"We grew not yet had occasion to test. It is a product of his doujutsu."

She'll write a few short phrases then - intended for them, intended for a general audience, intended for Shisui, intended explicitly for not-them - and then provide something written previously.

"Can you read these?" she asks, gesturing at the statements.

They can, as it happens.

"Useful. I can pass you a few documents to read once I've sorted them, which should help you develop a better idea of the geopolitical situation."

"All right."

Sort sort sort, read, both Shisui and Itachi are reading fast, barely glancing at each page for long enough to not cause friction burns turning them.

The stack for the magical girls is relatively small, and assumes the reader is familiar with the area, but Itachi can use it as jumping off points to explain who's who and where.

They got a basic picture from Shisui, but the extra context will certainly help.

There's a lot of political factions, so it does take longer to explain than the basic picture did - Itachi places more emphasis on small actors than Shisui did, too. There's groups she's wary of, some of them no more than a handful of members powerful enough to swing the balance.

"Really? Three people make a faction?"

"Depends on how powerful they are, and how much influence they can exert, through money or threats or persuasion. You two will likely quickly be counted among the small but powerful factions."

"Fun."

"Please focus."

"Right, right."

"This group - the Akatsuki - is a largely unknown factor. A decade ago they were revolutionaries in Ame. It's unclear who is currently Ame's leader - the country hasn't had open borders since before the Third War. Some mentions of the Akatsuki have recently arisen as a mercenary group operating outside the remit of the Hidden Villages. It's unclear if their goals have shifted, or how."

She is not mentioning the man who approached her, claiming to be of the Akatsuki. She hasn't told Shisui yet - he'd overreact, and she can handle this on her own.

"Mercenaries, especially former revolutionaries, tend to be destabilizing. Is there a pattern to the kind they're known to have accepted?"

"Mostly the sort of jobs villages set a high price for, or refuse. Assassinations, especially of sensitive targets, especially those whose deaths would be unacceptably destabilizing. Sabotage. Some level of espionage. At least one case of aiding in a minor war - the Land of Rivers had a civil war, and the Akatsuki at a minimum aided in dismantling one side."

"Do they ask for less money?"

"Yes, in every case I've encountered."

"Still ideologues, then. Whether it's the same doctrine..."

"I don't know their original doctrine, either. Their reason for rebelling is generally thought to be against Hanzo's despotism, and the increasing poverty of the country - minor revolutionary movements were common. Akatsuki was only exceptional in surviving."

"Maybe we could find out more if we talked to them."

"You are likely powerful enough to accomplish that safely. I am... Uncertain if it would be more wise to establish yourselves first, or get a better idea of any potential players."

"Shisui?"

"The main way I'd see an early attempt to talk going would likely be a recruitment attempt on their part. Talking after you establish yourselves might result in them being more wary of you, but gives you a better negotiating position. And you'll want to test your resistance to a wider variety of illusions and control techniques, first, I'd suspect, since we don't know what capabilities they possess."

"Good point."