Junko Hoshigaki could only see two sides to what was happening, the good and the very bad.
Servants shuffled around the compound hastily attending duties they had left over but Junko knew it was futile. She was hastily moving out of the mansion, throwing on the only proper jacket she could find in time and tying her hair up so she’s moderately presentable.
Still, despite the minute head start they got from the gatemen there wasn’t enough time to cover up just how much of a mess the clan compound was or even summon her advisors to join her in meeting the Yondaime Mizukage.
She jumped onto the roof and peeked the familiar outline of the Mizukage’s blue hat and the imposing symbol of all water on it. She squinted and noted the two people at his side, both standing taller than the Mizukage himself— they’d said he was short.
Junko quickly placed the face of Ao, the one said to have gotten himself a Byakugan, a usable one at that. He looked well and comfortable at the Mizukage’s right-hand. The other was one wearing a demon mask, Junko struggled to place it for a moment but couldn’t deny the familiarity. She had no idea who was behind it though.
The Mizukage began to look up at her position and Junko quickly made herself scarce, landing on the ground and clapping aggressively at her servants, “Quick now, finish what you’re doing now and get out. Tell the kitchen they’d better prepare, sencha tea, get it!”
Junko pressed her clothes down in a stray mirror as they huffed through their work. One servant nearly spilling a water bucket all over the floor. Good help was so hard to find. But then she would have good help if it weren’t for…nevermind. She opened the doors a foolish servant had shut, letting air run in and out unheeded before hurriedly shifting a couch in place all.
Finally, she stopped by the large tank hosting her long-time friend and asked, “How is it? Not bad?”
Samekiru took his time swimming around and Junko’s kicked her knee impatiently until the giant white shark within the tank that took up all most of the vertical in her home measured a grin at her.
He had a scarred eye that had glazed over but he refused to transplant and a gruesome cut down his nose and along the bottom of his stomach. He shook his head and booped the glass between them.
“No, it’s not Kisame or actually, maybe it is I-”
Before she could form two sentences of conversation with her longest companion a stray guard of hers announces behind her, “Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, sir.”
She caught a glimpse of Yagura in the reflection of the tank before she turned around, presenting her best, friendly looking smile at the man. Her feet carried her forward to kneel without her having to think about it, “Lord Yagura, it is good to see you again.”
He rested a hand on her shoulder, grateful for her acquiescence but found it unnecessary, “I hope so, I know I’ve come quite unexpectedly.” He glances around the large parlour, examining the many trinkets and treasures from her time at sea.
Junko rose and turned to Ao, “It’s also good to lay eyes on Kirigakure’s one and only Dojutsu user, how is it?”
Ao stiffened, his eyes dart between the Mizukage and herself but before his lips part Yagura spoke, “You can find out on your own time, Hoshigaki-dono, I am unfortunately not here for many pleasantries.”
Of course he wouldn’t. Junko pressed her smile and quickly offered her Mizukage a place to sit, his companions however chose to stand like statues behind him. She called for tea, insisting that it is the least she can and must muster for the grace of his presence in her home alone.
While that was being made, she took in the young man that she’d slit her wrist in oath to. His inauguration day had left little of him to the common noble and though she is the face of the Hoshigaki, one of the five major clans, she knew better than most that they weren’t as well positioned as any of the clans sitting on his council now. Funato, Hozuki and Karatachi.
There’s major five and then there’s great three.
She let her smile lax a bit as she started with the small talk, even with the statues behind him he would accept this much, wouldn’t he? “How goes the search? I got the report about these Kaguya and I’ve ensured any hidden amongst us were put to use.”
His eyes narrowed at her for a fraction then shifted focus behind her. Junko didn’t need to turn around to know he felt someway about the giant shark lounging with them in the parlour but she also didn’t need to address it if he wouldn’t.
