Chapter 6: We're talking kings and succession
Sakura was roused by a wave of their sensei's chakra coursing roughly through her, leaving her gasping like fish out of water. Likewise, Sasuke and Naruto jolted out of their cots. The pulse of chakra was gone as soon as it came, but they knew what it meant. Come.
They crashed out of the barracks to speed towards where their sensei's chakra burned brightest. They skidded around the final corner, Sasuke almost bowling Naruto over as they collided.
Kakashi-sensei stood tall in a swarm of activity. He was speaking seriously to a crowd of well-dressed men, while servants dressed in white carried a covered body away in a stretcher.
Sakura clutched at the other two genin. "Someone's…"
"Dead. Yes." Shinau-san stood behind them. He shrugged at their wary faces. "I felt your sensei's chakra. The other Guardians are probably on their way too."
Even as they spoke, lithe figures melted out of the shadows, appearing in windows and doorways. Emotionless faces all focused on Kakashi. Even the playful light that'd seemed to always gleam in Asana's eyes was gone as she regarded the Copy Nin.
Shinau nodded towards the room. "Those are the quarters of the heir. You guys been doing more than guarding the Hinogawa?"
Sakura blanched at the insinuation. Luckily, Kakashi-sensei headed over to them before the genin spluttered out a bad defense, his charcoal-grey eye flatly fixed on Shinau.
He wasn't surprised to see the Guardians assemble along with the genin he'd called with the pulse. But the state he'd seen the man carried out…only a ninja could have killed someone without leaving a single mark.
"The daimyo has been informed." Kakashi's voice was too even. The two shinobi appraised each other for a moment.
"Not us, Kakashi."
Shinau's voice held an uncharacteristic note of aggression. Kakashi tilted his head.
"I didn't mean to suggest anything."
Shinau grunted. "Well, you did, Copy-nin."
Kakashi gestured to the tension in the assembled Guardians. "I think you are, too."
"Can you blame us, senpai?" the purple haired ninja, Hitoru, used the honorific as a sardonic reminder of Kakashi's Anbu days.
Among Konoha ninja, the term was only commonly used in the ranks of the special unit, where the constant reminder of the hierarchy serviced as a flexible way to designate the new field commander in the common case that the leader of the mission was taken out. Hitoru had served under Kakashi for 2 years before leaving as a Guardian.
This was a reminder that they'd run assassination missions in the Capital before.
Kakashi regarded his kouhai with an unimpressed look. "I rather think I can."
Caught in the crossfire of the hostilities, the genin were getting another good bout of aura resistance training.
Shinau broke the tension first, signaling the other Guardians away. As they melted back into the shadows, he turned to the Copy-nin, smiling unconvincingly.
"Ah, you know he didn't mean it, Kakashi. We've got to suspect everyone." He formed the seals for a shunshin. "This can only mean trouble."
He vanished.
Team 7 was now surrounded only by scurrying servants, the genin still completely bewildered.
Kakashi himself wasn't feeling much better about the situation.
He ruffled a hand through his hair. This is the reason why all court missions are A-rank. He jerked his head towards the window.
"We're going to the Hinogawa compound."
They shot through the window.
Their trip over the rooftops didn't stay silent. As soon as they'd made their way out of the palace grounds, Sasuke spoke.
"Sensei, what happened? You didn't return to the barracks last night."
"Ah, you should be careful asking a grown man where he's been sleeping, Sasuke-kun."
The boy didn't even blush at the teasing tone, his glare only deepening.
"Maa, it wasn't me. You know I was standing watch over Lady Hinogawa."
Sasuke pressed further. "I got a good look at the body. The killer had to be a ninja, there was no blood. They must have used some jutsu. You didn't notice anything?"
"Could be poison." Kakashi noted idly.
"It couldn't, the royal family has seals on their bodies protecting them from all types of poison." Sakura supplied, helpful to the bitter end.
"Mmm."
They'd already made it to the compound in the span of their short conversation. Even as they swung themselves into their quarters through the narrow window, Sasuke didn't let the jonin brush it off.
"The killer had to be a ninja, and the Guardians think it was you, sensei. That's going to be a problem."
