Moving Forward

As great as it may or may not have been to be the most powerful member of his Clan, there came a time when he had to admit that it was necessary to fully internalize the responsibilities that came with the position. Those included setting aside personal differences and meeting up with the leaders of other Clans to discuss the future of the village. There were a lot of details that would need to be hammered out to set Konoha on the right path to dominance of the continent without making too many enemies.

That was why he invited the other Clan Heads to this meeting: to get the long, boring, and frustrating parts of the process started as soon as possible so they could in turn be finished as quickly as possible. While he waited for them to arrive, he went through the requests and demands of his own constituents to sort out which ones he'd put on the table and which ones he'd just dismiss. It seemed that his Clanmates wanted as much authority and as little responsibility as they could get, as though the two weren't both sides of the same coin. Ashitaka would periodically put the scrolls down and rub his eyes. He really didn't want to deal with this. But it had to be done, or the village would be left floundering or condemned to remain a war society while the rest of the world moved on without them.

His priority was establishing vassalages in the minor nations, and his preference was that such a thing be done as peacefully as possible. Once a significant and burgeoning economy was up and running, everyone in the village could draw from it to act on their own plans. Ashitaka in particular wanted to rebuild his high-end forge so that he could return to the somewhat therapeutic process of crafting weapons. Although in hindsight, he found making buildings to be even more pleasant, so he decided he would look for a way to make doing so his responsibility in the upcoming meeting. He would still have to bind them in place, which was an inconvenience, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

He sat back in his chair and looked around. The office itself was quite plain, perhaps as part of a deliberate deception in case some intruder was looking for anything that looked too important. Its mint off-white walls cast the light coming in through the window softly enough that shadows were virtually invisible, and the carpet was made to look like grass, in contrast to the large bonsai tree in the corner near the window which was absolutely real. The meeting table was round and had its three chairs set at equal distances apart with enough space behind and around them for up to two bodyguards. Ashitaka had not brought any.

The chair he'd chosen to sit in faced the door across the table and left the window to his right, inviting the light to shine on that side of his face and body. Due to the diplomatic nature of the situation, he wore soft brown-over-tan robes that more properly complimented his usual moccasins than his typical attire, and no weapon. Of course, in order to deserve his position he by necessity didn't need one, but he felt it was the impression that counted. Instead he was armed with only a pen and the scrolls containing the topics he felt were fit for discussion.

And he waited.

Akihiro couldn't exactly say he'd been busy in the past few weeks. The most immediate consequence of peace is often a larger amount of free time. Not that all he did was lay around doing nothing, there were still missions to do and tasks to attend to. But there was simply no sense of urgency to it, nothing that absolutely needed to be done today instead of tomorrow. And so the days in the Hidden Leaf Village lazily passed, one after another.

That being said, the slow way of things didn't mean Akihiro was looking forward to a meeting of clan leaders. They were often boring and with a lot more bureaucracy than he'd like to handle. Akihiro didn't even consider these important, but that might be because the Uchiha were in a privileged position within the village. There was very little for the clan to complain about, which meant the meetings were often spent listening the complaints of other clan leaders which wasn't exactly pleasant.

Tthe Senju Clan was in a similarly privileged position, which was why Akihiro was surprised to find the call for the meeting signed by the Senju Clan. This couldn't mean good news.

Annnd all of his suspicions tripled when he saw the man who was sitting at the meeting table before him. "Oh great, the lunatic." Akihiro's thought was short, immediate and to the point. Well at the very least this would make the meeting more interesting, he supposed. Even so he said nothing, taking his seat at the table and doing little more than looking around to check on who else was at the meeting and who still had to arrive. He couldn't help but wonder but what this meeting was for...

{Playing the Hyuga head NPC in this thread}

The current clan head of the Hyuga, one Tsuyo Hyūga, had been watching over his clan's Senbon Sparring ritual when he had been given the invitation for a clan head meeting at the behest of the Senju. While he had no particular issue with the Senju, he was still mildly surprised when he had found out that the current clan head was not Jingo Senju but another by the name of Ashitaka Senju, the former having stepped down for an unstated reason. While it was a shame that he would not be meeting with them, given they had not heard of the boy up until now likely meant the new clan head was unfamiliar with Konoha's politics and how the hierarchy worked. And seeing as the other clan heads were invited, the Uchiha were likely to come as well given their claim to the kage's seat at the current time.

