when it rains, it pours | ryuze

[Masahige]

There was no paperwork to be done today; only meetings to attend. So many meetings had transpired in the two days prior to Uzumaki Naruto's funeral. Masahige had been fortunate to get any sort of sleep, even if it had only been for two hours. The Council had kept him busy with discussions about the Hata clan member that interrupted Naruto's funeral and about Sarutobi Sio, and the village itself was torn with opinions on how to deal with the situation. Unfortunately, it seemed that most people were ready to kill Sio themselves. It was a blessing that he had arranged a meeting with Wani Ryuze to discuss the status of the Hidden Rain Village.

Masahige plopped himself into his seat and called for his assistant to let Ryuze know that he was ready for their meeting. He had, unfortunately, arrived right on time. Hopefully this meeting would go well, especially with what he had been secretly planning.

[Wani Ryuze]

She really slept in the lake.

It had originally just been a joke, but after Sio had left for the evening, Ryuze just couldn't help herself. She remembered starting to toward the shore, and then next thing she knew, she was waking up to the sun beaming down on her face. And that poor soul who was assigned to make sure she didn't drown Konohagakure or send it into orbit...he really stayed there, too. When she woke up, he was still sitting on that bench, watching her.

As a result, her clothes were still the slightest bit damp when she arrived to the Hokage's mansion. Starting things off right, apparently. Ryuze winced as she tried to hold her paperwork away from herself, keeping it from getting ruined. The impression that she got from the Shichidame Hokage was of stauch business, professionalism. And there was little less professional than a woman leaving a wet ass print in your chair.
But this was for the good of Ame. And so she would leave that print. And depending on whether he had any intentions of helping her, she might call and pay to get that print steam cleaned from that chair.

Raising a fist gently to knock, she rapped upon Masahige's door. Then pushing it gently, she peeked in. She halfway hoped he wasn't there yet...it would give her clothes a bit more time to dry. No dice, though. He was posted up at his desk, looking like he had been there all day, despite that he only arrived minutes before she did. Stepping in and trying to ignore the squishing of her shinobi sandals as she approached the chair, she then gently lowered herself into the upholstered chair in front of his desk with a very definite watery squish.
Fuuuuck. This is suede. she thought to herself with despair. Outwardly, she only smiled, extending an elegant hand.

"I thank you for your audience today, Hokage-sir. My name is Wani Ryuze...Lady of Amegakure no Sato."

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[Masahige]

Masahige looked up at Ryuze, but it took him a moment to register her introduction. She didn't look like the type of person to lead a village, but that didn't entirely matter. This was, in fact, Wani Ryuze. She was the Lady of the Hidden Rain Village and deserved the respect of her position. He stood up from his seat and spoke, "Welcome, Lady Ryuze. Please, sit down."

He gestured at the seat in front of his desk, and remained standing until she sat down herself. He had some very important things he wanted to discuss with her, but he was going to give her the opening to start if she had anything pressing to say.

[Wani Ryuze]

Ryuze set her paperwork on the desk, which had dampened and started to wrinkle from her accidentally having set it in her lap.
"Well, as I said earlier, I'd like to thank you for your time today, and condolences on the loss of Uzumaki Naruto. I grew up with the stories of his heroism, and the heroism of Konohagakure and the Shinobi Alliance."

She took a deep breath, taking a moment. This was by no means easy. She was so nervous. It was amazing that she hadn't tangled up her words during this time, or outright forgotten what she was going to say.
"It's no secret that Amegakure has been quite out of touch with the rest of the shinobi world over the last half century. As a result, I'm somewhat grieved to say that I have no idea what has happened with anyplace outside of Amegakure during that time. To save time, I've prepared a brief report of Amegakure's history to this point...I didn't want to bore you with a thee-hour long story. But it explains any failure to respond, absences at past Chunin exams, and where we are now."

