Deceleration of War! [KRO/Private/calling Tao]

[Rounin Nao]

Rounin Nao, Kagerenmei Order HQ, 05:24 PM.

Nao was walking towards the water mechanised elevator on the opposite side of the entrance hall of the Kagerenmei HQ, the hall was buzzing with students, knights and sentinels hanging around at the end of the day. About a day has passed since he and his secret Apprentice ran into Kane and here teacher Yasuragi Master Koushi, he expected her to arrive by now to inform him of her masters unfortunate demise, since the last time they have met he was concealed by a mask and alias she will never know that the one who sliced her beloved teacher's throat was Nao himself.

"Master Nao!!... Master Nao WAITE!"

A Yasuragi Sentinel from his division ran to him calling his name in distress, did Kane finally arrive? Nao wondered. Nao stopped his walking and turned to the Man rushing to him.

"what is it Adolane? I have a council meeting in thirty minutes and I would like to arrive early"

Said Nao dismissively and half turned to leave.

"It's one of the Apprentices sir!!! she's hurt!!"

Nao acted as he should, an expression of shock and rage was placed on his face.

"where is she?! which Apprentice is it?!"

He said with a harsh tone almost scolding the young man.

"at the entrance Master Nao, she collapsed right there..."

Said the Sentinel while they were rushing to the scene.

"answer all of my questions Sentinel Adolane!! who is SHE??!"

Snapped Nao with fake anger to seem more serous about the matter, up ahead a crowd of Kagerenmei Order members were huddled together looking ahead at some commotion.

"Its Koushi's Apprentice sir, I believe Kane is her name sir"

That was it, the sentinel finally said the words he wanted to hear. The young girl arrived at a great moment, Nao was around and a meeting was already scheduled.
They reached the crowd and Nao started pushing them out of his way.

"out of the way!, move you fools!"

scolded Nao at the crowd of members until he finally reached the centre of it all, Yasuragi Master Tenten was already there on her knees holding Kane's head on her thighs. A couple of Yasuragi Knights and Sentinels kept the younger ones at check.

"Master Tenten!!"

Said Nao aloud as he reached her and the girl at her lap, he kneeled down next to the other Master who seemed as worried as he himself appeared to be.

"Master Nao, she collapsed right as she entered, there seem to be no injures on her... I don't know what happened to her..."

Said Tenten with concern.

"Mind your emotions Tenten, don't lose sight on the matter at hand... can someone please call for Koushi!.."

Like magic his words made the young girl snap back to conciousness... and panic.

"MASTER!!! NO!!! MASTER!!!"

She yelped and shouted.

"what happened Kane?! where is Koushi??! where is your Master!?!"

Said Nao as he grabbed here shoulders to keep her focused.

"HE KILLED HIM!! HE KILLED MY MASTER!!!"

She kept her shouting, Nao now faked a grave look on his face. Tenten was shocked and the loud commotion of the crowed came to a sudden halt, there was nothing in the hall but the sound of the young girl crying her eyes out. Nao pulled some hand seals and placed a finger on the girls four head, she calmed down a bit as he made her see only him in a beautiful green pasture under an oak tree, but the rest around them could hear her words just fine, as Nao intended it to be.

"a.. a man with a chackra blade... like ours... he killed Master... he... he said to tell Master Nao... tell him..tell..."

The girls strength was fading away slowly.

"tell me what Kane, its ok you are safe now, what did the man want you to tell me?"

He said with a focused expression on his face.

tell him tha...that Ranmyaku Lord Shade is coming for us... coming to kill us... all...of...

The girl fainted, the crowed gasped in fear.

"Tenten... call all available Masters to the council room, Sentinels take Kane to the infirmary.."

He said as he stood up and looked at the crowed around him.

"I want six teams of four Knights to go out to town and bring back here every member we have out in the city, all but these teams are to remain in the HQ and go NOWHERE!"

He said and started pacing to the elevator, a young Acolyte spoke with a fearful trembling voice.

"M-Master? what is Happening?"

He turned to the crowd, they were looking at him with seeking eyes, but the answer he was going to give them will offer no solace or reassurance.

