Original Publish Date: 13th-January-2016
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to David Bowie. I feel like a complete knob, only putting a song of his in here now that he's gone, but this song is just so perfect for this chapter, far better than the one I had originally planned. Thanks again to The Hand, more than half the Chapter Title Songs have been his recommendation so far.
Chapter 15 – Heroes
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day
- Heroes, David Bowie
Terumī Mei's Office, Unknown Location, Water Country: 4465617468
"Do you know what they told us on the first day of the Academy?" Mei asked me.
I had finally shaken off the stupor and rebooted my brain after receiving that smile. Now that my mind was firmly on the task, I noticed a few more things about my hostess. While her hair was still obscuring half her face and styled in her usual herringbone pattern, the ponytail at the very top of her head was missing. The revealing blue dress that she usually wore along with her fighting robes was nowhere to be seen either; instead, she was wearing a nondescript brown dress that was patched in places, and didn't even fit properly. And yet, she carried herself like a queen.
I shook my head in negative in response to her query. A quick mental calculation informed me that she had likely grown up during the era of the 'Bloody Mist', so it could not be anything good.
"Most of us were 6 years old, give or take a year. We were children taken from the streets, or from pampered Bloodline Clans."
She paused there to let her statement sink in. I understood exactly what she wasn't saying; most of the children who weren't bloodline holders were there by force. They had been kidnapped to be used as fresh meat for the infamous graduation exam. Kill or be killed at the tender age of 6. My jaw tightened; this was unforgivable in the extreme.
She noticed my reaction, even despite the mask obscuring my face. "We were told to look at the person first to our left, and then to our right." She leaned forward, "We were then… informed…that one of the other children who we had just seen was going to die."
I felt a sickening weight drop into my stomach. I didn't dare breathe, because I would end up breaking something.
Her single visible eye flashed intensely, "And that was before the final graduation… examination."
I could feel myself becoming enraged; I actually saw red as the blood rushed through my head. There wasn't even a word for how monstrous this was.
While a large part of my mind was stewing in the rage and horror that was the everyday life of a Kirigakure Academy student, a small objective part of my mind told me to be on my guard. Why was Mei telling me this?
The answer came as soon as the question was asked; she wanted to manipulate me into thinking with my heart instead of my head.
My estimation of Mei changed completely in that moment. She may have been extremely hot, easily the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on, but she was a Kage first and foremost. She was just like the Sandaime in that regard; while he used his grandfatherly persona to put people at ease, she used her smiles and her beauty for the same purpose. But they both possessed a keen intellect and a vicious ruthlessness; using every advantage they could to achieve their objectives.
Most likely she had already figured out that I was from Konoha, and was using our collective reputation for being 'bleeding hearts' against me.
Unfortunately for me, just because I knew what she was up to, didn't mean that it wasn't effective.
Understandably, I had a blind spot where children were concerned.
Severely clamping down on my instinctive emotional response, I leaned back and said as neutrally as I could, "The graduation examinations of the 'Bloody Mist' are infamous."
I don't know if I succeeded in sounding objective, but Mei reacted by leaning back, deliberately matching my body language. "I wish to change the way we are perceived by the rest of the world."
"Oh?" I kept my tone deliberately light. "Just how you are perceived?"
Her eye flashed with clear anger as she acerbically spat, "Of course I want to truly change our way of life! Do you think I like the way this country is imploding!?"
I shrugged slowly, "It seems to me that all that has changed is the person who's in charge, and the identity of the people being victimized. The 'Bloody Mist' was the same under the Nidaime Mizukage, who was a prominent Bloodline wielder." I tilted my head, "Do you intend to go back to those glory days when the Bloodline Clans ruled the roost at the cost of the common populace?"
And just like that, the Diplomatic Talk I had planned to have with the leadership of the Rebellion went up in smoke. My name may no longer have been Uzumaki Naruto, but I sure as hell had the same penchant for throwing a monkey wrench into well-crafted-plans, even if they were my own.
…I may also have been passing on some of the shit that Musuke had shoveled at me.
Instead of Mei losing her shit and (I remembered about her abilities far too late) melting me into slag, she smiled nastily at me, "Are you claiming that Konoha treats it's civilians like royalty?"
