January 17, 1071 AS, sunset
The trip home was misery. Well, not the trip itself. He had run farther and faster back in their missing-nin days. No, the misery was from knowing what came next. The expressions that would fill Akane's parents' faces. Especially her father's face, as his thoughts flashed back to the long-gone moment when he told Hazō-the-missing-nin to stay away from Akane because all he could bring her was heartache and danger.
How was Hazō supposed to tell him that he had been right?
They chased the sun to rest and arrived home in the gloaming, covered in sweat and trail dust. Hazō took a military bath (fast enough but thorough enough to satisfy the angriest of instructors), dressed well, and sought out Akane's parents. He needed to confess that he had gotten their little girl killed. Afterwards, he needed to tell the rest of the clan and whomever else showed up.
o-o-o-o
January 17, 1071 AS, evening
Every part of Hazō hurt.
He could remember, dimly, his father's death. The memories felt dreamlike, almost unreal, memories of someone else who happened to be observing a mourning child. He could see, now, that the child had been drowning—drowning in grief, drowning in confusion, drowning in anger.
But that child hadn't known they were drowning. They'd just felt the water, felt resistance when they thrashed, felt their throat fill and their lungs spasm, felt a leeching cold.
They hadn't been able to see the ocean, empty and heartless. They hadn't known how far they were from shore, they hadn't known that no one was coming. They hadn't known that they would not drown, but swallow lungful after lungful of frigid brackish seawater as they drifted with agonizing slowness back to land.
Hazō knew. He knew exactly what was coming and part of him whispered that he would fail. This would break him. It whispered that Akane was dead, would always be dead, and that he would never recover the part of him that had died with her. The wound in his soul would not heal, but blacken and turn and seep through him until it claimed him.
"Hazō?"
Mari put her head around the door. She was resplendent in Leaf mourning garb; black with reds, oranges, and yellows. He catalogued her makeup before looking beneath it; the powder revealed worry lines, artfully-smudged darkness at the corners of her eyes distracted from barely-visible bags, mascara offset bloodshot eyes. He kept looking, seeing the tension in her jaw, the clenched teeth, the—
"Hazō. It's time."
He stood. His back hurt. She put a hand on his shoulder. Guilt washed over him. She was keeping it together, and that worried him. Later, he'd sit down with her.
Thinking of later hurt.
The crowd was a decent size. Reo had done well with the impromptu stage, wrought from the red granite which was becoming synonymous with Gōketsu. It was simple—an elevated platform, with a backdrop covered in calligraphy and tapestries. Gōketsu colors, and Gōketsu words. Hazō looked over but not at the throng of people. If he saw a Hagoromo, he didn't know what he'd do. He took a breath, and began.
"Manato, Nakajima Nanao, Tomoe Mami, and Gōketsu Akane are missing, presumed dead."
The air was still. Speaking hurt, even as the Iron Nerve played the speech back.
"Leaf is poorer by four outstanding shinobi, taken too soon. They touched many lives, and it's good to see so many of their comrades, friends, and family here. I'd like to speak to all of you—not just here and now, but in the coming days and weeks, to mourn and share stories. Every moment I had with Akane was precious. It would be wrong to hoard those moments: we may never have more, but we can share the wealth of knowing her, knowing Nanao, and knowing Mami, knowing Manato. I would like to share the memories I was gifted with you. I hope that you'll do the same for me."
Someone was weeping.
"All of their deaths constitute tragedies—tragedies which should be unimaginable, but which are all too easy to conceive for everyone here. I wish to honor this tragedy, their sacrifice, but first—"
Mari had coached him through the slip. An apology delivered by the Iron Nerve would be picked over, analyzed, and taken as insincere. Almost no one in Leaf would be able to tell the difference, but Ritsuo would make sure that someone who could was in the crowd and Hazō would not provide him with anything he could use to deflect even a shred of the Hokage's fury. So, they'd rehearsed, over and over. His bloodline hurt, but he could do it, now. He let go of his face—he seemed to let go of his face. The slightest of slight exaggerations, so everyone would see, would believe, that he'd made this real.
"—I must apologize to the Hagoromo."
"Akane was...if I say beautiful I worry that you may think I speak only of her physical beauty. But it was more than that. She radiated warmth, and light. She glowed. When I first met her, I had no idea what the source of this could be, but as I came to know her, the answer became obvious. It was the Will of Fire."
