Four men and a single woman lined up in front of me, I held the file of the first in my hand and looked over it with scrutiny. The Sensor Division was a normally quiet place, silent, serene and focused as they wielded their extraordinary senses to protect the village or at least, so was their task.
Today, they were dead quiet. The Sensor Division was steeped in such silence, an absence of sound so acute that not even their footsteps echoed and those whose jobs reasonably needed communication either signed or whispered on their barest breath. The only sound to be heard throughout was those I made, the ruffle of their report sheets, my dissatisfied growls and the disappointed sighs that set every single shinobi employed in the building on edge.
While I'd always intended and even schemed to bring the Sensor Division this level of scrutiny, I didn't plan for it to be today but I was glad for it. Harusame was the one responsible for the torture of my disappointed and disapproving presence the Sensor Division suffered today, but also responsible for giving me a reason to be reprieved of my own spiralling thoughts, my councillors hushed worries and unsettled concerns but most especially Uncle's preparations for my anniversary.
After the spy Handler was caught and even before he divulged all the secrets he knew to Kumogakure's more vulnerable securities as well as their standards, I'd taken to writing that letter I intended for the Raikage to read, the one calling him out on his offenses, insulting him as a coward and demanding reparations for multitudes of harms done and even those he wasn't responsible for.
Except now, the letter carried with it the sensitive details Jay, the spy Handler, had so willingly given up about their operations against my village, against Kirigakure. The proof we sought was here at last and it was overwhelming, so much so that the extra lies I'd tacked on the previous draft of the letter weren't necessary, not at all when the truth cut so deep.
Since the Third Mizukage passed, Kumogakure has been watching, sabotaging and stealing information and power from Kirigakure in growing bite sizes. Not enough to notice over a stretch of time but as they got brazen and callous it was difficult and embarrassing how we hadn't noticed earlier.
Ay will receive my letter and with it an ultimatum. I inhaled at the thought, a hitched breath the five Sensor Division higher ups in front of me took as more disapproval, but truly, I'd stopped reading their pathetic reports and got lost in the chaos of my thoughts once more.
As much as I'd come to terms with the timeline being skewed past the point of recognition, I couldn't help but look out for what was familiar, for a hope of that same world I drew from in knowledge.
A false hope. There was nothing familiar about the hell I promised to rain upon Kumogakure if they did not comply with the demands I'd written in that letter. A slice of me worried I'd gotten carried away in the moment, I'd freshly just handed over the Handler to Eiko in Intel&Comms and my blood pumped for a battle I didn't get to fight. Oh how I wish he struggled.
I exhaled and shook my head, tossing yet another report to the ground before snatching the next from the nervous Sensor-nin in line. I flipped the page and the words all read as mine in the letter to the Raikage— An obscene amount of ryo, a public and written apology, a promise and signed treaty of peace and non-aggression as well as the refusal to hand over the captured spy, Jay…or else.
Or else… I gulped. Everything felt wiser in hindsight and so I didn't beat myself up over it, I didn't regret it either, there was nothing left to say other than the promise of full on war. But…my councillors in their ever expanding wisdom didn't fail to remind me that a war of that scale, a war with another shinobi village would need clearance from the Water Daimyo, a man that wasn't all too happy with Kirigakure at the moment.
Bringing him the news that I planned to wage war so soon after the last stripped him of his land and a fair amount of riches…well.
The Raikage doesn't know that…oh, no, he probably does. I groaned and massaged my temple, abandoning the personnel review entirely as I stood to pace— they were all doing horribly at their jobs anyway.
Throwing the village into war, as always, wasn't the main issue. I had faith in the village even without the full corps of our Swordsmen to bleed Kumogakure and really, I was just as eager for blood as I was for peace— the might of my new skills would be well tested against the arrogance of Kumogakure. However, the looming, silent lurk of Obito and Pain worried me even more.
I hadn't heard anything from Konoha in regards to their plans, nor had they chosen a new Kage to learn the full truths they last demanded of me. Whatever their plans were, I wasn't in the loop and as days and weeks passed the more I began to think I'd better not rely on them.
When will these headaches end? I lamented inwardly, for once I'd like to have good news and the certainty of a bright future to look forward to but no, instead I learn of enemies and greed filled leechers.
I walked up to the edge of the main operations centre, where several Sensor-nin gathered around complex looking but ultimately servile equipment aimed at increasing their efficiency. I shook my head, disgusted at them all for all the times they'd failed me, their village. Indeed, the Kaguya incident couldn't be fully placed on their shoulders but it was nonetheless for they failed to sense the enemy before they struck, a fact that goes tenfold in recently uncovered infiltrations.
With the help and confessions of Hisako Yuki as well as Jay, I&C had rounded up at least a hundred foreign agents, many in the process of mounting an escape— the fiends. Not all belonged to Kumogakure and some we'd already known about and purposely fed false information, but starting last week, I'd put an end to all counter espionage on our soil.
No more rats. It didn't matter how beneficial it was to tell Iwagakure certain lies and keep up archaic pretenses, nor did it matter how much information we got from Sunagakure's inefficient spies in how they attempted to leech information. All infiltrators were sent to Eiko.
A loud scrape broke the silence, harsh and offensive, all heads turned to the source right at the secondary entranceway to the Sensor Division and there was Harusame. I'd almost forgotten he was the reason I was here.
With him was Utakata and together they pushed and pulled at a trolley of gas canisters. I growled at the Sensor high-ups, "What are you doing? Make yourselves useful and help the man!"
They leaped in their skin and stuttered into action, all five rushing to help Harusame drag the squeaky wheeled trolley in through the rather tight fitting doorway. After a noisy two minutes, they succeeded and the S-rank Fuinjutsu Master hurried to bow at me, the bright smile stretching his cheeks was unmissable.
"Apologies for the wait, Mizukage-sama, it was more trouble than I imagined getting these here."
I raised a brow at that as Utakata joined him to bow in greeting, I acknowledged both with a curt nod as I questioned their excuse, "Even with storage seals?"
Harusame chuckled like he knew a secret I'd be happy to be let in on, he patted the trolley of around seven canisters and shook his head, "These…are too large to be sealed by…conventional means. Haha, it's already a feat to have them as they are."
Intrigued, I took a closer look, walking around the trolley and expanding my senses as I scrutinized every detail of the sleek metal. I scanned Utakata's face for any hints only to find him…uncomfortable. I searched their body for seals, running a finger across the length of one in search of the smallest grooves and markings— I found one. I stuck my finger on it, an unsuspecting line that blended in with the hard silver of the canister but was in truth nothing more than sealing paper, the best and most expensive kind.
But where are the seals? There was sealing paper plastered on the canister that much was certain, it blended in well but still, there was no inscription to be read on it. Could it be written on the inside? I'd read in textbooks of that sealing method, some volatile materials encouraged an inscription faced method but those were often combined with the usual outward facing so why…what could?
I shook my head and crossed my hands behind my back and simply asked the self-pleased Fuinjutsu Master, "And what are they?"
His eyes lit up and his grin widened even further than I thought it could, "I'm surprised you don't recognize them, Yagura-sama, they were your idea after all!"
Before I could get frustrated with the guessing game Harusame was pulling on me I paused. My idea? Could it be…
"Bijuu Chakra Batteries, yes! I figured it out. We can power a village-wide barrier with Bijuu Chakra!"