When morning came, Tomoki opened the door of the borrowed apartment without the faintest clue of what he would do next. His macabre encounter with the guei, Manciple, and then the even more mysterious visitation by a qi-lin had left him feeling unsettled – almost overwhelmed. Castle Omphalos, he found, was a winding labyrinth riddled with mysteries. There were great forces at work, and he and Naruto seemed to be caught in their nexus.

A frown creased the boy's face as he recalled the warning the Hokage's doppelganger had delivered, then startled at the sight of Catullus who waited there in the hallway, seated on his heels. The chunin glanced up at him balefully and rose. The leaf-ninja studied his countenance and could read there inscribed the abject misery that possessed him.

"Catullus," Tomoki said, betraying his surprise, then offered empathetically, "I wanted to say earlier but forgot…how sorry I am about everything."

The man nodded then grunted as tactfully as he was able to, clearly unused to commiseration from a junior. "To think," Catullus began, "our lord Tsuchikage, who began his reign four-hundred years ago, raised an empire and founded a proud ninja dynasty...," his expression went blank, "died on my watch…died in my --," he broke off abruptly, unwilling to continue. "Whoever did this to us," the ninja snarled with a fearful scowl, "will know no rest or a single painless moment!" His eyes locked on Tomoki squarely. "Do you see now?" he hissed vehemently. "I told you what those clans, the Australs, the Boreals and the people of the River Lands truly are. For all those years, centuries, we've been too soft on them and this is the price we pay!" He shut his eyes for a moment and tried to restore his proper composure, but it was too much.

Suddenly, the stone-ninja seized Tomoki and whirled him into the wall. Grabbing tight around his collar, he shoved his forearm into the boy's neck. The genin struggled briefly, before sensing that Catullus intended nothing more.

Tomoki gagged then waited as still as he could, turning his head to take his windpipe away from the force of the chunin's choke. "Do you have any idea," Catullus gasped. "Do you have any idea what it's like to bear an atrocity like this? We were all powerless to stop our lord's killer. Worse then that – you two worthless leaf genin did more to stop the guei than any of us." The ninja clenched his teeth as he started to sob. "What does that mean?" he cried. "What does that make us?"

The disconcerted boy swallowed hard to ease his throat as Catullus refreshed his grip and continued. "Uiko," the man muttered hatefully. "That stupid, old cow…grabbed you, brought you all the way from Konoha because she thought you could help us; that you could help us!" He jerked Tomoki's collar suddenly and so hard that the boy's headband almost came off, then stared intensely into his eyes. "Tell me, boy, and by whatever it is you revere, it had better be the truth – can you?"

It took an effort of willpower to meet the chunin's crazed look. Tomoki felt certain that if he glanced away, if his eyes even flickered, that the unbalanced man would kill him then and there. "I don't know, Catullus," he stated in earnest. "That's the truth. The reason I was able to do what little I did against Manciple was because I've trained half my life learning jutsus that work against the supernatural. But even so, I was nearly powerless. The only thing that saved us, I think, was that Manciple wasn't really trying that hard."

Catullus shut his eyes and smiled tightly. "Figures," he mumbled then released his hold. As Tomoki slumped and rubbed his neck, the stone-ninja nodded gravely then rose to his full height. "I need to be going," he informed the boy matter-of-factly, as if nothing else had happened. "I'm supposed to be guarding Arata Shan, the Tsu – the late Tsuchikage's grandson even now."

The genin looked at him askance. "Don't let me slow you down," he obliged with subdued sarcasm, as much as he dared.

Catullus' brow rose. "If you're waiting for thanks, you won't get any," he explained in a gruff voice, then paused for a moment in reflection and added: "But, considering you two leaf weasels owe us nothing, I was surprised at how hard you tried." Smiling harshly, the ninja gave a curt wave, turned and started to walk away.

Tomoki watched him go, unsure of how to feel, then: "Wait," the genin called after him. "What do you know about the other guei?"

"Not much," the older ninja admitted as he turned and paused. "I don't know all of them, leaf, but there's a Tyrant, a Diseased, and a Condemned. Slave we've met."

"Gotcha," Tomoki replied in acknowledgement. "Hey, one more thing," he asked, "where did first person get killed?"

"Plaza Lithica, just outside the castle," called Catullus as he paced away, "up top. Bode Shan was the first to go. That's where they found his body."