"That's why we're here, Sasuke. The hawk should be back with the mission approval by now, and the Hokage must be informed immediately."
Pakkun had stayed behind to guard his belongings. As Kakashi opened the door, the pug tapped the rolled up scrap of parchment that had appeared on his desk. "Just in time, Boss. Nothing else to report. The pups okay?"
The pups in question were scrambling to pull out equipment from their bags to stow them in various battle-ready pockets. Pakkun could no doubt tell that they were kitting up for more than just court guard duty.
"Things happened, Pakkun. Will brief you later. I may be wanted by the state right now." Kakashi stated absently, reaching for the missive. Hinogawa would have to wait another day for the correct mission pricing, as Kiyo's murder changed the circumstances of the guard duty considerably.
The missive read:
Team 7,
Mission fee is 500,000 ryo a day.
Kakashi stilled. His mission cost estimate had been fifty thousand ryo per day. Could this be? He flipped the missive over. The Third had left an additional note there.
Return to Konoha.
Team 7 stood before the lady, back in court again.
"A hawk has returned with the Hokage's missive. Kiyomasa-sama's death has increased the difficulty of this mission considerably, and it will be reflected in our rates."
Lady Hinogawa regarded her hired ninja, expression stilling to match Kakashi's formal tone. "That will be fine."
The genin exchanged quick looks. Kakashi had informed them that the Third had ordered them to return to the village. The negotiation for their return didn't seem to be going easily.
"The pricing may make it so that you would prefer to keep your clan guard around you, as Hayao-sama suggested."
The lady waved the suggestion off with the closed fan she held tightly.
"Price is no matter, I want ninja guards more than ever now." Her manner made it hard for Kakashi to believe she'd shy away from the Hokage's mission price. What about some sticker shock?
"Lady Hinogawa, the price is 1 million ryo per day." Behind him, he heard Sakura swallow a strangled eep.
"Done."
Kakashi felt the fine hairs on his neck rise. There was only one remaining way to wriggle out of the mission.
"Understood, Lady Hinogawa. The Hokage has deemed the mission inappropriate for my team and will be dispatching a team of the appropriate skill level to join you. He has commanded us home."
Crack.
The sound of her fan hitting the low table before her was as sharp as the tone she now spoke in.
"What's really happening?"
Kakashi didn't answer the outburst, opting to merely meet her eyes coolly. She wasn't nearly so pretty now, looking much like a riled up Hayao going after some petty bandits had.
"Do you realize what it looks like for me, after parading you around yesterday, to have Kiyomasa turn up dead?" she demanded. "Do you realize what it looks like if you leave immediately after?"
She raised her fan to point it imperiously at Kakashi. "Did you have a separate contract out on Kiyomasa?"
"No, Hinogawa-sama."
"Then you stay, or the Hinogawa family will demand blood from Konoha when the daimyo suspects me of using you to kill poor Kiyo." She raised the fan as if to slam it down on the table again, then lowered it, the restraint she was using visible in her trembling hand.
"Besides, my guards won't do if someone is using ninja at court. If you're telling me Sharingan no Kakashi isn't better protection—three genin in tow or no—that is a bare-faced lie."
He could tell Naruto wanted to burst out into a speech detailing how he wasn't "in tow" of anyone, let alone his old, perverted sensei. Luckily, the rest of the team realized that as well. A muttered "Ow!...bastard." told him Sasuke had wisely headed it off with a discreet kick in the shins.
In front of him, Lady Hinogawa pressed a hand to the bridge of her nose, looking weary. "Go. Tell the Hokage what you must. I'll agree to any price. Team 7 stays."
Kakashi inclined his head and motioned Team 7 to exit with him, exuding calm. Underneath, the pace his mind was running at would have left Shikaku at his best gasping in the dust.
In wealth, the Hinogawan estates put all the other fiefs of Fire Country to shame by virtue of age, size and an uninterrupted ruling family that dated to the founding of Fire. Though they couldn't threaten Konoha militaristically, they had more than enough power to demand Team 7's heads. Though with Naruto and Sasuke being who they were, Kakashi would probably be the only one supplying any heads.
