Warhead
It was getting worse, the Fire Lord noticed with mounting apprehension. The meeting was slowly moving downhill, if the accusing eyes of his peers had anything to say about it. The Lords of all five great nations were present, as well as a few from smaller countries, such as the Grass.
They were expecting something of him. Something great and knowledgeable and ultimate.
In the large circular conference room in the Fire Palace, kings and ambassadors had gathered. They watched the Fire Lord with eyes like jackals, gleaming too brightly, starved for news. They had made the treacherous journey through war-stricken lands after a general consensus to meet in Fire Country. And finally, two long weeks after the Brotherhood's bombing near Suna and the near capture of the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki (the news had been enough to nearly put the Fire Lord in sepsis from mere fright alone), the Council had gathered.
The Fire Country, after all, held the largest hidden village: the Hidden Leaf.
Here, in the palace's conference chamber, the Fourth Great Ninja War was coming to its head.
Heads turned, voices murmured, and at the head of the large stone table swallowing up most of the palace's chamber, the Fire Lord sat rigidly in his chair, fingers laced in his lap. Beneath his robes, the heat from the room was sweltering (or maybe it was just a case of nerves. The Water Lord was watching him like the Fire Lord was a chunk of bloody meat waiting to be ripped into), and a drop of sweat trickled down his brow.
A cold fear was squeezing his heart. The Fire Lord was no stranger to war. He had given orders and pondered over maps and visited the Hidden Leaf and sent out special forces. He had awarded exceptional ninja who had been valiant in battle. He had chosen a Hokage once so far in his new reign, unlike his father, who had buried them and done it all over again.
But this was different.
Two wars were ripping through his country at once, and the thought left him feeling weaker than usual. Too tired and too old. The Fourth Great Ninja War was tearing a hole in the country's bowels, and the economy was spilling right out of it with the war's expenses. It was another reason for the Fire Lord to lie awake at night and wonder how much shorter his life had been cut due to the stress of being in office.
To make matters worse, a renegade group calling themselves "The Brotherhood" had arisen suddenly while the war raged, pitting themselves against the ninja arts with technology the Fire Lord had never heard of before. The Five Great Countries had reached a pivotal point in history, and the people were going mad.
The Brotherhood wanted justice and equality.
The Hidden Villages wanted blood.
The Fire Lord wanted peace. And a little sleep and a cup of peppermint tea couldn't hurt, either. He sighed wearily, waving his fingers for quiet. A hush fell over the room.
A decision needed to be made, and he looked to the jounin guarding the conference chamber. So silent, so deadly, so serious, faces masked and hidden. Looking over at the kings and ambassadors once more, he felt more secure that he had one or two hidden in every shadow.
"My heart reaches out to all of you," he began in a tired voice. "We have all experienced the horrors, the sadness, and the rage of this war. Some of you have lost commendable nin. Others friends, or even loved ones. The Akatsuki must be stopped. Madara Uchiha must be stopped." Here he wiped at his brow with a handkerchief, while the others waited. The Water Lord coughed.
The Fire Lord continued, "The Brotherhood, rest assured, will be dealt with-"
"They are burning dolls in the streets, with faces akin to important nin from the Akatsuki, and even nin from Sunagakure. Now there are murders," the Wind Lord cut in, her kohl-rimmed eyes gleaming like cuts of black glass. "There are riots in the cities and towns surrounding Suna. The Kazekage is the youngest ever to be appointed, and I'm beginning to doubt his ability to deal with both a world war, and a civil one, when he lacks the experience."
The Water Lord nodded. "The Brotherhood has reached the mists, and the countryside has become a solemn place."
"Well, it's settled then! We send out special forces, and we kill the Brotherhood's leader, and just like that, end the civil wars!" the Earth Lord trumpeted. The Fire Lord sighed miserably (The Earth Lord was rather obnoxious), and the others shook their heads. The Water Lord grinned and settled back in his chair like he was amused.
If only it were so simple!
"Peace, Daishiro," The FIre Lord said to the Earth Lord, "that is what we must achieve. The Brotherhood cannot be stopped simply by assassinating its leader. They've amassed too many followers, and too many people believe them to be vigilantes of this war. We can't risk more division. No, no, we must look to their roots, but they will be dealt with and controlled. The people are angry with the Akatsuki, and with the hidden villages. The people are beginning to believe we grant our hidden villages too much power."
At these words, the Fire Lord noticed one of his Guardian nin, (Tsutomu was a nin the Fire Lord personally liked), fidget uncomfortably. The Hidden Leaf ,after all, was home to the majority of the Fire Guardians' best nin. The Fire Lord pretended not to notice.
"And in many ways," he continued, "we have. And why is this? The hidden villages are vital to our ways of ninja arts! They train our nin, protect our country's secrets, and give us some of the best damn ninja ever to have defended our countries. And even ourselves. And for that, we are grateful. For that, we commend them!
