I Broke Your Tower [Katsuo]

[Sand Council]

You got my attention...

What was with all this fanfare and noise, people should just die quietly. This game of cat and mouse was about to come to a close, these games were good for morale but a waste of effort and energy. If it was up to him, he would have ended their suffering days ago. A cancer stick was gripped tightly between his teeth, the smooth menthol flavor turned his stomach and rotted his lungs but he could never kick the disgusting habit. His wife thought he looked cool whenever he lit one up, maybe he did this in her memory or perhaps he was weaker than he thought. It did not matter, it was not like he would ever live long enough for disease to take him, the Plague wars demonstrated his body's resilience.

The Plague War never ended, not for his people. While Sunagakure bided their time in this hole, Wind suffered the consequences of their foolhardy choices and selfish decisions. Their weather wizards lost their grasp over the storm, the very storm that divided the whole of this country. He, like the rest of the cabal hated this village and its people, they hated what Sunagakure stood for: cowardice and a people that held onto an authority that should have relinquished decades ago.

These people were all going to die. He took no pleasure in it, unlike several of his subordinates who made death a game. Their macabre pastime seemed to delight and entertain. He did not bother to county, all of the faces he used to remember so clear were now noting more than a blur. Even his wife and kids, shadows in the back of his mind. Thousands would die today, he would not be among these corpses but he was already on borrowed time. He took a deep drag before he plucked the unfiltered stump from his mouth and dropped it on the floor. His heel extinguished the last glowing embers.

He checked his watch, he still had some time enough to test his mettle one more time. Perhaps there would be a worthwhile challenge still. some kid claiming to be the Kazekage was the rumor that reached his ears. He was already well aware of the Steward's location, the Toad had relatively few uses but watchdog was one of them. The 'Kazekage' was not going to show. There was something to be said about having the heart to follow through and to endure after everything was ripped away.

Over the intercom through the static and the noise he heard an announcement:

"People, refugees of Suna, Emergency exit.. Location Toraono Dojo!! HURRY!!"​

He would have to blow the tunnel manually. This was going to be troublesome. He sighed as he pulled a small white box from his pocket, it was barely more than the size of the palm of his hand. "Mettlesome shinobis, they never know when to die," he muttered.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"With words like that, you can only be Kaito of the Cabal."

It was almost fitting that he'd have found Kaito in this place of all. Half-buried by rubble and destruction, this was the area of the tower which had been originally called by the locals the Seat of Power. It was the place where the council of Sunagakure came to order and where the Diamond Throne had previously sat empty for years. When the tower had been demolished the Diamond Throne had inexplicably been thrown from the destroyed government building and crash landed into a small church in Sietch Zensunna. But this had been the place where not even a month ago Katsuo had first met Sousuke and where he'd come into possession of Tatsumasa for the first time. If there was a point which could have been considered a starting point for his involvement with Sunagakure directly... that day had almost certainly marked it. Sporting his large armored coat and with the sheathed Tatsumasa in his hand, the countenance of Katsuo wore a stern expression which was devoid of any mirth. Such a dour demeanor was extremely out of character for him but this was not a time for good humor. The fight he had provoked would not be the same kind of honorable brawl in good faith that he'd had with Saiga.

This would be a war which could have only two out-comes: he would either defeat Kaito or die trying.

"It's a shame, I was hoping we could end this without any further need for bloodshed." The words "I am the Kazekage" still did not sit well with him and stuck in the back of his throat. He assumed that if Kaito had come, he already knew who he was facing. "There's still time for that but it goes without saying that if you stay the course, you will force me to stop you."

Katsuo's keen eyes did not miss the small box in Katsuo's hand. He couldn't see precisely what it was but in the world they lived in he could afford to leave nothing to chance. It could too easily turn out to be a ranged weapon of some kind or even some sort of device to detonate the bombs in the tunnel. There wasn't a lot that he could do from the distance he stood at but with the powers over magnetic currents he'd come into recently he could easily pull Katsuo off of his feet and throw him off balance long enough to try and take the box from him if it turned out to be a weapon. Thin bolts of energy danced down Katsuo's right arm which he held Tatsumasa in, a side-effect of the spark of Primus that dwelt within him.

