June 5th, 1069 AS. Two days after Keiko's birthday
"And finally," Gaku said, "Lord Noburi has reported that the Toads sent their messenger to the Otter Clan asking for news of where the Otter Summoning Scroll might be. He expects it to be at least a month, perhaps more, before any response will be available. In exchange for this favor, Boss Gamabunta demanded four hundred yards of green cloth, the services of a team of Gōketsu seamstresses—the work will obviously be done on the Human Path—and a pair of twenty-foot copper chains to be worn as decoration on the collar. Apparently he's tired of the Sages being the only ones with robes. The expenses fit within the discretionary budget that you provided me, so I have made the arrangements at Lord Noburi's request."
"Great," Hazō said, smiling. "I'll look forward to seeing the final product before Noburi takes it back. I think that wraps it up." He paused to check his notes. "Oh, wait, one more thing. I need you to arrange a mission for me—if one of our ninja can do it, great. If not, hire it but inform whoever takes it that it's classified and they can't talk about it. I want someone to go over to the Hanguri Gulf and hunt up a bunch of sharks, or maybe a megalodon. Their hides will make a really badass coat for Noburi's birthday."
Hazō secretary, already well-inured to his lord's crazy ideas and bizarre whims, wrote the latest one down without comment.
Hazō glanced at his list to make sure he'd cleared all the items and then stretched in satisfaction. "Unless there's anything else, I need to get over to the Tower for training. Lady Tsunade doesn't appreciate it when I'm late, and she's been drilling me on fifth-dimensional transit meditations. It's breaking my brain." He shook his head, chuckling.
Gaku hesitated. "There's...one more thing, My Lord."
"Oh?"
"My Lord," the civilian said carefully. "There...may be a concern at the school."
"'A concern'? Could you be more specific?"
Gaku hesitated. "One of the students has expressed some objections to Ikenaga-sensei's teaching style."
"What does that mean?"
"There have been some complaints about excessive contact."
"'Excessive contact'? What, he's hitting too hard or too often with the switch?"
"...Not exactly."
"Okay...?"
"Contact...outside of the classroom."
Hazō frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Some of the students have suggested that Ikenaga-sensei has been...indiscreet. With them."
Suddenly it clicked. "Gaku, are you telling me that one of the teachers has been having sex with his students?"
Gaku looked uncomfortable. "I have no reports of actual
intercourse."
"Gaku. Stop dancing around it. How many reports do you have and exactly what do they say?"
"Two. They say that..." He trailed off. "Perhaps you should simply read them." He extended a paper.
Hazō took the page and scanned through it, his expression getting darker with each word. At the end he set the document down and looked directly at his secretary, his voice going low and cold. "Are there any accusations aside from these?"
"No, My Lord. None of the other boys have complained."
"None of the other
boys? What about the girls?"
Gaku shrugged. "My Lord, girls always complain about their teachers. They are delicate creatures."
Hazō's face went blank. "Excuse me. I need to tell Lady Tsunade that I will be taking today off for clan reasons, and then Mari and I need to talk to these students."
o-o-o-o
Ino's face was ice. "You're sure?"
Hazō shrugged. "If I were
sure I wouldn't be here. The complaints are detailed and the students were convincing, but I want to be certain."
The blonde teenage Clan Head made a visible effort not to react and instead to think carefully.
"I'm the wrong one for this," she said at last. "Worse, our surviving senior ninja are unavailable right now. I'll send Choki with you; he's only a chūnin but he's skilled. A little rough and sometimes he causes minor damage but he's effective and he's never seriously injured anyone."
"If he gets the truth, that's all I care about."
o-o-o-o
"And three times four is what, class?"
"Eight!" "Thirty-four!" "Seven?"
"No! It's twelve, you simpletons! How many— Oh, hello, Lord Gōketsu. How may I help you today?"
Hazō stepped into the room, his face blank. Behind him walked Yamanaka Choki, the sixteen-year-old ninja who had been the best that Ino could spare. "You are Ikenaga Daiju, yes?"
The teacher bowed. "Yes, My Lord. What may I—"
"Stop talking."