“The Sensor Division has recovered some sense and put it to good use.” He began in a measured tone; it was heard to read him beneath the full veil of his Kage attire. “There will be changes made to many functions of Kiri after this is fully resolved.”
Junko nodded with sympathies, “Yes, it’s unfortunate you’ve come in power at such a tumultuous period, first the Third and now this? It makes you wonder doesn’t it?”
He answered without missing a beat, “It is quite the opposite, Hoshigaki-dono, it’s fortunate that I’ve come when I have. It is starkly clear that Kiri is in need of some change and that’s part of the reason I am here today.”
“Oh?” Junko tensed measurably hearing this. As she thought, this could only end in two ways— good or very bad. She hadn’t the time to forge a bond with the Mizukage prior or even after the fact of his inauguration. And now he’s sitting in her parlour after arriving unannounced, without schedule or even a little parley of words.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Moreover, he was wearing every bit of legitimacy he swore to as Mizukage. His haori, hat and the veil all spectacularly white, the one man in all of Kiri with a Dojutsu and a mysterious man donning a demon-mask whose origins was on the tip of her tongue.
Junko was unlike her fellow major clan heads in various ways but most noticeably she was youngest of all. But despite it she has seen enough of clan and village guile to know when a person is making a show of force and power.
She’d participated in the Second Shinobi was as a hastily promoted Chuunin and proved her worth just as quickly—! She snapped her finger at the demon-mask man and grinned a toothy grin.
“I remember where that mask is from now,” she said and watched the mysterious figure tense before realizing the young Mizukage was getting to his point of visit. “Oh, yes, don’t mind me please, it’s just been bugging since I laid eyes on it.”
He gave her an odd look beneath the veil but continued, “Yes, well, he is key in why I’ve come today. Hoshigaki-dono, I want you to be part of the change I’m building and so I’ve come to offer a boon.”
A boon? No doubt the price paid will be just as great. Junko said nothing as her lazy servants finally shuffled out to set the table with sencha tea and some sweet biscuits, “I heard you enjoyed sencha, Mizukage-sama, please enjoy.”
At this he outright frowns and Junko gulped, she was treading truly unfamiliar ground. Did he not like sencha afterall? No, no, her advisors had literally chanted the word in her ear when word of his outing with the Hozuki girl happened.
Still, he isn’t rude and bothered himself with a single sip before setting it down and getting right back to what he was saying, “I will be blunt. I need the Hoshigaki to house some of the Kaguya for a time.”
Junko almost spit her own tea, only calm prevailed in time and she got away with a wet nose, “House? The Kaguya?”
Were they not the source of his stresses at the moment? Junko couldn’t figure the man out but she did anticipate what this would be about, this wasn’t as simple as a request, this was an order. He might not have come with a battalion of ANBU but denying him as he’s dressed in all the effigies of the Mizukage and the Daimyos will would not be wise.
Junko restrained the bubbling frustration within her, “I see…and am I privy to knowing why this is happening? The Kaguya have slaughtered people of our village, why shelter them?”
If he was phased by her hesitance, he didn’t show it, instead he merely leaned in and took another sip of tea— look at that, he does like sencha. “I should emphasise that the ones you will shelter are not combatants, they will mostly be old folk and infants.”
Junko couldn’t miss him talking like she’d already accepted, then again, what choice did she really have? Hmmm…choice. “Why is this task specific to the Hoshigaki? We have no love for the Kaguya and their ilk. Why not the Karatachi compound or Hozuki?”
The Mizukage sighed and began taking off his hat. He laid it down beside him and met her gaze. He was as boyish as Kisame described and yet this boy had beaten him down and gone on to do that same to that hairy Suikazan.
“Some people are more amenable to change than others, Hoshigaki-dono, you may refuse but I will simply move on to the next solution.” The unspoken fact that he wouldn’t forget her turning back on him was not missed. He glanced back at the demon mask then at her, “You should know I don’t come empty handed in my request, I have a suitable reward in mind for everyone joining me for change.”
