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#yondaime mizukage
bh-52 · 4 months
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Third Mizukage:(goes on front-line all by himself and ends the first ninja world war because he didn't want anyone to be killed,and brings peace to village,earns global fame and nations call him champion of justice for his chivalry and noblity)
Yagura:(starts the third ninja world war to avenge third's death,makes children kill each other to graduate from academy, which in turn makes everyone despise and fear kirigakure)
Third Mizukage in Afterlife:
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lesbianmizukage · 1 year
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*sees pinned* akechi huh. how did you jump from /that/ fandom to naruto? anyways obito is not a mizukage he’s like a danzo to hiruzen in the yagura//obito relationship
idk i bounce freely between things that i like and this month its naruto. for all his faults wrt their batshit evil old man relationship danzou was not brainwashing hiruzen into complete mindmelted literal puppet servitude. obito was the one actually calling all the shots past the point he mind wammied yagura and kisame (which is mostly the joke in my header anyway i think their relationship is funny) calls him lord mizukage (lord mizukage emeritus once hes 'retired', lol, i wonder how formal the original line is in comparison to that doozie of a translation) and in the flashback chapter refers to him as "the real mizukage"
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chojuuro · 2 years
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doing some timeline math and i've realized that it's INCREDIBLY possible for mei, yagura, and zabuza to have graduated from the kiri academy at the same time, and because of this, incredibly possible for them to have been on a genin team together.
yagura's age is unknown but we know that he had to be young when he became mizukage, and he couldn't have been very old when he died. i estimate yagura around 12 when he became a jinchuuriki, 13 when he became mizukage and was put under obito's genjutsu, and 29 when he died.
mei and zabuza, if he was still alive, would be right around the same age; yagura would be right around the same age, too. mei and zabuza are both listed to have graduated the academy at 9, so i think it's a safe enough assumption to assume that this was the usual graduation age for kiri at this time, and most likely was until mei's reign began and she began kiri's reform.
#kisame is a little older than them but the idea of mei zabuza and kisame on a team is ALSO wildly fascinating#anyway. headcanons are born from the strangest of places ig#one day maybe i'll unleash the forbidden des flavored kiri timeline#hc#forbidden des flavored kiri lore#mei terumi#zabuza momochi#yagura karatachi#i dunno who their squad leader would b it doesn't matter it can be some nobody#but like. yagura going into his final battle knowing he's about due for his death. telling mei that#should something happen to him she's to take the hat regardless of what the elders say and regardless of her kekkei genkais#she's a smart woman with a good head on her shoulders. capable of leading kiri to the future that she wants.#they both grew up during the bloody mist and yagura was in charge during the height of it. it may have been largely the sandaime to blame+#+and yagura may have been under a genjutsu during the worst parts of the bloody mist. but in his eyes it's still largely his fault#he was (as far as my timeline is concerned) made yondaime mizukage at 13 years old. that's SO fucking young; it's a lot of pressure to put#on one person's shoulders already let alone to put on a /child/. and a lot of him even after the genjutsu is broken#ESPECIALLY after the genjutsu is broken#feels supremely guilty for it. because despite being a perfect jinchuuriki and despite being the student of the sandaime#he still couldn't sniff out the genjutsu over his head? still couldn't break out of it without ao breaking it for him?#nevermind that there was very likely some kind of seal that had to get the cipher corps involved that took years to decode#never mind that he was 13#as far as he's concerned he's to blame for the bloody mist. and he knows how BADLY mei wants to turn the village around.#the three of them were classmates and they were genin together. zabuza is dead and a victim of the exact system mei wants to change#so why wouldn't post-genjutsu-break yagura support that?#i forget what my point was#i just care about them a lot#yagura's become my lil guy#EDIT BC I FORGOT SANDAIME TOOK YAGURA AS HIS STUDENT#i cant decide if he just took the whole squad or had like. a close subordinate as their squad leader and just paid special attention#to yagura but. either way. theres that.
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electrasev5nwrites · 7 months
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Ninja Daily: AIC 27
"Thank you all for coming so promptly." The Sandaime seated himself at the end of the table, nearest the door. ANBU filed in to dot the walls and crowd his shoulders. "I'm afraid that we have a lot of news to discuss."
Genma kept his lips pressed shut and his back straight. Maybe no one would notice him if he was very, very still.
'Clan heads, commanders, councilors... This isn't good. Judging by this group, the news is above my paygrade.'
Tenzou looked similarly terrified and out of place. Genma would have saved the other ANBU a seat if he'd known the young man would be attending, but so much for that.
"First off all, we do have one more member." The Sandaime raised a hand, and the door opened once more. "You may have heard rumors. It is time to lay them to rest here, and then with the public. Namikaze-san, if you wouldn't mind?"
Inuzuka leaned back and let out a low whistle. Maybe it was shock, maybe it was commentary on how damn good the man looked. 13 years dead, and he was in his prime.
The long-deceased Hokage gave her a polite nod while he passed to the only unoccupied seat.
Tenzou looked absolutely mortified when he realized he'd wound up next to the Yondaime. He slunk down in his chair. It was hard not to smile at that. On Minato's other side, Jiraiya sat up to his full height and clapped his student on the back.
'I haven't seen Tenzou in months. This is not where I would have expected him to pop up. He doesn't look like wants to be here, either.'
"Hello." The Yondaime paused before he sat. He smiled around the table. "I apologize for the strange situation, but I am glad to be here." He met everyone's eyes one by one in that steady, personal way he had.
He got varying reactions. The councilors were clearly prepared for this introduction, a silent wall of solemn faces. Some of the shinobi who had been informed or involved in vetting Minato offered nods and bows. But Inuzuka Tsume was eyeing him critically, dark eyes clever and sharp. Hyuuga Hiashi was implacable, but probably pissed as anything that he'd been in the dark.
Genma gave up on being still and silent. He waved subtly. Because Kakashi wasn't there to do it, the absentee little bastard, and the Yondaime needed some support..
'He's either on a mission or something has gone wrong. He'd be here if he could, no matter that it would ruin his late streak.'
The last possibility was too dire to linger on for long, even direr than the chance that Kakashi might be dead- the possibility that the Sandaime had chosen not to invite him, because Kakashi would be too loyal to the Yondaime. The chance that the Yondaime might be judged as a traitor for whatever he'd probably done.
"As you know, Orochimaru was successful in reviving the First and Second Hokage for the purpose of fighting me," Sandaime said. "He failed, however, to revive Namikaze-san."
"Namikaze-kun was successfully revived for unknown reasons by the woman later determined to be the Godaime Mizukage." Kotaru raked her milky eyes down the table. "Following preliminary vetting, we are now confident that he is who he appears to be and is not under and compulsion from the Mizukage or other parties." She folded her hands on the tabletop.
Inuzuka let out a barking laugh and shook her head, her skepticism fading to sharp-toothed joy. Tenzou looked like he really needed to breathe in soon, but had forgotten about it in favor of gaping.
Genma mostly felt ill. 'The counselor didn't say that she trusted Namikaze. Nothing about whether he'll take up his old role.'
"On to current affairs." The Sandaime seemed impatient. That really did not bode well. "The breach of security was the entrance of two enemy shinobi, Hoshigaki Kisame, formerly of the Mist, and Uchiha Itachi."
"Dear god." Utatane's fingers fumbled on his glasses. Koharu's expression didn't change but she leaned back and her hands flattened on the tabletop.
Danzo glanced at his peers, expression serene next to their evident surprise. "This is bad news," he observed. "What was their purpose?"
"They attempted to kidnap two genin, including the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. In the process, they attacked jounin Hatake and genin Uchiha." Sarutobi seemed so tired. "The genin, Uzumaki-kun and Haruno-san, have been returned to Konohagakure and released from the hospital. Hatake and Uchiha are stable, but show no signs of recovery from genjutsu."
'That explains why Kakashi isn't here. Is Tenzou his stand-in?'
He glanced over at the ANBU. Tenzou was pale under his tan, but unsurprised. Yeah, he'd already been told. He was probably Hatake's medical contact.
"How were they returned?" Homura was incredulous. "Surely Uchiha Itachi was not outmaneuvered by genin."
The Sandaime turned to look at-
Oh, no.
'That's why he's here. So why am I here?'
Tenzou looked like he might faint at all that attention. He cleared his throat. "I have spent my last mission in Kirigakure determining what relationship we may have with the new leadership." The tone was so diplomatic that he had to be full of shit. "The Mizukage heard about the abduction. I do not know how. Using what I can only assume to have been a space-time ninjutsu or fuinjutsu, she took me and two of her private guards to engage Uchiha and Hoshigaki."
'Holy fuck.'
"She knew before we knew about the intrusion. From Kirigakure," Jiraiya said flatly.
Tenzou nodded.
"And came to Fire Country. In minutes. Before we knew."
Tenzou nodded again, miserable.
Jiraiya tilted his head back and said something to the ceiling that ought not be repeated in polite company.
Utatane ignored him, leaning forward over wrinkled hands. "Are we to understand that the Mizukage, engaged enemies of Konohagakure for no perceived benefit? She allowed the jinchuuriki to return?"
His tone was exactly as incredulous as it ought to be. Any reasonable person would be wondering what the hell was Uzumaki up to, what angle she could possibly have. Genma wished he was wondering. This felt like it was going to go badly, fast.
"She took him back personally," Minato-sama said. His tone was hard to read. He didn't seem surprised, but Genma didn't assume he'd be able to tell. "Along with Haruno-san. They chose to stop at training ground 7 and accompany Kakashi-kun and Uchiha-san to the hospital on their way."
That seemed like an acceptable time to bury his face in his hands.
'Uzumaki is a hard woman to predict. I wish I hadn't pissed her off. I want to understand the way she thinks.'
"The Mizukage chose personally to engage Uchiha Itachi," Tenzou added, because apparently he was going to get all of this over with. The Sandaime seemed too miserable to prod him for more answers. "She killed him."
The table erupted in a din.
The loudest voice was- "Holy shit!" Tsume slapped her hands on the table. "Uchiha Itachi, dead? Uchiha Itachi?"
That was interesting data. Genma turned it over in his head, considering just how the international community might react to news like that. It was a bold move, especially considering how weak Kirigakure had to be. Drawing that much attention was a risky move.
'I was wrong. I didn't piss her off that badly. She'd have killed me if she really wanted to. I don't think she gives a shit about consequences.'
'Still might be a good idea to send an apology. A fruit basket, maybe? And a nice card.'
Tenzou raised his voice to remain audible. "Working together, we drove off Hoshigaki-san. I remained with the Kirigakure shinobi to explain the situation to the border guards who came to investigate the fight." He sat back down and tried to sink under the table, as far as Genma could tell.
"How did she kill Uchiha?" Genma didn't realize the question was coming out of his mouth unless everyone was looking at him. But he didn't regret asking. He'd never really thought someone would manage to kill that monster. Not while he was still in his prime, anyway.
Yamanaka Inoichi nodded agreement. "I saw her fighting the Nidaime. If it had continued, I believe she would have lost the match. From that, I wouldn't have thought it certain that she could kill Uchiha Itachi."
Tenzou made an uncomfortable little sound from the back of his throat. He seemed to decide not to stand up again to answer. "It was faster than I could completely observe. I understand that Uchiha-san activated his Sharingan in preparation to cast a genjutsu. Uzumaki-san drove her hand through his chest in retaliation. She was using her bloodline limit at the time. I do not know if she managed to attack before Uchiha-san managed to use a genjutsu on her, or if she deflected it. The attack she used appeared to be suijutsu of some sort."
An elemental technique that the user drove through the victim's chest at speeds fast enough to counter a sharingan. That was uncomfortably familiar. And very specific. Didn't seem like the kind of thing you just came up with on the spot.
'That's an uncomfortable amount of high-level skills that she didn't feel compelled to use against the Nidaime. Why wouldn't she have used everything she had in her arsenal, if she really was pressed to win?'
"There is one final matter to consider. The Mizukage alleged in my office that her parents were Konohagakure shinobi."
The room fell dead silent. The air had changed.
The Sandaime looked around slowly. The weight of his attention and anger pressed down. "Is this true?" He paused. "Minato-san."
"Yes," the Yondaime agreed easily. He leaned forward and then stood up as though he was answering a question in class. "Aiko is my and Kushina's firstborn. I admit I had hoped for one of them to one day be Hokage, but this is something of a surprise, isn't it?"
'And that explains her benevolence to Naruto- it's familial loyalty.' The conclusion was not satisfying. He just felt tired.
The room erupted. Several people stood up. Homura cried out in outrage that could be heard over gasps and exclamations. For once in his life, Danzo looked like he'd been shocked silly.
Having the confirmation made things real, finally. What the hell had Minato been thinking?
The two Hokage matched stares, neither backing down. In contrast to the Sandaime's grimness, the Yondaime was calm and unbothered. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't ashamed.
'How did he hide this? What possessed him to do it?'
"This is why you recognized her when she revived you," the Sandaime accused steadily. His only answer was a nod. "You withheld critical information."
"I was choosing to evaluate the situation," Minato rebutted. "Surely you can understand a bit of caution at seeing the world of the living for the first time in over a decade." His voice was dryly amused.
Genma felt a shiver walk up his back. He had an unpleasant premonition that they were about to learn more than they really wanted to know.
"There is one additional, crucial piece of information that I have gathered in the weeks I have been here. I saw the first hint of it after being revived and I chose to hold my tongue until I understood where I had found myself." He smiled, miserable and cold. "This is not my Konohagakure. Aiko was not born in this universe. If she had been, she would be 13, Naruto's twin. As far as I can tell, she has found herself in an alternate timeline. When she was ordered to summon me, she rose the Minato that she had personally known. Not the soul of the Minato who lived in this world. He must still rest in the stomach of the death god."
The report was bland, slow. Insane.
"That... matches what the Mizukage claimed." The Sandaime seemed to understand something new. He leaned back slightly, but not in a relaxed manner. "I thought that she was mocking me when she said that Jiraiya might guess what I cannot." There was a hint of a wheeze in his voice.
"I don't know why she's here," Minato admitted. He didn't seem upset about it. "I do know that she specializes in space-time manipulation fuinjutsu. She relies heavily on a modification of my hiraishin. That's why she's faster than you can see, by the way, Yamato-san. I can only assume that Jiraiya gave her the materials after my death." He stopped for a few moments, but no one spoke or even breathed.
'Do I believe any of this?'
"That may be relevant to how she came to this place. But we have also seen that she has somehow found herself in the service of the god of death." His lips twisted in a bitter way Genma had never seen in his years working with Minato. "As she is Naruto's twin, I obviously did not know her long. I can provide some information." His eyelids slid low. "The dead are not entirely unaware of the living."
'Very creepy.'
Jiraiya cleared his throat. He looked up and down the table, cataloging expressions. When he looked at Minato, he seemed pained. "Well, shit."
"I am very pleased," Aiko said, because her jounin seemed kind of nervous. "Thank you for coming today."
Hayashizaki gave her a smile, but he still looked a little ill underneath the professional veneer.
'Probably, if I was the first person to publicly challenge the woman who became my kage, I might not be totally chill about her calling me in to a meeting. That seems like exactly the kind of person a different Mizukage might make an example of.'