If only he could figure out who had ordered the assassination of Kiyomasa…
Only kages could issue missions to ninja. The ninja could have been from any village…Especially with the tense conditions with Earth country….
Iwa could easily have decided to strike the warlike heir as a warning. Or someone who wanted it to look like Iwa.
If the Hokage knew of the hit before Kakashi told him, it was possible the Hokage had ordered the assassination. Or he could have just had some recon on hidden villages moving in the capital.
Calling them back even after the hit occurred meant whatever was in motion in the capital wasn't over. Or there could be an important mission waiting for me back at Konoha. Or—he gave up. There were too many variables, too many missing pieces.
Kakashi shook his head, putting his thoughts aside.
He'd accepted the mission. There was nothing to do but complete it, hopefully keeping Team 7 unmaimed in the process.
This is going to inflate their idea of a C-rank even more, won't it?
The rest of Team 7 watched their sensei walk ahead of them apprehensively.
"1 million ryo?" Sakura hissed. "That's S-rank pay!"
Naruto's fingers were up again. "If the village takes 50, and we split the rest…"
He fell into an extended agonized silence, Sasuke staring at his mathematically challenged teammate incredulously.
Sakura took pity. "It's 125,000 ryo, Naruto."
The fingers went down. "A day?"
Naruto felt at his froggy purse, mind filling with fantasies of every ramen topping Ichiraku had to offer.
Sakura grabbed a fistful of his jumper, bringing the airheaded blond down from his fantasies. "But that's not important right now! What's important is that the Third didn't want us on this mission… We might be going against the Hokage!" A note of hysteria filled her whispered words.
"Calm down, Sakura-chan~" Kakashi-sensei said, the tone of his voice as playful as it always was when he was reconciling yet another fight among his genin.
The inappropriacy of the tone in the moment stopped them short. He stopped too, turning to the team with a fist held to his throat.
Sakura shut her mouth immediately. The flash of red in Sasuke's eyes as he suddenly looked to the doorways and windows told her he'd understood too.
That hand signal meant We're being watched.
Naruto squirmed in her grasp. "Yeah, Sakura, relax!"
She let go, feeling a weight clang down in her stomach at her sensei's veiled affirmation that this, indeed, was a serious situation.
"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke said.
"You shut up!" Naruto straightened his jumper indignantly. "We wouldn't be going agai—"
"Seriously, dobe. Shut. Up."
The tension was palpable. Sakura was sure that even Naruto could tell that something was off. She prayed he wouldn't start putting it into words.
"Now, kids, don't start fighting in the palace." Sensei's voice was still teasing, seeming so natural that Sakura could have almost believed that just maybe, he hadn't just placed the team at risk for turning nukenin. "We did promise you the day to yourselves, didn't we?"
The team looked incredulously at their sensei. What was visible of his face crinkled in a smile. The fist was still held to his throat. "It's already ten. Have your day, we'll have to meet a little earlier in the Hinogawa quarters today. 4 o'clock sharp. Understood?"
Sasuke and Sakura nodded.
Kakashi-sensei's eyebrow lifted at Naruto's lack of acknowledgment. "That goes double for you, Naruto."
Naruto was still sulking at the cold treatment from his least favorite teammate. "I'm apparently not allowed to talk."
Sasuke rolled his eyes behind him.
"4 o'clock, Naruto. Don't be late." Sensei disappeared in a swirl of smoke.
Sasuke and Sakura's eyes met behind Naruto's back. They each hooked an arm under Naruto's shoulders and hauled him with them out the window.
All three Hinogawa siblings had congregated for the first time in twelve years—more accurately, since the day all the peace accords with Earth Country after the Great War were signed. After the work was complete, Old Lord Hinogawa had taken leave of court, leaving his two sons to the care of the daimyo. They had been raised like brothers with Kiyo and Hiro while Kawane…
She sat there quietly now with an embroidery hoop on her silk-covered lap, needle in hand as she listened to the conversation of the male Hinogawas. They were quite agitated.
"You're needed at home now, Kawagu." Kawaru, the second Hinogawa, said pointedly from where he was seated next to Kawane.
Kawagu paced the room like a caged tiger, shaking his head. "They killed Kiyo, I know it. With me out of the way, all the way at home, he was the only one they needed to get."
