World on a String | A Sasori fanfiction

Chapter 5 - A perfect presentation

After two days of deep study, Maren decided to clock-out early.

A good sleep was also vital to give a good presentation. Thus, after enjoying a good herbal bath, she had some turmeric milk before going to sleep.

She had just fallen asleep when the screams of maids woke her up.

"Fire! Fire!"

Quickly putting on an outer robe and grabbing the few books on her desk, Maren rushed out of her residence. She barely made it before the roof caved in with a crash.

"What is going on here?" The Daimyo, in his night robe looked furious.

Yura, who had come due to the commotion quickly investigated the incident and found the arsonist. The maid who had been recently hired by Karen.

"Good. Good! Kouyou, is this how you raise your daughter? Scheming to kill her own blood? Or sabotaging her efforts?"

Lady Kouyou trembled silently and looked as if she was holding her tears in. The Matriarch took her side and spoke up. "Naozumi, don't judge the situation on surface level. That maid must have been bribed to frame Karen."

Feeling the Matriarch's eyes on her, Maren shrugged. "Well, it can't be me. I wouldn't try to ruin my own reports. Besides...given that I barely get enough allowance to eat, the maid must already be earning more than me, how could I bribe her?" 

* * * * *

"Maren Ojou-sama, are you not nervous?"

It was finally the morning when Maren and Yura would need to present their proposal to the Wind Daimyo's Court. Maren was feeling sleepy, after being unable to go back to sleep after the ruckus.

"Just Maren is fine. We are on the same boat. Why place me above you?" Maren said nonchalantly before returning to revise the report.

'Why they hell doesn't this place have a copy machine? Then we could have saved the trouble of making multiple copies by hand yesterday.'

"Yura-san, if you are not comfortable with giving a presentation, I will do it for you. However any doubts on the said material will need to be covered by you. I overwhelmingly lack information on Sunagakure."

"Of course. Got it."

Maren put on the coat she had bought for this occasion. Plainly tying her hair in a pony, she wiped her face clean of any make-up except powder to make her look bright.

"Ah right. Yura-san, our objective is to show that Sunagakure is a great investment. Under no circumstance are we looking for pity points. If they pity you, we will be thrown back to the starting point of receiving alms rather than investment in the village."

Yura's words conveyed his nervousness but his voice was stable and he wasn't shaking. As long as he didn't word it wrong, no one would know that he is nervous.

As for Maren, she wondered if her calm state was because the reality of living in the Narutoverse hadn't set in.

If Gaara is a recently stated Kazekage, then it was the Shippudden series. But even though it was nearly two months since she came to this world, it was mostly the members of the Daimyo family that she met.

Yura was her first living link to the shinobi side of world. If she hadn't met him, she would have possibly thought she was deluding herself.

Meetings and presentations were conducted weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually...basically very frequently and having spent 10 years in the work force, she wasn't a child who was afraid of presentations.