Naruto: Kage of Kages

‘The Ryumyaku isn’t being used . . . Let’s hope it’s a mindset problem and not an ability problem.’ The boy thought to himself.

Roran was not yet the modern, even slightly futuristic sprawling city that the movie showed but a more humble place.

A small enclave within the Land of Wind, it was still considered a kingdom with a large central city and a few smaller settlements.

This main city was still relatively big and prosperous, especially by Land of Wind standards but compared to the heights it reached with the Ryumyaku’s power, it was indeed not worth mentioning.

Maybe that was for the best though.

Something like the Ryumyaku would draw all sorts of bad attention and Roran had no real means to protect itself.

The Ryumyaku might provide a virtually limitless amount of chakra if the lore is to be believed but without the proper means to use it, you’ll just be a juicier target.

‘I wonder how powerful it really is though . . .’ Shiki thought to himself.

The main plot points of the Naruto movies and some of the games frequently had big words like world ending, infinite power and invincibility attached to them but ended up being underwhelming.

Take the Shirogane clan which Shiki decided to ignore for the time being.

Their Master Puppet was claimed to have the power to lay waste to all Five Great Villages but kid Naruto and kid Shikamaru managed to beat it.

There was also the Land of The Sky and their flying fortress which were supposed to be super powerful, having caused a lot of trouble in their war against the Five Great Villages but were still easily defeated in the movie.

Cases like this were many.

Monsters that were supposedly comparable to Tailed Beasts but were they really?

Incredible sources of power that could destroy the continent or even the whole world in the wrongs but was that truly the case?

Shiki concluded that further verification was required but he still classified these important beings and sources of power based on the degree of believability.

The Ryumyaku was pretty high up on the list.

Depending on the way it worked, it could indeed possess world-ending power but be useless to beings without the means to channel that power.

The Nine Tails was a great case.

His raw power was the greatest in the world, even Madara and Hashirama could not challenge him in that area however, under the suppression of the Eternal Mangekyo, Wood Release or even powerful Fuinjutsu, that advantage in power meant nothing.

So even if the Ryumyaku truly provided infinite chakra, in the hands of someone as worthless as Mukade or Anzokuzan or whatever the movie’s antagonist called himself, it was still pathetic because he could not convert the raw power into actual combat power.

All this to say that Shiki had hope that the lore of the Ryumyaku might be true.

*

Unlike in the Rinha Village, there was no welcoming party.

Trading caravans were not an uncommon sight to the people of Roran and though Tenma’s Daikin clan was quite wealthy as a merchant group it did not merit special treatment.

Surprisingly, even in this less developed state, the leaders of Roran still claimed a royal title, the Queen and her King Consort.

It was a matriarchal society and while most thought it to be just a custom, Shiki knew it was due to the fact that the power to control the Ryumyaku was passed down from mother to daughter.

And almost as if responding to Shiki’s desire to probe into the secrets of the kingdom, the caravan decided to set up shop for a little while.

Maya opened a small clinic using a rented space, her credentials as a Rinha clan member being enough of a guarantee while Ema and Tomoe took the opportunity to sell their medicine to patients seeking to buy a prescription.

Despite the younger girl’s generally displeased attitude, this joint business venture seemed to be going without issue.

Tenma was taking advantage of some contacts within the city, trying to establish a fallback in case things in the Land of Iron went poorly while the rest of his clan carried on with the usual bartering.

Tenki and his Yamakaze clan were the ones that found the greatest success, being hired directly by the royal family . . .

*

“You’re really making our job difficult, Tenki-san.” Inori complained.

If the job was just to conduct their Weather Manipulation Rituals on the main city, it wouldn’t be a problem but they accepted commissions to hop around the surrounding settlements and to do that efficiently, they had to send out at least two separate groups.

“Tenki-san, you realize there are only four of us right?” Shiki interjected, purposefully showing his displeasure.

It came as a surprise because while certainly capable, the boy always let his sensei do the talking with Mei, sometimes interjecting with questions.

But this was just because the boy knew his age was conducive to people not taking him seriously.

This time however, Shiki was sufficiently irritated.

“Y-Yes?” Still a bit off balance from a little boy suddenly speaking up with such a non-childlike monotone, Tenki sounded unsure.

“To protect you all during this commission, we’ll have to split into three parts, one to stick in the city, and one for each group going outside.” Shiki continued.

“Shinobi squads have a certain number of members for a reason. Three is the standard, two is pushing it unless both are experienced and powerful and one is just begging to be taken out.”

“He’s unfortunately right, this should have been discussed with us before an agreement was made.” Inori spoke more diplomatically.

“The queen said she would provide us with an escort and we shouldn’t face any issues in the first place.” Tenki argued.

Before Shiki could grill the poor man again, Mei stepped up to explain.

“That is not the point, Tenki-san. Your safety is our responsibility, we simply cannot take any chances because even if your death is completely your fault, our record will still show a black mark since you would have died on our watch.” The bespectacled girl clarified.

The young clan leader quieted down and a somewhat tense silence set in.

But after a few moments of deliberation, Inori broke it to propose a middle ground.

“Let’s do it like this. You can still head to the settlements outside but only one group at a time so that protection is more manageable.” The Violet Rose suggested.

And before Tenki could reflexively reply . . .

“You can take longer, not visit as many settlements or try to work faster to make up for the fact that only one group will be working outside the city but that’s the best we can do.” Inori added.

“It’s alright Tenki. If you take a little longer than scheduled it will be fine. Just try not to stretch it too much.” Tenma added from the side.

His stance accommodating of Tenki but also fully understanding of the problems faced by the Konoha shinobi guarding them.

“Fine then. Mei and I will handle security for the group outside. Inori-sensei’s presence is needed for dealing with the authority in the area so staying in the city is best and Shinka’s abilities are great for non-destructive urban combat and surveillance.” Shiki proposed.

The rest of the team agreed and so, the roster was settled . . . Except for a few unexpected additions . . .

*

The following morning a group of Yamakaze clan members under Tenki’s leadership was ready to depart when they were joined by two unexpected parties.

+++++

Hey, Author here!

To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week’s power stone count.

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