"We're better than most." I shot back. I was right; she had figured out that I was from Konoha. I had barely had a few hours to think about the civilian situation in both the Fire and Water Nations, but it was enough to draw a rough picture. "After seeing the deplorable conditions of the civilians here, I fully intend to recommend to my Hokage that we review the rights granted to our own civilians, and those of the Fire Nation in general."
At that, the anger slid off her face like water off a duck's back; thereby proving that I was also right about her trying to manipulate me. I gave a mental cheer, I had pegged her completely! ...unless the game was being played 3 levels above my head, and I had no idea what I had just done. Shit. It was always a possibility where I was concerned.
"My nation has suffered enough. I fully intend to do my duty and drag us into modern times." She fixed me with a gimlet eye. "And for the record, I intend to make our nation as democratic as possible."
I raised my eyebrows at that little titbit. Democratic? The Elemental nations were autocracies, the Shinobi Villages were run by the Kage's and the rest of the nation was governed by the Daimyō's (feudal lords). That was historically the way it had been. However…"Hoshigaki Kisame is an S-rank missing-nin because he murdered the Daimyō of the Water Nation." I pondered slowly, as my fingers came up into the Sandaime Hokage's characteristic steeple; don't ask me why, in that moment it just felt right. Locking my eyes with the gorgeous greens of Terumī Mei, I followed the thought to its conclusion "You don't intend on replacing the Royal Family."
A frisson of shock crossed Mei's eye before she brought it under control.
My prankster's instinct tingled; I was confident that Mei hadn't intended to let that piece of information slip.
I had no idea about the political situation in Mizu during my own time, so I didn't know if Mei had ever been able to create such a nation. But if she did, it would change the Elemental Nations as fundamentally as the formation of Konoha a century ago. The repercussions would be wide and varied, and it would throw the existing order into chaos.
I felt my lips curling into a feral smile. Chaos is a prankster's best friend after all.
Mei matched my smile with her one of her own, and this time I felt a frisson of my own. Once more my gaze drifted to her generous lips. Objectively, I thought about all the women I had been with; Hinata, Sakura-chan, Kurotsuchi and now Anko… all of them had tiny lips. Even Kurenai did; but everything about Terumī Mei was lush. Lush and ripe and beautiful…
"And that is where your village comes in." Mei interrupted my musings, a definite note of amusement colouring her voice. My eyes slowly slid back up to hers; I refused to be embarrassed at being caught staring. It was yet another lesson from Ero-Sennin; despite being an incorrigible pervert, the man's tips about dealing with women had proven to be surprisingly accurate and helpful. 'Whenever a woman catches you staring, don't look away or look embarrassed; instead, look into her eyes and let her know that she was being appreciated.'
And dare I say it; Mei was the kind of woman who enjoyed being appreciated. The demure blush on her face said as much, even though it was likely faked for my distraction. My own tone dropped an octave, matching her flirty tone, "And how may I be of assistance?"
Was this really how high stakes politics was conducted? Violently manipulating each other one second, flirting the next? No wonder all politicians were twisted.
She blinked coquettishly at me, "You tell me, Benefactor-san."
This was the part where I suavely pulled out the scroll with the terms the Hokage had given to me.
…if only I had remembered to unseal it from my belly.
I suddenly understood why the Sandaime touched the tip of his hat in frustration whenever dealing with me.
"Excuse me for a moment", I said, quickly getting up and turning around before my expression could reflect just how much of an idiot I was! ARGH! How could I have been so stupid!?
Once I had taken a moment to berate myself, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Even though I didn't need to, I put my hands in my favourite Seal for the Kage Bunshin. There was no sense in letting the enemy(?) get the full range of my skills.
The clone popped into existence and raised my shirt, shaking his head mockingly at me. My hand twitched with the almost irrepressible urge to throttle the damn clone, but I somehow managed to control myself. He touched the whorl which signified the seal where the twin copies of the agreement had been stored and channeled a precise burst of chakra to unseal them. Once done, I gladly dismissed the smartass clone and used a sleight of hand to hide one of the copies while I tucked my shirt back in.
I turned around to find Mei regarding me warily; no doubt she had been on guard the entire time my back had been turned. Also, it was exceptionally dumb to turn my back on a possible enemy. Why did I always realize these things in hindsight, and not before?
