It was fortunate that the shinobi I was operating on was unconscious. Otherwise, the shark tooth the size of my thumb that I was pulling out of her shoulder would have made her feel uncomfortable. She was disguised as a simple messenger, but the woman lying on my operating table made her true profession obvious. The prominent chakra network, well-defined muscles, and untreated minor injuries revealed the reality, despite her tattered clothes, dubious paperwork, and her own words, which attempted to deceive.
She had made it to the village's front gates before she collapsed. The bite mark appeared to have happened yesterday, and the woman fled nonstop until she reached the leaf village. ANBU attempted to question the woman, but she was too out of it to answer properly. ANBU has its own medics for this precise reason, but something happened, so now I have the privilege of treating our newest guest.
The patient had basic defensive wounds on her arms and tell-tale recent cuts on her fingers from grabbing and throwing shuriken too quickly. If I get the chance to conduct a further check-up on the woman, I would be able to tell which village she came from. However, the large bleeding shark bite, which I suspect was also venomous at some point but the ninja took an antidote prior to coming here, was my priority.
“Amon?” A nurse entered behind me without my notice. I was too distracted by my patient and comfortable from feeling safe inside the village.
“Operating.”
“Doctor Yumi is here to replace you. Lord Third wishes to speak with you; says it’s urgent.”
I looked at my second. “Can I entrust the patient to you until Doctor Yumi arrives?” The patient’s life would usually take priority over everything else for any medic ninja, but urgent requests from anybody with a higher rank supersede that.
“You can entrust.” The young medical Kunoichi nodded. She took my place, and I left the operation room, using one of my cleaning tags to freshen up as I sped off to the Hokage tower.
Entering the Hokage's office, I noticed Danzo’s back was turned towards me, and I immediately knew I was not going to be happy about this. “Oh, you showed up fast.” He said like he was emphasizing a point.
I didn’t know what he was getting at, so I ignored the comment. “Lord third, lord Danzo. You wished to see me sir,” I said, looking back and forth between the two. On the Hokage's desk was a bloody messenger bag with an open letter lying on top of it.
“Amon, your patient, how is she?”
“In good hands, sir. She will need time to rest and recover, but she should be able to bounce back from this.”
“That’s good to hear. Danzo was just explaining to me how he suspects the woman you are helping is a Sand ninja who fled from the battlefield in the Land of Tea to deliver us this letter addressed to you.”
Danzo seemed proud of himself for some reason I couldn’t pin down. I accepted the letter from Hirazen and began to read it. It claimed to be addressed to somebody else but was obscured by a basic code that only a novice would fall for. Only a civilian or Genin would be fooled by a code like this.
The author of the letter claimed to be Pakura from the Sand village. It was a love letter. It stated that she was afraid of dying in the Land of Tea without ever revealing her true feelings. It referenced inside jokes I had made with her when I was stationed in the Sand village and the times we had met, both in public and private. She described how her village elders had been pressuring her to marry someone, yet she was always secretly holding out hope that I would sweep her off her feet, even though we came from different villages. It didn’t outright say her location but provided enough hints that I could piece it together.
“Hmm, Lord Third, is it possible that I can speak with you alone, sir?”
Hiruzen nodded and looked towards Danzo. “I want it noted that I’m against intervening between the Sand and Mist villages conflict. We just got out of one war; we can’t afford a second.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Noted, now Danzo if you would please,” Hiruzen spoke.
With a harumph, Danzo walked out of the office, and I could tell he would be waiting outside to continue talking with Hiruzen. When the door closed, I turned back towards him. “Who ever wrote the letter, knew my comings and goings in the Sand village.”
“You don’t believe the letter is authentic?”
“I do not, sir.”
“It is not strange for a ninja on the battlefield to write letters like this. I have seen a few letters similar to that one in the past.”
“I’m sure you have, sir. Whoever wrote this probably used a few as a template for this one.”
“Amon, I will say the code was easy to decipher, but if she is on the battlefield…long complicated codes to foreign ninja with feelings that she has repressed, with death around every corner. She could have”
“She wouldn’t be sending a letter like this to me.” I interrupted.
