1st Kage Summit!

As the odd eyed woman leaned forward in her chair, she would read the letter before her face with the utmost seriousness and hesitation. She had sent a favor to Amegakure asking that the village take in the five Kage, as a neutral territory, and host the Kage Summit that the Kazekage had felt the five very much needed. However, she wasn't sure how the others would react to her jumping the gun and asking for such an important get together. She was young compared to a few of the others, however she was only a bit older than one. Mei wasn't sure how offended the others would be receiving invitation from her, but she knew that if it hadn't been done yet that she would have to. If she didn't do it, then it would never be done and the five would continue to live in the blankness they did now. They were out of touch, they all seemed to have gone dark on eachother, and there was no effort at reforming the connection. This left Mei feeling uneasy for her people, her village, her home, and her position. If nobody else, Mei needed this.

The brown haired woman would rally up the two most trustworthy of her people, Naara Benta and Souma Himura, and ask them to accompany her on such an important mission. Of course, they would probably see it as more of an honor type deal, however Mei saw it more as a fun, mysterious adventure. After they had taken their positions, Mei would send them off to ready for their journey, for they would be arriving a day earlier than the rest. Mei would pick up her utensil as she began to sketch on a piece of paper, I, Mei Tsaki, Kazekage of Sunagakure, hereby call upon us a Five Kage Summit.
I will remind that every Kage is allowed to bring two shinobi with them to aid in their security. The location of the Summit has been requested and accepted by the leader of Amegakure. The Summit will be held two days from today. The note would be short and highly straightforward outlining the most important details. Then, Mei would sigh sending it off via bird to be delivered to the other four Kage. "This'll be interesting," a voice would say inside her mind leaving Mei with a smile.

---

The day of the Summit would finally arrive with Mei having arrived a day sooner than the rest. This would leave the Kazekage to be the first to arrive to the meeting area. Although the trio had been in the rain village, Mei had certainly stayed dry thanks to Naara shielding the woman from the falling drops of rain. The woman had dresses in her normal attire, however today she wore the typical Kage overture. Her hat would be tilted forward as her body seemed to slouch in its seat. Now... she waited.

Mitsukai was sitting at his desk in his office as a bird flew in through his window, dropping off a letter on his desk before taking off again, recognizing the bird as a Red-tailed hawk, a bird who preferred the prey in the more arid areas, and weren't exactly common in the mountains of the land of lightening, that alone was enough to get his attention. Opening the letter he read it carefully, it was from the Kazekage, one Tsaki Mei, she was calling a Five Kage Summit, basically calling upon the leaders of the five great ninja villages to gather together. Probably to ease some of the tensions that had built up between them who knows. Either way he was intrigued, as one of probably the youngest Kage's that would be at the meeting he wanted to make a good showing, and of course there was the fun of meeting the other Villages leaders. With the ability to take two along with him his mind immediately went to the members of his old team, a the pair that along with him had been dubbed the Crimson Trio of the Clouds.

As the two arrived Mitsukai looked them over, as much as he wanted to bring the both of the summit, but he knew full well that he couldn't bring both of them, he would need at least one of them to stay behind and run his village. His brother, would have been his first choice to leave behind, but Kiyomi, the Beautiful Uzumaki who was his brother's significant other was also a living Weapon, host to the Nine-Tailed fox, Kurama. Bringing such a person to a meeting of the villages leaders would not be advised, so that ended up coloring his decision. "A Summit of the Five Kage's is being called, Aniki, you will come with me to the meeting. Kiyomi-san I would like you to watch over the village in my stead, you will be acting Raikage until I return."

With that said he left, motioning for Ketsu to follow, if this was to be a meeting of peace, maybe a gift would not go amiss, so he went down to the vaults of Kumogakure, pulling out the sacred treasures that had been entrusted to the man who would become the first Raikage. These artifacts are items of great power and potential, and by sharing them among the other leaders and villages it would be a show of good faith. He had the jounin guards help carry them to a wagon, once the items were loaded up Mitsukai and his brother took off for the hidden rain village. The trip was quiet, neither of them wishing to speak as they went, just enjoying each others company.