However, even the best villages spawn villains. My own included. Three important figures of this war hail from the Fire Country's Hidden Leaf: Madara Uchiha, Kabuto Yakushi, and Sasuke Uchiha!"
There were rumbles, murmurs, and quiet curses from those who had gathered.
"Sasuke Uchiha!" the Grass Lord hissed venomously from her seat, "what has become of that devil?"
The Water Lord chuckled and eyed the pretty Lord's dainty figure. He said, "They say he exploded. Burst into a thousand tiny pieces, my dear, after he attacked the Leaf's elders. But don't worry your pretty head. If he rises from the dead, I'll be sure to protect you."
The Grass Lord squirmed in her seat.
"They all must be assassinated! Why haven't our special forces and assassins slit their throats yet? Unacceptable!" The Earth Lord said, banging his fist on the table.
The Wind Lord rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, because it's so easy to kill a wielder of the Sharingan, my Lord." The Earth Lord pretended not to have heard her, and a crescendo rose within the chamber as everyone voiced their opinion at once.
"There is only one way to deal with the Akatsuki! We cannot trust our Kages to handle this alone!"
"Preposterous! Do you have no faith in the very leader you appointed?"
The Lightning Lord scoffed. "Hah! We may have appointed them ourselves, but how have they repaid us? The Fire Lord is right! They hold too much power, too much sway in this war! What do we know of the Jinchuuriki's whereabouts now? Eh? Little to nothing! They hide him from us. We, the very Lords of our countries, are left in the dark. The Kages think they hold the puppet strings!" There was a short silence at this outburst, until someone else voiced their opinion.
"It is the Jinchuuriki! He must be dealt with!"
"Have you all suddenly forgotten about the Brotherhood? What of them? We cannot play host to two wars. We must deal with the smallest one first, get our people to stand together again! We cannot have these madmen thinking our very defenses are the root of this world's evil!"
"Enough!" The Fire Lord cried, and they hushed grudgingly. He folded his hands into his sleeves and glared.
"We've all gathered here for one reason and one reason only! We all know what this means and what must be done," he said cryptically, and the others nodded solemnly. Even the Water Lord had stopped grinning.
"Last all the kings and queens met, it was before either of us had taken office, or our fathers, or grandfathers. This meeting was done in order to try and reign in the amount of power our ninja had, and the destruction ninja arts caused. We all know how dangerous it can become.
And so, they discussed the jutsus until forbidden ones were decided upon and banned.
To this day any ninja found to be performing a forbidden jutsu is sentenced to death without trial before their country's Lord. The hidden villages were purged of these secrets. Scrolls destroyed and burned, and their withholders assassinated. Slowly, these jutsus slipped from memory, until the knowledge of them was mostly lost. Such a thing must be done again. We must all come to a decision. Terrible decisions such as these have graced our halls before to avoid certain destruction-"
"Are you referring," interrupted the Water Lord, "to the slaughter of the Uchiha clan performed in your own Hidden Leaf?"
The Fire Lord felt the heat rush to his face, but he controlled his anger. "The Fire Country was on the brink of instigating another Great War. The clan grew restless and too powerful. It was brought to attention by the village elders and the mission approved by my father.
The village elders were only approved to assassinate the clan's most important men, not their women and children. That day the Leaf demonstrated its own will and law apart from the Fire Lord. It is a blight upon our history. However, I will never forget what my father told me afterward. That one day, I would face the same. As have, and will, all of you."
There was a grim pause. It was true.
"I propose," The Fire Lord said slowly, watching them all closely as if to decide who would take up arms against him first, "that the act of sealing jutsus and creation of Jinchuurikis be rendered as forbidden."
There was a stunned silence; then, an uproar.
"The Jinchuuriki controls the demons that wreak havoc upon our lands!"
"A Jinchuuriki is highly useful and effective, especially in war! Where, my Lord, is the Fire's Jinchuuriki? Shouldn't he be fighting Madara and ending this war as we speak?"
"Yes! The power within Jinchuurikis is too great! To lose such a thing would more than a devastating loss!"
"Enough!" the Fire Lord yelled again. The chatter died down much more slowly. "Such a thing was said of reanimation jutsus and other forbidden techniques, and where did such evils bring us?"
The others did not meet his eyes and he continued, "I propose this be done, and that the other Lords heed and consider it. Without a Jinchuuriki, we would not have to fear Madara's illusions. Without this incredible power in the wrong hands, we would not be here today, discussing this war.
So I ask you, all of you! How can you stand to keep it in our midsts? How can you allow ourselves such a weapon of mass destruction and feel comforted by it, when it's possible that evil may take it under its own dark cloak? Would you wish this war upon your children and grandchildren?" He settled back into his chair, bristling with anger, but satisfied with his words.
