Post by Toshiko Homura on Nov 12, 2017 2:13:44 GMT
the things that you might like don't grow inside of me Of all the words available to Homura, "conflicted" was quite possibly the most relevant. Not just in the immediate sense, either, as it seemed to apply to all of Iwagakure these days. It was no secret that a fair portion of the village had opposed the previous Tsuchikage on many things. Military leadership, domestic policies, foreign affairs, the man's go to policy of "might makes right" hardly endeared him to his people or the other nations. In hindsight it was honestly a surprise that his antics hadn't been cause for far more widespread war and carnage considering it had been a campaign of extermination that had brought her own clan into the village, and then a continuous series of campaigns trying to "reclaim" land that wasn't even his to begin with that defined most of Homura's own childhood. It had certainly given Homura a unique perspective regarding his rule, and had been the driving force behind her entering an early retirement. Something of an attempt to distance herself and her family from the madman until disease, old age or someone decided to kill him - and one she'd thought futile after his attempts to return her to active duty within just the last two weeks. And then against all odds the Shodaime kicked the bucket while Homura was busy trying to buy just enough time to get her affairs in order. It had been convenient to say the least if only in a personal sense. Objectively it'd left Iwagakure as a whole divided. There were many like her who didn't particularly care how or why he was dead, content just to look to a brighter future and begin fixing what had gone horribly wrong in the last forty years. Homura had a clan of her own to oversee, after all, and while entirely possible that they may lose political standing without the Shodaime's favor it was a trade Homura would be happy to make. Others within the village, however, weren't so happy over the prospect of change, wanting to maintain what they saw as a "successful" status quo... as if executing your own to maintain order through fear qualified as such. Others still saw it as a personal affront to the village that someone could get away with an act of assassination, nevermind the circumstances surrounding it, choosing to put emotion and patriotism before objective sense. They and many like them wanted war and they didn't seem to care whether or not the target of their anger deserved it - it was a scapegoat they were looking for, and with rumors of Konoha's involvement in the incident it didn't take a genius to figure out where things went from there. That's all they were, though. Rumors. As far as Homura knew there was little factual evidence to any of it, and even if there was it was a fool's errand to start an unnecessary and debatably unwinnable fight. All of these things were on Homura's mind as she walked down the brightly lit stone corridors of the Tsuchikage's palace, clad in her usual black leggings and white shirt. Even with Raidon dead it had kept it's role as the center of Iwagakure's administration and home to both the Shodaime and his successor, passed down the bloodline as if it were a crown, a birthright. Her own clan's philosophy and experiences on the matter aside, Homura felt just as conflicted about that as anything else now. On the one hand very little good ever came of such things. There was no way to know if such a successor was in any way fit for the role or the demands it would place on them, no way to know if there might've been someone better suited to lead the village into the future. Without having to earn the title or work for the role it automatically left out potentially dozens of other candidates who might've brought varying strengths and new values to Iwagakure. At least that's what Homura wanted to say. Objectively there were many, many potential individuals that she could've picked for the role just based off of those who she'd taught during her years at the Academy, but from a personal standpoint she couldn't deny that the one to inherit the title would've been among them. Someone who had clearly remembered her as well even in spite of Homura's attempts to distance herself from the previous Tsuchikage and everything to do with his administration. "You called for me?" Homura said, a bit of stiffness to her voice as she finally came up on the Kage's office and stepped through the open door. There were very few good memories of this place - while she had nothing against Naoko herself and had quite liked her as a child Homura would've been very glad to be rid of that room forever. |
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