--

木ノ葉戦記

KONOHA SENKI

Spyral 9

Chapter 23: Tazuna

--

Tazuna's shop was not much to look at, although it had been in somewhat better condition than what Naruto had expected, considering all he had seen out of the Wave so far basically consisted of a bunch of small shacks thrown together with a generous helping of pollution.

The place was two stories high, and there was a garage to the side with a couple of half-disassembled cars within. The building itself was washed-out due to years of existence, and there were cracks in the walls that one could see if simply glanced by. A few windows were shattered, but otherwise the place was alright. Compared to the rest of the neighbourhood, however, this place was as luxurious as anything.

Naruto had been picked for this mission due to Sasuke's current disability, as Sakura was needed to stay behind and guard the Yggdrasil, and as an unarmed combatant he was currently secondary to Sasuke. If anything happened to Shikamaru and Chouji, he had the honour of trying to protect them. To be honest, the blonde boy wasn't too confident in his abilities, but the pistol in his holster gave him a sense of security, even though he was sure he lacked the nerves to use it on a person.

Fighting a Gear was different, he had realized during the training Sakura had given him. When you fought a Gear, you did not see emotion, or a living being. All you were confronted with was a visor, and a giant robot that was trying to kill you. There was no moral issue there... all you needed to know was that you had to take him down first, one way or another.

When he had pushed Sakura down during training and stuck that paintball pistol in her face, however, the feeling was completely different. Never mind that the weapon was non-lethal and that it was only a training session, cold shivers had run up his spine as he was confronted with the face of his target, his victim. He had requested a break from training that entire day, just to get it out of his mind.

No. If the worst happened, he would use the pistol, hesitant or not. He just hoped that his unarmed fighting skills (Sasuke had drilled into him a couple basic Judo throws, just so he'd be able to take somebody down without beating them into a bloody pulp) would be enough to take down anybody who started trouble.

Knock. Knock.

Shikamaru rapped on the flimsy wooden door a couple of times, and Naruto could swear that he heard a bit of a crack in there. It was strange, thought the blonde boy, that somebody would leave their place so defenceless with the neighbourhood so bad. It was like asking to get robbed.

"Coming!" cried a grizzled voice from within. A couple seconds later, the door opened inwards to reveal an older man with a headband tied around his head. His eyes were pinkish, and there were black bags underneath his eyes. He also smelt slightly of alcohol, although it wasn't really all that strong. The man was definitely not drunk, although the possibility remained that he was rather tipsy. "What can I do you kids for? You the son of old Kamina... Shimon, aren't ya? Who're your friends? Tell him his car's still in the shop, and the faster he stops bothering me the faster I can get to work on it!"

Shikamaru sighed and held his nose. The smell of alcohol offended him; it was one of his pet peeves. Alcohol clouded one's judgement and impaired one's intelligence. To a strategist of his abilities (although most of the work was handled by Kakashi-senchou), he felt that it was a bane of humanity. His annoyance was compounded onto by the fact that it was clear that the man had been drinking for a while now, and it was only nine in the morning.

"Sorry, but I think you've got the wrong people," said Chouji pleasantly. He knew about Shikamaru's aversion to drugs of all kinds, and so fielded the conversation. "We're from the KAM, here to request your assistance in a couple of matters regarding our Gears. I presume you're Tazuna-san, then?"

"You presume right, son," asked Tazuna, looking a bit more closely at them. "The KAM, huh. Yeah, I can see it. You guys have the face shape of Fire Country boys. Haven't seen you guys around ever since Gatou came and took the country over, and now that he's gone you guys are popping up out of the woodworks, eh? C'mon, get inside. Ain't no conversation for strangers to hear."

The old man shuffled into the doorway, beckoning for them to follow. They followed in after him, making sure to shut the wooden door before going too far.

The place didn't look too different from within, either. Although it was two stories, it wasn't very big, and so a lot of things were crammed into small rooms that did not seem large enough to hold them all. Everything was old and of low-quality, but it was all furnished nicely and the place was clean. There was a kitchen here too, Shikamaru noticed. This doubled as a home then.

They entered his office, which was basically nothing more than a small desk situated within a larger room. Sunlight streamed in from the cracked windows, giving the entire place a rather pleasant feel. The old man, Tazuna, plopped down behind the desk after drawing up three chairs for them.

"So, boys," said the retired Gear mechanic. "I'm sure I told the community that I retired. How'd you kids find me?"

"One of your old colleagues," answered Chouji. "A miss Akagi Ritsuko. She's friends with my old man, so we talk a bit every now and then. She told me about you before... They call you Kinenmushin no Tazuna, even now."

The old man let out a barking laugh.