"we are at war"


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------some time later---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nao had finally reached his prime destination, the council chamber doors were wide open and from inside he could hear numerous loud voices, outside the chamber Tenten was leaning on a wall her face to her feet.

don't let my brother see you like this Tenten, he frowns on emotions, you should step inside we are about to begin

He said to her with a bit of comforting warmth in his tone, she noded her head and stepped into the large room and so did he, the room was almost packed with the Masters of the Order including his brother who was already sitting in his regular seat. Nao approached to the table and addressed the room.

Yasuragi Masters State yourselves and take a seat if available this room was meant for less people originally

He said with a normal tone, and the Masters Started stating their names and took their seats.

[*reserved for Tao if he wants*]

Yasuragi Master Tenten

Yasuragi Master Heishi

Yasuragi Master Namikiri

Yasuragi Master Yusu

Yasuragi Master Dendo

Yasuragi Master Fara

Yasuragi Master Kushko

Yasuragi Master Namia

Yasuragi Master Toteku

Yasuragi Master Lin

Yasuragi Master Satsu

The names were stated and some sat the others kept standing due to lack of chairs. Nao took his own seat and folded his hands before his face. He relied the information about the young Apprentice and the death of Master Koushi, the promise that the man made to harm the Kagerenmei and finally he explained the orders he issued to bring back every member in the village to HQ and the lock down he made on all members not to leave the premises. When he finished he leaned back into his chair and awaited the debate that lay ahead.

 

[Tao]

Tao was walking through the vast halls of the kagerenmei order, he was visiting the library today, a great replacement to the village library as far as he was concerned, he had unlimited access to it and could read whatever material that the order has gathered thus far without leaving any information behind like Kamaru asked of him in his last visit. He then heard a commotion coming from behind him.

"Master Tao! Please come and help! Kane has been attacked and her master was killed"

A man shouted behind Tao attempting to stop him.

"Calm down and tell me where is she?"

He replied calmly, it was no secret that sometimes people come wounded from operation, but rising so much commotion over one death and one wounded member was quite rare.

"She was taken to the infirmary, please hurry, she looked weak"

He stated, he didn't seem to calm down at all, more than that it seemed like he was quite rattled and alarmed by something, Tao figured that he was probably one of many that are under this sort of condition, so investigating this shouldn't be hard even if he were to move to another witness, this man has had enough to deal with as it is, he shouldn't be bothered any more than that.

"Thank you, go and rest, I'll check on poor Kane."

He stated and began to walk towards the infirmary. On his way he noticed a lot of people running from one place to another, rushing and sweating quite intensively, this has peaked Tao's interest quite a bit, but knowing that stopping them will be counter productive for them, he figured he could ask the people in the infirmary instead.

He walked into a white room with various medical machinery and equipment where some doctors were surrounding one bed while the others were walking around nervously from one place to the other. He walked towards the bed and saw a young girl lying on the bed, unconscious, surrounded by doctors. At first sight she seemed fine, no physical injuries whatsoever, but her expression was stern and twisted, probably due to some kind of mental pressure and exhaustion.

"What happened to her?"

Tao asked calmly while constantly staring at the girl, not batting an eye towards anyone else.

"She supposedly came back from a mission and collapsed, Yasuragi-Sentinel Tenten found her and tried to check what was wrong, from what I hear she said something about someone killing her master... Poor thing. She doesn't seem injured in any way, not physically at least, but her blood pressure is off the charts and she is heating up fast, we're doing all we can to stabilize her, she should be fine if we give it some more time."

Tao nodded and looked at the clock, the council meeting should start in 10 minutes, he figured he should already start heading out.

"Thank you for the update, keep a close watch on her, if anything turns goes wrong, seek me out, I'll be in the 4th floor, if you don't find me there, seek Yasuragi-knight Kaname, she will find me quickly enough."

He said and left. This was odd, this girl's condition is caused purely by mental damage rather than physical damage, this means that whoever did this was probably one of those illusionists. He sighed and walked up to the council room, passing through the rushing waves of knight and sentinel teams that were rushing towards the exit and up to the 4th floor to the meeting room. When he reached the room, it seemed like the meeting was already in session, the room was over occupied by various Yasuragi-Masters along with the remaining two council members, Satsu and Nao who already sat down. Tao closed the door behind him and took a couple of steps forward.

"So... The order is panicking, we have a member in a coma-like state and a dead Yasuragi-Master. Can someone please tell me exactly what is going on?"

Tao stated briefly after entering the room, he didn't like beating around the bush too much, neither did it seem like he had any time to play these sort of games, so as common as it was to him, he cut right to the chase. He stood tall with both of his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes piercing forward.

