This takes place immediately after chapter 160.
My shirt was damp and dusty when I left the cave. She hadn't bothered to clean herself after the fight during the duel. Instead she'd gone straight to the Sumire, than after that to here. It was strange to see her like that. She spent a lot of effort trying to make herself look clean and put together. I suppose it was just one of the ways she tried to make it seem like she was always okay. An illusion of wellness by maintaining a tidy appearance.
Was it a wonder the illusion was shattered as she lay against the wall? Tear stained face and wild hair with dirty ruffled clothes. The exhaustion had finally caught up with her and she was sleeping on the cave floor, her cat curled around her like some sort of mini guardian against any who might try to harm her.
Not that the animal could do much against the troubles she so justifiably worried about.
Suigetsu and Kiriko were both still outside the cave, though I suspect the others were not terribly far behind. It made more tactical sense that they would be spread out, in case anyone sought to make a move against Ume when she was so distraught.
Six months ago, I would have considered such a notion absurd.
Kiriko looked at me and there was a question in her eyes, if not on her lips. I shook my head, I couldn't really comfort Ume in her state. No one could because there was no telling her that everything was going to be okay. That wasn't a lie she could make herself believe, not after everything that happened.
Still Kiriko rushed into the cave, likely to sit with the sleeping girl until she woke. Even if there was nothing she could do, she'd still try to make things hurt just a bit less for Ume's sake. It was no wonder why she was so loved in the courts, someone willing to be by your side even in the darkness was rare in such circles. Especially since you weren't supposed to acknowledge such things existed in yourself.
No, it was not a wonder, someone like her, especially coming out of a shinobi lifestyle, was a miracle.
Though a miracle Kiriko may be, it wouldn't be enough to fix this.
"Sounded pretty bad from out here. Kind of wish the compound hadn't gotten wrecked in the war. The cooks could have whipped up something to ease things along." Suigetsu said with a huff.
"You think this can be fixed with food?"
"Be surprised how less the world hurts on a full stomach." He leaned back a little as he put two arms around his head.
"At least, it seemed to help last time."
"Last time?" I looked to him.
"The wall. You didn't think she was all straight backed and stone faced the whole time, did you? Nah, she ran off after the name carving ceremony and I found her trying to break her sword on a post. Then she sort of broke down like, well..." His hand moved from the back of his head to his hairline, pushing it back.
"It was the only thing I could think of, I was surprised it worked, well, kind of. She went from upset to dour and fatalistic, and I guess she's been that way since really, just sort of..." He slid his right hand down his forearm at a downward angle then let out a sigh.
"Man, you'd think they'd cover this more."
"Emotional degeneration isn't generally something they worry about at the academy." I said tersely.
"I mean for our family training. They tell you all about manipulating people, looking for weak spots, pushing buttons to get a reaction and that sort of thing. But what happens when someone does it to themselves? How do you stop it if you actually like that person?"
"She didn't do this to herself." I heard the words and backtracked as I thought about it. "Well, I suppose in some ways she did, but it's only because she's, she's…"
"Delusional?" Suigetsu offered the word and I sent a glower in his direction. He held up his hands. "What? You've seen her go at it. She works so hard, runs so fast, but she neglects to see that most people don't want the same things she does and then trips up when they do something to stop it. We both knew this would happen."
I turned away from him, face burning. He was right of course, I knew there would be resistance. Such things don't happen without resistance. That was the entire point of the rebellion, it was a rebellion because it was pushing against what was considered the order of the land. Still, there was the civilians.
"No, most people do want it." I let out a sigh. "I've seen it in their eyes. The way they follow her, the way they trust her, they see what she's trying to do and they want it."
"Yeah, but they aren't the people that matter."
I blinked and looked at him. "You probably shouldn't say that in front of her. I think she might actually shock you in the crotch again."
"Well, you know what I mean. Most the people that matter, they don't see the world like she does. They've done this whole act for years. Most of the time it's been a giant stalemate between the families, with every family working either to break or maintain the equilibrium. When it broke, they didn't think, oh let's see what we can do to make things better for the people under us. No; they thought, how can I change the balance so that it tilts in my favor?"
He moved his hands back and forth like he was a scale.
"Then Ume comes along, and suddenly she's like." He tilts to the right, his hands mimicking the tipping scale. "And they think, well nope, can't have that. Better take her out before she becomes even more of a threat. They won't stop, Hiroshi. They've killed stronger shinobi for this, they killed my brother because of the possibility he might be a threat." He let out a breath. "It was always coming. You know Ume, she never leaves well enough alone. I think the families knew this, especially the Sumire, but they underestimated how much she'd do."