Hazō turned to look at the rows of students who were eyeing in fascination the interaction of their teacher and their Clan Head. An idle part of his brain noticed that there were seven unfamiliar faces; probably part of the outreach program that had civilian children from the broader Leaf community joining the Gōketsu Education Department's basic education classes. People had been suspicious of the G.E.D. when told that there was no tuition, but many of the poorer families had come around immediately when they learned that there was an all-you-can-eat lunch included.
"Class dismissed. Everyone out."
"My Lord—"
Yamanaka grabbed Ikenaga in an efficient come-along and slammed him down on the desk. "Your Lord told you to stop talking," he noted casually.
Oooooh, said thirty wide-eyed students.
Hazō glanced over, lips pursed in annoyance. "Yamanaka."
"Yes?"
"Not until we're sure."
Yamanaka rolled his eyes. "Very well." He released a terrified Ikenaga and backed away.
"My Lord, please. I don't know—"
"Stop. Talking." Hazō repeated. He turned back to the students. "All of you. OUT."
There was a stampede, and then a closed door.
Despite no longer being restrained, Ikenaga hadn't managed to straighten up from the desk, but when he saw the frozen anger in his Lord's eyes he sprawled to the floor in a terrified kneeling position that was not the refined precision of seiza. "Please, My Lord. Please, whatever you think I did, I didn't! I promise, I've been loyal."
"Yamanaka, do it."
"Hold still," Yamanaka said, stepping forward and grabbing Ikenaga's head in both hands. "This is going to hurt."
Ikenaga's eyes rolled back in his head and moments later his screams tore blood from his throat.
o-o-o-o
The entire adult population of the Gōketsu estate (barring the gate guards, a few sentinels at the walls, and a group of child-care providers) had gathered at their Lord's command. The sun was low on the horizon, dinner was simmering forgotten on fires and in kitchens, and everyone was nervous. When a ninja demanded your attendance, it was usually bad news. When your ninja Clan Head demanded
everyone's attendance, it was almost certainly bad news. Sure, the last time had been rousing speeches and respect, but how often could that be true?
Besides, Lord Gōketsu stood atop a granite platform in front of them, and he did not look in the mood for rousing speeches. Ikenaga-sensei, a well-known teacher and pillar of the community, was currently bent over and tied to a raised portion of the platform, his head hanging off the front.
"People of the Gōketsu," their Lord began. "The last time we gathered, I told you that we are the clan of Uplift. We are the Will of Fire embodied, the ones who protect the weak and leave the world better than we found it." He paused, looking over the silent, nervous crowd. "We are not the clan of child rapists."
Eyes went wide and an indrawn breath swept through the crowd. The ninja spaced around the edges merely looked grim.
"Ikenaga Daiju. There have been multiple accusations saying that you forced yourself on your students. As your Clan Lord, I have investigated these accusations and found them convincing. In hopes that my investigations were somehow mistaken, I brought a Yamanaka ninja to probe your mind. He confirmed the accusations in sufficient detail that I am certain of your guilt. The Hokage has been advised of the situation and confirmed that I have the right to adjudicate within my clan and punish my clan members as I choose. I choose that your sentence is death. Pangolin Clan Technique: Pantokrator's Hammer."
Lord Gōketsu's fist came down on Ikenaga-sensei's head in a hammer blow that snapped his neck instantly...which was utterly irrelevant, since it also smashed his head open like a melon, splattering brains and blood across the red granite and the young Lord's shoes and pantlegs. Lord Gōketsu straightened, absently wiping his hand clean on a cloth that had been readied for the purpose.
"I do not tolerate abuse of my clan," their Lord said, his voice remote and unfeeling. Everyone knew that voice; it was the one that they prayed never to hear from a ninja. Having a ninja hotly angry in your vicinity was dangerous. Having them coldly furious meant that someone was about to die.
"I do not tolerate abuse of my clan," he said again. "Not by outsiders, and certainly not by our own.
Every accusation will be investigated in full and punished appropriately. If the accusation is found to be false and made in bad faith, the accuser will be punished. If the accusation is false but a simple mistake then no harm will be done. We are the Gōketsu, the clan of honor. We support one another, we do not violate one another!"
