Introverted

Chapter Fourteen

The mission was deemed a failure. Quiet silence was all that remained throughout the day, and the ensuing night, as the Genins reunited. Naruto remained quiet in a corner, his eyes transfixed on Aoba's Jounin vest, and more precisely on the spot where Ino's remains stood tightly kept in the scroll.

They left with the rising of the sun, and for once Naruto was glad nobody was even trying to talk to him. He didn't know if the other members of Ino's team blamed him or not, but he knew he didn't want to know. Ignorance was bliss, as the Kyuubi had so aptly made him discover.

"She will be missed, people will scream. Humans always scream." The fox demon's voice echoed through his head as he mechanically took a step after the other, silently standing next to Sakura and Sai. "They cry a lot too, even if I don't understand that. Why cry when nature just does what it is meant to do? Do you cry when a wolf eats a rabbit? Do you cry when a tree is felled by an axe? So why cry when a human is killed by another? Humans cry too much."

Naruto's eyes remained on the ground as he walked.

"Humans always think themselves special," the Kyuubi snorted. "I've got opposable thumbs! I've got a brain! I've got feelings! Stupid animals don't, trees don't, so I can cry and scream and think that my life is worth something more than be a mere passing instant of life! You pathetic egocentric creatures sicken me to the core."

He clenched his right hand, his gaze ahead now, to make sure he wasn't being left behind.

"They won't leave you here, don't worry," the Kyuubi muttered. "You're too precious for them. You're their Jinchuuriki! You could have been the one to kill the girl, heck, you could have raped her dead corpse and they wouldn't have even flinched. That is the law of nature and strength, the law of might and power. The powerful do, the weak obey. You can claim it false, but where the weak is strong there is anarchy and where the strong is weak there is chaos. The laws are strong only as much as those who make them and force them. The strong can burn and destroy, it can murder and kill. The strong can pillage, loot, rape, tear lives and laugh while the weak cries and screams in anguish, unable to cope and defend all that he holds dear."

He gritted his teeth, his hands clasping at his neckline.

"And I am the malice of the sinner and the sinned, the hatred of the murderer and the murdered. So I wonder why you think my whispers are false when I don't need them to be, for I have but to show you the truth so that you may crumble to dust, and then be carried away by the wind. Life isn't hell or shit or darkness, life is far worse. It is the unyielding revelation that nothing is good in the world truly, and that even the kind-hearted do this for a twisted and sick sense that the after-life is there for them to repent their sins. There is no Kami in heaven or Devil in hell. There is humanity's stupid belief of being something more when they are nothing else but beasts that trudge and walk upon the mud of this planet with sickening pride and prejudice."

He gagged for air, shaking his head.

"Deny all you wish, refuse truth all you want, but truth cannot and will not be denied. Believe in what sort of pitiful god you think exists, believe in whatever makes you sleep at night but know this: you already know there is nothing beyond life itself, but you refuse to listen. You refuse because then, your entire existence would be a lie. You refuse to accept nothingness because you think of it as an inescapable burden. Why have I suffered so much, if the end is nothing? Why have I forced myself to live through life, when no heaven or hell was there to wait for me? Why have I followed laws when nothing waited for me on the other side? Why have I not killed my enemies, quenched my thirst in their blood, if there was no punishment beyond death?"

He breathed slowly, letting the words of the beast wash over him as if they were nothing more than passing droplets of rain. He could ignore the Kyuubi, hadn't his mother and his grandmother done the same? Then again, if he did, he wouldn't be any better than them.

But his mother couldn't be a bad person now, could she? The Kyuubi had yet to lie. Sure, he would speak the truth only of things that made him grief, but he had yet to lie. The beast just had too much to lose if it did.

"Naruto?" the worried voice of Sakura, still grief-stricken, woke him up from his thoughts. "Are you all right?"

He smiled briefly at the pink-haired girl, before nodding quietly.

