Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Team 7's Ascension
Chapter III - Plant the Seed III
Sasuke knew that Tanyu, the capital of Hi no Kuni, boasted a decidedly larger population than Konoha – at least in theory. His upbringing as an Uchiha, especially as the son of Fugaku, and the lessons at the academy had taught him as much.
However, knowing about something and actually seeing something were two entirely different things, as he now learned.
Awkwardly maneuvering through the endless stream of strangers right next to his team brought that point home rather forcefully.
The capital was incredible; simple as that. For someone like him who had never left the village before, even more so. Humongous walls towered over the countless buildings of the city, stretching onward and onward until they left his enhanced and trained vision. The city gate had been just as impressive, being large enough to allow for hundreds of people to pass through – by the minute.
It had left him speechless then – as they had passed through it – and it continued to awe him even now.
Konoha was a large village on its own. Compared to the capital however it could merely be considered as a tiny district in the vast expense that was Tanyu. Sasuke felt something different. Hand in hand with his awe, fear also reared its ugly head...
The illusion that his village was the central point of Hi no Kuni, the place where life altering decisions concerning the fate of the whole Elemental Nations were made... was shattered.
Into tiny little pieces.
His eyes swept over the crowded streets with its hundreds of merchants and craftsmen plying their trade. Already, he had prevented two different attempts to steal his weapons pouch. The would-be thieves probably mistook it for a purse filled with coin.
Team 7 walked through the busy merchant district. They were well aware that many eyes were following them, mostly from Tanyu's town guards who had been informed of their arrival at the gate as soon as they passed it.
Shinōbi weren't necessarily an oddity in the capital, but they definitely weren't trusted. It would be foolish, after all, to trust one. People who dealt in blood and death could be the most charming and pleasant persons – only a moron though would believe that those who taught their children how to slit throats from the shadows weren't dangerous.
Not that the guards would be any wiser should shinōbi above the rank of Chūnin try to conceal their purpose.
Letting themselves be observed wove an illusion that gave their watchers a sense of peace though. It was fragile – most knew it wasn't real – but sometimes that was everything needed to uphold the balance of power.
Sasuke had never before come upon a situation where the name Uchiha wasn't regarded with respect and reverence, but with suspicion instead. It irked him. He would never admit it out loud, but it stung his pride to simply keep on walking, to pretend not to notice the shifty and alert eyes following his every move.
He eyed his teammates and wasn't surprised by their reactions.
Sakura had shrunken into herself, trying to attract less attention that way; it didn't work. He closed his eyes and suppressed a sniff of disdain. In Ground 44 the pink-haired girl had shown him that she was useful, even if her skills weren't on par with his own.
Indeed, he had been rather surprised by her.
It had been inevitable that they ran out of food on the float and Sakura had simply leaped off it and hunted one of the tigers that prowled the riverbank as soon as it happened. The whole fight hadn't taken more than two minutes – she had put the beast in a Genjutsu, killed it and then evaded several other monsters while she brought it back to the float.
Sasuke hadn't said anything then, but he had been impressed.
Now though... where was the part of her that had been so efficient? The part of her that he could respect, if only a bit.
Sasuke looked over to Kakashi and was surprised to see the man smirking. He wouldn't have noticed it, if not for the visual training he had received as a child. Why though... could the man read him that well?
Or, perhaps, was the smirk about something else?
He returned his gaze to Sakura. Maybe Kakashi wanted to tell him that his assumptions about his his female teammate were wrong. But then, what was he missing? His eyes narrowed. She walked a bit hunched over as if she prepared herself to curl up into a ball at a moment's notice – a sign of weakness if he ever saw one.
His brows furrowed...
Then, he saw it and his eyes widened a tiny fraction, unseen by everyone but his sensei.
The forest had left a mark on her...
How could he have missed something this obvious, he chided himself. Well, perhaps obvious was the wrong word for it.
Her arms were firmly wrapped around her body as if she was hugging herself – too afraid of her surroundings to even look up... and then he saw the knives taped to her left shoulder and concealed by her red dress. They were hidden, but ready to be drawn instantly should the need arise.
