Transfer Mission: The Blackbird's Dilemma

"In order to complete the incident report about Simon Tanaka, I need the name, or names, of the adviser that you plan on appointing, and when you think they'll begin," Aidelia stated. And there it was, right back to her old self. It was how she'd been acting around the Kage for the last twenty years. The Aidelia the Kage had come to know. If anything, Aidelia thought that when she acted like this, she seemed a bit more like a secretary. Oh well.

The Kage smiled happily. "Ah, my new adivser. I honestly considered you for the part, but you're doing so well were you are now. I figured that Lacie Tentou would be a good pick as well. She's loyal and has been a brilliant ninja since her records have been recorded." He gave a nod. "When do you think would be a good time to bring her into this position," he asked.

The images disappeared as Felix heard the Kage ask Aidelia when she thought he should bring Lacie in. Was this man insane? Aidelia would wait until the ends of time just to make sure there was no one else in her way. Hell, Lacie would die in a freak accident before Aidelia let her get into office. The silver haired jonin didn't say anything though. He just continue to stare at the ceiling and rock back and forth.

Aidelia only nodded at the Kage when he said that he was considering Tentou. "She's a good ninja. Good choice for the job," she said, writing something down on a notepad. She didn't particularly sound upset that she hadn't been chosen. In fact, she expected this. She looked at the Kage when she finished writing, right when the old man finished asking his question. "Immediately. I suggest informing her right away. The sooner we have stability back, the better." She wondered if she was confusing Kuriyama yet. There was a reason that she'd been there for twenty years undetected, and it was because she was a good actress. She appeared trustworthy, and to want the best for the village. That was honestly because she did. At least until it was strong enough for a proper attack. But no, she had to get in some ninja who weren't looking to train the ninja properly, but to look for a spy. Damn her luck.

Felix blinked. It felt like time had momentarily frozen when Aidelia said immediately. She's either out of her mind, or just that good. He knew it was the latter, but hey, you could always wish. Crazy people were always easier to deal with. Despite his thoughts, he kept rocking. The Kage nodded. "Alright, I'll put you in charge of retrieving her and bringing her in to the office so we can induct her into our ranks." The old man gave a smile. "Aidelia, I'm glad to have you at my side," he told her. A small light shinning in his eyes. Felix kept his response to himself. He didn't know if the Kage was acting or being truthful, or if the man even knew Aidelia was the traitor, despite the hints him and Kana had been throwing at him since day one.

Aidelia nodded when the Kage put her in charge of retrieving Lacie. "Yes sir." When the Kage smiled at her and said he was glad to have her on his side, she too questioned his honestly. But only internally. Externally, Aidelia smiled back. "Thank you sir. Glad to be on your side," she said with a bow. "I'll have Ms. Tentou in here in roughly an hour, if you'd wish to speak with her," she said, before giving a nod to Felix. "Kuriyama," and then she left. She thought that had gone rather well. She liked feeling like her old self. It let her know that she was a brilliant espionage agent, even if this mission was for no one but herself.

"Thank you Aidelia, that will be perfect." The Kage then went back to his paperwork. Felix nodded to the silver haired woman. "See you later," he said. He then turned his chair back to the Kage and laid his head on the table. "Can I go scout the building or something, sitting here is driving me crazy," the jonin stated rather boredly. "I mean, what if ninja are attacking the building or something?" The Kage looked at Felix. "Go ahead, take a break. No more than 15 minutes." Felix grinned happily and quickly left. "Thank you."

Kana had decided to give the Jonin and ANBU a break today. Well, in the sense that she wasn't going to supervise their training. She had noticed something on the way to the training grounds. There had been someone lingering there who shouldn't have been there. She didn't know their face, which meant that the someone was either a Chuunin, or a maskless ANBU. Clearly they hadn't wanted to be seen, for as soon as she'd made eye contact with them, they'd disappeared. That was when she told the Jonin and ANBU to train themselves for the day.

