I’d begun to feel the pressure of the Mizukage’s mantle more than ever. Lord Funato’s blatant threat couldn’t be ignored and yet I couldn’t be indignant about it either. He was right to be furious with me, Lady Megumi too but I didn’t know if she shared the same fierceness as Lord Funato. Given it’s her direct lineage that was threatened, it was safe to assume she did.

I’d all but dismissed the investigations into the Third Mizukage’s death, there was nothing to be found anywhere and even as I knew the culprit I hadn’t the slightest clue where to start searching for evidence. However, the same couldn’t be said for the death threats levied against the Hozuki and the Sandaime’s family.

There were two pieces of evidence to work from— the kunai and the inactive paperbomb, both were carriers of the threats and were seized by ANBU for intensive investigations. Under Owl mask and Lord Funato’s directives many of these investigations were centred around the low caste that has long suffered under the heel of the great clan families.

I couldn’t blame them for starting there, the low caste would have the most motive to send such vile threats but that didn’t mean any of the imprisoned or murdered small folk were directly complicit in the crime. Which is why I pardoned many of them as one of my first acts as Mizukage, a move that didn’t quite sit well with Owl mask, Funato or Hozuki.

I demanded solid, uncompromising evidence before making any arrests for that specific crime, an assignment the ANBU has had to push to the backseat after the first and second Kaguya attacks. And with Owl’s absence, Raiga has been rather slow on picking up the slack.

But at last, they got something that could stick, a solid lead and with Lord Funato’s promise ringing in the back of my head, I had to follow up personally. I knew what kind of trouble he could bring, especially if he drew Lady Megumi and the Hozuki into his…protest.

And so, Raiga led the way to the Intel and Comm’s Division HQ where fifteen men and women were detained as suspects. The I&C HQ was a clean and proper building with several office spaces and cordoned off rooms like the one I stood in. Only personnel of certain rank within the division itself could be present but as I am Mizukage, all doors open to me.

There was a general chamber where many of the suspects were detained in cells while I&C special personnel carried out interrogations. The interrogation room itself was split in two by a double-sided window that let me observe without being observed myself.

Within, a man sat on a rather uncomfortable metal chair, there was a similarly ugly looking table where pictures of proofs were laid out before him as the I&C specialist interrogated him. Raiga prepared me a copy of the same photos and I looked through it while the specialist barked and accused the sweat sodden man of treason, terrorism and all other sorts of criminal acts.

It was an intimidation tactic, heating up the room, awful chair and a barking dog of an interrogator. The man himself was a simple weapons smith from the Central District and up until now had been a well trusted source of weaponry for the shinobi population.

The photos were of the kunai and paperbomb that carried the death threats. There was another set of photos, those that stood as proofs that the man was involved in some capacity as they compared his crafted kunai with the one that carried the threat.

Like many craftsmen, the weapons smith ingrained a signature in his works and it was that same signature that was found on the death threatening kunai. Still, there were over a thousand shinobi running around in Kirigakure, anyone of them could have been patron to the man’s workshop and carried out the scare tactics on their own.

Not to mention the timing. I&C were hoping the culprit purchased the weapon at least a month prior to carrying out the attack, it’d be easy to narrow his customer base that way but that’s still asking a lot.

Raiga shifted as I passed the photos back to him and stepped closer to the window, I tapped it and the specialist paused his intimidations to step out. He was a tall, slender man with a firm build that telegraphed his lifestyle as a shinobi even though he wore plain clothes. He had sloppy brown hair and a brow of sweat from the artificially increased heat in the room, but nothing like his subject was.

He bowed deeply and stood at attention, waiting for my word but I simply continued to stare at the unfortunate man sitting in there. Something in my gut told me he was innocent. He flipped through the photos, shaking his head in disbelief and wiping his face of sweat that threatened to dehydrate him.

“What can you tell me about the subject?”

The specialist nodded, “Sir, he is Kosuke, a clanless retired shinobi. He opened a workshop in the Caste District during the reign of Lord Second and was one of the few weapons smith at the time to receive discounts for iron even though the war was at its height, he is extremely skilled at his craft and that value was recognized as Lord Third administration sponsored the opening of his current workshop at the Central District.”

“What rank?”

“Sir?”

“You said he was retired from the force; what rank did he stop at?” I said without turning away from Kosuke as he fidgeted with his wobbly chair before abandoning it entirely to pace the breadth of the room.

“Genin, sir.”

I hummed at that, “Any idea what made him retire?”

“He has a prosthetic leg, sir, lost in battle.”

I noted that and sure enough, his gait was uneven and rigid on one side. Finally, I turned away and met the specialist, “What do you think you’ll find here?”

“Sir?”

I frown and he gulped, I explained nonetheless, “What are you hoping to get from interrogating him? A list of his accomplices? Are you certain he’s responsible? I understand he crafted the blade but if he’s as valuable a smith as you say, even my own weapons pouch must have a kunai or two from his workshop. Anyone could have thrown that kunai.”

The specialist nodded, “Yes sir, we realize that as well, that’s why at the moment we’re looking into his customers during the period the threat was issued. There are quite a few, including clans buying wholesale but we believe the perpetrators were clanless shinobi upset with the reign of Lord Third.”

He didn’t have to say why they suspected clanless shinobi, everyone present was keenly aware of the era of the Bloody Mist the Sandaime began to usher in after Gengetsu Hozuki’s death. I still couldn’t tell if that was the doing of Madara or the Sandaime.

But it didn’t matter, there was a lot of animosity brewing between clans and clanless shinobi, there’s a general breath of hope for eased tensions as my reign begins but if I start prosecuting people based on clan affiliations…

My face twisted, I regarded the man with concern and demanded, “Name and rank.”

Terror flashed in his eyes and for a second they skirt their sockets as he wonders where he’s failed. He gulped and tried to look straighter than ever but there was no flaw, “Chuunin Takeda Karatachi.”

My frown deepened, “Karatachi…Detail every patron, I don’t see any reason to exclude clan purchases, do you?”

His breath hitched and he shook his head fervently, “Forgive me, Yondaime-sama, I will correct that oversight immediately.”

I nodded, “Do so.”  

Kosuke fought back tears in the interrogation room— he knew the implications of such accusation, had I been the Third or had the Council ruled in interim as they did during the succession month, he would be dead already. And for a crime like this, his sentence could have extended to his family.

“Now tell me, Chuunin Takeda, you’ve rounded up fourteen prominent Fuinjutsu users. How will you discern who it came from?”

Chuunin Takeda was so confident, his earlier terror of me cracked into a smirk, “I was thinking of something else actually…”