Naruto : A Fool's Errand.

Everyone fell silent at Koyuki's words. 

Tachibana looked at Yamato and then at Sandayu and frowned as his mind whirred with thoughts.

'Was this a cannon story in the show?'

'I don't remember watching it…'

'Perhaps it was some filler arc that I missed or don't remember?'

'Either way, I can feel Yamato-sensei knows more than he's letting on. No way he only now realised that Koyuki is the same girl saved by the village twenty years ago…'

'He was probably told about it by the Hokage before we even began the mission. Especially since we never took the mission from the Mission distribution centre, but Yamato-sensei directly accepted it for us.'

'So if the Hokage is personally involved in this mission and sent us to do it, that means he probably thinks this mission is not going to be terribly difficult yet he wants to show to the client that the village is taking this mission seriously by sending a Jonin.'

'He could've also sent us so that no feathers were ruffled with the other villages around us so that we could finish the task without letting any of them know exactly what we were doing.'

'Hence there's also the movie crew scenario…'

"Koyuki-sama." Tachibana spoke calmly breaking the silence, "Why don't you want to fight for your country? Is it because you don't want to see more people die or do you truly believe that there is no hope in saving the country?"

The question was a sharp one and one that pierced through all the emotions surrounding the situation.

Koyuki looked at Tachibana and once she realised who he was her eyes softened a bit, she looked at the table between them for a while to gather her words before she spoke.

"It is because I know how Doto is. I can't even believe he is my father's younger brother because of how ruthless he is. I still remember what happened twenty years ago like the back of my hand.-"

"-On that day, anyone in the court who was against him was killed without exception. He also killed anyone strong that was unwilling to submit under his reign. Anyone stronger than him was killed by taking their family hostage. He is a repulsive freak!-"

"I have no hope for anyone being able to reclaim the land from him! He can do anything to get to those that stand against him! He has no morals or even pride! All he cares about is being the rules of the Land of Snow."

Koyuki said in a single breath. Explaining her thoughts much clearer than before.

Tachibana frowned at this, but after thinking a little he spoke calmly.

"Can I try something out Koyuki-sama?" Tachibana asked carefully.

"Try something? What do you want to try? I'm sure unless you have a way to know the future I won't be convinced!!"

Team Seven's eyes widened almost instantly at Koyuki's words as they all looked at Tachibana with a little expectation.

Tachibana closed his eyes *sighed* and then explained.

"I can perform a divination. My divinations are usually pretty accurate if you interpret them well."

"Huh?"

"I'm serious." Tachibana nodded before letting his pendulum hang. "As long as my divination says there won't be a way to save your country, I won't participate in the fight too. It's not like I want to do a thankless task."

There was silence for a minute as everyone in the room apart from Team Seven looked at Tachibana with a little confusion.

"Are you seriously asking me to believe in a rock!?" Koyuki complained.

"I don't think you remember this, but do you know how I brought you back from the bar when you were drunk and didn't want to board the ship?" Tachibana asked with a light smile.

"Oh?" Koyuki frowned and then asked, "How?"

"I place a game to figure out how a coin toss would land each time you wanted to quit. I won all the coin tosses thanks to this. If you still don't believe me, why don't I show it to you?-"

"-Why don't I walk out of this room, you give me two cups of coffee, in one you mix the dirt under your sandals and in one you don't, I'll tell you which one is which."

Koyuki frowned but then when she found Tachibana looking at her with a smirk, she didn't hesitate, wanting to end the matter without dragging it out.

"Fine."

Tachibana left the room, after which Team Seven followed since Koyuki didn't trust them to leak the information to him.

Sandayu opened the door after a few minutes and looked at Tachibana with some scepticism. Even he couldn't believe someone could peer through fate, they'd have been a lot more famous if that was the case after all.

"Are you sure this will work?" Sandayu asked politely, Tachibana didn't even get time to answer when Naruto shouted, "He's the best at predicting the future! No one can match him!"

Tachibana entered the room and looked at Koyuki who was holding two cups of coffee and walked over to her.

"Never thought I'd get the chance to have a real princess serve me coffee…and I like it very much! Any ideas of leaving your job as an actor to serve me coffee every day? I'll pay you-" Tachibana said with a teasing smile but stopped when Koyuki glared at him.

"Alright, alright, I'll get to it."

Tachibana held the topaz pendulum loosely and allowed it to hang above the first cup of coffee as he mumbled words only Koyuki heard, "This cup of coffee has something mixed in it that might be harmful to me."

Repeating the statement seven times, Tachibana opened his eyes to see the pendulum spinning clockwise.

He smiled but didn't say anything and did the same with the other coffee cup.

The pendulum spun counter-clockwise for the second cup making Tachibana's smile widen.

"I'll have the second cup Koyuki-sama." Tachibana calmly stated as he extended his hand for the second cup causing everyone's eyes in the room to widen. 

But before he could do anything, Koyuki smiled beautifully and attempted to charm Tachibana into taking the first cup.

"Please take this one…I made it with all my love, just for you."

Tachibana gave her a strange look and then spoke kindly in barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry Koyuki-sama but I'm not interested in girls with valleys…"

Koyuki froze and Tachibana pulled out the second coffee cup from her hands and quickly drank the tasty hot liquid in it.

'How fragrant.' Tachibana thought as he walked back to his seat at the table.

Koyuki broke out of her frozen state after a few seconds when Sandayu asked her a question, "Do we trust his abilities Koyuki-sama?"

Koyuki frowned at the question and turned to Tachibana who was enjoying his fresh coffee, "What can you even do with your divination? How would it tell us if we'll live or die?"

Everyone turned to look at Tachibana and he only nodded, "You are right. A simple pendulum divination wouldn't give us much insight into the situation. But I can perform an Astrolabe that will give us more details about the issues and how to avoid them."

With no one responding, Tachibana looked at them all and asked, "What happened? Are we going to try it out or not?"

Everyone then looked at Koyuki and she finally "*sighed. Fine. Let's give whatever you think is most appropriate for the situation a try."

"Ok then. Let's start with pendulum divination for a primary answer and then move on to other things later."

Tachibana let the pendulum hang from his wrist once again and asked a simple question, audible to everyone in the room.

"We will be able to reinstate Koyuki Kazahana as the ruler of the Land of Snow once again without suffering any major setbacks."