Returning Home [Hokage and Sennin]

[Uchiha Takeshi]

The robes swung around him, as he walked through the village the mask keeping him covered from those that would have seen his identity, it seemed that this place hadn't really changed, people seemed the same and the world kept spinning. He moved through the familiar streets with ease and passed across markets, shops, and other trifle things. As he headed round the corner he saw the mansion, the symbol at the heart of a city, the beating heart of that city after all, and the questions ran through his mind about the state of that heart. He would soon find out.

As he entered inside and took the familiar steps not stopping or pausing to interact with anyone, though the robes of the ANBU covered him from those that would have recognized him, that was the way of life right now, better to come home unannounced and allowing those he came back to see to be unprepared. He allowed himself to turn the corner towards the door to the Hokage office, it was clear that he had no intention of stopping as he walked straight in. Glancing at the empty seat he signed and turned to the closest person he could find.

"Go summon the Hokage and Sennin, tell them they have a visitor in the office."

His voice showed the annoyance he had for the whole thing, the mission which went to hell, being able to breach the gates, and the changes he had seen so far. He was not impressed.

[Summon Hokage]
[Summon All Sennin]

 

[Haku Yuki]

Yuki followed the man through the streets of Leaf. She knew that he was angry, she didn't need to see his face to know that. They had been side by side for years at that point and she had learned to read his emotions through the smallest of movements. It's not that she couldn't blame him, she too was angry. They had just walked through the gates. Gates that were supposed to be heavily guarded. Had things become so lacking in their absence? The disappointment that she felt towards not only her own branch but her former student stung. Yuki thought that she had taught her better than this, that Takeshi had taught her better than this. She felt a familiar cold twisting in the pit of her stomach signalling her to claim herself.

The female stood back watching as Takeshi partially broke the door off its hinges as she entered the office. She was sure that seeing it empty did nothing to temper his rage. Looking at the desk in front of her brought back memories both good and bad. The sleepless nights, the times she spent tending his wounds, the fear that she would lose him to his duty. Emotions that had never really changed to this day.

"I thought that we had taught her better than this, that we had taught the branches better than this. How could this have gotten to this state?" She wasn't really looking for an answer but the words needed to be spoken.

[Topic Entered]
[MFT: 251]

 

[Sazuki Nao]

Nao wasn't as much in his sennin office as he would have liked it. Especially since he made it the way he loved it. But the branches and the people needed him more than the office would.

Since Takeshi and his party had left for the mission out, Nao had been busy. Eventually gaining the information that they would handle the Anbu branch together, was just another workload.

At first, Nao wasn't fully agree-able. Running the medical branch, the people inside, the shortage of people, the clan, and everything else, made it difficult.

Now that he was even thinking about it, he rarely even saw any of the other sennin. He had been teaching in the classrooms more often than he would like on the main branch topics than the medical ones. It kind of stung him how he even had paid less attention to those who he was raising in his clan.

A soft sigh was given as he was helping the last patient for now. He took over for someone who called in sick. As he was just about to put the panel down, he was summoned. Nao's eyes widened. "W-what..." An awkward chuckle.

As he was leaving the Konoha Byoin he was summoning his rope, his sennin rope, and not even the regular doctor one he was using.
Nao was closing in on the place and looked to the left and the right, the assistant at the front was pointing upstairs and he would slowly nod. Just in case Nao was pulling on his gloves.
'This is turning more and more strange... Missing ninja in the village... Not to mention the rumors of breaches more than often... The flyers are on the front. So many things are left unanswered and now the summon by two mysterious individuals...' Even more just in case he brought out his Kami contract. "Xai..." He muttered as he took another staircase up. Xai would simply nod and keep close to Nao and would cast a barrier if needed.

