Please leave a comment or PM if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, or just compliments. For the sake of this work, the elemental balance will go earth}lightning}water}fire}wind. Thanks to SmallFountainPen for betaing chapters 57-73. Thanks to SoaringJe for betaing beginning with chapter 116.

It had been a very close call.

Very, very close.

So close, in fact, that the seal was still provisional, still insufficiently tested.

And yet—

And yet it was Ryoma's seal that was hastily scrawled onto the foundation of every hotel, that was worked into every campsite.

Imperfect, he knew, but effective.

Ryoma crouched, doubled more than half over, as he crept further under the inn. This one unusually had a crawlspace, and had taken full advantage of it: they had seals here for heated floors, for air purification, for all sorts of nonsense.

(It was the most expensive inn in the city.

(And the competition wasn't close.)

The other seals, they could be checked more irregularly. Really only checked to be refilled with chakra, because they really hadn't had time to test any of the automatic methods. They all functioned the same, so as long as they checked at least one every day while refilling, the rest would probably be fine until it was their turn.

But this inn—

This inn had many, many seals.

And so Ryoma's seal, the seal that would earn him his promotion, the seal that would prevent any of the blood-sucking bed inhabitants (horrifying, still nightmare-inducing even after all this time. Why did they even exist?)—

It was the most likely to fail here.

It took some time (the crawlspace was not easy to move around in, and there really were so many seals), but eventually he found the seal he'd etched in stone less than a week ago.

Well, the good news was that none of the 'error' sections Head Yamanaka mandated to be included were glowing.

That didn't mean he didn't have to double check, though.

Carefully, he removed a seal from his pocket.

Unsealed its single inhabitant.

Watched as the bedbug immediately withered.

Nobody could see, but he fairly glowed with pride.

His first seal—

And it was working perfectly.

…He knew he had more of a leg up than most: he'd had loads of help, and dozens of examples to work off of.

But the point was that nobody else had managed it.

Nobody else had done what he did.

And Ryoma was allowed to take pride in that.

.

Minato grinned, gesturing to another sake bottle. "Have you tried this daiginjo? It was made in Tea, but I'm pleased to say the brewers have recently decided to relocate to Fire."

"I have not had the pleasure," the Daimyo said. They waited a moment as the attendant prepared a sample.

In the corner Minato could sense his student observing, rapt.

"That is pleasant," the Daimyo said at last. "A nice pique of acidity."

"It is quite well made, I agree," the Daimyo's… first cousin? No, his first cousin-in-law… concurred.

Minato smiled. Soon they would migrate to the theater, where they would watch the latest bit of Konoha propaganda while indulging on a full platter of Akimichi delicacies, but Minato wanted to show off as much of Konoha as possible.

"The brewers are settling in the northeast, at the behest of the Mitokado clan. Their existing economic relationship allowed the Mitokado to emphasize the many benefits of such a move."

"The Mitokado are a blessing to Fire, of course," the cousin said.

Conversation continued.

Later, after the movie, after a meal, after watching a group of Uchiha fire dancers demonstrate their skills—

Later, Minato smirked.

He hated politics.

When he'd started—

When the Hokage (not the Hokage anymore, he was the Hokage now) had told him he was in the running to replace him, had told him to begin wining and dining—

He'd found, very quickly, that the whole charade was just as bad as he'd imagined.

He'd been treated like scum because he had no known name, no clan.

He'd been treated like a curiosity because of his skill, like a passing fad that wasn't liable to stick around.

He'd been treated with no respect.

Minato had worked at it, though. He'd doggedly worked at the best candidates, the nobles who probably did have souls underneath it all, until he had some nobles who actually thought he might be worth something. He'd looked the other way when Konoha began spreading propaganda that he was the bastard child of one family or another. He'd smiled when he wanted to scowl and laughed when he wanted to punch smug looks off of their faces.

…And he'd succeeded.

By the time he was Hokage, he hadn't had an overwhelming amount of support, but he'd had enough.

Nobody was surprised he was even in the running by that point.

…It had eaten at him.

The treatment.

It had eaten at him like nothing else had.

He'd thought he was used to being underestimated, to being treated poorly.

He'd been suspected of shoplifting more times than he'd care to admit as a child, his non-Fire coloring standing out amongst all the darker hair, and he'd trained on his own even as his classmates had entire families of support behind them.

He'd thought—

He'd thought he'd seen the worst of it.

But Konoha, for all its flaws, let him grow.

Saw his power, his strength, his intelligence, and gave him opportunities to make the most of it.

He'd never shoplifted, and he'd never ended up in jail. Konoha might distrust outsiders, but they did give them a chance.

When he and a team had gone to make his introductions to one of Konoha's most important noble supporters in preparation for his nomination, it had taken a full three days before the man actually believed it was Minato who the letter of recommendation was intended for, not the Nara companion he had at his side.

Even when he'd been a genin—

In Konoha's walls nobody batted an eye when he was babysitting children that looked nothing like him.

When he was eleven he'd been assigned a mission to rescue the daughter of a powerful merchant, and as he'd been on the way to return her, as he'd booked a stay at an inn (his Konoha marker on full display)—the innkeeper had run off, found some other Konoha-nin and told them an Iwa-nin had snuck in, was kidnapping Fire's children.

Konoha had its issues.

Fire was worse.