Walking down the street, Kana scouted about for any unusual chakra activity. Usually there wasn't any activity at all, aside from just outside the gates. But today there was. It was slightly green. Well, more aqua in color, really. Kana had thought that the assassin who'd tried to kill her had been the one tailing her, making her paranoid. But it turned out that hadn't been the case at all. She was sure that whoever was tailing her was using a genjutsu on the area. After all, the whole street was littered with chakra.



Not too long after Felix got out of the Kage's office, he would receive a text message from an unknown number:

Why don't you step outside for a few minutes?

Felix happily left the office, but was a bit disappointed to feel his phone go off in his pocket. He pulled it out and read the text. What was all this about? One, he didn't recognize the number. Two, who had given this unknown person his number. Three, who was this person. And Four, what the hell did they want from him? Felix sighed and walked out the door of the tower. Whoever this was obviously knew he was free to roam for the next fifteen minutes. Once outside, he looked around, wandering where this person was.

Aidelia was waiting silently outside the tower, but on the side of it, so she wasn't as easily seen. When she heard the door open, she paused. There were no more footsteps for a moment, which meant the person was looking around. "Over here Kuriyama," she said, without going around the corner of the building. She was sure he'd recognize her voice. They'd spoken on enough occasions. She was going to try reasoning with him one last time. If that didn't work, she'd just have to make sure that all other candidates simply didn't want the job. Killing them off would be far too suspicious. She was sure that's what everyone was suspecting too, which was another reason she couldn't do it.

"How'd you get my number," was the first thing Felix asked when he heard Aidelia's voice. He walked over to her and crossed his arms over his chest. "And why on earth are you hiding behind a building looking all suspicious...?" Felix blue eyes met hers for a brief second. He wondered what she wanted. They'd just talked, so he didn't feel like speaking to her twice in one day. She was the most difficult woman he'd ever met, aside from Eliade and Kana that was.

"It's a simple thing to access phone records and tap a line," she told him with a shrug. Aidelia turned her gaze to Felix as he walked over, and as their eyes met, she didn't flinch or turn away, but held his gaze. "Because that ANBU earlier probably suspected something while we were talking. It's easier to talk where less people can see," she stated simply. She didn't bother to stop leaning on the side of the building, but instead took a deep breath. "I don't know if you realize, but there's no reason for you to be here any longer than a few more months. I know what's going on with Tentou, it's obvious. Anything to keep me from the top, right?" She shook her head. "Look. Tanaka's out of the way. He was the only one who'd been keeping it in the Kage's head that there were spies in the village. If I become Kage, I can send you all back to the Crested immediately. I might even drop the charges about what happened at the tower," she told him. "Unfortunately I can't do much about what happened those months ago."

If Felix didn't know this woman was an evil mastermind wanting to take over the world, he would have thought she was being sincere. "I'm going to assume that you are the cause of Tanaka's death. He was the only one in your way. Even if it did look like the building had collapsed on him. Aside from that, it's rather rude to access someone's phone records, especially when you continuously threaten that person's loved one, stating they were in the way. Moving on, I was never charged for what happened in the tower," he said with a shrug. "Which means you know it was me, no surprise there. You're smart enough to put two and two together, and if not, oh well. I don't have much else to lose. As for Tentou, she was chosen to keep you out and have someone in line for Kage. Some of us don't think you're suited. And if anything Aidelia, you should be wondering if the Kage trust you. Who could have rejected Tentou and put you up front, but he didn't. Maybe you don't hold all the cards." Felix's blue eyes narrowed. "Besides, I'm in no rush to get home and neither is Kana. We're on a mission, and we intend to complete it, the proper way."

Aidelia nearly glared at the guy. "No one can hold all the cards." Just the way he'd said it...it had been him, hadn't it? She didn't doubt it. They just wanted to get in her way. She pushed herself off the wall to look at him. "I don't doubt that the Kage now has his doubts of me, thanks to Tanaka and you and your partner." She kept her gaze on him, trying to keep her calm. "Don't you get it? I'm trying to negotiate with you. I'm not going to leave this village, but I can help you. I can't completely exonerate you of the charges for what happened outside the village, but I can at least lessen them," she told him. "What do you want?" She didn't want to put this village into war, it wasn't worth it. This was one of the last things she wanted to do. She didn't like the idea of bribing other ninja. She knew about that long lost concept called honor, and she didn't like losing hers over something so trivial. But she was running out of options. There wasn't much left she could do.

