An Unexpected Love (Book 2 of the Unexpected Series)

Ch. 3 - Every Day Sucks

Summary: Kokoro continues her studies with Ao and her training with Masumi. She runs into a troubling girl and a troubling situation.

"The Nidaime Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, carried on the Shodai Mizukage's principles. He was very similar to the Shodai Mizukage in the way he led the village," Ao said as he leaned against the wall. "The most prominent difference between the two is that the Nidaime was open to praising and talking to others no matter their village affiliation. He is most known for his infinite explosion ninjutsu and his giant clam summons. Moving on to the Sandaime Mizukage-"

"Wait," Kokoro interrupted as she startled and raised her hand. Sheepishly, she looked at Ao and waited for him to stop glaring at her and allow her to speak. She wasn't supposed to speak out of turn or without raising her hand and being called on first, but she was surprised at how fast Ao went over the Nidaime Mizukage. She thought he would have gone more in-depth considering it was a Mizukage he was talking about. In Konoha, they spent months talking about the Hokage's and everything they helped achieve in and for the village. Ao waved her on, so she continued, "That's all you're going to say about him?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Ao asked.

"No," she said quickly. Then, she hesitated before she backpedaled and said, "Well, yes. I don't understand how you can just skim over the details of the Nidaime Mizukage when you took seven days to go over the Shodai Mizukage and all the rules, regulations, protocols, and other basic policies he put in place. Weren't you the one who told me knowledge is power, or something like that?"

Ao observed her critically for a moment before a small smile broke out across his face and he nodded his head. "Good," he said. "You're learning. I was still skeptical of training you to become a diplomat for our village, but I see that you have potential. If you didn't ask, I would have started teaching you about the Sandaime Mizukage. However, you understand that the more you know, the more you will know. Still, I advise you to wait until after I call on you to open your mouth."

Kokoro threw her hands into the air and said, "I'm the only student in this room. Why do I need to raise my hand? What if you move onto a different topic and you wait until after you're finished with the new topic to call on me? Then, I'll be stuck on the previous topic the entire time you ramble about the new topic, and I won't retain any of the information you gave me."

"Are you done?"

"Yes," she huffed out.

"Then I will continue," Ao said. "The Nidaime was a forgetful person and often forgot important things. It was due to his forgetfulness that Kirigakure implemented the Mizukage advisor position and began training the smartest shinobi in the village to become diplomats for the village. The Nidaime forgot too many important details, deals he made with other villages and daimyos. It's a wonder Kirigakure survived so long under his reign." Ao shook his head. "He was the strongest in the village, but many people considered him a bonehead. On top of his forgetfulness and strength, he was a bit two-faced and was often underhanded in his words. Still, he knew strength and skill when he saw it. His openness to talking to other foreign shinobi allowed other Kage to be comfortable around Kirigakure shinobi. Our relationship with other villages was strained, but the friendly aura he used around strangers helped ease some of that tension. Because the other Kage were able to put out a friendly front so as not to instigate war between the still newly-formed villages, the Nidaime was able to conceal his short temper.

However, once someone insulted him, he lost control. The Nidaime Tsuchikage made that mistake and ever since that mistake, the Nidaime Mizukage made it a point to be hostile towards him. Any time they crossed paths, they made it a mission to fight. It caused tension between Kirigakure and Iwagakure. Their hostility quickly trickled down to their subordinates, creating an inevitable war between the two nations. It was a bloody and terrible war that caused many casualties within our ranks and caused the death of the Nidaime and the Nidaime Tsuchikage."