As the stone-ninja rounded the corner and vanished, Naruto emerged from the apartment's doorway. He yawned and stretched his arms, zipped his carrot-colored jacket and straightened his blue 'hidden-leaf' headband to properly restrain his straying thicket of yellow hair. "'Morning, Tomoki," he slurred tiredly and rubbed his eyes. "Who was that?"

"Catullus," Tomoki reported.

Naruto looked at him sharply. "Huh," he snorted. "What did he want?"

"'Just stopped by to see how we were."

"Oh," remarked Naruto in a more moderate tone, but put his hands on his hips anyway. "I guess that's ok then." The genin looked at Tomoki who stared down the hallway. "Ok," the blond prodded, "so what's the plan?"

Tomoki grinned at him glibly. "I thought we'd go see Plaza Lithica," he suggested smoothly and Naruto gave him a funny look. "It's up top," he added and pointed upward, "or so I hear."

Along a wide, concrete path, the two leaf-ninjas walked. Plaza Lithica was indeed 'up top', on the high side of the plateau whose wall was commanded by Castle Omphalos. On this side, the Castle stood only six stories tall, a far cry from it's height as seen from the city at the base of the plateau far below, but it still managed to seem imposing.

Out before its ponderous facades spread a park with clusters of trees amidst rolling, green lawns. A walkway curved through it – a perfect circle of concrete, the radius of which would probably contain most of the Hidden Leaf Village. Along it, on either side, the grounds were divided into dart-board like quadrants where colorful flowers bloomed in broad fields of vivid red, blue, purple, white, yellow and every other hue imaginable. Through this colorful landscape, five rivers flowed bounded by stone channels toward, then through, Castle Omphalos itself before they plunged down the other side in torrential cascades.

It was a striking sight even though the sky was overcast with leaden clouds and the atmosphere was blighted by black banners which hung from every light post in commemoration of the late Tsuchikage and the others who'd been killed the previous day.

"So…what are we doing here?" asked Naruto, whose initial interest hadn't lasted.

Tomoki shrugged. "I don't know for sure," he muttered tentatively, not bothering to nuance the answer. "I just thought we could look around the place where the guei first appeared." The ninja's forehead furrowed then he shook his head pensively. The weight of the qi-lin's words, a warning from the court of heaven itself, encumbered him and it showed. What he remembered most was not the words but the look in the servant's eyes which gave him in that one moment a glimpse of the infinite. "Even if their power can reach beyond Earth Country," he rasped, "I don't see at all what we're supposed to do."

Naruto's face pinched into a frown. "So you believe what that fake Hokage said?" he asked in a soft voice.

The leaf-genin sighed and shut his eyes. "I've been fooled so many times…I don't think I'll believe anything until I see it."

Naruto glanced at him then adjusted to his mood. "Don't worry about it," he advised with buoyant confidence. "We'll figure something out, I mean, we always have before."

"Sure, Naruto," agreed Tomoki who looked back at his friend doubtfully at first then made an effort to believe him.

They'd only gone a few paces further when the blond genin's face lit suddenly. He grinned widely then capered out into the flower beds.

"What…?" Tomoki stared, mystified and gestured after him. "What are you doing?" he called in a cracking voice. "Have you lost your mind?"

The ninja waded into a quadrant of orange flowers then crouched down and, in his vivid clothing, was almost invisible in their midst. "See, Tomoki!" he cheered boisterously.

The boy rubbed his face and shook his head, but couldn't help but smile. "You really have gone crazy," he offered between chuckles. "Why do I keep forgetting that? Does Kakashi-sensei trust you carrying kunai knives, or does he make you cork the ends?"

"Admit it!" demanded Naruto merrily from where he looked up; his face and toothy Cheshire-cat smile blared from the field of orange.

"I will not."

"Come on," Naruto cajoled further.

Tomoki rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok, I take it all back," he granted, then announced grandly: "You're a master of camouflage!" His laughter rang out and he stumbled away, pointing at his friend with a quaking, unsteady hand. "But only if stay in the flowers or keep your back to the sunset!"

The two genin laughed: Naruto on his hands and knees in the flowers, and Tomoki with his hands clutched over his stomach.

Out of the corner of his eye, the taller genin caught sight of figures approaching and tried to force himself serious again, realizing full-well how ridiculous they looked.

