Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom – ep. 29
"Sliding Abacus"
[Border Patrol, Part 3]
The village gates near, and I slow down to stop at the entrance. A day has passed since the end of my mission, and I expect to run into trouble as soon as I set foot in the Leaf again. Fortunately, I am not alone in these matters.
There's the expected fiddling and fumbling to confirm my identity, and I can sense there are shinobi moving into position. I remain silent and let the guards do their work before they allow me to move on.
In the next moment, six ANBU in black cloaks stand between me and the rest of the village.
"Colonel Kobayashi. We would like for you to come with us."
A fight here is less than ideal, and I'm wholly uninterested in such a thing. But they might not know that, so I can be a bit forceful.
"No."
"We don't want trouble, and neither do you," the leader says. "We have to detain you. This is law."
"Take me to the Hokage, or let me go on my own," I say.
"You must stand down, Colonel."
"Get out of my way. I am going to walk by you if you don't move."
"We can stand here all day and wait for you to surrender."
"Then feel free to do so. I'm leaving," I say firmly. I shrug on my backpack and start to walk, while the lead ANBU gets in front of me.
"You are going to do as she says and get out of the way."
I look past the ANBU to see that Imari and Erika are on the other side of the makeshift wall. Imari's Byakugan is activated, and Erika has one hand out of her pockets with a sword at her back.
"We are here on orders from Lord Hokage, and thus have his authority," Imari continues. "Stand aside, and allow my senpai to continue her movement."
"Are you going to start a fight?" I ask the ANBU in front of me. "I would love to have an excuse to tear you apart. It's not very smart to threaten me like this."
He grunts and backs off, then signals the rest of his cohorts. They all disappear, leaving the three of us alone.
"Your timing was quite nice," I say.
"You did give us that heads' up, so don't act too modest," Imari replies. She deactivates her bloodline limit and relaxes. "Senpai is going to be with you the rest of the way. She's cleaning up a few things at the moment. Let's head to the office so you can meet with Lord Hokage."
We take off and cross the village, stopping in the Academy complex and walking into the Hokage's Office. Tamaki is patiently waiting for us, and exchanges nods with Imari and Erika.
"Lord Hokage is currently in a meeting in the eastern wing. Follow me, Lili. Imari, start on the routines as discussed."
"Yes, senpai."
"Erika, thank you for your help. We'll see you in a bit."
"Of course. Good luck, ladies."
Tamaki leads the way as we swiftly walk through the halls and towards the meeting room. She opens the double doors and stops next to Hiruzen at the head of the table. There are close to a dozen senior officers here, wearing various flavours of formal attire. I recognize most of them, though I don't remember all of their names.
"Lord Hokage," I say to him. "We need to have a meeting. It must be as soon as possible."
He looks at me a moment before turning back towards the table.
"Ladies, gentlemen. We unfortunately must adjourn our meeting. There is a terribly urgent matter that I must attend to." He looks to Tamaki. "Have we already made preparations?"
"Yes, my lord. Imari is taking care of them now."
"Good, good." He gets up, and silences the incoming protests with a stern look. "We will reschedule at the earliest convenience. You may speak with Junior Aide Hyuuga regarding that matter."
There's much in the way of grumbling and dirty looks towards me. I ignore their nonsense and follow Hiruzen and Tamaki out of the room.
"We will use a secure room at Intelligence," Hiruzen says to Tamaki. "You will have the following personnel at this emergency meeting: Commander Nara, Captain Morino, Lord Mitokado, Lady Utatane, and all of the people that are or were chiefly responsible for the editing, recording, and publishing of the Bingo Book among other things. Lastly, I would like for you to bring in Major General Aomine."
"All done within twenty minutes, my lord."
"Good. It's no trouble if you take a bit longer, my dear."
"Of course, my lord. I will see you both in a bit." Tamaki quickly bows before heading off to her duties.
"We will head to Intelligence to secure our room," Hiruzen says to me.
"Yes, sir."
We head outside and take off towards Intelligence, jumping across the rooftops. A member of ANBU is already at the main entrance, and nods before letting us go through. People have stopped to look at the Hokage as he walks through the main hall, towards the front desk.
"Lord Hokage, sir," the man at the desk says with a salute.
