"What can I do for you, Hazō?" Asuma asked, already sighing with a visible assumption that he was going to be exhausted and/or annoyed and/or amazed and/or driven into a murderous rage and/or all of the above by whatever happened in this meeting.
Ouch. I mean... fair. But ouch. We're like a goose that he never knows if it's going to drop a golden egg in his lap, or peck at him until he has a headache.
"The Hagoromo estate is in the middle of the city. There's nowhere within its walls that is ever quiet, and it's distracting. Harumitsu is used to it, but I'm not. I'd like your permission to instruct him at the Gōketsu research facility, outside the walls of Leaf. It's safe, it's quiet, and since this is my first-ever sealing student I want to be extremely careful."
Asuma pursed his lips in thought. "I have no objection, and I'm certainly not going to tell a sealmaster how do to his work. On the other hand, the entire point of doing it on the Hagoromo estate was to ensure that they didn't attempt to sabotage you, and also so that they would interact with you on a regular basis and the two sides could achieve some level of familiarity. Perhaps even reconciliation."
*laughs outrageously*
But in all fairness to Asuma, this is pretty much the only way to making the Goketsu and the Hag uneasy allies. Having them stand in separate corners and not speak to each other would just keep the animosity. Still, as Hokage, Asuma has to do something, and I don't blame him for that. Hell, he's going about it in a nice way.
Asuma shifted thoughtfully in the Hokage's blocky, commanding chair. "What are you working on, if I may ask?"
Valid question, but hold your horses, Hat Boy, we haven't decided if we're going to be your personal sealmaster clan. (I mean, it would be a quick and easy way to gain a significant amount of approval from the Hokage, and it would help him forget/forgive Hazou's past misdeeds. And if we keep the best stuff for ourselves, that's okay, too.)
Hazō debated saying 'star and stone will crumble to dust before the Gōketsu reconcile with those assholes' and decided it wouldn't be politic.
This, honestly.
Could be worse. Could be "Hazou's Heavenly All Seeing Eyes But Better Because Yes"
"Well, I appreciate the gift. Thank you, Hazō." He accepted the stack of seals that Hazō placed on his desk and carefully tidied it up before affixing one to the center of his chest under his robes. The rest went into a drawer.
...Damn. I mean, obviously that was a calculated move to show us trust, but still. Could've been an explosive seal designed to look a certain way (plausible, with Kagome being an explosion god). Not sure how we should return this trust... Maybe next time we send him more Chakdar Seals, we include a fruit basket?
"Is this the stinker?" Kagome-sensei demanded, popping out from behind of one of the massive granite baffles that served to channel explosions, block sprays of acid, provide a handhold against being sucked into a neverspace, and somewhere to shelter against the gaze of horrors that would rend the mind.
Kagome-sensei had been prowling closer as Hazō spoke and he was suddenly up in Harumitsu's face, jabbing him in the chest with one finger. "You're from that clan of stinkers that made Keiko sad, aren't you? You stinking little—"
"Sensei," Hazō said, taking his teacher's arm and gently tugging him back. "He's not to blame. It's the elders and the Clan Head who are the stinking bigots. Harumitsu is a good kid and he'll be a good student."
"Hrmph."
Hazō chuckled. "Also, I think it was less 'sad' and more 'murderously angry to the point where a horde of extradimensional killing machines nearly stomped their estate flat'."
"Hrmph. Should have done it. Stinking idiots and their stinking stupid bigotry. I still say we should bomb them out of existence. Being a missing-nin wasn't so bad. I miss ratberry pie." The older man had acceded to Hazō's gentle tug on the arm to the extent of backing up one step but was still glaring hate beams into Harumitsu's skull.
Kagome is a dear and always steals the show in whatever scene he's in, no matter his level of participation. ^.^
- What's YSJ? IIRC it's some sort of internal mind justu from the Yamanaka, but I've forgotten what the acronym stands for.
Yamanaka Stability Jutsu. The description is that it helps mental stability and when Hazou used it onscreen, it calmed him down and relaxed him significantly. There were some in character wondering about how dangerous it would be to "abuse" YSJ.
- Is there a way to type "Hazō" easily? I usually copy-paste it from a chapter to get the "ō" right, but that's a rather inelegant workaround.
"Hazou"