Jiraiya let the stack of paper fall from his weary hands. It hit the table with a thud.
“Hazō, I appreciate how you’ve saved me a bunch of time by writing everything out as a list, but Sage’s beard, kid, what’s wrong with you?”
“I assumed you’d be tired,” Hazō explained unashamedly, “and this seemed like the most time-efficient way of presenting the information. I even got special dispensation from Keiko.”
Jiraiya sighed.
“Actually, my headache is getting worse rather than better. But all right. Let’s go through this little lot.
“The Poor Man’s Yellow Flash? Hilarious. Leaf has been waiting for the second coming of the Yellow Flash for a long time—don’t get your hopes up, kid, that position’s already reserved—and this is going to put up a lot of people’s hackles. I can definitely work with this.
“The seal itself is nothing special. Rock was using time-delay storage seals back when I fought them in the war—that’s my war, not your parents’ war—so you’ll need to come up with some creative applications if you want to get the veterans’ attention. But somehow I suspect that won't be a problem.
“Now, the macerator, that one I like. Stupid name—it doesn’t look or work anything like a mace—but it’s simple, it’s effective, and when I tried out the one you gave me, I found I could do some very fun things with it.
“Your research ideas I’m less convinced by. In terms of the flying compound, I’ll tell you what I told Toshikatsu: it’ll be a pain to design because you can’t put supporting seals on objects affected by central seals (obviously—it would negate the seal’s only weak point), and as soon as you get any kind of accident, or you forget to replace something, you’ve got bits of your compound dropping out of the sky. Then there’s access. Once you’re relying on a single point of access to come and go, you’re leaving yourself open to being besieged in a way that simply doesn’t happen with normal forts.
“Now, your skywalkers fix that, but they also raise the question of why bother with a flying compound at all. Within Leaf, anyone will be able to come up to you anyway. Outside Leaf, we’re not going to be spending much time on static defence, not with our crazy new mobility. And in any case it’s only a matter of time before the skywalkers become universal. Sooner or later, somebody will find out about the seal, and reverse-engineer it off the bodies of killed soldiers.
“As for using it as a clan compound, c’mon, Inoue, you must have taught the kid better than that. What message are you sending when you’re looking down on everyone in Leaf from your castle in the air?”
Mari-sensei winced.
“But it gets worse. ‘Bigger explosions’. Tell me, have any of you ever heard of Hidden Whirlpool?”
Hazō nodded warily.
“Any explosives ‘big enough to change warfare’, you forget right now. Scrub them out of your mind. If we could trust the Yamanaka to do it, I’d ask them this minute, but they would quite rightly think it was safer to kill you instead. Think for a second about the kind of people who would want that technology. Enemy agents. Hostile factions, domestic and foreign, who’d want to hold villages to ransom as leverage. Oh, and those wacky ninja who want to end the world. Those pop up every now and again.
“And Kagome, have you not told the kid about the Watchers?”
“The Watchers?” Kagome-sensei scoffed. “That’s just a myth.”
Hazō turned to stare at Kagome-sensei in uncomprehending horror. The rest of the team were doing the same, Mari-sensei visibly one move away from attacking the impostor.
“It’s obviously just a cover for when the lupchanzen conspiracy kidnaps another promising sealmaster for use in their forbidden experiments.”
Everyone relaxed.
“Oh, the Watchers are real,” Jiraiya said grimly. “A couple of decades ago, I got desperate during the battle of Ryūgamine Peak and deliberately failed a seal infusion. I got a visit the very next night.
“I woke up, but I couldn’t move, like there was this huge weight on top of me, except there wasn’t. I couldn’t see or hear anything… except this voice. It said that out of respect for my name as Jiraiya of the Leaf Three, I would get one chance. I was never to weaponise sealing failure again, or in any other way use sealcrafting to endanger the survival of civilisation. Then I went back to sleep, and in the morning it might all have been a dream, except that somebody had taken care to disable all of the traps around my door, and then fix them again after they left.
