Let's start this from the beginning
Disturbances
II
"I think the conspiracy goes much deeper than we initially suspected, Hokage-sama."
The old man gave him a long look before gesturing for him to proceed.
"After the meeting last week, I went over the documents in the archives. My thoughts were that if this 'Kazuma' truly plans to overthrow Konoha, he would have started his preparations some time ago. Such things take time, after all."
"And what did you find?"
Fugaku suppressed the unsatisfied grunt that built up in his throat. "Not as much as I would have liked, but enough for it to be suspicious." He laid the stack of papers in his hands on the table. "The number of conflicts between shinobi and civilians increased steadily over the last three years to the point where there are now almost four times as many incidents as before. None of them are severe, nothing too attention-catching, and it only becomes apparent once you list them up all at once. On the same note, the destruction of private property has increased by almost 60 percent."
He paused for a few seconds to allow the Sandaime to look over the numbers himself.
"How did this not get noticed before, Fugaku?" he finally asked. "None of these incidents are big, yes, but an increase in incidents such as this is hardly subtle."
"It was known that there was an increase. The problem, however, is that the dimensions of it were unknown to us." He got another paper from his pockets. "What I gave you before are the results of my private research. This, on the other hand, are the official numbers."
The older man needed only one glance to see the vast difference between both lists. "I take it that the Civilian Law Enforcement Department deliberately manipulated the numbers, then?"
"That's the conclusion I came to as well."
Conflicts between shinobi and civilians were handled by the KMPF as they were the only ones that could reliably deal with the former, but the ones that managed the paperwork of such encounters were the members of the CLED. After all, it was only fair that they did the bureaucratic part when the KMPF did the practical work.
Encounters between shinobi and civilians were rarely ever exciting, meaning that it wasn't much of a topic between his subordinates compared to other assignments. Combined with the fact that the number of it increased over a long period of time, it made sense that no one noticed anything strange. Especially when the official numbers you could look up were manipulated.
"It might be that only some low-ranking officials are at fault," the Hokage continued with a serious expression on his face. "But it's unlikely that none of their superiors would notice anything if that were the case."
"I have already ordered some of my men to make discreet background checks on some of the higher-ups, but I don't have the numbers to dispatch as many of them as I would like without anyone becoming suspicious. I would like to request the aid of the ANBU to help with that."
The Hokage frowned. "I'm not sure how many I can lend you as most are still on other missions, but I will see what I can do. In the worst case, I will order some Jonin to aid you as well."
That was probably the best he would get. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Of course," he said while taking a puff from his pipe. "Tell me, Fugaku, have you noticed any patterns in these incidents?"
"I did." He cleared his throat. "Every report states that it was the shinobi that threw the first attack. Some testimonies seem to indicate that they were insulted before that, but nothing outright says so. Around half of those incidents happened in pubs that are located in parts of the city that are mostly populated by civilians as well, which seems a bit weird." Shinobi generally preferred to drink with other shinobi, especially those that came from clans. The most regular exceptions were those first-generation shinobi that came from civilian families, but they usually knew better than to get drunk in such company. "There is also a surprising number of cases where a Jutsu destroyed some property without any fight happening beforehand. Reports state that bystanders accuse those culprits of trying to show off, but that seems unlikely in my opinion."
"You believe they were approached by Kazuma's allies and asked for a demonstration, don't you?"
"Indeed. It wouldn't be too hard to manipulate the results to cause an accident and then blame it on the shinobi. That wouldn't work with experienced ninjas, of course, but all 'culprits' are young and inexperienced, mostly Genin and newly appointed Chunin."
The Sandaime was silent for a minute before he answered. "So someone, probably Kazuma, is attempting to deteriorate the relationship between our shinobi forces and the civilian population."
Fugaku nodded.
In Konoha, the shinobi were outnumbered one to seven. They would still win should it come to fights between those groups, but that didn't mean it wouldn't cause a lot of problems. The instability that would follow, as well as the harm to the economy…
Needless to say, such a thing should definitively be avoided at all costs.
"I think," the Hokage said, "we need another meeting to discuss this with the others. You will be informed of its date and time to present your findings there as well so that we can think of a solution together."
"Of course, Hokage-sama."
"Thank you for your report, Fugaku. You can leave now."
He bowed and made to move out of the room, but when he reached the door, he turned around once more. "Hokage-sama, I don't think I need to ask you this, but you are aware that there is a chance that similar things are happening in the other departments as well, aren't you?"
The other man chuckled a bit. "I am, but thank you for mentioning it anyway."
"Then I will take my leave now."
With a final bow, he opened the door and started to make his way to the police station.