"Death is the only real thing in the world, boy," the Kyuubi whispered. "Like the Bijuus are forces of nature, not demons or gods of old, so too is Death nothing more than Nature itself claiming its toll. Romanticize it to be a grim reaper with a scythe, but in the end Death is nothing more than Nature reclaiming the rotten corpses of beasts who have done their time. Life is but a fleeting illusion, shrouded in malice and hatred and needs and wants of egoistic beings. Is she consoling you because she's sad, or because she believes that to be the right thing to do? Is she aiming to please the sensei, or to help you?"

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I should have…"

Sakura cringed and shook her head. "Naruto…you did what you could. Had it been me or Sai…we wouldn't have survived."

"It feels wrong," Naruto said then, shaking his head. "She had friends, family, love and happiness…she had everything and…it was taken away, like that, for no reason. And I remained behind. Why?"

"Survivor's guilt is unneeded in you, dickless," Sai quipped in the next instant. "You were trained better. You were stronger. You survived. It wasn't your fault."

"I shouldn't have left her there alone," he retorted. "I should have known something was strange."

"And what then? You would have died sooner." Sai's reply was monotone, without even a glimpse of heat as if he was just stating the obvious. "This death happened. You can do nothing to change this fact. You can only live on."

"But—"

"Naruto," Sakura muttered then. "It's all right," she said putting her left hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't do anything to help. It wasn't your fault."

"You couldn't do anything," the Kyuubi sing-sung. "You really couldn't! After all you had no idea what was going to happen, did you? Nobody told you of the missing-nins, nobody told you of who was a spy and who wasn't, and most importantly…nobody tried to warn you! Truly, you couldn't do anything at all!"

"Yes it was!" he snapped back. "It was my fault, all my fault."

"Shut it," Shikamaru's voice cut in from in front of them. His dark eyes seemed to bore into his own cerulean ones as the Nara spoke then. "Ino was a friend of ours since we were kids…but this wasn't your fault. She was bossy, always expecting to be right and petulant, but this wasn't your fault: she didn't train. Hell, we didn't train. I watched you fight the bandits, and I'm sure that clan-child or not, you'd win against any of us. So if you had no hope of surviving, what makes you think Ino had? You were just lucky…" he sniffed a moment, turning his blinking gaze back forward. "And Ino wasn't. That's all there is."

Chouji just kept on eating, albeit his frown was slightly more pronounced as it returned to stare forward.

"He wouldn't be able to defeat me," Sasuke said calmly. "I would have saved the civilians and the girl."

"Shut it Uchiha," Kiba snarled. "I swear if you say another word I'm going to shove my fist where the sun doesn't shine!"

"Sasuke-kun protected me from Zabuza! Naruto-baka would never have been able to do that!" Ami screeched.

"Silence you lot!" Kakashi snapped back curtly, for once showing a heat that he wasn't commonly renowned for. "One of your fellow Konoha shinobi died recently. Have some respect!"

The rest of the trip was spent in an uncomfortable silence with Aoba, Kakashi or Asuma not saying a single word. Even the medic Chuunins seemed quiet, and the Kyuubi silently stowed away. Except for Chouji's insisting munching, only their footsteps echoed throughout the forest.

The gates of Konoha were open as they returned beneath a wonderfully clear sky and a shining sun. The populace was milling about its usual business, as the three Genins of Team Thirteen delivered their written reports to their sensei, before turning to leave.

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, grabbing the boy's jacket by the back. "Let's go eat somewhere together! You too Sai!"

"I have an errand to run, Cherry," Sai quipped in. "Enjoy your date with Dickless."

The raven haired boy disappeared through the nearby alleyway, leaving the two stumped teammates behind.

"This isn't a date," Sakura snapped back at Naruto. He merely shrugged at that.

"Where should we go?" he asked then.

"We could get some ramen —there's this place that recently opened up," she answered back quickly, gesturing towards the opposite direction as the one Sai had taken. He hesitantly nodded, and began to walk next to the girl.

