It was just going to have to happen; even if he was... unsure of doing this; at least in this position. As a diplomat and ambassador, he should have been in his element; events like this where his bread and butter, he'd been to hundreds of meetings between the Kages that actually existed and other major political figures. However, even in that role he was no politician, and now he was expected to act as such. Not something he was sure he could function in; but that was why he was recalling his father. While Michizuka might have been a better choice; he was gone with his sister on whatever the mission they'd been sent on was. He could have checked the records and found out; but he trusted his father's word that the fewer whom knew the details, the safer they where.

He'd sent out official summons several weeks ago; long enough to have easily reached the far villages with plenty of time for the Kages to either send a delegation, or come themselves. The only village he was worried over was Kumo; they had only just elected a Kage a few days prior; and while they had warp travel set up and communication lines open outside of hawk messengers and airship mail, it was still iffy if the Raikage had received it yet. He actually hoped so; as he would rather deal with Amara Tsukino then her crazy father, or just about any of the ranking Kumo ninja. He had nothing against them, but the attitudes they tended to have against him because of his age... it was annoying. Hell, he was older then his father had been when we was made Hokage or Hakage; why they complained was beyond him.

The Kouyakage he knew little of; he had known the Iki fairly well, but the Sabure and now this Takeda where mysteries. However, it was about time for them to meet anyway, the temporary trade agreements they had where in need of renewal, so he was fairly sure someone from the Desert Oasis would appear.

Makkura was, as always, a confusing blank spot of information. Letters from his family and friends that had stayed there confirmed that the Kuraikage was legitimate, and he had sent his father to meet with him. Now he was going to be summoning him home before he had half a chance to do anything. Horrible manners; but the timing wasn't great either way.

The Korikage... this was another mystery. No one really knew much about him, and that was saying something when even Yokuchi was lost, given one of their own had been a Kage in the Glacier village for a while. Just... strange, all around.

With any luck, the various leaders would respect his wishes to come with small delegations; he would only have his father (who likely counted as a battalion in the minds of the various leaders) and the dogs; and if he knew Amara half as well as he believed, only her Father would be accompanying her. So long as the others kept things sane, they should be able to avoid sparking a war in the meeting hall.

It was in said meeting hall that he sat; Aki sprawled on the pile of dog beds and pillows against the far wall and under the main window for the room. All the major meeting rooms had something similar, the Hakage was never without at least one o the family dogs after all; and they made for a safe place for Aella to play when she wanted to sit in on meetings. Or just hide from people. Whichever. The table itself was pentagonal; giving every one of the Kages the effect of sitting at the 'head' of the table; a sort of ego stroking that had worked to keep things calm in the past. Otherwise, he would have had a round table brought in to remove any since of anyone being 'above' the rest by sitting at the heads of a rectangular table.

Now to wait. If his timing was right, his father would be appearing soon; the signal to activate the reverse summon scroll would take at least an hour, if not more, to reach Makkura; hopefully it would reach him with enough time to find and take the Kuraikage with him.

"Dun let 'er get me, she wants to gimmie yucky medicine!", came Aella's mental warning as she raced down the hall, following Hiroyuki's all too familiar scent. Chasing her? Amaya... who had her medical bag in hand and an exceptionally amused expression on her face: who obviously wasn't attempting to chase the child that hard since she could have caught her easily enough with their speed difference. Aella paused for but a second outside of the meeting room door and opened it; she slipped inside, sticking her tongue out at her grandmother in a playful manner and then stepped in the rest of the way: Amaya's words of "I'll just get you when you leave", being chuckled playfully behind her as the door closed.

Safe for the moment from the disgusting medicine Amaya wanted her to take she rushed over to Hiroyuki. "Hiro, hiro! Guess what? Amara has a little girl who looks just like her with her: I heard her call her Gemma! I saw her before Granny Amaya caught me to try and give me that medicine." Her nose wrinkled at the end of her sentence, showing easily her displeasure of the medicine she sometimes had to take: of course, it all had a purpose - medicine made specifically to keep her from getting sick like Amaya herself sometimes did and like Aisling had done when she was Aella's age. Aella knew this... but the stuff still tasted horrible.

She hugged Hiroyuki, surprised as she focused on the rest of the table to see that it was empty. "I think Amara's coming now, she was trying to get Gemma away from some shiny stuff.... But, where is everyone else?" Annnd the medicine of Amaya's was all but forgotten for the moment, especially as Hoshi popped his head out of the hooded shift she was wearing and began to sniff and lick her ear: causing an eruption of giggles which only egged the puppy on more. "Stop, Hoshi.", she said giggling as the pup climbed up to her head and sprawled himself out there: that was going to be his seat, and Aella was likely either going to end up on Hiroyuki's lap, or over by Aki.

It had taken all of five minutes to get Gemma to let go of her hand when they had arrived at Niwa: and then she hadn't wanted to sit still. She had ran through the markets, buying up little candies, jerky, and even a collection of little gems that sparkled just right under the sunlight. Of course, when Amara had spoken that it was time to go to the meeting Gemma, her young daughter, had rushed back to her side, slipped her hand in Amara's and stared up at her with child-like wonder and curiosity.

