Some time ago:
A revitalizing spring breeze rustled the occasional lively green brushes and trees intertwining with the cold and bland cement and grey brick towers of Kirigakure. An old man in a plain kimono of a washed-out color and worn cloth trousers approached an orphanage building. The man was careful, occasionally glancing behind him, but his discrete movements didn't allow his wary to disturb his long, silver hair or manchu-style mustache.
The orphanage was a peculiar building in Kirigakure. It was older than most of the rest of the buildings and yet it looked a lot more sophisticated and its style hardly suited those of the surrounding buildings. Instead of it being just a block or a rectangle of plain bricks, it was a collection of building wings defined by its contrast, movement, and exuberant detail to the decorations on the walls. Intricate ornamentation in plentiful quantities didn't allow the white walls to stand out too much from the colorful, dumpling-shaped tips that swirled atop each tower.
The elderly gentleman tipped his straw rice field hat and peeked behind him as he opened up the steel wire fence and passed on to the inner territory of the orphanage. A young woman was already waiting for him by the door. A young lady that was neither too tall nor short, baggy black trousers with a weapon pouch attached to the side where the pocket would have been, a grey vest covered the slim and bare body of the young orphan woman. Just like her mother, she wore plenty of make-up of exuberant colors, matching the manner in which sophisticated eastern ladies decorated themselves, putting herself out as royalty despite living in an orphanage.
The kunoichi pushed her back off of the wall in reaction to the man's coming. She lingered for a second, unsure about what the old geezer's intentions were and how she should react. Her body language just couldn't decide on if she wanted to lash out at him and take a fighting stance or to approach him with her guard fully down. That was just how Rakugi wanted her. Namikaze Asuka was neither his friend nor his ally. She was just an insurance policy. As such, he was neither a direct threat to her, nor did he put much faith in her role to play.
"I don't even need to ask you of your name, girl. You're a spitting image of your mother. That Namikaze hair too…" Rakugi lowered the front of his hat while retaining his favored old man from the rice fields disguise.
"Before you tell me just who you are and what you want from me, we should step further away from the yard. The caretakers don't take too kindly to people strapping swords by their belts," Asuka pointed out while combing her sporadic blond hair that spiked up and curled until around the nape before forming a handful of smoother, lightly curved lines until the middle of her back. The girl's body language seemed to betray her as both somewhat proud of her mother's legacy in terms of her appearance, but also somewhat peeved by being complimented by some old geezer about something as flat as her looks.
"Normally that'd be smart. Right now, however, I don't much care about bounties or infamy. A man that's taking up their last resort finds distraught social workers to no longer be a barrier from reaching his goals," the bounty hunter flicked his hat and placed his boot on the cement railing at the edge of the staircase, rubbing dirt and shit from the commoner district of Kirigakure all over the pristinely maintained part of the structure.
While Asuka Namikaze didn't react vocally, she granted the man's foot a troubled look and gulped once in anticipation of trouble. Somehow, none of it came. Maybe the caretakers were just occupied with other business or maybe they had a clear view of the old swordsman geezer's antics but just didn't care too much. Either way, this peace and quiet made young Asuka gulp again, realizing that she was completely by her lonesome with this troublesome man.
"Speak now then, if you feel you must," Asuka grumbled, hastening the man to state his business and begone if he would not follow the rules of the orphanage and risk getting her into more trouble. "But unless you tell me who you are and what you want from me, I can't guarantee that I won't walk away."
"Oh, but… Walking away from your misery is exactly what I want from you, Namikaze Asuka," the old man stepped off of the railing and stopped tempting fate.
His mannerisms changed as if in a snap. It was as if a younger veteran that's been through thousands of hits and taken an incalculable number of lives was staring and breathing through these spry, elderly eyes. The man's withered cheekbones barely moved in reaction to his speech and he stopped moving around and whenever he took a step–he stepped with unheard tranquility. "Walk away from this orphanage, from this village that suddenly decided that you were an undesirable, just because your mother didn't succeed in her ambitious goals. After all, we both know that if she had succeeded–they'd be throwing her in the air and hailing her a hero."
