Covert Affairs [P]

Dusk; that moment before all natural sunlight is snuffed from the sky and perhaps one of the more idyllic times of day in Konohagakure. Lanterns lined the streets lighting the way for Konoha's nightlife and a mild breeze hinted at an early spring; it was a perfect night. However, if one looked for Ashi Inuzuka at any of the local watering holes their search would be in vain. Instead of carousing through the streets as she did in her off-time the Inuzuka found herself decked out in full anbu garb with her messy of brown hair in a makeshift pony tail that reached down her back much like a dog's tail. The midnight black cloak that clung to her body obscured the armor that lay beneath and the porcelain white mask protected her identity yet also gave her one, operative Wolf of the Konoha anbu.

Absent from her side as she strode through the empty lower levels of the kage building was Chairomaru, her loyal companion. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the meeting she was headed to the woman thought it better to leave Chai behind. Naturally, she would fill in the large mutt in later, but it would not do to crowd the Hokage's office. That being said, despite her armor, Ashi felt naked without her Chai at her side. For now though it was an inconvenience she would have to deal with.

Not a soul remained on the lower levels of the administration building as a result of the late hour. However, the upper levels were a different story as the Inuzuka well knew. Ascending the steps to the upper floors she caught brief glimpses of guards and a few hard working members of Konoha's bureaucracy burning the midnight oil. Walking through the dimly lit hallway that led to the Hokage's chambers Ashi came to a stop at the once imposing door. If the guards there did not stop her then she would proceed forward by pulling the door open and stepping inside.

Good thing I'm expected.

"Hokage-sama," Ashi said with a deep bow directed at wherever the man may be in the room-if he was there at all. The woman would then step to the left side of the door so as to not impede anyone else entering the room. Standing with her hands clasped behind her back much like one would expect from solider, Ashi waited silently. If the woman had learned anything in service of Konoha and its anbu it was that manners went a long way when higher ups are concerned. Better to wait to be invited to stand at ease than assume anything. Even if the man who now held the Hokage seat had once been a Raikage he deserved respect, it was, regrettably, the way of things.

Like a cat in the middle of the night, Cheshire rushed through the village streets as a silent shadow, keeping a tabs on everything that was going on during the young night. T’is was true that she, along as the other anbu were to make themselves present to the Hokage soon, but Artemis couldn’t help one last lap through the village to make sure all was well through the village. Of course, there were those entering their homes after a long day, others were making their way towards the streets to begin a night of festivities. Then there were the few who were just getting started to their day who work night shifts. At last, there were those like the anbu operative, whose day was just continuing on, and probably wouldn’t end until the sun awoke once more.

With silent steps, Artemis found herself in front of the Hokage building. All was quiet except the distance cheers that came from the nearby pubs, something that the girl had never really experienced herself. Cheshire finally stepped into the building to find a rather empty first floor. It seemed everyone had gone home for the evening besides the guards. Still in her attire, it didn’t seem likely for the girl to be stopped as she made her way up to the Hokage’s chambers, but she still took careful steps just in case if she was halted. She would finally reach the door where she could see light creeping through the small crevice below the door. The girl slowly opened it to see that the Hokage was there along with another anbu operative who seemed to have gotten there before her. It was Operative Wolf, one who was familiar to Cheshire. Taking suit, Artemis took a slight bow to show her respect. “Hokage-Sama"

Being Hokage was a lot more demanding than being the Raikage ever was, part of it had to have come from the fact that he actually cared about Konoha and of course there was the fact that he wasn't making his village fear him like he had done in the past. He never had to deal with paperwork, never really talked to ANBU, he couldn't remember if Kumo even had elders for his entire reign as Raikage. Meanwhile Konoha had a lot of paperwork to deal with which he expected after his visits when Viper was Hokage. 'God damn, I don't even know for sure how some of this works, guess I can do what Viper was always doing.' he did remember however that Viper seemed to just repeatedly stamp papers and move on.