Drawing up to them, accompanied by two bodyguards, came a boy dressed in a stiff, embroidered, high-collared mourning robe. His hair was a lusterless blond and his eyes were pale blue. Though he was little taller and appeared no older than Fugo, his features marked him as a Shan and so Tomoki assumed he was in reality far, far older.

"Masters Tomoki," he offered in a mellow voice, then bowed low, "and Naruto. I'm pleased to make your acquaintances. My name is Diogenes Shan."

While Naruto picked his way toward them, grinning apologetically, Tomoki returned the boy's courtesy. "We are honored, Master Shan," he managed with some grace.

"I apologize for not greeting you earlier," Diogenes offered. "As my late brother's minister, it is my duty to meet foreign dignitaries but, as you must gather by now, we are in the midst of difficult circumstances which demand my attentions."

"What?" said Naruto incredulously as he looked the newcomer over. "Is this kid serious?"

The Shan noble blinked. "Oh, you're referring to my appearance," he guessed. "As visitors to our land, it must seem strange, but be assured I am in truth more than old enough for such responsibilities."

Tomoki ventured curiously, "If it's not too much to ask…?"

Diogenes smiled and nodded. "My first birth was four-hundred and thirty-three years ago," he explained casually. "Of course, as you see, my present incarnation is only eleven."

Naruto backed away slightly with a barely-concealed look of revulsion.

The minister made light of it. "You are, I gather, taken-aback by my clan's kekkei-genkai."

Tomoki forced a polite smile to his face. "It's…a little difficult getting used to."

"And a little creepy," opined Naruto indelicately.

"I understand. But please, I came to offer my gratitude to the both of you for how you tried to protect my brother, Aureus, the late Tsuchikage, and also for saving Catullus. His service to our village has been exemplary."

"Of course, Master Shan," Tomoki replied.

The 'boy' looked up at the grey skies and folded his arms behind his back. "I've read the after-action report. You both performed nobly." He turned suddenly toward the two leaf-genin then asked with only the faintest trace of doubt: "Tell me, Tomoki, is it true you cut Manciple's neck?"

The taller ninja nodded. "Yes," he confirmed reluctantly, "but it didn't do any good."

Diogenes frowned with a gravity no normal boy that age could have managed. "Don't make light of it," he said seriously. "It's still quite an achievement. No other ninja has managed anything close to that, not even our elite chunin and jonin." The minister cast a quick look at his guards' expressionless faces then turned back to the two visitors. "If you would, please," he invited, "walk with me."

The Shan minister, having left his guards behind, guided the two visitors from Fire Country along Plaza Lithica's circular concrete walk and then down a radian that lead in toward the center. There, before them, upon a low, flat hill, whose sides had been stepped with blocks of stone, stood a Neolithic temple – a circle of tall, dark, monoliths gathered around a large, mounded shape.

"Have you seen this," Diogenes remarked to Naruto and Tomoki as they ascended toward it. "It's the Omphalos, after which the castle is named."

The three stepped between the standing stones, ancient and cracked with age. Unlike Lady Acacia's follies, the antiquity of this place was genuine and indisputable. At the center was a large, rounded stone carved all over with arabesques.

"Omphalos, huh?" said Naruto, who studied it suspiciously. "What is that, anyway? I thought it was just a name."

Diogenes smiled. "This stone marks the point around which the world was created, and forms a seal over a conduit that runs between realms of existence." The two genin looked at him doubtfully, Naruto much more so than Tomoki. The minister gestured abstractly. "Well, I don't mean really, that's just what legend holds. In any case, it's quite old and dates back to the earliest human habitations here in Earth Country." Tomoki looked at him and nodded, then all three exchanged 'my, isn't that interesting' expressions, until the minister's brow narrowed and he asked: "May I speak freely?"

Tomoki waved his hand. "Of course."

"I'm mystified by your arrival here in the Hidden Stone Village," Diogenes confessed. "It comes at such a terrible time, and no one seems to know any details." He frowned tensely then acquiesced. "Perhaps it's not important. Here you are and that's all that matters."

Tomoki studied the boy's face, and the dichotomy between his young visage and his ages-old manner. "Never before have we been faced with such horror," Diogenes continued, "these monsters, these guei. For so long I supposed my younger brother to be practically invincible but now he's dead, just like that. Unlike all the other times over his ten lifetimes, when he'd die and then be reborn and we'd plod through his difficult infancies with regents and nurses, this time he will not be coming back."

