Change of Plans...? (Mort)

Finally, the priest had caught the Raikage at a good time. He hadn't gotten a real chance to talk to the man, seeing as he was wrapped up with his own internal affairs. Probably had to do with his future wife and their wedding arrangements. The thought of the two polar opposites getting joined in unholy matrimony was just excellent. There was no other word for it really. Someone as bright, energetic and bubbly as Aki being matched with someone as... flat, dutiful and void as The Raikage willingly going through with this was nothing less than something out of a children's story. He kept whatever smile that would have normally formed to himself, though, because he was now in the his lord's domain. This was nothing so immediately important Vaneda had to enter without authorization. The child was in no danger nor was his plan going to be jeopardized by anything unforeseen. Everything was right in it's little place and that gave Vaneda the privilage to be formal about his proposal. So he knocked on the Raikage's office door, his eagerness all too invisible beneath the mask of his business face. He went through all the possibilities in his mind, ranging from outright refusal to silent praise.

From what he's seen from his master, at the very least, he might openly consider the idea he has for him. Perhaps question Vaneda's motives for dumping the child off, but it was something he expected. In this job, Vaneda couldn't afford to lower his guard, only reinforce it further. The child, not the rings that bind, must be the force that keeps Akihana around. He knows that when it comes to life, she praises it as much as Vaneda does Jashin. He knows that Aki would likely put her own life out for this infant if it was put in front of her. He knows that lord Raikage would have another double-agent at his disposal, trained by her potential father. All Vaneda had to offer were gifts, at least, what he thought of as gifts. Jashin knows what the lord Raikage would accept.

Mortarion was fairly busy these days, a lot more than he had grown accustomed to, everyone seemed to need him in some capacity or another on top of this wedding. When he had received word that his Anbu had requested a meeting with him his annoyance factor increased slightly with the load he had been given. What did Vaneda need, had he already been successful in his endeavor to learn Akihana's secrets?

As the Kage wrote on paper and signed off on more documents his brain went to and from attempting to figure out what the jashinist would need to tell him that he couldn't have sent a letter. The knock on his door came moments after he had sensed the male arriving. He looked up from his work with a slight scowl as he straightened himself upright in his chair.

Today he wore a simple black habit the hood still atop his head covering his facial features yet his eyes still eternally spun their red sharingan.

"Come in Vaneda, tell me what you've come to say."

Upon hearing his knock, The Raikage invited his servant, Vaneda, into his office, asking what he had to say. He'd walk in and close the door behind him, his posture up right, at attention, as he prepared his speech one last time. He didn't want to ruin his own proposition by explaining every last possible detail, so he shortened it to the bones and blood of what he really planned to say.

"I have an idea, one regarding the child you have put in my care." Vaneda began, referring to the infant the Raikage had saved from his wrath. "I have learned much about how Akihana operates. I know she's a very soft, sweet individual. I know that she is powerful, but favors life so intensely, he would seek out rats in slums for joy. I also know how intensely she despises her time here, in Kumo, but this is where the child comes in." The priest paused for a moment, gazing into those swirling red pools in the Raikage's face. "Adopt her from the nursery." He anticipated immediate backlash, but if there was none, Vaneda would continue. "This is an opportunity we don't want to miss. Akihana, despite how much she tries to hide it, hates this place and that hatred might lead to rebellion, no matter what is hanging over her head. Everything except a fresh, newborn life in her care. I can't say I know if Akihana will or will not turn against you, but what I can say is that with someone so powerful, we can't afford to take that chance. So, what I'm proposing is a deterrent to potential betrayal, but there is also another benefit: A soldier built from the ground up by the Raikage himself." The priest paused once again, checking to see any open objection to his plan. This was a risky, but highly rewarding maneuver. He wondered if the Raikage could see that, or if he chose to.

"The child will be putty in your hands, able to be manipulated mentally and physically to your whim, giving you an additional agent, one with unwavering loyalty. Akihana won't be able to resist the motherly instincts within her, and even though she might be resistant at first, a few well placed words and she too will fall right into place. Whatever distaste or hatred she might feel will be quelled and whatever plans she may be making ot escape will be halted, if not crushed entirely. Granted, I will accomplish my mission long before the infant comes of age and I've already been tasked with watching over the infant while it grows, but this is a perfect oppertunity to restrain a threat walking around the village right now AND give you something to show for the trouble."

Mortarion listens to the words that his Anbu speaks closely, he pays great attention to every syllable uttered. Every word carries a different inflection if spoken in a different tone and he replays them in his head to see if Vaneda is hiding anything. The boy is very logical with his thoughts and everything he says does indeed make sense to the plague lord as he goes through his documents reading and marking down various things. As his Anbu finishes Mortarion removes himself from his chair stepping around the desk to approach his guard face to face. His right arm finds it's way to Vaneda's shoulder and he looks him in the eyes before speaking .