"Everyone did." I glanced back at the cave.
She always claimed that what was happening wasn't just her, that the rebellion would have succeeded with time. But really, it didn't feel like that. She had been at the forefront of the fall of Yagura, and that was just the beginning. She convinced an entire family of foreign shinobi to relocate to Kirigakure and help replenish the lost forces from the war, found the last Hozuki, then shortly after managed to contract and start major construction on the village to house the refugees of war.
None of the seven families, not even the Kishi, had managed to get approval for the reconstruction of their compounds. Though that last part was because Hiroshi hadn't particularly prioritized it personally. The main compound might have been in shambles, but they were hardly homeless. The Kishi had several offices scattered throughout the Land of Water, plenty enough to house what remained of the main family and their staff.
Maybe the rebellion would have happened one way or another, but in a very short amount of time she accomplished what would have taken others years, some of it just in the committee. The pull she had because of this was astounding, and yet she still wanted to do more, to change more. She still wanted things to go forward, no matter the risk.
Or she did.
"Nothing's going to stop this, is it?" I looked at him and he shook his head.
"Nothing short of another shinobi war. The other family heads are so damn sleazy, it's the only thing that'd get them to work together. Plus, the Aozora are probably still pissed off after Kiriko shined a light on their deathgrip on the Daimyo's court."
I shook my head. That was true was well. They'd never recover from this. Even if they tried to make everyone forget, such a scandal was no so easily quelled. Still, what did that mean? What was to be done?
The truth was, I already knew the answer, but it wasn't something I wanted to consider until this point. I didn't want to admit the obvious, that it was always going to end like this, one way or another. I knew it the moment Ume told me the truth about the past wars.
All I had to do to line up the facts was look at the numbers. Funds, transactions, goods, people, entire villages disappearing from history with no explanation. The history had always contradicted the numbers. It looked neat and orderly, blaming everything on exturgents or the bloodlines. No, it was obvious because despite what I knew, what they tell me, the fact was the Kishi hands weren't any more clean then the other families.
There had never been real peace in the Land of Water, only calm between wars. Wars caused by the seven families, ever since the founding, the wars never truly stopped. It was just a remission, the calm, the restocking preparing for another storm.
And now that storm was coming for Ume.
"This is going to end." I turned towards the cave. "Will you help me with this?"
He actually looked like he was considering it.
"Maybe, depends on what it is. Bit sick of doing blood sport for some dangling carrot. Even if this does helps out Ume, I want something out of it."
He was talking about his apprenticeship. It was common practice to push swordsman hopefuls on grueling missions to test their metal. Still, only the Mizukage could give someone the position as a seven swordsman, it was entirely possible Yagura never intended for Suigetsu to get it but still liked using him for the missions. With him gone it would be hard to confirm, but it wouldn't
be the first time it had happened that someone who had done the missions would have been passed over for the position.
"Well, I suppose that's fair, this involves a lot of work." I held a hand to my chin like I was thinking about my answer. Not that it was hard to divine something he might want. "So, here's my bargain. How would you like to never have to attend a family head meeting again?"
I kept my head down for a second before glancing out of the corner of my eye to gauge his reaction. I shouldn't have worried, the grin on Hozuki's face already told me the answer.
"You said I wouldn't have to do this shit." Suigetsu glared at me as we headed into the meeting place.
"Certain things will have to happen first." I replied as we entered the larger tent, which was notable since we usually took residence in one of the remaining buildings.
We were the last ones there, and everyone was already sat at the table. They all sat in their chairs, the table round as to have no head to signify any position. Mizushima Gina on the left, Aozora Hatsu in the middle, and Sumire Kigiku on the right, serving tea. Teacups were set in front of everyone, as was tradition, but it was just for show. No one ever actually drank the tea, it was common sense to never eat or drink anything a Sumire put in front of you.
"I see we have a full meeting this time. It has been quite a while, Aozora-sama."
I did a slight bow to Hatsu before sitting down. He returned the gesture with a slight incline of the head. A subtle but not unnoticed sign he didn't completely relay the same amount of respect. Not unusual, considering I was junior to him, but given my affiliation I didn't doubt he probably wouldn't have responded at all if he thought he could get away with it here.
Suigetsu didn't even give him that much.
"Yeah, must be busy in Funsui with everything that's happened. Bet it'll be a good long while before you can head back there."
Hatsu's face didn't change, nor did his tenor change from it's normal formal almost lyrical tone the Aozora liked to take.
