Between overtime, recovering from overtime, and a host of computer issues- both mine and not mine- I have somehow managed to catch up on Patron chapters (finishing off 129) and write 130-A in two days so that I can be posting this tonight. Hope everyone's enjoying their celebrations of choice and you'll enjoy this chapter too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work tomorrow and was supposed to be in bed an hour ago- Cheers.
Sealkeeper: He who Binds
Chapter 129-A "Promotion"
Patron Release 2020.12.08
Anko was practically vibrating at her desk when he entered her office and as soon as he had closed the door she had launched herself over the mistreated old wooden piece to grab him in her excitement.
"I really get to go with you, Naruto-kun?" The excitement and poorly disguised hopefulness were tinged with only slight tints of nervousness and doubt as if something had happened after she started listening in to their conversation or he had never actually intended to take her at all and was just trying to make her boss think she was out of the village for whatever reason.
She didn't know what that reason would be but it wasn't like she paid attention to a majority of the Wolve's plans anyway so that was to be expected.
"That's the plan." As soon as he said that she moved from just embracing him to jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist in an effort to completely crush his torso with her body.
"I know you're excited but I'm going to need to be alive in order to bring you out of Konoha with me." He pointed out flatly. Anko's grip loosened slightly but she didn't surrender her hold of him. "And speaking of needs-" She perked up at that only to be immediately disappointed. "You're going to need to put in your resignation with Konoha's Shinobi offices."
"Can't I just go rogue?" She pouted. "It's so much easier than dealing with the asshats at the Shinobi Registration Offices."
"It's much easier for us if we don't have a Konoha nuke-nin with us when we're trying to do things." He countered. "Besides, this way you'll still be eligible to return to active status should I need you among Konoha's forces."
"You really think Asuma would let me come back?"
He raised a brow at her question. "What makes you think he has to know? That's all covered by the Shinobi Offices. As long as you followed the proper procedure when you left they should have no issue letting you return to bring Konoha more revenue. Their entire purpose is to ensure we have enough Shinobi to handle the mission requests coming in. They're hardly going to refuse another Jounin- Tokubetsu or otherwise."
"...Will you come with me at least?"
"Why?"
"It's so boring waiting at the Shinobi offices. It should be a quick visit to take care of what you need but it always takes hours for some reason, I hate it."
Naruto took a second to try recalling if he had anything of any importance planned for later today but nothing really came to mind. "I'm going to have to head back to the office to make sure nothing's come up and I'm not forgetting something, but if my afternoon's free how about we go take care of that today?"
She squeezed him even harder for a second before dropping her feet back to the ground. "You're the best, Naruto-kun."
"Let's meet at the offices at,shall we say, one o'clock..?" Naruto suggested, taking a quick glance at his watch. Or he thought it was his. It was with the rest of his clothing so he sort of assumed one of the Wolves had obtained it for him and left it there for him. None of them had taken credit for the gift- assuming it was one- though, so he hadn't been able to thank them.
"Aw, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Can't we go right after you check back at the apartment?"
"You could do a lot of things, Anko. Your job, perhaps, or packing for your upcoming move from Konoha. Maybe you could even stop by and visit some of your friends to let them know you'll be leaving."
Judging by the expression on her face, none of those options really appealed to her at the moment. She never wanted to do her job- properly, at least. She loved cutting people up- packing sucked, and she sort of wanted to avoid too many questions from her friends about what was going on.
Rolling his eyes Naruto came up with something for her. "At least invite Kurenai out and treat her to Dango or something. You can have lunch and chat with her while you pass the time. Maybe you'll manage to convince her to come with us, too." She brightened considerably at that before her face dropped to slight concern.
"Only if she isn't mad at me for leaving." She declared. "The Shinobi Offices are bad enough, I'm not sitting there while Kurenai glares or-" She shuddered briefly. "Lectures me."
"Deal, now get going, I don't need you complaining about missing lunch while we're waiting."
She pouted in response. "Aw, you don't give me enough credit, Naruto-kun."
"Anko." His voice was flat. "I know you."
"Hehe," One of her hands came up to nervously scratch at the back of her head. "Yeah. I guess you do."
Naruto shook his head. That woman would never change but that was probably a good thing. He liked his Anko being Anko, he couldn't imagine her any other way.
To him it was just another railroad spike being driven into the frozen ground of Yuki no Kuni but when he took his last swing and sent it fully into its new home the cheers that erupted around him made Juugo realize there may have been a bit more to it than that.
Blinking in surprise he straightened up and looked around at the gathered railway workers- his team and the team that had constructed the station- and the locals of the small mining town he realized they had all been watching him. Another glance at the railway told him it was because the rest of the work was done.
It was a few more moments until the significance of that actually sunk in. He had been on the last spike, he had just driven the last spike for their project.
He had just finished the railway.
Immediately he spun around to look at the clock proudly displayed by the small station- 11:43.
They had made it.
Warm elation bubbled up in his chest as relief swept through him. As a Shinobi capable of getting himself out if things went wrong he'd been in no physical danger but his team had been. Doto had a nasty temper and missed deadlines were the most common way for people to lose their lives. That was without mentioning that even if Juugo had gotten out he still would have jeopardized his mission and quite severely at that. Overseer Jirobo would have had to send someone else to join the rail crew and all the progress Juugo had been making would have been for naught.
While he wouldn't be caught up in the laughter and cheers of the celebrating townsfolk and rail teams he made no effort to disguise the large grin he could feel spreading across his lower face.
He still had quite a lot of work to do for his real mission, but his immediate objective had been a success. Everything, for the moment, was right in the world.