The Shan paced around the curious-looking stone, the Omphalos, and cupped his hands together as he wrestled with his emotions. "So far, you are the only ones who've even dulled a ghost's rampage and so I wish to extend an offer. If you will assist us against the guei," he stated with a gravity that riveted the attention of the two ninjas, "then all you have to do is name what you wish and it shall be yours."

Tomoki blinked at him inscrutably then blew out a breath. "Okay," he began blithely. "'Sounds good. Naruto and I'll kill all the guei, take our wagon-loads of gold back to Konoha, and everything here can return to the way it's always been."

Naruto's eyes widened at the sarcasm while the boyish Shan grimaced. "Your disdain for our plight is incomprehensible," Diogenes grumbled, "as it is unseemly."

Tomoki met his gaze. "Did you really think your problems would be so easily solved?" he inquired pointedly then turned away. "Manciple talked to me. He gave me the idea that you've brought this on yourself, and he's got a brand on his cheek like so many people around here do."

"The brands," said Diogenes dismissively. "You make too much of them. I don't know what that guei suggested, but they're a necessary and important expression of our system of justice."

Tomoki looked at him sourly. "Small wonder that the outlying clans would rather fight than live under that system."

The minister shook his head. "You understand nothing, genin," he countered tiredly. "Like all your kind, you lack the perspective to think long term --."

"Because I'm young, you mean; because I'm only a genin and will live only one lifetime?" interjected the leaf-ninja snidely. "I think I understand perfectly: it's you who've lost perspective. Living so long and safe here in your castle, you don't understand that for everyone else in the world life is short and precious. Look at you, still alive and young after four-hundred years!" The ninja marched toward his host, who seemed only now to realize that Tomoki towered over him. "If you Shan had only one life to live, you would have made peace a long time ago!" On the brink of losing control of himself, Tomoki drew back. "And look what you've become: you send your men, women and children off to die without even a thought --."

"Yeah!" Naruto added stridently, having held himself silent thus far, and raised his fist. "And you've got dead bodies lined up like so many stuffed animals in your hallways. What's wrong with you people?!"

"And you say we don't understand?" continued Tomoki.

A wind blew, rustled through the distant treetops and over the tops of the temple's stone monoliths.

Diogenes Shan drew a weary breath. "I won't deny the apparent validity of your observations," the minister seemed to admit. "But surely you are aware of how war brings out the worst in both people and countries. I assure you that we have acted appropriately and done no more that what is called for under the circumstances. If we have gone to extremes in some cases, they were only in efforts to bring these protracted conflicts to a conclusion."

Tomoki tossed his head absently. "I didn't expect to change your mind," he said. "But however you look at it, there will be no quick fix." The young ninja's expression pained as he puffed out a breath, then went on, "Having said all that, we will do what we can."

The minister's surprise seemed genuine to his biological age. "I realize that I should simply express my appreciation and leave it at that," he admitted in a tone that approached humility, "but I'm curious now as to why. From what you've said, you hardly seem inclined towards us."

"I'm not," Tomoki stated plainly. "But there are a lot of people getting killed…and I think it's possible that the guei will live on long after your wars are over, whoever wins."

These last words fell upon the minister like a stunning blow. "Young masters," began Diogenes who chuckled with disbelief, "our situation may be serious, but is hardly that dire." He looked again at the two visitors from Fire Country with an amused expression. "I think you've missed the spirit and resolve of the people of Earth Country. Allow me to explain: A very long time ago, our people settled this place of falling water and jutting stone, holding true to the belief that is was our destiny to found a civilization here. Though the land was bleak, the seasons often intemperate, and that barbarians compassed us on all sides, still we persevered. We cleared, plowed and tended the land until it was fruitful. We built houses to shelter us from the elements; and to those who plotted our destruction, we sent forth armies to discourage. Our empire has survived for a long time, and we will survive this," the minister concluded with a certain grin. "It is written in the earth." Pleased with his clarification, and receiving no rebuttal from Tomoki or Naruto, the minister bowed to them. "I meant what I said, young masters. If you help see us through these times of trouble, you will be well rewarded."

