Roots Regrow

[Shimura Kumiko]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/dDxps.png);][atrb=valign,top] She walked with determination. Her feet scrambled, cramped by the tightness of her kimono. Her hair was high, black as the day she was born. Her face held wrinkles clearly, but the young kunoichi of the office still fell to their knees as her hustled steps passed them. She puffed her cigarette as she passed, looking out the corner of her eye and smirking slightly as she admired their youth. They wanted to be her in their future, but she wanted that youth to rejoin her spirit now. They were so full of joy, but unknowing of their future. Who she was now, they would all be, if they lived to her years... She passed the halls without question. Everyone knew not to pass the smoking woman with questions. She was a gentle woman in appearance, but she showed her darkness to those who would question her. Even when Uzumaki Naruto was Hokage, she had the same status. ANBU and proud, the woman would walk into the golden-haired Hokage's office with her demands and he would have them knowing she was the most dutiful kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf. She remained that same thing, though now, sixty years after, she was well near to seeing the Shinigami call her name. But that was not the matter. She dragged her cigarette once more as she pulled the handles to the Hokage's office. Her face was soft in appearance, though this man knew differently. She grew in the Shimura clan compound, a princess among her cousins and sisters. She was the shrewdest, most adept and skilled of them all. She was no normal kunoichi. Hers was the skill that men wished upon their sons. If Hyūga Hinata could be of her skill, she would not have been initially replaced by her younger sister. He would see the wrinkles the most prominent, passing over the soft skin as a mere disguise. He knew the darkness in this one, having served as a prominent Jōnin alongside her. Though she retained the position of Jōnin Commander, after twenty long years, now she retained a position below the man who once was her subordinate. Now, she would face the Hokage, Kusunoki Masahige. She puffed a plume of smoke as she entered the office still, proud a woman as she was. "Masahige-kun~" she smiled, walking hurried and taking a seat without his welcome. She puffed smoke out of her thin lips as she crossed her legs inside the stifled formality. She had been his academy teacher; she knew him before he even knew his own potential and she still felt the need to rub it in his face, even now. He would keep the same stone face as he had in his youth. That was her favorite part of Masahige. The stoic boy who would be known as Hokage, and be the same stone faced boy she adored. She recalled when she looked up at the mountain with him, his two teammates with him and her, experienced and well passed their age, their sensei. The times they had, and she made him and his teammates the most they could be today. She smiled within herself, happy that she could produce of Hokage from her tutelage. It was truly an honor. But despite all that, now he was a man and would face her as a strong woman as he had come to know her. When they served as Jōnin, he didn't know her as a loving teacher, but a hard rock of a commander. "I just wanted to come to discuss our positions on the whole Bijūtsukai situation." Her voice was raspy as a woman's could be. It held a sort of feel of assumed power, a power she had earned, but a power she didn't have over this man. Still, it was the same, as if she were his equal. She was his first real teacher, afterall. "I wanted to know for the sake of the Jōnin, so they could properly instruct their students in the way of the shinobi that we are assuming in this age." The disregard for his authority was thick on her voice today.

I am taking CONSIDERABLE liberties. I am willing to change this WHOLE POST of those liberties if you don't like them/

[Masahige]

There were no cracks in this stone face of his, even in her presence. After all, what would expect out of a man who trained under her in his formative years, and continued to learn from her example for the rest of his life? Learning from Kumiko had given Masahige some of the most influential experiences in his life.

"Kumiko-senpai," Masahige said. "The Bijūtsukai situation is currently being delegated between myself and the Council. As it stands now, with the decision to keep Kurama from this enemy, we are assuming the enemy may become hostile. I would say, have them prepare for the worst. Tell them to train them like you trained me."

Nobody knew what they were dealing with when it came to the Bijūtsukai, so Masahige couldn't give her much of an answer. However, he was fully aware that she wasn't here to ask that question alone. He moved the paperwork on his desk to the side, and then stood from his seat to turn and gaze out of the window of his office.

"Kumiko-senpai, what do you already know about this situation?" he asked. Even though Masahige had made efforts to conceal Sio's departure from the village, Kumiko had her ways of divining information. Her unique sensory capability wasn't something Masahige could block during the public sealing of 'Sio', and she could very easily have grabbed hold of Konohamaru for information; literally.

[Shimura Kumiko]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/dDxps.png);][atrb=valign,top] "It's funny that you'd tell me to tell them to train their students as I trained you," she giggled a little. He knew well her methods of instruction. They were ruthless, unafraid of pushing one to their absolute limits and then a little further. There was multiple occasions in his training where she would allow the three to come close to maiming one another, only intervening when she knew they were on the verge of actually hurting one another. Hers was the way of the older shinobi--when children were made to fight and die for their clans. "You know very well that my philosophy and the Hata's philosophy go hand in hand. She was a veteran, far older than most who still remained in the village. She remembered the terror of facing the ten-tails all those years ago and remembered the joy of having it all come to an end when Uzumaki Naruto and his ilk defeated it. While she understood the Kage's positions on not giving away their Jinchūriki for value of their lives, she was of another philosophy where she was always willing to do the dirty work to protect the village, just as her uncle before her. In fact, most who were counted among the ranks of Root still held loyal to their former leader, even today, if they still lived. Kumiko smirked as she asked of what she knew of the situation. She knew more than he would lead on to the rest of the shinobi of the village. "You know better than to think that I didn't know that Sio was a fake. There was no soul in it, Masahike-kun; however, I know you had faith enough in me to know I wouldn't tell anyone." She pulled from her cigarette once more and allowed two columns of smoke to shoot from her nostrils. "I do hope you will tell me what has happened with the girl?"

