I very much don't think it's that at all. Seems to just a stealth based power IMHO. But should look into it. We should talk to Cannai about our plan to ice the polemarch and see what he thinks the odds are
So 3 different Summon Bosses (Bear, Feline, Canine) all exhibit the same mystical ability. The only similarity between them is the fact that they're the Bosses of their respective Summon Clans... and you think it's just a stealth jutsu?
So 3 different Summon Bosses (Bear, Feline, Canine) all exhibit the same mystical ability. The only similarity between them is the fact that they're the Bosses of their respective Summon Clans... and you think it's just a stealth jutsu?
Yes, I don't think it's deity level power or a teleport power. But I do think that we should ask before we make a move on a boss even if I don't think it's an overpowered essie trick
I very much don't think it's that at all. Seems to just a stealth based power IMHO. But should look into it. We should talk to Cannai about our plan to ice the polemarch and see what he thinks the odds are
I feel like we asked Cannai how hard it would be to have the bosses come to arachnid and he explicitly told us he can easily move about his own territory but has to travel normally outside of it and that every boss is like that. Don't have time to look for the quote tho
I feel like we asked Cannai how hard it would be to have the bosses come to arachnid and he explicitly told us he can easily move about his own territory but has to travel normally outside of it and that every boss is like that. Don't have time to look for the quote tho
"Within my own territory, I move very quickly indeed—I held back quite a bit when carrying you to the shore, as Sanchi nearly died the one time I moved quickly with her on my back and every Summoner since then who has ever tried it has experienced similar effects even when I am careful. I would presume that any other ruler is capable of the same turn of speed in their own lands. I am far slower on another's ground; it is not mine and will not lend me its strength or work to my request. It is why rulers rarely take the field against one another; there is too much advantage to a defensive war. The only way it can work is for the younger members of the clan to take and hold the ground until it can be integrated into the Dog Territory. Attempting it is something that no clan will take lightly. A bit of raiding, the occasional murder or theft...those are met by patrols, perhaps some punitive raids from the local group. Actually taking away even a pawlength of another clan's territory? That brings the entire clan down on your nose with their ruler leading the charge and every ally their clan can summon attacking your flanks."
"I see. So if we wanted to get a dozen or so clan heads to Arachnid Territory...?"
"It would take days or weeks depending on where they were coming from."
Hazō and Akane stood on the roof of the compound's main structure and watched as a tiny patch of the Fire Country—perhaps a hundredth, no more—came to an end. There was no life left in that place. Not the animals. Not the trees. Not the people. The destruction was never meant to be so vast, and Hazō had taken precautions Sensei would be proud of if he could ever, ever be allowed to know—but was that just Hazō's hubris, when he'd only had a dim intuition that devastation would follow at all, and no way to know exactly how or why? Even now, he had no comprehension of where the tide of impossibly cold liquid had come from, or how reduced temperature at human level had caused a storm that reached so far above. It was probably the ninjutsu. He couldn't escape responsibility with futile hope to the contrary, not when hundreds of square miles were frozen around an effect intended to freeze. Still, a tiny corner of his mind wished he could find succour in a much more plausible explanation like the delayed wrath of the ancestors, or the Will of Fire's total withdrawal in affront at a Mist-nin's treatment of Leaf territory as his toy, or even Ui's attempted punishment for an outsider who violated the purpose of his people's technique. (He wondered what Mum would say if she knew his head was so full of heretical notions.)
He couldn't escape a certain touch of fear either. Leaf was cold, conspicuously colder than when he'd set out at the start of the day, as a powerful wind blew east from the direction of the test site. It probably wouldn't reach this far—he'd chosen a distant location for a reason, and the area of effect seemed stable even now—but he didn't really know, and the tiniest chance that he was mistaken would spell extinction for Hidden Leaf.
"Come on," he beckoned Akane. "We should talk."
But once in the most secure subterranean environment he could prepare on minimum notice, neither of them was able to find words.
"What have we done, Hazō?" Akane finally asked in a voice that vibrated with emotions Hazō couldn't identify. "What have I done?"
Hazō was still in shock himself. He'd dreamed of extraordinary weapons. He'd come up with idea after idea for how to destroy Hidden Rock and any other enemy that needed to be faced with the full power of his intellect. He'd even conceived of the end of entire countries if that was what Uplift demanded—but only as ideas to toy with, not as concrete plans. But to see it happen with his own eyes, to see Destruction simply swallow part of the world at his command… how could anybody be ready for an experience like that?
