Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom - ep. 68
"Sunless Bridge"
[Rocks and Rain, Part 4]

We round up the entire group within twenty minutes and start out of the village. By now it's late afternoon.

No issues come up, and the brief inspections by Hidden Rock shinobi as we leave are of little consequence. We talk about a few things with the other passengers during our trip, nothing with each other about the mission just yet. Our friendly farmer drops us off near home, and we say our farewells before everyone else takes off. Erika and Bear do a quick sweep of the surroundings, and we get the all clear to head inside.

An official mission success.

"Did you need help with dinner?" Bear asks his wife.

"I did some preparations earlier, but I would love some help if you could," Wolf says. "Pumpkin, would you get the ladies some tea while they wait? Dad and I will be fine on our own in the kitchen. We'll talk about all of the things we found after dinner."

"Okay, Mom."

"The notation stuff is where I left it out in the room," Bear says to her.

"Got it, Dad."

The rest of us file into the living area and take our seats around the table. Our sandals and straw hats come off, and we let down our hair while returning it to our natural colours.

"What a day. Nothing difficult, but just a bit exhausting," Ino says. "Had to be the air over there."

"Little bit thinner because of the elevation," Fio says. "Good for training, though. Cloud's even higher up."

"Yeah, I'm definitely fine with my air being a little thicker from now on."

"Anything juicy on your end?"

"Mostly village gossip, since we're not from here we'll have to sort through what's actually relevant. Sparrow there is a real pro, she picked up on my cues without missing a beat. I went with my whole interest in flowers gimmick, which isn't really a gimmick I guess, and we got some nice bites. You know how women can chat away about anything."

"Yeah, for sure. What about you, Rika?"

"Our window was small, but the amount of protection in front of us was even thinner than anticipated," she says. "They seemed to be very concerned with the split between regular village defence, security detail for the Tsuchikage and his entourage, and counterintelligence against any upcoming attacks from organizations like Akatsuki. It meant that the amount of time we could spend on searching for material was dramatically expanded, and thus we were able to gather significant amounts of relevant information. Or, to put it briefly...what we have is very juicy indeed."

"Ooh. Can't wait to hear about it."

"What about you, Lili?" Ino asks.

"Some old idiot in admin was eyeing me up earlier, so I picked on him a bit," I say casually while fanning myself. "Got him drunk and he started singing like a choir boy, dumb thoughts and all."

"He didn't go all pervert on you, did he?"

"Nothing like that, no. Had some integrity, he's currently engaged and serious enough about it. Complete moron, though. If Fio heard him talking, she would have put his head through the bar."

"Like that, huh. I like to think that I can control my temper better these days, but...you probably aren't wrong," she mutters.

"I won't repeat much of what he said about Roshi and Han verbatim. It will probably have to go on the written reports, unfortunately. But I gathered some important things that will more than likely line up with what everyone else has found. So it wasn't a waste of time."

"Here we are," Sparrow says as she returns. "Your tea, and all of the stuff you'll need to take notes." She sets down our tea from the tray in one hand, and gives us each a notepad and a pen to write with next. We each go to work shortly after, the only noises between us being the sounds of pens scratching across paper and cups being set down every few minutes.

"Dinner will be a little while longer," I hear Wolf say to us. "Are you girls okay?"

"We're fine," we say in unison.

"Alright. We'll bring everything out to you when it's ready." We all go back to our writing. There's nothing too difficult that I had to look after while I was in the village, so I make detailed notes on what I remember about my surroundings. Some of the building layouts, the interior of the bar I was at, observations about how the roads are spaced and their construction, so on and so forth. I wonder what it would be like to have a photographic memory, or something close to that. Probably unpleasant if you end up remembering so much that's in front of you. There might be something to the fact that one's memories are distorted, if only subtly, by changes in time and space.

Tonight's dinner is crispy beef with green onions, sticky rice, and steamed sweet peppers. Very delicious. Afterwards we have some taiyaki as dessert, one of Sparrow's favourites, and some more tea to settle our stomachs.

And now we get to business, as promised.