I wordlessly slid across the scroll as I seated myself, my fingers once again forming the steeple that was so characteristic of Sarutobi. Mei scrutinized the scroll, probably looking at it for traps; but not finding any obvious ones she finally deigned to pick it up. Upon opening it, the first thing she saw was the Official Seal of the Hokage of Konohagakure and the Official Seal of the Daimyō of the Fire Nation. Her eye didn't widen, but I definitely got the sense that she was impressed by the official document. This was as legitimate as it got. She raised her face back to mine without actually reading any of the terms, "If this fell into the wrong hands, it could mean war for your village."
I grinned; this was exactly what I had been waiting for. With a careless movement I broke my right hand away from the steeple and snapped my fingers.
The scroll in Mei's hands immediately burst into white-hot flames.
Shocked, she reflexively threw it away; but it was completely consumed by the flames before it even hit the ground, not even leaving behind ashes.
With a stunned look she turned back to me; and then I broke my left hand from its remaining half-steeple and produced the second copy of the agreement. "That's the last one I have, so do be a little more careful with that one, won't you?" I admonished lightly, implying that it was her fault that the first one had burst into flames.
Inside, however, I was cheering and screaming like a maniac. 'YES! That was SO COOL! You are the MAN! THE MAN! HA! That totally makes up for you forgetting to unseal the scrolls like a dumbass, and then some!' For some reason, my inner voice sounded suspiciously like the 10-year-old-Naruto.
Naturally, I didn't let any of my thoughts show on my face.
She took the second scroll directly from my hand this time and opened it directly, not bothering to look at the Official Seals. I saw her quickly skim the contents, committing them to memory at the first pass. At the second pass, I saw her go over each line and furrow her brow as she tried to run the numbers and estimate exactly how much Konoha was going to take advantage of the state of the Water Nation. By the time she reached the end of the scroll her face was grim. Grim, but determined.
"Are any of these terms negotiable?"
I gave her a smile that was not very nice. "No." I lied; some of them were, but one does not negotiate from a position of weakness.
She pursed her lips and went back to the scroll. "I cannot abide by this: 'Any Kiri shinobi that wish to leave Kiri will be provided sanctuary by Konoha with no threats of retaliation from Kiri.' This opens the door for entire clans to leave Kiri; clans that will be vital to the rebuilding process of my village."
I shrugged, feeling the sweat building up in my armpits. "That one is non-negotiable." Now that we were finally getting to the heart of the matter I was feeling more nervous.
I saw her eye flash; Log-dammit. I had implied that some of the other points were negotiable. But it was actually better this way; she would count it as a minor victory, whereas it cost me nothing in the long run. That said, I had to be careful not to slip again; once was all I could afford.
"It does not mean that I feel comfortable allowing my ninja to defect to another nation."
"Konoha is well known for taking care of its ninjas and its clans in particular. Your citizens will be safe with us. They deserve peace after the atrocities they have suffered."
"Oh? They will be safe in Konoha? As safe as the Uchiha clan was?"
My eyes narrowed. "What happened to the Uchiha clan was an unforeseeable tragedy. The Uchiha were in charge of the village security; therefore when they got attacked, instead of asking for help from the ANBU they tried to deal with the issue themselves, leaving the rest of the village in the dark." I lowered my chin and stared meaningfully at her. "We have learned our lessons. It will not happen again. Every clan inside Konoha is as safe as possible."
She returned my unblinking stare. "I will not allow my citizens to leave without a fight."
"As long as the 'fight' does not extend to physically restraining them, by all means." I said graciously. Holy shit, she was pushing me this hard on a point that was non-negotiable. My palms started sweating as I thought of how she would fight on the negotiable points.
She went back to the scroll and went to the next line item: the rights to the Chūnin Examinations. "'Konoha will be given an equal number of Genin as Kiri to be showcased in the finals of the Chūnin Exams being hosted in Kiri.'" She didn't even respond to that after reading it out loud, once again staring at me with the unblinking gaze that I was becoming rapidly familiar with. "Non-negotiable." I said again. "Although this one comes with a caveat: in return, Kiri will be guaranteed more slots in the Chūnin Exams being hosted by Konoha".
