Naruto spent ninety minutes taking Orochimaru's and Tsunade's after-action report while Hazō sat very quietly in the corner. Ordinarily, a random Clan Head would not sit in on an after-action meeting that they had no stake in, but Hazō had been so nervous about the battle that he had been pacing on Naruto's threshold the moment Tsunade, Noburi, and Orochimaru left for the Seventh Path. He had resolved to stay there until the battle ended, knowing that news would come to this door first. After enough time passed, Naruto had told him that he could be in the room for the meeting provided that he came in, sat down, and shut up so that Naruto could focus on other things. Hazō had done his best to be invisible ever since, his only regret the fact that he had drunk too much water in the morning and forgotten to visit the bathroom before arriving at Hokage Tower. Then again, he hadn't expected to be able to trade silence and motionlessness for an opportunity to hear the freshest news.
Hazō stood as the meeting ended and moved to place himself near the line to the door. Not
on the line—it was unwise to make the Sannin think you were preventing them from leaving a room, especially after combat—but near enough to it that he would be acknowledged.
"What?" Tsunade demanded, her usual sweet and sunny disposition on full display.
"I wanted to say thank you," Hazō said, smiling. "For coming back."
She grunted. Over her shoulder, Orochimaru snorted in quiet disgust.
"It's what we do, kid," she said. "Heck, we were slacking this time—both of us went. Usually it's one struggle, one Sannin."
"Generally her," Orochimaru added. "I have no challenge finding better uses for my time."
She looked over her shoulder to glare at him, but there was little heat in it. After a moment she turned back to Hazō.
"Whatever. Anyway, we're out. You heard the report, but I'll say it again: Cannai is fine, as are Ma and Pa. Word is you met them, so I guess you might have been worried." She sniffed, probably in disgust at her own softheartedness...honestly, worrying about other people's feelings? Reassuring them that their friends weren't dead? Next thing you know she would be petting kitties in public and singing nursery rhymes to children!
Hazō pushed away his internal musings on the implications of Tsunade's nasal vocalizations. "I do, yes. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it very much."
She grunted and pressed past him, her snakeish kinda-brother-but-it's-complicated-because-he's-kinda-a-serial-killer-traitor on her heels.
o-o-o-o
Cannai, having allowed Hazō to glomp his foreonleg, rested his chin on his young Summoner's back and waited calmly until Hazō was ready to let go.
"Thank you for surviving," Hazō said. "I was really worried."
"Pah," Cannai scoffed. "I see you have no faith in me whatsoever. Am I not, after all, Cannai the Mighty, ruler of all Dogkind? Tearer of eldritch flesh, destroyer of evil monsters?" He struck a dramatic pose, head raised and looking heroically into the distance.
Hazō eyed him suspiciously.
After a moment, Cannai snorted and went back to a more normal stance. "Enma demanded that we have a competitive tale-twining night before the battle," he explained. "The requirement was that everyone tell three tales: one that bragged themself up, one that bragged the Crusade up, and one that threw the Dragons down. All three tales had to twine together, and there was a vote at the end for whose tales were best." He gave a gusty sigh. "Honestly, it was exhausting."
"Sounds cool. Who won?"
"Yes, very exhausting indeed. How are you today?"
"You didn't win, huh?"
Cannai cleared his throat. "The details are irrelevant. The important part was the sense of camaraderie and loyalty engendered among us all."
Hazō chuckled. "Fine. In seriousness, are you okay? I heard that you got a foot stuck inside one of them."
"I did, yes. Have no fear, the damage is not permanent. Yes, it pulled part of my self away and with it part of my power, but I shall most likely recover." He cocked his ears in a way that Hazō was too new to dog body language to understand. "Honestly, the entire experience was terrifying, or would have been had I had the time to be aware of anything other than what was right in front of me. I have never fought anything like those things before; whatever I attempted to hit them with, they simply drank it in."
"They what?"
"We pinned the Mirror Dragon down, Kumafuwafuwa, Pantsā, and myself. I used Plant jutsu to tear at it from beneath. Kumokōgō was permitting us to exert control over her terrain unopposed; I should have been able to send vines and grasses into the beast and cause it to explode from the sudden pressure of their growth. It simply absorbed the grass and all of the power I had invested in the attempt, using that power to enlarge and strengthen itself. I had to sever the connection before it pulled all of me out through the jutsu. This is why so many of us were confining ourselves to physical attacks; it was the only way to be certain our efforts would not be turned against us." He shook himself. "I am simply glad that Conjura's gambit paid off. Had the beasts been able to absorb and repurpose her spatial blades...well, they weren't and everything worked out."
The implications of what Cannai had said would stay with Hazō for a long time. He knew that, and he sat with it for a moment, imagining just how bad it could have gone.
"Let's hear it for success, I guess," he said. "In less good news...I heard that we lost Lady Haiwarai and Lady Hidrodobune? Hyenas and Capybaras, right?"
Cannai nodded. "Indeed. It will be an issue for both nations."
"I was told that Lady Haiwarai got stabbed to death but Lady Hidrodobune got eaten by a Dragon...what's likely to happen?"
"I cannot say. The Hyenas will suffer a period of disorganization and their military power has been greatly reduced. This will be a problem if Pantsā continues his expansionist policies. The Capybaras..." He trailed off, shaking his massive head.
"Are they likely to become, uh, kvthsss? You know...mindless?"
Cannai looked away for a moment and his ears drooped. Finally, he met Hazō's eyes again. "It's possible that they won't. Perhaps the fact that we killed the Mirror Dragon so quickly after Hidrodobune's death protected Capybara. But..." He hesitated. "It didn't. I am not sure why I believe this and I hope I am wrong, but no, the death of the Mirror Dragon did not protect Capybara. Her people will fade. If the world has mercy then it has already happened. If not..."