Fair. His terror was well-founded.
"I am not displeased," she said again. Maybe it would sink in this time. "Actually, I decided at the time that you were one of the more sensible people present." Aiko nodded at him. "You were right to challenge my qualifications at the time. Any patriot would wonder who the hell I was and why I thought I deserved to be your kage. Only you were brave enough to demand an answer."
She flicked her attention to Sanbi, expecting an insult. It never came. Disappointing.
Well, then. Despite her best efforts, Hayashizaki was still waiting for the shoe to drop. She sighed and gave up being soothing as a bad job. Aiko wasn't suited to it. "You've never taught. Do you have any interest or inclination?"
"Not in particular." He was trying way too hard to look impassive.
"What would you say are your strengths?"
Hayashizaki faltered. "My suspicious personality?" He said, but it came out more like a question. "I am methodical and detail-oriented. I am quick to notice irregularities. My genjutsu is above-average." He seemed to get a bit desperate as she just waited. "My fire-nature chakra is an unusual asset in Kirigakure. Aside from the expected weaponry, I am proficient in Gunsen and manriki-kusari, which make me a valuable asset in non-lethal disarmament or in combat in open air and expand my tactical flexibility."
'Wow. He just keeps talking.'
"I bond well with others, as evidenced by my record of team cohesion and string of successful partnerships."
'This is a thing that works? I can just look at people and they feel uncomfortable and talk forever?'
He seemed to realize he was going a bit far. He tried to deflect with humor. "I can also make a completely edible nikujaga." Then he finally had the sense to stop talking.
She gave him a good minute and a half of pointed silence to see if he'd restart the babble, but he'd figured it out. She made a note to remember the nikujaga thing, though. Only a fool would let that slide. A possible source of meat and potatoes should not be passed up.
Aiko sniffed. "Weaknesses?"
"I've heard that I am not prudent about minimizing my words," Hayashizaki said promptly. "Prone to outbursts, and a disappointing swordsman."
Aiko thought back to their first meeting, when good sense but an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation had meant he was the only one with guts to ask her who the hell she thought she was. "I see."
'The Utakata was wary about exposing this person to you,' Sanbi said 'I had assumed that he feared your violent retribution for wounded pride. Perhaps he was instead concerned that you might intimidate the boy into incoherence.'
Plausible, actually. Utakata had said that they were agemates.
'I don't think he's actually timid,' Aiko decided. 'These are unusual circumstances. I think he's more generally hot-blooded. And I saw a strong sense of justice which was offended when he thought someone unworthy might become his leader. That indicates a healthy respect for social institutions. He mentioned his social skills among his strengths, which could be pandering in Konohagakure but in Kirigakure probably does indicate that he is socially oriented.'
Sanbi made a listening sound.
'I think he's a good fit. He's young enough to present an attractive face but old enough not to be dismissed out of hand, is less likely than the average to demonstrate controlling or abusive tendencies, and could build relationships on the ground. What do you think?'
"My only reservation is the allocation of your resources," Sanbi admitted. "Had you twice the shinobi you have now, I would wholeheartedly endorse this plan."
'Thank you for the input.'
Hayashizaki was still waiting, ramrod straight and expressionless. He'd do.
"We are expecting company," Aiko said in a mild tone. "Sunagakure and Konohagakure, certainly. That will mean a significant increase in guests passing through Wave Country."
Hayashizaki nodded, cautious. "I see."
"We will be establishing a temporary outpost on the nearest island of Wave country," Aiko continued. "As the shinobi traffic is at our behest, we are taking responsibility for ensuring that a burden does not fall on the civilians living there."
That was diplomatically prudent. The Daimyo of Wave clearly didn't know or care much about the inaka, but he might manage to be offended enough to get involved if she caused his people too much trouble.
"You will be posted there to provide assistance to our visitors and protect the interests of Higashi-Gyoson. Their village head, Tazuna, is working on reconstruction efforts here, so your contact will be his heir and daughter, Tsunami. Do you have any questions about this objective?"
"I do," Sanbi said. He sounded "Is that truly the name of that village?"
"Yes, Mizukage-sama. Other than myself, who will staff this post?" Hayashizaki didn't seem bothered at all. "What will the mission duration be?"
'The one with the kindly peasants? Yes.'
"An end time has not been designated, so prepare for a long-term mission. I'm looking into the possibility of sending a chuunin there on a different mission, but they would be under your supervision. Other than that, you will have a rotating staff of either one or two chuunin at a time designated as your assistant in problem-solving and maintaining peace."
He lapsed into thought. "It somewhat lacks in creativity. Is that why they do not often say the name?"
There was a pause while Hayashizaki clearly wondered what that chuunin's mission might be and if he could ask about it.
'I think the name mostly exists for administrative purposes,' Aiko decided. 'I mean, I've lived in plenty of safehouses out in the middle of nowhere and it never occurred to me to name them. I wouldn't think of it without an outside reason even if three other families built houses nearby. Probably it was just a small fishing village on the most eastern coast, and then some government representative either picked out "East Fishing Village" as a name, or the village head panicked or something. Whatever. The Great nations all have pretty underwhelming names, too. Any name is dumb if you think too long about it.'
Hayashizaki apparently decided to risk a question. "Have you identified a specific chuunin for the separate mission?"
"Not yet," Aiko admitted. "Tazuna-san, the village head, has expressed interest in allowing his grandson and a classmate to undergo basic training." She watched her jounin's expression carefully, wondering just what kind of asset she had here.
"Oh, he is intelligent," Sanbi noted absently.
The turtle was right. Hayashizaki clearly got that expansion was what she wasn't saying- a small outpost of friendly, professional shinobi would make a big impression on the locals. When they were protecting the civilians interests and deliberately mingling by dedicating one person's workload to training two local children, it was highly probable that other locals would want to send their children to benefit.
Which was the real reason to locate a suitable chuunin to do the mentoring on a long-term, fulltime basis. Almost anyone, even most genin, could conduct an Academy style training regimen. The only reason to have one person assigned to do it was to build consistency in the hopes of drawing in more candidates from the locals.
'Actually, there's no reason that the fulltime shinobi has to be a chuunin,' Aiko realized. 'I was replicating Konoha's academy system. But a genin can teach conditioning, basic weapon skills, and low level jutsu. If the students are all from civilian bloodlines, there's much less reason to be concerned that one of them might be kidnapped. So the teachers don't necessarily need to be strong combatants.'
"Actually, I may have just changed my mind about the mission arrangement," Aiko said. She leaned back in her chair. "Your assignment remains the same. I will update you about the rest of the outpost when we have a full mission briefing. This meeting was a preliminary assessment of your stability and character before I determined you were an adequate candidate." She smiled at the jounin, who was trying not to look too offended. "I believe you are adequate."
'I can spare a genin long-term much more easily than a chuunin. Actually, a team of genin would be good. Career genin, or at least ones who are a little older. An outpost/mini Academy with one permanent Jounin, three permanent genin, and a rotating chuunin or two is damn respectable. Wave would know I was serious about the relationship, and there would be enough manpower to allow Hayashizaki to conduct more operations at his discretion. And it would really only take a few months for any trainees to have some basic uses that would free up my people in case of an emergency- a decent runner, a couple people who know emergency protocols- that would provide a lot of flexibility and be a self-sustaining system.'
"I am flattered." Hayshizaki sounded like he was genuinely trying to be charming, but couldn't push down the edge of annoyance. Yeah, that was more like it.
"Don't lie to me," Aiko said cheerfully. She flashed her teeth at the other jounin. "It demeans us both. In any case, I'm sure you can gather that building and maintaining good relationships with the people of Higashi-Gyoson is central to the success of this mission." She tossed her hair and dropped the pretense. "Training Kiri shinobi in Wave is step one to annexing the country."
To his credit, Hayashizaki didn't look like he was considering questioning her judgment for a second. Yes, he definitely respected authority when it had been adequately proven.
"No comments?" Aiko prodded, lazy and predatory.
"My only concern is that your seal will need to be replaced when you are the Godaime Mizukage of Kirigakure, first Mizukage of the Land of Waves," Hayashizaki said. It was by far the smoothest thing he'd said in her hearing.
She eyed him. She thought about it. "Shit. I love that seal."
"You might simply use a second seal for the other office to save it," Hayashizaki suggested. "You may also argue that this is because you are holding the office in trust for your dear friends in Wave, who will one day soon rise to the occasion."
Aiko tapped her jawline. "That's rhetorically sound. I'm going to use that. Also, you're friends with Utakata, I didn't know that." She pursed her lips. "I didn't realize he had friends other than me. I don't like this. I'm going to have to have a talk with him."
Hayashizaki tried not to look unpleasantly surprised.
"That flattery was a little too tailored," she critiqued. "Not many people have heard me express my particular fondness for my seal of office, but one of the two who has is the person who provided me with your name. An agemate, ranking peer." Aiko raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I just don't buy that you happened to stumble upon one of my vanities. Not impossible, but implausible when there is a more direct explanation." She pointed at him with her right hand, rather as if she was aiming a projectile. Hayashizaki certainly flinched. "You get points for pairing it with an attractive rhetoric I can use on Wave, but next time, I expect more subtlety in your compliments. Do you understand?"
Hayashizaki looked shell-shocked. Ah, yes, that was the most extreme expression she'd gotten out of him yet. "Yes, Mizukage-sama," he said woodenly. "Of course, Mizukage-sama."
"Good, good." She curled her hand back under her chin. "You may go, now."
"Thank you, Mizukage-sama."
He let the door shut just a little too loudly. She could see his flinch in the one-way glass at the top.
Aiko relaxed her body language into a slight slouch and stretched her legs. "What a nice young man," she said.
Sanbi agreed, with a rumble of laughter.
She pushed her chair back so she could open the middle drawer on her desk to pull out her itinerary. There was only one more evening appointment, but she double-checked the time. Ugh. Aiko spun on her chair. The light breeze was a relief in her stuffy office. Actually- she stood up and opened the window behind her desk.
There was no reaction, but she was well-aware that her watching guard was annoyed from his hiding spot. Ah, yes, opening up a direct line of sight into a lit room for anyone with a projectile. You fuck.
"Why do you criticize yourself in this manner?" Sanbi asked, curious.
Aiko lifted her arms into a stretch. 'I can't tell you how many times I had that exact bitchy thought when I was on guard duty in Konohagakure. It was a whole bunch, I resented every window.'
"What has changed?"
She let her arms drop and shrugged. 'Nothing. Except that I'm hot, my ass hurts from sitting, and it isn't my job to obsess over every way someone could possibly murder me.'
It was somewhat irritating to go back to the office after day one of construction work had wrapped up at 4pm. The challenge had been exhilarating, and working as part of a team was a treat she didn't get that often.
It had been good for her relationship with Gaara, as well. They had worked in tandem to terraform and lay foundation. It was kind of fun to discover new, practical ways to utilize shinobi abilities outside of combat. A shinobi who could control sand and a shinobi with fuinjutsu ability could make cement and move it a lot easier than a civilian could with a wheelbarrow. They were a good deal more efficient than even a shinobi using a wheelbarrow to move cement. Like, wheelbarrows, eat your heart out. Two jinchuuriki coming through to steal ya damn job. They would be the most powerful construction company in the world. Who could possibly hope to compete? Actually, that was an interesting thought.
"Must you?"
Aiko interlaced her fingers and stretched again. 'No,' /emshe thought apologetically. 'That was unnecessary and a bit weirder than I anticipated. I'm a little tired. I will stop talking about quitting to form a construction company with Gaara. I don't really even want to.'
"Thank you," Sanbi said. He let out a great huffing sigh. "Have you ruminated on the strange behavior of your ...puppy?"
She was still functionally alone, so it was totally okay to put her elbows on the desk and rest her head on her hands. 'I don't know,' Aiko admitted. 'I don't think I'll know until I talk to him. His hospital check came out clean, his debriefing didn't indicate any trauma, his teammates mentioned nothing unusual. I suppose it's possible that he just had an usually bad reaction to the time in custody, but it just doesn't seem like Yuusaku.'
He growled. Aiko put a hand to her chest for a moment, because it felt like her ribcage was vibrating under the low noise. But it wasn't. She put her hand back on her head and dug her fingertips into her scalp just enough to feel the points of pressure.
"This job sucks," Aiko mumbled. "Too many people. They are all so small and need help. So much help. I barely have time for writing policy and plotting and hunting traitors and committing malfeasance. What's life without a minimum of malfeasance?"
Sanbi seemed to cock his head. "Least likely to result in jailtime and international disgrace."
She made a rude sound. 'Not you too. I'm being very, very careful with my kage bunshin. But drug running is the only reason our economy isn't in the tank while we build up legitimate income and repair a fucking city. It is not cheap.'
"I understand," he said. He seemed much more reasonable about it than Utakata, the only other person in the world who knew about that source of income. "I merely worry about the effect that revelation would have upon your reputation and Kirigakure's international legitimacy."
'Reasonable fear. Can't afford to stop. Am very cautious.' Aiko rubbed at her eyes and then sat up straight. 'Pays very well because no legitimate party can be caught doing that kind of work, I have no travel expenses, is critically needed direct infusion into treasury.'
Her personal demon hummed, accepting the bullet point version of the argument she'd had with Utakata more than once.
Yuusaku was perfectly on time for his meeting. He slunk in with his gaze hovering a foot above the floor.
Her heart ached. "Yuusaku, what's wrong?" Aiko found that a soft tone came out naturally when she was talking to one of her kids. "You've seemed very down since you came back from Konohagakure. How can I help you?"
He swallowed and took a shaky breath. "I've failed you, Mizukage-sama. I don't deserve this." He pulled at his chuunin vest.
'What?'
It took a moment to work past bafflement and push out a level question that wouldn't make him feel any worse. "Yuusaku, I don't understand. Why do you think you've failed me? You met all my expectations. I'm proud of you and your team. I'm glad that we went to Konohagakure together."
He glanced up at her and away just as quickly. His eyes were red, she saw. Oh. Hell. Was he going to cry? Was she going to have a crying child in her office?
"The boy is 15, is he not?" Sanbi confirmed uncertainly. "Do human young cry even at that age?"
'Humans cry at all ages.' Aiko fidgeted. 'Are you thinking of the wailing babies tend to do? That's different. We don't do that after, like, three years old or so.'
"Ah. Should his parents be retrieved to soothe him?"
...Probably not? She wasn't an expert on human young, either.
"Mizukage-sama," Yuusaku said heavily. He blinked many times. "In Konohagakure, I believe I was identified as the weak link in the team. I was taken to questioning that my teammates did not experience."
"What." Her voice went totally flat. "You were situational witnesses, not captives. Are you telling me that Konohagakure subjected you to interrogation?"
'I'm going to kill them. I'm going to fucking kill them. I'm going to go over there and destroy their petty mountainside and use the leftover bits to crush the rats who run.'
"Yes? No? I don't know." Yuusaku rubbed at his eyes. "I was called in to personal questioning by the Hokage." He cleared his throat. "The Yondaime Hokage."
Oh. Oh, no.