"But not as much as your village." She shot back. I shrugged again.
I had been disappointed to find out that the Chūnin exams were actually stacked. Although, I guess every village did as much as they could to show off their best Genin; and since we were Ninjas, this meant shamelessly cheating wherever possible. Naturally, the hosting village gave its best Genin the biggest chances to make an impression; they would subtly ease the way for them during the exams. Giving the best Genin an easy opponent during the preliminary round was a favourite tactic.
Her stares were actually starting to have a physical effect on me. I wiped the sweat from my forehead. This was going to get heated, and we had barely started discussions; hell, we hadn't even moved past the non-negotiable items!
I vaguely wondered what her strategy would be during the points that there would be actual negotiation involved in. Would she intimidate? Obfuscate? Or would she flirt and try to distract me with innuendo?
The third line item related to the trade of Kiri's famous chakra metal and was the first of the terms that was negotiable. The discount percentage needed to be as high as possible for the benefit of Konoha. So far, her tactics simply seemed to involve staring at me and making me sweat; but the temperature in the room was doing a fine job of that. It was extremely uncomfortable, but I could pull through. We had a lot of back and forth, and it took more than 20 minutes to hash out a figure that we were both satisfied by. My thighs and my butt were sweating at this point as well; it was getting really uncomfortable.
It was halfway through the fourth line item (relating to the shipping concessions) that I figured out what her game was.
She had been far more subtle than I had given her credit for.
The heat in the room was not natural.
She had been slowly but steadily raising the temperature in the room with her chakra alone.
It was brilliant in its simplicity. As a prankster I could appreciate the finesse of her move.
Of course, as a prankster, I was obliged to return fire.
I immediately started channeling my own Fūton chakra, quickly cooling my body down; then sent a tendril of the same cool wind across her neck, tenderly caressing her collarbone before sending it down her the center of her sternum. I let it die out before it reached any inappropriate places; but I had made my point. I fixed her with a gimlet eye of my own.
She widened her eye and blinked slowly at me, verbally projecting wide-eyed-innocence; but over the next few minutes the temperature of the room slowly dropped until it was back to normal.
I felt smug at having won our little side-game; my smugness only lasted until I realized that she had taken advantage of my arrogance at my mini-victory and used it to drive the shipping discounts to the absolute minimum percentage that I was authorized for.
Dammit, this woman was good.
The mini-games started in earnest at that point.
I took the initiative next and used one of the more subtle Genjutsus that Kurenai had taught me and layered my voice with chakra. When done right, it had the effect of making the target more susceptible to suggestions from the user.
The unimpressed look Mei gave me clearly told me I had failed in ensnaring her. I had to physically restrain myself from sheepishly rubbing the back of my head.
Somehow, despite wasting so much time and energy on our pointless contests, we were still managing to move through the negotiation scroll at the same speed as before.
At one point, Mei stretched luxuriously, arching her back and emphasizing her bosom, while her hands did interesting things to her hair.
My eyes almost popped out of my head in that first second.
It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I somehow managed to tear my gaze away politely, pulling out the number 2 brush in my pocket and spinning it around on my fingers. I didn't dare look at her through my eyelashes; it would have completely defeated the point. Although…what was the point again? Not looking at the free show a gorgeous woman was giving me? In what world was that right?
When I finally looked back up at her I saw the barest hint of a playful smile on her face. Dammit, she was enjoying fucking with my head as much as she was enjoying the actual bargaining for her country's future! This could not stand! My prankster's honour was at stake!
Mulishly, I dug into the negotiations again, furiously thinking about how to get her back. The feeling of the wooden brush in my hand gave me pause; I could definitely use a seal. I'm not a Seal Master for nothing; but what seal should I use?
Or maybe…maybe I didn't have to use a seal at all.
She had pegged me as a 'bleeding heart' as soon as she saw me; well, if I had pegged her right, she was definitely one of those dainty ladies, despite being a killer kunoichi.
'Sai, whenever I see you next, I owe you a gigantic bowl of ramen!'
I mentally thanked the last member of Team 7 as I quickly drew a tiny mouse on the side of the desk that Mei couldn't see. I looked at her during one of the moments where she was arguing halfway through line item 6 (related to grains and foodstuffs), and applied a tiny amount of chakra to my drawing. She didn't pause or react in any way, leading me to believe that she hadn't realized I had activated a technique.