He paused, judging eyes sweeping from face to face. "Gōketsu Kaku. Gōketsu Hiroya. Stand forth."
The crowd, eager to avoid becoming collateral damage, surged back away from the two accused men. Kaku and Hiroya fell to their knees, begging forgiveness for whatever they had done.
"The two of you are guilty of drunken fighting in the cafeteria."
"Please, My Lord! Please, it will never happen again!"
"I'm sure it won't. You are assigned to the sanitation research project for the next week. You will collect shit from the latrines for their experiments."
Both men sagged in relief, babbling thanks for their Lord's mercy.
"Gōketsu Michihiro, stand forth."
A fifty-something man with graying hair and a bit of flab stepped forward, his knees quaking so badly that he could barely stand.
"You are a thief. You stole four thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven ryō from Gōketsu Aiko. You will serve on the surveying- and construction team that is working on the aqueduct. There are guards onsite who will ensure your safety during this time but you will not speak to or interact with them or anyone else outside of mission-critical matters. Your wages will go to Aiko and you will remain on this duty until you have paid her back fivefold.
"Gōketsu Kazuha, stand forth..."
o-o-o-o
July 20, 1069 AS. Two days after Hazō signed the Dog Summoning Scroll
Hazō waited, smiling, until Kagome-sensei had completed the Dance of Joy at Still Being Alive and Oh Yes Also Making Some Progress on our Research before saying "Let's call it a day. I know it's a little early but I'd like to wrap up on a win and I need to talk to Canoe about the puppy-moving project."
Kagome-sensei nodded. "Sounds good. I was getting hungry anyway, and the kitchen is making chicken pot pie today."
"Did they get the feathers out this time?"
Kagome-sensei looked at him like Hazō had been dropped on his head. "Why would you do that? The feathers are the best part—well, as long as you cook them enough to soften 'em up and you add enough vinegar to neutralize the poison."
Hazō shook his head wryly. "You will never convince me of that. Feather stew is an abomination before all that is good and pure in the world."
"Hmph." Kagome-sensei actually turned up his nose in disapproval. "Uneducated bumpkin. Just for that, I won't save you any."
"Works for me." He clapped his mentor on the shoulder. "Thanks for your help on this, sensei. It feels good to do research again. No more Summoning training, no more emergencies, just the two of us."
"Why would you say that?! Don't ever say 'no more emergencies'! That's almost as bad as 'what's the worst that could happen'!"
"Sorry, sorry! Yes, you're right." He raised his hands in placation and, without being prompted because he knew that there was no hope of avoidance, went into the 'Please Do Not Let the Monsters From Beyond Time and Space Eat My Face' butt-wiggle dance.
When he finished, Kagome-sensei nodded in grudging approval. "Fine.
Maybe you did the dance fast enough and we won't all die a horrible screaming death a few hours from now." His sniff was a marvel of disapproval and doubt. "Maybe. Anyway, I'm going to go enjoy what will probably be my last meal. And I'm going to ask for extra feathers."
"You do that, sensei."
Kagome-sensei snorted again and then jogged off, muttering about foolish apprentices and what was wrong with kids these days because when
he was a student, would he have ever said anything so stupid? Nooooo, he would not! And they better not have run out of feathers for the pie.
Hazō watched him go, amused, and then sliced his finger on a knife and tapped it on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu: Canoe!"
Poof!
"Greetings, Summoner."
"Hi Canoe. How are you?"
"I am well. My oldest daughter won the Puppy Games and has been accepted to scout training."
"Congratulations! That's wonderful. I'm happy for you."
"Thank you." She looked around, noticing the lack of enemies or other threatening situations. "I assume that you wanted to talk about the task that Cannai set you?"
"I did, yes. I would like to preface this by explaining how my creative process works when it comes to solving other people's problems. The first thing I do is think up every weird idea I possibly can, no matter how crazy. Then I check around to make sure there's no obvious reason that they are impractical on my end—for example, a lack of some resource. Once I've got a bunch of ideas that I'm confident I can deliver on, I check them with my...call it 'customer' because I can't think of a better word, to see if there's any reason on
their end that it wouldn't work."
