Ludwig stopped a step short of the table where Ilea and Hiruzen sat across from each other.
Ilea had one boot hooked on the legs of her lopsided chair, elbow on the backrest, chin propped on her hand while on her ankle, ash curled lazily around like a smug cat. The black mark on her clothes and the faint scrape along her jaw didn't read as 'injured' so much as 'recently entertained.'
Hiruzen Sarutobi, by comparison, looked like someone had taken a portrait of a Hokage and smudged the edges. There was dust on his hem, a cut drying along his temple, and a faint bruise shadowing one cheek.
All in all, he looked like a man who got his gameplan crushed after jumping into the ring.
Both of them turned as Ludwig approached.
"Hey, chef." Ilea's grin widened as he called him. "You missed the fun."
"I caught the highlights." Ludwig chuckled dryly, eyeing the cracked beam, then the embedded staff a few tables away. "Though, we'll talk about the definition of 'fun' later."
He pulled out the empty chair at the side of their table and sat, angling himself so he could see both Ilea and the Hokage without turning his head.
For a moment, none of them spoke. Then Ludwig folded his hands on the scarred tabletop.
"Once again, my name is Ludwig." He introduced himself, because even if Hiruzen knew the name, formality mattered. "Owner of this place. Sanctuary-bound Enlightened Human according to at least one very loud cosmic voice. You tried to kidnap my staff while I was out on my first holiday since gods knows when."
His eyes met Hiruzen's.
"Let's start there."
The atmosphere shifted around them. Hiruzen's face flickered with surprise. Probably because Ludwig just revealed his race. Or maybe it was the cosmic voice that surprised him.
The restaurant hum louder, as if it was urging all of them to start talking so it could be repaired to its previous shiny condition a second faster.
However, Hiruzen didn't flinch.
"I am Hiruzen Sarutobi." He inclined his head. Almost ceremonial despite the lack of his hat. "Third Hokage of Konohagakure. I will not pretend my people's actions here were… appropriate. But I will not call them kidnapping."
"Because you don't like the word?" Ilea asked.
With his eyes still on Ludwig, he answered. "Because from our perspective, one of our most important kunoichi vanished from our world without our consent. Our Jinchūriki. Our village's pillar. So, we had to assume hostile intent until proven otherwise."
Ludwig let that hang for a moment.
"And when you were told that she left willingly? That she is alive, under protection, and currently touring a monster city, probably stealing snacks? When you saw a restaurant full of people who weren't trying to rip out her chakra? What did you assume then?"
"That my information was incomplete." Hiruzen answered. "Which is why I walked through your door."
"You might also add you walked in with half your black ops personnels and three living legends." Ludwig said. "Interesting way to ask for missing information."
"We do not walk into unknown spaces alone." Hiruzen said. "Not when there is even a chance it connects to our enemies."
"And when you realized this place wasn't an enemy?" Ludwig asked. "That it was a sanctuary to many but just an unknown place to you?"
Hiruzen's lips quirked faintly. "I still had to determine your limits."
Ilea huffed. "So the first thing you did after hearing 'no hostages' was test how hard you could push that rule."
"Would you prefer I assumed you were weak and walked away thinking Konoha should treat this place as prey?" Hiruzen asked, turning his head slightly toward her. "You should know by now that nothing invites more predators than the scent of weakness."
Ilea's ash stirred, but she didn't shoot back immediately.
Ludwig studied him. By now, he felt something was off with him. Aside from how bruised he was and all the fights the Hokage just went through, he was far too serene, far too coming, and far too truthful.
The Hiruzen he knew from the canon wasn't supposed to be like this. He would give concession to anyone just to maintain the name of 'Peace.'
Then, a conjecture formed in his head. It was really out of his wildest imagination. But the man was a seasoned politician. Ludwig also thought if what he thought was correct, the Hokage didn't just solve Danzo's problem in Konoha but also the problem with the restaurant as well as the coming wars.
