ZubScore
Unfathomable
- Pronouns
- Male
"My name is Takuma Hartwell White and this, is my story."
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve
"My name is Takuma Hartwell White and this, is my story."
ZubScore
Unfathomable
- Pronouns
- Male
I'm pretty sure Shisui is/was a fighter in the pit so it might not be too bad.
TrueGuardian32
Unfinished Writer
- Location
- Arkansas
I feel like Weed wouldn't be illegal here, but highly frowned upon, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage had cush in that pipe of his sometimes.
Interlude_3.1: External Perspective on the "Outsider"
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
A DIRECT CONTINUATION OF CH_3.4 (063)
"Your friend was startled when he saw me," said Itachi.
Izumi, walking beside Itachi on their way home, looked up at him. She didn't notice Takuma being startled, but Itachi had been more perceptive than her, even though they possessed the same set of eyes. "Of course, he was startled. You sneaked up on him; I'd be surprised as well," she bit on her candied apple.
"No, it was more than that. Fear. He was scared of me."
"You're overthinking it," Izumi rolled her eyes. "Why would he be scared of you? I don't think you two have met, have you?"
Itachi shook his head. "Tell me more about your friend," he asked.
"Hmm?" Izumi tried to think about her quiet classmate. "I don't know what to say. He was quiet. Alone. I don't think I ever saw him talk to anyone in the class except for some small chats here and there. Not a good fighter, but he's smart…. Actually, there was something strange."
Itachi looked interested.
"Before our last year at the academy, he was decent at everything. Nothing special, but at least he didn't suck. However, when we started last year, he became plain terrible no matter what we did. Taijutsu, throwing, leaf concentration exercise, academy three, tactical exercise— it was like he turned into a first-year toddler who couldn't do anything. I don't know if he was pretending to be terrible because he returned to being pretty decent by the end of the year."
"Any reason he would pretend?"
Izumi recalled how she and her friends used to chat about Takuma's sudden lack of skill. Back then, they had mused if it was a ploy for attention. They weren't sure how it was supposed to work because Takuma's reputation only plummeted, and the only attention he got was from Hiji and his posse. On top of that, Kibe was pissed at Takuma for his acting. Even if attention was the motive, Takuma should've dropped the act, but he didn't. If it was an act, he kept it till the very end.
"I couldn't tell ya," Izumi said— she had no idea.
"Is he trying to build a narrative?" said Itachi.
In the years they had known each other, Izumi had somewhat figured out how to Itachi's expression. What she was a mix of fascination and curiosity.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Except for their family background, the earliest thing on a Leaf shinobi's file is their academy records. If the file is surface level, they'll have graduation test results— if it's detailed, they'll add the transcripts for the entire last year and the teacher's report into the mix," Itachi said in a speculative tone. "I wonder if your friend knows about that and is trying to build an image. An academy student with grades on the floor rapidly improves in a matter of a year. He reaches a level that other students took years to achieve. And it doesn't finish there. He won the Genin Corps' basic training tournament, which puts him atop his batch, except for those like you who are being trained by jonin. That'll be permanently put on his record, furthering the narrative.
"Now, it's not making graduation— it's one of the best in your batch in one year. That's a pretty good story right there," Itachi seemed satisfied with his conjecture.
"Best in the batch that went to the Genin Corp," Izumi hummed. "Wouldn't being part of a jonin team be a better… narrative?"
"It'd be better," Itachi nodded. "Perhaps his plans didn't go according to plan— they rarely do."
Izumi snapped her fingers as she said, "Now that you say that, Takuma wasn't there on the day when we met our jonin. He was the only one not there."
"That sounds like an unexpected failure," said Itachi.
Izumi had to say the picture that Itachi had put forth was compelling, but she felt he was reaching for things here. If it was true, then Takuma was an excellent liar because she didn't think that he was pretending— at least not for an entire year.
"But none of that explains why you think he was scared of you," she said.
"Perhaps it was because of the clan?" Itachi's eyes flashed for a moment.
"Umm, I don't think so," Izumi could see what Itachi was thinking. The Uchiha clan didn't have the greatest reputation in the clan. From the Leaf Military Police Force to the Nine-Tail attack all those years ago had lowered the respect that the clan once held in the eyes of the village populace. They had grown stronger every year, but with strength came enmity. And, the Uchiha clan had never lacked enmity.
She continued, "I didn't get the sense he was prejudiced against us from when we talked. However, he does hold our skill in high regard— at least he did mine— and while Takuma tried to hide it, he clearly wanted to know how I trained. He was… inoffensive in his approach."
"Many hold our clan's powers in high regard," said Itachi.
"That they do," Izumi sighed.
The clan elders had often said— they still did— that people outside the clan would try to get closer to get something from them, to use their position as the Uchiha. Izumi had ignored their words while she was in the academy; the people she was close to were her friends— but she had only been out of the academy for less than a year, and she already understood what the elders were talking about.
People with their duplicitous smiles and honeyed words came from the woodwork. She realized how much of a glasshouse/greenhouse the academy had been, and the wild gardens she walked through now didn't have the creature comforts the safe walls once provided her.
"How's little Sasuke?" Izumi pushed those thoughts aside and turned the subject.
"He doesn't like to be called little now that he's in the academy," a soft smile tugged on Itachi's lips.
Izumi giggled. "I can hear him pouting as he complains about being called little. Makes me want to tease him about it."
"You're going to do it the next time you see him, aren't you?" Itachi sighed.
Izumi grinned wildly.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Interlude_3.2: Behind The Scenes
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
In a small conference room inside the offices of the Leaf Genin Resource Command, a group of men and women sat around the table with overflowing loads of manilla folders ready to slide off the tabletop. These men and women looked exhausted with their messy hair, unkempt clothes, and mugs stained with coffee from repeated refills without cleaning.
"Who's next?" Ayano closed a manilla folder and with it she closed her eyes. They had been going through the piles and piles of genin for weeks without any semblance of breaks.
A selection committee had been formed the day after the Hokage had announced that the Leaf Military Police Force would be getting an influx of genin and a few chunin. The people in the room made up the committee in charge of selecting the genin who would be transferred to the Military Police Force.
"This one is from Momo city," Rai had his feet kicked up on the table as he leaned his chair on the back two legs. "He has a decent mission record, no complaints, his SOP is lackluster," his nose wrinkled, "but his team leader's feedbacks are so generic— he obviously fished for them last minute." The committee discussed the application and decided it belonged in the 'maybe' pool.
It was shocking how quickly, after the official announcement, applications flooded their post-box from all around the Land of Fire. Hidden Leaf village was the center for Leaf shinobi, but it wasn't the only place with standing shinobi. There were outposts and other big cities with shinobi stationed in them who had heard of the announcement and had scrambled to be part of the illustrious Leaf Military Shinobi Police. In some ways, the response from outside the village was much more enthusiastic than the village itself.
With hindsight, the number of applications shouldn't have been a shocker because of the Uchiha's prestige. In the village, they were a clan with a reputation close to: 'love to hate them' because of how powerful and skilled the Uchiha were known to be. The applicants were clearly hoping to get in some of that action and catapult their careers, even though they had no idea how the Uchiha would treat the outsiders they were getting. Some didn't even care about the Police Force; they only wanted to get posted at the Hidden Leaf with dreams about boosting their career.
Ayano smiled bitterly at the thought. Until she was a chunin, she hadn't taken a step into the Hidden Leaf. She was only called to the Hidden Leaf after her promotion. She remembered how excited she was to see the letter saying that her posting had been transferred to the Hidden Leaf. Her life had been a constant state of excitement and cloud nine feeling— she was going to the Hidden Leaf, after all! Finally, all her dreams were going to come true. She would climb the career chain, sit beside the famous names she had heard, and be a respected peer.
All her excitement had turned into an unceasing pool of muddy worry and anxiety when she realized how different the Hidden Leaf was from her previous posting. The competition was unlike what she had ever experienced— it was a dog-eat-dog world with a disproportionate number of people vying for available opportunities.
Sometimes Ayano wondered if staying where she was would've been better.
Even now, the new openings in the Leaf Military Police Force were dwarfed compared to the number of applications submitted.
"Next?" Ayano sighed.
'It would've been so easy if they were choosing the best of the applicants,' thought Ayano, rubbing her temple— but they weren't doing that.
Ayano looked at her fellow committee; they were hired to select 'suitable' candidates for the new positions available in the Police Force— not best— suitable candidates. The higher-ups didn't want to hand Genin Corp's best genin over to the Uchiha. Instead, they were to choose genin who were a level or two below the best, people that would barely satisfy the Uchiha. But they knew the best genin would apply for the Police Force. It was an unknown land with splendid opportunities not available ever before; it was only natural that those ambitious enough would brave an exploration.
Thus, the formation of the selection committee.
Their purpose was to shortlist suitable candidates before forwarding them to the Leaf Military Police Force. Who the Uchiha selected was no concern of theirs as long as they did it from the subset of people they had chosen for them.
"We have one with recommendations," Vashu held up a file for everyone to see. A red and blue post-it note each were stuck on the file's cover.
Rai whistled, "A jonin and chunin recommendation each. Now that's some serious juice behind an application."
Ayano pursed her lips, feeling a migraine coming through. The communications that went out regarding the Military Police Force positions had explicitly made sure not to mention the word recommendation, so applicants won't bother their chunin team leads for official letters of recommendation. Instead, they had mentioned feedback from supervisors/team leads, which some applicants had abused and had gotten statements from everyone they had worked under—and no one considered feedback and recommendations in the same breath.
Alas, some people had still gone ahead and stuffed letters of recommendation into their applications.
A chunin recommendation meant they had to consider the applicant seriously and work out an excuse that would hold under some scrutiny— that wasn't difficult for the committee to do. However, a jonin recommendation wasn't something they could ignore. The selection committee was headed by the jonin, but even that didn't allow them to overlook another jonin. A jonin recommendation meant they had to put the applicant into the candidate list.
"Who is it?" Ayano sounded tired.
"Takuma, no last name, orphan… oh, he's from the last year's batch— a rookie," Vashu read from the file. "Oh, he joined Chunin Umino Iruka's team," Vashu closed the file and lifted the blue post-it note. "Ah, it was Chunin Iruka who recommended him."
"Iruka, isn't he the one involved in the thing in the Land of Frost?" asked Rai.
"Oh yeah, that's right."
"Who's the jonin?" asked Ayano.
Vashu looked. "Yamanaka Madoka."
Ayano made a displeased face. Not only was it a jonin, it was a jonin from one of the big clans. At this rate, they had to ensure the Uchiha would take the kid.
"Iruka is part of Jonin Madoka's squad," Rai said. "She was his jonin teacher out of the academy. Iruka must've asked her to write a recommendation for this Takuma kid."
"Who the hell is this kid?" Ayano asked. Even if Takuma was part of Iruka's team, it must've been for less than a year— why would Iruka ask his jonin to write a letter of recommendation for a kid barely out of the academy? "Is he one of those special kids?"
"Actually, no. The kid's record is all over the place," said Vashu, his brow furrowed. "He had terrible academy grades but somehow won the Genin Corp's basic training tournament. He started out with great mission output, but recently he's barely making quota. And yet most of his recent missions are C-rank with D-rank missions used as filler to make quota. Not a single complaint has ever been registered against him… but he was part of Iruka's Land of Frost mission."
Vashu held up the file, and the open page was almost entirely redacted. The selection committee didn't have the clearance to view the contents of the mission.
"Put him in," Ayano said. "He matches the criteria, and it's not like we have a choice with that jonin recommendation."
Vashu picked up the file and threw it in the 'approved' pile.
———
.
