Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

[RandomOTP]

I am very down for the open and honest discussion before dating. I disagree on Imo mediating, since she's not exactly unbiased or uninvolved in any of this. And also, because I don't think other people need to be there for that discussion. Other ones once they know what they want to do, sure.

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I think we should talk with Mari about it --in private --first and let the QMs have complete control from there. I mean, I'm not against the idea of Hazou in a multi-party relationship or not being in one at all (the two "extremes" in this situation). But whenever we decide to tackle Hazou's romance, I think that our first step should be to talk to Mari. And maybe Kagome, too --he's surprisingly insightful sometimes, even if the delivery can be a bit odd.

Edit: to paraphrase Mary Shelly, I see the merits of all sides and like them all too well for me to have a particularly strong "favored outcome." Besides, there's more to Hazou's life than romance. There's Uplift! Sealing! And let's not forget his true twin loves: treason and lists!

 

[Loony]

Hazou = hivemind, so every relationship involved in is already poly.

 

[RandomOTP]

Non-canon Omake: A Midnight Visitor​

Hazou awoke in the blueblack dark of his room, startled awake by the nearly inaudible sound of someone sitting down at his desk. A tight pressure encircled his limbs, leashing them to the bed he slept in. Ninja wire. Wrapped around his hands and feet just-so, tied around his tendons in such a way that the more Hazou resisted, the deeper it would bite into his skin.

Something glinted faintly from the ceiling about him, and Hazou could faintly make out a score of senbon, tied to an elaborate contraption of string. All were positioned to pierce Hazou's vitals. They glittered in the dark like a macabre mimicry of a nighttime sky on a cloudless night. Hazou stilled himself, setting his entire body under the harsh boot of the Iron Nerve.

"Good morning, Lord Goketsu," an androgynous voice droned from his desk, just out of his sight. Hazou tried to lift his head by the smallest amount possible, only to feel a cold caress of yet more wire touching his neck's fragile skin. It pressed dangerously against his artery, and Hazou slowly, carefully, leaned his head back onto the pillow. The sight of senbon greeted him once more. "Please don't move. It would be quite hazardous to your health, and I have been sent to bring a message, not to make a corpse."

Hazou tightened the chain of the Iron Nerve, freezing every conscious movement he could. How had this happened? What about the security that Kagome-sensei prided himself on? How had Hazou slept through the construction of all of… this? Hazou crushed the instinct to hyperventilate under the weight of the Iron Nerve.

"You should know, Lord Goketsu," the voice spoke, emotionless and ever-polite. "That there are whispers about you, amongst those who are… in the know, so to speak. When your merry band of traitors and turncoats first visited Leaf, you threatened the man who is now the Hokage. But it was our Lord Hokage, himself, who spoke in your defense. He said that you were concerned about your family, that you were simply worried we had chained your kinsmen into servitude –as many other Villages might have done. And we of the Leaf understand familial loyalty, so we allowed the insult to pass. Then, on your way out, you threatened one of our most promising medic-nin, one who shows every sign of being the next Tsunade. I don't think that you fully appreciate the amount of political capital the late Lord Goketsu spent saving your lives."

Hazou felt his heartbeat pounding away in his ears. Despite the Iron Nerve, his little finger twitched involuntarily –the only outward sign of the fear that threatened to consume him. 'Late Lord Goktesu' could have just been a respect way to refer to Jiraiya, or it could have been deliberate. A reminder that one Lord Goketsu had died already, and that even the literal legendary Jiraiya could be felled.

"And then you returned. You brought your skywalker seals, and thus changed all of modern warfare. You ensured that the Leaf, if we played our cards right, would have a military advantage over the other Hidden Villages," the monotonous voice intoned, with all the passion of someone observing the weather. "So, after some political maneuvering on your predecessor's part, the Third Hokage welcomed you into the Leaf. You did well enough in the Chuunin Exams, and you opened your home to the unwashed masses after the Sinkhole Tragedy. But little more than a week after the Battle of the Gods, we watched as you conspired to kill the Sixth Hokage, Lord Huuga. We watched as you tried to subvert Lord Uzumaki –the last of his clan, scion of the Yellow Flash, and the village jinchuuriki –to your will. You then presumed to speak upon behalf of the entire Leaf –all her citizenry, all her loyal ninja, and all her people –in a desperate bid to sway the Akatsuki to your desires. You did it with the conscious decision to not seek the Sixth Hokage's permission."

Hazou tried to subtly test the strength of the ninja wire that bound him. Pain lanced through his wrists, and wet warmth blossomed where the wire had parted Hazou's skin as easily as wet clay. "I wouldn't do that," the voice warned in that same bland tone of voice. "Especially since you've taken to musing about cold war in your spare time. Granted, framing it as concern for your adoptive country was a nice touch."

Hazou wanted to defend himself. He really was concerned about the Leaf's security, especially since it was still vulnerable after the Sinkhole Incident. But the pain in his wrists and the cold, feather-light pressure against his neck smothered Hazou's protests before they could be voiced.

"Do you know what all of this tells me, Lord Goketsu," the voice politely inquired. "It tells me –and all those who have eyes insightful enough to see –that you're clever. Clever enough to see through the illusory towers that the Hidden Village system portrays. It tells us that you're clever enough to see the seams in how things work –that you see through the grand deceptions of civilization and to the fragile, foundational truth of it all.

"Do you know who else can do that? The Legendary Three. Do you know what the difference between them is? Orochimaru is the only one who, when presented with a no-win scenario –the kind of scenario where your only choice is in the way you lose –upends the board, rather than continuing to play the game. He upends the Go board, cold and indifferent to the pieces and players still chained to the game. He upends the board and flees into the night, into the cold, away from the warmth and comfort of home. Orochimaru left because he didn't want to play the game anymore, because he didn't like that he was losing. Think, Lord Goketsu, where is Orochimaru now?"

The voice fell silent. Enough time passed that Hazou began to wonder if he would be left like this, before the uneasy quiet was broken by the voice once more.

"Consider this your last warning, Lord Goketsu. When you play the game in bad faith, you encourage others to do the same. And the very dynamic that allows the Leaf to live in such peace is the same dynamic that cannot abide by such blatant dissenters. If you want to achieve your grand dreams of Uplift, then either learn to play the game or cede your position to someone who does."

At the last word, Hazou felt a touch at his temple, and promptly fell asleep into a deep sleep.

 

[eaglejarl]

@faflec Remind me what details we have on the Gōketsu home? They used MEW to build a lot of housing for the civilian clan members and everyone else living on the estate, but I'm not sure what we've said about the actual family dwelling.

 

[hYGP]

"Noda?" Hazō said, closing the door behind him and turning to face the room. "Thanks for waiting. What can I—"

Hazō broke off as the faint scent of alcohol drifted to his nose.

The dwellings on the Gōketsu estate had been 'built' through use of the Multiple Earth Wall and a ton of chakra, purchased from various off-duty ninja around Leaf and transmitted via the ever-snarky Noburi. The design intent had been to get shelter for several hundred people as quickly as possible in the middle of winter; speed had been more of a focus than beauty. Each of the various buildings was as identical as cookie-cutter cookies, made unique only by their minor imperfections; none of the floors were perfectly level, since the jutsu insisted that 'walls' needed to always go up, even if only at a very low angle and by the tiniest margin. Many of the walls were slightly crooked—not because the jutsu required it but because the builder had been sloppy. It was all functional and perfectly livable, merely...unique.

The Gōketsu nuclear family had a complex to themselves, three stories high instead of two. Four apartments to a floor, two rooms to an apartment, the whole thing wrapped around a central atrium that would become a food garden as soon as the snow had the decency to melt.

This room had been intended as a living-room-slash-kitchen but was being used as a conference room for Hazō in his role as Clan Head. It was spacious, with a door out to the hallway and another to the inner 'bedroom' that had been revamped into a high-security shield room for particularly sensitive discussions. Hazō had opted to skip the average Clan Head's "massive desk that makes me look impressive" setup, since Mari had informed him that his teenage frame could not pull it off and would instead make him look like a child in his father's chair.

No, Hazō had no desk, preferring instead a low coffee table with a three-person couch and four chairs. A lap desk allowed for work to happen anywhere in the room.

Click to shrink...

IIRC this is the most description we get of the Goketsu family home; I don't recall the Goketsu family home described in any more detail.

 

[roobee]

We ever talk to asuma of transferring our debt from oro to shimura estate? Or we just been squatting?