Assigning Shin…

That had been Hiruzen's doing.

But reassigning him, allowing him to work more pervasively, more treasonously…

That was Minato's.

Every year, every year he and the thousands of other people who called Konoha their home worked to improve it.

And every year the nobles of Fire did their damnedest to make things stay the same.

He'd leave them to their delusions for now, but Minato wasn't about to let Fire continue to suffer under their rule.

He was eating at their foundations even as they sat with him, laughed with him, thought they were above him.

And one day—

Maybe not soon, but certainly inevitably—

They would fall.

(Nobody seemed to think Minato was power hungry.

(Everybody seemed to think he was comfortable with where Konoha was now.

(They pointed to how Konoha had not taken over the islands of Water—islands Konoha had no means to control. They pointed to how Konoha didn't take territory from neighboring minor nations—but that territory would certainly be gifted by the Daimyo to adjacent nobles, so what would be the point?

(They pointed to how he'd risen so far already, further than anybody thought a no-name like him could go. It was unimaginable, then, that he might aim higher.

(They pointed to him already having the 'most powerful' position a shinobi might have—there was no more power within Minato's reach.

(They ignored Minato's bureaucratic and administrative reforms. They overlooked his emphasis on research, on improvement. They disregarded Minato's care for the next generation, for the struggles they would face.

(They neglected to recognize Minato's drive.

(And Minato—

(He knew the truth.)

.

A bunch of old men were smoking in front of Kaede, and he grimaced.

It was bad enough that they were taller—the smoke itself made it harder to see the screen.

He leaned toward the side, pressing against Itoku. At least he could see some between their heads.

"What's this one about?" Itoku whispered. They'd been laughing and talking in line, more focused on getting a spot at all than selecting a specific film.

"Something about a sea serpent?" Kaede offered. He was pretty sure he'd heard some other audience members mentioning that, anyway.

"Cool," Itoku whispered.

Kaede glanced to the side, grinned at the whisper of teeth his friend showed as the lights began to dim.

This—this had been a good idea.

Itoku's parents, Kaede knew, were nobles.

Or, at least, his dad was.

And Itoku had been brought here to learn how to protect his legitimate siblings, to keep him away from the 'public eye'.

(Konoha was not considered public.

(Kaede wondered about that, sometimes.)

That… it wasn't pretty, but Kaede understood that part.

Got it.

Didn't agree or anything, but he'd talked about it with his parents and his uncle Rento, and he kind-of got why Itoku's dad thought it was the right thing to do.

…It was the alliance celebration that had messed everything up.

Kaede hadn't really known Itoku that well during the last major celebration, had barely known him at all, so he had no idea what had happened then, not the specifics…

But he knew Itoku hadn't been visited since being sent here.

Not once.

He hadn't even been allowed to go home, to visit them instead.

And today…

Today Konoha was full of nobles.

There were probably like fifty of them! Or—well, there were a lot, anyway.

But not Itoku's dad.

Itoku's dad stayed away.

And that—that was what Kaede couldn't get.

Couldn't understand.

Couldn't—

Couldn't even imagine.

Here was the perfect excuse, if Itoku's dad's reputation was really so important.

He could come here, to 'celebrate the alliance', and then sneak off and see his son for a bit—the shinobi already knew, after all, so it wouldn't matter if the ANBU noticed or anything.

He could probably even write ahead, make it even easier to visit his son.

But he hadn't.

He—

He hadn't done anything.

And this morning, when Kaede went to see why Itoku wasn't running about with the rest of them—

Well, Kaede knew his first duty.

That was to his friend, to giving him a day that he could at least remember somewhat fondly in the years to come.

But he also knew his second.

Soon—not today, but probably tomorrow—Kaede would write to his cousin Ibiki's godfather Shin.

Shin lived in the Capital.

Shin probably knew exactly who Itoku's father was.

He'd write to Shin, and he'd ask for as much information as possible.

Shinobi, after all, weren't Samurai.

They weren't noble.

They weren't members of the public.

Shinobi were the ones that did the work that needed to be done, the work that no one wanted to do.

Shinobi understood revenge.

.

Hiruzen leaned back, his eyes darting from one mountain to the next.

Kumo seemed to have backed off, responded to the Iwa-Konoha alliance by…

Not attacking.

Hiruzen had dealt with Kumo for decades, and he didn't believe for a second they were actually contemplating peace.

Which left the question:

What were they doing?

Were they trying to install more infiltrators in Fire, in Konoha?

Were they planning to attack by sea?

Were they hoping that Konoha would reduce their camp size, allow for an easier sneak attack?

Whatever their reason might be, Kumo could be very, very patient.

Well, so could Konoha. Minato had invested heavily in technology to allow Konoha to have more and varied long-term defenses, most of which Kumo couldn't possibly know about, so Konoha was not as beholden to promises of peace as they had been in years past.

It didn't matter if Kumo lay in wait for weeks, or months, or even years.

Minato had ensured Konoha would be ready.

(Hiruzen wondered how he might deal with this situation if he were still Hokage, but the answer was obvious: he would make peace.

(Minato said there was no point yet; admitted that they likely could find some sort of agreement, but not one that was remotely beneficial for Konoha.

(Hiruzen… he imagined he'd weigh the costs and benefits differently.

(He wondered which approach was actually better.

(He knew he'd never find out.)