Sasuke concentrated on her moss-green eyes and was left with the uncomfortable feeling that his assumptions about her had been wrong – very wrong, and very deadly. These eyes that made her look terrified to an outsider, as if she had been pushed into a world of adults far too early, were glinting with well-hidden suspicion.
No, his teammate wasn't terrified of Tanyu.
Instead, she treated everyone in the capital of Hi no Kuni as a potential enemy – very much like she did during their stint in Ground 44 where everything but her teammates had been hostiles.
Sasuke looked back to Kakashi and noticed that the Jōnin's smirk had become more pronounced. He silently cursed Kakashi's otherworldly sense of perception. It definitely wasn't a pleasant feeling to know that the prided eyes of the Uchiha had missed crucial details which could have gotten him killed if Sakura had wanted to.
He fixed his gaze on his last teammate, the loudmouthed pariah of Konoha. If Ground 44 had made such an impact on the pink-haired girl, who knew what it had done to the blond? He didn't want to be caught surprised again, and even less did he want to be caught underestimating them by Kakashi.
Naruto walked with careless – and also foreign – grace. His arms were crossed behind his head and a cheery smile played on his lips. The obvious truth though, that the blond really was just that free of worry... it had become difficult to ascertain after the forest.
The blond had hardly spoken in the two weeks they had spent together. Now, two days later, he still didn't talk much, not even to ask their sensei inane questions. It was odd, and gave the few times when Naruto spoke a sense of importance that felt completely out of place with his previous preconceptions of the blond.
Sasuke noticed a tiny shimmer between Naruto's interlaced fingers. Too small and unobtrusive to be seen by the untrained eye... and he understood.
On Naruto, too, the forest had left its mark...
Sasuke looked at his own hands. They were stuffed into his pockets and curled around a few shuriken each.
The forest, he supposed, had marked all of them. In different, yet familiar ways.
Naruto was less surprised than he should have been when Kakashi led his team into a shady alley while four identical clones walked away with the attention of the guards focused solely on them. He had no idea what Kakashi had done to make the transition that seamless. Naruto had noticed it, of course, but that was a given as he was a member of Team 7.
He gazed at his pink-haired teammate. Kakashi had given her a Genjutsu to master... so, if it had anything to do with subterfuge and illusions, Sakura was the best choice to get answers.
Their sensei certainly wouldn't volunteer any for free.
Sakura noticed him looking and shrugged. "I don't know," she answered his unasked question. "I'd wager it was something that affected the place though, not the guards themselves. You know... making everyone who looks at a certain area have distorted senses, or something."
"You will have some time to figure it out later," Kakashi interrupted. "Now... I'm sure you noticed the rather rude reception we got. Any thoughts?"
Sasuke frowned. "Fear?" he asked.
"Why though? I mean I get why in general, but why here?" Naruto replied, equally confused. He thought back to the people who had noticed their forehead protectors and had narrowed their eyes in suspicion.
It didn't make sense, and Naruto made his opinion known, "We're in Tanyu, for Kami's sake! This is the capital of Hi no Kuni... shouldn't they like us?"
Kakashi looked over the edge of his book. "Sakura? Your thoughts?"
"It doesn't matter to them if we're from Konoha, or from another village," she answered; a sour expression plastered on her face. "We're shinōbi, that's all they need to know to judge us. In the past, we were something like a fairytale – mysterious, unseen, unknown. The boogeyman, if you will..."
"And now?" Sasuke asked, confusion glinting in his eyes. "What are we now?"
"Now, Konoha is a village in their country filled with people who kill, spy, steal, and kill some more," Sakura shrugged. "Our village isn't really hidden, is it? We've become real to them. I've got no clue about the politics, there have to be some though. The Daimyos wife is seen regularly in Konoha, isn't she?"
"But... don't we protect them?"
"Do we really? They've told us in the academy that the largest part of Konoha's contracts come from Hi no Kuni. So what are they supposed to think? If one merchant hires us to kill another merchant, we're well in our rights to accept the mission."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You know a lot about this..."
"My father's a merchant, and my grandparents died while being ambushed by shinōbi. As far as I've been told, he moved to Konoha for the security the village offered."
"You moved to a shinōbi village... to be protected from shinōbi?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.
"I don't really know. I wasn't there then... still, I guess it is smart. I don't know if father hates shinōbi, but there's no place safer than Konoha. Who'd attack the village? We've learned that Konoha looks out for each of her inhabitants."