"Ha! I'm not surprised. My research was something that couldn't be forgotten so easily, even if not many people knew about the details of the project," said Tazuna, waving it off. "Even so, my reputation trickled down the grapevine until everybody turned their backs on me. The reason I'm in the Wave now is because I can't even get a job back in the Country of Water anymore."

Naruto felt the spark of curiosity flare up from within him, but said nothing. Shikamaru had told him to leave most of the talking to them, and he would abide by his order. Lazy or not, Shikamaru was still above him in the chain of command and infinitely more skilled in the art of conversation.

"We want you to coat our Gears," asked Chouji.

Tazuna looked at them carefully, before slipping out a bottle of whiskey from below the desk. Shikamaru looked at the bottle distastefully, but said nothing. He didn't like the stuff himself, but he would respect the lifestyles of others, alcoholic or not.

"Sure, not prob," said Tazuna. "How waterproof do you want it? If you want the higher-end stuff, you'll have to give me some time to get the materials. Gonna cost a shitload, considering it's gonna be imported from the Water and stuff like that is hard to find here in the Wave, so you better have the credit card of the Kagunou behind your backs, kids. Not to mention the 'rousing an old man out of retirement' fee. That's where the big bucks are."

Chouji blinked.

"Is that all? A little money?"

"Hey, kid, I'll have you know I don't charge chump change for jobs like this," grinned Tazuna, taking a swig from the bottle. "Once you see the numbers on your bill I expect that you'll be calling me to try and negotiate again."

"I just... don't know. I expected you to have reservations about being a Gear mechanic again," said Chouji, his eyes a little round. "I heard from Akagi-san that the reason you quit being a Gear mechanic was because of all the bad memories that came with the jobs..."

There was a silence for a while, and then Chouji started wondering if he said something wrong. That assumption was proven wrong quickly.

Tazuna's face changed slowly. His eyes, which had been filled with good humour and a light roughness before, shifted their sharp angles, becoming softer as he turned for a second to stare out the window. The whiskey bottle he put at the side of the desk, letting it sit softly on a pile of papers. Naruto quickly realized that Chouji had struck something with his words.

"Hmph, bad memories," said Tazuna softly. "What bad memories?"

Gently, he raised the bottle back up to his lips.

"I've never had a bad memory working with them..." smiled the old man. "I've never had a bad memory tinkering with those damn Gears of mine. Those were my children, you see. Some of those Gear mechanics out there, they treat those guys like nothing more than tools. That's not true, that's not true at all."

"Gears... they're not tools. I've never seen a pilot not bond with his Gear, not treat them as extensions of themselves. You don't know how that makes me feel, as a Gear mechanic and the person who makes these things... Who brings them together. It always feels amazing when I see you kids pilot one of my Gears... It's like everything in my world comes together and I realize that my work has meaning."

Chouji could not keep the admiration out of his face as he listened to the impromptu sermon. Although the name Tazuna was forbidden amongst the Mist now, he had once been a capable mechanic worthy of legends, and he was seeing the proof of it right now. Even his father had always spoken highly of Kinenmushin no Tazuna's skill, and had recognized him as one of the best in Gear mechanics in the Mist.

Shikamaru found himself thinking twice about his first impression of the man. Although his intelligence still seemed lacking to him, his integrity could not be denied. Here was a man who loved his work even when all it brought upon him was shame and poverty, here was a man worthy of some measure of respect.

Naruto looked past all that and found himself intrigued by the man's ramblings. He saw momentarily, not the face of an old retired mechanic, but the base face of all the Gear mechanics in the world. To think that his Gear had been created by somebody like this... He wondered to himself if the Firefox's creator approved of his piloting their creation, and what their thoughts were. Inwardly, he made a note to himself about finding out more about the history of his Gear.

"Hmph, if it wasn't for my family... Well, even with the stigma, I would've stayed there and continued working on my Gears," said the old man, taking another swig from the bottle which he had retrieved. "My daughter was still so young back then, and she wasn't really to take being the daughter of a socially-exiled man. For her sake I packed up my bags and came over to the Wave. We settled down, and I got myself a business. We do pretty well compared to the rest of the neighbourhood, but you're not here to listen to an old man talk about his life. Let's start talk—"

"Grandpa?"

Four pairs of eyes turned towards the doorway, and to the boy who was standing there. He was young, couldn't have been more than six years old, and he held a teddy bear with his right hand. His eyes were lidded with sleepiness, having apparently just woken up.

"Inari, you're up?" smiled Tazuna to himself. "Run along now, grandpa's got some customers with him. I'll be with you in a sec."

"Wanna play."