Still, Akane was his, and she needed reassurance. That took priority. Akane in need always took priority.
"It looks worse than it is," he told her with whatever crumbs of confidence he could find. "I know it reached so much further than we expected, but we chose an unpopulated area for a reason. There can't have been many settlements so far outside Leaf's protective circle, especially the way it is now, and they'd probably have been tiny ones anyway. It's a disaster, but it's… it's not the kind of disaster you probably think it is."
Akane shook her head. "I wasn't talking about the people. That's par for the course now. I get orders to kill, so I kill. I could have stopped you. I could have said… I don't know, let's do it over the ocean, or in the mountains, or in Bear. It's not like anyone goes to Bear. I could have said the power you were looking for was too much. Something that huge isn't for use against ninja. It's for use against hidden villages, and nothing can be worth killing that many civilians. I could have said all sorts of things.
"But I didn't. I didn't even try to think it. I'm just a weapon. No, I let myself be a weapon. You know best, just like Lord Hokage knows best."
Hazō stared at her in horror. His atrocious headache, with him ever since that last failed infusion, only intensified as she spoke. It messed with his ability to think and blurred her words before they reached him. He forced himself to think anyway. He couldn't let her believe this was her fault.
"No, Akane. None of this is on you. It was my idea, and my invention, from start to finish. All you did was do what I asked for."
There was an unfamiliar flicker of hostility in Akane's eyes.
"Yes," she said. "All I did was do what you asked for. Like I'd learned nothing. Like I had no agency. But I'm the one who made the hand seals, Hazō. You may have made it possible, but the responsibility for that monstrosity out there, and for everything that comes of it, is on me. Your own sins don't make mine any lighter.
"I'll cry for the people later, for what little that's worth. I don't think I can cry right now. Everything's sort of muted, just like last time. But this isn't about the latest massacre, is it, Hazō? I've made proof of concept, and now we have to tell Lord Hokage, and sooner or later he'll order me to use it and end AMITY because he thinks Leaf's enemies being gone is safer than Leaf's enemies slowly turning friends, and I'll do it because that's what I do. I've made that possible."
It was the lifeless surrender in Akane's eyes that made Hazō's mind up for him.
"I won't let that happen, Akane," he said. "I will never order you to use it if your conscience is at all unclear about it. You're exactly the correct person to have it, because I will trust you above anyone else to know when to use it and when not to."
His words didn't make any impact whatsoever on her expression.
"This is too big for us, Hazō. Lord Hokage won't look at that and say, 'I'll let Gōketsu Akane decide how Leaf uses that power.' He won't say, 'I'll let Lord Gōketsu decide.' He'll find the right time to use it, or maybe the next Hokage will if I'm still alive by then, and he'll give me a simple order, and then…"
Hazō's head throbbed. There were no acceptable options. Hazō couldn't watch Akane blow up one of Leaf's enemies, with its thousands or tens of thousands or however many people it-would-probably-be-Rock had beneath its stone roof. He couldn't watch her be executed when she refused and proved herself too disloyal to trust with the power. He couldn't watch her run and be hunted down as the most desperately-hunted escapee in history.
Maybe he should learn the Fire Element himself.
No, that was a child's solution. Asuma wouldn't send his precious superweapon inventor into peril when Akane could do it just as easily.
"Not if he doesn't know," Hazō said, and it was almost as if the air around him vibrated a little with potential treason. "This secret is too deadly to share. I think that would be obvious to anyone. It's safe in your hands because you'll never abuse it—"
"Because you'll never abuse it," Hazō repeated firmly, "but if it ends up in incorrect hands, which are any other hands, if it proliferates beyond the circle of people who know better than to ever use it, which I sincerely hope includes Asuma, then it could be the end of the world."
Akane was silent for a while as she absorbed all of that, apparently for the first time. It almost reassured him a little that he was still more of a pessimist than she was.
"You're right," Akane said in a hollow voice. "Here I was making it all about me, but anybody could do that, couldn't they? The ninjutsu isn't a secret; literally every Fire user in Isan knows it, and the elders have already shown that they're fine selling it to outsiders. Anybody could destroy anything for less than half a day's worth of chakra. Anybody could destroy everything."
"They won't," Hazō said. "And the reason for that is that I'm about to head to the Nara compound and see Shikamaru, who is probably the sanest man in Leaf and will understand. I will ask him to use the experience and credibility that he has and I don't to cover all of this up—even from Asuma. Without treason if at all possible, but the stakes really are that extreme."
"You think he can help?" Akane asked with what was too feeble to be hope, but was conceivably a spark that could be fanned.