'He was a wartime leader,' Aiko remembered. 'Minato is decades behind on diplomatic protocol.'
But it still seemed like common fucking sense that it was unwarranted intimidation to bring a genin, ostensibly a guest from a foreign nation, into questioning with the fucking kage. That was completely inappropriate. It was a dangerous precedent! Would Konoha fucking like it if she brought one of their genin into her office for private questioning? Your own country's military leader was intimidating enough. It was far too much to ask a genin to endure the pressure of a personal interrogation by a foreign military head. It was cruel and unnecessary.
She very carefully put her coffee cup down, because she didn't want to break the glass. "Please continue, Yuusaku."
"He asked me some questions." Yuusaku was talking faster now, like he just wanted to get it all out. "About you. About how long you trained us, where you came from, and what you would do if you wanted to get rid of him." He glanced up at her once again and then back to the floor. "I told him what you said about the timeline. I thought I was being clever with my other responses, ambiguous enough, but I wasn't, I was wrong. I don't know how but I knew it from his face that he got information from me. I'm so, so sorry." He stopped, choked up. "I'm sorry."
He turned to the side to hide his face. She still heard a quiet sniffle.
"Yuusaku," Aiko said. Her voice was exactly as calm as her heart was braying for blood. "A genin is not expected to match wits with kage to achieve promotion. That situation was completely inappropriate, and in no way reflects negatively upon you." She folded her hands very tightly, laced them together and squeezed until her skin turned white. "You performed up to expectations consistent with your rank and age. I would not expect the vast majority of my jounin to conceal information from a foreign kage. That you attempted it is to your credit."
She wanted to cross around her desk and try to comfort her student. But he was turned away- that indicated he wanted privacy. He wanted to protect his pride. She understood that.
"What did you tell him about how I would get rid of him?" Aiko asked, perfectly still and feeling so, so dangerous.
He took a few seconds to master himself enough to answer. "I said that I didn't know, because I hadn't seen you in a serious fight."
Ah. "He understood from that answer that I cannot remotely unwork the jutsu reviving the dead," Aiko explained. "That's the information he got from you."
Yuusaku flinched, waiting for a blow.
"I don't care if he knows that. The information is worthless to me, it's only valuable to Konohagakure because now they know that Minato-san is not about to drop dead at my convenience." She clenched her jaw. "That is acceptable. I am considering how I am going to murder him, and that seems much more satisfying."
Yuusaku gave her a wild-eyed stare. "You can't!" he protested. "A foreign kage?"
She opened her mouth to point out that she'd killed the previous mizukage before she was a citizen, but kept the words in. Wasn't worth it.
"It is politically imprudent," Aiko admitted. "But it is also righting the state of affairs. The Yondaime Hokage is clearly a relic of wartime, unsuited for modern leadership. I'm going to fucking kill him, and then I suppose Kumogakure will be our friend instead of Konohagakure." She paused, thinking about it. "That is also an acceptable outcome. They're closer, even. That's convenient. And that would open up a line of trade to the Outer countries. We could all have TVs, legally. That would be nice. See how it all works out when you murder the Hokage?" By the end, she was really warming to the idea.
"It could lead to war," Yuusaku pointed out. "And it would endanger our relationship with other nations." His voice was strengthening, more comfortable on this familiar ground. "If we were not already at war, a kage personally assassinating another kage is beyond the pale. We would never have another alliance. Who could trust us? We would be destroyed."
'Not if I kill enough of them that nobody wants to fuck with me. Fuck, I killed Itachi. He's shit-scum and stupid as all hell, but he was a loyal Konoha nin. I've already broken that taboo. What's ten more. What a hundred more.'
Aiko took a long, slow inhalation, and pushed down the murderous fantasies. Those were a lot more common lately. Sanbi? She really didn't think that was all her.
He gave a guilty little grumbled. Some of the rage peeled away. Some of it really was hers, though.
"Aa." She clenched her jaw, and then deliberately relaxed the muscles. "You would prefer that I did not kill him, then?"
Yuusaku gave her a look that was hard to interpret. "Mizukage-sama," Yuusaku got out tentatively. "I do not believe that a kage can be held responsible for mistreating foreign genin."
"He's not better than you," Aiko said darkly. "Minato really is not that great. He's selfish, academically unimaginative, makes way too many assumptions about people's competence, and is a shit parent all around. No wonder that he's a fuckup even when it's other people's kids. He did fuck up his whole genin team too, now that I'm thinking about it. The survivors are goddamn lunatics. I'll introduce you sometime, that'll be a laugh."
Yuusaku made a high-pitched sound. When she looked over, he was white. "Sensei?"
"Oh, right. "He's my father," Aiko admitted. "That's classified information, sorry. But he's a useless, stupid garbage human who behaved unprofessionally because he was emotionally compromised." She kicked back her chair and stood up. "And I'm going to make him eat it. Yuusaku, sweetheart, how would you like a personal letter of apology from the Hokage?"
He just stared at her.
"He's not better than you," Aiko repeated, feeling stuck on that. "He has no right to intimidate my people. He has no right to make you doubt yourself when you are doing a good fucking job." Her voice shook with fury on that last part. "You were a damn good genin, and you're on track to be a damn good chuunin. He doesn't get to make you sad."
"Once, when I was in preschool, my teacher made me write an apology to another student." Yuusaku sounded distant and confused. His eyes were glazed over. "Because I broke his toy ship."
"Your teacher was right." Aiko unfolded her hands because she didn't want to break any delicate bones. "When we wrong another person, we say that we are sorry."
She gave in to her urge and walked around her desk to give her new chuunin a hug. He put his hands around her back a moment later.
"I'm going to get an apology for you," Aiko promised into his shoulder. "And he's going to mean it. If he isn't sorry now, I will make him sorry. And then I will make him write a very nice letter."
"Um. Okay."
She hugged him a little harder.
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captnjacksparrow · 2 years
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In your opinion did Sasuke pay for his crimes?
Madara played with Human lives as if they were nothing... I don't have to list his actions here. But in the end, he was given a Farewell to the Ninja Heavens along with Hashirama.
Obito, as Madara's protege, completely destroyed Kirigakure by manipulating Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage and performed many Massacres over the years. Haku's clan included. He manipulated Nagato to create an evil version of Akatsuki. Released Kyuubi in Konoha and that made Naruto and Sasuke into who they are. And the list goes on. But in the end, he went to Ninja Heavens along with Rin.
Orochimaru did countless human experimentation and killed 59 babies... And he was forgiven in the end.
Yes, Sasuke shouldn't have joined Akatsuki, the very organization that was hunting for Naruto kind of people and he kidnapped Killer Bee.
Yes, He shouldn't have killed those Samurais in the Kage Summit meet.
Yes, He shouldn't have stabbed Karin in order to taste his Revenge.
Yes, He shouldn't have planned on Killing all the Bijuus and Kages.
What Sasuke did was nothing in comparison to Obito or Madara or Oro or any of those Villains. Before the War Arc, he did came to the conclusion of protecting Konoha... Didn't he???
Tell me, How many people are capable of forgiving what happened to Sasuke??? What else people want him to do anyway??? 
Even though Sasuke was forgiven... He was willing to go for an Atonement Journey and participate in Naruto's dreams of Uniting all the Shinobis together. He didn't have to do any of that at all... But still, he wanted to make amends and take responsibility for everything he did after he left the Village instead of taking an easy way-out. Paying for crimes doesn’t have to involve feeling Guilty and Suffering... They could just help build back the destroyed Ruins too. 
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nbsakura · 2 years
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An Observation of Obito Spoilers for Shippuden Ahead!!
I want to talk about Obito, more specifically, the way he was handled toward the end of Shippuden, and his personality regarding his beliefs about being a 'nobody' and pretending to be two different people since he was like....14 years old. For a long while, his entire philosophy was akin to Madara's but instead of seeing himself as a god/the person who was going to be responsible for Tsuki no Me he saw himself as a vessel for this 'plan'. A nobody. (See, his quote: I'm no one… I don't want to be anyone. All I care about is completing the Tsuki no Mei. This world is completely worthless… there is nothing left in it but misery.) Or at least, he tried to be. Obito in particular is a really odd character to me in some aspects, especially with the way he's written in the original series because he's shown to be batshit insane, yet, only when it was convenient to Kishimoto. Without hesitation or mercy, he massacred all of the women and the children in the Uchiha Clan, he literally turned the Yondaime Mizukage (Yagura) into a tyrant and helped with the purges of all Kekkei Genkai in Kiri, he enabled and possibly even helped Danzo to corrupt the Akatsuki, and countless other atrocities. He was able to do all of this by separating himself from Obito. He no longer saw himself as such. He became Madara, and then Tobi for YEARS of his life but that didn't have a psychological effect on him? No identity crisis, no blurring lines between himself and the others he was pretending to be, and he certainly didn't deal with any kind of derealization from being a nobody. So, what's up with that? Well, my personal theory is that the lines most likely did blur for a time, because of his inability to accept Rin's death, (most likely during the two-year period between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden) before, with Shiro/Kuro Zetsu's help, most likely, he used it to reinforce his hate and give himself the motivation to continue on. Replaying Rin's death, and reminding himself of his hatred for Kakashi, over, and over, and over again was most likely one of the only reasons that he would be able to properly continue on. It solidified his hatred, but also the identity he was fighting so hard to get rid of. That was where he failed. In everything. Obito's Redemption could've been a chance to go deeper into his feelings as Tobi, expand more on the Bloody Mist, (this is me officially begging for more Kiri content), and much more. It could've achieved much more in some aspects, but in other aspects, it did well. One thing I do like about it, is that Kakashi had no way of knowing some of the things that Obito had done, (Kirigakure and Uchiha Massacre, mostly.) So, when Kakashi suggested that he allow himself to live and atone and Obito refused that offer, it made genuine sense for someone who had regretted their choices. I noticed that there had been hints that Obito was a direct descendant of Madara as well, and the dynamic between the two was something I enjoyed as well. I wish that they expanded a little bit more on just how crazy Obito could be, his relationship with the other Akatsuki members (because remember, he hung around as Tobi for at least three years), and gave him some interactions with Jiraiya. I will eventually end up speaking on his relations and feelings toward Kirigakure, but this post is long enough as is, so I'll leave it here. Thank you for reading, and have a good day!
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taleofbijuugakure · 1 year
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Episode 1: Limit ( EN )
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In the five great nations, there are living weapons, called "Jinchuurikis ", Jinchuuriki literally means " Power of Human Sacrifice ", and, sacrifice and what describes their lives, due to their nature are the most hated people in the whole ninja world, within these people, one of the Nine Bijuus is sealed, these people and bijuus are:
Gaara of the desert, who has Shukaku, the ichibi, living in Sunagakure;
"… You are a beast that nobody loves …"
Yugito Nii, who has within himself, Matatabi, Nichibi, living in Kumogakure;
"… Get out of here, your monster ! …"
Yagura, who has Isobu, the Sanbi, living in Kirigakure;
"… Get off your freak ! …"
Roshi, who has within him, Son Goku, the Yonbi, living in Iwagakure;
"… Get off old man ! …"
Han, who has inside him, Kokuo the Gobi, also from Iwagakure;
"… Aberration …"
Utakata, which has within itself, Saiken, the Rokubi, also from Kirigakure;
"Nobody wants you here ! …"
Fuu, who has Chomei, the Nanabi, living in Takigakure;
"… Cursed child ! …"
Killer B, who has Gyuki, Hachibi, also from Kumogakure; -"…Get out !… "
And finally, Naruto Uzumaki, who has Kurama inside, the Kyuubi, living in Konohagakure… -"… Monster !!!… "
All nine have a lonely life, suffer prejudice, are hated and feared, when someone looks at them, they don't see a person, they only see the Bijuu inside of them, they only have to suffer silently and painfully day after day, without a helping hand, without right to question and unable to answer …
-"… Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!!, Monster !!! … "
But ….
Gaara: - "… Nobody loves me,…"
Yugito: - "… Everyone hates me,…"
Yagura: - "… There isn't a day when…"
Roshi: - "… Do not despise me,…"
Han: - "… If nobody wants me,…"
Utakata: - "… So,…"
Fuu: - "… Why do I…"
Killer B: - "… I should continue…"
Naruto:-"… Here in the village ?…"
Now they are tired of this cone of silence of pain and suffering …
In Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Iwa, Kumo and Takigakure, Jounin runs desperately to his superiors, calling for them, when they get there …
The five kages and the leader of Takigakure: - "… What happened ?… "
Konoha, Suna and Taki Jounins: - "… The jinchuuriki…"
Kiri, Iwa and Kumo jounins: - "… The jinchuurikis… "
Kages and leader: - "… What's wrong ?… "
Jounins: - "… They run away !!!… "
The young childrens Naruto, Gaara, Yagura and Fuu, the young adults Killer B, Yugito, Utakata and Han and the middle-aged man Roshi flee their villages on the same night, due to their connection through the red chakra, they run towards some point on the edge of the country of fire.
Two days later…
The Kages meet to discuss the situation.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: - "… Apparently, we are all in the same situation .."
Ohnoki:-"… Our Jinchuuriki fled the villages… "
Third Mizukage: - "… In my opinion, we should classify them as " Nukenin " and for a reward for their heads …"
Rasa:-"… I agree… "
Hiruzen Sarutobi: - "… Don't be radical, the Jinchuuriki in my village is just a child, and, I imagine he is not the only one… "
Ay ( Yondaime ): - "… Let's be honest, the five of us don't even care for the Jinchuurikis…, what we want are the Bijuus… "
Jiraiya who comes with escort from Sarutobi manifests himself.
Jiraiya: - "… He took the words out of my mouth…, incidentally, if I were one of them, I would have done the same… "
Rasa: - "… Bend your tongue… "
Hiiruzen Sarutobi: - "… No, continue… "
Jiraiya: - "We all know how they are treated … it is natural that they wanted to escape that a place that just hates them …"
After some more discussion, the meeting the meeting ends without a conclusion, on the way out, Hiruzen and Jiraiya talk.
Jiraiya:-"… What do you think Sarutobi - sensei ?… "
Hiruzen Sarutobi: - "… For sure they will create hunting groups to go after them… "
Jiraiya: - "… No one would be dizzy to miss the chance to have all nine at once… "
Hiruzen: - "… I will create a search party too, you will lead them Jiraiya, I will let you choose the members… "
Jiraiya: - "… I will contact Tsunade then… "
Hiruzen Sarutobi: - "… I will choose some members for this team in the next generation… "
Jiraiya:-"… Will you get in touch with " him " ?… "
Hiruzen Sarutobi:-"… I'm already doing this as we talk… "
Somewhere…
A shadow clone from Hiruzen comes into contact with the renegade shinobi Itachi Uchiha and explains the situation…
Itachi: - "… Whatever do I do Hokage - sama ?… "
Hiruzen Sarutobi:-"… Try to hide their location as much as possible… "
Itachi: - "… I will do everything I can… "
The Sarutobi Clone is gone.
In Sunagakure:
Rasa is in his Kazekage room, when Chiyo arrives in a rage.