Amara had arrived in Niwa dressed in her Raikage garb; even the hat that drove her nuts: so she was more than ready to get this started and over with - she wanted to wander just like Gemma through the streets, something she hadn't got to do in several years and which she had loved to do when she was younger and her and her father were staying in Niwa. Besides, who knew when the next time she'd have enough free time to do just that would be? Yup... better to get this over with now, so she could wander a little bit later on before returning home.

She figured her father wouldn't be far behind: especially with Gemma with them. So the two entered into the building, and wandered down halls that had been explored throughout the years. It felt good to be back in Niwa, though it felt good to have her home back in Kumo too. She found herself wondering as she picked up the smell of dogs, candy, hospital, and the sounds of a child giggling, if the way she felt split between Niwa and Kumo was the way a child felt split between two parents. She pushed open the door and took in the sight of the odd shaped table, and the fact that Aella was having her ear licked by a puppy as she stood by Hiroyuki - it explained the giggling.

She felt Gemma tug on her hand and looked down at her daughter, eyebrow raised. Gemma pointed to herself and then to Aella before staring back up at her again: the message was clear even though the child didn't want to speak out loud. She nodded and Gemma released her hand, moving over to Aella with her bag of candies, trinkets, and jerky clutched tightly in her hand. "Just remember what I told you Gemma...", she muttered softly before her daughter could get too close: the child stopped almost at once, closed her eyes and concentrated hard --- the smell of ozone lessened from around the girl, signifying her passive shock being reigned in. Once finished Gemma finished walking up to Aella and lightly poked her without even the smallest bit of static in the touch... all before offering her some candy.

Amara, chuckling and shaking her head, went over to the table. "They'll be best friends before the day's out...", she said grinning. She wouldn't mind of course - she held no ill will towards Aella, Hiroyuki, or anyone else in Niwa. "Good to see you again, Hiroyuki. No one else show up yet?"

Thank the Gods, it was Amara that turned up first; and no psycho father in tow; although he was sure the elder Tsukino would appear soon enough. He could smell the ozone in the air filtering in through the window; and his nose was sensitive enough to tell the subtle differences between the father and daughter. "And you as well, Amara. It's been far too quiet around here without you. So far, yes; it is just you and I; although I received word from the warp station that the Kouyakage arrived an hour or so ago. My guess is, they got distracted by the festival set up and the day market; apparently he had a Fennec with him, and that clan is infamous as merchants. Likely saw things that they'd want to add to the trade treaties. If they don't appear soon, I'll send Aki and Aella to find them."

He gestured for her to take a seat if she wanted too; they had always gotten along pretty well, even if he wasn't a big fan of her father. But then again, her father just kind of scared him; his mind was a tangle of... terrifying things; no one else really realized just how outright insane that man was. "Father should be appearing fairly soon as well; I've sent for him return from Makkura." With the business out of the way, he relaxed into a more personal conversation; catching up between acquaintances that could have been good friends in different circumstances.

"Gemma. A beautiful name for your daughter. Seems she inherited the insane abilities of her clan. I do agree, they will be best friends within the hour, more likely. Once the rest of the dogs appear; they'll have plenty to keep them happy; and Aki can escort them around the safe parts of the village if they want some air. With your permission, of course."

Aella's head tilted to the side, her hug having gone un-noticed. Her bottom lip puffed out, a look of sadness falling on her face: Aella loved hugs, and a skipped hug was a terrible thing. She looked, for a moment, like she was going to cry - at least up until she felt herself poked, and the smell of candy wafted up to her nose, as well as what she could only describe as the smell of a storm. 

With the tiniest of sniffles she turned and looked towards Gemma - who she could see looked at least appearance wise to be around her age. She was holding out candy: which in Aella's mind was an instant offer of friendship. She scooped the candy out of her hand and sent a "Thank you!" telepathically without even meaning to. She paled slightly, wondering how Gemma was going to take to her mind being invaded like that. She hoped she wasn't about to break out - she didn't want to upset Amara, who she liked rather well from the time she had spent with her when they had been living in Niwa.

Then she was distracted again by the door opening; she had been expecting to see a person, but instead a very large and white colored dog - Frost - walked in. He came over, sniffing in Amara's direction for a moment which caused him to sneeze and Aella to giggle. He then paused by Gemma staring at her for a few seconds before licking her on the side of the face. He then licked Aella on the cheek and wandered over to Aki; knowing that Aella was more than safe this close to Hiroyuki. Amaya had sent him, or so Aella was guessing, when she realized that Aella wasn't going to be coming out anytime soon.

Gemma watched as Aella scooped up the candy she had been offering from her hand. A grin spread across the small child's face; she was happy that her hopefully soon-to-be friend had taken the offering. And then... well, then there was a voice in her head, and not one of the ones she was used to: such as her mother or father. She blinked, not freaked out, but rather shocked that her new friend was capable of the same telepathy she was. Her smile grew, more happier than before. "You're welcome!", she responded telepathically, making sure to stick to English since she wasn't sure Aella would understand her otherwise.