"I think he's our best shot," Hazō said. "What do you think of this approach…"
-o-
Hazō Apocalypse-Preventer (hereafter Hazō, because he was definitely the real one and Shikamaru would definitely use any hostile moves he had on him instead of the flesh-and-blood version) was not thrilled about his role in the current plan. There were multiple ways in which Shikamaru could prevent the cataclysmic scenario of the EM weapon's proliferation, and the simplest would be to make sure that the two people who knew how it worked ceased to exist. No Hazō and Akane, no threat. Asuma wouldn't bat an eye if Shikamaru told him that Hazō had come to him with some plan so treasonous that Shikamaru was forced to eliminate him on the spot. Or if he did, Shikamaru would still consider the price worth it to prevent a realistic end-of-the-world scenario.
The trouble was that Hazō's shadow clones were especially unfit for the purpose. Just as Snowflake would sound alarm bells for any pureblood Mori who spent sufficient time in conversation with her, those who knew Hazō well would surely notice the difference between the smooth, precise Iron Nerve motions he'd refined over the course of his entire lifetime and the inferior, merely human ones his clones had been forced to relearn. If not, what was the point of Iron Nerve optimisation at all? (Idly, Hazō wondered what colour the eyes of Hinata's shadow clones would be. Mind you, they could be a clan like the Yamanaka, whose weird eyes were unrelated to any bloodline powers he knew of.)
Luckily for Hazō, Shikamaru was at home. Rather than his office, he was in the command room they'd once used to ponder Orochimaru countermeasures, with Kei by his side and a dozen older Nara in half a dozen conversations over a vast spread of maps and documents. Several cups of that abysmal special Nara tea stood mostly untouched.
Kei was the first to notice his presence, and after a second, her eyes dimmed with an unspoken "oh" of disappointment. She wordlessly passed Shikamaru a brown folder from the pile.
"Shikamaru, Kei, members of the Nara," Hazō said. "I'm sorry to disturb you. Shikamaru, may I have a word in private?"
"Hazō." Shikamaru nodded to him. "Do we retire to my office or to a more secure space?"
"More secure space, please."
Shikamaru beckoned Hazō onwards, to what ultimately became a stairway that led deep beneath the surface. Hazō was ever more relieved that he'd chosen to come as a shadow clone.
After more stairs than even a fit, well-conditioned chūnin should be forced to descend, they finally found themselves in a well-appointed room with walls of stone. Numerous braziers kept the worst of the unseasonable chill away (and raised all kinds of questions about ventilation) while bookshelves set well away from them were replete with tomes whose spines had numbers instead of titles. As they entered, Shikamaru pulled a seal from a drawer in the desk on the far side and placed it on the wall.
Seated behind the desk, Shikamaru opened the folder and browsed it for a few seconds. The cover read " ōketsu Hazō Invents a Superweapon that Threatens Leaf".
"How can I help you, Hazō?" Shikamaru asked.
"So you know how there is an enormous destructive anomaly off to the west?" Hazō asked.
"It had not escaped my attention," Shikamaru said wryly. "To save you some time, one of the Hokage's first acts was to summon Leaf's sealmasters, including Kagome, who was preparing to mount an immediate rescue mission. That objective, together with your estimated location, was instead passed on to the investigation squad.
"The current working theory is that you were testing a seal and triggered an exceptional sealing failure. Kei and I, of course, have better insight into your relationship with Kagome, and find it implausible that you would leave your sealing master completely in the dark with regard to important research. That you are here rather than at the Tower is just one more indicative irregularity."
"Fine," Hazō said. His head was already about to split apart after seconds with Shikamaru. How would he stand an entire conversation of this? "I don't intend to deny it. That anomaly is my handiwork. It's not a failed seal infusion or an enemy invasion or some kind of extradimensional incursion like a Souldrinker attack.
"The exact details, by which I mean the disaster out there now, are an accident, however. I never expected an event of this scale to happen. I had no idea it would reach so far or be so destructive."
Shikamaru nodded. He looked briefly down at the folder.
"What were the actual effects of the anomaly?"
Should Hazō tell him?
Yes. The jōnin squad was out there anyway, and besides, Shikamaru needed a proper appreciation of the threat.
"It's an enormous storm two to four miles wide," Hazō said. "You can see it for yourself—it's deadlier than any hurricane I've ever heard of. Closer up, it looked like it could snap the Tower like a straw. But the more critical problem, which you can't see from here, is the cold. There was a liquid that came out from the storm and froze all it touched, even the air, which became unbreathable. And when I say all it touched, I mean in a ten-to-twelve-mile radius. Maybe thirteen."
