Chapter 6
Genma had misjudged his timing for this attack. He figured if he came in while Hideyoshi was just waking up, it would be easy to get the jump on him. The clone he had guard him at night was always dispelled just before he got up, and he had thought that would be plenty of time.
He was wrong, clearly, by the kunai wound in his arm.
Ducking another attack, Genma launched a kunai of his own towards Hideyoshi,
It missed. It fucking missed. He hated Eternal Genin. Hated them more than he hated a lot of things right now, but he couldn’t focus on that or he would get sloppy.
Ducking a fist as Hideyoshi came in closer, he felt something prick his arm.
A senbon. A senbon significantly darker than normal ones, and with a slight sweet smell coming off of it. Definitely poisoned, but Genma couldn’t determine right then what type and if he had to worry because now he had a deadline to finish the fight.
Fuck.
*
The remaining days of Mei’s stay were to be dedicated to diplomacy and alliance negotiations, something she was glad for. As much as runners were useful, it was hard to ensure that messages got through in their entirety, even when they were written down. Diplomats were the next best option, but any chance for in-person negotiations would both normalize relations between Konoha and Kirigakure and offer an opportunity to clean up the reputation. Coming out of a bloody civil war when already known as the Bloody Mist didn’t help their reputation, but the active reforms being made wouldn’t be circulated for quite some time.
Merchants and refugees would want to wait and ensure regime stability before coming back to the village, meaning news of reforms would be taken with a liberal helping of salt and wouldn’t likely be talked about in the general public arena for at least another year. The Land of Water could subsist on those they had, Kirigakure as it stood now would make sure of that. Civilian support across their country, as dispersed as it sometimes felt, would be critical in preventing another war.
Face to face negotiations had, from the first meeting she had with Tsunade to set the agenda for the remaining meetings that had been planned, gone far smoother as well. When there was tone with the words, both parties had a far better understanding of which conditions were negotiable, nonnegotiable, and which were simply facts – whether narrative facts used mostly for in-village purposes, and thus not inherently fact in and of themselves, or facts of the goings on within the other’s village that made a determination for how far the village could push their luck with their populace.
If all continued to go so smoothly, then this alliance might just go through smoothly, meaning Kiri could re-establish itself without too much worry over the lack of jinchuuriki.
The biggest issue was the one she had been holding back, waiting for personal rapport.
Better now than later, though, when she was about to leave and didn’t have time to convince Tsunade it was the best course of action.
“I intend to reveal her identity. It’s already been discussed with her, and the process has already been started. We will take care of the cost of updating your Bingo Book, if you choose to edit her listing therein.”
“What?”
*
Takeshi was thinking about the things he had noticed happening around him (namely, that his supervisor’s appearance was changing without explanation) during the mission they had been given this morning when he heard it. Some kind of scuffle over by the river – definitely at least one person. Given how remote this was, and the fact the villagers had mentioned not moving towards the river because of traps and trenches, he had to guess it was shinobi.
Tapping on Suzume’s shoulder, he gestured for her to follow him. If she was as smart as she was supposed to be – which he didn’t doubt, as much as he needled her about reckless behavior – she would get the other two to follow them. He was right, and he could feel her at his back, ready to jump to his defense if needed. Truly a Kirigakure team if their supervisor was to be believed - putting aside their own squabbles in order to resolve a threat they had sensed.
He recognized the man without a hitae-ite – he had been a teammate of his once before Takeshi was redirected and dropped into a team with Suzume for the first time. The Konoha shinobi, not so much. But that didn’t matter, because Takeshi had heard about what Hideyoshi had done before taking off.
He had murdered a fresh genin (though he knew that currently in Kiri that wasn’t exactly an accurate term) and her family because she saw him leaving with supplies desperately needed at the outpost. Loyalty was the first thing drilled into Kiri shinobi, especially under Mei. You didn’t go after your fellow shinobi because your fellow shinobi had your back. You didn’t kill a civilian because the civilians were the reason you were fighting and now the reason you were working day in and day out for the village.
And Hideyoshi had spit on that.
Turning to his three teammates, he whispered. “I’ll get his attention. You three come at him from angles.”
“That’s a shitty plan, Takeshi.”
“I know, but we don’t have time to trap him – he’s already got someone almost dead.”
“What do we care about a Konoha shinobi?”
“The Mizukage is literally trying to finish a treaty rightnow. It’ll look great if we save one of Konoha’s own.”
Suzume groaned quietly. “Fine.”
And that’s what they did. He could feel Ren-sempai judging him and his stupid plan from wherever she was hidden. Sure, he was probably imagining it, but he knew it was happening. If she wasn't judging him yet, she was going to when things inevitably went sideways.