[MFT]

 

[Rounin Nao]

Rounin Satsu, Kagerenmei Order Council room, 06:12 PM

It was moments ago when his older brother barged into the council chamber with ill tidings, a young girl was in a bad shape and her Master was dead. Nao's orders to recall all forces was a good call, Satsu did not expect something like this to ever happen. He knew that the Order will face challenges along the way but a direct threat on them and so soon, it was never within his vision. When Nao finished the briefing all eyes then turned to Satsu the unofficial leader of the Order, most of the time he would give his advice or words of solace but he still needed to gather his thoughts. His prayers were answered when Tao entered the room a bit late but in the light of recent events it was not surprising that someone of his rank to be detained.

"So... The order is panicking, we have a member in a coma-like state and a dead Yasuragi-Master. Can someone please tell me exactly what is going on?"

He said as he entered closing the door after him, before any response was made Yasuragi Master Kushko stood up and vacated his seat.

"Have this seat Master Tao"

Said the man and backed away. It was no shock of a display, the council members of the Order were regarded with the at most respect. As Tao sat down it seemed that Yasuragi Master Yusu took it upon himself to shortly describe the situation to the newcomer. Now that Satsu was given the time to assemble his thoughts he found the words to share with his people.

"I fear that this attack on our members, the death of a Master, the threat of continuation... It is not the end of these actions, only the beginning"

He paused and stood at his seat so all could see him.

"first things first, I want the girls parents informed of her situation and brought here safely, and when she comes to I want to know more information about what happened to her but most importantly I want to know if this Lord Shade person was the only one there... I suspect that he is not going to try and take us all down by himself which most likely indicate that we are dealing with a force that can prove a challenge to us..."

He paused once more for everyone to stay focused.

"I want us on full alert people, we will not! stop our operations but we will tread more carefully, minimal mission groups will increase from two to four..."

"what about the chackra blade?..."

Said Yasuragi Master Fara with here usual harsh tone.

"the girl said that the attacker used our own weapon to kill Master Koushi"

Satsu was stumped on this one, he as well was thinking about the reason for the use of their own weapon against them but he couldn't come up with anything. Satsu's gaze turned to his fellow council member and dear friend Tao.

"Master Tao, any thoughts? what do you make of all this?"

Said Satsu and hoped his friend could shed some light on the riddle that befuddled the room into submission.

 

[Tao]

Tao went ahead and took his seat as suggested by one of the attendants, then he was given a brief explanation of what happened to this moment. He listened to what the people had to say patiently and tried to piece together the information he had recieved up until now.

"If the master's death was caused by one of our weapons it could mean that either the weapon was stolen from our grounds or our members, a member of the order has sold or gave away our weapons to a third party, somebody killed another member of our order that is currently considered in a mission and hasnt returned due to that or the worst option we could have - the person who made the assult is in this order."

Tao spoke out, there were many posibilities of who was the attacker, whether he actually met him before or not and the motives behind it, but no matter which angle he looked at, it didnt look good one bit.

"The attacker or maybe attackers are the biggest concern we currently have, we do not know who they are, what they really want or how many are they, it can be one, it can be handreds, so before we jump the gun on what we're dealing with, I'd suggest treating this as the worst case scenario, in which we are fighting the unknown."

The situation began to reveal itself as something quite threatening, much more than what he initially expected. Tao sighed slightly and looked around for a moment, inspecting the people within the room and trying to see if he can see any special signs that could give him a clue, maybe some sign of struggle that wasnt covered properly or anything else that could help him identify any oddities. He had no choice but to suspect everyone, though considering the current events, it is very unlikely that the person that attacked the order member is on the Kagerenmei grounds, it'd be too soon for that if it is in fact someone from the order, and even if it isnt, they would most likely be in hidding.

"Do we have any shinobi operatives present? I'd like to run an investigation within the shinobi organization as well, it could be a good lead to see any suspicious activities and it will affectively increase our work force. I want to have eyes in the streets, houses, caves and shours. Have at least one man stationed at the gates to make sure they wont flee from the village. The identification will most likely be the chakra blade holster, it is most likely that only one of them has it, but thats practically all we've got thus far."