Shikamaru searched through the folder briskly. Hazō noticed a brief tremble in his hands, quickly quashed.
"Do you know how long it will last?"
"Several hours more," Hazō said. "But Shikamaru, there's a much more important issue you need to understand. It's replicable."
"How replicable?"
"I can't tell you any details," Hazō said. "I can replicate it, but I don't have any desire to exploit it. None at all. Except maybe on the Seventh Path, to combat the Souldrinkers, because they are so powerful that we need every weapon we can lay hands on. But that's not what this is about.
"What this is about is the need to keep the information safe. The world can't know about it under any circumstances whatsoever."
Hazō took a deep breath.
"Shikamaru, I need your help. This needs to be kept absolutely secret, as much any secret that has ever been kept. Maybe more secret than that. I humbly ask you to do whatever you can to help me accomplish that."
Shikamaru looked down at the folder and then up again.
"Hazō, you understand that possessing a weapon of this magnitude and keeping it secret from the Hokage would be treason."
"Not if it's consensual," Hazō said. "That's why you're the only one who can do this. If you tell Asuma that it would be better for him not to know about this, in your capacity as the head of the Nara Clan, will he listen?"
Shikamaru put the folder down, considering.
"No," he said eventually. "I suspect my father could have. However, I doubt the Hokage will consent to be rendered powerless on my word while a storm capable of erasing Leaf from the map many times over rages outside his window."
"I see," Hazō said, as heavy disappointment settled on his shoulders. "What about other options? We can't let this spread, Shikamaru. No matter the cost."
"How replicable?" Shikamaru repeated. "Could someone outside the Gōketsu use or recreate this weapon?"
"I can't offer any details of its function," Hazō said. "You must understand why."
"Hazō," Shikamaru said, and there was steel in his voice that Hazō had only ever heard directed at Lord Ritsuo. "This is non-negotiable. I am not asking you to give me the weapon or teach me how to use it, but I need to know the answer to this question before we can proceed. If you refuse, you will be forced to face the Hokage on your own, and I promise you that he will ask you the same question, and he will be no more amenable to refusal."
Hazō stared at Shikamaru. Shikamaru stared back. His expression was implacable, all traces of laziness absent.
How much did he trust Shikamaru? How much did he need Shikamaru? Would the refusal of any potential hint make it easier or harder to protect the secret overall?
"Yes," Hazō said heavily. "Someone outside the clan could theoretically do the same if they knew how. That's why I'm here, Shikamaru. I need your help. It can't be allowed to happen."
"Could someone outside the Gōketsu use or recreate this weapon independently, without stealing or otherwise obtaining the prerequisites from you?"
Yes. Akane had pointed it out. Every Fire user in Isan knew Elemental Mastery. As soon as Isan started to trade ninjutsu with outsiders, it would be everywhere, because it was an incredibly convenient utility ninjutsu that was easy to learn and worked with minimal investment. Hazō, who had two utility ninjutsu he wished to push to their limits in order to see what happened, couldn't rule out that somebody out there (perhaps even an Isan ninja influenced by new ideas from the outside world) would attempt the same process. Admittedly, they'd probably die, but all it would take was "Hey, didn't Tarō say he was headed out to experiment with Elemental Mastery?" and word would spread like wildfire.
No. Madara's pulchritudinous orbs, it was worse. On the reasonable assumption that the next experimenter hadn't been trained by Sensei and wasn't insanely safety-conscious, it was possible that they'd catch their own home in the area of effect. And then people would look at the hellstorm over what used to be, say, Mist, and remember that the first one had been seen in the empty wilderness of Fire.
"Yes," Hazō said.
"Then the Hokage needs to know," Shikamaru said simply.
"No! Shikamaru, listen to me!"
"I am," Shikamaru said. "Are you listening to yourself? You are telling me that you are incapable of preventing proliferation. If I have misunderstood, if you believe that the Gōketsu and the Nara can ensure that no one else uses or recreates this weapon, in perpetuity, without the resources and reach of the Hokage, then this is your chance to correct me."
Hazō did not correct him.
