Apocalypse Initiative, or how I learned to stop worrying and to love the precommitment
- Location
- Pacific standard
Apocalypse Initiative, or how I learned to stop worrying and to love the precommitment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two hours before the break of dawn, breakfast, Hagoromo estate.
Ritsuo looked up from his bowl of quietly mewling rice, the low level panic that'd settled deep in his bones shortly after his elevation to Clan Head suddenly spiking. The Will of Fire was sputtering in fits and bursts! The last time this had happened, the Danger had somehow turned hectares of Fire into the depths of Naraka.
Ritsuo fell into a battleshock, manually inspiring several spirits to create their time lengthening ether, before signing his interpretation of the sputtering flicker at the core of Leaf to the operatives stationed in the room for such an eventuality. One sprinted directly towards the tower, as per SOP.
~~~~~~~
Half an hour earlier, Gōketsu estate.
Hazō considered the two binders in front of him. His eyes ached. His chakra ached. His beliefs ached. He hadn't slept for two nights now, and he was no longer fully able to hold off the related altered mental state.
One held a future of ruin, of corruption. The other of violence and mania; a desperate declaration that the world would shape itself to Hazō's will, or cease to be.
He gently ran his fingers over the green notebook, the same color as Akane's prefered intensive training undersuit - Jashin, how he missed her. Upon it's front was indented "Apocalypse Initiative".
He wondered which the Hagoromo would prefer.
Hazō shook himself out of his reverie, and rose to his feet. He called out, "Noburi? Can you come in? Sorry for having you wait outside."
Noburi backed into the room, his hands occupied by a massive platter of delectable…. sweet meat pastries? "No problem at all! I was actually a few minutes behind anyways. What's up?"
[Dispel]
Steam rose into the air, and Hazō's stomach began growling. He employed hungry-questioning-eyebrow #4, the varient used for diplomacy with possibly dangerous volatile results… though now that Hazō thought about it, that actually described most forms of diplomacy he engaged in. Unsettling.
Noburi tossed him a pastry in response.
"Did Satsuko take up baking as well?" Hazō demanded merrily, falling into a congenial mood.
"Yuno makes a batch of these every morning she's in town. She takes about half with her to her various commitments, feeding any hungry genin she sees." Noburi paused, clearly waiting for some kind of input.
"..... are you intending me to infer, oh brother of mine that the platter you bear is the other half?"
Noburi grinned, his trap sprung.
"Indeed you were. You fool. You absolute ignoramus."
Hazō pointedly did not change his facial expression.
"Tough crowd." Nob-*Barrel Boy* flicked his wrist, and a Gōketsu standard cord of ten storage seals impacted the table, sliding between the two notebooks that both ninja were deliberately ignoring.
"That's the other half. Yuno paid for cooking lessons in Isan because she wanted to be the foundation of a massive family. Turns out when she got to Leaf, she kept learning."
Hazō nodded, delighted. Yuno was a gem with many hidden facets, and he always had less time to spend with her - and the rest of his family - than he thought. He asked, curious, "Who from? I imagine it wasn't the Akimichi, though now that I think about it that could be a nice birthday present." Hazō took his first bite as Noburi responded. Decadent!
Noburi blinked. "Good idea, and no, it wasn't."
Noburi smilled, a gentler thing this time.
"She really was destined for us, you know. She got to Leaf, and one of the first things she did was find some civilian grannies running a catering service to teach her. She said that the structure of learning kept her calm while she didn't know where the winds were blowing, but honestly? I think she just ran across them and liked them, and they liked her. Taught her the ins and outs of running a kitchen for small events."
"That is so specific but also startlingly impressive."
Noburi shrugged, unbothered by the inturruption. "Yeah, that about sums it up. Anyway! She cooks every day in the Gōketsu kitchens, but the *front hall kitchens*. She's consistent enough that word got around, and a few genin popped in and bugged her for pointers. She refused a couple of times, until Satsuko had the great idea of giving tips to anyone who helped her cook! She already cooked with some other Gōketsu civilians, so it wouldn't be too much of an imposition to have more hands."
Noburi waited a beat before continuing.
Hazō did not question Satsuko offering a suggestion. He refused to think about that today.
"These pastries were cooked by Gōketsu civilians, a Gōketsu ninja, two KEI Genin, an Inuzuka nin while their partner assisted with scrap cleanup. Today we also had a Hyūga in attendance!"
