AN: Chapter title: Recruitment Part 2
"Let me see that message you got again." Asuma was handed not only Shikamaru's scroll but Ino's and Choji's as well. He once more read them over, trying to see if doing it again would make this make any semblance of sense. They mostly said the same thing, the only real difference in the scrolls being when it specified the name of the 'Tribune' it was addressed to. He felt like banging his head against a tree but thought better of it.
This. This was ridiculous.
He had expected a covert attempt by the blonde to influence Shikamaru, convince him to accept that offer from yesterday over the next few days, next few weeks, perhaps stretch it out for the next few months, if not an entire year even. He had expected Shikamaru to decide to go to try and find out more about Naruto and his army, what he was really after with it. He had expected Shikamaru to convince Choji to come with him as backup, for the two of them to face the dangers of such a mission with each other to rely on. He had been ready for that, had been planning to talk with Shikaku and Choza over keeping an eye on their kids, making sure they understood the risk this could be before they decided to accept it.
He was going to convince his old man that this could serve as a worthwhile intelligence operation, would have tried to convince him to put an ANBU Black Ops guard on the two if they accepted it to get them out if the blonde decided to do something extreme.
He had even dared to prepare himself for the absolute worst-case scenario, that the two were truly turned to whatever side the blonde was on, that they would hold their loyalty to the blonde above anything else.
The village.
Their team.
Their families.
He had been ready for that.
He hadn't expected something like this.
This opportunity was too good to believe.
A role that would let not only Shikamaru and Choji but Ino, Kiba, and Shino as well into the blonde's heavily guarded tower? Give them authority almost identical to what the Uchiha could do as long as it was in the Land of Fire? Give them unrestricted access to the entirety of his army and the information they had been looking for, that his old man had been trying to figure out a way to get access to without letting the kid know?
From what the scrolls had said, they wouldn't even be under guard while they were inside the tower, wouldn't be under anymore observation than the Uchiha would normally be.
It made him think they were being played, that this was some master plan from the Uzumaki and the Uchiha to trick them, some plot to have them drop their guard.
This being a trick was the only way any of it made sense, that made this wild divergence from all of the plans they had in mind make sense.
He glanced to Kurenai and could see much of the same thoughts in her eyes, read it on her face as Shino and Kiba waited for her to make a decision, as Hinata was merely staring at the Jonin.
"So…should we accept?" Ino asked the question on literally all of their minds, looked to the older Shinobi for the answer.
He sighed.
"I've got no idea." A part of him desperately wanted to go and drink, go and forget about this day with a few bottles. He suppressed that urge, focused instead on solving the problem at hand instead of trying to avoid it, instead of trying to run from it.
He still didn't have a solution.
He didn't even think he could come up with one.
'I wish Kakashi was here.' The masked Jonin was noticeably absent from this impromptu gathering of this year's graduating class and their teachers. He wasn't avoiding them, he simply didn't have a choice with the Daimyo around.
Him and the Uchiha were currently guarding him.
A part of him could take some satisfaction from that fact.
If there was any solace in all this, it was that the Daimyo would at least bore the kid to death with all his pointless talking.
'I guess that's good enough payback for having to deal with this.' Asuma turned his focus back to the matter at hand.
"I've already made up my mind." Hinata hadn't surrendered her scroll to Kurenai, didn't even get within reach of her teacher. There was steel in her pale eyes, a determination in her voice that hadn't existed in the girl through all of her years at the Academy, that had been absent when she had first become a Genin.
"Hinata, this isn't something to take on lightly. And it isn't something your even allowed to do without permission." Kurenai tried to speak with her student to no avail, tried to reach out to her only for the girl to step away.
She was becoming more and more distant from the Jonin, was treating her, was treating her teammates, nothing like she used to.
"I'm going to help Naruto-kun." Hinata made her stance abundantly clear from the way she spoke, from the way she clutched the scroll to her chest. "He asked me to do this so I will!"
Kurenai almost bit her lip to stop herself from saying something she would regret.
She didn't know what the blonde had done to her student but she knew he had to be the one responsible for this sudden change. He had to be the one behind this barely hidden animosity Hinata now held towards her, the fact that she no longer spent time with her teammates, that she no longer spent time with her friends.
As much as she knew it was his fault, if she put her thoughts into words, if she condemned the Uzumaki for what he had done, then that would be it.
Hinata would defend him, would create some reason why the blonde was right and why she was wrong.
And she would lose her, she would never have the chance to fix whatever the Uzumaki had done to her, would never have the chance to get Hinata to listen to her if she spoke what she thought of the boy.
So she held her tongue.
She would give Hinata time, would hope that she would come to her senses, come out of this idolization of the Uzumaki on her own.
