Hokage's Office

This is the primary location for the Hokage during the day to handle all business affairs of the village. It's located on the second floor, accessible only through the indoor staircase.

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The paperwork towered over his desk like a mountain, stacks upon stacks covering every inch of surface area on the once cleared and clean work station. The Hokage took a solemn step inside and slowly shut the door, lamenting the amount of paperwork he was about to have to endure. So many people wanted so many things done that required the attention of village officials, and it was much more convenient for those officials to leave most matters to the Hokage, rather than call upon the council to handle each and every one of these matters. It was efficient, sure, but it placed a heavy strain on Kazuya. Fortunately, he did have a way to work around this kind of workload. With a quick hand seal, he created a dozen shadow clones, and they went to work.

The original Kazuya sat in the seat at the desk and began searching through the documents alongside his twelve clones. They quickly separated all of the papers that requested his presence outside of the office, and distributed those to six of the clones, while the other six remained in the office with the original to handle everything that did not require leaving the office -because they sure weren't going anywhere for the next several hours.


[6 Clones Exit]

An entire day had passed by since Kazuya started working through the mountain of paperwork with his clones. By the time had fallen, most of his clones had returned, and those that never left remained with him as long as they could before he was forced to dismiss them, needing the spare energy and focus to keep himself on task as long as he could before drifting off to sleep in his chair. All the paperwork had been caught up, now, and he was looking into some matters for the Clan when an Anbu suddenly appeared in front of his desk, using the window behind him as an entry point, which was common for that group.

"Lord Hokage," The Anbu started, pausing until Kazuya acknowledged his presence with a quick nod. "Scouts report an attack in the Southwestern region. The cause is unknown and the casualties are presumed to be three fatalities." The Hokage set down a paper he was holding, now devoting all of his attention to this report. "A scouting post and the area immediately surrounding it have been destroyed; the cause is believed to be linked with sightings of a large shadow moving through the forest. Nobody was close enough to see what it was; we assume all that were are now dead or gone. It was moving West, as far as we can tell." The Anbu finished, providing every ounce of information that the Hokage might deem useful.

Kazuya thought on the matter for a short while. This event could be linked to Fenrir's disappearance, but it wasn't likely. A Jounin had full reign to exit the village without notice and wouldn't be considered missing for a few weeks -it had only been a few days, so far. He figured that it was likely to be some other kind of threat; one born of nature or perhaps a group of enemy shinobi. It could even be one particularly powerful person, but judging from the location of the attack and the supposed direction, it seemed to be moving towards the Land of Wind, which didn't put Konoha in any danger for the time being. Still, it would be wise to keep an eye on this thing, to gather as much information as possible.

"Send a scouting group to the Lands of Wind and Earth. Have them keep their distance from the Hidden Villages there and track the movements of this shadow. They are to remain well outside of whatever attack range that the Anbu believe the shadow to be operating under. Go." The Hokage said, breaking his silent contemplation. The Anbu didn't utter any response as he simply vanished, leaving a closed window in his wake and a rush of air that ruffled the papers on the Hokage's desk. Kazuya paid them no mind as he sat there in thought. He always figured that the first threat he'd have to face as leader would be invasion, and he had always claimed to act as the force to stop a war whenever possible, but this felt different. It wasn't a tactic he'd ever been familiar with, nor the result of any technique he'd heard of. Given the direction of it, though, it would have had to cross the Land of Water, so perhaps the Mizukage would know something. He didn't particularly like the thought of it, but he was now entertaining the idea of an official meeting with at least one other leader. Depending on what the scouts reported, it may end up being more.

It'd been a while since the scouts were sent out to gather information on the movements of the new creature. Kazuya had become so enthralled by his endless work load that he was pleasantly surprised when the Anbu returned with news on their mission, not truly aware of how much time had passed. Still, he'd been concentrating so hard on the current round of paperwork that any break was a welcome one, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he looked up, set the paper down, and awaited the details.

As the Anbu finished his report and took his leave, Kazuya mulled over the details. There still was no information on what this shadow was nor the place that it was going, as was expected -the scouts were ordered to stay a safe distance, and that was apparently far enough away to make out next to no details on the shadow. It did seem to be moving somewhat close to the borders of the nations. The way it traveled through Konoha seemed to imply that it was from a place East of the Land of Water, and now it looked to be curving its direction, away from the deserts of the Land of Wind and lingering right between the rock and forests that lay between the Lands of Earth and Fire. It was probably heading for the Land of Lightning, but given how much its course had changed, Kazuya could draw no conclusions regarding its destination. He did know that it was causing some kind of destruction along its path, and there was no information on what it even was, let alone its power. It was also clearly a threat to at least three out of the five major countries -he had no information on the thing when it moved through the Land of Water, and it had yet to reach the Land of Lightning, if it was even heading there. This was quickly looking to be an international incident, though, one that called for some kind of action.

The Hokage pulled out a blank scroll and began to write swiftly onto it before rolling it up and sealing it with a thin rope. The logo for Fire was branded on its back, notifying all that would receive it of where it came from. He then crafted three more scrolls and followed the same pattern before stacking all of them up and calling for an aid. A young Chuunin opened the door and, at the Hokage's behest, took up the scrolls and left to deliver them to the Konoha Aviary, where they'd be attached to messenger birds and dispatched to the other four villages, all of them reading the same message:

"Fellow Kage,
It has come to my attention that an unknown presence has been moving across our lands. Deaths have already resulted from this shadow in the Lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth, with casualty numbers unknown and more likely to follow. This presence is clearly hostile and has thwarted all attempts to gather more information on it, let alone stop it, and may pose a great risk to all of our great nations should it be allowed to continue. It is my wish that we come together, as Kage, to discuss this shadow in person and decide what must be done to deal with it in order to maintain a safe and peaceful environment for each of our villages. The location of this Five Kage Summit should take place in as neutral a location as we can manage while maintaining each other's security and distance from the projected path of the shadow. To this end, I propose the Three Wolves Mountains in the Land of Iron.

Respond swiftly,
Uchiha Kazuya, Hokage"

"We've received responses from all of the Kage, with the exception of the Kazekage." An Anbu reported as soon as he'd rushed in from the window sitting behind the Hokage's desk. Kazuya's eyes slowly drifted from their blank stare at the wall to the man in Anbu garb kneeling on the floor. His hand lowered from his chin as he pulled his attention away from his meandering thoughts and put it fully onto the summit. "There's not enough time to wait. Send out the details for the exact location and the time. I'll be taking my leave immediately to set things up." The Anbu nodded as the Hokage donned his robe and made his way towards the door. Then, without a sound, both men exited the room, securing its exits in their usual subtle ways.

[Exit]

"Hm, thanks." Was all Kazuya said in response to a robust summary of the events that had transpired in his absence. This secretary had a particular knack for record keeping -one of the aspects that influenced her selection for the position.

As the woman turned to leave, the Hokage began rummaging through the surprisingly small amount of paperwork on his desk. It seemed that the council -Hanzo, especially- had been very much on top of things in his absence. Though expected, it was a godsend. His current situation prevented him from tending to the village with as much depth as he once did, but he fully intended to continue the efforts set in place upon the village's founding. Since nobody had been selected to replace him as Hokage, the responsibility still rested on his shoulders.

Over the course of the next few hours, the Uchiha leader summoned and met with many different representatives of the Anbu Black Ops, a few Jounin, and a council member that happened to check in on him. All that was left on the agenda was to meet with Hanzo face to face. So he left.

[Exit]