"We all know the conclusive results." There was no clip in his tone, his eyes didn't narrow, he looked perfectly calm.
Which meant he was probably still fuming.
"Interesting results, that. What with there being a simultaneous kidnapping of a Sumire brat while there were several hidden excursions aimed at several key figures. All stopped by the security. Awful lot of hubbub, don't you think?" Suigetsu said as he leaned back in his chair, his pointy teeth in a grin.
"Are you implying something?" It was Gina who spoke.
"Nah, that implies a level of subtlety I'm told I don't possess." He kept his toothy grin as the other three looked at him. Only Gina was frowning, but it was a small one.
"Now we have more important matters to discuss than mere speculation." It was Kigiku who said it this time. "Like for example, the construction of family holdings. There was a lot of damages, so it may benefit us to discuss some allocations for current held lands."
Suigetsu switched to a scowl at the not so subtle subject change. I didn't say anything as we went through the motions of the meeting. They were, once again, trying to get Suigetsu to give up his family estates under the notion that since it was just him, he didn't need it. The difference was of course, this time they had Hatsu there trying to push the argument.
The way they talked about it and around every other issue just confirmed more of what I already knew. They didn't seem to much care about anything that had happened, why should they? This was business as usual. The meeting ended without engaging a vote, but this was probably just a warning.
They were planning on pushing Suigetsu with majority now that it was here. Which was honestly fine, since there was no point in it.
As we left the tent I glanced at him, but he didn't do much but puff out his chest and walk away. This had been a test, a jab to gauge their reaction, and it was a lure.
Whether they took the hook was up to them.
The remains of the Kishi compound that had been still functional were less than a fifth of its previous spacing. It had stood only slightly better than other compounds from the fires that were set during the invasion by the Hamasaki because it was more concrete than the other families, who had wood as a sign of status.
Still, no one occupied it because it was more or less uncomfortable to live in, being surrounded by rubble as well as the running water and electricity not working. Which made it perfect as a meeting place.
The girls met me there as I sat at the clerk desk of the still standing room. It was a tidy space all things considered, though I was sitting mostly in darkness as I leaned against the desk.
Minami made her presence known immediately by kicking in the door, shaking dust off the frame and kicking rocks from the outside in her wake. Mitsuki immediately gave her a smack on the back of the head.
"This is a structurally unsound building."
The girl in the brown sweater and goggles stuck out her tongue even as she rubbed her head. "Worth it."
Kiriko stepped in behind them, glancing around the room, her eyes doing a scan before lingering on me. She took a step to the side of the other two and walked towards the desk. Her back was straighter than it used to be, was it a side effect of her time of the court, or had I just not noticed in all that had happened after the war? In truth I'd barely seen her in a casual setting since, it'd been all work and chaos.
"Hiroshi."
Her voice was soft, it just reverberated in the silence, her eyes looking at me. I paused for only a second. She really was growing into a beauty, the frown on her soft face could cause fights to break out against the offender.
"Do a summons, and a scan. I understand Ao-san wasn't available, I need to be sure."
She didn't hesitate, biting her thumb as a rabbit appeared from the smoke on the table. I hadn't seen this one before, it was cream colored with brown and white spots, and larger than most the other ones Kiriko favored. Though not so much that it was bigger than a normal rabbit. It looked around before glancing at me. It spoke, a feminine voice as its nose twitched.
"You smell like a predator contract."
"Nana, is anyone else in the area?"
Kiriko pulled something out from a pouch, a bit of vegetables which the rabbit took and nibbled on as its ears moved around, twitching.
"No summons, no other people." The rabbit said between nibbles.
I looked at the rabbit, then Kiriko. "You're certain you weren't followed, yes?"
"Nana's the oldest of the sensors, she'd know best." Kiriko said.
"Not like anyone's much interested in us." Minami said, walking forward. "Think I spotted a couple buzzing around Ume, but the Fuma are watching the building, and Chojuro is on guard."
"They're just watchers, they won't move so soon after the concert, it'll look too convenient. Usually lack of evidence is enough to quell that, but if something happens to her so soon afterwards it'll incite riots." I said it letting out a breath.
"That strong of a reaction is probable. The civilians are still confused as to what had happened. Most of them assumed we would win, and reaction aside lots of fingers are being pointed to try and figure out who didn't support our side." Mitsuki said. "The rumors are already circulating about it, though physical attacks have been kept quiet they don't believe in the fairness of the contest."
"Fat lot of good that does." Minami said. "There's always talk about foul play. They always think the families are up to something for the sake of making their lives harder. Sometimes they're right, but a lot of it is just shit happening."