"I guess we'll start first," Ino says. She and Sparrow picked up a fair bit of talk at street level, most of it regarding local affairs that will be useful to our hosts more than anyone else. Topics that came up were anxieties over a possible war effort, the general apathy over the deaths of both jinchuuriki, economic impacts as a result of the news, and the possibility of a military ramp up even if war didn't come about. The locals have also noted an increase in visible shinobi presence and more talk about recruiting. There's a slight bit of confusion among the populace regarding the search for a new host, or the preparation for such. People seem to be under the impression that the tailed beasts will be found and brought back eventually. That seems to fit, since nobody knows exactly what the goal is in capturing them in the first place, even among the intelligence types.

"That's some good info," Bear says. "You did a great job with the limited time you had."

"You should be very proud of your daughter," Ino says with a smile. "This was her first time out, and she was really good."

"That's our girl. Couldn't be prouder."

Sparrow blushes. "Thanks, Dad. I always do my best for you and Mom, and you've been the best teachers in the world."

"You're welcome, kiddo. Guess I'll share what I picked up next."

Bear has a front as a local businessman, and has made himself known among some of the higher ups. Most of his talk was regarding the changing economic situation in the village and surrounding area. A marginal tax increase is coming up, bothersome for the working class but nothing for the business populace to worry about. That said, there also might be a slight increase in mission pricing for shinobi hires, which might send business towards loosely regulated or below board individuals and organizations. Akatsuki is of course unwelcome in the area and their middlemen will be found and rooted out, after being scanned for whatever information they might have. Some of the captains of industry are patiently waiting for announcements on military activity, others are already assured that they will have new streams of revenue coming no matter what happens next.

"They're definitely gearing up for something, I just couldn't tell you exactly what based on what I heard earlier," he says.

"I didn't get much while I was milling around," Fio says. "Same kind of small talk as everyone else."

"It's more than fine," I say. "I can go next, as I figured out some interesting things from my companion's ramblings."

Roshi and Han were usually being monitored by the black ops contingent of the military, and thus their general locations were known to the relevant parties. Those routine searches increased in size, scope, and urgency when they couldn't be found for a while, and the strain on personnel would have been notable if not for the use of Akatsuki mercenaries to fill less important roles. That, as we know, turned out to be a big reason why Akatsuki could slip in and grab both hosts under everyone's noses. For the drain on resources and other prejudicial reasons, the two men weren't well liked by the upper echelons of the village. Their real use was for deterrence, and as far as everyone was concerned they were still loyal enough to the village to defend it from any attack.

Next steps are naturally being kept mostly to the chests of higher ranking officials. But it seems that there might be something happening with regards to diplomacy, such as contact with the Hidden Grass and possibly the Hidden Stone as we predicted earlier. There's also something vague referring to the Waterfall, though I doubt things will go too far since they've just forged new ties with the Leaf.

"They're also worried about me, now that they're in a more desperate situation than before. I doubt they have any confirmation that I was the one behind the disappearance of their elites a few months ago, but I wouldn't put it past them to assume that it was the case."

"Yeah, they've got you on their radar day and night," Bear says. "As far as they're concerned, you're the second coming of the Yellow Flash. That's part of why they're so spooked after losing both of their biggest problem solvers. The power of a tailed beast isn't something that someone can just get rid of, but even their most elite soldiers are just human."

"Plainly mortal in comparison to you," Wolf says. "Not that they would admit it, but...the regular forces already understand what they're up against."

I nod. "Mm. Pleasing to hear."

She nods. "That's a fair response. We can go over the information that Miss Kotowari and I obtained next. It's exciting in more than a few ways, as you'll soon learn."

Everything came out of the prior preparations that Wolf made on her trips into the village. They carefully infiltrated as many rooms and offices as they could within the brief downtime they had. Erika, with comparatively less to lose, spent some extra time sneaking through a still drowsy administrative building and found herself yet to be destroyed copies of important documents. Both fresh and urgent.

The first major thing is what Oonoki wants: a meeting between the five great shinobi powers regarding this recent turn of events. An emergency Five Kage Summit.

"That...doesn't seem wise to me," Ino says. "Why would he want to call a summit over this? Doesn't that mean exposing what happened in detail? I'm pretty sure that if we know about the village's whole deal with Akatsuki, those guys in Cloud would too."