"Look, Inari," said the old man as he walked over to the boy and crouched down. He put his large, oil-stained hands on the boy's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Right now grandpa's doing some business with people, and it's very important, alright? I'm going to do something for them, and they'll give us money. You like money, don't you? Well, grandpa's trying to earn some right now, so you've got to be patient."

Inari looked down with the disappointed air that only children could have.

"No playing?"

"That's right. No play—"

"Um, if it's alright with you, maybe I could play with him?"

All eyes turned towards Naruto, who had spoken the words. Although the boy was generally very happy to be the center of attention, currently he felt a little out-of-place.

"You sure you want to do that, kid? Inari's a bit of a handful, y'know. Don't want to go and make my clients start doing things they don't want to, bad for business. The kid always wants to play anyway, so maybe..."

"I played with a lot of the younger kids at the orphanage before I became a pilot," answered Naruto, shaking his head. "So don't worry about it. Anyway, it looks like it'll be a bit of a bother for you if he just stays here."

"That's... that's true," nodded Tazuna. "Well, all of his toys are in the living room. I'm sure he'll show you the way."

Naruto felt a tugging on his finger, and looked down. Inari was grabbing onto his digit with a innocent smile on his face, and Naruto couldn't help but return the expression. For some reason it felt a lot like he was back in the orphanage looking over the younger children. Even if he was a pilot now, and his life was admittedly much better than it had been previous, he still treasured those days of spending time with his large foster family.

"You play with me?"

"Yeah. Yes. I'll play with you," smiled Naruto. "Lead the way."

Tazuna watched with a smile as Inari led Naruto out of the room, still tugging on his finger. They waited until the steps died down the stairs before resuming their conversation.

"Cute kid," said Shikamaru. "Your daughter's son?"

"Right," confirmed Tazuna. "Boy's energetic like his dad and kind like his mom. That kid'll grow up to be a heart-breaker one day, but until he grows up and gets out of here I'll be taking care of him."

"Where are your daughter and her husband, then?" asked Chouji. "Are they out at work or something?"

A flicker of something flared behind Tazuna's eyes.

"Ah... yes, something like that," said the old man, his tone a little more subdued. "Actually, they're out on a trip right now. It's gonna be a few weeks before they get back, so until then I'm taking care of Inari."

"I... see," said Shikamaru. "Well, let's cut the small talk and get straight to business..."

--

Naruto played with Inari for the better part of the afternoon, and he proved to be an incredibly energetic boy and fond of physical games like tag and hide-and-seek. Naruto found himself no slouch at those same games, but Inari's energy was impossible to contain, and he routinely escaped from his sight during tag and bounced from place to place during hide-and-seek.

Naruto had found himself almost becoming exasperated before the boy finally seemed to rid himself of that impossible vigour, and soon they found themselves playing a couple board games. The boy turned out to be a natural at Monopoly, although Naruto's innate luck had him beat. Chess was another story, however, as Naruto found himself constantly humiliated by the boy at every turn.

They soon finished with the board games, and Inari led Naruto back to his grandpa's office. Naruto waved to Shikamaru and Chouji as they entered, Inari still tugging him along by his finger.

"Grandpa, grandpa. I'm tired."

"There, that's a good kid now," grinned Tazuna as he looked at his little grandson. It did not take Sherlock Holmes to see that he held a large amount of affection for the little bundle of energy. "You want to go take a nap then and leave the niichan here for a bit? I'm sure he's plenty tired himself after playing with you for so long. Oh, and before you go, remember to say..."

"Thank you, niichan," said Inari with a cute little wave.

Naruto grinned and patted him on the head before standing back up and watching the boy walk off into another room, heading straight towards his bed. The blonde pilot turned back to his comrades and Tazuna.

"Well, what did I miss?"

"Not much, really," said Shikamaru. "We just finalized the agreement, and it turns out Tazuna has most of the materials here that we need already. We'll come back in a few days time to pick him up, and then he'll coat out Gears for us. Our business is basically done."

"Ah, cool," smiled Naruto. "Thanks, Tazuna-san."

"Don't worry about it," smiled the old man. "Thank you for taking care of Inari today. Usually the kid doesn't shut up, and he never gets so tired so quickly. You must have some sort of talent with kids or something, my daughter would love to learn your tricks."

"Ah..." smiled Naruto as he thought back to the days in the orphanage. It was always do or die in that situation, he either learned a couple of tricks to calm the younger kids down or drowned in a veritable sea of the little guys. "Well, I've had some experience."

Their business concluded, they were quickly ushered out of the office by Tazuna.

--

The old man watched from his second floor window as the jeep they had come in on bounded off towards the outer edges of the city, scaring a few of the bystanders as they went. Staring outwards for a few more seconds, he turned back inwards once he had made sure they were truly and completely out of the city.

