Pa treon - 43 chapters ahead.

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Akachi was sweating like a pig and nervously glancing at the empty seat of the Mizukage as he waited for the council meeting to start. He was one of the only three civilians in Kirigakure that managed to get onto the council due to their usefulness. Akachi was especially good when it came to getting information via his merchants, which was his reason for being on the council. He was not really the spymaster of Kirigakure, he would rather describe himself as some kind of handy informant since his merchants were, in the end, just merchants, not spies. Then again, not even the Mizukage could afford to dismiss him since a lot of the important intel during the war was brought to him by Akachi rather than the ANBU or through Kirigakure's spymaster. One should never underestimate drunk merchants and their capacity for spouting things that should stay hidden, after all.

Akachi knew much. For example, he knew there was some new group moving in his field of expertise for the last few years, namely the Biri-Biri company. He had no proof even after years of monitoring them but he knew they were doing exactly what he did, except on a much, much larger scale. Frankly, it scared him shitless when he thought about the intel they must gather all around the Elemental Nations as one of the major international companies in good graces of almost every Daimyo. Akachi had no doubt whoever was behind Biri-Biri knew every single move of any Hidden Village before even the Kage gave the order just by looking through their 'shopping list'.

Akachi even knew that Jiraiya the Sannin owned most brothels in the Land of Fire under an alias and even in different countries under different aliases. Akachi had no idea about the sheer scale of Jiraiya's brothel network, but he knew it was larger than any Hidden Village would be comfortable with if they knew about it. It certainly took a long time to get rid of them in the Land of Water and they couldn't be sure all of Jiraiya's brothels were dealt with. The real list was something not many people even in Konoha council knew as it was one of Konoha's top S-class secrets. No wonder the man was the best spymaster. People talk when they are drunk while playing birds and bees. Men especially feel an unexplainable need to brag...

Anyway, Akachi could get some rumors even from somewhere as far as Iwagakure, where they rumoredly wanted to use a jinchuuriki to attack Sunagakure's outposts. Really, how could Iwa jonin freely talk about it in a bar was beyond Akachi.

And due to knowing so much, the latest rumor was whispered to him. A rumor that made him very restless... He briefly swept his gaze through all of his fellow councilmen and it was painfully obvious none of them knew, after all, none of them were nervous. In fact, they looked all peaceful. As if the war was no longer their problem.

Finally, the door opened and the Mizukage walked in with two ANBU surrounding him and the councilmen stood up in respect until the Mizukage sat down in his seat. He instantly put his hat down onto a small table next to his seat and a smoking pipe found its way into his mouth. The man was old. Ready to retire, at least in the opinions of most of the councilmen but Akachi knew it would take some years yet. Mizukage's eyes were too cold, too ruthless for him to just roll over and do as the council wished.

"Hello everyone, I hereby open this council session at the request of merchant Akachi. Mr. Akachi, the stage is yours." The Mizukage said, looking irritably at the sweating merchant who gave a small insecure laugh.

"Uh... I heard rumors... er," Akachi really had no idea how to breach the topic. Thankfully, the other councilmen didn't pester him and just quietly waited. He proved his worth long ago, after all. Akachi decided to hell with it as he straightened and cleared his throat to calm himself. "I heard rumors of a new group of rogue ninja called Yozora. According to these rumors Rei, Konan, and Mei of Kiri are members."

'There, I said it!' Akachi thought as he flopped back into his seat with relief, ignoring how deathly silent the room went. Despite his relieved state, Akachi still had his eyes trained on the key figures that touched this information. Namely the Mizukage, and the resident spymaster, Ichika Shuu, who was in charge of the Information Gathering Divisions of Kirigakure.

The various councilmen showed astonishment and speechless expressions the second they heard him. They didn't want to believe he was speaking the truth since Team Downpour was the best team they had.

The silence quickly passed and the room erupted into chaos. People started yelling at each other, some not believing the three most powerful ninja of the Kirigakure went rogue, some calling for their blood, others screaming how stupid it would be to provoke them... it was a mess.

"ENOUGH!" Mizukage shouted, instantly silencing the room, and turned to Ichika who just silently enjoyed the show, sensually scratching her right forearm with the long polished nails of her left hand. "Do you have something to say about it, jonin Shuu?"