"Hazō, if there were sides to this, which is a very dangerous statement I am choosing to avoid making, please understand that I would be on your side," Shikamaru said. "It is unacceptable for human beings to have access to the kind of power you have displayed today, no matter how wise or trustworthy they may be. Unfortunately, one of the grim truths of safeguarding civilisation is that compromises must be made. The risk that the Hokage destroys Leaf and AMITY with an ill-judged pre-emptive strike, or that his job-mandated mastery of OPSEC is still insufficient to prevent leakage, is yet preferable to the risk of some unknown party reinventing the weapon and spreading it where we cannot see until it is too late to save humanity from itself.
"At the very least, you must tell the Hokage the preconditions for the weapon's use. Whether it be a seal, a ninjutsu, a piece of forbidden lore, or a summoner ability or anything else, he needs to be able to monitor those in possession of it and implement countermeasures to prevent its spread. I imagine that I will be involved in this endeavour somehow, but until the Hokage so commands, I would prefer not to be a potential vector, so I must ask you to tell me nothing further. For the same reason, I cannot accompany you to the meeting at which you will reveal the truth."
Shikamaru rose from his seat. "I suggest you head to the Tower without delay. That you chose to consult with me first, which I assume you did, was sensible but will not earn you any trust. The Hokage always preferred Chōji's frank admission of his mistakes to Ino's careful crafting of justifications."
-o-
When Hazō (the real one) reached Asuma's office, he found the man in front of the western window as the hellstorm in the distance devoured cloud after cloud in an endless dark stream. Hazō couldn't make out the expression on his face, but by the time Asuma turned around, there was only the familiar weary frown.
"Hazō. I'm glad you're safe. Take a seat."
"Thank you, sir."
Asuma took his place behind his desk.
"Are you here because you're belatedly reporting to my summons as a sealmaster, or is there something else you'd like to tell me?"
If Shikamaru was to be believed, Asuma already knew where Hazō had been earlier (that said, Shikamaru hadn't mentioned either way about Akane, and Hazō certainly wouldn't offer her name himself). In theory, there was still room to claim that he'd been in the area by coincidence (since Sensei couldn't have told him why Hazō was there), but it was a terrible theory that wouldn't hold up for five seconds before Asuma snapped and peaceful cooperation became that much harder.
"Sir…" Hazō said, "I'm sure you've already inferred, but I was the one who caused that phenomenon."
Asuma nodded. "Does that mean it's a sealing failure?"
For a moment, Hazō was torn. This was it. All he had to do was say yes, and Asuma wouldn't know any better. The clan would be safe. Akane would be safe. The secret would be safe.
Or Asuma could pick up on the lie, because he'd spent his life in preparation to become a clan head, and then Hazō would be arrested for treason.
Besides, Hazō really didn't have an answer to Shikamaru's demands. Somebody needed to deal with Isan before it was too late, and Hazō was not that someone. He was sufficiently brilliant to come up with a solution to the problem—that wasn't in question—but there was no way he could head to a settlement multiple countries away and persuade/manipulate/blow it up in total secrecy from Asuma.
Not unless…
Could he do it? Could he find an excuse for Akane, at least, to be close to Isan? Could he ask her to murder five hundred people for the sake of the world? She would if he asked. The need was there, and she trusted him.
It would kill her soul. She couldn't be made to obey another order that caused a massacre, not if he wanted her to ever find her way back to who she'd been.
It would also save the world.
But no, that still didn't work, not now he'd conducted his first weapons test where everyone could see. Leaf would be blamed for the destruction of a fellow AMITY member. Akatsuki and the allied forces of the other members would descend on them as AMITY's proof of concept, and the new Elemental Mastery was not a defensive weapon. And then, the only way to make sure no Leaf ninja could use this unknown ability would be to make sure there were no Leaf ninja. Was Hazō prepared to sacrifice Leaf to prevent proliferation?
Oh, but it was even worse, a voice of utter pessimism that sounded a lot like Kei reminded him. If anybody, anywhere, experimented with Elemental Mastery and caused a hellstorm, then Leaf would still be blamed. The only people who could exonerate it would be survivors who now knew how to replicate the effect, and so the only way Leaf survived would be in the worst-case scenario.
Shikamaru was correct. This was beyond Hazō, and beyond Hazō and the Nara.
"No, sir," Hazō said. It took effort not to clench his teeth. "It wasn't a failed seal infusion."
Asuma's frown deepened. "Then what was it?"
"It was a weapons test," Hazō said. "We deployed a new weapon for the first time, and its effects turned out to be far beyond what we expected."
"You did that deliberately?" Asuma stared at the window.
"Yes, sir."