 

[faflec]

@faflec Remind me what details we have on the Gōketsu home? They used MEW to build a lot of housing for the civilian clan members and everyone else living on the estate, but I'm not sure what we've said about the actual family dwelling.

Click to shrink...

@huhYeahGoodPoint gave a good description of the Gouketsu's home itself, but I've also included other stuff on the grounds and etc., like the dining hall, hospital, treasury, etc..

Spoiler: Every single quote I could find on the Gouketsu estate

The second once was a clan compound, but was unwisely built right next to the Forest of Death, surrounded by it on two sides. The minor clan who lived there disappeared one day, and nobody else has been willing to take their place and entrust their survival to protective seals which clearly didn't do the job last time.

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Note that the Shimura estate is outside the walls, and quite expansive. Also fairly cheap for its size.

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You have successfully taken over the Shimura compound and constructed temporary shelters as necessary. Naruto was surprised, but doesn't really care, and in fact has been treating you with pointed disinterest at best. He has refused to listen to all but the most reasonable requests, but has kept you up to date on relevant messages passed through the Naruto Emergency Network. In theory, he would also be passing on reports from you, but nobody cares how rescue of civilians is going. Meanwhile, he has conveyed the following:

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The former Shimura clan's estate lay outside of Leaf, sprawling north for a triple-dozen acres from where its south edge abutted the city's wall. The Shimura weren't using the land anymore, seeing as the last member of the clan, Shimura Danzō, had died more than a decade ago due to a terminal case of stupidity. (He forgot to check his fences enough; one fine night, something got in and ate him.) The house had fallen to ruin, even more than the Gōketsu-now-Orochimaru estate had been, and barely even constituted a shelter at this point. The walls had huge holes in them that had let in the weather and rotted the floor. The roof sagged where it hadn't collapsed and the sky was visible from every room. The four-poster bed from the second-floor master bedroom now held ruined court over the first-floor dining hall after the complete collapse of the bedroom's floor. There were animal nests and bird droppings everywhere.

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The civilians were even more of a mixed bag. Young and old, male and female, formerly rich and always poor, they covered the gamut. Many of them sat, shivering and staring into the distance, overwhelmed by the utter destruction of their family and property. Some tried to help, responding to orders and doing their best at the tasks they were assigned...except when they broke down sobbing. Others moved purposefully, grim expressions showing the pain that was locked away to be dealt with later. Through a tired haze, Hazō found himself surprised by who fell into each group. More of the functional were women than men, and the biggest and strongest of either sex were not always among the mental survivors. The children seemed more resilient than the parents; five- and six-year-olds were collecting sticks for the fires, carefully guarded by an Academy-student ninja barely older than themselves, or by one of the chūnin too old or too crippled to do anything more active. Teenagers swung mattocks, wielded hammers, and thatched whatever roofs could be assembled. The whole place looked like one of Wind Country's storied tornados had gone through a junkyard and thrown together a refugee camp. Still, it was enough that everyone had slept warm and dry last night—or, at least, close enough to warm and dry that they hadn't died of exposure. The shelters were being steadily improved and would soon be more comfortable

Click to shrink...

The Gōketsu 'dining room' (and sleeping quarters, and and and...) was a large canvas tent squatting in the middle of the Forest of Death a mile outside the walls of Leaf on land that the clan did not, speaking very technically, own. Still, it was what they had and there was nothing to do but make the best of it. Especially since the several hundred people, civilians and ninja both, who shared the encampment had nothing better. Mari had complimented Hazō on recognizing the wisdom of ensuring that the Gōketsu quarters were larger but not better than anyone else's; it struck, she said, a good balance between projecting authority and importance while also demonstrating solidarity and concern.

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• 506 civilians. Many of them have useful skills (carpenters, scribes, etc) but at least a third are too old, too young, or too infirm to be useful. Additionally, twelve of them are extremely pregnant, due to give birth sometime in the next week or two
• 39 ninja:
  • 2 Academy students, ages seven and nine
  • 31 genin, ages twelve to sixteen
  • 1 medically-retired chūnin with palsy and the beginnings of dementia
  • 3 semi-crippled chūnin (missing leg; missing arm; horrific burns down her entire right side)
  • 2 young, healthy chūnin who were probably skinwastes These two moved back into the city after finding that some family they had thought were dead were in fact still alive.
  • 2 mature and competent chūnin: Atomu and Reo. They are both in their early thirties, charismatic and organized enough that you can delegate some leadership tasks to them. Reo is missing his right leg above the knee and is therefore not fully combat capable, although as a ninjutsu-spec he has more ability than he would if he were taijutsu-spec.
• An encampment about 120m by 50m (about 1.5 acres, slightly larger than a football field) that's been cleared of threats.
• A granite wall 2m high and 0.25m thick that surrounds the entire area. This is courtesy of Hazō's MEW jutsu and a bunch of donated chakra that you got from your various ninja by way of Noburi.
• Another 30-something acres of land that officially belong to the Shimura estate
• Essentially as much unclaimed virgin forest as you might want to expand into

Click to shrink...

Hazō spent the rest of Feb 19 meeting and greeting as many of the people on the Gōketsu estate as possible and got through about a third of them. A chūnin with MEW showed up and, at Hazō's direction and with chakra supplied by various hired ninja, was able to build the first of a set of modular buildings that will provide four sets of comfortable two-room apartments, each room large enough that you could house four people in it if you used bunk beds and didn't mind being crowded. Each building is done in a hollow square; in the center of the square is a shared kitchen and dining area.

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Aya's left hand pressed against her leg, fingers automatically wrapping around the smooth metal of the chain whip holstered there...and then releasing. Just a softfoot fetching wood for his fire from one of the communal stacks distributed around the camp.

The piles were massive, ten to fifteen feet high and wide enough to be stable, with tarps draped casually over them to keep rain or snow off. Some of the components were huge tree limbs, or even ratty-ended cross sections of trunk. They hadn't been cut with an axe, or anything as clean as a wind jutsu, so she was at a bit of a loss as to how they'd been sectioned in the first place.

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The boy glanced up at the sun. "Oops, we should go, ma'am! We'll be late if we don't hurry." He shifted up into a fast jog, aiming for the big stone building on the far side of the camp. She followed along wordlessly, studying the thing as they approached; large, seamless and therefore presumably constructed with jutsu. Most of the windows were a little crooked, not perfect rectangles, and covered over with waxed paper that would have been translucent at best. There must have been a monumental amount of effort put into this, with multiple ninja using whatever the jutsu was over and over for several days. It was squat, square(ish), and loomed like a red-granite monolith to the ego of a teenage Clan Head.

Click to shrink...

"Please, take a seat," he said, waving her to a camp chair in front of a beat-up wooden desk piled high with papers. He dropped into one on the other side and pulled a dossier towards himself. Carefully, she sank into the chair. It put her back to the door, which made her skin crawl. Her left hand tightened around the smooth metal of her chain whip's handle until her knuckles were white, but she forced herself to do as she'd been ordered.

Click to shrink...

She turned sideways in her chair, draping her legs over the arm of her chair so she could conveniently set her drink on the floor. She let her head tip back so that she was looking thoughtfully up at the as-yet-unpainted granite ceiling of their new quarters.

Click to shrink...

The dwellings on the Gōketsu estate had been 'built' through use of the Multiple Earth Wall and a ton of chakra, purchased from various off-duty ninja around Leaf and transmitted via the ever-snarky Noburi. The design intent had been to get shelter for several hundred people as quickly as possible in the middle of winter; speed had been more of a focus than beauty. Each of the various buildings was as identical as cookie-cutter cookies, made unique only by their minor imperfections; none of the floors were perfectly level, since the jutsu insisted that 'walls' needed to always go up, even if only at a very low angle and by the tiniest margin. Many of the walls were slightly crooked—not because the jutsu required it but because the builder had been sloppy. It was all functional and perfectly livable, merely...unique.

The Gōketsu nuclear family had a complex to themselves, three stories high instead of two. Four apartments to a floor, two rooms to an apartment, the whole thing wrapped around a central atrium that would become a food garden as soon as the snow had the decency to melt.

This room had been intended as a living-room-slash-kitchen but was being used as a conference room for Hazō in his role as Clan Head. It was spacious, with a door out to the hallway and another to the inner 'bedroom' that had been revamped into a high-security shield room for particularly sensitive discussions. Hazō had opted to skip the average Clan Head's "massive desk that makes me look impressive" setup, since Mari had informed him that his teenage frame could not pull it off and would instead make him look like a child in his father's chair.