"Wait!" Sasuke's voice cut the air as they turned wary glances at the Uchiha. "We're in Konoha now. Fight me."

"We just came back," Sakura muttered. "Can't you wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm not talking to you now. Mission's over: Naruto can decide by himself," Sasuke's retort was filled with something akin to distaste for the pink-haired kunoichi, who looked offended at those words.

Naruto just frowned. The dark haired boy shook his head then. "No."

"Chicken!"

"Yes," he admitted calmly. "I am. We can go, Sakura."

"You're just a coward! You left the girl and ran, isn't it? That's how you survived! By running away!" Sasuke's words echoed as the two of them hurriedly made their way away from the last of the Uchiha.

The streets just seemed to swap one with the other with frightening speed, as they entered the areas of Konoha that generally weren't available to the civilians. The streets emptied drastically, and the number of flak jackets and forehead protectors increased with every step they took.

In a corner of one of the streets, a dingy looking shop stood with a painted insignia that recited in a scaly green and mottled brown the word 'Hebi'.

"Snake?" he asked then. "Who'd name a restaurant snake?"

"It's the place I talked you about," Sakura spoke then. "My parents bake the breads for their shop. They also serve ramen."

"You sure?" as they entered, Naruto couldn't help but be attracted by a set of glass counters holding within them various assorted sweets and salty treats. "It looks more like a coffee shop."

The walls were a soft cerulean blue, the chairs and tables of mahogany seemed to shine as the silk tablecloths seemed to sort of give the vibe of 'high class establishment'. The pavement was made of marble, thick black veins running along its tiles as was the norm for certain types of the rock.

"It is," a voice remarked from the side of the entrance. There stood a boy with pale white skin and red eyes, his hair a light blond that nearly seemed to be white. He was wearing a loose blue shirt and a pair of green trousers. "And it's also much more. Whatever the heart desires, we strive to serve," the boy smirked at that. "Table for two?"

Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably. This place reeked of high costs, and…

"Shinobi have discounts," the boy added then. "And all prices are affordable to begin with. We also take checks and as long as you leave us your shinobi id, we can directly take the money from your account." He seemed to still for a second, turning thoughtful. "We also guarantee confidentiality, especially with couples."

"We're not a couple!" Sakura screeched. "We're just…back from a mission."

"Oh," the boy nodded. "Want a quiet corner anyway?" he pointed to one of the room's corners, away from the entrance and in the lampshade. "There's also no ban on shinobi drinking, so if you want a stiff drink…"

"No thanks," Sakura blurted out as she followed the man towards the table. Naruto followed hesitantly. He hadn't had the reflex to use the Henge, but then again the shop had just recently opened, and his hair was black now. There was no way they'd recognize him, right?

He should have gone to talk with Danzo, but as it was he needed time to get his thoughts back. This seemed like a pretty normal place, with pretty normal stuff and pretty normal…pretty normal everything. It didn't even look as if he had just seen Ino's corpse days before. If somebody looked at him, they wouldn't see the boy who had nearly died against enemy shinobi, would they?

He had fresh clothes, he was slightly sweaty and probably smelled a bit, but nobody seemed to care. One of the shinobi sitting further away from the entrance was actually holding his right swollen cheek with a bleeding lip. He supposed that 'downtime' for shinobi was whenever they could, never mind showers or personal health.

"Ah! If it isn't Haruno-san," an older voice piped in from their side, as a portly looking man with a pair of mustaches walked over. "I just talked with your parents this morning: they always strive to provide me the best in baked goods you know? They were slightly heart-broken with worry at you not being back yet…but I suppose I can hardly fault you, such a nice looking man," he chuckled while winking at Naruto, who was actually surprised at such warmth in the man's voice.

Sakura sputtered back a hasty 'it's not what it looks like' but the portly man just laughed again.

"Well, well! Don't you worry about it! I won't be telling your parents you've been here with a boy," he winked, this time towards Sakura. "So, ready to order?"