“Don’t fuck with the Watchers.”
Hazō nodded, feeling the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
“I—I also have a design for knockout gas bombs you could drop from a height. Totally harmless and non-lethal. No threat to civilization at all.”
“Better,” Jiraiya agreed. “Much better. The Hokage will be happy to hear about those, at least if you can convince him that you’re not going to accidentally poison anyone. Some poisons have serious long-term effects that you might not notice at the time, and you don't want to inflict those on anybody you want kept alive.”
Mari-sensei gave a knowing smile which Hazō decided not to think about too much.
“What fascinates me is this next part,” Jiraiya went on. “Storage seals and seal-based mechanisms for civilian use. As you know, Leaf is big on civilian welfare, and this could revolutionise civilian lives without getting anybody killed. Minato had some crazy ideas along the same lines—he’d have loved the idea of a Mist-nin of all people following up on them. He thought that if we radically improved civilian survival rates in the Fire Country, then Mist would be first in line to strike at our population centres to protect the balance of power. Hopefully, that’s not going to be a concern for much longer.
“Once we win the war, we should have the resource base to throw behind something like this, provided you can come up with workable designs and persuade the decision-makers. I’d love to see what a prospering civilian population does to the sales figures for my books.”
Jiraiya grinned. Hazō smiled uncertainly back.
“Now, negotiations. I think the ‘keep your mouth shut’ strategy is a good one. There’s going to be quite a sense of urgency about this decision, so people will be looking for any opportunity to make snap judgements about you. Don’t give them any openings, and let me do the talking, at least for now.
“In terms of custom seals for different clans, we’re lucky with the timing. Normally, it wouldn’t help all that much—if you’re giving Clan A special seals, they can safely assume you’ll be doing the same for their rivals in Clan B, and for all they know those seals could be better. But in wartime, those concerns fade into the background to some extent. That said, don’t get ahead of yourself. Leaf does have its own sealmasters, and so do most of the big clans. You can’t protect your independence if you have to rely on the central government for your sealing.
“Noburi’s medic work will help us. There’s no such thing as too many medics, and miraculously, you still have Dr Yakushi on your side. With a bit of help from Tsunade, we might be able to wrangle that into an extra support base, especially if you can figure out something to offer them that they don’t have already. You got a bunch of training from outside Leaf, so figure out how to leverage it.
“Keiko… the non-lethal thing could be a pro or a con, because the last thing you want is to be associated with Gai in people’s minds when it comes to politics. Or at all. We’ll come back to you later.”
Hazō didn’t like the way Jiraiya said that.
“With that said, your connections with the minders from last time are useful, and we should try to exploit them. For now, you can’t be seen moving around as a group, or drawing any kind of attention, so there’s not much you can do on that front, but think about ways you can appeal to the heirs in particular. It’ll mesh well with my work higher up the chain.
“I’m thinking about the Hyūga in particular. I’m going to have a real hard time making inroads with those supremacist jerks, so if you’ve managed to get that Neji kid on your side, that could potentially make a big difference.”
Noburi bit his lip.
“In broader terms, the strategy you’ve outlined is not that different from what I’ve been planning myself, with one notable exception. You kids really think there’s hope of containment at this point? Right now very few people know you’re back, but as to who you are? Pretty much everyone who’s interacted with you in any way knows that by now. You think the clan kids didn’t report to their parents? Or that nobody heard about that mess at the library? No, that messenger bird has flown. I don’t deny we would have a much easier time if you were just mysterious ninja appearing out of nowhere, but we have to deal with the situation as it is.
“Now, my work for the next few days is going to be meeting with the clans one by one, spinning this story a dozen different ways, promising concessions and cashing in bits of political capital left, right and centre. A few clans might go for your idealism, so have some good speeches ready when they finally invite you for an audience. The traditionalists would freak out, so you’ll need to focus on your loyalty to Leaf—stressing the Will of Fire and how much this place is better than Mist—and how useful your inventions will be, as opposed to how much they’ll change the world.