"Kawagu! You can't say such things." Kawaru hissed.
Kawagu waved his brother's objection away, returning to the matter at hand.
"I can't return home now, that's exactly what they want."
She looped two stitches through the hoop. They hung loosely from the fabric, half-finished. Like Kawagu's reasoning, she thought.
Kawaru continued the foolhardy task of trying to change their headstrong brother's mind.
"You could be in danger here now too."
"It was all Kiyo or I could do to convince him to let us build up the army. Without me or Kiyo by the daimyo's side, those pompous old cowards he keeps around will dissolve it to nothing and we'll keep letting Earth eat away at us."
She made three more looping stitches, seeming to the world transfixed by the work.
Kawane had heard of her older brother's efforts to coax the daimyo to reopen the old wounds of the third war. It only took a glance to Kawaru's exasperated face to see that he, at least, hadn't fallen to the war-lust that was so in vogue in the capital these days.
"Father would understand." Kawagu stopped his pacing to seat himself with his siblings. "There's just too much to do here." Loop, loop.
"There's too much to do at home." Kawaru tapped the letter their mother had sent ahead of their sister's court visit. "Mother herself said Father had almost completely let go of affairs at home towards the end. Poor Kawane had been handling everything. Can you imagine the state it must be in? The estates need a lord."
Her needle stabbed harder into the fabric.
"Staying here will help home far more." Kawagu said firmly. "Our allegiance is to the daimyo and the country first."
Kawaru didn't respond, setting his mouth in a straight line.
A disapproving silence fell on the room. Loop loop. Kawagu broke it, turning his frustration on his sister.
"You're making a mess of that."
She made eye contact with him for the first time that day, dark eyes meeting blue. "No, I'm not." Her tone held a shadow of the petulance that would behoove a younger sister.
"Just look at that thing, it's horrendous." Dozens of mismatched loops sprouted from the taut fabric like an awful fungus. He snatched it from her, holding it up to the light. "I can't even tell what you were trying to do."
"Don't comment on things you don't understand," she snapped, reaching for it. He was tugging at the threads, tangling them.
Looking exasperated with the both of them, the younger Hinogawa brother snagged the embroidery loop from where the new Lord Hinogawa held it out of her grasp. She retrieved it from him, gratefully.
Conceding defeat, Kawagu leaned back. "I must say, younger sister, you have brought nothing but bad news to us."
She barely acknowledged the comment, fluffing her loops again.
He tried again at conversation.
"I heard from Hayao that you took in some slaves on the way, quite unlike you, sister. Weren't you the one that was always harping on about how we need to banish them?"
She shot him a look, still nursing the hoop. "They killed Hayao's horse. It was that or hear that Hayao sent people to kill them along with their families after we left."
Kawagu let out a sarcastic laugh. "Fair."
"They won't be slaves much longer, I'll bet you that." Kawaru said, offhandedly.
Kawane raised an eyebrow at him. "How so?"
"Bandits? I'll bet you anything they're being sold to the mines in Earth. No one survives too long there."
Kawane pursed her lips. They didn't know. How didn't they know?
It seemed the new Lord Hinogawa wasn't done picking at all the things wrong with her.
"Also, what's with the ninja?"
"Protection, what else?"
Kawagu frowned. "A lot else."
"They didn't kill Kiyo, if that's what you're thinking." She set the hoop down, finally engaging in the conversation.
"Ninja can't be trusted, sister. They hide behind deceit and lies like women. I'm sure you believe they didn't, but the truth is something they can easily hide from someone like you."
Kawane's face stayed carefully blank at those words.
"Send them home. There are a dozen samurai who would lay down their lives to keep you safe in this building alone."
She couldn't help herself. "Samurai didn't keep Kiyo safe, did they?"
Kawagu's fist clenched. "And who killed Kiyo?"
"Seems to me his desire for war. Watch yourself, brother."
Kawagu shot up.
"Don't you ever speak to me that way."
She held his incensed gaze. "Am I wrong?"
"Yes. You are. Like so many others, and Kiyo is dead because of it."
He stood there for a while, fists clenching and unclenching. "I've said all I need to with you. I'm not going home, the Hinogawa family stays right here. To remind the daimyo what the country needs."