No, Hazō had no desk, preferring instead a low coffee table with a three-person couch and four chairs. A lap desk allowed for work to happen anywhere in the room.

Click to shrink...

Interlude: The Strange Life of Gōketsu Haru

"Is there anything else, sir?" the foreman of the movers asked Haru politely. The crew had been waiting outside when Hazō showed up. The Clan Head prick had gotten everything started and then bounced, too important to do anything as unpleasant as packing.

Granted, the movers hadn't wanted Haru or his family to do any of the packing, either. The foreman had politely suggested that they focus on directing and let the workers take care of actually putting things in boxes and the boxes into storage seals. It was a strange world.

Haru looked over at his father.

"No, thank you," Dad said to the mover. "That was the last of it. So...now we just walk over to the compound?"

The foreman nodded. "Yes sir. They've been getting your quarters set up, so I imagine it will be ready by the time we get there. Nothing special—just airing the place out, running a broom over it in case any dust got in, setting up the braziers and the Purifier seals, that kind of thing."

Dad tilted his head in surprise. "Purifier seals?"

"Yes sir. It's got some long name that I can't remember, but we just call them Purifier seals. You point them at a brazier and it sucks up all the smoke and makes it vanish. Really handy."

"They're...giving us seals to handle the smoke from the fireplace? Instead of just a chimney?"

"The chimneys haven't been installed yet, sir. Apparently it's hard to include them in the jutsu that they used to make the family residence. I think M'Lord intends to install proper chimneys once spring rolls around, but doing it in the winter was going to leave the quarters too cold for too long."

"I...see."

"The factor has already settled your rent and will deal with any wrap-up with the landlord, sir. Shall we?"

"After you."

o-o-o-o

"This is the dining hall," their guide (Hiroe?) said, gesturing unnecessarily at the massive room they had just walked into. A mismatched collection of furniture—some long rectangular tables with benches, plus some smaller round tables with chairs, plus some low tables with cushions for those who preferred to eat seiza—made the place feel oddly homey. Each table had one or more baskets containing chopsticks and each place at each table was set with a linen napkin and a cup. The cups and chopsticks were again mismatched, presumably the product of someone going through every shop in town and cleaning them out of their current stock. At least a hundred people, most of them civilians, were eating and talking in various clusters around the room.

"So...where does the food come from?" Haru asked, looking around. There was a notable lack of tubs or pots.

"Right over here, My Lord," their escort said. She was an attractive blonde, a few years older than Haru, wearing a blue-and-green silk kimono with a large Gōketsu mon on the back and a smaller version over the heart. She smiled and gestured to a set of long tables against one wall. A grey-haired old man with a Leaf headband and a small tremor through his whole body sat in a chair at the end farthest from the door. There was no food or place settings on the table.

Haru and his family followed her over to the tables, which turned out to be completely covered in storage seals, each labeled with the name of a dish. As they approached, a civilian twenty-something who had been sitting and chatting quietly with a trio of friends stood up and approached.

"Good afternoon," he said, smiling. "Welcome to the Gōketsu dining hall. I'm Futoshi, one of the docents. If you need any help reading the papers, just let me know."

Eri, the useless illiterate, picked up one of the papers and stared in confusion. Behind her, Hiroyo and Airi crowded close to see. The two girls had been meek as mice ever since they arrived on the Gōketsu estate, but natural curiosity was starting to assert itself.

The 'docent', whatever that was, peeked over Eri's shoulder. "Chicken stew with peas and rice, ma'am," he said helpfully. "Also bread, a green salad, ginger ice cream, and hot apple cider. I've had the stew; it's tasty, but that particular seal is from the Blue Sky batch. A little overseasoned as I recall." He moved a few steps down the table and picked up another seal. "If you want the stew, may I recommend this one? Summer Day is a little lighter on the curry and leans more on the rosemary. Much better in my opinion."

Haru looked down the fifty-foot line of tables. Every square inch was covered with seals.

"You use storage seals for food in your cafeteria?"

"Yes sir," Futoshi said.

"'My Lord'," probably-Hiroe corrected. "This is Lord Gōketsu Haru and his family."

Futoshi's smile slipped and he swallowed nervously and touched his forehead in apologetic salute. "Sorry, My Lord. No offense intended, if you please."

"It's fine," Haru said faintly. "The seals?"

"Oh! Right. Yes, all the food is kept in seals until it's ready to be eaten. It keeps the vegetables fresh, the hot things stay hot, the cold things stay cold. Please select whatever you'd like. Gakuto there"—he gestured to the palsied ninja against the far wall, sitting and rocking while staring vaguely around—"will operate the seals for civilian diners. The dining hall is open 24/7 and there's always a ninja on duty, as well as three of us docents to read for anyone who needs it. The food is all in closed-top bento boxes to shield against storage stress; when you're done if you could please bring them back to be sealed up again, then put them in that bin against the wall. There's a reasonable variety—the kitchen staff makes new stuff all the time, so we build up an assortment of things. They take requests during daylight hours, so if you want something specific that you can't find on the tables you can ask a docent and we'll go have the kitchen make it special." He shrugged. "It obviously takes longer, but it's no trouble."

Haru looked helplessly at his father; the other man offered a bemused shrug.

"Thank you," Haru said. He looked down at the papers and grabbed the first thing that seemed interesting: braised river bass with rice and a honey glaze, salad, rice pudding, and hot apple cider. The docent led the rest of the family down the table, reading off the labels on each paper and suggesting options based on surprisingly detailed knowledge of the contents.

Hiroe waited until everyone was food-equipped and then gestured to an unoccupied table. "Shall we sit?" she asked brightly.

o-o-o-o

Eating attractively-portioned food out of a storage seal in a massive dining hall was only the first of the surprises. Once they were done, Hiroe led them on a tour of the grounds.

"This is the children's school," she said, gesturing to a modest granite building. "Everyone from six to twelve is expected to attend six days out of seven." She turned her nigh-constant smile on Airi and Hiroyo. "That would be you guys! You'll have a great time, I promise. There's lots of other kids to make friends with and you'll be learning reading and numbers and exercising and stuff."

Haru frowned. "They aren't ninja."

"Oh, it's not like the Academy, My Lord. Well, maybe a little. I think Lord Gōketsu based it on his own schooling but the physical side is scaled down. Stretching and slow tai chi instead of actual taijutsu, monkey bars and plum blossom piles without the spikes, that kind of thing. That's only an hour a day, though. The majority of the time is reading, numbers, history, 'critical thinking skills', that kind of thing."

"'Critical thinking skills'?" Emi asked. "What's that?"

Hiroe gave an embarrassed shrug. "I'm still learning it myself, ma'am. It seems to be about how to make good decisions." She turned and pointed at a much larger building a short way off. "That's the university, the school for grownups. There's three tracks for morning, afternoon, and evening; you can attend whichever one your schedule allows and each track has a beginner, intermediate, and advanced session. There's also two professors on the estate who are teaching special-study seminars." She furrowed her brow in thought. "I think one of them was poetry and one was engineering?"

"How much does it cost?" Haru asked.

"Oh, it's free, My Lord. In fact, it's mandatory for grownups until they can pass a basic literacy and numbers test. You need to attend at least one per day until you can test out but you're welcome to stay for more whenever your duties allow. They take roll and keep track of who has passed their test and who hasn't. If you skip too many classes you'll be called in for disciplinary action."

Dad stiffened. "Disciplinary action? Like...flogging?"

"Oh, no sir! No, things like unpleasant chores or enforced calisthenics. Oh, speaking of which, we should get you all over to the hospital for delousing and a checkup. It's standard for all new arrivals. Right this way!"

o-o-o-o

Like every ninja, Haru was all too familiar with medic-nin and their hurried, grumpy attitudes. It was no big deal to sit where the chūnin growled at him to sit, be still while the man ran a glowing-green hand over Haru, and then to 'get off my table' when barked at. It was a bit harder for Airi, who cowered back from the ninja doctor's headband.

"Look, girl, I don't have all day!" the man snapped. "I've got an entire waiting room full of mudsacks with boo-boos and sniffles that I'm expected to get through today. Get on the damn table!"

Haru interposed himself between the doctor and his now-crying stepsister. "Excuse me, sir. I've got this." He turned to Airi (taking care to keep the doctor in his peripheral vision because ninja) and squatted down to be at her eye-level. "It's okay, Little Pearl. He's not going to hurt you, he's just going to make sure you're feeling okay."

