Interlude 5

Tea Capital
Gaku Inuzuka, Veteran Jonin

“Do you think they’ll succeed, Mr. Inuzuka?” The round-faced lady Ikeda asked him with a bit of a fret in her posture. They were currently seated out in the courtyard of the Tea Castle, the nobleladies on comfortable cushions and the warriors on the sturdy but rather basic stools.

“Hm?” He responded with a questioning hum, buying himself a bit of time to figure out how to word his answer. Upon meeting the woman’s eyes, he made a contemplative nod of his head and started to reply. “Well, they almost certainly won’t be killed. Any ninja who lives long enough to make it to Jonin is pretty hard to kill, otherwise they wouldn’t have made it that far. I know Braggart is a Jonin, and I’m pretty sure that Kirinin was a Jonin too.”

He made a little ‘eh’ gesture with his lone good hand, wobbling it back and forth briefly. His other hand was still in the cast, matching the cast on his opposite-side leg. “The others? I’m betting on experienced Chunin, they didn’t have quite the right look in their eyes. Seasoned but not aged- if that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t, but thank you for trying.” Lady Ikeda responded immediately with a firm little nod of her head. Madam Gozen, Mari, and the other one that he wasn’t familiar with laughed at that, causing him to give an aggravated roll of his eyes and huff.

“In any case.” Gaku steered the conversation back. “I certainly don’t think they’re going to get killed. Laughing Smoke was only ever infamous for his robberies, not his prowess in battle. With that said- I’m willing to bet on the fight reaching us anyways.”

“Wait-what? Why?” Madam Gozen asked immediately, leaning forwards and giving him her best intense gaze.

“You don’t become a known thief by being good at staying hidden.” Gaku began, rolling his jaw briefly. “You don’t become a legendary thief by being easy to catch.”

“You think he’ll slip away and come to attack us?” Mari asked with a furrow to her brows, leaning forwards with a hand on the base of her warfan. A brief pang of guilt ran through him at the sight of the stump, which was quickly buried up and ignored. Sympathy for a potential enemy was a poor policy. She wouldn’t be ineffectual like many other ninja would be- her unarmed combat seemed to rely on wide kicks when the space permitted it, only using punches if there was someone potentially in the way.

That and the fan should let her perform a limited number of her wind ninjutsu, albeit more awkwardly than before. Raido called it ‘career ending’ with a grim look on his face, but Gaku was old enough to think of a few ways she could compensate for it. Using that big warfan one-handed would be a bitch on the shoulder, but it was possible.

It was a major setback, for certain, but it would only be career-ending if she let it be.

“Not so much that I think he will for certain…” Gaku began to clarify, dropping the hand back to his lap. “…Just that I’m going to be prepared for it if he does show up.”

“What are the odds, do you think?” The one whose’ name escaped him at the moment asked. The pretty one in slightly worn robes, black hair and red eyes. Kinda like Kurenai but she took much better care of her hair. Which was funny, because he knew how much time Kurenai wasted every day trying to get her wild mane into something reasonably straight and respectable.

Kinda like his wife, except Tsume didn’t even try, she just let it be wild. And if it wasn’t wild at the moment, she’d grab his hands and make him run his fingers through it until it was wild again. It was one of her cute points.

“About fifty-fifty, I’d say.” Gaku shrugged carelessly.

“Fifty-fifty!?” Madam Gozen was apparently in a dramatic mood today, with all her exaggerated reactions. Wait no, she was in a dramatic mood every day.

“Sure, about that.” He nodded. “Either it happens or it doesn’t. I’m not the best at thinking, but two outcomes seems fifty-fifty to me.”

The reactions from the nobleladies was downright comical, provoking a smirk and snicker from his lips.

“Honestly, I happen to hire the only ninja in all of Konoha who is both flippant and uneducated.” Madam Gozen began to complain in her huffish way, crossing her arms and leaning back against Lady Ikeda. Gaku’s gaze was drawn towards the ashigaru guards, emerging from the sides of the courtyard and making their way towards the groups of ninja to speak quietly. “I suppose it’s expected that a hound would be waggish!”

“Oh! That’s a good one, Tsuchi!” Ikeda giggled, tapping her forehead against the side of Madam Gozen’s head. One of the guards was making his way over to their group, a slight tension in his gaze and step. Gaku’s eyes sharpened as his instincts began to heckle him.

In the small groups of ninja and nobles, the ashigaru spoke briefly, but insistently, and gestured with nods towards the interior of the castle. Some of the nobles got up to follow, but many more were complaining and staying put. The guards, in an unexpected show of backbone, also held their grounds to repeat their quiet insistences.

The old Samurai, Sarutobi Sanjuro, had also noticed by this point. His posture remained identical to what it was before, tense and ready.