He sat back down at his desk, and sighed. Gone was the old, rambunctious man who had joked around with his clients during the meeting and played a loving grandfather to his adored grandson. Here was a man whose spirit had been eroded away by time and unfair circumstances, stained with a stigma that he had been unfairly awarded. In all his life, he had never regretted a thing, although he was sure it was going to change with his next course of action. He had two choices, and either way was going to send him into the depths of his own personal hell.

He picked up the phone, and dialled a number. He waited for the other side to pick up, and they eventually did so. A rough voice came from the speaker, confident as though knowing exactly what he was going to say.

"Tazuna. You're the only one who knows my number."

Tazuna sighed. He was dealing with the devil here, he knew it. He was willingly sending several... perhaps not innocent, but at least naive children out into the lion's den. But the stakes were much higher than he was... In the end, he knew he didn't have a choice. The man on the other side of the line knew the same.

"Momochi. You were right. They've come."

--

On the bridge of the Underwater Fortress, Zabuza laughed as he closed the line. Turning around in his admiral's chair, he looked towards Haku, who had been standing behind him the entire time.

"You heard the man," said the rogue Shichibukai. "It's time to order another assault, now that we know those KAM fools are planning to attack us. We'll attack them when they're weakest, by attacking as they have their Gears coated. I leave you, Haku, to create a strike force. I want the strongest, and the fastest. We will overwhelm our enemies and not give them a single moment to recover... That is the way of the Mist."

"As you wish, Zabuza-sama," said the emotionless boy, although a glimmer of some strange, foreign emotion appeared deep within the darkness of his eyes. "If you'll excuse me."

The boy retreated from the bridge, and entered the corridor.

It was too bad that after that bout of Power, which had only narrowly glanced the target he had been intending to catch, his chakra levels were running low. Although his skill and talent could not be denied even by himself, as with all things he had a weakness. That weakness was his lack of chakra.

Technically, his chakra wasn't that low. Compared to most pilots out there, it might've even been considered quite high. Unlike those other pilots, however, Haku used Powers, and these Powers of his cost their fair amount of the energy that kept life going. As such, when he was at his best he was probably the strongest member of this rogue unit, but he quickly tired out in the middle of a fight, and that was his weakness. It was also the reason he never fought alone, instead preferring the company of several other soldiers that would gladly take his back in case anything untoward happened.

Thus, he had been barred from leading the next attack. It bothered him a little, considering that he was the sort of person who liked to take care of important things with his own hands, but he would not let it get to him. Zabuza-sama's orders were absolute, after all.

Perhaps it was serendipity that lead him to meet up with the designated leader of his strike force almost the second he left the bridge. The black-haired former Chuugun of the Mist looked at him, blinking as they bumped into each other at an intersection.

"Ah, Haku-kun," smiled the Chuugun pleasantly. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, although I still feel a little drained after that use of chakra," said Haku, smiling. Although Zabuza preferred an emotionless tool, that did not mean Haku could not socialize when his duties were not on the line. "How about you? Is Mizuki bothering you?"

"Ah, well. He's always a bit of a bother, honestly. I've gotten used to it now. Make sure you get plenty of rest, though, Haku-kun. You should always take good care of your body after a Power."

"Thank you for your suggestion. Oh yes, and I do have something for you."

The pilot's eyebrow rose.

"Oh? What is it?"

"I have been tasked with the formation of an adequate strike party to attack that KAM unit sent here," said Haku. "The one that we engaged in combat with several days ago."

"I see. What does that have to do with me, though?"

"Simply put, I've decided to put you in charge of it."

The former Chuugun's jaw dropped in surprise as Haku chuckled at the sight of it. Amongst the people gathered under Zabuza's command, there weren't a lot with such a genial personality as with this man. Although his caring nature was a hit with the other people on board, there were times when his abilities as a pilot and commander were doubted due to his preference to heal instead of hurt. However, Haku knew better. His abilities outclasses any other cons about him, and if given a goal he would fulfill it, even if it was something he would regret later on.

"Good luck with that, Iruka-san."

Umino Iruka, member of the rogue Mist unit, gaped as Haku glided past him.

--

Readers, I would like to introduce you to your soon-to-be-best-friend, Mr. Plot Twist. Although he'd much rather you just call him Plot, or Mr. Twist if you're really big on manners. Oh yes, and he'd love to introduce to you his two subordinates, Tazuna and Iruka.

Betcha didn't see that coming, did you?

As for the Sherlock Holmes thing last chapter. Well, it wasn't really on purpose. I realized halfway that it was turning into something it really shouldn't have, but at that point it would be too annoying to go back and change it all. Exposition is not my strong point.

Well, continue reading, I guess. Until next time, ciao.