Lord Funato and Hidaki Yuki sat before , the ss of docunts in my office didn’t depreciate the intensity of my disappointnt in each of them. And yet, sohow, neither of them could be held responsible for tonight's events.
The skies above the village were the clearest they’ve ever been in years, not a cloud of mist could be seen and I liked to think the people appreciated the sight of the star glittered night sky. But the absence of the mist was not a random occurrence, I’d given the order to cease the maintenance of our main source of defence, of hiding so that the shinobi sent to pluck out spies could act unbidden, without the enemy taking advantage of the village’s features they’d surely gotten used to over their unwelco stay.
But apparently, even that wasn’t enough to guarantee the results I wanted.
“I’m sorry, Yagura-sama, this is entirely my failure.” Ao said, he and his fellow incompetent Jounin kowtowed between the two clan heads I’d already scread at for one other failure.
Kuzo… That was the na of the final Kumo spy, their leader and the one they were ant to take alive. Yet, sohow, Zabuza managed to murder the man all while landing himself in the hospital. To his credit, Ao gave no reasoning to why Zabuza would go against clear instructions and murder the one man we needed to tie Kumogakure into taking responsibility for their heinous actions. But I could make a fair guess on my own, the Demon… no. Just a child, desperate for validation, taught by our village to earn it through blood.
Killing its enemies. An act I’d normally be grateful for but now…now the death of Kuzo had robbed us of the most concrete evidence of Kumogakure’s sins. It wasn’t so bad having the corpses of their spies and if this were any other village the corpses alone would be proof enough of their trespassing. But this was the brazen, proud and shaless Kumogakure we’re talking about.
They’ll denounce them as rogues or worse, claim we killed their shinobi out on their missions. Inhaling the anger that bridled within I swivelled around in my chair and waved Ao and the Jounins away, “Get out.”
They bowed even deeper, not daring to let see their faces as they stood and walked out of my office. Lord Funato and Hidaki weren’t so shaful, I sneered and Hidaki squird, his eyes darting everywhere but mine.
I hadn’t had to parley with the man since I’d put him on check after the Yuki incident and now, here he was, called once more to answer to the cris of a clan mber. The very sa from the Yuki incident.
Lord Funato was much the sa. Sharing the sa pot of trouble as Hidaki Yuki as he was the one I’d left with Hisako, trusted, no…demanded that he care and monitor her activities while she remained on probation. But apparently, that too was too much a task for him to accomplish.
My lips parted in the bafflent but the words remained in my throat. I’d already scread frustrations at the two of them, Lord Funato especially and as much as their incompetence continued to frustrate , screaming so more served no purpose. Not anymore.
I sighed and stood from my chair, careful not to topple carefully stacked paperwork and scrolls. I stood by my window and saw the village sparkle. It was ever so rare it looked this way, like the city of thousands it was rather than the re village it was born from. In the absence of the mist the lights weren’t the only things I could appreciate.
My attention drifted to the dark spot in all of Kiri— the lower caste district, specifically the one hosting the lowest rung of the caste system. The clans that foolishly rebelled and paid dearly for their audacity. The clans that bore bloodlines and were eradicated, not even granted the space of a clan compound for how few of them remained. The clans that built, died and warred at the front lines of the first, second and third shinobi wars.
The clans I’ve neglected. It was a sour sight to look upon. The cold amidst all the warmth. Power was shifting as the Funato and Hozuki clans moved out and the Karatachi subtly but swiftly bought up their space, sparing the Hoshigaki what leftovers of power, land and wealth there was to reap.
Yet, none of that power trickled down to the low caste clans like I expected…like I promised. Heinous as their betrayal was, I could see why they would resort to such and I could sympathize even if I didn’t entertain the thought of pardoning traitors.
I clenched my fist, nails digging into my palm as I turned away from the flickering shadows that danced across my office walls. The lantern light behind cast their faces in murk, but I stared through them like glass. “You two, get out. I’ll speak to Hisako Yuki now. Call them in on your way out. And don’t forget… the both of you will pay for this neglect.”
Lord Funato’s grim, weathered look didn’t change as he left, the old man knew his ti on my council was short. Neither said a word as they left, shutting the door behind them and leaving in my office for what brief period of unbothered turmoil I’d have before Hisako cos in.
I wouldn’t need to talk to her if even a single one of the Kumo spies had survived. I wouldn’t need to talk to her if Kirigakure possessed a clan technique as invasive and precise as the Yamanaka’s. But here we were nonetheless, yet another ss of a situation I’d need to salvage sohow.
I rembered past dealings with Hisako…tangled affairs soaked in tension, none of them fruitful. I doubted the radicalized kunoichi would give anything of worth. She was still her ntor’s disciple in mind, if not in na. And I—well, I’d ordered that woman’s death. I made her execution a public affair, spectacle and symbol in one. Hisako had been in the front row and clearly she’d taken notes.
