Chapter 7 - The real reason...
AN: 3.7k Words, with these 2 chapters i should get a ranking in webnovel.
Also i would like to thank all the supporters over in WN for all the power stones, i have absolutely no idea what they do but hopefully good things! :D i will put your names down below at the end of chap.
Also Soleus, thanks again for the review, brought up a good point in a recent review that says "Kid is too serious and formal for a 3 yo."
I do recognize this as my negligence for not giving more context in the couple of first chapters, I wanted to cement the fact that he is a transmigrator in a dangerous world, he is trying to understand the world by not offending anyone important before he gets stronger. He will be observing while keeping his head down and being polite. I will explain more in the story and try to show more of it in the story.
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After coming back into the room Antares and Mabui took a seat next to their fathers
Fujimi talking to the 3rd Raikage about Darui,
"Darui's storm release bloodline is strong, i also had him be tested for his Chakra natures, he has 3 natures Lightning Release, Water Release, Wind Release."
"That's promising, ill be sure to train him well. Maybe one day he can take my seat." Ay says while looking at Darui and chuckling a bit
The meeting chamber had gone quiet again.
Not calm.
Quiet.
There was a difference, and Antares had already learned that rooms filled with powerful people were often at their most dangerous when nobody raised their voice.
Lantern light burned low and gold across polished wood, carved beams, and lacquered pillars. Servants stood with lowered heads near the walls, careful not to look too directly at the center of the room. Kumo guards remained still at their posts. Behind Fujimi Ryosuke stood two samurai from the capital, both disciplined enough to look decorative and dangerous at the same time. Somewhere beyond the chamber walls, hidden in the estate's layered security, Antares could feel the faintest trace of another presence.
BOLT, most likely.
Of course.
Nothing ever happened in this family without at least three layers of supervision and one masked man in the ceiling.
Ay sat at the head of the room like the seat had been built for him specifically. He did not need to lean forward or harden his voice to control the space. He simply existed in it, and the room bent around him. Fujimi sat opposite him, refined and composed, every movement measured. If Ay was a storm contained in human flesh, then Fujimi was a polished blade that had learned how to smile.
Antares sat to his father's side and did his best not to look as irritated as he felt.
'Can we end this farce and just go home already, i need to get training for fuinjutsu from Mother
Across from him, Mabui sat beside her father with her posture flawless and her expression cool. At first glance, she looked entirely controlled.
At second glance, not quite.
She was listening very carefully.
More than that, every now and then her gaze shifted toward him for just a second, not coldly, not with resentment, but with a quiet kind of curiosity she had not bothered to hide nearly as much as before.
That was interesting.
Possibly dangerous.
Definitely not unwelcome though.
Fujimi set his cup down softly.
"Ay-Dono," he said, "before we conclude this discussion, there is something I would prefer to speak on directly."
Ay's heavy gaze settled on him. "You have already spoken directly enough, why so much serious now?." he asked in an interested tone
The answer was dry, but it was permission.
Fujimi inclined his head. "Then I will continue in the same manner."
Antares resisted the urge to sigh.
Right. Because apparently both of these men had decided tonight was an excellent time to test exactly how much honesty a room like this could survive before someone's blood pressure gave out.
Fujimi folded his hands before him.
"This arrangement is not only about marriage."
Ay said nothing.
He did not need to.
Fujimi continued.
"My daughter's future matters to me for reasons beyond politics. House Ryosuke is still powerful, still respected, and still old enough that lesser nobles pretend friendship before they measure what pieces can be carved away from us. But we are not what Kumo's great houses are. We are not, in truth, a shinobi clan anymore."
That made the room sharpen slightly.
Antares noticed the faint shift in one of the guards near the wall. Ay noticed it too and ignored it.
Fujimi's voice remained calm.
"We preserve knowledge. We preserve blood. We preserve old disciplines, old records, old techniques, and enough influence in the capital that fools still mistake us for untouchable. But strength in the capital is not the same as strength here."
Ay grunted softly. "Few things are."
"No," Fujimi agreed. "They are not."
Antares glanced once toward Mabui.
She had not moved, but her fingers were folded a little tighter in her lap now.
Not discomfort but some expectation.
She already knew where this was going.
Fujimi looked toward his daughter for the briefest moment before turning back to Ay.
"You know of the assassination attempt on the daimyo a few months ago?"
That changed the room.
Not violently.
Not outwardly.
But the air itself seemed to draw in.
Ay's expression did not move much, though his eyes hardened at once. "I know of it."
Antares felt his attention sharpen.
Now we're getting to the real reason.
Fujimi's next words came without hesitation.