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“Above all, don’t accept any invitations until you’ve had a chance for me to brief you on the clan. If ninja you don’t know come to talk to you, try and deflect them. ‘That information is classified’ will get you surprisingly far, as long as you’re polite enough about it. For myself, I particularly like ‘It would be disrespectful to discuss such matters with you before I’ve had a chance to do so with your clan leader’. And go nowhere without an ANBU escort. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.”
“What about Akane?” Hazō finally asked the question that had been foremost in his mind once he’d got the list out of it. “How is she? When can I see her?”
“I can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” Jiraiya gave Hazō an amused look, “so had one of my people check. She’s out of the hospital. Once we’re done here, you get one visit. Since she's non-clan and a political nobody, you should be in the clear. It's lucky you're not dating someone relevant like that Yamanaka girl, or we'd be having a nightmare right about now.
“But first, there’s one more thing. After the long, painful hours I spent hashing all this out with the Hokage, I went straight to the Nara compound to have some more long, painful hours with them. Where the Nara go, the Yamanaka and the Akimichi follow, and getting Leaf's strongest clan alliance on board is going to be a major coup if we can pull it off.
“Also, they’re the Nara. When I told Shikaku about the plan, he pulled a folder out of his desk, flipped through a few pages and then told me exactly what it was going to cost us. Then I told him about the skywalkers and he just turned to a different page. You can see why those guys are our first priority.
"At any rate, we made plenty of headway. Hazō, you can look forward to a very long conversation with Shikaku—he's the clan leader, in case that wasn't obvious—at some point in the near future. And Keiko…
“Keiko, one of the conditions they set for their support is that you join the clan, by adoption or marriage. Shikaku said you’d be worth the coins.”
“Coins?” Keiko frowned. “What coins?”
Then her mouth opened a little. “Oh. I… I see. Please excuse me. There are some things I must consider.”
She got up and left the table, her movements already shifting into the slower, smoother pattern of the Frozen Skein as she headed for the girls’ bedroom.
Silence reigned in her wake.
-o-
Hazō raised his hand to the knocker for the third time, painfully aware that he was starting to gather attention, and almost physically feeling the pity and disapproval from the ANBU escort lounging casually in the shadows of the nearby alley.
Hazō gritted his teeth and knocked.
It took only a few seconds for the door to smoothly swing open.
The man on the other side towered over Hazō, his bulging muscles contrasting with his keen eyes that scanned Hazō from top to bottom in a fraction of a second. He put Hazō in mind of a particularly dangerous taijutsu master.
“How can I help you?” the man said politely.
“Hi. I’m…” not about to say his name out loud in public. Mari-sensei’s coaching had accomplished that much.
“I’m your daughter’s boyfriend. May I come in?”
With no change of expression, the man stepped back into the house. Hazō followed.
“Would you mind drawing the curtains so I can drop the disguise, sir?”
The man did so briskly, then turned back as Hazō regained his true appearance.
“So you’re Kurosawa Hazō, are you?” The man presented a heavy, calloused hand for a handshake. Hazō took it.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Ishihara Kenta, Akane’s father. But you knew that already.” His voice was neutral. Not welcoming, not hostile. “The girls are out shopping.”
“Oh. I could come back another—“
“No. Stay. This is a good opportunity for us to have a little talk.”
Hazō gulped.
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Kenta beckoned him to a seat.
“Kurosawa, you and I are in a difficult situation.”
“We are?”
Kenta nodded. “You brought my daughter back to me, and for that I owe you a debt I can never repay. I’m well aware of that. Don’t let anything else I say make you think otherwise.”
Kenta took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
“But you didn’t bring her back safe. You took my Akane into a battle with some seal-throwing witch that she had no business being anywhere near, and you nearly let her die.”
“With all due respect, sir,” Hazō struggled to keep a lid on his temper, “I was making the best of a very poor set of choices. I doubt anyone could have done better in my place.”