"We will need one secure meeting room. Space enough for about twelve people at most."
"Sir." He looks through his logs and then over at the camera monitors, then back to his logs again. "There's one open on this floor, two below, one above."
"This floor should be fine."
"Yes, sir. Sir, ma'am, please follow me." He moves from behind the desk and leads us through the hall to the other end of the building. His hands fly across a keypad before he takes a key from his pocket and unlocks the door. He opens it, lets us through, and then closes it before typing into another keypad. Leading us again, he takes us down the wide corridor and towards a room on our right. Another door is pushed inward, leading to an open space with one long rectangular wood table in the middle. I can see there is another entrance on the other side of the room.
"Did you need anything else, Lord Hokage?" the shinobi asks.
"Nothing else. Thank you."
"Of course, sir." He heads over to a phone attached to one of the walls while Hiruzen and I sit. He puts himself at the head of the table while I sit on one of the sides next to him, to his left.
"Yes, I have the room secured. 3-AL-01. Send the others through the alternate entrance. I'll remain here until they make contact."
"Here are the details I have for you so far," I say as I hand Hiruzen a scroll. He nods and takes it from me, silently beginning to read. A look of concentration is on his face, and it does not change as he scans the document from top to bottom, side to side.
Several more minutes pass in silence, and I meditate with my hands in my lap. It will help with keeping calm in this upcoming event. Even though I have the Hokage's favour, he could still see things another way. Refusing a mission and going your own way is a serious thing, no matter how trusted one might be. Surely Sakumo had been well known for his good judgement...and yet, he was disgraced for his choice. This is comparatively less serious, but could still result in serious consequences. Especially when it comes to future endeavours.
"..."
They sent ANBU out to try and detain me, without incident. More than thinking I broke the rules...was there something else those two fossils meant to do? At least Danzo is out of the current conversation, but I have no doubt he was meddling at some point. One of my thoughts during the recent mission was that he was pulling strings remotely. Not something out of the realm of possibility. We'll find out once this conflict is over and done with.
A knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts. The shinobi in the room with us opens it and I hear the footsteps of the other participants. Shikaku sits across from me on Hiruzen's right. Ibiki takes a seat next to me. Koharu and Homura take their seats next to Shikaku, and a woman wearing the standard Leaf uniform sits next to Ibiki, setting a green folder down on the table. This must be Major General Aomine, who was mentioned earlier.
She has short, silvery hair with blue ends, and rectangular glasses with silver rims. Seems to be middle aged, though one wouldn't be able to immediately tell with how she keeps her body. Very fit, and of course to my liking. A string of shining pearls hangs around her neck, and she has black leather gloves over her hands. Green eyes, perhaps closer to blue, scan the table's occupants before she opens up her notes.
Finally, there are four more shinobi who enter the room wearing the standard attire, and take their seats on either side of the table. Eleven of us altogether.
"My lord, we will leave to your meeting," the shinobi from earlier says.
"Yes, thank you very much for your help. I will call the front desk once we are finished."
"Of course, Lord Hokage. Please excuse us."
The two bow deeply before leaving, closing and locking the door behind them.
"Lord Hokage, if I might speak-"
"You may not, Koharu." Hiruzen's tone is respectful, yet firm. There's a weight to it that he doesn't use very often. "We will allow Colonel Kobayashi to deliver her report first. Then you may offer your insights on the matter."
She slowly and reluctantly nods.
"You may proceed, my child. Please start from the beginning. General Aomine, the records for your perusal," he says as he has me pass the scroll to her.
"Appreciated, my lord."
"One week ago, I was sent to a border town in the northeast of Fire Country," I begin. "The border in question separates Fire Country from Hot Water Country. The reason I was sent there was to complete an urgent mission: to assassinate a man named Jin Toyama. Mister Toyama had a Bingo Book entry, which listed him as an asset of the Hidden Cloud who had returned to his hometown in order to complete a land transfer. Said transfer included an underground iron ore mine that was formerly owned by his father, which was shut down and abandoned decades prior. Ownership of the land was retained by Mister Toyama's mother. With her passing a few months prior, preparations were being made to transfer the land into Mister Toyama's hands. He would then own the mine and the land that it occupied. This included land that was on the other side of the Fire Country border."