"My wife died that day."
No one interrupted him.
"Miu put herself between Mabui and the intruder without hesitation. By the time the Thunder Guards killed him, the damage had already been done."
The chamber remained completely still.
Antares looked across the room at Mabui again.
She did not flinch.
That, more than the words themselves, made the thing feel heavier.
No tears. No trembling. No childish grief dragged into the open for sympathy.
Just stillness.
The kind that had been learned the hard way.
Fujimi continued, his voice quieter now, but somehow more dangerous for it.
"Maki put herself between Mabui and the intruder without hesitation. By the time the Thunder Guards killed him, the damage had already been done."
Ay's gaze remained fixed on him. "I remember the reports."
His voice was flat, but not uncaring.
"The attacker had no identifying marks. No declared village ties. No insignia. No clan banner. Nothing and we don't have the Yamanaka's and their mind reading techniques"
Fujimi inclined his head once. "Yes."
Ay's jaw shifted slightly since this was also a mark in his books, having Spy's and assassins enter his country infuriated him even if he was being a hypocrite.
"I never believed he was some independent fanatic," he said. "Not with the timing. Not with such precision. A man does not get that close to the daimyo of the Land of Lightning unless someone helped open a path."
Antares kept silent.
Good. Father's doing that thing where he's speaking calmly and everyone in the room has to pretend it isn't more threatening than shouting.
Ay's eyes narrowed.
"My conclusion then was the same as it is now. Hidden Stone. A sleeper agent planted long before the attempt. Someone dormant until he was close enough to strike."
"Onoki is the only Kage with absolutely no shame out of all of us, that he dares cross 5 small countries to reach Kaminari no Kuni" Ay said with his gruff voice with some venom behind his words
Those words landed hard.
One of the Samurai guards straightened almost imperceptibly.
Fujimi did not object.
"I came to the same conclusion," he said.
Ay gave a low hum through his nose. "Of course you did."
Fujimi's expression stayed composed, but there was no softness in it now.
"My wife died and my child was almost killed because the capital looked safer than it truly was. Because too many men confuse ceremony for protection. We also do not have any good sensory ninja or the byakugan ."
Antares watched Mabui from the corner of his eye.
Her face remained calm, but it was no longer the distant calm of a noble daughter enduring political discussion. It was focused. Sharpened. Personal.
This wasn't a negotiation point for her.
This was the wound underneath it.
Fujimi continued.
"I will not lose my daughter to the same illusion."
Silence followed.
The real kind this time.
Ay finally spoke. "So you want to send her to Kumo."
"I do."
"Because your capital is weak."
"Because my capital is civilized enough to hide its weakness," Fujimi said. "Which is worse."
That nearly pulled a reaction out of Antares.
All right. Fair line.
Ay leaned back in his chair. "And marriage ties that into this how?"
Fujimi met his gaze evenly.
"Because if Mabui is to one day enter House Kaminari as first wife, I want to let her become familiar with the village that will shape her future. Let her learn discipline and become strong from people who understand strength. Let her be trained where protection is real and not merely ceremonial."
Ay's gaze flicked once toward Mabui, then to Antares, then back to Fujimi.
"You are asking for more than protection and training."
"Yes."
Ay rested one arm against the chair and studied him. "What kind?"
Fujimi answered immediately.
"Not shinobi field training in the ordinary sense. I am not asking Kumo to make my daughter a battlefield soldier. That is not her role. But she possesses discipline, intelligence, and chakra potential beyond what I am willing to leave half-developed in the capital. We of the Ryosuke clan have 2 secret techniques that have not been used for a long time."
Now Mabui spoke.
"I want that training and I want to become strong."
Her voice was low, smooth, and controlled, but it carried easily.
Every eye in the room shifted to her.
Mabui lifted her chin slightly.
"I understand what Father is asking. I also understand why. I will not become a shinobi in the way Kumo raises its war-born children. But there are techniques worth learning."
Ay looked at her carefully. "Such as?"
"Chakra control," Mabui said. "Mental discipline. Intelligence gathering, Shunshin jutsu, The foundations of secret techniques tied to secret jutsu of our clan, the heavenly transfer technique and another secret jutsu that we know."
Antares looked at her properly then.
She spoke with none of the uncertainty he would have expected from someone her age under this kind of pressure. No nervousness. No softness added to make herself seem less ambitious.
She knew exactly what she wanted to say.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Fujimi took over again.
"House Ryosuke preserves certain secret jutsu. We have techniques better suited to governance, communication, internal defense, and controlled support than open battle. Heavenly Transfer technique among them. Such arts require discipline and a certain amount of strength. Kumo can provide both in a way the capital no longer can."
