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| - The heat of the midday sun didn't deter the man below it, as his red coat billowed in the hot wind. A strong breeze blew back the man's hood, revealing the face of Densetsu Uchiha, the esteemed diplomat of Konohagakure, who was better known for his exploits in battle. He stepped off the ramp which had been attached to the boat, taking a good look at the island around him. It was a beautiful place, but Ryūseigakure was known more for its' technological achievements than anything else, its prosperity spearheaded by Makaze Kantoku; a one of a kind intellectual known for his incredible innovative prowess. Densetsu could understand why as he surveyed the bustling land around him: Ryūseigakure seemed to be another planet on its own. Though he had been dispatched here by the Hokage to forge ties between Konoha and Ryūseigakure, Densetsu also had a personal reason to be here. A week ago, Masa Nakamura had launched a daring attack on the city itself, killing an Uchiha who resided in the land in typical cold blood. He scowled at the thought of that fiendish man, as he made his way towards one of the numerous guard posts around the area. "Good afternoon. I'm the special envoy of Konohagakure, Densetsu Uchiha. I'm slated to have a meeting with Makaze-san this afternoon, so I was wondering if you could inform him that I've arrived?" Densetsu asked one of the guards politely, exuding a smile which accentuated the man's subconscious teenage charm. Makaze sighed as he sat at his desk, looking out the window at the bustling hub of activity that was his city. The genius smiled at the thought of his city and all that he had done for it. Even so the previous weeks events still resonated within his mind. Kami and Genei weren't here leaving it up to me and I failed, I'm too naive He thought to himself as he sprawled out in his chair. Just then a message came through to him form one of his guards. "Sir Mr.Densestsu the special envoy of Konohagakure is here." Makaze responded by promptly sitting up in his chair and activating a tele porter to bring the man too him. Within seconds Makaze sat within the room with Densetsu standing by a chair. " Nice to meet you Densetsu, I'm Makaze Kantoku the leader of this village. How may I help you today." He asked the man with a small smile. "The pleasure is mine," Densetsu replied politely, with a small bow of respect and a smile. "Looks like the extent of his technology truly reaches far." He thought to himself quietly, as he pulled out a chair. "May I?" He asked, before seating himself. He clasped his hands together and looked the tall man ahead of him in the eye. "Makaze-san, as you are surely aware of, our two lands as well as villages have nothing beyond moderate relations with each other, but the leadership of our land wishes that to be different." He adjusted his spectacles with a single finger before continuing his visage still cheerful, "They've come to realise that maintaining relationships with Ryūseigakure would bode well for their own technological developments as well as adding to your own already huge finances, and therefore, they've sent me here to negotiate with you as well as forging strong ties of friendship between our two nations." He stated earnestly, while his mind on the other hand remained focused on the Dōjutsu Hunter. "Wow seems everyone wants to ally with us these days." Makaze chuckled to himself. "Well I'm perfectly open to allies but first let me make sure you are who you say you are, we had a small security issue earlier this week and I won't stand for that again!" Makaze stated as a small drone flew from his desk and scanned the man before landing upon his arm. "Hmm seems you are the Densetsu Uchiha. Oh it says here you've clashed with Masa Nakamura before." Makaze stopped for a second and then stood. "I have no problems with an allegiance of villages." He stated as he extended his hand. Densetsu extended his hand to shake that of Makaze's, with a firm grip and shake before both men withdrew their hands. "Then it is settled, it's our pleasure to ally with you." But the mention of the man's name brought a hint of darkness in Densetsu's eyes. "Yes, Masa Nakamura. I've fought him many times before," he grimly stated, before shifting his gaze back to Makaze. "The Nations have heard about Nakamura's attack on this village a few days back, and as one of those investigating his activities, I believed that it was imperative to show myself here." Densetsu explained to the leader of Ryūseigakure. "Nakamura is Kumogakure's most wanted criminal. Former ANBU Black Ops Captain, torture master, 98% mission success ratio. He was one of their most skilled operatives, but as you probably have noticed, he's always been over the edge. When he escaped from the Cloud Village, he took out 21 of their ANBU operatives and since then he's been ranked as an S-rank missing-nin." Densetsu bent forward. "The reason I'm telling you this Makaze-san, is because intelligence reports