Chapter 35

The longest part of these sorts of missions had always been the wait.

Mei idly traced the complex lines of Sute's seal with her eyes as she waited for the caravan to enter their range. Earlier she had seen a forward scout pass on the path below, taking a zigzagging path that only triggered two of Sute's three seals on their initial pass. They hadn't made any efforts to hide on the return trip, so they likely hadn't noticed anything amiss.

By her estimates they should have reached the caravan and started down the trail by now, and already passed the spot Sute had holed up. Given she hadn't triggered an avalanche, it could mean many things, but Mei didn't dwell on them much. Her estimates could be wrong, and she doubted that Sute had been foolish enough to expose herself or otherwise get caught or harmed. Whatever the reason, right now all Mei had to do was wait for the caravan to reach her.

Instead she let her thoughts trail to what Sute had told her before parting. So the Third Mizukage died, hmm... It had been surprising news, but not exactly unwelcome. He had been the one to truly encourage the bloody graduation ceremony after all. For how serene and soothing the man seemed on the surface, he had been one of the most vicious shinobi from their village, killing not with a smile or frown but pure, icy indifference.

That had been what irked Mei the most about the man. That indifference extended not only to enemies, but to his own subordinates as well. He had never outright enacted any policies against kekkei genkai users, but he had never exactly discouraged the growing animosity either. He simply turned a blind eye as their strongest clans dwindled and were either killed or chased away by their own allies, subsequently cutting into Kiri's strength as a whole.

She had always found his silence on subject slightly hypocritical given his own distant Yuki relations. The Mizukage had not been directly part of the clan itself, only related through his grandmother, but that part of his heritage had clearly been dominant in his genetics. It showed in his beautiful face, and how the effects of aging barely seemed to touch him.

Despite that relation, no one remained from the Yuki clan now, at least not in Kiri.

Part of her wondered if Yagura would bring an end to that hostility, but she doubted it. She had only interacted with the boy a few times, but she could see his eyes were just as cold as the Third Mizukage, if not colder. They seemed almost empty at times, like something was missing. Without that vital something, Mei doubted he would be able to unify Kiri the way it needed to be.

Her lips pressed into a frown, suppressing a sigh. The war had taken a large toll on Kiri's forces, and even in these so-called "peace" times they seemed to be losing shinobi every day as more and more people defected. The fact Kiri had enough missing-nin to establish a dedicated unit of hunter-nin was a bad sign on its own. Kiri had always been prone to civil war and discord, but it had gotten significantly worse lately.

How much longer will it take, she wondered idly, until rebellion becomes a necessity?

The talk of rebellion had only been lightly discussed since the war's end. Even the most hardened veterans understood that Kiri's current state of affairs could not be maintained. The Third Mizukage had done nothing to quell the growing tensions among their forces. If they didn't change something, it would only be a matter of time until Kiri fell apart completely.

The abrupt shift in power would put a damper on that talk though. A new Mizukage meant plenty of changes, and his new policies could prove to be enough to fix the village... or drive Kiri even further towards ruin.

The main problem, though, was Yagura's status as a perfect jinchuuriki. Fighting him would be far more dangerous than fighting the Third Mizukage, guaranteed to end with casualties no matter how strong and numerous their forces might be. The destruction of Kiri as a whole wouldn't be too unlikely should he transform. Worst case scenario, they could easily end up like Konoha after the Kyuubi's rampage.

No, for now all Mei could do was wait and see how things unfolded before deciding her next move.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt end as several dots appeared on the furthest diamond, making her lips curve into a small smile. At least she wouldn't have to wait much longer for this mission.

"Work with me...?"

The words left Sute's lips as a whisper, her eyes wide as she looked at Shiromi. In retrospect, maybe it should have been obvious. Shiromi had been nothing but cordial for this whole encounter, forthcoming with information and only threatening Sute when her own objective came into active play. All the information she had given Sute had clearly been setting up grounds to foster a future alliance.

"Working together would only be beneficial for both of us," Shiromi replied with a nod. "The hardest thing about being a missing-nin is simply the lack of allies. Many people die from being surrounded and outnumbered by enemies, taking missions too hard for one person, or simply getting injured in the wilderness and being unable to properly care for themselves. Having someone you can truly trust is worth its weight in gold."

"And you want me to be that person," Sute summarized, and Shiromi nodded. Sute sighed, crossing her arms with a thoughtful hum. When phrased like that, it made sense, but that didn't make her completely open to the idea yet. "I get the logic, but why me specifically? We never worked together, I didn't even know your name until today. The only thing we have in common is being bloodline users from Kiri."