Tomoki folded his arms and watched him go, then turned to Naruto once he was well out of earshot. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

The boy's yellow eyebrows rose. "What are you asking me for?"

"Because I want to know, why else?" returned Tomoki, who added with a sly grin: "are you going to make me beat it out of you?"

"Very funny," Naruto grumbled then rested his back against one of the monoliths. "Ok, he's crazy; that's what I think."

The genin nodded somberly. "Yeah, that's what I got too."

"Oh yeah?" returned the blond with surprise.

Tomoki canted his head. "Do you remember what Lady Acacia said about Castle Omphalos?" Naruto shook his head, but Tomoki inferred that he did so only because he wanted him to go on. "She called it an 'inbred reptile-house'. At the time, I thought she said that just to be insulting, or maybe out of bitterness."

Naruto blinked then his mouth fell open. "Oh, wait!" he exclaimed. "You mean…?"

"It explains some things," asserted Tomoki as he worried his lip, "don't you think?" Naruto stared across the standing stones and ran a hand through his mop of bright hair while his friend continued, "That immortality trick of theirs runs only through the Shan bloodline – that's four-hundred years plus however long it took to develop."

"Wait a minute," said Naruto after a moment of thought, "there're lots of clans out there with kekkei-genkai, and they're not, you know." He put his forefinger near his temple and made circling motions. "And anyway, if guys like that Diogenes get reborn into new bodies, then what does it matter what the body is like?"

"Good point," acknowledged Tomoki after a moment. "I don't know. Maybe you can't separate spirit from flesh like that. Maybe it's not as simple as Uiko made it sound."

Naruto pushed himself off the ancient stone and started to pace. "They're a strange bunch; that's for sure," he asserted. "Florian was crazy," he recalled and looked hard at Tomoki, "and Desdemona killed him like it was nothing! And that guy Diogenes really had a screw loose!"

Tomoki nodded. "I can't pretend I understand any of it, Naruto, not really. But no matter how their kekkei-genkai works, the Shan don't get how serious things are. To get rid of the guei, they're willing to send more soldiers out to fight or pay us whatever we want, but they're not willing to change." He closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "Maybe it's a side-effect of their blood-gift. Four centuries is plenty of time to get set in your ways," the ninja pointed out, then looked at Naruto squarely, "even if those ways lead to oblivion."

Naruto and Tomoki left the temple at the center of Plaza Lithica feeling even more disconcerted and oppressed by their mission. Walking in silence, the pair headed down one of the park's radians, crossed an arched bridge over one of the rivers and arrived back on the circular walkway.

As they followed it around, Tomoki tried to put aside his misgivings and still his racing thoughts. All around him he could feel energies pulse and flow but was far from certain if that was the reality or only a sensation brought forth by his anxious mind. Obeying an impulse, he turned up the next radian then out across the grass along the flower beds. Though far from a meditative state, the genin felt again the sense of something unseen, waxing and waning, swirling in invisible vortices.

Tomoki looked at Naruto who looked back at him like he was about to have him involuntarily committed. He grinned sheepishly, knowing he couldn't make sense of what he was about to do, and instead prevailed on Naruto to trust him.

The genin then closed his eyes and wandered, abandoning volition and self. He moved or paused only when intuition urged him, and when he stopped it was as if he'd been deposited there by the wind like a leaf or seed. Tomoki opened his eyes, stirred but a little disconcerted by the experience, and saw before him a plot of bare earth – a quadrant that had been left deliberately vacant between two blooming flower beds. He looked at the grass around him and beneath his feet, the surrounding trees and the swirling grey clouds above, then squatted down and tried to clear his mind.

"Naruto," began Tomoki hesitantly as he endeavored to explain. "This could take awhile, but I think it's important."

"More weird stuff, huh?" the orange ninja replied dourly, then crossed his arms.

"Um…," he said, and thought furiously to clarify but gave up, "yeah, basically. It's hard to put into words, Naruto, but I just…have this feeling that by the time I'm done I'll have the insight we need to move forward."

Naruto gave him a cool look and shrugged. "Ok, whatever," he replied tersely.

Tomoki worried his lip. Waiting was not something that Naruto's nature could endure easily. The yellow-haired genin was anxious, restive, driven and could bear literally anything as long as he was doing something. "Um, Naruto," offered Tomoki after a little consideration. "You could go and, uh, reconnoiter the town, maybe?"

