Kozan began to walk, his stride deliberate if not cautious. What he was doing today...well there was no coming back from. Up to this point, he'd been meticulous, setting up everything he needed in order to ensure that this went well. The breaking out of war on the main continent that pulled forces out of Kirigakure had not been a part of his plan but only steeled his determination that what he was doing was necessary. Kirigakure's shinobi were weak, incapable of seeing what the village needed, incapable of operating truly as weapons for it's wellbeing. They presented themselves as tool, but their willingness to be wielded by others, or to strike against whoever they wanted without concern for what was good for the village left Kozan full of disdain, another new emotion he was reconciling with his ever evolving world view.
As he walked his mind went first to Karagata, Shinjiro, his Overseer, the Jinchuuriki for the Body Genma, and perhaps the only individual shinobi within Kirigakure that Kozan viewed as a threat. His masters notes had made it clear that while Shinjiro's alliance to Kozan made him an asset, he was unpredictable, and the Shiimu scientist had for Kozan may run the risk of turning Shinjiro into an adversary. Now that Kozan was on his own path, he was unsure of how his decisions would be received by Shinjiro. Would they be facing off against each other at some point? He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if it mattered. But he knew that Shinjiro's loyalties lied with no one but himself. In mamy ways the famed Jinchuuriki was an exemplar of what Kozan found as unacceptable about Kirigakure. Without a leash, Kirigakure shinobi easily went wild. Kozan wondered for a moment if that is what he was. An unleashed animal, acting out because he lacked a master? Was this path he was on now simply rebellion? He was acting in the best interest of Kirigakure, but how did he know?
He'd asked Renji that same question, his mind shifting now over to the chuunin Kozan had taken as a dagger. Renji was not unlike Kozan in many ways, something that had quickly created a bond between them. Bond was probably too strong a word, more like a tie. Kozan had indeed asked Renji this question mere weeks before this very day, and the answer Renji had given had left Kozan confident they were on the same path. Renji sought dominance over his clan, but for the good of Kirigakure. Kozan too was making the decision he was today for the good of Kirigakure. But would slaughter and dictatorship be considered synonymous with the good of the village? Both Renji and Kozan in that moment had the conviction to say yes. Kozan would need to keep that conviction today.
The shadow of the tower loomed over him as Kozan approached it. Kirigakure had been without a Mizukage for some time now, many of the higher echelons content with the status quo. After all, the Mizukage's authority was absolute, without the presence of such a power the others were free to act however they wanted, counter-balancing each other through their respective misdeeds. His mind went to his master, the bloodied, dismembered corpse Kozan had created conjured into his forebrain, representative of these misdeeds. After all, Kozan's master had sent him on a mission, allowed Kozan to steal a power from another clan, and enabled what many in the village would consider a cardinal sin. Yet Kozan did not. His master did not. This is what the absence of a Mizukage allowed. Wounds festering around the village. Kozan's misdeed would be seen as an aberration, if anyone of the village learned of it his head would be called for. And yet, even still Kozan knew he had done it for the good of the village. That there was good in the village in harboring the Naikai, but just as much good as people existing beyond the social restrictions the village had erected. Yes, wounds were festering all over the village but Kozan was not one of them. He was sure of that.
He would push through the front entrance of the tower, his mind taking in the various people moving about. Even without a Mizukage, the tower was still alive. Many of the central functions of the village operated out of this tower. Without a Mizukage, they continued...if not with some hiccups. This tower was the seat of power in the village, the center of it's strength, but also the center of it's disfunction. Everything wrong with the village as it currently stood could be traced to this tower.
The thought of his Naikai brought his mind to Naohiro as he walked through the building. He had displayed the body to the Aisu, handed it over as ordered with no little attempt but a very good surgical job to obscure what had been done to it. If there was anyone that knew what he had done with his master, it was Naohiro. But even then, Kozan questioned whether Naohiro would say or do anything about it. He hadn't so far. Perhaps he hadn't noticed, perhaps he would have no reason to? How would Naohiro respond to what Kozan was about to do. He doubted he'd have a response similar to Shinjiro. Shinjiro was a blunt, albeit powerful, instrument where-as Naohiro seemed to be more...exact. Both were effective, both were capable of being the other, but they had their ways about things.
They were happy with the status quo.
That much was clear given their willingness to let these wounds in Kirigakure fester. A village without a kage, without a council, being ran by nobles seeking to empower themselves.