Sympathy was a strategy I’d once relied on. Now it felt like a cracked mask. “We aren’t on the sa side…” I muttered under my breath, eyes fixed on the blue kanji of my Kage hat on my desk. “She’s a traitor. Just like…the others.”
And then I realized— Stubborn as she is, she’s her master’s student. That ant sothing, the teachings Shizu Yuki imparted on her before her death, the fact that Hisako continued her work even after…it all ant sothing. Sothing I can leverage.
A knock ca at the door before it swung open, Hisako Yuki stumbled in. Her arms were bound in front of her, she waddled forward in civilian clothes, her headband nowhere to be found but a Bind Seal scarred her forehead. She sneered at Eiko, the demon masked interrogator carried an air of amusent at the curses she flung at him.
“Yagura-sama, you called.” He said, his fingers curled tightly around the chain linked to the collar at her throat. The steel rasped as she squird. It was rusted, pitted and coarse against her raw skin. She winced every ti it shifted, but didn’t give him the satisfaction of a cry.
Hisako looked up at , her eyes carrying the sa rage I witnessed almost a year ago now, except…it was a storm stronger. She gnashed her teeth, barely restraining it even though I knew she’d like nothing more than to spew a string of expletives at my face.
Interesting.
“You’ve been busy, Hisako.” I said, and still she gritted her teeth. Her eyes burned to scream murder at but she continued to hold her tongue and not for any Fuinjutsu related reason. “I hope Eiko has been nice to you, I know he missed your company down at I&C.”
That got a growl. She jerked forward, but the chain yanked her back sharply. Her shoulders tensed, her spine rigid, yet she didn’t spare Eiko a glance. Instead, she said flatly, “Let’s make a deal, Lord Fourth.”
Truly interesting. Maybe things won’t be so difficult after all. I flicked my fingers at Eiko. He bowed without protest and dropped the chain with a clatter that echoed through the office as he left.
When the door shut I let the silence thicken before answering, “You think you’re in a position to make deals? Why is that?”
She stretched her neck, the bite of the rusted tal irritated her skin, “Because I wouldn’t be this close to you if I didn’t have sothing you needed. I would be in a cell, locked up and awaiting execution. Maybe you’d even make a lesson out of too, show the village just how much of a powerful leader you are.”
Each word was filled with contempt for everything I stood for, everything I wished for, but unlike the last ti we had such a hate filled conversation none of her bark reached . I’d long co to accept the good with the bad of my title. The hat I wore bore more weight than the rusted collar and chain around her neck.
“Assu that is true and tell what it is you think I want to know.” I said, walking over to her. She shrank slightly or maybe I’d grown since our last eting— either way, I lood over her now. I gripped her chin, fingers digging just enough to leave a mory, and forced her grey storm of hate to look up into the unfeeling in mine, “Speak.”
“You want to know if the Poison Mist Clan are traitors, you want to know if the lower caste is planning an uprising or more realistically, a mass exodus. You want to know what else Kumogakure has stolen from you and what they crave. You want to know everything I do.” Hisako smirked, the blaze of hatred taking on a glint of mischief and pride.
I snorted, “And what do you want? A guarantee you won’t drop dead the mont you keep your bargain I suppose?”
Hisako tilted her head in my hand, nuzzling the grip with a perverse tenderness. Wickedly hiding the furnace of hate behind a single flutter of her eyelids, replacing that emotion instead with sothing…lustful.
I threw her chin aside and stepped back, my lips curved back in a disgusted sneer. She giggled and it was a quiet, sinister chi. She slid her bound hands up to adjust her hair, letting it fall artfully around her bruised face as she began to speak sweetly, “We both know I’ll never trust your word, Yagura. All I’ve done is help the people who’ve suffered under your tyrannical boot, sent them to a better life. Whether that’s in Kumogakure or…sowhere else, that’s up to them because anywhere is better than here.”
She sauntered forward, her chains dragging across the floor like the rattle of a snake. The hatred I felt from her still hidden under a guise of lust as she licked her lips, eying head to toe. Her smile grew, “I’m not going to leave Kirigakure just so Hunter-nin can slaughter in the woods and I’m not going to stay with the Funato clan so they can subject to ntal anguish. I will not be tortured…but I will pay the price for my freedom, for my life.”
Sohow I’d stepped all the way back to my desk in an effort to avoid her, cornered, she leaned in, inhaled my scent deeply through her nose like she ant to devour , “That price is you, Yagura. The only way I’ll ever be safe, that I’ll ever believe I am safe…is if I’m carrying your child.” Then the act fell away, shattered like it was never there. Her posture slackened and her eyes burned with hatred again. Her lips twisted, not in seduction, but in disgust. As much disgust in herself as I had in her.
“It’s a small price to pay isn’t it? For the Lord Fourth. Take , guarantee my safety with your child and I’ll tell you everything you want to know and more.”
What in holy hell is this?
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