Gathering of the Five Divisional Commanders

It was the day after the fire in the fifth division. Toshiro seated himself in an inconspicuous corner as he observed the room.

The grand hall of the Akagami clan. It was said that before the time of the Blue sunset, in an era far ancient, this was the place that the Akagami clan's generations of clan leaders gathered his vassals and made decisions that influenced the clan.

To have called all of us here...Toshiro looked towards the man standing before the floor-length window, with his hands behind his back. Akagami Kibamaru-17th head of the Akagami clan. In a clan that put emphasis on strength rather than familial bonds, to stand at the helm of the clan meant that Kibamaru was the strongest of his generation. Even before the time of Mana-artists, Akagami was a clan famed for its fierce swordsmanship and was a prominent samurai clan during the Edo-period in japan.

Even back then, the Akagami clan chose its successors according to three criteria. Strength, integrity and wisdom.

After all, you can't put a complete muscle-head in charge of the clan affairs or else the ancestors would turn in their graves with worry for the future of the clan. With strength comes responsibility. And such responsibilities isolated the leader from his clan. Even though he makes the decisions and looks over the clan, the circumstances forced him to look at everything within the clan from an outsider's point of view, so as not to develop personal feelings for any single individual within the clan. Even if it means his own family.

Regarding this fact many accepted it. After all, if the leader doesn't even favor his own flesh and blood, then that would mean everyone within the later generation have a fair shot at the position of the clan head.

Toshiro shook his head. Back then, he was hailed as a genius in the clan, and many expected him to be the leader. Him and five others, who were now relegated to be the divisional commanders, were all regarded as scions of the clan that were cultivated carefully using the best resources of the clan.

Him being the eldest of the six, it was reasonable for everyone to think so, too. But when the war started, it was Kibamaru who really pulled the clan through. At twenty years of age, he took control of both the surface and underground forces and stabilized the clan internally. with the influx of new blood coming into the clan constantly, it was him who kept a cool head above his shoulders, and relegated the right tasks for the right people, winning the hearts of his subordinates.

Even his peers had no choice but to make way for him. He shone brightly. Although that shine had been obscured behind Toshiro and the others, during these times, he was like a guide post guiding others through these turbulent times.

With him at the helm, the clan soon became renowned as the strongest in the world. An honor that would follow him throughout history. Even Toshiro who was a military man through and through had to sigh in admiration for the man.

And now this same man was condemning one of his closest confidants as a traitor. This was something Toshiro couldn't understand.

With Ren being arrested and imprisoned, he was staring to wonder whether Kibamaru had another agenda altogether.

As if hearing his musings, Kibamaru turned towards him. He was dressed in the traditional wear that all the higher-echelon of the clan wore since ancient times- a pair of black hakama trousers, a sleeveless, high neck shirt that clung to his thin, wiry frame, and red sash was tied around his thin waist, its two ends trailing from the side.

His arms were covered from his elbows to wrist with pitch black arm guards, and his black boots clung to his feet and disappeared beneath his hakama trousers, with a long, knee-length black coat draped over his tall frame.

Taking all of this into account, Akagami Kibamaru indeed cut a sharp figure with his handsome looks and his noble bearing. His long red hair that trailed behind him, fell to his waist and shone under the morning sunlight like freshly spilled blood.

The red forehead ribbon with the five clawed golden dragon made a sharp contrast against his white skin, and Toshiro found himself unconsciously straightening in his seat as his cold, ruby red eyes swept over him in an indifferent gaze.

Kibamaru pursed his lips. "I suppose, you've already heard it by now," he asked tersely.

Toshiro started to speak but stopped himself as he heard a scornful snort.

"Hmph! All the clan's heard it. There's not a single soul within the clan who hadn't heard about it!"

This was Akagami Nagahide, second divisional commander of the Akagami clan and the most hot-tempered of all the five commanders. Unlike his peers, Nagahide didn't have red hair or red eyes-the trademark of the Akagami clan. His was a dual natured power, which favored the darkness element and only had the fire element power in small amounts. Many of their predecessor's generations objected to his entrance to the clan, much less becoming one of the five divisional commanders.

But Nagahide curbed all the objects through sheer force of strength and perseverance so even if they had objections they didn't dare to open their mouths in front of him. This was, after all, the Akagami clan where strength reigned supreme. The one who had the bigger fist was on the side of justice.

