Author's Notes
Happy Friday. I want to quickly point some things out that I thought should be addressed.
First things first, Icha Icha. I'm not sure exactly when they got released in the story but at the current point in the timeline I don't think they're out yet. The point we're at in the timeline is only a year or 2 after the release of his first book and I'm assuming, with how long it took for him to write the sequels, that the first Icha Icha book has yet to come out.
Secondly. Next chapter should hopefully have some action in it. The first 3 chapters have mostly been introducing Kei into the world of Naruto and cementing his position so we haven't had much action yet.
Third. I feel like I should talk about this now. There will probably be some inaccuracies in the Naruto plotline. I don't know everything about Naruto so some parts will likely be either glossed over or just a bit off in how they played out. I'd also like to add that while I will deviate from the main timeline to a certain extent, I don't want to deviate too much until the starting point of the show, and even then there are certain events I want to keep largely the same.
Anyways that's all for now. As always, feedback is welcome.
I do not own Naruto.
Please enjoy.
Chapter 3
Money. No matter the world, the importance of money stays the same.
In the world of Naruto money has always held a certain amount of significance, one of the first villains was Gato after all, a greedy, corrupt businessman.
Shinobi often have to get involved with rich individuals, we are technically mercenaries after all. We assassinate corrupt businessmen, guard the ones that pay us, and we even use their services at times. Kunai don't grow on trees after all.
Konoha is better off than most shinobi villages, we get a fair amount of resources from the mountains surrounding the village. But Konoha's mines have been almost completely cleaned out of any valuable resources and thus we have to import our metal from external sources, one our main ones being the client of my current mission, Riko Kuwahara.
Riko Kuwahara is a businesswoman who deals primarily in metal. She's a very rich individual who owns several mines and has her own company. She often sells her products to shinobi villages. Shinobi always have a high demand when it comes to weapons.
"Okay but why send Anbu to guard her?"
Kakashi gave me a dry look. I've always found it interesting how he's able to convey so much emotion with so little face.
"Due to the importance her metal has to the village, and lack of ninja to spare, we've been assigned to make sure she stays safe." he said equally as dryly. I guess that does make sense, this type of mission would usually have at least three people.
Me and Kakashi were currently on our way to the meeting point with our client. Surprisingly it seems Kakashi's infamous lateness has yet to get too severe so we're getting there in good time. Good time being about 20 minutes late.
Rather than our Anbu gear, we're both wearing standard uniform for a Konoha Jounin and Chunin. The only thing that really stands out compared to other shinobi is my sunglasses, and Kakashi's covered eye and silver hair.
By the time we arrived at the meeting point we were about 30 minutes late and came face to face with a very unhappy, and luxuriously dressed, woman who I'm assuming is our client, Riko Kuwahara.
She gave us a hard glare, "You're 30 minutes late!"
Kakashi's eye crinkled into a fake smile, "Ah, you see, I misplaced my mission gear and Kei here had to help me find it." Surprisingly that was actually true... if one of his 'novels' counts as mission gear. Turns out he read those things before Icha Icha came out. The one he had me find was called "
Riko glared at him for a few more seconds before sighing and turning back to the unnecessarily large caravan. Seriously, you don't need that many carriages for metal, do you? And is that a portable bathroom?
"Sure, let's go with that," Riko muttered, "Let's move it people! We're departing now!"
The trip from Konaha to Suna takes about three days for a shinobi, although the time is likely to be at least doubled with the presence of civilians so the trip will likely take about a week with no complications.
Riko Kuwahara doesn't normally make deliveries personally. Typically she leaves it to her employees and makes each shipment separate. But once a year she makes a trip around to each of her clients to strengthen business relationships and update contracts. Whenever she travels like this she makes frequent rotations between guards from the different shinobi villages she visits, starting with Konoha. This year it's me and Kakashi
The formation we decided on was that Kakashi would stick close to Riko while I stay closer to the center of the caravan so I can best watch over the caravan and quickly react to an attack from any side. We're both within viewing range of each other and in case of an attack I'll minutely flare my chakra just enough to get his attention but not enough for anybody further away to notice, unless they have a really good chakra sensor. But in the meantime I'm just sitting on top of a carriage while Kakashi reads his book.
The first day passed by relatively incident free, but I found out something. Escort missions are boring as hell. It's almost as bad as Uchiha watch duty. The only saving grace is the scenery and the knowledge that something might happen. I understand why Kakashi wanted that book so badly now.
Me and Kakashi were setting up for the night watch. I would take the first shift while he slept, and then I'd wake him up and he'd be looking out until morning. There was silence while we worked, setting up traps and the like. I wanted to talk but didn't quite know what to say, while Kakashi didn't seem to feel like talking about anything. Eventually I grew tired of the silence and blurted out the first thing that popped into my mind.
"Why did you end up joining Root anyways?"
…
Silence. Dammit, stupid me, I probably just brought up a sensitive topic. I don't remember why Kakashi joined Root, all I remember was that he was a member and then betrayed it when he heard about the plans to assassinate Lord Third, but nobody who joins Root joins for a nice reason, it's either kidnapping, brainwashing, or something else along those lines.
As I was internally berating myself Kakashi responded in a bitter tone. Well, as bitter as Kakashi can sound.
"When the Nine Tails attacked, it was ordered that many of Konoha's young ninja be prevented from assisting in the fight to keep us safe. During the battle my sensei died and Danzo approached and convinced me to join Root saying that it was by Lord Third's orders that I wasn't able to assist."
I stopped and looked over at Kakashi. He was still working. I hadn't expected him to answer my question.
"Of course, when I found out what Danzo did during the attack and heard about his plans to assassinate Lord Third, I realized I chose the wrong side." He continued
He must have needed to get this off his chest. I doubt he's told anybody else. But why tell me?
Kakashi turned to look at me with an expectant glint in his eye. Ah. I see. An exchange. Despite my position in the Anbu I'm an unknown. The only information they have on me is my file which was given during my transfer. A file which probably doesn't tell the whole truth, if any of it. I turned back to my work and began my story, excluding the reincarnation bit.
"I was found in one of Orochimaru's labs," Despite looking away I could see Kakashi was still watching me, "I was abducted to be a part of an experiment to reproduce the First Hokage's Wood Style along with 59 other children around my age. By the time Danzo found me, all the other kids had died and my Byakugan turned into this," I looked back at him, this time with my glasses off and Tenseigan revealed to the world, "I couldn't remember anything from my past and Danzo, seeing my value as an asset, forced me to join Root."
We stood in silence for a few moments. I could tell Kakashi hadn't expected to get that much and was thinking about how to respond. He chose the Kakashi way.
"Well, I'm going to get to sleep. Wake me up when it's time for my shift," he casually said while turning to his sleeping bag.
I smirked at his response. Typical. Oh right I should ask about that too.
"Hey, Kakashi," He turned his head to look at me scratching my head bashfully, "You have any extra books?"