"Mom, where's Canzon?" asked Canodo, wide-eyed.
Hazō and his clones had finished bringing the surviving dogs up from the ground. They had finished locating all the bodies and putting them into storage seals. (The dogs got to be wrapped in protective leather before being sealed up. The murderous fucking hyenas could deal with storage stress on their own and if they ended up looking like badly-minced meat then that was their problem.) Most importantly, Hazō and his clones had finished finding reasons to delay this conversation.
"I'm afraid she's not coming," Hazō said, the words sharp as glass in his throat. "One of the hyenas killed her."
"And Canonical," Canteen said, shivering. "They bit her throat out. Her
entire throat. And Cantle—"
"That's enough," Canny said, laying a paw on Canteen's head. The smaller dog went silent, so Canny took his paw away and rubbed his cheek down Canteen's back. "It's all right, little brother. We're okay. We're safe up here." He cast a dubious eye towards the edge of the skytower and the bowels-loosening drop beyond it, but didn't say anything.
"We need to figure out our next move," Canyon snarled. "Those bastard hyenas escaped. They'll be back, and they'll bring more of their mud-sucking ilk with them. We'll need to get them all this time." He turned to Hazō. "Summoner, those seals of yours? Can they—
"No, Canyon," Canny said. His voice was gentle but firm and his cheek still lay on Canteen's back even as his eyes locked on those of his brother.
Canyon's head swung around. "We absolutely need to kill them. If we don't, they'll notify the rest."
Canny chuffed in sad amusement. "Pretty sure the summoner did for that with those screaming seals. Every flea-bitten worthless hunk of meat in this country is going to be swarming towards us. Probably including old Hawoowoo herself."
"Mom?" Cantamai said, her voice rising with incipient panic at the discussion.
"It's okay, sweetie," Cantahaoya said. "We'll be okay."
"We can handle this," Hazō said firmly. "We have options."
"Options?!" Canteen said. The little hunter's eyes were wide and he was panting. "What options could we possibly have? Canzon is dead!"
Hazō swallowed. "I'm sorry. I should have...I didn't..." He gave up and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I promise you, we will honor Canzon in ways that are fit for both your people and mine. For the little time I knew her, she was a power. She was funny, and brilliant, and a strong fighter. And she saved my life."
Silence hovered across the platform.
"I'm sorry," Hazō said. "Sorry that I couldn't save Canzon, or Canonical, or Cantle. Sorry that I didn't..." He trailed off and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I should have thought more, prepared more. I'm the security officer, your escort."
"Oh, shut up," Canyon said. "You're not the Alpha. You're not the Creator. You aren't omnipotent and you didn't kill them, so stop trying to take all the drama for yourself. It's those fucking hyenas who should be sorry. Who
will be sorry."
"Relax your jaws, brother," Canny said. "Yes, they'll be sorry. They'll be sorry as we strip the skin off their bones and make them howl for days. But they'll be sorry
later. Right now it's about them, not us." He jerked his head towards the puppies.
Canyon looked at Cantamai and Canodo, their sides heaving and ears low as they looked from one angry or terrified adult to the next. He took a breath and let it out slowly, the tension draining out of his body like water being wiped off.
"We'll be okay, little ones," he said gently. "Look where we are! We're up in the sky, looking down on those ugly round-ears like the little worms they are. What are they going to do, jump up here?" He looked up and bounced on his front legs, yipping desperately like a hyena trying to get to the skytower.
Cantamai huff-laughed and her breathing slowed. Canodo watched and huddled against his mother's side.
"What's the plan?" Cantahaoya asked, licking her pup and nuzzling his ears. Cantamai saw that snuggling was on offer and hurried over, draping herself across her mother's legs and pushing her head under Cantahaoya's tongue.
Everyone looked to Hazō.
Hazō felt the corner of his lip trying to twitch into a smile at the sense of familiarity that cascaded through him. Memories crowded in of prior moments when whatever group he was standing in turned to him expectantly, waiting for him to Do The Thing. He squashed the smile with all the power of the Iron Nerve.