If not, then each capybara would get to watch their parents and siblings and children and friends become animals, while simultaneously feeling their own minds slip away.
"Oh." Hazō had to fight down his gorge. "There's no way to prevent it?" he asked after a moment. "Assuming it hasn't happened already, I mean. What if another Boss absorbed Capybara into their territory before it finished?"
"I don't know," Cannai said. "Recall, I had thought the kvthsss status was a legend before I met you and heard about the fate of the Archaeopteryx Clan. Still, I am doubtful."
"Why? Jiraiya told us that the Leopards split from the Cats a while ago. If one Clan can split then shouldn't two be able to join?"
"It is one matter for a Clan of a single kind to split and become two distinct Clans that are yet a single kind. It is entirely different for two different kinds to attempt to become one Clan. I have no idea if such is even possible."
"Would it hurt to try?"
Cannai hesitated. "It could, but it might not," he granted. "Who borders Capybara?"
"Turtle, Otter, and Toad. Capybara is on the coast, with water to the south and the east."
"Hm. Kamehameha seems an excellent ruler and the Capybara would likely do well under him were it possible, but I would not recommend the attempt. Turtle and Capybara are too different. The same for Toads. Otter...perhaps? I shall speak to Lutrō."
Hazō snapped his fingers as an idea struck. "Jiraiya left some notes saying that Capybara and Mara split a while ago, but I'm not sure if he meant that they budded off of a single Clan or if they were always two Clans and they had a diplomatic split. Still, the Mara and the Capybara do seem extremely similar. Same teeth, same general body plan except that mara have longer ears. Mara is north of Capybara, on the other side of Toad."
Cannai's tail flicked back and forth in a canine frown. "Hm. If they were in fact previously one Clan then their best chance would be to be reabsorbed back into the Mara. This would require convincing Markimarku to accept them back, and Gamabunta to cooperate in exchanging land. Either he must grant a connecting strip between Capybara and Mara or...hm." He pondered. "I shall speak to both of them. Thank you, Hazō. Is there anything else?"
"You think there's a chance?"
"To be honest, I do not. Even if the capybaras yet retain their minds, joining them to a new Clan would require the presence of that Clan's ruler. Markimarku is here, a week away. I very much doubt that..." He trailed off, head cocking in surprise.
"I had intended to say that I doubted he could return to the eastern coast and bring the land that was previously Capybara under his own dominion before the denizens thereof are lost," Cannai continued after a moment. "However, it occurs to me that perhaps Conjura could bear him that distance in time." He raised a paw to cut off the hope in Hazō's eyes. "Keep your hopes faint, Summoner. This will require convincing Gamabunta to work with Markimarku in reorganizing land claims so as to consolidate the Capybara and the Mara together. It will also require convincing Conjura to serve as a steed for two other Clan Rulers, both of whom stood back while her people were murdered. I doubt very much that such is within my diplomatic abilities, yet I shall try.
"Be aware, Hazō: even if I successfully channel the combined powers of Cannaria and Canting and every other bard that Dog has ever produced, this may yet be impossible. The capybaras may well have lost themselves already. If they haven't, well, it is no small thing to have your land broken from beneath your paws, as will definitely have happened upon Hidrodobune's death. The psychic damage it causes is highly traumatic, and I worry how the capybaras would handle it given their lack of a foundation; it could leave their minds wounded even if they retain them. And then to merge with another Clan, one where the people are not as you?" He shook his massive head. "You should prepare yourself for the fact that the capybara are doomed, yet still keep moving your paws."
"Right. Yes, okay. Thank you. Let me know how it goes?"
Cannai nodded gravely. "I shall. And thank you for raising the issue; I had been focused on more immediate things and had not considered the far-off implications. I also had not known that Mara and Capybara may once have been one. If they can be saved, it will likely depend on that."
The enormous dog pivoted on his hind paws and dashed off, leaving Hazō alone and feeling very, very uncertain.
Author's Note:
- There were no un-used seals to pick up
- The wounded have been handled
- Orochimaru took plenty of Dragon samples but there's an inconvenient wealth of the stuff. A non-exhaustive list includes:
- ...a dead Hydra Dragon which is currently covered in black flames that aren't going to go out for a week or so and have already killed one young and rather stupid scorpion
- ...the ash of one tendril of the Night Dragon, which is something like finely-powdered radioactive waste spread across a random two hundred square meters of Arachnid
- ...the glass-lined shaft leading deep into the earth that is the result of Kamehameha keeping his breath weapon going so that the other Bosses could toss chunks of the Flesh Dragon in for disposal. No specific fragments of that Dragon have been found but Kumokōgō starts to vomit every time she gets close to the area
- ...several thousand tons (or maybe it's only a few hundred pounds? she's having trouble telling) of dead Beauty Dragon poisoning the soil where Kumokōgō entombed the thing. She's happy to raise it up and let you do whatever you like as long as it ends up with the Beauty Dragon's corpse no longer in her territory
- ...a literally uncountable number of reflections, some of them containing traces of other Clan Bosses, and all of them hunger to rend your flesh apart at the slightest touch
Voting remains closed unless @Velorien or @Paperclipped opens it. There's more meat in this plan if
@Velorien or
@Paperclipped wants to cover it, but none of it is essential. For now, let's say that this update covered only part of the day and one of the others can pick up from where I left off. If they are content to let it ride then we'll advance the timeline so that this update covered a full day. Either way, XP will be awarded once the voting yes/no decision is made.
When my science-accepting fingers typed the words "two distinct Clans that are yet a single kind" I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
