News and Omens

Masaru would enter the administration building with one goal in mind, reporting his findings at the Heavenly Emporium Wreckage and the promise he made to the people there. Though he knew he shouldn't have made a promise as he had without Diana's permission, he hope she would be forgiving given the situation. Though once he was done with his report he would likely have to head out again, for now he would wait in the small room outside of Diana's office with the secretary as he waited for Diana to be available.

So much had happened while he was away, finding out that a man who he believed to be dead was the one that took his cousin, the fact that the man worked for the Society which Masaru had thought them to be allies after Nozomi had helped in their fight in the war. The killing of a pirate warlord oppressing the survivors of the wreckage, and of course his promise to them that they would be protected. But likely the most interesting or rather important thing was the object that Masaru currently held in his hand. A strange puzzle box that did not look like much to him, but the way the pirate warlord had clung to it in his moment of death and the fact that the survivors spoke of the society having gave it to the man would lead Masaru to believe it was important and he had to hope that there was someone within Iwagakure that could figure out how it opened so that they could figure out what it all meant.

---

Fission Masaru 1 (145 Chakra)

Masaru would not need to wait for very long, as the moment the Pylon Network had picked up Masaru's chakra signature Diana was informed, and with the Sensory Center confirming he was en route to Iwagakure she had quickly made her way to meet with him, making sure to put the report she had received about the new villages nearing completion to the side for after this meeting, as well as the report she had received regarding the destruction of Kumogakure caused by Raijin, no Bayushi Sojima of the mythical Nature Clan. It was a lot to take in, and it didn't help that if the other reports on him were true, he was a dragon sage; practically immortal; and a user of actual, god damn lightning didn't help her mental state.

However, she had faced bigger fish then him. The Warmachina, Klironomia, and Nue were proof that she could overcome that adversity and thrive in the results.

The secretary would feel a ping in the back of their mind, understanding what it meant as she got up and gestured for Masaru to enter. At the same time, the doors to her office would be opened by Two Mibu Series warmachina to let the Second-in-Command in. Diana herself was sitting in her chair with paperwork in front of her, and a few crystal memory spheres set slightly to the side, with one of them being toyed with in Diana's hand; the marble she had made of Tadara's memories of Suna. The Shichiseiken sword leaning against the back of her chair. She'd give him a smile, a stronger smile then when he had last seen her during the start of her reign as Kage, but still tired. She'd stand up from her seat and give a small bow. Even if she was his superior, he was still a former Kage. As soon as she had finished the gesture though, her body language took on a more serious tone, that of a leader taking charge of the very room they were in.

"Welcome back Mararu, I hope your travels treated you well. As much as I would like to keep things casual, we have much to discuss since you left. First and foremost however, your report; both verbal and memory for efficiency." She'd hold out her hand for him to shake or touch and activated her dojutsu, the mind-reading technique prepared for when Mararu touched her. She would have preferred to be less formal in moving things along, but the news of Kumo was still on her mind, she needed to make sure they were prepared.

---

185/185 CP
Negative Sensory - Passive
185/185 CP

Hypherion Battery - post 1/20
185/185 CP
Volens Memoria (Dojutsu); -0.3 CP
Volens Memoria (Memory Read); -15 CP
169.7/185 CP

Entering into the office Masaru would be greeted by Diana, it would seem that he was not the only one with a story to tell, however she would allow him to go first. Stretching out his hand to shake Diana's he would begin, "It is good to see you again, Lady Diana. You are right there is much to discuss so I will get straight to it. Oda and I were able to make it to the Emporium without any trouble, however what we found there wasn't exactly what I thought we would find. There are people there, survivors of the Indaina Kujira attack, something about the place changed them after the attack." Masaru knew he didn't need to describe what they looked like considering as he spoke Diana would be seeing his memory of their arrival at the Wreckage. "Of course, they were not alone either. It seemed a Pirate Lord had taken up residency within the town, keeping the people there under his thumb with threats and violence. I was able to meet with the leader of those people before he passed, I learned that he was among the guards of my cousin, and he saw who it was that took him. The former Mizukage and Pit Master, Nikuyo Yuki, a man who the leader of the survivors said now works for the Society. Oda and I were able to remove the current threat of the Pirates, destroying their ships and killing all of their men, however there was something strange that happened." At this point Masaru would remove the strange puzzle from his pouch and hold it out for Diana to see it, "when I fought the Pirate Lord. In the moment before his death, he clung to this device, unfortunately I am unable to open it. The people there said that members of the Society was the ones who gave the item to the Pirate as well as Dominion over that territory. I am hoping that someone within the village would be able to open it, as I believe that this will give us another clue to find Okane." Masaru would then pause, taking a moment to collect his thoughts before he would continue to the next thing that he had to tell Diana. "The people there possess a power unlike anything I have ever seen before, and with that power comes those that will seek it for themselves. By killing the pirates there, a vacuum for that power has been created, and despite their abilities they have no way of truly defending themselves. The old man that led them, passed before I dealt the final blow to the Pirate Lord, however I made a promise to him as well as the one that succeeded him that Iwagakure would provide them with protection. They of course want their freedom, without being beholden to requirements of a debt. They say they can move the Emporium, or at least what is left of it, to the coast of Tsuchi no Kuni. From there we could provide them with protection, to prevent them from being oppressed by another Pirate lord or other criminals. I realize that I should not have made such promises on the village's behalf without your approval, and so if it this is unacceptable to you, I will take the guards of the Tetdashi and Tatsuda to handle it. However, I do feel that the full force of Iwagakure would be more effective in this endeavor." With his report finished Masaru would stop talking before realizing that there was something he had forgot to mention, "ah yes. I also used the Fission technique, so that I may report this information back to you as well as continue the search for my cousin and possible allies against the society. My other self departed for Konoha, to see what aid the Leaf may be able to provide, if any."