He turned to leave but paused at the door, visibly composing himself.
"The ninja goes. No argument."
He left.
The two younger Hinogawas remaining in the tearoom sat in the sudden silence.
"I suppose you think I should get rid of the ninja too."
Kawaru shrugged a shoulder. "As rare as it is for me to agree with Kawagu, I think we can agree that ninja are not welcome at court now."
A strange look crossed his face suddenly. "Although…" He unscrolled the letter from their mother, skimming the bottom quickly. He let the scroll snap back shut. "Did Kimuhara-san send them?"
"Yes," she lied. It wasn't a whole lie. Kimuhara, the older woman who was the head of the Hinogawa advisors, had been the one to commission the ninja, though it had only been on Kawane's orders.
He nodded, satisfied. "As I thought. I suppose they're right, this is no time for us to pick and choose our methods." He drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully before asking abruptly.
"Has Hiro dropped by to see you yet?"
She shook her head. A condescending smile tweaked at Kawaru's handsome face, dark eyes shining in sardonic amusement. "Poor man. He's smitten already, you know. He just needs a little encouragement."
There. She worked to hide her smile, picking at her hoop as if embarrassed. Hiro had always been hinted at, a joining of the Hinogawa family to the ruling Shiranes. Kawaru was predictable.
"I believe Kiyomasa was promised to a princess of Water. The betrothal would naturally pass to Hiroyuki."
"We shall see." Kawaru rose. "I regret that I can't tell you more about the goings on, but it's best if you do not know."
She rolled her eyes internally. Though the Kawaru she knew in her childhood would have picked up on her exasperation, the one in front of her seemed to be too engrossed in his own thoughts to.
He went on. "The ninja will stay. I know the reason Kimuhara-san sent them to court. Make sure the Copy ninja is present at the ball tonight."
Kawane was left to herself, staring down at the much-maligned embroidery hoop. She finally let herself smile. He'd taken the bait. How could he not? Kimuhara and a ninja. An innocent man and a powerful woman. The story the entire family had danced around their entire lives was setting up right here, the pattern repeating.
Her needle danced through the haphazard loops in sure, deft movements. When she finally drew her hand back, the mess of thread folded into themselves one by one. A flower bloomed on the hoop as if its petals were unfurling from the chaos. The movement of her hand was suddenly arrested as the thread caught. The scuffle between the siblings had made a knot among her carefully laid stitches. Nothing she couldn't fix, but it left her uneasy.
She was missing something.
Sakura had disappeared into the library almost immediately after leaving the palace, pale-faced but determined-looking. Naruto, upon being abandoned by Sakura, had been led away by some younger brats. And so Sasuke wandered the palace grounds alone, watching each shadow as carefully as he imagined they were watching him.
Ninja had killed the daimyo's heir, undetected by the Guardians. Vigilance was in order, but after causing the fourth servant to flee their duties with his red glare, he resolved to go practice in whatever training ground the palace had prepared for their pampered lords to playact at warrior in.
What he found was already occupied by a party of seven or so noblemen. They were taking up the entire length of the training ground, practicing archery.
The bows they held were beautiful, recurves that were designed to be used from horseback. Modern ninja didn't find much use for bows, but Sasuke had seen them detailed in history books. Madara Uchiha was said to have once shot an arrow so hard that it went around the world and struck the enemy ninja that had been sneaking up behind him. Any Academy student who'd passed their second-year exams would of course know that this feat was impossible, but the romance existed nonetheless. He settled in the bough of a tree above them to watch.
There was little chance any of these men could have shot an arrow around the world. Though their aim wasn't bad, even Sakura could throw a kunai faster than their arrows flew.
It seemed they were doing a training exercise. The group stood in front of barrels holding hundreds of arrows. In front of them, a man in heavy padding tossed a wooden disc in the air then ducked hurriedly out of the way as an auburn-haired man took aim.
The disc arced high, the target drawn on its face spinning gently—almost like a sharingan in action.
Thwap. Crack!
The crowd behind the man called out and applauded. The disc thrower, who'd narrowly dodged the ricochet, hunted around in the grass. With a triumphant cry, he held up the disc, which now sported a pronounced dent less than two fingerwidths left of the center.
