Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 455: Rolling Rock​

"G'evening, Gaku," Hazō grunted, slumping into his chair.

"Good evening, sir. Tea and a snack are in the seal, as always. Difficult day?"

"Yeah. And a long day yesterday and not much sleep in between. Lunch with Yuno went well, at least." Also there had been another round of the nightmare highlights. The Sunset Racer exploding, a cascade of viscera and blood raining down around him, along with a dozen severed heads that stared at him. The world as it existed under Zabuza's aura: Demons tearing the skin and flesh from his body. The world as it existed under Orochimaru's aura: His body neatly separated, each part in its own neatly-labeled jar. The world as it existed b3h!nd ht3 |>a!|\|7 th.7 w4s th* w**ld loo|<ng @ the Gre*at S**L.

He shook his head, driving the thoughts away. He sighed. "I think it went well, anyway. Honestly, I can never be sure once the Isanese insanity starts getting involved. Those people are nucking futs."

Gaku's face did not shift at all in response to the barely-obfuscated cursing. "Of course, sir. I gather she is on her way?"

"Left as soon as we finished, so she and Akane are probably to the coast by now." He sighed, missing his love already.

Gaku stayed carefully silent.

"Sorry," Hazō said, snapping back to the moment. He opened the seals and had some of the tea and a bite of the lightly-browned omelette with its gooey drippy cheese and coarse-chopped peppers. Not Kagome-sensei's preferred insanity peppers that would strip the surface of your tongue off, just regular bell peppers that added a nice crunch and a trace of tang. "Damn this is good."

"I'm glad you like it, sir."

"Right. Okay, let's see...things for my personal log." He forced himself to stop eating and wipe his mouth on the white linen napkin before continuing. He'd been spending enough time with Kagome-sensei that Hazō was having to remind himself about the existence of table manners.

"Ready, sir." Gaku's brush was wetted and poised.

Hazō shoveled in a couple more bites and then leaned back, ankles crossed on the desk and contemplated the ceiling as he arranged his personal thoughts and todo list.

"Category: Kagome-sensei," he began.

"Spoke to him yesterday after Yuno left, focus on the Dragons. Question 1: Started off by asking him about the aura that I felt from them and how it messed me up the same way that the Pangolin Scroll and the Great Seal did. Asked whether it implied that the Sage made the Dragons from the Out."

"How the heck should I know?" Kagome-sensei said, glowering. "You're the one who can wander over to Hokage Tower, saunter into his office, and ask him." Dismissive snort. "Of course, he'll just kill you and rewire your brain, or put a lupchanz in your ear, or..."

"Answer 1: He didn't know and had no way of getting the information.

"Question 2: Dragons were created to fight the Ten-Tails, which was split into the nine Tailed Beasts...sidebar, there was one Ten-Tails and now there are nine Beasts with a total of forty-five tails. What? Do all the Beasts have the same amount of power and they just distribute it across different numbers of tails? If so, did they each get one-and-one-ninth tails worth of power, or is there a tenth Beast that we don't know about? Where? If neither, then what happened to the tenth tail? Back on topic: The One-, Two-, and Three-Tailed beasts were caught in Pain's ritual. Could this destabilize the Seal? What if it's failing intentionally? A safety mechanism, in case of Tailed Bast fuckery?"

"Are you crazy? Why would you ask me about the Tailed Beasts?! If he hears you he'll be here with the lupchanzen in no time flat! I'm not even sure why he's waited this long!" He began striding around the room, arms flapping as the paranoia flowed.

"Answer 2: He didn't have any information to offer.

"Question 3: Jiraiya killed the Squirrel Summoner a while back. Kagome-sensei was the one who decoded Jiraiya's notes and I asked him if there had been any details about that. Surprisingly, there were."

Gaku's head came up. "Another Scroll, sir? Lord Jiraiya had details on another Scroll? Or...wait, he didn't have the Scroll itself, did he? With his power, I would assume—" He caught himself gushing and stopped, his face turning red with embarrassment. "My apologies, sir."

Hazō chuckled. "Don't worry about it. No, nothing that exciting. It was a journal entry relating the experience along with a few details we hadn't had. It lets us narrow the location down a bit, but it's still a couple hundred square miles to search. More importantly, it turns out that Jiraiya had a secret weakness."

"A weakness, sir?" Scholarly eyebrows rose. "I was always told that Lord Jiraiya was one of the most powerful ninja in the world."

"Oh, he was. No, this was the same weakness shared by all bachelors: Laundry day, the skipping thereof." He laughed and waggled a slip of paper that was yellowing with age. "This is an old storage seal that we really should get rid of soonish. It contains the clothes that Jiraiya was wearing at the time of the fight. According to the notes on the back he was covered in 'great gushing gobs of Squirrel Boy's blood, and maybe a couple drops of mine.' The Squirrel Summoner escaped into the woods and Jiraiya wanted to hire an Inuzuka tracker to help him track the guy down. Unfortunately, the whole reason that Jiraiya was there in the first place was as part of an initiative to prevent Mist from 'getting too stroppy.' Well, they'd been getting more so and once he got back to Leaf he was too busy for the next couple of years to go after the Scroll. By that point he figured that the trail was cold enough not to bother pursuing. He kept the clothes on his 'todo someday' list but never got around it."

"Ah. Pity, sir."

"I know, right? Well, we might take a swing at it just in case. It's possible that one of the Dog trackers can do something that the Inuzuka trackers couldn't. Still, not my highest priority." He shrugged and tossed the seal on the desk, then snorted in amusement. "Alternatively, maybe I'll stay busy forever and my successor to the Clan Head position will find this seal and think about going after it. Who knows, it might turn into a whole generational thing."

"Every family does need traditions, sir."

"Sure enough. Anyway, wrapping up the 'things I need to ask Kagome-sensei about' section.

"Question 4: Nekkar, the boss of the Cat Clan, implied a greater threat than the Dragons. Kagome-sensei once said that the residents of the Seventh Path were human ninja, transformed and imprisoned by the Sage. Would that suggest that the 7th Path have other weapons, and would he know about those?" He shook his head, smiling slightly. "No progress was made during the conversation. Remind me to bring it up again at another time, but he needed to get to a lesson with Honoka so we had to cut things short." Also, Kagome-sensei had grabbed him and started shining a Jiraiya's Awesome Daybright Lantern Seal in his ears while peering far too closely.

"Noted, sir."

"Cool." He covered a yawn with his hand and winced when the movement pulled unpleasantly at his still not completely healed ribs. "Okay, last item: Step up the number of chakra-purchase missions we're posting. I need to dig a tunnel sixty miles or so across Spider territory and I'm going to be leaning on Noburi heavily for it."

"A tunnel, sir? If I may ask, why a tunnel and why so long?"

"It's the HOWS seals—Harumitsu's Outstanding Worldsaving Seals. They're basically just longer-lived lantern seals that need a lot more power. We're planting them all around the Great Seal in order to use up the chakra that it's leaking so the Seal itself doesn't erode as quickly. Problem is, there's a bunch of Dragons camped out on the top of the butte and there's only so many times that Kumokōgō can lure them away in order for me to sneak in there and replace the seals. I'm using the Tunnel Excavation Technique to dig a tunnel that lets me travel underground to the butte, then come up under the relevant locations. It should let me place the seals without being seen."

Gaku's brush swirled as he noted down the need for more missions. "They can be placed underground, sir?" he asked as he wrote.

"No—well, probably not. Even if they can, putting them on the surface would be better."

"That sounds risky sir. Doesn't the Tunnel Excavation Technique always produce a tunnel two arms across? It seems like that would be very visible to the very entities you are trying to avoid."

"Yes, it would be risky and yes, the technique does produce a two-arms-wide tunnel...roughly, anyway. How did you know?"

"With Lord Hokage's permission, I was briefed by the head of ANBU on all techniques available to Leaf. It is, after all, one of my key responsibilities to have available whatever information you might need."

Hazō eyed his secretary steadily, sipping his tea as he waited. Sadly, Gaku did not break. He continued smiling faintly and looking attentive.

"Gaku."

"Yes, m'lord?"

"How did you actually know?"

"I consulted with Madame Zaizen, sir. The fortune teller? Very knowledgeable woman."

Hazō couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "Come on, give it up."

"Lord Noburi sought me out last night, sir, after you spoke with him. He asked me to arrange the extra chakra purchase missions because he wasn't certain you would remember."

"No respect," Hazō said, shaking his head. "He's a terrible brother."

"If I may ask, sir, how will you handle the issue? Surely the Dragons would notice such a large tunnel?"

"I'll tunnel to just below the surface and use the Stoneshaping technique to do the last little bit. Create holes just big enough to reach a hand through. Three or four should be enough. Not ideal, but sufficient."

"Very good, sir."

Hazō snorted, shaking his head in amusement at his Chancellor's games, and sipped his tea for a moment before going back to it.

"New category," he said. "The Seventh Path.

"Item 1: I asked Kumokōgō how the Dragons' aura felt to her. She couldn't really describe it, aside from rambling on with words like 'disconcerting', 'painful', and 'dizzying'. Make a note that when the other Bosses get there I need to see if they'll give me their impressions as well."

"Noted, sir."

"Okay, that's all I had. I need to go see Cannai in about an hour and then I'll be at the seal research facility working with Kagome-sensei on the dimensional seals, so we'll need to move quickly through whatever you've got. What's going on with those supply reports we were looking at yesterday? Is that cloth dealer cheating us?"

"Unclear but probably, sir. I've got a summary here, as well as a list of potential replacement vendors. If you'll turn your attention to page six..."

o-o-o-o​

"Good morning, sir. You look better."

"Thank you, Gaku. I feel better." Indeed, he had caught himself smiling. Yesterday had involved a few conversations and then the rest of the day was spent on actual seal research with Kagome-sensei. Not just seal research, but research on seals that would detect the rift to the afterlife through which perhaps they could eventually start retrieving people. Starting with Jiraiya, meaning that Hazō could eventually dump the Clan Head job back on him and focus on doing things that were actually fun.

"I take it you had a good day yesterday? Anything for the journal?"

"Indeed! This goes in the Seventh Path category." He pulled today's mug of tea out of the storage scroll Gaku had set out for him and sipped. His eyebrows rose at the smokiness and the faint tingle of mint.

"Weird mix," he said. "Weird but good."

"I'm glad you like it, sir. I acquired it from a peddler who came by to use the clinic yesterday. I have quite enjoyed it."

Hazō took another sip, then put his feet up on the desk. "Okay, let's see...let's have 'Cannai' as a subcategory from Seventh Path."

"I shall prep a new drawer, sir."

"I've been carefully avoiding asking how you keep all this stuff organized, you know."

"Drawers, sir. Many, many drawers. Also, lists of cross-references."

"You know it's easier to use—" He cut himself off as his brain caught up to the fact that Gaku could not use storage seals.

"I'm sure it is, sir. I, however, am quite happy with my drawers. Now, I believe you had some items related to Cannai?"

"Yes. Right. Item 1: Still no word on the Bear Scroll. Remind me to ask again next week."

"Of course, sir."

"Item 2: I shared with Cannai that idea about having all the bosses travel together across the continent to go help fight the Dragons. Let's just say it didn't go well."

o-o-o-o​

"...and that brings us around to an idea that Ami had for how to get the Crusade through Cat territory—"

"The Crusade?" Cannai asked, his ears pricking up.

"Right, I hadn't mentioned that. The idea was that all the Bosses go to Arachnid Territory to fight the Dragons, but they all agree that their people will jointly defend each other while they're away. If, for example, the Otters attacked the Toads, then the Monkeys, the Pangolins, and everyone else would all jump on the Otters. It should keep things stable."

Cannai frowned. "If I understand the explanation you gave me for the eastern land's geography, are not the Monkeys a thousand miles from the Otters? How can they provide any useful deterrent?"

"Uh, well..."

"Furthermore, if the xenophobic and militaristic Pangolins move to attack the Otters in support of this treaty, do they not leave themselves vulnerable to attack in the rear? Is the plan not vulnerable to false-image attacks, where one clan frames another?"

"Uh, well..."

Cannai gave a canine shrug. "It is not my concern. I am sure they will work it out. Will they be traveling in waves or taking different routes?"

"Waves? What?"

"The clan rulers. Remember, I previously told you that it might be difficult for them to travel together?"

"Right, of course." Actually, he had completely forgotten that. "Not sure, actually. Up to them, I guess? Anyway, I was talking with Ami—she's Keiko's sister and she's super smart. She suggested that crossing Cat Territory is going to be the big sticking point, and the way to do it would be for everyone to gather on the Cat border and then send in a messenger with tribute as thanks to the Cat Boss for allowing and ensuring safe passage through their territory. No single clan is going to go up against several bosses when there's a face-saving alternative." Hazō nodded, proud of his species.

Cannai frowned. "You are going to tell clan rulers to offer tribute?"

Alarm bells began ringing in his head. "Uh, well..."

"Tell me, Hazō, did you plan to recruit me into this Crusade of yours? The one where I would be expected to offer tribute to the Cats?"

"Uh, well..." Abort! Abort! "I think I misspoke. When I said 'tribute' what I actually meant was 'hostess gift'. It's a custom that humans have. When you go to visit someone that you don't know well, you bring a small gift as a gesture of appreciation for being invited into their home. The Cats either have to accept the gift and implicitly grant permission to enter, or they have to give the gift back and offend all those Clan Heads."

"I see. So you're saying that on the Human Path someone can force you to pay them tribute simply by inviting you into their home?"

"Uh, well..."

"I take it this is done as a method of demonstrating one's superiority? Something like when the older children force the younger away from the food until they are finished?"

"Uh, well...hey, speaking of abrupt segues, I wanted to ask: We have a line on the Squirrel Summoning contract but it's lost in the woods somewhere. Do you have any trackers who could help us find it?"

"Canvass cannot do it for you?"

Hazō shook his head. "I spoke to her earlier. I told her that we looked around for her ancestor's pack and couldn't find them without more information."

"A shame. You are free to ask around among our other trackers."

"Okay, thank you. Um, about the bison...those were a huge help and I'm very grateful. A lot of people have been eating better than ever before because of them. I was wondering what I could offer that would make it worthwhile for you to keep supplying us?"

Cannai considered, massive head cocked in thought. "I personally have no interest but you are free to look for individuals who wish to trade with you. Perhaps you could work out an arrangement where they buy passage to the Human Path in exchange for meat? You would need to have interesting activities for them to pursue. Some sort of visitors program, perhaps."

That was going to be full of exhausting skull-sweat, Hazō could just feel it.

"Thank you, I appreciate the suggestion."

o-o-o-o​

"Good morning, My Lord."

"Morning Gaku...oh, hey, sushi. How did you know I was in the mood for sushi?"

"Madame Zaizen sacrificed a pig, My Lord. Its entrails fell in the shape of a nigiri."

"Uh-huh." He glowered expectantly at his Chancellor who maintained a frustrating level of calm.

"Okay, Gaku. That's enough. How did you actually know?"

"A good Chancellor never tells his secrets, My Lord."

"That's magicians. Fess up."

"Pure luck, sir. I simply took the one on top of the pile in the cafeteria."

Hazō snorted. "Right. Okay, well, we've got some exciting news."

"Very good, sir. What is the news?"

"I talked to Asuma last night, and the Conclave is still not finished."

Gaku looked up from his notes in surprise. "Ah. So, when you said 'exciting' you were in fact being sarcastic, sir?"