Entering the meeting room Tsuyo would make quick mental notes of who was there. The more recognizable was that of Akihiro Uchiha, his preemptive guess that they would appear having come true. Then there was that of the younger man who was likely the Senju head. They looked...well not better then the average Senju, more ruffian then most, but it was clear they had put more effort into being presentable then others, so it balanced out. He would also note the lack of assistants, bodyguards or otherwise. After taking a few steps in, he'd bow and speak up.

"I assume you must be the new head of the Senju Clan, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And a pleasure to see the Uchiha clan is also here, I hope life is treating you both well." Pleasantries and formalities, he wondered how the new Senju would take them up. Would they leave a good impression despite their looks or were they as casual as an Akemichi after a few days on a binge? Either way he would take his seat, both curious as to the meeting and their responses.

Ashitaka stood when Akihiro entered the room, as an act of respect rather than aggression or defensiveness. Regardless of his personal feelings about the man, his effectiveness as a ninja and loyalty to Konoha were, to his knowledge, undeniable. Those facts in addition to his station as the Senju's equal commanded at least that much basic courtesy. Also, he didn't want their bad blood to get in the way of business that pertained to the village as a whole. What had happened recently was a personal, or at most interclan conflict, and it would be terrible for the morale of the citizens if two of its greatest leaders couldn't manage a civil conversation.

"Lord Akihiro Uchiha. Glad you could make it." He greeted the man who was by mysterious means now younger than him and in no position to know that this should not be the case, because believing that would be both stupid and insane. Ashitaka gave him a very slight bow and then turned his attention back to the door as he waited for the Hyuuga Clan Head to make their appearance.

...it took just slightly longer than he would have liked. That would probably have been less of a problem if he had the slightest grasp of small talk, but in spite of his intelligence, the Forest Prince was largely ignorant as to how to handle a conversation that wasn't burdened with dire importance. Before he could open his mouth to repeat his generic greeting to Tsuyo, the other man had cut him off with one of his own that was a question presented as a statement.

"Yes, that is me." He did not bow to the latecomer. "It is kind of you to find the time for this meeting, Lord Hyuuga."

He would use the time occupied by Akihiro's responses to take a few deep, calming breaths before moving forward with the meeting's purpose. Contrary to his appearance, he was not used to people giving a damn what he had to say, let alone having meaningful authority. This was going to be a pretty big dive.

"I imagine you both are wondering why I called you hear today. It's a reasonable concern, given the lifestyles we enjoy and the clear lack of pressing matters." He spoke as he sat back down at the table. They were entering a game of poker with no cards. "The truth is that those two things are my primary motivators for these things I would appreciate your cooperation with: we are giving little in exchange for the privileges and authority we are granted, and I feel it's only a matter of time until those who lack one or both will take issue with it. The first such matter is a construction project that will span the breadth of the Land of Fire." He made the Snake → Rat → Ox → Ram → Snake seals, then pressed his palms against the table, making its edges grow taller and filling it with numerous weaving bands about a thumb's width on average and at varying heights. To the uninitiated, it would have no discernible pattern, but he was confident that between their intelligence and unique eyes, they would be able to work out from context that it was a map.

"Phase I of this project will be the construction of a Subterranean Transport System -and yes, I know that name is a mouthful... I'll work something out- throughout the countryside, with hubs at key locations and way stations at odd intervals along the route to assist with ventilation and hopefully suppress claustrophobia. I intend for this to be a means for civilian and burdened military convoys to move about our territory with minimal risk of attack by bandits and, should events come to the worst, enemy forces. Additionally, having these distribution routes out of sight will help reduce the effectiveness of spies looking for locations that are economically and strategically important to us. I am willing to provide the labor for this project, but I believe that development will go much more quickly and smoothly if we had support regarding its protection. So. Can I count on you for that support?"

Of course, in many of his uses of "I" and "you", he meant their respective clans. But he thought that using the royal "we" was just too pretentious, as ironic as that was given his title and role.




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