Removing a small, paper-clipped collection of papers, she set them in front of the Hokage. He could read them now, or later if he felt necessary.
"I was elected to the position of Lady one year ago, and it's been a definite challenge to work with the condition the village has been left in."
This was as close to Ryuze would come to admitting that she was in over her head. She was managing, but the village remained in stasis, seemingly. There was no progress. That was the part that needed to change. She was finished now, leaning back in the chair to signal as much, still watching the Hokage with a singular eye.

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[Masahige]

Masahige looked at the papers, briefly looking over the top page and glancing to see how many there were. It was certainly a lengthy file, and one that he was more than interested in reading. However, he chose not to at the moment. He needed to give all of his attention to the person in front of him, who seemed to be asking for the support of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"You need financial support," he guessed. It was more than likely the correct assumption With the state the Hidden Rain was likely in, it would take a lot of money to bring the village to an acceptable state of being. "If that is the case, then I am willing to help. There is, however, one condition."

He paused, cautious. He wanted to see what her reaction was to his assumption and the pending condition.

[Wani Ryuze]

Ryuze hadn't expected it to go that easily. Come in, he says some stuff, she says some stuff, there's some papers for your hands, we say some more stuff, and BOOM. She felt like more should have been done. But apparently, it wasn't over yet. There was a condition being proposed, and Ryuze was curious. What could she possibly have to offer the Leaf?

Well, in exchange for their help, she would offer anything that she had within reason. A smile came to her face, and she had to blink back tears of joy as she nodded. Amegakure was hopefully going to get the help that it needed so desperately now. It would by no means be an overnight process, but her people might not have to suffer any more.
"That is correct...sir. And I would be eternally gratefully for any help you might be able to offer my people. What might that condition be, Masahige-san?" she asked, genuinely curious.

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[Masahige]

"I know you were present at Uzumaki Naruto's funeral, and that afterward you encountered Sarutobi Sio, the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi." He looked Ryuze dead in the eyes as he spoke, and very carefully began to say what he was about to say. "In exchange for financial support, I would like you to smuggle her out of the village and keep her safe in the Hidden Rain."

Sio was not safe within the village, and Masahige was not heartless. He was loyal to his village, and would normally do anything for it. However, there were two primary reasons why he could not give Sio up to this new enemy. First, she was merely a child. Second, the power of the Kyūbi was too great to let slip away from the Hidden Leaf.

"While safe in the Hidden Rain, she can continue to grow and bond with the Kyūbi and be safe while she does it."

Safer than in the Hidden Leaf, anyway.

He was hoping that she would accept, given her already positive repertoire with the child. The ANBU had reported her conversation to him, in full. Nobody would suspect the Hidden Rain Village of keeping Sio in their custody while she trained and grew stronger. And while the real Sio would briefly live in the Hidden Rain until this situation blew over and was dealt with, Masahige had a plan for a fake Sio.

[Wani Ryuze]

There was definitely a catch, and what a grand catch it was. Ryuze's eye widened at this proposition. So...she would basically get paid for babysitting. There was something bitterly hilarious about the thought...she spent her entire life wishing that it could have gone normally, and this twisted act that she was about to undoubtedly agree to would probably be the closest to normal that she would ever get. Watching her young charge, perhaps while they both ate ice cream and played board games.

Of course, it would be nothing of the sort. It would be more like training at the training field and rebuilding the village, but at any rate, it was nothing that Ryuze thought herself incapable of. Any fence-sitting that she might have done at the advice of Ojin's words on her mind and conscience was out the window at this point.
"I will protect her personally." Ryuze assured Masahige with a solemn nod.
"Does she know of this already?"
It might make things a bit more difficult if Sio was unaware of the plan. Not impossible, or even really hard. Just more difficult. In the same way that it was more difficult to pick up a bag of dog food with one hand than it was with both.

At the same time, there was a bit of apprehension in her over this. Amegakure had never been in posession of a Jinchuriki. She shared the sentiment that they were more potential liability than they were valuable tool. The Wani would now have to not only watch out for Sio, herself and any problems Kurama might cause, but advances from anyone who might be seeking to take Sio and Kurama from them. Not that they couldn't handle that much. Still, if the pay is good, there's no job that can't be done.
"When do you need her to depart?"

