Bridges and Pillars
Chapter 11: Minor Consequences
Disclaimer: If you want the real story, get off this site.
In the end, it couldn't be avoided, Mebuki thought with a heavy sigh. It was only halfway through the academy year and the academy was holding an early graduation ceremony or, more specifically, they were holding a war promotion ceremony. To her right was Kizashi, still in his wheelchair with Sakura in his lap; both in matching blue and green spring yukatas, Sakura's more decorated and feminine as she was the girl of the two. To Mebuki's left were the Uchiha clan heads and Tsume, who looked like a pouting child holding a slumbering toddler.
"I can't believe this," Tsume hissed under breath, "After spending eight hours arguing and this still ended up happening."
"On one hand I'm happy for his graduation," Mikoto smiled at the ceremony in front of them. "On the other, I wish it would've happened two years from now, not today."
"Same," Mebuki sighed.
"I'd prefer it if he graduated when he was twelve like a normal genin," Kizashi chuckled weakly, earning himself fond smiles from everyone else. Standing before their Hokage, giving their unfailing fidelity speeches, their three seven-year-old children stood side by side. Hana, dressed in a green qipao top with black shorts, stood to the farthest right of the trio. Itachi, dressed in typical Uchiha long sleeve and sweats, stood to the farthest left of their newly appointed team. Itsuki, dressed in dark blue khakis and a red qipao shirt, stood solemnly in the center.
"I now promote the Kinserō team, comprised of Itachi Uchiha, Itsuki Haruno, and Hana Inuzuka, under the instruction of Kakashi Hatake, into full enlistment!"
"Wait, what?!" the three mothers shouted together in surprise.
"I thought Genin teams had numerical numbers?" Kizashi questioned in surprise, not quite comprehending everything through the burst of excited whispers.
"It's rare but sometimes they're given their instructor's surname," Fugaku frowned in thought.
"Honey," Mikoto smiled, setting a hand on her husband's shoulder, "I love you."
"I should hope so," Fugaku smiled at his wife, "I brought your favorite chocolates today."
"Oh?" Mikoto stared at her husband, a smile on her face that clued the two mothers into her thoughts.
"Uh, guys, children are present," Mebuki reminded them.
"They're distracted," Tsume sighed, "but we should save them."
The three nervous newly minted genin yelped in surprise as their mothers tackled each of them, laughing loudly and coddling the three. It was a good thing for the children, they didn't need to dwell on their silent classmates and polite-but-not-sincere clapping of their teachers. Hiruzen noticed and he was less than pleased with the view. He had known the three were outstanding, that they had isolated themselves but his mistake was thinking their isolation was voluntary. It was clear to him now that the three had been pushed together by their unsupportive classmates.
I feel an ominous shadow stretching out to meet me, Hiruzen thought as he watched the mothers rotate their children towards the two husbands and towards the nearest exit. Now for my next problem.
He might've forgotten to inform a certain Anbu captain to step down to Jonin.
"You did what?!"
"Oh come now Kakashi-kun, you've been hospitalized for an entire month already," Hiruzen smiled at the young man. "I've already read what the nurses say about your condition. So I already know that you'll need a long time to properly recover from that injury."
"I don't want to be a teacher damn it!"
"Ah, well, since you'll be recovering for some months might as well spend that time helping the next generation!"
"Hokage-sama!"
"Alright, alright, I'll give you a reason to teach them." Hiruzen sighed heavily. "Two are clan heirs," Hiruzen stared down on Kakashi as seriously as he could, eyes narrowed and jaw tightly closed to prevent a scowl from shaping his wrinkled face.
"I doubt that's your only reason," Kakashi observed coolly. He's pissed about something… but what?
"Your third is the last male of the Hattori clan," Hiruzen stated as calmly as he could. "His grandfather, on his father's side, is the reason behind the attack Kumo gave us."
"What do you mean?" Kakashi questioned.
"His name is Keitsuki Haruno," Hiruzen answered as slowly as he could to prevent himself from snarling like he wanted to. "He is our Daimyo's right-hand man. No, that's not right. I should say that he is our country's true Daimyo."