Setsuna Uchiha read through the candidate dossiers sent to him by the 'selection committee.' He flipped through the files, and he knew they weren't the best— and he wasn't expecting the best.
The best were clan-trained shinobi, but he knew the Leaf's elite clans wouldn't send their shinobi under the Uchiha's command. Setsuna didn't find that insulting— the Uchiha wouldn't send their own to serve under another clan. However, he did receive shinobi belonging to minor clans and some prominent shinobi families in hopes of building ties with the Uchiha.
Setsuna would consider them and see which clans could provide them with benefits, political support, and loyalty. Fugaku had driven the conversation with the Hokage and had gotten the sanctions to expand recruitment from sources other than the Uchiha and their allies, which the Second Hokage had written into the by-laws when the Leaf Military Police Force was inaugurated.
After decades, the clan had seen an opportunity to strengthen themselves, and they weren't going to let it go to waste.
Setsuna opened another file and saw the career of a clan-less shinobi laid in front of him. On paper, the man was a shinobi with a stable and respected record, but under the deception painted by ink on paper, he saw the signs of an undisciplined man with problems peeking through. He sighed and threw the file into the rejection pile that only grew larger than the garbage can near the headquarter mess.
He picked up another file, and it was a clan-less shinobi. The record was ordinary, but in the feedback and background check performed by the Uchiha themselves, he could see a woman beloved by those who spoke about her. He gave it a deeper look and smiled when he saw a dedicated shinobi who helped the community she belonged to. He wrote down the name and registration before placing the file in the accepted pile.
Unlike many of their peer clans, the Uchiha had never had formidable relations with clan-less shinobi. Setsuna considered that a weakness of their clan's leadership. Any man or woman with a hint of talent could become a formidable shinobi with enough hard work. And Setsuna had seen clan-less shinobi achieve merits rivaling those from clans. He knew potential when he saw it.
Which was why he applied for the position; to be in charge of those coming into the Police Force. Many— most— in the clan disagreed with him, but he could see the potential in the clan-less shinobi— those who had talent but weren't provided with the resources to make those talents flourish.
The Uchiha could provide them with that, and in exchange, they would serve the clan and its interests.
There was a knock on the door, and Setsuna called the person in.
"Sir, the file you ordered."
Setsuna took the file from his assistant and read the name on the file:
Takuma— 055-0037
Takuma's application had been among the many selection committee had sent to his office. Takuma had his strengths and disadvantages like the applicants— but he had one thing unique to him, something not a single applicant had in their file.
A part of Takuma's file had been redacted.
Even the background check they had ordered couldn't reveal the redaction— which meant the level of clearance was higher.
Setsuna was interested in Takuma. He was going to accept the application, but before he could do that, he needed to know what was behind the redaction. As such, he sent it to someone who had enough clearance.
Setsuna opened the file and began reading about the recent Land of Frost mission that Takuma had been involved in. And the more he read, the more engrossed he became in the information that was not visible before.
Three kills… Field disposal of bodies… Retrieval of critical information… The ability to operate independently.
The notes painted a picture for Setsuna, and he liked that image very much.
He was going to accept Takuma before, but now he was going to increase his classification and who Takuma was assigned to when he came to the Police Force.
Setsuna closed the file and placed it in a third pile.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
"Who's next?" Ayano closed a manilla folder and with it she closed her eyes. They had been going through the piles and piles of genin for weeks without any semblance of breaks.
A selection committee had been formed the day after the Hokage had announced that the Leaf Military Police Force would be getting an influx of genin and a few chunin. The people in the room made up the committee in charge of selecting the genin who would be transferred to the Military Police Force.
"This one is from Momo city," Rai had his feet kicked up on the table as he leaned his chair on the back two legs. "He has a decent mission record, no complaints, his SOP is lackluster," his nose wrinkled, "but his team leader's feedbacks are so generic— he obviously fished for them last minute." The committee discussed the application and decided it belonged in the 'maybe' pool.
It was shocking how quickly, after the official announcement, applications flooded their post-box from all around the Land of Fire. Hidden Leaf village was the center for Leaf shinobi, but it wasn't the only place with standing shinobi. There were outposts and other big cities with shinobi stationed in them who had heard of the announcement and had scrambled to be part of the illustrious Leaf Military Shinobi Police. In some ways, the response from outside the village was much more enthusiastic than the village itself.
With hindsight, the number of applications shouldn't have been a shocker because of the Uchiha's prestige. In the village, they were a clan with a reputation close to: 'love to hate them' because of how powerful and skilled the Uchiha were known to be. The applicants were clearly hoping to get in some of that action and catapult their careers, even though they had no idea how the Uchiha would treat the outsiders they were getting. Some didn't even care about the Police Force; they only wanted to get posted at the Hidden Leaf with dreams about boosting their career.
Ayano smiled bitterly at the thought. Until she was a chunin, she hadn't taken a step into the Hidden Leaf. She was only called to the Hidden Leaf after her promotion. She remembered how excited she was to see the letter saying that her posting had been transferred to the Hidden Leaf. Her life had been a constant state of excitement and cloud nine feeling— she was going to the Hidden Leaf, after all! Finally, all her dreams were going to come true. She would climb the career chain, sit beside the famous names she had heard, and be a respected peer.
All her excitement had turned into an unceasing pool of muddy worry and anxiety when she realized how different the Hidden Leaf was from her previous posting. The competition was unlike what she had ever experienced— it was a dog-eat-dog world with a disproportionate number of people vying for available opportunities.
Sometimes Ayano wondered if staying where she was would've been better.
Even now, the new openings in the Leaf Military Police Force were dwarfed compared to the number of applications submitted.
"Next?" Ayano sighed.
'It would've been so easy if they were choosing the best of the applicants,' thought Ayano, rubbing her temple— but they weren't doing that.
Ayano looked at her fellow committee; they were hired to select 'suitable' candidates for the new positions available in the Police Force— not best— suitable candidates. The higher-ups didn't want to hand Genin Corp's best genin over to the Uchiha. Instead, they were to choose genin who were a level or two below the best, people that would barely satisfy the Uchiha. But they knew the best genin would apply for the Police Force. It was an unknown land with splendid opportunities not available ever before; it was only natural that those ambitious enough would brave an exploration.
Thus, the formation of the selection committee.
Their purpose was to shortlist suitable candidates before forwarding them to the Leaf Military Police Force. Who the Uchiha selected was no concern of theirs as long as they did it from the subset of people they had chosen for them.
"We have one with recommendations," Vashu held up a file for everyone to see. A red and blue post-it note each were stuck on the file's cover.
Rai whistled, "A jonin and chunin recommendation each. Now that's some serious juice behind an application."
Ayano pursed her lips, feeling a migraine coming through. The communications that went out regarding the Military Police Force positions had explicitly made sure not to mention the word recommendation, so applicants won't bother their chunin team leads for official letters of recommendation. Instead, they had mentioned feedback from supervisors/team leads, which some applicants had abused and had gotten statements from everyone they had worked under—and no one considered feedback and recommendations in the same breath.
Alas, some people had still gone ahead and stuffed letters of recommendation into their applications.
A chunin recommendation meant they had to consider the applicant seriously and work out an excuse that would hold under some scrutiny— that wasn't difficult for the committee to do. However, a jonin recommendation wasn't something they could ignore. The selection committee was headed by the jonin, but even that didn't allow them to overlook another jonin. A jonin recommendation meant they had to put the applicant into the candidate list.
"Who is it?" Ayano sounded tired.
"Takuma, no last name, orphan… oh, he's from the last year's batch— a rookie," Vashu read from the file. "Oh, he joined Chunin Umino Iruka's team," Vashu closed the file and lifted the blue post-it note. "Ah, it was Chunin Iruka who recommended him."
"Iruka, isn't he the one involved in the thing in the Land of Frost?" asked Rai.
"Oh yeah, that's right."
"Who's the jonin?" asked Ayano.
Vashu looked. "Yamanaka Madoka."
Ayano made a displeased face. Not only was it a jonin, it was a jonin from one of the big clans. At this rate, they had to ensure the Uchiha would take the kid.
"Iruka is part of Jonin Madoka's squad," Rai said. "She was his jonin teacher out of the academy. Iruka must've asked her to write a recommendation for this Takuma kid."
"Who the hell is this kid?" Ayano asked. Even if Takuma was part of Iruka's team, it must've been for less than a year— why would Iruka ask his jonin to write a letter of recommendation for a kid barely out of the academy? "Is he one of those special kids?"
"Actually, no. The kid's record is all over the place," said Vashu, his brow furrowed. "He had terrible academy grades but somehow won the Genin Corp's basic training tournament. He started out with great mission output, but recently he's barely making quota. And yet most of his recent missions are C-rank with D-rank missions used as filler to make quota. Not a single complaint has ever been registered against him… but he was part of Iruka's Land of Frost mission."
Vashu held up the file, and the open page was almost entirely redacted. The selection committee didn't have the clearance to view the contents of the mission.
"Put him in," Ayano said. "He matches the criteria, and it's not like we have a choice with that jonin recommendation."
Vashu picked up the file and threw it in the 'approved' pile.
———
.
Setsuna Uchiha read through the candidate dossiers sent to him by the 'selection committee.' He flipped through the files, and he knew they weren't the best— and he wasn't expecting the best.
The best were clan-trained shinobi, but he knew the Leaf's elite clans wouldn't send their shinobi under the Uchiha's command. Setsuna didn't find that insulting— the Uchiha wouldn't send their own to serve under another clan. However, he did receive shinobi belonging to minor clans and some prominent shinobi families in hopes of building ties with the Uchiha.
Setsuna would consider them and see which clans could provide them with benefits, political support, and loyalty. Fugaku had driven the conversation with the Hokage and had gotten the sanctions to expand recruitment from sources other than the Uchiha and their allies, which the Second Hokage had written into the by-laws when the Leaf Military Police Force was inaugurated.
After decades, the clan had seen an opportunity to strengthen themselves, and they weren't going to let it go to waste.
Setsuna opened another file and saw the career of a clan-less shinobi laid in front of him. On paper, the man was a shinobi with a stable and respected record, but under the deception painted by ink on paper, he saw the signs of an undisciplined man with problems peeking through. He sighed and threw the file into the rejection pile that only grew larger than the garbage can near the headquarter mess.
He picked up another file, and it was a clan-less shinobi. The record was ordinary, but in the feedback and background check performed by the Uchiha themselves, he could see a woman beloved by those who spoke about her. He gave it a deeper look and smiled when he saw a dedicated shinobi who helped the community she belonged to. He wrote down the name and registration before placing the file in the accepted pile.
Unlike many of their peer clans, the Uchiha had never had formidable relations with clan-less shinobi. Setsuna considered that a weakness of their clan's leadership. Any man or woman with a hint of talent could become a formidable shinobi with enough hard work. And Setsuna had seen clan-less shinobi achieve merits rivaling those from clans. He knew potential when he saw it.
Which was why he applied for the position; to be in charge of those coming into the Police Force. Many— most— in the clan disagreed with him, but he could see the potential in the clan-less shinobi— those who had talent but weren't provided with the resources to make those talents flourish.
The Uchiha could provide them with that, and in exchange, they would serve the clan and its interests.
There was a knock on the door, and Setsuna called the person in.
"Sir, the file you ordered."
Setsuna took the file from his assistant and read the name on the file:
Takuma— 055-0037
Takuma's application had been among the many selection committee had sent to his office. Takuma had his strengths and disadvantages like the applicants— but he had one thing unique to him, something not a single applicant had in their file.
A part of Takuma's file had been redacted.
Even the background check they had ordered couldn't reveal the redaction— which meant the level of clearance was higher.