Chiyo: - "… Are you happy now Rasa !?… "
Baki: - "… Please, Chiyo - Sama, stop !… "
Rasa: - "… Please leave… "
Chiyo: - "… Your youngest son has fled the village, and is lying in that desert… "
Rasa: - "… I tried to do my best for the village… "
Chiyo: - "… What was best for the village: Sacrificing your wife's life ? Making your own son the most hated person in the country of the wind ? when I don't regret having sealed the Shukaku no Gaara… ( Spit )… damn the day you became the Kazekage… "
The next day…
At an unknown point, near the southern end of the fire country.
Naruto runs panting through the woods, there's something inside him telling him to stop going in a certain direction even though he doesn't know why.
Naruto: - "… ( I don't know why, but I need to come this way )… "
Suddenly, he hears, the sound of other breaths, suddenly the nine see each other, they are completely confused…
Gaara:-"… Who ?… "
Fuu: - "… Who are they ?… "
Naruto: - "… Who are you ?… "
To be continued…
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senjutsv · 2 years
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MULTIPLE INVESTIGATIONS HAVE LED HIM TO THIS PLACE . From Hanzou's death to the insane claims against the Uchiha clan - from the Leaf council - due to the sharingan's usage in the Kyuubi Attack. ( how dare they, how dare Danzou and Hiruzen sully the hokageship with such farce. ) Yet he cannot waste his cover of darkness on saving a singular clan. There was a malevolent force in the world scouting out Jinchuuriki and Minato could guess at Akatsuki's intentions of interest in such weapons. Not only did he wish to protect Naruto from the shadows, but the multitude of free peoples in the world as well. Thus found his footsteps on the shores of Kirigakure, purposefully alerting the jinchuuriki Mizukage on this information. Operating aboveboard was not Minato's M.O., but he needed to set the bait and get Akatsuki to reveal themselves to him.
Clad in full black, he removed his hood so that brilliant blonde bangs curtained his grey fox mask. The sway of his hips commanded the room ere he dropped to one knee, bowing his head low in subordianation. " Yondaime Mizukage-sama, thank you for granting a low mercenary like me an audience. I am grateful for your graciousness and time. You may call me Fox. "
Can the organisation risk Minato informing the Five Greats at such an inopportune time?
Never again did the masked man think he would see the Yondaime's likeness again. Not since that cursed night. Not since the man met his fate. When reports of a familiar head of hair flew into his ears, he did not take it seriously. There were many blondes in the world, it was none of his concern. When the reports came in again, of that same head of hair sticking its nose in places it didn't belong, he took more notice - yet still, he did not think it to be the Yondaime come again in the flesh. The Yellow Flash was well known - there were many who used his looks, who used the fear they brought.
Even now, he knew for a fact that this was not the Yondaime... The Yondaime was the Shinigami's pet now - there was no escaping that. No... He was the Yondaime.
This was no one. A masked fool, bringing their head before him on a silver platter. The irony in that was not lost to him. It made the shadow itch with an old, familiar rage - one he thought long forgotten.
The rage was meaningless. It was nothing, a mere illusion of this false reality. So, the 'Yondaime' spoke, with Yagura's tongue. "You may rise, Fox." 'Yagura's tone was light. Childlike. "What is your business?"
IT WAS TEMPTING TO FEEL A BIJUU . But Minato kept his sensory perception to himself, much like a fox retracting paws from fresh meat - knowing that bigger fish were out there. His shoulders would only lax sightly, raising his head as he stood, keeping leather clad hands strictly by his side, looking like any ANBU worth their salt.
Minato communicated with Yin Kurama as well, ' Do not make a sound. ' to which the dark fox snickered back, I'm not stupid.
" Thank you, Mizukage-sama.  I come to you with crucial intel.  There is a group called the Akatsuki now roaming the world, clad in black and red as though the coming of a storm of blood. They seek hosts such as yourself, to add to their armaments, I can only presume. Preparing for what is yet to be seen, as I am still investigating. My footsteps bring me here in concern, to alert you. "
It was a good thing Yin Kurama kept themselves hidden. A good thing that the man behind the fix mask kept himself hidden at all... because the eye of the Shadow Mizukage was boring through him with the focus of a hawk out for bloody vengeance. Were it not for the dark concealing them, their red glare would be shining out from the abyss, gleaming in its sheer killing intent.
The fact that they could see nothing, that the chakra signature of this yellow haired, Fox-masked imposter seemed as bland and unassumung as every other hunter nin to cross their path, only raised their ire. Suspicious.
"The Akatsuki?" The shadows mouth twisted into a crooked grin - warped with a twisted amusement as their tongue made the Muzukage dance to their tune. 'Yagura' was as calm as ever - the Sanbi as docile as a household pet under his grasp. "If what you say is true, then it is I who should thank you for this concerning news." 'Yagura' stared 'Fox' down. Dead eyed. "Yet, you are a rogue mercenary, foreign to our village. We do not know if you speak truth. Not without proof."
PROOF , HUH ? Namikaze Minato always thought at least fifty steps ahead of the enemy. It was how he planned his own revival using a Namikaze shrine, after all. The very reason he was here was a prediction ; that the Sanbi could very likely be the Akatsuki's next target.
Minato should know. He was the very reason Iwagakure was in shambles. The best evidence comes from someone who was there.
" I wholeheartedly understand your concerns regarding my frivolous station. In fact, I come prepared with evidence. " The fox reached into his coat to pull out two account books he'd stolen from different bounty stations. " Shinobi of Iwagakure are dying like flies, mostly stamped by Akatsuki members. The organisation is turning on its handlers, seeking to weaken it ere seizing their greatest possession, the four and five tails. It is my genuine belief that your life might be in danger, after them, Mizukage-sama." Grey mask would bow head, presenting the two books with both hands upfront.
If only this stranger knew just how close his suspicions came to reality... The shadow almost laughed aloud at the thought.
'Yagura' snapped his fingers, having one of his bodyguards hand over the account books to his care. As his purple eyes flitted over the pages, the darkness around the Mizukage loomed in the backdrop, for they already knew the contents of those accounts. Iwa was a lucrative operation - a delicate one, seeing as how the country was home to not one but two tailed beasts. Its success relied on the Akatsuki remaining in the shadows, in the dark. Yet, here was this Fox, attempting to bring it into light. This one needed to die. That was plain as day. He simply knew too much. But how? That was the question.
'Yagura' glanced up at the masked stranger in his midst. Then, he smiled. "You are a very resourceful shinobi." With a lazy hand, the 'Mizukage' held the accounts to the side, letting the bodyguard take it back. "I will have my own Cypher Division look into this more closely, but it is proof enough. Kiri is in your debt."
Minato kept his mask just below Yagura's eye level , bowing his head once more as he returned the two books into his black coat. ❝ Thank you for the compliment, Mizukage-sama. I wish only to aid this world and the people in it. With your permission, may I ask to explore the coasts for a while? I give you my word that I will not pollute your lands, or stay longer than necessary. I only wish to add the beauty of the Water Country into my mind. ❞
What little of Water's scenery he had viewed on the way here had tempted Minato's lust for knowledge, so much so that he already donned a full diving suit underneath all the armour and coat he wore.
Pristine waters and humongous beasts, who wouldn't want to take a closer look?
That lust for knowledge... the shadow could sense it, brimming under the fox mask. He sensed it the very moment the blond imposter asked to explore the coasts. He knew it well... it was familiar, just as familiar as his rage. For a brief moment, memory came - sensei standing tall at the cusp of the forest, taking in all the different flora and fauna, sensei working on one of his techniques, a look of deep concentration on his face, sensei watching them train - watching Kakashi train -
"But of course." 'Yagura' spoke with a magnanimous air, breaking the infection bleeding into the shadow's thoughts. "For such a small thing, it is the least Kiri can do for you. You have my full permission to travel through the coasts."
Yes, yes he did - and the Mizukage's squad of hunter nin had full permission to travel there as well. This liar, this sad fool - he would see all the wondrous beasts Kiri's waters had to show. Forever deep, below the waves... where nothing of his body would be found.
" Then I shall take my leave now. Thank you for having me, Mizukage-sama. " Minato pulled up his hood and swiftly exited the Mizukage's office. Once he was out of anyone's line of sight, he transported himself via hiraishin to a hidden, special kunai on one of the cliffs surrounding the coasts. Coat, armour, and fox mask was removed and stored into a scroll, while a chic diving helmet appeared. His diving suit, along with the helmet, was self engineered, with seals designed to pass dissolved oxygen across the material while keeping water out. The world has never seen their like before, and he made sure to be careful and not lose them to enemy hands.
Minato stood tall, overlooking the waves knocking into jagged rocks below. There he passed his resolve across space and time, in his mind he predicted that he would be attacked here. Might as well take a look at this beautiful underwater world before that. One breath later, he shot chakra off his feet and dove elegantly into the waters. His vision was filled with colour, and his mind enriched.
The imposter did not know how correct he was in his prediction. Deep, deep below, far off in that alien underwater world, there were shadows. Blips off the corner of the eye, appearing to be nothing more than sea coral. They were hunters, and though they did not have the genius of the Namikaze, did not have the help of an advanced diving suit to guide them, these waters were their home. Where they took down their prey...
Slow and steady, the blips closed in, stalking after the imposter, subtly circling him as they did their best to remain hidden. As they did so... a sole eye kept watch over the proceedings. The shadow's mind was filled with hate, and his vision swam in a sea of red. Minato would have wiped the lot of them out already. Minato's student wiped out a whole contingent of hunter nin in less than a minute. Fox did nothing. What a disgrace to the Yellow Flash's memory. The sea floor was a fitting place for a creature such as this to rot.
If they died, that was. Time would only tell.
In a flash, the hunters made their move, and the evil eye spied.
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Yagura Karatachi | Sketches
Word is that today is the Yondaime Mizukage birthday (April 3rd) so here is a quick sketch in two different styles 👍🏼
He looks so soft here, I just can’t handle it
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lonestarfangirl2014 · 6 years
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According to the latest boruto episode(27 a shinobi bout of friendship) KAGURA IS THE GRANDSON OF YAGURA THE FOURTH MIZUKAGE.!!!!!!!!!! Yagura you were a teenage baby daddy weren’t you?
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New Ship:KaguBuntan
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lesbianmizukage · 1 year
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yondaime mizukage era is just the funniest completely offscreen era in naruto. this is what obito did with his 20s.
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sensate69 · 5 years
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electrasev5nwrites · 7 months
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Ninja Daily: AIC 25
"That one."
Inoichi gave him a sidelong glance that was far too expressive for 5 in the morning. "As you say, Hokage-sama."
Minato considered explaining. He was too tired.
'Kushina, I wish you were here for this. You're laughing at me, aren't you?'
There was no sign of her, of course, other than the ache in his soul where they should be touching. He pressed his lips together and waited for the genin he'd chosen to be brought in.
When he was led in, the boy had his shoulders back just a little too far and his hands were clearly aching to make fists. He was defensive. Not overly fearful.
'Is Naruto like this boy? Would he be wary of me, too?'
Minato smiled brightly. "Please, have a seat." While the genin was dithering, he made a point of glancing down at the clipboard he was holding. "Inai-san, right?"
His daughter's favored student sat down with slow, deliberate movements. He straightened his back. He didn't make eye contact. "Yondaime-Hokage-san."
'That's exactly the minimum amount of politeness required,' Minato thought. 'How familiar.' He didn't let the ghost of a smile reach his face. "How are you finding your stay in Konoha?"
Inai Yuusaku swallowed whatever smartass remark he'd been about to make. "Acceptable. How is yours?"
Well. Maybe he hadn't swallowed all of the sass.
'Disorienting. Highly concerning. I don't have the time or freedom to conduct the research I'd need to know what exactly has gone so wrong here.'
He felt his eyes crease in a smile. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I missed the plum blossoms last year."
The Kiri genin gave him a mildly disbelieving look. "So you did. Maybe some other things too, but mostly the plums."
Minato crossed his ankles underneath his chair. "I hear good things about Kirigakure lately. Is there anything you particularly like to do at this time of year?"
It was sort of cute, watching the kid strain to understand what Minato was hoping to glean from that question. In the end, he played it safe. "Not really."
"How did you end up training under the Mizukage?" Minato asked casually.
The boy gave him a sharp look. "I am lucky to have a skilled teacher."
He was neither confirming or denying that Aiko was the Mizukage. Even after she'd given her implicit permission for her team to talk about it.
"Of course," he agreed politely. "But you shouldn't be so modest. I hear good things about your performance in the second task of the chuunin exams, in particular."
If he hadn't already known the body language in that recorded fight belonged to Aiko, the stiff and defensive set to the genin's shoulders would have confirmed it.
"Thank you," Inai-san said. He made eye contact and then looked away as quickly.
"Uzumaki-san was in Kirigakure's Black Ops, wasn't she?" Minato tried.
The shrug the genin gave seemed genuine. "I am not privy to the career details of my seniors."
"Of course." He uncrossed his ankles and adjusted his feet to be the perfectly proper four inches apart. "But it's an open secret, isn't it? It is unusual for someone with such a low-profile career to be welcomed into the upper echelons of government. There's not many other confidential departments where a shinobi can become powerful enough to become a kage."
Inai probably didn't realize that he gave a minuscule nod of agreement. He believed that theory, then.
That was… Well. He hadn't expected that Aiko would have been honest about where she had come from. A classified career was the most comforting explanation that Kirigakure could come to.
"How long has she been your teacher?"
"Only since the weeks prior to the chuunin exams."
'Aiko specifically told them to be honest about that, then. He's hedging ambiguous answers where he isn't sure what she wants and spitting out what he's sure is safe.'
Minato nodded and gave a conversational hum. "Is she a good teacher?"
Inai gave an answer to that easily, in the affirmative. But of course he would.
"Thank you for your time," Minato decided. He stood up and resisted the urge to put his hands in his pockets.
The genin looked relieved. He actually gave a half-bow from his seated position.
Minato let his posture relax as he pulled open the door. "Goodbye." He nodded to the foreigner. "Before I go, I have one last question." Minato tossed it out as though it was an afterthought. He rubbed at the tendon behind his right ear. "If your teacher decides she wants me gone, how would she do it?"
He pretended not to notice how incredibly tense that was making the observing ANBU.
Inai Yuusaku seemed more than a little confused by the question. His eyes narrowed, looking for the trick. "I'm afraid I've never seen her in a difficult fight," the genin hedged. "I can't say what she would do."
Minato nodded. "Thank you. Have a good day." He let the door shut behind him and immediately set off to his temporary office, not the conference room behind one-way glass. Yamanaka-san would follow after the genin had been taken back to his cell. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before Inoichi slipped inside with a mild expression and let the door shut quietly.
"Yondaime-sama." Inoichi nodded. The way his long hair slipped over his shoulder was the same way Minato remembered, even if the wrinkles and scars were new.
He managed a thin smile. "What did you think?"
The Yamanaka took a moment to respond. "I do not think he gave any information that Uzumaki-san would have forbidden him to give," Inoichi said.
'He thinks I made a mistake in choosing that genin to interrogate.'
Minato nodded. "Yes." He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "He did a good job."
Inoichi looked at him, perfectly steady. There was no judgment in his clear blue eyes.
Minato snorted and made a waving motion. "You think I'm an idiot."