And things got just a little bit better when Kari launched herself at him to wrap his large frame in the tightest hug she could manage. She may not have been a Kunoichi but she was no stranger to hard labor and her strength should not be underestimated. He was fairly certain she cracked one of his ribs but he was so used to his body being changed when he utilized Nature Chakra that he wasn't quite sure.
His pain tolerance was, well, pretty damn terrifying to be perfectly honest- even to him- and there really wasn't anything he could do about that. In this case it was probably a good thing. It would have been a shame to ruin the moment just because she had injured him.
"You did it, you actually did it!" Her melodious laugh filled his ears. "You-" She dropped her embrace to place her hands on the side of his head and force him to face her head-on. "Are amazing. Absolutely amazing." Her voice was heavy with seriousness but even she couldn't suppress the bubbling undertones of joy and awe that carried with it.
Juugo could only shrug, his eyes flickering off to the side to avoid the sincere blue eyes that looked at him in such wonder and happiness. He wasn't used to any sort of praise and it felt weird to be lauded for just doing his job. One night of sleeplessness wasn't a big deal, there were Shinobi in Otogakure and Orochimaru's research labs that regularly went without rest for a week at a time.
He supposed the difference there was that they were Shinobi and at the moment he was surrounded by nothing but civilians. Their expectations for amazing feats were quite a bit lower than anyone who had learned to harness Chakra to accomplish them. Walking on walls or water was completely beyond their reach and yet it was expected of even the lowest ranking Shinobi of the world.
Perhaps to them what he had done truly was incredible but he almost felt like he was cheating in that case. He was a Shinobi, after all, to him this was normal.
But they didn't know that.
Some of them might have suspected he was hiding something- well, most of them did, probably. He was here in Yuki no Kuni illegally working for the railways and hadn't said anything about his past in the company of his team- but he thought it was unlikely that many of them had even considered the fact that he might be a Shinobi.
If they knew, he wondered, would they still think so highly of him?
He doubted it.
Kurenai raised a suspicious brow, her arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping against the patio of Anko's favorite restaurant as she sat across from the woman in question. Anko, being Anko, had ordered for the two of them and then immediately started paying attention to everything except her best friend as she attempted to postpone the questions that would no doubt rise from the situation.
Questions like - "What are you trying to avoid telling me, Anko?"
"Nothing."
Kurenai's brow reached its peak and she gave the Tokubetsu-Jounin an unamused stare. "You only ever treat me to something when you want my forgiveness so either you've done something or you're planning to."
Anko's immediate response was a very mature pout but she continued to steadfastly avoid Kurenai's crimson eyes. "Why does everyone I hang out with know me so well?" Was her complaint, earning an eye-roll from the Genjutsu mistress.
"Because there are only so many of us that you do hang out with so we're always around you."
"It's just not fair, first Naruto-kun is making comments that make me sound immature and now you know what's going on before I even tell you."
It was mild curiosity that prompted Kurenai to temporarily divert the conversation they should be having to instead follow- briefly- a new line of questioning. "Was Naruto-kun wrong?"
The answer she received was Anko puffing out her cheeks and it told her everything she needed to know. "So that would be a 'yes', hmm? I'd say you're certainly proving him right."
"Of course he's right, he's Naruto-kun." She crossed her arms and turned to stare at some random couple out on the patio with them before quietly adding; "That doesn't mean I like it."
"And you're going to do what, mature?" Kurenai didn't think she could raise her eyebrow and higher. She had been wrong.
"I can be mature," Anko protested. "I just don't like it."
"You can act mature, that's completely different from actually being mature."
Anko puffed out her cheeks again, still not looking at her best friend, and then quietly mumbled; "Says you."
"I can hear you, Anko." Kurenai rolled her eyes once more. Even after all the years she had known Anko the woman still surprised her with how childish she could act at the drop of a hat. Perhaps that was backwards, if she wanted to be more accurate, because it was more likely she dropped her act of limited maturity at a moment's notice.
"...No you can't."
"Are you going to tell me why you invited me out or are we just going to sit here in silence until the Dango arrives?" Anko opened her mouth to answer and Kurenai immediately shut her down. "That was rhetorical, Anko, the second one isn't an option."
The woman deflated before, with a dramatic sigh, she turned to fully face her friend for the first time since she had kidnapped her from her team's training session and forced the young Jounin instructor to call the day quite a bit earlier than she had planned to.
Her Genin hadn't seemed to mind too much. Ino and Shino seemed amused- though it was hard to tell with Aburame- and Kiba was too busy staring at Anko's everyday attire to notice his Sensei was being abducted.
"So it's not something I've done," Anko got that part out of the way first."But I'm not sure you'll like what I'm going to tell you."
"We won't know until you do tell me. What is it you're planning on doing that you're so worried will upset me?"
"Uh, resign as a Konoha Shinobi and join Naruto and the House of Wolves as they leave Konoha?"
"Oh," Kurenai took a moment to process that, making no move beyond a few slow blinks. "Okay. Was that all?"
"Eh? You're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad?" Kurenai shrugged before turning away dramatically. "Hana already left us and then Yugao became swamped with her work so she never sees us anymore, why would I be upset that the only friend I still get to see is also abandoning me?" She raised the back of her hand to her forehead as if she was fighting off distressed fainting.
"Hey, wait, you're not spinning this around as a guilt-thing on me, Kurenai, don't you dare!"
"I'm joking, I'm joking." Kurenai let her arm drop back down. "Calm down, Anko. You're the one making a big deal out of this. The Wolves are leaving Konoha, okay, that means Naruto's leaving and I can't imagine you'd let him go without doing your damndest to join him." Kurenai paused there, considering her own words as she came to another conclusion. "Honestly, I'm a bit surprised you convinced him to take you with him."
