Reliving Your Worst Nightmare

Approved plant man.

After the rest of the shinobi had exited the office room, the Mizukage had heard the response Murata was giving him. She wasn't wrong in assuming that a bit of independence was needed here and there but he would have hoped she would have at least instructed them better on the laws surrounding the area, or at least accompany them and make sure they don't get caught in doing whatever heinous acts they may or may not try to perform. Nonetheless, he didn't really care one way or the other about this situation anymore. All of his villagers had returned relatively safe so there was that. Letting out a sigh, the Mizukage thought it was time. He was done with his role and all the responsibilities that came with it. "Listen Murata, I'll be honest with you, I didn't call you here for just the report or the altercations that may or may not have taken place in Hoshigakure. I'm officially informing you that I'm going to retire as the Mizukage and I want you to be my successor. Although I would like to think I've made some good progress in the direction of Kirigakure, I can't see myself doing this indefinitely. I need some time to myself. My real self, not as Aloide Terumi the Mizukage but as Kizmaru Senju." 


"It doesn't need to be a long time for you either but I need somebody here behind the desk with good leadership and communication skills even if they aren't the strongest shinobi in the village on which we the village pride ourselves on. Keita here, will accompany me as well as I go and relax and find myself near the borders of the country. Will you accept my position," the Mizukage had asked.  

W.C: 294

Aloide Terumi melts away, and from the moment he opens his mouth Murata can tell that she is dealing with the man underneath the mask. Kizmaru Senju speaks, and Murata listens, standing at attention as her future is decided. The only sign of a response on her face is the way her eyes flicker sideways to Keita's as if looking for a way out. She does not find one.

"Pardon me," Murata says, voice quiet. She pulls a chair to her side of the table and sits down. 

She's silent for a long few moments, hands clasped in her lap. If it weren't for the hard knit of her eyebrows it might seem as though he's sent her into shock.

"...here I was hoping I might get away with a slap on the wrist," she finally jokes. Despite everything, there is a note of humor in her voice, and she raises her gaze to meet Aloide - no, Kizmaru's.  So close to him, she can judge that he doesn't seem to be much older than she is. Despite every misgiving she has with the shinobi system and its history, this man is the reason why she has a home. It could have been any of the villages, maybe, but it ended up being here.

But... sentimentality aside, this is too big for her. The world is at their throats. There's the matter of Hoshigakure to address. Is she to be responsible for the continuing exploitation of another village? The terror of responsibility wells in her, the conviction that with her at the helm, this house of cards will collapse in an instant. Despite her jokes, that is what causes her to pale further, and both men in the room had seen fear in her eyes. There's anger, too. He's abandoning them now? To go lounge on the beach?

Samehada stirs at her side where it is hidden with a low gigigigi, roused by some mix of its new companion's emotions, the powerful chakra in the room, and the allure of power.

So, what if she says no?

Another stranger deciding the lives of her and her friends? Of countless others out there in the world who will be affected by her village's actions? But then... how can she trust herself to defend the people she cares about? She walked in here expecting to face accountability for failing to protect Kita, and now his life, and the lives of so many others, are thrust into her shaking hands. Murata reaches up, brushing hair behind her ear, opens her mouth to speak, hesitates.

Is there someone else? 


Kizmaru had chosen her. That has to mean something, even if she cannot understand why.


Murata exhales, deflating in a way not dissimilar to the way Kizmaru had a minute before.

"I accept," she says. "I will do my best not to let you down."

Her gaze narrows, burning, a spark there that perhaps had been the very thing to make him trust her with this responsibility.

"Before you go, Kizmaru... I need to know everything."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Kizmaru was happy to know he could finally rest and be at peace with the decisions he's made up until this point. It makes it worthwhile that he could feel some sort of solace of everything he's built up. After a moment of silence, A smile broke out from under the mask of his armor as he rose to his feet immediately, stripping the Kage robe off of his armor and taking off the hat that he wore on top of the armor's hat. When he was done, he figured it was time to address that question of hers about wanting to know everything. Everything, huh? Wonders where everything began and what exactly he should talk about. Maybe he should start at the very beginning to where he was just stepping into office in order to reform the village as a whole. "You want to know everything? Well, where shall I start? Ah, I know. I guess I should start from when I first took up office. Kirigakure wasn't exactly as prosperous as it was now. It seems the people allowed to live here, and I mean that literally, was people who swore undying fealty towards my predecessor."

