Investigation extraordinaire [invites only, NDE].

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota Okuda looked around the room, placing his chopsticks down gently. He then looked to Marii, then Katsu who was on the verge of leaving the building, he then stood up as well after Marii, her family and the one he didn’t know – Tieren – finished speaking. He then looked around the room slowly before he spoke. “If…we know who is causing all of the issues already in the village, if it is the council, I say we quietly get rid of them, no fuss, no muss. Have it happen before the coronation, do a slight interrogation before killing them to ensure their plan isn’t in play and kill them, then pin it on the Gale Empire and that will do two things for us hopefully… The first is remove the enemies of our village, the second is that it will reinvigorate our people in a war against the Gale Empire, I’m sure they are tired of this war already so if they think that the Gale Empire assassinated members of our village then the villagers will be outraged. The news of the assassination will need to be made public before the coronation and you will of course need to speak on this, add the power to it only you can Marii-san.” Okuda then slowly sat back down in his chair after he finished his plan, it was a plan an assassin like himself would come up with, but at the same time it would be a very sensible one that anyone could get behind relatively easily.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

There seemed to be a certain level of misunderstanding about Katsu's actual motive. Those in the room seemed to think it was some kind of bloodlust that prompted Katsu to want the corrupt leaders dead. He let it past though, no need to disrail the conversation a second time, and if they thought he was becoming a bloodthirsty monster just because he looked like one, then they weren't worth Katsu's effort to correct them. Katsu turned in place and leaned against the door, remaining in his elven archer form as he rejoined the conversation.

"While I agree with Okuda's timing of handling this as I think this should be done before the coronation, I disagree with his method, and would vote to have that as a last resort when other options have been exhausted. I get that we're Shinobi, and assassination and deception are our bread and butter, but I'd rather conduct myself in a more honorable fashion if at all possible. There's also the chance that someone finds the deception, and if that happened we'd be faced with the idea of Civil War again..." Katsu gave a nod to Okuda when he stated his agreement on the timing, and then looked to Marii as he explained why he didn't want to do Okuda's method.

Katsu would think for a moment before continuing, "Another issue there is to address is... well... The Daimyos. If there is some kind of organization attempting to bring down Kumogakure from the inside... well, if I were in that position I'd go after a village's purse strings. Get my claws into the hearts and minds of the Daimyos and have them choke the flow of money to the village. Cut off the money and the village can't buy the things to keep itself combat ready. Boom. Easy pickings after that.

"The Daimyos themselves should also be on the list of people we should investigate as well, it'd be so easy for one of them to be the mastermind behind this whole thing... but I think that we should secure their support even if we investigate them. With the Gale War lagging to a near stall like it has I doubt the Daimyos are very impressed with us right now, and we need them to keep the money flowing or else we won't be Shinobi but a ragtag band of rebels as far as the Imperial Troops are concerned..." Katsu finished his spiel, rubbing his tired eyes in an effort to get them to stop burning. Man he needed a serious nap, and soon!

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

((OOC: Sorry for not posting earlier, had an instructor course this weekend. I'm not sure how many daimyo's each country has, so I just said we had five for the simplicity of it))

All of the three Kazeraikous ate their dinner while listening to the two young men. The female agreed to what Okuda said about killing them off in an honorable fashion. One thing she did NOT wanted was to leave the general public in the black as far as politics went.
'But HOW should we kill them off!? They may not be shinobis, but they do have friends everywhere' thought Marii.

Katsu had a good point when he mentioned the daimyos. She had done a little bit of research there after getting her position. "I have looked a bit at the daimyos. Or at least three of them" started the young woman.
She then pulled out a binder from a black handbag placed under the table. The binder contained some papers that were inside some plastic pockets.

"First is Matsumori Hisao. As the name suggests, he's an old man who has supported Kumogakure no Sato for a long time. He has stated a number of times that he is not interested in village politics.
The reason why he is funding us is because the protection we offer for our nation. I could not find any criminal record or any dirt on him either" started the Raikage.

"Our second daimyo is Aoyama Jiro. He recently took over his father's position after he passed away two years ago. This family specializes at international trade and often hire shinobis as bodyguards or delivery men.
Jiro-san has no dirt on him either apart from his arrest 28 years ago. He was guilty in possessing drugs, but has been off ever since" continued the female.