And then... she was being licked. A fuzzy, friendly face had appeared next to hers and she was being licked. She giggled, and then as her nose caught a wiff of the dog it got that particular tickle: that tickle that always led to bad things. She tried holding her breath as she felt the sneeze mounting up, tried even sticking her finger under her nose like she had read about in books to try and keep it from happening, but in the end it happened. She sneezed... and shifted.

Where there once was a little girl now stood a rather small dragon; lightning blue in color with yellow fading around each and every single one of her scales. She sat there, stunned for the moment, at least until she realized she had revealed her truer self... and she started to cry. 

------

Amara took the offered seat, as she listened to Hiroyuki speak. She nodded as she heard him speak of the Kouyakage being in the village already but likely distracted by the market: she couldn't blame him, she had been surprised she had dragged Gemma away as quickly as she had. And then he was mentioning Makurra and a chill ran up her spine - that was the kage she hadn't been in a rush to meet, and she hoped her father didn't hold any sort of ill will towards the village itself, or she foresaw this meeting getting violent and fast.

Amara couldn't help but grin. "Thank you, and I suppose you could say that - though I claim part of that being more from what she inherited from her father than anything." Which wasn't a lie of course: the child was part dragon after all. She then nodded at Hiroyuki's suggestion about Aki escorting the girls around the village. "That's fine, I know Gemma wanted to some more explor---" Well, that secret was out of the bag as she listened to her daughter sneeze and saw the oh to familiar transformation of her into her more natural state.

"....." That was... unexpected. He knew the Tsukino where all about the dragons; even claimed to have dragon eggs in their temple; which given Amara had a dragon sealed inside of her he could easily believe; but he'd never actually seen a child change into a dragon. Given how easily it happened; it couldn't be a beast seal, either. "Something you wanna explain, Amara?" His tone was perfectly curious, he wasn't about to say or do something stupid here. Of all the Kages that where coming, she was the only one he had a personal interest in not offending or going to war with. Like his father, he respected the old Konoha treaties; and the one with Kumo had lasted almost 400 years. History like that was not to be disrespected. That, and he really couldn't say anything, given his entire clan was a bunch of dogs in human skins anyway.

"Aella, come here dear. I forgot to give this to you earlier." From underneath the desk he retrieved a matching set of water guns; each tagged with a refill seal that would keep them perpetually full of whatever liquid you put in. Currently, they held clean spring water he'd collected out in the forest a few days prior when he'd ordered them. "You and Gemma can play with these, if you like. There'll be some snacks delivered soon, and I made sure there was plenty of sweet things for you; more then enough to share with your new friend."

... Her new friend had just poofed into a dragon. Yeap, had sneezed and BAM, dragon. However... Aella wasn't scared. Why should she be? She had just had a panda, bijuu thing, sealed inside of her which she was still trying to wrap her mind around: and which sometimes caused her to turn into a panda, as she had scared the hell out of Amaya by doing when Amaya had startled her. So Gemma poofing into a dragon? Didn't disturb her one bit. What did disturb her was the fact that her new friend was now crying. She knelt down and wrapped her arms, albeit awkwardly since she had never hugged a dragon before, around Gemma and hugged her. "Don't cry."

She looked up to Hiroyuki and got back to her feet after giving Gemma another gentle squeeze. She wandered the foot or so distance between herself and him and took the water guns with a great big smile spreading across her face. "Thank you, thank you!" She plopped down in front of her new friend, dragon or not, and pushed one of the water guns towards her. "Will you play with me? These are fun!", she asked, and beamed happily as she waited for a response. "Though... I don't... do dragons have thumbs? I don't think they work without thumbs..." 

Well, she should have seen that question coming. She had tried her hardest to keep Gemma from transforming, but some things couldn't be helped. Perhaps this was for the better anyway: she had no reason to keep it a secret from Hiroyuki, especially since he already knew about what was sealed inside of her at this very moment. But, how to explain?

She frowned for a moment, something she did from time to time when in deep thought; an action that had no sort of connection with her mood, which was indeed thoughtful at the current moment. "Hard to explain really as I can only guess myself, but I can tell you what I've guessed. The dragon inside of me, Inazuma, is male. About... two years ago or so I was in the middle of changing forms - I had been trying something or other out. In the middle of changing, half me, half dragon, I was struck by a rather nasty bolt of lightning. At first I didn't think anything of it really, just finished changing back to me and went on about my day. But, a few months later...  there was Gemma." She shrugged. "Only thing I can guess is that bolt of lightning caused something to happen when I was in the middle of changing forms. Gemma here is part dragon, part human... though we were trying to keep it a secret - at least for the meeting. You remember what happened to me when I was younger dealing with Makurra and that man because someone had found out I could wipe out an entire village... not going to let that happen again to her. Especially given she's so young: she might look about Aella's age, but she's not... dragons just age differently."

She looked over, having seen Aella hug Gemma, and she couldn't help but smile. No matter what happened at this meeting she had a feeling that ending up as some sort of enemy of Niwa wasn't going to be it - Gemma just wouldn't allow such a thing, and she doubted Aella would either. 

---

Gemma had sniffled when she was hugged, and had stopped crying. She looked up at Hiroyuki at the mention of sweets soon coming, and the toys in which Aella took and put in front of her. She then listened as her mother explained how she came to be - it was a story she had heard before, so it wasn't a shock. Her mother had had to explain after all the reason why her father was living inside of her, and who he was.

