As Kakashi helped them with their burdens, he lowered his eyes to the contents of one bucket. Fine grit and moss were mixed in with the water that had been carried from some last hope of a well far, far away, and he had serious doubts about anyone actually drinking this stuff.
“We’ve got no choice but to drink it. There’s no other water,” a tanned young woman said with a bitter smile when she saw Kakashi fish out the corpses of mosquito larva floating on the water’s surface. “You said you’re from Nagare? Must’ve been a real surprise to see the capital like this. All the water sources in the valley are drying up. There’s almost nowhere left for us to get water. Just one place now, a pond in the shadows that’s still holding on. But it’ll dry up soon enough. And when it does, that’s the end of this town.”
“We could try and run away, but we got no horses,” a man sighed and looked up at the sky. “If it doesn’t rain soon, we’re all going to die.”
At this altitude, they were closer to the sky than the ocean, which was perhaps why the sky was a deep, clear blue, like a curtain had been pulled across it. Threads of clouds on the verge of disappearing slowly slipped past.
Kakashi dropped his gaze to the cracked yellow earth. Not enough water.
According to the intel he’d been given, it was the job of the royal ruler to wet the land in this dry region. The king used a tool called the Shuigu, which was handed down through generations of the royal family, to control water and make it rain.
Kakashi looked up at the stone palace rising from the center of the city. Given that this tool clearly wasn’t functioning properly, the problem most likely lay there.
Eventually, when the sun’s light angled off and the boundary between shadow and light grew vague, he saw a lamp light up on the top floor of the palace. Although it was still light enough outside and the birds were still happily flying around, a precious lamp had already been lit, so that was most likely the royal quarters. Much like the Hokage’s office, it was in a relatively high location so that people could see where their leader was.
After waiting for the sky to deepen into a black-blue, Kakashi climbed the castle walls that were shrouded with the darkness. He peered into the lit room in question and discovered that he had been right. Standing in the center of the room was a girl in an orange gown—the symbol of the royal family. Queen Manari.
She was maybe in her mid-teens. Straight black hair hung down past her shoulders. He couldn’t get a good look at her face because her gaze was turned downward. Her hands gripped a golden staff with a ring attached to the top of it.
“So that’s the Shuigu,” Kakashi murmured. He’d heard of it, but this was the first time he’d seen it.
There was one other person in the room, an elderly man wearing a crimson religious robe and an ash-colored beard that reached his chest.
“Your Majesty, you must decide,” the man pressed the queen, his tone firm.
Judging by the peonies embroidered in gold thread on the chest of his robe, he was probably the prime minister— the king’s right hand and the most powerful person in the land outside of the royal family.
“Each day more people starve to death. It’s only a matter of time until the famine reaches the outlying towns. In fact, it’s already too late, but we must still devise the optimal strategy going forward.”
“That’s … Of course, I want to do that. But how am I supposed to …” Manari’s hand trembled, and the metal decorations hanging from the Shuigu ring jangled. “I know I must use the Shuigu. But I can’t muster the courage, not when I’m not sure I can control it.”
“With all due respect,” the prime minister said in a husky voice. “You needn’t force yourself to use a tool you cannot master. If, as you fear, you lose control of it and bring about another flood, we could see more than just our crops washed away this time. If our capital is destroyed, the country will fall into a state of dysfunction.”
“But … the kings of this land have used the Shuigu for centuries to wet the earth. They could do it, so I’m sure I—”
“Queen Manari.” The prime minister sighed pointedly and stared hard at the girl from beneath heavy eyelids. “The records note that those generations of kings had mastered the Shuigu from the moment they first picked it up. No one taught them how to use it—they clearly could wield it the instant they touched it. But, unfortunately, that is not the case for you.”
Peering at Manari’s pale face, the prime minister continued in a gentle, reassuring tone.
“This is not your fault, my queen. Most likely, some innate ability is required to handle the Shuigu, and you were simply not born with this. There is no need for you to pointlessly fixate on a tool you are not suited to. If you cannot produce water using the Shuigu, then we must simply find another way to procure the water we need.”
The prime minister walked toward the window, so Kakashi pulled back. He heard the prime minister’s feet stop. The other man would have been looking down on the capital from the window at the same scene Kakashi was seeing.
Tiled roofs covered in clouds of sand sinking into the sooty night shadows. Wood fires burned here and there on the roads, where people gathered to take warmth. Even on this parched earth, the citizens were desperately trying to survive. But they likely wouldn’t last much longer if this drought kept up.
“Nanara hasn’t tried the Shuigu yet. He might be able to use it,” Manari said lifelessly from inside the room.
The prime minister snorted with laughter, still looking down at the town. “What would you have us ask that failure to do?”
“Prime Minister, that’s quite rude.” For the first time, Manari’s voice was slightly sharp. “Nanara is my little brother and a member of the royal family. … Even now.”
“I do apologize, my Queen. My true feelings accidentally slipped out.” The prime minister offered this politely insolent apology and cleared his throat before continuing. “Prince Nanara currently makes his residence in Nagare. I am told that he hardly studies at all and instead merely plays every day. He does make things difficult. He’s likely not the one who can master the Shuigu. We cannot rely on him.”
Directly facing the queen, the domineering prime minister pressed her again. “Your Majesty. Your decision.”
“I …” Manari fell silent and was almost frozen in place for a moment, but eventually, she squeezed out the words, “I understand. I won’t use the Shuigu again. I will do as you say. I will do what I can for the sake of this land.”
“Then it’s settled.” The prime minister nodded indulgently and clasped his aged palms together in front of his chest. “If there is no water within the country, then we will have to take it from another land. We shall go to war.”
This was not a good situation.
After descending the wall with none the wiser of his eavesdropping, Kakashi leaned back against it and considered things.
He’d come this far to collect some information. But he felt that he couldn’t walk away from this. The country was in ruins and the people starving because of a man-made disaster, and yet that idiot prime minister was planning to go to war with another country, of all the foolishness.
At present, he couldn’t say much about Manari’s inability to use the Shuigu. There was probably some condition required to activate it, like it could only be used by men or the user had to make a contract with it, as with a summoning technique. Because the previous king had died suddenly, the conditions for use might not have been correctly conveyed to her.
“Can’t know anything without checking it out,” Kakashi muttered to himself and looked back at the palace. The prime minister probably ruled the inside of that building with an iron fist. It would no doubt take a while to reach the queen by disguising himself as a lady-in-waiting or a government official.
But according to the prime minister, Manari’s younger brother lived in the village of Nagare. It might be a whole lot easier to approach the boy instead. The prime minister wouldn’t have as many eyes that far away from the palace, and more than anything else, just hearing about this “failed prince” got him all worked up as the former jonin leading Team Seven.
The old woman he’d met that afternoon said it was about three days by horse from the capital to Nagare. On Kakashi’s legs, he could likely reach it in a few hours. The issue was how to make contact.