[Masahige]

He turned around, looking away from the village and setting his eyes on his old master. She was of the popular opinion, and he knew that. In all truthfulness, perhaps Masahige had gotten weak in his short tenure as Hokage. Or maybe he clung to the small hope that the Tailed Beasts could grow to be willing allies, as Naruto had believed. Even he didn't really know what he believed, but he'd made a decision to send Sio away until after the conflict with the Bijūtsukai.

"I sent her away to the Hidden Rain Village," Masahige admit. He could not lie to his former teacher. "There she will be watched over and train until after things blow over, and then she will return to the Hidden Leaf."

The Hidden Rain Village was essentially the weakest of the Hidden Villages at this point in time; financially and in terms of military power. It was the last place anyone would believe a Jinchūriki would be kept safe.

"I cannot say she is rid of all threat," he revealed. "Should somebody discover her in that village, it's own citizens may attempt to capture her, kill her, or sell her. Or who knows how well my attempt to hide her from the Bijūtsukai really way. Or perhaps I've put her in danger just by giving you this information.

There was a brief moment of pause.

"Will you?"

[Shimura Kumiko]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/dDxps.png);][atrb=valign,top] "Hmph," she sounded disapproving of his lingering question. He knew better. He knew better than to ask his sensei if she would keep his secret. He knew that she was not one to keep secrets unless it benefited the village. Perhaps, rather, obviously, he was asking her opinion on if his decisions were in her approval. He was asking if his sensei approved of his actions. That remained to be seen. It was too soon to actually know, she thought as she dragged her cigarette instead of scoffing. She ashed on the floor. Insolent bitch the was, as she adjusted herself in the seat. She passed a hand over the smooth arrangement that was her hair. "Masahige-kun, didn't I teach you not to act rashly? "My boy, you should have consulted me before this move. You know this. I could have protected her. My skills allow for this." she looked at him dead on as if she didn't hold sentimental feelings for him, the feelings he knew she had for him. "We could have made a superbly better guise than the one you held. One that was foolproof. "I will say this. I understand. I know that you had to make a decision quickly. You're Hokage, and I love that I can have tutored a boy who would ascend to such a position. But do not misunderstand me; you were wrong. You should not have handed our sole triumphant weapon to another village. Hidden Rain has been in turmoil for the better part of my life. Rather, my entire life, and I hold more years than you. To have handed such a precious little girl to such a village... It is outside of you. It is outside of who I've made you to be." she dragged again, seeing the end to her cigarette coming soon. What a fool this one. She thought she had taught him better. He was Hokage now, and she thought that to attain such a position, even after Uzumaki Naruto, would ensure his wisdom. It appeared he was as Sarutobi Hiruzen. A man willing to be the light to her darkness. "Believe this, my boy, Masahige-kun, "I have arranged for this. I will support my home, you know this as my defining characteristic. I would have killed you years ago if you threatened this. I have already arranged a meeting with this Hata boy. I will divine his intentions. If they are as pure as he leads or not. I will ensure if he has the betterment of the world in his mind of if he is a deceiver. Then, will I tell you if I will hold this information. Or if I will share it, over my own student, my own Hokage's head, and attack my own village for its own betterment." It sounded like a statement to end the conversation, but she remained, ever so stoic as she taught him to be. Ever so open to his words as a sensei should be for her student. It still held--that she was his teacher and a woman he could look to for counsel until the very day that her last breath left her. "Masahige-kun," she started, ashing the last of the cigarette atop her own hand, wincing slightly but not throwing herself out of control. "Tell me it all. Tell me how you feel now so that I can help you all I can if you are not wrong in your decisions. You know I have this village at heart... as my uncle did," she knew he would see her point such words. Even after her uncle died, those loyal to him would never say that he did any of his shady actions without a thought for the village. If there was ever a dutiful ]shinobi it was Shimura Danzō. He had to know that she would do anything no short of killing anyone who would stand in the way of the Leaf's salvation and thriving. "Where are we, the Leaf, to go from here?"

[Masahige]

Masahige was silent. He mulled over every possible answer he could give his former instructor, until he finally came across the right one. Unfortunately, the right one was not exactly something Masahige was comfortable with.

"The majority of the village believes in what they've seen," Masahige replied. "There are those that don't, and those among them that might stir up trouble. We can't have that."

She would know exactly what he meant.

---

Mentally exhausted, so this isn't the greatest.

[Shimura Kumiko]

[atrb=style, width: 350px; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/dDxps.png);][atrb=valign,top] She loved the moments where she could see her teachings radiate out of her students. This was perhaps, the most proud she'd been of Masahige in all her life, even moreso than when he first put the red hat of the Hokage. She smiled at him sweetly as his words marinated inside of her and grabbed hold around her convictions. If she was correct, he was giving her leave to protect the lie he'd placed before the village for its own good. She was something of a professional in the field. "Very well, Masahige-kun. I will conceal the truth. We are already too far gone for it to be beneficial to tell the village it all anyway. None shall discover that Sio, my sweet sweet grandniece has been moved to the Rain Village. None shall speak of it or know it. And if they do... I shall deal with them. "It was truly lovely to see you in this office, Masa-kun. I will always be in touch, this you must surely know. Until I die, I will always watch over you. And now that you're Hokage... I'll always be your knight in the night." She turned to leave, smiling sweetly and waving before she closed his heavy doors behind her.