Gemma then turned her attention back to Aella, and after a moment of concentration shifted back into her human form. "Nope, dragons don't have thumbs.", she said with a smile, wiping away the tears that had been on her cheeks before picking up the water gun. She looked it over for a moment and then giggled. She aimed it at Aella and squirted her before jumping to her feet and running away giggling. "Can't catch me!"

Oh, well that was perfectly understandable. Chakra beast seals did strange things to the body; and this was far more then just a chakra beast. Dragons where on par with, if not more powerful then most Bijuu, so they would have more effects. Add in the differing genders...

"Not much different then how my siblings and I where conceived. At least in this case, there is a clear mother and father; that bit always confuses people to no end when I try to explain it." Shrugging lightly; he leaned back in his chair and brushed a small seal built into the armrest. It would trigger a cooling effect in the room; with all of them there and the movement creating more body heat, it was getting a bit warm for his tastes; even with the window and a crisp breeze filtering in. "If it gets too cold, let me know. Although given how cold Kumo is this time of year, it's likely fairly warm to you."

While he had little plans to discuss (much) business outside of the 'official' meetings; he felt he needed to say a few things before they got very far. "So; just so that we're on the same pages here. I have zero plans of messing up the unspoken treaties and such we have going. We've been respecting the old Konoha-Kumo things since day one, I intend to continue that if possible. Keeping it off paper is less complicated; especially with your alliance with Yokuchi being so strong. I'd rather not offend them, and risk cutting off supplies both of us desperately need to remain stable. Beyond that... if we can keep from causing war with the north; I'm all over that. Makkura... is up in the air. If they end up screwing up again, and the Kouyakage agrees to it... I won't be against teaching them a bit of a lesson. Too much bad blood; even with my family there. I'd rather they learn now, then risk our peoples again. I hope my stances on these things aren't offensive; I just can't risk sugar coating things and having misunderstandings later. You understand, I hope."

Niwaurushigakure was one of the more natural villages that he knew of. He had never been outside of Yokuchi that much, as he was more of a defender to the village. However, he liked what he had seen so far. The festival that was set up was more than awesome. Endless merchants had stands that lined the streets. Each one was filled with foods, trinkets, and various other things. As he walked through the busy streets, he looked to each one without stopping. Usually, he would enjoy such festivities, but he had other business. In reality, he used be a business first type of guy, but that changes when he became Kage. He learned to relax and enjoy his life. However, this meeting was important and he had to make sure he was on time. He had no idea who was even going to be there.

As he thought of the other villages who could possibly attend, he was filled with questions. The leader of Niwa was a member of the Inuzuka clan that had long held leadership here. He didn't know them personally, and had only minimal contact with them. However, they had been allies for a long time and he had no reason to change that. If anything, maybe this meeting would be good for them and could further solidify those very treaties.

Kumo had been a long standing ally of Yokuchi, even before the plague. He would never dream about betraying the ideals of his village like that. While they had just selected a new Kage that he had not met, he was sure that she would be quite easy to talk to. If anything, he hoped that having her at the table would make things easier. It's not like he was going to be aggressive, he just wanted to have support if things went bad.

The Kuraikage was a mystery as well. Strafe had personally been to Makkura in the past to talk to the past kage, Avery. However, it seemed that a new kage had been selected for whatever reason. Given the history with Alec and communication that had been lost, he wondered if the peace they agreed was still active. Regardless, this meeting would be critical for his standing with them.

Hiromasa of Kori was a man that he had met previously. Seemingly nice enough, he had no problems with him or his village. Not to mention that Mittens had once been the kage of that village. Peace was no problem for these two, seeing as neither of them want to visit each other for war. It would be nice to see this man again.

As he saw the meeting building in front of him, he turned to look back at Hisoka and Emiko. "You guys ready? Let's do this." Strafe said easily as he walked through the front doors and followed the directions he had received. Smiling as he walked through the clean halls of the buildings, he smiled at those he passed. With his guards or escorts or....whatever you wanted to call them, behind him, he headed toward the room. In only a few moments, they were outside the room. He opened the door and walked in casually, looking to see that there were only two kages present. Dressed in his Kage garb, he was relieved to see that the Raikage was as well. "Nice to meet you, I am the Kouyakage, Strafe Takeda. The two people behind me are Hisoka Fennec and Emiko Sabure. We are glad to be here." He said with a slight smile before walking over to a seat and sitting down. As he sat there, he noticed the two girls running around the room, and the dogs that sat in the corner. It seemed that the two kages here were on good terms and knew each other. Good. He didn't want any hostility if it could be helped.

Emiko gave a nod of greeting as she was introduced: thankful she had made it back from her random trip to Makurra as quickly as she had. She took in all that was going on in the room; dog on the bed, children running around and laughing as they squirted each other with water guns - one child being Aella whom she knew and the other unrecognizable, along with Hiroyuki and Amara already seated at the table. Once she was sure she hadn't missed anything she scooted into the room and took up a place by the wall near her Kage. She didn't have to hover to protect him after all - and besides, the room was non-threatening for the moment so really no need to be invading personal bubbles.

