34'Time to do something,' Yagura thought, as he watched his people outside go about with their lives looking gloomy as usual. A lonely looking woman was begging for the food vendor to lower his prices, crying and desperate, speaking over and over about her children.
"How can you think to save a village, if you cannot help one solitary person?" Isobu advised him.
Yagura took a moment to think about the advice before he jumped out the window and down on the street. Without making too much of a fuss, he walked up to the stand and gave the woman quite a shock. She very nearly fainted when she saw her brutal leader handing the shopkeeper the money she needed.
"Do you need anything more?" Yagura asked and looked up at her.
The woman just shook her head and ran off with her goods, not even thanking him, but he guessed her fear overwrote her gratefulness. Hopefully, she would think better of it when she had time to calm down a bit.
"It isn't always easy to do what's right when everyone sees you as someone you aren't, but you should still try," Isobu told him.
"You're right, of course. I suppose that I should check up on Naruto now, it wouldn't be good if he started to miss home due to my neglect," Yagura said and tried to cheer a bit up.
"Bring some food with you."
"Pardon?"
"He's probably hungry after not having eaten since yesterday, and it helps him see you as a friend, you won't get his loyalty by acting like a superior, but rather as a friend."
"I know how to make friends," Yagura mumbled, a tailed beast could be helpful at times, but also quite annoying at others.
Yagura had no idea where to get ramen; he wasn't as familiar with his own village as he wished he was. What he really needed was to change his priorities, what was the point of defending the village against outside threats and internal issues if he ignored the needs and activities of his people? Though he could get some other food, he had no idea what else the kid liked. Though that did gave him an idea on how to keep Naruto occupied, for a little while at least.
-x-
"Come in," Naruto called from inside as Yagura knocked on his door.
Yagura walked into the small, one-room apartment that he had fixed for Naruto. It was simple, but Naruto seemed to have found himself a home here.
"I thought you might be hungry, so I brought some food with me," Yagura smiled as he handed Naruto a bowl of soup and some bread.
"I thought you might be trying to starve me to me to death," Naruto laughed, breathing in the steam. "Mmm, it smells good."
Naruto's reaction really made Yagura smile. It soon dissolved into a frown as Naruto emptied the bowl in a single gulp, his lack of table manners becoming apparent.
"I've a fun idea, why don't you look for a place to get ramen? If you can find one, I'll treat you to a bowl?" he suggested.
"Really?! I'm in," Naruto smiled and ate the bread as fast as possible, so that he could start exploring.
"Bye, but don't expect to wait too long," Naruto called as he ran out.
"I guess I need to get back to work," Yagura sighed as he watched Naruto run.
-x-
Yagura really didn't like these meetings, even if it was his own idea. He had thought it would be useful to have someone check on his decision-making in case anything went wrong, but it felt like the council took a bit much pleasure in their own expanded influence.
They weren't happy that he had brought someone from Konoha with him for seemingly no reason. He hadn't told them about Naruto's true nature, it would be best to keep it a secret until he had the situation entirely under control. He had already messed up his plan by revealing a softer side of himself before he went to Konoha.
It would be much easier to just rule as a ruthless dictator, there was no one who wanted their side to be heard and no one that pointed out errors in his thinking, but he couldn't revert this now, he had to live with his decision.
-x-
The rain poured down over Yagura and Naruto as they hurried under the roof of the ramen stand.
"It's a nice place you found," Yagura commented as he looked around the stall.
"Yeah, it was hard to find. There aren't many places like this here," Naruto replied.
"Our village is struggling, not many can afford to eat at places like this," Yagura said.
"It's nice here, no one looks at me as if I had killed their entire family," Yagura spoke and expected a chuckle from this, however, Naruto started to cry instead.
'A ninja should cry,' he had always been told, and had told others, but never told what to do if someone else cried in front of him. He didn't know what to do or say, and it showed
"It's okay," Naruto sniffed and took another mouthful of ramen, "it's just a bit saltier than usual, I don't mind."
Yagura was unsure if he should laugh at the joke, or just be there for Naruto.
"I don't want to go home, do I have to?" Naruto asked.
That was true, Naruto was just visiting him, it was he who had assumed that Naruto had defected, he had never really asked Naruto about it.
"Why do you say that?" Yagura asked.
"I want to be a ninja, but I can't make a clone, I keep on failing and the graduation exam is soon. I'll never be a ninja, I'll never be Hokage," Naruto cried out.