Sakura's voice had become somewhat frigid as she talked about her father. Naruto didn't really understand... family was important, wasn't it?
Nonetheless, he decided to keep silent. It was obvious that Sakura had some problems of her own, and it wasn't his place to intervene in everything – something he had learned during weeks spent in silence.
"Wouldn't the Daimyo be... I don't know... angry? I mean if Konoha kills a merchant from Tanyu, doesn't that kinda defeat our purpose of protecting Hi no Kuni?"
"Protecting Hi no Kuni?" Kakashi turned to Naruto, his eye crinkled in cynical amusement. "What the hell have they taught you in the academy?"
"Iruka-sensei said that we're guardians..." Naruto trailed off.
"... entering into servitude to the Hi no Ishi." Sakura finished, remembering the lecture perfectly.
Kakashi closed his eye and sighed. "And where is it written that the Hi no Ishi extends beyond Konoha's walls?"
He chuckled mirthlessly. "Konoha is a village of shinōbi, nothing more, nothing less. We are an autonomic entity in Hi no Kuni, serving nothing but our own interest."
"And the Daimyo accepts that? Hard to believe," Sasuke said.
"Oh, our dear Daimyo doesn't like it, not one bit... but what can he do? What can any Daimyo do, if there's a village of silent killers in his country? March his armies against us? He, his family, his whole chain of command... they'd be dead before the orders even reached the troops."
"What about the twelve Guardians though? I heard Jiji's son had joined them and protected the Daimyo before he came back to become a sensei," Naruto asked.
"It is very rare for a shinōbi of Konoha to join the twelve Guardians... not because it is an honorable position, mind you... rather, it puts you in a position where you might have to fight your own village, your comrades, depending on how the political wind blows."
"So, Asuma-sensei..."
"... joined them to spite his father. It was quite a coup for the Daimyo."
Sakura frowned. "Despite all this... why haven't we seized control then? Not that I like it, but it's strange."
It was Naruto who answered her, "Numbers... the Daimyo's army is huge. We can kill the guy four times over, but the army would still be there. I guess there's some sort of truce?"
"There is," Kakashi answered. "Despite the obvious drawbacks and concessions the Daimyo has to grant us, there are advantages to have an alliance with a shinōbi village. We might not restrict ourselves in the missions we take, but there's a silent agreement that – in general – we do nothing that would endanger Hi no Kuni in its entirety. Also, in times of war, the Daimyo can hire us for smaller fees and we won't aid the enemy's nation."
"What are the concessions then?" Sasuke asked. "Konoha's bound to ask for something for offering help."
"For one, the Daimyo won't involve himself in shinōbi matters. Meaning that every mission within Hi no Kuni is out of his jurisdiction for as long as we keep to our part of the silent agreement," Kakashi's smile changed into a predatory grin. "And secondly, we get gold... a lot of gold. The exact numbers are over your pay grade."
"No wonder they don't trust us," Naruto whispered. "We're bleeding them dry..."
"We're shinōbi, Naruto. Welcome to the reality of our world."
Naruto looked over to his teammates and was relieved to see that they too, looked a bit queasy.
Their perception of the world changed, and one could argue that it wasn't for the better. Dreams of glorious battles, of saving princesses and protecting nations in need... they made themselves out to be just that – dreams.
It hadn't taken long for them to catch up with their clones. Team 7 substituted with them and left the guards none the wiser – another point on the Kawarimi's steadily growing list of positives. They traversed the busy merchant district without much delay, taking an hour to look at the many different wares offered before they entered into one of the many inns scattered throughout the capital.
A subtle surge of chakra passed Sakura, and for a moment she was a bit scared. She hadn't expected another shinōbi in their immediate vicinity... however, when Sakura traced the surge back to its origin, her eyes landed on Team 7's sensei.
Kakashi led the team away from the inn's owner and walked them through the building. He instructed his Genin to settle down in a room he had pointed out previously.
"Sensei," Sakura said. "What was that surge?"
For a moment she saw a brief look of surprise flash across his eye, but it vanished so quickly that she chalked it up to her imagination.
