A Hokage's Lesson

Inatsu put his head in his hands. Three young ninjas were in front of his desk. One was a samurai transplant, Yumiko. She was usually a stoic girl, though now her expression screamed outrage. The other, currently tied up with his hands behind his back, was Eisei. He was a bookworm. He looked uncomfortable and humiliated, bound as he was. The last was the Nara girl, the jinchuruki, Suzura. She was not tied up. She was doing her best to avoid looking at Yumiko.

Suzura and Yumiko had been locked in battle when Ray happened upon their fight. He’d stopped the fight. He didn’t have the patience to get to the cause of the fight and decided that the Hokage had nothing better to do than settle a schoolyard brawl. He brought the three ninjas here and, protesting a packed schedule, then left Inatsu alone to deal with this mess.

Ray was getting more work in the very near future.

Yumiko glared at the Nara girl. Suzura did everything to avoid looking at Yumiko. Eisei just looked like he was tired, hungry and sick of being tied up. Inatsu lifted his head up.

“So…” Inatsu began. “Let me see if I have the facts--”

“Please, Lord Third!” Yumiko interrupted. “Allow me to reiterate so that there’s no confusion.”

Inatsu grimaced, “That’s not necess--”

“As I was surveying my clan’s land, Asaya spotted 3 intruders. Naturally, I moved to apprehend them. The third slipped my grasp but I managed to track down these two to the public square. I used my… ‘jutsu’ to bind the boy. Suzura and I were sparring when Ray-sama found us.”

“Yes, like I said--”

“As they have violated my clan’s territory, which the Leaf has graciously gifted, I must request that military law be followed.”

Inatsu raised an eyebrow at that. Military law for entering a restricted area demanded execution on suspicion of being a spy. Suzura tilted her head. She didn’t seem to know what military law would call for. Eisei did.

“Whoa! What the Hell?!” Eisei squeaked. His voice was changing, poor kid. He colored at his voice’s break but pushed through the embarrassment. “We were just trying to get some white lotus flow--”

“Shut up!” Suzura hissed.

“Lord Third, please!” Eisei continued. He’d decided honesty was the best route given the stakes involved. He was right. “We were just following orders.”

“Orders?!” Yumiko thundered. “Lord Third, they admit to acting on orders! Surely, this proves their guilt of spying on my clan and under military law--”

“We haven’t admitted to anything, you damn harpy!” Suzura shouted. Inatsu was surprised at her boldness. What had happened during their fight?

“WHAT DID YOU CALL M--”

Inatsu lost his patience. His gaze hardened. The temperature in the room dropped. The young ninjas froze as pressure roiled off their Hokage. They couldn’t speak. Their voices were lost in their throats. They could only stare as the Hokage leaned forward.

Minutes past in absolute silence as Inatsu let the three bathe in his unspoken displeasure. Then, he smiled. The pressure dissipated.

“Eisei.” Inatsu began and his voice felt like a warm summer breeze compared to the blizzard the three ninjas had just endured. “Under whose orders did you act?”

“Ikari-sensei’s.” Eisei answered without hesitation. He blinked. Had he really just said that? Had he even decided to answer?

Suzura groaned. “We’re gonna get it.”

“… I don’t understand.” Yumiko whispered. “Ikari-sensei is an honored member of the Leaf. Why would she violate my clan’s security?”

Inatsu turned his attention to Suzura. “What was your objective?”

“Uh—”

“I’ll answer! We were--” Eisei began. He didn’t want to let Suzura share in the guilt of talking? Interesting.

“I’m asking Suzura.” Inatsu interrupted. She might as well share in the guilt.

Eisei clamped his mouth shut.

Suzura avoided the Hokage’s eyes for a moment. Inatsu twitched. The temperature dropped by a degree. She broke. “We were supposed to get a white lotus flower from the Tengu’s pond and bring it back to Ikari-sensei.”

“… A white lotus flower? From our pond? You must be lying.”

“It’s the truth.” Suzura muttered. Eisei nodded.

“Is there anything peculiar about your white lotuses?” Inatsu asked.

“No! We only just started cultivating them! You could find equal specimens in any flower shop!” Yumiko shook her head in disbelief. “Why would Ikari-sensei order such a pointless task?”