His wife would be proud when he told her of this later.
The Wind Lord was the first to stand. "I agree. The sealing jutsu has caused each of our lands much pain and suffering. It is inhumane, binding a human to such evil. I have seen it; the Sand's One Tail brought many a good man to madness. The Jinchuuriki is the root to many great wars and evils. As most of us know, an entire country was eradicated due to its power and secrets. Whirlpool is no longer among us." There was a pause for respectful silence.
"Madara Uchiha has already captured eight demons. All that remains is the Kyuubi no Kitsune. And where the demon resides now, it will not wreak havoc. Let it be done. Let the pain and suffering end with this final Jinchuuriki." She finished with a solemn look, sitting back down.
"Yes..." The Grass Lord spoke suddenly, rising. "In this way, the Brotherhood seeks true. Without the Nine Tailed beast, our biggest foe would be compromised. We may not stop the war with this one act, but we may win the battle. Very well. I propose it as well, and give my support."
The Fire Lord glanced at both gratefully, surprised when the Water Lord spoke. He rose to a towering height of six foot five, all muscle and dark skin and sinew. He looked down upon all his comrades. It was hard to tell whether he was sneering at them, or grinning.
"Water will back this proposition." With that, he quickly sat back down. It was then that the quiet Sound Lord decided to speak. He'd been mostly forgotten, in his little corner at the far left.
"The Jinchuuriki is a hero in the Land of Fire," he said suddenly, and the others paused. "Is it wise to dispose of such a figure? You are afraid of causing an even greater rift by assassinating the Brotherhood, but what, I ask you, will come of the Jinchuuriki's death?"
The Earth Lord seemed to reconsider. "He is only a boy-" he began uncomfortably, but the Water Lord laughed loudly.
"Oho! Only a boy? Tell me he is only a boy, Daishiro, when you meet him in battle! This is war! I've seen twelve year-olds slit nin's throats because they hesitated, and those war-roughened brats will show you no kindness. No, I say. One life compared to a time of rest is nothing, I tell you. Let this be done with!"
The matter was dropped. Slowly, the proposition was accepted by each. Another few hours later, and a major decision had been reached, along with the outlaw of sealing jutsus and Jinchuurikis.
"And the hidden villages?" The Earth Lord piped up. "What of them? Are we still granting them too much power? Too much freedom to do with our country's security as they please? What of our ninja secrets? The rogue nin that hail from our hidden villages? The Lightning Lord speaks the truth! The Kages have been hiding information from us, taking the war into their own hands. You yourself, Fire Lord, explained what happened the when Leaf acted of its own free will, instead of as a country." All eyes drifted to the Fire Lord, again bright and gleaming and hungry.
"Perhaps," the Fire Lord agreed slowly, rethinking the Lightning Lord's earlier comment and knowing it to be true, "Perhaps it is time we reevaluate how our hidden villages, and our Kages, are handled."
There was a murmur of agreement.
"It is a dreary day," the Water Lord said suddenly, "By decreeing this act as forbidden, some great Kages will fall for their sealing secrets." He looked at the Fire Lord as he said it, and the FIre Lord tried not to fidget.
And on that day, the thirtieth of March, a special Black Ops team was hand picked from the Lords most elite teams and the Fire Lord's own Guardians. The team was dispatched with simple orders.
The time of power within the hidden villages was slowly coming to an end, and so had the time of the Jinchuurikis.
The Fire Lord retreated into his chambers for peppermint tea and a nap.
Evening came, and in the gathering lavender shadows of the Fire Lord's library, his wife sat attended by ladies in waiting. The gossip was too juicy to resist, and they pored over a stolen copy of the Bingo Book. They shared circulating rumors about the war they had yet to see any evidence of.
The sheltered life of nobility was definitely one to be envied. And, judging by the squeals, laughed at.
Ignorance was such sweet bliss, as the Fire Lord's wife was about to discover.
One of the ladies, Izumi, was after all, sleeping with a ninja from the FIre Lord's special forces. He'd allowed her to "take a look" at the book while she giggled and pleased him. Mika had taken one look at Izumi's gloating pink face and thought: my husband could have your boyfriend's mask for that. But she hadn't said a word, and flipped through the book herself.
The Fire Lord's wife felt twelve again, though Mika would have never admitted it.
"Did you hear of the Brotherhood? Spotted near Onsen? I hear the leader is incredibly handsome-"
"Pssh, if you like big old grizzlies!" Izumi taunted. Mika shot her a sharp look, but said nothing.
"Oh, oh, oh! If only I were younger!" Kaede, the woman to Mika's right, gushed. She pointed at a picture. They all looked.
"Sasuke Uchiha," Mika read, studying the picture. The boy indeed had a handsome face. A bit too serious though, like he couldn't smile. The women sighed.
"Such a handsome face! What a waste."