"True, we are strangers. But the way I see it, we would make a good match. First, as you said, we come from the same village. Even if our fighting styles and specialties are different, the core of our education is the same, making it easier for us to adapt to each other's style. Our reasons for leaving are also the same reason, so there is really no ground for hostility between us."

"Fair," Sute allowed with a nod. She wouldn't trust most missing-nin from Kiri, since most of them tended to be rather bloodthirsty and would be just as likely to turn on an ally to get a good fight. But she could tell Shiromi didn't have that bloodlust that made their village infamous, and wouldn't needlessly dive into battle just to get an adrenaline rush. "That still assumes I would need a partner, though. I can handle myself in combat fine."

"Yes, if you use the mokuton," Shiromi responded serenely, and Sute felt herself tense at the reference, her eyes narrowing. "I do not know what other skills you've developed, but I know the natural inclination to use kekkei genkai over any other element. For us, no matter how much we learn of other techniques, our fighting styles will always be limited if we have to fight that urge. And I doubt you'd want to use it too often."

Sute didn't respond this time, though she figured her sour expression answered for her. She still hadn't completely gotten past the mental block with suiton jutsu, and once she left Kiri she suspected the urge to use the mokuton would only grow. It might be fine, if only having mokuton didn't paint such a large target on her back. The less people who knew about it, the better.

While she could handle herself fine without it, her affinity for the element had always been ridiculously strong. If she ever got cornered she would likely tap into it unconsciously to defend herself, just like when she'd been fighting Juzo or all those years ago when Shiromi found her with those Rock ninja.

Her irritation at herself must have been visible on her face, but thankfully Shiromi didn't comment on it. "Having another person around will lower the chances of you getting into a situation where you'll feel compelled to use it. I can also provide a suitable cover story," she added with a sly smirk, "if you ever use it to pierce someone again."

"I am tempted to do it to you right now," Sute groaned, pressing her hands to her face. At this point she wasn't concerned about Shiromi launching an attack while she wasn't looking, so she felt perfectly safe in taking her eyes off her the woman for the sake of being melodramatic.

Likewise Shiromi just laughed at the threat, clearly aware Sute wouldn't follow through with it right now. "I think I've made my point. Besides, with two of us, that will open us to a lot more missions. My skills have reached a plateau so I'm limited in what I can do, but I know you have more potential than I did. Between the two of us, I doubt there would be many missions we couldn't handle. We can split the profits evenly."

Sute sighed, dragging her hand down her face and looking at her again. "Yeah, fine, fair point about the mokuton. But I feel like you'd still be getting more out of this arrangement since as you said, your skills have plateaued. I have options beyond running missions."

"You do," Shiromi agreed nonchalantly, and Sute suppressed a sigh. Of course the Yuki woman had a response and counterpoint ready, it was beginning to occur to Sute that Shiromi had likely spent years preparing for this negotiation. "You're a medical ninja. I'll be blunt: for missing-nin, access to a fully trained medical ninja is rare and highly valuable. You'll have a guaranteed source of income—once you find the clients."

"You have clients in mind," Sute realized aloud, and Shiromi nodded.

"I've already made some connections with other missing-nin. While I wouldn't trust them enough to run missions together, they'd be willing to pay any amount for access to a medical ninja. More importantly, they'd be willing to go out of their way to save their medic if another group captured them for exclusive use."

That point left Sute silent, her eyes narrowing. Truthfully, she had been worried about that exact scenario—more specifically, the Akatsuki. Sute knew her skillset would make her a popular target for groups recruiting new members, and the Akatsuki stood as the largest known danger. She wouldn't be able to handle them on her own if they tried to make her join.

Having an existing clientele base would lower the chances of being forcibly recruited. As Shiromi said, plenty of people would likely go to great lengths to ensure no other group could monopolize her services. Sute doubted many people would be able to stand up to the Akatsuki, but with luck their deaths would give her the opening needed to escape and get to relative safety.

Of course, that depended on her actually offering her services in the first place. If she chose to keep a low profile, the Akatsuki wouldn't be as likely to seek her. However, she still couldn't guarantee she could fully avoid their attention, and she could see the value in what Shiromi said. "You're making me rethink my plans," she growled, pinching the bridge of her nose again.

"I would hope so, because I do think you'd do best going to the Land of Bamboo where your relative is." The words made Sute pause, slowly pulling her hand from her face to look at Shiromi with a steely gaze. The Yuki woman remained serene as ever, meeting her bright green gaze with chilly gray. "I did tell you about your relative for a reason. Regardless of whether you decide to work with me, everyone needs a place to call home. You have a rare chance to find someone who can be an ally."

