The negotiation week finally comes. But there are only 2 countries on the 1st day, the Land of Lightning and Earth.
The Land of Wind should be here too, but they haven't arrived. As for the Land of Fire, Water, and other smaller countries, they won't participate.
Now the people from the Land of Lightning are almost 100% sure that those 20 ninjas were sent to delay them by the Land of Earth now and they must've succeeded in delaying the Land of Wind's people.
Zoro is accompanying the Land of Lightning's representative and Raikage to the meeting room along with Dodai. The Land of Earth's representative and Tsuchikage are accompanied by 2 male ninjas that Zoro doesn't know.
As for the Land of Iron as the host, they have a man in his early 20's as their representative along with Mifune and 2 samurais as bodyguards.
"Oh my, I thought it was just a rumor. But to think you are really here, Champion." The Iron young representative is looking at Zoro while smirking.
"And I never thought they would send you out of all people. Seems like our Iron Daimyo is out of his mind again." Zoro looks at the man coldly.
"How rude. You should just say he has good eyes and judgment to choose me."
"I bet he just chose you because you were being too annoying. He must be relaxing at home now because you aren't there."
Zoro and the young Iron representative are bickering. There is even a bad atmosphere between the two of them, making the people from the Land of Lightning have cold sweat because of worry that it will leave a very bad impression on the Land of Iron.
"Z-Zoro-kun, please don't be rude like that." Dodai finally decides to speak up.
"Hmm? Ah, sorry. I just reflexively want to punch his face every time we meet that I forget I'm here as a bodyguard."
They sweat even harder while the people from the Land of Earth are smiling. The ruder Zoro becomes, the better it will be for them, or so they thought.
"Hahaha! It's okay, this always happens every time we meet."
"Huh? Wait! Every time?"
"Ah, yes. Do you know that kid was a Champion of our yearly Swordsmanship tournament for the past few years. He always won that we even banned him from participating as a contestant again and now he can only participate in the closing match against the Champion."
"We've heard that story from him. But what does it have to do with you bickering every time you meet?"
"If you know that story, then you must have known that the Iron Daimyo offered him a position and even a scholarship to join the Samurai Corps, but he refused all of them, right? But well, the Iron Daimyo was quite fond of him, so he often got hired for jobs by our Daimyo. Well, let me introduce myself again. My name is Shirogane Ryuki. I am the Grandson of the current Iron Daimyo."
Now everyone understands. Because Zoro was often hired by the Iron Daimyo, it's not strange for him and Ryuki to meet each other often. Though they aren't sure both of them have a good relationship knowing how they always bicker like this.
"Hahaha! Don't worry! I am a professional. I won't let my personal relationship with someone interfere with my judgment. This is an important meeting for our country, after all, so I will put aside my personal feelings."
Ryuki says it while smiling, but the people from the Land of Iron are getting more worried while the people from the Land of Earth are smiling widely because there's no way the Grandson of the Iron Daimyo will choose a country helped by someone he hates.
Mifune sighs seeing their stupid reactions. He doesn't understand how these people can't see that these 2 youngsters are very close. They can bicker like this because they are as close as siblings.
There's no way both of them would behave like this in such an important event if they aren't that close. But he won't say anything because it's not too important for him.
Although he is also surprised when he heard that Zoro returned as a bodyguard of the Land of Lightning's representative.
Anyway, the 1st day negotiation finally starts and each country gives their offers for the 1st deal. The Land of Lightning and Earth are competing to give their best offers to appeal to the Land of Iron.
They do their best until the meeting is over. But they will need to wait for a week to get the result because the Land of Iron wants to be careful with these deals, so they will push the conclusion until the last day.
When they return to their inn, Raikage finally can get angry. He reprimands Zoro for behaving badly in front of the Iron representative, but Zoro just tilts his head confusedly.
"Well, I certainly didn't talk nicely with him, but we are close to each other, you know."
"Huh?" Raikage and the others are stunned, not knowing what to say because it didn't look that way to them.
"Come on! I mean don't you and B often fight and bicker too? The closer you are the more you will quarrel with each other instead of talking nicely, right?"
They look at each other and just start to realize what Zoro means. Siblings and best friends would often quarrel and rarely talk sweet to each other. They would often show their love through mockery instead of sweet talks, especially for men.
Raikage and B also often quarrel with each other even for the most silly reason, but they would protect each other even if they need to risk their lives. That's how they show their love for each other.
"I-I see, now that I think about it, both of you sure look very close. He even greeted you first and although he said all of those things with mocking tones, he didn't say anything bad about you."
"Well, that's just how he is every time he's with me. He is a very competitive person and would always challenge me into a fight, but he would always lose."
"Is he also a samurai?"
"Yeah, one of the best in the country. But because he is the Iron Daimyo's grandson, he often gets tasked with office work as a part of his succession training. That's why he rarely gets a chance to train his swordsmanship. But he still can reach his current level even with all of that. He is a genius, not as much as me though."
Zoro says that last part smugly, making everyone look at him with an annoyed face. But they can't deny that he is a genius swordsman indeed.
Well, anyway, they are relieved knowing that Zoro and Ryuki have a good relationship. At least now the Land of Iron won't look badly at them and might even think nicely of them because they are close to Zoro.
With a better mood, the Land of Lightning's representative is doing better on the 2nd negotiation day.
The Land of Earth people who are still under the impression that Zoro has a bad relationship with Ryuki are confused as to why Zoro is still chosen as a bodyguard in the meeting room.
Though they don't say anything because they think it's better if the Land of Lightning is ignorant about such a thing.
The representatives of the Land of Wind finally arrive on the 3rd day and as Zoro group's thought, they are being delayed by many attacks on their way here.
Zoro can't even imagine just how strong the attackers are for them to succeed in delaying a group led by Kazekage himself.
Not to mention the Land of Wind's distance to the Land of Iron is closer than the Land of Lightning to the Land of Iron, so there must be a lot of attacks to stall them for this long.
Yugito tells Zoro that it might be because the Land of Wind people used land routes while they used the sea route.
If the attackers are ninjas from the Land of Earth, then it would make more sense that they would do better in land than in the sea.
Well, it doesn't concern Zoro that much because he's here for work and he does well on that. After all, the Land of Lightning ends up getting the deal they want and even some other beneficial deals even though he doesn't help them persuade the Land of Iron.
But his presence in the meeting room still helps them show good impressions toward the Land of Iron. So now, his relationship with the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure has gotten much better.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Read up to +20 chapters ahead in my p@treon page
p@treon.com/creampuffs69
Chapter 75. Zoro vs Pain
Please like and support this book too if you like it, thank you