It wasn't even morning when the six of us stood near the main gate, and I mean me, Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya-sensei, Ashina, and Fugaku. Mom and Dad had already said their goodbyes at home, hugging Minato for minutes before letting him go. Mom even packed enough food into his bag to support a full-on military campaign.
"You know," I said, "If you come back weaker than I, I'll be disappointed."
"If you are weaker than me when I come back, I'll be too." He shot back, grinning at me, and I couldn't help but grin the same way.
Haaah... One week sounds like plenty of time, but when people tell you you have one week for resting, it flashes by. Unfair. However, I wasn't the one who took it the hardest. Naturally, it was Kushina, because she was awfully quiet. She wasn't crying or anything, but... you could tell she wasn't herself either. I was just about to say something when, out of the blue, she elbowed me out of the way.
"Move."
"What?" I chortled, rubbing my side, and before Minato could react, she hugged him, almost squeezing the life out of him.
"Don't you dare not come back, dattebane!"
"That's a confusing way to say it." Minato blinked, trying to get some air, only to be squeezed even harder as I heard his spine begin to crack. "I get it, I get it! I'll be back soon, promise!"
"Khm," Jiraiya finally stepped forward. "We really need to go."
I looked at him and groaned, shaking my head because he did break them up in the end, making Kushina pout.
"Still won't tell us where?" she asked, but Sensei wouldn't budge.
"No."
"What if I guess?" I joined in, my smile growing.
"You'll still get no confirmation." He answered plainly.
"Mount...?" I began, but before I could finish, he already raised a hand.
"No."
"I didn't even finish!" I argued, but there was simply no chance to try and ask, even though I was pretty clear where they were going. Duh.
In the end, there was nothing else to say, and we just watched as the two began walking away, slowly but surely disappearing into the darkness, way before sunrise. Weird... That's all I could say to myself. It was a weird feeling and... I couldn't help but wonder when I would see him again.
Huh. So that was that. For the first time since we were six... we weren't going to talk or train together. Damn, I got used to it... eh?
"Stop making that face." Kushina snorted, elbowing me hard. "I am his girlfriend, not you!"
"What face?" I moaned, rubbing my side.
"The sad one!"
"I'm not sad."
"Your eyebrows are doing the thing... Stop it, dattebane. It makes me angry! Hmph!"
"Well then," Ashina turned toward the village, putting a hand on Kushina's shoulder, "We should go too, because your training can't wait either."
"Now?!" She asked, exhaling her frustration.
"Now indeed."
"It's not even... sunrise or something, dattebane!"
"Excellent."
"How is that excellent?!" She moaned as the old man pushed her forward, making the two disappear without even saying goodbye to me. But I guess we would meet later anyway...
"Have fun!" I yelled after them, only hearing a faraway cry of something-something and a muffled dattebane. "So..." I turned, looking at the last leading figure standing there with me. "What are WE doing?"
"Follow me." He said simply and started walking, and I fell a step behind him.
"Where?" I asked, but there was no answer. Oh well... We didn't go toward a training ground; that became obvious immediately. Instead... Ah, I see. I recognized where we were going. "So this isn't training time, yet?"
"Take everything as your training from here on out."
I fell silent for a moment as we entered the Uchiha shrine ten minutes later, down the concealed staircase, straight into the room with the stone tablet. To my surprise, Mikoto was already there, with the usual group: Hano, Kanna, Shunpei, Reiho, and, of course, little Tetsuma... My favorite mate of a lifetime. He was already scowling before I even entered, quickly pulling his scarred hand away when my eyes locked onto it. Hehehe... Fuckface.
"Don't." Fugaku didn't even look back, making me pout and roll my eyes.
"What?"
"You know what. You are a higher-ranked Uchiha than him; start acting like it."
"..." Okay... that... surprised me, but it made me nod, too.
Sadly, that also means no fun allowed, huh? Suuure... as long as he doesn't start provoking me. When we stopped, I sat on Fugaku's right, while Mikoto took his left, which only soured Tetsuma's expression further. Perfect. Good morning to you too, sunshine.