"Again, you come to me with a logical method of attack and a very well thought out motive..however with how you have worded the plan causes me to halt. It is clear to me that by the way you mention the child in your care that you have not yet truly grasped why I have turned her over to you."

His hand removes itself from the males shoulder as he leans back against his desk with a slight look of disappointment on his face. In his mind he wonders if the Anbu would be able to see what it was that his Kage was trying to teach him. He knows that Vaneda has the ability to do so just if he has the mind to see it. He ponders it a little more before speaking again.

"I'll allow you to introduce the child to Akihana, you are correct her bond is strongest with the young. Nothing more, nothing less. Vaneda, I will say this, if I find our next conversation about this child unpleasant again I will have you adopt her, maybe then you will see what I see.

Mortarion returns to his desk where he sits, lokking up at his Anbu, the male has so much promise, and he hopes that he isn't being too hard on him. The kage expects perfection from everything and this matter is no different. With a sigh he looks around his office while talking in a calm voice.

"I respect your effort to be one step ahead, you are truly gifted. I did not give you this task to manipulate her, you have the ability to be true to  both sides of the coin and form true relationships. In those relationships you can then decide honestly what is right and wrong. That is why I have not told you what to say or do, and have given you full creative control."

Reaching into one of his drawers he pulls out a tiny black vial, the substance moves on its own rocking back and forth against the glass. He tosses it to Vaneda before speaking on what it is.

"This is your Anbu gear, I spent countless hours making it, it's something of a prototype but it is geared towards your style of combat. I hope it serves you well, and you it."

The Raikage's reaction was something of a mixed bag, as it was when Vaneda first got himself into this dilemma with this child. It seemed that there was a purpose to the the man assigning that child to him after all, though he did not elaborate on it. He expected a priest that knew nothing but murder and manipulation to figure out what this was and maybe that was the whole point of it all. Perhaps he wanted Vaneda to know, to experiance the other joys in life. Perhaps he wanted Vaneda to raise this child so he could learn when to preserve it and when to end it. The thought made him cringe internally. On the one hand, what the Raikage might've intended was betrayal of god himself. It was saying that men decide when the god gets his fill, that the servants serve when they feel it's appropriate. Nothing under the sun has the authority to defy a god, any god. When he asks for something, it's delivered. No questions, no hassle. On the other hand, the Raikage's strange mix of compliments and discipline left a strange taste in his mouth. Somehow, he suspected that if someone the Raikage didn't invest as much into proposed this plan, he wouldn't be nearly as.... gentle. Vaneda didn't quite know how to feel about that... Especially with his hand on his shoulder. It was the only active display of affection he had ever seen the Raikage deliver. This only intensified the mix of emotions within himself.

He had given Vaneda the go-ahead to introduce the child, which was all the priest had asked for, but the Raikage offered an ultimatum: if he delivered news like this again, the child would be his in an official sense. That was enough motivation for Vaneda to get this right the first time. With that threat hanging over his head, he couldn't afford to screw it all up. He gave a silent prayer to lord Jashin that he could get this to work and that he wasn't wrong about Akihana. The last thing he needed was a ball of heresy in his house waiting for him every day after work.

With a sigh, the Raikage went back behind his desk and dug around in one of the drawers, looking for something. Before Vaneda could question the action, his lord tossed a small vial at him, caught in Vaneda's right hand as it flew at his chest. He looked from the vial to the Raikage as he explained that this here was his Anbu Armor, created after tireless hours of construction.

"Anbu...Gear?" The priest repeated, holding the small glass container up to his face as he observed the black fluid within. It was syrupy, clinging to the walls of it's container as it sloshed around the inside. This was going to wear when he goes into battle for the Raikage? He was expecting some sort of cuirass or a mask or greaves or something. Instead, he acquired a small vial of black liquid. He knew he was going to sound stupid or ungrateful for asking this question, but it was one that needed to be said nonetheless.

"Understood, It will not go to waste." He said a bit dubiously. "Though, at the risk of sounding uninformed, how exactly do I put this on?"

Lifting his own arm and allowing the robes to fall backwards against his arm he would motion his head downwards. Under his skin the red and black symbiote would begin to bubble from his skin covering his arm.

"It fuses with your body and replicates itself among your cells allowing full body coverage. you'll get used to it once you try it a few times."

With that his attention went back to the paperwork in front of him, he had much to do and even more to sign.

"I'll trust you can see yourself out, and I look forward to further reports."

(exit)

(Exit)

Claiming Anbu Symbiote