"But our third daimyo here has given me some head ache. His name is Ueno Shuichi and is from a very academic family. He has recently reduced their funds since he claims we do little to promote education.
I can actually agree with him here...we would be able to be more self sustained if we had more education. Especially considering the geographical position of Kaminari no Kuni plus our natural resources" told the brunette with a grave voice.

"I think what we need to do is to do some research on our two remaining daimyo's plus interrogating the imprisoned council member. Maybe we could use genjutsu or some sort of hypnosis in order to get the information out. Me and Tieren-san then have to get through the documents to see if there are any clues.
After that, we have to either imprison the culprits or do something to ensure they do not escape. The last thing we need are some headless chickens running around" muttered the young woman.

"Are there anyone who wish to add something to this? I like both Katsu-kun as well as Okuda-kun's suggestions. We need to get rid of those bullies before I get coronated as the new Raikage.
But we need to do it in a way that won't leave the public in the dark in order to prevent a civil war. And we need to make an education plan for the shinobis plus the civilians" added Marii with a hopeful smile at her face.

Her parents had been sensible enough to send her off to the knowledge center during the shinobi war. She had even taken university education after earning her Jounin title. But the female was fully aware of that there were many families who had neither money or opportunities to offer their children the same.
And shinobis could only get so far without having a decent amount of knowledge. She hoped that her fellow shinobis would at least share some of her view on this matter.

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota Okuda listened as Marii explained, in detail, several of the supposed Daimyo’s of the country. He didn’t really care for the politics of the village nor the supposed crimes or lack thereof for those people. Okuda was a weapon, a tool to be wielded for the village’s advancement and protection as needed, so all Marii had to do was tell him who she wanted him to kill and he would have done so without a single complaint. When she asked if there were any other suggestions that the group had, Okuda had to admit to himself that he was hard pressed to come up with one to give to her. After a moment or two of thought, one finally came to the young red-haired samurai “You say we need keep the villagers out of the dark in this matter, I agree but while it happens we need to keep it a secret. History is written by the victors, and when we win we shall tell the villagers that we were able to root out and destroy an anarchistic and terrorist group that invaded and perverted even the highest levels of the village. That we were forced to keep it a secret from them till that point because the mere fear that there could be an unseen and unknown threat to the village because you feared that if it was made known before then that the information could cause panic and unrest. Then you should assure them that the enemy forces have all been destroyed fully, and that peace shall ring true throughout the village, that we will destroy the dastardly Gale Empire. That you will do all you can to herald into the village a new golden age of growth…” Okuda wasn’t one for strategy, in fact he preferred a just straight up swordfight when possible, however he also knew that this was a different game they were playing, one he felt ill equipped for, but like any other fight he would do his best to adapt and come out on the winning side…No, he would make his side the winning side if he had to.

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

It was great that they had a general plan of attack now, but Katsu's eyelids felt so heavy that he was having trouble keeping them open as the conversation continued. It'd be noticable to anyone who cared to look that Katsu was running on fumes at this point...

"That third Daimyo...Ueno Shuichi. I think he should be the Daimyo we investigate first. It could be that he's unimpressed with our militaristic attitude, and is looking for a way to improve our education through potentially dangerous means... like forming an alliance with the technologically advanced Gale Empire. They provide him new tech, he provides them a weakened Kumogakure so they can take over the village. It might even be a dupe on the Daimyo, with the Gale Empire screaming about how they want to conquer the entire continent and all...

"...also... I... can't think anymore. Too tired... I'm going to leave, and go sleep... I still believe we need to put up a good show against the Gale Empire, especially the Kazeraikou Clan in particular. We need to show the citizens that Kazeraikou is interested only in helping Kaminari no Kuni. It'll help shrug off any propaganda against the clan, and against you Marii-sama...

"So once I'm rested I'm gonna try and take a mission against the Gale. If you're fine with that just tell the clerk to accept the mission... Ugh.." Katsu wobbled in place, which was really bad considering he was leaning against a wall. He turned to open the door and began heading out, "I can't stay here for this anymore... and seriously... don't monitor my house or you'll end up with an arrow in your chest..."

With that Katsu would stagger out of the house, going to his own home to crash...hard...

[Attemped Exit again]

[Tieren]

The talking continued as Katsu had actually stayed after my previous words. The others discussed more on the matter while I sat there quietly and listened. Marii had given more information regarding some of the Daimyos and mentioned one that would be worth looking into. As it was now, I didn't see that he was involved with this, but you could never be too sure. I knew I would have to get to reading some of the records and information. Plus it was also possible for me to meet up with the council and discuss certain things with them while not revealing our true goals.