Turning towards the broken door he would enter the place and look at the two individuals. Nao himself looked tired and not really wanting to fight right now, but he had his guard up rather high. "Good morning, or should I say afternoon..?" Nao was wary of the situation and would look from one to the other. Somehow... The smaller one of the two looked somewhat... familiar? His head was a little tilted to the side as he looked her over once more. Then looked sideways to Xai who shook his head. He did not recognize them at all for now.

"How may I help you..?"

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

"A visitor?" She spoke to her retainer as she was delivered the news. Asuka looked back at the bunch of students that had just entered to their next class. Which she should be giving but then again. Turning back to the retainer she was told it was two of them and they had basically walked through the mansion as if it was their own house.

God damn it.

Saying goodbye to the students she started making her way back to her office. Thinking who could this visitor be. There weren't many people who would have the guts of simply walking around like that in a building of that importance. But that didn't really matter anymore. Either way, she wasn't looking forward to it.

Getting into the mansion and up towards her office she took a deep breath as she walked down the hall. Well, if they were from another village hopefully they would be here to hear about her proposal. Otherwise she would probably kick them out. Walking into her office her eyes grew wide. "Fuck" She whispered under her breath. Nao was here too, that meant this was going to get ugly. Their goes the original plan out the window. A smile returning to her face she jumped forward with a giggle. "Well I certainly wasn't expecting you here!" She smiled giving both of them a hug as she walked behind her desk. "So, how have you been?" She flipped a seal unto the table as a tea set popped into existence. She started pouring out tea in different tea cups. "It has been quite some time. So tell me, you gonna tell me some awesome adventures you've been having?" She smiled.

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

Soku didn't know which one was worse, the babbling, terrified aide that had delivered the summons or the fact she couldn't manage to get a name, all she got was a "very important visitor" out of the poor messenger and that was it. Truth be told, Soku was in no mood to entertain delegations wherever they might be from, the recent attack on the gates had left her worser for wear and it was clear her age was catching up with her.

She still bore some wounds from that battle but was recovered enough to be able to attend to her duties as she got dressed pinning the golden leaf pin to her robes which marked the role of the Main Branch Sennin. Better to show up properly rather than underprepared as she strapped her sword to her back.

"Whatever this is, it had better be good."

She muttered taking to the streets using her preferred route to the mansion entering whisking past the reception area, there seemed to be an uncommon tension in the room.

Frowning, she entered the office and her sight fell first on Nao then Asuka giving them a respective nod before- her eyes widened as she blinked a few times.

Well, this was new. This was certainly unexpected though judging from the expressions, Soku had a very bad feeling that whatever it was, they were not about to have a good time of it.

"Takeshi, Yuki, a pleasure as always." Soku greeted politely inclining her head though, it was clear who had sent the summons. All the Sennin here with the Kage and whatnot, if this had been a personal call, it wouldn't have required this which meant this was buisness and from the looks of it, not good buisness.

Asuka was offering tea and giggling and Soku stared at her as if she had gone crazy but chose to remain silent as they waited to hear. These past couple of days were only getting worser and worser.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi stood there waiting for each of them to turn up, he pondered how much each of them had changed as he waited silently slowly one by one they turned up till it seemed that every single one of them had rocked up, after all, he expected to be a slight delay with the gathering as it had not been that easy to come together like this even when he was the Hokage, he remembered those days and waited silently for each of them to arrive, though he was caught off guard by the mentioning of his name considering he was covered from head to toe.

"Well let's see, the mission you sent us on, that massively failed, cause destruction of property and cloud and leaf to come to blows, and then force us to evade being captured, noticed, or even found out by sand where it all went down, so we did the sensible thing and decided to lay low until everything had settled then make our return here, without being traced or seen by anyone. So overall the adventure was pretty much a suicidal mission but seems that everyone came back from it ok, on that note has Maki sent any word from his side?"