She also wouldn’t come in until she felt necessary, because that was what her job was. Let them screw up so they could learn, but prevent death if and when it was possible. The job of the jonin supervisor in Kirigakure.
Turns out she was needed fairly early on, because he had just gotten pulled to the side of an attack by Suzume when Hideyoshi turned a blade on Masuyo, nearly taking her head off and getting ready to fling an assassination jutsu at her now that she was too close to get away in time when she came in and swiped with her own sword at Hideyoshi's free hand.
“Secure the injured ally.” Oh yeah, she was judging his planning.
*
“Mei-san,” Tsunade glanced at her desk drawer. Mei thought she had smelled sake somewhere in this office, “You can’t be serious. Revealing her identity so suddenly would ensure her quick and brutal assassination. If you were going to set her up for this anyway, you should have just sent her back.”
“You seem to forget – Ren has been undeniably helpful in our civil war. Beyond that, she has a number of reputations that cast her favorably in the eyes of her fellow shinobi.”
“They won’t take kindly to a traitor in the village.”
“This is where our villages differ, Tsunade-san.” Mei smiled. “She was increasingly loyal to her fellow shinobi, and extremely capable throughout our war. That alone would gain her significant reprieve in the eyes of most of the shinobi that have worked with her. You forget, many of our current forces are former missing-nin or people who fled other countries to join up. The others will be swayed by other factors. What those factors are is neither here nor there, because she is already revealing her identity. The seal will be out of chakra by the time I arrive back, and she will be fully viewed as Akagi Ren, former Konoha shinobi Nara Riko.
“If you had issues with how I might handle her while she was under my care, you should never have sent her to my war-zone.”
*
Genma didn’t know what to think when four short, angry, and lethal brats dropped into the fight. All four were surprisingly capable for how young they looked, and they fought with the kind of grace that said they had seen battle before. Given this was Kiri, it wasn’t too unlikely they had. And given how well they were handling things, maybe it was true when other Villages said peacetime had made Konoha and their shinobi complacent.
He was swaying on his feet but still helping from the sidelines while he tried to narrow down the poison and find an antidote in his belt. It was becoming painfully obvious that he hadn’t developed an immunity to this poison – he might never have even come across it.
The red-head that looked way too familiar – like a mix of a chick out of the Bingo Book and the Nara brat he had run into various times in Konoha – was another surprise. While the four kids ran up on her command and started trying to treat his wounds – “What did it smell like? Did the weapon look any different? What are your symptoms?” – the red-head landed in front of Hideyoshi and was already at the man’s throat.
Hideyoshi kept up fairly well – Genma really felt like Eternal Genin that didn’t enter the Corps should just be automatically discharged at three years at this point, because they were never worth keeping around and when they turned on you they were a pain in the ass to kill – and dodged several of the kunai.
“You’ll have to do better than some fucking assassination tactics, senpai.”
The scoff-and-head-tilt combo was so Hatake that Genma did a double take. “Alright then.”
Maybe that really was Riko. She had been sent off on a clandestine training mission – no one knew where or when, but the word around the Jonin lounge had been Kiri. It was possibly the only place a water-natured standout like her wouldn’t stand out so much. Iwa and Kumo might have sufficed, but ties weren't close enough to guarantee she wouldn't be immediately exposed as an undercover agent from Konoha, tortured for information, then summarily executed.
Suddenly there was a sword in her hand and she was charging towards Hideyoshi. He parried the blade with a long-blade dagger and then came in close, where she grabbed his fist, coming in with a headbutt to his nose.
Genma felt a pinch in his arm.
The girl treating him – Kimiko, if he remembered correctly – smirked. “Ren-senpai is good, and I know that’s something a lot of shinobi are attracted to, but she’s 16.”
“That’s not-“
“She’s just giving you shit, Konoha-san.” The boy sat across from him. “Everyone knows the only people crazy enough to be attracted to senpai work in R and D. At least here in Kiri. I don’t know what passes for ‘normal’ by Konoha standards, much less ‘appropriate’.”
The kid was smirking at him, practically betraying the fact he was trying to prickle Genma into responding. Was he being hazed by genin? What the hell?
“Look, if that’s who I think it is, she used to live in my village. I remember her Academy days – no way can I be attracted to a brat.”
Suzume whacked the back of his head. “Good. Because then we would have to give you the old-style Kiri welcome and hang your entrails from the trees.”
“What the hell? Are Kiri genin always this violent?”
“They just haven’t gotten it out of their systems yet. They’ll mellow out by the time their chuunin. Hopefully.”
At first he thought it was a clone, but with Hideyoshi bound in ninja wire behind her it became clear it was Ren in front of him, taking over for Kimiko. “This is a standard Kiri poison, Kimiko. Hideyoshi was a genin, and poisons were tightly controlled during the war. You should start developing an immunity yourself, but we can start on that when we head back to the village.”
