"Good morning, My Lord. Excellent news: I have nothing for you today."
"Morning Gaku. Also, woo-hoo. Fortunately, this meeting is not a complete waste because I
do have stuff for you. Plenty of it, and exciting stuff."
"I await your words with bated breath and poised pen, My Lord."
Hazō eyed his Chancellor with raised eyebrow, then shook his head. "I never get any respect. My siblings mock me and you are always with the sass."
"I would never be with the sass, sir."
"Suuuure you wouldn't. Anyway. Lots of good stuff on the Seventh Path. Canso got to Bear Territory a week ago and yesterday evening she got a meeting with their ruler and several of his advisors. She asked about their Scroll and if they want a Summoner. Kumafuwafuwa, the Bear Lord, said 'Yeah, that would be cool. I'll check on where it last was and get back to you.' When she asked them if they wanted in on the trade network one of the advisors said 'Hey, cool! Thanks, little dude.' She then had to explain that she was a girl, a mistake which apparently the other bears found very funny and mocked the speaker for. The bear in question apologized once everyone else quieted down and let him get a word in edgewise." He chuckled. "Anyway, here's a list of things the Bears have to offer, please pass it around to the other Summoners and have them send me an updated list of what their Clans are offering. Maybe we can find a match."
"Very good, sir."
"Great. Akane is still keeping an eye on Haru, like I asked. He's grumpy and glares a lot but he's working hard and not complaining. I think Akane might be starting to waver on the idea of ending his punishment but I've been very careful not to raise the issue. Remind me to check on that next week."
"Of course, sir."
"You gave everyone else that briefing on the Seventh Path intelligence that I gave you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Great. What's up with the bison?"
"The last of the seals were delivered to the Tower and the meat is being distributed, sir. Lord Hokage has reduced our debts by an amount equivalent to 60% of the market value for the meat plus the seals as of a month before the bank run. Concerns of starvation are now essentially eliminated; indeed, the civilians of Leaf are eating better than they have before and there has been a surge in employment and production."
"That's great!"
"Indeed, sir. Even better, when Captain Reo delivered the last of the seals yesterday, the junior administrator who took receipt made an elaborately casual reference to the idea that Lord Hokage should really keep doing this on an indefinite basis. The administrator immediately followed this with a comment that obviously that could only happen if the Tower were able to get the meat at half the current price."
"Wait...are you saying that Asuma backchanneled us an offer of ongoing payment?"
"It does seem that way, sir. Very deniably, of course, and the offered price is insultingly low. I expect that is simply an opening offer, however. We could likely negotiate it to something better."
Hazō sat back in his chair, stunned. Good will from the Tower, a steady income for the Gōketsu,
and feeding the poor while raising the economy of Leaf? There had to be another sandal dropping somewhere.
"Put together a prospectus on this, would you? Figure out all the moving parts and the areas that might cause issues. For example, we were giving them the meat and the seals it was in, and that was a
lot of storage seals spent on this mission. I wasn't going to quibble since we were mainly fixing our own screwup, but I wouldn't want to keep doing it going forward. Maybe we sell the meat but get the seals back? Dunno. Figure out the various issues, get me something in a couple of days?"
"Yes sir. In even more pleasing news: Prices have recovered and things are generally back to where they were before the bank run, although there are still a large number of Tower IOUs floating around. They have in fact become another form of currency at this point."
"Seriously? The Tower
accidentally stole our idea for scrip?"
"Indeed, sir."
"Well, I suppose that's good news. Any luck on finding jutsu that increase mental fortitude?"
"No, sir. We have word back from the LPL that no such thing is available in the public archives. Lady Kei messaged to say that the Nara also have no such thing to share, and to chastise me once again about the manner in which I track the accounts." He sniffed disdainfully.
Hazō called upon the Iron Nerve too late to suppress the tiny smile that he always got when his sister and his Chancellor got into one of their squalls. "Right. Moving on: I've been working with Kumokōgō on activating seals. She definitely wasn't happy about the idea since it skirts around the edges of what the Sage ordered but she decided to learn anything that will help fight the Dragons and she figures she can simply not use it afterwards."
"Very wise of her, sir. Any word on the trade?"
