Tuujaimaa

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"Thank you for your assistance, Kei." Takumi would reply to Kei, opening his palms to her and bowing his head slightly.

"If you are interested, it would be my pleasure to take you out to enjoy a meal - You have been most helpful throughout the trip." He smiled. The offer was both customary and sincere - Takumi's taste for wealth had left him with an appreciation for the finer things, and Yamagakure was sadly lacking in anything gourmet due to the ascetic lifestyle that its people led. It was pleasant enough to eat in Yamagakure - some of the local cuisine was simply delicious - but it was nothing compared to what Kyokujitsu no Tochi had to offer. It was perhaps the best place to eat on the entire continent due to its heavy emphasis on farming and the production of other goods, and its people were passionate about their food - it, all in all, made the entire premise of visiting very promising.

"If not, I will be able to find Chiyoko of my own accord, and I thank you again for your time." He added on as an afterthought, before holding the same book he had been poring over on the Isle of Chuusei up to chest level and flicking through the pages idly. His centre of vision was still on Kei, but he was able to read simultaneously. He did, for a brief second, wonder if Kei would be offended at his not offering her his full attention, but it seemed unlikely that she would be particularly bothered. He wasn't ignoring her, by any means, but his time was valuable and his book offered information that could be valuable in the coming hours.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"It will be nice to see your lands again, Lady Ayameko. I shall return with you, then, if you would do me the great honour of allowing me to travel with you?" Takumi smiled, sidling around the table in order to stand with Ayameko and her entourage. The process of negotiating and ushering in a universal currency was difficult due to the widely-held reluctance to change that people were notorious for, but it was something that could be done when sufficiently knowledgable minds gathered together.

"If Yamagakure and Kyokujitsu no Toshi both exist under the banner of a single currency, the rest of the world has no choice but to follow. I am sure that we would both like a universal currency for different reasons, but the power given to Kyokujitsu no Toshi is of little consequence, wouldn't you agree? After the destruction that the Bijuu rained down upon the world, we could all do with being more unified - and helping those hit by the worst of the destruction should be our primary concern. Our villages have been lucky, and able to stabilise to comfortable degrees, but the Land of Earth and Wind-that-was is still in dire need of aid, and the change to a universal currency would aid them greatly. Speaking of aid, Lady Ayameko, how many bushels of wheat were you thinking of donating to Iwagakure? Yamagakure will donate an equal amount of wheat as a sign of goodwill to the Land of Earth. Anything less would diminish us all."

Takumi's motives were certainly twofold here - on one hand, the fate of the Earth and Wind's people was not something that mattered to him in the slightest. If they returned to the rocks that bore them, there would be no sadness - only opportunity. However, relations with Kyokujitsu no Toshi, Yamagakure's only true rival with regards to economic success, were extremely important for the coming months - and Windspeaker Touho would most certainly approve of donating crops to those less fortunate. It would be an ideal way to ensure that every party involved walked away with some degree of happiness.

"If you would wish for me to come to the south with you, Lady Ayameko, it would be my pleasure - but I am equally as content to stay in the capital and speak with Ambassador Chiyoko about currency. 'Tis I who will be serving your whims, not vice versa, Lady Ayameko - You most certainly deserve the comfort of your home, after what you have done for this world." Takumi replied, before taking the pouch of gold coins on his belt and dumping it on to the table behind him. Gold would have no value where he was going, after all, and it was hardly as if he would go without in Kyokujitsu no Toshi.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"Yes, if we trade oats..." Takumi began, mumbling to himself as he leafed through more of the pages of his book, before settling on a page and skimming its contents briefly.

"If it would be beneficial, Lady Ayameko, some number of the oats could be reduced in exchange for some of your country's famous spices? They were much appreciated when we got them last, and several people have asked for a restock. If not, while a shame, the agreed trade is perfectly acceptable." he replied, nodding curtly, before standing up as Ayameko did. The trade required only one more word - either a yes, or a no. Their business was largely concluded with regards to more complex sentences.

