"We prepare for war." I said, concluding my brief of events in the past weeks. My council was awestruck, all three were slack jawed with eyes far away from the room they occupied. Ao seemed to be the only one present of mind but even he was just as tense, all the more as he witnessed everything I'd just reported.
Lord Funato was the first to look up at me, the wrinkly old man seemed to chew on what he wanted to say, glancing between Uncle Aoto and Lady Megumi. In the end, he grunted and shuffled at the edge of his seat, "But…with who?" He asked, looking at his fellows, "Konoha? Whoever this Madara imposter is at the end of the day he's an Uchiha."
Lady Megumi seemed to agree, "Mm, if as you say, they have been visited by the Nine-Tails then this is the best time to crush them, permanently."
Uncle Aoto shook his head as he leaned forward, "No, no, I don't think war with Konoha was among Yagura's motivations going there. We've helped them now, more so than any of their allies have. We've gotten a powerful new jutsu as a result but that won't be enough, for us or for Konoha."
"What do you mean?" Lord Funato asked.
"Weren't you listening? There's an Uchiha running around attacking Kages and Hidden Villages and by the sound of what he's done to Konoha, he really hates them." Aoto said, crossing his fingers as he continued, "He won't be satisfied with just unleashing the Nine-Tails and enabling the death of the Fourth Hokage, nor will he be satisfied with Yagura's escape, he will return and when he does, he will be war-ready. As his first targets, Kirigakure and Konohagakure are natural allies against him, sometime soon, we will have to hold hands with them or risk becoming victims."
I nodded, pleased with Uncle's deduction, "Well said, but as willing as we are I only hope the same goes for whoever becomes their Fifth Hokage."
Lord Funato shrugged, "Sarutobi is still alive, isn't he? He will retake the mantle, surely."
Letting out a deep sigh, I tried not to sink in my seat thinking about Hiruzen as Hokage, "Perhaps, but as much as I respect his legend, I worry he isn't the right person…Minato was…well, he's dead now."
A lot of the tragedy set to occur in the future is as a result of that old man's negligence. It felt poor to think but I wished Hiruzen performed the Death Reaper Seal instead of Minato. In hindsight, perhaps I could have helped that outcome in some way. But hindsight breeds nothing but regret. What's done is done, at least Kushina is alive.
"Who else could be a candidate? You mentioned Jiraiya the Sannin was present before you left." Lady Megumi asked.
I shook my head, "I did my best to nudge him in that direction without outright declaring a preference but I doubt the Toad Sannin will settle as Hokage. He's far too…adventurous." I knocked my desk and moved on from the subject, "Either way, we will be together against the imposter. Minato was meant to update me on Konoha's operations in Amegakure but…well, without him alive to give the say so, any details of what happened there are classified secrets until our agents uncover them. But for now, know that Amegakure hosts the enemy."
"Hosts?" Uncle asked, picking up on my unique choice of wording.
"Yes, the people of the Hidden Rain aren't necessarily our enemies, but their leaders are certainly in cohorts with those who are. I want eyes on Amegakure, as close as we can without…igniting another incident." I said, secretly hoping Amegakure themselves didn't do something as foolish as seek out vengeance against Kirigakure.
"Sir, I will be best for that task." Ao said, stepping out of my shadow.
"Indeed, the Byakugan will allow-" Lady Megumi began but I cut in before she could give an argument.
"No, I need your eyes watching Utakata from now on, Ao. In fact, I believe it might be best to have you as his Jounin lead."
Ao seemed caught off guard but his eye quickly hardened, "Of course, Mizukage-sama, I understand. The Six-Tails Jinchuriki cannot fall victim to the Masked Man."
"Who will you have him teamed up with? Utakata is already a Chuunin, isn't he?" Lady Megumi asked, a greedy smile edging on her lips.
I waved the question away, "I will decide that later, I need to speak with the boy anyway, he might have some choice of his own. Regardless, Utakata must not be left without guard, the Six-Tails rampaging in the village is an outcome we must avoid at all costs."
I'd given Utakata some instruction on how to reach Saiken within his seal, how to befriend the Tailed-Beast and even introduced him to Isobu in some measure. But I didn't know how much progress he's made with his Tailed-Beast, Jason's memories told me Utakata and Saiken never ended up getting along until he died and was sealed in the Gedo Statue, but I won't be waiting around for that to happen.
"Utakata has shown true promise with his control over his burden, he was even better at it than you until…huh, what even happened that you suddenly have so much control over the Three-Tails? Harusame mentioned that you don't even need the complete seal to keep it in control anymore." Uncle asked, scratching the buzz of his stubble.
"Exactly what I am hoping Utakata accomplishes, I cannot describe what I did nor do I want to right now, very few would understand or need to." As I said this Uncle frowned a bit but recovered quickly as I continued on to say, "Now that I've returned we can move forward with our plans for Yureisen and Midoriwara."
Lord Funato nearly stood up, "Ah ha. We meant to settle who would control which island but your ah, interim," he side eyed Uncle Aoto, "kept getting in the way. I hope you can resolve this, Mizukage-sama."
Mizukage-sama huh. Kiss ass. I took a breath and looked between my councillors, Lady Megumi just as eager to hear what will decide who controls what and Uncle just pleased watching the two old folks butt heads.
My silence didn't seem to sit well with Lord Funato as he spoke again, "I have already prepared an arena for our clan's representatives to fight for the honour."
"Clan representatives?" Lady Megumi gasped, genuinely taken aback by Lord Funato, "Since when did the Demon of the Mist belong to the Funato clan? He is a clanless talent you're too keen on exploiting because none among the Funato clan can face up against our scion."
"Your scion is but a child you have holstered the expectations of the Third Mizukage on, a shame your granddaughter can't live up to her father's name, isn't it?" Lord Funato bit back with a crack of his cane, "Bring a shinobi of your clan that isn't a child and I'll-"
"He is no child! He is a talent your clan has lacked since the First Mizukage passed, you scoun-"
"Enough!" I yelled, cutting through the inter clan rivalry, "This will be decided by game, yes, a game of shogi. Your representatives, whoever you choose them to be, will challenge Aoto. The goal is not to win but not to lose. Do with that as you will."
Neither of them looked satisfied but that was often the best case scenario in situations like these. I sighed as their grumbling continued in mutters and murmurs before Uncle Aoto said, "It will be my pleasure to help conclude this matter, shogi is a drunken passion of mine after all, bwahaha!"
Uncle's laughter might as well be evil. I rarely snuck wins out against him even when he was sodden with alcohol and I'm certain Funato and Megumi had experienced similar confounding losses against him.
"Whoever loses more valued pieces against Aoto will settle for Yureisen." I said with finality. "Now then, what's next on the docket?"
Uncle turned a fading grin to me, "There is the matter of Kumogakure."