"You know something? I don't know how to do a basic clone either," Yagura admitted. It was true, after the Isobu was sealed into him, there was too much Chakra in him for such a delicate task. "But those clones are useless, I could teach you how to make a water clone if you wanted?"
"Really?" Naruto chimed out, "You're the best. When can we start?"
"After we've eaten if you want," Yagura said before he was assaulted by a hug from Naruto. The boy emptied the entire bole down his throat in an instant before he stood up and grinned at Yagura, ready to go.
-x-
"Why are we here?" Naruto asked as he looked out over the shore.
"Water Jutsu are much easier to do near water and in humid areas. They are harder in other places though, but you should be able to use them as long as you're not in a desert," Yagura explained.
"So how do I do it?"
"Be patient," Yagura said as he felt his eyes twitching at Naruto's impatience. "You need to learn the basics first. Stick your hands into the water and send chakra through it. At first, you'll only be able to move it slightly. But if you just keep on practising, you will feel yourself gaining control over the water."
As Naruto put his hands into the cold water, Yagura started to create a bonfire beside them.
"What's that for?" Naruto asked as he looked at Yagura suspiciously.
"You're going to have your hands in cold water for hours, you need to keep yourself warm," Yagura said. He repressed the desire to call Naruto an idiot and filed the statement away to tease him with later.
"Oh, I didn't think about that, thank you." Naruto smiled as he turned to him.
Yagura smiled back before he turned his focus quickly back onto the file. "You just keep on working on your control."
-x-
Kakashi was tired; not just from dealing with Suna, but also because he had barely gotten any sleep after leaving their village. The worst part was that it was mostly his own fault.
Now he just needed to get approval to go to Kiri and get Naruto back. He just needed to make sure he didn't keel over in front of Sarutobi.
"You're back, I see." the Hokage said as he looked up to a visibly exhausted Kakashi from his desk.
"Yes, Suna needed time to think about the deal. They'll come back to us when they've made a decision. Now, can I leave and get back Naruto?"
"How much sleep have you gotten over the last few days?" Sarutobi asked him with an accusatory tone.
"A few hours, I think. Ninja are supposed to be able to endure without it," Kakashi mumbled and threw his hand out as he almost lost his balance
"Get to bed, you're barely capable of standing up. How can you expect to be able to retrieve Naruto?"
Kakashi had no time to answer as he fell to the ground and lost consciousness, which gave Sarutobi no other choice than to signal to some nearby ANBU to carry him to a bed.
-x-
Kakashi's head hurt, his vision was blurred and he didn't know where he was. Had he been captured on his way back from Suna?
He saw something move into the room.
"I'm not saying anything," Kakashi mumbled, before he saw that the person in question wasn't an enemy ninja but his commander, the Hokage.
"I hope that you're better now?" Sarutobi asked.
"What happened to me?" Kakashi asked as he adjusted himself into a sitting position.
"You feel asleep during your mission report. Are you ready, or should I come back to you tomorrow?"
"No no, I'll have to get going as soon as I can. I can't give the Mist time to poison Naruto's mind. I was thinking, do you think I can promote him?"
"What do you mean?" Sarutobi questioned.
"If he's a genin, Yagura can't hold him there. That and it will be a nice gesture to make him feel more welcomed here."
"Not a bad idea, I'll approve of it. Anything more?"
"I want to tell him about his father, show him that he has a deep and profound connection to the village that he should be proud of," Kakashi argued.
"Hmm, it might be time, it's not like the secret is protecting him anymore. I'll approve it. However, just in case your plan fails, don't tell Naruto that Yagura is the Mizukage. The longer we wait, the more Naruto will feel betrayed by being tricked into thinking he was his friend, Yagura might be able to explain his way out of the mess now, but not if we delay it."
"I guess you won't let me go if I don't agree with it?"
"You prove yourself a prodigy once more, Kakashi," Sarutobi chuckled. "You know where to find the stuff you need. So leave when you're ready and try to not get yourself killed."
"Thank you, Hokage-Sama," Kakashi replied and bowed his head deeply as he started to leave
-x-
It had been some days since Naruto had started practising. Whenever Yagura was not too busy dealing with village business, he took time out to watch over his young friend.
"You're doing well Naruto," Yagura told him as he watched Naruto's handling of the water. What started as just small movements had now improved to a level where Naruto could lift smaller shapes out of the water and control them. "You should take a break now, I bought some food."