"So the mission was to stop this Jin Toyama from acquiring the land," Aomine says.
"This is correct, and was outlined in my mission briefing."
"And yet this Jin Toyama lives, according to the other report I have here. Please continue, Colonel."
"I was given a seventy-two hour window to complete the mission, from the time it was given to me. That left me with about fourty-eight hours by the time I reached my destination." I glance at Aomine to see that she's diligently writing notes. "Wanting to ensure the mission's success, I began to survey the town and gather additional information on my target. This way, I could learn his habits, plan my mission effectively, and chart escape routes in case anything went wrong. My expectations were that Mister Toyama would be armed, would possibly have shinobi or mercenaries hired as protection, would be engaged in schemes that might bring harm to civilians, or might view himself as an expendable asset if need be. I interviewed a local shop owner to start. This set off several red flags as the information she provided me did not match with what I was provided as part of the mission data."
"Which can happen," Ibiki says. "But we don't like when it does."
"Knowing that I was on a strict time limit, I resolved to see what was happening and why I was getting such results. I decided to camp near the known home and wait for Mister Toyama to arrive at some point. I was prepared to spend at least eight hours in that spot, but he arrived in about two, carrying groceries. I then observed the following things regarding Mister Toyama. Mister Toyama conducted no sweeps or checks of his property, which was visible and easily found. He had no traps or detection equipment on his property. There was no additional security around his doors, windows, or other openings. I easily bumped the door lock and went inside, encountering no traps or security measures whatsoever. And finally, when I did confront him personally, he did not have any weapons on his person, nor did he have the chakra capacity to use any sort of shinobi skill or confront me if I did choose to attack him. He did not even know that he had an entry in the Bingo Book."
"That's all mighty suspicious," Shikaku says. "You pressed him, of course."
"Yes, Commander. I conducted an interview and learned something that increased the discrepancy between the two streams of information further. Mister Toyama found the current mine setup bothersome, as his father did before him, and planned to sell the rights to the Hot Water Country section of the mine to foreign investors, even if it meant he would lose out on profit as a result."
"He was willing to sell off portions of the mine?" Hiruzen asks. "That wasn't listed in the report?"
"No, sir. All I knew was that he was going to hold onto the mine in its entirety, and that the risk came from his private ownership plus the fact that he was working on behalf of the Hidden Cloud."
"And it turned out this wasn't true."
"No, sir."
"Hmm." He taps his fingers lightly on the table. "Please continue, Colonel."
"Of course, sir. What happened next caused further disruption of the mission, and threw a great deal of things into disarray. After deciding that there were several unacceptable errors with the Bingo Book entry, and that my initial mission was predicated on those errors, I changed my mission from assassination to protection. Furthermore, I discovered that several shinobi were approaching the home from outside, six in total. I deduced their intent was to attack us both, and so I directed Mister Toyama to escape, while I took on the enemy alone."
"These shinobi were Cloud?" Aomine asks.
"Hidden Rock, ma'am. Elites, ANBU from what I could gather."
"I see where this is going," Ibiki says. "Someone tipped those guys off. We know that Colonel Kobayashi here is a big prize for enemy armies..."
"I thought the same as you, Captain Morino. But that is incorrect as well. Their dialogue was explicit in that they were observing their orders for encounters with me. They did not expect me to be on this mission...if they did, they would have adjusted their attack pattern and sent more people upfront."
"Yeah, six wouldn't be enough...so you're saying that this trap was laid for someone else. Would you have any idea who?"
"I do not believe it was laid for anyone in particular, only for shinobi of lesser experience and skill."
"Meaning if we had sent anyone else, they would have been killed. If not by the collapse of the home, then by the number of shinobi attacking them at once. Six is enough to overwhelm the standard three person cell," Hiruzen says. "I believe that is enough for the immediately relevant portions of this report. General Aomine, do you have any additional thoughts before I continue?"
She gently readjusts her glasses by brushing her hand over one side. "Nothing for now, Lord Hokage."
He nods and gives his attention to the four uniformed shinobi further down the table. They all straighten up and have increasingly nervous looks on their faces.
