The Oyabun rose from behind his desk. "I do apologise for that unsightly display. It is too often the case that men who rise too rapidly in station grow conceited, and come to believe that they are capable of deceiving the Chivalrous Organisation without consequences.
"Please, allow me to help you cleanse your palate. Has the taste of the chocolate grown on you yet?"
"Thank you, sir," Noburi replied before Hazō could come up with an answer that was both honest and polite. "It's not as strong as the kind we're used to back in Leaf, but still enjoyable in its own way."
The Oyabun chuckled as he placed another box of chocolate on the table between the sofas and beckoned them to sit down.
"Leaf is known for importing the best of everything," he said, "even by the most unusual routes. What will it be known for exporting, I wonder, and to whom?"
He took a chocolate and broke it in two parts with his fingertips, then three, before eating it.
"Tell me, do you bring the Hokage's response to my request?"
"Yes, sir. He said he'll be sending a messenger to you himself, and would appreciate it if any further discussion on the subject took place with him directly."
"How delightful," the Oyabun said with what seemed to be heartfelt appreciation.
He noted the team's puzzled looks.
"I only considered it an outside chance that the Hokage would already have the answer to my question, and now I regret ever underestimating him."
"What makes you think he already has the answer?" Hazō asked warily.
"There would be no need for a separate messenger if his answer were merely 'Yes, I will investigate' or 'No, I cannot do this for you'," the Oyabun said as if it was the height of obviousness. "A more interesting question would be why the Hokage has chosen to remove you from dealing with this matter, but it would be discourteous to speculate. Instead, if you would hand me back the Goda scroll so that we may move on?"
Oyabun: Deception ? + ? = ?
Hazō: Alertness 30 - 6 = 24
Noburi: Alertness 30 - 3 = 27
Keiko spends 1 FP to invoke "Brittle Ice Queen".
Keiko: Alertness 31 + 4 + 6 = 41
Keiko spends 1 FP to reroll.
Keiko: Alertness 31 + 4 + 12 = 47
Hazō began to reach for his pack.
"I apologise," Keiko said with the immediacy of a snapping trap, "but we are no longer in possession of that item, having of course passed it on to the Hokage. If you wish, we can request its return when we next report to him."
"No need," the Oyabun smiled. "On reflection, it was an unnecessary request. Allow me to waste no more of your time. You wish to learn of the fourth event?"
"Yes, sir," Hazō said. "We'd also be interested in any dossiers you can provide us with on the top remaining teams."
The Oyabun's hands came together in a semicircle.
"The Mizukage's Office has rented Nari Manor and its grounds from the 11th to the 13th of this month. Master Sumashi, head of the family and a good friend of the Chivalrous Organisation, claims that he was fairly compensated, but given no right of refusal. Considering that the reservation was made a few months in advance…"
Hazō nodded.
"That is all I can offer you on that front, I fear. If any special equipment has been ordered for the event, it has not come to my attention, and no information has been made available to the public the way it was for the third.
"As to dossiers. Certain sources refer to ten teams as being particularly worthy of note. The first of these is, of course, Team Gōketsu, and while I imagine I could tell you some very interesting things about yourselves, that is not our purpose today. The third has likewise been announced, and I imagine you know far more about them than I. For the rest, I do not have access to exact point totals, of course—one would have to infiltrate the proctors' headquarters for that kind of information—but I can make reasonable inferences as to their identities.
"For obvious reasons, there are four I cannot name. However, I can provide you with basic materials on teams Kongō, Chinen, Gensō and Mugiwara, all of which have recently come to my attention through their extraordinary performance in the last event."
He drew a slim scroll from a sleeve and passed it to Hazō.
"Thank you, sir. We will be sure to repay your kindness."
"I do not doubt it," the Oyabun said. "On a related note of mutual benefit, there is one more team which might benefit from your detailed attention."
"Which one is that?"
"They are known, in defiance of all good taste, as Team Bloodrage."
Team Bloodrage? Why would the Oyabun think for a moment that they'd be interested in Team Bloodrage?
No, the Oyabun said nothing without a good reason. (Which was in itself alarming, given that a lot of the time Hazō couldn't figure out what that reason was.)
"Team Bloodrage have been eliminated," Keiko observed. "Their further activities should be of no relevance to the Chūnin Exam. Do you expect them to violate the non-interference rules?"
"I couldn't hazard a guess as to their plans and motivations," the Oyabun replied smoothly. "But if, in observing or interacting with them, you should learn anything of interest…"
"I see," Hazō said, trying to think of anything noteworthy that Team Bloodrage had done other than being bad at strategy games and claiming they'd never heard of someone named Jashin, and coming up blank. "We'll keep it in mind.