"It's a calculated risk," Erika says. "He knows that he would have to reveal what happened and his dealings with Akatsuki, who have been performing more and more brazen acts as time wears on. However, his intention is to put pressure on the other villages, both for the fact that they have powerful missing-nin in Akatsuki's membership, and for their perceived inaction regarding Akatsuki's menace across the shinobi world. One village in particular will be the target of Oonoki's bullying."

"The Hidden Mist," I conclude. "They've been quiet a long while, and there are unfounded rumours that they are the origin of Akatsuki itself. We also don't know what's become of their remaining host, and they haven't provided much in the way of information."

"They are likely to be dealing with internal reforms currently."

"The Rock will obviously try to target Leaf, because Itachi is a known member of Akatsuki," I continue. "We can't exactly go out and tell them otherwise. And there are other things to consider, as some of us know."

"The only ones who seem to have any leverage in this situation are Cloud," Bear says. "They've done some underhanded things, sure, but in this case they've been really aggressive against Akatsuki's influence, and don't currently have any missing-nin who are working in Akatsuki's upper ranks. Every other major village does, and a few minor ones did too. Kakuzu from the Waterfall, and Hidan from Hot Water. It was a few years ago that they went missing, and the abrupt nature of it means that they're more than likely dead by now. It would be surprising to find out otherwise."

"The most likely thing to happen at the meeting, if it takes place in the near future," Wolf starts, "is that Oonoki and the Hidden Rock will place emphasis on their recent misfortunes and suggest that they might be dissuaded from doing something drastic with the cooperation of the other hidden villages. They are currently surrounded on all sides by great powers who now have advantages that they do not."

"Their conflict with the Sand is well known," I say. "Gaara is both their jinchuuriki and the Kazekage. He is also one of the strongest beings in this world, as he demonstrated before. Their most hated enemy is in a better place than they are, and they're buffered by one small, irrelevant country which can be flipped with enough assurances and resources. Leaf is on good terms with the nations that Hidden Grass and Hidden Waterfall are in, which presents another danger for them. And if Cloud decides to attack from across the sea, as they are capable of doing in large numbers, then there is nothing they can truly do to retaliate, save for Oonoki going out and risking himself in battle."

"So the plan is to get everyone's attention on the Mist," Fio says. "You mentioned the Akatsuki thing, but there's gotta be more than that going on, right?"

"I speculate that the Rock will make use of the Cloud's indignation to apply extra pressure, on Mist and the other nations," Erika says. "Beneath that, there will likely be diplomatic relations meant to gather support and present a treaty or something similar at the meeting, something that shows solidarity between the minor and major shinobi powers."

"In other words, there could be a whole bunch of guilt tripping going on because of the recent stuff that's happened," Ino says. "And then everything will spring off of that. The Mist probably doesn't have too much of a defence, seeing as they're known for how many missing-nin come out of their country, but the facts are that Akatsuki has a pretty diverse coalition going on."

"That's not going to do much to quell Cloud's anger," Bear points out. "They're pretty mad about almost losing one of their jinchuuriki a while back, and as mentioned before, like to get pretty aggressive when it comes to threats against their national security. To make matters worse, we don't have that much quality intel on Mist right now, so we don't know what they're going to do or how they'll react. They could just roll over, or they could bare their fangs at any threats."

"We have Lord Hokage though, don't we?" Sparrow asks. "I mean...he's supposed to be a great negotiator and stuff, right? We can't be that close to war..."

"It's very bitter to say, but even Lord Hokage would have his hands tied at this juncture," Wolf says. "He is very good at keeping the world balanced, and advocates strongly for peace, but there are limits to what one man can do. Short of making promises too tremendous to keep, there are too many moving parts to say that he could stop the worst from happening. The Hidden Rock wants guarantees, no matter how unreasonable they might be, and so might the other nations involved."

"It's a very difficult situation," I say. "All we can do in the meantime is see how everything plays out, and react to it accordingly. We'll also have to see what exactly is going on in the Mist, so that we can work on a counter to any situation where they're being pressured. We're not exactly allies now, but every little bit helps. What were the other discoveries made today?"

