114: Interlude: Trouble Brewing
Shun Koyo, as usual, was thinking about talent. Nothing new for him, never has been, he thinks about talent every morning, every afternoon, every night, every day, after he takes a shit, before he takes a shit, while eating, while planning, while dancing, while fucking.
He always thinks about talent.
He's quite obsessed with talent, all of his thoughts are consumed by talent.
He puts down his pen before letting out an exasperated huff, a slight headache building in the back of his eyes. An headache. He has an headache. Him. A ninja WITH A HEADACHE!? FROM WRITING!? THAT MAKES NO SENSE! And you'd be right, it doesn't make sense, that headache isn't caused by the mess of papers on his desk, by the problems in the academy, by the supplies he needs to find, or even by the guards and teachers he's responsible of.
No.
That headache is caused by all the plans he's juggling. The Kiri hunter-nins, Mastuoko Hidefumi in the same building as him, a door away, the hinge he's been keeping on for months, that small, tiny headache, is the result of a tightrope he's been walking on for more than a year now.
That's what causing his headache.
Thankfully, they're ready. Almost ready. They simply need to touch up some details and they'll be able to remove the Matsuoko bloodline from this earth.
A genius wouldn't feel an headache. A genius wouldn't feel this pain, he wouldn't stop or even ponder those kind of thoughts, that's why he takes his pen again, and keep working.
This is his only path forward as an untalented man.
Work.
A lot of work.
So he keeps working on his official duties for the Matsuoko patriarch, the one he's been spying on for a year, and on his real duties that involve finding a way to kill him without dying -that's the key part- and without getting his reward stolen.
And of course, he also works on his.....personal duties.
Turning his head. His gaze lands on the window of his office, a quiet place on the last floor of the main education facility, there's not much sounds up there, most of the students are outside training their basic forms at this hour. Some groups are busy training inside, but they're usually the oldest students who are more skilled and therefore silent. Most are outside though, and he can see a good amount of academy students, the youngest starting at five, almost six, but she's an exception as she is the granddaughter of Hidefumi himself. The youngest, apart from her, is seven years old.
The academy was built by the Mastuoko patriarch seven years ago after all. After the first great ninja war, when Matsuoko found this little village and established himself as an authority. More or less around that time, all the children got funneled into the academy.
More or less born here. Trained here. And living here.
It wasn't always like this.
Some talk of a time where their children lived at home and only went to the academy for physical and mental education.
Shun wasn't here to see it however. Shun didn't even know about Mastuoko Hidefumi at that time, Shun was busy fighting in the first great ninja war as a shinobi of the leaf and rising through the ranks at that time, he continued till chunnin before defecting and becoming a mercenary.
He never seen those times.
But his intelligence network expands pretty far. Far enough for him to be the single most knowledgeable man in this village.
Said intelligence network is talking about a certain Murai Taki.
There's always people to abuse opportunities, a good hunter who ignored Hidefumi soft warning and went deeper in the forest despite the risks is exactly the kind of person he can use.
The exact kind of person that could lead a slow revolution, or become a martyr or a villain to cause chaos. Some soft or harsh words to this hunter group harassing Murai to guide the conclusion somewhere he likes it could be arranged. Goto is busy with the son of Hidefumi, but he could send one of the girls, and he's pretty sure one of his men has influence over one of the hunters in that group.
A good distraction.
A good sneak attack.
Hidefumi loves his villagers.
Well, he loves the smokescreen they provide.
He doesn't want a revolution, revolution are noisy, he won't be able to hide from any jonins or powerful groups passing through his village if the villagers are causing a ruckus, or if there's no villagers at all.
That's how he survives after all.
Stay still. Gather a small army in the background. Kill all weak stragglers that get too close. And melt into the ordinary looking town when someone too strong passes.
Keeping this in mind. Shun goes back to writing, thinking that he may send Hidefumi himself to check on this monopoly, he could do it with some subtle nudges, the increase of meat in the children diets is quite obvious after all.
##########################
That's not a kid.
This is a full grown man. Taken from his house at eleven, grew up seven years in the academy, the same place she's telling Neribe to avoid like a plague.
This is a full grown man. At this point, it's not a child anymore. Whatever they say about the academy is bullshit, some of the kids are already adults. This person is not a kid, his height proves that, he's taller than Okari by a large margin, he's bulkier and leaner than her by a wide margin.