"You are still a shining example of health, Lady Ayameko, and I only hope to be nearly as spry as yourself when I enter into my later years." He smiled, along with the other two, before raising his right hand and snapping his fingers. His entourage of followers that had been seated behind him stood up and turned to leave, talking among themselves about the preparations for transporting the requested goods to Kyokujitsu. Ayameko was perhaps the only trade partner that Takumi felt comfortable sending goods in a delayed fashion to - Ayameko rarely used currency in her dealings, and she had always been a fair and reliable trade partner - others did not have nearly so pristine a record.

"If you wish for me to come to Kyokujitsu in order to further discuss things, Lady Ayameko, it would be my pleasure. I would be happy to afford you a degree of comfort. I would be happy to accompany you back now if there are things to be discussed - and even if not, it has been too long since I spent time in your lovely village. I believe I have some things to discuss with regards to switching to Kyokujitsu's brand of currency, anyway? The value of gold is no longer as stable as it once was, and your system is remarkably difficult to forge. I believe it could benefit both of our countries greatly, Lady Ayameko." Takumi smiled, warmly meeting Ayameko's gaze. It never hurt to invest in goodwill, even if the two were only being friendly for the sake of appearances.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

You can if you want to, but you're free to use any template at all. :)

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

Yugaku Hayake

【Full Name】
Hayake, Yugaku

【Alias】
N/A

【Sex】
Female

【Age】
34

【Sexuality】
Bisexual



【Birth Country】
Kirigakure

【Current Village[】
Kirigakure

【Organization】
Engineer, Officer of the Mist Law Enforcement Agency

【Shinobi Rank】
Jounin



【Personality】

”What do we say to Umikami? We tell him to knock before he enters and follow protocol so I don’t get sued again!”

Yugaku Hayake is a no nonsense woman if ever there was one - refusing to obey to anybody's whims except her own, which happen impulsively and frequently. Yugaku is also a woman of great passions, and of giving herself completely and utterly to a task if she decides that she wants to do it - and woe be to anybody who tries to stop her from doing what she wants. Due to her frequently impulsive and needlessly passionate whims, Yugaku has the tendency to come across as being undisciplined and overeager, but those people could not be more wrong. Yugaku is extremely disciplined, but she goes about it in such a fashion that it seems wanton and reckless, though to the trained eye she clearly has a deep method to her madness, some overarching scheme or invention or contraption that she is acting in accordance with.

Yugaku is wildly creative and impulsive, often talking to herself under her breath about her latest train of thought, how she swears that this time she really will innovate something in some field related to something else - and that this time she won't cause an explosion or a natural disaster or an unnatural disaster. Every time, she manages to innovate something or other, or make some great breakthrough in some field that nobody else has managed to yet, but it is almost always accompanied by an event of equal levels of disastrousness - and despite this, Yugaku maintains a high status position in both the law enforcement agency and the laboratories in which she performs her research.

Yugaku's obvious brilliance shines through mere moments after beginning a conversation with her - though her relative instability comes crashing in not far later. Yugaku is not considered to be mentally ill by any means, but she has moments of lucidity and moments of mania that would easily be befitting of somebody with some kind of disorder - but her manic moments are not dangerous (except perhaps to anybody in the immediate area of an exploding invention that she creates) or even particularly lacking in lucidity, and even her most lucid moments carry with them subtle hints of the mania that grips her as a whole. Yugaku's job as a member of the law enforcement energy seems like it should have been taken from her long ago, but Yugaku is so effective at what she does that even in her more manic moments her behaviour is tolerated and simply regarded as an "eccentricity".

All in all, Yugaku is wild, impulsive, and completely and utterly brilliant in every sense of the word. She is the type of character that comes along once every generation or two, and her brilliance is only matched by her aptitude for strangeness and destruction.



【History】

Yugaku Hayake grew up in the village of Umitoshi, born to two extremely wealthy parents renowned for their aptitude with the Yugeton. The Hayake clan had earned their fortune in centuries past when they had been among the first to side with the Mizukage and had prospered through the acquisition of the funds and associated properties of those who had resisted the Mizukage's reign - with their initial fortune, it had been easy enough to remain among the wealthiest with clever investments and their aptitude for their potent Kekkei Genkai - they served as aristocrats and warriors both, a practice that much of the mist would learn to adopt with Tsukikaru, Ichi as its de facto leader.