Pausing he lifted his hand up and removed his mask his eyes never leaving contact with the current Hokage, he felt somewhat annoyed at the mission that was assigned, but even more annoyed at just how much of a hell hole the whole thing had transpired into, after all, least on his list of things to do was nearly get capture and Leaf brought into a war, but that is why Sennin had been assigned it, they hadn't been captured and had all come back in one piece, he could almost laugh at that fact if it wasn't for the fact of how annoyed he was with the situation currently that he found Leaf in.

"I am more interested in how fully disguised as we are now myself and Yuki got into the village, no stop, no question, no ANBU , no Main Brach just strolled in, I find that lack something that is quite concerning, I guess the question is what is the state of the village right now, as I see it all the sennin are stood here, so now is the best time to find out the truth about the state of things and the branches with the Hokage here, wouldn't everyone agree?"

His tone had shifted, more serious even after discussing the mission failure that he had experienced in Sand. He was angry that they had so easily penetrated this far into the village without a single question being raised, he wanted the truth and with the Hokage here, the Sennin as well he could finally catch himself back up to speed and find out what needed help and assist straight away, there really was no point just sitting around when the village needed assistance, that was his role as the Hokage Advisor and what he signed up for.

[MFT: 509]

 

[Sazuki Nao]

He had asked what the two wanted if they were in need of aid... But they seemed to remain silent. That was when Asuka entered the place and he would bow slightly towards her, after all he wasn't even sure if they were a foe or friends.

It was the way that Asuka reacted that made Nao honestly confused as to what was going on. "H-huh..." He stumbled confused as he would lower his guard slightly. Soku came in also and Nao simply gave a head nod to her in return. Then two types of names were mentioned. ' Lord fourth? And rabbit...' Were the two thoughts quickly crossing through his mind and his body would relax a little more.

"L-Lady Asuka, I don't think this is time for tea..." Nao commented on how she was picking up tea and whatever all the likes. It felt rather odd as to how everything was going on and around. For now, he decided it was best to remain a bit in the background, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

As Takeshi progressed his story, Nao's eyes grew wider in response. "No one..?" He muttered, confused as anything. Where were the guards? As he heard how the old Hokage started to speak, he would nod. Nao already had seen how the world in leaf was changing.

"If... I may." He would attempt to take the word first. "As of the moment, the Medical branch is struggeling. We are with few Medical Ninja ánd the workload increased a lot. I have one Medical Chief long-term at home due to being overworked. Something I didn't spot earlier so I forced her off. I have no medical ninja trained for the fields sadly, left alone students that wish to join. My lover and I often overwork, this being in the Byoin or the Academy to teach regular jutsu instead of medical. Soku and I also stand together for the ANBU at the moment. So I guess we are drowning in the water of work." The urge for a smoke break was arising towards him and would start to play with his fingers. After all... How long was he awake right now. "The clan is having more children, some a lot more temporarily than others. As of the moment I have Toshi raising as my son basically." At that, he gained a healthy set of rosy cheeks. It was his first time mentioning him as his son.

"There... Also had been an incident at the gates, people had died, heavily wounded also..." He never knew the regard of the fighting that had happened or that another person was missing altogether.

"The byoin is overfull as is." He would just say and look towards the clock. A part of him wished they weren't having this meeting so he could tend to the children in the academy, to the sick people in the Byoin.. But even he knew as the rookie sennin, that this meeting was important. All he was hoping for right now was that nothing major broke out while they were here.

[MFT]

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

You could never truly tell what was on Takeshi's mind, one minute, he might be the happiest ray of sunshine in the world and then just like that, he could turn into that stern parent that everyone dreaded. That was a sign of a true and deadly professional, never let your enemy get a read on you though and he had mastered that ability to the fullest. She felt herself bristling with annoyance not at Takeshi, not at her other Sennin but her own shinobi, she had been out of commission for a few weeks or even longer and in that timeline, her own shinobi whom she trusted with her life had grown lax without the presence of their Sennin bearing down on him and she felt a certain frustration bubbling up at all of them. Well, at least he wasn't shouting, that was when you knew thing got really bad. Then agian, she had never seen Takeshi shout or visibly get angry but she doubted anyone would be living if they got him to that point.