They rode through the country of perpetual rain, until they reached the Venue of the meeting. The two of them carried the large box, that held the five treasures up to the room, placing it against the wall behind where the Young Uchiha would sit, his staff resting against the table to the left the rest of his swords making the chair itself rather Awkward. The Kazekage, being the one who called the meeting had already arrived. There was also another man, one he didn't recognize who was wearing a hidden mist band, but no signs of his Kage hat and robe, that Mitsu read as him being the representative of the hidden mist village, four bundles sat on the table before him, the Raikage could only guess at what they were, his brother standing back next to the crate they brought in, his eyes a bright red as they kept themselves peeled for any signs of abnormalities.

In the Land of Earth, the challenge of being Kage was not so much protecting it, as much as keeping watch over such a large area. I had no issues protecting it, seeing as I could flip a coin and decide whether the countryside would survive another day or crumble into ruin. As the thought of deciding the fate of an entire country played through my head, what should arrive by courier, but a letter. Joyous! But whom would seal the letter with such an intricate crest? Ahh yes, the lovely Kazekage who was my neighbor. She had invited us all to a Summit in Amegakure, a dreary place, but a neutral one. This would ensure equal ground as well as hopefully excusing any 'accidents' that may occur. In my haste to see what the Summit would involve, I nearly forgot my two tagmates. One would be Chiyumi Tekken, one of my very capable Jonin, and one who would not tolerate any horseplay. I was sure of this, knowing her. The other would be my Anbu agent, known simply as Abella. She'd be as much an enigma as I had hoped to be, and would present herself as a person of mystery not to be trifled with.

These two would serve me well. I left them both notes stating that they were to be my accompaniment at the summit but also that I'd be going ahead. With that, I summoned Tamamo Dermo, in fox mode, ruffling her soft white fur before filling her in. As she would note, she was happy to serve me, and I would mount her, making way to Sunagakure. On the way there, I sensed something with the assistance of Dermo. A large object, crystalline, buried in the earth, about a half meter below me. I'd simply use an earth-moving jutsu to propel it up and out. Dermo indicated she had no issues bearing the glittering blue stone which was roughly half the size of a person on her back. I figured if there were to be gifts given, that it would be a good gesture. Judging that I was in a hurry, and hadn't given it much thought, it was rather fortunate that such a thing would happen, as this stone was easily worth something, be it material, eye candy, or currency. With that, I would continue on, wondering how much weight I could throw around at the Summit.

As I arrived, there was also the matter of dress, while I didn't want to draw attention while traveling, there were two crucial bits to my apparel, the mask that always hid my face, and the hat that marked me as Tsuchikage. One should always look the part, when showing up to these things, and I wasn't about to be taken lightly. Of course I wore the matching robes, though those were less necessary. I felt the need to put my hat on once the realization set in that Amegakure lived up to its name, and as such, never ceased raining. I wondered what sort of act it would take to cause such an atrocity as it not raining in a place like this. As I arrived at the gate, and into our meeting area, I dismounted Dermo, and allowed her to return to where she resided. The stone would fall to the floor with a crash, but remain intact. As I looked around at the others who were present here, I smiled devilishly, knowing they wouldn't see it.

A few others were present, namely the Kazekage, her detail, some strange looking ragged man who I could imagine was from Kirigakure, seeing as they don't like to dress up much, the Raikage and his, but as far as I could tell, that was all. That left one person to appear. The Hokage. Hopefully she would not keep us waiting for too long. This was also assuming that bandage boy was the Mizukage, though he wasn't really formal or anything. I doubted he'd be taken seriously if that's what it was.

Mei would lounge about as she noted the few Kage coming in, however she wouldn't move a single inch. Her Kage's cap would hang down upon her face as her eyes would wander to the sounds of motion, albeit there was quite a bit of time between arrivals. Of course, Mei would be able to number the arrivals bsed on the amount of greetings the mistress of Amegakuure gave to the individuals entering. "Don't you think you're a bit naive to be conversing with the rest of them?" "Why do you say that, Mata. That hurts my feelings. What makes you think they're any better than me? We're all just here to better our villages, no?" "Don't call me Mata. It's Matatabi. We've been through this many times. You're still young. They could outwhit you in a matter of moments. They surely have more experience than yourself." "Is Mata actually worried for me? Don't worry.. I can handle myself. Besides, if not, that's why you're here right?" "Just don't embarrass yourself. Act civilized for once." The voice inside her head would growl lightly before fading away leaving Mei to sigh. Surely with time Matatabi would grow closer to her, but for now she didn't seem to want anything to do with Mei. The Kazekage woud sigh again thinking about the words of the feline inside of her before leaning forward removing her cap from her head.