"The four of you are among those responsible for this situation, and were in the highest positions of authority. Your work was performed recklessly and without competence or understanding of the impact that it would have on your comrades. You almost led several people to their deaths. Colonel Kobayashi was one of the only people in this world who could have come out of this safely, and even that was not a guarantee. There is a marked difference between the acceptance of risk and danger on missions, and being placed into terrible situations because of a colleague's incompetence. General Aomine, I would like your recommendations on this matter."
"Of course, my lord." She places one of her gloved hands on the table and turns her gaze towards the four offending shinobi. They grow even paler at that.
"From my reading of the report and the processing of the information that Colonel Kobayashi has just given us, I can conclude that there was not nearly enough time to conduct a thorough and proper investigation in order to confirm the Bingo Book entry and the facts on the ground. There was a blatant disregard for procedure and it not only nearly led to the death of an innocent man, but also nearly caused an actual national security incident. At the very least, we would have been forced to negotiate or even compromise with elements of the Hidden Rock, who have long wanted a chance to cut into our military strength. There is no doubt in my mind that there were multiple levels of corruption that allowed this to take place, and all of this will be revealed with an investigation into this specific manner. I hope you remember this day for the rest of your lives, and that you carry the shame of what you did inside of your hearts. Use that to rise above yourselves and become better people in the future." Aomine glances at the paper in front of her before continuing. "My recommendation for punishment is as follows. Two months unpaid leave. A probation of no less than five hundred D-Rank missions. No movement outside of the village until said probation is completed. A demotion straight to junior lieutenant rank, and a full review that will take place after the upcoming internal investigation. From there, I recommend that if any direct participation is discovered, that each offending member be dishonourably discharged."
Aomine settles back into her seat, while Hiruzen mulls the recommendation over.
"One month unpaid leave, and three hundred D-Ranks on top of their existing work. No movement outside of the village until those D-Ranks are completed. For now, a demotion of one rank until we see the results of the investigation. I would like the four of them removed from their current positions and moved to lesser roles within the organization as well. If there is any corrupt act found to be perpretrated by these four, then instead of removing them from the military entirely, they will be contracted to varying types of manual labour within the village, on reduced pay, and as genin until further notice."
Aomine thinks it over before nodding. "Very acceptable, my lord."
"Then let it be done. Ibiki, if you would take these four to be interviewed."
"Yes, sir."
"You are dismissed. The rest of us will continue here."
The four shinobi stand up and give Hiruzen a deep bow before heading out. Ibiki nods towards us before following after them. The door shuts a moment later.
Aomine moves seats so that she's next to me this time, and gives me a respectful nod that I return.
"Koharu...Homura."
Hiruzen lets out a heavy, weary sigh while rubbing his head.
"There is no way that you didn't realize this was a mess. You must explain to me why you pushed this through, and why you allowed it to happen. You heard the earlier report. We could have had people needlessly slaughtered. As highly as I think of Lili, she could have been hurt or killed in this situation as well. None of this was right."
"Hiruzen, you know full well why we moved ahead," Homura says.
"If I did, I wouldn't ask," he says with annoyance. "Homura, we have known each other for decades. I don't challenge the judgements that you or Koharu make very often."
"Yes, but it seems that your love for this child has started to blind you," Koharu says. "She handled herself well enough, which is why we chose to send her in the first place."
"Lady Utatane, I cannot abide what you are doing at this moment," Aomine says to her. "Using hindsight to justify what took place a week ago is supremely irresponsible."
"You have quite the nerve, Miss Aomine."
"I have plenty, madam. And you will use my title as I have respectfully used yours," she fires back. Spicy...I'm liking her more by the minute.
"It's extremely problematic as far as I'm concerned, seeing as I was completely bypassed and had no information regarding the mission come across my desk," Shikaku says. "Lady Utatane, you must realize that people would be calling for my head, regardless of what actually took place if something were to happen to one of our greatest military assets and a village hero?"
"There are more things at stake than your reputation and pride, Lord Nara," Homura says.
"Reputation and pride? I just want to be able to do the job that I was assigned by Lord Hokage, and I can't do that if every senior shinobi and politician has a sword pointed at my throat over an incident I had no knowledge of. Everything about this was beyond rushed and unsafe. There's no question that the person who requested the mission used a corrupt method to get it moved to the top as quickly as possible. What we need to figure out is why the two of you saw this mess and decided that you had to forge ahead with it anyways."