"Things along the same lines as discussed earlier," Erika says to us. "There is work being conducted on a security alliance between the Rock and Waterfall, as there are worries that Leaf or Cloud might get to them first. This would present an obvious problem in terms of border defence. The Hidden Rain is another discussed target for negotiations, though it is less of a priority since nobody has been able to make any meaningful contact with the village head or any of the officials directly. All of the contact in the past decade or so has been done through messengers. There are many rumours that Hanzo has been removed from power, none substantiated. No details on who might have taken over in his stead."

"Hm. It still remains a possibility, of course."

"So once this summit happens, we won't have a lot of time before we need to make an awful choice or two," Ino says. "Is there anything that we can actually do?"

"It depends on how much time we have," I say. "In theory, the summit can be called at any time. In practice, the Rock is going to want to gather all of the information and support that they need before making the call. Once we send this information off, it will be just us in the Leaf and in the Rock that will know exactly what the stakes are. The other three villages might be able to guess, but they won't know what we know. It means that we can manipulate to some degree how this will go. The first and most obvious thing that we can do to put a stop to all of this is eliminate Akatsuki. With that immediate threat gone, it means that there isn't such a need for aggressive posturing and the weight of any conflicts goes squarely onto the Rock if they attempt to instigate them. We could also do something as dramatic as restoring the power balance."

"How would we do that?"

"The Three-Tails is currently free in the eastern sea. Capturing it, or giving the village means to do such, would calm any immediate anxieties and head off any reckless acts."

"Yeah. Or it could give them another tool to wage war with. You're right about it being dramatic, and I don't think anyone would agree to something like that."

"We wouldn't exactly ask permission. It would serve another purpose of putting the Rock in Leaf's perpetual debt, which sounds nice enough. But it's not something I would like to happen, even if I've suggested it. These things are better left to people with more authority than we have."

"Of course, we don't have to get too desperate just yet," Bear says. "Things usually take more than a day or two to be decided, and the Kage Summit could just be the first of many meetings between the larger hidden villages. There's no doubt that places like Frost and Hot Water would want to be involved, as they're in between two rival nations themselves. They'll want to make their own appeals, even if they don't have a seat at the table."

"And as said by our Sparrow, Lord Hokage is an expert diplomat," Wolf follows. "He should be able to keep things in order for a while, as we work to take Akatsuki off the board for good. He can't stop everything bad from happening, but I believe that he can prevent the worst and give us enough time to solve the problems in front of us. Though I do understand everyone's feelings...as optimistic as we can be, the reality is that it will not take much for this continent to end up in conflict once again."

"Best thing we can do is keep our heads up," Fio says. "We're not done for yet, so what we need to do is work as hard as we can on fixing this mess, even if we're not the reason for it."

"I think it's best if we finish taking notes and chill out for a while," Ino says. "At least, I think so. It's been a long day, and there's a lot to think about..."

"I don't think we should do that."

Sparrow stands up.

"We can do all of our writing and worrying about gloomy stuff later. Miss Fio is right, it's not the end of the world, so we shouldn't dwell on it and make ourselves sick. I'm gonna go upstairs and find a board game for us to play, and we're gonna take our minds off work for a little while."

"Heh. Wonder where she got that from," Bear says as she runs upstairs.

"A mystery, to be sure," Wolf says with a smile. "But she does have a point. We can't spend too much time immersed in the misery of this world of ours. The sun will rise again tomorrow, and we will have another opportunity to take care of the problems that stand in our way. Worrying too much is as irresponsible as not worrying at all." She gets to her feet and takes away the empty tea pot. "We'll need something warm to drink while we're here. I'll be right back."

"The whole world need not be on our shoulders," Erika says. "Even if we are to be the vanguards of revolution. It is good to be reminded of that fact."

"..."

I watch as Sparrow comes back down and excitedly puts her box on the table.

"The culmination of this effort is...that we are the last ones to place our shoulders beneath that weight," I say.

"A beautiful vision."

"One to be made reality in due time." I stretch my arms. "Well, now it's time to figure out how quickly I can win this type of game in front of us."

"I'll warn you now, I'm really good at this one," Sparrow says with a smile. "So don't get mad when I beat you!"

"Famous last words," Ino says.

"Hmhm. I've never shied away from a good challenge. As the saying goes, you may bring it on, Miss Sparrow."

Playing a few rounds does help take the tension off of everyone, and we chat a bit more before deciding to get ready for bed. Erika and I stay up for another hour and write extra notes by the light of the oil lamp nearby.

