Chapter Thirty-Two
Over the next few months, Team TAK's missions took on something of a pattern. Their longer-term missions — those lasting several days outside the village — would be buffered by a number of in-village missions and assignments, such as patrolling the village or transporting classified documents within its walls, that gave them a chance to spend time with their families.
With Ken's training and Karin's tutoring, Naruto's academic grades slowly rose to average rather than mediocre. While Naruto still didn't mesh with a "traditional" academic environment, his focus gradually improved as Ken and Karin explained why these "boring" topics were important to a ninja career. His physical grades, such as weapons skills and hand-to-hand combat, had been somewhere below average before and grew to well above that to the astonishment of his classmates.
Karin, who excelled in more studious disciplines, had little trouble keeping up with the curriculum. And under Ken's training and with Naruto as a sparring partner, her physical skills grew in much the same way her younger cousin's in-class ones did. Her aim with weapons became sharper, her reflexes faster, her pain tolerance higher, until she was thrashing a fair portion of her class in spars.
An interesting development in this timespan was when Ken had issued his first serious order as the newly-minted clan head. "You're going to be joining us in training," he had amicably told Kaori at the dinner table, much to the surprise of the children and the shock of the woman herself.
"Ken, I have no desire to become a shinobi," Kaori had explained warily.
"Be that as it may," Ken had continued blaisely, "you will be joining us. Self-defense is as important for civilian members of a shinobi clan as the actual shinobi." His lips turned into a slight frown. "You are family, Kaori. Which means it is my job by blood and by position as clan head — which you arranged — to ensure all of your safety. And the best way to do that is to make sure you can handle yourself."
Kaori glanced at the children, who were glancing between the two as if watching a sports match as they mindlessly shoveled rice into their mouths.
"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" she asked with a sigh of resignation.
"Nope," Ken replied with a grin.
And so Kaori joined the children in their training. With little command of her chakra and virtually no combat experience, Kaori did not at all enjoy her first few sessions. It was, quite frankly, embarrassing to be knocked into the dust by her nine-year-old daughter with obvious ease. Was she proud of Karin? Yes, she was. But it didn't take the sting from the fact that she was so weak.
But as the days continued to pass, Kaori slowly saw improvement. Like her daughter, she excelled at evasion, and developed a style revolving around keeping behind an opponent's back and in their blind spots, predicting their movements to stay behind them and out of harm's way. Her Uzumaki stamina was a treasure for this, as it would allow her to outlast all but the hardiest of pursuers.
The tentative pattern was finally broken by an unusual assignment by the Hokage a full three months after the Land of Frost mission. "You're splitting us up?" Both Tomoko and Ken had asked this in perfect sync, glancing at each other with inexplicably burning cheeks.
"For this set of missions, yes," Lord Hiruzen explained. "Tomoko, you will be partnered for a retrieval mission with a tokubetsu jonin to subdue a former River shinobi in Tanzaku Town who has been using his skills as a casino enforcer. He is suspected of several murders and the local government want our Torture and Interrogation Department to determine his guilt."
"A tokubetsu jonin, Uncle?" Tomoko asked. "You can't be a little more specific? There's tons of-" She trailed off and her eyes grew wide as an unsettling thought occurred to her. "Oh no. You can't mean-!"
The door to the Hokage's office slammed open and in strolled a fetching, curvaceous woman clad in mesh armor and an orange skirt overlaid by an overcoat, her violet hair in an updo and a cocky swing in her hips. "Hey there, Sweetheart," the woman said enthusiastically. "Did you miss me?" She smirked with lidded eyes, a hand propped on her hip. "Admit it. You missed me," she leered.
"Lord Hokage, please," Tomoko practically begged, noticeably using his title rather than his affectation. "You can't be serious! Not with Anko!"
"I am perfectly serious, Niece," Hiruzen replied with the faintest grin. "Mitirashi, you're in charge," he said, tossing her the mission scroll. "Remember-"
"Bring him in alive," Anko interrupted. "Yes, Lord Hokage. I think I can handle that." She grinned at Tomoko. "Especially with such an adorable chunin for backup." She crooked her index finger. "Come along, Sweetie. Our prey awaits!"
