Reborn in the Mist

“Raiii!!!”

His brother’s fists ploughed through yet another desk. Papers flew up in the air, stationary clattered all over and the unsuspecting lamp shattered as it fell, yet Ay wasn’t done. He picked up the twain pieces of the desk in each hand and lobbed them free at the window, fortunately the windows were much stronger than the desk and only bounced them back at the fuming Raikage.

Bee shared a look with a slightly startled Mabui, she still held the unopened letter in her hand but Ay’s reaction to the news coming from her mouth was enough to set him off. Sweat drooped down her forehead but Bee flashed his charming grin at her.

“Yo, no worries!” He said, but if hearing there was a written letter of warning from the Yondaime Mizukage was waiting for him, Bee could be sure there was much to be worried about. He turned his charm on his brother. “Calm down brotha, the news is yet to be heard, no more desks to shred, see!”

“Silence Bee!” Ay roared, he looked at Mabui, his harsh glare containing the wordless command to step forward and read out the letter.

The young woman hurriedly tore the letter open. It had come stained with blood and wrapped in a Kumo-nin headband equally soaked in blood— a warning clear as any other and not unlike the first Bee had personally delivered to his brother. Three heads, clean cut... Yondaime Mizukage’s ice cold, yo!

Yet these warnings weren’t merely the sole reasons for his brother’s unrestrained anger. Recently, he hated hearing anything of the Mist Village, and Bee could understand why. Every news attached to their name was terrible for the village. They were killing, routing and exposing Kumo agents in foreign countries, whether on covert missions or not the Blood Mist ANBU Black Ops would intervene and challenge any and every Kumo-nin they met.

Mabui had spilled the gossip for him— they retaliated for their client being killed on a mission, something about Raigo Arashimaru and his recent skinless look. Bee tried to calm his own urge to step out, retaliate on behalf of his brother and village and it wasn’t all too difficult because he knew who had begun this game of cat and dog.

Ay’s just carrying pops’ will. Buildin’ strength through the storm. But this burden of war? With that weight, I’ll never fully transform. Bee told himself as Mabui recited the Mizukage’s message.

“To the Yondaime Raikage, Ay—

I bring you the last of my mercies. Your espionage operations have been uncovered and uprooted. In doing so, I must thank you for inadvertently revealing vulnerabilities within my village. You will not breach our defenses so brazenly again.”

Ay cackled loudly, his rage dissolved in a sudden humour. “The fool! There are no gates the lightning cannot pierce. The fact we scoured so deeply should make him think twice about sending any such threats!”

Again, Mabui shared a nervous look with Bee, from where he stood he could tell the young Chuunin serving as his brother’s assistant had merely read the first paragraph of what could only be a letter that worsened with each bloodstained stanza. Bee shook his head as his brother’s laughter calmed enough for Mabui to nervously continue.

“The sole survivor of your transgressions now resides in our cells. His knowledge of Kumogakure has proven most enlightening. I would say ‘watch your back,’ but I am certain you already are.”

Ay’s mood whiplashed once again. His oppressive chakra bathed the room as his eyes scanned for something to break, he spotted the already pieced desk and drove his foot through it only to end up cracking the floor as well. “So he confesses! He is responsible for those rumours! Those masked Water Ninjutsu users! He admits his responsibility!”

Mabui was frozen up like a statue whereas Bee just sighed and watched Ay break the floor even further to set his foot free. “She will get used to it…in time.” Gyuki, his partner’s voice echoed in his head.

Maybe. If she don’t walk out first, stress breaking her stride. The girl had indeed lasted longer than most assistants, certainly longer than Bee had himself but only time would tell how much of his brother’s willingness for destruction she could take.

The rumours in question were indeed worth Ay’s fury. Before now they weren’t certain where they’d started, of course, Kirigakure was the main suspect but Kumogakure had other rivals as well, all ready to toss fuel onto the fire of the heightening tensions.

The rumours spoke of the Fourth Raikage’s untrustworthiness, of Kumogakure’s inability to not backstab their partners and a hunger for war, chaos and any power. Bee couldn’t say there wasn’t evidence to support those facts but hearing of them on the streets of countries far flung from even their main rivals was hurting Ay’s ability to be diplomatic, even more so than his regular abrasive behaviour.

Alongside the consistent accostment of Kumo shinobi out on missions it became one of the top reasons for strained relations between the Lightning Country and the Land of Hot Springs, the land that carried around eighty percent of their trade routes— a trade that was also under assault.

“Brotha Ay, the Mizukage’s guarding his land—”

“Silence Bee! Mabui hasn’t finished reading that damned letter. Continue!”

The young kunoichi gulped, her hands shaking as she recited the last section in an unsteady voice that clearly wanted nothing to do with speaking them to life. “Yet, the most important lesson your callous invasion has earned is this: Kirigakure is ready for war.”

“War? They will have it if they wish for it! That child of a Kage will bow to the superior—!”

“Unless you deliver both a formal, written apology and a personal one, alongside reparations in the sum of fifty million ryo,” Mabui quickly interrupted his rising tirade with the conditions. Her eyes were wide with a palpable fear any shinobi worth their headband would taste at the mention of war from Kages.

She hesitantly continued. “Kirigakure will repay your crimes tenfold. Blood will spill. The mist will descend upon your mountain strongholds as judgment. In a final gesture of mercy and of peace you are given one week. Prepare your apology, gather the sum, and submit a one-million ryo ransom for your last standing spy: Jay.

Regards, Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi”

Mabui gulped as she finished. She fidgetted in front of a silent Raikage, edging into the shadow of Bee for some semblance of protection from him, yet there was only one thing on Bee’s mind—

Jay!?