Across from her, Asuma resisted the urge to light up a cigarette.
"Alright, let's not be too hasty." He put away the scrolls he had been handed by the latest Ino-Shika-Cho trio. "Here's what we're going to do. You three are going to have the rest of the day off. Take it easy and tell no one else about this. We'll handle this, go talk to a few people around the village. See what they think of it. Once we have something, we'll come get you." He did his best to preemptively soothe away the headache he felt building with a hand raised to his temple. "What time did the kid say he wanted an answer?"
"Kakashi-sensei took him away before he could say." Sakura kept a distance between her and one currently far too inquisitive Ino, seemed to have turned Choji and Shikamaru into another barrier between the new Chunin and herself. No matter how often the looks from Ino had the two moving to try and get her not to look at them like that.
"Isn't that just great…" He was talking more to himself. He and Kurenai shared a look. They didn't need to talk to agree on what to do next, that they had come to the same conclusion, the fact that they needed a little time to figure this all out. He turned to the kids under their watch. "Get going." He nodded back towards the village. "Go enjoy your free day." He cut off any protests. "Like I said, we've got some people to talk to about this. That's going to be a lot of just waiting around, talking about things you don't need to worry about if this turns out to be nothing. We'll see you in a couple hours. Probably outside the mission assignment desk if this goes the way I think it will."
"Be ready for a long-term assignment." Kurenai gave the younger Shinobi a clearer idea of what was about to happen.
The two Jonin left without another word, hurried to go speak with the Hokage about what they had just learned.
Asuma had more than a little bit of dread in his heart, didn't exactly like the idea of telling his father just how the situation with Naruto had changed, that they needed to know what to do.
Once the Jonin were gone, Ino immediately rounded on Sakura, tackled her before she could manage to flee after them or head off to wherever Kakashi had gone off to.
"Oh no you don't! You're not going anywhere! I want some answers and I'm getting them." Ino pulled Sakura up with her arms wrapped around her, kept the struggling and protesting girl from leaving with hard earned strength. Watching from nearby, Shikamaru, after sharing a look with Choji, decided not to get involved.
"I don't know anything!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
'Yeah, definitely not getting involved with that.' Shikamaru was set to avoid what Sakura was going through. He liked not being on Ino's radar when she wanted something. It was too troublesome, a drag at the best of times.
Sakura seemed to have given up as Ino showed no signs of releasing the pink haired Genin from her arms, seemed set on getting whatever answers she was after. She slumped in her arms, finally realized how resistance against the Yamanaka was futile.
"Alright already. What do you want to know?"
Ino beamed at her success.
"Hey! Hinata!" Kiba ran to catch up to Hinata, the Hyuga already heading off. "Wait up!"
The pale eyed Genin didn't slow down, Kiba's rush managing to catch up with her. Shino kept an eye on the two but didn't pursue, his kikaichu flying off instead.
As much as he worried for Hinata, worried for what she would do in the future, he wouldn't involve himself in her business without a clear reason, without knowing more about what was going on. Especially not when it involved Naruto and his influence on her. The Aburame had learned there were simply some battles one couldn't win. He disliked to admit it, but his was one of them.
For now, the Chunin set himself to merely keep an eye on her.
To be ready to step in.
"What's going on with you?" Kiba grabbed her arm, the worry he was feeling clear on his face. "You've been acting weird for a while now. We're all getting worried for you, me, Shino, Kurenai-sensei, all of us. What's happening?" From his place on top of his head, Akamaru barked in agreement. The ninken seemed just as worried about the girl as the Inuzuka was.
The pale eyed girl pulled her arm free of her teammate's hold, seemed set just to stare at him for a moment.
It alone unnerved the Inuzuka, almost made him take a step away from his teammate, made Akamaru shake on top of his head, nearly let out a whimper.
Somehow, this wasn't the girl the duo had known for years in the Academy, wasn't the girl who had joined them on Team Kurenai.
A plastic smile came to her face.
"There's nothing to worry about Kiba. I'm fine." Hinata continued on her way.
Shino watched her go.
He didn't like doing it but he stopped Kiba from going after her, stopped him from trying to get through to their teammate in his own way. He wasn't sure if anything Kiba could do right now would be beneficial to the situation, if anything he tried wouldn't just widen the sudden, and growing, chasm between Hinata and the rest of them.
"We can't just let her go!" Kiba was protesting, was trying to pull free of his hold on his shoulder. "Come on man."
"Give her space." Shino didn't believe that would help but his face didn't show it. "We'll talk to her later." He hoped he wasn't lying to him.
He wanted to help her, to be a good teammate, but he had absolutely no idea how.
He was becoming more and more afraid that he never would figure it out.
Across the village, Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake were of the same mind.