I held my comments til after Katsu left (Provided none other stopped him) so as to not give him more to comment on. In his current state, he looked like he could care less due to the level of exhaustion he was showing. Once he had gone (Again, unless stopped), I would then speak up.

"If you'd like, after gathering some information, I could meet with the council in person. After all, it was their call that I was appointed as your assistant after my return to the village. Either it was because they intended to use me or get rid of me, but regardless, it might be beneficial while still not revealing our plans. If anything, it could give us more of an idea as to which council members in particular to look into rather than the council as a whole. It could be possible that only one of them is pulling some kind of strings. I also believe you should meet with all of the ANBU captains and see if any of them are acting strangely. It's possible that the council has infiltrated the ANBU as well, considering the events and their involvement on the assassination attempts of Kana and Kotomi."

I explained, hoping Marii would remember that ANBU were present at the time and seemed to play some sort of different part other than just being there as ANBU. It was disappointing to think that the village I was born in and the one that I loved so much had fallen so far at this point. I looked forward to getting it back on track.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

'Looks like we got plenty of good ideas here' thought the female. She agreed with all of them on several aspects. But Marii was a bit ambivalent about keeping the public uninformed for such a long period of time.
She also shared suspicions with her youngest student regarding Ueno. Another possibility was that he would force people to join the empire due to their advanced technology.

"Go get some rest Katsu-kun. You remind me of how I looked during my most stressful Sannin period" told the young woman with a skinny grin. She then looked at the other two guys present.
"Funny you should mention the meeting Tieren-san. I have scheduled a meeting with the captains in the near future" informed the Raikage.

She had asked all the ANBU captains to meet them this Sunday, which was only a couple days away. This included the captain who sat on the chair close to her. His idea about one member pulling the strings was not unlikely either. But it would make it easier for an investigator to find the culprit. Or would it?

"I think we need to talk about this in two days. The tower is getting renovated, which means that you two need to show up at my office. I would like to thank you for your help. I won't forget it once we get those crapheads arrested" chuckled the female. She finished up her soup moments later.

"See you later then Marii-chan" told Tatsuya. "See you later too. You two can leave now if you wish" said the brunette. She would leave the house an hour after her companions. The young woman crossed her fingers that their plan would work out.


[Exit after Tieren and Okuda has left]

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota Okuda would listen as the last bits of conversing were finished up by those around. When Marii permitted them to leave, he finished the last of his food that he had been eating bits of during the meeting and would stand up, bowing slightly to those assembled and picking up his Katana. He knew that he would have something to do soon enough and that would be enough for him, he then left the building. [EXIT] ((OOC: Sorry for the shortness!))

[Tieren]

I nodded toward Marii's words. The fact that she had already planned such a meeting with the ANBU Captains was good. That meant that when we met next, we would have a better understanding. I had a feeling that my abilities of transmitting and receiving radio signals would be good during this time. Standing from the chair once more, I finished up my own meal before letting off a light bow.

"Many thanks for the meal. Marii... You know where to find me if you need me."

I said with a smile as I headed out as well. As I stepped through the door, my tail flicked behind me and shut the door. Sometimes it was nice to just use the tail instead. I had plenty of time before I needed to return to the water's depths, so I figured I would spend it throughout the village. Maybe there was something else that I could do.

{Exit}

[Tieren]

It felt like it had been such a long time since I had been here. Since I discussed the plan to purge the corruption from the village. And here I was, a brand new technique under my belt now that would be vastly beneficial to the plans that we would need to set in stone. I held in my hand the letter with the directions to Marii's place once more. I didn't really need them, but it was enough to know that she wanted to meet once more. Clearly she had heard what I was working on and planned for our meeting after I was finished.

My usual appearance was what walked up to her doorstep this day. Upon my back rested a holster holding my staff and double bladed naginata. Across my chest was an empty blue vest, resting on top of my classic, long-sleeved yellow shirt. Yellow framed glasses were on my face with the Topaz gemmed ring on my right ring finger. Around my waist rested a bag filled with 7 kunai, 6 hira shuriken, 3 light pouches, 2 blood clot pills, 32 exploding tags, and 1 multi tool. I also had another bag filled with a tracking device, 64 tracers, and 15 meters of silk rope, and an empty double scroll size pouch on my waist as well.