Sasuke smirked and dropped down from the tree. If they thought that was impressive, there was nothing more to see.
The noblemen went silent as they registered his presence. Sasuke's exit was interrupted by a nobleman calling out.
"Hey, ninja!"
Sasuke stopped, back still to the group. The nobleman continued, his tone belligerent. "What were you doing here, spying on us?"
Sasuke scoffed. "There'd be no point in spying on you."
Though the auburn-haired bowman held a hand out to stay him, the steaming nobleman shook it off. "He was trying to see our training so he could steal our techniques, I know it!"
Never one to let things lie, Sasuke turned his chakra on them. Though far from what an adult ninja could exude, he knew his killer intent was still formidable.
To his credit, the nobleman only took a couple steps back, using his anger as a crutch. Sasuke stepped towards the group of noblemen, movements as fluid as a jungle cat approaching its prey. The group drew a little closer to each other despite themselves at the twelve-year-old's approach.
"You think I have a use for your techniques?" He plucked an arrow from a barrel, twirling it experimentally between his fingers. The balance was different from what he was used to, with the weight of the arrowhead making it swing rather than twirl around his fingers. "What a joke."
"Shinobi-san, forgive my friend." The auburn-haired man was clearly an authority figure in the group, though he seemed mild-mannered. Sasuke regarded him directly, still spinning the arrow between his fingers. The man held his hands up appeasingly. "He doesn't think before speaking."
"Clearly."
The auburn-haired man smiled hesitantly. "I know you're here escorting my good friend Lady Hinogawa. You are more than welcome to observe our training."
"Hiroyuki-sama!" the noble from before protested.
Sasuke accepted the offer with a twist of his lip. He settled to watch, leaning against a barrel now.
A couple more nobles took shots at the disk, none making contact.
The angry one took a shot which came close, but missed nevertheless. He swore, throwing his bow down. Hiroyuki patted his shoulder. "You almost had it, Kazuki."
Sasuke scoffed again.
Burning eyes rose to meet his disparaging ones. "You think you could do better? Try it, ninja scum."
The noble's lack of control over his emotions made Sasuke's lip curl contemptuously. The discipline these would-be samurai boasted of constantly didn't seem to come to much.
Kazuki was further incensed by the shinobi's apparent scorn.
"I mean it. You ninja don't even know how to use bows." The noble kicked his bow at him, prompting a disapproving look from Hiroyuki. "Try it and see if you're laughing afterwards at your betters."
Sasuke shrugged, walking to where they stood. Hiroyuki picked up the bow to proffer it to him. He pushed it away. "I don't need that."
He got in position. "Throw it."
Eyebrows raised, Hiroyuki nodded at the tosser.
A derisive look on his face, the man threw it, not up like before, but like a discus, high and far across the field.
"Eitaro!" Hiroyuki cried admonishingly. Kazuki grinned beside him.
Sasuke blurred.
The nobles yelped in his wake as he shot up the tree past them. He launched himself off in a tight flip. The momentum from the turn let him fling the arrow with greater speed than anything a bow could grant with tension alone.
Far across the field, the disc exploded midair. Sasuke didn't watch, preferring to enjoy the look on Kazuki's face. The nobleman composed himself quickly on feeling the ninja's gaze on him.
Sasuke shrugged as their eyes met. "So much for honor."
Kazuki flushed immediately, as Hiroyuki closed his eyes in embarrassment.
Feeling that was a fitting end to his time with the nobles, Sasuke took his leave. No one stopped him this time.
Naruto swung his legs, seated on the table Toru was chopping vegetables on. He usually sunny face was clouded as he stared into the bell peppers like the answers to his problems were coded in their seeds.
The much older woman hummed sympathetically. "I see your issue."
"Right? We're basically, we're just—We're putting our friends in danger! People will die…" Giving up on reading the peppers, he munched one mournfully.
Toru continued puttering around the kitchen. The blond ninja had been repeating pretty much the same thing over and over again since he'd gotten back with the children. They'd gone right to sleep in an adorable pile in the barn, and he'd come to agonize over his life while she made that night's soup.
