The following morning, I awoke and turned over towards the end table holding an old analog alarm clock – complete with the annoying bell and hammer setup and everything. It read 9:17am, making me realize I'd completely forgotten to set the damn thing.

'Crap,' I rolled over and fleetingly considered why the hell nobody had come to get me moving, the Union tended to keep a pretty damn good account of everyone's schedules, especially mine.

Taking hold of the doorknob, I yanked and nothing happened – nothing but a slight shuffling from the door frame which held it firmly in place. A voice sounded from the other side, "Raikage will be by shortly, Eien," it belonged to none of the Samurai or Union members I knew of. It didn't even sound vaguely familiar to me at all, as I considered if this could be someone I'd only heard in passing by. But then I realized, if Raikage was here wanting to see me, something had happened – 'Shit,' I realized the possibility, 'F*cking Kayden better not have done anything stupid.'

I tried reaching out, telepathically searching my surroundings – in case the man really had been an idiot and was in the vicinity. There was a sensation as if a truck had rammed itself into my forehead and a resounding screeching noise throughout my brain, it felt like how nails on a chalkboard sounds except with a super-concentrated migraine, and perhaps even an aneurysm to boot.

"Augh," I put my hands to my head and fell backwards a few paces onto my bed. They were using that black material in a new capacity, that was for certain… but this wasn't something the Shinobi had ever known about before. 'Blocking our communications is something only the black material inside the Gedo Mazo could do…' I thought to myself, focusing inwards and attempting to contact someone, anyone, through the clusters still remaining in my body. 'That same material does have the capacity, but most of what should be here at Union HQ wouldn't be the same stuff.' Try as I might, nothing could get through – I was without any backup and no way to guess at what was going on, apart from my own thoughts.

'Okay, well obviously there's a third party involved,' it was the first thing to come to my mind, but who? The Daimyo? Toneri? Another group, perhaps one I wasn't aware of? I couldn't be sure, and just sitting here guessing wasn't going to be much help. The first two options didn't make much sense, except in the most extreme of circumstances – and most likely, if Kayden had done something dumb, perhaps the Daimyo would become involved. But they wouldn't really travel all the way here, right?


It took nearly until 11am until the Prefect was ready to make his move. The escaped prisoner had been brought in and secured, discourse and physical records had been recorded and officiated for release, among the Kage present. That made two out of five in person, and Mizukage likely had already been contacted. With his agreement, they wouldn't need to take any further steps.

Eien's presence had been a curiosity, one which the Daimyo and Vanguard were keen to play third-party observers to for a time – but that period was over now. The white Zetsu's increased presence and recollection of their previous lives, along with Kayden's escape from Kumogakure, were a sure sign that the situation could no longer be passively observed – things were accelerating. They knew it from centuries of interacting with the scub coral, they knew it from libraries upon libraries of long-kept secret and hidden records.

Sheiichi was just finishing discussing some of Kurotsuchi's concerns when a samurai approached them, the Prefect signaled to his personal guard to let the man through. "Sir, there's been increased grouping at the southeastern grounds, numbering three hundred strong," that would have to include nearly all of Mifune's exterior guard.

"Good," the Prefect spoke calmly, "Maintain defensive lockdown procedures." The Samurai remained rooted to where he stood and his posture stiffened momentarily before responding, "Aye, Lord," his tone teetered with a veil of passive questioning. Sheiichi refrained from showing his thoughts as he turned back to Kurotsuchi, 'Mifune's men have always been so difficult'.


'What the hell where you thinking!?'
Eien veered in rage at Kayden not an hour before Kurotsuchi's discussion with this 'Prefect', as the Vanguard brought him and Kayden in while she remained locked inside her room. 'Honestly, I really didn't think – You know what you're risking! You know how this will affect-' He tried cutting her off, but to no avail. 'Eien, it's not-' 'DON'T!' Even within the context of telepathy, he could tell she was becoming irrational.

'Would you just-' 'I mean I know, you – I definitely wouldn't even want to be in there, but I really didn't think that you'd take your personal safety and desires so far,' Now she tested the limits of his patience, 'It's not like, this isn't the Gedo Mazo, you can't be going around in the world doing whatever you want-' It was at this point the man lost his better temperament and thinking, 'Oh really, and you want to tell me what to do, Ma'am!?' He didn't say it, but he pushed the image of Kaguya forcing people to fuse with the Shinju – forcing people into doing things they didn't want to, violating their free will.