"If I die of embarrassment on this mission," Tomoko groaned, "Kato gets all my stuff, except my naginata goes to Karin and my other weapons go to Naruto."
"Seriously?" Ken asked, both in her attitude and her choice of beneficiaries. "It can't be that bad."
Tomoko glanced down at her bust, which was not exactly lacking but could never match the freshly-minted tokujo who was four years her junior, and thought back to the last mission she'd had with Anko and her ceaseless faux-flirty banter. "Yes it can." With those parting words, she trudged after her temporary superior and out of the office.
"Well, that explains Tomoko's mission," Ken said, turning back to the Leaf's commander-in-chief, "but what about me?"
"You, Ken, will be taking a consulting assignment with the village's Sealing Research and Development Department," Hiruzen explained, passing his own assignment scroll. Ken opened the scroll and found an address to the headquarters and a list of personnel, though no description of what they desired. "Your liaison will explain upon your arrival," Hiruzen added, correctly guessing Ken's next question.
Ken nodded and left as well, wondering what he would find in Konohagakure's Sealing R&D.
"Now then, as the final project for our incoming unit and final unit of the school year on the geography of the shinobi nations," Iruka called from his podium, "we will be having a poster and report project." The class collectively groaned. The only exceptions were Sakura who loved research, Hinata who was too polite to complain, and Shikamaru who was too lazy to verbalize his annoyance. "But as a treat, you will be allowed to pick your partners as long as you submit proof that you both worked hard." That didn't earn a cheer so much as a bunch of neutral murmuring as cadets paired up. "You will all present your projects to the class at the end of our lesson before the unit exam," he finished.
Naruto slumped in his desk as his classmates began to pair up with practiced ease, long-time friends partnering like the most natural thing in the world. Shikamaru had Choji, Sakura and Ino trusted each other's drive to succeed, even Kiba partnered up with someone Naruto didn't know. He was about to resign himself to working — and probably failing — alone when someone was suddenly standing in front of his table.
Hinata was holding her books close to her chest and avoiding eye contact, but she spoke up in her soft voice. "W-Would you like to work together? Naruto?" Naruto's bright smile was answer enough and it warmed Hinata's heart as she settled into the table space he cleared for her. Before they could say anything, Iruka spoke up again.
"Now then, each pair will pick a random country to research that will be taken out of this bowl." He lifted a wooden bowl full of slips of paper. "I will write down which one you pick, so no trading. If you report on the wrong one, half your grade will be immediately docked. Teams will write a report on anything you find interesting about your selected country, such as history, important people, hidden villages, relations with the Land of Fire, landmarks, and so on. You will also be making a poster to represent your country. Now teams come and get your topics!"
Each of the pairs lined up to pick their topics from the bowl, with Iruka looking at the slip of paper and writing down their names and selected subject before letting them take it back to their tables and finally learn for themselves. Naruto and Hinata were in the back of the class, which meant they were among the last in line. After Iruka had written down their names and let them go, the pair returned to Naruto's table and opened the folded slip of paper to reveal a name that stunned them both.
Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning.
Konoha's Sealing R&D building was situated near the middle of the village, close to where Ken knew the headquarters of the Barrier Team sat. It was a rather innocuous place, a single story building that may have contained a small, high-scale business. He double checked the address given by the Hokage and shrugged before entering "Maple Leaf Draft and Design."
He paused at a typical-looking small lobby and approached the window manned by a bureaucratic chunin, recognizable only by the way she clearly took in everything about him with a glance. "May I help you, sir?" she asked politely.
"The Lord Hokage sent me," he replied, handing over his mission scroll and shinobi ID card through a thin opening in what was likely shatter-proof glass. The secretarial shinobi examined both with a special pen and blacklight before nodding and handing them back. She pressed a button and the door buzzed to allow him entry.