Ahh, so I might get the good ending after all. Junko kept her burst of optimism from her face with a sip from her cup, a bit too eager and she drank the entire thing like a shot of sake, eliciting a curious but understanding look from the Mizukage— not something she expected to see as a reaction to what everyone calls a bad habit.
“What do you have in mind? A place on the council?” She said, fiercely meeting his eyes. She caught him flinch and a pleasantness warmed her— this wasn’t so bad after all, he was difficult to read but had little patience for guile, a long conversation would make his stoic of authority easier to pierce.
“Not as such, no, I was thinking more of an assuredness of Kisame’s inheriting the Samehada. Fuguki isn’t dead yet but I can assure you Kisame will have his hands on Samehada when he takes his last. In the meantime, he’ll take every available opportunity to train and master the blade.”
Junko wasn’t sure if he was offering a boon or threatening the one they already had. The First Mizukage’s legendary blades were more than just powerful weapons, they were a status symbol, a crest that carried your name, family and clan to heights they’d previously be denied.
That’s why so many died trying to pass the trials to simply join the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist as trainees in Kenjutsu. Kisame had already mastered basic Kenjutsu and earned his place among the Swordsmen, even if he was yet to master any of the other available blades, the Samehada was clearly made for him and even Fuguki seemed to think so.
Suddenly promising what Kisame was already privy to was…dubious. It felt empty, void even seeing that if she refused as Mizukage he could easily stand in Kisame’s way of inheriting when the Suikazan does perish.
As great as the Hoshigaki were at monopolizing a majority of Kiri’s fishing industry, having Kisame as one of the Swordsmen, even a prospective, provided a great boon to the clan’s prestige and worth within the village.
Junko wished her advisors were here as she tried to mind her words, “Is that all? Kisame is already next to claim it, he can practise when he inherits.”
“If.” The Mizukage laid thick, “There would be trials for Samehada when and should Fuguki die. Whoever has the best affinity would be the wisest choice.”
“The wisest choice is Kisame.” Junko almost hissed, but at this point the Mizukage could see and hear her frustration, “What makes the Kaguya so important that you would impede what is already done?”
“This isn’t just about the Kaguya, this is about change, Hoshigaki-dono and if you wish to change Kiri, truly, then you will see to my wishes and wait.” Yagura said and calmly gestured over to the demon mask, “He has studied the Kaguya extensively and alongside the seals Harusame has provided, any Kaguya under your roof will be yours to groom and govern, within reason of course. You will be their warden, my trust placed in you.”
Junko had enough and did away with her hesitance and fear, “Yondaime-sama, I will be blunt since you have. The Kaguya are of no value to me, as slaves or otherwise, they are no Hoshigaki and they are not legendary blades. But I am amenable, I have some conditions.”
Yagura nodded, fully expectant that she would. “I know you want a place at my council, but it is not the time.”
“No, no, I understand I wouldn’t be your first choice even with the Hoshigaki behind me, you seek change not stagnation.” Yagura smiled, a first and no an unpleasant sight, “Instead I’ll ask you to take one of my own into your fold as you trust the Kaguya with me.”
“As a student?” He asked, suddenly irritated.
“No, as an aide and as a shoe-in for the Seven Swordsmen when Kisame decides he’s ready. He is young and has yet to master his Kenjutsu, he will be ready but all I ask is that he skip the trials.”
His eyes narrowed and Junko’s palms sweated waiting for his response. She was essentially asking for a free slot to stand to inherit or even claim one of the available blades. More prestige, more power.
Yagura nodded and stood almost immediately his hat touched his head, “I see, I will take your words to consideration, Hoshigaki-dono. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must attend to other matters.”
Other matters? Likely the Yuki clan next. She didn’t let her thoughts betray her though and quickly bowed to the young Kage as he left with his silent statues. Even without her advisors nearby, Junko had a good feeling about this.