AN: New chapter.
"I almost feel bad taking this vacation." Her husband didn't seem that upset from where Kushina was watching him from the bed. "I left Jade with a lot of the boring stuff I usually do."
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Kushina admired her shirtless husband, more interested in the eye-candy he was providing than on his worry about Jade. She knew she was doing fine. If she wasn't, she could come to either of them for advice. "I even got her to promise not to pull any pranks while we're gone."
"I'm not worried about her." Minato joined his wife in bed. "You know how she is with the Elders."
Kushina's face turned sour at the reminder of the four old Shinobi.
"I can't disagree with her. I didn't like them as a kid and you know why."
"I know…" It had taken time for Minato to come around on Kushina's point of view. He wasn't one for disobeying authority outright, usually just relied on creative interpretation of his orders. Kushina was much for directly ignoring what she didn't like, telling the Elders to "shove it" if they tried to push her. "I don't like them either but Jade spends half her time needling them and the other half threatening them. It's not the easiest dynamic to work around when I need a favor from them. They're not very eager to help me."
"Pffft." Kushina's response was such, turning over on her side to throw an arm over his chest. He was quick to wrap his arms around her. A brief moment of adjustment and she was laying on his chest more than the bed. "You're the Hokage. They should listen to you, not the other way around. Aren't you basically they're boss?"
The blonde laughed. "As much as people think that's the case, it isn't. At least, I try not to see it that way. They're my advisors, experiences veterans I can speak with." Kushina's had reached for his, threading their fingers together. "They can, sometimes, give me some pretty good advice."
"Like hell they do." The Uzumaki didn't believe him for a single second. "Shimura's always scheming behind your back, Sarutobi is always trying to guilt-trip you, and those other two are the biggest hanger-ons I've ever seen. I still don't even know their names."
"Yes you do. You just like calling them the wrong ones because you know it infuriates them."
"You can't prove that."
"Did I mention it's also hilarious."
In terms of the village's leadership, Jade could keep a cool head with most of them most of the time. More than half of the time, she didn't do anything awful to the people who annoyed her. She had dealt with enough people similar enough to who she was dealing with now over the years at Section 13 to know what to say, what not to say. It helped that here she had the backing of the Hokage in pretty much anything she did.
And Kushina.
And Jiraiya.
And, if all else failed, Jade had no problem using the limitless army of Shadowkhan she commanded to get her way. Of course, for the most part, she handled things without resorting to outright force.
Issues between Shinobi? She treated them like children and made them sit down and talk out their issues. It usually worked. For all their lethality, they usually listened to what she said without complaint.
Issues between civilians? Compromise usually worked. If nothing else, she could serve as a mediator so arguments didn't get out of hand.
Issues between Shinobi and civilians? Easy enough to handle.
As long as someone didn't involve the Elders, she could do her (temporary) job just fine.
It was also no secret in the village that Jade had issues with all four of them.
Koharu Uatatane.
Homura Mitokado.
Danzo Shimura.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
All things considered, it was a miracle she didn't immediately react when all four entered the room.
Although, she did stop playing with the Mini Khan on the desk. The ball of Shadow Magic was swiftly consumed by the leaping Mini Khan, a mouthful of sharp teeth revealed as it hungrily feasted on the much sought after treat. Her clawed hand was carefully brought down to join where the other laid on the desk, her red eyes focused on the four.
"Well, isn't this a surprise." Jade dismissed the growing Mini Khan back to the Shadow Realm. She dismissed all of the Shadowkhan in the room back to the Shadow Realm. The shadows around the room still lengthened, twisted, were naturally drawn to her and the irritation bubbling just under the surface. "Isn't it a bit past your bedtime old timers?"
More than one pair of eyes looked around the room, at the very clear and present threat of the shadows around them. Two didn't break away from her, both stepping further into the room.
She almost let her fangs show when she smiled.
"I didn't exactly invite you in but whatever." She closed the door behind the four with a twitch of her finger, sealed it in the same moment. Her red eyes roamed over all four. The shadows behind her began to twist, began to rise and fall. They coated the window behind her, spread out from the walls, and encircled the four in the center of the room. "So, what do you want?"
Hiruzen seemed to elect himself spokesperson. At least that seemed to be the case when he stepped forward.
"You've been disregarding many of your temporary duties."
"They're boring and unnecessary for the Hokage to handle." She didn't make a show of pointing out the paper cranes filling the office but two pairs of eyes drifted to them. Danzo and Hiruzen didn't take their eyes off of her. She flashed them a fanged smile. Like always, they tried not to give her the reaction she was after. "Everything that's important still gets done. Quick too."
She made a show of leaning back in her temporary seat.
"Anything else you want to complain about or are you done? Maybe time for your nap?" She liked annoying these four.
"We are concerned you are creating unneeded hostility. Each appointment or meeting you find beneath your time is a direct snub to the men and women who have asked for the Hokage's involvement." Hiruzen tried to glare her into agreeing, put on the old man face that usually worked on Minato.
It didn't work on Kushina.
It didn't work on her.
"Oh no." Mock affront flooded her tone. "I'm upsetting people. Pffft." Her clawed fingers were joined in front of her, red eyes meeting Hiruzen's aged stare. "Like I said, all those guys I blew off don't matter. The Hokage shouldn't be wasting his time with half of the things coming across his desk."
"Minato would be disappointed in you if he knew how you treated this position. The more you ignore these matters, the greater problems you cause for him on his return from his mission." Hiruzen, just like the rest of the Elders, didn't know that Minato and Kushina were on a forced vacation.
Jade had kicked them out the village and hadn't let anyone know where they had gone off to, had Kakashi and Obito lie about some mission the Hokage himself had to go on.
"How about this." Jade lifted a hand up, a single clawed finger raised. She pointed to the four. "If anybody has a problem with the way I do things and goes to one of you." She twisted her hand around, pointed at herself. "Send them to me." Her red eyes flashed as she dropped her hand. She "accidentally" scratched the desk. "I'm sure we can reach an understanding."
"Your constant threats are another matter we've come to discuss with you." Koharu was bold enough to step forward, to break away from the rest of the group that had stepped inside the office. "You are endangering the village every time you send one of your creatures out without our authorization."
"I'm not threatening anyone." Jade lied through her teeth with a smile. After the first day of dealing with Minato's job, she had sent out a few dozen Shadowkhan to some of the most annoying ones to get them to never come back. Or just scared them until they cried. She was flexible like that. "I just encourage them to make a better decision than come and waste my, or the Hokage's, time." She almost wanted to kick her feet up on the desk, make a show of truly not caring about what any of the Elders wanted her to do. "I'm not here to placate and baby people. I'm here to get results. Like I always do." She smiled at the way the faces of all four changed.
Even if she didn't like it, her work during the Third Shinobi World War had given her an undeniable level of fear, of terror, in most interactions with Shinobi.
They were quick to listen to her from the same terror, weren't willing to argue or disobey her when they knew what she could do.
Who would try anything against Jade Chan? The monster able to vanish entire armies. The Hidden Leaf's swift victory in the countless battles of the war, the momentum shift that had followed, the rush from the other four to bring a stop to the carnage when offered the chance, was contributed to her more than to Minato inside the village.
A potential years-long conflict between the Five Great Shinobi Countries had turned into one that had lasted for little more than a year.
All thanks to her.
AN: I'm sure nothing bad will happen during this vacation.
Review/PM if you want.
Peace.