Ken entered, passing sealing formulae inked into the doorframe that flared with faint light and projected a film of chakra that felt like walking through a thin layer of gelatin but didn't hurt at all, to find what resembled a large break room with an elevator built into the center of it all. Men and women in navy blue lab coats and shinobi forehead protectors were talking amicably and drinking coffee or having snacks. A spike of panic from the small crowd lit up his spine before he breathed deeply and forced it down.
"Uzumaki?"
Ken turned at the sound of his name to find an attractive woman in her early forties, her brown hair tied back in a bun wrapped in a net, half-moon spectacles perched on her nose, and her body covered by the familiar navy lab coat with her headband worn as a choker. Ken shook her proffered hand, her other holding a clipboard, and tilted his head a bit in thought. This woman seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place why.
"Tokubetsu jonin, Omasa Sarutobi," the woman offered with a faint smile. Aha, another Sarutobi! The woman even favored Tomoko, which wouldn't be unlikely in an extended family.
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Sarutobi," he replied. Omasa nodded and gestured for him to follow her to the elevator. When they were settled, she pressed a button that sent them speeding downward into the ground beneath the village, soon opening up into a sizable concrete cavern separated into work spaces, lit by fluorescent fixtures and populated by more researchers in navy lab coats examining boards covered with seal schematics and formulae.
The elevator stopped and allowed them off, and Omasa led him into the cavern to a larger-than-typical work space and office area. A large wooden table filled the majority of the floor space with a matching desk against the far wall and cork boards on each of the walls. Large scrolls were piled up in orderly stacks and pots of sealing ink in numerous colors sat by a variety of brushes.
"Now then," Omasa said, writing on her clipboard before setting it down and facing him, "you probably are wondering exactly what you are consulting on."
"The thought has crossed my mind, yeah," Ken replied dryly.
Omasa put her clipboard down and unfurled a few scrolls to reveal lines of text and schematics. "Would you mind examining this, first? I would like to see if Lord Third's recommendation was warranted."
Ken raised an eyebrow but accepted the challenge. He took a look at the first scroll, a wide one that depicted what seemed to be blueprints for a building with notations for placements of seal matrices all over the interior walls. Squares of text explained placement for energy couplings and alignments of script based on the dimensions of the building.
Another scroll held an unfinished matrix, presumably the one that would be applied to the depicted building. He closely examined the arrangement of glyphs and sigils, searching out familiar patterns. He found a few, and glanced over some other scrolls containing relation diagrams and theory for sealing script outcomes.
Time lost meaning as he dove into examining the various pieces of information given until his eyes widened in surprise as a leap in intuition made it all click together. "Ah, I see," he said, eyes darting between various scrolls as he verbalized his thoughts. "You're trying to create a barrier seal that will actively examine the chakra signatures of those who enter. If their signatures have been added to the matrix, then it will allow them to pass. But if not, you want them either barred outright or harmed to discourage them. And you want it tied to a building's infrastructure to secure it from all sides."
"Just so," Omasa said, finishing up some paperwork she'd been catching up on while Ken examined her work. "A few of us have been working at this for weeks, but there are a few problems." She stood and approached to gesture at various facets of the schematics and diagrams.
"The first is fuel," she explained. "A seal like this would require quite a bit of chakra to keep up for any length of time and the goal is to have it active at all times. Otherwise it's a major security risk."
"And the other?" Ken asked.
"Resilience," Omasa said. "This kind of a seal would be very delicate and if someone were to alter it, intentionally or otherwise, it would cause a cataclysmic failure that might not even be repairable. And permanent ink isn't helpful as scoring the interior would harm it just as easily."
Ken turned these ideas over in his mind before sighing heavily. "I know how to fix these problems," he admitted. Omasa lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. "There are Uzumaki sealing techniques that would cover these concerns. For fuel, we devised seals that drew in solar energy to maintain a seal. It's a supplementary matrix that is woven into the script of barrier techniques that absorbs sunlight and uses that energy to keep the larger seal functioning. All it needs is a huge initial infusion of chakra and the sun will keep it going from there."
"And the other?" Omasa asked.