"Needless to say, after his disappearance things didn't exactly get better on their own as there weren't many people here anymore to begin with. Only those who couldn't afford to go anywhere else and nobody was interested in stepping up to fill the shoes of the past Mizukage and so here was introduced a young man that didn't know much about the ways of the world, still genin so to speak. Older than most genin, relatively speaking. He decided he would take on the burden of running this village and attempting to steer it in a direction where all could live and visit freely. Unfortunately, things didn't start out smoothly. Usurpers, greedy nobles, and the media had tried to reject the appearance of an unknown Kage to which they had started out hiding their identity every time he was in the general vicinity of the public. Heh, two unruly individuals in particular had actually had the nerve to sit in his office one day and tried to challenge my authority once. Get this, they wanted to be known as heroes before a fight broke," Kizmaru had said, laughing eerily similar to manically laugher. 

"Ah sorry about that, anyway since the Mizukage has appeared time and time again after that, its clear who came out on top. Afterwards, the Mizukage had continued to work on building up his village to get back to a strong economy. Things were going great until they got various alarming reports. One of them was about the gatekeeper assigned to guard the village and keep unwanted people from having trouble with a particular visitor that demanded to see the Mizukage. After not taking no for an answer, a battle ensued and an uchiha younger than them lost his life. Now, his eyes are currently mine. Another one from the Mizukage's bodyguard and village gatekeeping security had made a report of the storm barrier taking some heavy damage and some unidentified flying object a couple hundred meters over the village itself trying to make its way in. According to speculation, they had thought it was related to the barrier weakening but it wasn't actually confirmed as the flying figure had been disabled and fell out of the sky, claimed the village gate guards. When all was said and done, the anbu had gone and found the bodies of two shinobi believed to be from Kazangakure, a little unknown settlement not too far from here."

"They weren't exactly cautious of their flight paths so it was quite easy to trace where they were from even if they had no belongings that would identify them with various reports throughout Island country. The reports go more into detail if you'd like to shift through all of that somewhere. Nothing of note happens for a good long while as one would prefer it to be but then came the Kage summit. What a trip that was for the Mizukage. Even from the first time he stepped into the meeting room, he could feel the animosity of the other four Kage. Well, three Kage and one usurper.  Immediately, the Mizukage was asked to free Konoha by all the other villagers, no doubt the ring leader being the Kazekage of course. Made demands but didn't offer up anything. It was quite irritating really, so the Mizukage also offered a counter offer and labelled it as non-negotiable and they didn't take too kindly to it. It was the most effective way to spit the deal they had given me back in their face. Afterwards, they had rejected it and a question of what happened to the said Uchiha that had arrived to Kiri's gates. The Mizukage simply just turned on his newly acquired Sharinagn in response."

"Admittedly, it wasn't the smartest thing he's done but the point got across nonetheless. Eventually, they couldn't come to an agreement so the Mizukage was escorted out of the village alongside his bodyguard. After he had returned to his village, he had immediately set out once more to deal with an issue that was left unresolved for a little while. So he went to Kazangakure and figured since it was such a small settlement, they were just a bunch of savages that needed to be made an example of. A questionable individual had been leaving. Didn't bother saying a word to him as it seems he was just going about his business. All of a sudden, the Mizukage was attacked and couldn't figure out from where, at first the Mizukage thought the person that had walked by me was the culprit but when the Mizukage turned to attack him, he just used the technique Earth Spear and ran at speeds I couldn't keep up on my own. Still, this didn't stop the attacks from coming and he fended them off until the real culprit had come out. Twas the Kazekage's bodyguard, one of the former Kazekage themselves, the one known as the ragdoll."