"Yeah, she's willing to give us raw silk in exchange for freshly killed mammal bodies. She wanted live samples but I explained that there's no way to bring living things across Paths. She grumbled but said it was okay as long as they were sealed within moments of being killed so that they were still warm on delivery, and she would get the storage seals at a discount as part of the trade. I said fine, but we get the seals back after their contents are used up. She said fine, we could have 5% of them back. We eventually settled at 75%." He rolled his eyes. "Oh, she's not interested in doing any weaving or such, but she'll give us the raw buttrope."
"May I suggest not using the term 'buttrope' in the marketing, sir?"
"Good plan. Saving the best for last: The condor scout has reached Arachnid, seen the evidence of the Dragons, and reported back to the Condor Summoner who passed the word back east. The condor in question is now resting up before flying home and the Clan Bosses are having their conclave. I'm not invited, but remind me to check back in a couple days to see what came of it."
"Of course sir. If I may ask, how are you progressing with the stonecarving jutsu? I gather that is likely to be an integral part of fixing this issue?"
"It's been...interesting."
o-o-o-o
Three weeks ago...
Hazō leaned against his favorite tree and studied the scroll that would unlock the next step in his journey to ultimate power.
Not that it was a
big step to ultimate power. It was a jutsu intended for creating sculptures and elegant wall friezes with which to decorate the houses of rich people. No 'demolish my enemies with stone and fury' here, nor any 'feed the masses'. Sure, it
could be used to raise walls from the ground but it was so slow! Hours! Nothing like the Multiple Earth Wall, which conjured barriers so quickly that you could block flying kunai with them.
He checked one last time and then set the scroll aside. He wriggled around a bit, making sure that there were no roots or pebbles stabbing him, and then placed on his lap the melon-shaped chunk of granite that he had brought to practice on.
Long experience steadied his breathing and sent him into a light trance, the world fading away into background noise soft enough not to be distracting but not so distant as to prevent him from detecting an approaching attacker. His heart rate and breathing slowed, his chakra smoothed and calmed itself. Once he was ready, he gently pressed chakra into the stone.
It seeped in slowly. It wasn't like chakra adhesion, where you rammed your chakra in an inch or so, just far enough to give a good grip so that you didn't rip the surface apart by hanging your weight on it. No, this required a slower, gentler touch. More like a massage than a taijutsu grapple.
At first the stone refused him. It was a child of the world, torn free from its roots but still filled with the memories of vastness. It was obdurate and unyielding, rebuffing contact like a feral blood tortoise. Hazō relaxed, not forcing it, and slowly allowing the stone to become familiar with his touch. As the heat from his hands warmed the rock, so too did his chakra slip through the barriers, sliding deeper step by step. The texture was a hazy cloud, hard to understand. He struggled to refine his understanding of its structure; the potential was there, he could tell, if only he had the skill.
His grip on the jutsu trembled, the delicate chakra structure threatening to break under his force. He slowed down and breathed, weaving his strength and breath and life back into the shape of the jutsu until it was once more strong and bright. And then he turned his attention back to the stone.
I am the heart of the world, torn from my rest.
It wasn't words, it wasn't consciousness, it was simply the nature of being, the way it was the nature of water to be wet. Still, Hazō reached out to that nature, suggesting and leading instead of demanding.
The jutsu shivered between his fingers, its structure once more on the edge of breaking. Once more, Hazō stopped and waited for it to settle, reinforcing it and smoothing it down. When it was secure again he returned his attention to the stone.
Yes. But when you were separated you were bent. Do you not remember? Should you not be formed like this
?
The stone shifted between his fingers, its nature reforming it to match what it 'thought' of as its nature, a conception that had been altered to match what Hazō whispered instead of what had been.
Finally, the change was made. Hazō withdrew his chakra slowly, taking care to leave none behind.
He opened his eyes and smiled in delight at the smooth-sided granite pyramid in his lap.
o-o-o-o
Two weeks ago...
The beginning of the jutsu was easier now. Not faster, but easier. The structure of the jutsu was stronger, less likely to break, and he understood better how fast he could move.
I am the flesh of the earth and my nature is thus.
Today he was working with a large block of baked clay, the broken detritus from a potter's kiln. The man had been happy to give it to him for free, grateful to be noticed by such a powerful ninja and equally grateful not to have to haul the trash away himself.
The grains and planes of the clay were clearer now that Hazō's skill had grown. His metaphysical eyes could see the tiny pockets of water that had steamed and burst under the heat. He could see more than that. He could see the potential. There. Right there. The clay could be shifted with a touch, its edges convinced to flower open and receive the touch of its siblings, or even its cousins.