Setsuna was interested in Takuma. He was going to accept the application, but before he could do that, he needed to know what was behind the redaction. As such, he sent it to someone who had enough clearance.
Setsuna opened the file and began reading about the recent Land of Frost mission that Takuma had been involved in. And the more he read, the more engrossed he became in the information that was not visible before.
Three kills… Field disposal of bodies… Retrieval of critical information… The ability to operate independently.
The notes painted a picture for Setsuna, and he liked that image very much.
He was going to accept Takuma before, but now he was going to increase his classification and who Takuma was assigned to when he came to the Police Force.
Setsuna closed the file and placed it in a third pile.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
And so the web deepens... honestly this makes a lot more sense then just Takuma being a special snow-flake from one fubar'd mission, and I'm wondering at the politics behind it. Honestly, it seems like a move that Hiruzen AND Danzo would approve. The former because it would re-establish some connection between the Uchiha and the Village, and because fewer Clan ninja are less likely to step on political toes or make the Uchiha insecure about their primacy in their own department. And Danzo because if the Uchiha Clan DOES end up getting wiped out like he's hoping/planning for, Konoha still needs an MP force to replace them long-term. Training up replacements with the experts ahead of time is there-fore a good idea, as is making sure they aren't too threatening/valuable in case the Uchiha flip them and pull their coup before Danzo can pull his purge.
The world building in this chapter is nice. Seeing what is happening behind the scene, folders moving from one hand to the next in the efficient bureaucratic pipeline that is a ninja village. Wish there was more of that in the original anime or manga.
Dawnk41
Comatose Grizzly
- Location
- America
Erm, I can't seem to find a chapter 3.4? Is that yet to come, or did I somehow miss it…?
- Location
- America
In threadmarks, CH_3.4 (63).
Last edited:
Dawnk41
Comatose Grizzly
- Location
- America
…Ah, I somehow got mentally stuck on the fact that our last not-interlude was 3.39, and assumed that the next chapter would be 3.4 for some reason, XD
CH_4.1 (101)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
"… What?"
Takuma stared at Iruka with a countenance he wasn't sure he was showing. The words which had come out of his team leader's mouth were one of the last words he expected to hear, the last words he ever wanted to hear.
"I am going to the Uchiha?!" asked Takuma.
"To the Leaf Military Police Force, but yes… to the Uchiha," Iruka smiled.
Like any shinobi in the Hidden Leaf, he had heard about the Leaf Military Police Force being opened to outsiders for the first time since its inauguration. Normally, the prospect of being moved out of the Genin Corp would be exciting news, but the Uchiha was one of the two places he didn't want to go— the second one being the ROOT. Which was why he hadn't applied for it.
"Are you going to the Police Force?" asked Takuma.
Iruka shook his head.
"You're kicking me out of your team. What, because of the mission?" Takuma felt betrayed.
The mandatory service for a genin in the Genin Corp was thirty months; only after that were they able to transfer out if an opportunity presented itself. From the very first day in the Genin Corp, one of Takuma's goals had been to get himself out of the Genin Corp by the end of the thirty months. It could've been through the Chunin Exam or transfer into another department— Takuma was open to almost anything.
Getting recruited by Iruka had eased the burden on his shoulders. Becoming a regular in a chunin's team was a stable opportunity to continuously pile C-rank missions on his record while churning mission points in the Ring to add jutsu to his arsenal. In fact, before the Land of Frost mission, he planned to approach a few more chunin he had met through Iruka. He could've even asked Nenro to introduce him to his chunin connections. He hadn't chosen a department to target, but his current progress rate would have been ample for the Chunin Exam. In his opinion, things were progressing steadily.
"I'm not kicking you out of the team, Takuma," Iruka sighed. "The team is disbanded… I've taken an alternate job which doesn't allow me to maintain an active field team."
"Job, what job?"
"A teacher at the academy."
The heat and panic in Takuma's head momentarily cooled as he stared at his team lead. Iruka working as a teacher for the academy was something he knew very well.
"… Did you want to become a teacher?" asked Takuma.
Iruka leaned in his chair as the tension left his body. He looked away into the distance as he said. "My parents died during the Nine-Tails attack. I was suddenly an orphan, much like yourself. I was alone after that… My academy teacher back then, Seno Hisashi, became a parental figure at a time I desperately needed one," Iruka smiled. "I knew from the moment I graduated that I wanted to become an academy teacher. I don't think I can be a parental figure— a cool older brother that I can manage."
Takuma could barely muster a half chuckle.
"I didn't think it'd be this soon," Iruka sighed. "I wanted to stay on the field for a couple more years before I applied. But a position recently opened up, and because of the mission's failure, it seems the right time to step away from the field. There's an unfavorable opinion around me right now, and getting meaningful missions will be difficult…"
Takuma could see the unwillingness in Iruka's eyes. He could see that Iruka wanted to be an academy teacher, but he wanted to do that on his own terms— not to be forced by the circumstances. Takuma understood that feeling.
"… Nine-Tail's jinchuuriki is going to be in the academy. How do you feel about that?" Takuma asked, his attention focused on Iruka's face, body language, and words to not miss anything. Iruka's history made it so that the man would hold a grudge against a certain yellow-haired kid studying in the academy right about now.
Iruka's hand on the table clenched, a bitter expression appeared on his face, and his body stiffened as he shifted in his seat.
"…I know," he said.
"It's like a kunai sealed in a scroll," Takuma said. "He's the jailor."
"I understand that!" Iruka closed his eyes. "It doesn't change the fact I lost my parents. You understand how that feels."
"No, I don't know how that feels… I never knew my parents, so I don't know how having parents feel. It doesn't bother me," Takuma turned his head to look away.
"You're lying," Iruka's expression softened.
Takuma didn't reply. He never knew the boy's parents, but he knew his own parents, and they had been taken away from him when he found himself in this world. Takuma would give anything— everything— if he could see them one more time, to be able to hug them once and tell them that he loved them more than anything. If he could see his elder sister's smile again, tell her to take care, advise her to dump her pathetic girlfriend and find someone else, and say his goodbyes, he wouldn't mind giving up anything asked in return.
"… I knew he'd be there when I took the job," Iruka sighed. "I know how to conduct myself in front of a child. I won't do what you're fearing."
"If it helps, he's an orphan like me… just like you. He's in need of that parental figure your teacher was for you. More often than not, orphanages aren't good places for children."
Iruka nodded.
Takuma could only take his word for it and put his hope in the source material.
———
.
Later that day, Takuma walked home from the grocery store. His mind returned to his transfer to the Leaf Military Police Force. He was no longer in the Genin Corp. His body felt haggard, and the jute bag filled with groceries, usually weightless, seemed heavier than the heaviest dumbbells in the gym.
A decision out of his control had put his life in danger. He had no idea when the Uchiha Clan massacre happened, but he was sure it was close in the future. And him being in the Leaf Military Police Force put him directly under the crosshair of two mass murderers who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone put in front of them. He didn't want to be one of those people, but the recent developments had become a real possibility.
Takuma couldn't even blame Iruka for it, even if he wanted to. The man was only looking out for him by placing him in a situation beneficial for his career. Working for the Uchiha was a huge(huge!) opportunity for someone like him, and working in the Leaf Military Police Force was a prestigious position with lots of additional benefits. He would've enjoyed that if he didn't know the future caveat. Sometimes knowledge was a curse— a curse he was thankful for.
He could feel the assignment scroll burning a hole in his weapons pocket. It had been a few hours since Iruka had handed it to him, but he didn't have the courage to open it and look because he knew the moment he looked, it would become real. But Takuma knew he couldn't delay looking anymore.
As Takuma walked through a playground, he caught a head of sun-yellow hair stepping out of the playground, and he couldn't take his eyes off the kid who slowly trudged past him. In the two years he had been in the Hidden Leaf Village, Takuma hadn't met the protagonist of the world even once— he had deliberately not made any contact, and thankfully, he hadn't accidentally bumped into him as well.
Perhaps it was Fates mocking him because the first time he had ever mentioned the kid, he had appeared before him. There was no mistaking it— sun-yellow hair, whisker-like markings on cheeks, and cerulean blue eyes.
Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tail's jailor, the Child of Prophecy, was in front of him.
Maybe he sensed the gaze because Naruto stopped and looked back at Takuma. Naruto's brows furrowed.
"What?" he sounded defensive.
Takuma had imagined a lot about how he would feel and react when he saw Uzumaki Naruto for the first time, and despite all he had imagined, all he felt in the moment as he looked at the kid in front of him was just that.
'A kid,' he thought.
Naruto might have the Nine-Tails sealed inside of him, he might have great things in his future, he might even be the savior of the shinobi world, the future Hokage of this village— but right now, all Takuma saw was a simple kid in front of him.
"Come here," the words left Takuma's mouth before he could even entirely process what he was doing.
Naruto looked hesitant. He looked around before slowly walking towards Takuma with the hem of his shirt balled up in his tiny fists. Takuma knelt so he was below Naruto's eye line to make him feel safe.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Naruto."
"Nice to meet you, Naruto. Where do you live?"
Naruto pursed his lips, "… Little Hope Orphanage."
"Oh, yeah? I used to live in the Mini Miracles Orphan Home."
"You did?" Naruto seemed surprised.
"I did when I was your age," Takuma smiled. "Do you like Little Hope Orphanage, Naruto?"
Naruto once again hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "Not too much," he said. "Everyone is mean… and no fun."
"Do they hit you?" Takuma doubted the Hokage would allow Naruto to live in a place of physical abuse,
Naruto shook his head. "No one smiles… and others don't play with me."
"I see… Do you go to school, Naruto?"
"I do. I go to the shinobi academy," Naruto looked up at Takuma's forehead. "You also went there, right?"
Takuma was dressed in his shinobi uniform because before Iruka contacted him, he planned to take on a D-rank mission. He usually didn't dress in the shinobi uniform when he wasn't working, but today he hadn't bothered to change out.
Takuma touched his forehead protector and smiled, "Smart one, aren't you? I did go to the shinobi academy, the same one as you. You know, they gave me my own house when I turned ten years old because I was attending the shinobi academy."
"Really?!" Naruto had the most animated reaction since the start of their interaction. He sounded so excited at the prospect of getting his own house and moving out of the orphanage.
"I promise," Takuma smiled. "Do you like the shinobi academy, Naruto?"
"I do!" Naruto grinned. "We play outside. Tag, Hide-and-Seek, Races, Catch-and-Pass— and-and-and…"
Takuma smiled. He hadn't been a first-year academy student but knew the curriculum disguised physical training as games. The goal was to lay the foundation for teaching the children to appreciate training for training's sake and partly as a teamwork-building exercise.
"… It's fun, believe it!" Naruto smiled.
Takuma couldn't hold back his laughter. He couldn't believe he was hearing that verbal tick in person.
"… S-Studying isn't fun though," Naruto frowned. "It's so boring…."
Takuma smiled, "What about chakra? Do you like chakra, Naruto?"
"Charka… oh that, it's too com-com-comp—"
"Complicated?"
"Yeah, that, it's too difficult, believe it!"
Takuma chuckled, "First of all, it's called chakra…. Second, chakra doesn't have to be complicated," he took out a notepad from his person and tore an edge. His chakra held the piece against his finger as he showed it to Naruto. "Do you know about the Leaf Concentration Practice, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded with a frown.
"It's okay if you don't understand the complicated things. You can take those parts slowly," Takuma said. "All you have to do is to take a piece of paper— leaves can be a bit smelly— and just try to stick them with your fingers…. Sticking paper to your fingers is easier, then you move onto your arm, then to your forehead, and finally, you do it with your feet."