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[Masahige]

At that moment, Masahige let out a sigh of relief. Ryuze's cooperation on this matter meant that he could proceed with his plans on how to deal with the matter of settling the village down. Although, this meant he finally had to get an audience with Sio and explain to her what was going to happen. At this point she didn't have much of a choice but to agree to it. Hopefully she would be happy to consider this a field trip, even though Masahige knew she was aware of her situation.

"Sio does not know, yet," Masahige said. "I'd like for you to depart with her tomorrow night. I will prepare for your departure until then in order to make smuggling Sio as easy as possible. I will also inform Sio of what is happening. However, there are some things she cannot be told until you are a safe distance from the Hidden Leaf. In two days time, a stand-in for Sio will be publicly fossilized by my own hand in order to put the village at ease. She will not be able to return to the Hidden Leaf or make contact with all but a select few until it is safe for her to return."

He briefly glanced at the file Ryuze had given him.

"In addition to financial support to the Hidden Rain Village, I will also periodically provide you with missions to distribute to your shinobi as you see fit. The money flowing in from those missions will go directly to your village as well."

He paused again, and looked Ryuze dead in the eyes one more time.

"Thank you for this, Lady Ryuze. I'm afraid of the conclusion I may have had to come to if you had not agreed to take Sio with you."

[Wani Ryuze]

In a way, Ryuze thought of this to be her first official mission. That is, if it was not to be considered that meeting the Hokage would be her first official mission. She supposed this would put her into an alliance of sorts with The Leaf. Not that this bothered her at all. Ryuze was a simple sort, not at all conniving or backhanded. Allies helped one another. And if Masahige helped her, she would help Masahige. And that was all there was to it. Besides, Ryuze had taken a shine to this girl. And you weren't allowed to kill the people Ryuze liked.

Sio might put up a fight at being forced to leave. Not an all out curbstomp battle... no, not at all. More like an angst-fueled full on teenage meltdown. Then again, perhaps she was giving the Jinchuriki far less credit than she deserved. She knew the gravity of what was happening. She was there, and she knew of Ojin's intentions. She might go gently.
That was for Masahige to figure out, though. Ryuze had one job, and it was to get her out of the village tomorrow evening. Easy peasy.
"I thank you, lord Hokage." Ryuze said again with a nod. This was really going to be of benefit to Amegakure. The first thing she would do would be to get the gates up to code and reinforced. As long as nothing could get in, they would be able to manage the interior with peace. Then they would prioritize. Pour money into the Academy, the armory, and the medical centers. Work outward from there.

Her office would come last. Only after Amegakure was able to rest in comfort would she, then rest in comfort. Besides, her closet was cozy. She was getting used to it, though it would be nice if they could lean the mop a different way so that it didn't whack her in the head when it slid down the wall.
"In exchange, if you should ever need it, Amegakure will lend you soldiers. My clan is quite capable, and always willing to help. I hope that once we become a bit better equipped and established, we might be able to offer more."
Ryuze had to blink back tears again. She was so. damn. emotional. She was just so happy, though. Her parents were born into all the crap, her grandparents remembering when times were better. So many Amegakure residents were born into blazing battle and did not know of a life where one could spend a couple of hours just sitting and enjoying a meal at a restaurant. So many kids did not even know how to play a basic game of hopscotch because there was never any time to get out, draw the chalk boxes, and still have time to play before bloodshed broke out. They would have that chance now.

Ryuze smiled warmly at the Hokage's words. Unsure of whether it was genuine or a threat, she would let it be, nodding.
"I'm glad it didn't come to that, then. Amegakure is in no position to start trouble. I came here to seek out help for my village, and so no task is too great for me in that pursuit. I'm only happy to oblige."
And she truly was. This was not a gigantic undertaking that Masahige was asking of her. Amegakure would be safe. It was under the radar. It was well-manned. Sio would come, stay, learn and become a better shinobi safely, without fear of harassment or injury or even death. And everyone would win.

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