"Indeed. Pantsā is provisionally willing to help but Nezuni and Hyōtauni, the reps for Rat and Leopard, aren't willing to let anyone pass through their land. Enma thinks it might just be a bargaining position, but they're sticking to it hard. Without passing through those lands everyone would need to go north to get around the mountains instead of immediately heading west, and they'd need to pass through Hyena Territory. No one trusts those guys."

Gaku pursed his lips. "Would Turtle be feasible, sir? From what I recall of the map you showed me they have an excellent river network and are able to provide water transport easily."

Hazō shrugged. "It would have been nice, but they didn't attend. I don't know if they weren't willing to go because it was being held in Pangolin or just wouldn't have gone regardless. Still, we got Monkey, Pangolin, Condor, Toad, Otter, Rat, and Leopard. That's more than I expected."

"Not Porcupine, sir?"

"No, and not Slug or Snake either, although I'm not sure if anyone got Orochimaru to pitch it to them.

"In better news, the Toads sent Fukasaku and Shima, the two Toad Sages, so at least they're taking it seriously. Unfortunately, Enma says that they're more interested in negotiating for pipeweed and booze than forming the Crusade. And Condone is still too afraid to speak up because she thinks that if she says anything wrong then Pantsā might murder her and swap in another administrator for Condor Territory."

"Oh, dear. That sounds—" He broke off at the sound of feet pounding down the hall.

"My Lord Gōketsu!" the messenger painted, bursting in the door of Hazō's office with Atomu immediately behind him. "The Hokage summons you, sir!" The boy was ten, perhaps eleven, clad in the grey of civilian service with the gold ribbon of the Hokage's personal messengers tied around his left arm and the blue of the messenger corps around his right.

Hazō was immediately on his feet, cane in hand. (Graduating from the crutches to the cane had been a wonderful day.) "Gaku, we'll finish this later." He turned to the messenger. "What's going on? You can speak in front of these people."

"Rock is attacking, sir! All along the western border!"

---

XP AWARD: 30

Brevity XP: 10

"GM had fun" XP: 0

It is now 8am.

This update covered 10 days. You worked with Kagome-sensei on dimensional seals; he's sure that he's close but they aren't done quite yet.

Vote time! What to do now?

Voting ends on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, at 12pm London time.

 

[Velorien]

Chapter 456: Allies of Inconvenience​

It was lucky that both Hazō and Kei had independently had the idea of bringing their summoning scrolls to the Hokage's briefing in case they needed to communicate urgently with their summons, and equally lucky that they were among the first to arrive, and therefore could pause outside the Hokage's office for a brief jaunt to a distant, alien world while waiting for the other clan heads.

"So, Hazō," Kei began, "what new idea of yours requires total privacy and cannot wait until after the briefing when we will know the full scope of our latest cataclysm?"

"Kei," Hazō said," I have a thought I wanted to run by you."

"Does it involve the ruthless and absolute destruction of Hidden Rock with every ill-considered superweapon at your disposal the very instant the Hokage gives us permission?" Kei asked with the expectant air of a hungry Fifi noticing a fresh kill in his hands (or, rather, in Kagome-sensei's hands—he liked to spoil her, and sometimes there were "treats" left over after an afternoon of weapons testing in the woods).

"Only indirectly," Hazō reluctantly admitted. "I've been thinking about Naruto, and how there would be a perfect synergy between his powers and certain Pangolin ninjutsu. It's entirely your decision, and obviously it would be conditional on him being able to keep it secret—which you'd also be able to judge better than me, since presumably you entrust him with KEI secrets every day—but it could be a big boost to Leaf's combat potential, and also to him not hating the Gōketsu quite as much."

"He does not hate the Gōketsu," Kei objected. "He hates you, and considers you a borderline threat to village security, which of necessity limits his trust in those compelled to carry out your orders. On a personal level, he treats me with unmerited affection, possesses a cordial relationship with Akane as a former classmate, and, I believe, recognises a kindred spirit in Noburi.

"Regardless, it is not as if the thought had not occurred to me as well. Even before the nigh-unstoppable village legend, there are loved ones of mine who would benefit vastly from protection from the vicissitudes of melee combat. Unfortunately, matters are not so simple."

"What's the obstacle?" Hazō asked.

"Hazō, the Pangolins feel we have betrayed them," Kei said heavily. "In a number of ways and on a number of levels."

"You mean because of the skytowers?"

"Those as well. But to begin with, as far as they are concerned, the very foundations of our deal were laid in bad faith. You must recall, Hazō, when we first negotiated with the Pangolins, their understanding of shinobi modernity was fragmented at best. They still lived in Ui's times, when the notion of a clanless population would have been alien and horrifying."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at," Hazō said.

"The notion of a shinobi academy that would teach any child with the qualifications is a modern one," Kei said. "Surely you remember that much from our lessons."

Hazō nodded with a bitter smile. "Old Lizardbreath never let an assembly go by without reminding us how lucky we poor clanless kids were to live in a magnanimous village that didn't just throw us out like the trash we were."

"I understand his death was quite excruciating," Kei said with a much brighter one. "It also involved express use of Yagura's old repressive apparatus, since dramatic punishment was necessary for Mist to save face, but the letter of the law was, at that time, not sufficient—unless the man were to be proved a foreign saboteur. Ami was most grateful to us for reminding the soon-to-be-born AMI that the new Mizukage was willing to use the previous tyrant's tools.

"My point, however, is that in Ui's time, becoming a shinobi required either being born the child of clan shinobi or being born to civilians in a ninja village and adopted into a clan the instant your chakra reserves were recognised. There was no other source of training. As a general rule, clanless shinobi were those who had received clan training and then abandoned the clan—the original missing-nin, if you will—or their descendants whom they had personally trained. This, incidentally, explains much of the ingrained attitudes that have rendered the KEI necessary.

"Under such circumstances, the notion of a clanless recruitment pool would have been bewildering at best. If clanless ninja were ever to gather in numbers, they would either fail to trust each other and separate again, perhaps violently, or they would establish a cooperative relationship and ultimately found a clan of their own, precisely as we did. This is how the Pangolins understood our group, and likely why Pandā was so swift to pair us off—on the assumption that we intended to develop our clan through… procreation and occasional exogamy. Under such a model, clan growth takes place over generations, as it does for summons themselves.

"Consider, now, their feelings when they came to understand that we would be sharing our new ninjutsu not with our sons and daughters and perhaps the occasional ally marrying into the clan, but with multiple strangers every year, the number and selection determined by a process arcane to them.

"They are aware they have no formal grounds for complaint. We are acting within the terms of the contract, and contracts are sacred. However, their ninjutsu are permanently out of their control now, and spreading rapidly in ways over which they have no influence. In exchange for this permanent and growing loss, what they received was a temporary benefit—which we then unilaterally terminated in a way that left them in dire straits indeed. Any observer unable to understand the condoritarian motivations behind our actions would surely conclude that we ruthlessly exploited the Pangolins by taking advantage of their ignorance of clan structures in the village era, then abandoned them as soon as we no longer needed the resources they provided. That is, assuming we were not planning to ruin them all along on behalf of some other Seventh Path entity."

"None of this stopped them from sharing the Pangolin Conditioning Technique with those two jōnin," Hazō observed.

"A sound choice," Kei said, "given that as support specialists, they were the most fragile members of our group save myself. Considering how close our victory was, it is a certainty that we would have lost without them. On the other hand, the Pangolins did not provide the technique to Ami, who possessed the dubious protection of fighting from range, or Naruto, who fought using clones, even though this, too, would have improved our odds.

"The Pangolins are not best pleased with their allies, Hazō. Certainly, they lack alternatives, and Pangolin military honour prohibits them from betraying me so that a more cooperative prospective summoner may take the scroll from my corpse—or so I hope. However, even our greatest victory has left them with a bitter aftertaste. The blow to the Condor Clan was very real, in terms of symbolism, metaphysical trauma, and strategic advantage. Yet in exchange, the Pangolins have gained Leaf as an ally of inconvenience. Even now the village seeks leverage on the Seventh Path with which to demand the Condors' freedom for its own benefit. With our arsenal of summoners, eventually we will find it.

"In conclusion, then, no. I believe that requesting a new ninjutsu trade, especially when the beneficiary is not under our authority or theirs in any way, will only further their perception of us as exploitative. Nor can I countenance the option of teaching Naruto without permission, in defiance of our contract. Naruto is known to some if not all of Leaf's summon allies via their summoners. It is inevitable that word of any signature ninjutsu he uses would eventually find its way back to the Seventh Path. In that event, I would certainly be rejected as summoner—a process easily, and I expect, usually made lethal by having the boss cancel summoners' unsummoning privileges before informing them. Furthermore, should it become known that the Hokage, the boss of Leaf's summoners, permitted this violation of contract, Leaf's summon allies could defect en masse."

Kei paused, looking out towards the horizon silently as if buying time for something.

"I appreciate the fashion in which you brought this to me, Hazō," she said eventually. "I regret that I do not have a better response to offer you. And… there is one more matter. You recall the existence of the Tama Clan, Rock's optimisation specialists?"

Hazō nodded.

"At least one must survive. Ideally more, for the sake of a safety margin. Please bear this in mind when preparing your plan to annihilate Hidden Rock as you can, must, and will."

Hazō winced. "That's a lot harder than just erasing the entire village from existence."

"There are options available to us. We can discuss the matter in more depth once you have a shortlist of localised apocalypses. For now, please trust that it is necessary. The Hokage will be aware of this as well, as indeed will the Tama."

New challenge: win an all-out war against a numerically superior enemy. Without revealing power on a scale that would get Leaf Whirlpooled. While sparing a handful of specific individuals he had no way of identifying from range. And, of course, while still crippled and in a state of constant mental fog.

It was almost as if the universe was starting to take Gōketsu Hazō seriously.

-o-​

This is a relatively brief scene, so XP will be awarded by @eaglejarl in his update.

-o-​

This is more infodump than update, but I am in poor condition as a result of my body clock rebelling at my attempt to fix it. Please look at my shortcomings through a big sieve, as the Japanese idiom goes.

-o-​

What do you do?

Voting closes on Saturday 14th of August, 1 p.m. New York time.

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 457: The Will of Fire Explored​

Despite his best efforts, Hazō was the last one into the war council. Needing a cane did that to a person.

"Nice of you to join us," the Hokage said. He stood at the head of the table, several scrolls and stacks of papers neatly arrayed in front of him. The air in the room crackled with sparks that flew from stones grinding against one another just out of sight.

"Sorry, sir." This was not the right time to attract the Hokage's attention, so Hazō took his seat without a further word. In accord with Council etiquette he skooched it in as far as it would go so that his belly was pressed against the table. He folded his hands and looked around, carefully gauging the room.

The Clan Council of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, including the Slug Princess and the jinchūriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox and augmented by the Snake Sannin, sat in silence. All eyes were turned to where the Lord of Fire Country loomed at the head of the table. Not even the legendarily stoic Hyūga or the utterly insane Orochimaru succeeded at presenting an entirely calm face when they saw Asuma's expression. Even Orochimaru was visibly in the mindset of a field ninja: hyperaware of his surroundings and ready to move the instant the expected threat materialized.

"This," the Hokage said, slapping down a map, "is the Elemental Nations as it currently is." He swept his gaze around the audience for a moment and then he moved, a trench knife leaping from his flowing sleeve. Everyone twitched and then aborted their dodge when the blade slammed through the map and pinned it to the table.

"This," Asuma said, twisting the knife hard so as to tear away the part of the map around the blade, "is how I want it to be a week from now. Figure it out." A surge of force yanked the blade out of the table and vanished it up the sleeve again.

Hazō looked at the map and the missing section where the Village Hidden by Rocks had been.

Silence ruled the room for three long breaths.

"Lord Hokage," Shikamaru said carefully, "are you ordering us to eradicate the capital of Earth Country?"

"Obviously," Asuma snapped. He snatched up one of the stacks of papers and threw them down in front of Shikamaru. "Read it."

Shikamaru did not take his eyes off his barely-controlled ruler as he reached for the papers. His gaze flicked down, then back, keeping half his attention on what everyone in the room could not help but perceive as an imminent danger. The temperature seemed to be rising, the grinding of the stones growing louder, with every second that passed.

Hinata gasped. Hazō glanced over and saw the telltale bulging of the veins on her temples that indicated she had activated her Byakugan. Possibly to read over Shikamaru's shoulder, possibly in response to the metaphysical fire in the air.

Shikamaru went very still, and then he peeled the top sheet off the stack and passed the rest to Ino, who sat to his left. She took one and passed the rest to Hinata who took her own and passed the rest.

When Hazō received his copy his sealmaster brain could not help but notice the paper it was scribed on. Kon Akimitsu's product from before his death. Mid-weight, clean grain, even coloring with his characteristic robin's-egg blue speckling. In part his brain insisted on noticing those details because it bought a few more seconds of not having to recognize the words on the page.

• Kushida Crossing: Eliminated
  • Fuyuko - chūnin - MSD
  • Sadahiro - genin - MSD/CC, PD
  • Hyūga Harue - chūnin - KIA
  • Hyūga Masafumi - jōnin - KIA
  • Hyūga Sukenobu - chūnin - KIA
• Twin Oaks: Eliminated
  • Aburame Eriko - genin - KIA
  • Chiaki Asao - genin - KIA
  • Egusa Hirotoki - genin - KIA
  • Fukita - chūnin - MSD
• Falling River: HR/HR
  • Gusukuma Ruri - genin - KIA
  • Hagino Mareo - genin - MSD, PD
  • Hagoromo Gen - jōnin - KIA
• Hashirama's Grace: E/NE
  • Tsukiko - genin - KIA
  • Iijima Wakana - chūnin - MSD
  • Kameyama Goro - genin - MSD/CC
  • Kumashiro Kana - genin - KIA
  • Kurusu Ikue - genin - KIA
• Stone Faces: HR/R
  • Makihara Hiroi - jōnin - KIA
  • Maruya - genin - MSD/CC, PD
  • Motoyoshi Suehiro - genin - KIA
  • Noro Taiichi - genin - MSD
• Sun's Touch: Eliminated
  • Haida Sachi - chūnin - MSD/CC
• Patrol 7:
  • Watai Haruko - genin - KIA
  • Watai Emiko - genin - MSD

Such neat and tidy little initialisms to cover up such ugly realities. 'Medical Stand Down' instead of 'body rent by blade or chakra'. 'Critical Condition' instead of 'probably not going to survive despite the best efforts of the medic-nin'. 'Permanently Disabled' instead of 'arm or leg torn off / eyes gouged or burned away / hands crushed' or so, so many other horrific options. The classifications for towns were even worse in their sterile and analytical way—'Eliminated' or simply 'E' instead of 'all buildings destroyed' or 'all residents murdered' depending on which side of the slash it fell on. 'Reduced' instead of 'devastated but with 25-50% survivors', or its more stringent sibling 'Heavily Reduced' that permitted at most 25%. 'Nearly Eliminated' instead of...

The thoughts popped away and Hazō jolted in his chair when Asuma slammed both hands on the table.