"Branding," Ken replied. "It was a technique that bound and branded sealing script with utmost permanence to any surface, from wood to stone to skin. It becomes a part of the surface in a way that cannot be scratched or chipped away. You'd have to destroy the surface down to gravel or splinters to overcome a Branded seal."
"And you can do these things?" Omasa asked.
"Yes," Ken said pointedly, "I can." He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves, though he couldn't bring himself to look at his superior as he spoke further. "And I would be willing to do so as long as no one tries to learn their methods without my express permission. These are clan techniques, after all." He looked Omasa straight in the eye. "To be clear, I'm only doing this because I have faith in the Sarutobi clan." Images of Tomoko and the Lord Third flashed across his vision. "Please don't disappoint me."
Omasa narrowed her eyes at the subtle insubordination before giving a faint nod. "Your contribution would be appreciated," she said, then gave a faint frown as her gaze grew colder. "And I can assure you that I know all about others trying to ferret out clan secrets in spite of the village's laws." Her eyes warmed again. "Your secrets shall remain your own, on my honor." She held out her hand. "A bargain?"
Ken pressed his lips into a line, the warnings of his grandfather a faint roar in his ears, before he shook the woman's hand. "A bargain."
"Excellent. Though perhaps we should pick this up tomorrow?"
Ken blinked in confusion before he glanced at a clock and realized how much time had gone by. "It took me three hours to put all that together?" he asked in shock, suddenly realizing how mentally exhausted he was.
"Most can't put it together in six," Omasa noted. "Your reputation appears well deserved." She turned and made her way toward the elevator. "Good day, young man. I hope to see you bright and early in the morning."
Ken nodded and glanced back over the diagrams before following Omasa out of the facility. As they made their way through the cavern, Ken hid a smile at the thought that the Uzumaki clan of old had devised a similar concept of building security based on blood seals, which barred any non-Uzumaki from entering their sensitive facilities and employed similar seal designs. It was one of many barriers that kept the invaders from getting their hands on their secrets.
As they entered the elevator, Ken couldn't help but wonder if Tomoko's mission was going well.
"Perk up, Sweetheart," Anko chirped, clapping Tomoko on the back. "That scowl of yours is gonna blow our cover."
Tomoko grit her teeth and forced her frown to relax and return to something like lofty neutrality. She just couldn't bring herself to smile as the present company, the locale, and her standing orders to dress "alluringly" all worked together to make her uncharacteristically irritable. Under those orders, Tomoko was dressed in a strapless, form-fitting red dress that fell to her knees, her hair coiled in a small bun at the back of her head and a pair of death-trap six-inch heels on her feet. The worst of it, though, was the makeup painted on her face that was meant to scream "easy."
"That'll work, I guess," Anko shrugged. And as exposed as Tomoko felt in her "mission clothes," Anko took it a few steps further. She was dressed in a green tube top patterned with scale designs and a matching miniskirt, with a black choker around her neck and black heels somehow even higher than Tomoko's. But more than that was the sheer, shameless confidence with which she moved, with no regard for who may be watching her.
"Please tell me we don't have to be here long," Tomoko said. The pair were sitting at the bar of the "Lucky Lion Hotel and Casino," the very place where their target worked. The lights flashed, music pounded from speakers, and the air was heavy with the scent of tobacco and liquor; all of this worked together to give her a headache that made it difficult to focus on the mission.
"Actually, we're almost done here," Anko said, her tone full of relish. A snake slithered up and wound across her shoulders to whisper in her ear before draping itself over her and clamping its jaw onto its own tail, hanging across her chest like an exotic necklace. "Our guy's here, alright. And my snakes say he's eager to please." Anko's casual smirk turned positively lecherous as she sipped her drink.
"Why am I here, anyway?" Tomoko asked, pitching her voice over the thumping music. The plan that Anko had laid out was fairly straightforward. As a former shinobi who may or may not have kept his skills honed, their target would be guarded against most shinobi tricks. He had his apartment set with rudimentary security seals and he had enough juice to raise a racket if he was confronted in public. And the government of Tanzaku Town had expressly requested that there be as little visible conflict as possible to prevent any loss of tourists' perceived security.