Naruto glanced at him skeptically, whereupon Tomoki expanded, "I mean, we've spent a lot of time inside the castle, but not much in the Hidden Stone Village itself, you know."

"Do you think it would do any good?"

The genin's eyes shifted. "I'm not sure, but it might be useful to find out if anything's going on, or maybe learn more about the guei's attacks."

"Well, ok," agreed Naruto, who didn't have anything better in mind. "I'll meet you back here, right?"

"You got it!" Tomoki said with a grin, then watched as Naruto vanished in a blur.

Tomoki settled into his meditation, closed his eyes and repeated the mantras Ichi had taught him. He focused on his posture and tried to shut away the distractions of the sensory world. Because his mind still tended toward disquiet it took awhile, but eventually he succeeded and fell into a deep, trance-like state.

When the genin emerged fully, hours later he thought, he noted that a chill had settled in the air and it had gotten substantially darker.

It's probably too soon for me to expect any revelations, he realized with disappointment. The insight he'd sought had eluded him, and he wondered if it had been there at all. It's hard even for monks and masters who've dedicated their whole lives to perfecting meditation to achieve. The boy drew in a deep breath and caught the scent of verdure, moisture and the bare earth. I wonder what it's like for those who really can commune with existence, he thought and sighed. I guess I'll never know…

Opening his eyes, his gaze fell on the back of a slim woman, dressed in a black mourning dress, who stood a little ways before him at the edge of the empty flower bed. "Please, Master Tomoki," asked the Empress Desdemona Shan who turned slightly toward him and smiled; her face only just visible through her veils which sparkled slightly with shimmering beads of obsidian. "Don't stir on my account. I had no intention of disturbing you."

"Not at all, my Lady," replied Tomoki, somewhat surprised.

The Empress looked toward the horizon, striking a motionless, black figure against the restless grey sky. "So tell me," she ventured nonchalantly, "what have your ruminations yielded?"

Tomoki frowned and rocked slightly where he sat on the grass. "The Omphalos," he stated calmly, "lies at the crossing of four planetary meridians." A smile took hold of his face. He hadn't known he knew that!

Desdemona stopped and looked at him for a moment before returning to her pacing. "That is an amazing observation," she noted. "I had no idea that you were learned in the sciences of geomancy." Tomoki's brow rose modestly as she went on. "It speaks volumes to me too that, out of all the lovely gardens and flower beds, you pick this one – the fallow field, to contemplate," the Empress related as she walked around him, her face canted toward the swirling clouds. "It is not the glamour of the present that attracts you, but the thought of what the future might hold. Tended carefully and guarded, this bed will yield a bounty of life. Tended poorly and it will be choked with weeds and decay."

Tomoki pondered what she'd said and felt a bit out of his depth. In a halting voice he admitted: "To be honest, I don't know why I chose this spot, Empress."

She nodded her head gently as she wandered beyond his peripheral vision. "Maybe you give yourself too little credit," the woman opined quietly. "Uiko told me that you were diverted by the Princess in Exile. Tell me, what did you think of her?"

"Lady Acacia?" repeated the boy to the unexpected question, and he had to think about it. "She's an interesting, very intelligent and capable woman," he replied, "really strong too. I was impressed."

"Indeed, indeed," agreed Desdemona's voice from behind him. "She did well under our guidance…to a point. Would it surprise you that she grew up a savage? It's true, you know. It was not so long ago that she ate her fish raw and wore clothing made of reeds," she related with a faint air of superiority. "We'd hoped that her addition to our clan would strengthen and refresh our bloodline, and bring the people of the River Lands into the fold. But things didn't quite work out the way we'd wished."

Tomoki nodded obligingly then wondered if he should say what he was about to. "I guess Earth Country's been at war for a very long time," he said, then turned his head to catch her as she came around again.

"Yes," Lady Desdemona acknowledged. "Of course, it's been so long that in truth, it's become the norm." She shook her head then gave forth a mournful sigh. "It's funny, in a tragic sort of way, the things one can become accustomed to – even war."

Tomoki watched her black shape pass before him. "Is peace really so far away? Is it that impossible?" he asked in an incredulous, though heartfelt, voice.

"We search for it at every opportunity," she explained and gestured with her hands. "Unfortunately, for us it has to be on our terms and it's the same way for the rebellious clans out in our provinces. After four-hundred years, all we've learned to do is fight and talk past each other. I used to wonder if it is not human nature to contend for its own sake, no matter what the cost."

