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.
One day this basement will be measured with ES. And added one bum step.
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.
Ah, prelude #16, how droll.
"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.
Check, yes check.
"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.
Uh oh. Limited preparation. Scenario folder survives this eventuality deemed unlikely.
"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.
Nice. Skips many steps and it would have been much harder to proceed in case uncooperative.
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."
Curious if this folder was started under his father... well, how many sheets of it.
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.
This reassurance did not last past Asuma.
"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.
Without SC, overwhelming probability that the user destroys all in miles. There will not be one clean casualty to point to. It would catch more practice fields or research facilities. Would be interesting to cross check Nara history records for possible previous cases of events like this.
Madara's pulchritudinous orbs, it was worse.
Truly, his orbs were out of this world.
"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.
Disappoint.
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 putting himself in the corner to get run around. This attitude leaves Asuma to do anything he wants to stop spread.
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."
Shorter delay if he did not wait for the SC to climb back up all those steps.
"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.
Sad.
"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."
This is Asuma in sealing failure mode. He uses the leverage he thinks he has to tie us closer to institutions. Relief, as far as motives go. Bearing sole responsibility is a stretch. He could have done more to make us feel like true allies. Kept us at less of a distance. And none of the precautions they would have suggested would exceed ours.
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."
This is the moment Asuma could have killed us to keep the secret to himself.
I am choosing to have faith in you.
The bullshit starts. Coming to him with this is us placing huge faith in him.
"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?"
And the run around. Eat whatever small losses come from delegating the distractions sure to shortly come our way. Nothing more important to focus on than Asuma's choices with EM.
"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."
Is the descendant a shinobi? Mari needs to dig up all the dirt on this person to see how deep in Asuma's pocket they are. Many normal heirs would be happy to rent the land to us.
"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."
Weird how misplaced documents have a way of showing up again at the most unexpected time.
I will also need Akane to teach me the technique.
Asuma telling us to teach him EM is sign of respect. Easily could have gone behind our backs. A breeze to claim he was responsible for the first storm after he learns it. He can reason out how small a risk of proliferation we decided warranted going to him. Maybe he will think we were off balance from the level of devastation, the speed of events or not having Mari, but it could only help us to double down on projecting going to him being the right decision. He sees us as his loyal, little hound. Less troublesome than Naruto or Tsunade. Smart enough to come up with S-class tricks but too weak to protect them. Whether he has justification to full on take them or keep them in hands reach if the need arises.
Good writing. Will think about this chapter for a long time.