I felt the mouse scurry around, only paying a tiny amount of attention to what was actually coming out of Mei's mouth, waiting for the moment the mouse made its move.
"-barley and wheat prices go hand in hand, the concession you demand of us will cause our farmers- EEEEK!" She jumped back, her chair clattering to the floor as she pushed the table away in her haste to get away from the rodent. To my endless amusement, she actually scrambled backwards up the wall partway and stayed stuck to it with her chakra.
"What's wrong!?" I asked gallantly, throwing my own chair to the ground as I got to my feet, ready to defend the maiden's honour.
"There's a mouse!" she squeaked out, her voice extremely high pitched. It took all of my mental focus not to burst out laughing at her. Instead, I quickly sent out a burst of chakra, deconstructing the mouse into its constituent ink and immediately channeling a more obvious amount of chakra into my arms, strengthening them to lift the desk. As I moved the desk over, to Mei's view, the mouse had magically disappeared. If I hadn't been specifically looking for it, I wouldn't have seen the small amount of ink in the cracks between the flagstones.
I gave her a moment to let her sweep her gaze over the room. "Are you sure you saw a mouse?" I asked innocently. "There doesn't seem to be one here."
She looked around the room uncertainly before looking back at me, and catching my expression of wide-eyed-innocence; I may as well have been holding up a neon sign proclaiming my guilt. I actually saw her jugular pulse with an unidentifiable emotion.
With as much dignity as she could muster (which was diddly squat), she made her way down the wall and tried to brush off the incident. I gently replaced the desk and helpfully picked up her chair, placing it at the head of the desk before going around and doing the same for my own piece of furniture. I seated myself first and opened my mouth to make a sexist comment; but my mouth refused to cooperate, still scared of getting beaten up by Sakura-chan. Traitorous mouth.
That didn't mean that I wasn't going to make fun of her in a different way, "What happens if the grains you export to us are infested with mice?" I asked innocently.
The look she shot me was pure venom.
I had to physically restrain myself from sniggering.
After that, there were no more side games; but that wasn't to say that the negotiations went smoothly. No, Mei dug in with a vicious intensity and fought me as much as possible. I actually started sweating for real this time; this was pure torture.
One of the reasons I had managed to convince the Sandaime that I was perfect for this mission was because I had spent a considerable amount of time sitting on the other side of that desk, back in my own past. Once the fallout from the mass Daimyō killing was over, there were a lot of new land owners and as the representative of what remained of Konoha, I had to negotiate on our behalf for food and supplies. I knew exactly how this game was played – Hinata had been invaluable in teaching me the intricacies of negotiation before her death.
But that didn't mean I liked being stuck in a room for ages, arguing over a goddamn piece of paper! This was bullshit! I'm a warrior and a field agent, not a diplomat!
I was also stubborn as hell, so I didn't budge. I was mostly wise to her tricks by now, and I was ignoring everything except for the bottom line.
It took almost an hour for the last line item to be discussed, but we finally agreed on a percentage. I actually let out a moan of relief when we finally closed negotiations. Mei slid the scroll back across to me. I raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing? You haven't signed it."
She tried the innocent maiden routine again, "Oh? My mistake." She took the scroll back and opened it, opening a drawer and taking out a brush.
"Oh, no no no. You won't be signing it with ink." I smiled nastily at her. "You will be signing it with your blood."
Her eye narrowed dangerously. "What?"
I used the innocent routine this time. "Did I forget to mention it? I'm a Seal Master. Any contract you make will not be honored by a simple flimsy piece of paper." I let out a mocking laugh. "No, no, I intend to make sure that any agreement you make with my country is enforceable." My voice changed to a frigid tone on that last word.
"You expect me to sign a contract with my blood? And if you arbitrarily decide that I have broken this agreement? Am I to be a slave to your every whim?"
I smiled at her. "See, that's the genius behind this little scroll. I don't need to do anything."
Her eye was already narrowed, but now they gained a boiling sheen to them. "Explain."