Naruto got away from the water and held his hands in front of the fire to warm it up.
"You know that you don't have to go back if you don't want to," Yagura told him as he handed Naruto grilled meat and vegetables pierced on a stick.
"Huh?" Naruto let out as he took a bite from the meat on the stick and avoided the vegetables.
"You could become a Kiri ninja if you wanted. I've talked to the Mizukage, and he told me that it's okay."
"Really?" Naruto exclaimed out of happiness. "I would really like that, you know. Do you think we can be teammates?"
"I'm glad to hear that! I'm afraid that it's unlikely that we'll be on the same team, but that's okay. We'll be friends, no matter what, right?" Yagura said, he had a job to do, he just needed to make sure Naruto got a team that would accept him.
-x-
Kakashi arrived at a small village not far away from Kirigakure and had settled himself at an inn. He was far too experienced to go into enemy territory in this kind of state. Besides, Sarutobi would kill him if he messed up simply because of a lack of sleep. It wasn't like Yagura was one night away from making Naruto loyal to him, as much as he wanted to grab Naruto and run back to Konoha, resting was a reasonable trade-off. If he didn't rest now, he wouldn't be able to run away should the need come.
-x-
"Yagura! Look, I did it," Naruto exclaimed and pointed to a watery version of Naruto that was stood in the turf.
Yagura looked at it and smiled. "Good work. Listen, I've got a surprise for you, close your eyes."
"Okay?" Naruto said, but quickly did as he was told. And as he stood there he felt something being tied around his head.. As Naruto felt that Yagura was stepping back, he opened his eyes again.
"Congratulations, you're a Genin now," Yagura spoke, and gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder.
Naruto stroked the forehead protector and felt the four waves in the Kiri symbol, before looking down into the water at his projection.
"I... I finally did it, I'm a ninja! And before that bastard, Sasuke, as well!" Naruto said and ran at Yagura to enfold him in another hug.
"So, do you want to celebrate with some ramen?" Yagura asked him and patted his head.
"Are kunai sharp?" Naruto answered as a joke. Of course he wanted ramen, no sane person would decline that! He started to run towards the stand that they had been eating at the day he had arrived in Kiri.
-x-
Kakashi glinted the sun outside his window, 'Wake up Kakashi, you've a job to do' he thought to himself as he grabbed his clothes and a clean mask. He had no time for a proper breakfast; a ration bar would have to do for now. He packed away his forehead protector; while it might cause him problems to enter a village without identifying himself as a Konoha ninja, he'd never get any information if he did identify himself as a Konoha ninja. He then and left the inn and made his way to the village.
-x-
He noticed that it wasn't all that hard to get to get into the village. He just needed to show a letter from Sarutobi that proved he was on a diplomatic mission. He would be watched every step of the way, no doubt, but they didn't seem to mind his entry.
-x-
After having both asked and looked around the village for some time, he noticed the smell of ramen and quickly found its source. To his immense luck, a yellow-haired boy was sitting there. There could be no doubt: it was Naruto. He walked slowly towards the stand so as to not frighten him.
"One miso ramen please," Kakashi asked the person manning the stand.
"A moment and it should be ready sir," they answered.
"Hi Naruto," He said and turned towards his target.
Naruto turned his head towards him and asked, "Do I know you?"
"I'm Hatake Kakashi, I was sent by the Hokage to get you back to Konoha."
"I don't want to go back, I'm fine here," Naruto answered and shifted around on his stool.
"I've got a gift for you from Sarutobi," Kakashi pleaded.
"What's that?" Naruto said, looking quite confused.
Kakashi grabbed a Konoha forehead protector from his pockets and presented in front of Naruto.
"I'm already a ninja," Naruto stated bluntly and pointed to his forehead.
'How could I not notice that?' Kakashi asked himself. Was this a genjutsu, or was the fact too unreal for him to accept it on the first glance? But he couldn't deny it, Naruto was a Kiri-nin now. He didn't care; international treaties be damned, he was going to get Naruto back.
"I got promoted last night, I managed to do a water clone, so Yagura promoted me."
'That bastard', Kakashi thought to himself, he should never have delayed this. If he hadn't needed to go to Suna, this would never have happened.
"You don't find it strange that it was him and not the Mizukage promoting you?" Kakashi asked as he rose an eyebrow.
