"Thank you, Raiga." I said as I unfurled a mission report over Reina's on my desk.
With Reina and Kisame shepherding the Kaguya to Kiri, the ANBU Commander responsibilities fell to the Captain of her choice. I'd glazed through her progress report on convincing the Kaguya remnants that I was offering them the only way out of their predicament. She expressed they were stubborn, actually, unruly was the word she used.
Still, Kisame present with a Shark Sword seemed to cower even the most foolish of the Kaguya men that were left behind, that and the realization that the best of their kind had been exterminated.
Kisame also gave a report. I didn't ask him to and it's quite unusual to give your own report separate from the mission leader. His report contained a list of names, ages and a short description as well as an assigned threat level.
I hadn't thought to ask for any of that from Reina but I'm grateful Kisame took the initiative to do so, even if it's a bit odd he's sending parallel reports.
The report Raiga handed to me now was different though and not even directly from him. It was from Mei and her partner, Daiki. I'd sent them to Amegakure and almost forgot in the heat of all the politicking and massacring I'd been up to in the past week.
Before that I was anxiously looking forward to what my agents had to say about Amegakure, after all, it would let me know exactly what has happened within the Akatsuki and what was yet to happen.
I scanned through it, there were only three short-hand sentences and the first spoke decisively— 'No Hanzo, two unknown figures in charge, Angel and presumably a god.'
I gulped. That was all I needed to know really, Hanzo was dead and Nagato has occupied the Rain for himself. Still, I kept reading as Mei had more to say in the second sentence— 'Hanzo loyalists remain, all labelled terrorists and executed ASAP, majority in hiding.'
At this I briefly considered reaching out to these loyalists but I threw the thought away, as painful as it is, the truth is Amegakure was better off under Nagato, if he were less crazy and didn't seek to seal tailed beasts that would be great. He'd be a sensible world leader to approach.
Besides, interfering like that would only subject us to more of his ire. Sure, Kirigakure wasn't one of the Hidden Villages that used Amegakure as a battleground but we were one of the five and that alone condemned us.
I bit my lip as I read the last line— 'S-rank barrier technique, the rain is a tool, Sundays always, random sometimes.'
It took me a moment to comprehend what she meant by that. She didn't have a lot of space to work with writing these reports so I couldn't ask for more details without offering a way to accommodate them. But after a third read I understood what she meant as Jason reminded me as well.
The rain itself is the villages protection. A slight disturbance and that's the end, Nagato would find out and not hesitate to kill Mei and her partner.
The thought sent a shiver through me, I understood I was taking a risk by sending Mei into Amegakure and I did so anyway because I believed she wouldn't die purely because it wasn't her time to. Perhaps her partner would suffer but she shouldn't…right?
I shook my head as Yagura gave the sensible thought that everything became different from the moment I took his place and that people aren't protected from death because I didn't believe they would die. I should be more careful.
Should I ask them to withdraw? It's been almost a month since I gave the mission order and now I'm getting the first report. I already knew who was in charge but…
Chewing my lip, I lost myself in thought of what to do about the situation. Nagato wouldn't respond kindly to infiltrators and I didn't want to lose a shinobi as valuable as Mei, she represented much of the potential Kirigakure had and that couldn't disappear.
I doubted there was anything to gain from keeping her in Amegakure since I already got what I wanted in this first report. It would make sense to continue the mission if Nagato was someone you could tail and monitor but the fact that after nearly one month living as civilian and she only knew decisively about Konan's existence meant there was no point in hiding any longer.
I looked up from the report and remembered Raiga still stood at attention in front of my desk. My gaze found him and a plan began to brew in my mind one that might be a bit dicey considering.
But I have to make a move. Given that news of Konoha's near destruction hasn't reached me from my liaisons there, I bet Obito was still preparing to mount his attack. And if he hasn't yet…
"Raiga."
"Sir!" He was stiff as a board behind that mask of his. He wore strict Kiri ANBU attire and the same wavy mask many of my protectors donned.
"How would you like to visit Amegakure?"
"Sir?"
I set the report down, sighed and crossed my fingers as I gave this idea of mine a final thought, "I need someone to broach the leaders of Amegakure on my behalf. Do you think you're up for it? You would have back up from Mei and Daiki but you shouldn't rely on it, they have their own mission."
He shifted his mask to the side, revealing an unsure look that had me narrowing my eyes at him. He met my gaze and said, "Sir, I don't believe I'd be useful on such a mission unless…" he caught my raised eyebrow and spat it out, "Unless you want these leaders assassinated."
I scoffed, the chuckled, then cackled madly at the thought of Raiga trying to assassinate Nagato as I sat back and shook my head, "No, I suppose you wouldn't be the best choice for what I have in mind. Good work though, I didn't expect you to be so honest about your limitations."
He shrugged. Raiga had never been one to share many words with me, less so after the succession trial. I nodded gratefully, asked him to forward any more reports from Mei and dismissed him so I could return to my thoughts.
Raiga was right in a way, I couldn't just assign the first person I saw, no, I had to think carefully about who I would do best on a mission of peace to Amegakure.
Nagato maybe far gone but the Angel, Konan is not. "Hmm, perhaps this is an undertaking for Yagura Karatachi himself."