Takuma had no idea what he was doing. His explanation seemed too complex— and well, not fun. He paused to take a breath and realized what exactly he was doing. He had been interacting with Naruto— Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tail's jinchuriki— Takuma had no idea who was keeping an eye on Naruto, and he couldn't get on those people's radar because of all the shady shit he had been up to as Scars and Tobi. Getting on a surveillance list of some kind for any reason was the last thing Takuma wanted. Because if they found what he was up to, they could get rid of suspicion that he was trying to get close to Naruto for some ulterior motive.
Even without all of that, Takuma had no interest in interacting with someone like Naruto.
He needed to wrap up quickly.
"Do you want to be a shinobi, Naruto?" Takuma asked.
"I do. Shinobi are cool!" Naruto grinned.
"Oh, thank you," Takuma smiled. If it were any other child, Takuma would've told them to be anything other than a shinobi. But Naruto had to be a shinobi for everyone's good. "Well, if you want to be a cool shinobi, you need to pay attention to what is being taught in the academy, okay?"
"Even if it's boring?"
"Even if it's boring," Takuma paused. "Let me tell you a little secret." Naruto leaned, looking interested. "If you become good at the things taught at the academy, everyone will want to be your friend."
"Like they want to be friends with the jerk?" asked Naruto.
Takuma was momentarily confused, but he realized Naruto was asking about Sasuke. "Yeah, just like that… jerk. Who's nicer between you and him."
"Me, believe it!"
"Now, if you're better than him and nicer than him, wouldn't everyone want to be your friend? Then, you'll have lots of friends," smiled Takuma. "Even the jerk would be your friend; wouldn't that be nice?"
"I guess so," Naruto didn't sound convinced.
Takuma reached into his grocery bag, took out a chocolate bar he had bought as a stress purchase, and placed it in Naruto's hand. "Now, it's getting dark, and you should go back home. Take this with you and share it with your classmates tomorrow, alright?"
"Okay!" Any child would be happy to get sweets.
"Now go along, okay?" Takuma stood up and ruffled Naruto's hair.
Naruto ran away with the chocolate bar in hand, and Takuma, too, turned to walk away when he heard Naruto call out to him,
"What's your name, big bro?"
Takuma turned, thought for a moment, and said, "You can call me big bro when you see me the next time," he winked, waved his hand, and turned to walk away.
He turned the corner and it took his all to continue walking at a steady pace… just in case someone was watching.
That was more contact than Takuma wanted with Naruto or a walking nuke like him for a very long time.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Takuma stared at Iruka with a countenance he wasn't sure he was showing. The words which had come out of his team leader's mouth were one of the last words he expected to hear, the last words he ever wanted to hear.
"I am going to the Uchiha?!" asked Takuma.
"To the Leaf Military Police Force, but yes… to the Uchiha," Iruka smiled.
Like any shinobi in the Hidden Leaf, he had heard about the Leaf Military Police Force being opened to outsiders for the first time since its inauguration. Normally, the prospect of being moved out of the Genin Corp would be exciting news, but the Uchiha was one of the two places he didn't want to go— the second one being the ROOT. Which was why he hadn't applied for it.
"Are you going to the Police Force?" asked Takuma.
Iruka shook his head.
"You're kicking me out of your team. What, because of the mission?" Takuma felt betrayed.
The mandatory service for a genin in the Genin Corp was thirty months; only after that were they able to transfer out if an opportunity presented itself. From the very first day in the Genin Corp, one of Takuma's goals had been to get himself out of the Genin Corp by the end of the thirty months. It could've been through the Chunin Exam or transfer into another department— Takuma was open to almost anything.
Getting recruited by Iruka had eased the burden on his shoulders. Becoming a regular in a chunin's team was a stable opportunity to continuously pile C-rank missions on his record while churning mission points in the Ring to add jutsu to his arsenal. In fact, before the Land of Frost mission, he planned to approach a few more chunin he had met through Iruka. He could've even asked Nenro to introduce him to his chunin connections. He hadn't chosen a department to target, but his current progress rate would have been ample for the Chunin Exam. In his opinion, things were progressing steadily.
"I'm not kicking you out of the team, Takuma," Iruka sighed. "The team is disbanded… I've taken an alternate job which doesn't allow me to maintain an active field team."
"Job, what job?"
"A teacher at the academy."
The heat and panic in Takuma's head momentarily cooled as he stared at his team lead. Iruka working as a teacher for the academy was something he knew very well.
"… Did you want to become a teacher?" asked Takuma.
Iruka leaned in his chair as the tension left his body. He looked away into the distance as he said. "My parents died during the Nine-Tails attack. I was suddenly an orphan, much like yourself. I was alone after that… My academy teacher back then, Seno Hisashi, became a parental figure at a time I desperately needed one," Iruka smiled. "I knew from the moment I graduated that I wanted to become an academy teacher. I don't think I can be a parental figure— a cool older brother that I can manage."
Takuma could barely muster a half chuckle.
"I didn't think it'd be this soon," Iruka sighed. "I wanted to stay on the field for a couple more years before I applied. But a position recently opened up, and because of the mission's failure, it seems the right time to step away from the field. There's an unfavorable opinion around me right now, and getting meaningful missions will be difficult…"
Takuma could see the unwillingness in Iruka's eyes. He could see that Iruka wanted to be an academy teacher, but he wanted to do that on his own terms— not to be forced by the circumstances. Takuma understood that feeling.
"… Nine-Tail's jinchuuriki is going to be in the academy. How do you feel about that?" Takuma asked, his attention focused on Iruka's face, body language, and words to not miss anything. Iruka's history made it so that the man would hold a grudge against a certain yellow-haired kid studying in the academy right about now.
Iruka's hand on the table clenched, a bitter expression appeared on his face, and his body stiffened as he shifted in his seat.
"…I know," he said.
"It's like a kunai sealed in a scroll," Takuma said. "He's the jailor."
"I understand that!" Iruka closed his eyes. "It doesn't change the fact I lost my parents. You understand how that feels."
"No, I don't know how that feels… I never knew my parents, so I don't know how having parents feel. It doesn't bother me," Takuma turned his head to look away.
"You're lying," Iruka's expression softened.
Takuma didn't reply. He never knew the boy's parents, but he knew his own parents, and they had been taken away from him when he found himself in this world. Takuma would give anything— everything— if he could see them one more time, to be able to hug them once and tell them that he loved them more than anything. If he could see his elder sister's smile again, tell her to take care, advise her to dump her pathetic girlfriend and find someone else, and say his goodbyes, he wouldn't mind giving up anything asked in return.
"… I knew he'd be there when I took the job," Iruka sighed. "I know how to conduct myself in front of a child. I won't do what you're fearing."
"If it helps, he's an orphan like me… just like you. He's in need of that parental figure your teacher was for you. More often than not, orphanages aren't good places for children."
Iruka nodded.
Takuma could only take his word for it and put his hope in the source material.
———
.
Later that day, Takuma walked home from the grocery store. His mind returned to his transfer to the Leaf Military Police Force. He was no longer in the Genin Corp. His body felt haggard, and the jute bag filled with groceries, usually weightless, seemed heavier than the heaviest dumbbells in the gym.
A decision out of his control had put his life in danger. He had no idea when the Uchiha Clan massacre happened, but he was sure it was close in the future. And him being in the Leaf Military Police Force put him directly under the crosshair of two mass murderers who wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone put in front of them. He didn't want to be one of those people, but the recent developments had become a real possibility.
Takuma couldn't even blame Iruka for it, even if he wanted to. The man was only looking out for him by placing him in a situation beneficial for his career. Working for the Uchiha was a huge(huge!) opportunity for someone like him, and working in the Leaf Military Police Force was a prestigious position with lots of additional benefits. He would've enjoyed that if he didn't know the future caveat. Sometimes knowledge was a curse— a curse he was thankful for.
He could feel the assignment scroll burning a hole in his weapons pocket. It had been a few hours since Iruka had handed it to him, but he didn't have the courage to open it and look because he knew the moment he looked, it would become real. But Takuma knew he couldn't delay looking anymore.
As Takuma walked through a playground, he caught a head of sun-yellow hair stepping out of the playground, and he couldn't take his eyes off the kid who slowly trudged past him. In the two years he had been in the Hidden Leaf Village, Takuma hadn't met the protagonist of the world even once— he had deliberately not made any contact, and thankfully, he hadn't accidentally bumped into him as well.
Perhaps it was Fates mocking him because the first time he had ever mentioned the kid, he had appeared before him. There was no mistaking it— sun-yellow hair, whisker-like markings on cheeks, and cerulean blue eyes.
Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tail's jailor, the Child of Prophecy, was in front of him.
Maybe he sensed the gaze because Naruto stopped and looked back at Takuma. Naruto's brows furrowed.
"What?" he sounded defensive.
Takuma had imagined a lot about how he would feel and react when he saw Uzumaki Naruto for the first time, and despite all he had imagined, all he felt in the moment as he looked at the kid in front of him was just that.
'A kid,' he thought.
Naruto might have the Nine-Tails sealed inside of him, he might have great things in his future, he might even be the savior of the shinobi world, the future Hokage of this village— but right now, all Takuma saw was a simple kid in front of him.
"Come here," the words left Takuma's mouth before he could even entirely process what he was doing.
Naruto looked hesitant. He looked around before slowly walking towards Takuma with the hem of his shirt balled up in his tiny fists. Takuma knelt so he was below Naruto's eye line to make him feel safe.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Naruto."
"Nice to meet you, Naruto. Where do you live?"
Naruto pursed his lips, "… Little Hope Orphanage."
"Oh, yeah? I used to live in the Mini Miracles Orphan Home."
"You did?" Naruto seemed surprised.
"I did when I was your age," Takuma smiled. "Do you like Little Hope Orphanage, Naruto?"
Naruto once again hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "Not too much," he said. "Everyone is mean… and no fun."
"Do they hit you?" Takuma doubted the Hokage would allow Naruto to live in a place of physical abuse,
Naruto shook his head. "No one smiles… and others don't play with me."
"I see… Do you go to school, Naruto?"
"I do. I go to the shinobi academy," Naruto looked up at Takuma's forehead. "You also went there, right?"
Takuma was dressed in his shinobi uniform because before Iruka contacted him, he planned to take on a D-rank mission. He usually didn't dress in the shinobi uniform when he wasn't working, but today he hadn't bothered to change out.
Takuma touched his forehead protector and smiled, "Smart one, aren't you? I did go to the shinobi academy, the same one as you. You know, they gave me my own house when I turned ten years old because I was attending the shinobi academy."
"Really?!" Naruto had the most animated reaction since the start of their interaction. He sounded so excited at the prospect of getting his own house and moving out of the orphanage.
"I promise," Takuma smiled. "Do you like the shinobi academy, Naruto?"
"I do!" Naruto grinned. "We play outside. Tag, Hide-and-Seek, Races, Catch-and-Pass— and-and-and…"
Takuma smiled. He hadn't been a first-year academy student but knew the curriculum disguised physical training as games. The goal was to lay the foundation for teaching the children to appreciate training for training's sake and partly as a teamwork-building exercise.
"… It's fun, believe it!" Naruto smiled.
Takuma couldn't hold back his laughter. He couldn't believe he was hearing that verbal tick in person.
"… S-Studying isn't fun though," Naruto frowned. "It's so boring…."
Takuma smiled, "What about chakra? Do you like chakra, Naruto?"
"Charka… oh that, it's too com-com-comp—"
"Complicated?"
"Yeah, that, it's too difficult, believe it!"
Takuma chuckled, "First of all, it's called chakra…. Second, chakra doesn't have to be complicated," he took out a notepad from his person and tore an edge. His chakra held the piece against his finger as he showed it to Naruto. "Do you know about the Leaf Concentration Practice, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded with a frown.