"You all may wonder where I was in the past week." Fugaku began, and sure enough, we did wonder about that. I only knew he went missing for a few days, along with a few other key players, including Jiraiya, Ashina, and Sakumo. "Seven days ago, the wartime council approved a surprise offensive operation against Kumogakure and Kirigakure, with me being one of the leads."
"What?" Shunpei asked, taking it right out of my mouth. Exactly! What?
"You heard correctly." Fugaku nodded. "Their command structures were already destabilized after the Hokage killed their leaders. Their senior leadership was focused on succession, so their internal chaos gave us the best opportunity we could have in this war. In the end, I went to Kiri myself, and with a team of ANBU operatives, we destroyed their main ports and docks, crippling their ability to launch any of their fleets."
So... You did a Pearl Harbor on them? I almost asked out loud, but I just hoped they wouldn't have a secret fleet ready to whip out of nowhere and start island-hopping towards us.
"Whatever ships were in their main harbor suffered significant damage," Fugaku added, giving me a look like he'd read my thoughts, reassuring me. "Kumogakure was more difficult. Their village itself remains heavily defended, even without the Raikage, so the operation focused on access and logistics rather than hitting their village."
"So... What did we target?" I leaned forward, curious.
"With Sakumo's lead, the group hit all of their supply depots surrounding their village, aiming to cripple their flow of resources. According to the reports, their losses are significant enough to keep them from meaningfully entering the battlefield until they rebuild and can guarantee an unbroken supply to their troops. Simply put: They can't go beyond their current borders."
"So, two Great Villages are out of the question for now. Nice..." I smirked, crossing my arms.
"And several principles we used came from your Chūnin examination paper. We are still revising it to adapt its... ideas."
"Oh?" I perked up, still grinning. "My exam answer is now military doctrine. Cool!"
"Parts of it. Don't get cocky." He snapped at me while Mikoto covered a smile, turning away. Only Tetsucchy wasn't smiling, but fuck him. "The final conclusion is that the operations were successful enough that current Intelligence estimates neither Kiri nor Kumo will be capable of mounting a large organized campaign against the Land of Fire in the immediate future. So, we decided to use that time to reinforce ourselves at the borders."
"Even if we are focusing on that, our next responsibility should be finding Orochimaru." I interjected, "He could have ample knowledge about our defenses, and if he defects to one of the others, he could bring troops in through our front door."
"Yes," Fugaku muttered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Kanna, tell him."
"Hm?" I turned, because apparently, we were already working on that?
"Several previously hidden facilities associated with him had already been discovered by our forces. They mostly contained medical equipment and human... material. However, we simply can't tell where he is now or where he is hiding, but we are pretty sure he is no longer within the country."
"Tsk..." I couldn't help but click my tongue because I agreed. I just don't remember where his hiding holes are... Damn snake. "What about Danzō?" I asked, making Fugaku throw me a glance.
"Contained."
"Huh?" I blinked. "Contained as in... Face down, so when he gets reanimated as a living corpse, he starts digging downwards?"
"Renjiro."
"What?" I asked, raising my voice a little. "He is a danger to us, to the village, an absolute liability to everyone else. Kill him."
"That is a collective decision, not just ours, and the council hadn't decided about it yet." He answered, signaling with his tone that the topic was to be dropped. So... I stopped, at least for now. "The Police Force has been assigned a significant role in locating Orochimaru, and we are to work with the Inuzuka clan on that."
"And we are already preparing the teams," Kanna said, nodding. "We have some leads that we can follow."
"He has false identities. Safe houses..." Shunpei added, frowning a little, "Not to mention his own summoning contracts and plenty of underground contacts. Finding him could take years."
"If you locate Orochimaru..." Fugaku warned them after nodding, acknowledging the difficulty of the task before them, "Do not engage him if you are alone. He is one of the Sannin, so when facing him, use two-man teams, preferably three. You do not attempt capture without reinforcement." He added, making sure they were listening, especially Tetsuma.
"He is one man." The idiot answered, crossing his arms and making me smile, but this time I stayed silent. Go ahead, try it. You aren't Itachi, you fool.
"He is one of the most dangerous shinobi produced by this village." Fugaku warned him, "Unless you can stand up to me, or defeat Renjiro in under five minutes, you are not to face him alone."