"That is surprisingly altruistic and kind of you," Sute said flatly, and Shiromi smirked.

"As I've stated multiple times now, I do feel a slight debt to you for warning me back then. Helping you find a place to make your home, even temporarily, would be enough to alleviate that debt in my mind."

Ah, Sute thought. So her motives weren't so altruistic after all. Even if one didn't truly believe in debts like that, the fact someone else might feel like they were owed something could prove troublesome. By doing this, Sute would lose any grounds to justify calling on Shiromi in the future. Of course, Sute had no intention of doing so anyway, but this would still remove any temptation if she ever felt cornered.

With that in mind she leaned forward. She didn't want this imaginary "debt" to remain either, and this information would be valuable anyway. "Where is this village?"

"The southeastern part of the Land of Bamboo, near the borders to both Fire and Rice Fields. The village itself lacks a name and there aren't any nearby landmarks so it won't be easy to find, but it has an inn with a moon and yellow rabbit on the sign. You shouldn't have many problems though," she added casually. "I'm sure someone will tell you if they know Rei before you can even ask. After all, your eyes are rather unique."

"Guess they are," Sute murmured, nodding with a soft hum. After that the pair fell silent for a few moments, the conversation lulling as Sute fell into thought. "I'll be honest, I'm still not sure if I want to partner up with you or anything. But I do thank you for telling me about Rei and that village. I do need a place for my greenhouse."

"I thought you would." Shiromi smiled, but Sute didn't return it, instead sighing.

"Now I feel almost bad," she muttered, and like that Shiromi's smile vanished, her gaze instantly wary and posture straight.

"About what?" she asked suspiciously. Gone was the casual demeanor, the steely core of a kunoichi shining through once more. Sute heaved a large, dramatic sigh, running a hand through her hair as she slowly shook her head.

"It's just, you've given me so much information. Leads I never would have even dreamed of, and plenty of things to think about for when I finally leave. Defecting will be much simpler now." Her shoulders rolled in a shrug as she looked at Shiromi, her face the picture of sympathy. "I just feel so bad because your mission is going to be a failure."

Alarm visibly flashed on Shiromi's face as she surged to her feet, her stance ready for a battle. "What are you—" Before she could finish the sentence a loud noise sounded in the distance that made them both turn.

Avalanches, Sute learned, did not sound like thunder like she once thought. The noise reminded her more of the wind blowing around an airplane on descent, the whoosh cutting audibly through the air even from afar.

Snow furled down the side of a distant mountain at rapid speeds, tumbling down in larger and larger sheets that made the entire mountainside seem alive and moving. All color drained from Shiromi's face as they watched the avalanche crash towards the path, and when she turned back Sute stared at the avalanche with sparkling eyes and a smile full of wonder.

"Fuinjutsu is amazing," she breathed, her voice full of nothing but awe, and Shiromi's eyes widened.

"Y-you—you just—" She couldn't form a coherent sentence, and Sute threw her head back and laughed, cackling with manic glee and euphoria.

"Fuinjutsu is amazing!" she repeated, much louder and full of enthusiasm. "Not even nature is immune to its power!" As she laughed she pulled a scroll from her pouch and tossed it to the ground. Shiromi reflexively jumped back and shuriken seemed to appear in her hands from no where, wrist angled back in preparation to throw them. Her stance faltered though as the smoke cleared to reveal a corpse.

"What the hell?" she muttered, her eyes widening with shock and confusion.

"Behold, the culprit who held you up!" Sute announced, waving an arm at the corpse with a dramatic flourish and a sharp smile that would make Ameyuri proud. "He can be from any village or faction you want, whatever gets you in the least amount of trouble and makes them happy. You'll have to rough him up of course, maybe do a little landscaping to fit the story, but it should be passable."

"Why do you have a random body on you," Shiromi said, too bewildered to even phrase it as a proper question as she stared at the corpse.

"Practice, of course," Sute replied with a too-innocent smile, a cheery look straight from her childhood days. "I only have so long before I plan to leave after all, so I always need to be ready to jump on any opportunity to get practice in."

"Practice for what?" Shiromi asked, her shock fading to leave her much more wary. Sute's smile widened, a hand lifting to her mouth as she giggled.

"Oh, nothing for you to worry about. Just my escape route. I've got more where that came from so I don't mind you using one. Ah, for the record he's just a normal bandit, but I think he got training somewhere. I killed him through suffocation, so there shouldn't be any marks. As long as they don't do an in-depth autopsy..."