"Regardless, the other families will likely be mindful of that, for now. Too many things happening in a certain amount of time is enough for probable investigation. They are right on the edge and so soon after a war they can't simply disappear whoever shows discontent."
I knew at least that much to be true because of the full census report. It was a good thing Ume suggested we do a proper count because until now no one knew exactly how much of our population had been lost since the closing of the borders and the start of the bloodline genocides.
The population was a fourth of what it was at the end of the last shinobi war. The bloodlines weren't even the most of it. Entire villages had disappeared for one reason or another. Some simply abandoned, others found at sites of natural disaster. That was the civilians, the shinobi population had halved because of the civil war. While some of the martial families could pretend that the civilians didn't matter, the other heads understood we could not afford to wantonly kill more civilians. They, while not our only source, were the primary source for resupplying our shinobi population.
No, they would be careful not to incite something to cause more damage so soon.
Though that didn't mean they wouldn't be planning more precise attacks in the future.
"Because of that, we have a grace period. A short one, they may very well still be a bit unbalanced, but it won't take long for them to recover. They didn't survive this long without being able to adapt quickly."
"You haven't even told us what we're doing, Hiroshi."
Kiriko said. "All I got from you was a cryptic word dropped by one of your owls."
"I need you to head to Funsui, with an escort. I need you to talk to whomever you can, do whatever you can, to have some sort of big public event soon. Something everyone will be at." I pointed at Mitsuki and Minami. "And I need you two to come with me. We're going to need to sort through some information for a few days. I also need you to pass on this to Gonmaru," I pulled a scroll out of my sleeve and handed it to Minami. I pulled another one to Kiriko. "And that to Ao. Hopefully they can meet to put that out."
"Again, you haven't told me what you're doing." Kiriko said.
I looked at her and let out a breath. "I can't tell you, not while you're going to the capital. It'll give me away."
"I wouldn't give you away." She said.
"Not intentionally, no, but the Aozora are experts in reading body language. If they catch something is off this might not work. Ao should be experienced enough to go off on his own without much note."
Kiriko looked at the scroll. "Is anybody going to know what's going on?"
I pointed two fingers at Minami and Mitsuki. "You two will, Gonmaru will know part of it. Suigetsu already has something of an inkling, he'll have to."
"Us two are right here. Why are we going file diving?" Minami piped in.
"Because I cannot do it alone soon enough and I can't ask for a proper clerk to help." I turned to them. "Look, I can't explain it fully until we get there. But I need to keep this scattered and small. One or two of us disappearing for a few hours isn't enough to draw suspicion. I also had Suigetsu set some disparaging remarks to draw their eye while he moves around the village as a false flag. He'll be talking around, maybe stir up some trouble, make it look like he's the one instigating things, maybe even get help from Benjiro or Gonbee to pull it off."
"Very clandestine, I'm not certain we should agree to this so readily." Mitsuki said this time. "You must give us something more."
"I'm, look, I'm doing something I'm not supposed to do. I can do it, but it's not something I can discuss at all. If anyone gets wind of this, it's gonna come to a screeching halt."
Minami and Mitsuki looked at each other, then at Kiriko. Minami answered first.
"Well, why didn't you say you were breaking the rules? I'm all for that."
"I'll pass judgement after I get details." Mitsuki said. "But I need a detailed explanation."
That may be a problem, since I can't actually say some of the reasons I'm not supposed to do this. But I could try.
"I'll do my best." I turned to Kiriko. "I know this is a lot, but can you trust me on this?"
She took a deep breath.
"I do trust you, you're the only reason Ume didn't die in that cell with us none the wiser." She put a hand on my shoulder. "But, don't do anything too dangerous. We've already lost you once."
"I promise, it's nothing dangerous." I said with a nod. I really hope Kiriko didn't pick up the body language as well as the Aozora so she wouldn't catch now or later how much of a lie that was.
"How the hell did you keep this place secret!" Minami's voice echoed through the underground chamber as we moved through the rows and rows of bookshelves.
"It's not a secret, all the families are well aware it exists, just not where." I replied as I held aloft one of many reference catalogues. Mitsuki had one as well, as did Minami as we all moved through the darkened chamber. The Kishi Archives were one of the least kept secrets of the Kishi. It was at least several kilometers in length, though exactly how big was hard to say. May have it measured.
"She means the fact that this is located so close." Mitsuki said as she read her own catalogue and we moved down the row. The rows were all single file, with occasional gaps in a grid. It was efficient so all someone would have to do was go in a straight line as to not get lost, but it was still quite dizzying.