As she leaned against the wall the sand within her gourd stirred, causing the smell of blood to rise up and hover in the air around her - a common occurrence given how many people she had crushed to death with it.

A big room. Dogs. Other people. Jr didn't know any of them except Emiko, but he'd seen several of them a few times.

A child walked into the meeting room, dressed in a black cloak with a hood; the hood down. The child had a mop of white hair and red eyes. He was the son of Alec Kane the notorious criminal, and the spitting image of him. Anyone who'd seen his father on wanted posters or even in person would easily see that this kid was of close relation to him. The area around the child was abnormally warm, and staring at him for too long would allow anyone to see the heat signature that hung around him in the shape of a large bird.

He held the Kage hat in his right hand as he, Kinzoku and Hanako walked in, hoping he wasn't too late. They were probably expecting that smiley man Saito Gekai, but, he was no longer in the picture. With the dark colors they all wore, and how closely Jr resembled his father, it should have been obvious what village these 3 were from.

Jr had never attended anything like this, so for now he remained silent. ”....”

A young man walked into this meeting room alongside his new Kuraikage. He was dressed in a red top with a high collar that concealed everything below his piercing yellow eyes. He had short black hair, and wore black gloves, black loose fitting pants, and black open toed sandals. Upon his back was a large black gourd, glowing, seemingly far too heavy for the young man to carry, yet he lugged the thing around with little to no effort.

Kinzoku, bodyguard of the Kuraikage for now, had nothing to say either. He kept his mouth shut and took in each and every one of the other occupants of this meeting room, including his former Kage, Strafe. Would there be a situation here? Had Emiko told him about Kinzoku's desertion and re-affiliation with the village that was home to criminals and other Missing Nin? Kinzoku didn't plan on being violent, but if pushed....

”....”

Behind the two men, she walked in with a rather calm expression. She was wearing a dark purple shirt and black pants and ninja sandals. Her dark hair draped down her back in braids as they bounced against her caramel skin. She took in the different faces that were in the room, trying to make an observations that could be helpful should things go wrong. She stayed silent, as speaking wasn't really her forte. She moved beside Kinzoku, waiting for the meeting to start.

As she looked around, she did not see but four Kages present. The only Niwa ninja that could be a Kage, the two ninja wearing Kage robes, and Jr. It seemed that Korigakure had not shown up yet. If they decided not to, this could turn bad and fast, as 'The Dark' had enemies or concerns with every other nation. She would be prepared, though she trusted Jr. For being so young, she knew that he was more than capable of handling himself in this room.

A loud yawn and a wave of chilling air heralded the arrival of the Korikage. Somewhere behind him would be Juno, with a notebook, plenty of pens and orders to stay quiet and remember all the names as they were presented so she could remind Hiromasa when he inevitably forgot someone. Scanning those already present, he saw exactly one face he recognized; that of Strafe, formerly Yokuchikage, now Kouyakage. Whatever. Nice enough sort, though, and a familiar face gave the meeting some semblance of interest.

Taking his kage hat from his head, he set it on a loop in his belt and took the seat nearest him, putting his hands in his pockets as his scribe stood near him, waiting for something to happen. After a moment, he had a moment of realization and the cold in the room lifted somewhat. Still cooler than it would be without him there, but less uncomfortable.

Fun, that's what she was having. Yup, yup, and yup; no point in acting like a quiet grown up when she wasn't one. She was busy chasing around Gemma, causing an aweful mess of water as the two squirted the water guns at each other; coating each other, the floors, and the walls when their aim ended up off enough to hit them. As they ran past Aki she paused long enough to aim and fire in his direction too; aiming for his feet. Giggles filled the air as she took off again; ready to continue chasing around Gemma.

However, she paused again as she noticed the door opening and the other Kage's beginning to arrive. The first kage brought with him the smell of sand, the second... well, she knew him well enough from appearance since he looked like a younger version of her grandfather - Alec Kane. The next... well, he was... cold. Simply put. He was also last in line. She squirted the water gun towards Hiromasa, and then went back to chasing after Gemma and squirting her.

Gemma ran around with Aella chasing her, attempting to out manuver the water that was being squirted at her and pausing only long enough to turn and return fire to her new friend. The floors were indeed beginning to become puddled, and the walls would likely take a very long time to dry with the amount of water the guns had already put out. But, the two were having fun and well occupied - except when Aella shot water towards Hiromasa - and that was the point.

----

Amara listened closely to HIroyuki as he spoke and then nodded as she relaxed in her chair. "Aye, understandable.. and I agree. No point in changing things from the way they've been." As she heard the door open again she glanced over, noticing the smell of desert as the kage from Yokuchi arrived; complete with his guard. She was surprised her own father hadn't slipped in yet, given the people beginning to arrive, but figured he was floating around somewhere.

Next came the kage from Makurra or so she guessed given the dark colors, and those who guarded him, a lot younger than she'd been expecting - but she wasn't going to say anything, given she was barely old enough to be Raikage. His arrival caused a tingle to spread up her spine - while she didn't hold ill will towards the village itself anymore, especially because Alec hadn't technically harmed her when he kidnapped her - it still was rather spooky to see the leader of the village she had been snatched away to.

