You Have Been Invited [Letter]

Navigating through the village came a lonesome raven, a letter firmly grasped by its claws yet miraculously not tearing the paper. Its purpose was singular as it homed in on the most prominent building in the village - The Leader Chambers. Once it was close enough to an open window the bird swooped in, riding atop a gust as it circled the interior of the chamber once before landing down on the edge of the desk, docile so that the message could be received from its lightly curled talons. Sealing the letter was the official symbol of Kirigakure No Sato pressed into red wax. Inside the following could be read.

"Greetings, Hogokage.

I write to inform you that the tradition of the Gokage Summit is being renewed once more which will involve the leaders of every recognised major village so that we can discuss prominent issues and establish unity. This meeting will be held in two weeks (08/08/NINJA YEAR) in the Land of Iron so that the land is neutral for all parties.

You may bring two bodyguards with you to ensure your safety on this journey, any more will be considered a threat to all parties and subsequently handled with impunity.

I look forward to meeting you.

Regards,

Xyxer Gyojin
Mizukage"

Given that it was unobstructed and the leader didn't want to send their own letter, the raven would beat its wings once, lifting from the table before making its way out of the hopefully still open window, promptly returning to Kirigakure.

A strong front.

That is what is needed after a defeat when your duties are to inspire men sworn to fight by your will. Whether it be in the wake of a crushing defeat, or emotional turmoil. The people under you must know that their leader will guide them in the best direction, as best as that leader can. It is why when people go to war they fight for the cause. It was why in times of strife they can let their guards down. Because they had leaders that put their people and their needs before their own. It is for this reason that we find Valen, a mere day or so after his defeat to the Yonbi, striding into the office of the Hogokage. His normal, stoic visage on his face, his legs have been successfully healed due to his trusted friend, Kenshin Uzumaki’s, intervention. Of course, the arm that was attached to his right shoulder was very much not made of human bone of flesh. But wrought of iron and steel. The mechanical appendage was a gift from Kotetsu Shinogami, his apprentice and an extremely skilled blacksmith. The fellow teenager utilized the basis for the arm he created for a shinobi by the name of Mo-Ri Jin. The very same shinobi who they would have sealed the Four Tailed Ape into should he have emerged victorious. Alas however, he did not. Now he bore the scars of his mistake, his arrogance. 

It wasn’t just the arm. The legs he was walking on were regenerated thanks to Kenshin, however they seemed to take a different colour from before. From before his body was augmented by the Curse Seal the woman who held his heart gave to him. As well as before he was the Jinchuriki of the Five Tailed Bijuu. His skin, once pale as snow, tanned considerably seemingly overnight. His hair paled, turning from a midnight black, to a stark white. The regenerated legs, took the colour of his old skin pigment. Causing his legs themselves to be pale, while the rest of his body was darkly tanned. In addition to this, the lava cauterized the wounds that was left behind and those cauterization scars were not taken care of in Kenshin’s rush to heal the teen before the shock of the pain killed him. As such there was a dark ring around the thigh of one of Valen’s legs, and the knee of the other. Showing the places where the young leader had been disastrously injured by the great beast. They hurt, but it was a constant reminder of his failure. Of his path down the roads of pride and arrogance. 

A path he did not intend to go down again. 

Matters were still brought to the young leader as he sat in the hospital, he was the only leader the village had left at the moment. They had to come to him due to this. A few shinobi ignored Kyousuke’s orders to report to the training ground. One Miyamoto Terumi, who was on the other side of the village dealing with personal affairs at the time. As well as Yurei and Damon Uchiha, who could no longer be found. They were not scheduled out for a mission, they had no signed out of the village, they, for all intents and purposes disappeared some days ago from anyone’s perspective. No gates, no sign outs, no mention of where they had gone for days. Of course Valen being an experienced teleporter, knew full well that such a means of transportation could be used. Although he didn’t know which of them, if that was how they did it, utilized the jutsu to do so. Regardless, it left a hole in Hoshigakure’s defenses and he strode into the secret room Kyousuke showed him when he learned his teleportation technique. He moved toward the monolith within the hidden chamber and changed the password so that the boys wouldn’t be able to simply teleport in again. Leaving the village without word with no communication after the fact was desertion, plain and simple. As such, when he strode back to the desk he pulled out a paper, and wrote down something before calling in the secretary. It was time to take care of business. 