"Only high tier Kishi family members are even allowed in here. I wasn't allowed in here until I was made a full heir." I went down the row with the catalogue to get the books.
Each shelf had books that were numbered one to one thousand, each shelf had a different number but otherwise they were not named. It was a safety measure. No one could find information without the proper catalogue, which were kept in a separate location.
"The chamber's reinforced with seals that won't let anyone enter or even find this place again without a full heir or high member."
"Do the families know that?" Minami said.
"No, they don't, or I imagine the Hamasaki would have tried to kidnap a Kishi and force them to do it. Though once they got in, it might be difficult for them to access it." I said.
"Because they don't have the catalogue key." Mitsuki said.
"Yes."
The last security of the catalogues was that they were encrypted and couldn't be read without a key a Kishi had to memorize. I told them the keys and they got it rather quickly.
"So can I look at the seals? That's super neat. I have an obscurement seal, but a general one. I bet it's harder to tie it to a bloodline." Minami said as she moved along the shelves. She was actually running up the shelve sides, sticking to them. The sides were actually thick enough and sturdy enough that you could do so without so much as budging them, since it was assumed only shinobi would be trying to access it.
"I don't know where they are. Even if I did, I doubt you could make heads or tails of it. The original sealsmith who did this place was legendary apparently. His work was closely guarded and not written down."
"I thought the reason we were here was because the Kishi wrote EVERYTHING down." Minami said again.
"Well, this was a bit before that was our policy." I said as I moved my finger down a row. "There, fifth from the top, get the first five books in that row."
Minami ran along the row and pulled out the first one.
"Wow, this is thick."
"As you said, we wrote everything down. Part of what we're looking for should be in that section though." I ran through the numbers. "Though we'll need to go back and forth to make sure we have enough consistent data throughout to make our case. Which will take a while."
"Augh, that sounds so boring. How do we even know what we're looking for?"
"I'll give you a broad list of things to look for. Some of the writings are first hand accounts, some of them are war logs, some of them are financial transactions, regardless we'll need all of it. It has to be as thorough and damning as possible." I said as I started down the list.
"Are you certain this will work?" Mitsuki spoke this time. "Even if we bring this forward, it may be disregarded because of the instability of the country."
"Entirely possible, but the instability of this country was caused directly by the people we're trying to bury."
Them and almost every previous generation of the seven families. I only found some of this stuff on my own before. It didn't take long to find once I knew what to look for. I just had to cross reference certain dates and years of noted conflicts. Unlike the history books, the information here hadn't been altered. It was all there and no one would come out of this clean.
"I would say this is a bit extreme, but we've see the lengths they are willing to go." Mitsuki said again.
"Plus, they're after our little sister." Minami said as she opened a page. "Blah, kanji."
"I know you can read it." I said. "Just because you prefer Hiragana doesn't mean you should turn your nose up at Kanji."
"Hiragana makes sense, why do you need more than a thousand letters for something you could do with forty eight?" Minami said as she started to pull out a seal to hold the books. She held the seal to it to try and store it and…. "What the hell?"
"The covers are sealed so they can't be put into storage seals." I said absently. "They don't want someone just coming in here, taking a storage seal and stealing all the books."
"They had storage seals back then?" Minami looked down at me, confused.
I actually had to think about it for a moment.
"I'm not sure actually." Looking away from it. "All accounts suggest storage seals are a relatively recent type of seal. It may simply be the books are sealed to prevent any other type of seal from hurting it. Sealing techniques used to be more prominent among non shinobi as a way to support the shinobi class."
"They were? How did they manage that?" Mitsuki said this time.
"Well, seal work is mostly working in theory. Someone incapable of doing actual jutsu could design a seal if they understood how and why a certain jutsu worked and were able to put in the work to design their own seals. Seal smithing was a highly sought out and refined art decades ago."
"Why did they stop?" Minami asked.
"They didn't, not by choice. They were wiped out during one of the shinobi wars. While I say someone incapable of doing jutsu could do the work, it was hard to protect them during the wars because they weren't shinobi, all it took was a concentrated effort by our enemies to kill them. It's why we keep the identity of our seal makers secret now." I paused.
"Unless of course, that's something we said to cover it up, and one of the seven families actually killed all the seal smiths out of jealousy for whatever family had a claim on them. Actually…" I started flipping through the catalogue. "The last recorded known sealsmith was around, I think, this time period." I pointed a finger there. "If we can find evidence of foul play by one of the other families, it'll be another strike against them."