The soft blanket of reverence which descended upon the citizens of Leaf whenever the Will of Fire was mentioned settled over the crowd. Hazō could feel eyes on him, and not all of them friendly.
"The First Hokage said that the meaning of life is love, and that love is the will to protect. He said that the will to protect is the Will of Fire. The Will of Fire warms your comrades and illuminates your path even as it burns your enemies. The Will of Fire is bravery and kindness. Akane's dedication to the Will of Fire stunned me, inspired me to better understand and accept it into my heart. But taken too far, this flame risks all, consumes all, like wildfire annihilating a forest."
"By now, you have likely heard rumor that I made threats against the Hagoromo. These rumors are true and I am deeply ashamed. I unreservedly recant those threats and those words. The Gōketsu will not act against the Hagoromo—no aggression nor provocation will be tolerated. Akane would expect no less. The return of her and her team to the Will of Fire makes the adherence of every Gōketsu shinobi to the Will of Fire all the more critical, that this loss not diminish the warmth and goodness of Leaf. Their flames will remain lit. She remains in my heart, and I will not disappoint nor dishonor her."
His teeth hurt. The words hurt, like choking down kunai and vomiting molten metal.
He waited for a heartbeat, and continued.
"I wish to honor Akane, and Mami, and Manato, and Nanao. Gōketsu wishes to honor their sacrifice and their memories. I hope that my next actions, kindled by their flames, may serve as a poor imitation of the protection and service they would have offered the village were they still here."
He gestured—first, the handsign for 'safe', to frowns, and then behind him. Mari, out of sight, triggered the MARS chain attached to the charges placed last night. The backdrop crumbled, and so did a carefully-chosen portion of the wall of the Gōketsu clan compound, revealing a small building. The shockwave—barely noticeable by Gōketsu standards, and a sudden, strong wind by anyone else's—grabbed at Hazō's robes, blew dust and pebbles through the crowd.
It was a marriage of stone and wood. It was green and brown and red. Ken and Hazō had agonized over it, almost come to blows, and agreed on a structure that they thought Akane would have liked. It was small. It had a doorway but no door. The roof hung over the entrance, protecting the space from the weather. Four names were carved into the lintel. It was barely big enough for two people, one standing and one seated behind a desk, but it still looked open and inviting. They'd put it together in a frenzy last night, working almost silently. They'd both wept when it was finished.
Shouts and confusion competed with the muted roar. Hazō projected over both.
"The Gōketsu have endowed the Team Akane Seal Bank." He'd flat-out rejected the inclusion of the word 'memorial'. "Any shinobi may withdraw a package of four seals—one storage, three explosive tags—free of charge, at any time. These seals will be replaced as they are destroyed, consumed, or wear out."
The shouting had crescendoed at the words 'seal bank', only to vanish as Hazō held up four seals. The clicking of abacus beads was nigh-audible as every numerate member of the crowd, which had grown since the explosion, reached the same conclusion. This would be a massive expense.
"Leaf provides seals to its shinobi at reasonable prices, but circumstance and misfortune leave these often-lifesaving tools too expensive for many shinobi. If there is one thing a Gōketsu knows, it is the power of the right seal, in the right place, at the right time. We would see all of Leaf's shinobi thus equipped."
Kei had thrown a fit. Shikamaru had raised both eyebrows. Mari had pursed her lips. Noburi had whistled, and Yuno had clutched Satsuko. Kagome had grumbled, dumped a stack of explosives on the table, and started scribing, then and there. No one had argued. It was good, because he hadn't the energy for an argument in that moment. He didn't even have the energy to explain the restrictions and rules that the Tower had required in exchange for permitting the seal bank to exist.
(Akane's absence hurt.)
"We ask four things of those who would use the seal bank."
His fingers shifted, stiffening the seals in his hand. They stood proud against the wind.
"Please limit your use of the bank to your need: we trust that no Leaf shinobi would dishonor the memories of dead comrades through greed or a desire to hurt the Gōketsu through inappropriate use of the bank. If we find that the bank is being abused, we will investigate and respond accordingly."
One seal flickered out of sight, leaving two explosives and the storage seal.