As for Soku herself, she was still shaken up from the 'incident at the gates' as they put. It was fine for them to put it as that, they hadn't been there fighting the puppeteer, they hadn't been there risking their neck on the line and here she was getting chewed out for something, factors beyond her control as her fists clenched and unclenched. She held no grudge but given her way, Soku might start holding some very soon.

"If I may speak.."

She cut in stepping forward wincing in pain as she did so. Her injuries were still quite fresh but regardless, she had enough strength to stand and say what she had to say. Soku had lost a lot of things but her brush with death had been nothing short of a nightmare and you truly didn't know what was precious to you until you lost it.

"To address your point about the gate's defense being lackluster, it could be due to the fact we suffered an attack on the village not too long ago and we're still in the process of recovery, a good amount of shinobi lost their lives at a time when aid and support was badly needed."

Her eyes flicked over to the other two Sennin. "Aid and support that was not available, me and Daisuke, just the two of us desperatly tried to prevent an deadly assassin, someone deadset on hunting down Lady Asuka and in the process of doing so, we lost Daisuke, my heart was taken from me and I very nearly lost my life if it had not been for Sennin Nao arriving on the scene after the fact."

She wasn't necessarily blaming the other two but she wished they had been better prepared. The headset calls had been futile and in the timeline that had followed, everyone's morale was shaken and the supposed assailant had gotten away free as a kite.

"The attacker did leave behind a name, Kaen of Sunagakure though what motive another village has for attacking us is beyond me but if true, they murdered countless shinobi, some young as genin and it is enough to incite a war. I have half a mind to travel to Sunagakure's gates right now and demand answers."

The pain in her chest started again flaring up wincing like it did whenver she exerted herself taking a breath before talking again.

"You will also find some of the attacker's blood from the injuries I inflicted on him but regardless, all fingers point to Sunagakure and during my time in the Byoin, I was not aware the gate's situation had declined so rapidly in my comatose state but Daisuke is missing, countless men and women were killed and we have only one key suspect, a fact I think we should act on."

Her expression indicated she felt very strongly about the whole scenario and being yelled at about it was not something she appreciated, she felt just as bad and either with Asuka's blessing or not, she was going to find out just what exactly this Kaen's issue was.

 

[Sazuki Nao]

After he had spoken regards the situation he knew at hand… he knew he didn’t tell the tale of all that had happened, which he was glad that Soku did fill in a little part. Nao did move a bit towards her as she seemed to be in pain. “oi… Just please be careful. you are still healing.” Nao said calm and warm yet you could easily hear the worry inside of his voice.

“That is not all that had happened… After I rescued Soku, replacing a heart is not a small feat. It had me out of the work for a full day to even regain a bit so I could work further. A day later..? The gates were attacked once more… I was just moments later. Blood was still flowing from a body. The scent of burned flesh was still in the air. Whoever did this… They just left our village a few days ago. I had called through the radio for our Kage. Twice. but there was no hearing. I have pledged my loyalty to the Hokage. But as a person, I am not so sure anymore. Yes, I will keep loyal to the Hokage in duty.” He said softly at the end. After all, he wouldn’t break a pledge he had made. Nor the fact he would stand there if the Hokage were in danger. But personally, he felt wrong slowly.

He took a moment after and looked all parties in the eyes. “Now I am sorry to say… But I do have to get back to the Byoin… As I mentioned, we are understaffed and as of the moment, we don’t even have enough beds for the wounded already. And with what is going on. I am worried we sooner or later don’t even have the people to fight…” He mentioned and would look to Excursai who seemed to nod.

[Ooc; Topic left unless stopped in 5 days.]

