Fu tapped her foot as she leaned against the wall outside the Hokage's office. She had been worried all night as Kenji never came home from his "graduation opportunity" and it wasn't like she could tell anyone what had happened without putting blame on her comrade. Her mind went back to the events of the morning where she was abruptly woken from sleep.
She had slept in Kenji's room hoping to be surprised to see him when she woke up but instead, she got a banging on the door. She quickly got dressed and open the door to see 3 of the ANBU Black Ops members standing across from her.
"Fu, you need to come with us. You're being summoned by the Hokage" one of the members said in a stern voice.
They took her to the Hokage's office, and she went with no questions asked since she knew 100% what the summon was about. They had not even let her get a bite to eat prior to so she was feeling a bit hungry.
She focused on the present-day turning to look at the ANBU members who were accompanying her in waiting for the Hokage to be ready. She noticed the one to the right of her who had a cat mask with three red marks. Fu could tell it was a girl because she had purple hair which went down all the way to her waist. She had been the only one out of the three to speak and she felt that she came off a bit harsh. On her left, there was another ANBU member with a white tiger mask. She was not sure if this one however was a guy or girl because they appeared to be toned but they had a ponytail.
She wondered why they would summon her to the Hokage office and the first thought that came up was Kenji. It was a real possibility that Kenji was in prison and that the Hokage brought her to either question her or arrest her, but she could not be sure. The thought of him or herself being in trouble began to make her anxious.
"How long is this going to take?" Fu asked frustrated that no one could tell her what this was about.
"You'll wait as long as you need to for Lord Hokage" the tiger-masked ANBU member spoke in a harsh tone.
"What's your problem?!" Fu yelled not liking the tone.
"You are my problem dem…" the ANBU member began to say before he was interrupted by the cat masked ANBU.
"Watch your tone," she said in a voice that could kill.
The tiger masked ANBU immediately straightened and became silent much to Fu's delight. She could not help but grin and stick her tongue. Luckily for her, the door to the Hokage's office opened and the cat masked ANBU member motioned for Fu to enter the office. She walked into the office where Lord Hiruzen was sitting behind his desk smoking a pipe which appeared to be something he did often.
"Good Morning Fu, I take it that you've had a good night's rest," Hiruzen said in a friendly tone.
"Yeah, I sure did" Fu responded cheerfully although still suspicious of the motivations of this meeting.
"The reason you were summoned here is because of an incident that took place last night."
'Crap' Fu thought while internally panicking.
"Did something happen?" Fu questioned innocently despite already knowing the answer.
"Did you talk to Kenji last night?" Hiruzen asked with a curious look.
Fu knew that the answers she gave could either help Kenji or bust both of them, so she knew she had to tread lightly.
"I talked to him, but he didn't come home last night, I just thought he went out to train or something" Fu answered
Hiruzen looked towards the ANBU in the room and the ANBU members dispersed from the room leaving the two alone.
"Listen, Fu, I am on your side here, but you have to help me. Kenji is involved in a serious crime against the village" Hiruzen stated with sympathy in his voice.
Fu remained silent and Hiruzen took that as an opportunity to continue speaking
"Kenji is in the hospital along with Sarada. We need to know what happened because it looks like Kenji was committing treason" Hiruzen explained.
"Kenji would never commit treason against the Leaf! Mizuki told him he had to steal the Scroll of Sealing to pass the exam" Fu practically shouted.
Hiruzen's eyes widened, and Fu gulped realizing she would have no choice but to tell him what happened.
Kenji opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of being in a hospital room. He had no idea how he got there but his hands immediately went to his neck in a panic when the last memories of last night came back to him. He felt his neck to see if there was any stitching or scars however, he felt nothing. He looked on his arm to see that connected was an IV line.
The last thing he remembered was Mizuki slashing his throat after he gave him the scroll. He wondered if Sarada was able to save him and beat Mizuki but before he could think further, a voice brought him from his thoughts
"Morning Sunshine."