"Yagura told me that he talked to the Mizukage about it, he's-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence; he had nearly revealed that Yagura was a Jinchuuriki, but had managed to stop himself in time. He wasn't supposed to tell people that, Yagura would be so angry with him. "He's close to the Mizukage," he said instead.
As much as Kakashi wanted to tell Naruto straight away that Yagura was the Mizukage, he thought it best to stick to the plan. It had come from the Hokage, after all.
"You know, I knew your parents," Kakashi said with a careless tone.
"Really? Then why didn't you say this before? Who were they? Were they great ninja?"
"Your father was my sensei, and a great ninja indeed and your mother was the scariest woman I've seen, but more full of love for her family than most I have ever known," Kakashi explained.
"Really?" Naruto blurted out in disbelief, shocked by the revelations.
Kakashi nodded in return.
"What were their names?"
"Uzumaki Kushina was your mother, and Nazikaze Minato, also known as the fourth Hokage, was your father."
"Lord Fourth was my father?" Naruto asked as his whole body froze.
"Yes, he would be proud of you, you know?"
The cogs moved behind Naruto's eyes. The Fourth had sealed the Nine-Tailed Beast into him. The Fourth had chosen to make a weapon of him.
"Then, all of this is my father's fault?" Naruto asked, anger rising in his voice. To be told that it was not just the Fourth, but his father, who had chosen to do this. "It's my dad's fault that no-one would ever be my friend? It was my dad's fault that everyone looked at me like… like dog crap? Just because he wanted to turn me into a weapon?"
Kakashi had begun to panic; this wasn't how this was supposed to go! "Naruto, it's not like that at all," Kakashi pleaded as he reached out to Naruto.
But Naruto had frozen completely. His eyes had turned red and the pupils had become slit like those of a fox.
"Naruto, snap out of it! Your parents loved you more than anything," Kakashi yelled in desperation.
Naruto didn't respond - couldn't respond, a red cloud of chakra began to form around Naruto. If he heard anything that Kakashi had said then he didn't believe him.
"Naruto, stop!," Kakashi cried out as he tried to grab Naruto, only for his hands to be forced away by the burning shroud that surrounded Naruto.
Naruto let out a roar, or perhaps a scream, that was so loud that people fled from the street. Kakashi could see two tails raging, flowing like rivers of fire behind Naruto.
'What do I do? What can I do?' Kakashi asked himself. This wasn't supposed to happen at all, and least of all happen here. He by no means liked the Mist, but he had no desire for innocent blood on his hands.
Neither he nor Sarutobi was prepared for this situation. When they had talked about him taking Naruto as a student, the plan was to wait until something happened with Kyuubi before making a proper plan. That turned out to be a bad idea. They had expected something smaller the first time, not this.
Naruto charged at Kakashi without warning at Kakashi and tried to strike his chakra claws towards him, which Kakashi dodged in the last moment.
"Wake up Naruto! Don't give in," Kakashi shouted.
Naruto just growled back and made a new charge towards Kakashi. The older ninja saw now that he had no choice other than to fight back, and kicked Naruto back with all of his strength. There was no point holding back now.
If only there was a way to knock him out without harming him. It was the only way he could think of to stop this. Kakashi could only hope, if he was wrong then he was harming the boy for no reason.
He gave Naruto almost no time to land before he threw himself at the boy and kicked him down into the side of a house.
Kakashi waited for Naruto to get up again before he decided his next move, it didn't take long for Naruto to get up, but instead of charging at Kakashi again, he ran away and further into the village.
"Damn. Sarutobi will want my head for this," Kakashi muttered and ran after Naruto.
However, Naruto wasn't so easy to catch. It had been that way even before in the Leaf, and it was even harder now, in unknown territory and it didn't take long before Kakashi lost the sight of him.
As Kakashi checked around for Naruto, following a sound that he had heard in the distance. Out of the blue, something hard struck him a blow to the stomach and he was thrown back by the impact.
"What are you doing here, Konoha scum!?" The Mizukage yelled at him.
Kakashi looked over the man who would be Mizukage and assessed his options. With the way that the man was talking, there would be no talking this out diplomatically.
"I'm here to get Naruto back after you kidnapped him," Kakashi grunted and lifted up his headband to uncover Obito's Sharingan.
"Uchiha," Yagura spat out in spite, "The Hokage assured me that the only Uchiha left was a 12-year-old boy, and yet here you are."