Airi forced herself into his arms and buried her face against his shoulder. "I don't want to!"

"Shh, it's okay," he promised, patting her back. "I promise, it'll be fine. He's not even going to touch you, okay? He's just going to make his hands glow and put them near you to check you over. It's a cool ninja trick, like when I walk on the ceiling."

"Hurry it up," the doctor growled. "I've got a lunch date and I need to get through your brat and six more before I'm allowed to leave."

Airi cried harder, but she didn't resist when Haru picked her up and set her on the doctor's padded table. He rubbed her back until the sobs turned to sniffles, then kept a hand on her shoulder while the doctor scanned her. The whole procedure was over in less than a minute.

"Her humors are unbalanced and it's giving her a fever," the doctor said. "I drove off most of the spirits but she'll need to come back tomorrow and the next day to be sure they haven't spawned."

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now get the fuck out."

o-o-o-o

"And here is the treasury," Hiroe said, leading them inside another of the granite buildings. "It's also the estate store, where you can buy most things you'll need. You're obviously welcome to go into the city, but the clan can get better prices on most things. We have professional hagglers on staff, so you can ask them to go with you for shopping trips in the city if you like." She grinned. "Granny Mayuka is amazing! We haven't had a lot of new arrivals lately, so last week I was assigned to the supply staff; I was doing a run into Leaf to get ingredients for the kitchens and she went with me. The merchants were terrified."

"'New arrivals'?" Dad asked.

"Oh, right, I didn't explain. Gosh, I'm such a ditz. I swear, if my head weren't nailed to my shoulders I'd leave it somewhere. Right, I'm primarily on New Arrivals duty. When people move onto the estate I help them get set up. Make sure they know where everything is and what's expected, find out their job skills so we can assign them properly, that kind of thing."

"You get a lot of new arrivals?"

Hiroe shrugged. "Not so much anymore, but a few. Lord Gōketsu wants to grow the clan; he's had us hitting up the orphanages and convincing tradesmen to join up. Work houses, too. Anyone with actual skills, we buy their debt and move them here."

"I...see."

"Anyway, as a member of Lord Haru's immediate family you'll be given a stipend of three thousand ryō, plus an extra fifteen hundred for your three dependents. You'll still be paid for your work, of course. The stipend is purely supplementary."

"You're...you're going to give me almost five thousand ryō just for moving here?!"

"Oh, no sir! No, that's just the weekly stipend. The moving bonus is fifty thousand for each civilian member of a ninja's family."

"...I think I need to sit down."

---

Voting is still closed.

Click to shrink...

 

[faflec]

We ever talk to asuma of transferring our debt from oro to shimura estate? Or we just been squatting?

Click to shrink...

He is willing to accept a transfer of mortgage from the Orochimaru estate to the Gōketsu estate, but is not going to fight Orochimaru over whatever back rent etc. the latter feels you owe him.

Click to shrink...

We ended up doing this IIRC.

 

[eaglejarl]

@faflec and @huhYeahGoodPoint : Thank you both to the tune of 2 XP.

 

[Kiba]

Oh my, I did not know we already had nearly 600 individuals on the estate early on. I revised my headcanon figure of Goketsu estate to at least over 700 now to account for aggressive recruitment of civilians with skills.

 

[RandomOTP]

Oh my, I did not know we already had nearly 600 individuals on the estate early on. I revised my headcanon figure of Goketsu estate to at least over 700 now to account for aggressive recruitment of civilians with skills.

Click to shrink...

Rereading about the civilian academy and the university made me smile. Hazou's so caught up in the ninja-aspect of being a clan head that it's hard to remember all of the good we've done for the civilians. I wonder when he'll start to see an influx of highly-skilled workers --what with the university existing. Furthermore, I wonder if the Tower will institute something similar to it, once they realize how beneficial it is... if they come to us for advice, we should point them to Kagome. It's a little bit of petty revenge, but he's also a genuinely good teacher with a passion for education.

 

[Kiba]

Rereading about the civilian academy and the university made me smile. Hazou's so caught up in the ninja-aspect of being a clan head that it's hard to remember all of the good we've done for the civilians. I wonder when he'll start to see an influx of highly-skilled workers --what with the university existing. Furthermore, I wonder if the Tower will institute something similar to it, once they realize how beneficial it is... if they come to us for advice, we should point them to Kagome. It's a little bit of petty revenge, but he's also a genuinely good teacher with a passion for education.

Click to shrink...

AFAIK, Kagome doesn't teach anyone at our university.

 

[RandomOTP]

AFAIK, Kagome doesn't teach anyone at our university.

Click to shrink...

I didn't think that he would, but given his views on the Leaf's ninja academy --and not to mention how much he loves teach Honoka, and the clanless sealscribes --I think it's more likely than not that Kagome would get involved with the Goketsu university/academy, even if it was just at the beginning. Passing on how to teach, the way to build a proper lesson plan, the best ways to deal with certain kinds of students, that sort of thing.

I'm not saying that Kagome gives lectures --though I'd pay to sit in one of those, not going to lie --but I think he was more of a founding advisor. With his success in teaching Honoka and the three sealscribes (or is it sealsmiths? They're not "masters", just yet) it's clear that Kagome knows what he's doing and that he genuinely loves doing it. I don't think that even Mari could stop Kagome from getting involved --if only to keep it from becoming "like the stinking Leaf's stupid stinking Academy."

 

[faflec]

I didn't think that he would, but given his views on the Leaf's ninja academy --and not to mention how much he loves teach Honoka, and the civilian sealscribes --I think it's more likely than not that Kagome would get involved with the Goketsu university/academy, even if it was just at the beginning. Passing on how to teach, the way to build a proper lesson plan, the best ways to deal with certain kinds of students, that sort of thing.

I'm not saying that Kagome gives lectures --though I'd pay to sit in one of those, not going to lie --but I think he was more of a founding advisor. With his success in teaching Honoka and the three sealscribes (or is it sealsmiths? They're not masters, just yet) it's clear that Kagome knows what he's doing and that he genuinely loves doing it. I don't think that even Mari could stop Kagome from getting involved --if only to keep it from becoming "like the stinking Leaf's stupid stinking Academy."

Click to shrink...

So like the administrative head.

 

[RandomOTP]

So like the administrative head.

Click to shrink...

That's the word! Jesus, I'm bad with words today. Thanks!

 

[Kiba]

and the civilian sealscribes

Click to shrink...

There's no such thing as civilian sealmaster.

 

[faflec]

There's no such thing as civilian sealmaster.

Click to shrink...

I think @RandomOTP is talking about Genda, Sugiyama, Jinno, and Reo.

 

[RandomOTP]

There's no such thing as civilian sealmaster.

Click to shrink...

I didn't think that he would, but given his views on the Leaf's ninja academy --and not to mention how much he loves teach Honoka, and the clanless sealscribes --I think it's more likely than not that Kagome would get involved with the Goketsu university/academy, even if it was just at the beginning.

Click to shrink...

Fixed.

 

[faflec]

Was rereading through the Honoka interludes and found this:

"People here in Leaf just amaze me. They know how to make clothes, or lumber, or rope, but they mostly only know one thing. Enough people don't want to cook, or don't know how, that there are dozens of restaurants. The restaurants and the rich people throw out food. Most people here buy stuff instead of making it—because they don't know how to make it. Jiraiya's a good example; he'll buy a bottle of sake and then throw out the bottle when he's drunk the sake. Mari does some of that too; she was civilian-born, but I think her family were pretty well off because she never really got in the habit of appreciating things. Or maybe she just spent too much time being a jōnin and a beautiful woman. Life is easier for beautiful people, and jōnin are never poor. Anyway, her slippers wore out, so she threw them out and bought a new pair. I saved the old ones; a little resoling, add some more fleece inside, they'll be good as new. Be a nice present later.

"So, yes. I use the oddments when I'm learning how to knit, because why spend money on good yarn when I'm just going to bog it up? Besides, if I'm ever back in the woods it'll be easy to make short bits of yarn but a pain to make long ones. Best learn what I'll need to know now, when life is easy."