Shaking his hand, a marble would form in her other hand, about the size of a golf ball this time, setting the marble of Tadara to the side for now as she quickly relived Masaru's memories of the event while also listening to his story. Irena has asked her why she asked for both a report as well as the memory marble once, which was a fair question. She did it as the marble only reflected the past, a report in the now could be mulled on by the reporter, as well as give her any information she couldn't interpret. In essence it gave her multiple points of view.

After experiencing the memories and Masaru's report, Diana slowly responded. "I see." As she'd quickly deactivate her dojutsu, the main act of needing it resolved.

It was a lot to take in. Even as she perused the memory marble of his time in the emporium, she would take several seconds to respond. Hearing the former Nidaime Mizukage was involved was certainly an issue, but it gave her more questions and answers. The Society was likely behind the Indaina Kujira attack, but why was Raijin trying to form a separate group? Why hadn't they continued to make more moves? There was a missing piece to the puzzle she didn't have, something that bothered her.

"I know a decent bit about the power you speak of, the Hankōgan. I believe the Hokage has the same mutation actually. As for the Emporium, you were within your right to make the promise as the second-in-command and I will do what I can to honor it."

"What concerns me more though is the Society's involvement and my own information." She'd move Tadara's Marble in front for Masaru to use. "Take your time with these memories, as they are of Tadara's during his time with Chen during the massacre, alongside Bayushi 'Raijin' Sojima and Sayuri Yuki. If the Society is still active, our best bet to learning about what they are doing is through Bayushi, as he's made himself very public as of late with the destruction of Kumogakure. In truth I am unsure if he's acting under the Society's wishes as his actions don't appear to align with the knowledge I had on the group, but any information is good information, given the danger he and they seem to posess."

She'd pause for the time being to let him take in the information. She was fairly certain he wasn't going to like what she had done with Tadara, but she needed him on a leash. He was a good shinobi, the problem was that his sense of self was rather...annoying to parse.

---

185/185 CP
Negative Sensory - Passive
185/185 CP

Hypherion Battery - Idle (1/20)
169.7/185 CP

Masaru could hardly believe his own eyes as he watched the memory Diana provided of the atrocities that his former pupil committed within the land of wind, unable to shake the feeling that he had failed his student in some way. Once he was done with the memory, Masaru would attempt to clear his own thoughts and focus on the matter at hand. "This is truly disturbing, though I assume that since you have these memories of one involved that you at least have one of Chen's accomplices in custody. Have you been able to get any other information out of them, such as defenses or how many forces they control?" The fact that Raijin was with Chen and now is out wreaking havoc, Masaru couldn't help but wonder if that was more the reasoning than the dragon's connection to the society. Okane's capture was refined and secretive, the true motive behind a chaotic attack on the emporium, of course Raijin could be doing something similar. He is the distraction, while another secret takes place behind the scenes. The thought of Chen somehow being connected to the Society would also pop into his mind, considering a relative of the man that took his cousin was with Chen, it was possible that she was also involved in it somehow. He didn't want to give up the thought that someone manipulated his former student, that there was no way that Chen would do this on his own, but it was hard to deny the facts that he witnessed within the memory Diana provided. It was clear that the man was not the same person that he was four years ago, that so much had changed in his absence. Kumogakure being destroyed would be yet another twist of the knife that had been in Masaru's gut since he first awakened from his coma, he wondered what became of Ryuko and others that he knew from the cloud village. "Lady Tsuchikage, I believe now more than before, that finding Okane should be our top priority. If somehow what Raijin is doing is connected to the Society it is likely a mere diversion to distract us from the real objective, similarly to how they used the attack on the Emporium to hide the kidnapping. We need to find someone that can open this thing so that we can find where they took him and stop them at the source. Perhaps even pull Raijin back to defend them and take his attention off of destroying villages like Kumo, I believe opening this thing -whatever it is- will give us the answers that we seek."