"Those Rock bastards dropped half our city into a hole and killed my people. They stole our land and I smiled and took it because I didn't want direct war. Oh, we kept them from profiting from the land but we didn't burn them out like the lice they are, and now they're trying again! Twenty-four Leaf ninja dead or wounded! Half a dozen towns destroyed! Enough!" He slapped the table again. "No more! I want these bastards dead. Not just the ones on our borders, but every fucking one of them. Nits make lice—isn't that what you always say, Tsunade, when you're telling us how to prevent disease spirits from settling? It's not enough to destroy the ones that are being ridden, you need to also destroy the ones the spirits are grooming."

"I'm in," said the Slug Sannin. "High time I start introducing people to my fist."

Asuma nodded sharply to her, then turned to the teenager sitting to his left. "In answer to your question, Shikamaru: No. We are not going to stop at destroying Hidden Rock. We are going to exterminate every ninja in Earth Country. We are going to wipe them off the face of the world and grind their names to dust. The other villages clearly need to be reminded that we have the power to do it, and it's time we stop pussyfooting around." He swept his eyes around the table. "Unless someone here has an objection?"

There was very audibly a correct answer to that question.

Inuzuka gave a bared-tooth smile. "They hurt the pack. This time, they die."

"Indeed," Aburame said. A soft but angry buzzing came from under his shirt as his embedded colony seethed.

Orochimaru sniffed. "The timing is unfortunate as I am in the middle of some critical experiments. Still, I assume I will be permitted to keep the bodies of those I kill?"

"You can have every ninja in Earth Country," Asuma said. "Alive or dead, I don't really give a shit."

"Yeah, well, while Uncle Snakey is getting freaky, where do you want me?" Naruto said, pushing his sleeves up and leaning forward.

"Naruto, don't even think you're leaving me back on this one," Sasuke said.

"Fuck no," the blond replied. "Team Seven forever." He tapped fists with the last scion of the Uchiha.

"As the newest clan in Leaf, the Kei have the most to prove," Kei Haruka said, leaning forward. "We wish to request the honor of forward deployment."

"Great," Asuma said. "I want ideas on how. Lord Gōketsu, you're up."

"Me, sir?"

Asuma tossed the objection angrily aside. "Stop fucking around. Jiraiya told me how you're always having ideas for new weapons. Put up or shut up."

"Well..." He looked down at the map with its torn-away fragment. "All right. We've lost a lot of strong ninja this year—"

"You don't say?" asked the son of the murdered Third Hokage, tension dripping from the words.

"Um...yes sir. Anyway, we should leverage the advantages we have. As far as I know, Leaf has more Summoners than the rest of the world combined. We can have a set of Summoners stationed in a specific location. They reverse-summon back to the Seventh Path, wait, then return to the Human Path. Completely undetectable ambush, although the timing would be tricky to manage.

"Noburi's chakra water loses its virtue if it's on a different Path from him, but he can meet up with Summoners on the Seventh Path in order to refill them mid-combat."

Lord Hagoromo snorted. "An excellent plan, Gōketsu. Carefully keeps your ninja out of the fight."

"Shut your piehole, Hags," Inuzuka said. "Let the kid talk."

"Do not talk down to me, dog bitch! Two minutes in and Gōketsu is already arranging things such that his clan is protected. Sage forbid that the Gōketsu should take a risk or—"

"Shut. Your fucking mouth."

Everyone cringed at Asuma's frozen words.

"Lord Gōketsu?"

"Um, yes sir. In answer to Lord Hagoromo's comments: Kagome-sensei and I are sealmasters, and he is also a cryptographer and intelligence analyst. Noburi is a medic."

Tsunade snorted. "Barely. Kid can set a bone, I guess."

Hazō bit his tongue to keep the impulsive words back, then phrased them more carefully. "With all respect, Lady Tsunade: I have seen Noburi successfully do field surgery to correct a child's gapmouth, take appropriate action to address a concussion, and use medical chakra to detect injuries and speed their recovery. I ask that you grant him the respect he deserves."

The world's greatest medic-nin gave a snort rich with dismissive condescension. "Look, brat. It's cool that you want to support your brother, but let's be straight: He's not that good and he hasn't been pursuing the training. I'm sincerely glad that we've got someone trained in more than basic first aid, and good on him for learning as much as he did before he gave it up to pursue something sexier like Summoning. But if you call him a medic again I'm going to have to rip your head off."

"Tsunade."

She sat back in her chair, arms folded over her chest, and glared resentfully. "Fine, whatever."

"Thank you, sir. As I was saying, Kagome-sensei is an intelligence analyst, cryptographer, and sealmaster. I am a sealmaster and a front-line combatant but I'm heavily injured. If there were a way to get me back on my feet quickly I would ask for forward deployment." He turned to Tsunade, the cold rage in his heart overriding common sense. "Are Leaf's medics capable of such, ma'am?"

Tsunade's face went blank and a mountain shimmered on the edge of visibility, looming over Hazō and threatening to crash down. She sat forward, eyes locked on Hazō.

"Tsunade!"

The Slug Princess held Hazō's gaze for another moment, then looked at the Hokage. She deflated and sat back once more.

"Continue, Lord Gōketsu."

"Yes sir. Kagome-sensei is most useful on the homefront producing seals and working with the Nara on intelligence analysis. I am too heavily injured for combat, but as a Summoner and a sealmaster I could be a useful support asset in a forward position if transport can be arranged. I can lay traps, make customized seal loadouts on the spot, and summon both trackers and combatants." Probably. He didn't currently have a tracker but he could likely get one quickly if it was essential, at least on a temporary basis.

"The rest of the Gōketsu ninja are disabled or disadvantaged," he continued. "Still, they can serve as messengers, scouts, or combatants in a pinch."

"What about Mari?" Asuma asked sharply. "This is a war. She can play her games after we win but she's not sitting on the sidelines while Leaf is fighting for its existence."

"Absolutely, sir." There was no other answer that wasn't going to end up with him in a killbox. Certainly it would not be a good plan to point out that the last three Hokage had all agreed to or tacitly supported Mari's retirement from the field. "Sir, I don't have the expertise in this area. May I suggest that you speak with her directly? The two of you will do a better job of figuring out where she is most effective. As her Clan Head I will deploy her in accord with your instructions.

"Beyond that, sir..." Should he? Yes. "Beyond that I have a variety of options for the destruction of Rock, although I would prefer to disclose them to you in private."

Angry mutters went around the room, along with an expression of contempt from the Snake Sannin.

"Do they depend on clan secrets?" the Hokage asked. The stones were grinding less ferociously yet their presence could still be felt.

"Not...exactly, sir."

"Then I am disappointed you are not willing to share them in front of your assembled brethren. Do so. Now."

"Um, yes sir.

"First would be aerial bombardment. We use skywalkers to take up position high above Rock. Then we use Multiple Earth Wall, or simply storage seals, to drop thousands of pounds of rocks on them. We can—"

"Oh, for the sake of the Sage!" Lord Hagoromo said, throwing his hands in the air. "This is your brilliant idea that you needed to keep private? We've all been experimenting with that since the day skywalkers became available! It's useless! You can't hit anything meaningful from any significant height—certainly not a ninja. And it doesn't do that much damage to whatever random chunk of land it does hit!"

"With all due respect," Hazō said, struggling to keep the 'which is not bloody much' behind his teeth, "I'm not sure you've thought about how much stone the Multiple Earth Wall generates, or how high it can be dropped from. Sure, we can't hit individual ninja in the field but we can take out Hidden Rock itself. I've noticed that impact damage is greater the higher up you drop from. My team has used skywalkers to attain a height that I estimate at one to two miles, and there's no reason we couldn't go higher. Go up five or even ten miles, then use Multiple Earth Wall to instantly generate thousands of pounds of granite, and—"

"Don't be stupid," Orochimaru said. "Construct granite only lasts thirty seconds. At that height it would dissolve before it reached the ground."

That stopped Hazō in his tracks. "Oh...well, we can experiment to find the maximum height. Um...we can use Five-Seal Barrier nets to protect our own buildings and encampments—"

"We're already doing that," Asuma said, impatient. "What else? So far this is unimpressive."

By now Hazō was starting to sweat. "Firebombing would be useful against some targets, although not dug-in locations such as Rock itself. We could also try timed explosives plus any payload we like in a storage seal—maybe boiling lead and water?" It was one of Kagome-sensei's stupid boxes writ large, but hopefully more controllable.

"Aerial bombing is useless against individual ninja and boiling lead isn't going to do anything to Hidden Rock itself," Asuma said. "Give me something better."

"Unbreathable air," Hazō said desperately. "The Purifier seals soak the stuff up and store it. We could load up a whole bunch of them and then break them right at the entrance to Hidden Rock. Let them sink down into the tunnels and choke everyone."

"Impractical," Orochimaru said. "Vaporous agents that act quickly enough to matter are difficult to manufacture and containerize in sufficient quantity. They are hard to control, and there are far too many remedies easily available. For example, the Tunneler's Friend seal that we originally took off the body of a Rock ninja. Given that they live underground it should be assumed that they know how to handle bad air."

"Okay..." Hazō chewed his lip for a moment, then pulled the map closer and pointed. "I know this map isn't exact, but these rivers are the largest in Rock and most of their settlements are probably along their courses. Dams here, here, and here would change the course of the river leaving essentially every population center in Earth Country without water. Then—"

"Ah yes," Lord Hagoromo sneered. "The famous 'uplift' of the Gōketsu clan. Aren't you the ones who constantly bleat 'think of the civilians'?"

"Yes," Hazō said through clenched teeth. "In the short term it will harm civilians more than ninja, but Rock can't afford to have their entire population die of thirst. They will be forced to send ninja to locate and remove the dams. At the same time they won't want to draw down their current force deployments for fear that we might do exactly what they did to us: Use overwhelming force to hit population centers that have small ninja detachments, as part of a 'defeat in detail' strategy." He swept his hand across Earth Country on the map. "Wherever their people currently are, it's because those places need to be protected. They won't want to draw down the protection so they will be forced to call back the ninja from Fire."

"I was already planning something to that goal," Asuma said. "Specifically, one or more strike forces moving into Earth and destroying population centers along the border as a way of pulling their forward units back. Orochimaru, I would like you to lead one unit."

The Snake Sannin sighed, long and gusty. "This will take so much time," he muttered. "Ugh, distractions."

Asuma cleared his throat significantly.

"Yes, yes, I'll do it," Orochimaru said, waving dismissively. "As you command, Lord Hokage. And all that."

Asuma studied him for a moment, then turned back to Hazō. "I like the rivers idea. Far more destructive than anything I'd come up with. While Orochimaru and his support team are drawing Rock's forces back across the border we can send another team to execute your plan. I particularly like the fact that it requires no contact and can be executed multiple times. The team will probably need to stay in-country for a few months but we should be able to depopulate Earth Country before spring planting. The Tsuchikage will need to ration food within Rock, thereby reducing his economic base further. We'll heavily reinforce the western border so that they can't raid us as easily. Grass or Claw will be a softer target, so Rock will attack there in order to resupply. That will bring the Minor Nation Alliance down on them." He nodded in satisfaction as he eyed the map. "By this time next year, Earth Country will no longer exist." He glanced at Hazō and made a tossing-away gesture with one hand. "Oh, and we'll resettle all their civilians into Fire. Better life for them, more economic growth for us. The clans may feel free to adopt any of them that you find useful and if there are any mutual claims we'll have a lottery to settle them."

"Hold up," said Akimichi Chōza, finally breaking his silence. "Asuma, you can't really be serious about this. Right?"

The Hokage turned to meet the objector's eyes. "Are you questioning my orders, Lord Akimichi?"

Akimichi raised his hands in placation. "Sir, I'm asking you to consider the full ramifications of these orders. It is my duty as a member of your advisory council to make sure you have the best information possible. Could we exterminate Earth with this plan? Yes, probably. Would it be good for Leaf in the long run?"

"Would it be good for us to remove the enemy we have been fighting since the villages were founded? The one that, not months ago, murdered both of your teammates and far too many of Leaf's Clan Heads and senior jōnin? The one that stole our land and will clearly do so again the moment they have gathered their strength? They aren't going to stop, Chōza. They have already nibbled at our edges. They will be back for a larger bite and if we don't demonstrate to the entire world what a bad idea that is then soon enough we will have Lightning trying the same, or Mist, or perhaps even one of the minor nations."

"My Lord, he's right," said Kurusu. "Exterminating another nation is not the Will of Fire. The First would never have condoned it."

Asuma slapped the table. "THE FIRST IS DEAD! I am the Hokage now and you will do as ordered!"

"Yes, sir, you are," said Motoyoshi. "And the clans of Leaf are obedient to your office. But we are obedient to the office of the Hokage because the Hokage is the embodiment of the Will of Fire. Even if this plan were feasible with our current force levels, it does not dwell within the Will of Fire."

The air burned. "GET THE FUCK OUT!" Asuma bellowed. "ANBU! ATTEND!"

The door burst open and three masked killers poured through it.

Asuma stabbed a finger at Motoyoshi. "Get this—"

Shikamaru suddenly doubled over in a coughing fit so violent that everyone started to reach for their weapons or push their chairs back.

Ino thumped Shikamaru gently on the back and rubbed circles of comfort as the young Nara continued to suffer wracking coughs.

Tsunade pushed her chair back and stood up, moving down the table to Shikamaru's chair so that she could run medical chakra across his skull and spine. She studied him for a moment, chewing her cheek in thought, then tapped him on the shoulder with two fingers. The coughing subsided almost immediately.

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade," Shikamaru said, nodding gratitude to the legendary medic. He wiped some spittle from his lips and nodded to Asuma and then to the rest of the table. "Your apologies, everyone. I have been feeling poorly recently. Lord Hokage, I sincerely apologize for derailing your train of thought. I believe you had intended to call for the current force distribution across the western border in order to demonstrate to Lord Motoyoshi that he was mistaken when he doubted the feasibility of your plan?"

Asuma studied the teen for long seconds during which Shikamaru met his gaze with one of complete innocence.

"Yes," Asuma said at last. "That is exactly what I had intended. Wolf, could you please run over to Admin and bring us back the full force positioning status? All of Fire, not just the western border. Tiger, Cat, you may wait in the hall."

The ANBU looked from their commander to Lord Motoyoshi for a moment, then nodded. "As you command, Lord Hokage," Wolf said. Seconds later they were gone and the door was once more closed.

"I have some thoughts on your strategy, sir," Shikamaru said. "May I have your permission to offer them?"

Asuma's face soured but he nodded and sat down. "Please do, Lord Nara."

"Thank you, sir." He pulled the map over and gestured to the rivers in Earth Country. "First, I agree that the plan is feasible from a purely technical perspective. We have the expertise and the manpower. Earth Country lives or dies at your command, Lord Hokage.

"That said, if you do decide to execute then I would strongly suggest you begin with a preliminary intelligence-gathering phase. We know that our maps of Earth Country are imprecise at best. Placement of waterways in particular is more an act of artist than cartographer. I would recommend not less than four teams, each consisting of a jōnin and two chūnin. Eight teams would be better, since we should expect 25-50% losses from teams spending months on scouting and detailed map-making in populated areas of Earth Country.

"This intelligence-gathering phase will give us time to prepare for the diplomatic side of the mission. The least of the issues we will be facing is that we are effectively going to be shifting Rock's attention from ourselves to the minor nations, most of whom are our allies. We will need to decide what, if anything, we are going to do to help defend them and supply them. As the water dries up and food becomes scarce, Rock will grow steadily more desperate. They will undoubtedly deploy their jinchūriki. As you said, they are more likely to attack Grass than us, since Grass is a much softer target. Allowing them to take possession of the fertile and well-watered land within Grass would allow them to survive easily instead of being completely genocided as you desire. Therefore, we will need to deploy Naruto, Lady Tsunade, and Lord Orochimaru in defense of Grass, with jōnin support so that they can focus on the jinchūriki.