“How should I know?!” Eisei shouted. He’d been asking himself the same question. “She just said she’d know if it’s from the Tengu, so we went to the Tengu… didn’t turn out well for all of us.” He finished with a grumble. His bindings chaffed.

Suzura was silent.

“Thoughts Suzura?” Inatsu prodded.

“Uh, I don’t really--”

“Suzura.”

The young Nara girl sighed. “I think it was an evaluation.”

“… an evaluation?” Yumiko whispered.

“Oh.” Eisei groaned. “Like those damn foxes, ‘how you attempted to solve it is more important than the FACT you solve it.’”

“Yeah, I think so. She got that same look in her eye y’know?”

“Yeah, no, now I see it.”

“A good guess,” Inatsu confirmed. “She likely wanted to see if you’d follow the mission parameters, arbitrary though they were, or if you’d pursue an alternative lotus flower, say, from a flower shop, or in the wild. If you followed her parameters she probably expected you to be caught. Though, what you did when you were caught was also important for her to know.”

Yumiko frowned.

“Yumiko?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Oh?”

“You say that Ikari-sensei set before them a task she fully expected them to not only fail in, but to cheat at.”

Inatsu nodded.

“To what end? Find out how they would fail? That is unconscionable.”

“Agreed!” Eisei declared enthusiastically.

“Is it?” Inatsu asked.

“A superior should be forthright with her subordinates. To do otherwise is to erode the trust necessary to maintain a cohesive military unit.”

“Do you have thoughts on this Suzura?”

Suzura shook her head. She seemed to agree with Yumiko.

Inatsu looked at Eisei. He was so overwhelmed by his desire to be free of his bindings that he’d agree to anything if it got him out faster.

Inatsu nodded. He’d thought the same at their age. “If you’ll indulge me a moment I want to tell you three a story. When I was a chunin, not much older than you Eisei, the village was at war.”

“My team and I were sent on a good will mission to the Land of Tea. We were to bring supplies to an isolated village that had been cut off from their usual market. It was a trap. Ninjas from Sunagakure waylaid us intent on stealing our uniforms, taking our place and pillaging the land of Tea, framing Konoha. My team was surrounded quickly. Our situation was untenable. My friends and I were certain we were going to die.”

Inatsu bowed his head. He could remember the terror he’d felt back then. It had been his first mission without Lady First. He’d told the old crow he could handle a milk run like this by himself. She’d still insisted on sending two other nin along. She hadn’t stopped at two.

“What happened?” Eisei asked. He had more interest than Inatsu’s meager story telling skills warranted.

“We were saved. Lady First had sent a full squad of anbu as backup. We captured several of our assailants. One of those captured was a higher up in Sunagakure’s anbu. With the intelligence he provided, we started to win that war.”

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with—” Yumiko began.

“Lady First knew of the ambush.” Inatsu interrupted. “She knew of Sunagakure’s designs on my team and decided not to tell us. Do any of you know why?”

Eisei frowned. “Was it because you might act different if you knew an ambush was coming?”

“Precisely. If we’d had our guard up, as we surely would knowing we were walking into an ambush, we may have spooked the enemy nin. They may have called the operation off. We would have lost an incredible opportunity if Lady First had been ‘forthright.’”

Yumiko frowned. “… Did you forgive her?”

Inatsu blinked. “A poignant question. No, not at first. I felt that she should’ve told me the point of the mission. That I would’ve been a better help to our overall objective if I wasn’t caught flat-footed. Over time… I’ve realized that secrecy was necessary. She didn’t keep the ambush a secret because she didn’t trust or believe in me. She kept it a secret because it’s what was best for the mission, for the Leaf. In keeping a secret she obeyed the Will of Fire.”

“… but the situation are wholly different.” Yumiko countered. “This isn’t a war. She had no right or cause to deceive her subordinates.”

“This isn’t a war.” Inatsu agreed. “But she needs to know how her team will act when there is one. Will they follow the objective? Will they cheat? Will they split up to escape? She needs to know all these things to better serve as their leader and she knew that you wouldn’t resort to lethal force against such young trespassers, making your clan ground, while you were on duty, an ideal low stakes testing ground. But, back to the point of this meeting, your clan’s land was violated and now you have all the facts, do you still insist on military law Yumiko?”