There was still a lot of work to be done.
Shisui jumped aside to dodge one of Izumi's kicks while throwing some witty comment at her that made her attack anew with even more fervour than before. Shisui, of course, wasn't deterred at all and simply laughed it off as he continued to dodge her attacks with ease.
The sight made Itachi smile. While Shisui had helped him train with Sasuke from time to time, sometimes even showing his brother some tricks while Itachi himself was out of the village on a mission, the same had never happened with Izumi. That was something singularly to this timeline and he treasured it with all his heart.
"Itachi!" Izumi exclaimed angrily, pointing with her finger at him from where she stood. "Are you just gonna listen to what he says? It affects you just as much as me!"
He blinked. To be honest, he had stopped listening to them a while ago. Shisui had the habit of blabbering unimportant stuff all the time just like it was a habit of his to turn him out once he got started.
They were quite a distance away, but her Sharingan had seemingly picked up on his confusion. "Gah, you didn't listen? He said-"
She was interrupted when Shisui appeared behind her and put his hand on her mouth. "Ah~, don't listen to her, Itachi. It's nothing for you to worry about." He gave him a wide grin and was about to say something more when he suddenly jumped back with a surprised shout to dodge an incoming crow.
"Hah, good job, Kokuban!"
"Seriously," Shisui said with a laugh. "Getting her to get a summon contract was the stupidest thing you have ever done, Itachi. No matter where I go, I always need to keep an eye out for crows to avoid their surprise attacks."
He smiled back at his friend. "Who said that it's her that sends them after you?"
His eyes widened in an exaggerated manner while Izumi started to laugh in the background. "Now you're conspiring against me as well?! Come on, that's not fair!"
"But Shisui-sama," she answered with an innocent smile. "Isn't it you who always reminds us that the life of a shinobi isn't fair?"
"Now she is even turning my own words against me!" He turned towards him. "Itachi, do something!"
He only shook his head while continuing to listen to their squabble. Seeing them act carefree like this made him feel the same satisfaction he felt every time he saw his clansman laugh with each other while their children ran around them in a game of catch, while he ate dinner with his parents, or even just listened to whatever Sasuke was telling him.
It was nice.
Unfortunately, he hadn't seen much of either of his friends over the last few weeks. Especially Shisui had been busy with missions for almost a year now. Itachi hadn't been told any details, but from what his friend let slip, he knew that there were surprisingly big numbers of intruders in their lands at all times these days. Most of them didn't seem to do anything of note, just loitering around in the forest before leaving again.
They hadn't managed to take many prisoners yet, partly because they didn't want to crack down on them too hard. They wouldn't change their strategies as long as they thought they worked, after all. They only captured enough to make it not too obvious that they were aware of them, but all of these captives turned out to be weak mercenaries whose only task was it to run around the area for a while. They didn't even know who their client was, so they were more or less useless.
The working theory was that someone sent so many people over the border to serve as a decoy while the true spies inflated the village.
The reason why he himself hadn't met Izumi was, interestingly enough, quite similar.
She had been promoted to Genin two years ahead of schedule, a feat that was even more impressive if you considered that the post-war phase where early graduations were common was pretty much over already. Unsurprisingly, she had been quite proud of her achievement. However, since her promotion, she and her team had been on D-rank mission after D-rank mission with little free time in between. While not very demanding, many of them lasted several hours, meaning she had not much free time left once everything was said and done.
Itachi was pulled from his thoughts when Izumi let herself fall down beside him, pointedly not looking at Shisui as she did so. There was no real anger in her eyes, though, and her cheeks were rather red, so he assumed Shisui had simply said something to embarrass her.
"Okay then," Shisui addressed him. "Do you think that's enough for today or do you want another round?"
He thought about it for a second before he shook his head. They had fought four times already and while he wasn't exhausted yet, there was no reason to push himself further. A body needed time to rest between training periods, after all. Especially if the said body was still growing.
"Fine with me." With these words, he let himself fall to the ground in front of him in a similar fashion to Izumi. "So, how is shinobi live treating you so far, Izumi-chan?"
She glared at him for a second before exhaling loudly. "I thought it would be more… adventurous. All we ever do is gardening, repairing fences, babysitting, and catching that stupid cat."
Shisui chuckled. "Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Seriously, I'm so glad that I skipped that part entirely."
"Shut up," she said without any real heat. "Not everyone can be so lucky."
"We only did a handful of these missions when I was a Genin," Itachi said. "Tanaka-sensei didn't like them too much and preferred regular training sessions over watching us doing chores."