Hazō's brows rose. "Now what's the story there?"
"Long, and ultimately unimportant. If you guess somewhere between crush, honest desire to learn, and taboo desire to use a weapon you might be in the right ballpark."
Hazō's head hurt. He thought of Akane rubbing the base of his neck despite himself. There was no one else he could trust to touch him there, and his body missed the physical release of tension while his heart missed the emotional release of isolation.
He chose not to respond.
"... Right." Noburi continued.
"Anyway, we have a strict no non-Gōketsu bloodline policy in place for obvious reasons, and turns out that the Hyūga actually flicker their bloodline pretty often in busy situations to keep track of everyone. Hyūga, Hinatas sister by the way, Hanabi, lost focus earlier, and ran headfirst into granny Mikoto, knocked her over."
"And there's a reason we're not burning down the Hyūga estate?"
"There is. Hanabi was *beside herself*. She yelled out an apology before activating her Dōjutsu to find me, asking Inuzuka to send their partner for me."
"Interesting."
Noburi's grin faded slightly. "Interesting?"
"Noburi, why didn't she just ask Inuzuka to send her partner? Hanabi created an excuse to use her Dōjutsu in our compound under a guise of unintentionally leaking that our efforts to bridge the gaps have been effective."
Noburi's jaw tensed, then relaxed, accepting he'd been played.
"... Fuck, I completely missed that. Have I ever actually mentioned, in seriousness, that I'm glad you're the one in charge?"
"Once or twice. Anyway, dont think too much about it. This is in the ballpark of what ive been expecting from the Hyūga after my recent advances, though this seems too sloppy to be backed by Hinata and the elders. Hanabi is Hinata's blood sister right? She probably got the clan Heir training as well then - it explains why she'd come up with a three stage plot instead of just waiting for a better opportunity. She knows how to use the tools but has none of the responsibility informing her *when* to." Hazō drummed his fingers on the table in front of him.
"Interesting. I can use this well, I think. Thank you for the story, and thank you for the pastries! They really are good." Hazō's face turned serious.
"It's time, then?" Noburi pulled the water out of his barrel, and deposited it into four equal containers for Hazō to use.
"It's time." Hazō confirmed, before handing the notebook off to Noburi, and summoning his first shadow clone of the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two hours before the break of dawn, breakfast, Hagoromo estate.
Ritsuo looked up from his bowl of quietly mewling rice, the low level panic that'd settled deep in his bones shortly after his elevation to Clan Head suddenly spiking. The Will of Fire was sputtering in fits and bursts! The last time this had happened, the Danger had somehow turned hectares of Fire into the depths of Naraka.
Ritsuo fell into a battleshock, manually inspiring several spirits to create their time lengthening ether, before signing his interpretation of the sputtering flicker at the core of Leaf to the operatives stationed in the room for such an eventuality. One sprinted directly towards the tower, as per SOP.
~~~~~~~
Half an hour earlier, Gōketsu estate.
Hazō considered the two binders in front of him. His eyes ached. His chakra ached. His beliefs ached. He hadn't slept for two nights now, and he was no longer fully able to hold off the related altered mental state.
One held a future of ruin, of corruption. The other of violence and mania; a desperate declaration that the world would shape itself to Hazō's will, or cease to be.
He gently ran his fingers over the green notebook, the same color as Akane's prefered intensive training undersuit - Jashin, how he missed her. Upon it's front was indented "Apocalypse Initiative".
He wondered which the Hagoromo would prefer.
Hazō shook himself out of his reverie, and rose to his feet. He called out, "Noburi? Can you come in? Sorry for having you wait outside."
Noburi backed into the room, his hands occupied by a massive platter of delectable…. sweet meat pastries? "No problem at all! I was actually a few minutes behind anyways. What's up?"
[Dispel]
Steam rose into the air, and Hazō's stomach began growling. He employed hungry-questioning-eyebrow #4, the varient used for diplomacy with possibly dangerous volatile results… though now that Hazō thought about it, that actually described most forms of diplomacy he engaged in. Unsettling.
Noburi tossed him a pastry in response.
"Did Satsuko take up baking as well?" Hazō demanded merrily, falling into a congenial mood.
"Yuno makes a batch of these every morning she's in town. She takes about half with her to her various commitments, feeding any hungry genin she sees." Noburi paused, clearly waiting for some kind of input.