"I'm no Uchiha. I'm Kakashi, the Scarecrow, and I'm here to take Naruto home," Kakashi replied in kind.
"Naruto went with me of his own free will!" Yagura yelled back.
"Only after you poisoned his mind and told him that the Fourth Hokage only wanted to make him into a weapon," Kakashi spoke in reply, his voice laced with venom.
"You really think isn't the truth? We Jinchuuriki were made for just one purpose: to be weapons. Don't think for a second that I'd let Naruto go back to that fate. He's one of my ninja now, and I won't let you take him so he can be a tool for Konoha. Leave while you still can, old man," Yagura told him as he bares his teeth at the enemy.
"You have really got things wrong here. None of this matters; I won't leave this village without him. And aren't you older than me?" Kakashi teased.
"I don't care, you die right here!" Yagura yelled out, and with a strike of his hooked staff, a water dragon spew forward towards and forced Kakashi back.
Kakashi knew he was outclassed, he couldn't win against someone who was both a Jinchuuriki and a Kage. Even now, said Kage was sending high-level water Jutsu towards him as if they were nought but simple kunai.
The barrage didn't stop until Yagura had pushed Kakashi and himself well away from people and near the shore. Kakashi was quite surprised to see the level of control that Yagura had. Despite how powerful the Jutsu was, it hadn't caused any damage to any of the village, just made the streets a bit wet. Kirigakure was clearly built to stand both flooding and allied ninja defending the area. The only damage that he could notice, looked like it was from Naruto charging through the area.
"Why stop here? Run out of chakra already? I'd make it about your size, but I don't go for the low-hanging fruit. Got to leave that for little people," Kakashi taunted the Mizukage, forgetting for a precious moment exactly where he was standing.
It wasn't before he saw Yagura's dark little smile and a large shadow over him that he knew it was over. All he could do now was to hope that Yagura would value diplomatic relations over his ego and not kill him.
-x-
After having dealt with the intruder, Yagura went to look at Naruto. Hopefully, his black-ops would have managed to capture Naruto and get him under control. Despite the fact that he had had control over the Three-Tails for a long time, the village was always prepared for a situation where he would lose control. Call it unnecessary, but it had all paid off now.
He went into the room where Naruto was staying and saw that the kid was sleeping, but not injured. A Bijuu's pure chakra tended to have negative effects on its vessel if one didn't have any control, but Naruto was either lucky or it had already healed.
"Mizukage-Sama, the council has called for a meeting," one of his ANBU said.
"I told you to not call me that near him," Yagura snapped at the ANBU operative, annoyed at his carelessness.
"I'm sorry, but he was sleeping so I figured-" the ANBU stuttered as he tried to defend his actions.
"Just do as you're told next time. I don't want him to find out by an accident. In any case, I'm coming, it's better to get this over with as soon as possible."
-x-
Yagura would rather fight a dozen Konoha-nin than have to deal this.
"What were you thinking about, letting a untamed Jinchuuriki into the village? We're lucky it didn't cause even more damage," one clan leader shouted out. Yagura didn't care too much about them, they were all power hungry people who cared only about their own clan.
"I think we should give Mizukage-sama a chance here, the Nine-Tailed Beast would definitely be a solid resource for the village, maybe then we wouldn't need to reunite with the traitors," another one of them added to the discussion.
What fools these clan heads were; he wasn't trying to make peace with the rebels because they were losing the war, but because it was the right thing to do. He had, no, the unknown Uchiha had caused the village much harm. He couldn't fault them for wanting to rid the village of the evil he once was. If he couldn't rectify his mistake of giving these idiotic people power, then it wouldn't matter if someone were to control him again, the village was already doomed. It was an ironic situation, the only ones able to help him fix this mess was his enemies. He still had the power to sign peace deals without the consent of the council, and with that single loophole, he could take away all their power over him.
But first, he needed to show Mei and the ninja loyal to her that they could trust him and that he was a capable leader. Naruto was coincidentally one step towards that ideal. Even though he had originally been handed the responsibility of a village in decline, he was now better placed to begin negotiations. If he could present the case as him wanting peace for the sake of peace, and not because he was losing, it would be easier to talk with them.
"Are you listening Mizukage-sama?" One of the councilmen shouted as if his attention had been called for several times.
"Can you please repeat yourself?" Yagura asked. He was frankly too bored and had more important things to consider than their usual drivel.