Even though she knew she should leave it there because it kept her in a semi-positive light, Anko couldn't help but counter her statement with a question. "Why do you think I would have asked him?"
She was treated to a flat red stare from Kurenai. "Because you're resigning. The only one in the entire village that would be able to convince you to go down to the Shinobi Registration Offices is Naruto."
"Eh-he, yeah." Anko scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "The two of you really do know me too well, information is supposed to be my job. Stop making me look bad."
"You're doing that plenty on your own, Anko, you don't need anyone's help there."
"Hey!"
Kurenai was saved from any further objections when the arrival of their orders immediately stole away the Tokubetsu-Jounin's full attention.
Kurenai could only roll her eyes again- fondly, this time.
Anko would always be Anko.
After Kari had taken her fill of hugs from him, Juugo was treated to pats on the back and gratitude from the rest of his team. Though no one actually spoke it, they all knew his actions and hard work had saved their lives and no amount of "thank you"s and "well done"s would ever sufficiently repay him for it.
That didn't mean they wouldn't try, though, and Juugo found himself becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. He found himself being saved, much to his surprise, by his boss Yaiji who placed a firm hand on his shoulder to catch his attention.
"Excellent work, Juugo, I'm proud to have you on my team." He glanced over to a man standing beside him and back to his favorite employee. "There's someone who would very much like to meet you if we could steal you away for a minute or two." While it was presented as almost an invitation the way he said it made it clear Juugo didn't have an option. The young man in question found some amusement in the fact that the order was more from those crowding around him to back off than it was for Juugo to follow.
Guiding him closer to the freshly painted station, Yaiji came to a stop and turned around to face the man who had followed them, one arm out to direct Juugo's attention appropriately. "This is Tanaka-san, the man in charge of all rail teams in south-western Yuki no Kuni. Tanaka-san -" He dropped that arm and raised the other towards Juugo. "This is Juugo, the sole reason we were able to make the deadline despite the...issues...with the explosive charges we'd been provided."
Juugo usually considered himself pretty big even though he wasn't very old so it was always curious when he met people bigger than he was. Bukra, for instance, was twice as wide as he was and probably half a Juugo taller, well, Juugo. The man could probably pull the damn train himself if the engines stopped working. The man Yaiji was introducing him to wasn't that big but he definitely had Juugo by a couple inches when it came to height and his shoulders were perhaps just a tad more broad.
For being Yaiji's boss- if he was understanding the chain of command properly- and not working directly on the rails himself the man seemed strangely muscular with burly arms and shoulders that told a story of many years doing hard labor. With hard black eyes and black hair kept short and easy to maintain it would be easy to see him fitting in with any random group of railworkers.
Of course, that image was slightly betrayed by the slight gut the man carried and even the hard work on the railways couldn't produce the deep stress lines that cut down his face or the dark tinge beneath his eyes. Those spoke of an overwhelmed manager shouldering the stress of a mountain but Juugo didn't know what else you'd expect from someone who was stuck between ill-equiped teams charged with meeting absurd deadlines and Doto himself.
As tired as he seemed, his expression warmed up noticeably as he reached out a hand that Juugo firmly shook. "Tanaka Hyuran," He re-introduced himself with a small but genuine grin. "but you, my boy, are free to call me Hyuran. You've really pulled our asses out of the fire with this."
"Just doing my job, sir."
"Oh no, I'll have none of that. You didn't just do your job, Juugo, you went above and beyond in ways I would never have expected from some of our most dedicated workers." He turned briefly to Yaiji. "Your boss, of course, definitely shares in the credit for recruiting you to his team and in trusting and supporting you as you did-" He returned his attention to Juugo. "But in the end you're the one responsible for our success today. Words can never be enough to express my gratitude at such an incredible feat."
"We didn't have much of a choice," Juugo tried to deflect. "There was work that needed to be done so we got it done. The whole team worked hard to make this happen."
"Yes, yes, they did indeed." Hyuran nodded in absolute agreement. "And they'll be rewarded for their contribution, but you were the one who remained at the worksite all night to tear your way though the mountain. I won't ask how you did it," He shot Juugo a serious look. "Because I'm assuming you'd like to keep that quiet but I do think I have a pretty good idea. Believe me when I say I'm sincerely grateful to be fortunate enough to have an individual such as yourself working on the projects I manage."
Juugo had the distinct suspicion that the man had realized he was a Shinobi and probably assumed he had used some sort of Doton technique to get through the living rock. It was close enough and avoided some more sensitive questions so Juugo would play along for now, though it did make him wonder if it might be a good idea to try to learn some actual doton techniques to help him while he worked here. Maybe if he asked Jirobo in his next report…
"So grateful, in fact." Hyuran's words interrupted his thought and brought his attention back to the matter at hand. "That I would like to extend to you an offer to be a larger part of that team." Yaiji's brows raised in surprise as he overheard this but he managed to keep his silence.
"I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir."
"I think we both know, Juugo, you strike me as a smart lad, but I'll make sure to be as transparent and forthcoming as I can to ensure there's no miscommunication between us- I want you as one of my crew leads, like Yaiji here- with a team of your own. It's more responsibility but I think you've shown that you're more than capable of dealing with that." He proceeded to shoot the young man a wink. "It also comes with a substantial raise, which I'm sure you'll enjoy."
"It's a very attractive offer, Hyuran-san, but-" He paused a second to clance at his boss, considering what he was about to share with someone rather high up in the industry he technically wasn't supposed to be a part of. "I'm not exactly someone who should be employed as a regular crewmember, let alone a lead. As far as Yuki no Kuni is concerned, well ,I don't actually exist."
