With one last sorrowful glance outside of his modified masterpiece. The last thoughts on the Lost one's mind, of twin gifts of his goodbye. One holding his heart, the other, his soul. "Shouto better keep an eye out for N'Jobu and give him the gift I left him and Takao, and I hope he tells Takao how to get into this place is something goes wrong...." Thinking back to the letters, I- we, Kisei pondered how mismatched they must be when read right after one another. Though, that's what happens when you don't have a proper good bye. So much to say, but so little time. Yet, I had to, he had to.. Kisei had to do this now. There was no time to wait. "B-Ordis, activate the spacial rift de-accelerator, and then launch the program." B-ordis, did so, though with sorrow. They weren't so joyous to see their ward walk to their deaths.... The virtual reality machine whirls to life. But no longer is it such, now, it has broken the boundaries. The doors behind him close shut, and the entirety of the interior fills with indescribable light. What followed, an indescribable void.

---

On the desk of one Hokage, rested an envelope with two letters. The first one reading.

"Dear Takao,

I’m writing this in advance in response to the invitation on the shinobi council meeting, convening to discuss the will of the daiyamo and the obvious goal of the annexation of the neighboring lands. That, as well as a few more personal things which I need to cover. Let’s begin with the the daimyo first.

Now, while I am not as educated in the politics of your world, I’m sure that you’ve already considered the potential, ah, consequences of continued action; but for the point I’m going to make, let’s assume the worth scenario. The state of the world is in a questionable state. With the collapse of one of the oldest powers in shinobi world and the rapid changes of leadership within all of the hidden villages, namely of the Tsuchikage, the Raikage, and our most recent loss of Lord Rippa.. A whole new slate is made, and evreyone is on edge. Each paranoid and defensive. Our latest skirmish within the Land of Frost brought the spotlight on us, and if the daimyo’s plans are as extensive as I hear.. then I fear for a war on our hands.

Perhaps not at bloody as past wars, but a conflict on the scale of villages is enough to sicken.

While I have no doubt that life has not thrown any bones to your village, I’m not even twenty, and the amount of years I have been within active conflict and war make up more than half of that time. As you can imagine, I am very against the idea of entering into a third war within my lifetime, and I’m used to it. The people within the village have known peace, love, and prosperity, are you going to throw into the fire, sacrifice our people for a conflict none of us asked for. An ambition none of us follow? For a daimyo, who doesn’t understand us? My words may be heresy, but when it comes to a potential conflict of this scale I cannot stress enough, ‘conflict is not the answer’. Show restraint. I’m not asking for mercy, but whatever you do, don’t let this play out according to the daimyo’s vision, nothing good will come of forcefully subgugating other countries like this. Especially at a time like this. If we start gathering our forces and annexing the local lands, what message does that send to the rest of the world? Before we’d know it we’ll have the other village’s building up their defenses, and readying themselves for conflict. A single spark, and Naraka is lit aflame.

The path of shinobi may be carved in blood, true, but the path of war leads nowhere. Don’t let others convince you otherwise. History itself tells us to avoid such conflict, we cannot keep repeating the same mistakes with gilded ambitions and ideals leading us down the path. The sacrifice is heavy. I could go on for hours, however I believe I have made my point, or at least repeated myself enough times that further lecturing would yield diminishing returns. But know this Takao, even if we were to forcefully conquer the land around us, even if we get caught up in the most bloody war; I wouldn’t regret a single moment, of being under your command."


On the back of that paper was a key, translating nonsensical symbols to a ancient dialect of the common on spoken in present day.

Translated Letter:

The finally, in the shop of the Lost one, a metal umbrella lay across the lap of a worried Sumiko Shouto, with an identically looking one, albeit slightly older; the original design. "You're a lucky one N'Jobu." They whispered quietly, "I hope you and Takao take care of this gift well."

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