"Interesting... you were able to sense that?" Kakashi murmured. "Naruto, Sasuke... did you two notice anything?"
"..."
Kakashi nodded once, then turned back to Sakura. "Well, what do you think it was?
The pink-haired girl bit her lip. "It was very subtle... a detection Jutsu? I've heard something about a technique that works like a sonar to detect other chakra sources in the area..."
Then, she shook her head. "No, that can't be it... the effect wasn't widespread. It barely passed me before dissipating..."
Naruto, who had been silent up to that point, listened carefully to Sakura's description: a very subtle and weak pulse of chakra, barely noticeable to someone without good control and senses, and an inn owner who hadn't been paid by their sensei, letting them stay in a room for free.
His stomach lurched. It made sense. In fact, it made too much sense and Naruto wasn't comfortable with his sudden realization... not at all.
"Genjutsu," Sasuke grunted, having come to the same conclusion as his blond teammate.
"But..." Sakura's eyes snapped up to Kakashi. "You made him believe we already paid?"
It was immoral. A disgusting use of their sensei's abilities. Naruto noticed that Sakura's voice had rise quite a bit, perhaps even becoming slightly hysterical. He agreed though. Things like that were probably the reason why civilians looked at them with distrust and suspicion.
"Quite a nice Illusion, I think..." Kakashi eye-smiled.
Then, he noticed the shocked expressions plastered on his Genin's faces. "I really need to talk with the Hokage about this... there's no way the academy curriculum could have fallen that much since I graduated."
"That- That's wrong!" Naruto exclaimed agitatedly. His voice had risen to the volume that had been usual before his stint in Ground 44. "We can't just... he's a civy... that's just stealing..."
"We're shinōbi. Is it wrong to act in the interest of our village?" Kakashi replied.
"How can this be for Konoha? All we do is confuse and rob some civilians!"
Even Sakura, who normally disagreed with her blond teammate on principle, couldn't stomach Kakashi's explanation that easily.
"Hn."
"Seriously, I'm going to submit a formal complaint about the educational standard in the village... you're reactions aren't even funny anymore," Kakashi's lone eye was shut and his face set in obvious displeasure.
"Lesson time it is, then. Reason me through the whole thing; the aim of my actions was to the benefit of Konoha in some way. Sasuke, you start!"
Sasuke frowned and remained silent for a few seconds. Then he spoke reluctantly," You made the man think we already paid..." Sasuke shrugged. "You didn't loose any money, which means you can buy more expensive gear in the future."
"... correct to a certain extent," Kakashi granted. "Not really what I aimed for though. Sakura, your turn!"
"I- My father told me once that most inns belong to larger companies... some discrepancies will turn up at the end of the month. You could cost this man his job!"
"Close, but still no prize for you. And no, the man won't lose his job. Inns, especially those in larger cities, usually have owners that are somewhat trusted by their companies. Naruto?"
Naruto stared down at the tatami mat he sat on. Kakashi didn't pay money; the company will notice the loss of it, but the owner won't be accused of theft...
Synapses that had been trained hard during his years as a prankster went into overdrive and started to connect the dots in many different ways – coming to many different conclusions. Everyone of them nonsensical, until one stood out that made sense.
A bizarre and twisted sense.
He felt sick. Was this what he signed up for when he made it his ultimate goal to become Hokage?
His answer was delivered in a tortured voice, immediately catching the attention of his teammates. "We get a mission out of it, maybe even a chance to pin blame on another village."
"How so?" Kakashi asked, somewhat surprised that the village pariah had managed to look underneath the underneath as he liked to call it.
"The company will notice the loss, but because they trust the owner, they'll launch an investigation or something to see where the money went to... you're a Jōnin though, so they won't find anything..." he trailed off.
Sasuke who finally saw the reason for himself continued in Naruto's stead. He wasn't normally one for acts of kindness, but somehow it bothered him to see how uncomfortable his teammate looked. "And because they won't find anything, they'll ask shinōbi for help. Konoha is the closest village to the crime scene, so the mission goes to our village. That's..."
"... twisted," Sakura finished with an expression of disgust.
"Ma, don't read too much into it. You're right, but the companies will barely notice the loss. They're wealthy enough that such a mission won't even make a dent in their fortunes. You don't need to worry about doing this yourself until you're at least Chūnin."