He had called his ANBU in as well so that he could get their input on the state of the village along with giving them the option to go on a fairly important mission. It didn't take long for all three of them to walk into his office, through the door no less, bowing to him and showing him a level of respect he wasn't quite used to. "Okay okay, at ease." he still wasn't too comfortable with formal talks yet, he'd rather his ANBU have the choice to be a little more casual when talking to him. "I've called you three in here today because I'd like to know if there's any problems or issues or threats the village is facing that you all might know about. So speak freely, if you have a direct issue with me I'd like for us to solve it together, I may be your boss but I still need ANBU help in order to keep the village in one piece." He figured it was best to just get that out there and have the openly address anything they wished to.

Perhaps a younger, less experienced, operative Wolf would have taken the Hokage's leave to stand at ease to mean 'feel free to lean against the wall or put your feet up'. However, that was not the case with the current Wolf. Instead the woman widened her stance and allowed herself to slouch ever so slightly; her stance did not really change much. This was about as relaxed as Wolf got when on the job. Of course, off the job was a different story.

I have no issues besides you being a shinobi of Kumogakure with a questionable right to rule.

The long scar on Wolf's back twinged ever so slightly as if to remind her of that fateful day Konohagakure invaded the village hidden in the clouds. The mask on her face and stony professionalism would hide such thoughts for now. Wolf was not one to bare her every waking thought to anyone, even the Hokage.

"If I may," Ashi spoke up first asking for the floor. If no one interrupted she would continue. "I don't think I would be wrong in saying that another village would be foolish to attack Konohagakure directly and as a result our enemies are not so much nations as they are individuals. As of late, two individuals have come to my attention. One by the name of Salzem Alagahara who abandoned our village only to be taken in and jailed. As you probably know he then proceeded to escape custody and is currently at large."

A slight pause as Wolf considered how to word what she needed to say.

"The other one you may also know, she goes by the name of Kiramono. If you have read my reports you will find that she has a multitude of bloodlines not her own one of which she claims comes from a deceased member of our village along with eyes of red unlike any I have ever seen. Furthermore, she appears to have knowledge that is best kept under wraps such as the existence of the Fourth's children. I am not saying she is threat, but she could become one if her inclination for bloodline mongering continues within our village walls or if she has loose lips."

Straightening her posture once more the woman prepared to wrap up her rather lengthy list of concerns.

"I am of the firm belief that we should readily pursue deserters of our village and make a concerted effort to better understand those we allow into the village along with where they come from."

Allowing the slouch to return to her spine, Wolf fell silent. She would not bring up her final hope, that the swapping of bloodlines like trading cards be condemned by the Leaf village. That was not her place nor was it the time.

Konohgakure's influence in the shinobi world was not what it had once been. New villages had cropped up and old ones were reborn. There was a time when the Leaf had the whole shinobi world in it's firm grasp, but that grip loosened since the dissolution of the Fire Nation. Certainly the village was still strong, but its intelligence on other villages had faltered, which was dangerous. A lack of knowledge of both friends and foes was a good way to get one's self killed in the shinobi world.

Once the hokage spoke, the girl stood erect once more. Cheshire took noticed of Tiger entering the room shortly after her before Kurisu continued on. Problems,issues,threats within the village? Or an issue with the hokage himself. Hmm. The girl thought on this momentarily, letting it circle within her mind as she though of the recent events that had transpired within the village. Artemis didn’t have any direct issue with the Hokage so far. While he may have been associated with Kumogakure once upon a time, his history with the leaf village as well as his connections with previous leaders gave him a more validated background . So long as he continued to do his job as the Hokage and continued to protect the same people the Pendragon had sworn to protect, she would have no issues with him.

Moving along to other matters, Operative Wolf as the first the speak of the issues surrounding the hidden leaf. Her concerns were individuals rather than groups, one of those being the boy named Salzem who had fled the village a few months back. The anbu could recall reading the report on him, and his successful prison attempt shortly after the boy returned. There was something definitely odd about his case. He left the village without a word, and then returned several months later only to be imprisoned and in front of several ninja, just vanished from thin air. Surely he had some outside help, and something that should be investigated.

Next came talks of the woman known as Kiranomo. Based on Wolf’s report that Artemis did get the chance to read, she was a rather odd stranger that the girl had worried about herself. Along with what was mentioned from the report, Artemis had done some digging too, and Kiranomo didn’t have the best standing with the village once upon a time, though for some reason it had seem that her actions had been pardoned.