"Cool, le… wait, why are they called sealsmiths and not seal masters?" Minami said as she finished grabbing the books in a large stack off the wall and walked down.
"Because seal working and metalworking were heavily linked back then. How do you think the seven swords of Kirigakure were made? They were forged by skilled seal smiths. It's said that each sword was a gift to each family who sent a representative to wield them."
"You know, I question why we do not discuss our shared history if you are so knowledgeable about the country's lore." Mitsuki said as we started down the columns.
I shrugged my shoulder. "It never really came up before. I should point out, everything I just told you is actually all secret. No one else is supposed to know that much about our country's past."
"But that's really nifty, I didn't know sealwork was used to make weapons like that. Though I guess when I think about it, it's super obvious. Ume already uses seals as weapons." Minami said, her eyes looking up as she followed behind with her stack of books. "Oh, oh, I bet I could…."
"You may need to shelve your inspiration for now Minami, I understand you'll want to experiment later and I am all for it." I replied. "It really is amazing the work you've done on your own. It usually takes years to get to the level of thought and creativity you put in your seals. Once we actually have time, I'll see what can be done to get you a proper workspace as well as smiths who could help you make iron seals."
There was a slamming sound that made me turn back to look only to be bowled over by the green eyed girl who had covered the distance and grabbed me by the midsection. I almost moved to push, but she lifted me off my feet and started jumping in a circle as she squeezed me tight.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew, I knew Ume always said you were nice! But I never thought, none of the adults ever help me with my seals. They just shoved me and Ume in a closet to shut us up, but they never cared!"
I stared at her, feeling uncomfortable both at the sudden contact and the constricting grip of her arms. She was stronger than I expected, certainly stronger than I was, or maybe it was just the excitement. I didn't want to try and force a break in what was clearly to me an embrace of gratitude, but at the same time my breath was getting short and...
"Minami, he has to breathe." Mitsuki said.
I was released a moment later, but contact was still made as the girl put a hand on my shoulder.
"Do you, do you really mean it?" She looked at me in the eyes, and there was something pleading in there, as well as excited.
Minami was not an exceptional ninja by any means, in fact by what her academy statistics said she was sub par. But that was because the academy didn't value the things she did have skill in, and it seemed like outside of her family she hadn't gotten support for her other endeavors. Maybe it was strange to her that I would help her on this, but then maybe it wasn't. I wasn't as a part of that circle as I would have liked.
"Yes, why would I say so otherwise?" I straightened up. "Look, we need to move forward. That's part of what we're trying to do here, we're trying to remove the obstacles of our country being able to move forward. But we cannot destroy without being prepared to create. Honestly, it's rather strange that there hasn't been a more concentrated effort to try and support seal makers in our country. It was once one of our strengths. But now it's stagnated, and it's probably the seven families fault. Your sealmaking, your method, your style, is wholly organic and it's new. We need more people like you, people to do the old things in new ways."
I looked at her and took her hand off my shoulder. While I appreciated the enthusiasm, I didn't really appreciate the random physical contact.
"But again, for the moment we have to shelve that. This takes precedence."
I looked at Minami, who nodded while she beamed at me. Looking past her, Mitsuki was also nodding, while wearing a small rare smile on her normally blank, stoic face. Though that didn't linger as my eyes fell behind them both to the floor.
"Did you just drop some of the record logs of the Kishi Archive?!"
As expected, it took days to compile the information properly, even with help. Thankfully, Mitsuki was as concise as any clerk in sorting and filing away information. Her handwriting was neat and after I showed her the system she referenced everything perfectly.
Minami was less helpful in that regard, but at the same time she questioned everything about what we were doing. Sometimes she'd ask about certain dates and why they were bad, normally that wouldn't be useful, but it actually made me pause and look up different facets of information I couldn't immediately answer. While sometimes it led to nothing, several times it led to me finding more supporting evidence as well as other cases I hadn't thought to investigate or was unaware of.
As disorganized and messy as her notes and methods were, or maybe because of it, she indirectly helped me make leaps and fill in gaps I would have never done on my own. At least not in that amount of time. I don't know if it was luck, or intuition, maybe both. Either way, I felt a little more confident about what I had when I went to Funsui with it.
Which still left my heart beating out of my chest as I called the meeting.
The halls of Funsui were all familiar, it was by design. If anybody who wasn't supposed to be here got in they'd get hopelessly lost. In the smooth walled hallways with the slit windows I considered turning back, it would be easy to claim I turned around. Still I moved forward, eyes darting to the pocket watch with the exact time.