"Are you mad!? Don't just discuss treason in the middle of the yard! This entire village has ears!" Asuka swiped her hand, almost like attempting to smack the old man's cheek but, lacking the range to do so, she cradled her own fist in her chest as the orphan that tasted what it felt like to be an inconvenient child that the village wanted gone began frantically looking around.
"The longer you worry and postpone your decision, the more chances those curious ears will have to overhear this. Experience dictates that the arm of an executioner doesn't quite care about what's in your heart, Namikaze Asuka, it cares more about what is written on the transcript," a wicked smile twisted the lower part of the old timer's face while his eyes didn't as much as twitch, freezing with a cold and death-inducing stare.
"If you want to kill me, just draw that sword and try, don't bother yourself with conspiracies and trying to frame me as some traitor!" Asuka bit back at the old man with ferocity unfitting to a troubled orphan girl facing someone like Rakugi. This conviction did amuse the weathered assassin some, even his elderly disguise couldn't hide that fact.
"You've got some affection and bond to this den of pit vipers that would rather make your life a living hell so that you finally opened your own throat and rid it of its trouble," Rakugi observed.
"That's right! You can mark my words, whoever you are, no matter how hard the people in charge of this village try to suppress me, how much they want me gone and dead, I'll take my mother's place as the Mizukage back one day! I'll make this village the strongest and most fearsome force in the world. I'll make the entire world respect the Mist again!" Asuka clenched her fist. Rakugi had never met Namikaze Shirona personally, though he could almost see an ethereal light of the scheming, majestic she-devil beaming out from this orphan girl. A young lass taken from her mother's home, ripped away from her fortune, and put here with the government's foot up on her head. A foot that never stopped rubbing and stomping the poor girl's face in the shit it plunged her in.
"Then you'll be glad to hear that I don't propose you betray that beloved village of yours. Before you become Mizukage, I've heard that you have another goal in mind, isn't that right?" Rakugi raised an eyebrow, twisting and stretching the wrinkled face he donned to an unnatural and even freaky degree.
"What are you talking about, old man? Just get to the point already, I don't have all day!" Asuka tapped her foot and crossed her bare arms while giving the rice field swordsman before her sass.
"I've heard you want to kill Nakotsumi Mana, Konoha's Sorceress. Back during the last Chuunin Exams, you even called it… Revenge?" Rakugi said.
Asuka broke her cool demeanor and lowered her hands, letting her fingernails dig into the pillows of her hands while the young woman bit into her lip and seethed with hatred. She looked up again, staring straight old man Rakugi in the eyes. The terror of being heard was nowhere to be seen, Namikaze Asuka didn't much care about who would hear her proclamation, in some ways she even wanted as many people as possible to hear her so that the public nature of her declaration would make her try harder and be willing to sacrifice more for this goal of hers.
"Nakotsumi Mana, a student of Red Dog Tanshu, the dog that bit my mother's arm and made it easy for God Sword Haoru to kill her. Both of us lost our masters during the Kage Summit and yet where she's made a name for herself, became an idol and a superstar the entire world adores, the new Mizukage stuffed me inside of an orphanage and calls my mother hideous things every day. Calls her a traitor and then points his finger at me, as if I'm some scapegoat to those that want to express their hatred for my late mother daily! Nakotsumi Mana… Her village loves her, places her on a stand, and shoots her off on the railway to the seat of Hokage in the future, whereas Kirigakure treats me and my bloodline like dirt. Konoha's Sorceress, her dead body, must be my stepping stone to becoming the Mizukage!" Asuka said, almost as if it was a mantra she repeated daily.
"I see. I was curious as to the reason. Even knowing your mother's plot at the Kage Summit, I couldn't quite understand what reason you had for hating someone who wasn't even there… Thank you for helping me understand, Namikaze Asuka," Rakugi bowed his head in gratitude.
"It doesn't matter if she was there or not. She's the student of Red Dog Tanshu. She probably still thinks about him highly and that can't stand! Red Dog Tanshu is a monster, a demon that helped the Fourth Hokage and God Sword Haoru slay my mother and taint her legacy. Even if the entire world hated her, as it hates me, I'd gouge her eyes out and pull her head off with my bare hands regardless. The legacy of the Red Dog must die and stay buried alongside him!" Asuka pressed her arm to her chest and dictated this like it was a dogma that bled straight from her heart.