"How do you guys feel about visiting the Human Path?" he asked.
o-o-o-o
Noburi came into the hospital waiting room at a jog. "Hazō?" he asked. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you were back until later."
Hazō stood up from the seat he'd been waiting in. It was padded, technically, but the padding was so packed down that it might as well not have been there. He butt was killing him.
"I need your help," he said without preamble.
"You've got it. What do you need?" Noburi asked, not pausing for an instant.
Hazō smiled and rested his hand on his brother's shoulder for a second. "Thanks, bro."
"Don't get all mushy on me," Noburi said. "And whatever it is better not take long. Tsunade-sensei was pissed when the messenger came to call me out of surgery. She told me I could have three minutes, so if this is going to be more than that I'll need to send a message."
"Ninety seconds," Hazō said. "Grab the canteen, would—thanks."
Noburi had unslung his barrel even as he was asking for the time estimate. He had a canteen full of chakra water in his hand, ready and waiting for when his brother needed it.
Hazō pricked his finger on the pin that was set into his belt for that purpose and squeezed out a drop of blood. He slapped his hand to the wooden floor and said, "Summoning Technique: Cantahaoya, Cantamai, Canodo, Cantal!"
A series of tiny explosions went off around them, each accompanied by a puff of smoke. The nurse at the desk outside the waiting room looked up sharply, saw that the two ninja in the room weren't being hostile, and went back to his paperwork.
The smoke cleared, revealing two grown dogs and two puppies, all four of them looking around in fascination.
"One second, folks," Hazō said to the dogs before they could speak. He slugged down the contents of the canteen that Noburi handed him, squeezed another drop of blood from his wounded finger, and slapped the floor again. "Summoning Technique: Canyon and Canteen!"
Another drink of chakra water and another drop of blood brought Cantorakku the tracker. Yet another brought the final survivor of the Horizon Chasers pack: Canny, the warrior.
Noburi looked at Hazō with a raised eyebrow, but turned to the dogs and bowed politely.
"Hello," he said. "I am Gōketsu Noburi, Hazō's brother. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."
"You smell weird," Cantamai observed. "Are you a fish?"
"Cantamai!" Cantahaoya said, appalled. "Don't be rude! You apologize to the Summoner's brother, right now!"
"But he
does smell weird, Mom. Can't you smell it?"
"It doesn't matter what I can or can't smell or how Mr Noburi does or doesn't smell," she said firmly. "What matters is that we are their
guests and you are being very rude. Now apologize!"
"Sorry, Mr Noburi," Cantamai said. "I shouldn't have said you smelled weird."
Noburi laughed. "That's okay, kiddo. You smell weird to me, too."
"Noburi!" Hazō said, eyes wide.
"I didn't say it was bad," Noburi said. "Just weird. Strange. Not something I'm used to smelling. Therefore...strange." He winked.
Cantahaoya's mouth was open, her head was cocked, and she didn't seem to know exactly how she wanted to react.
"Noburi, don't cause trouble," Hazō said. "Cantahaoya, humans are essentially noseblind compared to dogs. Most of the time we can't smell you unless we stick our noses in your fur."
"Oh no!" Canodo said. "Summoner, you poor thing!"
Hazō laughed. "It's okay. Dogs have advantages over humans, humans have advantages over dogs." He held up both hands and wiggled his fingers. "You can smell me from fifty feet away—"
Cantorakku snorted and leaned closer to Cantal, the other tracker. "Only fifty?" he whispered.
"—whereas I can tie my sandals and make a sled."
"And with that settled, I need to get out of here," Noburi said. "Hazō, glad I could help. Folks, a pleasure meeting you." He tucked the canteen back into its slot on his barrel and started to hoist the barrel onto his back.
"Not yet," Hazō said, putting a hand on Noburi's shoulder to stop him. "I need two more doses."
Noburi blinked. "You know you're already pushing Tsunade-sensei's limit for chakra water, right?"