"However, if you are in such need, do not hesitate to make use of the bank. Again: the right seal at the right time in the right place. This can be the difference between the success and failure of a mission, between your death and life, between a joyous reunion and a solemn memorial."
One explosive and the storage seal remained visible. The crowd was still. Hazō ventured a look at the crowd—a real one. He caught the eye of a stunned genin, and continued.
"If you do make use of the bank, and later find yourself in a position to make a contribution of seals or ryō, please do so. These seals and this money will be held independently of Gōketsu—at present, the plan is to work with the KEI and Nara to provide independent bookkeeping, allowing donors absolute confidence that donated seals and funds will be used exclusively for the bank."
Only the storage seal remained.
"Finally, we ask that when you use these seals, you think of Team Akane."
The murmuring was still shocked, but it had a different timbre. Hazō lowered his hand, and let the Iron Nerve go—properly, this time.
"The bank will open tomorrow. Please excuse any missteps or issues as we launch this new initiative: our clan is grieving, but we are committed, and appreciate your patience. Team Akane may no longer be with us, but we will honor them as best we can. Make no mistake: this is a significant expense. We welcome and encourage any sealsmith capable and willing to contribute to the bank. We will be reaching out to the KEI and other clans to see if they are interested in donating other tools and equipment to augment the offered seals, but let me be clear: as long a Gōketsu sealmaster can hold a brush and mould chakra, as long as the memories of Gōketsu Akane, Manato, Nakajima Nanao, and Tomoe Mami burn in our hearts, the bank will stand, and it will serve the shinobi of Leaf."
The confusion coalesced into shouted questions. Hazō ignored them, instead bowing deeply before walking off the stage and back into the compound, passing Noburi and Mari, ready to deter anyone who followed him. His hands hurt—cramped from holding a brush, the same strokes, over and over. He'd stopped counting seals at some point, and just kept going until Kagome made him stop.
Every part of Hazō hurt.
A little less than before.
o-o-o-o
January 18, 1071 AS, first thing in the morning
Hazō settled against his favorite tree with a sigh and started pulling chunks of white marble out of storage seals. They were mostly scrap bits and dust, as well as a couple of misshapen figurines done as practice by apprentices, things too shoddy to sell or display. It didn't matter for his purpose; all he needed was the raw material.
He sank his chakra into the ground and from there into the bits and bobs of marble that lay scattered atop it. This was merely a practice session so he could have done it quickly and roughly but instead he took his time. Slow was smooth and smooth was fast. Fast, and precise.
He wrapped his chakra around every single bit of the dirt, paying attention to the feel of it in his spiritual fingers. He listened for the flow of it in his mind, the essential
being-ness of the soil as it rested, making up the foundation of all the world and all of life. He considered everything he knew about soil, every memory he had, every song or poem or dramatic paean that mentioned the land, the soil, the fields of home.
The soil on this spot was rich and solid, the top few inches frozen hard by the January cold, but underneath was the magically rich loam that had caused Leaf to be built in a place that relied on wells for water instead of a river. It fairly burst with the promise of energy, of life, of trembling anticipation for the release of spring when all the seeds and roots held close in tender arms could rise up into the air so far above.
There were tiny traces of warmth, even in the depths of winter.
It was so odd that Hazō opened his eyes, almost jolting out of the jutsu's trance. No sign of fire or anything else that would make the ground warm...no, not warm. It was frozen, sure enough, but there were still those traces of warmth. All around him there were the tiniest, scantest, most miniscule threads of warmth that he could imagine. His skill with the jutsu had been growing over time and the single-minded focus caused by running from grief and pain was, oddly enough, bringing him more in sync with the currents of the earth than he had ever been.
He felt his way back down, looking as closely as he could. The 'eyes' that the jutsu provided had always been half-blind, leaving everything fuzzy and clouded. Today, as he rejected everything that was weighing upon his mind and left his self behind in the quest to lose himself for a time...today he saw more clearly. So clearly that he could identify the tiniest parts of the soil, of the marble, of the bits of stone that flecked through all of it. He could feel their surfaces, taste the varying tang of each type, and feel their weight in imagined fingers.
The warmth came not from the soil itself but from
bits of the soil. Tiny, tiny pieces, far too little of it to gather up yet still present. The traces were so few and so dispersed that he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been looking this closely.