Honoka said nothing, thinking about that. Food never got wasted in their house and Mom and Dad worked hard, all the time. They didn't make their clothes, or their furniture, but nothing got thrown out if a use could be found for it. They didn't tend to fix their own things—one of the uncles would come over to do that, or occasionally someone would be hired—but Dad probably knew how to fix them because Dad knew all kinds of things. They didn't fix them because there was no time to fix them. Dad was at the store from before dawn to well after dark, every day. Mom took washing for a lot of the clan families and the rich civilians, and helped Dad in the shop, and did all the shopping and cooking, and took care of the house, and was always there to pick up Honoka after school (until Kagome-sensei had shyly asked if he could do it instead). Both parents, but mostly Mom, would sit with her and make sure she learned her numbers and reading, and they would tell her stories after she was in bed. Mom would knit whenever her hands weren't busy with something else, but while doing all of that, where was there time to make the yarn?

Click to shrink...

We should probably arrange for the Church of Youth to help collect the thrown-out food and distribute it to the poor. Would really help people.

I'd have offered to have the Gouketsu do that, but blah blah clans accepting cast-offs blah blah shame shame shame

 

[RandomOTP]

Was rereading through the Honoka interludes and found this:

We should probably arrange for the Church of Youth to help collect the thrown-out food and distribute it to the poor. Would really help people.

I'd have offered to have the Gouketsu do that, but blah blah clans accepting cast-offs blah blah shame shame shame

Click to shrink...

Maybe it's something we could suggest to Ino, or Shikamaru? They're connected to the Aikimichi through Choji, right? And those clans have a more "progressive" reputation as opposed the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, who have a more "traditional" reputation. It'd certainly be worth a conversation. I'm going to add it to my long term list, so that I don't forget it.

 

[Kiba]

Was rereading through the Honoka interludes and found this:

We should probably arrange for the Church of Youth to help collect the thrown-out food and distribute it to the poor. Would really help people.

I'd have offered to have the Gouketsu do that, but blah blah clans accepting cast-offs blah blah shame shame shame

Click to shrink...

I was thinking business opportunities. We can figure out how to make money by recycling materials or fixing things up and reselling them. Ditto for food.

Heck, with grocery, you shouldn't see people throwing out food due to our Storage Bank business.

 

[roobee]

when we become S-rank, bringing world peace via the following would be easier

show ninjas how useful civilians all: already implemented with civilian research teams
arm civilians with weapons: see research on seal guns. work on plan that doesn't require sealmaster bottleneck. alternatives: poison training.

immortality, jutsu for economics for post scarcity society, and afterlife research: seek help from orochimaru. we've also read (?) one of his journals. if everyone has everything they want and can't die there's no point in fighting. also even jiraiya agreed the first village to use chakra for economics would quickly become a military superpower, and is part of the reason why Leaf is so strong. he said the reason why not done yet is the other villages would gang up. work on diplomacy.

learn from history: 1st hokage ended warring clans and gave civilians better treatment with no killing civies rule. jiraiya treats his spys well. tsunade helps medicine. all ninja with strong power but not necessarily great rulers.

learn from present: the 7th path seems to be much more peaceful, with notable exceptions (Pangolins). how do they do it? the yakuza, for all their vices, have clawed out some luxury for civilians in a harsh world with cleverness and loyalty. can train more civilians in this way, and to spread the loyalty to all civilians?

seek the sage of the 6th paths.
gather all the Five together. they have a higher hidden purpose?
threaten all the villages. whichever village starts a war Akatsuki will attack.
cultural exchange. ninja children mingle in each village to learn culture, when still young enough they don't have absolute loyalty to a single village yet. intervillage bonds.
go to another continent. see if there is a empire we can surrender to.
hiring the pangolins to kill all the chakra beasts. using chakra of the dead corpses to summon more pangolins.
genjutsu the world into a paradise

Click to shrink...

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 345: A Perilous Offer​

Hazō stared at Ami's note as though it were an enemy from whose brain secrets could be torn with sufficient careful scrutiny. "I...I don't—"

He forced himself to take a breath and gather his thoughts.

"I don't know what this is about," he said, once he was feeling calmer. "Whatever it is, it sounds bad and we need to get ahead of it. C'mon." He stood and strode for the family manor, Keiko trailing in his wake and wringing her hands.

It was evening but the estate was still relatively busy, so the two ninja held their peace. People bowed respectfully and tugged their forelocks as Hazō and Keiko went by. He was pleased to note that they offered smiles with the bows and, while they gave way, they didn't cower aside as he passed.

"Good evening, M'Lord!" said Yasuro, one of the civilian guards who bracketed the door of the manor. ("Manor" being a somewhat elaborate name for what was outwardly much like the other squat granite apartments, albeit larger and three stories instead of two.) They wore red-and-green sashes to show their status as Household Guard and they carried spears and guarded the front door but everyone knew that they were purely ceremonial; they were hardly going to stop any force that could credibly threaten an entire family of ninja—especially Team Uplift in the seat of their power. No, their primary purpose was to keep the area around the door from getting crowded, either with well-wishers or supplicants.

Hazō nodded to the two men. "Hideko, Yasuro."

Hideko had pushed the door open by the time Hazō and Keiko got there, and was awkwardly holding it with one arm so as to be out of the way. Keiko shrank aside from the man's arm as she went inside.

Hazō toed his sandals off and set them on the rack, then led Keiko through the short series of switchbacks that led from the entry hall into the main part of the complex. Kagome-sensei had been adamant that there be plenty of room for Force Walls, explosives, and other defensive measures, as well as endless interlocking loops of Five-Seal-Barrier-equipped wire hung on the walls and floor of the 'maze' to prevent anyone from tunneling through it in order to bypass the traps. Allowing room for the expansive multi-part seal had required making the entryway and switchbacks two stories high, which always made Hazō feel like he was walking through a normal hallway after being shrunk. Granted, most normal hallways didn't have anti-wallwalking spikes on the ceiling or the upper half of the walls.

It was early, so Kagome-sensei had not yet activated the defenses and Hazō and Keiko were able to reach their cavernous living room without incident. Hazō casually tossed a training explosive in the air, then focused on poking up the fire in the granite fire pit at the center of the room. He also made sure that the Usamatsu's Glorious Life-Saving Purifiers were on and properly aimed so that the family didn't get smoked out.

In most households, using explosives as a "Gather in the living room" signal would have been considered bizarre and never allowed. In the Gōketsu household, it was only allowed on days that ended in 'y'.

Within moments, the family was distributed around the various pieces of furniture that encircled the fire pit—Keiko, Noburi, and Hazō preferring armchairs while Akane, Mari, and Kagome shared the sofa. Ami's note was passed around and carefully examined. Complicated expressions were held.

"Well?" Keiko demanded. "What do we do?"

"We don't actually know there's a problem," Mari pointed out. "She's an ambassador, which is an archaic word for 'guardian of messages between rulers'"—she chuckled—"or, depending on the kanji used, it can also mean 'spy who hides in the light'. Regardless, she was recalled urgently. That sometimes happens with anyone who travels for the administration. She's also the head of the AMI; it's quite possible that Ren needed her to mediate some conflict. There's plenty of reasons this could happen that aren't bad."

"One does not end a letter with I will always love you if things are expected to go well!"

"No, but expectations aren't the same thing as reality," Hazō said.

"As you have had repeated occasion to learn," Noburi said, grinning.

"Noburi! Focus, please. Ami is in trouble and I need you to be on this task."

"Seriously, Keiko, I don't know what you want me to say. Let's talk to Asuma; we'll need his permission for anything we do that affects Mist in any way, so that's the place to start. Right, Hazō?"

Hazō bit his lip, remembering the killbox. A shiver went down his spine and, for just a moment, the world thinned around him, becoming 4s unr!eal as a chiiiild's d.d.d.dream.

He shook it off and snapped back to normal reality to find everyone staring at him intently.

"Sorry. I...uh...Keiko, I think—"

His inchoate stumbling was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Keiko's face lit up like the sun and then she was gone in the blink of a chakra-boosted eye, sprinting out of the room and through the defensive switchbacks that led to the entrance.

She flung the portal open in excitement. "Ami, you're back! What—" She stumbled to a halt as she saw the man on the step. The distinctly not-Ami man. The man with the Mist forehead protector and the barrel on his back.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

"Pardon, ma'am," Captain Atomu said. He was standing slightly behind and to the side of their visitor, in perfect position to stab him in the neck if he tried anything threatening. "This brat here wanted to meet with Lord Gōketsu. Some sort of deal, apparently."

