Ch185-Low Caste Attentions

Somehow there was less space in my office without the furniture, the tea table and lounge. The mini library of documents I had previously had spawned into three full shelves of time consuming records, loopholes and precautions guiding my bureaucratic days. 

"Ah! I didn't-!" The pile marked 'currency' unceremoniously spilled off my clone's work table. Our collective three clones cringed at the work it would take reorganizing those in the relevant manner. Much of the information hadn't been digitally recorded yet.

Mangetsu scrambled after it, the young shinobi a cute but ultimately annoying fish out of water. Mangetsu's chaperone gave me a look and I shrugged. I'm just a clone too. You deal with it. 

His face twisted at me and I could almost hear him scream 'You're the one wearing the hat!' . I smirked at it and returned to my pile of stacked paperwork.

"Take a seat, read this and summarize." I heard him tell Mangetsu, offering the boy a seat at the table while he picked up the mess of paperwork.

My apprentice's face twisted in a dire concentration, his eyes lapping back and forth across the document he'd been set busy with. I sighed and picked up the final signature of Team 3. It'd been a last minute decision not to throw him in the lot with them, he would have certainly posed a tough threat to any lingering Kumo agents.

But I want to train him. At the moment, judging by the constipated scowl on his face as he struggled through the contextless jargon of my office, he wasn't having the best time with me as his Master. Probably wishing he were out gearing it off with a rival. Quite the choice for one.

Zabuza wasn't my first choice, or rather, the idea of Team 3 was originally intended to be something else. A bubble to protect Utakata. But I couldn't not see the opportunity it presented to lure out more of Kumogakure's agents or at least preempt an attack on the coming migrations. 

In the last council meeting, Uncle informed me of Kumo's silence on the matter. Weeks had passed since but not a peep. I suppose admitting to guilt or even acknowledging being caught would only strain our relations but it was insulting. 

They can't just own up to it, can they? I winced as I grinded over a sensitive and worn tooth. The new Team 3, a mix of a Special Sensor-nin, a Jinchuriki, a promising Genin and Chuunin of the Hozuki clan, acted as a lure for any of Kumo's agents. It was unlikely that they'd actually take direct actions but if my ANBU black ops observing the operation caught them stalking, spying and sabotaging.

It would only grant me fair justification for the piracy of their trade routes to the Hidden Frost. Sending Baron Watanabe undercover had paid off and I was getting otherwise classified Land of Lightning trade routes proxied through some Hidden Cloud nobles. 

It was all very damning. The team Raiga has on the operation reports that a full link connecting Baron Watanabe's war funding to a Hidden Cloud noble was still pending, but there was enough evidence to imply one and raise as a casus belli if I so wished.

But before anything so extreme, I simply needed to take my pound of flesh bit by bit. And the first stop was using their cargo vessels as feed for my Senjutsu training.

…I am…disgusting.

"You cannot avoid bloody hands when you rule humans, shinobi least of all. You are a kinder heart, Yagura, but those like us end up slaves to the wicked."

Flicking my pen across my fingers and spun on my thumb, I frowned at Isobu's words. None of it was untrue but there was more meaning implied. "Is this about Saiken?" I asked aloud, forgetting Mangetsu's inquisitive presence for a moment. I heard and felt Isobu's silence and knew. "You said it would be a slow process, Isobu? There's something more, isn't there?"

My attempt to bring Saiken and Utakata together by mediating with Isobu didn't seem to be going very well. Since the last attempt ended in a vague reassurance from Isobu that Saiken was taking his words seriously and considering what we wanted, I had doubts. But I also had a village to run so I quickly forgot about them.

"I need to know, Isobu, I signed the documents already. Is Saiken going to get in Utakata's way? Will he help against the Akatsuki?" I'd put Utakata on Team 3 for his own protection but there were stronger teammate combinations than promising Genin and Chuunin. I was leaning a lot on Ao's presence coupled with the layer of protection the ANBU black ops gave from doing the same mission they'd been assigned to.

"Utakata is a shinobi, he will need danger but that's not saying Saiken has decided anything. This is difficult, Yagura, he doesn't see the things I have and he hasn't been set free like I have."

I bit my lip at that, groaning at the implied, "It's one thing to…you're right, this is difficult but we'll just have to keep talking to Saiken until he isn't on the fence anymore."

"Yagura, you're not listening. You can't nag someone, least of all a Tailed Beast into wanting to co–exist with you. And even if you could, Saiken and Utakata's relationship is dependent on them to make it. If there's any chance for a symbiosis similar to what we share then you can't keep forcing it."

I blinked. Is that what I was doing? I just wanted Utakata to be… "Fine, but, some certainty would be nice, you know what's at stake here. The storm brewing."

I felt Mangetsu staring intently so I flashed a smile at him but didn't catch if he smiled back as a clamour of noise from the hallway began.

