Deal with Kirigakure

"W-Where am I?" Yagura confusedly asked.

He then grunted with a headache.

"Take it easy Mizukage-sama." Ao said.

"Ao?" Yagura asked.

"Yes my lord." Ao confirmed.After which the jinchuuriki passed out again.

"We should let him rest first." Shiki advised.

"Yes you're right. In fact, all of us could use some rest. I'll inform Zabuza when Yagura wakes up so we can talk to him together." Mei said to Shiki.

"Very well." He acquiesced.

With that, Shiki temporarily returned to the desert fortress to continue his many research projects, being the workaholic he was, Shiki just could not feel right avoiding his work, the fact that he was actually quite passionate about it probably had something to do with it as well.

Still, he did not get to much time as a mere few days later, Yagura had woken up from his small coma and was fit enough to talk.

Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any gap within his memory. And Yagura himself desired to speak with his liberator along with Mei, Ao and Zabuza.

Officially though, the 4th Mizukage was declared dead, mostly for his protection since he was still quite weekend, Shiki's Ghost Odachi doing quite a number on him. After all, if it came to be known Yagura was alive, his controller might want to silence him.

In any case, Shiki teleported to the place the former Mizukage was being taken care of in and made his way to the man's room where everyone was already waiting for him.

After the greeting were taken care of, the talks could truly start.

"First of all, I want to thank you for your help. It was truly nightmarish to just move and live without having any say in my actions, without my body listening to my commands, like I was trapped in my own mind." Yagura started.

"But it is not time to complain. The ruse of my death will be discovered sooner or later so I must share with you what I know before anything happens to me." He declared.

"Now that Mizukage-sama's sanity has returned and the fact that you were under control proven, we will protect you." Ao declared.

"I am the strongest shinobi in Kiri and couldn't even protect myself. You underestimate our enemy Ao." Yagura countered.

"The organization behind our suffering is called Akatsuki." He said.

"Akatsuki? It's a name one ears often these days, their services have been used by most villages and the most powerful nobles in the continent." Mei responded.

"Yes, that Akatsuki." Yagura confirmed.

"The man that put me under genjutsu was its leader in the shadows. While officially, someone he calls by the name Pain is the leader, the true leader is a man that called himself, Uchiha, Madara." He revealed.

That name alone was enough to send everyone in the room recoiling in shock and some fear.

"Madara!? That's impossible, he is dead!" Ao said.

"Don't worry, that man is not the real Madara." Shiki interjected.

"Even though he is carrying out a plan of Madara's design, the man himself has died a while ago, even if much later than what people think it's his actual date of death." He explained.

"How do you know this?" Mei asked but everyone also wanted to know, Zabuza included.

"I broke into that man's hideout a while back and found the actual Madara's corpse so . . . I can make some assumptions." Shiki revealed.

Everyone just looked at Shiki frozen. At how casually he mentioned breaking into the hideout of such a dangerous individual. Then again, the Reaper was quite dangerous himself.

"I see . . . He is still a danger to us all though." Yagura spoke.

"You're not wrong." Shiki agreed.

'Although my anti Obito countermeasures are pretty solid.' He thought to himself.

"Regardless, with this, Mugetsu's part of our agreement is complete and it's now your turn to make good on your part of the deal." Shiki declared as he spoke to everyone in the room.

"That deal would best be discussed with the Mizukage." Mei said.

"Isn't that going to me you?" Shiki inquired.

"Originally . . . yes but since Yagura-sama has his reason bac-" Mei started but was interrupted.

"I have no intention of returning to office. Not to mention I'm now an active target of the Akatsuki, it's time for Kiri to change and that must start with a new Mizukage." Yagura declared.

"It was you, Terumi Mei, that formed the core of those resisting me when I fell under the control of our enemies so I personally support your taking of office as well." He finished.

"I . . . Thank you, Yagura-sama. I shall do my utmost for our village." Mei vowed.

"Excellent!" Shiki said.

"May we now discuss our business?" He inquired.

"Yes Reaper-san. Please, let us hear your proposal." Mei requested.

"Very well, but first." Shiki took out a few Soul Contract Tags.

With the trust he earned from everyone in the room, they accepted Shiki's explanation on the tags and his use of them so the negotiations could now proceed unhindered.

After Shiki was done with the basic explanation, Mei finally spoke after a while of ponderation.

"So basically, you want Kiri to join your banner in this scheme to manage the whole world, assisting both your organization, and another that will rise in the future representing the "light side" of the matter."

"That's pretty much it." Shiki replied.

"I know I said we'd agree to any request so long as it did not jeopardize the village or its citizens . . . So explain to me how this won't do either." Mei requested.

"Very well. Yukigakure and Konoha have both joined up for a while now and you probably known they have both grown immensely in terms of resources and quality of life, especially the former." Shiki started.

"Konoha has joined!?" Mei was surprised.

"Indeed. Other than that, Suna is basically under my control so they unofficially joined as well since they are working under my model of management so that's another village that experienced a boom in prosperity ever since I got involved in it." Shiki continued.

"Takigakure and Kusagakure have joined up as well. Taki's leadership works for me so the integration will be smooth while Kusa has only joined with Mugetsu and have no clue of the grand plan yet."

"It seems Reaper-dono's reach goes much further than we thought." Ao commented.

"And those are just our major holdings, we also have multiple small nations completely under control as well." Shiki more or less finished his sales pitch.

Mei conferred with Ao and Yagura before taking a deep breath and announcing her decision.

"We will be honored to join you in your endeavours."

Shiki shook hands with her and replied.

"Trust me, you won't regret it." Shiki said.

"It looks like I didn't need to say it but, since you're all part of the team now and unable to go against your word due to the contract, the foundation for the so called light side organization has already been created under my true identity." He revealed.

"In fact, its products have made their way around the world and it enjoys a great reputation everywhere." Shiki explained.

"Uzumaki Shiki's Ventures!" Mei suddenly realized.

"You're Uzumaki Shiki! But I've heard he's quite young . . . and handsome." Mei whispered the last part.

Shiki then removed his cloak and mask.

'Wow! He's even more handsome than the rumours!' Mei squealed in her mind.

"Is there a problem with my age?" He asked.

"Not at all, your capability is all that matters and you've proven it Shiki-dono." Ao declared.

"I couldn't agree more."

"That's right!"

Yagura and Mei supported.

"Well then, since there is a lot of land to rebuild, my people can definitely help with that and we can take this as an opportunity to instal. our more advanced infrastructure like trains and airports and all kinds of factories that will produce various products to improve everyone's lives in the Land of Water and strengthen our hold on it as well." Shiki offered.

"Yes, considering all those countries you've helped rebuild and improve along with the work done on Suna after their war with Konoha, I think your help will prove invaluable indeed." Mei accepted.

And so, another chapter came to close in Shiki's endeavours. Although his direct interference would probably no longer be required, Mugetsu still had a lot of work to do in the Land of Water like helping with the reconstruction as previously agreed.

What Shiki didn't expect however, was a call that came about a week or so later, that the Kiri leadership wanted to speak with him about something important but didn't share any specifics.

'Okay then . . . I'm actually wondering what they could possibly want . . .' Shiki though after receiving the message.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.