Felix had a small change of heart as Aidelia spoke. "The question is, what do you want, and how far are you willing to go in order to achieve it?" He asked. "I can make my terms around that." His blue eyes continued to hold her gaze. Not to be intimidating, but Felix preferred to look a person in the eye when he spoke. It was only common courtesy. Yes, Felix was willing to make a deal with Aidelia. Whether Kana would agree with his actions was another story. Felix had his own goals he intended to complete. Who said they couldn't get this mission done through negotiations?"

"Negotiations like these will likely take more time than you have right now. We can talk about terms later," she said, looking at her watch. Yes, she'd been listening to him and the Kage earlier. She knew he only had a little bit of time. "But there's something I want to tell you. Maybe it'll help in those negotiations later. You know that man, Simon Tanaka? The one you suspect I killed because he was 'in my way'?" She said, with small air quotes. Okay, that had been a little immature, but she continued speaking anyways. "After I suggested bringing in outside help to train our ninja correctly, he put it into the Kage's head that there was a spy in the ranks. No proof, just the need to get rid of me. He even went so far as to fabricate proof of my birth in a different land. I was competition for him. That man was just as bad as I am," she spoke in disgust. "Maybe even worse. He wanted the title of Kage as well. He'd even told me once that he didn't believe that I was a spy from another land, that he just needed me out of the way. That no one would 'believe me' if I told them what he'd revealed to me, and yada yada yada," she said, waving her hand lightly as she spoke. "When he realized that I wasn't going to be taken out of my position anytime soon, he tried poisoning the Kage to speed up his death, so that he could take the position quicker. Even being the Kage's adviser, the stupid man didn't know about the Kage's immunity to most poisons. You can ask the Kage yourself if you don't believe me." She paused. "He knew about Tanaka trying to poison him, but didn't say anything. He trusted that fool even afterwards. I suppose he was starting to suspect that Tanaka was actually the spy. Maybe that was it," she said with a nod, but when she realized she had stopped speaking, continued again. "Anyways, like I said, the only reason the Kage has come to mistrust me is because of Tanaka, you, and your partner. Since the beginning of this mission, you two have placed your trust in the wrong adviser. I'm not out to hurt the Rock like he was. He wanted to turn this village into a tyranny. Wanted to raise it up to take over the other villages and make them into one superpower. Yes, he was in my way, but that wasn't the main reason I may or may not have killed the man," she told him. She glanced at her watch. "You should get back to the Kage. You still have a few minutes. We'll talk again another time." She walked up to him, a card in her hands, and showed it to him before slipping it in his pocket. "I want to end this without bloodshed Kuriyama. I'm sure you can appreciate that," she told him as she walked away. On the card had been a phone number, and nothing else.

Felix listened silently. A bit surprised when Aidelia said Tanaka wasn't that great either, that the man had tried to poison the Kage. Felix's eyes went blank. What the hell? Why hadn't they been informed. Felix knew he had to keep his temper in check, or else there would be another building falling to the ground. He looked at the building when she said they didn't have time to discuss it all. When she stepped towards him, he nearly took a step back because he was so caught off guard. "You could have just handed it to me," he said as he pulled the paper from his pocket. His blue eyes read over the number and then he headed upstairs to the Kage. He closed the door behind him and leaned against. "Lord Kage sir, is there something you would like to tell me, you know, about Tanaka," he asked. Felix knew he was taking a risk, because this sounded like an accusation, and if Aidelia had been lying, then okay, he'd look like a complete dumbass, but right now he didn't care. This was serious. If the Kage had been holding information from them about Tanaka, then what else had he not been telling them.

(Could you play the Kage)

The Kage looked up from his desk as Kuriyama walked in, closing the door behind him and leaning on it. Signing off on a paper, he placed it to the side before looking to the silver haired Crested ninja. "You sound like you know something I don't. Enlighten me on what that something is, and I'll tell you what you seem to want to know," the old man said. To be honest, though Simon Tanaka had been older than he, the Kage thought the man would have outlasted him. It was indeed surprising to him that the man had died by a boulder, but there was nothing that showed otherwise.

