A Chilled Out Beginning (Arashi/Mizore)

Arashi let out a groan as he leaned back and dried off the brush with which he'd been signing documents before delicately setting it next to his inkwell. Frowning down at the diminished puddle of black fluid in the small and fin-shaped dish, the Mizukage made to refill his supply from an inkpot only to blink in surprise that there bas only a few drops left in it. "Dude, that's totally bogus..." The large Hoshigaki man grumbled to himself as he slowly stood to his full height of 6'8" with his trusty partner currently a snuggly sword-ritto, full and content.

The mountains of work he'd had to do just to get this project off the ground had been enormous. He'd bullied, bribed, beaten, or befriended every major clan in the Land of Water and the surrounding islands. It started off simply enough, of course. The Hoshigaki and the Yuki were easily the two foremost naval powers, it was inevitable that they clashed. However, from that battle came a deep respect and the next thing he knew, Arashi had invited Mizore Yuki to join him under his flag. It just sort of kept going after that: Ashina, Amefuru, Joki... The list just kept growing. More and more shinobi clans fell in line, joining him on the glorious beachhead of conquest that was to be the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Chuckling to himself, Arashi topped off his ink supplies from a nearby shelf and sat back down to keep going over reports. Suddenly, he felt his trusty partner Samehada squirming in it's sword-ritto wrapping "Shirauo... Shirauo...!" Arashi's eyes narrowed at his sentient weapon crying out for the small, clear, and bitterly refreshing fish. If Samehada was going on and on about shirauo, then that must mean Mizore was nearby. He'd asked the man to scout out the oceans around the area on one of his clan's usual assault icebergs. He wanted to make sure all the shipping lanes were properly 'paying tribute' after all. Hearing a knock on the door, Arashi hushed Samehada before calling out while sitting back down behind his desk. "Enter, my dude."

As the door opened it revealed a relatively tall and thin man, whose long black hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail, a chill seeming to hang in the very air around him as his Icy blue eyes scanned the room narrowing dangerously on the veritable mountain of paperwork on the desk, though as soon they settled on the massive figure of Admiral turned Shadow they softened. Chuckling as he spoke, his tone surprisingly gentle and warm considering just how cold his glare just was, "I do not envy you old friend, paperwork is not my strong suit. I do not know how you can stand being cooped up in here all day dealing with paperwork. And I am pretty sure your partner would rather be out tearing things up like the old days..."

"Granted with what I am hearing is going on to the east, it is better to consolidate and build our forces, before our old ways come back to bite us in the ass." Mizore would shrug, those he collected payments from hinted about others gathering together in the land to the east, "Apparently there is another group of folks with fancy powers gathering off towards the east in the land of Fire. A foolish crew member let it slip that they were thinking about possibly hiring them on a later voyage to protect against us... Needless to say, I gave them a reminder that we control these waters."

Mizore's mouth curled into a smile as the memory of how he reminded the merchant of why it was easier to just pay their protection fee, "As they already paid their fee, they were able to continue on their way to finish their sales. Though they will have a permanent reminder as to why they should not cross us especially every time they go to close a deal going forward. Though I do think we might want keep an eye on that forest that supposedly popped up over that way just in case."

Arashi feigned a scowl in Mizore's direction as the man pointedly expressed relief that dealing with this tangled knot of a bureaucracy and chain of command still somewhat in it's infancy. He'd hashed out the basics in the beginning, but this was the period when things got stress-tested so they could iron out the kinks early. And, whoo boy, had there been a lot of kinks stemming from clan culture clashes. Little differences that they needed to standardize between them all.

"The answer to that, my dude," Arashi began as he temporarily shifted his gaze down to a piece of paperwork before nodding in approval and signing off on it before sorting it into one of several slowly growing piles. "Is that I can't stand it and neither can Samehada, but someone's gotta do it. You don't carve your name into history by surfing just one big wave." Though the first words Arashi had for his friend were complaints, his tone was genial and suffused with that odd Hoshigaki accent so many of them seemed to have. Having reached a good stopping point, Arashi settled in to hear Mizore's report with a shark-toothed grin on his face. As he listened, however; that expression began to shift into a neutral mask as the Mizukage settled into thought.

"Good work," Were Arashi's first words once the report had concluded. Mizore's handling of the situation had been with the ease of a veteran, and of course it would be as he too was an old hand in maritime warfare just like Arashi. The information was interesting, but also potentially worrying. Information could spread quickly over water, but that didn't mean it was instantaneous. This intel could be a week old or more. However, acting rashly without a clear picture would be just as likely to end in wipeout. "I don't like the sound of someone having had the same idea, especially if they're a potential 'business rival.'" Arashi tapped his thumbs together, his gaze predatory as he continued, "We'll need to scout them out, then arrange contact. See what we're up against."

"I don't know about that, we did a good job making a name for ourselves just by tearing up those waves." Mizore chuckled, he knew exactly what the shark before him was saying. If they really wanted to make an impact it was going to take more than just being a couple of wild punks controlling the sea's, and it would be only a matter of time until one misstep would have them fading out of memory permanently. "Though I suppose as long as this little project works out as we hope it will make a bigger splash than a couple of hellions ever could."

"I am also concerned about the thought of someone possibly gathering together a group of folks like we have. But as long as they don't encroach on our area it may be fine, but only way to confirm that is as you thought, reach out to them. Though we we knew it would be only a matter of time before someone either managed to do what we did through either peaceful means, or by bringing their rivals to heel with force." Mizore would run his fingers through his hair, who knew if there were other factions gathering together that they hadn't heard about. "Now the question becomes do we have any idea's as to who can do the investigation, we also should send folks to at least the major countries too... get a feel for whether or not they are coalescing into a unified force or still fighting among themselves."

"I would volunteer, but as my skills are best suited to wet and cold environments I may not be of much use in other countries. Though I suppose I could still be a wandering swordsman. Though if things get messy I may be at a major disadvantage." Mizore had no issues with going out into the field, but he would be the proverbial fish out of water especially in the Land of Wind, but if it is what Arashi needs then so be it.