I leaned back and formed the steeple with my fingers again. "The agreement you're signing is with yourself; not anyone else. If you violate any of the terms, you will know you have violated them, and therefore you will suffer the consequences. The penalties for breaking them are severe, but they will be borne solely by you." I spoke calmly. "The way that the contract works is, each item has a separate punishment for breaking the terms. If you break the first agreement, the one about letting your citizens find sanctuary in Konoha, you die." A shocked look overtook her face, but I continued. "If you break the agreement behind the Chūnin Examinations, you will find yourself walking to the Fire Nation Capital and singing the first contract that is placed in front of you." Her face filled with fury, but I trudged on, heedless of the danger. "As for the rest, they are comparatively mild."
She took a few moments to glare at me, her chakra swirling violently. It was really intimidating, but I've faced worse. "Mild?" she ground out through clenched teeth.
I eagerly nodded like an excited Academy student. "Yup! All of them involve different kinds of public humiliation!" I chirped.
If looks could kill, I would have keeled over at that moment, dead as a doornail.
I shrugged, "On the other hand, if Konoha or the Fire Nation violates any of the terms, or takes any action that causes direct harm to your village, you will be free from the consequences of the contract."
I leaned forward, and let my voice drop from its annoying tone to a deathly serious one. "You see, we're not looking for a short term alliance, or even a long term partnership. Our vision is far bigger than that."
And despite the fury on Terumī Mei's face, her interest was piqued. She calmed her raging chakra, and took a few moments until she was able to speak normally. "And what exactly is your vision?"
I locked eyes with her, and spoke with as much conviction as I could muster.
"Peace."
To her credit, she didn't scoff or look at me like I was a complete lunatic. Her single visible eye searched mine for something, and I didn't dare blink. She finally leaned back and brought her hands together, curling one into a fist and wrapping the other around the first.
Taking the cue, I continued, "A century ago, Senju Hashirama had the insanely stupid idea to ally himself with his worst enemy. That dumb decision changed the course of the Elemental Nations. You have a similar revolutionary idea, to make the Daimyō obsolete. I applaud your thinking, but you need to think bigger. We need another such stupid idea to end this cycle of hatred."
She took a few moments to mull over the depraved ramblings that had escaped my mouth; it was almost heresy to the lifestyle of a Ninja. "Peace between the Nations?"
I shook my head in negative. "Peace between every single being on the planet."
At that, her eye did widen.
I smiled softly, "It was my master's dream to see everyone at peace. He believed that people understanding one another would lead to peace. When he died, I swore in his memory that I would make his dream come true." I made a sweeping gesture with my arm, "Call me a naïve idiot, but this? This is the first step in that plan."
She considered me for a few minutes in silence.
"And if I refuse your offer?"
I shrugged, "The scroll burns, and I vanish from inside your office."
Her eyebrows rose at that. "Even if you managed to escape me, I'm confident that you will not sneak past my forces."
There was just no way I could resist rising to a challenge. Nor could I resist showing off.
I vanished in a yellow flash and appeared in the hidden stairwell just inside the safe house.
I took a quick look around and didn't see or sense anyone on this side of the locked door, so I immediately flashed back into the office.
I definitely had Terumī Mei's attention now; if her mouth hanging open was any indication. I felt my lips spread into the shit-eating grin that I was famous for.
"Yellow Flash…" she whispered, her shock showing through.
Have I mentioned I love shattering the cool facades that people seem to find necessary to keep?
The door behind me opened, "Mei-sama! There was a-"
"Leave." Mei said curtly to the shinobi behind me.
"But Mei-sama, a chak-"
Mei narrowed her visible eye.
A fraction of a second later the door slammed shut.
How the hell did these damn Kage keep doing that!? Was it a secret Kage Technique!? I really want to know how they can get people to shut up by just a single facial expression!
Speaking of the Hokage, I remembered the last thing he had told me, far too late, 'Unless it is to escape Kiri: Under no circumstances whatsoever are you to use the Hiraishin or let anybody see you perform it!'
Ehehehe…oops?
Mei looked back at me with definite respect shining in her eyes. Dammit, I had best defuse the situation. "I cannot use that technique for the duration of the mission. I'm sure you understand." Rather, I hoped she understood, 'cause I sure as hell didn't.
Thankfully she nodded her head in assent, "Of course." Then she tilted her head, "Forgive me, I've been a terrible hostess. I never even asked you for your name."