 

[Sand Council]

Kaito​

"It's too late boy," Kaito remarked. The damage had been done, it needed to be done. He had played this role many times before, the villain that does what is necessary because nobody else will. The ire of another boy who would soon be dead was as relevant as a fur coat in the desert. "This village is going to be destroyed, your intervention will never change it. Save a road, a building, a baby... in the end you will find your efforts to be futile." He was not making a threat, he was telling the truth. He had seen these hero types before with their grand speeches, their spectacle fighting style and their often piteous and forgettable end. Kaito was not a man that did something that was not required, he took no pleasure in his actions here today. This day like many others will be chronicled as a day to be remembered in infamy.

He flipped the lid of the tiny white box he had in the palm of his hand and pulled from it a small cylindrical blunt object no longer than a finger. With a snap of his finger he lit the end and took a drag. "I was supposed to kill the actual Kazekage, bring his head back to Sora. Shame you were not him," he shook his head. "I hate half-assing a job like this but your real Kazekage could not even get past a single member from our team and I heard he had friends." He left out the fact that the Kazekage was fine, he walked away intact for some unknown reason. Why the Toad did not cut him down where he stood and lace his friends up for the world to see as was his hobby was beyond him. The Toad was an unpredictable half-wit.

"Your people have caused this, isolating themselves in this hole while we fight the good fight on the surface. We have suffered the backlash from your bad decisions for decades and it is time that it came to an end." He did not care, not about the people that were going to die. Not about the pain his peers were inflicting. Was his actions as a member of the Cabal a perverse form of self-righteousness? No, he knew that what he was doing was "wrong" by most ethical imperatives but there was a duty to be performed for a greater good -- this prodigal hidden village needed to be destroyed utterly. Defectors every last man, woman and child who hid here for nearly three decades. Their destruction was a demonstration of not only the Cabal's power, but also the country's unwillingness to allow anyone a free ride any longer.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"You're wrong."

The conviction in Katsuo's voice left no room to brook argument. He was resolute in this, above all else.

"The way you talk... this was unavoidable. Like there could have been no other option or way to go about things. But that's wrong." Katsuo explained, his hands now in his pockets as the air around them cooled at almost an imperceptibly slow speed in reaction to Katsuo's mood. "The choice to rain hellfire down on the innocents in this village was yours and yours alone. Having the right to choose is what makes us special as human beings. As men we are the sum of those choices, Kaito. Anything else is just a self-serving excuse to pretend that reality isn't what it is. And this? This is wrong."

He didn't know why he was bothering to explain this to Kaito at all but there was something within him that urged him forward towards the path he walked. He would deliver justice upon Kaito if the leader of the Cabal refused to see reason but how could he claim that his cause was just if he simply attacked without attempting anything else? The balance between Setsuninken and Katsujinken demanded that much, at least.

"I'll give you one thing you're right about -- Sunagakure is lost as it is. Too many have suffered and died here for them to remain. It is long past time that the village of Sand rejoined the rest of the country. But is this really the way you want that to happen? As enemies? You say that you're fighting the good fight on the surface and I believe you. Up until recently, I wasn't a part of this place. I walked the world fighting battles for people who couldn't fight for themselves so I know what it's like out there." Katsuo did his best to explain his feelings but this was not something that he considered a strong suite of his. His talents lie mostly in the territory of beating things up, not talking to them. That was one talent that he didn't inherit from either of his parents even though he was told that Hiro had been a passionate and charismatic man. "But the difference between us is I would never wish that type of existence on others as an act of revenge. You and I have some common ground in that we believe Sand should have been doing more for the people than hiding in a cave... but nobody deserves this. This isn't justice."

 

[Sand Council]

Kaito​

"I'll give you one thing you're right about -- Sunagakure is lost as it is. Too many have suffered and died here for them to remain. It is long past time that the village of Sand rejoined the rest of the country. But is this really the way you want that to happen? As enemies? You say that you're fighting the good fight on the surface and I believe you. Up until recently, I wasn't a part of this place. I walked the world fighting battles for people who couldn't fight for themselves so I know what it's like out there."