Yugaku's early life was interesting, to say the least. For all of their power and wealth, the Hayake clan had never been particularly blessed with intellect until Yugaku was born, and even as a child her intellect was far greater than that of any of the other members of the clan in all of its history. Fortunately, Kirigakure was a village on the forefront of the technological world, and it did not take long for Yugaku's talents to be put to appropriate use. In her early teens, it became clear the Yugaku possessed almost none of the level-headedness that her clan was famed for, and that she was fundamentally a very different person to her parents, brothers, sisters and other clansmen alike. Given the clan's reputation, it was decided that she would be shipped off to Shijotoshi to study with those as intellectually minded as she was.

When she arrived at her boarding school in Shijitoshi, she was one of very few who were capable of using chakra effectively, due to her clan's training, and it did not take long for several explosions and severe injuries to occur in the school - the result of Yugaku's burgeoning mind and volatile experiments going awry. She was dismissed from the school, but offered the chance to return once she had gotten her penchant for explosions and inventions under control. She was sent to Kirigakure proper to undergo training, and due to her exceptional mind and the wealth of training she had from her clan, she graduated in a little less than six months to the rank of Genin, before advancing to Chuunin within the same period of time as before. A rapid ascent through the ranks was rare, and her name was respected, so it came as no surprise that Yugaku could apply for any position in the Land of Water that she could possibly want and be accepted with 95% certainty.

Which path she chose was the subject of contention. Yugaku's brilliant mind saw things in ways that others could not, and the outside perspective was something that the Mist Law Enforcement Agency had a great deal of use for - she was convinced to join them to undergo her Jounin training and serve the land where her destructive talents could be employed effectively. It came as no surprise that Yugaku thrived in the harsh environment, and she graduated to the status of Jounin a year after she joined the agency - at age sixteen. Though she was part of the Navy by default, her penchant for causing random explosions in even more random places had proven problematic even on land, so Yugaku was given permission to stay on land and enforce laws there.

After another year, Yugaku reconsidered the school's offer to take her back, and talked with her superiors about leaving the Agency in order to pursue a more academic career. A bargain was struck, and Yugaku was allowed to be members of both simultaneously, to be called upon either as she was needed. It suited her just fine - with a laboratory of her own she could stop blowing up random property, and she could continue to blow things up where it really mattered. With the level of training that she'd had, and her exceptional mind, it did not take her long to carve out her own path as some sort of researcher-police officer hybrid - and to this day she continues to be an active member in most of the sectors of life in the Land of Water.



【Chakra Nature(s)】

Katon; Suiton; Raiton

【Weapons/Tools】

Generic Tools in Surplus

Yugaku carries various explosive payloads around that are probably illegally obtained, unsanctioned and generally unsafe.

Name of Weapon or Item: Taikō Henten: Kōgake Yugeton [Counterflux: Steam Release Gauntlet]
Location: Yugaku's Right Hand
Owner: Yugaku Hayake
Rank: A

Description: Yugaku's gauntlet is a feat of modern engineering technology to say the very least - it acts as a conduit through which her Yugeton chakra can be transmitted and moulded effortlessly. The gauntlet is capable of releasing jutsu from the centre of the palm, in their chakra based forms or their steam forms. Rather than perform handsigns for her techniques, Yugaku is able to simply flood the gauntlet with chakra, which will then mould it as she requires without any physical input. The downside to this is that it takes roughly twice the amount of time it would take if she were performing handsigns, but it is a tradeoff that she is both willing to make and working on fixing.

The gauntlet is also made of a unique alloy of metals that has had chakra woven into it in the same process that Damascus steel and its likes are created, as well as being subjected to molecular bonding compounds and jutsu that cause it to be nigh unbreakable. Yugaku cannot remove the gauntlets by any means, however.