Hiruzen hit me with a knowing smile. “Amon, you are a charming and handsome young man, and she is a fetching young lady. I know in comparison to Minato that you would feel…”
“Oh, please let me stop you there. I have met with Pakura, and your description of her is accurate. However, Lady Karura and Lady Chiyo both attempted to pair me up with her. Pakura confided in me and has told the elders of the Sand village, including Karura and Chiyo, that she doesn’t feel that way towards me or any man.”
“Well, I’m sure she is only young now. She could come around.”
“Chiyo said the same. Karura and I understood that Pakura does not feel that way towards men at all, but instead…but um…enjoys the company of other women, sir.”
“I understand. Asuna was the same way when she was younger. She thought boys were gross, but once she got older, oh, I received dozens of reports that Biwako was chasing boys out of her room with a rolling pin.”
“I’m sure you did, and next time I see Asuna, I’m going to bring up this conversation, but no, I mean that Pakura…um, the same way how you and I like women, Pakura, instead of men, also likes women.”
“I…I don’t understand. How would that even work?” Hiruzen asked, confused by the concept.
“Oh wow, umm, well, ah.” A cough from the corner grabbed both of our attentions. “Oh, thank God, please help.”
A younger female ANBU ninja revealed her presence. “Umm, Lord Third, this is one of those lady issues. It is not discussed often with men as it is seen as an embarrassment and shameful.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.” She answered curtly.
Hiruzen snapped his attention to me with an annoyed expression on his face. “Then how do you know?”
“Pakura came to me with a medical issue that evolved her…well, it was medically pertinent information. That’s how I know that this letter is a forgery.” I spat out, frustrated with trying to describe what being a lesbian is to an although well-meaning, traditionalist, feudal man in his late 50s who has never even heard of the concept.
“Hmm, well, if it’s a forgery, that still puts us in a bad situation. This letter is a request for help. We won’t be able to claim that we couldn’t decipher the letter; the code is too basic. If we don’t help, and this gets out, we will look like we turned our backs on an ally, especially to those in the Sand village.”
“Pakura is important to her village. If she dies before publicly denouncing the letter's contents, a hero of the Sand village will look like she broke under the pressure of the Mist village. It would be humiliating for them.”
“It could sour our two villages' relationship. Amon, I’m reluctant to ask this of you. But if she is still alive, thanks to your Fuinjutsu, you are the fastest, and she knows you. She’s more likely to trust you than anyone else I can send for this.”
I let out a sigh. “I understand, sir. I will depart immediately and rectify the situation.”
“Good, good, and also don’t let this… girl issue hold you back. I’m sure if the two of you are honest with your feelings, she will come around.”
“Umm, yes, thank you, sir. I will take your advice to heart. Now, if I may be excused.”
“Yes, I will put my faith in you, Amon. I know you will do the village proud. Please send Danzo in after you.”
***
Danzo entered the office after watching Amon leave in a hurry. “Hiruzen, you are sending one of our few Fuinjutsu experts out to a battlefield to rescue a kunoichi of a foreign land. Anyone can see this is a bad idea.”
“You mention Fuinjutsu. I was willing to overlook the coincidence, but you overplayed your hand, old friend. The messenger, does she look familiar to you?”
“Can’t say I recognize the young lady.”
“You can’t, but the village sensors can. You can gradually change the pictures we have on file for long-term infiltration ninjas, but the sensor barrier in the village doesn’t check people's faces, only their chakra signature. I was going to write it off, but Amon just told me with high certainty that the letter was a forgery.”
“Of course, Amon is not going to admit that he and a foreign Kunoichi are having an affair.”
“Danzo! Do not treat me like a fool. Your actions have jeopardized our village's relationship with the Sand!”
“My actions have fixed our relationship with the Sand! Amon antagonized Rasa with the Sasori of the red sand incident. Rasa has been trying to gather more support from the nobles of his land with this civil war, but this Pakura girl has been preaching for peace talks. Even now, she is petitioning the Tea nobles to stop this conflict.”
“So you will have her killed?”
“With Rasa’s permission. I can deliver a blow to weaken the Sand village and have their own Kage owe me a favor for it.”
“And you brought Amon into this.”
“No, remember, I am on record telling you not to send him. What happens to him out there on that battlefield, well…You believe he can be the next Hokage. Let’s hope you are right.”