Felix narrowed his eyes. Was this old guy playing with him? "Why didn't you tell me and Kianashi that he'd tried to poison you? We had been running around for days and one of the prime suspects was him," Felix said, clearly not happy. "What was the point in keeping it a secret?" Felix knew he was still making a very risky accusation, but he had to know. This mission suddenly seemed to be taking a turn. "Do you not trust us," he asked.

The Kage sat forward in his chair, his arms crossed over the desk. "Because that issue was never resolved. We never found out which one it was. Aidelia usually made my tea, and Tanaka was the one who brought it to me as I worked. We couldn't pinpoint just who did it, so it wasn't important to tell you about an unresolved issue," the Kage told him calmly. "I have no choice but to trust you and your partner."

Felix was going to turn this around. "It was important," Felix stated. "What if Tanaka had faked his own death? What if he came back in the dead of night and murdered you! Aidelia would go to jail for capital murder because she was one of our main suspects. Is that what you want, sir? You want an innocent woman to be imprisoned because you thought it was unimportant?" Felix of course knew Aidelia wasn't innocent. In fact, she was evil as hell and playing this out rather well. If the Kage was dumb enough to take this as some hidden message, then he was beyond help.

"We have his body. His neck was snapped, I don't think anyone could fake that," he said, a bit solemnly. He then shook his head. "Tanaka was my most trusted adviser. I can't believe that he would have tried to kill me." Yes, he was saying that he trusted Tanaka more than he trusted Aidelia. It wasn't that he didn't trust Aidelia, it was that...he simply couldn't believe that Simon would have betrayed him. Hell, he'd grown up with the man as one of his closest friends.

If he had been sitting at the table, Felix would have simply laid his head on the desk and let the conversation fade away. This man was an idiot. "I'm sorry sir," Felix said. "For making assumptions. I stepped out of line." Felix was afraid he'd have to take the Kage out of the picture, without the mans knowledge. It would leave the village without a Kage, and Aidelia could easily take the position before Lacie could get into office, but it was looking like a risk he was willing to take. This ignorant old man was just in the way of both him and Aidelia it seemed. Maybe it would be better to put her in charge. At least she had a brain.

The Kage looked to Kuriyama as the man apologized. "How did you find out about what had happened?" If it was Aidelia who had told him, it made him wonder about what she was doing. There weren't many people who knew about what had happened. It had been the last ANBU Captain, Tanaka, Aidelia, and the secretary downstairs who had known, as well as one of the medics in the village who identified the poison. Since Tanaka was dead, if it had been Aidelia, there were only a few reasons why she would tell of a crime for which she and only one other was suspected.

Felix knew it would have been much easier to say it was Aidelia, but he figured he'd be nice and let her off the hook for the time being. Besides, he was still considering her offer. Kana would be pissed if she knew he'd even thought about it, but he was. Felix wanted to be home with his daughters. So many times he'd had the opportunity to go back, but decided against it and stayed to finish this mission. Maybe he was a coward, or maybe he still didn't want to face the fact that those children were not really his but DK's. "The secretary downstairs," Felix said. "I figured it'd be easier for me to get this war moving along with some more information. When I questioned her about people that might be after you...let's just say she got nervous. Don't blame her though. I was being a bit of a jerk." Felix was going to call Aidelia after this. He was piling lies upon lies and if the Kage questioned the girl, Felix wanted her to be on his side.

Ah, so it had been the secretary. He supposed he wasn't surprised. Word around the tower was that she had a thing for this foreign ninja. It made the Kage shake his head slightly. "I have work to complete," he finally said. There wasn't much more to say, and he really did have work.


Aidelia walked up to the grounds where the ANBU and Jonin were training. She watched for a few minutes. Kianashi really had them training hard. Of course, many of the Jonin and ANBU were out on missions, not here training, but that was fine. Aidelia enjoyed seeing that the ninja were getting stronger. "Lacie Tentou?" she finally called out. When the group stopped training and looked at her, she noted that a few of the many started whispering. Damn those two, there were rumors going around. That's okay, she'd been here since many of these ninja had been Genin, and some even before they were in the Academy. They'd known of her practically their entire lives.