"
I wasn't planning on telling her," Hazō said. "Were you?"
Noburi looked at him for a moment, then dipped out some water and handed it over.
Hazō chugged it down and made a cross with his fingers. "Shadow Clone Technique!"
o-o-o-o
A soft rap on the door made Gaku look up. He immediately jumped to his feet and bowed.
"Lady Mari!" he said. "How may I help you, ma'am?"
Mari came into the room with a smile and waved him back to his seat as she settled into his visitor chair. She had clearly come from the bath; her hair was loose and slightly damp, a faint scent of strawberries clung to her, and she wore a green silk robe that revealed a trace of cleavage. "Please don't get up, Gaku. I just wanted to ask if you knew when Hazō was coming back. I wanted to talk to him about the NOBURI initiative. Is he around tonight?"
Gaku blinked. "Ma'am...he's here now. Scribing seals in his study."
"What? He is?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Wasn't he supposed to be with the dogs until noon today? I thought they were traveling all night tonight so as not to be spotted by the hyenas?" She paused. "Have I lost track of the time difference again? Isn't it still night on the Seventh Path?"
"It is, ma'am, yes. And yes, that was the plan, ma'am. There was, um, a problem. They were ambushed, ma'am. I'm afraid I don't have the details, ma'am."
Mari smiled. Gaku was starting to sweat and was staring very fixedly at her forehead as opposed to her eyes or anything else, so she took pity on him by pulling her neckline a little closer and clearing her throat.
"Ah! Yes. Right. Sorry, ma'am. I know he's scribing seals but I don't know the details. Should I fetch him for you?"
"No, thank you. I'll check on him myself."
o-o-o-o
"Hazō?"
"Mari!" Hazō said, breaking out into a smile and standing up. He collected a hug, then stepped back and admitted, "Actually, I'm Hazō BoringStuffDoer. Prime is scribing seals at Leaf General Hospital."
"At the hospital? Why?"
"Funny you should ask. Prime is scribing at the hospital, I'm scribing here, Hazō TediumSurvivor is scribing in the clan library, and Hazō ForTheLoveOfTheSageFigureOutHowToPrintTheseThings is scribing in one of the training rooms."
"'Hazō ForTheLoveOfTheSageFigureOutHowToPrintTheseThings'?" Mari asked, eyebrows rising.
Hazō BoringStuffDoer chuckled. "Yeah, he's a bit of a drama queen. Anyway, we're all scribing seals while Hazō NeenerNeener is taking the Horizon Chasers pack around Leaf. All eight of them. There was some debate about whether we should split them into smaller groups, give each group a Hazō escort, but we decided it would be better for everyone to stick together and only have two Hazōs in Leaf proper." He guided Mari to a chair and unsealed a teapot and cups, then settled down opposite her.
"I've noticed a pattern with Hazō," Mari said, sinking into the chair and pouring tea for both of them. "There is a particular type of conversation that we have where I ask him or one of his clones a question and I get an 'answer', after which I now have two questions. The process tends to repeat a few cycles." She sipped her tea, eyes twinkling.
Hazō BoringStuffDoer smiled, but there was sadness in the expression. "Yeah, that's fair. Let me start over."
He laid out the story of escorting the Horizon Chasers pack, of the ambush by the hyenas and the resulting deaths, and of the group's escape to the skytower.
"So, Prime figured that he would just bring everyone here," BoringStuffDoer said, shrugging. "He found Noburi and needed to tank up a few times to get it done, but he did. Now he's sitting in the hospital scribing seals and Noburi swings by once every hour or two in order to give him a refill so that Prime has enough chakra to keep all the dogs on the Human Path."
"Is that safe?"
"Wellll...we don't know for certain that it's
not safe."
"I see."
"It'll be fine, honest. Hey, what's the worst that happens? If Prime collapses, he's already at the hospital!"