He sucked in a lungful of cancer while the 'Kazekage' spoke. Idealists indulge in this fantasy of 'justice,' anyone could see that this was not a righteous end but a consequence for trespasses they will pay the price for. "We broke your tower... we trapped you in this little hole you call home... Eight of us brought your army to its knees," Kaito remarked. It did not take much to put down a 'world power' did it. A few threats, a handful of bombs and a turn-coat and all the power and secrets of a hidden nation were exposed. "This should be personal, the plague wars came from your stores. They took my wife and my kids, but if I was out for blood I would have crashed down your door years ago. I am just a soldier following orders," he had no reason to lie. He did not feel threatened by the self-righteous romanticist, it was almost humorous. There was a time when he had these childlike ideals of justice and harmony, war, famine and strife rocked his world view as he learned that nothing was assured.

"But the difference between us is I would never wish that type of existence on others as an act of revenge. You and I have some common ground in that we believe Sand should have been doing more for the people than hiding in a cave... but nobody deserves this. This isn't justice."

"There is nothing you can do, you are a single man," Kaito replied. This being the first time he regarded the 'Kazekage' as such. He always killed more than he saved, but there was always something worth preserving. Like the scared little girl he saw in Naganisa, broken she still endured and became a powerful weapon. That was the problem, he saved a youth with the potential to be anything but became a monster as a result of her struggles. People will want what they will, but they cannot will their will. His idealism will wash away, his promises will be forgotten and he like so many before him will die bitter and likely young. "I don't dislike you, you have heart. But you will need more than a big mouth and a head full of fancy notions to make a difference here. Escape this city before it falls on your head, take a few people but you won't rescue them all no matter how hard you try." Civilians will likely bottleneck the escape tunnel, most of them, will die as they trample one another but surely someone from his unit is already at the exit waiting to cut down anyone who tries to pass. The boy might be able to slip by, the world needs a conscience.

"I do not have any more time to spare, nor do you." Kaito warned. He was leaving,this place was already destroyed so a second bomb was not going to do off over their head, but the other structure adjoining the seat would soon blow and he had no desire to die in the darkness. "The bombs are about to go off," he commented as if he was making mention of a storm on the horizon.

[Attempts to Leave, Heading for the Toraono Dojo but will be subjected to the three round wait if he is allowed exit]​

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[Mikaboshi]

Just a soldier following orders.

"You're not a soldier following orders. You're a slave to your own hatred." Spat Katsuo, his anger starting to get the better of him as he argued with the leader of the Cabal. Why wouldn't he see? Why couldn't he see? This whole thing... all of it was because of the choices they'd made. This was not destiny or fate. There was no universal force guiding these events to happen in this way. "Right now a single man holds the power to put an end to this. To stop all of the death and pain. And that's you. You have but to give the order and all of this stops."

In that moment, Katsuo made a decision. If Kaito would not see reason then he would make a demonstration to force him to see it. The transmission earlier had said that the gates were open. With a rush of wind and the sound of air rushing past him, Katsuo's body snapped from it's place where he stood to before Kaito, his eyes alight with resolve at what he felt he had to do.

"A slave obeys, Kaito. A man chooses. If you really think that I'm so powerless, follow me to the Dojo and bear witness. Then see if you can still stand by those words."

Tightening his grip upon Tatsumasa as he turned from Kaito, a rabid wind kicked up around the agitated Katsuo and someplace in the distance a crack of what sounded like thunder echoed off of the cavernous walls. For the first time in the underground city of Sunagakure, rain began to fall across the city and in place of the typical still air of the massive cavern manifested gusting winds charged with the presence of the man who would be king. If people were heading towards the secret exit in the Toraono Dojo, he would go there and save as many as he could. He could not convince Kaito that he was wrong with words alone, it was time for him to back his ideology with actions. Some day in the future grandparents would be telling stories to their children about the day in the final hours of Sunagakure's underground city that a massive thunderstorm manifested and about the man that was at the center of it.

"See for yourself just how "powerless" I am."

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