The Hidden Leaf

It has been a few days since then. Rai and the Kumo delegation have already crossed the border of the land of hot water and entered into the Land of Fire. We were stopped on the way by a squad of Konoha shinobis and after confirming our motives, we are now being escorted to Konoha.

It now makes complete sense to Rai why all the other big countries want a piece of the land of fire. It is right at the heart of the continent and is filled with lush green forests and fertile land, the temperature here is also perfect. In comparison to the other villages like Suna in the Land of Wind is infertile land filled with Desert Sand. Iwa in the Land of Earth is also not that much better, Kiri in the Land of Water is a literal island country that is away from the others and so trade is hard. Kumo in the Land of Lightning is also similar but comparatively is much better off than the other countries and is economically the strongest village.

Ever since the first Bandit Extermination mission Rai has been training his Observation Haki relentlessly in order to sense everything in his surroundings. He realized he was underutilizing his Haki severely. He can now cover a 500 meter radius to sense life force and to an extent also perceive the kind of intentions they carry towards him and their emotions.

Ever since they entered into the Land of Fire. There has been a few people stealthily following after them. Rai identified them as Root agents sent by Danzo from their lack of emotion. Normally people will always have some kind of emotion that Rai perceives but these people following are just like mindless emotionless puppets and it was kind of obvious who they are from that discovery. Rai decided to ignore them since they were only observing and not taking any sort of action.

A few hours later they finally made it in front of huge gates with the sign of Konoha in the center. We finally got here after travelling for a few days. We reached the gate and were greeted by a few Anbus. White Hair and Dog Mask. Yup that's Kakashi alright. The person next to him was purple haired woman wearing a Cat Mask, Yugao Uzaki. Finally, other people that Rai is familiar with. Rai was fanboying hard when he saw Kakashi there. No one can deny that he is probably one of the coolest characters in the show.

The Shinobis in charge of escorting us handed over the job to the Anbus now and we left to meet the Hokage.

Kakashi POV

This morning I was told by Hokage-sama to go to the village entrance and escort the Kumo Delegation into the village and bring them to him. This was important to Konoha since we're not in any position to enter into another conflict right now. After Minato Sensei and Kushina-san's death the village is in a very precarious position. I was also strictly warned to not be late this time. I mean I know I make it a habit to become late but I'm not going to undermine the village's prestige itself with my tardiness especially when the Kumo delegation could take it as an insult if I'm not there on time to receive them.

I also had to keep an eye out for anything suspicious that they may do. Hokage-sama felt I was the right person for this task as I could appropriately deal with most situations. I got there and waited at the entrance along with Uzaki for the Kumo delegation. When they finally did show up. I was shocked when I saw the person who was in the front leading them. That's the Third Raikage. He's not someone I can ever deal with if he gets serious. The guy was capable of stalling 10000 shinobis all on his own. It was said that he was seriously injured and even lost an arm. From the looks of it he doesn't seem like an injured person at all. Sure, he doesn't have an arm but my instincts are screaming at me that he could still kill me whenever he pleases. A total of 8 people including the Third Raikage. 2 of them look to be Jonins, 4 Chuunins and the other seems to be child. He also seems to be awfully close to the former Raikage. Must be his disciple. I should also mention this to the Hokage.

I quickly greet them and escort them to the Hokage's office. The sooner I can get this over with the sooner I can sit and read Jiraiya-sama's new book.

Regular POV

We eventually reached the Hokage's office and entered into his office. The Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen was seated there with Nara Shikaku standing beside him. Rai almost didn't recognize the guy. He had his Hokage hat down on the table and almost had all his hair remaining. Makes sense, it's almost 10 years to the start of the plot when he was almost bald.

He showed a surprised expression when he saw grandpa as the person who came for the peace treaty. He visibly tensed a little bit as it was well known that grandpa was possibly the strongest Kage during the time of the war. He quickly greeted grandpa.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again. Third Raikage A. I hope you did not find the journey difficult." – Hiruzen

"Likewise, Hiruzen. The journey was no problem at all. I wanted to get these old bones out for a stroll since I had been cooped up in the village for too long. I hope you don't mind." – Grandpa

"Haha. Surely you jest. It is no problem whatsoever." – Hiruzen

"Haha. Where are my manners! Let me introduce you to the rest of them. These 2 here are Mendoi and Hosoi. The others behind him are Warui, Semai, Oishi and Mazui. And lastly this is my little Grandson Rai" – Grandpa

(AN: I suck at naming people and so in true Kumo style I just used adjectives.)

The Hokage was smiling and nodding at grandpa's introductions until he heard Rai's and was surprised. He did a double take to observe Rai again. It must be noted that after the Third Raikage stepped down it was his son who took over and to see the son of the Fourth Raikage, Hiruzen had to see whether Rai could possibly be the next one in line. Of course, Rai never intended to ever take the position of Raikage. But no one is privy to that information as of yet.

"Ho. So the son of Unruly A. I must say I wouldn't have known you were his son if I wasn't told. You don't really look like him. But it's nice to meet you regardless." – Hiruzen

"It's my pleasure Hokage-Sama. Also, yes I've heard that a lot. I look more like my mother but I still got most of father's genes." – Rai

"Haha. How old are you kid?" – Hiruzen

"I'll be turning 8 in a couple of months." – Rai

Hiruzen almost stumbled when he heard that. Rai really looked like he could be at least 12 with his height now almost at 150cm.

"Yea, You really did get most of the genes otherwise you wouldn't be this massive." – Hiruzen mumbles softly. But everyone still heard it.

What followed after was some useless banter between two old men. We found out that there would be a meeting with the council tomorrow where the treaty will be signed after which we will most probably be invited to Hinata's birthday party and then we'd leave the next day.

We finally left the Hokage's office and were escorted to where we would be staying. Rai informed his grandpa that he was going to look around the village and scurried away before he could stop him.

Rai now had the whole day to look around to his heart's content and also to mess with a few people. But first thing first, no Naruto fan can ever come to Konoha and not go to this place. And so, off to Ichiraku he goes.