Hanging from a yellow pouch was my crystal ball, and in my pocket was an ocarina. Upon my hands were two gauntlets. The right held a shock enhancement and the left held a piston enhancement. A mono goggle with X-ray and Camera vision rested above my eye. A wireless receiver was also in my ear, allowing for remote communication. Blue jeans and shoes rounded off the appearance. A prehensile tail flicked behind me from time to time, looking thicker than the tail of a monkey and being the color of my skin. I also had gills upon my neck which went with my water dependency. With all the training I had completed, I had to take a dip into my usual lake to replenish the time I could spend out of the water.

My hand gently tapped the door, knocking softly in respect to those who lived here. I was ready to continue to the next phase of the plan. Everything was likely going to be set in stone soon, and I was certainly ready for it to continue.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

It did not take long until the door opened up. Standing in the doorway was a man that appeared to be in his late twenties. He had short green hair, pale beige skin plus dark blue eyes.
"Who are you?" inquired the man. Behind him in the background stood two familiar figures that Tieren might recognize.

One of them was a short man with a lean body build. He had slate gray hair while his complexion appeared to be ivory beige. But his eyes were crimson red...quite unnatural for a human.
Person number two was a woman that had a chocolate brown bob that reached her shoulders. Her skin however was peachy pink while her eyes were emerald green.

It was a reason why these two had such vibrant eye colours. The man was actually Daiki in his human form while Shiori was the woman. But the duo had a function; to identify the visitors.
Marii was hidden upstairs, but nobody would know that. At least not yet.

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota The young man had been spending his time in a strange fashion, he’d been not training new techniques or Mastering the ones he already had, and instead he was mentally trying to pull himself together. His sword style…no his way of life required him to be very sure of himself, something he hadn’t been lately. It was during this period of self-training that he was contacted by one of the Raikage’s representatives regarding the meeting at her home, much like it had been the last time he was summoned to her home. Okuda decided not to waste his time and left immediately from where he’d been training to go meet up at her place. He was wearing his usual attire, a simple one at that. He wore a traditional Kimono with an untraditional and very basic color scheme to it. His outer kimono was blue, a solid navy blue in color whilst his inner one was a bright white, freshly laundered likely by hand. His Hakama was white as well, but slightly off as if he hadn’t washed lately, which was the case since he’d been wearing only his hakama during his mental training. On his feet he wore socks. The socks were the same navy blue as his outer kimono as for normal footwear he wore simple straw sandals that he always seemed to wear. Keeping his hakama in place, aside from its small draw string, was a white obi belt, the belt was tied in a small knot to help it further keep its position on his hips, the belt wrapped around his hips twice and left just enough space for his two swords to be placed and held firmly in place. Finally Okuda wore his long red hair up in a high pony tail tied in place with a small dark navy blue string. His sapphire blue eyes were as usual on the lookout as he approached the building, though he wasn’t the first to arrive it had seemed. Before him stood another young man who had already begun to knock on the door, though he didn’t wait long the man was soon greeted by two strange looking people, though if memory served at least one of them was at the prior meeting with the Raikage. Okuda knew that he was in the right place but was still somewhat weary of the somewhat unknown man at the door. Okuda would silently approach before speaking softly “Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I am here to see the Raikage, I was given a message that she wanted to meet with me here about something, though the message did not say as to what specifically. My name is Okuda Nobuyoki a Shinobi of the Hidden Cloud Village.” Okuda stared at the man for a long moment while he waited to see if he would be given access, the man had not so much lied but instead kept information from the other men at the door. He was there for a meeting, but the reason was stated it was in regards to the war with the Gale Empire, though Okuda also understood that it was top secret these meetings and he knew he could not trust anyone for fear that they were a false person, and that only the Raikage…no, not even the Raikage herself could be trusted, during a time of war one had to be highly suspect of every living thing that was not himself, as anyone of them could be an enemy in disguise using a jutsu such as the henge no jutsu or some other kind that Okuda had never heard of before… ((OOC: Sorry about the long wait, I needed time to get back into Okuda's mindset, but that failed so I just forced it out lol. I think I rambled on a bit, but I believe it'll be fine in the end...))

