Nariko sat in her office, going through the month's budget, and with the loss of Natsuru as the one who had run the factories in Kumogakure, they were out quite a bit in terms of their usual income. It was nice that she had more or less left a severence package when leaving, which helped fill in Kumogakure's recently depleted funds, but Nariko knew they'd burn through that pretty quickly since it wasn't renewable income. She'd just bought a fleet of ships, some of which would help increase their income, but many of which also needed maintenance as well, which more or less negated that.
It was safe to say that she would need to find a replacement for Natsuru if she wanted to keep Kumogakure's military and fleet properly sustained and still make net gains in their accounts.
On top of that, she still hadn't been updated by Shimiko as to how the Kirigakure situation was going, and things between the two villages could be described as tense at the very least. Sometimes Nariko wished she wasn't the Raikage, but since she was, it was more or less up to her to figure out how to best deal with these financial and political situations.
She'd continually postponed visiting some of the Minor Nations to form political bonds and hopefully annex them into Kumogakure's lands. For one, she didn't really have the funds to do so currently, and there had been little actual time for her to leave the nation to deal with that stuff on her own. She'd have left someone in proxy to watch over Kumogakure, but that list of people was fairly small and growing smaller. Those she did trust to watch the village weren't currently here, so she was at an impasse when it came to expanding Kumogakure's sphere of influence.
Deciding to take a break from the budget for a little bit, Nariko changed her attention to some of the priority mail that had been deemed the most important by the ANBU who had of course gone through it to verify no traps were contained. As if her thoughts had influenced the world, the top most letter was from a former Kage of Kirigakure. Nariko was a little surprised, and honestly slightly suspicious about the timing of it all.
After reading through the letter, she leaned back and stared up at her ceiling. On the one hand, this seemed to solve many of her problems right there. A replacement for Natsuru, at an affordable rate as well. Further income and the return of the lost income from the inoperative factories. Some political ties to Kirigakure, as a former kage of a village was always something good, showing cooperation between nations. At the same time, it almost seemed a little too convenient. If she hadn't recognized Natsuru's handwriting in her note detailing why she'd left, she may have been concerned of a larger plot.
Even still, the timing was awfully convenient.
Pulling out a parchment, Nariko went to work with her reply to Konami. She needed to speak to her in person first and foremost. As for her greetings, Nariko knew that custom in Kumogakure was that once a kage, always a kage, even if not the active Kage, so she still gave Konami the title herself.
- Spoiler:
Greetings to you Lady Third Mizukage,
Firstly, I appreciate the opportunity to do business with you. I'd like to start off by saying I am completely willing to seal some sort of deal with you. Several of my factories have had a revent vacancy in management, and I was going to have to find some people to fill those positions, but it seems that luck had it I didn't have to go searching for anyone.
I have 4 factories that currently require management, and if you and your sister are okay with taking over the management and moving to Kumogakure, I can provide at least comfortable lodging at no expense to you, as well as citizenship for you and your sister or a business visa if you'd prefer (as well as business visa's for access to any who you might employ that needs access to the village, although citizenship for them is a different story). I'm also alright with your requested salary of 35,000 ryo per factory, totalling 140,000 for the 4 I currently need managing. With the additional capital of 1,000,000 ryo from me buying shares in your company, and then an additional 70,000 ryo per month for 2 more factories after they're built, I can safely say this will be a profitable venture for you as well as my nation.
I'd like to finalize this deal in person, of course, but the numbers work for the both of us, so I see no reason why we can't benefit from each other. Please find your way to Kumogakure at your earliest convenience so that we can seal the deal. I can have my people draw up the paperwork when you arrive, it shouldn't take long, or you can do so if you'd prefer.
Regards,
Nariko Mizushima
Lady Third Raikage
Nariko sealed the letter with some wax and the seal of the Raikage's office, before taking it to her door and handing it off to one of the ANBU. "
Send that out to Konami Kereko please."
After he was off, she went back to her desk and began working on her budget once again, a little less tense now that she seemed to possibly have a solution to some of her more pressing issues.
-Exit-