Kozan began to ascend the tower, climbing up flights of stairs, journeying through hallways and taking in as much of it as he could memorized. Every room, every person, every sign indicating what the floor was for and the like. He would need to know it for what he was going to do. Once it was done, he would be unsure of what to expect. His mind departed once more, this time to the various powers within the village, Nishiki the Basic Genma Jinchuuriki, Shiv the leader of the Head Hunter's Division, even ones like Yamato and that troublesome dagger from the mission Hisato. Not to mention the political powers like Karagata, Ichase, Hirohito Junko, the nameless Eternal Mother and the other heads. All of them actors in a play, all of them variables to consider. This part was the new part for Kozan. The plan had come to him by instinct, the words of his master Leave No Trace had made this pathway immediately evident. But the lessons he'd learned from his master's brain, the final bits of knowledge he'd taken in from the still bleeding corpse, had taught him quickly that instinct alone could not prevail. That complicated matters for Kozan though. Now, his body did not account for the variables for him. His tolerance for risk had almost immediately felt much lower as he began to account for far more than what was immediately in front of him. In combat, he needed to know only the mission. What was he accomplishing for Kirigakure. But here, in this environment, Kozan had realized that Kirigakure was not the mission. That often missions would not serve Kirigakure at all. That what was good for Kirigakure went beyond missions, business and alliances and went far deeper than that. What was good for Kirigakure was quite simple, Kozan had realized.
Kirigakure needed to be feared.
Nothing mattered except whatever made Kirigakure feared as it once was.
Kozan knew that the people of Kirigakure needed something to remind them that they were once feared. The people of Kirigakure needed something to remind them that if they did not insight fear, something would come to insight fear in them. Kozan knew, instinctually, intellectually, down to his very core, the people of Kirigakure did not know fear anymore. But that would change today. One act. A single act on this tower, that would remind them of fear.
As he reached the top of the tower, he stood with his eyes on the two large double doors that lead to the Mizukage's office. An empty office, untouched since the fall of Kasai. An embarrassment on the village. He walked forward, pushing the doors open and expanding from his back four black tentacles of Samsara that would begin reaching across the room, carving into the walls various seals and symbols. Shelving, paintings, anything blocking his way would be tossed aside, thrown to the ground as Kozan defaced the walls of the office to be covered in fuuinjutsu. The fuuinjutsu mimicked much of what he had installed in his master's lab....his lab. The same seals he'd installed that would allow for the instantaneous destruction of the building he carved now into this office on the 30th floor. He stood, his eyes closed as he thought over it again.
There was no turning back.
Of the strongest shinobi in the village, three of them had departed to engage in a foreign war. The village, though not defenseless, was left without it's protectors. If a message was going to be sent, if a reminder of what fear felt like was going to be heard it was now, when the shinobi that allowed everyone to fester in the way they had were not around to protect them. Would anyone stand for Kirigakure? Even if Shinjiro, Naohiro, Nishiki could be made aware of what was about to happen, how long would it take them to reach the village? What would Kozan have done uninhibited in that time? Kasai and his predecessor had welcomed back the Bloody Mist in their reign and it took their unceremonious defeat for Kirigakure to become something Kozan could not accept. Today, the course was to be righted. Anything for Kirigakure. Anything
Kozan's eyes looked to the seals he'd created. Several barriers, but also a giant, explosive seal that could drop this tower in a moment's notice. Everyone inside would die before they even realized what had happened. Kozan's plan was coming to fruition. With these seals there was no turning back.
Crossing the room, Kozan would walk up to the glass window that overlooked the village. Placing his hand against them, it would take only a fraction of his strength against it for the window to explode outward, glass shards showering down on the ground thirty stories below them. He would jump out the windows, his tentacles reaching out behind him and grabbing onto the ledges of the tower preventing him from falling. He would pull his body to the face of the tower and the tentacles would retreat back into him as he climbed the face of the building until he stood on top of it.
Standing on top of the Mizukage tower, Kozan would stare out into the mist covered village. For a moment, he would simply take it in, his bright yellow eyes staring apathetically into the distance with no inkling of what he was thinking on his face, steeling his mind and discarding all the thoughts he had gone through in this climb up. Moments would pass as he stood there until finally, he would nod. The black truth seeker that coated his body with squirm to life, adjusting its shape to form into a long black cloak that rippled into the breeze that batted against Kozan hundreds of feet above the ground. He would take a deep breath and then suddenly like heat a wave of killer intent would radiate away from his body. It would tear through the entire village, every single shinobi and citizen in Kirigakure suddenly aware of Kozan's presence, his bright yellow eyes boring into the back of their minds as they felt his willingness and intent to kill any single one of them that challenged him. The message was immediate, exact, and clear - he was there, was wasn't going anywhere, and if they had an issue with that, they knew exactly where to find him. As the killer aura radiated throughout the village there was not a person aware that didn't know what he was saying.
The Juuniidaime Mizukage had Arrived
S-rank Taijutsu
Kozan has refined his ability to project his killer intent, and has developed it to the point where he can radiate waves of killer intent far beyond what has been imagined. Through this technique, Kozan is able to project his killer intent as far as [Willpower] miles away from himself. Unlike his other jutsu, this technique does not necessarily invoke fear, however everyone within range will be able to feel his intent, will be able to locate him, and will see momentary two yellow eyes staring at them from inside their mind.