Interlude: The Backup Heir

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Mist’s Special Envoy had chosen her clothing carefully, just as she chose everything carefully. The lavender kimono, undecorated save for her clan crest, conjured a sense of subtlety and gentleness, while the four ninja behind her (all bearing fine weapons, though only two were weaponmasters) backed it with silent strength. The preposterously expensive hairpins rounded off the effect as a reminder of her station.



She had already judged the impact on the Hot Springs ninja present in the conference chamber. The man seated at the head of the table would be the senior adviser, while the other two were there mainly to listen and offer second opinions later, during private discussion. The senior adviser and the man on the left spoke her visual language well, and were even now trying to guess her game. The man on the right seemed more entranced by her beauty, which was pleasant but irrelevant to the mission. How long had it been since she’d had time for bedroom games?



None of these thoughts showed on her face, of course, which matched the rest of the body language for Attitude Twenty: Humility from a Position of Power. Out of the corner of her eye, the Special Envoy saw the eyes of the third Hot Springs bodyguard narrow fractionally, and over the next few seconds she swapped a few muscles into positions of greater respect. That woman was the real decision-maker, she was sure, and thus her true target.



Bow Fifteen executed, she met the senior adviser’s gaze just long enough to convey sincerity. “Thank you for giving up your valuable time to see me. My name is Kurosawa Ren, head of the Kurosawa Clan and Special Diplomatic Envoy of the Village Hidden in the Mist.”



“The pleasure is ours,” said the adviser, a middle-aged man with streaks of silver in his black hair and his headband at an angle (perhaps to hide a scar?). He gave a deep nod, but did not stand to bow. “I am Mugiwara Ryōichi, Councilman and Personal Adviser to the Lord of the Burning Waters. Please, be seated.”



He did not introduce the other two, thereby emphasising his own importance (and further drawing attention away from the observer at the back).



Ren raised her hand in a careful wave to one of her bodyguards. It was one of her own, Modified Beckon Twenty-Three: I am a Small Woman in Command of Towering Giants.



Mitsumori responded to her signal and passed her the rosewood case, which she handed to Mugiwara. Attitude Twenty already had a good set of motions for gift-giving, so she didn’t adjust anything and instead focused on the reactions. How wary would they be of receiving an unknown item from a Mist-nin?



“Please accept this gift as my thanks for granting me this audience. It is but a little thing, but I hope that it will please you.”



The Mizukage, being the kind of man he was, had suggested offering a weapon. Ren had chosen a pipe. It was a symbol of peace, relaxation and luxury. The gold decorations evoked prosperity, something on the mind of every Hot Springs ninja right now, while the carvings of the Guardian Dragons of the Depths echoed a legend known to every child from Frost to Water. “We defend our own.” The juxtaposition would invite curiosity, and sit in the receivers’ minds for when the time came for the relevant part of her speech.



It was a thing of perfection, like every tool optimised for its purpose.



"I thank you, Lady Kurosawa. This is a beautiful item." Mugiwara replaced the pipe in its case and set it aside.



“May I ask why you have graced us with your presence?”



Straight to business? Excellent. Ren smirked on the inside, while her face shifted to Expression Sixty-One: Warm but Professional.



“The Mizukage feels that it is time to renew the historic bonds between our two nations, and that the beginning of that renewal must be an apology for the inconvenience we have caused you.”



The bodyguard’s surprise was barely a flicker. Oh, to play with this woman one-on-one, matching wits without these tiresome intermediaries. But perhaps the time would still come.



“Of what inconvenience do you speak?” Mugiwara asked.



“You have suffered greatly at the hands of the so-called ‘Cold Stone Killers’, and while you must be aware by now that they are Mist missing-nin, I believe you have the right to hear the full story of how they came to be.



“Some time ago, Mist dispatched a peacekeeping force to the Country of Noodles, seeking to prevent Hidden Leaf’s steady erosion of that country’s independence by means both indirect and military. As I’m sure you are aware, Noodle’s neutrality is a key element in maintaining harmony within our region, and for it to become another of Leaf’s puppet states would have been disastrous.



“Unfortunately, we were betrayed. We have no proof of who was responsible for sabotaging our mission to protect Noodle from Leaf, though of course we may guess. This third party subverted one of our best jōnin, an expert in deception and manipulation named Inoue Mari. Inoue placed traitors among the peacekeeping force, then massacred those who remained loyal, and fled to seek shelter in the Fire Country.”



Shikigami had been too popular, and besides, who knew how many other traitors he’d left in Mist? Better to leave them thinking they were safe for now. Nor would Kanna, the non-entity, have sufficed. Whereas with Inoue’s profile and specialisation, it had been natural for her to take the fall. Not that Ren minded. If it were not for the stupid bitch, her nephew might have been saved. He’d still been young enough for “re-education”, and Ren would have made it happen, even if it cost her. If he’d only been allowed to surrender…



“Naturally,” Ren continued with Attitude Twenty as her flawless mask, “we were not willing to violate another nation’s sovereign borders in our pursuit, and despite our misgivings we elected to cooperate with Leaf authorities in hunting down the missing-nin. Unfortunately, when we tracked them down, Inoue fled with a core of particularly powerful minions while our forces were engaging the main body. Leaf’s finest sensory specialists were allegedly unable to detect this group as it escaped through their home ground.



