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[COLOR=lightsteelblue][sup][b][img]https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/5/5b/Amegakure_Symbol.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/25?cb=20090830222820[/img]   Amegakure no Sato | S-rank | Leader of Amegakure[/b][/sup][/COLOR][/center][hr][INDENT][sup][COLOR=lightsteelblue][b]TIME:[/b] [i]Present Day - Morning[/i] | [b]LOCATION:[/b] [i]Hokage mountain[/i] | [b]INTERACTION:[/b] Koma Hitsugi, [@GlitchyBugger]; Black Dragon [@BladeX][/color][/sup][/INDENT]

Koma insisted she stay there and, although Yogensha considered it momentarily, she decided not to order the girl away again. She was not a part of Amegakure - any longer - and was responsible for her own choices. Adding to that, this person in front of them seemed to possess power enough to make this fight a true fight - unlike fighting the clones, like she had been before, this would result death either for her or for him. Having Koma here as a back-up seemed good even if it placed a lot of risk on the girl. As Chis, the Black Dragon, spoke to her and Koma, however, she felt her blood boil. Momentarily the pain in her bones was gone, as she focused on his words. [i]Do not underestimate me,[/i] she thought - a thought contrary to how she acted. It was good that he underestimated her. That way she could catch him by surprise. 

She did her best to control herself, to maintain that perfect composure she was renowned for, but the pain in her bones combined with his dismissive words - and the fever she was running by now - meant that she could do little to control herself. The rage of the Kaguya clan came up in her and unfurled itself quickly. She formed numerous handseals, pushed a foot forwards to gain a grip, and cried out. [i]“Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!”[/i] She slung her hand forward, where a good amount of wind chakra had gathered, and let go of the chakra, sending a slicing wave of wind forwards towards the Black Dragon. 

It was too late. By the time the wind hit him, he was gone, leaving only some smoke behind where he had once been. Yogensha bit her lip, drawing blood, before turning to Koma. Finally, she pulled up her arm and wiped the blood from her mouth with her sleeve. [i]“We should return to the village. It seems most of the danger has passed. Now we should aid those we can find.”[/i] Before she could step forward, her body went numb, and her attempt to step forwards ended in a vague stumble, causing her to fall to her knees. [i]What is this,[/i] she wondered, the pain returning to her bones, seemingly burning the insides of them up. She could feel them moving - surely that was a mistake, just a result of the fever that was setting in, it was making her delusional. But if Koma paid exceptional attention to Yogensha, she could see bulges under her skin moving, as if there was something under there trying to get out.

After a second or two of rest, Yogensha finally pushed off and managed to get upright. Without addressing her seeming tumbling health, she continued. [i]“Let's go,”[/i] she ordered. 

By the time they'd reached the village, news of the Hokage's passing would've reached them. [i]Ironic,[/i] Yogensha thought. She'd been prepared to die but was spared by someone looking down on her. The Hokage was looked up to, and ended up dead. The Sage had a funny way of choosing who would pass to the afterlife. 

[hr]
[INDENT][sup][COLOR=lightsteelblue][b]TIME:[/b] [i]A few days later[/i] | [b]LOCATION:[/b] [i]Hokage funeral site[/i] | [b]INTERACTION:[/b] Sayuri Nisshoku, [@Write] and anyone else at the funeral[/color][/sup][/INDENT]

Yogensha and Sayuri had stayed in Konohagakure to attend the funeral - something that was becoming increasingly troublesome as Yogensha's condition had worsened, and she was restrained to using a wooden support to stand upright. Despite every moment being burning agony for her, she somehow maintained her composure as well as she could on the wooden support. She was still dressed in her Amegakure garb, the blood still on her sleeves. Not from fighting. From illness. The Konohagakure medics had offered to look at her and 'take care' of her illness but she had insisted she was fine. There was no way that the Konohagakure medics were going to be allowed to gather intelligence on her. She'd have to wait until they were back in Amegakure. A moment that could not arrive too soon at this moment.

As the casket was brought forwards, Yogensha could only lean towards Sayuri slightly. [i]“Kaito has been missing,”[/i] she whispered to her, before leaning back as well as she could. Looking at the casket, Yogensha felt nothing. Ginsho had always been a beacon of stability for her as a political leader - he was not an ally of her, far from it, but he was not a warmonger and she knew she could rely on Ginsho and Konohagakure to offer her assistance if it were needed. She had supposed that was part of the Will of Fire. 

But with the flame extinguished and the Hokage dead in a box, perhaps it had just been something else entirely. 

But as a person, emotionally, she could not bring herself to feel much. Ginsho had been just that. A political leader, like her, but of far greater importance. It made him a target. It made all of these people a target. It reduced him, as a person, as a being, as a human. It made him an object. Yogensha knew she could see past that - that was the Sage's will - but could others? Could they see past his status as a barrier between them and their goals? 

He was supposedly in a casket now. So evidently not. A raindrop hit her on her nose. It reminded her of home.