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

The appearance that Katsu had taken to come to this particular meeting was much different than the one he had assumed for the first one. This time Katsu had shown up as a light-skinned swordsman, two longswords adorning his otherwise simple looking clothes. A loose white shirt covered with a black trimmed white jacket, with a pair of comfortable white slacks covering his legs. Even his feet were covered in simple and comfortable looking white shoes. Long straight black hair framed a handsome face with yellow eyes, a gently curved nose, and a pair of thin lips. Katsu's frame was average but athletic, and plenty of girls would have looked twice at such a being.

On Katsu's back was a small sack that was filled with certain ingredients. Last time he was here Katsu had been outright rude, even after taking food from his hosts. That was due to him being exhausted at the time, but it was still unacceptable to him. So this time Katsu was prepared to make the meal for everyone at the meeting, and if they already had something planned, then Katsu could at least give them a small gift in apology in the ingredients he had.

Katsu would approach the house with a small smile on his face, nodding to the trio at the door. "Greetings, here again. This time I'm well rested, and I bring goodies!" Katsu would look to the two henge'd animals, his nose sucking in the scent of everyone around him, pinpointing anyone within ten meters, and alerting him to the presence of anyone within twenty. Which was enough to tell him Marii was already in the area, although somewhere outside his ten meter range.

For now Katsu would simply let himself he led by the hosts once more, following any reasonable commands involving secrecy and privacy in order to hasten the situation along.

[Tieren]

[Sorry for the delay. Things have been incredibly stressful with my life lately.]

Before I could respond to the one who opened the door, two others had appeared. One I recognized as Okuda from the previous meeting but the other looked unfamiliar. However, his voice was easily remembered as I heard it, recognizing it to be that of Katsu, the one who had seemed to be in a poor mood at the previous meeting. I turned toward the one who asked who I was and nodded.

"Tieren Drasani, Jounin of Cloud."

I stated simply. The animals that were henged in human form would easily be able to use their senses of smell to recognize me as the man from before. With a new technique up my sleeve, I knew that I was prepared to do my part in Marii's plan. I believed it was finally time to continue this once and for all.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

((OOC: Pictures and some info regarding the daimyos are in the PM I sent you))

The man looked at the trio that stood outside. He recognized Tieren as well as Okuda. But the other man seemed a bit unfamiliar.
Tatsuo glanced at the disguised animals that stood behind him. Neither of them appeared to be worried or on guard.

"OK. Come in" told the male before he stepped aside. The trio were let inside the house so they could talk to their Raikage.
Little did they know that the female was watching them via her bloodlimit...she knew the risk she was taking. Just her position alone made her a walking flesh target.

"Please sit down. I'll make some tea for us" informed the Jounin. Shiori sat down at the left side while Daiki pulled out a chair for himself on the opposite side of the table.
Marii came down a minute later. Her ryuugan was still activated, making her eyes seem ice blue with white flecks.

"Greetings everyone. I think we should just start right away" told the young woman. She sat down at the end of the table that was opposite to the entrance. "The reason why I've called you all together is because the council is leaving in exactly a week. They're having an annual meeting with the farmers to discuss their budget" started the Raikage.

"This means that we have the whole Raikage tower plus the council offices unattended for two days. But we need to be very efficient in order to collect the evidence we need to strike them down.
ESPECIALLY since I'm going to have a meeting with the daimyos in six weeks regarding our plans for the future. This means that we have only a month to sack the council before replacing them with our own" continued the female.

"I have the current council of daimyos right here. Any thoughts on how we should persuade them?" inquired the brunette as she removed a folder that was inside her black sweater. Inside the folder laid the CV's of each daimyo plus a photo attached to each CV. Being the captain of the owl ANBU's clearly had its advantages.

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsus:

Ryuugan activated.