"The kind of Hokage I want to be is one that protects everyone from danger, not putting a price on their lives."
She rinsed a pot, only half-engaging with the boy. "I'm sure you will, one day."
He brightened a bit. "Right?" He sank right back down. "But until then, people will keep being sent on missions like that…Why doesn't the Third just stop it?"
She dried her hands and met Naruto's eyes with a sympathetic smile. "Leaders have to make hard decisions sometimes."
Naruto's face scrunched in distaste. "Not me. I'd rather die than put my friends in danger."
Toru cocked her head skeptically.
"Would your friends like that?"
"…"
She bent down to get potatoes out of the bottom pantry. As she rooted around, she continued talking.
"Your friends became ninja too, knowing what it meant. You trying to keep them from that is disrespecting their decisions. Not to mention their skills."
Naruto winced, knowing exactly what Sasuke would do if he'd so much as suspected that Naruto was disrespecting his skills.
She straightened up with handfuls of potatoes and grinned at him. "See? You get it."
She went back to chopping. "Think of it this way. By being Hokage, what you're doing is protecting your friends from having to make the hard decisions by doing it yourself. That's what's really hard. Continuing to live with the aftermath of hard decisions, knowing that the results really are your fault. That's the true curse of power."
Naruto fell into a thoughtful silence. "Hey, you're right." He hopped off the table. "I'll be the one making those decisions, and I'll be making the right ones!" He grinned, smiling as usual again. "Thanks, Toru-san!"
She tossed a half-sprouted potato at him. "You can thank me by helping out here. Get rid of those eyes for me, will you?"
He dutifully moved to do so, pulling out a kunai. She tsked at him.
"Not with those, I don't know what you've done with those."
Grinning his fox grin, Naruto scratched his head. "Haha, I guess you're right." Fetching a clean kitchen knife, he went about foiling the potato's hope-filled attempts to make a life for itself.
After a while, he looked up at her. "You understand a lot about ninja."
She smirked. "I'd have to, I am one."
"WHAT?"
She held a finger to her lips. "Hush now, the kids are napping."
Suitably chastised, Naruto repeated himself more quietly.
"…what?"
She laughed quietly. "I'm surprised you didn't catch on, normal slaves wouldn't know about the Professor, you know."
Naruto was reeling. "You're a slave?"
It was Toru's turn to look puzzled now. "What did you think we were?"
"I don't know, servants? Shouldn't you have school then?"
Toru put her potato down. She rubbed her face.
"I…what?"
"There was this man who explained it to me, slaves are people who are being taught how to be useful and so you don't have to pay them, because they're still learning."
She looked down at his earnest face, searching for any sign that he was taking the mickey out of her. With no such evidence forthcoming, she huffed a light laugh.
"Those are called interns."
He gestured with a knife. "Right? At home we just call them students."
She shook her head. "No, slaves…are people that have become things."
He frowned. "Now you sound like Kakashi-sensei."
"Hm? Ah…yes. Ninja—"
"Are tools!" they said together. They shared a grin, though hers turned sardonic.
"I suppose there isn't much difference between being a ninja and a slave. Slaves don't get to choose to be slaves, though."
Naruto frowned. "So how did a ninja become a slave?"
She turned expressionless for a second.
"Can I trust you to keep a secret, Naruto? It's a very important one, but I think you would get a lot of use out of hearing it."
Naruto leaned in eagerly. "Of course!"
"I'm on a mission."
The excitement from the genin was palpable. "You're undercover? Of course! That's awesome! What village are you from?"
She smiled despite herself. "Sand, once upon a time. I became a nukenin a long time ago."
Naruto pulled back at the word nukenin.
Hesitantly, he asked, "What happened?"
She turned back to her potato. "One of those hard decisions we talked about. The Kazekage made a choice, and I disagreed."
"Who do you work for now?" The boy's honest eyes were not built for deception, and she couldn't read any ulterior motive for asking the dangerous question. Not that it mattered.
"Perks of being a nukenin, you get to work for yourself!" She carved out the last sprout on the potato with a flourish. "But if you mean for this? I was hired by Lady Hinogawa."