 

[Uchiha Asuka]

Asuka took a sip from her tea as she listened to Takeshi speak. She suspected their long live of absence was a accustomed to something of the sort, she was glad that they were back most of all. "I understand the frustration about it. Heck, I would be surprised if it went any other way. For some reason every mission I send to other villages go sideways. Can't really claim it to be for a reason in particular unfortunately. Although I would've liked to be told beforehand by a summon... just y'know. Not keep me worried." She giggled with a smile.

She continued listening but didn't answer. As soon as the displeasure in hos voice was heard the tea cup in Asuka's hands cracked. She gave a small giggle as she carefully took another sip. Thankfully Nao took the next words. Basically explaining her situation. How the hospital was understaffed, . Rest of the problems, out the window.

Soku did give a more descriptive version on the attacker at the gates. Which did help to illustrate a picture on how powerful the attacker was. Although, things still needed answers which she was gladly to give.

"Your utter displeasure is indeed noted." She started with a slight smile. "Let me give you a slight explanation on what's been going on. First, the whole thing with the crew happened which basically made a lot of our most experienced Shinobi desert or retire. Then Yukio disappeared. You and Yuki vanished and Maki, out of nowhere, decided to retire. Half of our main shinobi force vanished in such a short amount of time. AND we were already stretched thin." Asuka pinched the bridge of her nose as she gave a small laugh "So yeah, the medical branch is basically non-existent, main branch is composed mainly of students or inexperienced Shinobi that I refuse to send to certain death and the ANBU, the whole "elite-squad", basically vanished after Sensei here disappeared." She slapped her hand on the desk with a chuckle "And the icing on the cake, we get a very powerful Shinobi come into the gates and basically murder half of the remaining force while coming for me. Then, then he decides to attack the mansion, kill administrative staff and vanish. Just POOF gone." Asuka clinched her teeth together as she threw the cup across the room. "So that's why you were able to get through, we got no one left. We WERE stretched thin, now... now we got no one readily enough to take one the responsibilities needed for each task." She raised her hands into the air before dropping them. "Happy now? Is the explanation good enough? Or do you want me to show you the bodies?

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi watched as Nao walked out, taking a note that it seemed that even the other Sennin had issues right now, as his eyes watched the cup go across the room as he watched her, the frown that formed across his face was clear as he looked to Soku and then back to Asuka for a few moments, taking note that Yuki was still stood in the room quiet and calm as ever given the situation, but that was just Yuki down to a tee, the quiet type and only ever speaking when it was required and never giving anything away otherwise.

"Yes because going completely off the radar, and sending you a message that could be considered something that I would call a massive lap in judgment considering what we were doing behind lines, so no wonder that myself and Yuki took the long route back, what we did and what happened in Sand can never come back to Leaf and it will not, I call that the mission that you gave us, and success still last time I checked. Maki and Yukio happened have you moved on from that already?"

His eyes glanced across to Soku though she seemed to get her points across, he laughed harshly as he listened to the claims that Sunagakure is responsible for this attack, after all his dealings with them during the fighting tournament, as Hokage, and even on visits back and forth, nothing regarding Kaen would have called him to go on a killing spree for the sake of it, and if Sunagakure wanted to attack they would have done it in numbers after all villages go to war, not individuals. His attention turned back to Asuka as she spoke about him wanting to see the bodies, the flare of anger in his body at what this simple insight was something that he couldn't keep a straight face on.

"Why are you not with them? As Hokage, you protect the village, yet I have just heard that others have been dying to protect you. We are the rock, the pillar the unshifting seat inside the village, our lives are forfeit for the protection of the village, have you forgotten what I taught you before you took that position you are in now? Or have you dropped the ball, forgive me for asking but someone coming in, killing half the village as you have said, and walking out, and not once did you stop them? Do you see an issue with this Asuka, we Hokage have a weight very few really know, and that weight does come with blood on our hands, so I ask you right now as your Hokage Advisor, can you recover, or has this broken your will of fire?"