I had arranged this meeting on short notice. As a clan head I had that power, though I could have also done so in the courts. I wasn't banned like the others, I was technically uninvolved in that entire fiasco, but I still needed this to be private.
Discretion was key, even if it meant that this didn't guarantee my safety should they take other sides on the matter.
There was a reason why this wasn't done. The Kishi weren't strong in a martial sense, there were a lot of Kishi, but overall they wouldn't stand up to the wrath of a martial family. Or in this sense, even two or three non martial ones. Observe, record, do not interact, that was the Kishi way. It was why we had the Enmu family with its steam release as guards. It was an army killer technique, one designed to distract and take out large swaths of enemies so we could cover retreats rather than taking on enemies one on one. If this was mishandled, if it was rejected and revealed, I would die before I even knew what happened. Most of my family probably would too, the fact I was attempting this at all meant that it would break the uneasy truce we had and all hell would break loose.
Yet I couldn't back down.
I knocked on the door at precisely five minutes before appointed time and I waited. It was two minutes before a figure answered and the door opened. I had to hold back the choke at the person answering it. Most people didn't recognize the Daimyo guard outside of their battle garb, the man in the plain looking kimono could have been misconstrued as a normal servant.
If it weren't for the mon on his belt threaded in gold.
The room I entered was surrounded on all sides except the one I entered by paper screens. With the screens in place it looked about as big as all the other rooms, but that was likely an illusion of separation. This room was at least three times as big, one reason it was at the end of the hallway. What lay on the other side of the screens I couldn't know, maybe more guards, maybe just living quarters. It didn't matter, I moved to my designated spot at the low table and kneeled on the cushion and waited again.
I kept my eyes down and my breathing even as I concentrated on my breathing. Showing how nervous I was would do nothing to help my case, I needed to be calm and composed if I were to be taken seriously. It was something I'd been drilled in since my youth and something I'd been practicing almost nonstop since becoming the heir apparent and then full head.
No matter what you did, you could not look weak or uncertain otherwise you would be eaten alive.
I heard a door open and as soon as it did I went into a full bow. I was sat just far enough that I wouldn't hit my head on the table when I did so which would have been bad (I'd done so before, exactly once, before my mother berated me into submission). I heard the shuffling as I kept my breathing and my head down. My peripheral vision saw the flashes of fabric as it swept past me and someone made a noise like sitting at the head of the table. When they seemed settled I heard the voice.
"Rise."
I straightened up but kept my eyes down, my line of sight cutting off at his lapel just under the chin. I could see the gold mon, as well as two guards on either side of the room. If I ran, I'd be intercepted.
"Kishi Hiroshi, head of the Kishi family, would you like to elaborate on the reason you have called me here today."
"I have something to present to you as well as several things to discuss, though I would if it does not offend you put up some more security defenses."
"Which defenses are that?"
He sounded curious though not offended. Good.
I very slowly reached down into my pouch. I then reached out to the side and set it on the ground. Risking putting anything, even a piece of paper directly in front of an imperial heir was a good way to get stabbed.
As soon as the paper left my hand someone snatched it up, though I kept my head forward.
There was movement and shuffling as I suppose they were directly behind me inspecting it and sending a message to Mizuno Kazuki.
"Are those seals? I have not seen one in that style, where did you acquire it?"
"Custom made privacy and silence seals, created by a friend. I was informed it works best if you unroll it and have it touch the ceiling wall and floor."
Minami's seals were much longer than the standard rectangle design. That seal, what she called her super privacy outside distortion seal, was in fact long enough to hang from the top and bottom of the room. Every centimeter of the seal was covered in markings.
Kazuki head seemed to swivel.
"We shall see if that is true."
I heard the shuffling as someone left the room and we sat in silence for a good ten minutes before they returned. I kept my head down and my place seated as that happened. They were likely testing in a safer place away from the heir to make sure it was safe. I didn't blame them, faulty seals tended to explode. Though Minami seemed certain this would work just fine, I didn't see her test it so I wasn't personally offended.
Not that I'd tell her they didn't believe it would work.
They returned and put up the seal, apparently satisfied with what it did, or maybe they were just humoring me when it didn't blow up. Regardless Kazuki spoke.
"Now you said you had something to present to me."
I nodded and did the same thing I set another seal out and one of the guards confirmed it was a storage seal, opened it in the other room and returned with the thick tome before setting it before him. There was silence as he thumbed through the the book and I counted quietly to myself. I couldn't let my mind wander too much, but I just needed to wait until he finished.
