46: Rumination

The glimmering of a star-filled sky lay before Kana's eyes amid the darkness and silence of an early winter night.

She sat atop a wide wooden railing, one which bordered the small garden courtyard behind her, with her legs dangling over the ten meter ledge before her. Her balance was poised and her body kept still despite the chill high-altitude breeze. Only the gentle rustling of her clothes and tree branches disturbed the silence.

The faint scents of damp wood and grass tickled her nose, the touch of weathered wooden grains lay beneath her palms as she leaned back on her arms to gaze at the sky. Across her lap lay a parcel wrapped in white cloth, forgotten as the girl immersed herself in enjoying the scenery.

It was well into nightfall, but still Kana did not sleep. Nor eat, nor train, nor meditate. Nor bathe in the private hotsprings as she was now inclined to do.

From up here, a wide view of the Yamakuni Sanctuary's upper complex spread out below. The gardens outside of Fuzō's medical suite offered a prime view over the hills and forests. The gentle dimness and quiet of night was itself somehow more relaxing than the brightness brought by daytime.

Though the darkness was only lessened by the light of the moon and stars, Kana had no trouble seeing details of the empty streets and buildings below. Event the watchtowers and walls were silent and dark. There weren't enough staff here to really man them either way.

But Kana had long since lost sight of what lay before her eyes, instead letting the backdrop of the sky take her mind to farther corners of her memory and imagination. A calmness persisted for a while, lacking much in the way of thoughts or worries. It was a peace that could not last, but one which could be savored in each moment.

Another two days had passed since she arrived here, a whirlwind of words and wonders whisking the time away like it was nothing. Truly busy.

After that first night, when she felt as if her words were a vent of her frustration, Kana discovered for the first time how to allow herself to be overcome by her emotions. Not something involuntary, happening because she could no longer suppress or control them, but because some part of her wanted to let them out.

To let herself feel. Without being plagued by guilt and weakness.

Such a strange way to feel it was, with just another person there to listen. Eye to eye, recognized, accepted. Fuzō had done this for her lately.

Kana had never held much expectation for other people, nor did she expect offers of kindness or aid.

In fact, people were more often a disturbing enigma, existences she had a hard time reconciling with her own. Acceptance of more people involved in her life, even if only tangentially, was difficult to say the least. But it was slowly becoming less so.

Her problems, her experiences, her very life itself had always been hers alone.

This had become one of Kana's core understandings by the time she ripped her freedom from the grasps of death with blood-soaked hands. If she failed at something, then it was due to her own mistakes or the successes of her enemies. Those who were uninvolved could be neither blamed nor lauded. But the uninvolved consequently lost any sort of priority in her considerations1Minor supplement:'Considerations' as in 'thoughtful and sympathetic regard'. Not held in high esteem nor entitled to any recompense or concession on Kana's part. Generally, people who can be ignored regardless of what happens. This is the warmest/closest Kana could recall feeling towards anyone in her life before she spoke with Fuzō originally..

That was the state she had persisted in for so long: Enemies to be destroyed, and those who were irrelevant kept at a distance. But that simple guiding thought had grown more and more nuanced, ever since her wonders about the Yuka convoy.

And then, conveying her concealed desperation seemed to have awoken something in the Uzumaki family who administered this place.

Even despite the haziness in Kana's perception at that time, Fuzō and Kaoru had appeared almost more distraught at her tears than the girl herself. Tears that were, in the end, more cathartic than distressing.

But when the daze of those tears at last ran out, Kana found herself within another bedroom in the same suite and style as Fuzō's, where she had been carried and placed atop a plush bed.

When she finally regained a hold on herself, the dark and quiet of night still greeted Kana.

Though she was brought there and left alone, Kana knew she had not traveled far. Perhaps they had assumed she would sleep from exhaustion, as a normal human likely would have. Her sharp hearing could make sense of some continued conversation ongoing between the mother and daughter duo from the wall where the prior room bordered hers, but she could not bring herself to concentrate on it fully.

The rest of that night was instead spent with her mind very much elsewhere, trying her best to focus only on the pleasant softness of the bed on which she lay and its sensation on her body, unwilling to exert herself. The next day, Kana began to receive accommodations aplenty. Presumably now that other pressing matters had been temporarily settled, the focus shifted on to Kana and what the girl herself needed.

With a soft sigh, Kana raised a palm above her head and peered at it, stretching towards the starry sky. The feelings of flowing air running over and between her fingers followed, a sensation that brought her mind back to the present. She let her arm fall back to her side, casting her sight back down to the empty compound streets below.

Kana had learned much in the last few days indeed. As her appetite for information was more ravenous then any of her other immediate desires, she began to sate it first. And she had waited long enough to do so. From documents and books to wandering the temple's halls, so much new information made its way to the forefront of her thoughts.

And from all that she gained much in the way of context... and much in the way of confusion. Though the latter was mostly Kana's own reaction to the things she discovered as she processed the details. Most of the daytime, she kept company in Fuzō's room, sharing what she read and learned together with the woman.

This place, Fuzō's childhood home of the Yamakuni Sanctuary, had a shrouded past that both of them took interest in.

Its original construction was ostensibly to host a fortified garrison for the armies of a prominent lord in this country, one from the governing feudal family. Such a purpose undoubtedly offered considerable strategic value, allowing for control of all the local high ground. That was easy enough to see at a glance.

However no such army ever arrived, the lord in question having fallen before its completion, his forces disbanded as the tides of military ambition shifted from the country's politics. Shifting politics and shifting leadership which left a gap in institutional knowledge, where secrets could be lost. Important secrets.