But their intel showed that he had a certain weakness for loose women, which would lean toward a seduction-style mission. Anko would do the heavy lifting in actually luring the guy into their trap. It was her tokujo specialty, after all. Anko would lure the target into the street and then an alley where she would neutralize him with one of her snakes for them to smuggle out of the gambling town. But Tomoko's role had been a little less clear in the planning, despite her trying to get details.
"You're camouflage and extra muscle," Anko revealed. Tomoko perked up at the unusual candidness, which Anko took as a cue to keep talking. "The cover I'm gonna give the guy is that you're a friend who just had a really bad breakup, and I brought you here to get wasted and forget your troubles. Which you're actually acting out pretty well with that scowl of yours." Said scowl deepened a bit as Anko continued. "That'll make him think I'm just some airheaded bimbo looking to score, and then I'll guide him out of here. You follow after us all dejected-looking and stuff and we strike." Her grin became sharp with anticipation. "Good plan, eh?"
Tomoko rolled her eyes and stirred her non-alcoholic drink with her straw. She may not like Anko, but she'd be damned if she screwed up a mission because of liquor.
"C'mon, Sweetheart," Anko prodded, "cheer up! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were actually going through man troubles."
Tomoko tensed at the very idea, unwelcome images from a few years ago flashing through her mind and she screwed her eyes shut to force them away. Not now, dammit!
"Oh-ho!" Anko cackled, taking another drink. "You really are having troubles?" Tomoko refused to answer, and that egged Anko on. "This wouldn't happen to be about that cute redhead you were in the Hokage's office with when you got the mission?"
"Shut up," Tomoko spat, her temper worsening. Jeez, what was wrong with her? Usually she could keep her temper under way better control, especially on a mission. Even Anko never got her this worked up.
"Well, while I'd love to needle you some more, I think it's time to work." She downed the rest of her drink and adjusted her tube top to draw even more attention to her cleavage. "Wish me luck. Not that I'll need it."
Tomoko glanced backward as if merely following a friend's progress and noticed a man matching their target's description leaving the bar. Anko stumbled perfectly into his arms, affecting an appearance of helplessness with almost frightening realism. Tomoko propped her head in her hand, aiming for a bitter and disappointed appearance and pulling it off pretty well. These two-person missions were so much more fun with Red. What, what?
As Tomoko gathered her things to follow, a buff guy with a crew cut and an expensive suit approached her. "Hey there, sweet thing. Care for a drink?"
"Touch me and I'll break you in half," Tomoko replied with a poisonous smile, eyes glittering with malice. The guy paled and backed off, and the sight of a clear macho man running with his tail between his legs made her feel way better than she expected. The nerve of that guy! And he wasn't even her type; dark hair and a fake tan and huge muscles instead of lean muscle and fair skin that complimented red ha- What the hell?! What was she, twelve?
Tomoko rushed out of the bar and barely caught sight of Anko luring their target into an alleyway. She walked as casually as she could in these heels and waited, her chakra senses open and focused as closely as possible on the alley. She sensed Anko's chakra and the target's, the former lit up with predatory anticipation and the latter fluctuating with … a slightly different kind of predatory anticipation.
Suddenly, the second signature started going haywire before dimming in a way that indicated either unconsciousness or something really close. A few moments later, Anko appeared with the target's arm slung over her shoulder, his eyes dazed and drool forming at the corner of his mouth. "Hey, girlfriend!" Anko chirped like a normal teenager. "You mind helping me lug this lug to our hotel?"
Tomoko sighed and took the guy's other side. As she helped guide him to their hotel room, she wondered if Ken was enjoying his mission.
Omasa Sarutobi sighed as she entered her home in the clan compound, pulling the net and tie from her hair bun before shaking out tresses long enough to reach her waist. She combed her nails through her hair to straighten it out before pulling off her shoes and placing them by the door with another tired sigh. While she had let the Uzumaki boy go early, she herself had still had quite a bit of work to do for the day.
It was days like this that she missed being on the active mission roster rather than taking a long-term position. Position, not a long-term mission like her husband was often sent on. Oh how she missed her man.