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota Okuda followed the young man into the building, ignoring the arrival of Katsu not as a rudeness but rather because it would not mean much either way to acknowledge him. Okuda would sit down at the table, his Katana leaning against the table and his Wakizashi left firmly in his belt. His back mostly towards the door based on how the table had been set-up, he then listened to the Raikage as she spoke about her upcoming plans of the council and their window of opportunity to get more information on the council so as to remove and replace them. Okuda would reach for the folder of information first and pull out all but one of the files and laid them out in front of himself, looking at the names and their stances as a whole. He then began to consider each piece of information, looking at each one as if it were a puzzle piece that needed to make sense with the whole image, and that’s when it began to click, at least one person at a time. “First, we should appeal to those that are neutral in these matters and make them see our point of view, for those dead set against us we need simply to…remove them, I assume I need not explain my point further on that. As for those who are on the fence but leaning away, once those against us have been silenced, they should quickly start reconsidering their point of views and should fall in line, but this is of course the opinion of an assassin, I’m not well versed in politics like some of you are.” Okuda then placed the papers back in the folder and placed it back in the center of the table, his opinion having been stated. Okuda was as he stated, merely an assassin for the Raikage, his presence barely needed, but as long as he was here he felt obligated to state his opinions, though it would have probably been easier to simply silence all opposition to the Raikage, Okuda knew that time had long since passed, and they still had the Gale Empire to deal with at the same time, though hopefully that would be discussed during this meeting as well. Okuda knew that while they sat here talking, the Gale Empire pushed further in their war efforts against the village itself. ((OOC: Sorry for rambling a bit, and if I skipped anyones turn, I tried my best to estimate WHEN to post, since Tie posted RIGHT before Marii had, I felt this would be best in the end for me to post after Marii! Also I hope my post makes sense...))

[Deleted]

▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼

Katsu quickly set his foodstuffs down on the counter as it was made apparent that they weren't interested in a good meal this time around. With a quick look at the hosts he would place the meats he had brought into the refrigerator to prevent them spoiling. A small note was left with instructions on how to cook the meal to perfection as well as an apology for his behavior during his last visit, signed with Katsu's name. Sitting down at the table with the rest of the people Katsu waited until Marii showed herself, making a point to dispel his Henge, returning to his Draconic normal form before sitting. His normal form still wore the clothing his Henge form had, but the pants of course had a hole for his tail to fall through for comfort.

When Marii began to get down to the issue at hand Katsu simply remained silent, looking over the information that he had been given in order to try and get a better sense of the situation as a whole. Traitorous Council, Daimyo's who weren't united in their opinion of Kumogakure. It all made a fine political stew. However when Katsu caught Okuda's thoughts on the situation he had to respond.

”Whoa, whoa. Okuda, the Daimyos are the Legal Rulers of the country, as well as the people who we're supposed to defend. They control everything in the country, and if one of them dies, either from negligence or intent on our part, the rest of the Daimyos aren't going to be happy at all. Nobody in power likes seeing someone they view as a peer taken down by people they think are supposed to be their defenders.

“The absolute best way to destroy Kumogakure would be to attack one of the Daimyo. The other Daimyo would pull our funding and label us traitors so fast our heads would still be spinning by the time the Imperial Troops showed up to kill everyone in the village they could. In fact I think the first we would hear of it would be troop movements from every Imperial Garrison in the country converging on us.” Katsu realized at that point that he was standing up, his hands on the table gripping the edge so tightly his claws were scratching the surface. Katsu hadn't even remembered unsheathing them.

Giving a cough of embarrassment Katsu let his claws sink back into his hands, carefully folding them together as he sat back down. ”This... isn't a situation we can just beat into submission, not without ending up in Civil War. We need to talk with the Daimyo, not try to slit their throats...” Katsu left it off there, he couldn't think of a way to take the conversation forward at just that moment, and would await input from the others.

[Tieren]

I looked over the list of Daimyos carefully as Marii asked for assistance. Okuda spoke up, showing his view as an assassin. But it was Katsu who spoke out against it, explaining just what would happen should we assassinate one of the Daimyos. His words rang true and I definitely had to agree with him.

"Katsu is right. Assassinating any of the Daimyos spells trouble for our village, provided said Daimyo had not done anything illegal or out of his power. But that would require further information."

I said for a moment as I grabbed the files and organized them. On the left sat Hisao. To the right of that sat Jiro and Yori. Right of that was Miki. And to the far right was Shuichi. They were organized in the order of where they stood toward the village's, and Marii's, rule.

"Hisao is definitely our greatest Ally. We also have two that are leaning in our direction but need a little bit more persuasion. Once we find some concrete evidence on the corruption of the council, I'm sure Jiro and Yori will be fine working with us. Miki might take a bit more negotiating, but I don't see her being too big of a problem. Most of our efforts should be focused on Shuichi. Considering he is completely against Marii and the way this village is going, he definitely warrants further investigation. It's highly possible that he is in league with the corrupt council. If that is the case, and evidence is shown to prove such, we'll have a way to remove him from his position of power as Daimyo, through legal means. And then, if he happened to meet with an unfortunate accident, so be it. He wouldn't be a Daimyo anymore."