He turned his gaze from the soil and reached out instead for the marble. He spread his attention through it quickly and melted the chunks together, combining them into a single unshapen mass to make it easier to work with. Then he slowed down again and set to identifying every part. He took as much time as it demanded, analyzing each iota of the material without rushing along faster than the stone preferred.
As always, it wasn't pure. It was too many different kinds of things, all lumped together. He didn't have names for them, but he knew them the way he knew friends. There were the the silvery-white bits, light and soft and fragile like a young girl at her first dance. That was by far the majority of the stone. There were other bits, very few but still detectable, with color almost identical but their nature heavier, stronger, like the girl after she had grown into a woman and learned of love, and death, and pain, and the art of the blade. There were tiny threads of...gold? Yes, gold. Heavy, butter yellow, the tang of metal on the tongue.
Without even thinking about it, he placed his hand on the marble and pulled the bits of gold together, shoving everything else aside. The marble disintegrated, all its parts falling to dust and arranging into a neatly squared-off pile to one side.
In his hand was a tiny sphere of gold, barely a quarter the size of his pinky nail. The sphere was completely pure; he knew this all the way to his bones, in the same way that he knew he existed.
He stared at it for long minutes, enjoying the clarity and uniqueness of it. He clamped down on it with his mind, packing it tighter with a tiny
crunch. It was stronger this way, more purposeful. He reached inside, searching for the tiniest flaws or planes of weakness within, and smoothed them away until all that was left was unity, a totality of gleaming perfection.
After a time he sent his mind back into the dust that had resulted when he pulled out the gold. He merged it back together, arranging it neatly in one way and then in another. He compacted it and expanded it, watching how the stress lines spread and crackled until his mystic fingers soothed them away.
There was something else scattered through the marble, tiny flecks of it. Flat, reflective...the name teased at his mind. He had heard Kagome-sensei talk about it. Mica! That was it. While living in the woods, Sensei had found a sheet of it that he had repurposed into a hand-sized mirror with which to shave.
He formed the mica into a sheet, shoving everything else aside in yet another shower of dust. The stone liked being in a sheet; the form pleased it, felt natural to it, and it shifted willingly under his will.
There wasn't much mica in the marble, so the resulting mirror wasn't much bigger than his palm. It was jagged, the pieces sitting at different angles so that the image was broken and incomprehensible. He ran his mental fingers over them, painstakingly aligning every bit and smoothing every join until he had a single perfectly reflective sheet consisting of nothing but mica. It was fragile, easy to shatter, so he condensed it down and smoothed its insides to make it strong.
He stared in wonder at the gold sphere and the mineral mirror, two beautiful things created by one of the few jutsu ever invented for a reason other than murder.
He stared, and then he smiled and pulled all of it together again to form the first version of a statue. A statue of his lost love, Gōketsu Akane.
o-o-o-o
January 18, 1071 AS, mid-afternoon
"Come in, Hazō."
Hazō entered the Hokage's office warily. By all reports, Asuma had been back from the Chūnin Exams for barely half a day. Being one of the first unsolicited meetings the Hokage took after returning from a trip was generally a bad thing.
Weirdly, Asuma was not at his desk. He was sitting in one of two chairs next to the window with a large hibachi and a side table between them. The side table was loaded down with tea and finger foods. Asuma already held a cup and there were three more in a stack next to the pot.
"Please, sit," Asuma said, gesturing him to the second chair.
Hazō crossed to the chair and sat carefully. He now had an idea what a long-tailed cat would feel like in a room full of rocking chairs.
"How is your evening?" Asuma asked. "Have some tea. Cookies? They're made fresh by my aunt."
"Thank you, sir." Hazō took a cookie and poured himself tea.
Asuma eyed him for a moment and then shook in head in amusement. "Not going to manage a congenial atmosphere, am I?"
"Sir?"
"Relax, you're not in any trouble. You're here so that we can talk about what happened with the Hagoromo and I can get your input on next steps."
"Uh...thank you?"
Asuma nodded acknowledgement and took one of the cookies. He nibbled it for a moment, looking out the window in thought, and then turned back to Hazō.