The younger man shook his head solemnly. "Not at all, Yondaime-sama." Inoichi let one corner of his mouth slip up in a smile. "I'm waiting to hear what you wished to accomplish."
He eyed Inoichi, but indulged. "I didn't need any classified information that a genin would have been privy to." Minato scratched the back of his neck. "But he did inadvertently confirm that Uzumaki-san has revived the dead before and that he believes the process to be permanent. I'd say that the breakdown of what Uzumaki-san did and did not classify would also indicate that she has dug her heels into Kirigakure, but has not been transparent about her history. She isn't especially friendly, but she hasn't ruled out cooperation with Konohagakure."
He was hungry, again. That was so odd. It was a strange feeling to get used to again.
"I see," Inoichi said slowly." A frown line formed. "I had made the first connection myself- his answer about how Uzumaki-san would get rid of you was phrased ambiguously to protect knowledge of her fighting style, but clearly assumed that a fight would be necessary." He tilted his head. "I… can see hints that evidence your later conclusions."
Minato didn't answer the implicit question. He was going to have to, eventually. It hung like a rock in his stomach. He just… He needed some time to gather more information and come to a conclusion about what needed to be done.
"Thank you," he said. He heard that his voice came out wooden, but didn't muster up the energy to falsify emotion. "That will be all for now. I'll speak with the Sandaime soon, but you may as well go first."
Inoichi didn't bother to deny that he would be reporting to the Sandaime. "Very well, then."
He couldn't work up the emotional effort to be offended that the Sandaime was distrustful of him. It made sense. The situation was incredibly suspicious.
'It's really starting to look like an alternate timeline situation.' Minato slowly collapsed to a seated position on the floor and ran his hands up his hair. 'Aiko, what have you done? Do you even know?'
She was different from the 14 year old girl he had briefly known in Rouran. At least, in presentation. It was a fair assumption that a lot of the same neurosis and traits were present, just better hidden. Less raw. He could easily see where the same need for control was playing out in this genin team she had adopted, the same protective desires towards younger and more vulnerable children. The oddity was that she had ended up bonding to persons in Kirigakure.
'If I can get her to come to Konohagakure, that would be best. I don't know if she can be convinced to leave.'
It was completely mad that this situation existed and he didn't even get the luxury of feeling confused about it. There was a terrible certainty in his gut. He knew what had happened- what linked him and Aiko. It was so terribly vulnerable to extra variables, simply because it wasn't meant to be subverted at all.
Minato wasn't under any illusions about what he was. He was walking and breathing and his heart was beating, but his soul belonged to the death god. He'd been given physical form to bear witness, but he hadn't truly been revived as one of the living.
The only question, really, was why Aiko had come to this place. Had it been an accident, like what had happened in Rouran? This was absolutely another dimension- there were only two live hiraishin seals in existence. One was in Kakashi-kun's possession, and the other one was being kept alive by the natural chakra in Rouran. Aiko had made certain that he wouldn't do that, ergo, there was either no Aiko belonging to this universe or at the very least, she was not the same as the Aiko he had encountered.
It seemed likely that he had never had a daughter in this universe, and not simply because no one seemed to think Naruto had a twin. Why else would Aiko have found herself in this specific timeline? This proved that alternate realities exist, and that probably meant infinite realities. Unless it was pure chance drawing Aiko to this universe, then there was some other factor involved.
Minato pieced listlessly through the reports he'd already studied. He kept coming back to focus on one paragraph in particular- Aiko had rather baldly interrogated a genin about siblings.
He wanted to think that her lack of subtlety meant that she had been upset or surprised by what she had learned- that perhaps she had never considered that there would have been no Aiko in this universe. Or that she had strong reason to believe she had a counterpart?
'She should be conversant with this theory.' Minato leaned back and ruffled his hair up. 'She's capable of adapting and using hiraishin. Maybe it's not her focus area, but I doubt that. So why wouldn't Aiko have learned about multiverse theory?'
From that he could posit two possible solutions- option one was that her fuinjutsu education was bizarrely inconsistent and patchy. Given that she should have been reared by Jiraiya, he would have said that was impossible. Of course, now in this universe he had seen that Jiraiya had abandoned his responsibilities to Naruto. Grimly, Aiko's selective ignorance was not as far-fetched as he would like.
Option two was that she had been upset by Naruto's answer because she specifically had reason to believe she had a younger counterpart. That was interesting. If there really was another Aiko in this universe, where was she? Why hadn't anyone ever mentioned Naruto's twin to him, if only to explain why she was absent? Why would Aiko know when no one else seemed to?
'Or Aiko could have just panicked. People do foolish things and forget obvious information when they are panicked.'
That theory was less interesting. Minato bounced his right leg a few times. He frowned when he caught himself fidgeting.
This office was a third the size of the Hokage's office. It felt like he was working in a dark cave and the walls would come down at any mo-
Minato dismissed the thought. He took deep, calm breaths. He did not ruminate on the soul that he'd never encountered in all his years wandering and reconnecting. It made some sense that forgiveness was still coming. Avoiding someone who got you killed was reasonable. Perhaps after a decade one's resolve might fade, but- it was what it was.
The walls were a pale green, textured with dust that made them scratchy. It was rather tasteful. He looked at them for a while, pushing down the blackness. If there was a window, he would have opened it. Or maybe he would have jumped out of it and chosen not to use any chakra.
That, he reflected, was possibly why there was no window.
He wasn't going to kill himself. Probably. He had a bone-deep terror that he wouldn't be able to pass back to where he belonged. Would his soul be trapped in limbo? Would he intrude on this Minato and Kushina's afterlife? Would Kushina wait for him until the world shook apart and death was unmade?
The only person who might be able to give him a hint was in Kirigakure playing at Mizukage. He was grudgingly, confusingly proud of her for achieving that. Aiko was a very odd person, but she didn't lack for ambition, did she? She was definitely his kid. And she seemed more stable than she'd been as a teenager. That was a good sign.
Talking to her in private would be… not impossible, but difficult. And unwise, given that the Sandaime was trying to figure out if Minato was under her control, as well as what had possessed him to keep a child completely secret and send her off to Kirigakure.
He hadn't asked yet, but he probably would, once investigation turned up nothing. It would have been a very strange choice, so Minato couldn't blame the Sandaime for wondering.
Would it be better or worse to tell the Sandaime that he was misplaced in dimensions? Would Sandaime believe him? Would sharing that information cause harm to Aiko?
Minato cleared his throat. "Excuse me."
ANBU boar obediently entered the room.
"I want to interview the genin who wrote this report." Minato handed it over. "Have her brought to me, please."
The shinobi gave the report a cursory glance and then handed it back. "Of course, Hokage-sama." He bowed and left quickly.
Minato spared a moment to feel a bit sorry for how alarmed that girl was going to be when told that the undead Hokage wanted to talk to her about a mission months ago. In all likelihood, she wouldn't remember anything more detailed than what she had written in her report. But if there was a chance he could push her to remember more details, specific wording that Aiko had used or facial expressions- well. It could help him.
He occupied the late morning and afternoon with the materials the Sandaime had arranged in order to help him understand the current political and social climate.
Three sharp raps on the door made him look up. That was Boar's hand, but he wouldn't be knocking to enter.
"Come in," Minato called, more on reflex than as a decision. He frowned immediately. The list of people who was approved to come and see him was short. Who was- oh, already?
The door took a good long second to open, during which time Minato twirled his pen and leaned back in his chair.
"Please excuse me."
He had melted at that timid little voice before he had a name to go with that pink hair. "Haruno-san," Minato said gently. Just looking at her made him feel a bit squishy and parental. She was rather small. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I read your reports and had some questions for you. Please, have a seat."
She gave the chair a fearful look.
Um. Maybe she was too polite to sit in her Hokage's presence. "Or you can stand."
Sakura gave him a wobbly smile. After a moment's deliberation, she sat. She did not relax in the slightest.
Alright, then. He dug out the relevant report. "You mentioned that Uzumaki Aiko exhibited attachment to members of your team," Minato started, as though he wasn't very aware of why this would be true. "Did you at any time have the impression that she might be willing to come to Konoha for the chance to be near anyone?"
Sakura twisted her hands in her lap. She looked up and then down quickly. "It's possible, Hokage-sama. She was kind to Sasuke and I, but I think she was very protective of Naruto."
'Yes,' Minato thought dryly. 'She would be. She was worried about him when they were the same age. Now that he looks like a child to her, she would be more alarmed. My best guess is that she was checking to see if this Naruto had an Aiko to take care of him- she would have come back to Konoha at that point if she could have. But now that the shock has passed, she could have rationalized that he isn't in danger, or that she can protect him from afar.'
She was projecting those feelings onto her current genin team, most likely. But the bond there wasn't as strong. It couldn't possibly be.
The trouble was deciding what to do with that information. He wasn't willing to hurt those kids on the off chance that Aiko would come to Konoha without them to mother. Was separating them more or less likely to help? Should he keep them apart as long as possible and see if her attachment faded? Or would it demonstrate more goodwill to give them back to her?
Had he made a mistake by not removing the hiraishin seal Aiko had left on her genin? Had that been a message, or had she really forgotten that it would be no barrier for him?
He had to admit that he didn't really know his daughter well enough to guess. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.
'She might return if Naruto asked her to. She wouldn't do it for me.'
Minato sighed. "How do you think she felt about your sensei? Was she relaxed? Fearful? Interested?"
Consternation crossed the genin's face. "Ah. Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura furrowed her brow. "She wasn't deferential at all, even when she was pretending to be a civilian. She might have…" Sakura looked a bit ill. "She might have flirted with him a bit. She exhibited a pattern of being apparently dismissive and disinterested, but she was very aware of him." Sakura folded her hands more demurely in her lap. "And she took interest in ensuring his health, when I don't think it served her purposes."
Well. He could see why she would make certain her genin sensei was healthy, even without a direct benefit. But still, Minato wondered at that possibility.
'Aiko could well have a crush on Kakashi. Or it could just be her familiarity and trust with her Kakashi bleeding over and looking odd to anyone who doesn't know why she cares about him.'
"Did you notice any concrete signs of attraction?"
She looked as thought she would very much prefer to forget this conversation. "Um." Sakura grimaced. "She and Tsunami-san may have exchanged some meaningful looks and comments. But I didn't think it was serious."
He mercifully abandoned that line of questioning for now, suppressing any amusement. For the next ten minutes he picked Sakura's memory. She did surprisingly well at repeating what seemed to have been verbatim quotes, and could recall specific body language.
When he finished, he leaned back. "Thank you, Haruno-san. You've been very helpful." He tapped his pen against the paper where he'd been taking notes. "Do you have any questions or comments for me?"
Her eyes widened. "Hokage-sama," Sakura said, as thought she was newly realizing that was who she was talking to.
He resisted the urge to see if someone was standing behind him. "That is me," Minato said cautiously.
She gave a polite little bow, as though pre-emptively apologizing for the rudeness of daring to speak to him. Her hair swept forward to cover her face. "Yondaime-Hokage-sama." She stopped. "I do have a question."
"Yes?" he prompted, trying not to smile.
The girl put her hands behind her back and lifted her chin. "I want to know why no one has told Naruto that Aiko-san is his sister."
He dropped his pen.
"What."
The girl barreled on. "Naruto deserves to know. Does Aiko-san know for sure? I'm worried that will come around and cause political trouble down the line."
'Good god, Kakashi. You trained this girl? I didn't give you enough credit as a teacher.'
Minato folded his hands on his desk, a plain one with the cheap plastic cover. He took a moment. "You are very small and frightening," he told Sakura. "That's a good combination. Have you considered your career path?"
Her brow furrowed. Oh god, her big green eyes glinted when she looked at him so suspiciously. He wanted to give her an ice cream and teach her to make explosions.
He wouldn't have been surprised if Kakashi or Jiraiya had figured that out. But this little girl, who didn't have the extra hints of the connections between Minato and both of his kids…. How had she done it? Minato considered what she could possibly know and how that could point in the right direction. "Why do you think that?"
Haruno glanced down at her sandals. "Strong circumstantial evidence implied that she thinks she's Naruto's sister. She could be wrong, but she seems like she knows what's she's doing." She dug a toe into the carpet. "Superficially, there are also some similarities in appearance and personality. They've got the same smile, for one thing."
He'd never registered a particularly memorable smile from either of them. Minato tilted his head. "You know, I want a detailed explanation of the evidence and logic that lead to your conclusions." He raised an eyebrow. "Can you have that on my desk today?"
"Um. Yes?" Haruno seemed a little confused, but that was alright.
"Just come back whenever you're finished. I don't know if Kakashi-kun is a good teacher for you, but I hope he's proud of you," Minato told her. "You're going to have a great career. Thank you, you may leave. Please keep this meeting and all contents to yourself."
Flustered, Haruno bowed far deeper than was necessary. She was rapidly turning a shade that threatened to compete with her hair. "Ah, yes. Thank you Yondaime-sama. Goodbye, Yondaime-sama."
"Have a nice day," he said.
"Yes, Yondaime-sama." She closed the door.
Minato didn't bother to conceal a smile. He sat very quietly, leaning forward a little to listen for the sounds of the girl gathering her wits enough to leave. After two seconds, there was a quiet, "Damn." Then she left.
He huffed out a laugh. "What a sweet kid."
The morning dawned sullenly. Or maybe that was Aiko projecting on it. She struggled her way to the office and only remembered she was supposed to have fed Gaara as she was taking a report from Saito-san's hands. She accepted the papers with both hands and a guilty feeling.
'For two shining days in a row, I was a responsible adult,' she thought. 'I've hit my peak, it's all downhill into garbageville from here.'
"Saito-san, please have Sakurai-san report to me as soon as he comes in," Aiko said. She transferred the papers to only her left hand. "When is my first appointment?"
If it hadn't been for the wrinkles that said otherwise, Aiko would have been forced to conclude that Saito had never smiled a day in her life. "From 7:45 until 8:05, you have the three hospital administrators. At 8:10, you could see Sakurai-san until 8:40. After that, you have three consecutively scheduled appointments in half-hour blocks that would begin at 8:50 and last until 10:30am. At that point, your schedule opens up until after lunch."
Aiko eyed her. "The last appointment is with you, isn't it?"
Saito-san nodded sharply, but her halo of tight gray curls didn't bounce a millimeter.
"I'll look forward to it." Aiko ran fingers through her hair, pulling it all to rest over her right shoulder. "Who is the young man who brought my coffee yesterday?"
"Kouzui-kun. Was there a problem?" There was a hint of teeth in that question.
"No problem at all," Aiko said mildly. It seemed more politic not to express surprise at the slightly inauspicious name. But, really? Unless it was a really strange spelling, his name had to be Flood. What family living on an island would want to be named 'Flood'? "Please ask him to prepare refreshments for my first meeting, and to bring it in at 7:44 to signal the start of the meeting." She tapped her reports against her left hip. "Thank you, that will be all for now."
Saito bowed her way out of the office. Not two seconds later, she was barking out orders to someone who wasn't using both hands to transport boxes of mission scrolls. Aiko pressed her lips together tightly even though no one was around to see her smile.