I paused for a moment to sit back and look at the others.

"Our first course of action needs to be investigating the council to find some concrete evidence regarding their actions. That will help sway those neutral with us toward our side. If we can get four of the five on our side, the fifth might just fall in line. And after just finishing my training in the Shadow Clone technique, I can effectively be in two places at once."

I explained with a slight grin. I was pleased to have learned that technique, especially knowing how effective it could end up being in this sort of reconnaissance. It would take some stealthy maneuvers, but I was sure that we would obtain the evidence we needed soon enough.

[Marii K. Kazeraikou]

The female stared at the daimyo's photos while she tried to create a decent plan. "First, we should appeal to those that are neutral in these matters and make them see our point of view. For those dead set against us we need simply to…remove them, I assume I need not explain my point further on that.
As for those who are on the fence but leaning away, once those against us have been silenced, they should quickly start reconsidering their point of views. And should fall in line, but this is of course the opinion of an assassin..I’m not well versed in politics like some of you are" admitted the second oldest male there.

"Whoa, whoa. Okuda, the daimyos are the legal rulers of the country, as well as the people who we're supposed to defend.
They control everything in the country, and if one of them dies, either from negligence or intent on our part, the rest of the daimyos aren't going to be happy at all. Nobody in power likes seeing someone they view as a peer taken down by people they think are supposed to be their defenders" informed the youngest guy there.

"The absolute best way to destroy Kumogakure would be to attack one of the daimyo. The other daimyo would pull our funding and label us traitors so fast our heads would still be spinning by the time the Imperial Troops showed up to kill everyone in the village they could.
In fact - I think the first we would hear of it would be troop movements from every Imperial Garrison in the country converging on us" finished Katsu. "Uhm - Katsu-kun..." started Marii when she saw him digging his claws into the dining table. He apparently noticed since he looked a bit ashamed when he sat down.

"Katsu is right. Assassinating any of the Daimyos spells trouble for our village, provided said Daimyo had not done anything illegal or out of his power. But that would require further information." agreed the oldest guy present.
"Let's not forget that it won't send out the best message either. Just killing those who are in our way will not make us any better than the Gale Empire soldiers" stated the young woman.

She then listened to the suggestion that Tieren made. It did not sound half bad given that the council would be out of town for some time. "I think it sounds like a great idea.
Another thing is that the daimyo council is supposed to be democratic. So if we get four of the over, the fifth one really has not that much to say" informed the Raikage.

"I do think that all of you have made good suggestions. I agree with the plan that Tieren-kun has made in terms of gathering information. We also need to create a plan on how to get rid of the council without making the idea behind it too obvious.
My suggestion to swaying the daimyos is to show them that we have solid plans on how to improve the areas they're funding. I think this will assure them that we spend their money wisely" suggested the female.

"But having Shuichi against us does send out an important signal to us. We were WAY behind the Gale Empire soldiers in terms of technology plus knowledge. This worries me, especially when we look at the education laws of Kumogakure no Sato.
No shinobis are obligated to take any further education than the shinobi academy for starters. My second worry is that just about 40% of the village has completed upper secondary level exams at the knowledge center" continued the brunette.

"I think we should make at least some courses mandatory. Shinobis that are higher up in the ranks needs to know higher level of Japanese, geography, first aid as well as some sort of earth science.
This will make the success rate for missions a lot higher plus giving them a backup plan. Not to mention that educating people who have knowledge about animals, plants or even engineering should make Kumogakure more independant in terms of economy plus trading" finished the young woman.

[奥田 (Okuda)]

By Naota Okuda listened as the one named Katsugan shot down his plan thoroughly and when Tieren had also agreed that assassinating them was not the right idea, Okuda began to wonder why he was here. He wasn’t being given a target to go hunt, his plan wasn’t in the least bit valid apparently. It was then that Marii spoke up stating that she thought all of the plans were good in their own ways and even said that they should have a plan that would mean getting rid of the council in secret in case it were needed. A sentiment that echoed loudly with his own, though in its own way. Okuda then listened to the rest of Marii’s plan, it seemed she had her mind made up as to what to do. The plan overly didn’t require him and his input on how to eliminate the council wasn’t asked for meaning he had nothing much to add to the discussion at this point. ((OOC: sorry for shortness))