“Yes,” Kenta said seriously. “That’s what I mean. You’re a missing-nin, and that means all your choices are bad choices. No, don’t bother denying it. Or anything, in fact. My daughter has many skills, but lying isn’t one of them, especially to her parents.
“You’re a missing-nin,” he repeated. “And even though you brought my daughter back to me, you have to break up with her.”
“What?! Why?!” Hazō was standing up before he realised it.
“Sit down. Please.”
There was no arguing with that level yet implacable voice. It would have been like trying to punch through a thousand-year oak.
“It seems to me, from what I understand, that you made a lot of bad choices while Akane was with you. You caused chaos wherever you went. You got people killed. You put Akane in danger again and again. Now, maybe you didn’t have a choice. Hell, I know what it’s like when life makes the big decisions for you. But the fact is, no matter the reasons, my daughter’s not safe with you. I don’t know exactly what you’re doing in Leaf, but whatever it is, Akane will be safer if you keep her out of it, and out of your criminal life.”
“That isn’t—”
“I’m not done, Kurosawa. The truth is, even setting all that aside, I don’t know that I can trust you. Akane thinks you’re the best thing ever, but she’s a girl in love, and they’re not known for being objective. What I see is a boy who just happened, despite coming from another world, to have the exact right beliefs about that Spirit of Youth foolishness. You’ve always said precisely the right things to her. You’ve supposedly never had a single fight. To me, all that screams manipulation. Not to mention that ‘sensei’ business. That would be abuse of authority if you weren’t so much younger than her, and frankly I don’t even know what it is given that you are. But it doesn’t sound like a healthy way for two young people to relate to each other.
“But suppose I give you the benefit of the doubt. I mean, I’m a father facing his daughter’s first boyfriend. You could be the Sage of Six Paths himself and I wouldn’t feel able to trust you with her. So let’s say I’m being irrational and you’re really the finest tool in the box. Even then, you’re a missing-nin.
"Now I don’t know what led you down the path you’re on, and I can’t exactly say I’m unsympathetic. Hell, if I was forced to serve that Mizukage, I know I’d run as fast as my legs could carry me at the first opportunity.
“But the fact remains. I have to do what’s best for my daughter, and that means working with the information I’ve got, even if I know I don’t know everything. And what I know is that you’re a foreigner and a traitor, and a man with no place in the world who has nothing to offer Akane except danger. So I hope you understand why you have to break up with her. If you truly love her, you have to let her find someone who can provide for her and protect her.”
Hazō relaxed a little. For once he was ahead of the game.
“Sir, I can’t divulge any classified information, but that isn’t going to be a concern the way you think. Could you… could you put me on probation for a few weeks instead of making this judgement straight away?”
Kenta seemed to think.
“People don’t stop being missing-nin. I might not be one of you ninja, but even I know that much. There will never be a future in which she can live happily with you.
“But… you brought my daughter back to me, and Ishihara Kenta never forgets a debt. If you think you have some way you can convince me, then you’ll have your chance.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much, sir.”
Kenta grunted and held out his hand again. “Then we have a pact between men. Bring me your miracle, and I’ll accept you as a potential partner for my daughter. But until you do, you stay away from her. Understood?”
Those didn’t seem like good terms at all. But between the Hokage, Jiraiya and whatever allies they could muster, Hazō felt confident about the future. And if there was one thing he didn’t want, it was to alienate Akane’s father.
He grasped Kenta’s hand in a trust-inspiring handshake that was probably somewhere on the Kurosawa list, but that he’d had to reinvent himself with Mari-sensei’s help.
“Understood.”
Kenta relaxed. “Good. And remember, even if you manage whatever it is you’re doing, that just gets you a foot in the door. It doesn’t mean I trust you, and it doesn’t mean you’re good enough for my daughter. Next time you knock on that door, you’d better be prepared.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hazō could only hope that his recent good behaviour had won him some leeway with the team. This was going to take one serious list.