And then was who she assumed to be the Korikage coming in; seeming to lower the temperature of the room as he did so. She saw Aella squirt the Korikage and wondered how exactly he was going to react to that - not that the water was harmful in anyway... but you never knew.

She turned her focus back to the table as a whole, and to the two children running around - she wasn't about to let her guard down when it came to Gemma, or Aella for that matter either.

Oh, well damn, they'd all shown up. Or mostly. Who was the kid? And where the hell was his father? Where was Amara's father at that? Gods, he sensed the start of a clusterfuck forming. Joy. He needed to sneeze, badly; too many conflicting scents, and the bloody sand was burning his nose fairly hard. Instead of sneezing, he just chirped a short command to Aki and the other dogs, "Wake up and keep the girls happy." He wasn't even that worried; but he'd rather the play not spark a problem. "Welcome, all. Please, find whatever seat or position in the room makes you most comfortable. I plan to keep this initial meeting short and sweet. Most of us are fairly new to our positions; we've had little chance to meat each other. Personally, I've only met Amara before, and that was only because her family maintained a residence here part of the year."

He shifted in his chair to take on a more official looking position, leaning forward over the table that was thankfully fairly empty of papers and the like. Only a matching set of 5 folders really mattered, the rest was blank paper if any of the attendants ran out and needed more. "If you wish, you may take the folders I've provided; within are maps of the various districts of the village, as well as a mostly accurate itinerary for the festival events. Beyond that are copies of any and all official treaties and agreements between our villages that are coming due for renewal. If possible, I would prefer to discuss that bit of business in private, however I will work to accommodate the preferences of my honored guests."

"Now, you all know me, or of me; but as we've never officially met, I shall offer a short introduction. I am Hiroyuki Inuzuka-Kamizuki; son of the 1st Hakage and the leader of the Kamizuki clan. Whatever reputation may or may not precede me should be taken with a grain of salt; about the only things the rumors get right is that I am considered by many to be an excellent diplomat. Personally, I find myself merely adequate. My intentions for this conference are simple enough: I wish merely to make sure that everyone is on the same pages in regards to the growing instability in the world, as well as get the normal yearly trade and treaty agreements out of the way. Beyond that, call it a chance to show off, if you will; the festival is a classic show of what the people and the village can do. There's little point in denying that; and I prefer not insulting the intelligence of my peers. I will confess, I was expecting a different representative from Makkura. I do wish my father would have alerted me to the regime change, but that is of little consequence. While our villages have had issues in the past; I would like to start on a fresh footing, if possible."

Oh, he was rambling now; woops. "My apologies, I hadn't meant to ramble. If it pleases the assembled leaders, I would be grateful if you would indulge me with proper introductions; if even just your preferred names and titles."

As he sat and watched the people around him in a relaxed position, he heard the door open. Turning to look, he was shocked to see a spitting image of Alec Kane walk through the door. His eyes narrowed in curiosity as he watched him walk in and take his place. His guards followed suit and took their positions as well. Could this young boy really be Kage of a village. Knowing Alec's power level, it would make sense that his son was this powerful, it was just hard to grasp considering the age Strafe was. He did not quite understand Makkura's intentions in this summit, as they couldn't feel confident in sending a person of his age to represent them. However, he wouldn't disrespect him unless provoked. He didn't really want to start another Shinobi War. He cared much too deeply about his people to do that.

After him, Hiromasa walked in the room. A familiar face! This was the only kage that Strafe knew, even if it was from one meeting. He nodded to the man as he took his seat and placed his hat on the table. With every village represented, the Hakage started the summit officially. His name was Hiroyuki and he simply asked for the names of each Kage. Strafe decided to speak up first. "My name is Strafe Takeda. I don't personally know anyone else besides Hiromasa, but I hope that this meeting is productive for the sake of our villages." He spoke with confidence, but not arrogance. He then took to opening the folder before him and looking through the papers. Niwa had a long trading history with Yokuchi and it was time to get some things up to date. Giving everything a quick look over, he closed the folder and waited for the others to introduce themselves.

Hiroyuki. He must be the guy related to Aella, whom his father kidnapped back in the day. The purple haired girl he recognized to be Amara, the dragon girl related to the lightning guy. Jr didn't see him here. There was Strafe, the Kage of the desert, and then a chilly guy, Kage of Kori, came in and caused the whole room to cool down. The cold had no effect on Jr of course, besides causing a bit of fog around him.

Hiroyuki gave a small speech introducing himself and explaining in brief detail the intention of this meeting: strengthening ties. He also said he wasn't expecting Jr to be the one to show up, and that was understandable. Jr was prepared to explain what happened. He listened to Strafe explain himself; in the meantime he found a seat and set his hat down on the table before him, sitting in the chair with a leg over the armrest.