Ay's expression remained unreadable.
"And the timeline you mentioned earlier?"
Fujimi nodded once.
"Mabui will return with me to the capital for one more year to nail down our clan secret jutsu and to wait for Antares."
Antares's eyes narrowed slightly.
Fujimi continued.
"When Antares reaches four years of age and begins his early education under Kumo's shinobi academy structure, Mabui will come here as well and begin her own apprenticeship. Not as a leaf in the wind,or a stranger, and not as a child thrown blindly into a village she does not understand. She will come prepared."
Ay was quiet for several seconds.
"And during that year?"
"She remains with me," Fujimi said. "She continues her court and special education, house management, and our secret techniques in the capital. But once the year passes, I will send her here willingly."
Ay's gaze sharpened. "Willingly."
"Yes."
The word hung there.
Not as a performance or as a point.
Ay shifted his attention to Mabui. "And what do you say to that?"
Mabui did not lower her eyes.
"I say yes."
The room stayed silent.
Mabui continued before anyone else could speak.
"My mother died because a Hall full of nobles was less secure than everyone pretended it was. I remember enough of that day to know Father is right." She paused, just briefly. "I would rather live where I can grow in strength than where weakness wears silk."
Antares blinked once.
'That was… very good.'
Cold line. Clean line. Accurate too.
Ay's mouth twitched faintly, though it vanished almost at once.
Mabui's gaze shifted then, not to her father, but to Antares.
"And if I am to marry into this house one day, I would rather not arrive ignorant."
Antares kept his face neutral.
Internally, however, he was having a much more annoying reaction.
'She is making this entirely too reasonable.'
Ay noticed the look. Of course he did.
"So," he said, voice low, "you have no objection to the marriage."
Mabui answered with perfect composure. "No, Lord Raikage."
Then, after the briefest pause, she added, "I do not."
Not the same answer.
Subtle.
But not the same.
Fujimi noticed it. Ay noticed it. Antares definitely noticed it and Darui was pretty much snoring with but is pretending he is listening pretty convincing totally…
'Wonderful. Even her phrasing has layers to it just like her father' Ay thought and turned his attention to his son. "And you?"
Antares looked back at him. "And me what?"
Ay's stare did not change. "You have been listening. Answer."
Antares exhaled quietly and sat back just a little.
"It makes sense."
Ay's brow shifted and looked almost annoyed at his vague words.
Antares continued before he could be interrupted.
"House Ryosuke isn't wrong. If the capital really is that full of polite cowards secretly gunning for higher political status, then sending her somewhere stronger and safer is the logical move." He glanced toward Mabui. "And she clearly doesn't sound like someone being forced or coerced into agreeing."
A tiny flicker touched the corner of Mabui's mouth.
'Good he understands my position' she though
Antares went on.
"If she's going to end up in Kumo anyway, then letting her learn the place and the culture early is smart rather than waiting until she's older' Ay grunted. "You sound supportive."
"I'm being practical and logical she will understand very soon that we of kumo go by one thing and that is that (might makes right)" said Antares with a crack in his voice
"That is not always the same thing son."
"No," Antares said. "But today it is."
Ay watched him for a few milli seconds longer, then looked back to Fujimi.
"And your daughter's standing?"
Fujimi's expression cooled slightly. "If she enters House Kaminari, she enters as first wife. Not as a decorative piece. Not to be set aside the moment other politics become convenient."
Ay's eyes hardened a fraction. "You think I would allow that?"
"I think powerful houses often promise dignity in public and complicate it in private," Fujimi replied. "I would prefer clarity now even if the contract has already been signed and agreed upon"
The tension returned to the room at once.
Antares almost groaned inwardly.
'Not this again, this old man keeps testing father like this and he will get killed'
'And of course we couldn't go five full minutes without someone intensifying the conversation again.'
Ay's voice dropped lower.
"My house does not humiliate its own."
Fujimi held his gaze. "Good."
That was as close to agreement as the room was going to get.
Ay shifted his attention to Mabui once more.
"You understand what being first wife in this house may mean even at your young age?."
"Yes."
"It will not always be easy."
"I did not expect it to be easy, Ay - sama."
'Good answer.'
Again.
This is getting ridiculous.
Then Ay looked toward Antares, and there was something faintly dangerous in his eyes now.
"And you understand what it means to take a woman like this into your house one day."
Antares met his gaze.
"Yes father."
Ay's stare lingered.
Antares added, because apparently his own survival instincts had taken the evening off, "I'd have to be blind not to."
One of the guards near the wall went perfectly rigid at the intensity in Rakage's eyes
Mabui looked down for the briefest second.
