When Chad saw Mei licking her lips upon arriving, he didn't feel flattered; rather, he almost thought Orochimaru had returned and was trying to cause trouble.
He activated the Byakugan from the back of his neck and examined this Mei Terumi.
"It's not a fake skin, nor a clone or a transformation," he concluded with relief, without changing his external expression. "Thank goodness, it really is the genuine article."
Although using Kotoamatsukami against Orochimaru would undeniably be useful, he had other priorities at the moment.
"Is the guy beside her Chōjūrō?" Chad only gave him a brief glance upon recognizing him, losing any interest. "He's not even twenty yet—bringing him here is a bold move. Is it so he gains experience and broadens his perspective?"
Chōjūrō was among Kiri's best next-generation talents; losing him here could be a heavy blow, especially if he also left behind the sword he carries. In fact, his death could completely destroy whatever little prestige the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had left.
Wait—yes, this guy was secretly in love with Terumi, right?
He vaguely remembered something—perhaps a promise to protect Terumi's smile or something like that?
But considering she remained single, it seemed Chōjūrō was simply too shy to act like a man.
"Maybe it's an age thing," he thought.
"In this world, Terumi is already over thirty, and with no romantic prospects in sight, it's no wonder she's worried about finding a partner."
Culturally, this world had many similarities with Japan. If a woman wasn't married before thirty, she was considered, regardless of her success in any field, as "too old" or "past her prime," losing attractiveness.
Seeing Mei up close in person, Chad could only think:
What nonsense!
Sixty years might be a more reasonable age, but thirty? Most people are in their prime between thirty and forty!
Precisely for this reason, many active ninjas retire, step back to teach the next generation, or dedicate themselves to family business after that age. Cases like Kosuke Maruboshi in Konoha? Extremely rare.
"I hope you haven't been waiting too long," Mei commented as she confidently took a seat. From the moment their eyes met, the negotiation had already begun.
The meeting location was a flat rock in the middle of a plain near a forest that bordered a small river. On the smooth rock, a table was set with water and some mochi, two chairs on opposite sides, and a rug covering the central area.
"We arrived just half an hour ago, Mizukage-sama," Chad said calmly, even relaxed, as he popped a mochi into his mouth. "Would you like something before we start? It doesn't seem like you had a chance to rest."
Chad wasn't wrong—Terumi had come straight to the spot, unwilling to waste time.
"I appreciate the offer. I'm a little hungry," Terumi took two mochi and some water. "But you can call me Terumi."
Chad raised an eyebrow at her confidence while taking a bite.
In fact, the mochi and water were normal, with no drugs or anything like that. He had brought them himself without knowing how long he'd have to wait.
"Well, if she can spit lava and acid mist, I doubt she'd have trouble digesting anything 'altered' in her stomach," he reasoned to himself.
"Terumi, then," he nodded. "I'm Chad, although by your expression, it seems you already know me."
"How could I not know the famous Dodomeki of Kumo?" Terumi smiled, beginning the ice-breaking phase as they chatted about this and that.
Chōjūrō eyed the mochi and water with barely disguised suspicion from behind Mei.
The kunoichi behind Chad, a sensor corps member from Kumo named Nikami, had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes to maintain a professional appearance.
Where did they even find this kid?
In fact, Chad had just finished pulling the items from a storage scroll, and they had both arrived before she could even eat a mochi. She was annoyed—okay?
"I don't know if the Mizukage trusts her ninjas or severely underestimates Chad-sama, but did he really only bring this few?" Nikami thought, studying the supposedly hidden Kiri ninjas. "Twelve people, all with chakra signatures at jonin level."
Nikami, twenty-three, was an unusually talented sensor in Kumo, so she hadn't traveled much outside the village. The Raikage had personally assigned her to accompany Chad, believing she could help him control the surroundings and avoid ambushes.
But Nikami knew that was only the "official" reason on paper.
Saying that the Dodomeki of Kumo needed help with surveillance was a complete joke. No one had ever ambushed him by surprise—ever.
The real reason behind this opportunity, which many would fight for, was that her older sister had been sleeping with the Raikage since that drunken night at Chad-sama's double wedding, and now the Raikage was helping her by association.
She didn't complain.
As far as she knew, at this rate, she might become an aunt in a month or two!
"Well, though this has been a lovely chat, I think it's time to move on to more serious discussions," Terumi said after several minutes of probing.
"Someone seems in a hurry?" Chad knew Terumi knew that both of them knew time wasn't on their side, but said nothing. "Fine, as you wish—let's get to the point," he turned slightly. "Nikami, step back a little, please."
"Yes!"
Seeing the Kumo kunoichi jump back ten meters, visible but far enough not to spy on their conversation, Mei couldn't help but frown.
"Chōjūrō."
"Eh?" Chōjūrō looked at the Mizukage, then at Nikami. "Oh… sure?"
This wasn't part of the plan they had discussed…
"Chōjūrō!" A vein popped on Terumi's forehead.
Doesn't he realize he's making her lose prestige?
Chad wasn't even the Raikage, yet the kunoichi on the other side obeyed without hesitation!
And he was questioning her—the Mizukage—right in front of others?!
"—Hic!" Chōjūrō quickly kept the same distance.
Terumi took a deep breath to calm herself; she needed a clear mind for negotiations.
"Alright, then. What are the Lightning Daimyo's demands?" she asked with a smile and a serious look.
"These are the initial demands," Chad placed a scroll on the table and pushed it toward Mei.
"Initial demands?"
"I don't even think your Daimyo would agree to any of this," Chad shrugged, taking another mochi. "I'm here because I was curious to meet you in person."