Appearance: See Picture

Name of Weapon or Item: Taikō Henten: Kōgake Ranton [Counterflux: Storm Release Gauntlet]
Location: Yugaku's Left Hand
Owner: Yugaku Hayake
Rank: A

Description: The Ranton gauntlet is a much more terrifying force of technology than its sister gauntlet, and is Yugaku's pride and joy. The Ranton gauntlet is able to mould and transmit chakra, much the same as the other gauntlet does, but rather than have a strict elemental affinity all chakra that passes through the gauntlet is able to be given the properties of Ranton chakra, which allows it to move fluidly and rapidly. In addition to this, the gauntlet also has the added ability to project chakra out in waves to produce various effects within the confines of the chakra. When foreign chakra is exposed to the gauntlet, it can be nullified and its composition studied, giving Yugaku information about the purpose of the chakra and other such likes. Due to this ability, the gauntlet is able to break seals that it comes into contact with after the chakra has been identified - though this process understandably does not work on all seals.

The gauntlet is also made of a unique alloy of metals that has had chakra woven into it in the same process that Damascus steel and its likes are created, as well as being subjected to molecular bonding compounds and jutsu that cause it to be nigh unbreakable. Yugaku cannot remove the gauntlets by any means, however.

Appearance: See Picture

【Other Specialties】

Vast Intellect
Ninjutsu Master



【Kekkei Genkai】

Name: Yugeton [Steam Release]
Type: Ninjutsu
Clan (If Applicable): Hayake

Description: By fusing Suiton and Katon chakra, the user is able to turn the water created into steam at varying temperatures and pressures.

Name: Ranton [Storm Release]
Type: Ninjutsu
Clan (If Applicable): Hayake

Description: Ranton. Yugaku’s version of the Ranton focuses much less on applying the flow of electricity to water, however, and instead uses the properties of electrons to perform Hydrolysis, allowing her to create Hydrogen gas, Oxygen gas, Acid and Alkali.



【Canon Jutsu】

Basic Academy Techniques

Standard Canon Suiton techniques

Standard Canon Katon techniques

【Custom Jutsu】

Name of Technique: Jōki no Izumi [Fountain of Steam]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: C
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: Yugaku creates a ball of Yugeton chakra and then either takes it into herself or places it at a set location. For as long as the ball remains, it constantly spews forth 300 degrees celsius steam, spreading outwards to up to fifty feet away from the orb in all directions. The steam cools down more the further away it gets from the orb, eventually reaching 150 degrees celsius at the edges. If Yugaku takes the orb into herself, she emits steam in the same fashion. Hayake clan members are all immune to the heat of steam techniques of any variety.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Kiri no Izumi [Fountain of Mist]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: C
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: The Kiri no Izumi capitalises on the Kirigakure no Jutsu, allowing the user to radiate the mist from their body like the Jōki no Izumi. The mist is identical to the Kirigakure no Jutsu’s mist, except is thicker and has a more opaque quality to it. The mist is easily manipulated by those with the Yugeton, and is often mixed with steam.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Jōkiyoku [Steam Bath]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: B
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: The user creates a large amount of steam, or gathers existing steam, and condenses it around a target area. The steam is partially condensed through careful manipulation of the Yugeton chakra, which allows it to smother a victim, and the balance of Katon and Suiton chakra can be changed to create hotter steam or cooler steam for various purposes. If the target breathes the steam in for more than a few seconds, their lungs will suffer very vicious burns and after ten to fifteen seconds the victim will probably die if they have no protection from the steam.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Norowa no Takibi [Bonfire of the Damned]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: C
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: Yugaku creates Yugeton chakra and wraps her hand in it, then grabs an object or a person. The Katon chakra generates a great amount of heat, and the Suiton chakra is inserted into the object and then heated rapidly, causing the steam to burst out of whatever it was inserted into. The reaction is delayed, and will occur three seconds after Yugaku has released the object from her grasp. The technique is significantly less lethal on people due to their internal chakra resisting the Suiton chakra, so a thin layer of scalding steam is simply created and held against them when the technique is used on a person.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Jōki no Kikansha [Steam Engine]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: C
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: Yugaku coats her hands in Yugeton chakra, then converts that chakra into a thin layer of superheated water just above her hands. Upon hitting an opponent, the water immediately turns into steam and dissipates, and the rapid expansion of matter creates kinetic energy. The water or chakra can be inserted into small spaces in order to create explosions.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Shōidan [Firebomb]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: C
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton; Ranton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: Yugaku creates a sphere of highly condensed hydrogen gas using her Ranton, and then coats it in a layer of roughly formed Katon chakra in order to to create what amounts to a firebomb. Upon being pierced or when Yugaku creates a simple handsign, the Katon chakra ignites and the highly condensed hydrogen gas explodes in a great radius. If the explosion occurs within any mist created by Yugaku, she is able to recreate the technique at the point of the explosion and relaunch it with a single handsign.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Kakudai Hinotama [Expanding Fireball]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: A
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: Yugaku creates a condensed ball of Yugeton and Ranton chakra and hurls it in a direction. Upon hitting an object or otherwise being structurally compromised, the chakra immediately expands to cover a twenty-five foot radius sphere and 300 degree celsius steam is created. Then, the Ranton chakra converts the steam into hydrogen gas, which creates an even larger explosion. The explosion does not produce a particularly high amount of kinetic energy, but the amount of heat produced is legendary.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Name of Technique: Sansei Ame [Acid Rain]
Type of Jutsu: Ninjutsu
Rank: B
Range: Variable
Nature Type: Yugeton
Handsigns: N/A