"You see… The problem with that is… I am about to kill Nakotsumi Mana myself," Rakugi interjected before Asuka could go into another tirade. "Does that bother you? Do you perhaps wish to settle it between us right here? Whose right it is to slay her?"
"Is that so?" Asuka crossed her arms. "You know, Nakotsumi Mana isn't the only person I seek to destroy on my path to becoming Mizukage. Red Dog Tanshu had other students. It's just that their names haven't been spoken as publicly and haven't spread as wide. Then there are far too many politicians, schemers, and grifters I must deal with before I take the seat…"
"It infuriates you that your other enemies aren't celebrities on the stage and don't prance around in fancy outfits spouting their names to the public, doesn't it? If you can only find out about Nakotsumi Mana and not the rest, you should give up. In your last attempt to kill Nakotsumi Mana, you took part in Chuunin Exams while she safely resided behind bars in Jigoku. Your target was a celebrity, the name of whom they know around the world, and yet you failed to meet her face-to-face regardless. It will only get harder from here," Rakugi pointed out.
"I didn't take the Chuunin Exams just to face the Sorceress. I knew she was a Chuunin already. I could use that title myself so that I can take up jobs of greater importance and become closer to the village's affairs," Asuka replied.
"Well then, I suppose you'll do," Rakugi shrugged. "I'd have liked to test your skills beforehand, but you are just the world's most improbable precaution. If I fail at my attempt, it won't quite matter how grand your skills are–you'll still fail. If I fail, in all likelihood, assassinating Nakotsumi Mana just can't be done."
"Oy, oy! You're awfully cocky for an old geezer…" Asuka crossed her arms.
"You haven't even figured out that I am using Transformation Jutsu. Nakotsumi Mana would tear you apart and flip your world upside down in a blink. She's not just a pretty face. Being a ninja isn't just a publicity stunt for her. She's the real deal. I've spent the last few months researching her history, her foes and mission records, her public appearances and statements, her family history, her friends and family, and most of her acquaintances. She may just be the greatest genjutsu specialist currently alive and her true skills haven't even started blossoming yet."
"Jeez…" Asuka shook her head. "What'd she do to you? Leave you hanging on a date or something?"
"She survived my daughter's assassination attempt. My family's reputation, my daughter's reputation, is now in shambles on the black market. Generations upon generations of perfect assassination records, all gone to waste. As did the life of my daughter. Nakotsumi Mana robbed her of a chance to kill her and set things right," Rakugi replied. "It isn't personal between me and the Konoha's Sorceress. But in order for the wrong she did by surviving to be corrected, she must die. Come hell or high water, she will die."
"I don't know. It sounds kind of personal to me, geezer…" Asuka bent her head to the side. The right tip of her lip stretched out to the middle of her cheek while the orphan mocked Rakugi's proclamation. "It's okay to admit you loved your kid, even if just a little, you know."
"I am here because I need at least a single insurance policy in case I fail. I must admit the simple truth that I face an opponent that has defied ridiculous odds before and make at least a single contingency plan for that eventuality, as slim as it is. I've obtained some spicy bit of intelligence that's not directly related to Nakotsumi Mana so it is currently useless to me…" Rakugi approached Asuka and handed her a scroll, then handed her an ink capsule that was used to determine the encryption method and decode the hidden message within that scroll. "Whether by the end of this week Nakotsumi Mana is dead or not, I do not plan on living long enough to make anything out of this."
"So what am I supposed to do with this?" Asuka shook the gifts that the old man handed her in front of his face with a stumped expression. "Supposed this is some political nuke you say it is. What of it, if it has nothing to do with Nakotsumi Mana?"
"This intelligence is your key to infiltrating the Allied Ninja. The organization where Nakotsumi Mana currently works. Hmm… From your expression, it seems you already knew this. Not bad, at least you're not completely hopeless and still thinking she's working for Konoha…" Rakugi nodded in approval. "Using this intelligence, you shall infiltrate the Allied Ninja. From there, you will do what my daughter did and become a part of the unit within the Allied Ninja, known as Stars. Nakotsumi Mana is a key part of that unit. That will give you your shot at assassinating her. Though… If both me and my daughter failed… I think little of your chances either. Let's just hope that your grim fate and personal hatred for the woman will make you just as odds-defying and adamantine in your conviction as she is."