"Huh?" Everyone, including me, turned toward Fugaku after hearing him. "Did I become a standard measurement?" I blurted out, and some of the others laughed, while I suddenly felt very proud. Heck yeah!
"Hano." Ignoring me, Fugaku continued, "You are to command the Fire Country interior search. Focus on abandoned stations from the Second War, and make sure to check every medical supply theft that gets reported."
"Yes, Chief."
"Kanna, you are responsible for the Village-facing investigation. We may have missed hidden clues left inside. Start with hospital records, missing equipment, and people. When that's done, look for possible individuals who worked with Orochimaru directly or indirectly."
"On it, Chief." She nodded seriously.
"Shunpei, you are going to coordinate our movements with Intelligence, mostly with the Yamanaka and Nara clans. Make sure our intel flows without issue, exchanging police and military records between the groups, since we are now working as one entity. As for you, Reiho," he added, "I need clan archives cross-referenced against every property, tunnel, battlefield shelter, and abandoned Uchiha holdings that Orochimaru could have accessed over the last twenty years. Scour everything we ever owned and tally up what may have gone missing."
"That will take time."
"Just do it," Fugaku answered, shaking his head and finally turning to the last member of his council. "Tetsuma. Your responsibility is to keep watch within the city, and act as counter-intelligence."
Tetsuma didn't look thrilled about missing out on a glorious assassination assignment or something... instead, he would be stuck in the village and do... Police work. I guess he was about to ask for something, but we weren't done; I was still without a job, and naturally, it was my turn.
"Renjiro."
"Yes?" I asked, smiling a little, ignoring Tetsuma's gaze.
"You will travel toward the Ame border with me. We are leaving tomorrow."
"Oh? Ame?" I asked, "Going back? So soon?"
"Turns out, yes." He answered, pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to me.
It unfolded strangely, like origami, and as I read it, it was a request to negotiate with Konoha, naming me as their guarantor and the first person they want to speak to. I could already tell before taking it from Fugaku that it was Konan's work.
"Current Intelligence suggests that after Hanzo's death, this Akatsuki... They sprang into action, and by now they control several major sectors of Amegakure. According to our predictions, they'll take over the country in the next month or so. So, you will go and find out if we are right or not. We do need allies..."
"You cannot be serious!" Tetsuma spoke up just then. "For something like this, you are sending a Chūnin?!"
"Yes," Fugaku answered without waiting.
"Do we have a counter for how many times he says that?" I asked, laughing.
"You think this is funny?!"
"A little." I nodded. "You see, the reason why I'm going is that they asked for me." I continued, throwing the letter to him. "Why? I know them; I've actually spoken to all three. I fought beside them. They saved my life. I helped them kill Hanzo. And lastly... I'm more important than you."
"What did you say?"
"You heard me," I said, pointing toward his palm. "Your hearing wasn't injured when your hand was."
To my surprise, his Sharingan activated, and so did mine... and I was faster. The next moment he was frozen in place, his three tomoe stopping their spinning motion as his mouth slightly opened, but instead of words, he began drooling.
"That's more than enough," Fugaku said, and I blinked at once, my eyes returning to normal, ending the genjutsu and letting Tetsucchy out of it, who slowly blinked and then hurriedly wiped his lips, his Sharingan remaining active.
"What authority will I have?" I asked calmly, ignoring Tetsuma's gaze.
"You are to open the discussion, but you aren't authorized to make a decision; that will come down to the council. However, they will take your input seriously. For now, just make the first official contact. As for this trip, I will accompany you alongside a team of shinobi. While I will play the role of your advisor, you will be the team leader."
"What?" I flinched... He will play the role of my what? Even the others looked on, surprised, but Fugaku kept his face pretty stoic.
"As you heard. You will also command a three-man team as your subordinates. I will only step in when your decisions go off the rails... if they don't, I will not act. Training is not only about martial prowess." He added, finally smiling a little, "You need a sharp enough mind, too."
"Am I being fast-tracked?" I asked suddenly, and finally, Fugaku did smile, giving me a nod.
"If this mission goes well... your rank as Jōnin will be guaranteed."