"..... are you intending me to infer, oh brother of mine that the platter you bear is the other half?"
Noburi grinned, his trap sprung.
"Indeed you were. You fool. You absolute ignoramus."
Hazō pointedly did not change his facial expression.
"Tough crowd." Nob-*Barrel Boy* flicked his wrist, and a Gōketsu standard cord of ten storage seals impacted the table, sliding between the two notebooks that both ninja were deliberately ignoring.
"That's the other half. Yuno paid for cooking lessons in Isan because she wanted to be the foundation of a massive family. Turns out when she got to Leaf, she kept learning."
Hazō nodded, delighted. Yuno was a gem with many hidden facets, and he always had less time to spend with her - and the rest of his family - than he thought. He asked, curious, "Who from? I imagine it wasn't the Akimichi, though now that I think about it that could be a nice birthday present." Hazō took his first bite as Noburi responded. Decadent!
Noburi blinked. "Good idea, and no, it wasn't."
Noburi smilled, a gentler thing this time.
"She really was destined for us, you know. She got to Leaf, and one of the first things she did was find some civilian grannies running a catering service to teach her. She said that the structure of learning kept her calm while she didn't know where the winds were blowing, but honestly? I think she just ran across them and liked them, and they liked her. Taught her the ins and outs of running a kitchen for small events."
"That is so specific but also startlingly impressive."
Noburi shrugged, unbothered by the inturruption. "Yeah, that about sums it up. Anyway! She cooks every day in the Gōketsu kitchens, but the *front hall kitchens*. She's consistent enough that word got around, and a few genin popped in and bugged her for pointers. She refused a couple of times, until Satsuko had the great idea of giving tips to anyone who helped her cook! She already cooked with some other Gōketsu civilians, so it wouldn't be too much of an imposition to have more hands."
Noburi waited a beat before continuing.
Hazō did not question Satsuko offering a suggestion. He refused to think about that today.
"These pastries were cooked by Gōketsu civilians, a Gōketsu ninja, two KEI Genin, an Inuzuka nin while their partner assisted with scrap cleanup. Today we also had a Hyūga in attendance!"
Hazō's brows rose. "Now what's the story there?"
"Long, and ultimately unimportant. If you guess somewhere between crush, honest desire to learn, and taboo desire to use a weapon you might be in the right ballpark."
Hazō's head hurt. He thought of Akane rubbing the base of his neck despite himself. There was no one else he could trust to touch him there, and his body missed the physical release of tension while his heart missed the emotional release of isolation.
He chose not to respond.
"... Right." Noburi continued.
"Anyway, we have a strict no non-Gōketsu bloodline policy in place for obvious reasons, and turns out that the Hyūga actually flicker their bloodline pretty often in busy situations to keep track of everyone. Hyūga, Hinatas sister by the way, Hanabi, lost focus earlier, and ran headfirst into granny Mikoto, knocked her over."
"And there's a reason we're not burning down the Hyūga estate?"
"There is. Hanabi was *beside herself*. She yelled out an apology before activating her Dōjutsu to find me, asking Inuzuka to send their partner for me."
"Interesting."
Noburi's grin faded slightly. "Interesting?"
"Noburi, why didn't she just ask Inuzuka to send her partner? Hanabi created an excuse to use her Dōjutsu in our compound under a guise of unintentionally leaking that our efforts to bridge the gaps have been effective."
Noburi's jaw tensed, then relaxed, accepting he'd been played.
"... Fuck, I completely missed that. Have I ever actually mentioned, in seriousness, that I'm glad you're the one in charge?"
"Once or twice. Anyway, dont think too much about it. This is in the ballpark of what ive been expecting from the Hyūga after my recent advances, though this seems too sloppy to be backed by Hinata and the elders. Hanabi is Hinata's blood sister right? She probably got the clan Heir training as well then - it explains why she'd come up with a three stage plot instead of just waiting for a better opportunity. She knows how to use the tools but has none of the responsibility informing her *when* to." Hazō drummed his fingers on the table in front of him.
"Interesting. I can use this well, I think. Thank you for the story, and thank you for the pastries! They really are good." Hazō's face turned serious.
"It's time, then?" Noburi pulled the water out of his barrel, and deposited it into four equal containers for Hazō to use.
"It's time." Hazō confirmed, before handing the notebook off to Noburi, and summoning his first shadow clone of the day.
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