"What?"
"He has four sisters and eight aunts in the imperial harem," Hiruzen began. "His elder sister, Shiori Haruno, is the Daimyo's current favorite wife and the woman in the harem with the most power. The Daimyo has his seat thanks to the Haruno family. However, the Haruno family are infamous for their polygamist households and unrivaled hatred of Shinobi. Keitsuki's second son, Kizashi Haruno, was disowned when he was eight years old. He arrived in our village and graduated from our academy the following year with top marks. He married Mebuki Hattori, the oldest living Hattori at present, and had two children: Itsuki Haruno and Sakura Haruno. Itsuki-Kun is your third genin."
"Why would you place him on my team though?" Kakashi questioned, "more importantly, why with two clan heirs?"
"Itsuki-kun, Itachi-kun, and Hana-chan, were responsible for distracting and rescuing the Hyūga clan's three-year-old heiress during the attack," Hiruzen explained. "Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to keep them in the academy. They're now graduated and waiting for you to be discharged from the hospital before taking any missions."
"So, I have two heirs and a little boy with a target on his head?" Kakashi scowled at his Hokage, "Why do I get the troublesome brats?"
"Itachi Uchiha and Hana Inuzuka are both the children of Mikoto Uchiha and Tsume Inuzuka, both mothers are quite close to Mebuki Haruno."
"The female Hattori?"
"Yes,"
"Why do I feel as if I was given a literal trash mountain to take care of?"
"Kakashi-kun, I'm only assigning you as their jonin instructor because I know you can protect them," Hiruzen admitted softly. "Hana's father is a steadily growing in power merchant, who knows what his plans are for the future. He was not happy about giving up his custody of Hana. Itachi is the Uchiha clan heir and genius of the century. He only remained in the academy as long as he has because he didn't want to leave Hana and Itsuki behind. Itsuki's grandfather will treat him as a breading machine before throwing the boy away. No matter what happens, you must protect that boy."
"Aren't girls usually the target for those things?" Kakashi questioned, referencing the last problem with a confused tilt of the head.
"In most bloodlines, it is passed through the females however that is not the case in the Haruno family," Hiruzen sighed heavily. "Their pink hair is passed on only through the male line, the females born into the family may have pink hair but their decedents won't."
"Weird but okay," Kakashi sighed, "Does that mean they have a bloodline?"
"Does being a cash-hoarding-god count?" Hiruzen questioned, "what about being a manipulative snake bastard that kills off anyone who displeases him?"
"When did we start talking about Orochimaru?"
"I was talking about Keitsuki Haruno but yes, he's a disappointment too."
(somewhere in a dark dank hole there was a sickly-white man who sneezed repeatedly, spilling three liquids and blowing up his small lab.)
Itsuki sighed as he jostled his baby sister against his chest before sitting down on his bed. His Jonin instructor was still hospital bound for the next month but he sent a stand-in jonin to help with their basic training for the time being. Technically, the stand-in Jonin was for Itsuki's benefit, seeing how he was the one with most damage taken during the Hyūga-kidnapping. Hana had her clan and her elders were currently drilling her in their techniques. The same could be said for Itachi, his mother is taking him to her old training grounds and drilling him till their Jonin instructor is free from the hospital. Itsuki felt bad that his teammate (and best friend) was at the mercy of his former Jonin-mother that now took it upon herself to teach her son every unholy trick there was to survive the battlefront.
"Anii?" His little sister pulled back from his shoulder, shoving one hand into her eye as if she just awoke. He knew better. Sakura never truly slept at any point in time, except when he drugged her and kept her within reach. Most of the time she was in a fragile state of meditation, he could always feel her chakra twirling in tightly controlled patterns. "Anii?" Sakura yawned cutely and blinked sleepy jade eyes at him, curiosity shown in those luminescent depths in a way he hasn't seen since the first time he got to hold her.
"You can't come with me anymore, okay?" Itsuki sighed heavily, mentally preparing for a mental breakdown of a lifetime. "I'm not going to the academy anymore… I've become a genin now."
"Gen-kin?"
"Ge-nii-N,"
"Gen…nin?"