"It's okay if you don't understand the complicated things. You can take those parts slowly," Takuma said. "All you have to do is to take a piece of paper— leaves can be a bit smelly— and just try to stick them with your fingers…. Sticking paper to your fingers is easier, then you move onto your arm, then to your forehead, and finally, you do it with your feet."
Takuma had no idea what he was doing. His explanation seemed too complex— and well, not fun. He paused to take a breath and realized what exactly he was doing. He had been interacting with Naruto— Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tail's jinchuriki— Takuma had no idea who was keeping an eye on Naruto, and he couldn't get on those people's radar because of all the shady shit he had been up to as Scars and Tobi. Getting on a surveillance list of some kind for any reason was the last thing Takuma wanted. Because if they found what he was up to, they could get rid of suspicion that he was trying to get close to Naruto for some ulterior motive.
Even without all of that, Takuma had no interest in interacting with someone like Naruto.
He needed to wrap up quickly.
"Do you want to be a shinobi, Naruto?" Takuma asked.
"I do. Shinobi are cool!" Naruto grinned.
"Oh, thank you," Takuma smiled. If it were any other child, Takuma would've told them to be anything other than a shinobi. But Naruto had to be a shinobi for everyone's good. "Well, if you want to be a cool shinobi, you need to pay attention to what is being taught in the academy, okay?"
"Even if it's boring?"
"Even if it's boring," Takuma paused. "Let me tell you a little secret." Naruto leaned, looking interested. "If you become good at the things taught at the academy, everyone will want to be your friend."
"Like they want to be friends with the jerk?" asked Naruto.
Takuma was momentarily confused, but he realized Naruto was asking about Sasuke. "Yeah, just like that… jerk. Who's nicer between you and him."
"Me, believe it!"
"Now, if you're better than him and nicer than him, wouldn't everyone want to be your friend? Then, you'll have lots of friends," smiled Takuma. "Even the jerk would be your friend; wouldn't that be nice?"
"I guess so," Naruto didn't sound convinced.
Takuma reached into his grocery bag, took out a chocolate bar he had bought as a stress purchase, and placed it in Naruto's hand. "Now, it's getting dark, and you should go back home. Take this with you and share it with your classmates tomorrow, alright?"
"Okay!" Any child would be happy to get sweets.
"Now go along, okay?" Takuma stood up and ruffled Naruto's hair.
Naruto ran away with the chocolate bar in hand, and Takuma, too, turned to walk away when he heard Naruto call out to him,
"What's your name, big bro?"
Takuma turned, thought for a moment, and said, "You can call me big bro when you see me the next time," he winked, waved his hand, and turned to walk away.
He turned the corner and it took his all to continue walking at a steady pace… just in case someone was watching.
That was more contact than Takuma wanted with Naruto or a walking nuke like him for a very long time.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_4.2 (102)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Takuma couldn't stop his foot from shaking as he sat outside the office of Uchiha Setsuna, the chunin-in-charge of hiring the new 'officers' of the Leaf Military Police Force. He knew for a fact that not all the new hires had a meeting with Chunin Setsuna— he had contacted others selected into the Leaf Military Police Force only to find none of them had meetings scheduled. Takuma had zero idea why he was meeting Setsuna, which only served to jitter his nerves.
"Genin Takuma," a woman, the assistant, sitting across the room behind a desk, looked up at Takuma. "Chunin Setsuna would see you now. Please head in."
Takuma nodded and headed to the office door but backtracked to the assistant and whispered to her. "Hello, ma'am. I must say, you look absolutely gorgeous today. Do you happen to know what this meeting is about? Like, is he angry or happy, or...."
The woman looked up at him with a firm stare, with no words as a reply.
"… I mean to look so stunning in the uniform requires some serious skill and charm," Takuma tried one last shot.
"… …"
"Nothing?" Takuma nodded. "Alright…still absolutely lovely…I'll head in now, thank you."
Takuma knocked on the door and entered when he heard the word. The office was simple, clean, and looked spacious despite the moderate size of the room. A simple desk with a painting behind it, two chairs in front of the desk, a two-seater couch below the windows with a small coffee table, and one open and one closed cabinet each. Most importantly, it didn't smell of booze and smoke like that of another head of an organization that Takuma worked with. Takuma noticed a set of engraved kunai decorated on the walls, which were issued as awards of merit and bravery from the Hokage.
Takuma stood at attention in silence in front of the desk while Setsuna read some documents on his desk.
"Sit down," Setsuna said after five minutes.
Takuma knew it was five minutes because of the wall clock. A time too long to stand in silence in a person's office after being called by said person. Takuma sat down, back straight, in the chair across from Setsuna. The silence extended for another minute or two before Setsuna looked up.
"Tell me about the Land of Frost mission."
"I'm sorry, sir. I can't divulge the specifics due to the orders given to me and the ongoing investigation," Takuma's reply was immediate. After being asked the same question hundreds of times in every way imaginable, he had the answer ready on his tongue.
"I'm your boss, Genin Takuma. Are you sure you don't want to answer my question?"
"I've standing orders not to answer any questions regarding the mission to anyone outside the investigation," Takuma said calmly, but his heart slightly picked up the pace.
He didn't want to be on the boss's bad side on his first day, but he also couldn't ignore orders from the investigators, and he personally also didn't want to talk about the mission.
Setsuna finally looked up from his papers, and Takuma's breath was taken away as he found himself staring into red eyes with two black tomoe gently spinning around the pupil. It was the first time Takuma had seen it— Uchiha's Sharingan. He couldn't help but be transfixed by the hauntingly enchanting red eyes.
Takuma wondered if this was how Orochimaru felt.
"Are you sure, Genin Takuma?"
"… I have my orders, sir," Takuma said, staring into the eyes.
Setsuna withdrew away from Takuma unhurriedly. His eyes regained their original onyx hue as Setsuna peered at Takuma with an intrigued and inquisitive stare. "I praise your obedience and ability to maintain your professional integrity, Genin Takuma. It is an exceedingly rare quality these days," he declared.
Takuma exhaled as he expanded his focus to observe Setsuna as a whole. The man possessed the typical Uchiha characteristics of jet-black hair and onyx eyes, yet he had a noticeably square jaw compared to other Uchiha, who had sharper features. He wore his hair in a short, low ponytail, adding a rougher edge to the disciplined soldier.
"May I ask the purpose of this meeting, sir?" Takuma inquired.
"What do you think?"
Takuma didn't answer as he didn't have one. He had no idea why Setsuna had called him to the office while the other recruits gathered in an auditorium to start the mandatory seventy-five days of training before they could work in any official capacity. From the conversation, Takuma would've believed Setsuna wasn't pleased with him, and even though Setsuna had praised him – that could've very well been sarcasm.
"I'm afraid I don't know, sir."
"Your track record makes you suitable for the Lead Military Police Force," Setsuna retrieved a file and opened it on his table. Takuma's eye twitched. He hated it when someone read his file in front of him; it meant someone had looked into him behind his back and knew things he didn't have an awareness about.
Setsuna continued, "The number of C-rank missions you've done in the short time you were with your chunin is considerable."
Takuma had been the only genin in Team Iruka to be on every single C-rank mission procured by and issued to Iruka. He had done enough to nearly match Nenro, who had been working with chunin longer than him.
"But it's the type of mission that interests me more," a sardonic smile stretched on Setsuna's face. "Chunin Iruka didn't get good missions, did he? Look at all this dirty grunt work. Tailing spouses, taking night shifts at guarding warehouses, outsourced background checks, babysitting upstarts, collecting unpaid debts, repossessing assets, keeping protests in control.... Next time you meet Chunin Iruka, tell him to choose better missions once in a while— but I suppose you get what you get when you follow a new chunin with no background to lean on."
Takuma schooled his expression. When applying for a new job, you never badmouthed your previous employer because that only showed the interviewer that you would badmouth them in front of outsiders. Regardless, Takuma had no intention of criticizing Iruka to anyone but the man himself.
"Short as it may be, my time with Chunin Iruka has been integral to my growth as a shinobi." Iruka was the reason he had double-digit C-rank missions on his record— when all was said and done, he didn't care what kind of missions he had done to get that result.
Setsuna knocked on his desk twice. "Exactly. These missions are why you were selected and why I've called you here," he said. "When you do genuine work, it shows. I've seen a hundred applications pass my desk with double, some even triple, the number of C-rank missions than yours. All of them had fluff, easy jobs, used as filler to pad up their records," he had a sneer on his lips. "You have none of that, Genin Takuma. Which is why you'll be put into special training with a few others who meet the criteria."
Takuma was surprised, but he didn't show it— as for if he was successful, Setsuna did a great job with his straight face. He digested the information presented to him and thought about how to react.
"What makes this training special?" asked Takuma. He couldn't reject the training, so he might as well set up his expectations.
"Training we give to our closest allies."
That meant there was training above it that Uchiha used for themselves. Takuma wasn't complaining. He hadn't been trained by the methods employed by the shinobi clans— exposure to any level of clan training was welcome.
"And what after this special training?" asked Takuma. Special training meant a higher investment in him, which meant they'd require returns proportional to that investment.
Setsuna said, "That depends on how you perform in training."
Takuma mused on how he would rank above the other recruits who would be going through the 'regular' training. Thoughts about time management passed through his head. His second contract with Ring was about to begin in a couple of days, and he needed to get back to dealing to support that. He didn't know how intense and time-consuming the special training would be, and if he would be able to juggle everything.
'I have to,' Takuma said to himself.
If he could prevent what happened in the Land of Frost, he would do everything in his power to make that possible.
———
.
The iron strained the muscles on Shisui's arm as he curled the dumbbell. Shisui breathed out as he slowly brought the weight down, straining his arm again. He looked back at the door to his home gym's door, and a second later, the door opened, and Itachi stepped into the room.
"How did the mission go?" Shisui asked, continuing to work the dumbbell.
"Success."
That could mean various things. The mission went exceptionally well, and they completed the objective—or it could be that while the mission objective was met, people died. But Shisui wasn't interested in how the mission went. He didn't even know what the mission was—it was classified, only known to Itachi's team.
"They held the new recruit orientation yesterday. They say it went well," said Shisui.
Itachi hummed, sounding disinterested.
It still bothered Shisui how disinterested Itachi sounded with clan matters; he only seemed interested in his own missions and the problems the village was facing. Not that Itachi was doing anything wrong in showing interest in the village and his duty as a shinobi, but the clan was still his family, and ignoring clan matters was disrespectful.
Shisui dropped the weight on the ground and got up from the bench. He grabbed the towel and faced Itachi, who was looking at himself in the full-length mirror in the corner.
"Clan Leader addressed the recruits—"
"I told Lord Hokage everything," Itachi said, not removing his eyes from the mirror.
Shisui's mind and body went cold. He stared at Itachi in the mirror's reflection in shock from what he had heard. He knew what Itachi meant. The Uchiha clan was planning to overthrow the current regime and place themselves atop the Hidden Leaf village as the rulers. Both of them were opposed to their clan's plans and had decided to stop it from happening for the sake of the clan, village, and nation.
In deciding so, they had gone to the Hokage and told him about what the Uchiha were planning. However, they had purposefully held back most of the information and had decided and agreed on what to divulge. The Hokage was told that the Uchiha clan was dissatisfied with their treatment in the village and was gathering their allies and support to push back against the regime. They framed it so it was perceived that the Uchiha were going on an aggressive political offense that would cause great tension within the village and could create conflict, disrupting the state of the village and its operations that extended past the village boundaries and throughout the Land of Fire.