"Sending our strongest ninja out of the village will leave Leaf vulnerable to a desperation attack from Rock or an opportunistic one from Lightning, so we will want to centralize our entire ninja force, leaving the rest of Fire undefended in favor of preserving our core population and the government infrastructure. The result will be substantial loss of life throughout the nation as unsuppressed chakra beasts destroy villages, so once the battle is decisively settled we will need to arrange till'n'fill missions to repair the damage.

"Of course, we won't kill every Rock ninja. Many of them will go missing rather than die of thirst or in hopeless battle against two Sannin and the strongest jinchūriki. This will have the unfortunate effect of spreading the news about our tactics to the rest of the Elemental Nations. Over the course of three world wars, no nation has launched an extermination campaign against another, so the fact that we are doing so will make everyone else extremely nervous. In order to avoid a preemptive coordinated assault from the other major and minor nations we will want to prepare the ground by making a series of extremely favorable trade agreements with Lightning and Mist before launch of the genocide plan. I would need to run some detailed models but at a first guess I suspect we should expect to see ten percent of our economy disappear from Fire for the next decade. I have a Nara team performing economic models so that we can better project how to prepare for such an event. We had intended this to be a clan secret but under the circumstances I will be happy to mark the information public and provide full data sharing to both the Tower and any other interested clan."

Silence rested upon the room. The stones, the flames, the mountain...all were absent as everyone stared at Shikamaru with expressions that varied from surprise to shock to calculation.

Lord Akimichi was the first to speak. "With your permission, Lord Hokage, I would like to coordinate a committee to create the necessary plans for executing your strategy, starting with the diplomatic and intelligence-gathering phases. If you would like, we could run a separate track where we put together more conventional plans that could be acted upon more quickly?"

"Yes," Asuma said after a moment. "Those might be useful."

"Perhaps we might brainstorm some of those now?" Hinata asked. "From a purely selfish viewpoint, I would like to take immediate vengeance on the Rock ninja currently in Fire. They killed three of my clan; with your permission, Lord Hokage, I would like to offer several senior Hyūga as members of hunter/killer teams to locate and eliminate the Rock ninja currently damaging Fire."

"Did you still need me to attack the Earth Country border in order to draw them back, or may I return to my laboratory?" Orochimaru asked. "Also, I never got the chance to ask how you wanted me to advertise what I am doing. It won't draw the Rock forces out unless they know I'm doing it."

Asuma rubbed his face with both hands and nodded. He looked tired, and when he spoke his voice was resigned. "Indeed. Now taking suggestions."

Tension went out of every face in the room at those words. Everyone shifted in their seat and 'fight or flight' became 'plan and politic'.

"One solution would be for the strike force to bring identifiable elements of the targets across the border and post them in Fire population centers that we think Rock might hit," Ino said. "I'm thinking heads of village leaders, any Rock headbands we can scare up, any especially distinctive artwork or building materials that would identify the town we hit, that sort of thing. Nail it to a post with a plaque that explains what we're doing."

"I approve," Lord Kurusu said, offering Ino a tight smile. "Protecting our people while demonstrating to the world the consequences of military action against us? Now that shows the Will of Fire."

"Agreed," Asuma said. "What's next?"

---

Author's Note: Hazō did not mention chakdar seals because at this point they aren't useful for anything more than personal range.

XP AWARD: 0 Scene was too short for a base award.

Brevity XP: 1

You are still in the Council chamber and the meeting is ongoing. You may either come up with more plans to suggest or we can assume that Hazō does intelligent things for the rest of the meeting and the plan can cover what happens afterwards.

Vote time! What to do now?

Voting ends on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, at 12pm London time.

EDIT: It may not have been clear to the reader from mere words on the page, but to the people in the room it was clear that Shikamaru talked Asuma down. He is no longer looking for a campaign of extermination, he simply wants to end the war with minimal loss of life on your side. He'd undoubtedly be happy if that involved a great deal of loss of life on their side, but he's not insisting on that.

 

[Velorien]

Chapter 458: Refusing the Call​

The rest of the meeting was less relevant to Hazō personally. The clan heads debated troop dispositions, combinations of skills and Bloodline Limit powers, and anticipated targets of future Rock attacks. Servants brought maps showing Rock tactics from previous wars. For the most part, these were conventional military tactics on which Hazō could provide little useful input. When it came down to it, brilliant ideas aside, he could count the number of times he'd led group combat against enemy ninja on his fingers, never mind planning broader military strategy. Most of those present had fought in at least one world war, and even the other new clan heirs' training had been based on the assumption that the next was only a matter of time.

By the time Hazō was done with this world, no one would ever have to think that way again.

Still, he had one more idea to offer today—one it made sense for others to have overlooked, not only because they weren't geniuses of creativity, but because all too many of Leaf's current summoners were beginners like him, only without having had a Kei to inspire countless thoughts about summoning optimisation.

"I have a suggestion," he began just as Lady Amori finished laying out her thoughts on medic-nin distribution to a sceptical Tsunade.

"I thought you were being suspiciously quiet," the Hokage said. "What do you have for us, Lord Gōketsu?"

"I have an alternative way of leveraging our summoner advantage together with the Vampiric Dew, Lord Hokage," Hazō said.

Lord Hagoromo raised a cynically-amused eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Go on," the Hokage said.

"Assuming sufficient chakra, we can have an arbitrarily large jōnin-level army anywhere in an hour," Hazō said. "The key is using another summoner stationed in Leaf—for example, yourself—together with some other ninja to serve as chakra batteries. We have a Mist Wakahisa drain chakra from the battery ninja and give it to you. You travel to the Seventh Path and meet with Noburi, who drains you. Then he returns to a force of summoners on the front lines, and refuels them as they repeatedly summon the most powerful summons they've been able to contract. That creates a completely renewable army, plus we can add in support for other expensive techniques that would otherwise be impractical, like the Shadow Clone Technique."

"A Mist Wakahisa?" Lord Hagoromo interrupted. "Of course. How did I not see this coming? The ex-Mist shinobi wants to place one of his foreign friends at the heart of Leaf military strategy. To have him interfere with the Hokage's own chakra, even. Your reputation really doesn't do you justice."

"Enough, Lord Hagoromo," the Hokage snapped. "I am satisfied as to the extent of Lord Gōketsu's loyalty. Or are you proposing that I invited him to a meeting that could determine Leaf's survival by accident?"

"Of course not," Lord Hagoromo said. "I'm not suggesting that Lord Gōketsu is trying to betray us. But loyalty and sympathy are different things, and even a nominally loyal shinobi can be blinded by misplaced trust in former comrades. Why is there a Wakahisa available to begin with? Why, because Lord Gōketsu alone has seen fit to do business with those responsible for countless deaths among your family, and mine, and everybody's but his own. Which is to say nothing of his flirtations with that Mist girl, ignoring the way she's already done more damage to the social fabric of Leaf than a dozen saboteurs could dream of—"

Lady Kei and Representative Shimura opened their mouths simultaneously, her eyes icy cold, his whole face crimson in fury.

"Our concern today is purely with practicalities," Shikamaru said quickly. "Lord Gōketsu is only one of those present who were not involved with top-level decision-making during the previous war. They can hardly be blamed for being vague on the invocation of military alliances. Lord Hokage, would you mind if I clarified Lord Gōketsu's diplomatic error for him?"

The Hokage nodded, his tense facial muscles relaxing in resignation.

"Lord Gōketsu," Shikamaru said, "Suppose there were some disaster taking place on your estate which your Nara allies were singularly equipped to help with. Ordinarily, you might request a certain number of Nara shinobi, taking into account your specific needs, what this favour would cost you, and of course the manifold security concerns of allowing Nara into your estate en masse where we could in theory map your territory for later use, identify weaknesses, steal secrets, record the details of your resources and their limitations, and so on and so forth. Needless to say, the Nara would never do this, but a clan head who does not account for every possibility, especially when danger to the clan is involved, is unworthy of the title.

"On my part, I would consult my contingencies, factoring in which shinobi I could afford to spare at that time, and the opportunity costs of removing them from the active pool, as well as risks to them arising from this disaster, and any secondary concerns such as confrontation with whoever caused it to begin with, and then I would dispatch aid on that basis. This is the substance of alliance."

"Now suppose that instead, there were a Nara shinobi visiting your estate to provide a service in good faith—perhaps to consult on one of your famous civilian projects—and you see fit to press-gang them into providing assistance regardless of their preferences. In that event, where your actions would amount to kidnapping or coercion, as well as usurpation of my authority, I would be obliged to retaliate. Depending on circumstances, you might expect the imposition of grievous penalties, the commencement of criminal proceedings, and/or termination of the alliance."

Out of the corner of his eye, Hazō could see both Lady Kei and Representative Shimura listening attentively, while Lord Hagoromo smirked.

"The Nara could agree willingly," Hazō objected. "We are allied clans, after all."

"A Nara might," Shikamaru said. "But every Mist shinobi in Leaf is aware that Mori Ami was nearly executed for volunteering her aid in a Leaf military operation, and the Mizukage is aware that they are aware. In addition, we ourselves are walking a path of embers with regard to the Mizukage's patience after sending one of her jōnin into a near-lethal engagement. No, to attempt your strategy would require bringing Mist into the war, and as I have explained, that is not done lightly."

"Make no mistake," the Hokage said, "if I was confident your plan would end the war with minimal casualties for Leaf, I might well sign off on it anyway. We allied with Mist to help us win a war against Rock or Cloud. If sacrificing that alliance helps us win a war against Rock or Cloud, then I'd say it's done its job.

"But it's a moot point. Lord Gōketsu, you should know better than anyone why your plan won't work. Right now, the bosses of Leaf's summon allies are marching off to a war of their own. Even assuming the clans were prepared to lend us the bulk of their military power all in one go, to be used as disposable tools, they won't do it while they're on maximum alert because their territory is more vulnerable than it's ever been. The same goes for their non-participating allies. Defending unfamiliar territory that you aren't allowed to enter until fighting breaks out is a nightmare task. The spirit of the contract demands that they be ready to deploy at a moment's notice."

Hazō inwardly cursed. Idea after idea, ruled unviable. Being able to top up jōnin after using the likes of the Shadow Clone Technique was still a valuable tool, but it wasn't the kind of game-changer that one shaped Leaf's foreign policy around. It almost made him wish that he'd spent more time working on his weapons of mass destruction, rather than seals that had many better, broader applications, but wouldn't be so useful with Leaf destroyed or subjugated to a militaristic tyrant.

But then, if he'd done that, how would that make him different from those other ninja, the overwhelming majority that considered peace a temporary breather to be used to prepare for the next war?

Where was the place in the shinobi world for the ninja who invented till'n'fills, who used Multiple Earth Walls to protect civilians from chakra beasts, who declared to the world that those who used ninja power to abuse their inferiors should have it taken from them?

The thoughts stabbed him like a rain of needles. A year spent finding new ways to use his authority and imagination for the greater good, and here he was, sitting in a room with the people whose worldview he despised, looking for clever ways to crush, kill, and destroy, and enjoying it every bit as much as he enjoyed looking for clever ways to build, enrich, and enlighten. Hazō wanted to be a peacemaker, but in the end, was he just as much a product of this world as everyone else? Was what he craved the power to destroy his foes, and his foes just happened to include ignorance and suffering among their number? Once you were born a ninja, was there no way out of the trap?

Akane.

The rain stopped. The clouds parted.

Akane didn't have the instinct to reach for weapons when she saw a problem. She didn't have the instinct to destroy evil, or to use her talents to look for shortcuts to domination. Akane's first thoughts, whenever something was wrong, was to understand and to help. Even during the Haru debacle, that had been her refrain. Not the fury Kei showed when confronted with his latest screwup, or Mari's contempt when he landed them in the killbox or otherwise really dropped the ball, but "I don't understand". Even during the war with the Hagoromo, she'd been ready to do whatever needed to be done, but he couldn't remember her delighting in anticipation of their enemies' impending doom the way the rest of them did.

It was possible. It could be done. Hazō didn't know how it could be done, how somebody ended up being like Akane instead of like everyone else, but her very existence proved that the shinobi world could do more than live by the kunai and die by the kunai.

Was that something to aspire to? Should Hazō seek to be like Akane? Or did the world still need Hazō the inventor of localised apocalypses? On the one hand, the war with Rock couldn't be won with good intentions. The only way to win a war was to make the other person stop fighting, and the time to do so with words had passed, if it had ever been there at all. On the other hand, Hazō couldn't think of any way to make that happen other than by killing people in their hundreds (or thousands, or tens of thousands, depending on how far the collateral damage reached) until the survivors were too few or too scared to fight. How did that make him different from the other ninja in this room, or their counterparts in the other villages?

Hazō spent the rest of the meeting in silence.

-o-​

You have received 3 + 1 = 4 XP.

-o-​

Asuma had considered reinforcing the northeast border, but since there is already a team investigating what happened there, he's going to wait for their report (or conspicuous lack of report) before taking further action.

No specific marching orders have been given to the Gōketsu ninja yet. The meeting focused on high-level strategy.

You've informed Cannai and Kumokōgō of recent events.

Hazō has received a basic package of information on Rock's known capabilities. We're not going to give you a village's worth of infodump in this update, but you can assume that the Hazōpilot will avoid mistakes based on easily-available tactical information.

-o-​

What do you do?

Voting closes on Saturday 21st of August, 1 p.m. New York time.

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 459: Lessons​

"Good evening, Haru. Please, have a seat," Hazō said, gesturing to the chair across from him.

"Good evening, My Lord." Haru sat, back completely straight and expression attentive.

"We're here to discuss your punishment and under what circumstances it might end. Please speak frankly," Hazō said. "No matter what you say I won't be upset and there won't be any additional punishment."

"Thank you, My Lord."

Hazō looked closely at his subordinate. Had the words been too rote, the face too blank? ...No. No, Haru was masking anger at his current situation but he did seem to appreciate the frankness.

"Haru, why do you think I was disappointed about the Yakuza incident?"

Surprise flickered across Haru's face. "If we're being frank, My Lord, my impression is that you weren't particularly upset. I'm being punished because Lady Akane was upset and you followed her wishes. You were just going to tell me to be more careful, perhaps scold me, but you were doing it because the Hokage ordered you to."

Hazō winced, which earned him a minor jolt of pain from his still-healing collarbone. He breathed through it and massaged his thigh; this morning he had gone out to do seal testing with Kagome-sensei, hiking two hours each way through resentfully drizzling rain and two feet of snow quickly turning to slush. The combination was doing bad things to his injuries. The bones were fused but not completely healed and they still ached sometimes, especially when the weather was cold and wet.

He pushed the thoughts aside and went back to the conversation.

"That's...not entirely wrong, but also not entirely right," he said, choosing his words carefully. He sat back and sighed, twiddling a brush between his fingers. "Haru, you've heard us talk about Uplift but we've never really sat down and gone through it with you, have we?"

"No, My Lord."

"What is the prime duty of a Leaf ninja?"

"To obey the Hokage, My Lord."

