A Light in the Dark

A day like any other. A pile of paperwork plopped on the desk of the Kage with the expectation that the one who sat at the very top of the mountain and an endless demand of needs that were brought from the rest of the village. In truth, it had been many days since the desk had likely been fully cleared of work that needed to be done. Although today was no exception to this, there would be a letter addressed to the Kage stamped with the postage marked with the cartoonish outline of an owl. If the tell-tale sign of the Starfall Remedies mascot wasn't obvious, the Lord Seventh would see the meticulously practiced penmanship of Yuuma Fujiwara labeling that self-same name across the front of the note, a small seal in the back made with purple wax.

Breaking the seal on the letter would reveal a pair of folds that could be moved to the side, revealing several lines of text that had likely been done with a painstaking slowness so as to make each word perfectly legible. 


Dear Lord Seventh-

To the left, his siblings were seated Natsuki in her red dress and Toneri clad in his black armor. To his right Shina. Dusk had taken the day off, so Ayato was shadowed by Yasha Okami of Takigakure. The meeting was about matters of state and correspondence, not a war council one, which made a nice change to the tonality.

A pile of letters and peripheral paperwork was on the Starfall hall's wooden table. The room was quiet as a temple as Ayato examined the wanted poster with a big cross on the council meeting table. The brutal Grimma Raider called Money was an ugly man, and he made for an even more hideous corpse.

"So these River bastards, wasn't it?" Toneris' voice cut the air like a knife, and his dismissal tone was the sharp end of which.
"The River's Orphans." Shina insisted, causing a smirk from Yasha.
"Them," The younger Hyuuga faked a yawn. He had made no secret of his way to bury an axe on Money's skull and increase his credibility. But there is proclaiming, and there is doing. The criminal had perished in Falhalt, the town that nested at the foot of a mountain. The victim of collateral damage during a barfight, his head smashed with a bo staff, and the bounty cashed soon after that by a group of Vagabonds. Hoshigakure had put the bounty; thus, knowing where their ryo went would be resourceful.

"Are they our sponsored Vagabonds?" Natsuki asked; if they were, Ayato would already know them. "Or the Falcon Guard," Perhaps warriors from the land of birds company had done them a solid and rid the world of that raider. Any would be friendly, so long as these vagabonds were not part of Florence's crew.

"Neither," Shina said, drumming painted fingernails in red across the table. On her left hand, she held a notebook; it listed dates of reports, names of persons of interest, and probably what they had for breakfast three days ago.

"Word down the grapevine is hold no allegiance to anybody but the old man of the river." Ayato's curiosity peaked at that response, he had heard the folklore many times as a Genin.

"Bah. "Toneri reacted. "So Money was killed by a bunch of kids with wooden sticks serving the tooth fairy." He laughed. "Let me tell you what I think. These nobodies found the Raider in a pool of blood and took credit for it. The real culprit is another drunk lowlife who killed him and forgot about it. If you want to waste our financial resources looking into that nonsense, you'd be better served to send that ryo my way."

"Enough. Either act orderly or go." And Toneri went, escorted outside by Yasha but not before slamming the door on his way out. Ayato asked to look into it if news about it resurfaced but without any emergency placed in the situation. Putting the wanted poster aside, Ayato grabbed a letter with a cartoonish image of an owl. Part of his knew what it was about; his pen pal often looked to his Kage for advice when he found himself on troubled waters. Ayato was about to write another supportive letter like the one he had written all these months ago. It was like that; it's never about falling. It was always about getting back u-

"Your father would have made no bones about calling it for what it is,"  Shina said, a smile forming across her pale cheeks. Always that, as if the world was some secret joke that only she knew. "I haven't written anything yet," Ayato responded with mild dismay.

"But I know what Yuuma is doing so far is not working for him." Perhaps the spider had the right of it. If we can play our fight, we will win—one for and all for one. Self-indulging mentality like that is what got our people killed left and right last year. Dignity doesn't matter at a battle or a fight.  This is a battle about creating a shinobi from scratch. Skip the dramatical, physiological introduction and cut right to the chase.

"Dear Yuuma,

The ninja life is not easy, but at the end of the day, if it were, everyone would do it.

The day at the market was a bloody business and not suitable for us. Emi Ren died, and the robber she was hunting, who also became her killer, escaped. Ninja warfare has become so obsessed with positioning and tactics, but that has been developed over the years. Originally, combat was meant to finish the opponent. And that means every move you be with the intent to kill. The egoism of a fighter, the selfish obsession with a victory that isn't affected by common sense. You have to know when to tap into it, when to pull the trigger; you hold that responsibility as a ninja that protects the people. You lost it because you ran away from it.

Emi Ren died, and Yuuma, that wasn't your fault. But become more assertive if you desire to save the next girl. As a lad, I didn't idolize wizards or pirate kings. I idolized heroes running into the fire when everyone else ran away. These were not fictional figures, but everymen making tomorrow a brighter day.

Regards,
Ayato the Seventh Hogokage."

WC: 837

With the letter penned, Ayato folded it with a sense of finality. The council meeting had shifted from the initial discussion of the River's Orphans to contemplating the shinobi way.

His thoughts settled as he prepared to end the meeting. The Starfall hall was silent, starkly contrasting to the intense deliberations there. His mind weighed the matters discussed today and knew that more challenges awaited Hoshigakure.

"As the Seventh Hogokage, I must ensure that our village remains strong and resolute," Ayato thought, a sense of duty underlining his every action.

With a nod to his siblings, he signaled the conclusion of the meeting. Toneri, as sharp as ever, had already departed, and the room felt more serene without his pointed commentary.

Ayato knew that the road ahead was complex, with perils yet undiscovered. But he would remain steadfast in his mission to protect Hoshigakure and guide it toward a brighter future.

And so, the council meeting drew to a close, and the village's affairs would be taken up anew in the coming days.

EXIT

[WC: 173]
[TWC: 1010]

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Claims 

1,000 words to 40 AP for Natsuki [Living Clone] last trained here 

Creation Rebirth AP: 514/600
Adding AP: 40
New CR AP: 554/600