'He already knew...' Akachi thought in disbelief when he spotted how deceptively calm Mizukage was. Akachi just shook his head in exasperation. 'What else did I expect? He is Mizukage. Stupid me…'

"I only know that some upstarts calling themselves Yozora showed up, you see... I had sadly no idea about what Mr. Akachi just informed us of. They didn't really do much yet except for ending some small skirmishes. If they didn't show capability to go one versus at least four squads, I would not even be interested in them." The melodic and enchanting voice of the brown-haired beauty rang through the room and Akachi scrunched his nose in distaste.

Ichika Shuu... she was a crafty and amoral woman and that was exactly why she was capable of getting a position on the council as a non-clan shinobi in Kirigakure. If there was one member on the entire council of the Bloody Mist Akachi was wary of, it was the curvaceous and tempting vixen in front of him. She was the leader of the T&I department, or for clueless civilians, the Information Gathering Division. The woman had no qualms about the way of obtaining information. She would gladly fulfill any sick and deranged wishes of her target if it made him talk... as she would not shy away from inflicting the worst of tortures for the same reason. She simply had no moral limits and that was a very scary thing in itself.

'That woman will be the end of Kirigakure...' Akachi tried to not glare at her, causing him to lower his head. He was overly aware of the rumors spreading through the general population and noble court in the capital of how monstrous and devilish the Kekkei Genkai users supposedly are. Some describe them as even less than animals. These rumors first started before the war but that was quickly suppressed. Imagine Akachi's surprise when they started again during a time when there was nobody free enough to suppress them, causing them to spread far and wide across the entire country. Akachi knew it was Ichika's work, he just didn't have any proof so he kept his mouth shut. The woman wouldn't mind a bloody civil war if it brought her a higher position in the proverbial pecking order of Kirigakure. She definitely didn't like the fact that 80% of the political and economical influence was in the hands of clans.

"Lord Mizukage, what will we do? We can't just let two of our S-rankers and god forbid an SS-ranker to roam free! We have to do something!" The new heir of the Yuki clan, chosen after Himeno's death, spoke with determined eyes only for the older man from the Hozuki clan to scold him.

"Shut up, you young idiot! How do you want to stop them!? They can deal with any hunter squad we sent after them! You know nothing of their secret mission records, you young gnat. Do be quiet when adults are talking, child." The Hozuki clan leader sneered.

The Yuki heir started spluttering but before he could start screaming murder at the Hozuki clan leader, the leader of the Suiran clan, one of the smaller but very powerful and respected clans, started speaking. "I am afraid I must agree with the old and grumpy," He chuckled, making the Hozuki clan leader scoff, "We really have no other option than to ignore it at the moment." He knew the other councilmen wanted to interrupt so he quickly added with a shrug, not sorry for a second to throw the Mizukage to the wolves. "And besides, the Mizukage already knew long ago."

The second that sentence was uttered, every set of eyes in the room intently looked at Mizukage. Surprisingly, even ANBU were not an exception. The Mizukage puffed out smoke from his mouth and sighed, mulling over how to explain so even the old idiots on the council would understand.

"Yes, I knew. They are missing for a few months already alongside Ringo Ameyuri." He nonchalantly said, starting the second wave of protests and screams that only stopped when he released his killing intent. While it didn't faze the ninjas in the room, it was a sign their Kage wanted to speak so they shut up due to respect rather than fear. But none of the councilmen were happy. Ringo was a major figure in the village. A war hero even. If she defected... "But there is really nothing we can do about it. Before you start arguing again, LISTEN!" The Mizukage groaned. "We are weak at the moment. Even putting them in the Bingo Book would be announcing our weakness only increased. We have to keep it quiet and not confirm anything long enough for the war to end, hopefully with enough casualties on each side to not bother us in the near future." The Mizukage hollowly chuckled, causing the atmosphere in the room to turn somber. Akachi noted some clan heads were not-so-discreetly glaring at the Mizukage but the man didn't even spare them a glance. "Anyway, despite everything, I know Rei has some attachment to the village so we are not in immediate danger. For now, we will do exactly nothing." The Mizukage ordered with a tone of finality.

The session then lasted for another three hours, discussing the late Team Downpour's weaknesses and strengths, their intentions and motivations for going rogue, even ways to get them into the fold again... with minor punishment, of course. Honestly, Akachi was bored out of his wits, something the Mizukage could relate to if Akachi's eyes were still working. Even Akachi, a civilian, knew no matter what the old fogies discuss, it was all just guess-work at best. After all, the only person in the room who knew enough about Team Downpour was the Mizukage and he certainly was not very forthcoming with the details. Even Ichika ground her teeth in irritation every time she was asked about them since she knew virtually nothing, much to Akachi's only amusement during the session.

Alas, his work sucked and he already came to terms with it long ago.