"Hazō, I was lucky enough to grow up with Sarutobi Hiruzen for a father. He was the scion of generations of clan rulers, trained for the job before he could walk. He brought me up in the same tradition; some of my earliest memories are of things that I realize now were lessons in politics, diplomacy, and related fields.
"You should have had the benefit of similar training, but the idiots of the Kurosawa got their noses out of joint about your father and then refused to lose face by backing down." He snorted. "Their loss and Leaf's gain, I suppose. Had your mother remained in the clan, the Kurosawa would have had an excellent Clan Head and Leaf would have lacked someone who may well grow into one."
Hazō looked narrow-eyed at his leader. "Thank you, I think?"
Asuma chuckled. "It's a compliment, take it as such. I don't think it's unfair to say that you're having to do a job that you weren't trained for, and thus you have room to grow yet. Yes?"
"Yes," Hazō admitted.
"All right. In that case, I'd like to help. If you would like, I'm happy to make myself available as a tutor and advisor. Mari is an excellent infiltrator and conwoman, and social skills are part of that, but that isn't the same thing as political leadership and you should keep that in mind. She will give you good advice in almost all cases, but there will be situations where her instincts are wrong. Trust her, but be sure not to trust any advisor blindly." He grinned. "Including me."
Hazō smiled and relaxed very slightly.
"If I were having this conversation with one of the elder Clan Heads—Lord Akimichi, or Lady Inuzuka, perhaps—then I would simply explain what was being done and trust that they would understand the background." His lips twitched into something that was half wry grin and half amused headache. "Granted, I wouldn't be needing to have this conversation with them. Anyway, I'd like to lay out for you exactly what's going on and why."
"Thank you, sir."
"Of course. The first part: what exactly do you think the job of a Clan Head is? Specifically."
"It's...to promote the well-being of the clan," Hazō said, not sure where this was going. "Defend it against threats, build its wealth and military power, ensure the happiness of its people."
"Those are the
goals of a Clan Head, true. The
job is both simpler and more complicated: at base it's about helping, or sometimes forcing, people to get along. The outward-facing part of this is negotiating with other clans for money, jutsu, political marriages, land rights, and so on. The inward-facing part involves resolving personality conflicts among your own people, meting out justice as needed, and ensuring that teams are formed from people who can actually work together, or can be taught to work together.
"For example, my Aunties Tomoyo and Sachie started hating each other when they were three and now, fifty-something years later, they're still going strong. I spend a fair amount of time defusing the tension between them. Usually it's little things, like managing the seating charts at formal family dinners or being certain that my festival gifts to them are equal to sufficient degree that neither of them can lord it over the other." He waved dismissively. "Much of this I can delegate, and I do, but it's still the Clan Head's job.
"The reason it's the Clan Head's job is because when tensions run too hot it can tear a family apart, and no one knows how to hurt you so well as your family does. Also because ninja who get too upset with one another can cause a lot of collateral damage." He shook away an almost-visible memory. "Sometimes, as a Clan Head, you'll need to do things you don't like. I know that you already had to execute a clan member for cause." He waited for Hazō's queasy nod before continuing. "I'm sorry that happened, and that you had to do it, but I'm afraid there will be more difficult choices like that one as you grow into your role and as the Gōketsu expand.
"Being Hokage is the same thing, except it's for a village instead of a family and the fractious relatives are entire clans of ninja who back up their hurt feelings with massive military power. My primary goal as Hokage is to ensure that Leaf stays together, that no one kills anyone else, and that we continue to look strong and united on the world stage so that the other villages don't try to split us apart or simply kill us all."
Hazō had been watching Asuma's face as the speech developed and now his eyes narrowed. "You aren't going to punish the Hagoromo, are you?"
Asuma raised a hand in a 'hold on' gesture. "Don't jump ahead. Yes, I'm going to punish them. No, I'm likely not going to do it to the extent that you would prefer. I want you to understand why and then I'm going to give you an opportunity to make suggestions about next steps. I won't promise to
use your suggestions, but I'll listen. You have a track record of good ideas that come completely out of the night and I'd be a fool not to tap that insight in something this fraught.
"Going back to what I was saying earlier about managing people: part of that job is providing justice. Sometimes it's small things, sometimes it's big things.