She hummed, tilting her head thoughtfully as she studied the body. "Maybe use an explosive tag to burn up the corpse? I doubt you have the medical expertise to make convincing fatal wounds post-mortem." Even as she spoke she pulled out a small bundle of pre-made explosive seals from her knapsack, dropping it on the corpse's chest. "Just ignite those and you can pass it off as a suicide attack."

The look of absolute shock on Shiromi's face felt glorious. It felt like she'd been leading Sute and the conversation the entire encounter, so to finally turn it back around left Sute feeling lighter than air. "You're..." Her whisper trailed off, clearly too stunned to form coherent sentences.

In response Sute just smiled again, sweet and innocent. "If you still want to team up after this—well, I'll consider it. But for now, this hitai-ate still lacks a scratch, so my mission comes first. I hope you don't get into too much trouble. Oh, and one last thing."

Her smile became twisted, her eyes glimmering with danger. "Don't tell anyone Kiri had anything to do with this."

She could see the shiver run down Shiromi's spine, those cool gray eyes nearly pinpricks as she unconsciously took a step back. Sute didn't bother saying anything else, just gave a cheery wave before hopping off the ledge and running. As she fell towards the path she formed seals to split one of her faceless deer-legged yokai from her body, the monstrous wooden doll catching her in its arms and carrying her down the path.

As Sute looked back one last time she saw Shiromi staring at her from atop the ledge, too far to see her expression. Snow and ice exploded around the Yuki woman, a body flinging through the air above her as she released a furious shout. None of it seemed to be directed towards her, so Sute turned away and settled into her lovely monstrosity's arms for the trip, silently wishing the wooden arms were a little more comfortable.

The clone had long since disassembled itself into a pile of timber by the time Utakata arrived to their designated meeting spot around an hour and a half later. "No Mei yet?" he asked in greeting as he ducked into the cavern.

"Nope," Sute replied, not bothering to look at him as she tended the fire. "Anyone see you?"

"No. Took a bit of time because I had to avoid the avalanche area. You?"

Sute paused, gazing at the fire contemplatively. "I don't think so," she decided. If Utakata found her answer odd or worrisome, he didn't comment on it.

Two more hours passed before Mei arrived. The kunoichi offered no greeting as she entered, ducking through the opening soundlessly gliding inside to sit beside the fire. She steepled her fingers under her chin as she gazed at them over the flames, her eyes glinting in its warm glow.

"I trust neither of you left trails?" she started.

"No," Utakata replied while Sute silently shook her head. Mei eyed them a moment longer before nodding, her gaze turning to a cup of tea Sute had prepared and kept warm with seals in anticipation of the woman's return. She didn't need to be told it was for her, swiping it up and taking a long sip. When she finished and lowered it she simply held the cup for a few moments, letting her eyes fall shut.

"The avalanche directly hit the front cart of the caravan, completely pulverizing it. The cart behind it received damage from the impact that will render it impossible to use. Four merchants and one Cloud ninja were caught in the snow. I stayed long enough to ensure they wouldn't find any evidence of our involvement before leaving. They were all dug free before I left, but one of the merchants had suffocated by then."

She paused to take another sip of the tea before opening her eyes once more. "The chances of them continuing their trip as originally planned are low. Half their cargo has been destroyed, two of the carts are unusable, and they'll need to seek immediate medical treatment for the survivors. They won't be able to reach the nearest village before the snow starts again, and it's already getting dark."

"So there's a chance the other people caught up in the avalanche will die of hypothermia before they can get to help," Sute murmured. A low chance since the shinobi likely had ways to fight off the cold, and Shiromi could easily make an igloo or some other ice shelter once they regrouped, but a chance nonetheless. Mei simply nodded in agreement.

"Even if they decide to continue to Konoha, this will severely throw off their schedule. The Leaf ninja will likely still wait at the borders until someone arrives, but a delay would not look good. It would be wiser to send a scout to postpone the peace meeting."

"So does that mean we completed our objective?" Utakata asked, and Mei nodded, a satisfied looking smirk on her face.

"Yes."

Sorry for the delay! Needed to do some extra work on editing this chapter. I'm still not totally content with it honestly, but I've accomplished everything I needed to so good enough for now. This wraps up the mission for the most part, next chapter will basically be a transitional one wrapping up all the other loose ends and setting up the next arc.

Coming up next is the long-awaited defection arc. I didn't plan for it to take this long, but writing stuff in Kiri has been really fun. The pieces are finally in place though, and it's time for Sute to go.