"Kuro-san," Sakura mumbled. "It's really not what it looks like."

"Of course," Kuro remarked with a knowing nod. "Of course."

"Ramen?" Naruto hesitantly asked.

"Which type?" Kuro queried back.

"Ah, pork," Naruto sheepishly admitted.

"I'll have a salad," Sakura said then, before suddenly biting her lower lip and adding. "And anko dumplings."

"Anmitsu as dessert as always?" Kuro added then with a knowing look.

"Y—yeah," Sakura fidgeted as she admitted that.

"Good!" he then chuckled once more good-naturedly, before adding. "What about drinks then? Water, soft drinks, energy drinks, coffee…"

"You'd let someone drink coffee with ramen?" Naruto couldn't help but blurt out that question, as the man simply laughed once more before replying.

"Of course! Whatever the client desires, whatever the heart wishes for, we are here to try and give it through food. If someone wishes to drink coffee while eating ramen, it's their choice, not ours to make."

"I'll have water," Naruto hastily said.

"Me too," Sakura quipped in.

"Then have a pleasant wait," Kuro left a moment later, and as an embarrassing silence descended, only the soft sounds of people talking around them was left.

"Normality is hiding all that is evil and undefeatable behind a carpet of wistful ignorance," the Kyuubi spoke again, his voice soft and amused. "Killers and victims, all eat, drink and live their lives with the same verve and cadence as innocents, don't you know? To lie and put up a mask of mock normality is what humans are all about around others. The woman who laughs to the tasteless joke of the boyfriend, the man who smiles and nods to the girl he likes even if she's as plain as a plank board…the desire to rip the skull out of the person we hate which is suppressed behind half-assed smiles…"

"Naruto? Are you all right?"

He widened his eyes and shook his head quickly, trying to clear his thoughts. "Y-Yeah, sorry Sakura, it's just…Ino died and we're…well…we're here."

Sakura herself bit her lower lip a moment, before crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ino was my first friend," she whispered with a small croak. "I still can't imagine she's really dead. I think she's going to pop out from around the corner any moment now, yelling how she just wanted to play an act for Sasuke-kun or how she's going to wipe the ground out of me for being a big forehead or something like that."

The pink-haired girl wistfully smiled. "We used to do a lot of things together," her breath hitched, her shoulders began to tremble. "She was the first one to tell me my forehead wasn't ugly. I didn't believe her but I went along. She was everything I wanted to be…sure of herself, prideful, always with a smile and headstrong…" bitterly, she added. "And then she had to ruin our friendship and fall in love with Sasuke-kun."

Sakura's eyes looked down to the surface of the table, before whispering out. "I know you didn't run away, Naruto. You're not like that," she shook her head. "You'd have saved her if you had stood a chance. Yet I'm here thinking what would have happened…hadn't I gone and looked for Sai," her voice grew fearful. "What if I hadn't accepted? What if I had simply gone with Ino to wash the dishes? Would I have survived against them? And I can't answer that with a yes, Naruto. I can't because I know I wouldn't have lasted. The wound on your side…that would have killed anyone. Had I been there, had I not accepted, I would have been dead together with Ino." She shuddered.

"I don't want to admit it. A shinobi must never show their tears. A shinobi must never show their fears. A shinobi must rule in their emotions. A shinobi must not show any weakness. A shinobi must not fear death, but accept it…" she grimly stated each sentence with mechanic precision, before adding. "I'm not fit to be a shinobi. I became one to follow Ino and Sasuke-kun, me the civilian with pink-hair. Really, where the hell do you see pink as a good enough color to hide? And I never trained seriously, my stamina is pitiful still and there's really nothing I can seem to do to become stronger. I'm weak, ignorant and most of the time at the academy I just screeched like some sort of harpy." Her eyes shone with tears now, as she looked back up at Naruto.

"I know I'm going to be the next to die, Naruto, and I'm scared."