The leaf-genin thought for a moment. "I…I can't believe that's true," he muttered in reply, then piped, "Konoha is at peace."

"Ah, yes, but for how long?" intoned the Empress.

"What do you mean?"

"Fire Country too has known war. Even being so far away, I know that," Desdemona pointed out. "The peace you have now – its foundations lie in tenuous alliances with untrustworthy allies. I'm sorry, child, but it is not a peace meant to last long."

The boy's eyes widened. "I…never thought about it like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The woman smiled sadly. "I didn't mean to belittle what your Hokage and Village have achieved. But you must realize that it is peace, not war, which is the aberration."

"I don't know," said Tomoki who winced at her assertion unconvinced. "I mean, you're the Empress; couldn't you could bring your wars to an end just by saying so?"

Desdemona laughed at this. "What a fanciful idea!" she pealed. "You're right, of course, and it's true to a degree although you've oversimplified. I could declare peace by imperial fiat, but what would be accomplished when our armies are commanded to lay down their arms when our adversaries are not?"

Tomoki turned to look at her over his shoulder as she again orbited him. "But maybe the clans would…be impressed and…and follow your example…," the genin's voice trailed off weakly, and he looked up into the mantle of clouds as a wind brushed past him.

"As a shinobi," said Desdemona, "I'm sure you apprehend the practical flaws of that strategy." The Empress looked at him bemusedly then meandered around in front of him. "In any case," she said lightly but certainly, "I doubt my generals would accept such a plan."

"It would take a lot of courage," conceded Tomoki who hung his head, but then continued with a revived, insightful confidence, "but then, so does war. Don't you think?"

The woman fell silent then hummed thoughtfully. "You're a very interesting young man, Tomoki. But you make me wonder how anyone so inherently pacifistic could be, or wish to be, a ninja."

"It's a long story," Tomoki confided and laughed, self-depreciatively. "Not everyone's like me; that's for sure." The boy frowned and closed his eyes. "My, uh, my home…my family, my entire province was destroyed, by a lord too stupid to appreciate what he had and by a woman who held her pride as precious and peoples' lives as less than nothing." He paused gravely, then said: "War, fighting…it may be inevitable sometimes, but it also seems to me that there's almost always another way if anyone would bother to follow it."

The woman turned and raised her gaze again towards the obscured heavens. "I wish it had been true for us," replied the Empress, "but the clans are primitive and would surely have slaughtered us if we had not fought them off."

"So you fought them," said Tomoki, "but look where that's brought you – still at war after four-hundred years. What if you'd learned instead how to get along with those 'primitives'?" he ventured. "Think about everything that's been lost to war over the centuries. What if all of that could have been harnessed to build instead of destroy? What sort of place would this be today? And what would that say about the people of Earth Country?"

Desdemona turned and rewarded him with a broad smile, visible even through her veils. "You really are marvelous to talk to, Tomoki, and in truth, I don't disagree." The lady tilted her head in fond remembrance and clasped her hands at her waist. "You remind me," she said in a distant voice, "in that way, of my son, Bode."

"Maybe I can meet him while I'm here," replied Tomoki, who recalled the name, and wondered for a moment where he knew it from. When, at last, he remembered, his brow rose and he added apologetically, "I'm sorry, Empress; that was thoughtless of me. I heard he was the first to be killed by the guei."

A wind arose, stronger and colder than before, which sent leaves gusting past them. Empress Desdemona hung her head and shivered. "Most believe that," she reported then revealed, "but it isn't true. My son went off to war, against my wishes, and returned greatly changed. He died at his own hand." Her voice trembled close to tears as she raised a hand to her chest. "It hurts in a way I cannot express. Though he lived so much longer than most get to, and though because of our kekkei-genkai we were far removed from the biology of mother and son we once shared…it does not diminish the pain I still feel at his loss. And that he cast aside his life so readily --," Desdemona paused, turned fully towards him and raised her hands out, "is that not condemnation's penultimate expression?"

The sound of her words rippled through Tomoki's consciousness, and he realized with a start the peril he was in. He blinked slowly and tried to betray no emotion even as his thoughts churned and a chill ran up his spine. At once, he threw himself aside but was stopped cold by an invisible force that seized his arms and legs and wrapped around his neck and waist.