"It's Nanashi." I said curtly, once again feeling the irritation of not having a name anymore.
"Namikaze Nanashi?" she asked, with a glint in her eye that I didn't like the look of.
Shit.
"Just Nanashi. I've been told that I resemble the late Yondaime Hokage, but any such resemblances are purely coincidental."
Once more she smiled like the cat that caught the canary; clearly she didn't believe me. Hell, my disclaimer sounded fake to my own ears.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Nanashi-san."
How she could make the word 'pleasure' sound enticing and horrifying at the same time was beyond me.
"Likewise." I said gruffly.
She kept me fixed with that terrifyingly beautiful smile for a few more moments, enjoying watching me squirm.
"I believe we had an agreement to sign." I spoke curtly, a note of relief colouring my voice as I finally found a way to escape her predatory gaze.
A slight frown overtook her delicate features as she shifted her gaze back to the piece of paper that had been the collective bane of our existence for the past few hours. I actually let out an inaudible breath, inexplicably relieved.
"To be frank, I have no intention of signing a document with my blood without guarantees."
Taking a deep breath and steeling myself, I gathered the courage to look into her eye again. "There is a way to provide such a guarantee. Have you heard of a technique called 'Shinjutsu no Fūin (Seal of Truth)'?"
Her eyebrows rose at that. "I thought that it was a secret technique of the Uzumaki clan. I was taught about it by my grandmother, how do you know about it?"
I stayed silent; she had already guessed my paternal last name, there was no need to tell her my maternal one as well. The bit about her having an Uzumaki grandmother made me pause.
It didn't matter though, she guessed it anyway. "My my… you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" she murmured, her avaricious smile back on her face. I had to actively keep from shuddering.
The 'Shinjutsu no Fūin (Seal of Truth)' technique works by having both parties slice their right palms and joining their hands together, mixing their blood and thus their chakra. Their left hands then form a sequence of seals, activating the technique. The first user will then ask a question to the second, and any falsehood can immediately be detected by the swirling of the chakra. The second user will then ask their question, and the round robin continues until the second person asks the last question. At that point, both people will form the seal to end the technique.
Once we had both decided on the questions we were going to ask each other, Mei started to reach into a hidden pouch for a kunai to slice her hand.
"Allow me."
Mei looked surprised at me, but extended her hand across the desk, palm upwards. I placed my own palm next to hers and looked into her eye.
Without looking away from her, with nothing but raw Fūton manipulation, I simultaneously sliced across both of our lifelines. I made it as thin as possible, knowing that she was the kind of woman who would care about scarring. To her credit though, she didn't even look at her hand, merely raised her eyebrows at my skill. We then joined our palms together; I instinctively held her hand as if we were sharing a handshake. Her hand was slender, warm and so soft. Before I knew it I had almost moved my thumb across the back of her hand, caressing her; I barely caught myself in time.
She smiled at the unintentional faux-pas, but rested her thumb against the back of my hand as well, completing the handshake.
I had never performed this technique before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect.
We then performed the 7 half-handseals for the technique and intoned simultaneously, "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Shinjutsu no Fūin (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Seal of Truth)".
Immediately, I was aware of her chakra as if it was my own. It was almost burning in its intensity, but it gave the sensation of being warm instead of hot. Despite primarily being Fire-natured, her chakra reminded me of the sea; it was as vast and as untamable as the ocean. I felt my pupils dilate, and I saw her experiencing similar symptoms. It felt…intimate, in the truest sense of the word.
Mei went first, as we had planned, "Can the contract we discussed be used against me?"
My mind instantly brought up the memories of the entire process I had undergone while creating the scroll. "No, it can only be broken by you, and only you will suffer the consequences."
I felt my blood…tingle, for the lack of a better word, at the place where our hands were joined. I knew I spoke the truth, and now Mei did as well.
Now it was my turn to ask the question. Neither of us had looked away from each other's eyes since we had laid down our palms together. "Do you intend to honour the agreement you made with Konoha and the Fire Nation?"
I felt her chakra swirl, I felt a few flashes in my head and an undeniable sense of hope; these must be Mei's feelings and memories. She must have seen mine as well. I instinctively knew her answer before she spoke. "Yes."