They purposefully held back the information that the Uchiha were planning a Coup D'état that would destroy the village beyond repair. Shisui didn't want the village to suddenly brand the Uchiha as enemies and declare them as traitors; as such, he wanted the information to come out at a gentler pace so the Hokage wouldn't make any drastic decisions. The plan was to disclose parts of the information as the situation warranted eventually.
But now, Itachi had told everything to the Hokage... without asking Shisui.
Itachi looked at Shisui in the mirror's reflection and found Shisui's eyes red with three tomoe spinning rapidly. He turned away from the mirror to face Shisui directly and opened his mouth to speak, only to freeze up. When he looked into Shisui's Sharingan, he no longer saw the three-tomoe design— instead, he found himself gazing into two four-point pinwheels.
"... S-Shisui?"
Green translucent flames erupted around Shisui, and before Itachi could move a muscle, an enormous skeletal arm sprang out from the fire and pinned Itachi to the wall. The mirror shattered, and the wall behind Itachi cracked from floor to ceiling. The entire building shook as if an earthquake had passed by.
"Itachi, you know very well that I trust you with my life," Shisui said, his face set in stone, but his eyes burned with anger and perhaps a twinge of madness. "So, I would like you to think very carefully and tell me why you decided to go behind my back. Understand that right now, I don't find myself very trusting towards you and that if your answer doesn't satisfy me, I'm very tempted to, and capable of, erasing the person called Uchiha Itachi and putting a puppet in your place who wouldn't endanger the clan.
"Do you understand, Itachi?" The skeletal fingers tightened around Itachi, constricting and contorting his body. "Now... answer me."
That day, Itachi would narrowly escape with his life and learn about the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
———
.
[Edit] AN: Oh, I forgot to add this. So, the initial response to Shisui's reaction to Itachi's actions was out-of-character. I was given feedback that Shisui and Itachi are like brothers, and Shisui won't behave like this. I disagree. Yes, they're like brothers— totally agree with that— but that doesn't mean brothers don't fight. Shisui is under a lot of pressure and duress right now, and Itachi blindsiding him like that really affected him. And I personally think that something happens to an Uchiha when they gain the MS— I think it effects their mental status in some way, at least for a while until they sort themselves out.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
"Genin Takuma," a woman, the assistant, sitting across the room behind a desk, looked up at Takuma. "Chunin Setsuna would see you now. Please head in."
Takuma nodded and headed to the office door but backtracked to the assistant and whispered to her. "Hello, ma'am. I must say, you look absolutely gorgeous today. Do you happen to know what this meeting is about? Like, is he angry or happy, or...."
The woman looked up at him with a firm stare, with no words as a reply.
"… I mean to look so stunning in the uniform requires some serious skill and charm," Takuma tried one last shot.
"… …"
"Nothing?" Takuma nodded. "Alright…still absolutely lovely…I'll head in now, thank you."
Takuma knocked on the door and entered when he heard the word. The office was simple, clean, and looked spacious despite the moderate size of the room. A simple desk with a painting behind it, two chairs in front of the desk, a two-seater couch below the windows with a small coffee table, and one open and one closed cabinet each. Most importantly, it didn't smell of booze and smoke like that of another head of an organization that Takuma worked with. Takuma noticed a set of engraved kunai decorated on the walls, which were issued as awards of merit and bravery from the Hokage.
Takuma stood at attention in silence in front of the desk while Setsuna read some documents on his desk.
"Sit down," Setsuna said after five minutes.
Takuma knew it was five minutes because of the wall clock. A time too long to stand in silence in a person's office after being called by said person. Takuma sat down, back straight, in the chair across from Setsuna. The silence extended for another minute or two before Setsuna looked up.
"Tell me about the Land of Frost mission."
"I'm sorry, sir. I can't divulge the specifics due to the orders given to me and the ongoing investigation," Takuma's reply was immediate. After being asked the same question hundreds of times in every way imaginable, he had the answer ready on his tongue.
"I'm your boss, Genin Takuma. Are you sure you don't want to answer my question?"
"I've standing orders not to answer any questions regarding the mission to anyone outside the investigation," Takuma said calmly, but his heart slightly picked up the pace.
He didn't want to be on the boss's bad side on his first day, but he also couldn't ignore orders from the investigators, and he personally also didn't want to talk about the mission.
Setsuna finally looked up from his papers, and Takuma's breath was taken away as he found himself staring into red eyes with two black tomoe gently spinning around the pupil. It was the first time Takuma had seen it— Uchiha's Sharingan. He couldn't help but be transfixed by the hauntingly enchanting red eyes.
Takuma wondered if this was how Orochimaru felt.
"Are you sure, Genin Takuma?"
"… I have my orders, sir," Takuma said, staring into the eyes.
Setsuna withdrew away from Takuma unhurriedly. His eyes regained their original onyx hue as Setsuna peered at Takuma with an intrigued and inquisitive stare. "I praise your obedience and ability to maintain your professional integrity, Genin Takuma. It is an exceedingly rare quality these days," he declared.
Takuma exhaled as he expanded his focus to observe Setsuna as a whole. The man possessed the typical Uchiha characteristics of jet-black hair and onyx eyes, yet he had a noticeably square jaw compared to other Uchiha, who had sharper features. He wore his hair in a short, low ponytail, adding a rougher edge to the disciplined soldier.
"May I ask the purpose of this meeting, sir?" Takuma inquired.
"What do you think?"
Takuma didn't answer as he didn't have one. He had no idea why Setsuna had called him to the office while the other recruits gathered in an auditorium to start the mandatory seventy-five days of training before they could work in any official capacity. From the conversation, Takuma would've believed Setsuna wasn't pleased with him, and even though Setsuna had praised him – that could've very well been sarcasm.
"I'm afraid I don't know, sir."
"Your track record makes you suitable for the Lead Military Police Force," Setsuna retrieved a file and opened it on his table. Takuma's eye twitched. He hated it when someone read his file in front of him; it meant someone had looked into him behind his back and knew things he didn't have an awareness about.
Setsuna continued, "The number of C-rank missions you've done in the short time you were with your chunin is considerable."
Takuma had been the only genin in Team Iruka to be on every single C-rank mission procured by and issued to Iruka. He had done enough to nearly match Nenro, who had been working with chunin longer than him.
"But it's the type of mission that interests me more," a sardonic smile stretched on Setsuna's face. "Chunin Iruka didn't get good missions, did he? Look at all this dirty grunt work. Tailing spouses, taking night shifts at guarding warehouses, outsourced background checks, babysitting upstarts, collecting unpaid debts, repossessing assets, keeping protests in control.... Next time you meet Chunin Iruka, tell him to choose better missions once in a while— but I suppose you get what you get when you follow a new chunin with no background to lean on."
Takuma schooled his expression. When applying for a new job, you never badmouthed your previous employer because that only showed the interviewer that you would badmouth them in front of outsiders. Regardless, Takuma had no intention of criticizing Iruka to anyone but the man himself.
"Short as it may be, my time with Chunin Iruka has been integral to my growth as a shinobi." Iruka was the reason he had double-digit C-rank missions on his record— when all was said and done, he didn't care what kind of missions he had done to get that result.
Setsuna knocked on his desk twice. "Exactly. These missions are why you were selected and why I've called you here," he said. "When you do genuine work, it shows. I've seen a hundred applications pass my desk with double, some even triple, the number of C-rank missions than yours. All of them had fluff, easy jobs, used as filler to pad up their records," he had a sneer on his lips. "You have none of that, Genin Takuma. Which is why you'll be put into special training with a few others who meet the criteria."
Takuma was surprised, but he didn't show it— as for if he was successful, Setsuna did a great job with his straight face. He digested the information presented to him and thought about how to react.
"What makes this training special?" asked Takuma. He couldn't reject the training, so he might as well set up his expectations.
"Training we give to our closest allies."
That meant there was training above it that Uchiha used for themselves. Takuma wasn't complaining. He hadn't been trained by the methods employed by the shinobi clans— exposure to any level of clan training was welcome.
"And what after this special training?" asked Takuma. Special training meant a higher investment in him, which meant they'd require returns proportional to that investment.
Setsuna said, "That depends on how you perform in training."
Takuma mused on how he would rank above the other recruits who would be going through the 'regular' training. Thoughts about time management passed through his head. His second contract with Ring was about to begin in a couple of days, and he needed to get back to dealing to support that. He didn't know how intense and time-consuming the special training would be, and if he would be able to juggle everything.
'I have to,' Takuma said to himself.
If he could prevent what happened in the Land of Frost, he would do everything in his power to make that possible.
———
.
The iron strained the muscles on Shisui's arm as he curled the dumbbell. Shisui breathed out as he slowly brought the weight down, straining his arm again. He looked back at the door to his home gym's door, and a second later, the door opened, and Itachi stepped into the room.
"How did the mission go?" Shisui asked, continuing to work the dumbbell.
"Success."
That could mean various things. The mission went exceptionally well, and they completed the objective—or it could be that while the mission objective was met, people died. But Shisui wasn't interested in how the mission went. He didn't even know what the mission was—it was classified, only known to Itachi's team.
"They held the new recruit orientation yesterday. They say it went well," said Shisui.
Itachi hummed, sounding disinterested.
It still bothered Shisui how disinterested Itachi sounded with clan matters; he only seemed interested in his own missions and the problems the village was facing. Not that Itachi was doing anything wrong in showing interest in the village and his duty as a shinobi, but the clan was still his family, and ignoring clan matters was disrespectful.
Shisui dropped the weight on the ground and got up from the bench. He grabbed the towel and faced Itachi, who was looking at himself in the full-length mirror in the corner.
"Clan Leader addressed the recruits—"
"I told Lord Hokage everything," Itachi said, not removing his eyes from the mirror.
Shisui's mind and body went cold. He stared at Itachi in the mirror's reflection in shock from what he had heard. He knew what Itachi meant. The Uchiha clan was planning to overthrow the current regime and place themselves atop the Hidden Leaf village as the rulers. Both of them were opposed to their clan's plans and had decided to stop it from happening for the sake of the clan, village, and nation.
In deciding so, they had gone to the Hokage and told him about what the Uchiha were planning. However, they had purposefully held back most of the information and had decided and agreed on what to divulge. The Hokage was told that the Uchiha clan was dissatisfied with their treatment in the village and was gathering their allies and support to push back against the regime. They framed it so it was perceived that the Uchiha were going on an aggressive political offense that would cause great tension within the village and could create conflict, disrupting the state of the village and its operations that extended past the village boundaries and throughout the Land of Fire.
They purposefully held back the information that the Uchiha were planning a Coup D'état that would destroy the village beyond repair. Shisui didn't want the village to suddenly brand the Uchiha as enemies and declare them as traitors; as such, he wanted the information to come out at a gentler pace so the Hokage wouldn't make any drastic decisions. The plan was to disclose parts of the information as the situation warranted eventually.
But now, Itachi had told everything to the Hokage... without asking Shisui.
Itachi looked at Shisui in the mirror's reflection and found Shisui's eyes red with three tomoe spinning rapidly. He turned away from the mirror to face Shisui directly and opened his mouth to speak, only to freeze up. When he looked into Shisui's Sharingan, he no longer saw the three-tomoe design— instead, he found himself gazing into two four-point pinwheels.
"... S-Shisui?"
Green translucent flames erupted around Shisui, and before Itachi could move a muscle, an enormous skeletal arm sprang out from the fire and pinned Itachi to the wall. The mirror shattered, and the wall behind Itachi cracked from floor to ceiling. The entire building shook as if an earthquake had passed by.