"Ah, yes, that." The man shifted a bit, casting glances around to make sure it was just the three of them who would hear his next words. "While we certainly don't have any record of any employees who may not have possessed all the documentation Yuki no Kuni requires to work within her border, I'm sure that won't be a problem when we hire you directly as a crew lead in a week. On that note, you seem to have left your documents with HR when you last stopped in. I'll have someone get in contact with you to make sure you get them back..."
"..Really?" Juugo was pretty sure he understood what Hyuran was saying but he was having difficulty believing the man was going through so much trouble in order to give him a promotion.
"Juugo," Hyuran's voice fell grave. "It was more than just your team on the line with this project. The path you laid is the only reason any of the planned railways will continue and that meant that failure was not an option. Consider it a life for a life."
"If it was so important," Juugo frowned. "Then they should have made sure we had everything we needed to complete it." He paused, remembering. "We never saw that blast engineer again, did we?" He turned toward Yaiji as he asked but it was Hyuran that ended up answering his question.
"Doto was less than pleased when the engineer returned to retrieve the last of the charges and he learned what happened to the original batch that had been provided to your team. He was sent to the dungeons though I believe Doto has been too busy to have anything else done to him yet. If he's lucky Doto will forget all about him and he'll eventually be released because no one can remember why he's there in the first place."
"And if he's not?"
"...Well," Hyuran glanced away, lowering his voice. "At least we know it won't be drawn out. Doto is not a patient man."
Grim silence filled the space between the three of them.
"We're better off not dwelling on such things." Breaking them away from such thoughts Hyuran attempted to return them to a more jovial attitude or, at the very least, something that more closely resembled the celebration happening just a dozen or so meters away. "So let's return to the matter of your promotion. You'll accept, of course, no?"
"I can't see any reason not to, will I need to hire my own team?" Actually he didn't particularly want to be anyone's leader in any capacity but unfortunately it looked like it was going to be unavoidable. This promotion was a crucial part of completing his mission so he could hardly pass up on it.
"We have several candidates you could choose from but there will of course be existing employees who might be looking to change location or...leadership. I'll have my crew leads see who would be interested in joining your team and I'll reach out to my..colleagues to see if they have anyone of similar opinions."
Juugo's eyes moved from Hyuran to Yaiji and back to Hyuran. "I want Kari."
His boss's boss blinked in surprise before shooting him a narrow-eyed quisical gaze. Juugo remained steadfast, perfectly calm and unphased despite attempting- in a form of a demand, no less- to poach a crew member from the man standing right next to him.
Hyuran was already offering a lot due to his gratitude and he was probably pushing the bounds of the gratefulness in making such requests in addition to the man's existing generosity but he was confident that he'd be granted this even if it meant he would have quite as much leeway when dealing with his new direct boss over the coming months.
All things considered, the man recovered admirably. "I can understand wanting a familiar face as you transition to this new role but I think it's hardly appropriate to-"
"She's yours." Yaiji interrupted his boss and gave Juugo a nod before turning to Hyuran to offer an explanation. "I know my team, as soon as she learns he's becoming a crew lead she's going to be putting in for a transfer. If she doesn't get it she'd going to be unbearable, might as well spare us all the headache and make everyone happy."
Frowning in contemplation Hyuran nodded to himself a few times. "Yes, yes, if she's going to want a transfer and Yaiji's fine with it…." His mumblings were quickly discarded as he returned to his regular volume which, Juugo was now realizing, was perhaps a bit louder than was propper with the three of them so close together. "You're getting first pick of transfers and prospects, Yaiji." The man promised and then brought his attention back to Juugo. "When he's picked who he wants to replace Kari you can go through the rest and let me know who you want on your team."
Black eyes moved to the crew lead in question. "Start showing him how to operate the trains and going over the basics of being a crew lead with him. You'll be mentoring him until he's on his feat." Back to Juugo he continued. "That means Yaiji's team and your team will be working on the same projects for a bit as you get used to your role. Luck seems to be with us considering the next stretch was going to take two teams anyway but while the two of you are working together Yaiji will maintain command as the senior crew lead. Any call he makes supersede your own, understood?"
"Of course, sir."
"Good," He clapped his hands together. "In that case I do believe we're done here for the time being. Go celebrate, gentlemen, and get some rest- you've more than earned it. I'll be in contact with you over the next week or so." He didn't wait for a response and instead turned on his heel to rejoin the small crowd.
Neither Yaiji nor Juugo believed it was in an effort to relax- though the man probably needed to- and knew it was probably to network and build public relations. Politics, it permeated everything. They were united in the fact that they weren't fans - not in the slightest.
Sharing a look Yaiji gave him a grin. "At least we don't have to worry about dealing with that half of the industry," He commented wryly. "Though at the rate you're going it might not be that way for you much longer, you'll be threatening his job before the year's out I reckon."
"Don't even joke about it." Juugo's flat voice must have been humorous as it prompted Yaiji to let out a small bark of laughter. Well, that or it was just an overwhelming sense of relief at having escaped Doto's wrath. Perhaps a combination of the two.
"Seriously, though, from a lowly crew member earning a pittance to a crew lead with Yuki no Kuni citizenship earning a bit more than a pitance, at this rate you might start considering buying a house of your own instead of renting a place. It's cheaper in the long run and, well, you seem to be getting all set up for the long-haul."
"...Maybe." Juugo hadn't even considered that because it held no bearing on the current mission and after the mission- well, then what? He'd go back to Otogakure or to a research center and simply...be...until something else popped up that they needed him for. Maybe...just maybe..he could be waiting up here in a house of his own living a quiet, simple life. He'd never had wages before and found himself liking the freedom it brought, he could only imagine what it would be like to be an actual homeowner. He was kind of excited to find out, though he knew he had a long way to go before he would reach that point- especially at the salary he knew Yaiji was making.