"The other thing we wanted to talk about was communication," he remembered. "Obviously, we'd like to continue this relationship after the exams are over and we're back in Leaf. Do you have any thoughts on how best to do that?"
The Oyabun relaxed his hands as he leaned back against the sofa.
"It is not a trivial feat. Conventional messengers are slow and unreliable in a variety of ways, and of course this is not something we would entrust to Mist shinobi. The means by which you communicate with the Hokage—is it limited by distance? Or could any summoner replicate it in order to contact you securely?"
"Any summoner?" Hazō asked incredulously.
"Is that not how you check in with him, at least while in Mist?"
Hazō had no idea what to say, or how much the Oyabun actually knew. He decided to go with the safest option. "What makes you say that?"
"It is obvious from inference that all summons hail from the same place, and that summoners must possess the ability to travel there personally. On the assumption that summoners are able to encounter each other while there, it would make for an ideal secure communication route. And nobody who could plausibly have been yourselves has approached the diplomatic guest quarters since last night.
"Would it suffice for us to employ the services of a summoner to deliver messages to you via the other world, or are there other conditions that must be fulfilled?"
Hazō considered it briefly. It could work, if the summoner was from a clan with territory bordering either the Toads or the Pangolins (did Leaf have any other summons?) so they could send a runner with a message on a reasonable timescale. Oh, but that clan would have to be friendly as well, or at least neutral and open to bribes…
"It depends on the summoner," Hazō said thoughtfully. "You'd need—"
"The means of communication you propose is not viable."
Keiko's tone was unimpeachably neutral, but also a near-perfect match for Voice Ninety-Seven: I Am Carrying On As Normal Because We're In Public, But You Are In So Much Trouble When We Get Home, Young Man. Hazō suppressed a shiver.
"Hey, what about the Chivalrous Organisation in Leaf?" Noburi asked quickly. "You guys must have your own channels for dealing with underworld business."
The Oyabun shook his head regretfully. "Would that such an option were open to us. I take it the Hokage has not briefed you on the state of the Akasugi Organisation and its influence in the Fire Country."
"I'm afraid not."
The Oyabun lounged back slightly.
"Once upon a time, in what we of Water might call happier days, the entire Fire underworld was held in the unyielding grasp of a singular individual who wielded it almost as an extension of Leaf's clandestine activities. The Akasugi operated solely on his sufferance, and in the full awareness that, should they fail to perform to his specifications, they would be cast down and he would choose a more useful organisation to raise up in their stead. He had learned well the lessons of the Earth Country, you see. Some might even speculate that he contributed to maintaining its tragic status quo, though no such insinuation will ever pass my lips.
"Unfortunately, all things must end. The singular individual perished in an unfortunate accident, and the Akasugi Organisation exploited the advantageous position in which he'd placed them to trigger a process of explosive expansion. The Third Hokage, may his spirit be one with the Will of Fire forever, chose not to curb them as much as he could have, for reasons I'm certain the Fifth could explain better than I. And we of Water, who had until that point enjoyed uncontested control over certain spheres of influence, found ourselves engaged in a bitter struggle for what my complacent predecessors considered 'rightfully ours'. The impact of that struggle rippled through the other maritime powers and provoked a shadow war no less complex and vicious than the shinobi world wars you are familiar with. The aftermath redrew many boundaries, paving the way for the ascendancy of the Nettō Association, breaking the pirate lords' stranglehold over southern Tea, and having many other effects which are entirely irrelevant to you, save that it left us and the Akasugi as implacable rivals in an ironic parallel to our countries' respective villages."
"And you will have an enormous advantage over them if you can get the Hokage on your side," Hazō reasoned.
The Oyabun smiled. "All things in good time. I am not an ambitious man.
"As to communication channels, perhaps that is something for me to discuss with the Hokage. The master of the world's greatest intelligence network would certainly find it effortless to call upon the services of the underworld should he so desire.
"Now, while your company continues to bring me unalloyed pleasure, I fear I must attend to my other associates, including those whom you might not wish to note your presence here. You need not fear, of course—I would never betray the secrets of a partner in good standing."
He stood up, and walked smoothly over to a wooden cabinet set into a bookshelf, pulling open a door and studying the cabinet's unseen contents. Finally, he pulled out a bottle.
Keiko gave a barely perceptible twitch as the Oyabun presented it to the team.
"The Hokage's birthday is imminent, is it not? Please offer this to him with my compliments. Perhaps as Mist-born shinobi you can even instruct him in the history behind the brand."
"Thank you, sir," Hazō said with a genuine smile on his face as he reached out to accept the bottle of Kurohige's Revenge.