say he may continue to plague your village—he's set his sights apparently upon some resource your village possesses, although we have no way of finding out what that is." Makaze turned and looked out his window, gazing over the shining city of machinery. His mind wandered to the battle that had happened once again. The cunning of the man, his own naivety, the murder of his civilians. Makaze's mind had been tortured by those thoughts. He spoke calmly to Densetsu again as continued to stare out the window. "So you know a lot about this man I assume, tell me everything. That son of a bitch is a cunning one that's for sure and with him I can't even tell what he is thinking. As for anything he'd be targeting we have many advancements in energy, medicine, and weaponry. It could be any one of those." The man sighed before turning back to him, his face was a bit red and his left eye had a small tear. "I don't want anyone else to die by him." Densetsu watched the man release his sadness with an eye of admiration. Makaze Kantoku was a man of his people, no matter how glorious his achievements in the world of technology were. He could see the struggle within the man—his logic, his heart and his anger were all clashing simultaneously within him. And the fact that he held thousands of lives in his hands...any one of which Nakamura could target at random. "For you to feel this way about your people, is truly admirable. I've been privileged to be in the company of many great leaders, and believe me when I say this...your village is in the safest hands possible with you at the helm." Densetsu pointed out, utilising his honesty to defuse the sparks of anger, pain and conflict that Masa Nakamura excelled at planting in great men. "Like I said before, Masa Nakamura isn't the ordinary crime lord. Despite his great power, his most dangerous trait is that he rarely messes with those who possess power—he goes around them. Being in the ANBU, we learn many things," Densetsu briefly reminisced one of the only similarities between him and that killer, "we're taught how to bypass the highest security areas, and to hit the strong where it hurts. Masa takes this many steps beyond, and the only true way to keep him at bay would be for you to make him your priority target at all times." The Uchiha gravely stated, his eyes darting to the ground in thought. "I think we may be able to roughly piece together what he's searching for, vague as it may be. Name me any significant weaponry or energy source which you deem may peak the interest of someone like him, Makaze-san." Makaze listened to the Uchiha's kind words, a smile crept onto his face. He was genuinely happy that the man was trying to cheer him up. Makaze looked to Densetsu comprehending everything he stated. "Hmm so I guess that there is only one possible way to keep him in check." He then walked over to a small console and opened it. "Add all aspects of Masa to the system, facial recognition, chakra signature, fingerprints, everything. Then call Kaminoshi and have him input his soul signature into the system, he won't hid from us. Have our special team sensing the land,sea, and air at all times." He called into the console. He then crossed back to his desk and opened another console. "Lock the ISE in the bunker and secure it. I want circuit locks on all electricity systems at all times. If he can get in with the electricity, he'll be dead before he knows it." Makaze closed the console after he finished speaking his command and looked back to Densetsu, determination shown in his eyes. "Densetsu the only thing here we have capable of what you speak is the rift engine. It however only exists in two places. And I just locked down every possible entrance for him into this city. Even of he does get in Kaminoshi will know and it will all be over." Makaze spoke with pride. "Masa Nakamura will die if he enters this place." Densetsu's forehead furrowed in concentration, his two fingers stroking the beginnings of a stubble on his chin. "Rift engine.." He thought to himself. "Makaze-san, this rift engine, what does it do exactly? I can tell that it's a power source, but I need to know what exactly it's capable of." Densetsu stated. "If it's potentially what he's after, it must be something of great power." Several other questions were racing through Densetsu's mind, but Makaze's answers would be necessary to determine which ones would be relevant. If something were to fall into Nakamura's hands, the chances were close to a hundred percent that it would be an instrument of war—but knowing the full capability of this rift engine would be imperative, as if god forbid Nakamura somehow bypassed the fearsome security and laid his hands on it, the other nations would be able to find a way to shut it down. Makaze sighed as he sat back down in his chair, looking directly at Densestu. "While I cannot tell you its creation I can tell you this, it is an engine that is capable of limitless power. I run this whole city on simply one of of them. It uses