Chapter 73 - 73. Owner Of Sunagakure
Shiroken went back inside the big palace of the Daimyo and met Chiyo. She had brought a man with her who had half of his face covered for some reason. The name of the man was Baki.
As soon as they saw him they became a bit nervous and also excited. After all, Shiroken is a food mine for them right now. But they were nervous about whether Shiroken would agree to their change of a few clauses in the contract.
The Daimyo had graciously given them a room to talk. Shiroken quickly asked, "So, what did you decide?"
"Lord Nobunaga, we have agreed to sign the agreement. However, we need you to agree upon a few more clauses." Chiyo respectfully said.
Shiroken nodded and looked at the new person, Baki. He had some documents in his hand, "Lord Nobunaga, the first clause is that you will never try to harm Sunagakure in any way possible. For example, you will not oppress the people, force them to do things they don't want.
"Second, you can own the land over which Sunagakure is located, but you can not sell it to any person from the outside. Third, you can not command the Shinobi of the village, they will be their independent unit and will work as they have been."
Shiroken heard them, the first two points were agreeable, he had no wish to harm them, and about the second, he can not let others buy it but he can surely buy the land as he will become a person of the village now. However, he would never agree to the third one.
*Sigh* "Ah, you wasted my time then. I'm not signing this deal." He got up to leave.
Chiyo panicked. They were in a very desperate position. These past days, the Kazekage had suddenly vanished, and people were still trying to find him. Then the condition of the village was very bad, they didn't have much money left. In the past days, it was only through the trade of gold and the development of new jutsu that the village managed to stay alive. But that method was not sustainable in the long term.
So, Shiroken was a lifeline to them.
She nearly cried, "Lord Nobunaga, we can still talk. Please tell us what displeases you."
Shiroken came back and sat down, "As I said before, I do not trust your country's shinobi. They might go behind my back and harm me. That is why I want total control over them. You can see me as the new head of the village, I will be the provider of the food, owner of the land and the master of the military. Of course, as I said before, I was ready to sign a clause that I will never use the military for war or any fighting."
~As I alone am enough for that.~
Chiyo nodded, she had already guessed that Shiroken would not agree to their military-related change of condition.
Baki took out another document, with the military conditions unchanged. Shiroken smirked, ~So they knew I will reject it.~
He read it and confirmed it was all fine. So, he took out his official stamps from the Dama Country. "I will be signing it in the name of Dama Country because you might just kill me later to break the deal. But if it's the Dama country, to break the deal unlawfully you will have to destroy the Dama Country, which is not really possible. They have enough money to hire every single shinobi in the world and make them stand against you."
This underhanded threat worked like a charm on the two Suna representatives. They didn't make any sound and just saw Shiroken sign the document with the official seal. Actually, Shiroken had another reason for doing this. He had told everyone here that his name was Oda Nobunaga, which was a lie. He can't really sign the document with that name.
*PA!*
The red stamp signed the deal. Shiroken with a smile shook Chiyo's hand. "The food will arrive in a few days, I have already sent fast horses back to relay the orders. Until then, I have 10 tonnes of grains, you can take them with you. I will be coming to the village in a few days."
Chiyo excitedly rejoiced, "Thank you, Lord Nobunaga."
"Hmm, and make sure this food gets distributed evenly among the people, no matter if they are poor or not. If I find any kind of unevenness where people are still starving, then I will punish the wrongdoers by cutting their rations for 10 days." He sternly warned them. After all, Shiroken's aim was to help the starving people, not the city's rulers.
Anyway, now Sunagakure was like a colony village of the Dama Country. So, Shiroken was going to rule it as such. He sure can't use the military to fight but he can make them do hard labour.
"You may leave now, I still have some things to talk about with the Daimyo." He waved his hand at them.
Once they were gone, he called Shisui, "Go secretly behind them and keep an eye on what they do with the food. I will be in Sunagakure in a day."
"Yes, Lord Dama." Shisui saluted and left. He was seriously treating Shiroken like his superior for the last few days.