Kenji turned to the door to see a woman leaning on the wall next to the door. The light brown-eyed; violet-haired woman was dressed in a metal mesh bodysuit that went from her neck to her thighs. Over the mesh bodysuit was a dark orange miniskirt and a tan overcoat.
"Who are you?" Kenji questioned.
"I'll be the one asking the questions around here," The woman remarked giving a grin that creeped Kenji out a bit.
The woman walked to the edge of Kenji's bed and pulled a syringe out of one of the pockets. She quickly placed the syringe into the IV line and injected the liquid.
"What the hell are you doing!" Kenji said not knowing what was in the syringe.
"I just injected a paralytic compound within your system. Without the antidote, you'll surely die" The woman said with a psychotic smile.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? Kenji screamed trying to get out of the bed but was immediately pinned by snakes that seem to flow from out of the arms of the woman's coat.
"Here's how this is going to work. If you tell me who you were going to deliver the scroll to, I'll give you the antidote otherwise your body will slowly stop functioning which ends with your lungs stopping and you will choke on the lack of air"
Kenji's heart was racing. There was no way they could let this woman do this, could they? They couldn't if he wasn't a suspect and now there was no way they didn't think he was a traitor or a spy even if he wasn't. He began to twitch, and the snakes wrapped tighter around him.
"I really was hoping you'd cooperate more," The woman said pulling out a roll of leather and laying it on the stand that was next to the bed. She unrolled it to reveal various scalpels, knives, scissors, and other instruments which were clearly used for medical or torture purposes. It finally clicked in Kenji's head that this woman was most likely from the Leaf Villages Torture and Interrogation department.
The psychotic woman grabbed a scalpel and brought it to Kenji's face. Kenji was going to try screaming but one of the snakes wrapped its body around his mouth effectively preventing him from speaking. The woman slowly began to move the scalpel towards the tied boy, and he closed his eyes to await the pain that would come from being cut.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS ANKO"
Kenji recognized that voice. He opened his eyes to see Lord Hokage, Fu, and Karin at the door all with different expressions on his face. Hiruzen had a look of sympathy yet anger while Fu and Karin shared a look of shock and fear.
Anko turned to the Hokage with a nervous smile while holding her hands up.
"I was just playing around with my new friend; I wouldn't do anything that would disgrace the village or my Hokage," she said smoothly despite having a look of obvious nervousness.
"Bullshit! She poisoned me with something" Kenji said with fear in his voice
"Relax brat. It was only water" Anko said with a slight smirk on her face that crumbled when she saw that Lord Hiruzen did not share her amusement
"Release him," Hiruzen said in a direct voice. He understood Anko's destructive yet playful nature and her willingness to find out the kid's role in this act of treason, but he was just a kid and Hiruzen knew firsthand that the innocence of a child should be maintained if possible.
Anko sighed before calling the snakes back into her coat. Kenji breathed a sigh of relief before looking at Lord Hiruzen who had a look of displeasure.
"Kenji, Mizuki was planning on defecting from the Leaf Village. Your classmates and friends have told me all about what happened. I need you to tell me what happened" Hiruzen explained
"He told me that I failed the academy graduation exams and that to pass, I had to take the scroll of sealing in a makeup exam" Kenji explained. Hiruzen appeared to take in what was said so he continued to speak
"I only did it because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to graduate with my friends," Kenji said sincerely.
Hiruzen had an unreadable expression on his face. Kenji knew that it was his word against Mizuki. Hiruzen sighed and begun speaking.
"You put me in a very complicated position. I wish you would have come to me for help" Hiruzen stated disappointed in the boy. He noticed the frown appear on the bedridden boy's face, so he continued
"However Mizuki's actions are what involved you and your friends and as far as I am concerned, you and your friends have nothing to worry about."
Kenji smiled before taking a more serious look. He stared at his visitors in the room and was silent for a few moments before he finally decided to speak
"Lord Hokage, I felt something was wrong from the beginning but I didn't want to tip off Mizuki so I had Fu take the scroll while I gave Mizuki a fake" Kenji explained.
Hiruzen had an unreadable expression but Anko on the other hand showed an angry glare.