"Great, my sensei is exactly the opposite. He just drops us off and then leaves to do Kami knows what!"
He's probably testing your patience while giving you and your teammates time to bond, he thought, suppressing a smile.
"Well, at least you already knew one of your teammates," Shisui said. "That's not usual for someone that graduates early. I imagine it would have been much more boring if you didn't."
She smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm really lucky that Hana graduated with me." Then she proudly puffed her chest out. "I helped her train because she was always complaining about me beating her during class. I doubt she would have managed it weren't it for me!"
"Didn't you only improve so much because you trained with us, though?" Itachi asked with an amused smile.
She blushed. "That's not the point!"
"What about you, Itachi?" Shisui said before Izumi could start to rant at him. "Any interesting missions lately?"
"Not really," he denied. "I do mostly C-rank and some B-rank mission. The most exciting that happened to me was when the caravan I was supposed to protect was attacked by some nuke-nins. They weren't too strong, though, so they lost pretty quickly."
Shisui sighed. "Hah, I wish I had it that easy. I rush from one end of the country to the other in annoying patrols without encountering anything of note. It's not just boring but also exhausting!" He let himself fall back with his hand behind his head. "Ah, I envy you two, I really do."
Neither of them humoured that sentiment.
"So you have nothing interesting going on either, huh?" he asked his friend.
"Not really." Then he furrowed his brows. "Well, I guess I'm traveling to the daimyo's palace in two days to bring him a message, but it's nothing sensitive, so I don't expect anything exciting to happen then either."
He blinked. That was new.
Izumi was apparently just as surprised as he, to the point that she even forgot that she was 'angry' with Shisui. "Wait, the daimyo's palace? That sounds so cool! I want to go there as well!"
"Be a bit more patient," Shisui laughed. "Give it some more time and you will play courier for him too. It's pretty neat the first time it happens, but after that, it gets real boring real fast."
She seemed doubtful but didn't protest.
"Shisui," he said, "even if the information you carry isn't important, people might still be after it. You should-"
"I know, I know," he interrupted him. "It's still dangerous and I should be careful." He laughed. "Seriously Itachi, you worry too much. You will go grey if you go on like that. You have those wrinkles already-"
"Tear-troughs."
"-so you can't afford to get grey hair as well if you don't want to look like an old man before you turn twenty!"
"Shisui-"
He didn't give him time to reply. "Fine, fine, I promise I will be careful. There, happy?"
He sighed. "Very."
"C'mon, it will be fine! I'm Shunshin no Shisui! What is the worst thing that could happen?"
"I'm terribly sorry, Kazuma-Sama! I tried-"
"Enough." He had put a lot of work into learning to speak authoritatively without raising his voice, so it was somewhat satisfying to see the man in front of him snapping his mouth shut at his softly spoken command. "I'm not interested in your whining, nor your excuses. Now, would you be so good and explain to me why the prices are still so low when you were ordered to rise them until low-income citizens wouldn't be able to pay them anymore?"
"I tried, Kazuma-sama, I really did, but it just can't be done that fast! No without the shinobi catching up to it, anyway. We need to rise them slowly over time and make it look natural!" He swallowed. "Also, your commands were a bit unclear, so-"
"Are you implying your failure is my fault?"
"No, no, of course not! It's just, well, you told us to raise the prices but not on which products, right? We weren't sure if you meant all products or just stuff like food and essentials, and you haven't given us a way to communicate with you, so…"
"I see." Maybe he had indeed been a bit unclear.
The thought made him scoff. Who would have thought that organizing an uprising and the eventual downfall of a Hidden Village was so complicated? It would have been so much easier if he could just march in and conquer it. Unfortunately, the daimyo was still too scared of going against Konoha and thus not ready to offer the support of his troops.
It was a shame, really, for they would have been most helpful. Not enough to win the day, of course, with them being slightly below a regular shinobi in strength and outnumbered by Konoha's forces, but helpful nonetheless.
How can no one see the problem of Daimyo-dono not having the strongest army in his own country? he thought, getting angry on behave of his lord.
"And such a raise in the price can't be done any faster?"
"We're getting there," the bowing man promised. "Only a few more months and we will have reached the point we're aiming for."
He didn't want to wait for 'a few more months', though.
"What about you?" he asked the other two people in the room, one man and one woman, who stood a bit further away. "How did your part progress?"
The man answered first. "It's just as you have said, Kazuma-sama. The Uchiha haven't noticed a thing, believing civilian matters to be of no importance and leaving it all to us. The people you sent did a great job in provoking shinobi and causing incidents, none of which are remarkable enough to catch the eye of the police."