“We continued our hunt, but without success. Inoue’s team seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth—until they surfaced here, in Hot Springs, and assassinated an important guest. Again, we cannot say at whose behest they violated the demilitarised zone, though I note that they once again fled into the Fire Country once their treachery was complete. Please rest assured that our finest hunter-nin are constantly on the lookout for these murderers so as to punish them in full for the harm they have done you and us.”



Was her mission today going to be the final straw that lead to Hazō’s death? Mist and Hot Springs both stood to regain so much face by killing her nephew and his team, and here she was brokering an alliance between them. Would Hana forgive her if she knew? Had Hana ever forgiven her?



Was she still in Resolved Commitment? That should be long enough. Time to shift to Number Sixteen: Patient Alertness, and let them give her the next opening.



“This is all very edifying, Lady Kurosawa, but surely the Mizukage didn’t send his Special Envoy merely to speak of past mistakes?”



He was starting to move into a position of dominance. Good. If Hot Springs believed they had the upper hand in negotiations, then the bargaining tomorrow would go much more smoothly.



“Indeed. We of Mist are not unmindful of the impact of the Cold Stone Killers’ actions. The elite guests of Hot Springs have gravely overreacted to the incident, and many have withdrawn their patronage out of fear for their safety. I believe it is no exaggeration to say that this country is on the verge of an economic crisis.”



The tension in the room was palpable. She was walking on the knife edge of insulting them, but at the same time their attention was totally focused on her. They had to know what their country's weakness meant to Mist.



“I am here to offer aid.”



The bodyguard wasn’t looking at her anymore. Her gaze was unfocused—calculating, predicting, evaluating—while everybody else was hanging onto Ren’s every word. Yes. This was how it should be done.



Ren loosened her shoulders as she selected Attitude Thirty-Four: Confident Magnanimity.



“Rightly or wrongly, the shinobi of Mist have earned a reputation for ruthless efficiency. We wish to place that ruthless efficiency at your service by allowing you to hire our special forces for additional protection of your hot spring resorts. Needless to say, we do not believe that our assistance is truly necessary on a practical level—the Cold Stone Killers incident is a unique blip in an otherwise unquestioned history of secure hospitality—but by adding our reputation to yours, we are confident that we can restore your customers’ faith and bring them back to you.”



Several seconds of silence.



Mugiwara stirred. “That is a very generous offer, Lady Kurosawa. But what would such unprecedented generosity cost us?”



They didn’t reject the offer outright. But then, she knew from the moment she’d walked into the room that they weren’t going to. Now the fish was on the hook, and the rest was detail.



“Nothing more than a fixed percentage of your tourist income,” Ren said lightly (Diplomat Voice Sixty Modified: This Is Me Trying to Slip Something Past You, So Focus on What I Just Said and Ignore the Real Trap Coming Up). “If our assistance is insufficient to restore your fortunes, then you will only be paying a pittance. Or if wealth is flowing into your coffers anew, we will claim a predictable, reasonable fraction.



“We will also shoulder the full setup costs for this project, including any necessary training, the construction of the logistics and coordination centre, and materiel transportation to the mainland.”



The bodyguard’s posture turned slightly more hostile. Naturally. But Ren was ready to forestall the objection.



“This is a unique opportunity for us as well. While a less stable nation might balk at inviting allied troops onto its soil, Hot Springs is a demilitarised zone secured by international treaty. Even were we to disregard our long history of common culture and aligned interests, we would be unable to conduct military action against you without inviting immediate, overwhelming retaliation from the rest of the continent. It is this layer of security that enables us to deal as equals.



“I am not here to do battle with you over diplomatic advantages and fine print,” she lied. “Only to offer a mutually beneficial arrangement that you will be free to terminate at any time you desire.”



If you’re prepared to tell your patrons that you are withdrawing the protection they’ve come to rely on.



Mugiwara stood.



“Thank you very much for your proposal, Lady Kurosawa. Please permit us to retire for the day while we discuss. Our servants shall show you to the guest chambers, and to various traditional entertainments prepared for a person of your stature.”



As he rose from his bow, he gave her a roguish wink that came off surprisingly well from a man his age. “I hope you enjoy hot springs, because they make up about three quarters of them.”



Ren thought Attitude Fourteen: Relaxed and Uninhibited would be best while she bathed.



How would Hana have handled this mission? Ren's mood sank as the eternal question reminded her of her nephew's fate. She decided to add some motions from Carefree into the mix.​