He stared out at his brother behind his sunglasses. Bee had wondered where his young friend had disappeared to, over a year it had been now since they trained their Enka raps and rhymes and now…to hear his name again and from the Mizukage’s bloody letter.

He was involved in the espionage operation? How? Why? Ray was a skilled sensory-nin but he was an inexperienced, newly minted Chuunin at best. The skills needed to infiltrate a shinobi village so deeply weren’t something he had acquired or trained extensively for unless…Bee shook his head, coming out of his thoughts just as Ay’s darkly furrowed brows twisted into a sinister scowl.

His tightened fists pumped the muscles in his forearms such that his golden gauntlets bulged, buckling and straining against the force of their expansion. “Pay? Apologize? Never!” Ay roared. “Mabui! Summon the Jounin Commanders and have someone call up Yugito, will we strike with a thousand bolts while the Fourth Mizukage still has his head fogged up by peace!”

“Brotha!” Bee yelled, his hands out, teeth gnashed. “A thousand lives ain’t worth—”

“Silence Bee! I will never bow to a weak man, I will never apologize for making our village strong! I will always pursue prosperity, wealth and power for the sake of our village and if the Mizukage is too weak to protect the power he hoards then it is better off in our hands! It is!” He roared, stomping up to Bee, his white cloak fluttering behind him as his chakra surged with every yell.

“His own people abandon his village for ours, they seek out our wealth and protection and I will give it to them in exchange for their strength! I will never back down, not to a weak man’s barking!”

Ay stomped past him, evidently going to push his own war agenda forward. Bee lurched out and snatched his arm. “Wait, listen to yourself, brotha. The Mizukage’s done just what you claim. Shielded his people from our blades, and still offered peace to stop this flame” Ay tore his arm away, his mouth opened to scream but Bee wasn’t done. “If you—”

“You’ll prove them right!” the words came from the knee quaking assistant, Mabui.

Ay growled down at her. “What did you say?”

Bee narrowed his eyes but nodded, giving the girl as much support as she could count on in the room. “You’ll prove them right. The Mizukage is setting a trap. He means every word in this letter and wouldn’t have sent it if he weren’t prepared for war as well. But beyond that, the armistice of the 3rd Shinobi War is still in place!”

Oh… she’s sharp with it. Didn’t see that move comin’, no lie.

The armistice didn’t necessarily mean the war was over, technically, despite public opinion, the 3rd Shinobi War was still underway. But the world had come to settle in a sort of peace over the past two years now, to be the shinobi village that upheaves that peace would prove—!

“He’s already spread rumours throughout the shinobi world, besmirched your name, pointed a finger blaming you for increased aggressions and made us an unreliable business partner for even our major allies! It’s all a trap!” Mabui almost screamed, her nervousness coming out to desperation.

“If they have close ties to Konoha like we already assume then they’ll already have one ally against us if we attack. And even then, Iwagakure would sooner align themselves with Kirigakure because they aren’t close enough to threaten them, not like we are!”

Ay snorted. “If Konoha aligns with Kiri then Iwa will never be a part of such an alliance. Their hatred for Konoha is simply that strong, as is mine for Kirigakure right now.”

Mabui shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll align with us and it doesn’t mean they won’t capitalize on the chaos to attack us where we aren’t looking. They could even sell routes through their village to Kirigakure or sell their shinobi as mercenaries to attack places where they already intend to!”

Braver than she’s been Mabui hugged her chest as she stepped up to her Raikage and bowed, dipping her head so low she nearly broke in half. “Respectfully, Lord Ay, we asked for this fight and Kirigakure will respond. We cannot send Lord Bee out to decimate them but their Mizukage is a Jinchuriki much stronger than Lady Yugito is presently. He will not hesitate to spring this trap around our necks.”

“You are…as sharp as I thought, Mabui.” Ay said, his voice calmer than it’s been the entire day. “But you underestimate Iwagakure’s desire to see Konoha destroyed and it nearly was in the Nine-Tails attack just a few months ago. The Yellow Flash they so flaunted is dead and gone and till now they have yet to announce a new Hokage. Konoha is in no willing shape to come to Kirigakure’s defence and even if they were, this is the best moment to strike them down, the FenceSitter will join.”

Bee’s mind was racing. At the moment, in great thanks to Mabui’s logical reasoning his brother wasn’t standing as rash as he was before. There was still some hope he would choose not to set alight the world and save Jay from Kirigakure.

“Iwa won’t rush into war, not after the Yellow Flash’s wrath. You said it yourself, bro, they’re limping from that bloodbath. Took years to surrender, now they counting scars in Iwa.”

“And I called them cowards for it! With the Yellow Flash gone now they ought to step out from under the rock and stand strong!”

Bee grunted, he always had a difficult time convincing his brother of anything but there was no need to. If he wanted to save Jay then it was better to disobey and ask for forgiveness than stand by and watch as his friend became the first casualty in a war no one wanted.

“Maybe so...but we ain’t what we were, can’t deny it. Pops is gone and you, bro, you’re all we got to pilot. Ain’t no next Ay waiting in the wings...just me, Bee, tryna keep the village singin’.” Bee said, not waiting a moment for his brother's surely rageful response before dashing out of the office.

A million ryo ransom wouldn’t be difficult to obtain and surely the Jinchuriki who became Kage would be understanding of Bee. The challenge lay elsewhere— leaving Kirigakure without being captured just in case Yagura Karatachi wasn’t as kind as Bee hoped.