Description: By mixing Yugeton and Ranton chakra, Yugaku creates a large area of corrosive mist that is either highly alkaline or highly acidic. Further additions of Ranton chakra can alter the pH of the mist, and Yugaku is capable enough to choose what areas specifically are corrosive.

Weakness: Interpret it yourself.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"I am pleased to hear it, Lady Ayameko." came the reply, almost as if it were a practiced dance between the two. They were only as good as the facades they maintained, after all, and even the slightest mistake could have ramifications in the future far beyond the scope of the mistake. It was almost terrifying to think of the razor-fine edge upon which the hidden village's politics so neatly rested upon, but it was very clear that each player in the great game was of considerable skill - Takumi, Ayameko and Touzoku included. Each had a role to play, and each played it perfectly.

With the offer of wheat, Takumi picked his book up and begun to flick through its pages with practiced precision, before stopping over some precursory notes on the likelihood of what Ayameko would offer in trade. He'd been right about the product, but his math of quantities had been very slightly off - perhaps the harvest was better than expected, or perhaps Ayameko wanted the iron quite badly. It seemed from her previous statement that the former was true, so with an imperceptible smirk he continued to rifle through the pages, briefly mumbling words that sounded like calculations under his breath as he worked out the value that he could squeeze out of Ayameko's offer. It was fair, but Yamagakure was in no need of wheat, and a quick glance at his notes on the situations of the other villages indicated that they were not particularly wanting of wheat either. It was a fairly staple crop.

"I'm afraid, Lady Ayameko, that wheat is not currently something that we are able to trade for - it is something we too have grown a plentiful amount of this harvest. I would be able to accept the equivalent value of the wheat in oats, or perhaps there is something else you wish to trade? I could also switch the shipments of iron and we could reduce the amount of oats accordingly, if you would find that more acceptable?" He spoke, peering up from the book at the last few words. His left hand idly reached across to the quill on his section of the table, dipped it into the pot of ink nearby, and began to make calculations outside on the paper. They were largely meaningless, but he had long known of Touzoku's impressive abilities - he could not hide anything that he was writing down from her. Still, he was only writing down the possible projected profits - they were reasonably high, as perhaps was expected of the Treasurer.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"It took the Champion to stymie the spread of the plague... And even I almost failed. Nobody could have been prepared for that plague." Akaritori replied as her flesh returned to her, and the eight wings blossomed forth from her back, almost as if signalling a rebirth, or some other momentous occasion befitting the catharsis that had just spread throughout the room. Akaritori cracked her neck briefly before sheathing Masayoshi, and returning to her desk to continue peering at the book that she had been reading as Allia had entered.