In the brief window of time she had, Aiko managed to read through the missions report data from the last week. It painted a picture that was incrementally better than last week's, but formed a stronger pattern of improvement when she remembered what these had looked like when she had first started reading them. Her personnel had been engaged in 2409 missions during the course of the week, 2089 had been completed and 1988 of which had been completed successfully.
It was a far cry from the 100% efficiency mark of managing 3577 weekly missions, but it was better than she had seen in past.
The numbers were artificially inflated by the bloating of D-class missions, of course. On average, a team could complete 4 D-class missions per day, and ideally that would form about 15% of the overall mission intake. With 23% of the mission requests coming for low-paid D-class missions, the treasury wasn't repleting properly, and shinobi who really ought to be doing C and B class work were being pulled to missions below their skill level. If she-
"Mizukage-sama." She looked up at the voice that came before two polite knocks on the door frame.
"Yes?" Aiko kept her tone mild to conceal the sharp spike of irritation she felt.
Nishikawa-san pulled the door open and gestured behind him. "Sanno-sama, Eirei-sama, and Namamura-sama are here for your meeting."
"Of course." She stacked the papers together and slid them into a folder. Then she came around her desk to greet her guests. Eirei relaxed during the pleasantries of bowing and being seated, but Namamura and Sanno were unperturbed from the start. That was a little off-putting, since Eirei was the only one who she had met prior.
"Mizukage-sama." Sanno was the one to begin, once they were arranged in the trio of chairs in front of her desk. "Let me be the first to thank you for the honor of the invitation to talk."
Aiko folded her hands in her lap unconsciously and ducked a couple of seated bows. "Not at all, Sanno-san," she deferred. "I am pleased that you could find the time in your busy schedules." The door slid open quietly. She glanced behind her guests to see that Kouzui was carefully balancing a tray in both hands while Nishikawa silently shut the door behind him. She turned her attention back to her guests. "The aim of our meeting today is to go over the new direction for the city hospitals. I would like your concerns, as well for you to communicate the new direction to the head of the hospital."
The three-person board of directors must have already designated Sanno as spokeperson, because he didn't glance at his fellows. "I regret to inform you that the senior management is missing key personnel that will make enacting a change difficult. We are in the process of internal review to begin promotion, but it could take some time to complete hiring and other necessary changes." The big man leaned slightly out of the way as Kouzui placed a cup and saucer on the sidetable at his elbow.
"I'm aware." Aiko said evenly. "I consider filling the position of Head Doctor your most immediate concern. I would like to request that you waive the two-month probationary period in favor of immediately assigning one of the seniors to the role on a temporary basis. In my opinion, Kamimura-sensei would be suited to overseeing the changes I have in mind, as interim head or whatever designation seems appropriate to you."
Kouzui left as silently as he'd entered. Sanno glanced backwards before making a moment of eye contact with Eirei.
"What did you have in mind for the hospital this year?"
Aiko glanced down at her desk for an instant to be sure she was handing over the correct papers and not her missions efficiency reports. "It's a two year plan, with a review scheduled in 3 months. I want to construct a new, more modern building for the main hospital within the year, and the two satellite clinics to be completed after that. I'm concerned about insufficient corridor width in the burn ward-"
Eirei was nodding as he passed the last paper on to Namamura. "Yes, I see," he agreed. "That was renovated from an older section and it's really not up to code. But this project sounds prohibitively expensive, Mizukage-sama. Our current budget is not sufficient for 3 new buildings within two years, much less maintaining the current ones concurrently until the transition can be made."
"Which I why I want you to direct the financial review to come up with a projection of expenses." Aiko took a sip of her coffee- 3 creams, 4 sugars. Someone in the office was feeling kind this morning. Or trying to kill her gradually with too much sugar. Could the two be compatible? It might be Mei.
"That projection will need to account for additional hiring and training as well. I'm aiming to increase the staff by 2% this year, and 3% the following year." She gestured at the notes she'd handed them. "I want to make a career in the medical sector more appealing to draw in more candidates to reduce the workload and head off the burnout. That's going to involve more aggressive recruiting and some mandatory aptitude testing, as well as a slight salary and benefits increase. Once we've dealt with the current glut of D-level missions, I think suitable candidates could be drawn from our genin population as well as aiming further recruitment into the Academy."
"And the funds for all this?" Eirei was carefully neutral in tone, despite pressing the point.
Aiko favored him with a slight smile. "This is one of my highest priorities. If I find the budget requests reasonable, I will find a way to fund them. Additionally, the costs for the construction are not going to be on the hospital budget. I need your cooperation for drawing the blueprints to ensure the facilities will be adequate, but your other responsibilities for that project will be minimal."
The meeting went on along those carefully polite lines. It wasn't ideal that they were too cautious to offer many thoughts, but it was efficient. She'd take it and probably miss it later, when people got bold enough to argue with her.
Kouzui slid open the door at 8:04 to begin collecting dishes, and wow she could get used to staff that insightful. The silent prompting helped draw the meeting to an easy close and usher the trio of older men out on their way only two minutes past the designated ending time. It took one minute for Kouzui to remove two of the chairs to the storage area and refill her cup. She leaned back and rubbed at her head in the two minutes before Sakurai let himself in.
"Good morning, Mizukage-sama." He barely glanced at his inviting seat, with coffee steaming on the side table.
She gestured for him to sit. "Good morning, Sakurai-san. Did Gaara-kun report to you this morning?"
His mouth twitched. "He reported directly to Tazuna-san, Mizukage-sama. I have received his verbal report about his orders and aims for the day."
Aiko tilted her head, prompting for further thoughts.
Sakurai didn't take the bait, because he wasn't a sucker.
Fair enough. She could go to the source for information, later.
"I've decided on your role going forward, based on your experience with international trade in past." Aiko gave him a smile. "For now you'll still be handling the infrastructural projects, but we'll be moving new projects over to Utakata in future to free you up for setting up a financial department. Do you have thoughts about who you would like to work with?"
Sakurai blinked once, twice. He pressed his lips together tightly. "What would this position entail, precisely?"
"You'll be developing and implementing policy for ship-based trade," Aiko explained. "That would involve working closely with the Treasury, as well as several civilian industry leaders."
"I see." He didn't move for a moment. Sitting straight and perfectly still like that in the sunlight, Sakurai cut a rather heroic figure. Aiko had the frivolous thought that the off-white stone of the Hokage monument wouldn't do justice to the dramatic warmth of his complexion but she didn't know what material would be better.
"May I speak freely?"
Aiko frowned more on instinct than displeasure. "You may. What's on your mind?"
Sakurai, impossibly, sat even straighter. "I would like to respectfully decline this assignment, if I may. I believe that my skills are better used in the area where I am currently working."
What.
"The reconstruction won't be indefinite," Aiko pointed out. "Tazuna and his team will leave. It won't keep you busy."
"It's true that our immediate concerns will be addressed in short order," Sakurai agreed levelly. "However, much of our infrastructure and housing is old, built according to out-dated standards. Our city planning does not reflect the standards of one of the greatest nations. We need a long-term plan to rejuvenate Kirigakure and bring our institutions, cultural and functional, to the pinnacle of modernity and international dignity befitting our status."
She rested her arms on her desk. "You've been thinking about this," Aiko said slowly. "What would you term as our priority long-term and short-term concerns?"
Sakurai didn't fully conceal a spark of victory in his expression. "Our waterways are relics made of inferior and unsafe materials, our flood protections insufficient, and our electrical infrastructure woefully inadequate. Our natural resources are not being efficiently utilized, and frankly, much of the capital city is dingy and depressing. Parks and other sites requisitioned for training grounds and bleak government buildings have reduced the visual appeal and affected morale and quality of life. We do not offer secondary education and other resources that would improve the quality of life here, and so we lose talent to minor nations that can offer other opportunities."
Aiko licked her lips. She rested her chin on her palm, leaning into the conversation for the first time. "Utakata has some papers that you'll be needing. When can you have 2, 5, and 10 year plans on my desk?"
She only knew that the meeting time must have been up because Kouzui came in to take one of the guest chairs and accompanying table out from storage and whisked away Sakurai's untouched coffee. Aiko was sort of sorry to see Sakurai go, but she used her ten minutes of free time to scratch notes down and take out what she would need for her next consultation with the newly chosen Academy principal and the vice principal. After that meeting, Chojuro came in. He was adorable, and obviously passionate about outlining a system for recruiting more students to be mentored in swordsmanship.
But he was also obviously unprepared and off-kilter in the more general assignment he'd had to outline and staff parallel programs for other advanced skillsets.
"A very nice young man, but goddamn if he isn't a little bit narrow in his approach to problem-solving," Aiko muttered to the closed door after he left. Someone else was going to have to pick up that slack. "Not every problem needs a hammer, you soggy daikon. Dingus. Parakeet." She leaned back in her chair and hooked a foot over the support bar under her desk. "Poorly-wired waffle iron."
Sanbi finally woke up enough to register some vague confusion and disapproval, but no actual disagreement with her analysis. He did the bijuu equivalent of rolling over and going back to sleep, because some people were unemployed slobs and could do that.
She waived off the next coffee because she'd had four and it wasn't 11am yet. Kouzui actually frowned at her, but he returned with water. She gave a little more weight to the theory of slow-burn assassination by sugared coffee.
Aiko snuck off to her home for a hasty bathroom break before Saito knocked on the door for their meeting.
Saito wasn't pleasant on a personal level, but she exhibited a sort of ruthless competence that Aiko appreciated in her staff. She didn't trust that Saito would call a doctor if Aiko had a heart attack in her office from drinking way too much caffeine, but she felt a bone-deep certainty that all the missions paperwork would be filed, insightful notes on staffing trends would be made, and and no jounin would hand in a mission report with fudged details while Saito reigned. That was, generally speaking, more important. If a little unsettling.
Aiko shook off the jitters that came from a closed-door meeting with someone who likely wanted her dead. She felt like stretching her legs, so she ran out to check in on the harbor. The lack of news was encouraging, because someone would probably have come to find her if Gaara had killed Tazuna.
She arrived to find the work crew continuing whatever arcane science would complete the pump and lock system while Tazuna sat cross-legged on the ground and monologued while drawing something. Gaara was crouched on the other side of the paper and leaning ever so slightly in.
Cheered, Aiko chose not to disturb whatever momentum they had going. She'd asked Gaara to report to her later. Nosing in would steal his thunder and probably undermine the whole damn point of entrusting him with a little bit of autonomy. And nobody looked even a little bit dead, so it was clearly going just fine.
"An absence of murder qualifies a project as acceptable? I notice that this is a different metric than you applied to the Chojuro," Sanbi commented. "Is Gaara not being trained for a higher level of responsibility that would seem to require higher standards? Please explain."
'Chojuro is a name, not a title,' Aiko corrected. 'Also, shut up. The 'no murder so far' thing is a very preliminary observation. I'll have more details about Gaara's competency later, whereas Chojuro is a grown-ass man who had a month to come up with something to impress me.'
The leader of the three-man team that Mei had personally picked to watch over Yamato gave her a nod when she went to the last residential complex next. Yamato, dripping sweat already, took a couple of seconds to notice her.
"Hello." He glanced back to his work and used what she recognized as excessive dramatics in laying out the floorboards for the eastern section of the third floor.
Aiko folded her arms against the breeze and considered the even, smooth layout of the single piece of wood flooring that covered half of an apartment complex. She felt the left side of her mouth pull up. "That's impressive. Do you need to rest before you do the next part?"
Yamato tossed his hair and inadvertently flicked her with sweat. "Not at all," he said levelly.
She stepped behind him and focused on what he was doing, because she was a cheating piece of garbage and her Rinnegan were basically souped up sharingan.
He flinched at the reach of her chakra, but he had absolutely no way of knowing there was a chance she could gain from testing the way his chakra felt as he worked. So he laid out the next floorboards and built up the ceiling on the next level before he pleaded exhaustion to take his break.
"Thank you," Aiko said, because manners mattered even when one was secretly stealing another person's technique. "It's a pleasure to watch you work. I'll stop back in this afternoon to watch some more, if I have the time." She'd make the time, if it was at all possible. She might be giving him back to Konohagakure any day now.
His ears reddened.
Aiko nodded to his handlers and left. She felt a little bad about benefiting from his obvious years of hard work, but she didn't have time to be that diligent just for the sake of it. Her guilt didn't stop her from going to her private training grounds to replicate what she had observed about manifesting uniform, strong wood instead of a gnarled mess.
It went very well.
'Intellectual theft is very useful. I sort of get the Uchiha now.' Aiko guided a ring of stone up with her left hand and whacked it into the dirt with mokuton. It made a pretty inset. Contemplatively, she warped the wood and convinced it that it would like to be a decorative arch over the stone. It took a minute or two for the wood to agree with her and bend into a tall "U" shape, burrowing sturdy legs into the ground as a base.
Someone should put some flowers inside it or something. Actually yes, she'd do something like that when they got around to improving the city parks. She was going to have so many decorative bridges and pavilions. She could be just as classy as Konoha. She'd have so many unnecessary gardens. It was going to be great.
Every attempt to replicate what Yamato had done was vastly superior to her amateur fumblings in the dark. Aiko made a mental note of it: Stealing really paid off. She wasn't keeping track of time while she experimented with control and power, but it was at least 12 when someone came to find her.
After about 2 minutes of standing silently, Terumi cleared her throat. "Mizukage-sama," she allowed. Her tone was bland. "There's someone at the gate claiming to be your guest."
"That's… bold." Aiko blinked excess power through her body and concentrated it in her hands. She molded it into heat and pressure and pushed it out as a white-hot ball of fire that consumed her experimentation. Mei watched this with no particular expression at all, but Aiko was feeling slightly proud of her improvements with both the wood and the fire element, thank you very much. "I should go say hello, see if they need to be taken out to lunch or imprisoned or whatever."
Mei might have betrayed some irritation in the twitch of her eye, but her tone was implacable. "As you say."
"I remember that struggle," Aiko said absently. "You're too used to using the mask as a crutch for hiding your thoughts. Work on that." She let her hair out of the ponytail she'd used to keep it off her face while she trained and shook it out with her fingers. There were only a couple of splinters in it this time. Nice.
Mei's mouth neatly dropped open in outright outrage, but Mei didn't deny the criticism. She followed Aiko on the run to the gate and fell behind a polite couple of steps only when they reached the small cluster of wary shinobi at the city checkpoint.
"She is my beloved sister," Karin said, in the tone that meant she was daring someone to disagree with her. "We are very close. She would want you to give me tonkatsu. Probably ice cream, too."
"So you have said," one of Aiko's shinobi said. "Many times." The man was wearing the pin that identified him as from the outer patrol and a long-suffering expression that identified him as the poor bastard who had carted Karin to the main island.
Mei looked a bit ill when Aiko glanced back. Perhaps she hadn't heard that Karin was claiming to be related to Aiko. Or maybe she just hadn't believed it until she saw them at the same time.
She considered, for a moment, that Karin was almost certainly here to spy for Orochimaru. The chances were like, 98%.
"That sounds like a problem."
'Not really.' Aiko turned on her sunniest smile. 'She's not as slick as she thinks she is. She's 12. But her scheming is absolutely adorable, you'll love her.'