"This is pure Hazō," Asuma said after a second. His voice was heavy and cold. "Do you realise that my subordinates and I have been searching through the records to establish whether there were any teams on missions in that area when the phenomenon started? Scheduled patrols? Genin out training with their leaders? Leaf supply caches, secret facilities, other entities you might never be cleared to know about?"
Hazō had… not considered that possibility at all.
"Were there?" he asked with trepidation.
"No," Asuma said. "At least, nothing registered with the Tower. If, by ill chance, there were Leaf ninja travelling through the area for some arbitrary reason, such as heading to or from missions in the west, we will not find out until they fail to report back.
"I pray that there weren't. But if there were, their deaths are squarely on your head. So are the deaths of any civilians in that area. I know Leaf does not always do well by the civilians in its care, but if there is one absolute rule that gets enforced, it is that Leaf's ninja do not kill its civilians."
"Sir," Hazō said, past a headache that seemed to worsen every time somebody spoke around him, "I accept culpability. Whoever is dead as a result of this, it is my fault. But I must emphasise that this was an accident. If the area of effect had been anywhere near my best safety margins, it would have been well away from any settlement."
Asuma didn't look remotely swayed.
"And if, for once, you'd acted like the Hokage and the Tower existed, I could have directed you to our censuses and our maps, and you would have been able to actually minimise the damage, instead of taking your best guess.
"Hazō, if you had come to me and sought permission before experimenting with blowing up chunks of my territory, I could have helped you choose a location that was both safe for our village's people and assets and reasonably hidden from prying eyes in a way that 'random spot in the wilderness' just isn't in an age when inter-clan and inter-village espionage is on the rise. I could have given you permission to proceed, in full knowledge of the risks, and then you and I would share culpability for whatever happened. Or I could have not. That is a Hokage's prerogative, as you apparently still haven't learned.
"Instead, you bear sole responsibility for everything that comes of this. The deaths of the civilians. The loss of associated income. Any secondary damage that thing out there causes. It's eating a thunderstorm, and drastic changes to the weather could impact harvests across the entire country, though Sage knows this cold snap is sending shivers down my spine even without you.
"Are there going to be drastic changes to the weather?"
"I… I don't know," Hazō confessed.
"Of course you don't." Asuma's shoulders slumped. "Is there anything useful you can tell me?"
"It'll abate in a few hours, sir," Hazō said. Probably. If it ended when the technique ended. "I don't think the impact will spread beyond the initial radius, which is ten to twelve miles."
Asuma looked out the window. "That storm is twenty miles wide?"
Ah.
"No, sir. The storm is just at the centre. The whole area outside the storm is frozen within that radius. Completely, I mean. You can't even breathe the air."
Asuma sat there for a while as he took this in.
This was it. There was no way around it. Hazō would do all in his power to try to limit the impact of the revelation—if he could at least keep the mechanics from Asuma, it would be a critical victory for non-proliferation—but his head was still a mess, and victory in a battle of wits with his supreme commander was likely not on the cards.
"Sir, there's more. I believe I can replicate it."
This instantly captured Asuma's attention. His eyes locked onto Hazō in a way that seemed almost predatory.
"You can create more storms like that? How reliably? How often?"
"I've only conducted one actual test," Hazō said, "but I think future ones will probably come out the same."
It was time. Hazō prayed to whoever could hear him. The Will of Fire, which would surely choose peace over power. The ancestors, who'd be appalled at the idea of a new weapon in Leaf's hands. Yes, Ui Isas too. Even Jashin's aid would be welcome—Jashin in his O'Uzu capacity as a fertility deity, that is, not the other one.
"Sir, I know you won't want to hear this, but I think information about this weapon should be as restricted as possible in order to prevent proliferation. I'm happy to provide you with all the details you need in order to ensure that no force outside Leaf—or, for that matter, in Leaf—can obtain it, but I emphatically advise that you don't ask for more than that. The risks, both to Leaf and to the world, are too vast."
It had to be said, to Asuma's credit, that he actually took a little time to think about it.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Hazō," Asuma said. "If it's possible for other people to do what you've done, I need every last scrap of information that could conceivably help me to protect Leaf against it. Likewise, if using this weapon can help protect Leaf in the future, then as the Hokage it's my duty to have it ready at hand."
"Sir," Hazō said, "I can't overemphasise how bad it would be for this information to leak. As soon as a hostile ninja, or even just a stupid one, has the necessary facts and resources in hand, it could spell the end of civilisation."
"I can see that," Asuma said. "It doesn't change my decision. Hazō, please tell me how this weapon works."