"I'm glad you got the closure you wanted. It is nice to know that there was at least one who survived everything." she replied to Allia, before setting herself back in the exact same posture that she'd been in all day, prior to the little outburst that had just happened - oddly enough, she didn't even seem remotely fazed by the fact there was a gaping hole in her wall. She thought to herself about the rage that had gripped Zilant, and wondered if she had been forced to hold her rage back for as long as he had if anything would have survived her wrath. The thought was terrifying, to say the least. Now, she had the Windspeaker to help with her latent rage, and that was something that she was eternally thankful for. It was still a little difficult to think back to the destruction of Exae, to think of the darkness that had possessed her so easily, but it was necessary. It reminded her of what she was, and how she got to where she was.

"Don't even bother attempting to make appointments when you need to see me. My receptionist is about as useful as the criminals we lock away in the Citadel Tower." she added, the words sounding like a joke but the tone not changing at all - it was a relatively jarring experience to listen to Akaritori make humourous remarks. It was a talent that she had never been particularly good at. She turned again to the whole in the wall, and she remembered that Takumi was on the Isle of Chuusei negotioating a trade with Kyokujitsu. She'd have to call upon Isao to come fix her wall. The mere thought of it made her furrow her brow before she resumed looking at the book, flicking the page casually.

Akaritori was, if nothing else, dedicated to her work.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

Akaritori had no words for Allia - despite everything, she had not been driven to fury like she had in the past, and Zilant was now. It was impressive, in its own little way, that a small part of Naya lived on. The thought brought a happy smile to the Yamakage's face, despite the fury of Zilant being directed at her in its entirety. Akaritori had weathered far worse than a dragon's fire in her time - especially from a dragon like Zilant, that was comparatively a whelp - and that same resolute hardness was still etched deep into her very being, preventing her from saying anything back to the young woman.

She mustered up the will to speak, to say something - to tell her that no, she wasn't a child after surviving everything that she had survived, that she could be anrgy if she so chose, that... She didn't even know any more. The one regret in Akaritori's life that she had never been able to let go of had followed her even to Yamagakure, but in some ways she had expected it to happen. She had thought of it every night for five years after she burned the continent to the ground.

Still - she was Yamakage, the Judge-Magister of Yamagakure, and her claims of power had been tested. It was something that she had to respond to. If she didn't, her titles and powers were meaningless. If she could be challenged, openly, with impunity, her reign meant nothing. That was something that she could not let happen, and even though she was gripped deeply by regret, she was a soldier. She had duties to attend to, even when honour was difficult, and she would attend to them.

"You doubt me." came the words, in a decidedly darker tone, as Akaritori stood up from her desk and unsheathed Masayoshi. She turned to face the dragon, in all of his fury, and let the breath wash over her. It was nothing that she could not take. It was nothing that she could not bear. Still, the appropriate response was not to take his rage - as much as she wanted to let him loose his rage upon her, she was a Kage - she had responsibilities, claims to defend, and people to care for.

"Shikōsai!"

The burst of light was intense enough to temporarily blind even Akaritori (if she hadn't been wearing her goggles) as the wings of light that sprouted from her back suddenly vanished and her form was replaced by pure light - something only the Champion of Exae could do - and her elemental form was bathed in dragonfire to no avail. Zilant could not even burn Akaritori's mortal body, never mind her ascended form.

With a stern gaze, and an outstretched left hand, she pointed at Zilant and made a motion downwards with her hand, speaking as she did so: "Gijin no Shisen."

The Gaze of the Righteous, perhaps the least powerful of her ascended form's techniques, was one of the flashiest and most effective in situations where permanent harm was not desired or required. Zilant, in the space of less than a second, would be cowed - brought to the ground by some almighty force that squeezed at his body, forcing him into as close to a kneeling position that a dragon could be in. There would be some pain, but it would hardly be enough to penetrate the sheer hot-blooded rage of the dragon.

"I was a champion, once, Zilant. I had greater powers than I do now... I could tap into the very heart of the Lightforge, the very font of the Judge-Magisters' power! I carry with me a mere trace of that power now, of the forge that gave birth to Exae, and it is more than enough to lay you low before the power of Justice! I understand your rage, more than anybody, but I cannot let you contest my power freely. I am everything that I have claimed to be, and you will accept that. Do you understand?"