"Okay, fair. In an instrumental sense that's correct. But I would argue that the true duty is to protect the people of Leaf—of Fire Country in general, actually—and the reason we are taught to obey the Hokage is because he is best equipped to know how to do that. He has access to more information and better advisors than anyone else. If he issues an order that seems strange then we can safely assume that there's a reason for it based on something we don't know and he does. One that accords with the Will of Fire, which directs us to protect those around us. Would you agree?"

"Yes, My Lord. I hadn't thought of it that way."

"You know you can just call me Hazō, right?"

"Is that an order, My Lord? My understanding is that I am supposed to be a civilian right now. No civilian would address you by your given name without a direct order."

Hazō deflated. "It's fine. Just lay off the 'My Lord', would you? It's weird."

"Yes sir."

"Right. Um...oh, protecting others being the first duty. Okay, what's the best way to protect the people of Fire?"

"Maintain vigilance and exterminate anything or anyone that threatens them so it can't do it again, sir."

"A year ago I would have agreed with that but running the clan has made me think more deeply about it. When the Hagoromo called us out I was forced to react. You're a taijutsu fighter like me; I'm sure you had some grizzled old instructor give you the same advice I got: You always want to be acting, never reacting." He smiled involuntarily at memories of the Academy, and his voice dropped into a grumbling parody of the grizzled old instructor in question: "'What do you think you're doing blocking that attack?! Only losers block attacks, boy! Use your range, your positioning, and control the tempo! Harrass him, don't let him get the attack off in the first place!'"

Haru smiled slightly. "I might remember one or two lectures like that, sir."

"Okay, good. I've started noticing that politics is a lot like taijutsu—it's nice if you're bigger and stronger and have more reach than your opponent but the person who wins is generally the one who chooses the environment, controls the range, and stays within the appropriate engagement category. If you're fighting a striker, grapple. If you're fighting a grappler, strike. That kind of thing. When we went after the Hagoromo we were starting off flat-footed. We needed to do the research on how to hurt them and where the targets were. I should have had plans in place so that we could launch the attack instantly. The same is true of protecting Fire and its people. We're better off preventing threats than reacting to them."

Haru nodded. "That makes sense, sir."

"What made you go after the Yakuza?"

"At first it was because our people were being hurt and we didn't have the manpower to protect them all. The Yakuza have thugs and they make good enough bodyguards against civilian crime."

"And later?"

"Someone, probably the Hagoromo or Hyūga, had attacked us through the bank and we didn't know if another attack was coming. To use your taijutsu metaphor, sir, we were fighting in a dark room and had been punched in the nose. We were reeling and didn't know where the enemy was. We needed to localize them and launch an immediate counter attack in order to jam them up and break their flow."

"Okay, but killing Yakuza opened our flank to a new set of threats: Pissing off the Hokage. It's like you threw out a meia lua in order to clear the zone, but you put your hands on the ground while you did it so you left your head exposed."

"Meia lua, sir?"

Right. Iju-sensei had always been a weird one, his techniques scoffed at by more traditional instructors. Unsurprising that they hadn't made it to Fire. "Sorry, I forgot that's not from here. Meia Lua de Compasso is the full name. One of my instructors made it up and it became his signature move. It's something like a roundhouse but it's done from a side-on stance with the back leg and it covers a full 180. You need to lean down as a counterbalance and there's a tendency to put your hands on the ground for balance. Iju-sensei always told me to keep my hands up and be ready to roll away from an attack."

"I see, sir."

Hazō cursed silently. He'd been making that work until he accidentally pointed up his foreign birth. Damn, if only his leg would stop aching so he could focus.

"Okay, bad example. Anyway, going back to your metaphor: You're fighting in the dark, you've been punched in the nose. You need to find the target so you fire off a spinning backfist but you drop your other hand and leave yourself open. That's what happened when you started killing Yakuza. It was an effective way to get information and get bodyguards for our people, but it meant violating the civilian protection laws. If our enemies, whoever they might have been, had learned you were doing it then they could have brought charges to the Hokage. He would have had to execute you."

"With respect, sir: He found out about it and did nothing. Yakuza are scum, Lord Hokage knows they're scum, and he didn't care."

"Perhaps, but the only reason he could blow it off is because no one actually brought charges. That's why he told me to tell you to cut it out before someone did make a thing out of it."

"I see your point, sir."

"I'm getting a little lost in the weeds. My point was more about unintended consequences and the best way to protect people. The best way to protect people is to prevent them from being attacked in the first place, right? Not to defeat an assassin, but to ensure that an assassin never attacks."

"That makes sense, sir."

"Okay, that's what Uplift is about, at least at a basic level. If everyone has a good life then there's no need for them to try to kill each other. People with a good place to live and plenty to eat generally don't take out loans that they can't repay and end up with broken knees." He raised a hand. "It's oversimplified, I know. Some people are habitual gamblers and get themselves in a hole regardless of how much money they have and some people are greedy for power and so on. Still, the general point is sound."

"Yes sir."

"The same applies between countries. If Earth Country wasn't a giant desert then Rock ninja wouldn't be trying to steal our land." He shook his head. "Honestly, part of me wonders if it would make sense for us to take that fertility jutsu and see if we can turn some Earth Country dirt into decent growing land. It's just an idle thought—there's a whole raft of problems with the idea that would need to be ironed out before I would even dream of approaching the Hokage for permission—but I think that if it could be made to work then it might have prevented the Collapse and the current war."

Haru looked surprised. A muscle in his cheek twitched as he started to say something but he kept his mouth closed and simply listened attentively.

"That's the thing, Haru...life is precious." Hazō winced as a spike of pain went through his ankle. He shifted, arranging his legs more carefully to reduce stress on the joints, and then had to think for a moment to remember where he was. "All life, even civilians. If all the civilians die then ninja will go hungry. Shoot, if the wrong group of civilians die then ninja will have no clothes, no tools, no new-build homes. Killing to protect, killing for duty...that's something we all understand. Yes, even me. It should still be avoided when possible. If you truly believed the Yakuza posed immediate risk to the innocent, that's one thing. If it was just convenient then you should have found a better way."

"I understand that, sir."

"You do?"

"Yes sir." His voice remained almost completely calm as he said, "I've had a great deal of time to think since you stripped my ninja status from me, sir. The civilians want nothing to do with me. They know that your wrath might descend at any moment and they don't want to be collateral damage if it does. Also, they still think of me as a ninja even though Lord Noburi is assuring that I'm no stronger or faster than they are and I can't use jutsu against them. Not that I would—they are Gōketsu, even if they treat me like a pariah. My purpose is to protect them and raise them up."

"They treat you like—" Hazō shook his head, flicking the topic away. "Put a pin in that because I'm going to want to come back to it, but I'd like to stay on topic right now. You were saying?"

"The Gōketsu mission is to make life better for everyone, sir. Yakuza might be scum who harm their community but that doesn't mean that killing them accords with the Will of Fire or the Way of the Gōketsu. I should have found a different path." He shrugged. "I could probably just have bribed them, at least in the beginning before I gave all my money to that town."

"Wait, what?"

"You weren't aware, sir? Two, three months ago I withdrew all my money from the clan bank and gave it to the people of Tall Rock. It's a village about twenty miles northeast. I told them to use it for tools, or till'n'fills, or whatever. In retrospect it would have been better to leave them to their own devices and give the money to the Yakuza."

"I didn't know about that. You giving away your money, I mean."

Haru shrugged.

"You gave them all of it?"

Haru shrugged again. "What do I need money for? I've got a nice apartment to myself, there's plenty of good food whenever I want it, and I get clothes and seals and weapons for free. Advantages of being a clan ninja, sir."

"Wow. Good for you."

"Thank you, sir, although apparently I need money for bribes to Yakuza. I'll remember that for next time, sir."

Hazō sat in silence for a moment, digesting the implications. "We need to check on Tall Rock and see what they did with the money and how they're doing in general. It would give good information about how to most effectively help villages in the future."

"I would volunteer to go get that information, sir, but civilians such as myself prefer not to travel during the winter."

Hazō gave his subordinate a bit of side-eye but the tone had been absolutely polite and respectful so there wasn't much to object to. "You said you've been thinking about this?"

"Yes, sir. Life as a civilian pariah means I have a great deal of time to think. Especially while smashing large rocks into small rocks. The repetition of it is very good for numbing the mind and allowing you to focus." He paused, thinking. "First, it was bad to kill the Yakuza. All life is precious and I should have found a different way. Not just because it violated the law and made us vulnerable to the Hokage but because it was wrong. In the future, assuming I ever regain my ninja status, I should find positive methods that rely on things like bribery and favors. I should talk to Lady Mari about that since she is an expert. And I should make restitution of some kind. Do you have suggestions, sir?"

"I think it would be appropriate to apologize to the families of the people you killed. After that I'll make a judgement call on your punishment."

"Very good, sir. Shall I go do that now or is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"...No, I think that's it. Gaku should have the list of the families in question. But leave it for the morning. It's dark and raining."

"Thank you, sir. Would you prefer that I do it as a civilian or while wearing the Gōketsu crest?"

"I think the crest would be appropriate. Thank you, Haru."

"Of course, sir. Do I have permission to go?"

"Absolutely. Thank you for coming in."

Haru stood up and bowed to exactly the right degree, then turned and left without a word.

Hazō sat back in his chair and put his legs up on the pair of little sling stools that was placed there for the purpose, one under the lower thighs and one under the calves. It wasn't something he would do during a formal meeting since it made him look goofy, but it was a lot more comfortable. He even went so far as to pull the jar of Lady Tsunade's pain medicine out of his drawer and take a swig. He deserved it after how well that had gone, and there wasn't enough on the docket that it would matter if he was a little fuzzy-headed. Perhaps he would even drift off for a bit...

---

Author's Notes: It's getting late and I don't have another scene in me so I'm going to summarize the results with Kagome. You got on your heavy weather gear and hiked two hours away from the estate. This was challenging for Hazō since it was raining constantly, very cold, there's snow (rapidly becoming slush in the rain) on the ground, and he needs a cane right now. It took two hours each way and time was spent on making a MEW shelter when you got there. Results were as follows:

• Combine PMYF with stupid boxes (ranged, time-delayed massive explosion).
  This doesn't work because a PMYF is a storage seal with a timer and a stupid box is a storage seal with an about-to-explode box in it. You can't put a seal in a seal.
• PMYF Macerator.
  No idea what this means so Hazō did not try it.
• SIN-13 seemingly failed because air couldn't escape correctly. Does Kagome think SIN-10 are safe? If not, what highest SIN stack is?
  Back in chapter 287 when you were experimenting with SIN stacks, you didn't start with a SIN-13. You started with a SIN-1 then 2, 3, and on up until things failed at 13. Clearly a SIN-10 is safe at least sometimes. Kagome-sensei has no evidence for or against the idea that it's safe all the time.
• Tunneler's Friend/SIN-1 with youthenizer. Fire needs air, so a paired seal releasing air may magnify the fireball. If SIN-1 works, try SIN-2 and SIN-3.
  I'm not 100% sure what you're looking to try with this so I'm taking my best guess. You strapped a youthenizer seal and an implosion seal to the same kunai and threw it. You ran the experiment multiple times. Sometimes the youthenizer went off first and destroyed the implosion seal before it fired. Sometimes the implosion seal went off first and destroyed the youthenizer before it fired.
• Macerating acid.
  You weren't able to get any strong acid in the time available. You'll have it the day after tomorrow.
• Macerating molten glass/metal.
  Your macerators cannot grind up strong woods, let alone metal. There is no way to safely put molten material into a container that can be macerated with your current version.
• You did not do the following because constant cold rain makes using skywalkers unsafe:
  • Using Shadow Clone, investigate safest height Skywalkers can climb to, use Tunneler's Friend for air when necessary.
  • Investigate sending Earth Clones to dive bomb targets from Skytower. If successful, give them explosive tags, test delivering seal payloads with precision from skytowers.
    • Test high altitude boulder strikes ridden by earth clones that cast MEW within 30 seconds of impact for increased mass.
  • Verify if permanent MEW can be produced with 10,000kg of rock on skytower 10 feet up.
    You ordered the estate ninja to load 100 storage seals with dirt so that you can try this. They can't easily do it in the rain but they'll get it done tomorrow.

XP AWARD: 1 (Very good plan but the scene was too short for more than 1 XP.)

Brevity XP: 1

"GM had fun" XP: 1

It is now about 11am.

Vote time! What to do now?

Voting ends on Wednesday, August 25, 2021, at 12pm London time.

 

[Velorien]

Chapter 460: Towards an Uncertain Future​

"Hazō." Kei gave a ghost of a smile. "Probability dictates that it must be a good morning somewhere, perhaps in Fang or Claw. If so, please assume we are there for the purpose of phatic greetings."

"It is good to see you," Snowflake said (today identified by the bright green ribbon snaking through her hair).

Both seemed tired. No, not tired but profoundly weary, as if despite having the day having just begun, they were ready to go to bed and roll the dice on whether tomorrow would be any better. Hazō almost felt guilty for making them stay awake to see him.

"I take it Shikamaru briefed you on the Clan Council meeting, then," he said sympathetically.

Kei nodded. "It is reassuring to know that no matter how the rest of the world changes, at least the clan heads of Leaf can still be counted on to act like bickering children whenever significant decisions must be made."

She paused briefly.

"No, the opposite of that."

Hazō laughed.

"Let me guess," he said. "You stayed up late working on logistics for the war, and now you're exhausted and frustrated with the stupidity of the people around you, and struggling to remember why you're trying to save the place to begin with."

Snowflake gave a snerk.

"An astute guess," Kei said, "but no. Merely KEI unpleasantness. Teething issues now that the KEI Master Database is fully armed and operational. To what do we owe the honour of this visit, Hazō?"

"Nothing special. Just…" It wasn't easy to say. Part of Hazō felt like saying such things out loud made them more real, more likely to come true, as if reality would have mercy as long as he pretended hard enough. "Just that we're at war now. Maybe that's not as dangerous as the Dragons breaking free and eating this entire reality, but it's more immediate. I want to spend time together while it's still quiet, before we all get dispatched."

Kei raised an eyebrow.

"To the battlefield, I mean," Hazō clarified.

"I believe you are exaggerating," Kei said. "While, yes, probability dictates that our relationship will soon be terminated by the death of one or all parties—most likely Snowflake and myself, since you are not yet fit for field duty—the risk is not so much higher than usual. We are, after all, shinobi. You recall Yūhi Kurenai's highly-publicised Satsugai Manor mission last month."

Hired to defend a daimyo from an anticipated assassination attempt, the genjutsu expert had single-handedly taken out a squad of elite chūnin through a combination of misdirection, manipulation, negotiation, and ultimately a gruesome bloodbath that left the client a very grateful gibbering wreck. The Hokage had held her up as an example of what all social specs should aspire to, but yes, it also served as a valuable reminder that combat with enemy ninja did not require a declaration of war. The very nature of shinobi missions maintained a status quo of mutual killing, and the resulting hatred between the villages.

"Any mission beyond the humble D-rank carries some risk of death," Kei said, "and as chūnin summoners, we shall surely never see those again. 'Before every mission, say farewell,' as the saying goes. Granted, this war will essentially be an A-rank mission of unknown duration, but as Ami's sister, I am accustomed to watching my loved ones depart on such. At least in a war, we will not be heading into the darkness alone."

Hazō shivered at the cool breeze that briefly blew through the room.

"Talking about our impending doom is a fine and traditional Gōketsu pastime," he said, "but can I suggest another one? I hear good things about boardgames. Under the circumstances, some peaceful escapism would be nice."