The two councillors are silent.
"Pressure from above, perhaps?" Aomine says. "Who was the person that first sounded the alarm here?"
"A man by the name of Sora Komaeda, ma'am," I reply. "He has, or perhaps more accurately had a position in the Fire Country government."
"Yes, it was the case that we were...gently pushed towards action by our daimyo's circle. They brought the matter to our attention once the details were published," Koharu says. "Everyone in this room can surely understand the catastrophe that would fall upon us if we decided that procedure was more important than action."
So that's what it was all along, then.
"And that's why Commander Nara was bypassed in this case," Aomine concludes.
"We did not have the luxury of time. Again, we should all be able to understand why these actions were taken. Shrugging off the concerns of the reigning government would not lead to positive outcomes for the Leaf. And our jobs, above all else, are to ensure the prosperity and well-being of the Leaf."
Hiruzen rests his head on his hands.
"We recommend that you rescind the punishment handed out to those shinobi involved, and that this mission and the results of it be sealed."
"That's way too much. We need to look at this closely so that there's less of a chance it happens again," Shikaku says.
"I agree," Aomine says. "Covering this up serves noone."
"Aside from the reputations of the government officials who made this error. And in the political world, reputation is of great importance," Homura counters. "People make errors, and this was founded on a legitimate belief that there was an imminent national security threat. As far as we know, the issue was resolved and none of the parties involved were hurt. We cannot take every slight as an act of war against us. Hiruzen, you know this well."
"..."
"And Komaeda?" I ask. "What about him?"
"We will have him brought in, questioned, and then released to the proper authorities. They will deal with him afterwards."
I get ready to protest, but Aomine raises her right arm slightly so that I can see it. At that, I back down with understanding.
"Lord Mitokado, Lady Utatane. I understand what it is you mean to do, and I understand that protecting the village from any backlash is a necessary part of politics, something that cannot be avoided. But I am not going to sit idly by and watch you sacrifice the integrity of this village. What has happened here is a severe breach of protocol that threatens the safety and well-being of every soldier working and sacrificing for this village. You cannot, and will not be allowed to cover up the fact that a government official fabricated a serious emergency in order to use our personnel to carry out a personal assassination. You will not be allowed to cover up the fact this action almost got one of our sisters wounded or killed, and that the life of an innocent man was nearly taken away. And you will not be allowed to cover up the fact that this blunder nearly opened up our borders to rival nations. This was not merely a mistake that would have set us back a small distance. I ask you to examine the scope of what has occured, and realize we cannot get by as a military organization by throwing away our integrity every time the daimyo and his representatives ask it of us. We cannot defend our village, or our nation like this."
"Miss Aomine. Perhaps you do not understand-"
"I understand plenty. Do not condescend to me again," she says to Koharu with restrained anger. "Your reasoning and fears of political reprisal do not erase what happened last week, and I highly suggest that you cease your attempts to pressure us with those things. The daimyo's house was wrong. That is the truth. You do this village a disservice by repeately suggesting that we have to bend over and take what's coming, just because they style themselves as important. Corruption and underhanded dealings have nearly destroyed this village time and time again. And most importantly, I am beyond furious that you would see Colonel Kobayashi as some acceptable sacrifice, the cost of doing business, unworthy of being properly acknowledged. You refuse to apologize to her, and refer to her as a mere child in a disparaging manner. Where is your shame?"
"She accepted the risks of the mission, much like any other shinobi would," Homura argues back. "There are many things that can go wrong on any campaign. Should we apologize for every cut and scrape a shinobi suffers on a mission, simply because it wasn't something they could predict?"
"Homura, you know better than that," Hiruzen says. "Do not mock General Aomine. Acceptable risk is far different than what was given to Colonel Kobayashi. Incomplete and falsified information is inexcusable." He pauses. "If you wish to apologize, you may do it on your own time. I have no interest in forcing you to exercise civility. But you cannot treat this as an acceptable state of affairs because of the earlier agreement you had. She accepted it in good faith, and you refused to operate in good faith. If there were any possible discrepancies you saw, you should have noted them and allowed her to make her own decision on the matter. Furthermore, before you get to it, I will not be entertaining any sort of punishment for Colonel Kobayashi as a result of her actions. She performed admirably and made all of her deductions while in the field, adjusting as needed. There was no visible intent to compromise or abandon the original mission."