When Strafe was done, it was Jr's turn. He knew most if not all in the room would be curious to know Makkura's standing in all of this. ”...Uh, My name is Junior. Alec Kane Junior,” he said, knowing just saying that name would probably re-start some old fires of rage, due to his antics 5 years ago. ”I'm pretty sure most of you, or all of you know who my father is. The other guy that was supposed to show up here instead of me, his name was Saito-something... he was in an unfortunate accident and lost his head. My father would have come himself, but.... seeing as he kidnapped that girl right there,” He pointed at Amara. ”Kidnapped that girl right there,” He pointed at Aella next. “And cut that guy's leg off,” Finally he pointed to Strafe. ”He thought showing up here himself would be a bad idea, and possibly start a fight that would eventually turn into a war.”

Jr cleared his throat and adjusted his bottom in the chair, feeling awkward since he'd never done this “sitting at the round table with the other bosses” thing before. He couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment, looking through the folder that Hiroyuki mentioned, but was prepared to answer any questions any of them had.

Spoiler:

Right, so that was a waste of time. The guy had just agreed to come with, then was called off for some reason he didn't explain. Whatever, it just meant he could get home and be done with it all. He'd triggered the reverse summon and landed just outside the main entrance to the Shinboku tree; striding in half dripping wet and panting softly from the exertion of the spar. Not even a glance at the attendant at the front desk; merely a soft snort when Yuki got up from where she sat off to the side and joined him. Good girl, always ready and waiting for him. Right up the stairs he went until he reached the level the meeting where taking place on; even going so far as to knock on the closed door to the hall before striding right in. "Oi, sorry. Had some issues gettin' here. Continue and all that."

The moment the door closed behind him and Yuki, the dog was trotting over to the girls; both to check on Aella and to greet Gemma. She'd sit with them and give them a new target to fire at, if anything else. Kenta just moved to stand beside his son, a position that in any other circumstance would be hilarious. He was the famous general and Kage; but it was his son wearing the hat now. Funny how life worked.

"Hope I didn't miss much. Glad to see you again, Amara. Guessin' yer Daddy is floatin' around somewhere, eh?"

To the rest, he just gave half polite nods of the head; it wasn't that he didn't respect the positions, nor did he intend disrespect; that was just how his personality was. You had to earn anything but the bare minimum from him; and only Amara had done that. He didn't know the rest, so that would come later.

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Hisoka nearly jumped when the door opened; he'd been the closest to it by far out of habit. He'd make sure he could keep it open if something happened and they needed to get away quickly; with the living tree making up the room, he could summon his cacti without problems, and his foxes where small enough to fight in the tight spaces. Realizing who it was that was joining them, he moved to stand just behind Strafe's left shoulder; tapping it gently and leaning close to whisper to him, "That is Kenta Inuzuka, obviously. The Golden General, he's been referred too, although if I remember correctly he has taken a new moniker in recent years. Heir to two noble clans; and considered the reigning master of the Suiton arts. He is well known for being the only living Wolf Sage in 3 generations. Abrasive is an understatement; apparently he is the type to be very... blunt. Or so my former master told me."

His knowledge offered; he retreated back to the wall and returned to attempting to blend into it. As he was shifting back into his chosen place, his waist tie was caught momentarily on a sharp window edge; pulling it slightly loose and allowing the tip of his tail to stick out slightly. Only someone standing even to or behind him and looking at the right height would notice it; and he sure hadn't.

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Now he had his swords out. Now he had a stick of fresh jerky in his hand. Now he realized he was horribly late meeting up with his daughter, granddaughter, and that crazy genjutsu Inuzuka. Fakin' hell. He'd hit the market on the way from the warp station and forgot why he'd ever left the damn tree; much as he loved being home again, he sorely missed the insanity of the Niwaurushi markets. He was jogging across town now; not being stopped at all because he was painfully recognizable to the locals; having lived there and being famous and all that.

In the door and down the halls; up the stairs and bursting in the door; only really a minute or so behind Kenta. Way to scare people with both of them bursting in at once practically. "Oi, 'm I la-..." Shit, he was stupidly late. Right. To Amara he moved; planning to stand by her until he saw Gemma playing with Aella and the dogs. "Hello girls, havin' fun, yeah?"

Oh, he should prolly apologize; but given he was getting the rage stare from the older Inuzuka Bastard; he wasn't about to bother. Instead, he just gave Hiroyuki a mostly friendly wave and engaged in a staring contest with the boy's father. The usual shit.

With a lazy motion the Korikage reached out and grabbed the water shot at him, now frozen,shaped it onto something resembling a candy cane and began idly gnawing on it. "What a thoughtful little girl," he said, smiling cheerily at the little one who'd thought to help him keep cool.He sat patiently with his impromptu distraction as everyone else introduced themselves, until suddenly the focus had gone all the way around the room and seemed to rest on him. Popping the rest of the ice into his mouth to combat the sudden dryness he felt in his throat, he gave a general wave to everyone in the room.

"Well, as you all have figured out by process of elimination if nothing else, I am Hiromasa Jenshin, Korikage. Never met any of you but Strafe that I recall, though I did meet your previous kage, my condolences if she was lost," he said, nodding at Junior. "Met your dad too. Seemed a polite enough sort, regardless." He reached forward and grabbed the folder provided to him, noting that it was considerably thinner than the others for lack of any real agreements of any kind thus far. He sighed mentally, not looking forward to correcting that.