Then again, land in Yuki no Kuni was cheap because there was little demand and the farther from a town or city he was both the cheaper that land and the lower the chances of him accidentally hurting someone became.
"Not to pry or anything, of course." Yaiji continued, completely oblivious to the train of thought he'd sent his former crew member down. "Your plans for the future are your own, for all I know you'll be gone in two months to perform miracles somewhere else. If you do want to stay, though, land ownership is where it's at. Will save you a fortune over the years and if you can rent out space you'll have a nice side income to supplement our wages here."
An income that wouldn't require him to actually be present? That made it even more feasible to have a home here and just leave on missions when called upon.
For probably the first time he could remember, Juugo suddenly found himself looking forward to the future.
It was definitely the first time he had ever thought he might have one at all.
Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 129-B "Neutral"
Patron Release 2020.12.23
A red brow rose as Naruto opened the door to his office and was greeted by Kakashi lounging in his chair, feet kicked up carelessly on his desk. Naturally an Icha-Icha occupied both one of his hands and his full attention.
"Is there a reason you've chosen to do this here, Kakashi?" Even as he asked Naruto turned his gaze to the desk itself, scanning it for any delivered reports ro requests that might require his attention. In response to his searching Kakashi's free hand moved from thrown over the back of the chair to drop a small manilla folder onto the desk.
"Those came in while you were out, didn't seem too important."
"Thank you for not resting your feet on them." Flipping through them he came to the same conclusion, nothing there actually required any immediate attention though he would probably bring them with him to the Shinobi Registration Offices to make better use of his time waiting there. "Did you intend to answer my question or is your book just too engrossing?"
"Well, it is getting to an exciting part…." Was Kakashi's defence, earning a blank look from his Sensei's son.
"Even I know you've read that one at least seven times and I'd be very surprised if you hadn't found a way to memorise them all with your sharingan by now."
Naruto could see as Kakashi's thoughts came to an abrupt halt and restarted to process what he had just said. After a few seconds his expression became conflicted.
"I could have them all with me always," Even his voice seemed to frown as he spoke. "But then it won't be as exciting when I go back to re-read them."
"I refuse to believe you don't already have most of the plots memorized with how many times you've read them already."
"I can still enjoy the small details I don't remember, though."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Do as you will, but if you're going to be doing it here I'd like an explanation."
"Ah, yes." The Icha-Icha shut with a snap and was set gently onto the desk. "That."
"Yes, that."
"Well, I recently spoke to someone and figured you might like to know about it." Kakashi gestured around him. "You're normally here, so this is where I came but when you weren't here I figured you'd be back soon enough. I was right."
"That you were, who did you speak to?"
"Yugao."
"...Ah." Naruto paused completely for a second or two before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. "And you thought it was important enough to bring to my attention?"
"It's not the first time we've spoken." That was...sort of an answer, Naruto supposed. If he'd already spoken with Yugao before and not deemed it important enough to bring to Naruto's attention then this time perhaps it would be something he needed to be aware of.
At the same time, he'd really prefer to have none of the people close to him interacting with her. He'd given her too much information before and was painfully aware of the consequences that had followed. The less they interacted with her the lower the chances were that they'd accidentally tell her something that could harm the Wolves when it inevitably got back to Asuma.
"...What do I need to know?"
"The first time she was asking me what she could do to help you. She knows she probably won't be earning your trust again but she seems to want to make amends at the very least." Kakashi paused to judge Naruto's reaction and, seeing that he was unmoved, continued on. "This time she wanted me to pass on that her team supports you, too." Kakashi frowned. "Probably something to note, it's the same team that was in Kirigakure."
"I know."
"Yes, well, they also want to know what they can do to help. A few of them had been aware of your father but it's recently come of their attention that you're Tsukuyomi as well. Between Asuma and your father, well, I'm sure you can guess."
"I see." Naruto's face remained carefully blank but Kakashi could read his eyes easily enough. "If you think you can safely use them, Kakashi, do so as you see fit. I want nothing to do with them."
"Understandable. Figured you'd like to know before I ended up doing anything with them."
"Yes, yes you're completely correct. I'd rather not have them used at all but I'm not going to completely disregard a resource at our disposal. Just be careful to make sure they don't know the reasons behind any task you give them. I don't need them connecting anything and bringing it to Asuma's attention."
"They won't," Kakashi promised, speaking both for discovering the purpose of any tasks and of informing Asuma but Kakashi wasn't sure Naruto cared to understand both meanings. "But I'll keep them in reserve for now. Unless you have a task for me, there's not much for them to contribute."
Naruto kept his silence in manner Kakashi felt was agrement, leaving the Jounin a few moments to consider whether or not he should continue speaking. In the end he decided to go for it. He knew Naruto wasn't a fan of Yugao and what she and her team had doen in Kirigakure but it was important for him to look at things more practically-
Not that he would ever be able to blame the young Daimyo for not trusting them in any capacity when it came to matters of the Wolves.
"I'd urge you to temper your feelings for this particular group, Naruto, having the ANBU commander and her squad willing to help can be a substantial boon."
"It can be, yes, I'm not ignorant of that."
"Just want to make sure you're aware. Did you need me to leave?" He gestured to the desk his feet still rested on and Naruto shook his head.
"No, I'm going to join Anko to make sure she actually visits the Shinobi Registration Offices."
"Oh?" Kakashi's one visible brow rose. "So you've decided she'll be going with you, then?"