Therefore Nagahide smoothly climbed up the ranks until he stood at the forefront of the clan as one of the five divisional commanders of the Akagami clan. Of course many tried to follow in his footsteps, and so far none had succeeded which goes to show just how unique he is within the clan. And instead of it incurring jealousy or envy, it instead made them respect him more.

Like the First Division which was the clan's vanguard, the Second division was the clan's eyes and ears in the outside world. Their information network spanned across continents and even the Union was helpless against their supreme information gathering abilities.

After all Toshiro's generation of five commanders and the clan head weren't called the Six War Gods for nothing. Among the six of them, Nagahide, with his inherent darkness element which was rare even within the world, became the perfect shadow that acted as their eyes and ears within and without the battlefield. Renowned as the 'Shadow-eyes', Nagahide went from one enemy base to the next, gathering intel and manipulating the intelligence networks of their opponents until they were helpless and stranded in the battlefield.

It came to the point that many soldiers became wary of their own shadows, afraid that someone the famous Shadow eyes might be spying on them at that very instant. The higher ups were helpless towards this, and many gritted their teeth in annoyance whenever his name came up.

He was a master of stealth, and the point that made many wary of him was his position as a former a squad leader of the Ashes. Normally, Ashes would never involve themselves with the clan's internal affairs. Like many samurai clan's in the past. Ash organization originated from the Shinobi clan Ash that served the Akagami clan for generations. They answered to the clan head and the clan head only, so to see a former member of the Ashes residing in one of the spots reserved to one of the clan head's vassals unsettled many.

Though it had been a long time since anybody even remembered Nagahide's origins- having brought into the clan at the age of ten. He was the youngest ever to join the Ashes at the age of five, and the one who showed the most promise to become the head of the organization. His abrupt departure made many of the higher echelons in the clan dissatisfied and wary.

But he dispelled these doubts overtime, but there were still many that harbored caution against him. Not Kibamaru though. Being from the Ashes, it was an ingrained command implemented from a young age to obey the clan leader without question. Even if it means to take your own life, if the clan leader so demanded, without objection. Therefore, out of the five commanders, Nagahide was, without question, the most loyal out of all the five towards Kibamaru- the clan leader.

This made Kibamaru, who usually didn't take much crap from anybody, more tolerant towards Nagahide's blunt way with words.

"Are you blaming me?" he asked dully. Nagahide, who was prepared for a sever tongue lashing abruptly quietened down. His swept back his short black and red highlighted hair and looked towards Kibamaru curiously. "Explain then," he said.

Kibamaru looked around the room, his gaze falling on one figure after another, until his gaze finally rested on Toshiro. Toshiro stiffened in his seat, but Kibamaru had already retracted his gaze as he started to speak. "It wasn't a false charge. Ren had indeed committed high treason,"

This statement was followed by a round of protests.

"I don't believe it!"

"It's a lie, right? Ren-san wouldn't do such thing even if you pointed a gun at him!"

"He did create Life Steal, though. Is this a follow up for that incident,"

"It's been ten years. And the war's already over! If they were going to do a follow up, they should've done that ages ago!"

Following all these discussions, Toshiro stayed out of it, his hands crossed over his chest. At some point, Kibamaru had seated himself in his seat at the head of the large conference table, listened to all the discussions happening around him, with a clam look on his face.

With the murmurs reaching a crescendo, Nagahide who had been silent up to now looked across the room at Kibamaru. "That wasn't all he was charged with, right?" his question immediately made the room descend into silence.

Kibamaru's lips tilted up, slightly. "How astute." he said, neither confirming nor denying it.

The gathered commanders exchanged glances, bewildered. None of them were politicians, but being part of the upper echelon of the clan meant that they had seen their fair share of schemes and plots. It didn't take a genius to understand that there was something wrong with the whole picture.

Sure enough, it was Nagahide who shed some light upon the puzzling circumstances. "The Audiotors?" he asked.

Kibamaru pursed his lips, but his silence spoke volumes. Even Toshiro closed his eyes, in defeat.

Six years ago, during the final leg of the war, when the Mana-artists were ensured of their victory, ten powerful Mana-Artists descended upon the battlefield and decimated hundreds of thousands of troops of both sides of the battlefield without exception. This put a halt to all the military proceedings, as they started to size up this new variable on the battle front.

They called themselves 'The Auditors', and with their presence it became an impossibility to continue battle amongst each other as both sides descended into an uneasy ceasefire.

From then on, many feared the very mention of this accursed name. And now, six years later, they were hearing it once more. As expected, turbulent times are coming, indeed. Toshiro thought, clenching his fists.