The celestial form of the Kage then turned to Allia:

"I would never kill him for succumbing to the same rage I did... And you are no child, to have survived everything that you have. Naya would be proud of you."

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

"The... Citadel?" Akaritori spoke, as soon as Allia was blown into her desk, losing herself briefly in the memory of the room in which she'd been coronated, so many years ago. She remembered every detail - the procession, the decorations, being given Masayoshi... And the oath. The oath brought her into deeper memories, darker memories, of the war that she'd won only to destroy her beloved Exae herself. But it hadn't been her beloved Exae for a very long time - since she was coronated. They'd let her down. The Judges, the Magisters, the Judge-Magisters... Everyone - her brothers and sisters in law, her so-called family had let her believe her family alive for two years before... They had forged letters back, told her sweet nothings to ensure that she kept focused on saving their worthless hides. They were just as corrupt as the plague that should have taken them. They had deserved to burn.

But this girl? If she was from Exae, if she had suffered because... If she had survived the war... It was a horrible thought. Then, it had been a horrible act, and Akaritori knew the act exactly for what it was when she performed it. She had thought them all evil, those who survived, but this little whelp of a girl? She was glad that she hadn't burned with the rest of them. It was a horrible way to die, even for the scum that the council of Exae had turned out to be.

"... I happened to Exae. After... After I won them the war, they told me that my family had died. They'd impersonated them for two years without telling me to make sure I saved their worthless hides, and in my grief I destroyed everything... I suppose that includes your family, and your dragon's family too..." She started, beginning to sound a little mournful - sad - guilty, even.

"I was the Pride of Exae... I was the Champion that held back the war... And I broke my oath because they broke theirs. I... I'm sorry, for what happened to your family. And to your dragon's. If there's anything you'd ask of me, anything you want me to do in penance... Please, let me know. If it is in my power, I will grant it to you - that I swear."

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

It was fitting that the Sankage, the most powerful person in one of the most powerful nations, had chosen to represent her village personally in the trade. What was not fitting, however, was her assumptions about Takumi. She had fallen exactly into the attitude that he had hoped to inspire in those he could conceivably consider his rivals. Her ignorance of his ignorance was, in its own little way, ironic and laughable, but Takumi did not laugh. It would have been unwise to underestimate the Sankage, her daughter, or her assistant. None of them would dare attack on the Isle of Chūsei - the peace treaty that had been signed had clear ramifications for any that would dare break the truce - but there were other ways to be underhanded. Other ways to wage the war that gripped every society that had ever existed - the war of information. No society was without its secrets, and those secrets were the treasure of every other society. Those who did not participate in the game were its unwitting pawns, and those who did wagered a risky reward. Life and death hung in the balance, even in the neutral isle - but whose lives was less clear than in an open war. That was what the most intellectual players of the game enjoyed.

"Shodai Sankage Hyakuyondaime Hokage Yotogodaime Tanikage Shichishodai Shikata Ayameko," Takumi began, returning the gesture and bowing, "Lady Touzoku," he repeated the gesture, "and Lady Yoriko." and again he gestured. The tone was a little obsequious, but sounded thoroughly sincere - and it was. Formality and good business ethic despite one's personal opinions were the most stable bricks with which to lay a healthy foundation, and there was no structure ever built that could survive for any meaningful length of time without a stable foundation. Whether or not each party returned the gesture was meaningless, but he doubted that they would abstain. Every action and non-action alike were considered by those on formal meetings with emissaries of other countries, regardless of their status within that country - and Takumi knew that Touzoku and Ayameko both knew that. He assumed Kei did as well, given that she was travelling with the Sankage.

"I trust your trip to the Isle was comfortable?" he asked, simply because it was expected despite its banal nature, and did not wait long for a response. If there was a response, it would likely be only a few words. He would reciprocate if asked the question in return, but it was not too likely that that would happen - still, it was his job to be prepared for everything.

"I trust you are still interested in the shipment of chakra-forged iron I have? Ten tonnes, though another five are being produced to be sold shortly thereafter." Takumi began, flicking through an ominously large book in front of him as he did so.