By this time, the lovely woman of Amegakure had already welcomed the group to her humble home and introduced the Kazekage of her own accord. With her final words, Mei would stand with brushing the brown hair from her face before staring into the group with her miscolored eyes. "Welcome to the First Ever Kage Summit hosted by yours truly, Mei Tsaki, Kazekage of Sunagakure. I'd like to thank every one of you, especially the Mizukage, for traveling such a ways from home in such short notice. However, it has come to my attention that our villages are living in the dark from one another. We don't speak, we don't visit, and we surely don't know eachother's intentions. I, for one, do not accept the style we are living in. My only intentions for ccalling this meeting are to bring our villages closer, if we cannot unite them here. With me, I have brought contracts on which Sunagakure can begin trade with each of your villages and exchange goods each of us are lacking," Mismatched eyes would gander upon the four individual bodies at the tables and their items they held. Upon noticing four swords pon the table, Mei would guess at what they could be and the interest would peak inside her head. "I believe I shall let the rest of you establish yourselves before I continue. Mizukage. Is there anything you would like to say?" Mei would look to the man would a light smile as Mei tucked her arms up under her bust before sitting down and leaning forward.

[ketsu]As the Mizukage was settling in and getting comfortable with where he was, scanning the building for emergency exits and sensing the other chakras, he noticed two signatures strangely alike were the next to enter the premises, and watched carefully as the two actually entered the room, a large box being placed against the wall behind the Raikage's seat while the younger of the two sat down and the older simply stood at attention.

The brother who sat down had eyes a bright red which resembled an Uchiha's Sharingan, but they seemed blank of any tomoe and the male's hair color combined with the eyes... it was strange, but the older brother was definitely the more regal or at least artistocratic of the two, and looked a lot more like a normal Uchiha than the Raikage did. Mitsuo had heard rumors of the Uchiha Brothers in Kumogakure no Sato, and... apparently, he was now laying his eyes on them.

As the Tsuchikage stepped into the building next, Mitsuo sat up in his seat. To his knowledge, the Tsuchikage was the only other person in the world who had mastered Sage Mode, as he himself had done. Since the two were in the same building for the first time ever, Mitsuo was looking forward to greeting him. Not enough to use for any danger, Mitsu focused Senjutsu chakras around himself for the sole purpose of identifying himself, as he realized that he did not have his ceremonial hat.

The swords still in front of him, Mitsuo kept his eyes trained on the Tsuchikage to watch him and see if the rumors were true regarding him, while trying to not hide too much of himself. He knew that, without the hat, people may only believe him a messenger; if the Tsuchikage were to recognize that he was the Mizukage, maybe the lack of a hat would be ignored. He didn't want to burden Okami with anything unnecessary.

And with all the other pieces in play, the only one left to arrive was naturally the "fashionably late" Hantaa Yugure, the newest of the Kages though tied in age with the Raikage and Kazekages. She took her seat easily, taking her hat off as her ANBU stood behind her at attention. Everyone was here, which meant that the meeting was officially underway.

As Umiko went aroud and greeted everyone, Mitsuo realized just how young she really was. She motioned to the Kazekage to start them off, and Mitsuo glanced over to her to allow her to start respectfully.

Tsaki Mei, the Kazekage, introduced herself and stated that the meeting was here to light up the villages to each other and address intentions, and her "peace offering" was trade contracts to exchange goods between all villages with Suna as the hub. Mitsuo bit his tongue and didn't state how likely it was Suna would skimp off the top, instead trying to trust the village and the Kazekage.

"We're in agreement then, Kazekage-sama. I've tapped into the vaults of Kirigakure and, in an effort to make peace, have decided to part with several of the legendary Seven Swords. I've analyzed our records of the villages, and I believe I know where each sword should go. I also apologize about my attire, I was not given very much notice to make it here and traveled for approximately thirty-six hours out of the past forty-eight. The Raikage was the next to arrive, so I believe the torch is his."[/ketsu]

Mitsukai watched as the third member of this little party arrived, a person who was obviously male, riding a rather large fox carrying a blue stone. While the stone was large and pretty, in comparison to the treasures that the Raikage was offering for peace, it was decidedly unimpressive. But with his presence that now put them one shadow shy of starting this meeting officially. Though Mitsukai didn't have to do much in the way of waiting, as shortly after the Tsuichikage had taken his seat, well seemingly shortly with the amount of thoughts racing through his head. The packages in front of the Kiri representative being the foremost in his mind as he pondered at what they possibly could be. The only thing he could think of that Kiri would bring to a meeting like this that would make a good showing of trust was something that he himself in the place of the Mizukage would not desire to rid his village of.