The next morning, we have a good breakfast and start on our all-day task of finishing and organizing our notes in full, to create a report that will go directly to the Hidden Leaf. We double check everything and ask each other questions regarding what we could have missed, remove redundant information, and create a timeline alongside what we have. A few new relevant things come up as a result. Midday is a mandated break on orders from Sparrow, and so we young ladies get together to jump rope. After that is lunch, more work, and then dinner. Our work is completed shortly afterwards, and we watch a local baseball game on television together to wind down. Apparently, the differing atmosphere in the region allows the ball to travel further through the air when hit, which adds a new layer of excitement. Then it's off to bed again, where our little group obliges Fio's request for our last night here.

The four of us fit onto that bed, somehow. We all go to sleep holding onto Fio, who was as happy as anything.

"It was nice having you out here. We'll have some space ready the next time you're heading this way."

Once we've finished with breakfast, we secure our copies of the mission report and get ready to head back home. Everything will be sent ahead of us by bird from the nearest outpost, directly to the village.

"We appreciate that," I say to Bear as we stand at the front door. "Hopefully the next time we see each other, it's not in a time of turmoil again."

"Heh. I hope so, too. But this is the life we signed up for, right?"

"It is, surely. But I would rather it not be a lifetime contract."

"Everything will be okay," Sparrow says. "I believe in you guys. You helped out Mom and Dad before, and now this time, too. We'll do what we can from this side to help make a better world."

"As long as you don't do anything too reckless," Ino says, patting her head. "That's our job. And by our job, I mean Lili's."

"Facing the world's terrors is something that I am uniquely equipped for. It sounds a bit solitary, but I know that I'm never truly alone."

"As long as you all come back safe. And you're going to invite me to both of your weddings! I've only been to one before, so one where it's all girls should be pretty exciting."

"We'll send you a fancy invite!" Fio says. "It'll be a great party for everyone."

"You were wonderful hosts, as always," Erika says with a bow. "We will keep in contact through the usual channels, with some extra updates as requested."

"Thank you," Wolf says. "The three of us will be thinking of you, and praying for your success. Take care of yourselves, and remember to enjoy life as often as you can."

"You can count on it," Ino says. "Okay! Group hug for the road!"

We come together for a big hug, and then separate a bit so that we can hug our hosts one by one again.

"Bye! Remember to be safe!"

Sparrow waves happily at us before we clear the entrance. And with that, we're on the road again. Home is just a few days away.

"We've relied on order for so long to keep this world together," Ino says as we walk through the mountain pass. "It's taken things like this for me to realize that order and justice aren't the same thing. Maybe changing the world really does mean giving up on everything we knew before. All of the tradition, the things that so many of our ancestors fought for and died to preserve."

"It must be scary to think about," Fio says to her.

"Do you think so? I mean..."

"I'm saying it because I know what it's like, yeah. It's hard to start over, and to give up on everything you had before. Sometimes you don't have a choice, and that might be the easier situation. You don't really have to worry about choosing wrong. It's when you're fighting for it that things change."

"I see..."

"Having second thoughts is not a betrayal," I say to Ino. "There's nothing wrong with considering the situations in front of you. To be courageous isn't about living without fear or doubt."

"Yeah. That all makes sense."

"It's good that you have those feelings, Ino. To remember what's at stake, and to listen to what your heart is telling you...all of that will be important when it comes time to connect with the people of this world."

"Lili..."

"There are few of the tethers that remain," Erika says. "I intend to immerse myself in shadow as well. Those of you who stand by us are invaluable, for your moments of clarity and love."

"You will not be shamed if you do turn back," I say. "But I know you won't, Ino. Because you showed me the space inside of your heart. I trust you with my life, as you trust me with mine. So no matter what happens, or how you might feel, I will always love you."

She closes her eyes and nods. "Thank you, Lili. I won't forget this moment. I love you, too."

"The many wings of this divine child will carry you aloft, even when your strength has faded. Unflinching courage, and unwavering focus. Those are among the beautiful things that will become our justice."

Without a second or third thought, I'll clear the way for all of us. I already know what the future that I'm fighting for looks like.

All that's left to do is to ensure that we get there safely, together.