"Peaceful escapism? What about Pilgrim's Trail, then?"

A gentle journey down the Fire Country's main pilgrimage route, vying to see who could collect the most souvenirs, paint the most landscapes, and generally accumulate the most pleasant memories? Perfect.

-o-​

"Nooo!" Hazō groaned. "Snowflake, why would you take the only village spot? You already had six coins while I'm down to one!"

"What an unfortunate coincidence," Snowflake said, deadpan. "It seems that you must skip several opportunities to arrive at the inn first and have a chance of claiming a cheap meal, or starve while the rest of us luxuriate in our wealth. How do I spend nine coins before the end of the game?"

Hazō looked down at the board, seeking options. His pilgrim meeple looked back in disapproval.

"No, there's still a chance. If I get an encoun—Kei, did you just take the last encounter spot?"

"You encounter a travelling noble," Kei read out the card. "Gain three coins. Why, how convenient. So, Hazō, will you gamble your sole coin on a cheap meal being available at the inn—as long as you hurry—or pray, with slightly higher odds, that there is something affordable at the souvenir shop, or perhaps take the safe option and donate it to the temple for marginal returns?"

On reflection, Hazō should have seen it coming from their last 'peaceful game', which had involved taking turns to save up for and buy gem mines, and featured no player interaction to speak of. With pinpoint precision, Kei and Snowflake had purchased only those mines which other players could afford (or reserved them, which generated wildcard tokens with which to expand their range of targets). There being a limit on gems in hand, Hazō and Noburi had spent most of their turns discarding now-useless gems and drawing new ones, only for the sisters to make those useless next.

"Say," Snowflake asked, "are those inexpensive yet extremely finite dango I smell?"

Hazō sighed. "Changing topics to something that might not drive me to despair, what were you saying about the KEI Master Database?"

"The fruit of many months of tedious labour, finally completed," Kei said. "We now possess a list of every KEI shinobi with the ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu techniques et cetera that they are prepared to teach to others, and the fees charged for same. The core principle is that should one learn such a technique and proceed to teach it to another, one must pay 25% of the money gained to the originator at the top of the chain, to a minimum of 25% of the original fee. Thus, every KEI shinobi receives an incentive to share their personal techniques in exchange for a consistent income stream. When the originator dies, statistically within a few years of beginning to teach, the technique is released into the public domain. For obvious reasons, clan shinobi are excluded from this system, and any sale of techniques to a clan is to be brokered by the KEI to ensure a fair deal. The commission on all of this will help shore up one of the KEI's primary weaknesses, its operating budget.

"It is also a means of preparation for Isan. When the first Isanese arrive, bearing exotic arts and ignorant of the economic realities of the modern world, they will be ripe for exploitation by the clans. The KEI Master Database will secure their income, at rates demonstrably analogous to those enjoyed by KEI shinobi, and incentivise trade in both directions."

"That sounds hard to enforce," Hazō said after a few seconds' thought. "How do you stop people teaching others in secret and not bothering to pay the originator?"

"A risky prospect in the long term," Kei said, "as techniques exist to be used, and thus knowledge of a technique will be revealed as soon as one uses it on a mission with other KEI shinobi. In general, however, I agree that our tools are limited, even with the KEI Intelligence Division. That would, in fact, be the purpose of last night's unpleasantness."

"Oh?"

"At last night's KEI general meeting, it was established that one Fu Kōhei, a ninjutsu specialist genin, has already attempted to cheat the system out of greed. After a brief trial, it was ruled that, as he had abused the agency granted to him by membership of the KEI, that agency would be stripped from him. Thus, he was declared Anathema to the Fellowship of the Konoha Enlightenment Initiative, or AFKEI."

"Is that something distinct from just banning him?" Hazō asked.

"Ami insisted on the formal designation," Kei said. "She hopes that, in time, such apostates will ally to form a rival organisation hostile to the KEI's leadership and policies, and a shared title would be a useful advantage to offer them until an original group identity crystallises. As ever, her genius is beyond me.

"As to the ruling itself, formally speaking, no. Informally speaking, Fu is a traitor to the KEI, one who would exploit his downtrodden fellows with the tools intended to uplift them, and anyone associating with him will de facto be aiding and abetting a known criminal. In effect, we have sentenced him to be"—her voice went very quiet—"ostracised."

"This is something of relevance to you as well, Hazō," Snowflake said, giving Kei a look Hazō couldn't read, "as his current landlord. Many will be watching to see what decision you make in the coming days."

The KEI's declared enemy was a Gōketsu estate genin. Great. Hazō was now stuck between expelling a man whom he'd promised food, shelter, and eventual adoption, on nothing more than the word of the KEI—which wasn't quite a statement that the KEI's authority trumped his own, but was too close for comfort—and publicly choosing to grant those things to a soon-to-be-infamous thief and traitor.

"For what it is worth," Kei said softly, "it was not my intent to place you in such a position. That the AFKEI shinobi happened to be living on your estate was purely ill fortune."

No, Hazō trusted his sworn sister not to corner him for political purposes, and this kind of manipulation wasn't her style to begin with. Nor did Naruto seem like a subtle enough operator to come up with the idea.

Then again, there were enough KEI genin on the estate. Was it so improbable that one of them would turn out to be a bad apple by chance?

"Speaking of troublesome individuals on the Gōketsu estate," Snowflake said, "rumours say you have pardoned Haru."

Hazō stared. "Firstly, I haven't—he's on parole so he can get back in shape before Asuma sends him into combat—and secondly, I just did that last night. How are there rumours that made it all the way to you?"

Snowflake shrugged. "Apparently, all the KEI genin have been watching him in horrified fascination. When he stopped hammering that wretched pillar of rock and put on a haori with the Gōketsu crest right before said genin headed to the general meeting…"

"I see," Hazō said. "Is there anything about the estate that the KEI doesn't know?"

"Why it's home to a Wakahisa fish breeding specialist," Snowflake said with a wry smile. "We have heard some very disturbing theories, only a few of which are accurate."

"What?" Hazō demanded. "Why would he tell anyone he's one of those?"

"I assume that he is not one of nature's infiltrators, and forcing him to spend the best part of a year constantly surrounded by suspicious ninja without revealing any details of his personal background was too much to hope for. Regardless, the majority of rumours do not consider why the Wakahisa would train fish breeding specialists to begin with, and instead pertain to traitorous plots against the Village Hidden in the Leaves, forbidden experimental Water ninjutsu, and of course fish god sex cults."

"Of course," Hazō said resignedly.

"My advice to you if you wish to preserve OPSEC," Snowflake said in tones of perfect seriousness, "is to lean into it as much as possible. Given the rumours about you and Akane, and now Ino as well, few will doubt it when they hear you are exploring yet more new and exciting realms of depravity."

"You realise Ino will kill him?" Kei asked.

"True," Snowflake said. "Stick to the treason."

"Pretending that entire conversation just now didn't happen," Hazō said, "if it comes up, let people know Haru hasn't been pardoned yet. I'm keeping that option open. Right now, I'm just having him go apologise to the yakuza families and pay them blood money—which, now I think of it, he doesn't have because he gave it all away. Huh."

The two girls exchanged glances.

"You realise Akane will be furious when she returns," Kei said.

If she returned, corrected the voice from somewhere deep and dark inside Hazō's soul. If she'd encountered Rock soldiers, taking out patrols in preparation to open up a second front… Or just a chakra beast powerful enough to wipe out a patrol, with some terrible ability like the quisling tyrant had…

"It cannot be helped," Snowflake replied. "Even if Hazō were to apologise in person as she insisted, after such a delay nobody would believe he was doing it on the Hokage's orders. Hazō, it may be in your interest to abandon hope of placating Akane, and focus on developing contingencies for when other shinobi begin to imitate Haru as she feared. Not that I imagine the war will leave much time for such thoughts, on your part or theirs."

The war might not leave time for much. In fact, that was part of the reason Hazō had come to see Kei and Snowflake in the first place.

"Actually, there's something war-related that I wanted to talk to you about, Kei."

"Yes?"

"Asuma wants Mari to fight in the war."

"Of course he does," Kei said with an edge of puzzlement. "You forced his hand with regard to that issue some time ago."

"What do you mean?"

"You asked him for permission to teach her the Shadow Clone Technique," Snowflake said. "In effect, you were requesting for her to be added to the active duty roster, since there is no earthly reason why a non-combatant would be taught a classified A-rank ninjutsu. The Hokage would hardly refuse, when refusal would equate to a formal statement that he did not wish Mari to act as a Leaf shinobi."

"I assumed you did it in awareness that it was in any case only a matter of time," Kei said. "Mari, after all, never so much retired as went private. She has served the Gōketsu in every way that she would otherwise serve Leaf, with the possible exception of assassinations. ANBU, and thus the Hokage, could not help but notice eventually.

"Regardless, why is Mari's fate my concern?"

"Because I think you should give some serious thought to whether you want it to end like this," Hazō said. "If you don't decide what you want now… you might never get another chance.

"What are you after, Kei? An apology? Reparations? If so, what kind? Is this about you and your relationship with Mari, or are you acting on behalf of the others who died in Hidden Swamp? I know you might not have all the answers yet, but I don't want you to run out of time to look."

Kei nodded heavily. The room was silent.

"I want my Mari back," she finally said in a voice just above a whisper. "I want the bold, beautiful, impossibly heroic woman who paused her quest to change the world because she cared about my feelings. I want the woman who took care of us in the wilderness, who paid attention to how we felt and took great care not to hurt us—not for real—even after years building habits of apathy and cruelty. I want the woman who apologised, and promised to do better, and did better. I want her to come back and replace the woman who forgot I could feel pain, and the woman who used my pain against me the night before my wedding. I want her to apologise in a way that makes them gone forever.

"I cannot have that, Hazō. I am not someone who can understand people, or redeem them. I am not someone who is good with trust. I do not know what causes me to feel it, or why some things destroy it and others do not, or where it goes or how to bring it back. But the Mari who is there now claims I must trust her, while unable or unwilling to offer me anything that would help."

She reached up as if to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. Snowflake promptly put a handkerchief in her hand instead.

"Who… who cares about reparations?" Kei asked. "Who, says the selfish little girl, cares about the others from Hidden Swamp? I cannot save them. Mari cannot save them. There is no room in my hands to hold onto even my own happiness, much less play-act a champion.

"How can I trust her, Hazō? How can I look at this woman with immense, untold power to hurt me, and trust that this paragon of deception has my best interests at heart, unlike her identical twin to whom my pain is nothing if facing it would interfere with her narrative of redemption, or her other twin who will break me to the exact extent that I stand in her way? I am not Akane, to trust unconditionally and have faith in my ability to survive betrayal. I am merely"—she gestured with her hands—"this.

"My hero cannot save me this time, not even if she is truly here. Even Ami cannot save me from my own weakness. All the answers in the world cannot change that."

Hazō looked at Kei's moist eyes, then down at the board. His woebegone pilgrim looked up at him in mute condemnation. Hazō couldn't think of anything to say to either of them that would turn the situation around, much less if the endgame was nigh.

-o-​

You have received 4 + 1 = 5 XP.

-o-​

I'll try to do the Ino scene tomorrow. If I fail, I'm sure @eaglejarl will do a sterling job (assuming he doesn't want to offscreen it).

Voting is open. Assume that nobody died as a result of the Ino scene and the results of the offscreen stuff aren't in yet.

Voting closes on Saturday 28th of August, 1 p.m. New York time.

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 461: Quieting​

Ino was a truly beautiful young woman. Sunsets and properly-drawn brush strokes beautiful. Hazō was reminded of this every time she came through a door, or laughed, or cocked her head and gave him that little half-smile with the dancing light in her eyes that said she was about to tease him in some subtle way that he might or might not understand. He was even reminded of it by the way her 'o's were rounded like fresh cookies.

Tonight, when she came through the door, she was wearing that smile for the first three seconds and then it disappeared to be replaced by the expression of a sealmaster who noticed a misplaced drop of ink a moment before infusion.

He had been waiting in the private reception room for ten minutes while one of the women who made his heart sing finished up the daily business of being the leader of one of the most important families in the world. His feet were arranged with exacting care in the well of the kotatsu and the blanket draped around him. The room was well-stocked with pillows, their fullness apple-red to the eye and mesmerizing to the touch, and he had carefully stacked and tucked and punched and folded until his damaged body was properly supported. He thought he had managed to make his position look casual but Ino saw through it like onion skin.

"Hazō? Are you okay?" She paced to him, steps long and hurried, and settled carefully beside him, slipping her legs under the kotatsu blanket and resting slim fingers on his bicep.

"I'm..." Midway through the phatic he ran out of energy to dissemble and let the words trail away into a sigh. "I'm tired, Ino. That's all."

"This looks like a little more than tired."

He shook his head. "Not like that. I didn't sleep well, but it's more just... Everything else, really. I'm tired of running from one mess to the next. Tired of being stupid and saying the wrong thing all the time. Tired of everyone looking to me to solve every problem. Tired of worrying about how we're going to keep food on the table and still pay all these debts. Tired of knowing that..." He shook his head. "It's just dumb stuff. I don't want to ruin the moment. How are you doing?"

"I'm worried about my boyfriend." The word still carried the wariness of a doe finding a bush too heavily laden with ripe berries: Things too good to be true often weren't. "What kind of dumb stuff?"

"Really, it's nothing."

"Hazō."

He sighed. "Kagome-sensei shot down an idea I had for interconnected trisection. It was pretty cool too. It would let you reduce transmission lag by twenty percent, which means you could interweave a fourth node without having to worry about cross contamination. That would let you use a third-chord harmonic to—"

He stopped as he saw the tiny little smile on her face.

"I was babbling again, wasn't I?"

"It's okay. You're cute when you get technical. You get swept off somewhere else." She studied him for a moment, ocean eyes curious. "Do you even see me when you go there?"

He bit his lip nervously. "I...it's not that I'm ignoring you."

She cupped his face for a moment. "It's okay, really."

He considered continuing. Of trying to find a way to describe what it was like to put brush to paper and trace the cracks of drying Paint. How those brief moments made a noisy brain quiet, of how they were one of the three ways that he knew to render his existence peaceful, and the only one that worked when he was alone.

Explaining all that would be like offering a bookbinder's masterwork to the illiterate, and he strongly suspected that he would be mocked for eternity were he to mention that the other two methods of quieting his brain were to sit silently with either Akane or Ino leaned back against him, his arms around her and the scent of her hair in his nose. Ino smelled of the fresh peaches infused into the water with which she bathed her hair each morning. Akane smelled of the outdoors in whatever season prevailed, and often very faintly of vibrant exercise.

"I'm sorry anyway."

"It's okay, really. So Kagome shot it down?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "It's fine. Better that he got it now than that I based further work on it and all of it be unsafe. Still, he can be a bit...blunt. And it was already a bad day."

"Why?"

He sighed and slid an arm around her waist, badly needing to quiet his own brain. She took the hint and turned, settling with her back against his chest and side. Her fingers traced down the outside of his arm, drawing a brief hum of pleasure. He stroked her hair softly, meditatively, feeling the world go calm and slow around himself. The only light was from the three candles arranged on the kotatsu; they rippled across her skin like water lapping on a beach.

"I talked to Haru last night, about the disciplinary action. He was polite but..."