Finally the ashigaru reached them. A shortish man in the normal armor of the guards, dark plates over seaweed green padded cloth. A faint blue scarf hung from his belt with a word printed upon it. There was a detail he had noticed. Some of the guards wore a scarf somewhere on their person with the word ‘Tian’ in faint kanji. Some of the guards wore these scarves, but many didn’t, and Gaku had initially assumed it to be a local fashion choice.

He had assumed that- but he hadn’t stopped paying attention to it either. They had a peculiar scent, faint and mostly drowned out by lye, but still barely present. It took him a while to figure out where it had been lingering.

“Honored Guests- Please make your way into the castle, for your safety in the case of another night attack.” The ashigaru bowed his head slightly, face forced into calmness.

“What?!” Madam Gozen began, waving her little fan at the evening sunset- there was still another hour and a half before it completely disappeared. “The sun is still out, guard, I’ve another two hours before night comes, and I intend to greet the victorious ninja as they return!”

An annoyed tension came over the man’s face, and if it were just Gozen being unreasonable again Gaku wouldn’t have bothered to notice.

“A precaution, honored guest, trust the strength of the Samurai of Tea country. The strength of the ninja is inconsistent, and Commander Tenchi does not trust their ability to defend you.” A direct insult like that would normally get him all irritated, but right now it was just making him suspicious.

“See- I got a question about that.” Gaku spoke up, raising a hand to cut off Mari preemptively. He didn’t think she was actually going to say anything, but he needed to remind the ashigaru of his broken limbs. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

The ashigaru stubbornly refused to look at him, making him narrow his eyes. Madam Gozen noticed this, and waved her fan in a scolding manner. “Are you deaf, commoner? My bodyguard is speaking to you.” As annoying as she usually was, her willingness to immediately support an ally was commendable. Gaku appreciated it.

The ashigaru ground his teeth, finally turning to address him. “Your question, ninja?” He almost growled out, voice barely within the range of being polite.

Gaku almost grinned, raising a finger and speaking rather loudly. “See, I noticed something. All of your fellows coming out here have the same little blue scarf on. The other ashigaru don’t have those.” The nobleladies blinked at that, looking around to notice the same detail. Other nobles nearby also took note, slightly confused by why such a detail was even coming up.

The ashigaru, meanwhile, grew even tenser than before. “…Yes? What relevance does this have, ninja?” He actually growled this time.

Gaku shrugged. “Oh, I’m just wondering- did this order come from the Daimyo, or did it come from Commander Tian-chi?”

“The Commander has been entrusted to manage the security of Tea Country- ninja! There is no distinction- The insult!” The ashigaru stepped forwards with his hand on the hilt of his katana, a furious look on his face at the implication Gaku proposed. Sanjuro and Mari were both giving him focused and slightly bewildered looks, trying to puzzle out what he was getting at.

“Oh, my apologies-” Gaku began, raising a hand and giving a sarcastic grin. He made sure to say the next part loud enough to carry across the whole courtyard. “-So it was on the Daimyo’s orders that you blue scarves set up those poison bombs then?”

A stillness in the courtyard lingered, as shocked stares and stunned glares were sent his way. The accusation was a fairly serious one, but Gaku was willing to trust his nose on this one.

Those blue scarves smelled like that same poison to him. No amount of soap was going to wash that out after just a day.

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Two sharp rings of steel reached his ears simultaneously, as the ashigaru drew his blade to swing at him-

-And as Sanjuro cut the man’s sword in half.

Gaku’s hand, reaching down for his tanto, stopped. He had been more than ready to catch the ashigaru’s sword, but he hadn’t even seen Sanjuro move. The old samurai’s blade had cut right through the guard’s then traveled up to gently settle against his throat and armpit in one perfectly smooth motion.

Several long seconds later- the still courtyard witnessed the severed blade fall to the ground in a clatter, several meters away.

“Ashigaru of Tea Country…” Sanjuro growled, voice low and furious. “Your attack lends credence to the Ninja’s words- dispel this claim, if it is without substance.”

“T-the Daimyo is a cousin of mine- he’d never order something like that!” A noble cried out fearfully in the distance.

“But what about Commander Tenchi?!” Gaku roared back, narrowing his question for the sake of everyone who hadn’t caught up thus far. “Did he order this, ashigaru?!”

“Kill the ninja! Secure the nobles!” A captain screamed, hopping down from one of the walls to land heavily in the courtyard. He had a blue scarf tied around his bicep. “Let none flee!”

That answered the question as far as he was concerned. “Out of the city- we’re not safe here!” Gaku barked as violence broke out in the courtyard, Mari jumping over to practically toss the clients up to their feet and, as awkward as that was with a single hand. “Ikeda, Gozen, we’re leaving!”