"Miss Hirawa?" I look from planning Lady Sorano's lesson, and open my door. It's the doorman who I met my first day here, Mister Midoriyama. He greets me with a bow, which is entirely unnecessary, and extends a letter.
"Oh, thank you…" I smile. Though it has no name or return address, it has the stamp of something that's passed through the Konoha postal office. Mister Midoriyama smiles and nods, then turns to go. Quickly, I sit down my desk and open the letter. The handwriting almost looks printed, it's so neat. No one I know of has handwriting that good. But, as I look over it again, I realize who it's from…
"How are you doing? I'd love to speak with you
in person, but unfortunately due to our current
jobs that just isn't possible at the moment.
I've heard through the grapevine that you've made
good use of the list of things to do in the royal
city that I gave you. There are so many things
to do there! I'd love to know if you've had a tour
of the palace and what that was like. Though I
myself can't be there, there is someone in the
royal city I'd like you to meet: he's a lovely fellow
who owns a bar called Mr. Taniguchi's, and
sometimes tends the bar himself. Ask for the Double
Dragon, it's the bar's signature drink. I know
you're not the type to meet random strangers, but
you don't need to worry about this man- I've
heard he's a friend of the daimyo's son, Taizo.
As for how things are going in my pet shop, I've
been getting a lot of parrots and snakes lately.
Many of them were captured in the wild, but a few
are purebreds I've had brought in from the royal
city itself! They're fascinating, and a few of the
snakes have had black scales, a most curious breed.
Unfortunately, within one family I purchased, the
young ones got quite hungry, and attacked each
other. I still have the parents, so this isn't an issue.
Some of the parrots have been saying "Rain!" in that
squawky voice that parrots have. Has it been raining
in the royal city? I do hope you take care to carry an
umbrella with you. But perhaps it wouldn't be so
bad, all that rain; it has been rather dry these recent
weeks, hasn't it?
Hope everything goes well.
Hugs and Kisses and Best of Wishes, XOXO."
Pet shop? Ibiki has a rather dark sense of humor. But goodness, that bit about the snakes with black scales is worrying. Because if it isn't about internal struggles within the Black Dragons, the only other thing I can think of it meaning is that Taizo is planning to shorten the line of succession. Hmm… actually, after further thought, that makes too much sense to not be true. Taizo doesn't even have to do the deed himself- he's got the Black Dragons on call(for now), and it's possible some of the Akiyama Group is still answering to him even after what happened to Nurari. And then there's the matter of his younger sister- though times are changing, there hasn't been a female daimyo in the Land of Fire, ever. So, he could still make an appeal to the traditionalists if he follows through, and since Lady Sorano would presumably be none the wiser and grieving Sho, she might not make a claim to her father's place.
And what if Taizo doesn't stop with Sho, and goes after his father? That would be a dark day for the Land of Fire, indeed. What's the time frame for all this? It could be immediate, or it could take dozens of years. But, I have a sinking feeling it's going to be soon. Taizo wouldn't make his plans knowns unless he was going to act on them relatively soon, I'm sure. Even worse, I may have had a small role in speeding up the process: if Lady Sorano continues to show interest in her father's duties, this may be happening in a matter of months, or even weeks. Still worse, Taizo may decide to have the Black Dragons eliminate her, too.
Then there's the matter of Raiko. If her name is all over the underground, once news of her suspected lineage spreads the ninja world would be in an uproar. Another supposedly long-dead Uchiha, this time with plans to assassinate a member of the royal family? That definitely wouldn't go over well, to put it lightly. I sigh, and get up to put on my shoes. I'm going to need another long walk in the gardens to think...