When she heard of it, Fuzō was very keen on emphasizing how she always felt the lingering of shadows and secrets around this place. Kana believed as much readily, her own experiences and instincts screamed to her that the weight of secrets and the distribution of knowledge was no matter for jests.

For one such secret was that Uzushiogakure had accepted a mission request for a high price, a secret commission to construct their famed barrier defenses for the original Yamakuni fortress project. A high price ultimately unfulfilled.

Apparently however, Uzushio leadership were not lacking in business acumen, for the agreement included a stipulation that the land around the fortress should become the personal property of a certain Uzumaki matriarch as compensation should the initial price be unpaid.

And unpaid it went, with the death of its commissioner and the dissolution of his estate.

So as far as the landed elite in the Land of Hotsprings were concerned, this fortress was an incomplete ruin left over from bygone days when the country bothered to maintain its military. A showcase in waste and folly, and one officially listed as a temple owned by an insignificant peasant branch of a distant clan.

Furthermore, the location was officially sanctified as a temple too, and sanctified ground by law could not be demolished if anyone else had plans or designs for the site.

A frontier temple situated among ruins. That was the common perception of this place as old secrets were buried with their keepers. Thoroughly uninteresting to the pristine nobility far southeast in the capitol, who maintained a public facade of piety... ...and a masterful demonstration of shrewd intrigue by the crimson-haired clan's homeland.

Kana knew not whether Uzushio had anticipated this outcome and prioritized it, or merely made the best of a difficult situation, but it was unquestionably the work of keen minds.

And such work was only improved upon, the fortress being completed in secret with Uzushio's own funds, its investments eventually yielding a centralized base and hideout for operations and covert interests all across the northeastern portion of the continent. Kaoru and Hisao then emigrated under cover identities to acts as the 'priests' and maintainers of the 'temple'. Their small staff of 'servants' acted as their 'clergy'.

Their hands, though clean of blood, were stained with the darkness and dangers of their position and responsibilities. Fuzō's reaction when she learned was one of moderate regret and conciliatory understanding. She understood why her parents would wish to keep her away from that world, but their secrets had still driven her family apart.

The true purpose of the Yamakuni Sanctuary was in fact as a seldom-used but integral link in the covert operations of the island nation far east of here. Almost all of Kaoru and Hisao's 'guests' and 'pilgrims' as administrators of the temple were in fact agents and ANBU of Uzushiogakure. The eddies of the Land of Whirlpools reached far indeed. The whole complex was prepared and maintained for rapid response to a variety of emergencies, hidden away with prudent secrecy.

A contingency. A hidden card. Was this the plan all along? Years of investment had been poured into what should have been a sunk cost. Clearly this place had been a priority, unless the capabilities and resources of Uzushio were even greater than understood.

When she first read about the nature and founding of the Yamakuni, a tingle of excitement ran down Kana's spine. Excitement and wariness. The Uzumaki of Uzushio were indeed formidable. And Kana had walked into their lair knowing nothing, yet somehow came out with an excellent result. It was almost by coincidence alone that her appearance and past were somehow in line with the secrets hidden away here.

Well, there was obviously more to it than that, but... never again would Kana wish to rely on such luck.

Kana shuddered a bit, not from the cold of the night winds, but out of concern for her recklessness. This world was far vaster than Mt. Shumisen and its cultist monstrosities. Though it seemed some of those beasts were still roaming around too. One thing about which Kana was absolutely certain... was personally ensuring that those monsters were put down. Her hatred of them always roiled up her chakra, but her countenance was ice cold.

Next time they met, Kana would be ready to handle them. In the future though, she hoped to be more careful about gathering information ahead of time... before meeting potentially dangerous enemies like them. Informed actions were almost always better than reacting to circumstance.

Another painful point reinforcing this lesson Kana felt she kept failing to learn. Such thoughts came as naturally as instinct to her sometimes. Framing problems in the context of combat usually always improved her ability to make decisions.

With that, she glanced down at the forgotten parcel in her lap. Usually during the night she would spend a few hours enjoying the private hotspring this suite was equipped with, but today there was the parcel to consider. This was the latest accommodation she'd received, one which had occupied Kaoru and Hisao's attentions for much of the last few days. Well, that and repairing the damage Kana's embarrassing outburst had caused to the barriers. The security of the whole complex had to be repaired.

Supposedly the outermost primary barrier was brought down entirely...

Kana... really didn't want to think about it, and briefly covered her face with her hands as if to push the idea from her mind. She most certainly did not let out a pitiful whimper, not at all.

Her 'Don't Think About It' ritual worked soon enough and she refocused on the parcel, unwrapping it to reveal a new porcelain mask. Standing up on the railings, Kana balanced herself precariously as she held the mask up to the starlight for inspection.

A mask in the shape of a demonic face with a woeful frown, its eyes slanted upward and long fangs curving outward. Two short horns protruded from the forehead region, in the middle of which was an intricate version of the swirling pattern Kana had come to recognize as the sigil of Uzushiogakure. Every feature was painted with a few red and purple accents, making the whole thing seem a bit more lifelike.

In all honesty Kana was fascinated by the gift, prepared specifically for her and coded with her chakra signature by Kaoru. Though its design wasn't exactly appealing, Kana didn't mind accepting it, especially once she learned its purpose.

The masks were keystones, tools for handling the hidden or forbidden techniques of their clan's bloodline. It uses were varied, especially depending on the user's specialties, but all of them served at least one core purpose.

They were the keys to understanding that the Uzumaki 'temples' and 'priests' were not just fakes, not just for show.

They granted access to the secrets of the Uzumaki mask shrines and temples.

They were keys to a network built over generations, and relief for those in desperate need.

And what Kana searched for so desperately, her own mask would aid greatly in finding.