Now, that was much better already. "Well done, well done." He turned towards the woman. "Itami-san, what do you have to report?"
Going by the way her face was frozen into a polite mask, he wouldn't like her news as much as the last. "I replaced as many teachers with our allies and sympathizers as I could, but it's impossible to make any noticeable changes in the curriculum. It might be a civilian matter, but such a thing needs to be brought up for review before a committee. And as there are several families whose members are shinobi, well…"
He spat on the floor. "So you achieved nothing at all?"
"I let several of my people found clubs where they-"
"Nothing at all!" he interrupted her. "That's what you did! Nothing!"
Unbelievable, why did I even ally with them in the first place? They're useless!
He took a calming breath. "Nothing we can do about that now. When I officially arrive tomorrow, act as if you don't know me. It's unlikely anyone would find it suspicious, but there is no need to risk it."
"Hai, Kazuma-sama!"
"Hai, Kazuma-sama!"
Even if their aid was less helpful than I hoped, it's still something, at least, he thought. Still, I doubt they would get anywhere on their own. His lips turned into a victorious smile. Fortunately, I'm here now. It's time that I move the plan forward a bit, isn't it?
Akihito sighed when he finally closed the shop for the day.
Dealing with customers was almost as exhausting as any mission he ever had. No matter what he did, it was never enough. Either the food was too hot or too cold, the portion too big or too small, or the price was just too high. Then he needed to explain for the hundredth time that no, they could not negotiate the price. Honestly, go to the market if you wanted to haggle, not a restaurant!
Still, it was much more fulfilling than his old profession had ever been.
He didn't regret becoming a shinobi and he definitively didn't regret that he fought to protect his home, but it just wasn't the same.
Doesn't makes dealing with annoying customers any easier, though.
It was already late at night, his boss allowing him to do overtime in exchange for higher pay. He had a good amount of money laid to the side, of course, but if he wanted to open his own restaurant one day, he needed as much money as he could get. After all, it was unlikely that he would be a great success from the get-go. There would be a transition period at the beginning where he wouldn't earn enough and he wanted to be prepared for that.
So, considering the time of the night, it was highly suspicious when he noticed movements on the roofs.
ANBU were usually much more subtle, preferring to stay unnoticed while they watched the area, so it couldn't be one of them. Besides, Akihito knew that there weren't many of them in the village right now to begin with.
By the way the person moved, it was also clear that they didn't use that path regularly, which meant it couldn't be one of the few shinobi that lived in these parts of the village. And as there wasn't anything here that would bring another shinobi to this place, especially at this time of the night, well…
It could be just some shinobi that got lost, or maybe one that wanted to visit a friend, but his gut was telling him otherwise. This person was suspicious and even though he was only a former shinobi of Konoha, he couldn't let them get away that easily.
With another sigh, he moved to subtly follow that person.
I really should have put more effort into keeping my skills sharp.
"Asuma, you coming?"
"Yes, yes, just give me a minute to finish my smoke first, would you?"
Chiriku laughed. "Alright, but you better hurry. It's going to start raining soon."
He looked after his friend with a smile on his lips before turning his gaze upwards to look at the dark clouds that were slowly but steadily moving towards them and taking another drag from his cigarette.
The weather was fitting, he thought. Right now, everything was fine, but the storm could already be seen and it was only a matter of time until all hell broke loose, just like he already saw the signs of a future fight in his head. Were things a bit different, were he just a little more bitter, he might have missed them, but they were there for everyone with eyes to see. Asuma would have never agreed with some of Kazuma's ideals and opinions, but he might have been willing to turn a blind eye to them for as long as he thought it was just all talks. In a different world, he might have done nothing until things went too far and there was no other choice than to confront his friend.
In this world, however, that was not the case.
As far as he could say, only two of his comrades agreed with Kazuma. However, there was no way to say how many others would join him as well if the man got more time to convince them; Asuma wasn't willing to allow that. For all that he was his friend and, as he believed, a genuinely good person, he couldn't allow him to threaten his home.
It wasn't even that his loyalties were split about that. On one hand, his loyalty to Konoha, as well as his family and friends that lived there, urged him to protect the village while his loyalty to the daimyo urged him to stop Kazuma before he could tarnish their liege's reputation.
He took another drag to calm himself.
It was time to talk to the daimyo. He should have done so earlier, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to do so until he had solid evidence to back his claims up. Evidence he now possessed, thank to the search he did of Kazuma's room. He had waited for months for this opportunity and while he had hoped that nothing would come from it, that it was all just inside his mind, he was also kind of relieved.
At least things would start moving now.
And if the gods were good, it would be over shortly after.