"In short, you have one or more ideas that might be stupid or unworkable and you want me to validate them for you?"
"Bingo."
The greyhound's jaw dropped open and her tongue lolled out in a canine grin. She lay down, right forepaw crossed over left, and watched him attentively. "I await your probably-stupid ideas with bated breath."
"Right...okay. Yes." He cleared his throat. "Well, I was thinking about what Cannai said about Kakashi being helpful to you guys. I don't know what he might have provided you in the way of jutsu or materials, so it's possible that these things aren't original or that you already have them."
"Your wriggling becomes funnier by the moment," Canoe said, eyes twinkling. "You sound like my younger daughter when she's trying to convince me that she's old enough to accompany me on a hunt."
"Heh. Okay, well, let me get into it then. First, I'm sorry if this is a delicate question, but...you guys don't have hands, and that's going to make putting thing on and taking them off difficult. I was going to offer you a jutsu that we have, Zephyr's Reach. It provides excellent manipulation ability, although it doesn't have a lot of lifting or squeezing strength. Then it occurred to me that you probably already have something like that."
"We do indeed. We mainly use it for gathering firewood and constructing lean-tos to shelter from the rain."
"Great, that will make things simpler. Okay, I have some mockups to show you. I want to emphasize that these are
mockups, not prototypes. They're only intended to give you an idea of what it would look like. They aren't functional, they aren't made with realistic materials or construction techniques. It's only about demonstrating the approximate
shape of the final item. Yes, they look shoddy; that's deliberate. The point is to build a rough symbol of the idea in a few minutes so that you don't waste a lot of time if it turns out that the idea won't work."
"Your point is noted. I promise I will not judge you for the doubtlessly terrible work that you are about to show me." She cocked her head thoughtfully. "Also, the idea of a mockup is interesting."
"...Thank you. Okay, here's the first one. I call them cargo bags." He unsealed a pair of pillow cases that had been whip-stitched to two strips of canvas. "The straps go around your body and buckle or tie underneath. The bags hang down on either side; we'll adjust them so that they don't come lower than your belly. That way you won't have to worry about ground clearance."
She looked the device over with interest. "Hm. So we put a pup in either sack and carry them on our backs. It would also be useful for carrying large amounts of firewood, grasses, or slain prey."
"Right. What do you think?"
"The straps would need substantial work in order to both remain secure while running and not interfere with breathing."
"True. We'd probably want to put a horizontal strap from here around your chest and back to here. And if we space the straps ahead and behind your ribcage it would work better."
"Even so, puppies are heavy. Bearing two of them like this would leave a dog exhausted within not more than sixty or seventy miles."
Hazō forbore to say that sixty or seventy miles sounded like a pretty good distance to him.
"Kakashi and earlier Summoners have given us bags that we use to carry things," Canoe continued, oblivious to Hazō's internal eye-rolling. "No one has previously suggested strapping them on in pairs like this." She studied the mockup carefully, then shook her head. "It would be useful for everyday life, but not for an evacuation. It would take too long to get the harness in place and properly adjusted. Wearing a harness for long periods would be poor hygiene and would undoubtedly chafe. And, of course, it would render the wearer unable to fight."
Hazō nodded. "Fair enough. If you think they'll be useful for everyday life then I'll have some of our seamstresses put together a variety of prototypes that I can bring to the Seventh Path for fittings. We might need to do personalized versions but I'm hoping we can get some adjustable versions that could be passed around."
"That would be good. What was your next idea?"
Hazō chose the next storage seal from his stack and conjured a sled into existence. From an engineering perspective, it was absolute garbage; bundles of uncured reeds tied together with bits of string and twisted into the appropriate shapes, with just enough deadfall tree limbs to provide the necessary bracing. Canvas strips stuck out in front.
"This is a modification of a normal sled," Hazō said, walking around to the front so that he could lift up the canvas and spread it out to reveal that it was actually a harness.