“You said two weeks, senpai. But something tells me he can’t go home just yet.”
“Ideally, we wouldn’t send him home, no. Go back to the satellite. Get Kauruko and a runner. I’ll have a write-up ready and they’ll have to haul ass to get it to Konoha in time, but if we can catch it before the Mizukage leaves, we might be able keep him and avoid an international incident.”
“Why? She treated me,” Genma looked at Ren. “There’s no reason to keep me.”
“This poison targets the nerves. It might not have been in your system long, but it’s fast-acting, and we need at least a few days to make sure that you don’t have any lasting damage, though ideally we would keep you about a week. It’ll be easier to ensure if we treat you locally instead of sending you out with the remedy and instructions, without considering the risk of sending you way with village secrets. If you don’t want to go in-village, we might at least be able to put you on medical watch back at the satellite.
“Heads up, though, the shinobi there will be worse about a foreigner than my genin were. Just so you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
He didn’t get a chance to make a decision. Exhaustion of multiple days stalking a target and exposure to the poison caught up with him, and he pitched forward.
*
The most disturbing thing about Konoha had nothing to do with the tensions in diplomacy that had started up since Mei revealed that Ren would be revealing herself, or the fact that the reputation of the Bloody Mist followed herself and her contingent wherever they went.
It was that their jinchuuriki – one of two, possibly three, that weren’t dead – wasn’t secure. He should have, at the very least, had a guard corp around him in the shadows. Otherwise, there was nothing to prevent him from being kidnapped by Akatsuki. The pink-haired girl and the broody boy with dark hair didn’t seem too impressive, and the jounin – Ren’s own former sensei if she wasn’t mistaken – could only realistically take one of the monsters. Hatake Kakashi or no, she had seen what he was capable of during the war, when circumstnaces demanded it, and she wasn't impressed with what she saw of the man now. It may have been an act of complacency and incompetency, but that was not a risk she could afford when their enemy was so clearly intent on fulfilling the mission of taking all the jinchuuriki.
She took the first moment of privacy to start drafting a plan with Zabuza.
“We need to figure out who will be on the Kill Squad. In the meantime, we’ll keep Ren in-village with her genin on more local missions,” Mei looked at the rough outline of who they figured would help balance out against the Akatsuki, and the more she looked at it the more she thought there was a specific group of people both of them had in mind for this semi-mission, “In the meantime, bring up her training on the Kiba. She’s going to need every advantage we can give her. Her experience in the Hunter Corps and in ANBU will stand her in solid stead as a leader for the team, second-in-command at the very least.”
Zabuza nodded. “It might be good to have her running out of village once in a while too. She goes a little stir-crazy being kept in too much, and this reveal plan of yours could backfire spectacularly.”
“As long as Tsunade-san doesn’t know that, then we can handle whatever comes when we get back.”
*
Genma had always hated hospitals. They were too still, too quiet, and too clean.
The hospital in the main village of Kirigakure (one of many curious things he had found out – the Kirigakure shinobi system spread out across the islands with various pseudo-villages that his escort, then the nurses, had called satellites) was none of those things. It was clean enough for the Kiri shinobi coming in and out, but even with the doors closed things were bustling and busy. People were everywhere, and the informality that seemed to permeate Kiri culture meant there was yelling, cursing, and celebrating all wherever people happened to be.
Not a bad system, even if the Hokage would have a conniption at the state of things. There were five people in his room when he woke up, though, talking in moderate voices like they were filling time while acting as guards. Given he was a foreigner, that was a very real possibility.
“So we’re starting with what we did poorly, then we will look at our strengths before we start war-gaming alternate scenarios.”
Nara Riko was sitting right in front of him, acting like she didn’t even know him. Wearing a Kirigakure hitae-ite like she didn’t have a past in Konoha. He wouldn't lie to himself that it didn't sting seeing her so comfortable here, either. She wore Kiri on her back as though she had been reared there - it was in her posture, her expressions (far more blunt than any he had seen her wear in Konoha), and in her speech.
“So when were you going to confirm your identity to me? You had to realize looking more and more like your old self would raise the alarm.”
She gave him a look. “I’m under orders.” Quick, blunt, to the point. He kind of like that attitude. At least there was less guesswork when figuring out what someone was thinking. She glanced back from him to the younger four people in front of her. “Alright. What did Takeshi do wrong?”
“Oh, I know this!” The girl with a reddish-orange mop shot forward, sending the same smartass look he had just seen on Ren's face at the only boy in the group (Takeshi, then). “He rushed in with a shit-faced plan.”
“Language.” Ren rolled her eyes. “You can say whatever the fuck you want when you’re chuunin.