"You know," Izumi whispered, her eyes glinting with mischief (which could only mean more gossip), "I've heard interesting whispers about the youngest Uchiha. You've all heard about the Leaf Jinchuuriki?"
The woman nodded and someone quipped, "another good looking one!"
Izumi ignored this. "Well, the story goes that the Uchiha met the Jinchuuriki, I think his name is Uzumaki, in battle. They clashed terribly, but simply could not kill each other. They knew each other as boys and had formed a very strong bond with one another. But Uchiha went rogue and took up arms against the Leaf! Still, Uzumaki never gave up on him! Then, the saying is, Uzumaki disappeared not long after Uchiha was last spotted. People say they are running together, or that they're dead.
Uchiha is is actually dead though, I think. The elders of the Leaf blew him to pieces! Others say he's still alive somewhere, and he and Uzumaki are forming something new, something that will shape the tide of the war and will come out to fight as one! But that's silly talk. Everyone knows he's dead and Uzumaki is in hiding. Others are saying Uchiha and Uzumaki were lovers, and were running from the war together after deserting their allies."
"Lovers? How tragically romantic," Kaede said, her lips pursed in thought.
"Isn't it?" Izumi giggled.
Mika closed the bingo book with a snap. "Indeed," she said, "It is. How awful it would be to give your heart to one sworn to destroy your village. One that you, therefore, were destined to take down. I'm in no mood for tragedy and gossip. The day's been long. I should like to hear something light."
The ladies began to apologize, but then the doors to library opened with a creak. Their voices died. Izumi hid the bingo book into a pocket in her dress so fast, Mika admired her speed.
The Fire Lord had graced them all with his presence. He looked very tired and put out. Old, like his fifty-nine years. The ladies bowed lowly, then took their leave, leaving Mika to attend to her husband.
She waited until the doors had closed and the library filled with silence before she went to him.
He looked at her like she was a goddess, and she smiled in pleasure at the thought. Four sons later, and he still wanted to put another one in her belly.
Beauty had its advantages.
She began to knead his shoulders, ask him about his day.
"It went well, dear," her husband said, but his brow furrowed and his face fell. She leaned closer to him.
"It was the right thing to do, my love," she whispered, kissing his temple.
He seemed discomfited. "I suppose, but the JInchuuriki is a war hero. Well respected. And he's just a boy. Only seventeen, four years older than our eldest. What bad luck! To have your life taken so quickly for something you had no control over-"
She shushed him. "You're so compassionate. It's what makes you an excellent ruler. It's what I love about you, Osamu." She dug her fingers in harder, and her husband's head lolled in pleasure at the massage.
Nice. Very nice.
"So it is done, then? All of it? And the hidden villages?"
"All taken care of. The villages, some of them, will come under new management. It's a pity, but the action must be taken, for the sake of us winning the war." He yawned, and Mika's teeth gleamed in the gloom as she smiled.
"You're turning out to be a magnificent leader, Osamu. Better than your father could have hoped," she purred, but her husband had already fallen asleep.
It was what she got for marrying a man twenty-seven years her senior.
Night spilled into the library, and Mika drifted out to the balcony, watching the little city below as it glittered like a jewel under the moon.
"Is it done?" a voice asked gruffly from the shadows. Startled, Mika gasped, twirling on her heel and pulling a dagger from her sleeve on reflex. The figure stepped out into the moonlight, and Mika laughed like a girl, hiding the dagger away.
"Norio!" she scolded, "you mustn't scare me like that!"
Before her, a large man of six foot three loomed, grizzled dirty blond hair falling limply to his shoulders. Mika liked his light hair. It looked like a warrior's mane out of a storybook. She giggled when he reached out to her and roughly pulled her close, nuzzling her neck and breathing in.
"Yes," she murmured as he kissed her neck and trailed kisses her collarbone, "It is done. The Lords grow wary of the Jinchuuriki, and now the hidden villages will soon come under new order. I believe the ends for most of the current Kages are near. The Lords are taking the war into their own hands. We'll be winning this war soon enough, and the ninja responsible for it will be executed. Isn't that all that matters?"
Norio grinned at her, kissing her gently before hoisting her up. She sighed, wrapping herself around him. He took her on the balcony, her mouth opened in a perfect 'o' as she climaxed, all while her husband slept by the window like the old man he was.
"Yes," Norio ground out against her neck, and Mika moaned, not understanding that the smile on his face and the glint in his eyes wasn't for her, and neither were his words. It would be lost on her until later, that the real triumph had never been being her lover, it had been manipulating her to put ideas in her husband's head.
This triumph was sweeter than the honey between her legs, and Mika would know it too late, Years later she would reflect on this night , she would think of the love story of Uchiha and Uzumaki that had been giggled about in the library. She would think, alone and wistful in her older years, just how much of a triumph it had been.