"You…" He said slowly. "You wanted to be here."
Hiruzen didn't deny it. On the other hand, Ilea's eyebrows curved upwards.
"Once I saw the strength of the customers of this restaurant." He said. "And understood that my shinobi could not simply take what we thought we needed, there were… limited outcomes. Either we died here. Or we retreated in ignorance, leaving this place as an unknown variable beyond our reach."
He glanced around the room. At Valerie. At Vilera. At Lee Han, Kashi, Trian, Kyrian, Raon.
"Or." He continued, "Someone from Konoha stayed. Long enough to speak to whoever actually makes the rules."
Ludwig's fingers tapped once against the table, thoughtful. "So you gambled your own freedom in the hope that we'd be more interested in talking than killing."
"I gambled on the fact that she did not kill us when she could have." Hiruzen looked at the ash wielder across him. "On the way this place protects its own. On the way you feed strangers. A man who builds a place like this when he has the power to do anything is someone my village cannot afford to leave in the fog."
Ilea snorted. "Yet you still decided to attack that man. Twice if what they told me was true."
"That was a risk." Hiruzen acknowledged. "But a calculated one. If you wished to exploit us, you would have done so already. The way you fought showed restraint, not hunger."
Ludwig took that in.
"So." He said. "You're here now. Your people are gone. You got exactly what Ilea said you'd get: you stay as collateral until we decide what to do with you. What do you want from this conversation?"
Hiruzen didn't hesitate.
"Three things. First: assurances regarding Kushina. Second: an understanding of your rules as they affect my village. Third: the possibility of formal trade. Specifically, the potions I heard when I dined here."
Ludwig's brows rose a fraction. "So the third demand is the real cause."
"Not really true, but I can't deny it's not important." Hiruzen said. "My village stands at the edge of war. Children will die in fields for causes they barely understand. Civilians will suffer under jutsu they never agreed to. If there is a chance to reduce even a fraction of that pain, I must pursue it."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"And since I am already your 'hostage,' as your friend so bluntly put it, I may as well ask while you are listening."
Ilea tilted her head. "I'm starting to like him."
"Don't encourage him." Ludwig said dryly before he looked back at Hiruzen. "We'll circle back to potions. But first, let's start with Kushina."
Hiruzen nodded. "I have been informed that Kushina is currently in a city called Tempest before I came here. That too under the protection of you, a woman called Claire, and the leader of Tempest, Rimuru. But… They are all connected to this restaurant. You understand why that would concern any leader."
"I understand why that would scare you." Ludwig nodded. "But we also gave you another option. Letting Minato tag along to protect her and make sure nothing happened to her. What's your answer to that?"
"I refuse it." Hiruzen answered in a volume just above a whisper.
"Yes. You ignored it and chose to attack this place because you probably think it would be weaker when I'm also away." Ludwig sneered.
Hiruzen accepted the jab without rising to it. "I misjudged. Not about your strength—that was clear even on my first visit—but your tolerance. I expected negotiation backed by force. I did not expect that your first and fiercest response would be to defend staff you could, by all appearances, replace."
Valerie's glare from the bar sharpened. Ludwig didn't have to look to feel it.
"That's where you were wrong. I don't replace people easily." Ludwig said. "I hire them, feed them, and protect them. If you'd paid attention the first time you ate here, that would've been obvious."
Hiruzen inclined his head a fraction. "It is obvious now."
"Good." Ludwig said. "So, Kushina."
He drummed his fingers once on the table, gathering his thoughts.
"Like I said before, she's in Tempest. Under Rimuru's protection. Under mine and Claire's by extension. She is not bound. Not locked. On the contrary, she should be exploring the city with her boundless stomach right about now. She will return to Konoha tomorrow as planned. And if, big if, she wants to fight with us, it will be because she chooses to, not because anyone stamped 'weapon' on her file."
Hiruzen's shoulders loosened a hair at that, some small dread he hadn't voiced easing.