“But, yes. Takeshi had an underdeveloped plan.” Ren rounded on the girl that had spoken. “Would you like to discuss what you could have done better in the mission, or would you like Suzume or Masuyo to do so?”
A girl with green-ish hair, not unlike the swampy water in some parts of the Land of Water, perked up. “Kimiko didn’t stop to consider how she might focus her abilities in the group objective of fighting Hideyoshi Saika.”
“Good job, Masuyo. Suzume?”
“I didn’t stop to consider a better strategy. I let my teammates down by not playing to my strengths.
“But how are we supposed to get better? Just because we know what we did wrong doesn’t mean we know how to fix it.”
Genma wanted to interrupt the conversation, but Riko reached behind her and pulled out a board and some small shapeless figures.
“We’re using this,” a blue figure was placed in the field, “to be Shiranui-san. This, “ a red piece, “is Hideyoshi. You four will be these gray pieces.” Ren leaned back. “What did you all do well in the mission, and not just in the part involving a missing-nin. What did you do well on the assignments? What have you done well with in training?”
The four were quiet, looking between each other. It might have been somewhat unusual in Konoha to see this level of un-guiding guidance, but he could see them starting to think through parts of a mission he had no idea of. Eventually, Suzume piped up. “I was good at strength-based assignments. Lifting or pushing things. Especially if I used chakra.”
The others started listing strengths. Chakra control, planning. There were several ideas thrown out, and Genma found himself leaning over the board.
“How could we have applied these here?”
And that’s when Genma started engaging in the discussion.
*
Several hours later, and he had chatted a bit with Ren and come to a conclusion that they were the same individual but very different people. He remembered a bright-eyed, fresh chuunin that ran in circles with the Uzumaki even when other students at the Academy didn’t want to, that was Nara Riko.
Akagi Ren would have run with Uzumaki Naruto, too. There was still that impish mischief in her eyes. But it was harder, jaded even. She was undoubtedly lethal, and in such a way that the very way she carried herself said as much about her lethality as it did about her loyalties. It wasn’t something one could hide, but it wasn’t something you recognized without years of experience behind you, either. And Akagi Ren was a clear indicator of both her own lethality and her own experience, because even in a hospital bed she saw it in Genma that he was equally lethal, and had kept herself (and earlier her gennin squad) positioned accordingly, likely without even noticing or consciously thinking about it.
“Any reason you haven’t left this room?” There was another redhead standing in the doorway. He was just as deadly, if Genma had to guess, but his posture was far looser. He moved in the way people who advanced under peacetime did. He didn’t have the battle-twitch in his hand towards a kunai when a door slammed down the hall.
“Because he needs a guard. 24/7.” Ren was smirking at him.
“And you didn’t think to go home and tell one of your teammates to cover while you sleep? Suigetsu and Haku are both in-village and you know it.”
“He leaves in like, two days. I can handle staying up that long.”
“Last time you did it, you came back hallucinating.”
“It didn’t affect my accuracy.”
Genma piped up on their conversation. “Kid, why the hell would you think you had to stay as my only guard?”
“Because she cares too much.” The redhead leaned against her chair, giving a two-fingered salute. “Hiroshi. Pleased to meet you.”
Ren scowled. “What do you mean I care too much? Maybe I’m just trying to maintain a reputation and protect our alliance.”
“You got that reputation because you care too much, and you damn well know it.” Hiroshi smiled at Genma, likely seeing his confusion. “Ren-chan has a perfect record of mission partners coming back. Quite the thing in a war.”
It certainly was. Ren scowled at Hiroshi, though, instead passing the book off to him. “I’m not done yet. Don’t move my bookmark.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Your note on page 34 is wrong, by the way. I don’t know why yet, I just know it is.”
Hiroshi laughed. “Maybe you’ll see things my way once you’ve had some sleep.”
“Don’t count on it, ‘Roshi. You have a tendency to throw theory out the window with Fuuinjutsu.”
“I know not to, but there’s a first time for everything. Besides, what good has theory ever done when creating new seals? My most successful ones should never have worked if you listened to theory alone.”
“They also blow up in your face at least a couple times before you get them to work.” Ren waved at him as she left, barely missing someone’s shoulder as she walked down the hallway.
“So, would you like to talk, or stay silent?” Hiroshi smiled, a slight tilt to his head. “There’s nothing wrong with either.”
“How has she been here?”
Hiroshi sobered up. “Kiri has never been easy. We all cope the best we can.”
“And if you can’t?”
Hiroshi laughed. “Ren’s not got the healthiest coping mechanisms, but we’ve got our people here. We keep an eye on each other.”
It was vague. It told him nothing, but that was to be expected. It made him feel a little better, even so. He knew too many people back home that would worry about the brat.