He could sense her mind recoil, pulling back and drawing silent in shock from that display. He'd put her in a loss for words, and rightfully so – it was an overbearing, and uncalled for, action – he just didn't think there was any other way to shut her up, before he was taken away from where he could still speak with her.

The man realized his mistake.

'Eien, look,' he began, not wanting her to take the point further than it was intended, 'I came here for one thing, and one thing only. Maybe it was selfish, I'll accept that, but I'm also taking the blame for this-' She interrupted him briefly, though not at all with the same fire as before. 'What could be so important to risk the progress we've made?' He began to answer her, just as the Vanguard escorting him forced him around a corner and down a hall that also happened to pass another block of that lethal obsidian – stopping him from finishing his affirmation of loyalty to her.


It wasn't long after that until someone came for me. I hadn't been able to contact Kayden since he broke off, and that was likely intentional considering whatever was going on outside my door. Only, this wasn't a shinobi or samurai, or any Kage. I'd never seen personnel of this type in the Shinobi world before, there were six of them, evenly flanking the door as it opened.

"They're ready for you. Come with us."

Eyeing them with some suspicion, I slowly stood and approached the doorframe. The first one let me pass into the center of them all, then the formation moved to keep me in the middle. While they did that, I thought I saw a couple Samurai, maybe more. The hallway was otherwise empty, and they moved, forcing me to keep in line with them. I had no idea what was going on, or where we were going – I didn't even know who they were or how this was officiated. It made me very wary, considering I could see neither the Samurai nor these new personnel's faces. Even soul-sensing couldn't help, since I didn't know any of them from before, and had no access to the Corallians.

And I didn't want to risk trying to reach out telepathically, when I could end up on the floor from it.


We rounded a few turns, and down a familiar hallway. It was somewhere not too out-of-the way, but well-fortified against exterior influences. The six people escorting me stopped all of the sudden, near some private rooms that had previously been used for interrogations or the like – I didn't know what to expect, or why.

They moved once again, slowly, and rounded me off to face a door. It opened, and I stepped inside – nobody else there as the door closed behind me. Of course, it was only a couple minutes later, after I had taken a seat, that someone else I didn't recognize came in.

This guy was different – something about him made my stomach uneasy and put me on edge right away. He seemed like an educated man, wearing a fine robe tied by silk sash. It's edges were decorated, not anything reflecting royalty or so high an office as say, a Daimyo, but they were embroidered nicely nonetheless. Everything else about his attire was plain, though made of perhaps finer material than most – his posture, face, and build made me think of him as an FBI interrogator that was trying to be your friend.

He took a brief, long-nosed look at me, like he was trying to figure me out before sitting down and relenting from that. I could tell he was trying to play me already, and predicted he'd try to put off my defenses. Of course, being locked in my room and then not told why I'm being questioned would make that difficult for him.

"Eien," he said my name simply, as if stating a fact.

"I am Mizushima Sheiichi, Prefect appointed by the Daimyo's Caucus. Do you know why you're here?" His voice was every bit as I imagined, perhaps worse. The way he spoke made my blood want to boil. "No," my tone was flat, but not directly rude or disrespectful. "How could I?"

He exhaled and relaxed his shoulders slightly, "I'm not trying to attack you, Eien," his piercing teal eyes kept on me, unrelenting. "I just want to talk," "You came all this way for talk?" I retorted, and then went on, "Clearly, you know why you're here. So let's get down to it." He sat back at that, either surprised by my lack of fear (or stupidity, as the case may be) or unimpressed at my attempt to put him off. Who knew.

"I've already told you who I am." He let that hang for a moment, eyeing me over, well aware that I couldn't communicate with the scubs. It was true, I had suspected this, but never knew for sure whether or not there was a coalition or sub-committee under the Daimyo, that the Kage and Shinobi world may or may not be aware of, or to what extent. Sheiichi stood, pacing with his left wrist in his hand, behind his back. It was an odd behavior.