"Karin, I'm glad to see you." Aiko waved off the tense gate guard overseeing the potential disaster. "Stand down, everyone. There's no problem here. I've may or may not have some relatives that might show up from time to time."
"Yeah, yeah." Karin sniffed. "Can't the Mizukage's sister get some respect around here? A hot lunch?"
Aiko rolled her eyes. "I'll treat you to lunch and we'll talk. Terumi-san, thanks for bringing the situation to my attention. And-" She gestured a question.
"Kamimoto," said the man who'd escorted Karin. He probably needed hazard pay and a hot drink.
"Kanimoto-san," Aiko continued. "Thank you for your diligence and bringing her to my attention. Stop in to my office before you return to your post." She slung an arm around Karin's shoulders and began steering her away. "Afternoon."
They didn't talk after that. Karin was perfectly capable and appeared a lot more confident than she was, but even her iron will was apparently a little tested by the sudden awkwardness of reaching the kage to whom she'd claimed a relationship. Aiko steered them into a restaurant that seemed decent. She and Karin were ordering drinks when Utakata strode in and seated himself.
Aiko noticed something very interesting on the menu that required a lot of her attention.
There was a very long, very uncomfortable silence. The waiter shifted on their feet.
"Hello," Karin broke in. She kicked her heel against her chair. At least, that was probably what the little thump from under the table was. "Are you going to order something, or do you just subsist on hair cream and the smug satisfaction of being where you aren't wanted?"
"I'll have tea. Hot." Utakata didn't take the bait.
The server beat a hasty retreat.
"Aiko-san," Utakata said, in an incredibly pleasant tone. "I believe that we have had a very similar conversation before. May I request clarification? I had previously assumed that this issue was concluded."
"I didn't kidnap this one, either," Aiko defended. "She came here. And it's not even a lie. She's my relative, look at her." She gestured. Karin preened on reflex. "Those cheekbones are telling the truth, Utakata. The pretty, pretty truth."
"She's your sister," Utakata said with no inflection.
"Oh." Aiko shrugged, checking that no one was within hearing distance. "That's a lie."
"Then it wasn't the truth," he said patiently.
"It was basically the truth. It's close enough." Aiko tilted her chin up, combative. "What the fuck is this? Do you tell me what to do now?"
He leaned in. "You can depart upon whatever course of action suits your fancy, but it would be helpful were I to have accurate information so that I might support you."
She bristled.
"Mom, dad, I hate it when you argue." Karin rapped her knuckles on the table. She raised an insolent little eyebrow.
"That's ridiculous," Aiko rejected. She leaned back from Utakata's personal space. "I'm not old enough to be your mother."
"Unless you are," Utakata muttered.
"Maybe I am," she allowed the possibility. "I could be as old as fifty."
"Is she older or younger than your other ambiguous sibling or offspring?"
Aiko eyed Karin up. Side by said, she'd be able to pass Karin off as a year older than Gaara, but not the other way around. "Older," she said, and that was true. She was pretty sure. "Or they could be twins. Depends."
"You must choose one story."
"Why?"
"Because-"
"I'm really starting to feel left out." Karin sounded more bemused than anything. "Are you two actually married? Should I know you?"
"Yes," Aiko said, because she couldn't parent two teenagers alone. "That's your stepdad Utakata, a great big slug person who likes to blow bubbles. He's a very nice man and you'll be helping him imprison some nice Konoha nin. Darling, sweetheart, please tell my sister daughter person all about your current project and have her show you how she can help."
There was a lull around the table, but Karin and Utakata were probably reacting to different things.
"Goodbye. Enjoy lunch." Aiko stood up and waived the server over. By the speed with which they made it over, no one had quite managed to forget the just who she was. "These two are having a working lunch, I'm afraid that I have to back out of. Please send the bill to my office, I'll balance the account within an hour of receiving it. Excuse me."
She beat a hasty retreat.
When she made it back to the office, Gaara was waiting for her. She guiltily ushered him in, because it was a total fluke that she hadn't left him waiting through the lunch hour. If she hadn't fled Utakata and Karin, he'd be sitting here alone. How sad.
"Good afternoon, Gaara." She stopped herself from patting his head as she passed by. "What did you think of Tazuna?"
Gaara considered this. "Old," he said. "Knowledgeable. Lacks the self-preservation of a sand vole."
She blinked. She thought about that for a moment. "Fair enough. I guess that's all empirically true. I was hoping to hear about his plans for city development."
"Ah." Gaara nearly let his eyes close. "Today, I learned…."
Silence stretched out while he mulled over his words. Aiko used it to check hopefully if someone had brought lunch yet. Nope.
"Irrigation and drainage," he said.
Apparently he considered that enough.
"That they're important?" Aiko prompted. "Or you learned about the basics?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"I will drain water where there is too much. I will bring water where it is scarce."
"How?"
"Through drainage and irrigation."
She threw a pen at his head. The sand caught it and crushed it to pieces.
Gaara might have been smiling, but it was way deep on the inside. His actual expression remained impassive.
"You are a little shit," Aiko informed him. "I saw you having a perfectly civil interaction with Tazuna-san earlier. I am asking for macro-level analysis."
He made the saddest little motion with his shoulders. It was probably meant to have been a shrug. But it was so slow, small, and controlled that there was no possibility it was anything but a calculated imitation.
"I'm going to put you in the ocean," Aiko said calmly.
"I will practice drainage."
She blinked. "What, what?" She felt her brow furrow. "I don't think you can drain the ocean."
"Do you suggest irrigation instead?"
The worst part of his insolence is that his tone was perfectly level, and his expression was the same as ever. Aiko crossed her arms and sat on her desk, on top of her folders. She looked at Gaara long and hard.
He was waifish and adorable, really, with his oversized clothes, mop of hair, and sleepy eyes. He was also the child of a kage, brilliant and damaged and separated from everyone he had ever known in a situation where everyone treated him differently than before. He was deeply suspicious, waiting for the other foot to drop.
He was imitating her interactions with Utakata as a way to relate to her, because he had few models of positive interaction. Probably he felt that she would abandon him if he offended her, and he was desperate to change his entire being in order to find a new purpose. He both admired and feared her.
She felt… sad, suddenly.
"You are a lot like me," Aiko said, meaning absolutely nothing to do with the way he'd been needling a powerful figure. That wasn't really him, or at least not necessarily him.
Gaara gave her the same black stare, but there was somehow disbelief in it now.
"You're a good kid," she said. She averted her eyes, because that was edging dangerously close to forgiving herself for having once been young and vulnerable. "I'm really starting to wonder if lunch is ever coming. I did ask for that to be brought here, didn't I?"
"Yes." Gaara finally gave her a straight answer. "You did not give specifics. Therefore, my preference was asked."
"Oh." Aiko pursed her lips. "That's just fine. What are we having?"
"Rice, barley tea, tsukemono."
She waited a couple off seconds for him to continue, but he didn't. "…Is that all?"
He frowned at her.
'I should have eaten with Karin after all. I'd be having pork.'
"Alright, then." She brought her legs up onto her desk to sit more comfortably. "While I have you here, I wanted your thoughts on something. We need to contact Suna, to ensure that they won't count you a missing-nin once they realize you're here. I think being proactive is better. Who would have the clout to legitimize diplomatic action?"
The list was short, and the names he thought of were the same ones she knew. The two elders would be able to lend weight to anything, but were unlikely to get involved. There were some senior jounin who might be able to gain public trust and authority, but no one truly stood out.
"So… To be honest, your genin team might be the biggest concentration of influence," Aiko half-asked. It was what she'd wanted to hear. "Temari is not a genin in anything but name. The 16 year-old heir of the last Kazekage, an experienced jounin, and her 15 year old brother- it would be hard to countermand them, if they had some assurance of support or influence?"
"You want to lure Temari to Kirigakure."
Aiko frowned at her apprentice. "Lure is a strong word. I'm going to send an invitation from the newly inaugurated Mizukage to Suna no Temari, eldest child and presumptive heir of the 4th Kazekage. To be honest, it's a bit rude, but it would be hard for other interest groups to protest it. They won't want to outright offend me, but it would make it very difficult for anyone to limit her influence by claiming she's an unknown. She probably won't want to come, but it would be hard to turn down that golden opportunity to position herself as an authority."
Gaara did not seem impressed by this logic.
"I think that Suna and Kiri can benefit each other." Aiko crossed her legs. "We have too few personnel to handle our mission load and reconstruction, which means that higher level contracts are getting filled slowly and in fewer numbers. That will hurt our clientele and influence them to take their business elsewhere. Suna, on the other hand, has been hurting for lack of missions to support the populace."
Gaara startled, green eyes firmly fixed on her.
"It's obvious," Aiko dismissed. "Do you agree with my suggestion?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "How many?"
She bit her lip for a moment. "Twenty, for now. Including you."
Someone knocked on the door. They both ignored it.
"How long?"
"Six months, to be re-evaluated later."
He shook his head. "Far too long. Shifts of two month, in three waves." He frowned. "Staggered, so that more experienced shinobi can help the newer ones acclimate."
"Are you supervising them?"
Gaara actually grimaced, which was hilarious.
"Point taken." She leaned over to pat his head. He accommodatingly moved his head forward just enough that she didn't overbalance and fall off the desk. "I'll draft the letter requesting that your sister visit."
Saito-san pushed the door open and gestured a genin in with two trays of food. She didn't even pretend that she hadn't been listening in. "I could have a messenger sent to the business district, Mizukage-sama." She sounded incredibly, depressingly resigned.
Gaara's eyes widened.
"Other sister," Aiko said hastily. "Karin."
"How many are there?" Saito-san asked, but she didn't seem to be talking to Aiko.
"Karin?" Gaara said quietly. His brow furrowed.
She considered fleeing this interaction, too, but actually she was pretty hungry. So she slid off of her desk and cleared off a space for her tray and Gaara's. The genin set them down and began backing away. "Itadakimasu." She picked up her blue chopsticks, noted the slightest scent, and sighed. She set them down. Gaara had never made a move for his own food. "Saito-san." Aiko made eye contact. "Are you trying to poison me?"
The older woman was very still. "I am not, Mizukage-sama."
That was the kind of statement that compelled her bodyguards to come out, even before Aiko had to beckon.
"I wondered how long this would take," the Sanbi said cheerfully. "I was surprised no one had tried to kill you all this time. Admittedly, you were out of the village often."
Aiko kept her stare as cold as possible. "Please take yourself and your assistant out. Provide these professionals with a list of the people who provided the food and utensils. I hope to see you tomorrow morning."
Saito was so pale as to look ill. "Mizukage-sama, my loyalty to Kirigakure is absolute. I have nothing to do with this."
"I hope so." She waved the requisitioned Hunter-nin out. "I think that Gaara and I will find another lunch." Aiko watched her office head escorted out of the building in custody, head held high.
"Fuck," she said. "Who is going to finish that report before my meeting tomorrow?"
"Aiko-sama?" Gaara's arms were crossed again, body language closed off.
It probably wasn't a good time to try touching him. She took a moment to really fucking hate whoever was trying to kill her this time. Gaara had been relaxing, before. Fuck.
"Goddamnit," she said, apropos of nothing. Aiko sighed. "At least I know you can sense poisons. I smelled it, did you-?"
He shook his head. "There's grains of something plant-based in the tsukemono."
"It's sweet," she agreed. "Too sweet for daikon. Goddamit." Aiko gritted her jaw. "Let's… go out for lunch. You should meet Karin."
"Who is my sister?" Gaara said, dry as the desert he came from.
"Probably." Aiko locked her office door from the inside with a sharp, irritated movement. "I might change my mind on that, so don't quote-"
The ichibi rose.
She darted to the side before turning, but the sand wasn't aiming for her. Gaara was stretching his palm towards Obito. He was sitting on her chair.
Her shoulders dropped. "Rude. That's just rude."
He didn't smile at her. "Good afternoon, Aiko. You should go rescue your brother before he dies."
"Brother?" Gaara asked, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Obito.
"Explain that."
"I believe that Itachi went to check in on his younger brother under the pretense of pursuing a target and gathering information on a target that has disappeared," Obito said, not sounding especially interested in any of this. "He met with several Konoha shinobi, and has taken a hostage. A summon conveyed this information less than an hour ago, as well as the fact that they have left Konohagakure but not Fire Country."
"Where is he going?"
Obito snorted. The answer was obvious.
"There directly?" Aiko demanded.
"I believe so," Obito said. "Akatsuki would be most prudent to go in order, but Pein has been angered by the disappearance of a target whose location was thought to be fixed." His one-eyed gaze rested on Gaara. "Taking the kyuubi at this juncture can be explained as opportunism, by a man with a grudge against Konoha. It won't send the other jinchuuriki to ground." He huffed. "Last I heard, they were planning to pass the 3rd border patrol between Shi and Sho stations. They're probably through already, but you could pick up the track there."
She grabbed his arm, thinking of probable routes that Kisame and Itachi would take out of Konoha. "I'll need you. I can't fight them both."
Obito pulled his arm away gently. "I have a cover to maintain." He gave her a one-eyed squint. "I'm hoping you'll help me deplete Akatsuki's ranks, but I can't be associated with your efforts if one of them escapes. Happy hunting, Aiko."
She nodded, reluctant. "Thank you." Aiko swallowed. "I appreciate the information.
He gave her a thin smile and then melted away into Kamui.
"Aiko-sama?"
"I need to go." Aiko gritted her teeth and tried to remember the most likely location to cut Itachi and Kisame off. If they'd left Konoha with Naruto hostage, they'd be traveling fast, directly to Ame. Once they made it past the final rings of tight security, they'd travel fast until they hit the border.
She needed backup.
Gaara was too young, and a jinchuuriki besides. She wouldn't bring another target to Akatsuki, which ruled out Utakata except in direst need. Mei was probably trying to kill Aiko. Ao was her man, she didn't trust Chojuro would do any damn good against a more experienced swordsman, and-
"Right," Aiko said, slightly regretting what she was about to do before she did it. But the list of people who were powerful and trustworthy for this was rather short. Okay, so she'd go get him, rescue Naruto, and then- right. She'd almost forgotten. Aiko pointed at her apprentice. "Gaara, my wallet is in the top left drawer, go get lunch."
He scowled.
"I love you, be good," she said quickly, and then she was gone.
It was hard not to flinch when a hostile suddenly appeared behind you. Yamato kept down the grimace and turned to face his visitor. "Mizukage-sama," he said mildly. "You look well." The sweat running down his back itched.
Uzumaki-san glanced around the area, checking 1-2-3 on the guards. "Yamato-san." She gave him a thin smile. Something about it sent a warning to his hindbrain. "I'd like to make a deal with you. I need to deal with a – threat to my personal interest," she said. Her pulse was jumping. "Two powerful figures have taken the kyuubi jinchuuriki, as part of their campaign to acquire all of the bijuu."
He felt the blood drain out of his face.
'If she's telling the truth, this is bad.'
"Neither of us want that," Uzumaki-san said. She wasn't wrong. "Come with me. You can escort Naruto back to Konoha."