"I figure it's for the best, yes. Don't be jealous."
"I'm not." They both knew he was lying but they left it there.
"You can read here if you want, though some of the sitting rooms you may find more comfortable."
"Maybe in a bit," The Icha-Icha was picked back up and cracked open. "I'm comfortable and it's getting to a good part."
"As you will, I should be back in a few hours if anyone asks after me."
Kakashi gave a lazy salute with his free hand. "I'll let them know."
Well, assuming he was still here when they came looking for him but this was Kakashi- it's not like he had any plans for the day anyway.
As much as people tended to view the Kirigakure civil war - or Bloodline Rebellion, if you prefered- as two-sided there was, of course, a third side- the neutrals. Even then the neutrals were again split in two; civilian and Shinobi.
The civilians were merely caught in the middle of the mess and irregardless of where their sympathies lie were unable to do much either way. The neutral Shinobi, on the other had, could have made a difference through the many years the conflict had gone on for.
Those who had been a part of the rebellion really didn't look too favorably upon those neutrals, something reflected by the fact that they were simply considered to be Loyalists for the most part.
Mei had to admit the name was true to a degree, but the sentiment was slightly misplaced. Those neutrals weren't Yagura Loyalists but Kirigakure Loyalists and that was an important distinction to make. Kirigakure Loyalists stayed with Kirigakure because it was the home they had sworn to protect and serve. They didn't care which side of the conflict won, all that mattered to them was that Kirigakure and her people were safe.
She could only imagine how they must have felt now that most of it was ash and rubble, though she supposed the fact that the majority of the populace was still breathing may have soothed that quite a bit.
If she was completely honest, even she wasn't above resenting the able-bodied men and women who could have helped them end this war much earlier- quite likely before the Wolves had ever become involved- and avoided the destruction of the home they had fought to recover for so long.
Despite that, she was the Mizukage and these were her people so they would have to be treated just like any other Shinobi under her command.
There was also the small matter of Kirigakure's current situation not really allowing them to disregard any available resources.
Still, there was something about some of these formal neutrals that seemed really off to her. Not in the sense that they were really former Yagura loyalists pretending to be neutrals just to stay within Kirigakure- the truth there was that there were actually very few who had been loyal to Yagura and his ideals, most of the forces the rebellion had fought were neutrals doing their part to defend Kirikagurer from what, she could admit, had been an unlawful threat- but that there seemed to be something wrong with them.
You know, beyond the normal Shinobi-levels of mental issues.
The first thing that tipped off about this specific neutral being off was the way he stared at her like a piece of meat. Not in the usual lustful sense, no, he looked at her as if he was trying to decide which cut he was going to cook first,
She was used to ignoring the first type but she really didn't know how to react to someone looking like they wanted to genuinely eat her.
There was also the marking going from the man's lips down to his chin. It was somewhere between black and red and seemed to be- as far as she could tell- a recent tattoo. Where they had managed to find someone with the equipment- let alone someone who knew how to use it- was beyond her.
He wasn't the only neutral she had seen with that mark- there had been a few- but she still hadn't learned what it was supposed to mean. No one else seemed to know either, or if they were they weren't willing to pass on that information. She was tempted to ask but there was just something about the way they tended to look at her that told her she was probably better off not knowing.
What she did know was that despite all sharing that mark- in various shades of red and black - they didn't really congregate together. In fact, she'd never seen two of them in the same room- not that she saw them that often- as far as she could recall. If they were part of some group she couldn't imagine why they would avoid each other so avidly, though it was just as likely she didn't have anything close to a complete picture of the situation.
She was very nearly tempted to have Ao figure it out for her but he had much more important things to manage at the moment than her own curiosity.
"You'll be taking up the north patrol, have you already looked over your patrol route?"
The man's tattooed lips frowned for the barest seconds as if insulted she had to ask. "Of course, Mizukage-sama, I went over them last night and this morning. Am I correct to assume we'll be taking over for Takea's squad?"
"Yes, that's correct." He was much better informed than she had expected, she'd give him that. "You'll be relieving Takea's squad. We'll have you out there for about three weeks until we find another squad to replace you. I hope this won't be an issue."
"Not at all, Mizukage-sama." He shook his head. "I'll do whatever Kirigakure needs."
"Good answer. We don't anticipate anyone else being in the area but we're too vulnerable to take any risks. If you do come across any foriegn forces you're free to handle the matter as you see fit with the exception of Konoha Shinobi. Keep an eye on them and have me informed immediately, they may be a diplomatic party sent by Asuma-dono."
"Of course." He was hoping they did run into other forces in the coming weeks, it had been a while since he'd had a proper meal.
He'd have to make sure to bring back as much as he could for his siblings, too, they were just as hungry as he was.
"Ladies." Naruto greeted the pair of Konoha Kunoichi as he came to a stop beside their table, shaking his head in fond exasperation at the dango sticks piled before Anko. How she managed to subsist on a diet almost completely made up of the stuff he would never be able to comprehend. How she maintained her Kunoichi figure while doing so was even more difficult to wrap one's head around and could probably be considered some form of lesser Kinjutsu.
"Ah, good afternoon Naruto." Kurenai turned to him with a small smile while Anko mumbled something around her food that sounded vaguely like 'Naruto-kun!'.
"Kurenai, it's good to see you. I hope you've been well?"
"Yes, well enough, thank you. Have you managed to reduce that workload of yours yet?" Her question was accompanied by a pointed stare that made it quite clear there was a right and wrong answer to her question.
It really wasn't hard to figure out what those answers were- even for the socially-blind Anko- but Naruto went with a third option.