He cried out at a blinding, searing pain and struggled furiously, but quickly realized it only made his entrapment worse. His vest, shirt and pants split open in places, exposing long, thin, seams of blood that seeped and squirted from his cut skin.

Lady Desdemona circled around, coiled her arms forcefully and Tomoki found himself yanked up into the air. "I must apologize, Tomoki," she offered with a strained voice. "This is a dreadful way to treat a guest. Unfortunately, it is a needful thing," the black-garbed woman went on to explain. "I guessed that if I used a chakra-based jutsu, you might sense it so I have resorted to an old ninja trick. It's the oldest ones, the tried and true so to speak, that are often the most effective. That's why I asked you stay where you were, so I could encircle you with a monofilament."

Tomoki's eyes flicked and could see now the silvery threads, but only when the uncertain light caught them at the right angle. He fell slack and tried to feel for any avenues of escape, but none presented themselves. He tried to force his hands together for an escape jutsu, but her wires kept them apart.

"The pain should not last long, child," soothed Desdemona. "The dried, paralytic venoms coating that wire should be re-hydrated from your blood and sweat. Its anesthetic qualities will soon take effect."

The leaf-genin wasn't sure if it was because what she'd said was true or if it was just the power of suggestion, but his wounds started to tingle softly and the pain started to fade.

"My dear, beautiful son, Bode, was right. He said that we are not warlike by nature but because of the societies we've created," the Empress continued in a voice that crested and crackled tensely. "Fear is the glue that brings and keeps them together, you see. Theirs, ours and yours are based upon it! And it is this abiding fear of others that will always need be expressed, to be relieved, through violence."

Tomoki quivered pitifully, gasping in spurts, and his vision swam as the taut wires bit deeper into his flesh. Blood ran along them and dripped off in ruby-red beads. Calm, calm, calm! he thought desperately through his panic. He was trapped, poisoned and bleeding, and his body demanded that he struggle and thrash. He fought to suppress the ancient reflexes as he neared the shores of a terrible realization.

"I don't know how it started that way, or why it is," the woman said to him and he couldn't tell if she was close or far away, "but since civilization is the cause, then it is civilization that must be remedied. My Village, that I've cared and strived for all these long years, must come to an end." Again a wind blew, and with it came droplets of cold rain. Stray leaves flew past, parting and splitting where they encountered Desdemona's tensed and razor-sharp wire. "All the villages must come to an end. And just as a brushfire cleans out the dead growth, so will humanity be treated so that new kingdoms, wiser and more humane, may rise."

Could he still see or hear? Tomoki didn't know. All was quiet and dark. Breath? If he could still draw it, he couldn't be sure. Everything tingled and felt cold.

The Empress wove her way through her steel web with a grace that surpassed any mundane spider's, and knelt by the entangled boy's side. His tightly-bound limbs twitched. Blood pooled in the grass and she took pains to avoid it.

Delicately, she removed her veils and wiped the tears from her eyes. "There have been times when I thought that heaven would surely oppose me for what I mean to do," she whispered over him. "But then, when Uiko brought you here, I knew, from the very first moment I laid my eyes on you that you were my missing element – that special soul I need to complete my Jutsu of the Eight Curses." She wet her lips. "The Vagrant, the Tyrant, the Sycophant, I have, as well as the Diseased, the Condemned, the Slave and the Zealot. You, my beautiful one, shall be the eighth and last."

At the slightest gesture of her fingers, her two bandage-wrapped bodyguards appeared at her side. "Oh," she said as an afterthought, and knelt next to his motionless, prostrate body. "Again I have to apologize," she offered and gently took his snared hand in hers. "But with so much at stake, I cannot allow the chance of you escaping by means of one of your jutsus." That said, she wrapped her hand around the forefinger of his right hand and jerked back sharply, breaking it in a single, sharp, pop.

One after the other she went until all of her captive's fingers were crippled and broken then kissed him lightly on his paling forehead. "I'm so sorry, child, but I promise it's almost over." Reaching inside her dress, she produced a vial. She dipped a brush into it then began to draw it over Tomoki's trembling cheek with a mastery worthy of the finest Zen calligraphers. The moment the liquid touched his skin, it started to burn. After she was through, she studied the character she'd rendered: 'Orphan.'