"At any rate, we're fairly new to the big kid's table as far as villages go, but we have our own things to offer, both on the military and economic standpoints, as perhaps Yokuchi and Makkura can already confirm, and would like to open trade to trade and the like with Kumo and Niwa sometime, but we can work out any details to that later. Alliance-wise, I would prefer to remain strictly neutral should any conflict arise between the rest of you, at least until we develop more firm relations and figure out where precisely we and everyone else stand. Hm...I think that's it for the moment, really. Anything else can be dealt with as it comes up."

.oO(Alright, we need to establish a posting order and stick to it: Aella/Amara/Gemma, Hiroyuki, Strafe, Jr., Kenta/Raijin combo, Hiromasa. If any guards need to step in for any reason, or feel like posting, then they can be added in after their respective Kage's. This way we're not skipping people, and posts.)

Amara listened as Hiroyuki formally introduced himself, and gave his reasons for this meeting: all of which made sense and were reasonable enough. Her gaze shifted from Hiroyuki to Strafe as he took his turn next in introducing himself, and then to Jr., where her stare held for a moment as he introduced himself and admitted that the reason his father wasn't here was because he had kidnapped Amara herself, kidnapped Aella, and apparently had cut off Strafe's leg - even though both of his legs had seemed in working condition when he had walked in. Amara kept her face passive, and calm, ignoring the conflicted feelings inside of her as she thought back to that whole kidnapping thing: Alec Kane hadn't harmed her, something that had taken her a good many years to come to terms with, and had she witnessed someone wiping an entire village off the map and had the means to capture them and question them, she couldn't deny she wouldn't have done the exact same thing. Still, she wasn't going to take her eyes off of her daughter anytime soon.

Amara watched as Kenta burst in with a dog she recognized as Yuki in tow. She gave a polite nod and grinned. "Glad to see you again, too. He should be coming along fairly short---" Her father came bursting into the room next as Amara was in mid sentance, moving to stand over by her before being distracted by Gemma and Aella and the dogs. She had wondered what was keeping him so long, but hadn't been too worried about it - mostly since she figured he had got distracted by the markets. It had been hard enough to pull Gemma away from them after all.

She looked between her father and Kenta and couldn't help but roll her eyes - they never got along, and likely never would. "Oh, would you two just get over it...", she thought to herself, holding back a chuckle.

Figuring she was the last to speak she turned her focus back on the table; to the other Kages: she hated speaking when on the spot - hell, she hated speaking period. "My name is Amara Tsukino, Raikage." Yup, no mention at all of her Hyuuga bloodline, or the fact she was adopted into the Tsukino by Raijin: no point really, since she considered herself a Tsukino and nothing more these days - it had been that way for years really. "Not much else to really say: I was elected within the last week or two now that Kumo's finished with the rebuilding, but I lived here before hand with my father, which is why I know Hiroyuki and his family - now, we're back in Kumo, and I plan on doing everything within my power to ensure that Kumo stays a happy, healthy village." Simple, and to the point. She would do what she had to to ensure her people remained fed, safe, and secure.

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Gemma and Aella had continued to run around while squirting each other with the water guns - at least up until Yuki appeared with Kenta, and then Raijin appeared after him. Gemma ran up to her grandfather and hugged him; all before squirting him with the water gun. Aella followed suit and then squirted Yuki; only to go running over to squirt Aki too. The girls were having far too much fun at this point to care about offending any of the present Kages: and Amara wasn't about to tell them to quiet down - she believed children should have fun, and that was exactly what the girls were doing.

Alright, so we have the son of the guy that nearly sent them to war acting as envoy from Makkura; and given he was holding their hat, he was the defacto leader now; a Korikage already declaring neutrality; and a far nicer then he expected Kouyakage basically running the usual line of let's just get things updated and move along. He could work with this. His and Amara's father appearing certainly served to make things interesting; the Tsukino barely got a wave in before they where staring each other down. Glorious. "Raijin, Father. About time you decided to appear." Calm, with a hint of expectation to his tone. He figured they'd be late, and that they'd likely appear at roughly the same time. The instant stare-down the elders had engaged in was par for the course for them; so it was promptly ignored while he moved on.

"Right, so now that everyone at least has a name to put to a face..."

Shifting the few papers he had in front of him out of the way, he revealed a small line of fairly obvious seals carved into the desk, "Nothing but the usual security seals; I assure you. Sound dampeners and the like. There's also a seal to open the window; and it's a bit stuffy in here with so many people; so if no one minds..." He tapped the seal that closely resembled the symbol for wind, which caused the barrier seal that functioned as glass to disappear and allowed the gentle, almost flower scented breeze to enter the room. The Shinboku had a winter bloom that was nearly finished; so the scent was mild and no overpowering; similar to warm jasmine. Calming, mostly. Hands moved away from the seals now; he had no intention of messing with anything else. No point putting anyone on edge. "So for the most part, we're in general agreement that we're not looking to start conflicts. This is good. While some of us have had our problems... I was serious in my statement of starting fresh where needed. There are still plenty of things that need to be discussed; and I have a generalized listing of what is confirmed so far, which is included in the packets provided. If anyone else would like to suggest more topics for discussion; please feel free to speak up now, so that we may plan the appropriate meetings and provide the necessary information."