"We've made substantial progress, actually. The system is in the process of being reworked to distribute a lot of the tasks among the Wolves themselves and Mai has an assistant to help her with her workload."
"But you still don't have an assistant yet."
It was more of a comment on an observation- or perhaps just an educated guess- but Naruto still answered, freely providing the straight answer Kurenai was obviously looking for. "No, I don't. There's no one currently in my circle of influence who would be well-suited to the task and I haven't had the time to look for talent outside the Wolves."
Not completely true considering Mai was- and had always been- his assistant but she wasn't always going to be his assistant. As she came to take over direct control of the Wolves with Hanabi assisting her Naruto was still going to be needing an assistant as he worked on other projects such as the Hyuuga, Nami, and, possibly, the Children of Au.
Assuming they actually managed the task he had set them. Failure would spare him a lot of trouble but if they actually managed to succeed it would be a massive win for the Wolves. Having to continue dealing with them would be well worth it in exchange for being able to provide for his children, it was a price he was more than willing to pay.
Of course, he could always just retire once she had taken over but the idea just didn't sit right with him. People couldn't honestly expect him to not be working on something, could they? He couldn't imagine just sitting around doing nothing after Mai had taken over.
Kurenai frowned lightly at his answer but with a small sigh admitted "At least you're headed in the right direction, I guess. I hope your new system helps to reduce that workload of yours."
"I'm certain it will, we're already seeing favorable results." His attention moved back to Anko who was finishing off her mouthful of Dango with a large gulp of her tea. "Are you ready to head over to the Registration Office, Anko? The sooner we get there the sooner we can leave."
Her lips pulled into a slight pout. "Aw, you're not going to sit and have lunch with us first Naruto-kun?"
"I've already eaten,-" Or, no, maybe not. Was that today or yesterday? He'd at least had breakfast hadn't he? He probably did. "But thank you for the offer."
She continued to frown at him for a few more seconds- either upset that he wouldn't join them or knowing that he had not, in fact, had lunch yet- before she dropped it and instead looked to Kurenai for support. "Kurenai~"
"Don't look at me, Anko. If you can't entice a young man into a lunch date with you I don't think I'm going to be able to help you." That only caused Anko to pout more and Naruto couldn't help himself as he leaned in to give her a quick kiss. The pout vanished instantly.
"In public, Naruto-kun?" She tried to make it sound like a whine but her large grin more than gave it away. "You're going to ruin that wonderful reputation I've worked at for years."
"Don't worry, Anko, I'm sure everyone still thinks you're plenty crazy."
The pout returned. "I was talking about being sexy and single."
"I'm sure they still think you're sexy too."
"Aw, you say the sweetest things." She fluttered her lashes theatrically. "What say we skip the date at the Registration Office and just go straight to the fun part in my bed?"
"You're not getting out of it, Anko, not if you want to come with me."
"Spoil all my fun, why don't you?" She crossed her arms and turned from him to Kurenai. "You'll join us, won't you Kure-chan?"
Considering what she had just been suggesting to Naruto it was no real surprise where Kurenai's errant thoughts wandered and she was fairly certain her cheeks gained no small dusting of red.
"I, uh, think I'll have to pass on that one, thanks."
"I think Anko may have been talking about joining us at the Shinobi Registration Offices." Naruto suggested, raising a mildly accusing brow to question Kurenai about where, exactly, her mind had gone. The Genjutsu found herself 'saved' by Anko herself, of all sources.
"Don't try to put words in my mouth, Naruto-kun. I know what I said and I meant it as I said it. A threesome sounds a hell of a lot better than sitting in those damned offices all afternoon.
Kurenai felt the heat in her cheeks increase exponentially and she glanced over to Naruto to see both if he had noticed her embarrassment and to get some sort of insight to how he felt about Anko's suggestion. She didn't really get a read on him but at least her own embarrassment was hidden from him as he seemed preoccupied giving Anko a look filled with an indulgent sort of amusement.
"Well," Naruto proposed. "Think of it this way- if you don't you'll be staying here in Konoha which means no 'Naruto-time' for the foreseeable future."
Anko immediately froze, eyes widening in absolute horror and her mouth opening just enough to allow a strangled moan of despair to escape. "Noooooooo!'' Her gaze went between staring at Naruto hoping he was joking and desperately pleading into Kurenai's red eyes for help. "Why would you ever say something so awful?!" Her chair was forced back from the table with nearly enough force to knock it over as she jumped to her feet and grabbed her best friend's hand to drag her away from the table too.
"Come on, Kure-chan, we need to get to those offices now!" She headed off without waiting for a response or turning to look behind her at the friend she started dragging down the street. "We can all have a good fuck later when I know my Naruto-time is safe."
Naruto watched them go with an amused shake of his head before turning to one of the waitresses and waving her over. "I don't suppose Anko paid yet, has she?"
"Uh, no." She gave him a sheepish grin. "She said that there would be a young man coming for her who would pick up the tab. Would that, uh, be….."
"Yes, it seems like that would be me." The fond grin remained firmly in place. Anko would be Anko, he didn't know why he would have expected anything else from the woman.
Still, when he inevitably ended up rewarding her for actually getting her resignation taken care of he'd use this as a reason to punish her, not that she wouldn't still enjoy it.
Gods he loved that woman.
"...And then you'll pull that one th- good, good." Yaiji clapped Jugo on the back as the young man made adjustments to the engine. "You seem to have a pretty good idea how to work this already, at least for operating it, do you know how it works?"
"No, I don't. I've just seen you do it." Yaiji nodded in understanding.