That was that. There was now no way out of this situation, no way out of this room, but to give his leader all that he wanted. Even a claim of clan secrets would probably be overridden, because yes, Asuma understood the stakes, or believed he did, and they really were that terrible.
They were also sufficiently terrible for T&I, if that was what it took. Hazō thought he had the mental resilience to withstand a Yamanaka mind probe, but it wasn't like he'd ever tried, and it also wasn't like Asuma would stop until he had the information he believed was necessary to protect Leaf from total destruction.
"There is a technique called Elemental Mastery," Hazō said, and a new pain blossomed in his heart as he readied himself to betray Akane. "Every Fire Element user in Isan knows it, and Akane learned it on our first visit there. It's a mild temperature control ninjutsu that cools their homes in summer and warms them in winter."
Asuma nodded as if he could see the connection to the storm outside. It was more than Hazō had done.
"In the experiment earlier today," Hazō went on, "Akane, on my orders, cooled a relatively small area below a certain very low temperature. The next minute, that area was the heart of the storm you can see, which is much more powerful than it looks from here, and there was also a flood of unidentified liquid which froze all it touched. I don't know the mechanics of what happened. I don't even know for a fact that it was us. I mean, obviously it was, but the idea of that as the effect of one low-rank ninjutsu is still difficult for me to process."
"Who else knows this Elemental Mastery?" Asuma asked in rapid-fire. "Who else knows that it can be used this way? What are the conditions for its use? Were there any witnesses to your test other than you and Akane? Have you told anyone about it?"
Hazō swallowed. "Akane is the only one in Leaf who knows the technique as far as I know. I mean, there were Isan ninja in Leaf, briefly, so I can't rule out others, but it seems improbable. In Isan, it's ubiquitous, but no one knows it can be used this way—or if they do, no one's told me. In Leaf, only Akane and I know.
"There shouldn't have been any witnesses. There was no reason for anyone to follow us to the test site, and it's very unlikely that anyone could tell what we did and how just from observation. Nobody else knows.
"As for the conditions, there aren't any in particular. It's an ordinary ninjutsu. The chakra cost is non-trivial if you use it at the level of power necessary, but it shouldn't be too much for a chūnin, or anyone who has made an effort to build their chakra reserves."
"I see," Asuma said. "Elemental Mastery and everything related to Elemental Mastery is now classified. Nobody is to use the technique, teach it, or share any information about it without my express permission given in person. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well," Asuma said after a few seconds, "this is a fine mess that could have been hugely mitigated if you'd thought to come talk to your Hokage before experimenting with world-ending weaponry. Hazō, you are beyond the point where you can afford to screw up, in many different ways. Can I trust you to finally learn your lesson?"
"Yes, sir," Hazō said. Maybe he should've come as a shadow clone this time too.
"Good."
Unexpectedly, Asuma seemed to relax.
"You've made mistakes, Hazō. Big ones. I don't think I need to belabour that point. But I am choosing to have faith in you. And on the positive side, what you've accomplished is extraordinary. The odds of Leaf's survival in these tumultuous times go up considerably with this trump card up its sleeve. I also can't overstate the magnitude of your achievement in finding such power within a seemingly trivial technique. I have great hopes for what you will accomplish in the future."
"Thank you, sir," Hazō said warily.
"In fact," Asuma went on, "I think I can see the logical next step. Tell me, Hazō, has Shimura contacted you yet?"
"No, sir." Hazō shook his head. "Which Shimura is supposed to contact me, and why?"
"I see," Asuma said. "Well, you may or may not be aware that when Shimura Danzō's tragic death was discovered, my father's people were unable to find a will or any other such document. Shimura had a reputation, in his latter years, as a paranoid old coot, so eventually they were forced to assume that, even if he'd made one, he'd hidden it so well it might as well not exist.
"As it happens, they were right. We only recently discovered Shimura's document cache, buried in storage among other unrelated documents. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Hazō, but Shimura left his compound to one of his unadopted clanless ninja. That ninja is now dead, but their descendant has a lawful claim, and since it seems you do not in fact legally own the Shimura compound in which you've been living, you have none. You and the rest of the Gōketsu are going to have to move out in short order."
What.
This was impossible. The clan was somehow over a dozen ninja now, not a group that could casually operate out of a town house. More importantly, where, exactly, was Hazō supposed to find homes for hundreds of civilians on zero notice?
"However," Asuma said, "in the midst of disaster is where we find opportunity, and Sage knows there has been plenty of disaster to go round of late. Hazō, things being as they are, it would in any case be too dangerous for you and Akane to keep living outside the walls, where there is a constant risk of you being assassinated or even kidnapped. And by moving back into Leaf proper, you will be able to coordinate much more easily with the Tower and with Leaf's other experts, which will be indispensable for helping us to leverage your creative talent."