He clenched his own fists, his eyes narrowing on the trembling girl in front of him before he whispered back.

"No, you won't."

"Chains and shackles made of bonds shall twist your path to a new one," the Kyuubi whispered. "Aren't you planning on defecting? Where does Sakura fit in this? Do you think they'll let you and her go? Do you think you'll even manage to leave? Do not make promises you cannot keep, Naruto…they will only end in tragedy and tears."

"I won't permit it," he hissed out once more.

"Na-Naruto?"

"You're not going to die on the next mission, Sakura. You're not going to die on the following one too or the one after that again. You'll become strong with time and training, and Sai and I will protect you until you'll be able to protect us in turn. We'll speak to Aoba-sensei and ask for more training. We'll scurry the library for techniques available to us Genins, we'll learn about traps and what-not. We'll do everything we can to survive. I promise you this…it won't happen again."

Sakura just looked at him for a moment more, before a small smile stood etched on her face then. She cocked her head to the side as her eyes closed, while a smile blossomed on her lips. She stopped trembling, as her hands came down on her sides at the same time as she spoke.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun."

And then lunch passed by in a comfortable, for once, silence.

It was late at night, when in the Sarutobi compound four figures stood still in the darkness. All of the shinobi wore masks, but the stench of nicotine from one, the tuft of silver hair from another and the prim and mechanical pose of the third gave little doubt on the real identity of the men. The fourth one was dressed in the white robes of the Hokage, and the mask he wore was made of simple porcelain, colored a ghastly white.

"You knew this would happen," the gruff voice of Asuma was accusing, rather than neutral. "You knew Yagura would strike against the civilians. The attack was too organized, the missing-nin too prepared."

"It could have been any of us, Asuma," Kakashi spoke next gravely. "It could have been Ami, or Sakura. It should have been Sakura. We drew the lot. She swapped with Naruto, and we had no choice."

"They nearly killed the Jinchuuriki too," he retorted. "For all purposes, they were ready to kill him."

"It should have been a civilian's death," Sarutobi spoke calmly. "To hush it down quickly and quietly, try and pry out more from Kiri. Inoichi has unfortunately yet to come around, but when he does I hope he will not take out his anger against Naruto."

"It never was about helping the people, was it?" Aoba asked then carefully. "It was about sending probes to Kiri territory. See if there were any refugees with bloodlines among the border that might have slipped in with the hurricanes."

"Bloodlines will always be accepted into Konoha," Hiruzen remarked. "Beneath the leaves, all are equal."

"But some are more equal than others, isn't that right father?" Asuma bitterly retorted. "You told me to pass the team, that they would not be trained by me but by their clans. You told me everything would take care of itself and that 'tradition' was all the clans had to see. This 'tradition' destroyed my team and killed one of my Genins!"

"Fault the clans, not me," Hiruzen answered back with ease. "They should have trained their children more, like I did with you."

"And I ran away for years after that," Asuma snapped back.

"Maybe, but you were strong enough to enter the Daimyo's court, weren't you? And you are here, still alive and bickering against my ways. That is something not many other clan leaders can attest."

"Ino was an only child?" Aoba asked carefully.

"It is sad, isn't it? The idea of 'one and a spare' isn't something many clans do anymore. The Uchiha did, with Itachi and Sasuke, but I do not know about the others. The 'Spare' is usually kept hidden, to appear out at a moment's notice in case he or she is needed. Normally the spare is civilian, rather than Shinobi."

Kakashi drew out a long breath, before muttering.

"I think Naruto and Yakushi have a previous history of sorts," the silver haired Jounin was soon startled by the amount of concern that the Hokage's eyes showed him.

"Explain."

"He recoiled from him when the Chuunin came close to heal him."

"Any reason? Aoba?"

"He looked terrified, but there was nothing of the sort. I too checked, all the medical records were fine and Yakushi wasn't even his attending physician. They never met before," Aoba's face turned thoughtful. "It might be a similarity with someone else though. The same color of hair is common enough, and Mizuki's hair is pale white too, right?"