"That's fair, it's not like we're advertising how these work to the world. If you're going to be operating a train, however, you at least need to know the basics so you don't mess things up and so you have some basic understanding of how things are supposed to be working if there ever is a problem." The back of the Crew-Lead's hand knocked against some of the metal pipes only just quick enough to avoid burning himself. "And trust me, she always has some sort of problem. Hell, it's a miracle they run at all considering we can hardly get replacements from the factory."
"Why can't we get replacements? They need these to run if they want the rest of the tracks finished." That didn't make any sense to Juugo but he found that was pretty common when you stepped out into the world from a life within a cell. The world was an illogical mess, he'd realized pretty quickly, though there was something he found innate charming about that fact.
Maybe it was the novelty of surprise and wonder, the chance for each and every day to be completely different and unexpectable. That would, unfortunately, probably lose its charm within the next few months, maybe a year if he was lucky. From what he'd seen so far work- and according to his crew mates it was more than just on the tracks- tended to suck the life out of people.
Juugo was of the opinion that it made for a horrible way to live but he could understand that people had needs they would only be able to fulfil if they were receiving regular paychecks- well, most people, anyway- which meant unless they suddenly found themselves with either a surplus of funds or in a job that they were able to pursue the passions they loved- people tended to speak of that idea with no small amount of skepticism, as if it was more unlikely than the prospect of winning a lottery or striking it rich at one of the gambling dens throughout the world- they would have to throw themselves against a job they hated in order to make ends meet and put food on the table.
In it's own way, Juugo felt that was a rather noble thing to do. Sure, it wasn't impressive but sacrificing happiness in order to provide for a family? Juugo may not have ever had a real family- as far as he could remember- but it was certainly something he could support.
"Well first is the issue of priority, simply put if you go to the last item on that list we're under it."
"So you're saying we're not even on the list."
"Exactly." Yaiji nodded, pleased to know Juugo was following along. "As far as the factories are concerned any requests we put in are mistakenly submitted by priority projects and thus discarded. Part of the reason for that is- pressure's getting too high-" He paused his explanation to offer a warning and pointed towards a release valve Juugo's hand was already halfway to. Either he had done this before- which was unlikely- or he was an exceptionally quick learner. Yaiji was impressed.
"Like I was saying, part of the reason they don't even consider the requests real is that these parts are already so outdated that the factories aren't making them anymore. They basically pumped out a few prototypes, made a few spare parts for testing, and washed their hands of them." The man shrugged. "Can't blame them, the new trains already work so much better, but it would be nice if they could at least give us something that would last until it's time to retire it."
"Do you think that's actually going to happen?" Juugo questioned, one orange brow raising. There were two ways to take that question; either that it was unlikely they would be getting such a machine or that he didn't think the older trains would ever really be retired. In this case, Juugo meant both but was leaning more towards the second which he expressed with his following comment. "The rails aren't something that we finish and forget about, they're going to need to be maintained which means crews need to travel along the rails."
"You're not wrong." Yaiji shrugged. "But I don't think Doto's even thought that far and based on our current tools for creating the track the chances that anyone else is considering maintenance is slim. We'll probably end up hitching rides on regular trains to get where we need." He frowned. "Though if it's a matter of repairing rather than just maintaining that's probably not going to work well. I guess if there were two sets of tracks side by side so there would be access in the event that one side had issues…." Yaiji shook his head of thoughts best saved for another time. "It doesn't matter, the important thing is to know whatever engines they give you are going to have problems rather frequently and it's going to be up to you to find the issues and negate them before they cause delays that are going to land you and your crew in some serious hot water."
Yaiji shot his junior crew-lead a serious look. "You're going to want to get very familiar with the hardware stores in any town we're based out of, I can't tell you how many mornings have started with me ducking into a store before the sun is up so I can cobble together some sort of solution to keep the train running for another day." He paused, frowning in thought, before his look became shrewd. "If you had the ability to, I don't know, melt metal very quickly I'm sure you would be able to get a lot of use out of it in repairing damaged pipes instead of disassembling half an engine at O'dark-thirty in order to replace them."
Juugo shook his head. "I'll keep that in mind, it might be something to look into." He was definitely going to have to write back to Jirobo to see if the newest Overseer could secure some basic utility Jutsu for him, they would probably go a long way in helping his mission here go smoothly.
"Yeah? Well, if you ever figure that out don't forget who gave you the guidance in the first place, I'm about tired of stripping this poor engine down before I can properly see each morning. It's done wonders for teaching me how it works but there are only so many mornings of that a man can take."
Stripping it down most mornings? Learning how it worked- actually worked rather than just how to operate it- and how to rebuild the system? That sounded like exactly the sort of thing he needed.
"I suppose that if you'll be training me I'll be there in the mornings to help." As he said that Yaiji's eyes lit up, having not considered that fact yes.
"Oh, yes." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "This is going to be so much easier."
Juugos' brow rose again. "I'm not going to be that much help until I've learned a bit."
Yaiji's brow rose to challenge that statement. "Are you kidding? Even just having you stand there holding a lantern is going to help me so godsdamned much, you have no idea."
Maybe, just maybe- Juugo thought- it would be a good investment for Yuki no Kuni to install some lights in the trainyards. And, while there at it, maybe a simple covered area wouldn't be a bad idea either, especially if they put a light inside it.
When it came down to it, however, how much did Juugo actually care to improve the way Yuki no Kuni handled their trains? He really wasn't planning on doing this for the rest of his life. Then again- he thought about the crew that had been quick to accept him based solely on the fact that he was willing to work and hadn't asked any questions he needed to avoid answering- he didn't necessarily need to do it for himself, did he?
They were, after all, the closest thing to a family he'd ever had beyond Kimimaro. He wondered if his brother would like them.
And if he would ever end up meeting them.
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