I awaited Princess Hanako in the Tower office. Once more my ANBU has secured copies of her latest letters and this time, the Daimyo responded. Its contents brought a grateful smile to my lips, things were going well and smooth. The Daimyo didn’t know shit and was six-foot-deep in a horde of debts to his Samurai and was forcing his citizens a reaping tax that threatened to start a peasantry war. He needed the break.

I could relate. His letter came not a day too soon, in fact, tomorrow would mark the end of the deadline I gave Hanako and I’d be forced to go through with my word to reap the Land of Water without consent. Threatening tyranny was one thing but following through was another.

I set the letter aside as I sensed the Princess’ bodyguard come through the entrance of the Tower downstairs. She was here and this time, thanks to the rapidity of the Daimyo’s desperation, she actually held significant power than being a liaison.

Didn’t think he would trust her enough to make her his envoy. The official letter that the Princess received was accompanied by the royal regalia, a scroll and serpent feathered pen. With them, she would have every right to sit across me and negotiate gains for this war.

Junichi poked his head in my office and whispered, “They’re here!”

A curt nod and he know to let them in immediately, no need to beat around the bush, I wanted to know what price she’d prefer to save her brother. It’d better not be anything ridiculous.

A short moment later I heard Junichi greeting her through the doors before they swung open, revealing her gripping the near three-foot-long royal scroll the agreement would be penned in and her flourishing tower of tied hair pin-cushioned by the feathered pen we’d each use to sign. It stuck out on top of the finely jewelled hair, tailing her head with the feather and complimenting the multi-colour of the dress she flowed into the office with.

I stood, my hat and haori already on my person in anticipation of her, “Welcome, Princess Hanako, I’m eager to get to the thick of these negotiations and see the war won before next months’ end.” The negotiations had already started and simply throwing that factoid of ending the nearly two-year war in little but a month would drive that stake of desperation even further.

Kirigakure would be the only ones to provide such a resolution, she couldn’t afford to lose my support.

“As am I.” she said, looking not too pleased to see me but fighting any emotion from betraying her truth

I came around my desk and gestured to the set of couches and table, the same ones I hosted the Konoha shinobi with, “Please sit and let me help you with that?”

“Only royalty or those bestowed by right may handle the scroll.” She said stoically and gently placed the scroll’s length across the already cleared table before taking her place opposite me.

Both sat and ready to begin, we stared at each other for a moment. Her eyes grazed every point of my hat, reading the bold kanji of water on it as she lingered to grasp the rest of me before suddenly blinking out of it. “The Daimyo would appreciate if your demands humbly matched your station, Yondaime.”

I raised a brow at that, “My station? What does that have to do with saving him for the jowls of his enemies? Would he better ask his loyal Barons for help or a lowly shinobi like myself?”

The polite smile I wore trembled at the useless starting comment, there was no time for these games. She opened her mouth to speak and in anticipation of being pissed off I cut her off, “Look, Hanako-hime, there’s no use for all of this, I already know it all. It is literally my job to, now, let’s move past the banter and get to making a worthwhile deal.”

She gulped and I pitied her. It was just this morning the letter and regalia arrived and with my deadline knocking on tomorrow’s dawn, she had no time to practice being an envoy. One moment she was Princess and the next she was negotiating the fate of all the Land of Water for the foreseeable future.

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The Princess sucked in a breath, “Very well, then, the Daimyo is willing to allow Kirigakure to partake not only of the tax exemption it currently enjoys but a percentage of the country tax.”

I resisted the urge to scoff in her face, I’d already been upfront enough, any more and I’d be rude, “What’s the percentage?”

“Two.” I scoffed but she continued, “That isn’t all. He is willing to permit Kirigakure to expand over a hundred acres of land to expand into as well as policing rights on any island of your choice, even all if you wish.”

“Policing rights? Kirigakure already protects the Land of Water with its presence alone, our reliability affords us the trust of your local police already, we don’t need a sheet of paper to tell them to stand aside when it comes to an investigation.”