"Who are we talking about?" Yamato pushed his hair back, missing his happa. "I'll need my equipment."
'This feels like a trick, but I can't see what benefit she could get from it. Why would she choose me? To legitimize her presence in an operation in Fire Country? Because she can't trust her people to keep a Konoha jinchuuriki safe? That could be it. But it would imply she doesn't have good control over her people. Interesting, if true."
Uzumaki nodded sharply to the closest guard. "Get all of his equipment," she ordered sharply. "Bring it here. And you, pass over your soldier pills- medkit? Yes. You, come with us."
The Hunter-nin scattered to do her bidding, which did make this seem convincing.
She finally turned her purple gaze back to him. "Akatsuki's Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are the enemy," Uzumaki-san said. "Leave Uchiha to me. I suspect that Hoshigaki will be carrying Naruto. You two will retrieve him safely and occupy Hoshigaki until I can help you." She paused and addressed the nin whose equipment she was requisitioning. "You take a message to Utakata once we've left here informing him of where we've gone. I'll be taking your other teammate as well."
"Two Hunter-nin and I against Hoshigaki?" Yamato asked. Hoshigaki, Hoshigaki. "He was a hunter-nin too, wasn't he? He'd know the tactics well."
"Yes," Uzumaki said shortly. "That's why you'll be taking point while my people run interference and backup." She gave the remaining hunter-nin a look over Yamato's shoulder. "Is that acceptable?"
He wasn't certain she was talking to him, but he nodded just the same. "I want my teammate as well," Yamato tried. "I'll work well with him."
"He'll just get killed," Uzumaki-san said shortly. "He's weak against water jutsu."
'How does she know that?'
She appeared to dismiss him- ah, the hunter-nin had returned. Yamato got changed as quickly as possible, shucking the sweat towel around his neck in favor of his flak jacket and hastily fastening weaponry and equipment pouches. He pulled his uniform pants on directly over the pants he'd been given, because he wasn't flashing his underpants to the Mizukage. She waited with what he was now recognizing was tightly leashed violence, not calm.
'She seems to think she'll be able to take on Uchiha. I don't like making a plan based on that assumption. If she's wrong, things will turn ugly quickly.'
But she was taking him back to Fire Country. He'd get no better offer than that. As a Konoha nin, he couldn't pass up a chance to escape custody and aid in retrieval of a Konoha shinobi.
"I'm ready," Yamato lied, feeling his stomach clench. The Mizukage held out her left arm to her hunter-nin. After a pause, they both took hold of her forearm. The two gloved hands dwarfed the Mizukage's arm, making her look disturbingly fragile. Yamato copied the gesture when she reached out with her right.
And then they were in a forest.
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mixelation · 3 years
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fic: to wake the dead, pt 3 (~2.3k)
part 0, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
In which Karin’s blood’s power goes beyond just healing. Like, way beyond.
This part has a fight scene and an ever-expanding cast. 
Not being at the summit herself, Karin could only piece together what happened from later reports from people involved. She imagined it went something like this. 
Minato managed to beat Sasuke to the summit itself. Since he barely had any idea what was going on, he teleported directly into the meeting room. Karin could imagine him, fading into reality without fanfare, dressed in burial clothes. 
The obvious conclusion to draw, of course, was that he was a ghost. 
The Tsuchikage, whose armies still whispered in fear about Konoha’s Yellow Flash, screamed bloody murder. Danzo paled. The samurai mediators drew their swords. The Raikage grabbed the table and flung it at Minato at full force. There was a lot of additional screaming all around. 
When the initial confusion died down, and Minato didn’t do anything besides dodge the table and sheepishly apologize, the Mizukage purred out something about him being more of a looker than she’d heard. 
“Hokage-sama,” the Kazekage greeted. 
“He doesn’t mean you,” one of the Kazekage’s guard almost definitely didn’t stage whisper to Danzo, but Karin could fudge as many unimportant details as she wanted.
“I have several questions for you,” the Kazekage continued. 
“Um,” said Minato. “Hold that thought.”
Minato then dashed out the door, bolted down the corridor, and tackled a very confused Sasuke to the ground. Or, at least, that’s how Minato told the story– Suigetsu insisted Sasuke got at least a few hits in before being wrestled into a vaguely humiliating hold. 
“WHAT THE F–” Suigetsu started, only to be interrupted by Juugo loudly asking if Minato had been sent by Karin. 
“...Maybe?” Minato said. “She’s the redhead girl, right?”
“What is happening?” The Tsuchikage’s guard and granddaughter screeched, having followed Minato out the door while her grandfather yelled nonsensical things about the past come back to haunt him. Other members of the meeting trailed her, more in a confused mess than a coordinated movement by professional shinobi. 
Sasuke chose that moment of distraction to activate Susanoo, forcing Minato to let go.
“Who are you?” Sasuke demanded, brandishing his sword at Minato. “What did you do to Karin?”
Or, he might have asked, “What do you have to do with Karin?” but, again, Karin was allowed to make up her own details. 
“Sasuke, please calm down,” Minato said, showing his hands like he was trying to seem unthreatening, as if a man who just casually teleported into the highest security meeting this decade and then took down Sasuke without breaking a sweat could be unthreatening. “I have an important message from Uchiha Itachi–”
“HE IS A GHOST,” someone probably yelled.
Sasuke, even more unstable than anyone had sufficiently explained to Minato, twitched an eye at the mention of his brother. Minato barely managed to dodge being set on fire by Amaterasu. 
“Wait, Sasuke,” Juugo tried to intervene. He and Suigetsu had neglected to properly explain where Karin had run off to, or that she’d being holding out on exactly what her blood’s healing powers could do, because they understood that mentioning Itachi to Sasuke at this trying time carried a high risk of being stabbed and possibly electrocuted. 
Unfortunately, Madara took this moment to make his own dramatic entrance, stepping out of a rift in time and space.
“Well, well,” he cooed. “If it isn’t the Yondaime Hokage.”
By this time, the other Kage and their entourages had rallied themselves enough to take defensive stances, muttering to each other about who exactly they should be fighting. 
“The– what–?” Sasuke was also confused about who he should be fighting. 
“We’ve come to deliver our own message,” Madara declared. “We, Akatsuki, declare war on–”
Hashirama burst through the wall. 
--
Shisui returned from his raid of the jounin lockers to find Karin having a shouting match with another woman. At first, he was afraid the genjutsu Itachi had set up had slipped, but then he realized the woman was wearing a white kimono. 
“You could show a little gratitude, I did raise you from the dead–” Karin fumed. 
“I didn’t die to have my grave robbed and be disrespected by some kid, you know!” Uzumaki Kushina yelled back. 
“Ahem,” Shisui interrupted, and both women turned to glare at him. “Is she coming too?” he asked. 
Karin hesitated. She hadn’t actually had a plan when she’d resurrected Uzumaki Kushina. She’d just been sort of hoping for… a hug, maybe? No, she hated hugs. She didn’t know. She was sending Sasuke a dead loved one in hopes that meeting with Itachi would give him sudden clarity. Maybe she’d been testing her plan out by bringing back her own dead relative. 
It didn’t work, of course. She was still tired and confused and stressed and a little afraid that Minato and Hashirama would murder the only people she’d really cared about since her mother passed. Meeting another Uzumaki had given her no sudden revelation or sense of calm. 
“Where are we going?” Kushina asked, tone still boiling with anger. She pointed violently at her husband’s open grave. “Did you kidnap Minato too?”
Shisui gave Karin a look filled with exhaustion. He’d been the one to explain her insane plan to the two Hokage. She guessed it was her turn. 
“Shimura Danzo’s been appointed Hokage–” Karin started, teeth grinding. 
“Well, shit,” Kushina said, the anger leaking out of her still tense stance. “Please tell me you’re not here on that creepy guy’s orders.”
Shisui let out a hollow laugh. 
--
Kushina cried over Uchiha Mikoto’s grave. Karin pulled at her sleeves and stared off in the other direction while Shisui tentatively rubbed Kushina’s back. 
Shishui had brought Karin a change of clothes, a surprisingly thoughtful gesture that Karin interpreted as a subtle hint that she was getting smelly. 
Kushina changed into the spare clothes right there in the graveyard. They had been picked for Karin and were a little tight on the older woman, but that didn’t affect the determined look on her face. She was– in her own words– going to do what Mikoto would have wanted.
And also go see her husband, probably.  
When they left the village, the pace they set was harsher than Karin was used to. On top of that, she hadn’t eaten anything since the squirrel yesterday, and she’d only had about four hours of sleep. 
She swallowed a soldier pill. She was a kunoichi, and she could handle it. 
She could handle it right up until Hoshigaki Kisame started heading right towards them. 
She would admit to letting out a wordless scream. Both Shisui and Kushina looked at her in alarm. 
“I–” Karin started, then let out a frustrated growl. “A missing-nin is on our trail.”
Kushina and Shisui exchanged a few hand signs, and Shisui led them through a few evasive patterns. Karin was impressed by how easily he and Kushina, who likely had never overlapped as active duty ninja, fell into step with each other. No one in Sound could ever organize themselves that well with random other Sound-nin. 
Their teamwork bit them in the ass, though, when Karin was too slow to keep up. Instead of just leaving her behind like any sensible ninja would, they let Kisame find all three of them. 
“I’ve been sent to stop you,” Kisame said, a grin plastered across his face. Karin narrowed her eyes at him. Despite the smile, he seemed… uncertain. 
She got the impression Shisui was trying some genjutsu trick, based on the fluctuations in chakra. Kisame’s sword, regrettably, just ate said chakra up. 
“He used to be partnered with your cousin,” Karin warned in a low voice. “He knows all your little Uchiha tricks.”
There was no source of water near them, which Karin thought gave them the advantage. Kisame, however, strongly disagreed with her by vomiting up his own lake. It was all Karin could do to balance herself on top of the water and not be swept away. 
Shisui, it turned out, was some sort of flash step genius, and managed to get two shuriken into Kisame’s shoulder before being swatted away by Samehada. Kushina did not delay in using the water to her own advantage, sending twisting rivers crashing down on Kisame. 
Kisame responded by making two water clones, and Karin decided it was time for her to take cover in the trees. 
Predictably, one of the three Kisames rushed each of the three of them. 
Karin’s jutsu repertoire was actually rather small for someone with as high a ranking as she had been in Sound. Aside from the basics, she had her blood-healing, a few chakra scalpel techniques useful in research, and master-level sensing. This made her an excellent support kunoichi, but not a particularly powerful fighter. 
So, if Kisame’s clone caught her, she was screwed. 
The good thing was the clones didn’t have the actual Samehada, so the clone’s sword wasn’t eating her chakra. The other good thing was that, due to his size, Kisame couldn’t navigate the maze of branches as nimbly as Karin. 
That was about where Karin’s list of good things stopped. Kisame’s clone ripped through branches like they were straw, sending plant debris raining down on the two fights below them. Karin rolled to dodge the clone’s sword, which sheared through the branch that had been supporting her weight. Karin fell with the branch and grabbed blindly for a new one. Her hand finally caught something firm, and she used the momentum from her fall to flip herself into the canopy of a different tree. 
Kisame launched himself after her, faster than she could have possibly imagined, grinning his stupid toothy grin as he brought the cloned Samehada down on her again. It shaved off a piece of her shirt on some of the skin of her back this time, and Karin let out a muted scream even as her hands ran through the substitution technique. 
Substitution was a simple but effective move. She replaced herself with a fallen branch down on the artificial lake and flash stepped her way up another tree, drawing a kunai as she went. Branches scratched against her exposed and raw back. 
Raw, but healing quickly. Her kunai was poisoned. If she could just get one hit in, the poison should be enough to destroy the clone in a few minutes. If she could last the few minutes between stabbing the clone and it dissipating. 
Kisame followed her with impossible speed for his size. She didn’t have time to strategize; she didn’t even have time to dodge properly. She got her kunai up to block Samehada, but she might as well have been bare-handed. The sword shredded through her forearms. 
There was a furious scream from Kushina. Something wrenched Kisame back, and Karin nearly fell out of the tree. 
Her glasses were askew, and she fixed them with a bloody hand. Gold chains had erupted from Kushina’s back, and two of them had wrapped around the clone that had nearly ended Karin. Karin got her glasses back in place just in time to watch Kushina yank Kisame back, slamming him into the Kisame that Kushina had been fighting. Both clones burst into water. 
There was a stillness on the battlefield. Kushina stood in the middle, panting but grinning like a madwoman. Gold chains and water danced around her, her blood red hair curling and uncurling like it had a mind of its own. Shisui had disappeared, and Kisame was staring at the redheaded woman with an excited look on his face. 
“I think you should leave my sweet cousin alone,” Kushina taunted. 
Kisame smirked and settled into a new fighting stance. “My boss wants her alive anyway.”
They lunged at each other. A tidal wave shook the tree Karin was squatting in. 
“I’ve always wanted to see the Red Hot Habanero in action,” Shisui murmured, appearing beside her. Below them, Kushina was opening whirlpool after deadly whirlpool under Kisame’s feet. 
Shisui looked better than Karin thought he would. He had gone up against the real Kisame, and Samehada had drained a lot of his chakra. He wouldn’t have been able to pull out any high-power sharingan techniques like that. 
Kushina, on the other hand, seemed to have an unlimited amount of chakra. She was an Uzumaki through and through, then: water techniques from Whirlpool, adamantine chains, and more chakra than Karin could ever dream of. 
Karin herself had a lot of chakra for someone who wasn’t a frontline fighter, but nothing like Kushina. Karin chewed her lip as she watched the fight. It seemed even for now, but Kisame also had an insane amount of chakra, and he was steadily stealing Kushina’s. They had to end this now. 
“Hey,” she whispered to Shisui, her voice hoarse. “You think you could get him with another kunai?”
He did. Karin passed him three of her poisoned kunai, and he circled the fight, waiting for an opening. When Kushina got another chain around Kisame, pinning him, Shisui flash stepped in and plunged it into Kisame’s abdomen before having to backflip away from Kisame’s teeth. 
Kisame bit his way through the chain. The chain that was supposed to be unbreakable. 
Kushina was panting harder than ever, brow furrowed and her cocky taunts gone. Kisame ripped the kunai from his side and tossed it away. 
“Looks like my sword is finally taking a toll,” he said, testing his weight on a leg Kushina’s chains had nearly ripped off. “Pity. I was enjoying this.”
Kushina’s frown deepened, and she started making hand signs. Kisame rushed her, though, and she was forced to duck his sword, then spin away from a kick. Chains shot towards him again, but Kisame easily batted them away. 
He brought Samehada down on her, and Kushina didn’t move fast enough, and Karin yelled out–
Shisui appeared, tackling Kushina out of the way. They both rolled across the water. 
Kisame sighed as they both struggled to their feet, both obviously exhausted.
“You know,” Kisame said, pointing his sword at Shisui, “Itachi talked about you a lot. It’s a shame I have to kill you.”
Then, suddenly, a confused look passed over Kisame’s face. He dropped to one knee. 
“You’ll be pleased to know,” Shisui said, “that that’s not even close to the most embarrassing last words I’ve ever heard.”
Kisame passed out. Karin fished the antidote from her pack.
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