 

[Rounin Nao]

Rounin Nao, Kagerenmei Order Council room, 06:37 PM


His young brother took the reigns and began the meeting proper, Tao joined them a bit late but was informed by Master Yusu about the proceedings in this critical Order meeting. Opinions were stated and Satsu was controlling the room to a certain extent but it was very clear to Nao that neither him nor the rest of the Masters had any idea on what was going on, all except Nao himself that is.
It was then when Satsu asked Tao's thoughts on the matter, not surprising due to the fact that he was too one of the Order's council men and one of the founding three. Tao presented many possibilities one of which was actually the truth, he then continued to suggest a formal investigation led by him to be formed with collaboration with local Shinobi operatives.

"A well thought plan Master Tao..."

Said Satsu.

"take as many men as you need, but I suggest keeping it small in case you are right and it is indeed an inside job.... Master Lin will assist you on this investigation Tao"

Nao felt that his time to shine was nearing, he sensed his brother about to say something that will most likely give him a proper stage to take and start the main act of his plan.

"further more I want us to keep the authorities in the loop and form an official policy with them to handle this delicate situation, and we certainly don't want to start an unnecessary war..."

And that was his cue.

"WE ARE AT WAR!"

Shouted Nao and stood up slamming his hand on the round table with rage.

"I am sorry brother to be the one to say this but if this unknown group would have wanted peace talks I don't believe they would have killed one of our Masters and I don't believe they would have sent that poor girl back to use with the message that they are coming for us!"

Nao started circling the table from the outside to get the proper attention of the Masters.

"Nao please mind your emotions..."

Tried Satsu but to no avail.

"I WILL NOT!, I will not mind my emotions Satsu not when this group is probably aiming at another one of our members PROBABLY! some one in this very fucking room! and I'll be damned if I'll let anything happen to any of the people in this room or ANY! of our members!!"

He kept circling and addressing the room like a well preformed play in front of the audience.

"I am sorry brother but the time for talking is over! they are preparing themselves for war, most likely they will look to expand their ranks before they attack and I don't want to be the one who will see our children butchered by an overwhelming army... we need to prepare ourselves as well, build our own army...like Tao suggested with the aid of the village but on a larger scale..."

Nao reached his seat once more and halted his movement there, he then looked all around the table with penetrating eyes of tenacity and fire.

"As head of Sentinel operations I move to enact the notion of amassing, recruiting and training of the Kagerenmei Order Army!, what say you?"

"eye"

Said Tenten almost instantaneously.

"Agreed..."

Said Heishi.

"eye"

Said Yusu.

"I hope ya know what ya'r duin' lad, a'll agree"

Said Dendo.

"So will I"

Namikiri.

Lin Namia And Toteku agreed as well, while Fara and Kushko remained silent and looked for Satsu with their eyes.

"well Masters Satsu and Tao... what say you?"

 

[Tao]

Tao couldnt believe what he was hearing, armies? War? It was almost as if Nao has become an entierly different person, only he didnt, because when Tao were to think back, he knew that Nao was always somewhat agressive in comparison to Satsu and Tao, but thats too much.

"Are you even listening to yourself, Nao? You want us to create armies and become a military organization? You want us to wage war? Do you even remember who we are? We are the Kagerenmei, the organization that is working towards peace!"

Tao slammed his hand on the table and got up from his chair, pointing at Nao

"And thats your solution towards peace? Creating armies? Killing innocent people because of a threat directed to us?"

He then looked at the people who agreed to his proposal

"And you! Why did you join this organization to begin with? Surely not for this, we are here to stop this sort of situations from happening, in a PEACEFUL manner, you know - in a way that the other person stops doing whatever he is doing without fighting them."

Tao then turned back to Nao

"No. This is not how we are operating, we are going to catch them, alive and extract as much information out of them as possible to find the rest, when we do, we'll find a way to make sure they pay for what they did and never do it again. We do NOT need to seed chaos into this village by creating offensive movements within it, we do not need to create even more casualties than we have now, and war will kill more people than any other method, especially within our own organization."

Tao spoke out, his tone was loud and irritated, he was not as angry at Nao as he was disappointed with the way he chose to react to this situation, Kagerenmei is not a shinobi organization, and it doesnt have to be, they dont need to act like those shinobi murderious monstars, Tao knew that he wont be able to stay in the organization if it were ever to turn out that way.

[MFT]

 

[Tao]

[topic left due to inactivity]