"The idea here is that there would be a rigid harness sticking out the front," he explained, shaking the harness slightly to indicate what he meant.. "A dog could simply walk into it to pull the sled, then back out of it when stopping for the night. We'd need to do a lot of work to find something that wouldn't run forward over the dog on the downhill, but it was a start. Fortunately, you have that manipulation jutsu, which means that you can put things on more securely. I think we can probably speed the process up by having something like a cobbler's last that would hold the harness spread out so that you could walk into it, pull the last out, do up the buckles, and go. Getting the last set up again on the far end would be more time-consuming, but my understanding is that it's the start time that's important."
Canoe studied the form with interest. "It would require significant padding to keep the pups from being injured when the sled bounces."
"No problem."
"And the sled itself should be high-sided, more like a basket. Otherwise the younger pups will jump out while it's in motion."
"We can do that."
"What would it actually be made of?"
Hazō shrugged. "Probably wood, but there would need to be some testing. It would depend a lot on how rough the terrain is that you're likely to be going over. We'd want something light so that it's easy to pull, but not so light that it flips over. Like I said, it's just a mockup."
"It seems worth investigating, at least. I believe you had one more idea?"
Hazō grinned. "Indeed I do! This one has several drawbacks—it's the most complex, it relies on seals that you would need to be able to operate, and it would require a lot of time to research and develop. On the other hand, if it worked then it would probably be worth it."
"You intrigue me, Hazō of Clan Gōketsu."
"Watch this." He pulled out two seals—or, rather, two elements of a single seal—and set them on the ground, one above the other. He pushed a bit of chakra into the seal and the top one leaped upwards, falling off to the side and fluttering to the ground. Hazō collected it and tried to place it back above its counterpart. It refused to be brought within a double handspan of the other half, no matter how hard Hazō pushed. He placed a board across the upper seal and lay down atop it, his hands touching the ground lightly and only for balance. The seal dipped slightly and then supported his weight with no trouble.
"This is a Repulsion seal," Hazō explained. "Once activated, it's essentially impossible to bring the two halves together. I don't have all the details yet, but I'm pretty sure that I can use them to make the sled float in the air. Once we've got that, I can actually make the sled push itself, either using the Repulsion seals or something else." Kagome-sensei's 'explosives solve all problems' mantra drifted through his head. "The entire family—the entire
pack, adults and pups too, would be able to ride on it without exerting any effort. You could get where you were going quickly and without being tired when you got there. I don't know what the performance characteristics would be, but it's quite possible that we could make something faster than most dogs."
Canoe cocked her head. "I very much doubt you could make something faster than
me."
Hazō's stomach dropped at the greyhound's offended tone. "Probably not, ma'am. Still, you're way faster than most dogs. I hope you'll forgive me for measuring against the average instead of against the champion." Also, she probably couldn't maintain that speed over a hundred miles of non-stop running, but he wasn't going to mention that.
"Hm. I suppose not."
Some of the tension went out of Hazō's shoulders at Canoe's pleased tone. "Anyway, those are my three ideas. Again, these are just mockups and at this point I'm only looking to get your input on whether I should pursue them or look for something else. What are your thoughts?"
"The cargo bags idea would presumably be easy to implement?"
"I think so, yes. It would require some fiddling and fitting, and I'm sure there would be issues. Still, it requires the least material and construction, and we could supply them in large numbers relatively quickly."
"Would doing so interfere with your progress on the...'sleds', you called them?"
"Sleds, yes. And no, they shouldn't interfere with one another."
"Very well. Proceed with both, please. The bags will be useful for cargo at the very least, and the dog-pulled 'sled' sounds like it might be a workable solution. As to your oh-so-speedy floating sled...go ahead. I shall be very interested to see what you can manage. I'll discuss the options with Cannai but I doubt he will disagree."
Hazō felt the smile splitting his face; for a moment he tried to control it, but then he let it happen. "Thank you, ma'am."
Canoe sniffed. "What is with you and the ma'am?" She shook her triangular head in dismay and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
XP for the flashback period has already been awarded. The second covers a couple of hours.
XP AWARD: 2
Brevity XP: 2
Creative training XP: 0
"GM had fun" XP:
- +1 for scene: Hazō pitches to Canoe. Dogs are fun.
It is now about 2pm. The QMs need to figure out where you stand with the research.
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at 12pm London time.