"Two of my nieces got into a fight yesterday. Tomoka took Yukina's favorite blouse without asking and ruined it. I happened to be passing by their room when I heard the sound of young voices shrieking out words that I wish they wouldn't know for at least a few more years. I ducked inside to find Yukina holding one of Tomoka's festival shirts in one hand and a kunai in the other while Tomoka clung to her arm. When I asked what was going on they told me and Yukina said that she was going to shred two of Tomoka's favorite tops, one for stealing the blouse and one for ruining it."
"This is a parable about the difference between justice and vengeance, isn't it?" Hazō asked suspiciously. "You're going to say that Yukina was looking for vengeance but destruction for the sake of destruction doesn't make anything better. You punished Tomoka some other way, Yukina was unhappy about it but accepted it because we live in a civilized society and that's the price."
Asuma burst out laughing. "Apparently we
can jump ahead. All right, let's do the other half of the story: two months ago, Tomoka accused Yukina of stealing the jutsu scroll she had been studying and demanded that I punish her. Yukina denied it and demanded that I punish Tomoka for lying." He waited expectantly.
"Presumption of innocence," Hazō said. "You had to assume that Yukina didn't do it until you had investigated. Related thought: have you considered keeping those two apart?"
"If only I could," Asuma said, shaking his head. "Unfortunately, they're inseparable despite the spats. The clan boys learned not to pick on either of them because it would cause the other one to spontaneously appear and then both of them would start beating on the bully. Anyway, yes. I had to presume that Yukina was innocent of the theft. We searched around and found that the scroll had fallen behind Tomoka's bed and the whole thing was a big misunderstanding."
"You investigated Ruka, found no evidence that what she did was malicious, found no evidence that Ritsuo was involved, and so you're not going to punish either of them. Right?" Hazō demanded, struggling not to grit his teeth.
"Not quite that bad," Asuma said. "Hazō, I recognize how you are feeling, but try to set that aside for a moment and look at this with the eyes of a Clan Head or, in this particular case, a Hokage.
"You assert that Hagoromo Ruka maliciously delayed reporting Akane being overdue and is therefore responsible for Akane's death. First of all, that's wrong on the facts. By the time that a ninja is overdue, they're usually already dead. Ruka didn't wield the knife and if she had reported it on time it still wouldn't have saved Akane's life.
"Let's leave that aside and talk about what Ruka did wrong. As Hokage, I
must presume that she's innocent of any charge until I investigate and find evidence that she's guilty. Likewise, when Lord Hagoromo comes to me claiming that..." He paused, clearly looking for an example, and then shrugged. "That you poisoned his wells, or cursed his mother with loose bowels, or set his house on fire or something. Which will undoubtedly happen at some point if the two of you continue this cycle of hatred you have going on." He gave Hazō a speaking look. "When that happens, the presumption of innocence will be in your favor and you'll be grateful for it. Right now, Ruka gets that benefit and I'm sure it makes you grind your teeth."
Hazō carefully unclenched his jaw. "Not at all, sir."
Asuma snorted. "Here's your first lesson in Clan Headship: get better at lying."
"As you command, Lord Hokage," Hazō said with a thin smile.
"I immediately regret my words," Asuma muttered. He shook his head, amused, and finished off his cookie. "Naruto and Shikamaru interrogated Ruka thoroughly and then followed up with everyone Ruka works with at the Tower. They went through reams of past reports—Naruto made twenty clones in order to read literally dozens of pounds of paper, then filtered anything potentially relevant over to Shikamaru for analysis. Shikamaru pulled in several senior Nara and Yamanaka intelligence experts to help."
"Why?" Hazō demanded. "Just sit her down with a Yamanaka and rip the answers out of her pustulent brain."
"Hazō, you know that's not an option," Asuma said. "I'm sure that Jiraiya, or at the very least Ino, has told you how the Yamanaka jutsu work. They get what they're looking for but they usually also get a lot of other things, even when they're trying not to. That's a violation of the clan secrets rules and only to be done in cases where the security of the village itself is at stake. It's part of the Founding Charter of Leaf—none of the other clans were willing to live next to a Yamanaka if there was a risk of being casually mindwalked every time one of their enemies made an untrue accusation. Mindwalking is heavily controlled, the same way and to almost the same extent that physical violence is. Investigating a crime by committing a crime is not justice." He raised a hand. "And before you ask: yes, Akane was mindscanned to make sure that she hadn't shared her city-killer with anyone else, but that only happened because it was an existential threat to Leaf as a whole. What Ruka did, even under the worst possible cases, is no excuse for a mindwalk on a clan ninja.