One of the ninja walked up, with her wavy blond hair hanging around her shoulders. "That's me. Is there something you need Ms. Talan?"

Ah yes, so that was Tentou. Aidelia recognized her voice. She'd certainly...grown up, since the last time she'd seen her. "Could you come with me please? I have some things to discuss with you."

Lacie nodded. "Of course." She looked back to the group of ninja, most of whom had stopped training to listen to what was going on. "Get back to training. You don't want to just be sitting around if Kianashi comes back, do you?" she said, her mask hiding the light grin on her face as they all went back to what they were doing. It was hilarious how the simple mention of the woman could instill fear into these guys. It was probably because of what had happened with Jun a while back. Lacie still remembered that all too well. Walking next to Aidelia, the blond woman followed with an air of curiosity. She already knew what this was going to be about, of course. Kymin Onihana had informed her only several days before of just about everything that was going to come. Including the possibility of her becoming Kage. "May I inquire as to what this is about?"

"Yes you may. The Kage has sent me to request that you become his new adviser," Aidelia told her.

It was clear that Aidelia was walking towards the Kage's tower, or so it looked to Lacie. "Me? His adviser?" She was quiet for a moment. "I don't suppose I have a choice in this?"

"Of course you do. You don't have to take the position if you feel it would be too much for you." She gave a light shrug. "Or if you feel you'd prefer to keep your job in the field."

Lacie had been trying to coax something, anything, out of Aidelia that would show her that the silver haired woman was not who she seemed. Maybe an excitement at the idea of the blond woman not going in for the position. But so far, there was nothing. "I didn't mean it like I didn't want the position, but...it's a fairly big jump. Wouldn't Onihana-san be more appropriate? He is ANBU Captain after all," she said, tilting her head.

"That's why he didn't get picked. If we were to put him in, then we would just have to pick a new ANBU Captain. Twice the paperwork, and not worth it," Aidelia said with a smile and a light chuckle.

Lacie also chuckled. "Gotcha." A pause. "I heard the Kage's been getting sicker," she said. "Is it true?"

Aidelia was silent for a few moments, her gaze downcast as they walked. "Unfortunately. He might have to retire soon. I feel bad for whoever takes his place though," she said, shaking her head.

Lacie looked at the woman, a bit confused, though once more, it was hidden by her mask. "Hm? Why?"

"Well look at the state of the village. We have a spy, possibly two, and we had to hire outside help just to train our ninja correctly. Who's to say that once this Kage dies, we won't fall to pieces? He's the only thing holding us together right now..."

Lacie swallowed. "Never really thought of it that way. It would be a lot of work for the next Kage, huh?"

Aidelia nodded. "I can't even imagine. Whoever's job it is might even have to deal with a war...I hear that the Sand is getting a little aggressive...that's why we called in someone to train us in the first place," she said lightly, but then paused and looked to Lacie. "You didn't hear that from me," she said with an embarrassed smile, putting a finger over her lips.

"I didn't hear a thing," Lacie responded back, smiling under her mask. How could this woman possibly be a spy? She seemed to genuinely care for the village. No, she didn't believe it.

"Let me go tell the Kage you're here, in case he wants to talk to you. If not, I'll show you where your office would be if you were to take the job," Aidelia said with a smile. When Lacie nodded, the silver haired woman walked to the Kage's office, giving a couple brief knocks on the door. It hadn't been so long ago that she'd spoken with Kuriyama. Now she only gave him a glance. She wondered if he'd thought about what she'd told him. Or if he'd pursued the matter.

The Kage looked up from his desk at the knock on the door. "Come in." When he saw that it was Aidelia, he gave her a nod. "Yes, what is it?"

"Lacie Tentou is here, if you'd like to speak with her," Aidelia said.

The Kage paused a moment. "Not right now. Show her to her office, and explain things to her," he told the silver haired woman.

"Yes sir," Aidelia said, removing herself from the room.