Shota walked back to the guest quarters with ten carefully packed bowls of ramen stored in a temperature-tuned storage scroll.
He had eaten four bowls himself at Ichiraku, even though his stomach had been full after the second.
Kushina was paying as something of a consolation for attacking him, so he kept ordering more. He was a petty, petty man. Free ramen was free ramen. He did not feel guilty at all. He felt proud. He had turned an assassination attempt into a free meal and extra takeout for the entire team.
Rasa had given him a generous amount of money. Shota had pocketed five of the bills for his own "future income security." He now pocketed more of the amount that he saved from letting Kushina pay.
He called it savings. He called it smart planning. He called it not being stupid enough to spend everything on ramen when he could save some for later.
Infact, he had asked Kushina to pay for the ten packed bowls.
Kushina had looked at her now-empty purse with a sorrowful face. She had nicknamed it Hima-chan, and it was shaped like a cute yellow duck. She had stared at the empty duck purse for a long time. Then she had turned her glare on Kakashi.
"Why do you have to be so reckless and attack him straightaway? And then you even got captured and could not even finish the job. I will be sure to tell Minato to reduce your pocket money for a few months."
Kakashi had a dry look on his face. He completely ignored her. He kept his single visible eye fixed on Shota. Shota ignored him right back. He focused on slurping the last of his broth. Kakashi's embarrassment was not Shota's problem.
Teuchi finally handed over the ten packed bowls. Shota stored them carefully in the scroll. Before Kushina could say anything else or offer more apologies, Shota gave a small nod to Teuchi.
"Thank you for the meal."
With a quick body flicker, he disappeared from the stand. He was in no mood to deal with the troublesome woman any longer.
Kushina blinked at the empty stool. Kakashi sighed. Teuchi shook his head and went back to cleaning the counter.
Shota recalled his brief encounter with her. Kushina had made sure Shota could not use Erasure on her. She had bound him completely, including his head, so he could not turn to look at her.
'So now I know another weakness of Erasure. If my head movement is somehow restricted or bound, I would not be able to use my Erasure. Not that I think many people are capable of this. And those who are capable can kill me before I can use Erasure on them.'
Shota landed lightly on a rooftop near the guest quarters. He changed back into his ANBU gear. Then he body-flickered back to the Kazekage's location.
He appeared in front of Rasa in full ANBU gear.
"Mission complete, Kazekage-sama."
Rasa looked at him with a dry expression.
"You are late."
Rasa thought internally. 'What do you mean mission completed? You went there to eat ramen on your own accord.'
Shota thought back. 'Well, of course I am late. I was busy eating bowls of ramen for free after I was attacked by the Nine-Tails jinchūriki and the White Fang's genius son. Well, I can't tell him all that. He might not send me alone if he thinks I would be in danger.'
Shota spoke out a good excuse for being late.
"I was gathering important information as I scouted the village. Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of the Fourth Hokage, seems to be pregnant."
Rasa raised an eyebrow.
"So the Yellow Flash is going to have a child, huh. Good job, Raven. That's very important intel."
Shota bowed slightly.
"And I also brought the bowls of ramen. They are stored in temperature-tuned storage scrolls so they would remain hot."
Rasa nodded.
"Keep them stored for now. We will eat them later. We would be late for the meeting otherwise. Elder Mina also wants to talk to you about what to say and act like in the meeting."
Rasa gestured for an ANBU to bring Elder Mina.
Elder Mina arrived quickly. She looked at Shota with sharp eyes.
"Boy, you would be very important for the meeting. You resemble Suna's future. It would tell them Suna now has its own genius. And Suna could stand toe to toe with Konoha, or at least we are not that far behind."
Shota nodded.
"Yes, Elder."
She continued,"Besides, the fourth hokage let you live, so give him thanks for sparing your life years back. This would show the budding friendship between Konoha and Suna. It would also show that we are not ungrateful pricks and can act grateful if they are honest with us. It would also raise the impression of the Hokage about you."
Elder Mina then smirked.
"And this would let the other elders and Konoha leadership know that their Hokage spared another village's S-rank shinobi when he was young and when he could have easily been killed. This might create discontent with them. And this discontent would rise if Konoha breaks the alliance and then you kill Konoha shinobi. This would ensure that the Hokage does not try to break the alliance so easily."
Shota listened carefully.
'Scary old lady. She is definitely not a traitor. She is too smart in politics to be one and could easily see through what would happen if Rasa was thrown away from leadership and another elder took his spot. So she would not do something stupid like undermining Suna and Rasa.'
After a few more tips from Elder Mina, they departed to the Hokage building where the meeting between the two villages would be held for the Peace Treaty.
-----Author Notes---------
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