Naruto grimaced. "But it could become more," he whispered.
"That's right," Kakashi nodded solemnly. "But the outcome of the mission depends on the current political climate. Normally we just plant evidence that some skilled thieves broke in and let it be. Sometimes though, it's necessary to implicate others – potentially innocent parties. Depending on the evidence that either leads to more conflict, thus more missions, or to lesser missions for another village."
After that statement, the room was silent for a few minutes... until Sakura's head suddenly snapped up.
"But... the guards have seen us, haven't they, Kakashi-sensei? We substituted with your clones before we entered the inn."
"We have? Give your sensei some credit, Sakura. We substituted with one group of my clones. The second group though, is still on the streets, watched by the guards. No one but us four knows that we're currently here."
Then, Kakashi smiled indulgently. "We're substituting with them in half an hour or so. They should be near to our real destination around that time."
"Our real destination?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow.
"Mhh? Oh, right. I meant the Daimyo's court..."
"Hatake Kakashi... Thief of thousand techniques, son of Konoha's White Fang... you are young, yet your reputation precedes you. A man of many talents they say... feared, on and off the battlefield. Tell me, Hatake-san, what is it that you seek in Tanyu. What is it that you seek in my home?"
Shinōbi didn't bow to anyone else but their Kage. Team 7 was no different.
Naruto though, despite his obvious disregard for authority, felt that it was in his best interest to keep his mouth glued shut in the presence of the Daimyo.
This man, clothed in red robes of finest silk and hung with heavy golden chains, looked at them through penetrating gray eyes. They seemed out of place on such an old, wrinkled and weathered face.
He wasn't a man to cross lightly, if ever...
Somehow, Naruto knew that this man wouldn't tolerate titles like Oji-san or Jiji.
He felt that the atmosphere was tense. Too tense. Team 7 stood in a large hall. Red marble pillars with intricate ornamental design stemmed the burden of a roof that looked ridiculously complex from the outside.
There was a space of approximately fifty feet between them and the Daimyo, who was seated on a golden tatami mat – surrounded by advisers and guards.
Naruto would have felt much more comfortable had he been oblivious to the politics between Konoha and the Daimyo. Kakashi though had robbed him off that particular security – bastard that he was.
He let his gaze swivel through the hall again. He didn't care much for the advisers. Although vastly differing in their various girths, they were all of the same kind: pencil pushers who had never exercised a day in their lives.
Naruto wouldn't underestimate them, but from a purely shinōbi point of view... they weren't much of a threat. The man who he assumed to be the head adviser – or something similar like that – wore a green robe like all his contemporaries, just with three golden lines interwoven into the fabric.
Then, he observed the guards. Carefully. Should things escalate, those were the persons he had to look out for. Dozens of samurai were lined up alongside the pillars – unmoving, unrelenting, unblinking.
Regular samurais though, for all their strength and accomplishments through their unique usage of chakra, weren't the issue. If the situation was to become hostile, they wouldn't be much of a hindrance.
He had faith in his sensei – bastard that he was – and even more so after the Daimyo was nice enough to list off Kakashi's various titles. The Jōnin would know how to deal with the guards.
No... what really bothered Naruto were the three people sitting behind the Daimyo – a sign of visible trust in them, if there ever was one. They wore the sash of the twelve guardians.
One looked to be just another samurai, though with a different armor. The sense of power the man radiated however was unmistakable.
The woman beside him was dressed rather casually, as was the last member of the trio – nothing beside the sash hinted toward anything else but them being civilians. Yet, their seemingly innocent eyes reeked of keen minds and superior observational power.
They were dangerous, insanely so.
Not to mention the few pairs of eyes that were watching them from the shadows.
All in all, Naruto could think of many places where he'd rather be right now...
"I have a favor to ask of you, Daimyo-sama," Kakashi answered at last.
Naruto had to fight the smile that threatened to split his face in half. He succeeded, if barely.
Even Sasuke had to suppress a grin at seeing the audacity of their sensei.
The guards remained unmoving, but the advisers who had no training in concealing their emotions twitched and whispered furiously among themselves.
"Oh? And why should I grant you a favor, Hatake-san? What have you done for me, for Tanyu, to warrant a reward?"