“I second Wolf’s notions. We should be prepared to apprehend those who attempt to leave, as well as return those who have already left. Salzem couldn’t have fled the prison without outside help, and his possibly allied could be a threat to us.” She began. “As for Kiranomo, her presence within our walls worries me. Her history with out village is rather questionable and I fear for the safety of our people. If you trust her enough to have her within our walls, that’s fine so long as there are a pair of eyes watching her at all times.”

Artemis would end her opinion with that, before letting herself blend in with the other two anbu as everyone waited to see if Operative Tiger had anything else to add on.

The three ANBU each gave their thoughts and seemed to be on the same page. Two names came up, Salzem Alagahara and Kiranomo, each presenting a different problem with the latter being the more serious threat. Based on the reports his ANBU had given and the statements they had just made Kurisu realized that there was indeed more to Kiranomo than what had been revealed when he met with her. He couldn't quite judge the taking of the Uchiha's bloodline although he had given up his own in the process and never sought to do more but he did have Viper's blessing. Topping that off was the fact that Kiranomo knew of Viper's kids, something that made Kurisu feel uneasy.

First thing was first, he had to address the situation with Salzem escaping from prison after trying to leave the village. "I'll get a team together to go out and search for Salzem and have him brought back to be questions and have his punishment be determined. As far as other deserters of the village, we will be more active in trying to prevent that in the first place along with hunting down anyone that actually does it." he was not going to just let people abandon village and especially not just escape from custody.

Now came the Kiranomo problem. "As you should already know, I've spoken with Kiranomo recently. Based on what the information she gave me and her explanations I felt as though she could be an ally. Hearing the three of you express your concerns about her makes me feel that I am probably wrong. The last thing I want to do is endanger the village, the people are family to me. If any of you see her again be careful but you have my permission to inform her that she cannot be around the village any longer. Take any action you see fit with her." part of him felt bad, but as Hokage he couldn't deny the fact that Kiranomo was a threat risk, hopefully it wouldn't come down to killing her but he had given his ANBU to go ahead to do it if they see fit.

"Is there any other concerns you three have?" he hoped there wasn't anything else serious, but if there was he'd do his best to deal with it.

Any action we see fit?

Well that was an interesting turn. Wolf had expected some resistance-at least the Hokage seemed reasonable. After all, the man before her had been the one to allow the Nara woman into the village in the first place. Perhaps, were the Inuzuka woman a more vindictive person, she would have taken pleasure in ejecting Kiranomo from the village or maybe a grim satisfaction. However, she was none of these things. Instead the woman simply accepted the directive to remove Kira from the village as just another job to be done. Hopefully, it would not come to force.

Anything else?

No, Wolf had nothing more to say. Remaining silent she ceded the floor to her two fellow operatives. How trivial it all seemed. Here they were worrying about individuals when naught but a few years ago rival nations were the concern. The world really had changed.  A cynical person might say it had stagnated, but Wolf liked to believe it had simply settled from the fever pitch it had once reached; a return to normalcy. Then again perhaps she was deluding herself to the world around her. Who was to say, really?

Artermis listened to her Hokage’s words, and simply nodded in agreement. She had nothing else to say about either of the two matters as it seemed they were all on the same page. “Very well, I will find her promptly and inform her of the situation. The other two operatives are welcome to join me on the matter, just in case she is not cooperative.” The girl let a beat pass by, and Kurisu let a moment for any other concerns that the anbu might have. Cheshire had one, but she would wait a moment to see if the others had anything else to say.

no?

Well then, Artemis took a slight step forward before she continued. “I do have one other concern Lord Hokage. While we may not have any large immediate concerns within the village, what is to come of Kumogakure?” She asked, concerned of the village’s future, and the threat that the lightning country could become. “ I fear that they could be a threat, and more information should be gathered on the village.” She wasn’t sure if her fellow operatives had similar concerns, but Kumo was the only major villages whose motives were rather questionable. It was as if they were cut off from the rest of the ninja world, and not for the best of reasons.