"What? What for? When?" Naruto's own potato was completely forgotten at this point as he gaped at the kunoichi.
"About twenty two years back? The Old Lady Hinogawa, of course. She's the one who found me. She needed...a favor." She started on a new potato, a distant look on her face. "Then I ended up sticking around until the young Lady Hinogawa decided to put me here, around two years ago."
"But why would she need a ninja?"
"That's the secret. Lady Hinogawa has plans for this country, like you have plans for Konoha, Naruto."
She spread her arms, gesturing grandly at the plain kitchen of the slave quarters. "She believes this shouldn't exist. No one's just a tool."
"I get to be a part of it, Naruto. She talks to me and consults me on all these plans. And she's right. One ninja can do the work of a thousand slaves, I'm sure you've been on enough D-ranks to know."
Naruto nodded. "Chakra really makes things go faster."
"Not chakra. Knowledge." She grabbed his smaller hand in her own. "Everyone has chakra, they just don't know how to use it. And just think about what life could be like if everyone could use chakra the way we do, if we could make water when we were thirsty and shelter when we were cold."
In the clear blue of Naruto's eyes, she could see how the genin was picturing the same utopia Lady Hinogawa had drawn for her two years ago. She spoke faster, knowing she only had so many shots to convince him.
"Konoha wouldn't have to be in the shadows anymore. Think how it could be if Konoha was the center of knowledge for all of the country, with people coming to learn ninjutsu more deeply, so they could take it to their own towns and help their people. People could help themselves if Konoha just shared its knowledge, and the only time you'd need to fight is to protect your country from enemies. Good, clean fights, none of this sneaking in the darkness, never knowing if the person you're about to strike is friend or foe."
"But she turned those bandits into slaves…"
"I don't know why she did that, but I can tell you that we've been striking all the slave trains that go to Earth and releasing them. They haven't gotten a single body. For the slaves that stay in Fire, they'll be freed in time when our plans come to fruition. She can't afford to rock the boat too much right now, but when the time comes, there'll be a full revolution."
She looked at him sidelong.
"You could help us, you know."
Naruto shook his head.
"Think about it, Hokage."
Abruptly, Naruto stood. "It's pretty late, sensei said I had to be back by now." He rushed out, slipping his sandals on hurriedly. "See you later!"
She sat back, hoping the seeds had been planted.
Next time on Tensions, Team 7 learns to dance.
A/N:
Who recognizes the chapter title?
Quick note: Samurai, much like the knights of feudal Europe, are synonymous with nobility. You can't be a samurai without being a noble.
The whole country set up in Naruto is supposed to be a mashup of feudal Japan and modernity, so I took some liberties with the placement of the Hinogawas there. There are usually many samurai serving a daimyo, many daimyo under a shogun, and many shoguns under an emperor. I've essentially placed the Fire daimyo in the Emperor/shogunship, and the Hinogawas in a daimyo position. Although the traditional hierarchy always holds in terms of respect/technical rank/fealty owed, the actual power held by each person could be different. There have been daimyos that held more power than their shogun, and in most cases the shoguns held much more power than the emperor.
Up to you to figure out what the case is in the Fire Nation's court.
Some housekeeping:
I know I do a lot of head jumping. To clarify-though I'm sure you're smart enough that you were already implicitly understanding-line breaks can mean two things:
1)I'm jumping a head, meaning I'm switching perspectives, possibly in the same scene. I'll use Kakashi and Sakura the most often, though all the other characters are fair game. You can tell because the thoughts of the characters will be explicitly described, and the names used to narrate the other characters will be the names the characters themselves would associate. So Sakura will only refer to Kakashi as Kakashi-sensei, and Lady Hinogawa as Lady Hinogawa. Of course, in Lady Hinogawa's POV, Lady Hinogawa will be narrated as Kawane.
2)I'm jumping ahead, meaning I'm jumping forward in time to a different scene.
Or a combination of the two.
Is head jumping unnecessary and confusing? Yes. Is it more fun for the author? I think so. Imma keep it this way since I'm not going for the Pulitzer or anything. This is like junk food for me, and I hope for you. Just pleasure, no discipline.
Reviews make me happy, and requests will be incorporated because I'm a slut