Of course the treasures that he brought would probably be visited in much the same way, though by splitting thee of them, he actually weakened their effectiveness, at least in the immediate future. And though those three are truly formidable, there are quite few that could wield all three effectively. Well when the Hokage's arrived she apologized for her tardiness, which was nice enough, though there was no obvious gifts in her possession, but without knowing what the Hokage could do he couldn't make any assumptions.

Once she had taken her seat the Young Daimyo of the land of rain called the meeting to begin, giving the Kazekage the floor, which makes sense as she was the one to call the meeting in the first place. Mei made her point short and sweet, she just wanted peace between the villages and cooperation, all well and good, and frankly Mitsukai could seriously get behind those intentions, and hell would even support them. Though that does not mean that he would not be keep looking over his shoulder for someone with a knife. They are by trade, warriors and spies, they deal in lies, deceit and death. Even among those who you trust, and raised you there are plenty who can not be trusted, hell his own father was pretty high up on the most wanted list if not on the top in countries other than his own. Though when she was done she passed the torch on to the representative of Kiri, recognizing him as the Mizukage, even without his hat, though Mitsukai could understand why he would travel without it.

Mitsuo agreed with the Kazekage, and explained that the packages before him were what Mitsu had thought they were, the greatest treasures that Kiri had to offer, aside from members of the rare bloodlines that are found within Mizu no Kuni. Four of the seven swords of the mist were before him, five counting the one that the man himself was carrying. Standing and bowing to the room as the focus of the meeting was passed to him Mitsukai would speak, sitting as he passed the torch on to the next speaker "I, Uchiha Mitsukai agree completely. Peace and cooperation between our lands is exactly what I was hoping would be achieved at this meeting, and to that end I brought with me four out of five of the legendary treasures of the Sage of the Six paths to give one each to each of our villages as a sign of peace and friendship. Tsuichikage-san I believe the floor is now yours"

Mei would smile at the othet Kage's as they all seemed to agree with whole hearts and even brought goodies of their own to make piece with one another. It was a sight that was joyous to her heart as she heard a bit of a groan within her, 'Ugh. What is it now Mata?
Are you not satisfied? It's a huge success so far!" The beast would growl lightly as a big cat would in unhappy circumstances, 'You're concerned with peace and gifts? Do you realize the lack of shinobi and civilians for that matter in your village? Do you realize that these other villages are struggling with the amount of humans they possess?' Mei would sigh internally before she would place her fingers upon the nrudge of her nose and pinch. She didn't want it to have to come to this, but it seemed it was a conversation that needed to be had.

"You know what? Forget the contracts and trades for right now. Uhm. There's actually a larger issue I'd like to bring up.." Mei would sigh before standing and moving around behind her chair. At first she would stand back to the table, then she would turn with a stern look and a confident aura. "Listen, it's come to my attention that our villages aren't as full as they used to be. I know this is a rough topic, but perhaps... perhaps we should... combine our forces and join villages together. I would be glad to take in anyone willing to join me." Mei would smile before tucking her arms under her bust as a means to look innocent yet alluring. "I could only promise to make it definitely worth your while and a place you can proudly call home."

The Daimyo of Rain wasn't sure about the economics of the shinobi world and thus remained silent.. however Hanta the Kage of Konoha roughly declared, "you are kidding right? Even if we merge villages what could you possibly have to gain by losing out on all the territory those villages hold? Who would get that land? The people? Well if it were the people that'd be one thing.. but even then who would defend them? You are talking of making shinobi leave their lives, their homelands, the one thing they all fight to protect more than anything else?" but then she sighed and shook her head, "I could see this being possible, but the ramifications would be huge, far surpassing the rights of the Kage. The Daimyo's of our lands would demand to know how we intend to continue to protect their lands. If Suna and someone else suddenly gained all the power the other lands would be crushed to dust no?"

The Daimyo did speak up at this point, "If it comes to dealing with the other lords and ladies of the lands leave that to me. I can see where the Kazekage is coming from and this would be more beneficial in the long run with really harsh and sudden short term changes coming into play. If the shinobi villages can agree to this then I can get the Daimyo's to as well. It'll be much easier that way."