"So you tried to steal the scroll from someone who was stealing the scroll" Anko accused
"Where is the scroll now?" Hiruzen asked. His tone was unreadable, but Kenji knew he had no choice now that The Third Hokage knew about the swap. He had plan on keeping the scroll for himself to look but he realized that odds are he'd really get caught and branded a traitor.
"I'll bring it to you, I had Fu hide it at our apartment" Kenji replied straight to the point
"How did you acquire a fake scroll?" Hiruzen questioned wondering how good of a fake was made.
"We had the fake scroll made to the dimensions of the actual scroll of sealing" Fu explained sheepishly
"Well as long as the scroll is returned to my possession then there shouldn't be any issues, although we may need to pay this designer a visit," Hiruzen said before turning to Anko who nodded and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Kenji opened his eyes and was greeted by the familiar sight of Fu sleeping beside him. The night before he finally got discharged from the Leaf Village hospital and he was glad to be back to the closest thing he could call home now. After having Fu bring the scroll to the Hokage, all four of the kids had to give multiple statements to Jonin level ninjas. They finally were escorted home after hours of statements and they had fallen asleep once they got home.
Kenji stretched his arms before going through his routine of getting ready for what was the final academy class. Due to the circumstances, he had ended up also graduating and today was the day they would find out the squads that were being formed. He couldn't imagine being paired with Fu but the possibility was there.
He was in the process of making breakfast when he noticed Fu exiting the room fully dressed with a smile on her face. They both ate breakfast quickly and made their way towards the academy. Reaching the academy gates, Kenji took a deep breath
"Are you ready for this?" Kenji asked looking at Fu noting her careless expression
"Nope but even if we aren't on the same squad, we'll see each other all the time," Fu said nonchalantly with a smile
Kenji smiled and nodded still uncertain about their future. Not wanting to waste any time, they both walked into the building.
Hiruzen sighed as he took a deep exhale from his smoking pipe. He was in front of the scroll designer's shop where the academy students had delivered dimensions of the scroll. The door opened and Anko walked out of the shop with a grim look on her face.
"What is it Anko?" Hiruzen asked puzzled at why he was summoned by Anko
"The shop owner is dead," Anko said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. She wouldn't get the chance to interrogate him however she knew how serious the matter was which is why she didn't make any jokes about the situation.
"How did he die?"
"It seems he took his own life and left a suicide note. It talks about troubles with debt and depression although, from our initial looks at his records, he seemed to be in the clear with his financials and a lot of the customers saw him as an easy-going fellow"
"Have the medical team examine his body and have the ANBU do a sweep of his home and shop" Hiruzen demanded before turning to leave.
"Hold on, Something has been bugging me. Why'd you act like you didn't know that the scroll Mizuki had was fake when you questioned that Kenji kid?" Anko asked
"I wanted to see what he would do when he thought he had gotten away with his crime" Hiruzen explained. He saw the confusion appear in Anko's face which prompted him to continue his explanation
"I wanted to see the true nature of the boy so I put him in a sense of false security to see if he would withhold the scroll from me"
"What if he kept the scroll to himself and that other girl?" Anko questioned
"He would be in a cell thinking about his actions," Hiruzen said
Anko gave a small chuckle at how serious the Third Hokage sounded
"And what do you think about his true nature?"
"Well, he ended up doing the right thing. The reason for it I am not sure, but he very well intended to keep that scroll in his possession. He has potential but needs the right guidance so that he becomes not only a capable shinobi but one that is loyal to the Leaf Village and does the right thing"
Anko nodded as Hiruzen left the scene. She turned around to head back into the scroll shop and sighed knowing it would take the rest of the day to examine all the paper records and physical evidence.
A/N: So the academy arc is finally coming to a close and the next chapter will begin the transition to the next arc. Soon enough our little academy students will be going on missions. I kind of underestimated how vast and how much in-depth I want this story to be so I apologize if it feels a bit sluggish at times which brings me to my next point. This story will be continuing but it will be slightly at a different angle than intended.