"How flattering," Mei replied sweetly as she opened the scroll and began reading the Lightning Daimyo's demands with great seriousness.
Several minutes later, after finishing the scroll, Mei gave Chad a strange look.
"Your Daimyo is… ambitious," she said tactfully, restraining herself from calling him a greedy, crazy bastard. "But you're right about one thing: it's impossible for the Water Daimyo to agree to this."
Forget the entire scroll—there wasn't a single point that was actually acceptable!
Chad had expected it; after all, he had made the list for fun, adding some requests that could be called bold, at minimum.
"Right?" he said, looking as if he didn't understand what strange substance the Lightning Daimyo had taken to make such crazy demands. "So, your counteroffer?"
Mei stared at the scroll, deep in thought.
Normally, a counteroffer would reduce the demands to a manageable level, but…
The problem was that some demands were things the Water Daimyo would absolutely, under no circumstances, ever agree to, as they directly attacked the core of the country.
For instance, one demand was for 70% of the Water Country's annual taxes to be handed over to the Land of Lightning.
That wasn't going to happen—any child could see the problem with that.
Mei couldn't and wouldn't even try to reduce that number, because even 1% was something the Water Country would never give up—an absurd amount of money, tens of millions of ryō flowing out of the local economy.
And that was only the "mildest" of the fifty demands listed on the scroll.
"Are you sure your Daimyo wants to give a chance for everything to be settled peacefully?" Terumi couldn't help but question.
If her Daimyo read even the first five demands, war would break out one hundred percent of the time.
Hell, a large-scale war would be a thousand times cheaper than this!
"It was the Water Daimyo who proposed the meeting," Chad shook his head. "Mine wanted to go straight to expansion."
"I see…" Mei also shook her head as she pushed the scroll back to Chad. "No counteroffer. If even one of these demands is accepted, no matter how reduced, when I return there will be a new Mizukage," she said firmly.
The worst part?
Terumi had made the trip in vain, wasting a lot of time, just to sit down and conclude the negotiation in less than fifteen minutes!
"I figured as much. Maybe you'll be interested in this instead?" Chad pulled out another scroll and handed it to Terumi.
"What's this?" Terumi took it and opened it, visibly freezing in the process. "I-Is this a—?"
"A marriage proposal," Chad said cheerfully, pulling a small box from his pocket. "Naturally, it includes the wedding ring!" he added, opening the tiny box held in his palm.
Terumi instinctively looked inside the box.
But instead of seeing a ring with a gemstone resting on a small velvet cushion, the box was empty, the bottom missing, revealing the palm of his hand where the bottom of the box should have been. There, a red eye suddenly opened and stared directly at her.
Terumi's gaze blurred for a moment before refocusing on Chad, staring intensely into his eyes, her cheeks coloring for a few seconds.
In the distance, Nikami and Chōjūrō watched with slack jaws, witnessing a completely unexpected development.
"As expected of Chad-sama, I'm envious!" Nikami lamented not being on the receiving end of what was clearly a surprise marriage proposal. "Ugh, I hope Kiyui-sama is merciful with this newcomer. She won't have it easy."
In her mind, it was simply impossible for a woman to reject Chad.
Unless she didn't like men.
Chōjūrō, on the other hand, looked visibly confused.
"We just talked about bringing Chad to the village—how did this situation turn around?" he wondered. "No matter, there's no way Mizukage-sama would accept, not with all the hard work she's done to finally restore Kiri," he calmed himself, closing his eyes and nodding. "He's destined to have a broken heart!"
He almost felt sorry for that bold, muscular idiot, though he definitely didn't feel jealous.
If he hadn't closed his eyes for that brief moment, if Terumi hadn't been turned away from him, he might have noticed her blush, how she bit her lower lip to hold back emotion, and how she later accepted Chad's ring with eyes sparkling like the gem in it. The ring was then carefully stored in a certain valley…
But Nikami saw it!
The conversation between Chad and Terumi continued for hours from that moment, with several heated discussions and rapid exchanges.
Chōjūrō couldn't help but feel renewed respect for the Mizukage.
Even with the rush to return to the village, she still negotiated fiercely with total seriousness on behalf of the Daimyo.
He never knew she had such talent in negotiating!
It wasn't until almost sunset that Terumi finally stood with a sigh and turned decisively, with firmness and heroism.
"Chōjūrō, let's go!" she said, walking past him with confident, determined steps, as if making an important decision for the village.
Chōjūrō felt like he had returned to the moment when Yagura was overthrown.
So cool!
"Yes, Mizukage-sama!" Chōjūrō hurried to follow her like a duckling following its mother.
As the Kiri group withdrew…
"Did you finish the task?" Chad saw Nikami approaching after the discussions, which may or may not have concerned the Water Country's future.
"Yes!" Nikami greeted excitedly, picking up a silkworm that had gotten stuck under the table. "The information provided by Chad-sama's fiancée has been carefully recorded and sent via reverse summoning to the Raikage's office."
"Good job, Nikami," Chad smiled, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
This was a really convenient summoning beast for gathering information.
"Sir, I should be the one congratulating you!" Nikami said admiringly. "Even the Mizukage couldn't resist your charisma."
"I guess I'm a lucky guy," Chad indicated, gesturing for her to sit where Terumi had sat a moment ago. "Come on, I know you've been wanting to eat mochi since we arrived. You've been standing for hours—rest, then we'll start the way back."
Nikami didn't refuse. She sat in front of Chad and happily started eating the remaining mochi.
She was starving!
"Chad-sama is always so considerate…" she thought as she ate.