Not in discomfort.
To hide the smallest hint of amusement.
Ay stared at him another moment, then let out a breath through his nose that might, on a less intimidating man, have almost passed for dry amusement.
"Careful," he said.
"I am careful," Antares answered.
That earned him a look from both older men that suggested neither of them believed him at all.
Fair.
Fujimi broke the silence.
"Then let the terms be simple. Mabui returns with me to the capital for one year. At the end of that year, when Antares begins his education in earnest, she will come to Kumo and begin her apprenticeship under agreed supervision. Her training will be controlled. Her standing will be protected. Her future place in this house will be acknowledged and you are to take my son Darui under your wing"
Ay was quiet.
The room waited.
At last, the Third Raikage rose from his seat.
That was enough by itself to make the room feel smaller.
"Fine," he said.
One word.
Solid as stone.
"Mabui returns to the capital with you. One year. When Antares begins his academy path, she comes here. She will be under my protection while she is in Kumo. Her training will be supervised and limited to what suits her station, her future role, and the needs of both houses."
Fujimi stood as well. "That is acceptable."
Ay's gaze remained fixed on him.
"And if I discover you withheld anything about the techniques you expect her to learn, I will take that personally."
Fujimi bowed his head slightly. "Understood."
Ay then turned toward Mabui and Antares.
"You two have heard the terms."
"Yes, Lord Raikage," Mabui said.
"Yes, Father," Antares replied.
Ay looked at both of them for a long moment.
Then, surprisingly, his gaze settled on Mabui again.
"You carry yourself like your mother," he said.
For the first time in the entire meeting, Mabui's composure shifted in a way Antares could actually see.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Ay continued.
"Miu had more courage and compassion than most shinobi I've met. Dying to protect her daughter was not a weakness but her love for you. Remember that." Ay said with a gruff voice
Mabui lowered her head just a fraction with tears welling up at the corner of her eyes. "I will."
That line stayed in the room after he spoke it.
Ay a man who only respects strength knows that the most important thing to use that strength for is to protect the ones you love and cherish.
Fujimi states in an amused reminiscing tone "Miu was good friends with Misaki even during pregnancy they would send each other letters. I'm certain she would approve of this marriage. She and Misaki were always joking about paring up their unborn children after they found out the genders of the baby's."
After hearing that Ay looked back at Fujimi. "Take your time, and use it well. I've already assigned extra shinobi to protect the capital and the daimyo palace after the incident."
Fujimi inclined his head. "Thanks again for your hospitality, send my regards to Misaki, in a year ill have her met Mabui" As he looks over to Mabui
The formal atmosphere of the meeting had ended, but the room had not yet fully released its tension. Servants remained still. Guards remained alert but not concerned because the Raikage was stronger and faster than they ever would in this close of an area. The samurai at the door had not moved an inch since told to stand there.
And yet something had changed.
Antares could feel it.
Not in the game of politics.
Those were still there.
Not in the pressure.
That was still there too.
It was Mabui.
When he looked at her now, she no longer seemed like a distant figure seated across from him because powerful adults had decided their futures should intersect. She looked like someone who had chosen to step toward that future with both eyes open and arms open wide.
More than that, she looked at him differently now.
Still composed.
Still careful.
But there was an ease in it that had not existed before.
'Perhaps it's because of what her Father said about our mothers?' Antares though
'quiet approval, Maybe even the beginning of real interest; girls are so complicated even in his past life.'
Not entirely in a bad way.
Fujimi was the one to speak next.
"Raikage-Dono," he said, "I will be taking my leave with my children for the day, enjoy your evening"
Ay's eyes shifted toward Antares.
Antares kept his face neutral and did not immediately say anything stupid, which, under these circumstances, was probably something he should do.
Mabui sat straight, calm as ever, but Antares caught the tiny change in her expression.
She wanted that.
Not desperately.
Not nervously.
But genuinely.
Ay looked toward Fujimi, then back to the two of them.
For one brief moment, their eyes met.
No words.
Just a look.
And for the first time that day, Antares had the strange, inconvenient thought that this future might not be as suffocating as it had first seemed.
That was probably a terrible sign. Who knows.
"Darui" Fujimi calls
"Yeahh" Darui says in a lazy drawl and while rubbing his eyes
"Lets go, we are going to the Hotel for some food and rest" He tells him shakes hands with Ay one last time for that day and quietly walks towards the door
"Mabui" Antares calls out
She looks back at him and raises a pretty greyish eyebrow "Yeah?" while also tilting her head to the side
"Nothing, Be safe" as she left the room
Chapter End!
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