"I don't believe anyone's ever mentioned the Caucus to you." He turned, "Is that right?"

I remained silent – I was used to having rights in these kinds of situations. I didn't even know why he or I was there.

"The Caucus meets to discuss, address, and inform policy regarding overall concerns within our world," the way he said 'our world' took a different tone – like he was affirming me as an outsider. "The Daimyo vote, take action, and form policy within and across their own respective nations as is in accordance to an agreement between the Caucus' members." He'd stepped over closer to me now, slightly on my left and nearly behind me. The man leaned over, a bit closer to my ear, "I'm sure you can imagine that the Caucus may be somewhat more active as of late." He pulled up and finished crossing behind me, continuing to speak as he did, "We have been aware of you for quite some time. It is the official opinion of the Caucus that you, Eien, do not pose an immediate threat."

His first 'you', in the statement 'we have been aware of you' could be taken to mean either myself, individually, or the Corallians as a whole. The second 'you' was addressed to me… it was as if he were aware that, legally speaking, that first 'you' would be impossible to confirm.

But the fact that the Daimyo didn't consider me a threat, no, to get someone in a position of office to say it – that felt like a relief. Finally, it had taken much longer than I'd have liked, but finally nonetheless. Still, the Daimyo were clearly hiding something. This Caucus… the confirmation that it existed… I really wanted to be able to communicate with the scubs now. Even more so in that they only officially stated that I, as an individual, was not a threat. Sheiichi didn't say anything about how the Daimyo view the rest of the Corallians in general.

'Heh…' I thought to myself, 'So they did know of us beforehand, after all.'

That could have some serious implications, considering the Daimyo pretended not to be aware of the events at the end of the last Shinobi world war… but, it wasn't what I needed to pay attention to right now.


"Eien." The man stated my name to address me, not as fact this time. He'd reached the center of the table, opposite from me – right back where he'd started pacing around the room. The man had placed his hands on the table, spread apart and effectively lowering his face to be level with my own – despite the fact that I was staring off into a space in the lower right corner of the room.

"I am aware that you're here to act as a bridge between the Shinju and the Shinobi world. Our concern is that this bridge is not a one-way street." His words implied much more than what anyone from the Union, who might be listening or able to follow up later, could understand.

By stating the 'Shinju', and not the Corallians, he evaded the possibility that the Daimyo knew of us before the war. Furthermore, his words meant that he was concerned as to how the Corallians intended to use whatever information I gathered while in their world – what was our end game? That's the question.

That was why I am here, sitting in this small room with this little man.

I took a moment before lifting my face and responding, "What do you want from me?"

He picked his hands up off the table, and took a couple steps back, "It's not about what I want, Eien." He motioned with his hand towards the glass window behind him, not that I could see what was going on behind it. I could sense, however, a total of three people in there. One, then two of them started moving, exiting the room and travelling down the hall. This Sheiichi and I just sat, or stood, in silence – not taking our eyes off the other.

He'd been playing me, he was only trying to get a feel for me, alone – apart from the Corallians.


The two I'd been sensing disappeared into a void, likely due to that obsidian substance. About a minute later, they reemerged, with Kayden in tow. I tried to call out to him, but they moved him back just before he'd have had a chance to respond. 'Dammnit.'

Sheiichi had moved to the left side of the table, "Eien, you are now under Executive Order 18, Section Four. You will be coming with me," and with that, my fate and status in their world had changed, once again. 'What about Kayden?' I panicked, he'd made a stupid decision, and might suffer for it. They might even go so far as to kill him, I didn't realize – I didn't think that his escape would be a big enough deal to register such strong response from the Daimyo.

I'd made a mistake.

"Where to?" I began, trying to buy time – trying to see if I could appropriately leverage Sheiichi and at least find out what might happen to Kayden. He'd moved once again, towards the door, but stopped before completely passing the right side of the table. "You don't need to know that," and with that he turned and continued to the door.

"Oh," he stopped again, "But your friend will be released to the Union." He now took hold of the handle and opened the door, thinking to himself, 'He won't be coming with us, that's for sure.'

The door closed and locked behind him, leaving me to consider the turn of events before they got me moving again.