"After review of the material, I agree with Lord Hokage," Aomine says, visibly calmed after earlier. "I have no recommendations for punishment."
"I will not be rescinding my punishment of the shinobi involved, and plan to hand out punishment to other individuals found to be involved in this incident. My office will be directed to apply appropriate reprimand," Hiruzen continues. "Our investigation will be completed at a reasonable speed, and the results will be released for all relevant parties to digest. We will inform those of the ruling party who were involved in this incident's reporting of their error, and of the issues that allowed this to happen in the first place. And when Sora Komaeda is found and detained, he will be in the custody of the Hidden Leaf for his various crimes and abuses of our mission system. This is my final statement on the matter." He sighs. "General Aomine, if you could stay a while with myself and Commander Nara...everyone else is dismissed at this time."
"Of course, my lord. I'll see Colonel Kobayashi out."
I stand as she says that, then give Hiruzen a deep bow. He nods in acknowledgement and I head out into the hallway. Koharu and Homura stand afterwards, trying and failing to hide their indignation. They'll probably run straight to Danzo after this.
Aomine and I watch them pass us briskly and head down the hall.
"You did very well today."
"Thank you," I say to her. "For that, and for what you did earlier."
"I know that you can easily take on fossils like that and win, but the arena this time was a bit different. Part of my job is to recognize those things and advocate for my brothers and sisters as needed. The Leaf is family, and we need to act as such. It's something that I've noticed of you, and I have admired it for quite a while."
"Thank you again," I say with a nod.
"It's no trouble." She extends her hand. "Reika Aomine."
"Lilith Kobayashi," I say as I shake it firmly.
"Business card?"
I nod and take one from the card holder in my pocket. She has a fascinated look on her face as she examines it. "Impressive. Very nice."
"And yours?"
She smiles and reaches into her pocket, then takes out a metallic card holder and flips it open.
Interesting...very interesting. Thick, but not too thick. Beautiful off-white colouring, and the type is immaculately placed. Oh. It even has a watermark.
"Quite impressive," I say sincerely. "A bit on the expensive side, I assume."
"Just a bit. Well worth it, though."
"I don't disagree," I say as I put it away safely.
"Give me a call when you're free. I'm quite interested in the direction you're going, and would like to offer my support when I can. And it's fine if you simply have any questions, or need to talk."
"Understood, Miss Aomine."
"Reika is just fine."
"Then Lili is fine for me."
"Thank you. I'll be on my way...I understand that you've just come back from your mission, so get some rest. Everything else will be taken care of on our end."
"I appreciate that. Goodbye for now."
"Goodbye." She smiles and gives me a nod before walking away. Mm. She must work out often, given how she looks from the back.
"I did awaken to mature women years earlier...hm."
That aside, it seems I have a new ally, and in a high place too. It will help with everything that's coming up.
I go back to the office and pick up my bag, then head towards the hotel. Nobody is following me this time, which means that the village mechanisms are in order again.
My body is starting to feel heavy as I ascend the stairs. I'm more tired than my brain wants to admit. It's not wise to keep going, even if it is just afternoon by now...there's always much to do, and people to take care of, but now really isn't the time to worry about that. Reika is right. I should rest.
I ready my key card, but the door opens before I can slide it through.
"Fio."
"Welcome home."
She takes my bag from me and pulls me by the hand into the room. Her hair is loose and swings around with her movements.
"Are you..."
"It's okay. Just relax for now, and we'll worry about everything else later. There's always time, honey."
I nod and take off my sandals, then my sweater. Fio guides me to bed and lies down beside me, taking my hand in hers. We squeeze together, shoulders rubbing against each other and hair in each other's faces.
"Don't fight it too much. I'll be here when you wake up," she says quietly.
"I know...thank you."
"Yeah."
I turn my head so that I can look into her eyes. She smiles, and I smile back. And then, I let my body respond to the exhaustion it's feeling...my eyelids get heavy, and I finally start to sleep.