His voice was cold and calm, considering the fact that he had been told basically that the village would require mass graves, looking to Yuki he pondered for a few minutes before snapping his attention to Soku in that split second, he nodded his head towards her at her information, what she had said, it seemed Soku stepped up to the position that Sennin required and so did Nao which was something to be relieved about he appreciated that effort she had shown.

"Recovering for the heart will take how long? And between the four of us, the Medical Sennin is always busy, but between us in here, what does Leaf actually have? Students? Lower Ranking Shinobi? What does the whole scene look like and the whole picture? Gate duty, I am still the Hokage Advisor, so I will step into the gate duty, I do need a list of Shinobi who can answer the gates, anyone below Jounin should be informed not to allow entry or exits into the village and pulled back if you are in a war situation, I would recommend Yuki and Soku take the gates as well as myself, extra Sennin right now cannot hurt."

It would at least limit those leaving and entering the village, for now if they knew who was doing this they could then go from there on making sure what Shinobi was left was able to focus on building up their strength. He had work to do and talking in an office was not working.

"Soku, thank you for putting your life on the line for the village, you came a long way since your Academy days, in regard to this Sunagakure situation, we have never been enemies, do you think this could be just as much a set up as it could be from them, has anyone sent a messenger bird and asked for them to answer to the charges they face? A civilized conversation is better than a war considering the current situation we just find ourselves in?"

He let his words hang in the air, it would be interesting to see if those in this room still trusted the friendship between Leaf and Sand or if it had fully broken down and been left in ruin, he waited to see how both Asuka and Soku would reply.

MFT - 847

 

[Nanjirou Soku]

It was chilling listening to him speak. While at the same time, she felt sorry for the dressing down Asuka was getting, she had to admit that the former Hokage had a point. In times like these, it was essential to band together and if they couldn't even done that, the village was as good as dead. This previous incident had blown their flaws wide open and everyone knew it from the genin to even the elders of the village and that was never a good thing.

"In terms of active shinobi, the majority of our standing forces contain of a majority of genin and a select few chuunin and jounin, our numbers were quelled greatly when the culprit strolled in and slaughtered everyone he could find."

The imagery of the young genin sprawled before the foot of the smoldering Hokage Tower flashed through her head and Soku closed her eyes, her fist clenching as she had seen that. It was too much, even violence had a limit but clearly, this person wasn't bound by such rules. "I want to know why this person's out for your head, Asuka. He fought his way through a village to get to you raining death and destruction as he did so which means this is a crime of passion, he wanted to get to you no matter what."

She knew Asuka could be foolish at times but the girl's judgement wasn't that flawed. She'd never intentionally do anything that'd put the village at such risk so she suspected perhaps it was someone with a grudge though in this case, the Sennin thought it was rather more than a grudge.

Takeshi proposed an interesting idea which gave her pause and Soku gave thought to mull it over.

"In that regard, why frame Sunagakure? It would make better sense to pin the blame on the Hidden Cloud since we have a long-standing treaty with them and that would certainly do more damage to us."

All of the pieces of the puzzle weren't going in the right places which was frustrating, perhaps they'd done it just to get a laugh and that was the fact that frustrated her even more. Soku knew one thing however, if the Hidden Sand was indeed responsible, the Will of Fire would not show any more remorse when they arrived.

"I can draft a messenger pigeon to be sent soon but we are in the process of assembling a delegation to be sent there, these matters require a face-to-face converstation and Lady Fifth, I will request I be assigned to that team. I have families wanting anwsers for their deceased and I can only give them this way."

Otherwise, she might go down in history as the Sennin that stood by and did nothing as her people suffered for the actions of a few.

"Additonally, after we leave, I agree with Takeshi-sama that the gates be ordered closed and no is to be allowed entry or exit without the explicit approval of one of the Sennin or the Hokage. Until this matter is put to rest, I won't rest easy knowing the responsible party is out there.."