Kakashi's eye curved upward. He took an official looking scroll out of his pocket and presented it as nonthreatening as possible.
"Three decades ago, Hatake Sakumo saved the life of your predecessor. As a reward, the Daimyo gave my clan this writ to be used once... granting my family one favor as long as it remains in the realms of possibility."
The Daimyo didn't respond. He waited for one of his guards to bring him the document after it had been tested for traps and poisons.
After he read it, his brow furrowed. "You said it yourself – this writ was issued by my predecessor. Why should I be bound by it?"
Sakura blanched when she saw the outlines of Kakashi's mask form into a predatory grin.
"True, Daimyo-sama..." Kakashi said. "Legally you're not bound by it. But is not the honor of Tanyu, your honor, in danger if you refuse?"
The Genin of Team 7 wanted to slam their heads against a wall. The insulting wordplay wasn't lost on them.
The Daimyo's eyes narrowed into slits. The Guards became agitated and moved their hands to the hilts of their swords. Tense seconds followed.
Team 7 readied itself for anything – from simply bulldozing their way out of the palace... to killing everyone inside.
Then, the man's stance relaxed. He still seemed very alert though.
"Name your favor and I will see it done."
"Thank you, Daimyo-sama," Kakashi replied with fake cheer. "It isn't anything big... each of my charges has different fields that interest them. I'd be grateful if you took them into your court and off my hands for the next month."
The Daimyo ignored the surprised looks the Jōnin's students shot their teacher. "What is it that they aspire to learn?"
"Sasuke here is very interested in learning the art of swordplay," Kakashi said and nodded toward Sasuke.
He saw that the samurai behind the Daimyo was about to protest and elaborated quickly, "I don't expect miracles. A solid grounding – as much as you can manage in a month – would be appreciated though."
Sasuke twitched. He had never uttered the wish to learn anything about swords... then, his eyes widened in shock and outrage as his sensei continued to speak.
"... naturally, to make the training more strenuous, Sasuke won't be able to use any chakra in those four weeks."
Kakashi ignored his student's plight and pointed to the girl of Team 7. "Sakura always thought the women at court to be most graceful... why, she even told me in in confidence that if she had the necessary background, she'd do anything to get a place in your entourage."
Naruto saw the pink-haired girl flush red. He didn't know whether it was in anger or embarrassment though.
He gulped when Kakashi turned to him.
"... and Naruto here. Well, he has the most interesting ambition of them all, I believe. You see, he wishes to become Hokage. My student isn't dumb though. He immediately acknowledged the importance of politics regarding his choice of occupation."
Naruto's mouth twisted into a strained smile as Kakashi ruffled his hair.
"He is so dedicated..." Kakashi continued, "... why, he made it his life-long mission to learn as much as possible about the topic. A month with your trusted advisers could only aid him in his pursuit."
Naruto looked to his teammates and saw that they were equally dismayed.
To pervert his dream, his life-long goal, like this...
One day, their sensei would pay for this travesty.
AN: No new techniques, but a few words/explanations.
Tanyu – Capital of Hi no Kuni / Seat of residency of the Daimyo
Hi no Ishi – The Will of Fire
The Hatake Clan:
Compared to the larger clans like the Uchiha, Senju, Akimichi, and Nara, the Hatakes never had much clout in the political sense. Indeed, despite the fact that they too had been shinōbi of Konoha since its foundation, they never even held a seat on the informal clan council.
Small and without say in the decisions governing their home, they were lucky to even have a clan compound. Still, none of the larger clans ever took them lightly, or insulted them without fearing the repercussions.
For the Hatake's, lacking as they were in other areas, were absolute juggernauts on the battlefield. In each generation since the clan's foundation, there has been at least one or two shinōbi with a ranking of A-, or even S-class.
The clan is known for its absurd mastery over the most basic of shinōbi techniques – many variations of the Kawarimi included. Also important is the inclusion of the summoning contract for dogs to their inventory, which had been added by Hatake Sakumo's father.
After Sakumo's suicide, the reputation of the Hatake clan had taken a great hit. But, although the clan is still scorned by the more conservative people of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi, last member of the clan, is slowly changing the bad image through his own quickly rising reputation.