Mitsukai would listen to Mei's suggestion about the villages merging together, to him it was a preposterous idea. Though he had to admit her reasoning behind the suggestion was pretty spot on. While his village boasted some of the highest potential in combat strength, the total number of shinobi under him has been on the decline of late, hell even before he took up the mantle there had been fewer and fewer candidates graduating from their academy. Granted those that have been have proven to be excellent in one field or another at least out of the gate, so in its way while the quantity had dropped the quality had risen. Though he could not speak for the state of the other villages on the matter. Hanta's reaction to the suggestion was extremely understandable and definitely brought up some valid points.

"If I may, I think I might have a suggestion on the matter, First to prevent the issue that the Lady Hokage mentioned about all of the power being consolidated in one place giving one country too much power we could narrow it down to two or three villages, say like Kumo, Suna, and Konoha for example. Though that would put leaf sandwiched between their rivals though I suppose that isn't much of a change from now. Though that would allow for some checks and balances on that front." Taking a breath the young Raikage would continue. "As for the other concerns, I vote it would be more like allowing an open exchange program between the villages, though if our respective homelands are under attack we will be called up as normal, but our base of operations would be moved slightly, as for who gets the land. I think it would be best to leave a choice group of individuals there, and keep the villages seeming to run as normal, so that should the chance arise we can move back to our villages without any problems. And if we leave the villages operational with a small defense force, our reoccurring clients can still go where they know to submit their requests. Though of course the move to the other villages would be optional as I know some clans have their own land that they would want to keep for various reasons."

He knew his suggestion was probably overly optimistic, but he hoped that they would see wisdom in it, though he doubted it, he was quite probably the youngest of the shadows. But who knows, the beings before him might surprise him.

I'd been rather new to meetings like this, but politics sounded much simpler in my head. All these idiots talking never seemed to make any sense. My head grew heavier as the people passed around in their verbal turns. My trusted lady in white behind me, I figured she could handle talking for me if I fell asleep out of sheer boredom. I eventually couldn't take it anymore and decided to lean on the fancy glimmering stone I'd brought as my present. And that was it.

The stone glimmered brilliantly, shining a bright blue. The light spread to Ninko, and in moments, it was gone. Apparently, the stone was an artifact capable of sealing living essence away, and the dimwitted Tsuchikage was now locked away inside it. The fox, Dermo, still present, shook its head with a pained expression, then sat complacently, motioning to the foxy looking girl behind. It was now clear Ninko would speak no more.

"It's a shame, but you're absolutely right." Closing his eyes for the first time in the meeting, the Mizukage let loose a sigh and shook his head softly. "We don't have the resources to keep all of the villages up right now, and between us all Kirigakure is actually on the verge of bankruptcy. We can barely afford to feed our citizens. Something destroyed our fishing ability, and if you would all accept my Shinobi and offer protection to me in turn, I can devote myself to solving that issue, likely through the use of my Tortoises."

As Ninko, the only other Sage in this room, locked himself away in the stone, Mitsuo shrugged his shoulders lightly. Such was the risk of Senjutsu, though it was likely him being a pussy and not wanting to deal with this any more than he already had. Regardless, it meant that the girl who had escorted him was now the acting Kage of Iwa, to which Mitsuo felt bad for her.

"Given that the Tsuchikage didn't say much and... what I can only assume copped out, you have the honor of deciding Iwa's choice in this matter. It seems like the other villages all agree though, and you don't have any of the Kage's knowledge or responsibilities in your head, so I strongly suggest you simply accept these proposals for now and take a moment to grieve afterward, ma'am." Turning back to the Kazekage, Mitsuo nodded once more. "Kiri accepts these proposals, and I'll leave the sword distribution up to you."

Standing up and making a single seal, Mitsuo summoned two creatures: one, a medium tortoise who climbed into Mitsuo's seat respectfully, the other an icy-blue wolf equal in size to Mitsuo himself. As Mitsuo climbed up to her back, he spoke one last time.

"Please do not take this as disrespectful, but I must return to Kiri to see about my fishing issue. Mizuiki here will deliver the messages you want for me to know back faster than any other transport, due to summon shenanigans. Okami Mizu and I have a long trip about us if we are to return quickly. Thank you for everything, and farewell."