Taking back the memory crystal once Masaru was done looking through it, she'd nod in agreement as to how the Suna Massacre went down. As for the Tadara issue...yeah she wasn't looking forward to explaining this.

She'd keep a steady tone as she spoke, her stance a little more firm as she talked about Tadara. "The shinobi in question is under my watch, and the only reasons they are still alive and allowed to continue their work as a shinobi is due to the extenuating circumstances regarding the involvement of ex-Tsuchikage Muramatsu Shin in all of this business. As for Suna and the perpetrators, it is more complicated then I would like, but for the time being Sunagakure is more or less under our care again as I have been able to receive reports from them and help them rebuild. Sayuri and Chen still appear to be in Suna, but they appear to have gone into deep hiding and we will not be able to act until we hear something from those in Suna." It wasn't the report she wanted to give, but it was what they had. Even if she wanted Masaru to deal with Chen now, until they had been spotted again it was a dead end; unlike that of Okane and Raijin.

As Masaru went on, Diana would nod again in agreement as she took the box and set it on her desk. "Agreed, Okane and this box comes first. I will do what I can to decipher this puzzle box while you continue your search. For now I would advise reuniting with your other self, and if possible please let the Hokage know that I would like to inspect the body of Raijin if they do kill or capture him given he is our biggest lead next to this box, as well as the kill on sight order is temporarily rescinded until I am allowed to inspect Nyguyen Uchiha's body. I wish to know why he betrayed both you and the previous Hokage, and I assume the current Hokage would like to know as well."

She'd sigh, tapping the mox as she thought of anything else to let Masaru know about, but came up with nothing. "If there is nothing else to report, then I will not keep you from reuniting with your other self."

---

185/185 CP
Negative Sensory - Passive
185/185 CP

Hypherion Battery - Idle (1/20)
169.7/185 CP

Masaru may not have agreed with Diana's answer as to how she handled the individual that was involved with Chen in the massacre, however he did not object to it either. He had to trust that she knew what she was doing and the weight of the risk that she was taking, that said he would have killed the person even with the circumstances of the former Tsuchikage. Masaru would assume that was simply the difference between him and Diana, he had always had a no-nonsense type of policy when it came to criminals. Though looking back now, Masaru wondered if it was his policy of how they handled criminals when he had first taken over as the Kage that started Chen down the path he was on now, could it be that he viewed the elders of suna criminals for whatever reason? This thought would weigh heavily on Masaru, but he would turn his focus back to that of his cousin and figuring out where he is being held.

"There is one more thing, Lady Diana. I left my team as well as Oda on the island with the people there for protection, If Iwagakure has any Corvettes or the funds to by some so that we can retrieve them as well as sending additional forces for potection in the move of the people that would be appreciated. There are other matters that must be looked into as well, once I reunite with my other self I will be heading to Kirigakure as well. I believe I might be able to uncover some information there, considering who it was that took my cousin. Please let me know the moment you get someone to open that thing. I will leave Cain, my falcon, here in the village aviary so that you can send word to me. He can find me no matter where I am in the world." Masaru would then bow to Diana, and unless she had anything else she wanted to add he would take his leave of the Tsuchikage Complex.

{Exit - Attempt}

She'd nod, listening to his final thoughts in the matters spoken today. "I will do what I can for those aboard the Heavenly Emporium, and before you go, be cautious while in Kiri. Given Sayuri's involvement with the Sunagakure Massacre, be prepared for possible questions from those in charge. If nothing else, if they request permission for the location of Sunagakure, you have my permission to give it to them so that they can confirm Sayuri's involvement with their own eyes."

With Masaru bowing and leaving, Diana crossed her fingers and looked at the box and crystals in her desk before picking the box up. She'd spend half an hour trying to unlock the box, but came up with nothing for the time being. Given she was one of (at least to her own knowledge) one of the more knowledgeable people on Kishin, the fact she was stumped by this box for the moment was a small blow, but not a finishing one. She would have plenty of free time to spend looking at the box, and she had plenty of people in Iwatomics who would love to try and decipher the box as well.

Hopefully she wouldn't need to ask Tadara for help though. Like it or not his raw intelligence was higher then her own, but given that he was under probation given his involvement, she couldn't be fully sure yet that he was involved with the Society in some form. Was it the paranoia talking? Probably, but she had to consider the possibility.

Setting the box back to the side, she'd sigh and rub her temples before finalizing the documents for the new towns. The fact that they had discovered the historical cities of Kazegoku and Rōran was impressive enough, but now that they had small footholds there, well she was curious to visit them herself, at least once she decyphered the most recent scroll that had been delivered, one that was rumored to be from the era of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself.

"So much to do, and only so much to understand. At least this is progress."

{Exit}