"More of a cerulean light," Asuma scoffed.

"Didn't know you had a discerning ability for colors," Kakashi quipped.

"Kurenai insists there is a difference between crimson red and petunia red..."

"As fascinating as this is," Hiruzen retorted. "We have other things to concern us with. I plan on Team Thirteen taking the silent graduation, anyone against it?"

There was silence, as everyone thought it over.

"If I may," Aoba spoke after a while. "Why not have them go through the first part of the examination, and then tell them to give up before the main event? It would display the required mindset of following the leader, even against personal gain."

"Even better, speak to each of them privately before the start of the second," Kakashi's eyes suddenly lit up. "Tell each of them that the third is optional like the second, and have them go through the entire second test without delivering the information to one another. Shinobi need secrecy after all."

"And what if instead they share the information? Telling one 'not to tell the others' is moot if all speak to one another," Asuma sighed. "I'd tell them all and let it be easy. The kids earned it."

"Nothing is earned without sweat," Hiruzen snapped. "We'll go with Kakashi's suggestion. Furthermore, the punishment for revealing the information to the others will be made to be the equivalent of an S-rank secret. They need to surrender in order to let the Clan children or the foreign teams pass. They will also have a secondary objective of taking out foreign shinobi and teams not of our liking. That would be enough."

"Sai and Naruto? Maybe, but Sakura's…" Aoba's words were cut short by the Hokage.

"Then train her more. Concentrate on her exclusively. If she's a weak link, then batter her up with steel until she becomes something strong. Sai and Naruto are both receiving private training on the side with yours. Give something more to the girl, Aoba."

"She's got excellent control; I was planning on Medic-nin and Genjut—"

"Not enough," Hiruzen snapped. "That can begin when she's a Chuunin, till then what else does she have? She was first in theory wasn't she? Stress her and see her point of breakage. Bring her to the Torture and Interrogation department; get her to learn the interrogation methods. She's a civilian, but that doesn't mean she can't be molded into a kunoichi."

"T&I clearance will be difficult to acquire," Aoba's words died in his mouth as the Sandaime's mouth twitched into the beginning of a smile.

"I said to bring her there and get her to learn. Osmosis training, Aoba."

"Fight with the monkeys to become a monkey?" Asuma's question seemed directed at the Sandaime, who merely chuckled before nodding. "Why though?"

"In our world, information is power. Truthful information is priceless and false information is condemning. Learning how to get the truth out of an enemy is possibly the hardest thing, and with Yamanaka Ino's death…"

"You plan on placing her on a Clan-only spot in the future," Kakashi's lone eye narrowed dangerously. "This never was about killing a civilian to make the point to the other generations. This was about killing a clan children, from the very beginning it—"

"Silence, Hatake," the Sandaime's voice was positively cruel in that instant. "So what if a position entitled to a Yamanaka clan member is now going to be left to ballot? So what if a civilian might have a better shot at it? It is just a random event and it holds no importance."

"It could have happened to any other clan children on the mission, the chances were far higher for one of them then for a civilian. The information was purposefully leaked to the Kiri Anbus, they were expecting me…father," Asuma's voice was croaked now. "They were expecting bloodlines."

"Maybe so," Hiruzen admitted. "But I did not leak anything. I knew of someone who would do so in my place, in order to make certain lessons stick."

"And you let him?" there was disbelief in Asuma's voice, his eyes slightly bulged out. "The Yamanaka clan has been an ally of the Sarutobi for decades, father. Why?"

"You cannot have power and multiple heads, Asuma," Hiruzen snapped back. "You can have secrets against the enemy, you can have secrets among your friends, but you cannot have secrets among your comrades. There is no such thing as a council of clan heads, but that doesn't mean something similar cannot or will not exist given enough time."

"Is that all? Is that really the only reason?"