She waited patiently for him to grope his way to the words and then offered her own. "But he was distant and formal and it made you sad, because you would like to be his friend but you need to be his Clan Head?"

"Yes."

She rubbed her head on his shoulder in brief comfort. "I know how it feels. I'm having to do it myself, mostly with people older than me who have been my teachers my entire life. There may even have been a few diaper changers and knee-dandlers in the mix somewhere." She huffed in softly amused frustration. "You're lucky, in a way. Mari and Kagome were your teachers but only for a couple years and they have no particular ambitions and no experience having been in a clan. You're setting all the rules and expectations from scratch instead of rebuilding them."

"I suppose."

"Was that all?" The words were quiet but the ones that followed ran on hurried feet. "Not that it isn't enough. I didn't mean—"

He pressed a kiss to her temple. "It's okay. No, it wasn't all. It wasn't important. Just stuff."

"Like what?"

"We've got a couple sick people who aren't responding to treatment by the herbalists and physikers but all the medic-nin are busy with newly-arrived survivors from the front. And then we found out that we got a bad batch of tubers. Not only did it spoil all the food in the pantry but now we've got maggot worms running around the kitchen and food storage. If we don't get them out before they pupate we'll have to burn the place down and rebuild."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Maybe if you tried to eat one and choked on it, but that's about it. Mostly they just stink to the treetops." He sighed and shifted slightly to ease his leg.

"And you're tired of hurting."

"No, it's—"

She stroked one hand down the back of his head. "I won't tell."

"Okay. Yeah, I'm tired of hurting. Lady Tsunade gave me medicine that makes the pain be far away but I can't think when I'm on it." His fist clenched at his side. "I'm tired of being so weak, so damn useless. I can barely walk faster than a child and I've got no strength in my legs and—" He cut himself off. "I'll get over it, I know. I'm mending and pretty soon I'll be allowed to do physical therapy to get back some of the muscle tone."

"Is this your first time being injured?"

"To this level, yes. I've been banged up before, but nothing that took me off the mission roster."

She tipped her head back so she could look at him enough to stroke his hair. "It will be okay, really. We've had plenty of people get hurt over the years and they've all recovered. Lady Tsunade and the medics she trained are the best."

"Sure." He huffed in annoyance. "Besides, I don't have time to be busted up. There's two separate wars going on and I can't do anything about either of them. Cannai needs things and I...I'm just tired, Ino."

"I know." She lay there, cuddled into him and reaching back and up so she could stroke his hair for several seconds. "Anything else?" she asked softly.

"Akane."

She nodded, still looking at him upside down. "Why?"

"She wanted me to do something and I didn't. Or, at least, not yet."

"Is it about Haru murdering those Yakuza?"

He looked down in surprise. "You know about that?"

"Everyone knows about that, Hazō. It's all over town."

He rubbed his face with his free hand. "Of course it is."

"You did call a meeting of your entire clan," she said carefully. "Did you think it would stay covert with that many people in on it?"

"I suppose I didn't really think about it. I was trying get through the latest crisis, didn't look far enough ahead." He sighed. "I'll do better."

"I know." She shifted a bit, rising up on her knees so she could kiss his temple again and tuck his head under her chin and wrap her arms around him.

It was a vulnerable position. Years of ninja training and time in the woods told him that being grappled like this was a danger, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He let his eyes fall shut and drifted, watching from a distance as his breathing slowed and deepened.

The heat from the kotatsu's brazier soaked his feet and the heat of Ino's throat seeped through his head. Far off, possibly in a different wing of the house, he could hear a baby crying. The noises of the estate were a susurration in the background, the sounds of homes and lives that weren't his responsibility.

"I brought poetry," he murmured without opening his eyes.

Ino's chest spasmed as she suppressed a laugh. "You brought me poetry?"

"Mm-hm."

"You brought me poetry."

"I can bring you poetry if I want to."

She settled back into seiza, one hand still resting lightly on the back of his neck and a smile in her voice. "You, Mr Plans to Change the World, Daimyo of Lists, Breaker of Convention, and Stomper of Paradigms, brought me poetry."

He opened his eyes so he could glower at her properly. "I have depths."

Her face shivered in a life-and-death battle against laughter. "I've never doubted it."

He glowered a moment longer and sniffed. "Do you want the poetry or not?"

"Did you write it?" He couldn't tell if the words were kittenishly inviting or drenched in dread; Ino was still a woman of impenetrable mystery when she wanted to be.

"I wouldn't do that to you. It's a collection by Master Tanaka. Tanaka Ryōji, not Tanaka Fumio. His third collection."

"His third?!"

"I noticed last time that you didn't have it so I asked Mai to dig up a copy. She found one in a private collection in Keishi."

"She went all the way to Keishi just to get me a book of poetry?"

"She was coming back from a courier mission and I asked her to divert a few hours to check the city since it was on her way."

She raised one eyebrow and studied him, doubt drawn across her face like curtains. "'On her way'? Where exactly was she coming from?"

The answer was 'Tani, in River' but certainty had settled raven-like on his shoulder, whispering of the mockery that would come if he admitted it. Especially the part about how Mai had spent a full day and part of another scouring the place and delaying her return as a result. Still within the allotted time but only barely.

"Do you want the poetry or not?"

"Yes! Yes, I want it. Thank you, Hazō." She leaned in and pressed her lips to his in gratitude. The scent of peaches flowered around him.

She leaned back, watching in amusement as he got his breathing back under control, and then she nodded towards the vase on the kotatsu. "Also for me?"

"Mm-hm. And I took Mari with me to the shop and had her arrange them there so that the owner could tell me if she was playing any pranks."

Ino gasped dismay, one heart pressed to her chest in horror. "You had another woman arrange your gift of flowers?! Hazō, don't you understand what that means?! How could you?! If you really wanted to leave me for Mari, there are kinder ways to do it! I know she's prettier than I am, but she's too old for you!" The words trembled away and she bowed her head, flaxen curtains of silk falling across her face. Her shoulders shook, once, in suppressed tears.

Alarm clutched at his stomach but he pushed it away and surveyed her the way he would have surveyed a potential ambush site. Yup. She was barely even trying to hide it. It became even more obvious when she tipped her head so she could peak up through her lashes to see his reaction.

"You're messing with me again," he grumbled.

Her grin was stolen straight from a prankster street urchin. "A little. And hey, look! You caught it."

"Harumph."

She cuddled up against him, head tipped on his shoulder and right arm wrapped around his stomach, the third-arm problem meaning that her left was awkwardly squinched up so that he could slip his around her shoulders. "It's sweet of you, thank you."

"You're welcome. If there's anything else I can do, let me know. For you, for the Yamanaka, whatever. I don't think I'm very good at this boyfriend thing, but I'd like to be."

She chuckled and patted him on the chest. "You're doing fine. Now hug me and hush."

---

Author's Note: You didn't mention seals because Mari and Kagome were not okay giving away your unique seals and the Yamanaka get discounts from the Nara on their mundane stuff while the Gōketsu's limited production capacity is already maxed out producing for yourselves.

This update covered 24 hours.

XP AWARD: 4

Brevity XP: 1

Vote time! What to do now?

Voting ends on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, at 12pm London time.


EDIT: Some things that didn't get addressed from the plan:

1. DONE
   1. (offscreen) Send Mari with Haru to yakuza families
      1. Mari is there as bodyguard, Haru does the talking
      2. Bring wergild
      3. Haru is paroled for the duration of the war, Hazou will revisit the issue afterwards
2. INCOMPLETE There wasn't a good time to do it since Hazō was busy all day.
   1. (offscreen) Seal Research:
      1. While it's raining:
         1. Test acid macerators
         2. (If Kagome approves) test many SIN-10s
         3. Verify if permanent MEW can be produced with 10,000kg of granite+dirt on a skytower.
            1. Try a MEW every 1000 kg and work up
3. DONE. You found some weavers and gave them some spider buttrope. They're experimenting with it and will get back to you in a week. Cannai has told the dogs to spread the word that you're looking for someone who is willing to hunt bison for trade. He said it might take a couple weeks so don't bother including it in plans until then.
   1. (offscreen) Delegate details of bison and spidersilk trade to Gaku
      1. Find civilian weavers and give them a sample, don't proceed if they're unable to work with the spidersilk.
      2. If they can produce quality garments, offer them adoption
      3. Approach Meiori and Aburame for a possible collaboration

 

[Velorien]

Chapter 462: Realistic Expectations​

A funereal mood hung over the Council of Mari as the anniversary of Jiraiya's death was still fresh in mind. Guardian Mari had attempted to brighten up the room with Lightning-style paper lanterns that cast a warm, gentle light on the assembled women, and placed sakura trees swaying gently in the breeze outside the window (in a stab at distracting them from early January), but in the end, she was a warrior trying to do a healer's job using interior decoration. Sardonic Mari had nearly driven her to tears with an excoriation that wasn't balanced by Jiraiya's pleasant dry wit.

"So," Hazō-Wrangler Mari began, "who wants to give the kid his report? Managerial Mari, this is more your thing than mine. I'm damage control, and Sage knows I've been working overtime."

Managerial Mari manifested a stack of papers, leafed through them, then put them down on the floor next to her armchair, where they disappeared as soon as she stopped paying attention. "I think not. This isn't an organisational issue; it's an interpersonal one, and an inefficient use of our time besides. We could be getting sent out to the front any day now—also an inefficient use of our time when we're infiltrators first and combatants second—and we're busy babysitting a little twerp in the name of a belief even Hazō can't make himself take seriously."

"Yakuza are people too," the Heartbreaker said mockingly. "I was just starting to have hopes for Haru—his technique was crude, but in terms of leveraging assets? Mmm." She gave her fingers a chef's kiss. "I still think we can use him. Sure, he's going to have to behave while he's under Hazō's Byakugan, but once we teach him a little subtlety, he'll be a lovely little enforcer to make up for all our darling bleeding hearts."

"Haru is a good person," Mariko objected. "He's just lost his way a little. He was nice to all those families, wasn't he?"

Sardonic Mari chuckled. "Oh, you sweet summer child."

Mariko tilted her head slightly in confusion. "We were born at the end of October. Don't you remember? The other kids used to call us a ghost child, but then Uncle Kazuhiro—"

Mariko disappeared, fading from existence like a reflection in a draining pool of water.

"It'll take a lot of teaching," Pragmatic Mari replied. "A blind man couldn't have missed the contempt in his eyes during those apologies. Well, a blind professional. I suspect the civilians were too terrified to notice anything. It was a mistake to waste money from our barely-existent coffers on them."

"You're both missing the point." Uplift Mari's voice was soft, but the vibrant strength behind it carried. "This is a crucial time for Haru. He can despise the yakuza all he wants, but this is our time to make him understand their shared humanity. Case in point, he saw the yakuza taking care of their own. Those families were in a dark place emotionally, but they weren't destitute like we'd figured. I believe he can absorb the universality of Uplift, out of practicality if not out of compassion."

"You think he'll ever forgive Hazō?" Wrathful Mari sneered. "We sure as hell wouldn't after a show like that, and Haru's no saint either. I'd watch out for piranhas in the bath."

"He'll understand," Uplift Mari said patiently. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but he'll understand."

"Instinct always wins in the end," Harlot Mari said with a wink. "Bet you an afternoon with Ami."

"The full afternoon? Like hell you do!" Sensual Mari exclaimed as the room erupted into clamour.

-o-​

In the evening, after Hazō returns from visiting Ino...

"That concludes my thrilling report," Mari said with a pointed yawn, helping herself to another mug of hot chocolate as they sat together at the kitchen table.

"Thanks, Mari," Hazō said. "I wish there was something more conclusive, but you're right—there's only so much you can learn about someone's personal beliefs if they think they have to follow orders on pain of punishment.

"There was something else I wanted to run by you," he went on, ignoring the minute slump of Mari's shoulders. "I'm thinking of giving personal apologies as well. Akane pointed out that, ethics notwithstanding, Haru's actions worked out well for us"—Mari nodded—"and if other ninja realise that, there's a risk they'll copy Haru, either by making things even worse for the yakuza, or worse, by picking other groups of civilians to coerce."

Mari nodded again. "The better that works, the more ninja jump on the bandwagon, and then the vicious circle ends up wrecking ninja-civilian relations, and the Merchant Council panics, and then the Hokage steps in, and guess who he'll blame for starting the trend. I take your point."

"Right," Hazō said. "So if I schedule a bunch of important meetings, then fail to show up because I'm too busy apologising to the yakuza families, that gives the impression that I'm under pressure from the Hokage, and it's making me lose face and hurting my business. Nobody else is going to emulate me—well, Haru—if they think it'll put them on the Hokage's bad side and force them to lose face in front of civilians."

"Oh, Akane," Mari said with a patronizing shake of the head. "She really does mean well."

"I hear a 'but' coming," Hazō said.

"First off," Mari said, "losing face is bad. I know, it's the cutting-edge insight you pay me a clan stipend for. Being blunt, though, that stunt with Haru's put a bunch of business associates on edge. Keeping civilians afraid—not too afraid, but just afraid enough—is a core part of what makes the economy work. A civilian cheating a ninja is signing their own death sentence. A civilian who's late on a delivery, or uses inferior materials, or whatever, is playing with fire. Ninja count on being able to make unreasonable demands every now and then and having them fulfilled to the letter, even if it hurts the business. A lot of ninja business decisions rely on those assumptions.

"Then along comes Gōketsu Hazō and sentences his own ninja to a fate worse than death for killing criminals who, the ignorant masses think, are straight-up bad for trade. What do you do with something like that? Is he going to let you down because his civilians don't fear him enough? Are your civilians going to let you down because they think you doing business with him means you approve of his ideas? Does supporting him mean supporting civilian rights? And so on and so forth."

"Mari," Hazō interrupted. "Civilian rights are a core part of Uplift. I'm not going to give up on them for the sake of making more money."

"I know," Mari said. "But you can't make Uplift happen as a pariah either. I'm not saying you have to do a 180 on your public relations. I'm saying that losing face is an act with consequences—which would stack directly on top of what you've already done.

"But that's just one angle. The other angle is that you're putting words in the Hokage's mouth, and that should set off alarm bells louder than a jōnin-level FUBAR Technique. I know, I know. You're being subtle and indirect, and that's lovely. But you're counting on the other clans getting the message anyway, and if they do, so will he. And if you're effectively faking orders from the Hokage, if you're publicly faking Tower policy…" Mari curved her hands into L-shapes and mimed a box.

"I love Akane. She's my beloved sister/daughter/cousin/whatever, and the world is a better place for having her in it. She is also never going to be the Keiko to your Shikamaru."

That hurt. Hazō needed Akane. She didn't just bring light and warmth into his life. Her perspective was indispensable, and he knew for a fact that there were still terrible mistakes in his future that only she could prevent—not the pessimistic Kei, nor the obedient Noburi, nor the pragmatic Mari, nor the unstable Yuno, nor Kagome-sensei or the untrusting Haru or the hesitant newbies, but only the girl who shone like the sun and made no compromises. It hurt to ever be told that trusting her was a mistake.

"Talk to the Oyabun," Mari finally said in tones of compassion. "It's a compromise. Ask him to pass on your personal apology. The head of one organisation apologising to the head of another with which they might do business in the future softens the reputational blow a little. It also needs doing in and of, if you care about apologies to begin with. Imagine somebody killing one of our own, and somehow living long enough to apologise, and then not saying a word to you."

Hazō nodded.