"This is what I said about making choices you don't like. I have to balance a lot of conflicting priorities here."
He started ticking items off on his fingers. "I need to worry about Leaf's security. Did Ruka assign Akane to a mission, then leak details of that mission to a foreign nation in order to get Akane assassinated? Alternatively, did she hire missing-nin to do the assassination and leak the details to them? What else might she have leaked?"
Another finger. "Did Lord Hagoromo order her to do this? Is he restarting the clan war after I ordered him to stand down? Did she
think that he ordered it when all he did was drop a frustrated word? Did he 'drop a frustrated word' with the intent that she misinterpret it? Did
he leak the information to a foreign nation, or hire missing-nin, or actively send his own ninja to assassinate Akane?"
Another finger. "How will the consequences of my choices impact Leaf as a whole? Do I have a Yamanaka mindwalk Ruka in violation of the Founding Charter, or do I take the risk that she'll get away with a horrific crime? If I decide that she probably leaked information to a foreign nation then I could order it. The clans would be alarmed and furious but they would accept it if it turned out that she had betrayed us. If it turned out that she was innocent then I would have some extremely, and justifiably, angry people making pointed demands. It's possible that one or two of them would start loading up wagons and finding lodgings outside of Leaf.
"Even if I don't have her mindwalked, the way I handle this sends messages about the nature of the Hokage's justice and how Sarutobi Asuma applies it. If I am seen to presume in favor of one side or the other then they'll know that they can't trust me. They will start trying to leverage that against one another, which will stir up the many,
many grudges that every clan in Leaf has against almost every other clan."
Hazō couldn't hold in the snort. "You seriously think that Ruka is going to cause a breakdown of law and order in Leaf?" The moment the words were out he regretted them.
Asuma ignored it. "No, probably not. Pulling one brick out of a wall doesn't make the wall collapse...until it does. It can be hard to know which brick is going to be the last one pulled. I'm new in the job, Hazō, which means that people don't know what to expect from me. The clans are watching me very closely, testing for weakness. How I handle things in the next year has tremendous implications for Leaf going forward."
"So the Hagoromo get off with a—" Hazō managed to clamp his jaw shut before the words 'slap on the wrist' could burst forth, but they still hung in the air. He hurried to reframe his words in a more polite tone. "Sir, you earlier said that you intended to punish the Hagoromo. May I ask what exactly is being done?"
"I suppose I did spend too much time on the backstory," Asuma said wryly. "All right. Bear with me another few moments and then I'll explain sentencing.
"The investigation showed no evidence of outright malice on Ruka's part. So far as we can tell, she never intentionally assigned anyone to an overly dangerous mission specifically to get them killed, she never leaked details of missions, she never lied to her superiors about mission status, and she never denied payment for a completed mission.
"What she
is guilty of is laziness, sloppiness, and non-criminal levels of bias. Paperwork wasn't filed or wasn't as complete as it should have been. Overdue ninja's families were not alerted in a timely way. Mission payment was delayed to clanless ninja and ninja she didn't like. That sort of thing.
"There is also no evidence that Lord Hagoromo had anything whatsoever to do with any of this, or even that he knew about it."
Hazō raised a doubtful eyebrow and gave his Hokage a 'you really believe that?' look.
"I know, I know," Asuma said, raising a placating hand. "We'll get to him in a moment. Let's stay on target.
"Hagoromo Ruka is being banished. Technically, she's being permanently assigned to a post on the very edge of Fire, but she isn't going to be rotated out and will be given explicit orders to remain on station 24/7. Contact with her family and friends will be heavily restricted; no visitors, one resupply mission per month, all mail in and out redacted of anything that isn't mission relevant. There is no one else at her post so she'll be alone, with no one to talk to and no one to watch her back against threats. Agents will check in frequently to ensure that she has not left her post or had unsanctioned outside contact. If they find that she has then she will be in direct violation of orders and will be declared a missing-nin with a kill-on-sight order."
Hazō digested that, uncertain of how he felt about it.