"Infiltrate the Allied Ninja…" Asuka stared at the scroll in her hand.
"It won't derail your dream either. Ninja can enroll in the organization and leave afterward. Joining the Allied Ninja isn't the same as becoming a rogue ninja. Treaties between the Allied Ninja and the Great Ninja Villages ensure that. In fact, what you might not know is–Nakotsumi Mana isn't as welcome back home in Konoha and not nearly as well-regarded as she used to be. You could say that her current standing with the village is the same as yours. Fortunately for you, villages tend to quickly approve applications of ninja they don't like having around to join the Allied Ninja so Kirigakure won't blink twice before approving yours, given your undesirable status. You won't burn your bridge to come back either. That is exactly what the Hokage is thinking–to let the public's steaming hatred for Nakotsumi Mana burn out before she makes her return. Meaning that, just the same way, you can come back to Kirigakure after you're done there," Rakugi explained.
"Hmm… Kirigakure has changed too," Asuka sighed. "If I strut back home and slammed Mana's head on the Mizukage's table, he'd freak out and discipline me. Back during the days of the Bloody Mist, I'd have been promoted on the spot."
"I assume that is why you wish to take the village for yourself, young orphan. Keep seething in those daydreams, keep feeding your hatred. Those are the only ways for the fortune to defy me and bring me failure and the only way for you to succeed in what I have failed to accomplish," Rakugi turned around, showing his intent to leave the orphanage grounds and depart from this gloomy and moist village.
"I could help you with your plan, you know…" Asuka looked up while stuffing the old man's gifts behind her belt and slipping the ink capsule with the decryption tools in her weapon pouch.
"I'd have no use for your help. I'd just have to seek another insurance in that case. There are all too many people in this world that hate Nakotsumi Mana and would like to see her dead, but far too few actually hate her and aren't just misled sheep who think they feel that way. Good, pure hatred is so hard to find these days. It's your best feature, girl. Tend to it. If whatever squid gods they pray in these parts of the world are favorable to you and worth their salt, they'll ensure that I fail and that you have your chance. Oh… One more thing, Konoha has an agent of Black Ops guarding Nakotsumi Mana's neck. You should wait until he is either dead or away from the group before dealing with Mana. If you're sick of waiting–you can expose him yourself. His name is Nara Skaven."
"Nara Skaven?" Asuka scratched her head. "And why would the Sorceress trust the daughter of the woman that ended up getting her sensei killed over her friend?"
"I'm sure Mana has seen some signs and suspects something already. This cherry on top will only make it all make sense and connect together. She won't be able to deny her feelings after the truth is out. Plus, my daughter may have ended up dying, but she pointed something out to me. Nakotsumi Mana is still a wreck. She's become a slab of clay you can mold and manipulate, now more than ever. She's been loved and respected for most of her life so she can't handle what you've been living through your entire life–she's become distrustful, bitter, and depressed about the same people she entertains. Those are her only weaknesses. If you end up killing her, those will be the reasons." Rakugi replied before clanging the metal gate shut and strolling away. In just a few steps, the man disappeared behind thick hedges that stood like a living barrier between the orphanage grounds and the outside world.
Asuka looked down and felt the tension around her belt where the scroll hung, then visualized the ink capsule resting alongside her ninja tools. Nakotsumi Mana… The two were too similarly blessed and cursed by fate, too opposite to one another in many ways as well. People so fated to kill each other couldn't die before even meeting face to face. The orphan girl knew that the veteran assassin would fail already.
"You'll satisfy my hatred or give me the death I deserve, Nakotsumi Mana…" Namikaze Asuka mumbled to herself before stepping back into the orphanage to face the smacks and stern lectures from the caretakers for talking to weird old men that carried swords around. Before she even walked in, Asuka already knew she'd be wiping the shit that the old man brought to the orphanage grounds.
P. S. To those who care, the character of Namikaze Asuka was first introduced in Chapter 60. She also made a brief re-appearance as part of the Kirigakure party sent to the Interuniversal and Intertemporal Chuunin Exams on Chapter 653 and she was eliminated from the exams by Meiko.