"That's right," Itsuki smiled at his sister. "I'll be taking on missions and doing some dangerous training sessions every day now. So… I… I can't bring you with me anymore."
"Hm," Sakura blinked slowly, her jade eyes fogging over in thought. "Anii is a Genin. So… I can't be with Anii anymore?"
"You'll see me at night after training," Itsuki smiled at her. "You'll have to be good for mom and dad, okay?"
"hm… wha-bout Sasuke and Kiba?" Sakura asked, "I see or no see?"
"Ah… I think mom and dad are looking for daycares for you," Itsuki smiled nervously, trying to dodge the question. "I'm sure you'll see them again… hopefully soon."
"Hm," Sakura stared up at her brother, her round face scrunching into a frown.
"Wha-what i-is it?"
"if… if Ani gets owy," Sakura's face flushed and she ducked her head, trying to hide her blush. "Then… I wanna treat it!"
"huh?"
"I'll put band-aids on all of anii's owies!"
"Wha?"
"And kiss the booboos away so Anii doesn't feel any pain!"
"Ah… haha… hahaha," Itsuki's stumbled chuckles grew into laughter, his face splitting into the biggest grin he's ever worn. "Does that mean you'll be a medic when you grow up?"
"Me-ick?"
"Med-ick," Itsuki chuckled the correction. "They save lives and prevent people from dying."
"Dy-shing?"
"Dying," Itsuki bit his lip, wondering if he should tell her that now or if he was once again taking another job away from his parents. "Dying is… its… it's when someone goes to sleep… and they don't wake up."
"Huh?" Sakura tilted her head, "Is Anii dying?"
"No, no," Itsuki reassured quickly. "Dying happens when… when one's body can no longer keep their soul here in the living world."
"Soul?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Yeah, soul," I hate myself, Itsuki felt like crying as he stared down on his baby sister's face. "it's uh… well for a lack of a better word, a soul is similar to chakra. Only the living have chakra."
"Catch-ra," Sakura repeated, nodding her head resolutely. "Catch-ra E-k-wills living. Catch-ra is a good thing!"
"That's right!" Itsuki laughed, patting her head affectionately. "If you become a powerful enough sensor, then no one will be able to hide from you!"
"Sen-core?"
"Sen-soar," Itsuki corrected. "a chakra sensor is very rare and only those with the highest affinity for chakra control can become sensors. Although some clans are genetically prone to chakra sensing."
"Hm," Sakura stared up at her brother, big eyes blinking slowly at him.
"Eh? What is it Imoto?"
"Anii… teach me!"
"Huh?"
"Anii teach me med-icks! I wanna save Anii! And everyone whose ever gotten hurt!"
"hahaha, you should be asking Tsunade-hime for that!"
"Nope," Sakura smiled at him, "Aunty Tsuna is leaving for journey!"
"She's what?" Itsuki's laughter was abruptly interrupted by his question, his storm blue eyes wide in surprise.
"Aunty Tsuna is going on journey!"
"Do you know when?" Itsuki asked, fists wrapped around his heart, threatening to squeeze the life-juice out of his vital organ.
"Soon," Sakura smiled as if she didn't understand the significance. Which she most likely didn't, considering she just turned three.
"Alright," Itsuki sighed, "I'll get some books from the library tomorrow and we'll both study."
"Okay!" Sakura giggled, jumping up to wrap her arms around his neck. "Saku loves Anii most!"
"hahaha!"
in a cold and dark mountain villiage
"So basically, you failed your mission, revealed your intentions and now Konohagakure knows of my existence, my plans, your plans and the grand scheme of the painfully crafted attack force I helped you create." The man sitting in the chair on the other side of the table stared down on the paperwork before him as if his artic blue eyes could turn the papers into ashes if he glared long enough.
"That is correct," the Raikage agreed with a blank look. How does he know that Konohagakure knows of his existence, much less what the grand scheme was?