"Naruto already believes that you are a Genin, correct?" One councilman asked him.
"Yes, as I've told you so countless times," Yagura replied in a bored tone, making it clear to the people around him that they should hurry up and get over with it.
"And you just promoted him, but he's yet to be assigned a team. So I was thinking, what if you continued to play your little game with him, and acted as his teammate," the man suggested with a smirk.
The other council members nodded in agreement.
'What, is this an attempt to remove me from power?' Yagura asked himself. These people had been loyal to him during his time under control, what had changed now? But the realisation dawned on Yagura, they were loyal to the brutal dictator he once was. But now that he was becoming softer and tried to solve the civil war through diplomacy, they wanted to get rid of him.
Yagura knew it was a risky move but decided to do it anyway.
"Are you trying to take my seat as Mizukage?" Yagura accused the man.
"Of course not my Lord," the man answered back in a hurry, giving the look of a man who knew that he had stepped too far.
Yagura smiled his dark little smile, 'I'll play their little game if they think they got me the better. Now I have an excuse to get away from the village and do what I need to play my own game.' It was time to pay many of the village's missing-nin a visit. If everything went to hell, he could join the rebels and retake the village with them.
"I agree, I'll still be in charge but I'll make sure the village can be led as usual while I'm gone on missions. Give me a month and I should have made the preparations I need for this to work out. I'll issue an order banning any Konoha-nin into the village, so whatever they did to cause Naruto to react this way can never happen again," Yagura said.
-x-
After the successful or perhaps unsuccessful meeting, depending on how one judged it. Yagura retreated to his office and drew out a letter to a certain Terumi Mei, he had hoped to keep some pride, but his pride was less important than the village. She was his only hope now.
-x-
The next morning a tired Yagura went to meet up with Naruto, he wanted to make sure that no other foolish Konoha-nin had tried to get to him again. He shouldn't have stayed up so late writing and rewriting letters. 'Work smarter, not harder,' was something that he had forgotten in his tired state. Besides, doing any kind of intellectual work was not the kind of thing you did when your bed called for you.
"Hello Yagura. Is everything okay? You don't look so good," Naruto asked him.
"I just went to bed a bit late," Yagura answered truthfully. "The Mizukage summoned me yesterday and he had good news for us. We're going to be teammates."
"What changed? I mean, didn't you say this wouldn't happen? Not that I'm complaining or anything, this is great!" Naruto added with a cheer.
His outburst made Yagura smile. "People are a bit worried about you, after what happened yesterday with the Kyuubi. So since you know me, and we both shared the same fate, he figured that this was for the best."
Naruto looked down at the ground, his eyes hidden by the shadow of regret.
"Oh, don't take it that way! It's only some stupid old men that think that I'll protect you from any danger. Don't worry, you're my first real friend after all," Yagura admitted.
"Wait, didn't you say you had lots of friends, and that they were just out on a mission?"
"I was lying to you, I'm sorry. But, I didn't really have any friends. I just didn't want to admit that okay? It's embarrassing," Yagura told him with a blush.
"Don't worry, you're my first friend too," Naruto told him with a smile.
"This came a bit unexpected, so we don't have a full team yet," Yagura said.
He just hoped Mei would send someone to spy on him, someone that could fill the third slot. He didn't know who else to trust and he didn't want anyone to blabber and call him out as the Mizukage, either intentionally or by accident.
"But I'll make sure we get a great team, so there;s nothing to worry about. Promise me not to tell anyone, but I'll be gone a few days on a mission. Don't go doing anything stupid while I'm gone."
"Don't worry about me. I'll practice more on what you showed me, I'll make water dragons like you in no time, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, giving his chest a thump in a show of solidarity.
"Goodbye then," Yagura said, giving Naruto a quick wave goodbye, before he rushed off to begin his own personal mission.
-x-
Yagura stood in front of his mirror while he applied a small amount of makeup to cover up his distinctive scar. His eyes would be a giveaway as well and he had a pair of lenses that would make them appear black, which he put in now.
Once he was happy with how he looked, he searched through his wardrobe for some more discrete clothes. After getting dressed and making sure the letters was safely fastened to his body, he put on his cloak and began to sneak out into the woods around the village and towards the rebel camp.
-x-
Thanks to Ignisetigris for betaing this chapter.
I'm sorry for anyone getting multiple alerts, I had some issues with exporting this from word, which messed up the formatting.