"Thanks, Mari. And thanks for taking care of the Haru issue. I know it's not what you'd want to be doing with field duty hanging over your head."

Mari gave a wry smile. "Always happy to do my bit for the clan."

"I am sorry about that," Hazō said. "You know if there was any way I could get you out of it, I would, but you're a jōnin and it's all hands on deck. If only you weren't so talented and experienced."

"A tragedy," Mari agreed. "Then again, if I hadn't been so amazing, Shikigami might not have recruited me, and then where would we be?"

Probably dead, Hazō admitted. Nobody, himself included, had batted an eyelid when told that Mist had sent Kurosawa Hazō on a suicide mission. He was the blood traitor's son with a history of insubordination, and after a year immersed in politics, he'd come to understand that there were also Implications to having a would-have-been heir from the main line hanging around while his clan head aunt was childless and without consort.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked. "As Lord Gōketsu or as your friend et cetera Hazō?"

After a few seconds, Mari shook her head. "Nothing more than you're doing already. I've got cutting-edge equipment, I'm in top form, the Tower has a strong preference for my survival, and I have something to fight for that means more to me than abstract village loyalty. Much of that is frankly unprecedented.

"Seriously. War? I've been through far worse than having to fight a bunch of worm-eaters with a loyal team at my side. I've waltzed into heavily-fortified enemy compounds armed only with my silver tongue and a poisoned hairpin that wasn't meant for the enemy. I've evaded kill squads with Bloodline Limit trackers while carrying papers that would violently self-destruct if I couldn't get them to a sealmaster within the hour. I've extracted state secrets from evil viziers while chained up and in the middle of doing things you will never be depraved enough to hear about. You're more likely to get yourself killed doing sealing research back here than I am fighting out in the field."

That wasn't as reassuring as Mari probably meant it to sound.

"Just keep doing what you're doing, Hazō," Mari said more softly. "Give me my home and my family to fight for, and I'll be stronger than a dozen Jiraiyas."

-o-​

XP awards to be determined by @eaglejarl in the next update.

-o-​

Gaku has good news and bad news for you. The good news is that your orders were made "discreetly" this morning. Specifically, he took care to drop the papers near a group of genin, who had the opportunity to study them in the process of picking them up. The orders are one (1) Torture & Interrogation Deluxe Custom Set with Extra Manacles, with money saved by ordering them via Kei so as to make use of her frequent customer discount, and four (4) watertight containers large enough to hold multiple bodies (decorative fish tanks are not known in Leaf—people who want fish in their homes just dig a pond).

The bad news is that Fu Kōhei is missing and cannot be found after failing to report for an afternoon mission briefing. His equipment and various other possessions have disappeared from his quarters, and his sister Fu Mei has no idea as to his whereabouts.

-o-​

Voting is closed unless @eaglejarl reopens it.

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 463: Apologizing to Scum​

"Lord Gōketsu," the Oyabun said, bowing deeply. "How may the Brotherhood serve you today?"

Hazō settled onto his cushion, eyeing the pair of bodyguards who stood behind the Oyabun. Both of them wore forehead protectors and had the bodies of field ninja.

"I have come to apologize, Lord to Lord, for the actions of my clanmember," Hazō said, offering the deepest bow that a ninja Clan Lord would make to a civilian.

Spoiler: Punching, except social!

Hazō wants to smooth things over with the Oyabun. The plan did not call for spending FP and I doubt that Hazō cares enough to do so. Hazō gets a CM of +2 for 'I came to you personally' while the Oyabun gets a ?? for 'Your guy killed a whole bunch of my people, you became aware of it more than a month ago, and you are only just now getting around to talking to me. Oh, and you called me and mine scum and you don't even recognize that as a problem.'

Hazō, Rapport (effective 21, reduced to 13 by two Severe Consequences): 13 + 2 + 0 (dice) = 15
Oyabun, Presence: ? + ? + 3 (dice): ?

Hazō's social track has been exceeded. He chooses to be Taken Out instead of taking Consequences. As the victor the Oyabun chooses how the conversation ends and what Hazō's final actions are within the bounds of characterization and general sensibility. He chooses for Hazō to leave promptly with a clear understanding of the events as the Oyabun sees them: Hazō was in the wrong and hypocritical, the Oyabun has been gracious, and the Gōketsu have essentially burned their bridges with the Yakuza unless they want to make a truly epic effort to repair them. They'll work with you in the future if and only if they have no other choice and you definitely will not be getting anything beyond the absolutely minimum grudging cooperation. They are unlikely to proactively work against you because they know they can't stand up to a ninja clan, but that's as far as it goes.

"Oh?" the Oyabun said, gesturing politely towards the tray that sat between them. Its polished bird's-eye maple surface was occupied by a pair of teacups, a bone china pot with steam wisping from the spout, and a small plate of cookies still oozing warmth and spices.

"Thank you," Hazō said, politely taking a cup and a cookie. The Oyabun 'chose' the other cup and a different cookie and did not comment when Hazō automatically waited for him to sample them first. "I sent Haru to apologize to the families of his victims and pay weregild from the clan coffers. I am here to apologize to you as the head of my clan to the head of the Brotherhood. Haru was wrong, his actions were unconscionable, and I humbly apologize. I have utterly failed in my most important duty as a Clan Head: I did not protect the village. I know that I can never make this right but I hope you will offer suggestions on how to try."

The Oyabun eyed him, savoring his tea and shaving bits off the cookie between his three age-yellowed front teeth. His wrinkled-apple face was unreadable.

"Your apology for your subordinate's action is, obviously, accepted with all gratitude," he said at last. "I am deeply honored that the head of a Great Clan would apologize to scum such as myself and my brethren."

"...Excuse me?"

The Oyabun's wispy eyebrows rose. "We are the scum of the earth, are we not? Predators of the very sort that the law exists to protect honest men and women from? The ones that Lord Haru killed undoubtedly committed many robberies, murders, acts of blackmail and extortion, and other crimes too awful for you to discuss in the presence of women or children. Surely they ruined countless lives."

"Um..." These words were sounding uncomfortably familiar.

Silence lingered in the air as the old man waited.

"Lord Oyabun, my words were hastily chosen. I was challenged by surprise, and..." He trailed off. What could he say? 'Yes, I called you vile names and impugned your honor but I did not really mean it'? Or maybe 'It never occurred to me that those words were a problem so I did not prepare a response'?

The Oyabun took another sip from his cup; his voice was light and airy, as though discussing the brightest summer day. "Did you not say that the Hokage, great in wisdom and honored by the ancestors, recognised your clansman's actions to be well within the spirit of the law? It seems indisputable that when Lord Haru callously murdered six of my subordinates he saved far more than six civilian lives."

Nervous prickles danced spider-like across Hazō's scalp. "Lord Oyabun, sir, those words were poorly chosen and unkind. I should not have said them."

"Pish! Think nothing of it!" the Oyabun said, waving the words away with magnanimity. "Indeed, your honesty is truly impressive, Lord Gōketsu. Few have the forthrightness to say the truth of what the Brotherhood is in public while addressing hundreds of Leaf citizens." He shook his head sadly. "Most are far too circumspect in their language throughout their lives. Oh, they make excuses by calling it 'politeness' or 'respect for other citizens', they fritter at so-called nuances such as the challenges of civilian life and the difficult choices one must make, but we all know the truth. If only more people were as outspoken as you, Lord Gōketsu, there would be far fewer polite fictions in this world. The fact that you would come to us and say that your man was wrong to kill my family members, despite that being within the spirit of the law, is a tremendous act of generosity."

"Your family members? But—" He bit the words off too late.

"Why yes," the Oyabun said, polite surprise in his voice. "All who join the Brotherhood are of my family in precisely the way your adopted ninja are of your clan. They may not share blood but they are no less family for it...wouldn't you agree, Lord Gōketsu?"

"Of course. Yes, absolutely."

"I note that you have not eaten your cookie," the Oyabun said, concern in his voice. "Is it not to your liking?"

"Um, no, thank you." Hazō quickly bit into the deliciously warm and gooey cookie and its filling of storybook happy childhoods. Fresh from the oven, although it was always possible that a storage seal had been involved since the Oyabun had ninja on his payroll. "It's delicious."

"I'm so glad. Those I protect spend so much time selling drugs and hurting people that I worry they might forget the subtle art of baking." He sipped his tea and then made a tossing-away gesture with one hand. "Granted, we do also enforce the law and provide for the families of those under our protection, but that hardly makes up for our crimes, now does it? Certainly, many children in Leaf strive to become members of our organization in order to receive the benefits it brings, but our true nature is what it is. Scum, as every Lord of a Great Clan knows.

"Sir...I would like to be able to make amends, even if I can't make it right. I don't know how and perhaps it can't be done, but if you would tell me what to do...?"

"Please, Lord Gōketsu. What could the Brotherhood ask in such conditions? Your apology for the murder of my family has been most gracious and gratefully received. I do hope that we will in future do nothing that would cause other Gōketsu to feel the need to murder more of us but if such lawful murders"—he raised a hand to cut himself off. "Your apology, murders within the spirit of the law. Were they to happen I feel certain that your personal integrity will shine through once more. I thank you again for your great kindness in honoring one so lowly as myself." He bowed all the way to the floor, the movement flawlessly smooth but in no way self-abasing, and then straightened. "With niceties concluded, is there anything else we should discuss? I do apologize, but I feel certain you know the pressures faced by the head of a family—even a family of lowly criminals such as my own."

"Um...no. No, that's all. Thank you, Lord Oyabun, for your time." Hazō bowed, more deeply than he had before, and pulled himself up onto his cane with the grace of a joint-swollen elder. He bowed one last time and left.

---

XP AWARD: TBD, as I'm not sure how many days @Velorien's update covered.

Brevity XP: TBD

"GM had fun" XP: 0

Vote time! What to do now?

Voting ends on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, at 12pm London time.

Author's Notes: You did this: "Verify if permanent MEW can be produced with granite+dirt on a skytower, starting with 1,000 kg and working up to 10,000 kg." No, it cannot. Also, I'm not sure if we ever defined whether or not the Five Seal Barrier makes something truly invulnerable or if it does have limits and, if so, whether 10 tons is within those limits. @Velorien is away right now but we'll get back to you on whether the skytower (which, fortunately, was at an altitude of 3' in order to make it easy to pile the dirt on) collapsed.

 

[eaglejarl]

Chapter 464: The Sun's Return​

"Hello! Anyone home? We're back!"

Hazō had been at his desk forcing himself to defeat packs of enemies no less destructive for being paper. At the sound of that voice he was on his feet and into the hall so fast his knee screamed at the abuse. He ignored it, looping his cane around his neck so he could brachiate along the ceiling via chakra adhesion. His legs were wasted and brittle but he'd been exercising as best he could while his body betrayed him and he was carrying more upper-body muscle than he ever had before; swinging was far faster than hobbling.

"Akane!" he shouted, throwing himself over the bannister and hot-dropping to the floor below. It involved keeping one hand on the wall and stuttering adhesion on and off so that you slid down before a hostile force could react to your presence. It was normally done with gloves because doing it like this meant sanding your palm and fingertips bloody on the rough granite of the house, but he didn't give the slightest damn. He didn't even care when his ankle rolled under him and he had to lurch drunkenly to keep his feet. He blasted chakra out of his soles to speed his steps and slammed into Akane so hard she had to step back and brace herself. She laughed and folded her arms around him in a hug that was supportive in both senses. The cane, still looped around his neck, was mashed between them and poking uncomfortably against his damaged collarbone. He didn't care.

"I missed you, honey," he whispered into her ear, crushing her against himself.

"Mmm," she purred. "Missed you too."

He crushed her one last time and then eased back, taking the cane down so he could balance on it.

"You're overdue," he said, trying hard not to sound as though he were scolding her. "We expected you back three days ago."

"I know, and I'm sorry." She cupped a hand to his cheek and smiled. "I'm sorry I worried you. Bunji and Akito—that's the Inuzuka we were teamed with—thought they had found a ninja trail but it turned out to be nothing. Just a nest of thwelt."

Hazō winced. Thwelt were disturbing and he still occasionally had nightmares about them. Capable of mimicking the odors, sounds, and approximate appearance of other creatures, they would infiltrate a group before exploding into the bundle of thorned tentacles that was their true form. The thorns latched on and tore at tendons and muscles, laming one or more of the prey, and then the thwelt would gather to slowly feed.

"You're okay?" he said, pushing her to arm's length so he could look her over for injuries; there were none. "What about Yuno?"

"Everyone is fine. Bunji got a bad case of marsh rot on his leg but we dealt with it. He won't have more than a few scars. Yuno and I got out clean. She went to find Noburi."

He took her wrist and hobbled towards the kitchen, towing her along. "We need to get you some food. You must be starved. And hot chocolate. I've been keeping a pot of your favorite in a storage seal. Ginger and hot pepper juice. Then—"

She laughed and pulled him to a halt so she could cup his head with both hands and press a kiss to his lips. "I'm fine, Hazō. Truly. We got back an hour ago. I've already reported to the Hokage, gotten my pay, and everything."

He eyed her uncertainly. "About Haru—"

She put a finger on his lips. "It's fine," she said again. "Let's not worry about it today, okay? Can we be just the two of us, or do you have to run off?" For the first time she noticed the blood stain on her sleeve where he had been gripping her. She seized his hand and turned it over. "Hazō, what did you do?!"

"It's just a scrape," he said guiltily, pulling himself from her grip so he could hide the injury. "I'll put a bandage on it, it'll be healed up by tomorrow."

She eyed him with narrowed and worry-grumpy eyes. "Okay, that's it," she said. "Come sit down while I fix you up."

Hazō suffered himself to be led to the living room and settled in one of the armchairs around the smoke-scented firewell. She pulled a field medical kit out of one of her scrolls and proceeded to cleanse the wound with rice alcohol made of sting, and gentle dabs from a clean cloth that stung even more.

"Any problems?" he asked, in part from interest and in part to distract himself.

She shook her head while bending close to study the scrape. "No, just basic patrol work. Bunji was very amused by the minicabins and asked about getting one for himself. I said I didn't think it was an issue but I'd need to check with you before giving it away. The cabins aren't a clan secret, right?"

"Of course not! Besides, anyone could build one for themselves once they'd seen it."

"Maybe, but he'd rather buy one then do all the work of figuring out how to build it so that it isn't damaged by storage stress and how to make the sliding panels and such. If you're okay with it I'll sell him mine and draw another from stores?"

"You can just give—yes, actually, selling it to him sounds smart. Charge whatever you think is fair." He stroked one hand down her arm with a smile. She truly was the best of them. "So, nothing exciting then?"

"Nope. Just a boring old field patrol—lots of creatures, lots of woods, no sign of any humans. Which is unfortunate, since it means we didn't find the missing patrols."

"Not surprising." The woods were huge and it was more surprising if you could find a couple of bodies lying dead in the leaf litter than if you couldn't.

She put the alcohol away and carefully spread some numbweed paste over the scrape before wrapping his hand in a soft cloth. She tied the ends off and bent forward to kiss his bandaged palm. "There. All better."

He smiled and booped her on the nose with one partially-encased finger, making her laugh in startlement. "Yes. Now that you're home, things are better."

He tugged her down off the arm of the chair and into his lap. She settled into him with a contented sigh, her back against his chest and head on his shoulder, winding her fingers into his when he looped them around her waist. They sat together in silence as his mind went slowly quiet.