"You speak as if I planned this, Asuma," the Sandaime spoke back. "You know what the true skill of a politician is? It is to find the way to profit in any situation, no matter where or when the opportunity presents itself. Had the attack been successful against Sakura Haruno, I would have spoken with Naruto about the true culprit. Had it been successful on another civilian, I would have stressed the need for the academy to increase their physical training, never mind the 'risks' for civilian ninjas to outperform clan children. Had it taken another clan child? It would have been the same as now. Sasuke was given to Kakashi for the sole purpose of keeping him protected, he wouldn't have died."

"This is why I went to the Daimyo's court, father," Asuma snapped back. "Everything with you is either a way to earn something or a mean to an end!"

"You can't truly be that naïve still, Asuma!" the Sandaime retorted hotly. "Haven't you come back because you had grown disillusioned with the politics of the capital? Half of the guardians rebelled against the Daimyo for a reason, didn't they?"

Asuma remained quiet afterwards. Calmly, the Sandaime turned his gaze to the other two.

"Aoba, you have your orders. Kakashi, find anything on Yakushi that we can use to get him out of Konoha, similar or not, Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and if he snaps…I need not tell you what will happen then, do I?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." A flurry of leaves later and only Asuma remained in the room with his father.

"Why must you always make things this difficult, son?"

"Why are you making this sound easy!?" Asuma's right fist slammed against the nearby wall. "You've changed since mother's death."

"No," Hiruzen shook his head wistfully. "Biwako was many things, but not the reason. I never changed, Asuma. You just got better at seeing through the hidden beneath of the underneath."

"Why trust Aoba?" Asuma asked then cautiously. "I understand Kakashi, but Aoba?"

"He is a shinobi from a civilian family," Hiruzen began carefully. "He, more than anyone else, can relate to what is happening. Konoha was birthed from the union of clans, but to dismiss the civilians only because they do not share the blood? Many of the Inuzuka techniques can be taught to outsiders, the Yamanaka's special ability is but a skill learned in youth. The Doujutsus might be impossible to subconsciously use, but the Tenketsu points in a body rarely move, and anyone can learn to mold chakra in their fingertips or have keen enough eyes to see an enemy Chuunin go through the hand signs for a technique. We make our bloodlines resemble myths of might and power, but the moment we start believing that ourselves…that is the moment we lose."

"We don't have a bloodline."

"Exactly. The problem with classes of citizens is exactly that: what makes you think that tomorrow the requirement to be from a 'shinobi' clan will simply be the surname? What if only bloodlines were to be required? What if only special skills? Asuma, we of the Sarutobi clan summon monkeys, but the true strength lies not in them…but in our ability to adapt. Humans are not inherently stronger than beasts, but we learned to circumvent that with tools, didn't we? The Sage of the Six Paths circumvented war with the use of Chakra, and defeated the demon, the Juubi, with said power. Do not forget that to adapt is to survive…in life and on the battlefield."

"So…who will I get as a replacement?" Asuma asked slowly.

"A certain Mareboshi," Hiruzen smirked.

"Kosuke? Kosuke Mareboshi?" Asuma whispered, wincing and swallowing a lump of nervousness in his throat.

"Yes, the eternal Genin himself," Hiruzen acquiesced. "It will be for the best. He'll help both Shikamaru and Chouji to cope with their loss, and even if he decides to avoid graduation…he'll be an asset during the previous tasks."

Asuma clenched his right fist. He knew there was something else about this settlement. He knew there had to be a reason for this. Was it a test of his teaching skills? Was this some sort of sadistic way of making him a clown of the entire Konoha? The son of the Hokage teaching the strongest Genin, because he clearly needs Genin who can fend off for themselves and do not risk dying on his watch?

He turned to leave, only for the final words of the Sandaime to strike home.

"Don't slack off now, Asuma. Dark times are coming…the Darkness is moving, and when it does come…I hope Kami will still be able to put up a good fight."

To those words, he had nothing to answer back.

And so he left.

In silence.

Author's notes

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