"You sent in undercover shinobi: fifteen jonin, thirteen chunin and two genin to infiltrate Konohagakure and kidnap one. Little. Girl." the old man set the papers before himself down and stared the Raikage down. "Yet, magically, all of your shinobi seemed to have forgotten the primary reason for their presence in that disgusting village. your shinobi failed to locate and retrieve my two grandchildren. They couldn't even locate a crippled middle-aged man. Now you tell me… what was it again? You're sorry?"
"I do apologize for the inconvenience sir," the Raikage retorted blandly. "There simply had been no time too—"
"No time?" the man interrupted, one pale pink brow raised. "Your men prioritized the kidnapping of a bloodline-whore over the mission assignment. If they stuck to the mission, then they would've been able to retrieve my grandchildren AND your bloodline-whore." Beneath the long oak table, the Raikage's fists shook with a rage his face did not betray. "Regardless, I will not pay you for a failure. Especially one of such epic portions."
"But—"
"No buts Raikage," the old man lifted a paper and turned it to face the Raikage. "Do you know what this paper says?"
"Not from this distance," the Raikage replied tartly.
"It states that your shinobi, your… what did you call it again? Your little demon-host-thing?"
"Our Jinchūriki," the Raikage answered, his fists now bleeding beneath the table.
"Yes, your… jin-chu-ri-ki," the old man paused to roll his eyes as if he found the name ridiculous, "came across a young boy with pink hair and blue eyes." He set the paper down and leaned over the table, staring into the Raikage's eyes. "Tell me Raikage, how would you describe me?"
With a thousand curses mixed in, "A man with pink hair and blue eyes." What I wouldn't do to crush that empathic face into the nearest mountain and continue pounding it till even the blood turned brown from the crushed stone of the mountainside.
"Hm, I assume you're intelligent enough to understand what I'm hinting at then, yes?" the man asked, leaning back in his chair. "Your… Jin-chu-icky—"
"Jinchūriki"
"Whatever, it found my grandson and, magically, managed to let the seven-year-old boy escape unharmed." The man leaned back in his chair, resting his arms against the armrests and staring the Raikage down again. "Tell me something Raikage, did you or did you not tell me you would succeed?"
"I promised success," The Raikage agreed.
"Hm, and what is it that I'm hearing now?"
"Our sincerest apologies—"
"As if I want that half-backed, molded pile of horse-dung," the man retorted blandly. "A sincere apology would be a very blunt lie that you were unable to retrieve either grandchild and they died during the extraction process."
What? The Raikage stared at the man, the violent shivers he was suppressing to keep himself from killing the wealthy nobleman disappeared like the breath in his lungs.
"But sir! Those children are your grandchildren!" One of the village councilmembers protested loudly. "How could we possibly execute them knowing you were struggling so hard to retain them?!"
"hah, struggling? Me?" the man questioned, "if I had wanted to create trouble I would've taken them myself but I thought discretion would be a better choice. I suppose that was ultimately my mistake." The man stood up from the table, prompting the Raikage and his village councilors to jump to their feet as well. "As for my grandchildren? I can get other wives for that insolent brat I call a son. He was the only one I need alive. The children are accepted losses but my insolent-boy is not an acceptable loss. You shinobi have failed in so many ways the gods would shake their heads in shame."
He left the room, as silent as he entered, leaving nothing behind but the scattered papers of the failed mission.
"How screwed are we?" the Raikage's Anbu-commander questioned slowly.
"Not even Kaguya would dare to raise a hand against that monster," The Raikage sighed. "I'm afraid our village is going to take a huge loss soon."
"Excuse me? Is the Raikage still in here?" the Kumo-ninja turned to the speaker in the doorway, finding a young pink-haired male with narrowed sapphire eyes half-hidden behind a pair of glasses. "Ah, I'm looking for the Raikage?"
"I'm here," the Raikage answered, a frown on his face.
"Ah, good," the young man smiled pleasantly as if nothing in the world was wrong and everything was perfect. "My master would like his money back."
"What?"
"Considering he paid three times the normal triple-S-ranked Mission price and you did fail quite horribly, he wants his money back. It is a reasonable demand after all. You could not fulfill your promise so you should return all the money the master gave you preemptively."
Reviews are liked
Comments are loved
Help is adored
Hate is ignored
have a nice day in this chaotic time :)