"Without evidence of personal wrongdoing, I cannot punish Lord Hagoromo for whatever actions he may have taken on this issue," Asuma continued. He held up a hand to cut off Hazō's outburst. "On the other hand, he is the Clan Head and therefore responsible for the actions of his ninja. He allowed a culture of laziness and pettiness within the Hagoromo that let Ruka develop these habits, and he was sufficiently inattentive that she could get away with it. Every Hagoromo who works with the Tower is going to be thoroughly investigated. Anyone who shows signs of acting like Ruka will receive appropriate discipline. That might be anything from a monetary fine to banishment, but it will definitely involve losing their job with the Tower. Where appropriate, the Hagoromo as a clan will receive monetary fines and the money used to make whole those who were harmed." He gave Hazō a raised eyebrow. "Incidentally, it would be worth making a note of the fact that Clan Heads are responsible for the actions of their ninja. If Haru goes on any more murder rampages, or if any Gōketsu ninja gets into a brawl with a Hagoromo, you and I are going to have some very unfriendly words. The same goes for Lord Hagoromo if any of his people act out."
"I see," Hazō said. What else was there to say?
Asuma studied him for a moment, then sighed. "Which brings us to the part where I ask for your input."
Hazō suddenly felt nervous again.
"This cycle of hatred that you and the Hagoromo are developing needs to stop," Asuma said. "My current plan is to make the two of you work together. It's much easier to hate people in the abstract, when you think of them as 'those stiff-necked Hagoromo bastards' or 'those libertine Gōketsu snakes'. If Gōketsu and Hagoromo clan members spend time together it will humanize each to the other. Friendships will start to form. Perhaps, if we're lucky, even romances. You and Lord Hagoromo are never going to like each other, but if your clansfolk have positive ties then it will be much harder for you to go to war."
Hazō stared at his ruler, utterly appalled.
"The Gōketsu school is an excellent idea," Asuma said, ignoring Hazō's expression. "My tentative plan is to have the Hagoromo supply teachers to work alongside your people. Mostly civilians, although possibly ninja guest lecturers where that makes sense. Additionally, the Hagoromo and the Gōketsu will supply ninja instructors to teach regular joint classes for KEI ninja. Ruka didn't notify you that Akane was overdue, but she also didn't notify the KEI coordinators or the parents of three young genin that their people were overdue. The way I see it, your little clan war spilled out and affected other people, so both of you can help make that right while also developing some closer ties."
Asuma paused, studying Hazō. A smile crept across his face. "And, judging by the completely appalled look on your face, my cunning plan will in fact motivate you to come up with a more effective idea."
He spread his hands in invitation. "As I said, that's my
tentative plan. If you have suggestions on a better way to heal the breach between the Gōketsu and the Hagoromo, I'm willing to use those instead. Do you?"
Voting remains closed. This plan was huge, so @Velorien will write more of what I didn't get to. If he doesn't get through all of it then he'll leave voting closed and I'll finish it up next weekend.
Author's Notes:
Zeroeth: The scene where Hazō talks to Akane's parents will get written and edited in later. It was 3pm by the time I got to it, I didn't have the juice to do it justice, and I wanted to write the Earthshaping scene and kick this out the door.
First, the apology speech: It is a mildly edited version of
@FaintlySorcerous 's
omake, used according to the plan.
Second, the Asuma conversation: Does Hazō have any better ideas? If not, Asuma is going to put his plans into action starting tomorrow. He'll be watching to see what happens and will adjust as necessary. Duration of the forced interaction is up in the air but likely not going to be short. He's open to listening to suggestions from either clan as time goes on.
Third, new mechanics have been added to the
Earthshaping jutsu.
Hazō has earned a Thousand Yard Stare point! He is now at 12 TYS.
XP AWARD: base and brevity to be awarded by @Velorien after he writes the rest of the plan
"GM had fun" XP: -4 for having more than 3 scenes (7 scenes total), even if I didn't get to all of them. The scenes were:
- Akane's parents
- The speech to the clan
- Talk to Shikamaru/Kei
- Speak to the clan about no retaliation
- Talk to Naruto
- Talk to Lee
- Earthshape a statue
Note that this count still doesn't include a bunch of stuff such as 'Spend time with friends, family', and 'Grieve'. Seal research is usually offscreened so I don't count that one.