"Mm-hm." She digested that thought. "What are the dogs doing?"
o-o-o-o
"Eeeeeeeeeeee!" Honoka shrieked, dodging around the flag pole as Canodo pounced at her. True to Hazō's earlier words about humans having their own advantages, Honoka's turning radius was way better than her canine attacker's. The fluffy pup went flying past as Honoka blew a raspberry at him and turned to run to the next base.
Sadly, Canodo had been merely the distraction.
Honoka turned just in time to get a faceful of tongue-lolling excited puppy emitting a shrill "YORP!" The impact bowled her over on the wet grass and there was nothing for it except to cover her face and shriek-giggle as she tried to escape as much as possible of the slobbery licking.
"Honoka is captured!" shouted Muramoto Mikio. "She has to go to the jail!" The seven-year-old had a remarkably nasal voice, even for his age, and loved lording his status as a second year over the 'poor little firsties'.
"I'll save you, Honoka!" shouted Nomura Kotone, one of the aforementioned poor little firsties. She pushed Cantamai off of Honoka, grabbed the other girl's hand in hers, and pulled her to her feet. The pair of them ran away, shrieking in delight.
"Hey!" Muramoto yelled. "You cheated! You can only save her once she gets to the jail!"
"Ninja!" Honoka shouted over her shoulder as she and Nomura separated and split in different directions to draw off their pursuers.
A few yards away, a small cluster of grownups watched in amusement as the children, two- and four-legged alike, played together.
Cantahaoya looked up at Matsuzaki Nori, the Academy instructor who had been running calisthenics for the first- and second-year students when Hazō and the dogs rolled up. "Your pups seem quite sweet," she said.
"Oh, they aren't
my pups," Matsuzaki said. "You can't pin that one on me, lady! I just do my best to get them tired out, then I give them back." She shuddered. "Ugh. Can you imagine having sixteen kids of your own? The sheer amount of time that would take!"
"The Shady Hills pack had seventy-three pups," Cantahaoya said. "Everyone pitched in to keep them safe and happy."
"The Human Path is something like that," said Hazō NeenerNeener (so named after he won the draw to decide who got to escort dogs and who had to scribe seals). "We're standing on the grounds of the Academy, a school where our young go during the day to learn the arts of the ninja while their parents do grownup things like hunting and ninja missions. Teachers like Matsuzaki here take temporary responsibility for them and teach them a particular thing that they are expert in. In the evenings, the children return to their birth families for dinner and bonding and sleep, then the cycle repeats again the next day."
"Interesting," Canny said. "Summoner, my understanding is that this village of yours contains multiple different families, each equivalent to a pack?"
"Sort of," Hazō said carefully. "There are a lot of differences but that's a reasonable first approximation."
"I believe you also said that some of the families are enemies?"
Hazō struggled not to allow his sudden alarm to show in front of the Academy instructor. He mentally flipped through everything he'd ever said to Canny, hoping that there wasn't anything that would sound treasonous when taken out of context. Or, at the very least, that Canny wouldn't repeat it.
"Not enemies, no," Hazō said calmly. "In some cases we may be
rivals, but everyone who lives in Leaf has the Will of Fire in their heart. People with the Will of Fire in their heart cannot be enemies."
"Rivals, of course," Canny said. "Still, it brings me back to my question: why are you allowing a rival pack to raise your pups?" He looked over to Matsuzaki. "No offense, ma'am."
"None taken," she said, smiling. Her hand twitched slightly.
Canny caught the motion. He looked to her hand, then back up to her face. "Yes?"
Matsuzaki blushed. "Sorry, nothing."
"I believe you were reaching towards me. Is there a problem?"
Matsuzaki's blush grew darker. "Um, no. Really, very sorry."
Canny looked at Canyon in confusion, then looked across the training field. Sixteen human Academy students, two Horizon Chasers pups, and seven Inuzuka with their nindogs were scattered around in various groupings.
"Miss Matsuzaki...were you intending to
pet me?" Canny demanded, after noticing what was happening at several of the groupings.
Matsuzaki mumbled something incomprehensible.