"Please wait, you need to be announced even if you have an appointment!" I heard my latest assistant cry out but a tide of footsteps continued well past and arrived solely at my door. A single knock came at it before it swung open.

Mei Terumi marched forward, her presence as fierce as the fire burning in her emerald eyes. Behind her, an entourage of three clan heads followed, their silence amplifying the weight of her authority. She wore a flowing emerald-green dress, its high slit tracing the curve of her thigh. The sleeves were adorned with cuffed bracelets, their jeweled surfaces catching the light like embers in the dark. A red-green diamond necklace glittered against her collarbone, a striking contrast to her porcelain skin. Her crimson hair, carefully styled and pinned, bore a clan insignia, a symbol of both heritage and command that instantly caught my eye.

She's here as Mei of the Terumi clan. Awh jeez, I'm just a clone. I can't deal with this please! My pleas went unheard, I'd work until the chakra fueling my existence ran out just like any of the others. But dealing with Mei and on clan matters. This has to be a job for the boss.

Suppressing any and every negative reaction, I beamed a smile at my old friend and her gathered posse. "Mei, it's been too long. I thought you'd be using more of your leave to help Tauyi village."

She didn't look impressed but at least her furrowed, picked brows relaxed, "I've helped them enough. We spoke about this back at Tauyi too, Yagura-sama, that it's time to recognize the forgotten pillars of our village?"

"Yes…I remember, I just didn't think it would be today…hahaha!" The forced laugh barely helped any. I looked across the clan heads she'd brought with her, each of them already bowing their heads but I could make enough of their faces to recognize them from my inauguration day.

There was Lady Suikazan, arguably the only clan head present with swaying power and influence. Having Fuguki as leader of the Swordsmen did wonders for them. She was nearly as tall as Fuguki and her fiery orange hair towered over her gathered peers. 

Next in line was Lord Shibuki, a figure I recognized only by the whispers surrounding his clan, infamously regarded as the Poison Mist of Kirigakure. His high-collared cloak billowed slightly as he moved, obscuring the intricate tubes feeding into the half-mask respirator that dominated his face. Lord Shibuki was the shortest and surprisingly nearly the youngest if it weren't for Mei's presence. He carried a tired demeanour in his eyes but stood up straight, his eyes locked on Mei as some anticipation in them rose.

Finally there was the aging Lord Kozui. He might care the least out of everyone present as he stood there in little more than civilian clothes and some jewellery. He barely paid attention either, his eyes locked against Mangetsu's. 

I glanced between Lord Kozui and Mangetsu, my apprentice not flinching against the grown clan head's intensifying glare. "Mangetsu." I called and his neck snapped to me, full attention, "Go, now, I'll come get you for a one-on-one later."

He looked disappointed but didn't say a word in argument as he walked over and past piles of paperwork lined up against the walls. Lord Kozui's gaze followed him as he left though and Mei didn't fail to notice either, she snapped a finger in his face and hissed something at him.

I shook my head, "Mei, are you sure this is the right time? Lord Kozui doesn't seem to be ready to move past grudges and egos and that will be necessary for any advancement you wish for the low caste clans." 

She sneered at me, red lipstick stretched as she retorted, "Low caste? Don't call us that, Yagura-sama, I thought you were on our side."

"I am but-"

"But what? But the truths of the past century of war and blood and injustice should be forgotten because we want something better than a slice of servitude?" She pressed her hands on swayed hips, smirked down at me but not enough to seem as arrogant as I knew she felt with that rebuttal.

I groaned, massaging my head in thought. Mei chirped up, deigning to add, "And look, if now's not a good time for you I'm sure I could have you, or you." she said point at my two companion clones wiping the chalkboard and shifting all the sensitive documents out of view.

Lady Suikazan stepped forward, "Please, don't take Lord Kozui's actions to heart, the Hozuki clan has…you know what they've done, none of us are here to relive our neglect, we're here to seek a way forward. Yagura-sama, you're the only one that can help us do that."

I guess there's no beating around the bush. I looked up at Lord Kozui, his cheeks had taken on a sheepish colour and he bound his hands behind his back, embarrassed but not sorry. I couldn't blame him for glaring at any and every Hozuki he saw, their clans shared a similar [Hiden], history and territory. But with shinobi clans the animosity often boiled down to secrets and the Hozuki had been accusing and berating the Kozui's [Hiden] as a knockoff of their own.

Regardless of similarities, the village found the Hozuki as main clans and the Kozui as low caste, a twist of fate and fortune they were begging me to undo or at least, alleviate. It is one of my agendas…many agendas.

I nodded and smiled up at Mei, "Fine, grab a seat and let's discuss your ideas. I am not making any promises, I'm just hearing you out for the boss."

"Boss?"

"It doesn't matter, let's get started."

She grinned widely, the finest twinkle in her eye as she said, "Thank you, Yagura, you won't regret this!"

That remains to be seen, doesn't it?