too difficult for me to get there, so it's best if they invite me before I force my way in."
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Good people, as you can see, Saiken has finally appeared, and I decided to include her so she could be someone who talks to Miyu, contradicts her, and challenges her personality, as well as acts as a bit of a conscience for her.
This is so that our protagonist doesn't always win her arguments, since I feel like it can get tiresome if she always gets away with everything.
That's all I wanted to say; I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you.