Hazō blinked, his eyes flying open in shock and the jutsu breaking. Pain lanced through his head, a momentary flash so sharp that it threatened to push his eyeballs out from the inside. It was only for a moment and then it faded into a steady throbbing.
He ignored the headache and worked his way back into the stone until it was once more fully saturated with his chakra and willing to move at his wish. Without opening his eyes he balanced the clay on his left hand and reached out with his right, picking another fragment off the pile of experimental materials. This one was larger, the broken neck of a jar with the handle still attached.
He brought the two together and made a polite request. The clay was happy to oblige, and the edges of the first piece stretched and opened, grasping on to the broken neck of the other piece.
For now it was a purely mechanical binding, like a carpenter's dovetail joint, but Hazō breathed slowly and flowed his chakra across the contact points until it fully saturated the second piece of clay. Once it was ready he spoke to both pieces, and they listened. The contact points flowed together, becoming one undivided whole.
He studied it closely, circulating chakra through the area of contact. It wasn't a perfect joining. It was not in fact a whole, merely a linking. The two bits of clay interwove but they were still distinct, and the joint was weaker than the clay on other side.
He reversed the process and the two fell apart again, leaving him holding the bottle neck and its handle. Another touch separated the handle, leaving him with only the neck.
Still not opening his eyes he felt around with his free hand until he found a granite pebble that he had intended to use as practice for small-scale work. This too was happy to meld with the clay. The join was rougher, the distant cousins not entirely happy to intermingle. The joint was not as strong as either of its sources but it was strong enough.
o-o-o-o
One week ago...
Hazō breathed, holding the amalgam in his hand and feeling it with his chakra. It was a random assortment of earth and stone from across Leaf: clay and granite, limestone and sandstone, even a small chunk of marble. All joined together, all saturated in his chakra.
You are one, and have always been one. Your differences are illusions. You are the strength of the world. Its flesh, its bones, all one. Set aside your prejudice and celebrate.
The angry joinings, the unhappy handholds between the disparate pieces, smoothed. Hesitantly at first and then more joyfully the natures of the stone flowed together, the separations between them vanishing as they united in friendship. Hazō opened his eyes slowly, taking care to maintain the careful balance of his chakra.
In his lap he held a scale model of the Hokage monument. It was imperfect, the Third's eyes slightly too far apart and the First's hair slightly too long. It was the work of a skilled journeyman and not a master. Despite that, it was beautiful enough to sell to a nouveau-riche merchant family. More importantly, it was one. There were no joints between the stones, no way to tell where one earth ended and the next began.
o-o-o-o
Now...
"It's coming along," Hazō said. "It's not like any jutsu I've practiced before. It's more like asking the stone to change itself instead of changing it. Very slow, but it allows for tremendous precision. I can smooth the outside of the rock and its internal structure, merge different pieces together, cut pieces off." He shook his head. "It's amazing. I hold a picture in my mind of what I want and it just does it. I created a scale model of the Hokage Monument and it actually looked good." The words weren't enough; he didn't know how to explain to a civilian what it was like to use chakra for the creation of beauty instead of for destruction. Even the Multiple Earth Wall, which he had more often used for constructing shelter than for its intended purpose of defense in battle, was still a tool of war repurposed. This had no use except for creation.
"I am glad, sir."
Hazō made one more attempt to find the words, but there weren't any. Instead he gave up with a shake of the head and a smile.
"Have you eaten?"
"A bite, sir."
"Well, I'm hungry. C'mon, I'll buy you an omelette."
"Isn't the cafeteria free, sir?" Despite the words, Gaku rose willingly enough and followed his Clan Head to the door.
"A trifle, a trifle! Come on, let's eat."
Author's Note: The plan called for Hazō to train Stoneshaping up to level 29 and stop. When he reached level 29 he could tell that he was right on the cusp of a breakthrough and he kept pushing up to level 30, thereby gaining the ability to seamlessly unite disparate pieces and types of stone such that the result counts as a single object. The description of the Stonecarving jutsu has been updated in the
Players - Known Jutsu document to reflect the two new abilities Hazō has gained. He can tell that there is more to be unlocked, although he's not clear on what it might be.
This update covered three weeks.
XP AWARD: 105
Brevity XP: 10
"GM had fun" XP: 25
- Slightly more than 1/day for the stonecarving scene.
It is now 10pm.
Voting remains closed.
@Velorien will write the Ami scene from this plan.