The blond foreigner turned and raised an eyebrow at his escort. "'Brat'? I'm nineteen!" He shook his head and gave an exaggerated sigh. "I had heard that Leaf had different ways, but you don't refer to the future heir of a major clan as 'Lord'?"

"Not when it's a shit-lousy Mist clan I don't." Atomu spat contemptuously to one side. "You fish fuckers aren't fit to lick my Lord's sandals, let alone share his title."

Wakahisa laughed. "Now, don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel." He frowned in mock-confusion. "Hey, don't I recall that some of your family came from Mist?" He nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah...I think one of them was named Haze? Hazoo? Something like that." He looked up at the sky, tapping his chin with one finger in thought. "Hang on, it'll come to me...."

Atomu glowered murderously. "He was never truly Mist, you trickle-pisser. He was a Leaf agent from the beginning, because he knew what a bunch of filthy—"

"Is there a problem?" Hazō asked, stepping into view in the doorway. Keiko was blocking the way so he couldn't actually cross the threshold without brushing past her, but it seemed like a good time to interject.

"No problem, My Lord," Atomu said through gritted teeth. "Wakahisa Yasuji, ninja of the Mist"—his lip curled as if smelling something foul when he gestured towards the visitor—"wished to speak with you. Would you like to talk to this...person, or should I remove him?" It was very clear which answer he was hoping for.

"Your pardon, Lady Nara," Wakahisa said quickly, "I didn't mean to ignore you. What I have to say could include you as well, if you're willing. Or, rather, it could include your sister."

"Inside, now." Keiko stepped out of the way, yanking the door wide as she did and pointing imperiously within.

"Thank you, Atomu," Hazō said, nodding to his lieutenant. "I think we can take it from here."

"Yes, thank you, Atomu," Wakahisa said. "You fulfilled your escort duties to the very best of your abilities." He gave Atomu a brilliant and only slightly smug smile, then stepped across the threshold.

Atomu growled but said nothing, choosing instead to salute his Clan Head, turn on his heel, and stomp away.

"Hey, who's at—Yasuji?" Noburi, having just sauntered in to see what was going on, stopped in his tracks. "What are you doing here?"

"Cousin! So glad to see you. Glad you're here, since this is really going to interest you."

Noburi clearly did not share his cousin's gladness. "That's not an answer. Why are you here?"

"Now c'mon...is that any way to talk to the new Ambassador from Mist?" He really leaned into the audibly-capital letter on his job title. "I'm here to talk with your Clan Head, of course. All in the interest of trade and good relations."

"You're the ambassador from Mist? Did I fall through one of those rifts that Hazō keeps tearing open? Is this some weird backwards universe?"

Wakahisa shrugged. "Okay, junior member of a two-man team. Still, official Ambassador with authority to negotiate."

"What about my sister?!" Keiko demanded.

Wakahisa gave her a small bow of the head. "Of course, my apologies. Would it be all right if we had this conversation somewhere that isn't the entryway? A spot of tea wouldn't be so bad either."

Keiko's eyes narrowed. "Very well. Follow."

And thus Gōketsu Hazō found himself trailing Nara Keiko as she led them all into the Gōketsu family residence.

She brought them to the living room and unsealed a teaset complete with several steaming cups. She took one and sat down, rolling the cup back and forth between her fingers while glaring fixedly at the new arrival. "You have your tea. Talk."

"Good evening," Mari said, smiling brightly and keeping a tight grip on Kagome's arm. "And who might you be?"

Wakahisa's eyes widened very slightly when he saw Mari and a wide, confident smile wrapped itself across his features. "I would be Wakahisa Yasuji, O Heavenly One. Secondary heir to the Wakahisa Clan, Ambassador to Mist. And whom do I have the absolute delight of meeting?"

"Lady Gōketsu Mari, matriarch of Gōketsu, former jōnin of Mist," Mari said, her own lips curving in an expression that was entirely too welcoming for Hazō's comfort. The way she eyed Wakahisa's tall, well-muscled frame didn't make Hazō feel entirely comfortable, especially when he remembered that Mari and Wakahisa were actually not that far apart in age...oh, Sage, she was extending her hand, palm down.

Wakahisa stepped forward and took her fingers in his own, bowing so he could brush his lips across her knuckles. He never once took his eyes off hers and the smile had acquired a knowing tilt. "Well, Lady Gōketsu Mari, matriarch of Gōketsu, former jōnin of Mist, it is a true pleasure to meet you. I'm sure your duties keep you very busy but if at some point you could spare an hour or three, I'd be very grateful. New arrival in your beautiful city, don't know where anything is...you know how it goes."

"We'll see," Mari said, reclaiming her hand and still smiling. "You're pretty, but you also need to be interesting," she teased.

"Ah! The sun shines through the clouds and hope is kindled!" He bowed floridly, even adding the extended leg and fancy arm twirls that had been in fashion three hundred years ago. "I shall endeavor to prove my worth, and my interest."

Mari laughed. "Oh, I think the interest is already pretty clear. The interesting, now that's open to debate. I'll give you a chance, though—the 'pretty' part gets you that much."

"Indeed! Well, I shall do my best on that front."

"Why are we not blowing him up?!" Kagome burst out. "He's one of those Mist stinkers! He's probably here to assassinate all of you!"

"Ah, and you must be Lord Gōketsu Kagome," Wakahisa said, undisturbed. He scooped up a tea, shrugged off his barrel, and plopped down into one of the armchairs before leaning back with legs extended and crossed at the ankles. The pose was a nice balancing act between 'I am calm and in control' and 'I have reduced my own mobility in order to demonstrate that I am not a threat.'

"Don't worry," Wakahisa said to Kagome, taking a sip of his tea, "I'm actually here to offer you guys the deal of a century." He waited until Kagome had stopped actively struggling against Mari's restraining grip, and finally turned his gaze to Akane.

"And you, my Amazonian beauty," he said. "What might your name be?"

The light blush on Akane's cheek sent a spike of jealousy through Hazō's stomach. He struggled not to let it show on his face.

"I am Gōketsu Akane. It's nice to meet you, Wakahisa."

"Oh, please: Call me Yasuji. I would hope such a beautiful woman would not feel the need to be so formal. For myself, I would much prefer to be on friendly terms with such a shining example of feminine perfection." His grin somehow managed to make the incredibly cheesy words seem charming.

Akane's blush deepened and a smile twitched at her lips for a moment.

Finally, Wakahisa faced Hazō and bowed, albeit without leaving his "I'm not a threat" position. "And the inimitable Gōketsu Hazō, the man I'm here to see. It's an honor to meet you. I liked your work at the Exams."

"What am I, chopped goose?" Noburi wondered.

Wakahisa chuckled. "Hey, coz, chill. I just walked into a room with a Clan Head, an angry sealmaster, and two of the most beautiful women in the world." He nodded respectfully to Keiko. "In truth, Lady Nara, the sole reason I do not include you in the total is because I would not wish to offend your husband."

Noburi snorted. "And also because she's terrifying."

"And also because she's terrifying." Wakahisa nodded in acknowledgement of basal truth and took a sip of his tea. "This is a lovely blend, but a little smokier than the ones from Mist. If any of you would like a taste of home, I brought some Byakuren's Summer Leaf with me as a gift."

"Leaf is our home," Hazō said coldly. He looked over at Noburi. "Care to fill me in?"

"This is my skinwaste cousin, Yasuji. He and his twin are the third children of Wakahisa Kenichi, the Clan Head. Yasuji is a useless partyboy. Bangs a new girl every week, thinks money spills from the waves, and has an off-and-on relationship with truth."

Wakahisa clutched his chest with the hand not busy holding the teacup. "Nobster! You wound me!"

"Is he wrong?" Akane asked calmly. Hazō was pleased to see that the blush had faded.

"Well, I mean...I suppose if you wanted to go back far enough there might have been one or two indiscretions when I was younger."

"The night before I left Mist for Noodle, I saw you sneaking back into the compound at two in the morning, covered in lipstick and wearing nothing but your pants."

"That wasn't lipstick, it was camoflage paint from training. As to the clothing, I'd just had an enthusiastic sparring session."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Mari murmured.

"You were carrying a giant bottle of whiskey."

"It was a water bottle! From sparring!"

"It said 'Kurohige's Revenge' on the side."

"Bah! If you're going to bring up every little incident then I'm not going to offer you the family secrets."

"He's going to tell us his family secrets and get us all killed!" Kagome-sensei yelped. "He'll say something and then tell his family that we tortured it out of him and then they'll kill us all because that's what people do for family secr—" He cut off as Mari snagged him in a Sunny Day genjutsu to calm him down.