"Itachi, you know very well that I trust you with my life," Shisui said, his face set in stone, but his eyes burned with anger and perhaps a twinge of madness. "So, I would like you to think very carefully and tell me why you decided to go behind my back. Understand that right now, I don't find myself very trusting towards you and that if your answer doesn't satisfy me, I'm very tempted to, and capable of, erasing the person called Uchiha Itachi and putting a puppet in your place who wouldn't endanger the clan.
"Do you understand, Itachi?" The skeletal fingers tightened around Itachi, constricting and contorting his body. "Now... answer me."
That day, Itachi would narrowly escape with his life and learn about the existence of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
———
.
[Edit] AN: Oh, I forgot to add this. So, the initial response to Shisui's reaction to Itachi's actions was out-of-character. I was given feedback that Shisui and Itachi are like brothers, and Shisui won't behave like this. I disagree. Yes, they're like brothers— totally agree with that— but that doesn't mean brothers don't fight. Shisui is under a lot of pressure and duress right now, and Itachi blindsiding him like that really affected him. And I personally think that something happens to an Uchiha when they gain the MS— I think it effects their mental status in some way, at least for a while until they sort themselves out.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Last edited:
CH_4.3 (103)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
"Setsuna…"
Uchiha Setsuna stopped to look back as he was about to exit the Leaf Military Police Force.
"Yakumi?"
The one to call out to him was Uchiha Yakumi, one of the squad supervisors.
"Can we talk about the recruit you're sending me tomorrow?" Yakumi asked.
Setsuna looked at his wristwatch. It was already past working hours, and he wanted to return home to his family. Talking about work after hours was his least liked thing to do, but looking at Yakumi and thinking about the man's reputation, he deemed it prudent to have the conversation with him.
"Let's talk over tea," Setsuna sighed— if he was being made to work after hours, he would make Yakumi pay for some evening tea and sweets for his children.
"What do you want to know?" Setsuna asked Yakumi sitting across from him in the busy tea shop inside the Uchiha complex.
"Who're you sending me?" asked Yakumi, setting his teacup down.
"You must've gotten the file."
"I read the file; that's why I want to know why send him to me? This Takuma kid… I don't see it."
Setsuna sipped his tea. "You don't like what you say?"
"All I saw was an inconsistent record with too many irregularities for my liking. I'd much rather appreciate someone reliable than someone with high peaks sprinkled between lows," Yakumi
The special recruits were to be sent to departments Setsuna and the instructors had chosen for them by observing them during the training period. Their locations were based on the recruit's skill and the department pecking order. Not all departments were equal— based on the crimes, media attention, and politics, departments in the Leaf Military Police Force were considered of varying importance.
Yakumi's department happened to be among the top of said pecking order, if not the very best. While most departments weren't genuinely excited by the incoming recruits because of their origins— if they were going to get recruits, they needed to be the best. Yakumi's department head insisted (demanded) that they get the best of the recruits— and Yakumi's squad was the one to receive the recruit.
Setsuna couldn't say he hadn't seen this coming; Yakumi's department was strict about who they let in, no matter the recruit's background.
The dossier Setsuna had sent consisted of Takuma's shinobi file without the censored information (he couldn't go around spreading confidential information to anyone when it took his jonin supervisor's clearance to get it) along with Takuma's training reports and logs.
"I want to know what's not in the file," asked Yakumi.
Setsuna crossed his hands and thought about the question. If it had been the normal recruits, he wouldn't have an answer, for he hadn't directly supervised or trained them, but Yakumi was asking about one of their new special recruits, who he had worked closely with for the past two and a half months. The training had finally ended, and the trained recruits would be joining official duty from tomorrow.
"Before training, I too worried about his inconsistency," said Setsuna. He was mostly interested in Takuma's C-rank mission record. "But… he's 'strangely' competent."
"What do you mean?" Yakumi asked, hearing the inflection
"He's a slow learner, but once he gets the hang of it, things stick in his mind like glue. That's not the strange part— the strange part is how he seemingly already knows all sorts of things that our people usually learn on the job through the years."
Setsuna recalled how Takuma knew precisely where to pat a person down to find hidden bundles and packages; when the recruits were taken to an arson scene, Takuma already knew how to sift through debris to look for the source of fire; he could crowd control with ease through clear instructions delivered using his chakra-enhanced voice; had an unexpected amount of knowledge of major and minor gangs and groups around the Leaf village; when he was sat down at a desk in one of the precincts, he guided the civilians and visitors as if he was used to doing it.
"One thing I'm sure you'd appreciate is that he listens and follows." Setsuna had seen many recruits who thought they were hot-shit when they entered duty, wanting to take charge and acting as if older shinobi didn't know crap. Takuma wasn't like them. "He keeps his head down, does his work, and… he observes. There was a week where I worked every day with the recruits when I noticed that every time, he'd be the last to speak— he isn't mute or sparse with his words— Takuma observes first, takes people's points, and only then presents his thoughts."
Those were the traits he had seen many leaders. Whenever a topic was in discussion, they never put their thoughts out first so as to not taint others' views and lead everyone to accommodate the leader's view through their own. Instead, they went last to get everyone's perspectives and only then spoke their own. Of course, that wasn't all a leader was.
And Takuma wasn't without faults. He lacked initiative, didn't display charisma to gather people, and was frankly overly cautious, as if someone was constantly out to get him— perhaps beneficial in the field, but those types of people weren't well-liked from the get go.
"If you're worried about him being a slacker, you shouldn't be," said Setsuna. "You and yours will like him."
Yakumi didn't look convinced. Setsuna wasn't even sure why Yakumi even wanted this meeting because, from the looks of it, watching Takuma work from his own eyes was the only way to get the doubt and skepticism out.
"I don't like this new system you're trying to push," Yakumi frowned. "There's a reason why our people work in other departments before transferring to ours. It's a tough job. Do you think a kid like him will be able to take what comes with it?"
Setsuna had thought about it. Assigning people from outside the clan (and their allies) into every corner of the Leaf Military Police Force was supposed to be a message to all the clans in the village: The Uchiha were coming out of their shell, catching up to all of them who had been recruiting outsiders to boost the 'human talent.' It was also a message to everyone else: if they wanted resources and opportunities, the Uchiha clan was now a destination.
It was a declaration: the Uchiha clan was changing. And if anyone thought to underestimate them, they would come to regret it.
He understood Yakumi's department was hard to enter, and it was so for a good reason, but if he wanted to make the message mean anything, he needed to create an image that the Uchiha were fair. That even outsiders could reach places that one would think were reserved for clan members— even if it was half the truth, as long as people perceived it as entirely truthful, that's all that mattered.
Takuma was to be such an example. A walking, living, breathing poster of Uchiha's fairness and generosity, their willingness to work with those who showed promise. That if a shinobi named Takuma could join one of the most prestigious departments of the Leaf Military Police Force— so could they.
"I'm sure he'd be fine," said Setsuna— or at least that's what Setsuna hoped.
He had chosen Takuma for a reason. The psych evaluation attached in the confidential report, done after his Land of Frost, during the course of multiple interrogation sessions, showed him to be mostly mentally stable. What Takuma had gone through wasn't easy for a greenhorn shinobi.
First blood, losing comrades, giving them field funerals, and then crossing two nations all alone— if Takuma could keep himself together after all that, then Setsuna hoped that the boy could keep himself together doing the job Yakumi's department did.
"It's dangerous territory you're treading, Setsuna," Yakumi warned.
Setsuna nodded. "I know, my friend. I know…."
If Takuma could not?
Well, sometimes sacrifices were needed for grand causes to be successful.
He and the clan could only learn from their experiences and get better— just like how their Sharingan allowed them to grow stronger from every enemy thrown their way.
Setsuna looked at his blurry reflection on the tea's surface.
One day, the Uchiha would take what was rightfully theirs… and that day would be soon.
———
.
Takuma sat down in the corner of a large office space with a book on crime scene investigation and mapping in hand. Perhaps it was because of his experience in the academy, but Takuma found natural crowd noise to be the background noise for concentration. He read the text blocks on the pages, reading the academic text that was a slow slog to get through, but it was something that one of the teachers had recommended— and Takuma was feeling a strong sense of imposter syndrome, and learning more was the only way to keep it under control.
"Genin Takuma."
Takuma looked up from his book to see an Uchiha standing before him. He could tell from the looks. Takuma closed his book and stood up to greet the man,
"Good afternoon, Chunin Yakumi," said Takuma.
"You know of me?"
"Yes, sir. I was the outside help on the Higurashi pharmaceutical case," it didn't have a name back then— but the media had given it one.
A look of remembrance flashed across Yakumi's face. "Chunin Iruka was the one we brought in. Yes, I remember it now. And you were part of his team back then? I heard about the Land of Frost mission. How is he doing?"
"He has decided to take a break away from the field and has joined the Shinobi Academy as a teacher."
"An admirable route," Yakumi nodded, but his tone didn't hold no such sentiment. Takuma could tell that he had said it just for the sake of saying it. Yakumi continued, "Let's not waste any more of our day. It's time to introduce you to the team."
As Yakumi led him, Takuma felt nervousness creep up with every step. The training was something of a honeymoon period. It was tough, in some ways as brutal as the training under Taskmaster Yoshio, but it was very much an instructional training course where he was okay as long as he did what was asked of him. Do this, get that, and as long as he did it correctly, he was praised/not punished.
But the actual job was different because inside of the classroom was nothing like the real world.
Since he had found himself in the world, Takuma had never thought he had been handed something he didn't deserve. All of his skills he had worked to the bone to achieve them; his academy graduation gained through a year of misery; he had won the final tournament through grit and decisions that set himself for victory; his D-rank missions worked like a laborer; he got his Ring 'membership' because of his win at the final tournament and the gains through the Ring were an outcome of blood and sweat; he had nabbed his position at Iruka's team through a great impression and had retained his spot in every mission through pure results; even his drug dealing's earnings were a result of good service.
But the opportunity at the Leaf Military Police Force had come out of the left field. He hadn't sought it, nor had he wished for it. Iruka had thrown it in his lap as a way to take care of him.
Maybe because of that, Takuma felt he didn't deserve to be a part of the very illustrious organization. He felt that he needed more time, more skills, and more merit to earn.
He felt he wasn't ready for it.
"You'll be working under me…" Takuma buried his thoughts and focused on Yakumi, who continued, "So, I'll say this straight to your face. I dislike this arrangement, and you shouldn't be with us…."
That did wonders for Takuma's anxiety.
"People work hard to be in the position you've been handed on a silver platter. These aren't my thoughts, but everyone's." Yakumi walked one step ahead of Takuma and spoke without looking at him. "You will be under constant observation, your moves will be gone through a fine-tooth comb, and your peers will try to pick your faults to undermine you— so beware, make a wrong move, and it'll be announced and paraded through the department."
Takuma felt his feet turn into heavy stone. He pulled on his vest around his neck to let some air in as he kept his lips sealed shut. He felt Yakumi's every single word like a hammer through his body, mind, and spirit.
He was a drug dealer and underground prizefighter about to join official duty in the police. After the Uchiha, who would soon all be killed, he was the person in the most danger due to his occupation. Being under observation was the last thing he wanted.
But it was about to become his reality.
They arrived in front of large double doors that were fully open, and a raucous coming from inside. Yakumi turned to Takuma and pointed at the red strap around Takuma's arm with the Leaf Military Police Force insignia sewn into it.
"You don't deserve that." Yakumi looked Takuma in the eye. "But if you do the work, do it well, and prove without a doubt that you deserve to be here— then I'll personally help you to shut every doubter down.
Genin Takuma, welcome to the Leaf Military Police Force."
With a heart that drummed in his heart, Takuma looked above the double doors with a plaque bolted on the wall.
[Department of Organized Crime]
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Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Uchiha Setsuna stopped to look back as he was about to exit the Leaf Military Police Force.