The young woman would walk into the office and bow to the leader, her eyes trailing to his arm for a moment before she grimaced and assumed a professional demeanor. “Yes, my lord?” She would say, awaiting his instructions. The sword wielding Akari would waste no time in his response. “Inform the village, effective immediately I’m assuming the role and duties of Hogokage of Hoshigakure. Hikari Namikaze, Hoshigakure’s ‘Angel of Light’ is to be named my replacement as Deputy Kage, effective immediately.” He would begin, prompting the woman to nod as she began to write to keep up. Keeping pace easily, this was her job after all. “In addition, two Jonin from our village. Yurei Uchiha, and Damon Uchiha, have seemingly deserted. A price will be placed on their heads, 50000 ryo each, with an extra 50000 on top of that if they’re brought in together. Bring them back dead, how? it matters not, however the bodies must be identifiable and a thorough tests will be performed to validate the authenticity of the corpses. Including that of the eyes, so if they are not there then the bounty will not be paid.” He would say simply, prompting the woman to nod to show she was keeping up. “The news regarding the desertion is to remain private knowledge of anyone chunin rank and higher. The price on the heads of those two names however can be told to merchants and such to cause the word to spread rapidly. Here are their last known appearances and known abilities.” He would say as he slid two files of the shinobi from their records. The woman would stride to the desk and pick them up, nodding in understanding. A bounty was to be placed on the teens, simple as that. Standing she would bow her head lightly. “Anything else Hogokage-Sama?” She would ask. A shake of his head later and she would be off to see his will be done. 

At this point he would begin going through shinobi records to have a reminder of who had under his command. He spent well over an hour pouring over them before seeing something that caught his eye. The registration date for one Satoru Nara. It was during the time that Kumogakure had visited after their successful conquest of half the known world. Something the young leader would have to be wary about. The teenager would have signed into the gate with the Kumogakure shinobi as well. ‘Damnit Kyousuke, what did you do?’ He would think as he set it aside and closing the records. “Bloody fool is going to get us all killed and he’s already dead.” He would say before pausing momentarily in thought. That was the truth of it now wasn’t it? Kyousuke was dead, simple as that. He had for some reason, released the bijuu upon their village. He had been a leader that Valen didn’t agree with at times, but he did respect the man as the Hogokage. Having the position alone demanded respect after all. He would take a moment, to close his eyes in reflection and silence in respect to the dead giant before the flapping of wings caught his ear. A lone raven, bearing a letter as he swooped into the window and circling the room once before landing on the edge of Valen’s desk. Reaching forward Valen would take the letter from the raven, noticing the red seal on it as having the headband of Kirigakure imprinted on it to read the letter that had been sent. ‘A kage summit, now of all times. I can’t decline, it would show Hoshigakure as weak.’ He would think as he nodded and the raven took off back home. ‘I’ll need Kenshin and Kotetsu to be free, Hikari is the secondary leader of the village. We can’t afford to have both of us gone. If this summit goes poorly we’ll have to prepare swiftly.’ He would think, the assault on Konoha had been well known to the previous Deputy, but details as to how it was enacted were scarce. ‘Could this have been a recursor? Did the Hokage get a similar letter?’ He would think before sighing and setting the paper down. “I’ll simply need to prepare as much as possible.” The man would muse as he contemplated options. ‘This, Xyxer Gyojin sounds strong. I’ll have to get used to my arm quickly, although I hope it doesn’t come to war. I suppose time will simply tell.’ He would think as he began to work, making preparations for his journey that was forced to take place so quickly after he took over as Hogokage. ‘If the Raikage is there perhaps we can discuss what my predecessor did regarding Satoru, he may have to be returned.’ He would think as he the day already seemed to feel like a long one. 

[exit]
WC: 1514 
Claiming: 95 words towards Bladestorm finishing it due to this and this. The other 1419 I'd like to go toward this. Also Claiming Kage Title, and S rank due to it. That should do it folks.

Only 25k? I'm a little hurt.

Approved of claims.

Made a slight edit to price given recent tournament victory amounts, also an edit to clear up a small discrepancy. I ended up with more words than before, discarding extra

That's more like it. Reapproved