"Kagome-sensei's not wrong," Hazō said, finally sitting down and taking a cup of tea for himself. "Family secrets are serious business and we have no interest in causing problems with the Wakahisa. Keep them to yourself."

"Oh, but you'll want to know this one," Wakahisa said, grinning. "Hey, coz: How's your barrel doing?"

"...What?" Noburi's hand dropped possessively to the barrel sitting beside him.

"How's it doing? Still retaining chakra just as well?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Been a while since you gave it to one of the family coopers for maintenance, yeah?"

"I mean...yeah. So? I've checked it over myself, made sure it's still tight, sanded out the scratches. " He nodded to Kagome. "Besides, with the protections that Kagome built for me, it doesn't really get damaged anymore."

"Sure, but the seals wear out."

Silence reigned.

"Excuse me?" Noburi said at last.

"The seals. On your barrel. They wear out after five or six years and the barrel stops retaining chakra any better than an old canteen. That's why we always have to get our barrels checked over by the family coopers every year. Sure, they tell the wee'uns that the coopers are just inspecting the joints to be sure they're watertight and looking for weak spots—and they do that, sure—but mostly they're refreshing the seals."

"Oh, go fuck yourself with that weak-ass bluff. I've made half a dozen barrels. If they fade, I'll make another."

"Not the seals on a particular barrel, brat. The seals themselves. Or, rather, the specific pattern that you were given. You've only got the one pattern, yes? Make as many copies as you want, they'll all stop working when that pattern expires. Without the clan's coopers to refresh them, you're on borrowed time."

"Kagome?" Mari's tone was worried and all trace of playfulness had been dropped. "Is this possible?"

Kagome nodded slowly, studying Wakahisa. "Maybe. Most seals wear out eventually. Even explosives, although they're simple enough that it takes ages. Storage seals, limited number of activations. Five Seal Barrier wears out after a month of constant activation. Noburi's seals are active all the time, and what they do is complicated, so it makes sense that the seals on a given barrel would expire. The seal design expiring? That's...." He frowned, thinking. "Oh." The frown got deeper. "It depends on how they did it but...yeah, maybe. Risky if they weren't careful, but it could be done. Since these are family-secret seals that are the core of a bloodline, I'd be surprised if they weren't willing to take the risk." He muttered something under his breath. "I'm sorry, Noburi. It never occurred to me, and it should have."

"It's okay," Noburi said. "Not your job, and I'm not convinced that this piece of crap isn't lying through his teeth anyway."

"Now, now. Be fair, coz. Sure—I'll give you 'partyboy and dashing rogue', but I'm not a liar." He raised a hand to cut off the objection. "Not about something like this, where it's important and easy to check. Give me some credit for brains."

Noburi rubbed his jaw sourly. "That's...maybe true." He swallowed nervously. "Hazō...what am I going to do? Without my barrel, I'm useless."

"Bullshit." Hazō gestured as though smacking his brother upside the head despite being out of reach. "Kagome-sensei and I can figure out a new version for you."

Wakahisa laughed. "Good luck with that. People have been trying to steal Wakahisa seals for generations, but somehow no one has done it."

Noburi blanched. "Hazō...I can't...I mean...I can't be useless again."

"Damnit, Nobby," Hazō grumbled. "How many times do we have to tell you that you're useful for you, you twit? Not for your bloodline."

"Excuse me," Keiko said, ice creeping into her tone. "Noburi, I understand your feelings better than anyone in this room and at another time I will be happy to share the few coping strategies I have managed to discover. Although I do not wish to trivialize your concerns, I would ask that you set this topic aside for the moment. We apparently still have years to find a solution, whereas Ami is in trouble now." Her gaze swiveled to Wakahisa. "You will tell me what you know of her. Immediately." The temperature in the room dipped very slightly.

Wakahisa raised his palms defensively. "Whoa, hey, okay! No problem, that's part of what I'm here for. I don't know that much, but I'm glad to share."

He sat forward, setting his teacup on the rim of the firepit so he could lean his elbows on his knees and look serious. "I've worked with various Mori in the past, so I'll start by laying out the facts, since you guys seem to prefer that. Back in Mist, your sister has nibbled around the edges of high-level politics for years, gotten in the way of powerful people's schemes, and managed to get away with it. She behaves in ways that don't fit with her clan, says things that normal people don't say, and generally makes everybody uncomfortable. Then she founded the AMI, undercutting the Mizukage in the process. Here in Leaf she founded the KEI, undercutting the Hokage and improving her own power...but as far as I know she didn't explicitly place that power at the disposal of the Mizukage. She kept it for herself, and you, and Uzumaki. If she were seen as trustworthy and reliable back home then the Mizukage would be doing cartw...would be extremely happy." He paused, a shudder going down the spines of himself and everyone else in the room who had grown up in Mist. The idea of the Mizukage, any Mizukage, turning cartwheels of joy...it was terrifying.

"Anyway, if she were better trusted then the Mizukage would be delighted to have her founding an organization to cause problems for the Hokage. Unfortunately, she's not. People are getting seriously freaked out about now, and the last straw was when word got home that she had convinced the Lady of the Nara and the jinchūriki of the Nine Tails to go on a Summoner-hunting trip with her. Everyone knows how you feel about her, and Uzumaki is a teenage boy that would be easy for her to lead around by his dick. Everyone figured that she'd be coming home with a Summoning contract on top of everything else, so the Mizukage called her home. I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe she gets a stern talking to and sent back, maybe something stronger."

Keiko's face had gone ghost white, her eyes were wide, and despite the warmth of the room she was shivering slightly.

"Mari-sensei?" she asked, looking desperately at her former teacher.

Spoiler: dice

Not shown.

Mari studied the interloper for several long seconds before she spoke. Everyone waited with bated breath, and after a few seconds Wakahisa started to look nervous.

"He's not stupid enough to walk in here and taunt us with Ami's death for no reason," Mari said at last. "He's got something more to say."

Wakahisa let a breath he probably hadn't realized he was holding and then grinned. "Oof! Scared me there for a second, beautiful. I thought maybe you guys were about to kill me."

"The night is young," Hazō noted.

"Hahaha...ha. Right. Um...anyway, where...oh, right. So, here's the deal: My father is in his eighties and not going to be Clan Head for too many more years. After that, my brother becomes Clan Head and I'm the heir."

"The fuck you are," Noburi snapped. "Ginji is the smart twin. Why would they let a fuckup like you run anything?"

"Tsk, tsk. Temper, temper, coz. You've been away for a while, and things change. I've been getting my act together, sprucing up the ol' reputation. Ginji, he's the same old Ginji. Bookworm, grind, but no vision. Sure, he could do the job. The Clan probably wouldn't fall under his rule, but it also wouldn't prosper. Me? I've got vision in spades. Ambition, too. And skills to go with it."

Noburi snorted. "Yeah, but how often is alcohol tolerance a major factor in government?"

"Now, now. Don't be petty just because I never invited you to the parties. I'm a ninja, nineteen, and not dead. That should say everything necessary about my skills."

"Oh, please! You never—"

"Peace, Noburi," Mari said. "He's spinning but not lying. I did a workup on him at one point—superficial only, since we almost immediately realized that his background didn't fit the mission parameters. Suffice it to say that yes, he has skills. Both as a ninja and socially."

"Mari, seriously?! You're coming down on his side?!"

She raised a hand to cut him off. "He's got a lot of downsides, which is why he never made the cut for any mission I was doing the selection for." She paused for a moment, making sure that everyone who had been part of her most important mission selection understood what she was saying. "He's no Jiraiya, or even Kakashi, but let's stipulate for the sake of discussion that Wakahisa is a skilled ninja."

"Thank you, Beauty. So, like I was saying: It's true that I'm not officially the clan heir right now, but I will be as soon as my brother ascends."

"And then he'll have a son, and you'll be back to your previous uselessness."

Mari shifted uncomfortably on the couch, looking like she was choosing her words. "His brother is unlikely to have children. He has...alternative interests."

Kagome-sensei cocked his head in confusion. "What, you mean like bug collecting? I know that girls don't go for guys who collect bugs."

"No, not like bug collecting. The details aren't important right now, okay? Suffice it to say that, assuming that he is chosen over his twin, it's not unreasonable that in the next couple years Yasuji here could end up as the Wakahisa heir." She turned back to the man in question. "You had something to offer us?"