something called rift energy which is power which is gathered from rifts. Luckily the engine is not moveable as if remove from its containment unit it will simply collapse and cease to exist." Makaze replied hoping to ease Densetsu's fears. This confirmed what Densetsu didn't want to hear. "Unlimited energy..." The worry in his eyes deepened even further. "Kumogakure are well known for their ability to tinker around. I wouldn't rule out an ex ANBU operative like him having contacts with some of their scientists. If he has an interest on this source, this rift engine, it wouldn't be otherworldly to speculate that he knows what it's capable off." The Uchiha's hands clasped around his mouth his his eyes darted left and right. "Let's say the worst does happen, it wouldn't be incredulous to assume that Masa does possess some knowledge on sustaining this source, an alternative containment field as you may call it." Densetsu said, his tone understandably grave. His eyes raised again, meeting Makaze's. "Makaze-san, you know what that bastard is capable off firsthand, so I'll have to share my thoughts with you. It is very possible based on what you've just told me that Nakamura could have some devious plan to not only obtain this source, but temporarily sustain it." Densetsu knew what limitless power meant. Makaze was using this source for productive sustainment, but a Masa Nakamura would definitely plan to utilise it for destructive subjugation. It made sense now. What didn't make sense was how Masa planned to obtain such a well guarded source—with all the measures Makaze was putting up, such a task was literally impossible. But Masa was far from sense, and both these men knew it. Makaze now had a worried look upon his face. "I agree that we shouldn't rule him out, he is quite cunning." Makaze sighed as stood once again and began to pace back and forth behind his desk. "However Kumo is nowhere near as advanced as us, it would take them decades to reach a fourth of what I've done. Masa however would not stop, he's come in if he can and attempt to take it. If he fails I rebuild it he tries again. It will become a never-ending cycle until he eventually has the capabilities to sustain it. So we need to kill him off and end this cycle." The genius spoke as he finally returned to his seat. "So what do you propose as our first move, you know him better than anyone." Makaze asked the man. "That's the ideal outcome, but I truly wish it were that simple." Densetsu spoke slowly. "Someone as strong as him, is difficult to outmanoeuvre let alone kill. Even if he's cornered, he's always found some way or another to cheat death. After fighting you, he's going to definitely not take you for granted again, that bit is certain. We don't even have a fixed record on his locations, he's always on the move, so finding him is outta the question." Densetsu leaned forward. "What I would suggest however, would be to monitor visitors to this place even more thoroughly. Full out background checks, identifying potential associates. We're looking at the category who travel a lot, and may be cooperating with him; willingly or unwillingly. Anybody even remotely suspicious, must be identified as a potential gateway to enable his entry. With the technology here, that bit would serve to ideally cut any spies he may possess, or at least deter them." Densetsu suggested to Makaze. Makaze nodded to Densetsu before opening another console. "Give me full checks on every visitor into this city, learn who they are, what they want, and if they have any relation to Masa Nakamura. If they do come up as even possible in relation to this man take them into custody. If they fight back have Genei remove their limbs." He spoke into the machine before looking back to Densetsu who seemed to have a light look of horror on his face, realizing why Makaze explained. "Don't worry Densetsu when I say remove their limbs I don't mean rip them off, I mean make them disappear. Genei can do that and it won't even hurt them." He spoke with a reassuring smile. "Now I suppose we wait, this shouldn't take long." "I believe so," Densetsu responded with a nod. "Now then Makaze-san, would you show me to the best food stall around here?" He enquired cheekily, as both men could discuss more trivial matters in the open, signalling the end of any secrecy and confidentiality. Makaze nodded to the man before entering a state of deep thought, upon leaving it he provided the man with the answers he was looking for. "Well my bro Kaminoshi is the best cook to ever exist but he's busy so I'll have to take us to the best restaurant which in my opinion is a very fine establishment by the name of, The Scarlet Pearl." He spoke in a jubilant tone as he pressed a button on his table and placed his hand on Densetsu, transporting the two of them to the restaurant. As they sat Makaze spoke out a recommendation. "Personally I think the best thing on this menu is the steak, I highly recommend it."
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