Konan slipped off her apron and neatly folded it. She smiled at the folks still waiting for their food, a sweet smile that left some of them mesmerized.
"It's your show now, Hisaka Tomoyo," she said to the young woman standing before her.
"Understood, Prime Minister. I've got it," Hisaka replied, crisp and professional.
Hisaka was her secretary, a godsend who took so much off her plate. Honestly, if it wasn't for Hisaka handling state affairs, she wouldn't have a moment for Nagato and Akatsuki.
She walked towards the back door of the tent. Once outside, her body instantly dissolved into a flurry of origami paper, and she headed towards their agreed meeting spot.
...
An elderly man in a black haori over a white nagagi kimono was clearly waiting for someone. Beside him sat a teenager, boredom etched all over his face.
"Is she still not here yet?" the teen grumbled, his impatience obvious.
"Patience, Kotaro. The Prime Minister will arrive shortly," the old man replied.
Suddenly, both their eyes were caught by a swarm of origami butterflies erupting from an air vent. The two of them were taken aback.
The origami butterflies swirled together, forming a human shape, until flesh and blood appeared. The teenager was gobsmacked by the transformation, his mouth agape.
The older man, on the other hand, stared in awe.
'Shinobi are truly incredible. If only I had the talent to be one…,' he thought.
Konan extended her hand to the man in front of her.
The older man, seeing the Prime Minister's gesture, stood up and shook her hand.
The teenager beside him followed suit.
After shaking hands, Konan slid a chair out and sat down. She looked around; there was no one else around besides the three of them.
"Why is the restaurant so deserted?" she asked, taking the initiative.
Hearing this, the old man responded right away. "That's because I rented the entire place for the day. Please, Your Excellency, enjoy the food. I guarantee this place serves the best around here."
Konan nodded in acknowledgement.
Konan pulled out a blue scroll from her jacket pocket and unfurled it on the table. The scroll was filled with sentences and numbers that would make a layman's head spin.
Just looking at it could give someone a headache.
This was the result of Nagato's hard work yesterday. When she first saw it, she was confused and amazed. She couldn't understand how Nagato created such a complex work. Before all of this, he had never been to school or college.
Come to think of it, ever since that incident, Nagato, for some reason, has become incredibly smart?
Logically, to write this kind of blueprint, he would need in-depth knowledge in politics, economics, chemistry, physics, and math.
And as far as she knew, Nagato hadn't even had a basic education.
So where did Nagato get all that knowledge? She wondered, staring at the blueprint in front of her.
The teenager's face lit up with wonder and excitement upon seeing the blueprint.
"Wow... this design, these formulas, and the easy-to-understand explanation… Your Excellency, who created this blueprint?" the teen asked eagerly.
The old man beside him was absolutely mesmerized by the blueprint in front of him.
'Even though there are a few things I don't understand, I'm certain this weapon will change the structure of the world. Who on earth created this blueprint? I need to meet them.' the old man thought to himself.
Konan turned her attention to the teenager in front of her. Instead of answering his question, she picked up a cup of hot tea on the table and took a sip.
'Not bad.' she thought. 'But compared to Konoha's tea, it's still not on the same level.'
Konan placed the cup back on the table. "His Majesty the King created this blueprint," she stated.
Upon hearing that, the teenager and the old man wore expressions that Konan found rather amusing.
Of course, they looked incredulous. Making a blueprint like this required deep knowledge in the fields that she had mentioned before. And the average Shinobi did not possess those qualifications. This was because almost all Shinobi had basic knowledge that they gained at the Shinobi Academy.
Therefore, it was impossible for a Shinobi to be able to make a blueprint as complex as this. Unless the Shinobi was a Kage or a Shinobi who specialized in science.
Konan chuckled softly, seeing their behavior.
Suzaku Amanai and his grandson, Kotaro Amanai, huh? Interesting characters.
Suzaku Amanai was the founder and owner of Amanai Company, which was recently established. This company focused on the weapons industry. Uniquely, instead of researching and producing edged weapons, the Amanai Company did the opposite, researching and producing firearms, which were currently unpopular. You could say that they were going against the grain of the global arms market.
The current global weapons market was 99.99% dominated by edged weapons like kunai, katanas, shurikens, explosive tags, puppets, armor, and the like.
As for firearms, these had only been discovered 5 years ago, and their quality was far worse than edged weapons.
To be honest, she was confused why Nagato was insistent that firearms would change the pattern of world warfare. Firearms could not even be used in the rain. How could they possibly change the pattern of world warfare? She knew that bullets that were fired from a firearm's muzzle had high speed, with that speed, they certainly could kill a Shinobi.
However, for each shot, they had to reload, and that process took a long time. It took 5 to 15 minutes just to reload, which was a waste of time. During that time, Shinobi could just attack them with Ninjutsu.
Besides, from the beginning, it would be impossible for ordinary people to defeat Shinobi. That was just simple logic. It was impossible that Nagato didn't know this.
What was Nagato thinking?
"His Majesty the King is a genius, to be able to design and optimize firearms at this level. I hope that I can speak to him directly," Suzaku said, while studying the blueprint on the table.
"Rest assured, Suzaku-san, you will speak with His Majesty the King. I am here only to ensure that you are truly skilled and experienced in the field of new weapons. But, it seems like that goes without saying," Konan said, pulling out a prepared document.
This document was a business contract between the Government of Erlania and Amanai Company.
"Please read the contract, and if there's anything that bothers you, please, don't hesitate to say so," Konan said, while eating a cookie.
'His Majesty the King is truly amazing. Not only is he strong and charismatic, he's also gifted in academics. Damn, I'm so jealous,' Kotaro said in his mind. He clenched his right fist without realizing it.
...
To be continued...