"They fought for a little bit and the Mizukage saw his chance to attack and attempted to land a decisive blow as well as do what he had come to do. After that, he had gone back to Kiri to recollect his thoughts and been here until the chuunin exams had started before going over to Hoshigakure to watch as well as attend to some, "personal" matters," he had said. He included as many details as he could remember along the tales he told of the previous Mizukage so the current one wasn't left in the dark. He told this story while he was changing out of the robes so he was practically done by the time the story ended. "Well, this is it for me for the time being, oh right, two more things. I'd like to learn one more technique before I go, the 'Mist Rain' technique it was called. Also, I'd like you to accompany me to the gates of Kirigakure," he said lastly. With that, he would then address anything else the new Mizukage would ask as well as listen to her answer for his request before heading out of her office to Kirigakure's gates. He figured some time outside of the village would do him some good, though he didn't plan on leaving the country. 

[Exit.]

W:C: 1,237
T.W.C: 3,073

Claims
Stepping down as Mizukage. 

Ability Claims (25% Word Count Discount)
Using 3,000 words into Mist Rain

Murata patiently listens, mind working on every detail. She eyes the hat set on the table, not quite ready to touch it.

The first matter is that of the First Mizukage. She has not had an opportunity to tell even Kizmaru of her findings, and, well... it isn't his problem anymore. If it is to become public he will find out soon enough. Her responsibility is no longer just to find out the truth - it's to disseminate it in such a way that isn't unduly disruptive to the people she is now responsible for. Of course everybody needs to know. It's just a matter of how and when.

Kizmaru's description of his early days as Kage puts her mind somewhat at ease. It will be difficult, but he was not so different than she is. Her birthplace is not Kirigakure or its predecessors, which may hurt her, but in a village that still fundamentally values strength she may have a better starting point than the ambitious genin.

Murata makes a note to herself to speak to the gatekeeper and find more information on this first invader, as the description the Second gives her is somewhat vague, especially given he had taken these strangers' eyes. Her mouth tenses into a line at his description of taking this young one's eyes after the ordeal they'd gone through in Kirigakure. Well, she cannot much blame Kita for his ambition now, given the example his leader has set. Hopefully there is a better way to handle this lust for strength than what has come before with back-alley deals and secrets.

When be begins to speak of the Kage Summit, she leans forwards a little. An usurper? If four other Kage were there, that must include the current leader of Konohagakure. What were they doing there, if they were supposedly under Kirigakure's boot? Would that be the so-called usurper? Murata realizes, now, that herself and her companions have never been assigned to missions in the Land of Fire. She had known their control of Konohagakure to be hands-off, but the presence of a Hokage - presumably allied with the Kazekage, if they are leading the charge on the Hokage's behalf - speaks to neglect of their supposed vassal. It may be that the arrangement is at this point purely financial, which would explain much of these questions. She'll have to look into things soon.

Murata's eyebrows raise at the description of such a prestigious Suna-nin making a brazen assassination attempt. Is every nation on earth waiting for them to make a move in response to their aggression? The only potential neutral party she can think of this point would be the Cloud, and even then Kizmaru's description of the Summit is not encouraging.

"Of course," is all she can say to his requests, the words not quite feeling like her own. Kizmaru would always be welcome to the village he built. "Consider yourself promoted to a Master of Kirigakure, Kizmaru."

It's a little bit of a joke, but it's true. Aloide seems like he may be left behind here, with only Kizmaru leaving the room - and Murata accompanying him. Presumably Keita follows as well, and the ANBU Scyxion leans against the door as they exit, greeting his new Mizukage with a slight nod and shadowing behind them towards the gates.


553
TWC 1541

Training Tempest Release at max stat discount for 1,500 words

Approved

Keita was simply a decoration for the most part, and he found it not quite surprising that Kizmaru had had about enough of the Kage life, considering he had been dodging his duties as much as possible in the last six months or so, but he was worried about the village as a whole. He knew that Murata was a competent person, so he was not worried about the leadership aspect, but about the prospect of a large deterrent suddenly stepping down, although they would technically still be there. Still, Keita nodded and left after Kizmaru asked him to. "Farewell, Lord Mizukage" Keita would say to Murata before vanishing out of sight.
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EXIT
might make claims later