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[INDENT][sup][COLOR=lightsteelblue][b]TIME:[/b] [i]Weeks after the funeral of the hokage[/i] | [b]LOCATION:[/b] [i]Amegakure, Yogensha's residence[/i] | [b]INTERACTION:[/b] Sayuri Nisshoku, [@Write][/color][/sup][/INDENT]

Several weeks had passed since the Hokage's funeral, and Yogensha's situation had only worsened. The civilians of Amegakure were getting restless - what if their leader fell ill and died, would they be subject to another civil war? Would they pay the price of her death? The shinobi were also getting restless. Rumors of planned coups were taking over and soon enough there was not a clan left in Amegakure that was free of the accusation of being a traitors den. These rumors were kept from Yogensha by her staff - either to not burden her already frail health with the thoughts of unrest, or because she'd insist on going out and stopping it. 

Not that it would stop her.

She had gotten up and walked through the corridors of her residence, inspecting the left over artworks and the many many industrial pipes, that echoed the sound of rain hitting her building permanently. Although she was frail, she had enough chakra left to sustain [i]	Ukojizai no Jutsu[/i], meaning it now permanently rained and she was permanently aware of new visitors entering her village. A sad compromise between her health and duties as the leader of Amegakure. 

As she wandered, she found herself at the bottom of the gigantic tower that was her residence. She slowly pushed open the large, heavy cast-iron doors and walked onto the raised plateau that lead up to her house. She heard yelling below her, and slowly approached the railing at the edge of the raised platform. In front of her were two men, wearing Amegakure forehead protectors on their arms. They were evidently shinobi - and they had brought their clans too, who were standing behind them seemingly ready to enter a riot and fight the other clan. 

She watched as the two went back and forth. 

[i]“Your clan is nothing more than good-for-nothing rain-dancers that pick up the left overs of other clans! And now that our great leader has fallen ill, you want to pick up [b]her[/b] left overs? You should be executed for treason!”[/i]

[i]“Tsk, all lies! You are guilty of what you accuse others of! Everyone knows that your son and the heir to your clan is a bastard anyway, so if anyone should be executed it is [b]you[/b], for adultery?”[/i]

[i]“What, say that again, I dare you! I will rip your throat out with my kunai so fast that you couldn't even ask for forgiveness!”[/i]

[i]“Yeah? I'll fucking burn your whole clan to a crisp!”[/i]

They went back and forth some more until they noticed Yogensha was watching over them, leaning on her crutch, her face saying nothing, not even disappointment. [i]“O-oh,”[/i] the two men mumbled in unison, quickly bowing down and kneeling before their leader. Yogensha watched them and the entire two clans kneel before her, but it made her feel no better about the situation. She stared at them a moment longer before turning around and silently, and slowly, walking away towards her home again. [i]“Disgusting,”[/i] she whispered to herself, before the heavy clunk of the doors indicated that she'd entered the building again.

[hr]

Two hours later, Sayuri would be summoned. It'd be the first time in two weeks that she had been summoned, and when she entered, she'd find that the room had changed a lot. It was dark, lit only by candles in the corners. The door to the balcony was open, letting in the sound of the wind that tried desperately to pull down the tall structure, and the rain that had not stopped since their arrival. At the center of the room was Yogensha, laid in a bed.

Where she would normally stand so tall and proud, like a true leader, confident but with a humble streak, she was now reduced to a woman that had lost a lot of weight, so much that her bones were visible through her skin. The bulges under her body still moved, more violently than before, as if something was trying to get out of her body. But she couldn't feel it. She was on so much pain medication that she would be lucky to feel anything at all. The only reason she hadn't been assassinated yet was because she had shut down the village temporarily. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave. The border-guard units were on high alert and any trespassers were attacked and incapacitated or killed on sight.

The village had been tense, needless to say.

Sayuri would surely be off-put by the situation in front of her. It was well known that Yogensha was sick, but many people thought she was just bedridden with a common illness. Nobody knew it was this serious - not even Sayuri. A cough would alert her as a weak hand beckoned her to come closer. [i]“Sayuri,”[/i] Yogensha whispered, even her voice weaker than the leading voice she'd possessed before. As Sayuri came closer, she'd note that a single bone on Yogensha's neck was protruding through the skin - it'd made a holy and was now visibly protruding from the body, shaped like a spike. Yogensha didn't know - didn't feel it. It was largely hidden, but now that she was laying down, it was clearly visible.

[i]“You must mount an expedition. The lands that I come from are not Amegakure - I come from somewhere else. You must go there and find a remedy for my disposition..”[/i] she slowly said, stopping to gurgle and cough heavily. Her fever was running so high, you could literally feel the heat coming off of her. [i]“The village is turning into a chaotic mess without my leadership, and people are at each others' throats. We don't have much time left. It's not just me you will save with this remedy, it's the entire-”[/i] Again she coughed, turning over on her side and spitting out blood as she did. She didn't mention it at all, only wiped her mouth slowly with the edge of the blanket she was under. [i]“.. it's the entire village.”[/i]

[b]Merely an hour later,[/b] crows flew out from the grand tower of the Amegakure leader. They carried pamphlets and posters for the recruitment of a 'great expedition' to the east, to uncharted lands and hidden treasure. Nothing was mentioned about the true purpose of Yogensha's expedition, to treat her illness. All interested parties were told to convene in Amegakure - showing the pamphlet to the border guard would allow you to pass into Amegakure with a squad of border guards to escort you. Any interested party were to report to the Amegakure command hall, to meet a certain quartermaster called Geiji Akimura.