As she entered the house proper from the entrance hall, Omasa stopped in her tracks with a surprised gasp. In place of their larger dining table was a small, two-person setting with a crisp white tablecloth, candles, and a vase with a single red rose. Silver bowls were set with steaming octopus in a heavy broth, her favorite meal.
And standing behind it all was her husband, dressed in a crisp white shirt and black slacks. He was just as tall and muscular as she remembered, with silver at his temples and in his short beard that contrasted his otherwise brown hair. His skin was even darker tanned than before he left, but his eyes — dark green and so different from the rest of their clan — sparkled with mischief just as she had always loved.
"Daichi," Omasa sighed, approaching slowly as if he were a specter of her imagination.
"Omasa," replied with fondness in his gravelly voice.
Omasa wrapped her slim arms around him and squeezed tightly, communicating how much she had missed him during his six-month assignment at the border with the Land of Rivers. "You really should retire from ANBU," Omasa chided, though her words lacked their usual bite, too softened by relief that he was here, with her.
"Oh, none of that, my love," Daichi chided right back with the same softness. "Tonight is about us, not work. And since the kids aren't here …" He released her and pulled out her chair, "We have the night to ourselves."
Omasa rolled her eyes with all the affection she could and daintily settled as her husband pushed her chair in behind her and took his own seat. They spoke of what had happened over the last six months during Daichi's mission, getting the work-related stories out first. She spoke as much as was permitted about her work in Sealing R&D, while he did the same over the security of the border and relations with the Land of Wind. Due to the nature of his mission, Daichi was unable to receive mail, so everything was new to him.
"And how did Kato do in the Chunin Exams?" Daichi asked as he slurped some tentacles. "That was a few months ago, right? About halfway through my time?"
"It was, and he did very well," Omasa replied with a smile. "He made it about halfway through the third phase and even secured a promotion."
"Well, good. He's definitely worked hard enough for it," Daichi chuckled.
They finished their meal soon after and moved to the couch, at first just soaking in the presence of the other before it progressed to something more intimate. As Daichi nipped the spot on his wife's neck that she loved so much, she remembered what it was like to be young again. Just as she always did when they were together.
As the heat between them grew, Omasa began to unbutton her shirt before the door to their house slammed open to admit the rushing blur of their son. "Hi Mom!" Kato called from the entry hall. "I picked up some takeout, thought you might like-" Kato's words died as he entered the main area of the house and found his parents … on the couch. With that thought, he looked away as pink began to rise up his neck. "Hey, Dad," he said, face turned away and now red as a tomato.
"Hello, Son," Daichi replied, carefully hiding the humor in his voice as he covertly squeezed his wife's backside, making her squeak and slap him lightly on the back of the head.
"Welcome home," Kato said out from between his teeth, embarrassment clawing at him. "I'll, uh … I'm gonna lock myself in my room and tape my headphones to my ears. So, just, y'know … enjoy your first night home." He began making his way to his room. "I'm not even here!" The door to his room slammed, and they waited a few more moments before dissolving into laughter.
"I think we just burned a year off his lifespan," Daichi chuckled.
"Well then, for the sake of our son's wellbeing," Omasa said, standing and drawing her husband up by his hand. "Perhaps we should move to our room, hmm?"
"That's one reason I love you, my dear," Daichi grinned. "That beautiful brain of yours."
"Flatterer," Omasa giggled as she closed and locked the door.
Overall, it was days like this that made Kato wish he'd moved in with his big sister.
Chapter thirty-two, everyone!
*Anko's "Did you miss me?" was lifted from Bill Cipher. I've always liked that line.
*The idea of a Konoha Sealing R&D is influenced by "Whirlpools Among the Eddies" by CRed1988. A truly magnificent piece of worldbuilding! I did put my own tight spin on it, though.
*Omasa is named for a historical samurai woman who was a master of the naginata. Her husband Daichi's name means "great earth" and the reason will become clear later in the the plot.
As always, leave a review if you liked it! And may your inspirations flow forever!