And he's way too touchy.
She snaps his left hand away, hand that was coming up to readjust her glasses.
His right hand is busy holding a big fucking stick, polished wood, dense wood, with ornaments that shows that yes. This is his weapon of choice. This is a weapon of long date, not a random pipe he found to beat up homeless, this is prime homeless beating material. Okari is close to the poor district, really close, she just needs to go out of her library and get on her tiptoes to find signs of chaos. She knows those kids, those 'kids', and most of them can't be excused anymore.
"Feisty~"
"Don't say that."
He rolls his eyes before saying "Alright alright" then, without any hesitation, he leans on her desk, getting way too close.
He's been doing this kind of shit for some months already. He comes in the library just to be really really really fucking annoying and then he talks about...books.
Well, not books, the library, in general.
"This is in a sorry state" He whistles while looking around.
"You've said that a thousand times."
"A thousand? Aw, I'm touched, you think I visited you that much!"
"I never said that."
"Cute" She visibly recoils away from him. The guy ignores her to continue "In any case, I feel like the academy could benefit from some books you know? Wanna make me a friend discount?"
"No"
"You're sure? The headmaster isn't the kindest guy around~"
"Tell Hidefumi to come by himself if he wants books, he's not shy" She sneers up at him for a second. Recognizing this at what it is. A plead to authority, flexing his connections, she would say nepotism but he's not a relative, and little Neribe doesn't get any benefits from nepotism, Hidefumi doesn't help people just because they're relatives. The better word would be Cronyism, even if that's stretching it.
This is what this man is doing. Showing off his boss authority to get what he wants.
And that's not books.
His hand comes up to scratch the bottom of his chin, blue eyes coming down to stare down at her as he switches his tune.
"True. Still, this place is a mess. Don't know why you don't abandon it already"
"That's out of context. Leave."
He ignores her to pass a hand through his blond hair, a second later his staff comes to rest against the desk.
He lifts his hands. Interlocks them. And look left at the mess of books that are the single biggest source of knowledge in this entire village, at the right, at the bad state of the doors, the walls, the glass, can't replace them, too pricey, and she genuinely doesn't want too.
It's not like anyone visits the library anymore, everyone swallowed Hidefumi bullshit like sluts, less knowledge, easier to control, nobody comes around anymore. Nobody but a cute kid of course.
He stares at her for a good while.
He stares at her.
That's all he does.
For one, two, three good seconds. He stares at her, fingers interlocked.
Finally.
He says this:
"We should burn this entire library to the ground"
She can hear the sound of the rain pattering through the glass.
She can hear the way her hip shifts in discomfort, she can hear her rising heartbeat too. The room grows dimmer to her sight, he doesn't move.
She moves, but manages to restrain herself in the end, projecting confidence she does not have
For five good seconds there's no talk. No sound but the pattering of the rain outside.
"Sorry?"
He looks at her. Smiles until his teeth show. And take three, long, seconds, to answer.
"It's not like the headmaster would care, heck, he may just be happy with free books to top up our shelves, and this place is abandoned, you're the only living being around the corner" He leans close-! A sharp thud resonates through the library and through the counter in front of her as he slams his hand against the wood. A vein visibly appear on the side of his jaw, climbing from his neck.
And for a second. Okari remembers where she is. Alone. With a man, an armed man, who's been fighting people since he was thirteen, a man who has basically no superior authority to keep him in check apart from an old man that genuinely doesn't care about people like her.
A man that routinely abuse people. Kidnap people. And lynch people half to dead while teaching other kids how to do the same.
He takes this second to lean closer, to grit his teeth, and continue his words "This place, the playground. This entire street is basically part of the poor district, nobody fucking care about it, I count a year or two because you end up in a brothel sucking bastards cock to avoid dying in a ditch you fucking bitch-"
He takes a sharp inhale. His left hand clutches the hilt of his shaft so fast it thuds against the desk. And in the same breath he continues. "-I'm being mighty fucking kind here. Way too kind to someone like you-" his finger dig straight between her breasts hard enough for her to be intimately aware of the strength difference, the way her ribs hurt and how she's been pushed an entire step back don't let her forget. "-I'm helping you here, you should thanks me. Don't you understand? CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND!? You're in a mess that will catch up to you real fucking fast, so you should be thankful, and shut the fuck up before I decide to burn you, and your entire building"
He stares at her.