Princess Hanako sat up straight, “Perhaps, but that sheet of paper comes along with the stipend for each month of policing on that island, isn’t it a valuable piece of income for your shinobi?”

She was right about that. Police rights gave me the authority to build or commandeer any police station on an island with my shinobi. Many genin teams and Chuunin often took up police work for localities for up to months at a time, it was simple work that my shinobi were overqualified for but the stipend was often worth it for many down on their luck shinobi. It worked in Kirigakure’s favour as well as the local lord or Baron would be the one paying out of pocket, in rare cases the stipend came from the Daimyo himself.

Yet, it was not even close to what I was asking for, “No, I have told you what I want. You can keep your percent tax and policing rights, Kirigakure will have base rights over Yureisen and Midoriwara, and that includes the obvious economic autonomy that comes with such.”

Base rights were the closest to what had borne Kirigakure itself. The Daimyo permits us to build an open military base at our discretion, leaving us a large portion of the island to grow into as well as manage economically. Policing rights came as a given with base rights but with the caveat that locals had to pay less or not at all for the service.

The peasantry could also choose to build their homes within the base, not to mention the mere creation of a military base would require manpower that Kirigakure alone could not foot with shinobi, nor would it want to. Hiring help from the locals would quickly build a rapport with what would be the future tax paying resident of each base

Princess Hanako’s stoic composure broke with a furrow of her brows as she hissed out, “Do you realize what you’re asking? Allowing you to build not one but two bases on islands would essentially abolish the Barony title those lands and their lords claim. Kirigakure does not pay tax to the Daimyo, you would steal a chunk of the country and throw whomever cannot afford the security of living amongst shinobi out to suffer.”

I let out a sigh and rested my cheek on my fist, “Yes, I know, that is why I am asking only for Yureisen and Midoriwara, the land that needs no lord or baron as wicked as the ones culling their own subjects for fear. The Daimyo should protect those villages, those clans and people but he doesn’t, he cannot and thus, I will.”

“A noble conqueror are you?” she scoffed, eying me once more, “There is the matter of the refineries, the mines and plantations, not to mention judicial authority; the fact that Kirigakure enjoys judicial autonomy even on the mainland is an ancient error. I will not let you swallow the islands whole.”

I shrugged, having expected as much, “We can hash out the finer details of that but first, do we have an understanding?”

She bit her lip, eyes darted to the side as she thought over it. It would pain the royal family to lose any island to us, an entity that doesn’t pay tax or function on the Daimyo’s laws. Not to mention our presence would slowly dry out any existing lord’s fief in terms of job opportunity, security, and most especially home ownership as building the base would include constructing the societal functions that would bolster it to stand on its own two feet without Kirigakure’s constant help.

Any blind peasant would flock to Kiri’s new base for a chance at a renewed life, stealing populations of working class people for lands that do pay tax, inevitably reducing the overall tax paid to the lords and the Daimyo.

“One more offer then.” The Princess spoke with resolve behind her eyes, she breathed deeply and said, “The Daimyo will offer policing rights on all islands along with my hand in marriage, in exchange you defend my brother and his dynasty to a loyal end.”

Again I raised a brow at the Princess, “Your hand in marriage?”

She nodded stiffly and though I thought it silly that people kept trying to buy me with women and marriage, there was some significance in marrying up. She was the Daimyo’s sister and currently second in line to the throne after their youngest brother. The current Daimyo had no heir and so if I married the Princess and did away with the Daimyo and his brother, the Princess would inherit the Land of Water with a Mizukage as her husband.

It would be child’s play to make a puppet out of her and even easier to further entrench the Karatachi clan in the Land of Water’s history. Money would flow freely into Kiri’s coffers and developing mainland to the point where it was even more glorious than the capital would be easy.

But again, that wasn’t what I wanted, “No, thanks.”