*Listen while you Read*
Her eyes watched as Suzaku landed before her, his theatrics and shields noted as he sent the flames spiraling around them. As the tendrils of fire licked towards her, they dissipated into fluttering butterflies that flew around the Uchiha lady, the ground around her feet in a five foot circle untouched by any of Suzaku's chakra. The more the flames flicked and ravaged the more butterflies fluttered around the undisturbed lady.
He was wise to be cautious, however. She had had the head start on him, and her speed was enough that even his pyrokinetic form would not have been enough to catch her. His lapdog, the Yamanaka, could tout all the detection hacks and tricks he wanted, but everything had its limits. And Mirai had brought him here. A wiser man might have hesitated, observed the other presences that remained hidden. Maybe he would have noticed that he had placed himself perfectly between all of them. A simple
jutsu would be all it took to subdue him.
She bowed her head at his arrival, staring up at him through long eyelashes; a cat eyeing a mouse innocently before it pounced.
"Lord Fourteenth," She stated, regally.
"In order to receive answers, one must ask questions." Her tone was unwavering. The crackling in the atmosphere rammed into a hum of power not from the figure in front of Suzaku, but from all directions around him. A fool would think he could intimidate the leader of the Uchiha clan. Tenbo, Ichijo, Mujin, all great Shinobi, bowed before her. Strangers in the street refused to meet her gaze, fearful they would fall prey to the genjutsu she was no doubt a master of. Many of her clan were incredible warriors, and she, above all of them, was selected as their leader. She held up a slender finger, as a thoughtful expression overtook her features.
"Hmmm, let me guess."
"Mirai Uchiha," A voice identical to Suzaku's boomed from the still shadowed forest surrounding the pair. The sound of all four beings rustling against the leaves, firm hands against bark, delicate steps on branches.
"Why have you left the village?"
The girl tilted her head.
"Perhaps I seek power. Perhaps I seek a hunt." She shrugged.
"Perhaps my business is my own and I will not be held under a magnifying glass." Too many people were examining her recently. She was the leader of a clan rooted in a history synonymous with power. Her bloodline had saved the world, and now all these bugs had the audacity to test her?!
"Your Anbu run about like chickens without heads, releasing the Two-Tails demon upon me, asking me to spy on members of my own clan, and you have the audacity to demand answers from me." She scoffs. "Perhaps you would have preferred I play the damsel? Arrive to your office and cry about the continuous affronts you impose on me? Squawk until you are delighted that I am a subservient shell, a being who will never oppose you?" She took a casual step towards him. "You want a servant? Hire one. You want a clan lord, respect them."
"You did not request leave, Mirai Uchiha." The same voice boomed, this time from a different source.
"Better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, I suppose, but I am leaving today." The finality in her voice turned her will palpable, weighing in the air, pushing against the Hokage's own. A challenge perhaps, or an invitation to lower those defenses for even the briefest of seconds to see if his will could outdo her own. If he could subdue her before she invaded his mind.
"I am the Lord of the Uchiha, not a pet to be leashed." Venom dripped from those words, as anger flashed across her features. The butterflies multiplied mid-air, a solidified beacon of her presence, and a warning to anyone who answered the call of the Hokage.
Their fiery wings danced through the leaves around them, singeing the leaves with a brief hiss. Opposed to the flock of birds and loud booms that Suzaku brought with him, Mirai brought about silence.
"This is an act of betrayal!" Suzaku's voice cried from a different direction this time.
"If I decide to betray you my lord, it will either far too late for you to stop me, or far too quick for you to do anything about it." Her voice was smooth, unbothered, and her gaze did not waver from his own as a glint of red flashed beneath the gray.
"But alas, my loyalties still lie with the Leaf. And the clan that I watch over, not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of all of the District. If I am not clan lord, then the responsibility would fall to... Someone else." She didn't bother mentioning specific names. Shijo's monitoring of Tenbo and Mugen was surely an order by Suzaku. He could think about what would happen if the Uchiha clan followed their ideals instead of her own.
"What are the beings in the shadows?"
"Clones. Or maybe I am the clone and the real Mirai lies in the shadows, watching to see what the Lord will do." Her smile was devious.
"Or perhaps we are all clones, and the real Mirai has already crossed the bridge into the Cloud District, and all we are is a distraction to ensure she can disappear." She spared a glance to the bridge. That was where her chakra was being pulled to. Was it aching to return to the host body of the true Mirai? Was it a powerful technique being prepared? Or something even Mirai dared not think too closely of.
They were clones, making small preparations in the off chance that Suzaku decided that he was going to attack her, but they served a different primary focus: They monitored outwards, ensuring that nobody got close enough to hear the pair. The biggest weakness of suppression was that sound and sight where still viable options to be seen. The rustling had been them searching bushes, climbing through the foliage and setting traps in places one might hide.
When Lords talked, the only ones who should be listening were those they deemed worthy.
The atmosphere changed suddenly, the butterflies immediately disappearing, Mirai's will retreating back into into her. The four beings in the shadows dispersed, signatures disappearing completely. Now it was only the two of them. Even Mirai's features softened.
"I am leaving, Lord Suzaku," She said simply.
"And if you try to stop me, it will be in vain." She turned and began walking towards the bridge.
"I will send word when I find what I am looking for." Whatever it turned out to be.
She had shown him her weapons, and sheathed them, a bid for peace. If he attacked now, it would be solely his fault for the ensuing fallout.
Location: Border Between Leaf District and Cloud District
Post Order: Order: Mirai -> Suzaku
Time Limit: 3 Days
Skip Points: 3