"Yakumi?"
The one to call out to him was Uchiha Yakumi, one of the squad supervisors.
"Can we talk about the recruit you're sending me tomorrow?" Yakumi asked.
Setsuna looked at his wristwatch. It was already past working hours, and he wanted to return home to his family. Talking about work after hours was his least liked thing to do, but looking at Yakumi and thinking about the man's reputation, he deemed it prudent to have the conversation with him.
"Let's talk over tea," Setsuna sighed— if he was being made to work after hours, he would make Yakumi pay for some evening tea and sweets for his children.
"What do you want to know?" Setsuna asked Yakumi sitting across from him in the busy tea shop inside the Uchiha complex.
"Who're you sending me?" asked Yakumi, setting his teacup down.
"You must've gotten the file."
"I read the file; that's why I want to know why send him to me? This Takuma kid… I don't see it."
Setsuna sipped his tea. "You don't like what you say?"
"All I saw was an inconsistent record with too many irregularities for my liking. I'd much rather appreciate someone reliable than someone with high peaks sprinkled between lows," Yakumi
The special recruits were to be sent to departments Setsuna and the instructors had chosen for them by observing them during the training period. Their locations were based on the recruit's skill and the department pecking order. Not all departments were equal— based on the crimes, media attention, and politics, departments in the Leaf Military Police Force were considered of varying importance.
Yakumi's department happened to be among the top of said pecking order, if not the very best. While most departments weren't genuinely excited by the incoming recruits because of their origins— if they were going to get recruits, they needed to be the best. Yakumi's department head insisted (demanded) that they get the best of the recruits— and Yakumi's squad was the one to receive the recruit.
Setsuna couldn't say he hadn't seen this coming; Yakumi's department was strict about who they let in, no matter the recruit's background.
The dossier Setsuna had sent consisted of Takuma's shinobi file without the censored information (he couldn't go around spreading confidential information to anyone when it took his jonin supervisor's clearance to get it) along with Takuma's training reports and logs.
"I want to know what's not in the file," asked Yakumi.
Setsuna crossed his hands and thought about the question. If it had been the normal recruits, he wouldn't have an answer, for he hadn't directly supervised or trained them, but Yakumi was asking about one of their new special recruits, who he had worked closely with for the past two and a half months. The training had finally ended, and the trained recruits would be joining official duty from tomorrow.
"Before training, I too worried about his inconsistency," said Setsuna. He was mostly interested in Takuma's C-rank mission record. "But… he's 'strangely' competent."
"What do you mean?" Yakumi asked, hearing the inflection
"He's a slow learner, but once he gets the hang of it, things stick in his mind like glue. That's not the strange part— the strange part is how he seemingly already knows all sorts of things that our people usually learn on the job through the years."
Setsuna recalled how Takuma knew precisely where to pat a person down to find hidden bundles and packages; when the recruits were taken to an arson scene, Takuma already knew how to sift through debris to look for the source of fire; he could crowd control with ease through clear instructions delivered using his chakra-enhanced voice; had an unexpected amount of knowledge of major and minor gangs and groups around the Leaf village; when he was sat down at a desk in one of the precincts, he guided the civilians and visitors as if he was used to doing it.
"One thing I'm sure you'd appreciate is that he listens and follows." Setsuna had seen many recruits who thought they were hot-shit when they entered duty, wanting to take charge and acting as if older shinobi didn't know crap. Takuma wasn't like them. "He keeps his head down, does his work, and… he observes. There was a week where I worked every day with the recruits when I noticed that every time, he'd be the last to speak— he isn't mute or sparse with his words— Takuma observes first, takes people's points, and only then presents his thoughts."
Those were the traits he had seen many leaders. Whenever a topic was in discussion, they never put their thoughts out first so as to not taint others' views and lead everyone to accommodate the leader's view through their own. Instead, they went last to get everyone's perspectives and only then spoke their own. Of course, that wasn't all a leader was.
And Takuma wasn't without faults. He lacked initiative, didn't display charisma to gather people, and was frankly overly cautious, as if someone was constantly out to get him— perhaps beneficial in the field, but those types of people weren't well-liked from the get go.
"If you're worried about him being a slacker, you shouldn't be," said Setsuna. "You and yours will like him."
Yakumi didn't look convinced. Setsuna wasn't even sure why Yakumi even wanted this meeting because, from the looks of it, watching Takuma work from his own eyes was the only way to get the doubt and skepticism out.
"I don't like this new system you're trying to push," Yakumi frowned. "There's a reason why our people work in other departments before transferring to ours. It's a tough job. Do you think a kid like him will be able to take what comes with it?"
Setsuna had thought about it. Assigning people from outside the clan (and their allies) into every corner of the Leaf Military Police Force was supposed to be a message to all the clans in the village: The Uchiha were coming out of their shell, catching up to all of them who had been recruiting outsiders to boost the 'human talent.' It was also a message to everyone else: if they wanted resources and opportunities, the Uchiha clan was now a destination.
It was a declaration: the Uchiha clan was changing. And if anyone thought to underestimate them, they would come to regret it.
He understood Yakumi's department was hard to enter, and it was so for a good reason, but if he wanted to make the message mean anything, he needed to create an image that the Uchiha were fair. That even outsiders could reach places that one would think were reserved for clan members— even if it was half the truth, as long as people perceived it as entirely truthful, that's all that mattered.
Takuma was to be such an example. A walking, living, breathing poster of Uchiha's fairness and generosity, their willingness to work with those who showed promise. That if a shinobi named Takuma could join one of the most prestigious departments of the Leaf Military Police Force— so could they.
"I'm sure he'd be fine," said Setsuna— or at least that's what Setsuna hoped.
He had chosen Takuma for a reason. The psych evaluation attached in the confidential report, done after his Land of Frost, during the course of multiple interrogation sessions, showed him to be mostly mentally stable. What Takuma had gone through wasn't easy for a greenhorn shinobi.
First blood, losing comrades, giving them field funerals, and then crossing two nations all alone— if Takuma could keep himself together after all that, then Setsuna hoped that the boy could keep himself together doing the job Yakumi's department did.
"It's dangerous territory you're treading, Setsuna," Yakumi warned.
Setsuna nodded. "I know, my friend. I know…."
If Takuma could not?
Well, sometimes sacrifices were needed for grand causes to be successful.
He and the clan could only learn from their experiences and get better— just like how their Sharingan allowed them to grow stronger from every enemy thrown their way.
Setsuna looked at his blurry reflection on the tea's surface.
One day, the Uchiha would take what was rightfully theirs… and that day would be soon.
———
.
Takuma sat down in the corner of a large office space with a book on crime scene investigation and mapping in hand. Perhaps it was because of his experience in the academy, but Takuma found natural crowd noise to be the background noise for concentration. He read the text blocks on the pages, reading the academic text that was a slow slog to get through, but it was something that one of the teachers had recommended— and Takuma was feeling a strong sense of imposter syndrome, and learning more was the only way to keep it under control.
"Genin Takuma."
Takuma looked up from his book to see an Uchiha standing before him. He could tell from the looks. Takuma closed his book and stood up to greet the man,
"Good afternoon, Chunin Yakumi," said Takuma.
"You know of me?"
"Yes, sir. I was the outside help on the Higurashi pharmaceutical case," it didn't have a name back then— but the media had given it one.
A look of remembrance flashed across Yakumi's face. "Chunin Iruka was the one we brought in. Yes, I remember it now. And you were part of his team back then? I heard about the Land of Frost mission. How is he doing?"
"He has decided to take a break away from the field and has joined the Shinobi Academy as a teacher."
"An admirable route," Yakumi nodded, but his tone didn't hold no such sentiment. Takuma could tell that he had said it just for the sake of saying it. Yakumi continued, "Let's not waste any more of our day. It's time to introduce you to the team."
As Yakumi led him, Takuma felt nervousness creep up with every step. The training was something of a honeymoon period. It was tough, in some ways as brutal as the training under Taskmaster Yoshio, but it was very much an instructional training course where he was okay as long as he did what was asked of him. Do this, get that, and as long as he did it correctly, he was praised/not punished.
But the actual job was different because inside of the classroom was nothing like the real world.
Since he had found himself in the world, Takuma had never thought he had been handed something he didn't deserve. All of his skills he had worked to the bone to achieve them; his academy graduation gained through a year of misery; he had won the final tournament through grit and decisions that set himself for victory; his D-rank missions worked like a laborer; he got his Ring 'membership' because of his win at the final tournament and the gains through the Ring were an outcome of blood and sweat; he had nabbed his position at Iruka's team through a great impression and had retained his spot in every mission through pure results; even his drug dealing's earnings were a result of good service.
But the opportunity at the Leaf Military Police Force had come out of the left field. He hadn't sought it, nor had he wished for it. Iruka had thrown it in his lap as a way to take care of him.
Maybe because of that, Takuma felt he didn't deserve to be a part of the very illustrious organization. He felt that he needed more time, more skills, and more merit to earn.
He felt he wasn't ready for it.
"You'll be working under me…" Takuma buried his thoughts and focused on Yakumi, who continued, "So, I'll say this straight to your face. I dislike this arrangement, and you shouldn't be with us…."
That did wonders for Takuma's anxiety.
"People work hard to be in the position you've been handed on a silver platter. These aren't my thoughts, but everyone's." Yakumi walked one step ahead of Takuma and spoke without looking at him. "You will be under constant observation, your moves will be gone through a fine-tooth comb, and your peers will try to pick your faults to undermine you— so beware, make a wrong move, and it'll be announced and paraded through the department."
Takuma felt his feet turn into heavy stone. He pulled on his vest around his neck to let some air in as he kept his lips sealed shut. He felt Yakumi's every single word like a hammer through his body, mind, and spirit.
He was a drug dealer and underground prizefighter about to join official duty in the police. After the Uchiha, who would soon all be killed, he was the person in the most danger due to his occupation. Being under observation was the last thing he wanted.
But it was about to become his reality.
They arrived in front of large double doors that were fully open, and a raucous coming from inside. Yakumi turned to Takuma and pointed at the red strap around Takuma's arm with the Leaf Military Police Force insignia sewn into it.
"You don't deserve that." Yakumi looked Takuma in the eye. "But if you do the work, do it well, and prove without a doubt that you deserve to be here— then I'll personally help you to shut every doubter down.
Genin Takuma, welcome to the Leaf Military Police Force."
With a heart that drummed in his heart, Takuma looked above the double doors with a plaque bolted on the wall.
[Department of Organized Crime]
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Well, good to see more. Although, and I thought this earlier too...he should really just quit the drug-dealing. On the level of a direct dealer the profits are just way, WAY too low to merit the risks of military tribunal, and while Konoha might turn a blind-eye to mary-jane trafficking like they do the Ring... it's a behavior they (or more accurately some official in any faction with authority over Takuma) could change at any time to suit their agenda.
At this point, he's got the better job that pays more money, and frankly a lot less time on his plate between the new training, responsibilities, and self-determined training that Uchiha resources will increase the possibilities for. Oh, and the fact that Takuma is still adjusting to the Weapons Division in the Ring.
Trying to maintain being a drug dealer on top of all that, with great risk, for crappy amounts of money, just seems a bit too much like making the character clutch an idiot ball for the purposes of later drama.
At this point, he's got the better job that pays more money, and frankly a lot less time on his plate between the new training, responsibilities, and self-determined training that Uchiha resources will increase the possibilities for. Oh, and the fact that Takuma is still adjusting to the Weapons Division in the Ring.
Trying to maintain being a drug dealer on top of all that, with great risk, for crappy amounts of money, just seems a bit too much like making the character clutch an idiot ball for the purposes of later drama.