'When is he going to shut up?'
Kaien only kept going on from where he lounged in his seat. What exactly it was, neither Sasuke or Kakashi could claim they knew anymore. All they both wanted was for him to stop talking.
'We haven't even left yet! We were supposed to leave an hour ago! Come on!' They had, supposedly, stopped at this teahouse for a break that would only last a few minutes.
It had been an hour since the two of them had taken up a post outside the shop, the samurai that escorted the Daimyo responsible for guarding him inside.
The man had become set in speaking about something with the owner he seemingly knew, drink his long since cooled tea.
The Uchiha found himself, once again, questioning why exactly he was here.
'This is a waste of my time.' He ceased his watch on the entrance, let his back fall against the roof beneath him. 'I should be monitoring Caesar's progress with his Legion, keep Karin under watch in case the Hidden Grass tries to take her from Caesar, or anything but this. Yet this is the duty I've been assigned.'
He would not fail this task but he didn't enjoy it.
Already, he questioned if he could bribe the Praefectus Castrorum to take his place, teach him or perhaps a handful of Centurions amongst the Praetorians the Transformation Technique to take over this duty for him so he could do something, anything else.
There was little he despised more than the waste of time this was turning out to be.
If nothing else, he had learned of a fitting punishment for Legionnaires if they dared to disobey him, jeopardize a mission he assigned for any reason. Time spent guarding the Daimyo, those he could find like the man, would work well to wring any feelings of disobedience or desire for it out of them.
His gaze towards the sky was broken when a familiar silver topped figure appeared over him, cast his shadow over him.
"Ah, this isn't the time to catch up on your sleep Sasuke. You can't take this lightly." Kakashi spoke such things without looking up from the book he held up in front of his face. "Guarding the Daimyo is something any Shinobi should do diligently and with grace."
Sasuke wondered if his glare was lost on the man since he refused to take his eye off of his book.
He figured it was an exercise in futility but he did it anyway.
It made him feel slightly better if nothing else.
Kakashi dropped to the ground next to him, set his book back in the pouch on his Flak Jacket he normally stored it in. His single eye was focused on the Uchiha.
"So, Sasuke, what's the idea being you're recruiting? You've got the others running around trying to uncover whatever you've got going on underneath." If nothing else, the Uchiha could appreciate Silver Fang asking him directly.
"The answer should be obvious Silver Fang." Sasuke sat up, spared a glance towards the tea shop and saw the Daimyo retrieving a tray of snacks, delight crossing his face as he seemingly proclaimed that they would remain longer. He chose to ignore what he was feeling at the fact that he would be sitting on this rooftop even longer. He turned his gaze to Silver Fang, noticed how the Jonin sat up with him.
"Well?" Kakashi pushed for an answer, rose his single visible eyebrow.
"The Tribunes will serve as my replacements while I accompany the Daimyo back to the capitol and Caesar travels with the Toad Sage. If all goes well, I will return and relieve them of their post swiftly. If not, Caesar will hopefully return before me and relieve them." The Uchiha gave the answer to Kakashi, his red and black gaze making note of the Jonin.
He barely reacted to the news. The Jonin had seemingly either already known from the scrolls Sasuke had handed out or had guessed how the Tribunes would work.
"And that's a good reason to put on paper, something I'm sure you and Naruto came up. But what's the real reason you're doing this?" Kakashi seemed set to uncover more, the actual reasoning behind the decision to recruit so many so suddenly to Caesar's glorious Legion.
"It is the only reason you will hear." Sasuke was not in the mood to give him such an answer. "Now, shouldn't we return to our diligent guarding?"
Kakashi seemed to find some amusement in the way Sasuke threw his words back at him instead of frustration.
He ruffled his hair as he rose to his feet.
"I guess I can teach you something." Kakashi said no more, vanished back to a neighboring rooftop with his book out of his Flak Jacket and in his hand once more.
Sasuke spared him a glance before he returned to his own silent watch over the Daimyo.
'That may be problematic.' He didn't show any of the nerves he was feeling after the brief conversation with Silver Fang. 'Does he know?' He shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. At least the Hyuga is likely to accept. She'll be enough to keep them away.'
If this single event was to be the benchmark, Sasuke was beginning to think the nonsense of diplomacy would take up more of his time than fighting for Caesar's Legion. Working with Caesar to plan out the Legion's counterattack during the invasion had proven easier than this.
'Who knew setting up a diplomatic incident could take so much effort?' If keeping Karin safe was taking this much effort, he may just call an end to this game, gather up the Praetorians, and kill any of the Hidden Grass he could find in the village.
It would likely be markedly easier than his plan with the Tribunes.
He was even starting to think planning an invasion of the Hidden Grass would be easier than this.