Yasuji seemed to be wondering how to react to her semi-revelation about his brother, and about her surprising support for his claims. "Yes. Um. So, soon-to-be Wakahisa heir and current Ambassador to Leaf. Also, my father is suuuuper jazzed about me cleaning up my act and is throwing resources at me to help. It's how I sold him on this whole deal."

"You have yet to offer us a deal. Or to explain in what way all of your braggadocio contributes one iota to the well-being of my sister."

"I'm rounding the last turn, stick with me. Anyway, I've got a fair amount of power on my own and the ear of important people. Your sister is being taken back to Mist and she'll probably be thrown in jail for a week or so, just to rattle her before she goes in front of the Mizukage. If—"

"A week! I will—"

"Keiko."

Keiko stopped in mid-word and everyone turned to look at Hazō. Internally, his belly flipped back and forth between panic at Keiko's stare, embarrassment at everyone else's stares, and delight in the success of his first deliberate Command Voice utterance that hadn't been backed by the Out or the numbness of immediate loss. All it had taken was an exactingly precise duplication of Jiraiya's remembered body language and a slight impersonation of his voice.

Now if he could just figure out what to do next.

"Let him talk, Keiko." That seemed like a decent option. Low risk on Hazō's part—he wasn't going to say something stupid if someone else was doing the talking, and Keiko probably wouldn't skewer him with her (hopefully still hypothetical) Kill You With My Brain Technique if she was focused on Wakahisa.

"You really should get to the point," Mari offered casually. Her smile was outwardly friendly. "You're making my daughter upset."

"Yeah, uh. Okay, so, here's the deal: I want to make a deal with the Gōketsu. I can convince my father to intervene with the Mizukage in Mori's defense—obviously I can't promise that he can save her, but it will be her best chance. In addition, I can arrange for Noburi to get some of the clan training that he missed out on, as well as have his barrel maintained. And then there's the usual stuff—trade, money, etc etc. The Wakahisa are stinking rich. All you have to do is make it worth our while."

Team Uplift exchanged glances, entire conversations condensed into the slant of an eyebrow, the tilt of a head.

Hazō leaned forward, setting his teacup delicately on the hearth before clasping his hands and turning to Wakahisa.

"Why us?"

"You're the Gōketsu. You're Jiraiya's clan—the old man had money, jutsu, secrets, seals, a Summoning Scroll, relationships everywhere. You're also politically vulnerable here in Leaf, so you need to build a powerbase and show the Hokage that having you around is good for him. That means bringing in resources that he can tax you on and information that will let him gain power.

"I'm Wakahisa. My clan has knowledge that you desperately need—that Noburi desperately needs. Two, three years, five at the most, and his barrel stops working. He won't be able to keep chakra contained for more than five, ten minutes, so—"

"I can already do an hour!"

Wakahisa chuckled. "I sit corrected. Fine, you get to be a ninja for an hour or so at a time. You can probably make it work, as long as you have a continuous series of people willing to let you drain them. You'll be useless for field duty and barely able to defend yourself. You'll be the perfect assassination target for anyone with a beef against your clan in general or your Clan Head in particular.

"Anyway, for Lady Nara I offer protection for her sister. For Nobby I offer clan training that he desperately needs, plus upkeep for his barrel." He paused, studying Noburi for a second and then studying Hazō just as intently.

"And for the rest of you, I can offer unlimited chakra."

Eyebrows went up.

"Which means what?" Hazō asked.

"I'm sure Noburi already told you where the Wakahisa get their chakra from, right?"

Hazō shook his head. "No, he hasn't said a word."

"Yes he did," Kagome-sensei said, frowning in confusion. "Remember? He was telling us about the koi ponds...and.... Oops." He gave a sickly smile. "Um. Did I say koi ponds? I meant boy fronds! They're plants that boys can...use to make clothes? Right?"

Hazō took a deep, calming breath. "It's possible that we discovered something about it," he allowed. "Of course, we discovered it by way of the Gōketsu intelligence network that you were mentioning earlier, and not by anything that Noburi said. Since he has, as one should, been very discreet about private information from his former clan."

"Yes," Mari said, her smile not reaching her eyes. "He has been very discreet, and I feel certain that young master Wakahisa understands that and will report as much to his father. Won't you, Yasuji?"

Wakahisa swallowed. "Yes, of course. Haha, that Nobby! Always so tight-lipped, ever since we were kids. Right, buddy?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Anyway...look, I'm here to make a deal, right? No threats offered or needed. You guys are a new ninja clan, and small. You have a lot of enemies and most of you aren't old enough to have developed real power. You will live or die based on how carefully you allocate your chakra reserves—missions, protecting your people, building alliances by exchanging techniques, whatever. More chakra, more life, right? Having Nobby in your family means that you can redistribute chakra between yourselves, but that doesn't help much. Maybe you can buy some from other ninja, but that leaves you dependent. Suppose you had your own supply, on the property, more than you could possibly use?"

Hazō's eyes narrowed. "I think this is the part where you say something specific."

"Koi. My father will sell you some, along with experts to care for them. They'll give Nobby all the chakra any of you could possibly need. The buildings and the wall around the estate were built with jutsu, right? I haven't seen red granite anywhere else in Leaf and the walls here are all one piece, not blocks. How long did that take, and how much did you pay for people to sell you their chakra?"

"A while and some."

Wakahisa chuckled, shaking a finger at Hazō and giving him a blindingly white smile. "C'mon now...it took longer than you'd like and cost more than you wish, right? Imagine having an unlimited chakra source, right there in the decorative pond. You want to make another building? No problem, Nobby has your back. Want your young ninja to be able to train longer and harder than their peers, but they keep running out of chakra? No problem, Nobby has them covered."

His gaze flicked to his cousin and his face became serious. "Don't think I'm trivializing your role, Noburi. Those kids will live longer because of you. There's a reason that Wakahisa have one of the lowest death rates in the city, and it's not just because we're support. Our kids can do more training in a day than other clans can because they can keep refreshing their reserves. Do you want that advantage for the Gōketsu, or are you okay with your future genin dying in droves?"

At those words, Kagome-sensei's face went completely blank and Mari quickly put a hand on his arm.

"No, I'm not okay with it," Noburi said. "What kind of stupid fucking question is that?"

Wakahisa raised his hands placatingly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said it that way. That's the thing, Noburi: We get looked down on because we're support, but our teammates forget how often they would be dead if we weren't there. Your family are lucky to have you."

Noburi studied his cousin's face for signs of mockery, but found none. "Yeah," he said at last. "It's true—the part about us making a difference, I mean." The corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. "Although, I'm not sure if you heard what we did in the fifth round at the Exams? There's a few people who will tell you exactly how different 'support' is from 'not dangerous'."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. We were Red Team One, we absolutely stomped 'em all into the mud. I got this one kid with my Water Whip, pulled him—"

"Excuse me," Keiko interjected icily. "We are getting off track. You have offered to save my sister's life in exchange for...what? What is it that you actually want?"

Wakahisa grinned and lounged back in his chair, one arm draped over the back of it. "Hey, it's not just that. I'm offering the world on a string—your sister's life, koi for the Gōketsu, training and barrel maintenance for Nobby, money, all kinds of things. As for what I want...make me an offer."

---

Voting ends on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at 12pm London time.

 

[faflec]

*screaming in Kagome*

 

[faflec]

"Sure, but the seals wear out."

Silence reigned.

"Excuse me?" Noburi said at last.

"The seals. On your barrel. They wear out after five or six years and the barrel stops retaining chakra any better than an old canteen. That's why we always have to get our barrels checked over by the family coopers every year. Sure, they tell the wee'uns that the coopers are just inspecting the joints to be sure they're watertight and looking for weak spots—and they do that, sure—but mostly they're refreshing the seals."

Click to shrink...

Umm...

Noburi doesn't have sealing levels...

How is he making these things?

Click to shrink...

Pretty much exactly that. If you want to get technical it comes included in the first level of his bloodline skill.

Click to shrink...

I'm confused, because it sounds like Noburi's VD level comes pre-packaged with the ability to make more barrels, with the seals.

Edit:

Argh. Yeah, a hole was punched in the bottom of the barrel, destroying some of its seals in the process and thereby rendering it useless for storing chakra water. You can plug the hole enough to put regular water in it, but at this point it's just a rain barrel.

Click to shrink...

Seals were damaged during the Arikada fight, but Noburi could make more.