The last thing Shiroken wanted to do with the Daimyo was to sign a purchase. He found the Daimyo sitting in his hall like a lifeless doll. There was certainly something wrong with him that he was sure of.
"Lord Daimyo, I want to buy 20 square kilometres (4942.11 acres) of desert land around the Suna village. I will pay in cash." Shiroken proposed.
Well, it was already desert, and money was always welcome, Daimyo agreed to sell it but he asked before, "What will you do with it?"
"I will try to experiment and try to grow food on it. If I am successful, it will be a great boon to your country," he explained.
Daimyo's eyes widened, this was a great deal then. If Shiroken is successful, he won't have to take crap from Sunagakure and he can continue to give missions to other villages as long as they are cheap. Currently, he had to deal with Suna's tantrums as he needed them for his security. But, if he will have enough food, then he won't have to spend on buying it and that would let him have extra money to hire better shinobi.
For some reason, this Daimyo was really against his own Shinobi village.
"Deal, the price will be finalised by my assistant." He agreed.
Shiroken happily shook his hand and signed the deal. The final cost was 50,000,000 Ryo (5 million dollars. Just for comparison, an S-rank mission gets you more than 1 million Ryo.) This was a very small amount for him but huge for Daimyo, and in the future, he would make hundreds of times more from the land. After all, it was not about 'if' he will be able to grow food, but a matter of when.
The thing he had found in Kirigakure's unnamed scroll was already proven that as long as you provide enough Natural Energy to barren land, it can be turned into a jungle. And the least thing Shiroken lacked was Natural Energy.
Signing the deal and transfer of money took him a day. After that, he headed straight to Sunagakure on his horse, which was a unique breed special to the Nidama Clan's horses.
While on his way he spoke to Saiken.
...
Dama Village,
"Oy, you there, where do you think you're going? Come here and put your titties in the machine. I need your milk." Saiken shouted while chasing an unruly cow. This was a new one and hadn't become accustomed to Saiken's large size.
"Saiken, can you hear me?"
Saiken seemed utterly shocked, "MY GOD! This cow can speak."
"MOOOO... WE HATE YOU! FATTY SLUG!... We will never give you our milk."
Saiken, saddened, asked, "Why? I give you tasty food every day, and your kids are also happy. Look at them, happily jumping and flapping their legs."
Shiroken was just having fun talking to the cute and innocent Saiken. The giant slug had most likely forgotten that Shiroken could talk to him at any time.
"Saiken, It's me, Shiro. Not the cow, hehe..." he clarified.
Saiken looked around and quickly remembered how he could hear him. "Oh, I remember now. We can talk. How are you, Shiro? Where are you? When will you come to meet me? I made a new cake recipe..." The usual barrage of questions came.
"I'm heading to Sunagakure. I have just taken ownership of the whole village and its army without even starting a war. Can you tell Jin when you see him that he needs to send me 5 administrators from the Nidama clan? I need people to help me run the village and later the country." He requested. This was the fastest way to talk to Jin from such a long distance.
"Okie-dokie, I will do it. Don't worry. I will milk my cows and then go to the city square to play." Saiken agreed and they soon stopped their chat. Saiken was a busy boy now, as he had his personal 300-acre ranch. But he also loved playing with the Dama City kids and people. Isobu too. Now even Chomei was there, he usually flies in the sky and makes sure the country is at peace.
...
Shiroken after a few hours arrived at Sunagakure. The whole area was an infertile desert, and this was possibly the worst location to start a village. But, the only good thing was the natural security.
It was surrounded by desert which offers the village a natural deterrent against invasion, as few foreign powers would be willing to endure the sandstorms and water scarcity, common to Suna. Sunagakure itself lied in a fortified valley behind cliffs of rock, with the passage in and out of the village restricted to a single cleft between two cliff faces, making the area very hard to attack from the ground.
"Let's go and meet Shukaku now, hehe. I wonder how he will react." He couldn't help but feel excited.
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I NEED SOME MILKY STONES!
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