“… not for them.” Yumiko admitted. Eisei sighed in relief. Suzura didn’t react, she seemed to fixate on something Inatsu had said. “But their master has made a mockery of the Tengu’s clan grounds for the sake of a dubious test. I insist on compensation.”

“Ah. Well, hrrm, would you find a fine an acceptable punishment?”

“…”

“She IS only trying to prepare her genin for the defense of the village… presumably. Come to think of it it might’ve been a prank…. Tell you what, take Eisei as a hostage to ensure her payment.”

Eisei’s eyes widened. “WAIT WHAT?!”

“Very well.” Yumiko hauled Eisei, still bound, on her shoulder and walked out the door.

“Suzura!”

Suzura made no move to help. Her gaze was fixed on the Hokage.

“The ransom should be no more than compensation for your time Yumiko.” Inatsu called after.

“Lord Third!” Eisei pleaded one last time as he was carried out of the room.

“…” Suzura didn’t leave.

“Do you need something?”

“You said ‘when.’”

‘When there is one (a war).’ “I did.”

“My dad always said you gave up too much for peace. I guess… I guess I just thought you hoped the peace you bought would last.”

“It HAS lasted, 12 years is more than I dared hope for, but I’m not as naive as your father may have led you to believe. There’ll be war so long as humans live unfortunately. What I did, in giving up so much, was ensure that we wouldn’t lose then next one.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Few did. Least of all your father.” Inatsu grimaced. He didn’t feel right badmouthing a parent in front of his child, but the man was an ass. “We had quite the foothold in the Land of Wind when Lord Second died. Too much of a foothold.”

“Too much?”

“They couldn’t accept a peace like that. We took too many of their oases. If we held onto that land, they’d only have two choices, war or decline. They’d choose war. A war… that we would’ve certainly won, but any of the great nations would’ve found us little challenge after. Ninjas like your father, like Lord Second, can get tunnel vision, they see only the current objective. They win wars, but they don’t think about what we will face when the war is over. It was a mistake in their training. A mistake I hope your generation will overcome.”

Suzura scratched her head. “I don’t really get it.”

“You don’t have to yet. I hope you never do need to know what I’ve described. I hope that peace lasts your entire long and boring life. But… I don’t have faith in that. I have faith in you and in this village.”

“Me?”

“Who else would I have faith in young lady?”

“Why?”

“Who knows?” Inatsu grinned. “Now, go tell Ikari that the Tengu have taken Eisei hostage. She should already have prepared a suitable ransom.”

Suzura looked like she wanted to say more. To question why the Hokage would express faith in her of all nin. But, she obeyed. She left the office to find her truant sensei and prepare Eisei’s ransom… or rescue.

Inatsu pondered the three ninjas after they’d left his office.

Suzura, poor girl had been raised as a tool, that she wasn’t already a sniveling wreck gave him hope. She would be a strong willed Hokage, a pillar of Konoha, especially when she mastered the beast sealed within her. Should the beast ever master her… it would be a sad day for Konoha.

Eisei, book worm that he was, had impressed Inatsu today. He’d seen how he could get himself and Suzura out of a military punishment before Lord Third had even offered the path. He sacrificed meaningless secrecy, secrecy that couldn’t be kept, for an objective. Eisei already had the long term thinking Inatsu found so lacking among the previous generation. He’d make a wise Hokage.

Yumiko was honor-bound to a fault, but he could see that philosophy change even as she stood in his office. She went from protecting her clan grounds at all costs to bristling at the ill-treatment of her prisoners. Her mental flexibility was far greater than she knew. She would make a just Hokage.

Inatsu smiled. Three ninjas of the next generation entered his office and he’d seen the markers of greatness in each of them.

‘… why?’ Suzura had asked that with such an incredulous voice, as if she couldn’t fathom that anyone would ever believe in her.

Inatsu leaned back, momentarily forgetting the long night of intelligence reports ahead. Maybe he was just projecting things he wanted to see in these young nin. Maybe he just hoped they’d be great, but it was this potential greatness that made the paperwork, the lies, the tragedies all worth it. It made him believe he was fighting for a future worth fighting for.