The blood between our palms tingled the same way as before.
It was Mei's turn again. "Are there any more hidden consequences to breaking the contract, and are all the consequences you detailed accurate?"
Once more my mind flashed through all the memories and emotions of me preparing the scroll "No, there are no hidden consequences, and yes the ones I detailed were accurate."
The blood tingled with the positive answer again.
My turn. "Do you truly intend on creating a Democratic Republic for Mizu no Kuni?"
I definitely got the sense of smug satisfaction at this question. "Yes."
The blood tingled again; damn, she really did want to change the way the world was run.
Our questions complete, I dropped my gaze away from hers and started to form the seal that would end the technique.
"Did you mean it?" Mei blurted out.
My gaze snapped back to hers, and my left hand went back into the seal without my will. This was not what we had agreed.
"When you said that you wanted Peace, when you said that you wanted everyone to understand one another…did you mean it?"
The flash of memories was far stronger this time; I could clearly recall the boat ride that Ero-Sennin and I were on, I could hear the gentle swishing of the water as the boat rowed its way, I could remember every prophetic word that he spoke that day, when I had just left the village to train under him. I recalled the tranquility his dream had put me in, and it made me smile just remembering that day.
I opened my eyes (when had I closed them!?) and gazed back into the beautiful green eye of Terumī Mei. "Yes", I said simply.
The blood tingled with the truth, and I felt her chakra swirl in clear shock.
To end the technique I had to ask her a question. There was really only one thing to ask.
"Will you help me achieve my dream?"
Her eye glazed as I felt our combined chakra swirl chaotically inside her. This was not something I had planned on asking; but she was not supposed to ask me about peace either. I waited, my gaze locked on the delicate features of the gorgeous Godaime Mizukage, and I waited to find out if my dream was within grasp.
I didn't have long to wait.
I felt the answer in the calm voluminous strength of her chakra long before her lips moved.
I smiled; and she smiled back at me, the most honest and most beautiful smile she had given me that evening.
Author's Notes: How about that? A chapter so soon after the last one; see what happens when you drown your author in love and delicious reviews?
Hehe, actually, I couldn't bear to write an entire chapter without my protagonist and the lovely Terumī Mei. I started writing as soon as I had hit publish; I didn't even read the reviews until 3 hours later. SO, what did you think about their little tête-à-tête? I loved the way they ended up pranking each other! You know the best part? NONE of it was planned! I had no idea what the two of them were going to do in that room. And the part about Mizu becoming a Democratic Republic? I totally pulled that one out of my ass. And yet, it just ties into a future arc, making it even more epic! This story just keeps getting better and better, and even I have no idea what will happen next! I feel giddy about this whole thing, it's just so much fun!
Ehehe…I completely forgot to wish you guys Happy New Year in my last chapter, so, erm, Belated Happy New Year!
To everyone who reviewed after my rant in Chapter 13: Thank you, generous souls! You are totally not Grinch-y!
To everyone who didn't review after my rant in Chapter 13: Erm, the Grinch is a part of Christmas too? Yeah, let's go with that.
I TOTALLY FORGOT! Fandom contribution: Yin chakra. The last chapter was the first time I thought I had contributed something original to the Narutoverse…I was wrong! Everyone, to this day, thinks that Naruto cannot use the Bunshin because he has 'too much chakra'. Pff. Read chapter 8: THAT was original. :D
A MOMENT OF SILENCE: A reviewer, jfcwtfusernames, pointed out that Sandu The Fish had heroically sacrificed himself for our entertainment in chapter 13. I would like to ask everyone to observe a moment of silence in appreciation for Sandu's heroic sacrifice.
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ALL RIGHT! RANT TIME!
FIRST PERSON RANT: Why do people hate the first person POV!? I've had so many people say: 'Your story is good, despite being in first-person-POV', or, 'I will not read your story because you use first-person-POV'. Fucking really? Is there a fucking commandment, Thou shalt not use FP-POV? One of my favourite book series, the Dresden Files, is written in FP. Does it actually fucking matter? As long as I keep Nanashiruto (cheers to ryne11 for coming up with that) in character, does the POV I use really matter?
RIGHT! Here's the part where I shamelessly beg for reviews…Nah. Do your thing. Make me proud.