"I want to hear that from her, eventually." He said. "But for now… my demand is simple. You will not tamper with her seal. You will not compel her to fight for you. You will not prevent her from fighting for Konoha."
Ludwig nodded. It's not hard to agree to those conditions. Regarding the seal, he was not proficient enough to do that. And no matter how he bluffed that the Kyubi was not as strong as people from Ninja World made it to be, it still would be a nightmare to fight it.
And to prevent her from fighting for Konoha? They wouldn't have dreamed about it. Everyone had realized it the first time Kushina explained to them about her world. When what she thought was normal was to fight and die a hero's death for her village, no matter how they told her, she wouldn't budge at all.
On the contrary, what they could do was help her whenever she was in a pinch.
Of course…
"Done." Ludwig said without voicing his other thoughts. But before Hiruzen could take it as a clean win, he added, "On two conditions."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "Name them."
"First." Ludwig said, "You don't punish her for leaving in the first place. No prison. No exile. No 'protective custody' that looks a lot like a cell with nicer walls."
Hiruzen's mouth pressed into a line. But if he thought that was an annoying clause, he was in for a surprise.
After all, Ludwig decided to drop a bomb into his head.
"Second, you keep your dear advisor and his little pet projects away from her. No 'retraining.' No black ops leash. No turning her into one of his ghosts."
A flicker crossed Hiruzen's expression. It was a condensed showing of surprise, guilt and wariness.
"You speak of him as if you know him." He said.
Ludwig chuckled inside when he heard the Hokae say so. Knowing him was an understatement. He was confident he knew much more about that bastard than the Hokage himself.
But of course, he would not tell him that. Everyone had a skeleton in their closet, it's up to themselves to clean it.
Well, until a certain point.
"I just know his type well." But Ludwig just shrugged. "Every kingdom, every Empire, every organization, grows one like him. 'For the Empire,' 'for peace,' 'for stability.' Always the same song on repeat, sung above the sound of children being broken into tools."
"He is a necessary evil." Hiruzen said, but even he sounded tired of the phrase.
"Not in here." Ludwig said. "So let's be very explicit."
He raised a hand, fingers ticking off points.
"One: Danzō and anyone under him does not operate against this restaurant or any customer of ours. Ever. No spying, no snatching, no 'testing.'"
"Two: if Danzo crosses that line, I will not spend time distinguishing between 'rogue element' and 'Village policy.' I will respond to Konoha as a whole. You do not get to use him and then pretend his actions are divorced from your village."
"Three: if Kushina returns and he so much as breathes in her direction with recruitment in mind, our agreement is broken."
The silence after that was sharper.
Hiruzen studied him for a long moment.
"You are asking me…to put a leash on a man who prides himself on having none. You understand that I cannot simply… remove him."
"I'm not asking you to purge your council." Ludwig said. "I'm telling you the cost of letting him think this place is his playground. Your internal compromises are your problem. The moment they spill through that door, they become mine. A man who just wants to run a restaurant."
He held Hiruzen's gaze without blinking.
After a long breath, Hiruzen exhaled. "I will issue orders. ROOT is to treat this place, and anything tied to it, as no-go territory. If Danzo acts regardless, he will do so knowingly in defiance of the Hokage. And I will accept the consequences you choose."
"That's all I needed." Ludwig said.
To be honest, killing him would be the best option possible. But through this dialogue, starting with it wouldn't be too good. So for now, that would be enough. Though he was sure in the end, he would still got Danzo's head as he doubted the man would comply with the order for long.
That was just how the man operated. And everyone who had either watched or read Naruto knew that much.
Hiruzen's attention shifted back to Kushina. "As for Kushina… She will not be imprisoned or branded a traitor for what has already occurred. Her status as Jinchuriki will remain, but I will argue that contact with you and Tempest has not and will not diminished her loyalty."
Ludwig gave a small nod. "That'll do for now. Next item: rules."
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