"But sir," Hazō protested, "there are no free compounds available in Leaf. It's not as if we didn't look."
"There will be," Asuma said. "Consider that my gift to you, and the foundation for a closer, more fruitful relationship."
"Wait," Hazō said. "Do you intend to just offer my clan a new compound?"
"Informally," Asuma said. "Formally, it will be a sale for some eye-watering amount of money, which, oddly, no one will be able to pin down. It wouldn't do to show favouritism in front of the other clans."
Hazō felt dizzy, and not just from the headache.
"In fact, this would be a good time to secure our other assets among the Gōketsu. Losing either Akane or Noburi would be a significant blow to Leaf's military capability. We need to make sure they're strong enough for whatever trials lie ahead. Do you think it would be worth me speaking to Tsunade to arrange some apprenticeships?"
"B-But doesn't she have plans to leave Leaf soon?"
"I'm sure she can be persuaded to reconsider when the village's security is at stake," Asuma said. "We all have to adapt to changing circumstances. On the same reasoning, I intend to have someone go through the Tower's restricted archives. There may be some superior seals or ninjutsu we can offer you to help ensure your safety in the future."
"S-Sir, I don't know what to say," Hazō said, the part of his brain that wasn't filled with pain instead filled with confusion, but not a bad kind of confusion.
"This isn't a bribe, Hazō," Asuma said. "This is an investment in your creative ability, and I will be expecting you to use that investment to the fullest for Leaf's benefit.
"Now, the investigation team should be back soon, and I will need to start dealing with the aftermath of that"—Asuma waved towards the window—"to say nothing of all the other implications of your discovery. Send Akane to see me as soon as you get back to the Shimura compound."
"Sir?"
"She will need to be mind-scanned to confirm that she hasn't taught anyone Elemental Mastery," Asuma said as if it was obvious. "As you yourself said, the stakes are too high to take half-measures."
"Sir, I must protest. It would threaten clan secrets."
"My Yamanaka expert will be as discreet as physically possible," Asuma said. "But this isn't optional. You may have absolute faith in your girlfriend's word and memory, but I need to know that Leaf won't be wiped from the face of the earth because I trusted when I could have verified. I will also need Akane to teach me the technique."
"I…" There was no room for debate, not really. The minute Hazō had mentioned Isan, there was no chance he could claim Elemental Mastery as a clan secret, and for an ordinary secret, it was most certainly one of those extreme circumstances in which Asuma could demand them.
"Thank you for your contribution to Leaf, Hazō, and your understanding. I will send word when the new compound is ready, and I will make arrangements with Shimura to allow you to keep your home until then."
With that, Hazō was dismissed.
Had he won or lost in his face-off with Asuma? Had his actions prevented the apocalypse or hastened it? Was there any way left to protect Akane, or had she been doomed the moment he asked her to use Elemental Mastery to destroy?
Hazō felt cold, and only some of it was the unnatural chill of the western wind.
-o-
You have received 1 + 1 (Brevity) = 2 XP. Most of the XP for today was awarded for the previous chapter.
Wow. We hurt Akane before, and she has been traumatised before, but I think it's the first time that we traumatised her. It just hit me. Well, we used to have a time-control seal in the works, didn't we? It's maybe not too late to undo this.
I mean, honestly i just wonder what people expected, akane was the worst person to have this power.
I still think she should learn TH to massively scale down this power and instil direction to it, to not be as indiscriminate, while allowin* her to say "no" like every essie apparently can.
None in the narration either. Until Akane spoke, I believed there would be none at all. Most impressively, none of it looks strained the way our posts do
Actually, not at all. It's just that I have a timed project for work today, and while ordinarily, that wouldn't be a sufficient issue to interfere with leftover update work, today's is the Project from Hell in terms of difficulty and time needed.
Actually, not at all. It's just that I have a timed project for work today, and while ordinarily, that wouldn't be a sufficient issue to interfere with leftover update work, today's is the Project from Hell in terms of difficulty and time needed.
I wholeheartedly support Akane's idea to nuke Bear. I was about to propose it myself! Another fun victim would be the Swamp of Death. Cathartic, you know?
Specifically, it will only end when the final part of the current chapter is released (which is subject to Velorien's spoon count). I expect there will be a specific announcement of the end of the prohibition, so I would err on the side of caution until that happens.