It was about twelve minutes until he spoke again.
"This is quite a book you are presenting to me. Is all of this true?"
He said it in the same tone, I didn't know if he was surprised cause I couldn't read his expression.
"To the best of my knowledge. I have several more books if you want to cross reference particular articles. That is simply the most important."
I said.
"This is very damning, even for the Kishi. So tell me, why have you brought this forward. What do you expect to gain?"
I saw him move his hands together fingers intertwining. He was sizing me up, trying to figure out my motives for this. That was fine, he hadn't had me killed yet so it meant he might want to listen.
"Personally, I expect I'll lose just about everything I've ever worked for. My position, the respect of my family, entirely possible my life as well. From a pragmatic point of view, I don't gain anything."
One of the reasons why no one had ever done this in my family was because the threat of its existence was enough. Blackmail was only as good as long as it was hidden. Following through, actually ruining someone was useless for bargaining with them unless it ended in their death. It was this singular point that kept the Kishi family where they were. We gathered all the information all the secrets and if you were smart you didn't think about moving against us for the threat about what a certain secret about you could do. Which was why things had stayed the way it had for so long, because if no one knew truly had bad everything was that had been hidden and squirreled away the seven families wouldn't have made it past the first shinobi war.
"But our country, what do we have to gain, well a fresh start, a real one. The tree is rotten because the roots are rotten. We're trying to regrow the tree, but the infection is still there. We won't be able to truly grow past this until we pull them out and put down new seeds."
"Are you truly willing to die to give this country a fresh start?"
Kazuki said his voice hinting some more intrigue in the conversation.
"Before I was a full heir, before I was a the head of the Kishi, I was, am still, a shinobi. For the last year however I have been spared all risk because of my position, but that hasn't changed who I am, who I should be. I said an oath to protect this country from its enemies, all its enemies. It doesn't matter who they are, if they are bad for the wellbeing of the country I cannot turn away. Putting my life on the line for the people, our people, is just common sense."
"Even if it means the death of your family?"
"If the Kishi must end for us to be reborn, then so be it."
I let out a breath as I closed my eyes. My family he called it, were they really. What sort of family was that? The ones who sent my class to the wall to die to kill me. There was no record of who was responsible for that, we searched but couldn't find it. Which meant it had to have been done by the Kishi. The family who approved the blocking notice to prevent a search for Kansen's body or maybe the family who didn't notice I was being enthralled for six months while keeping me away from my team.
I had no frame of reference about how abnormal they were, how abnormal it was, had no clue really until my father died. He was the family head before me, and yet when he died they pushed me through the ceremony and just kept running like nothing had happened. He had been a great man, a great head, but once he was dead he was of no use to them so they moved on.
Once I was out of the Land of Water, even for as it was I saw first hand what a family should have been. I saw it in the way Ume cried when she saw me again, apologizing profusely for her failure to take me with her when she fled the Land of Water. Not the fact that she had been captured, beaten and interrogated because of the attempt. Not even that there was no possible way she could have safely taken me out of the country or that she returned and ended the war in a single battle when she could have, should have really just left and never come back living peacefully on the mainland.
I saw how a family was supposed to be when Ume declared her intent to rescue Suigetsu from one of the most powerful shinobi who have ever existed and how not a single one of her group even blinked or blanched at the idea. How they supported her even if it meant they would get killed, not out of obligation but out of the love they had for her. I even saw it in the Fuma when we pulled them from the Land of Sound how they set about to gather every one of their people to escape the sanin's grasp.
I didn't doubt any such attempts would have been disregarded as foolish and a waste of resources from my family. No one person was important enough to them to go to such lengths. Not my father, certainly not me, if I died they'd have a replacement before the day was out.
"This will need to be under some review."
Kazuki's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"And there will be some heavy planning involved though, if this comes to pass there will be difficulty in terms of execution and planning. Especially if they suspect anything is amiss."
"Permission to speak."
I said.
"Granted, do you have a thought on this?"
He said.
"I do, I believe we have some untapped resources that can be exploited for just this task."
"And which resources are those?"
He seemed curious.
"If Mizuno-sama and the imperial Daimyo would indulge me, we proper set up we can properly contain and capture the main factions in this with little trouble."
I had a light smile on my face as I let my eyes wander up.
"Are you speaking of the anbu Kishi-san? I do not believe they would comply."
I shook my head.
"No Mizuno-sama, my actual answer lies with our newest editions to the shinobi force of the Land of Water."
I smiled lightly.
"It has come to my attention recently that they have some very special techniques in containment."