She stares at him.
And Okari is happy a real kid is too busy with a pile of books she gave him to avoid this sorry sight.
############################
Ono has a task.
A simple task.
He palms his white mask that hide every inch of his face, a white mask with red wavy stripes.
Ono has a simple task.
As a ninjutsu specialist, as a hunter-nin of the mist that has the duty to eliminate Matsuoko Hidefumi, the last of his kind, he has a simple task.
In front of him. Two dozen explosive tags, all bunched up into a ball by an unblemished hand, Suna didn't manage to scar him, even if the injury covering his whole arm took longer to heal than expected.
Throwing the ball of explosives far into the sky, Ono lift his hands into a tiger handseal. The usual, finger interlocked, index and major pointing to the sky.
His chakra dance into a familiar pattern. The pattern of his favorite jutsu. The jutsu he refined for a dozen of years, so much that it single-handedly gave him the rank of tokubetsu jonin.
He is considered a jonin in a single category, a single one, his mastery of this category bypassing all his other strength until he's considered a tokubetsu jonin.
What is this category you ask?
Ninjutsu.
Most specifically.
Fire ninjutsu.
Armageddon escapes his mouth.
What comes out of his mouth is the kind of hellish fire that would put the fear of god into anyone. Anyone that could see THAT would wonder if the sun descended to earth. Whoever close to the giant of fire he summoned would feel the water in their body evaporate from the sheer heat escaping from the supernova resting in the middle of a crown of clouds, the rainy clouds that have been washed away like their existence was a suggestion, the cloud and the rain holding it capitulated against the strength of Ono's jutsu, they gave up and formed a gigantic hole, a gigantic crown of clouds around the ball of plasmic fire that can forever alternate an ecosystem just by being near it.
In the depth of amegakure, far from the little city of Minamigawa, the rain stops.
He's annoyed at how far he must go to train, but he can't allow himself to get rusty, they have a samurai to kill.
Mastuoko's are invincible beneath the rain.
Let's see what that old man can do without it.
#######################
Coda Kutsihoko is a good man.
Even if sometimes he drinks, especially after the fireball.
He's still a good man. Even if the fireball reinforced his belief.
Mastuoko Hidefumi is this village soul.
Coda is what you would call, a loyalist.
Thay's why he's pretty nervous today, pretty damn nervous as Mastuoko Hidefumi is talking to his boss about the crops, right outside the village walls Hidefumi himself instructed to build.
That's why he plays with his collar. That's why there's sweat dropping on his forehead.
And that's why, when the old man finally turns around to walk away.
He mumbles something, more like yelp something.
"Si-sir Mastuoko!"
###################
Hidefumi had a great day.
Rain.
Again.
Lovely.
He loves the rain, every Mastuokos love rain.
No news could break this great rainy day.
"Si-sir Mastuoko!"
He stops walking, his foot staying still against the grass to look up at the man, the taller man with a receding hairline.
His hand is loose like water around his katana, gently feeling out his single remaining family heirloom.
"Yes?"
"I'm-I! You!" The man takes a sharp inhalation, look left, right, at his boss who's shaking his head and mumbling something like "fuck should have guessed"
"You!" The man keeps stumbling for a while, and like the noble samurai he is, Hidefumi stays still, perfectly still, deadly still, so still it's crazy, can you see his breath? You cannot. So still it's almost as if he's blurring in the background. So still someone could confound him with a statue. So still it's unnatural. So still he is everywhere and nowhere, his breath synchronized with his bloodline in a gentle, smooth, flow, of chakra.
He stays still. And let the man gather his words.
When the man finally manages, he pushes a thumbs up toward him and semi-scream "Thank you for your hard work!"
Hidefumi. Without any hint of excess movement nods.
The man, laughs, a bit embarrassed. "It's just...hah, great job-" another thumbs up "-you make a great job and like, you-you train really hard the children and-" the man laughs before looking up and right, remembering something "-just some months ago I saw one of your kid-" he lowers his hand to show the height, barely a meter tall "-barely this size sticking on the wall and-!"
"Sticking on the wall?"
The man stops his story and jerk up to attention at his words.
"Yes?"
Matsuoko Hidefumi does not teach chakra adhesion.