Canny and Canyon exchanged looks, and then both shrugged.
"Very well," Canny said. He walked over and thrust his head under Matsuzaki's hand.
"Eep! What are you doing?"
He looked up at her as though she had asked why water was wet. "You wanted to pet me. The children seem to quite enjoy this petting thing, so I have no objection to trying it. Begin, please." He leaned heavily into her hand.
Hazō had to clamp down hard to avoid bursting into laughter at the expression on Matsuzaki's face as she began, at first slowly and then more confidently, to pet the massive warrior dog. The blep expression on Canny's face didn't help.
o-o-o-o
"Last I heard, NeenerNeener was taking them to the Inuzuka estate to meet some of the nindogs," Hazō BoringStuffDoer said, "then maybe over to the Academy to meet the kids. Both are big open spaces with lots of non-threatening people who are comfortable with dogs and ninja activities."
Mari nodded. "Makes sense. Anyway, what are you guys scribing? And why are you making seals instead of research or something?"
Hazō BoringStuffDoer smiled wickedly and rubbed his hands together. "Mwahaha! It is part of my cunning secret plan!"
"Which is?"
"A
secret!"
"Hazō, walking to the hospital would involve putting on proper shoes and doing my hair and fixing my makeup and—"
"Hang on, why do you have to put makeup on to walk to the hospital?"
Mari gaped at him. "Hazō," she said, waving a hand around her face, "all
this doesn't just happen, and neither does my sterling reputation amongst the people of Leaf as a stunning beauty, fashion trendsetter, and generally put-together grown woman. It's one thing to slop around the manor"—she gestured to her robe and fuzzy slippers—"but I can't go out on the estate like this, much less the streets of Leaf."
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Why do you mention this?"
"Because when you refuse to tell your senior advisor about this 'cunning secret plan', it makes me want to beat you about the head and shoulders with a fish, but if I do that to you then you'll just poof away and I'll have to go track down Hazō Prime, which would be a lot of effort. So, with all that mentioned, could you pretty please with sugar on top tell me about this plan?"
"Okay, okay!" he said, pretending to cower while also splitting his face grinning. "The dogs were safe up on the skytower when Prime summoned them. When he releases the summoning they will appear back on the platform, still safe."
"So...?"
"So, there's no rush. The dogs can spend the next few days on the Human Path playing and relaxing while the Hazō Collective makes skywalker seals. They'll need to sleep on the skytower because Prime can't maintain the summoning while unconscious, but that's no big deal. In a few days, the dogs and Prime go back to the Seventh Path, Prime summons a bunch of clones, and we carry the dogs in litters from skytower to skytower all the way to Pangolin. We'll meet up with Noburi and Kei and roll into the Conclave looking like the second coming of the Sannin."
Mari nodded thoughtfully, and her expression was pleased.
Author's Note: The plan is that Hazō and his clones set up skytowers, then take multiple trips back and forth to ferry the dogs from the old skytower to the new one. At each step, they leapfrog the old skytower out in front of themselves and repeat.
@Paperclipped did the math and figured out that 'the skywalker dog-ferry' (his words) travels around 4mph, that [lots of math], and therefore Hazō will need about 8 days to get to Pangolin.
I originally wrote this with the intent of finishing it with the kids rolling into Pangolin Territory. Then I thought that maybe @Velorien has some stuff he'd like to do in the interim, so I'm going to hold things here for a bit until I can catch up with him.
It took 12 days for Hazō and the Horizon Chasers to reach Pangolin Territory. (It could have been done in 8, but Hazō's leg wound slowed them down.)
XP AWARD: 60
Brevity XP: 10
@Velorien will open voting and announce whether it's starting immediately from the end of this update, or 8 days later as people arrive in Pangolin, or some other point. Once that's known I'll update the XP awards.
Voting is open and
@Paperclipped will be writing the Thursday update. You may find a safe place to camp out somewhere in Pangolin Territory, or you may proceed directly to the Conclave. Please vote in your choice.
