Flash of Red and Black
Chapter VI
"It sounds like everything is going well for now, at least. Have the Kiri shinobi been of much help?" I asked, looking over the list of potential Konoha students and teachers for the training school.
"They've been a lot of help, actually. There may only be five of them, but they've already done a lot. They apparently even introduced themselves to the Academy students and got some more interest in the program!" Ino said, smiling at me. I smiled back and nodded. I wondered if Iruka would ask the shinobi from other villages to help out, and I was glad to know that he did as I suggested.
"Good to hear. What about the two from Iwa?"
"They seem a little skeptical, but it helps me make sure that my plans are solid, so even if it's annoying right now, it'll be worth it. They've also helped a lot with planning the greenhouse behind the school. They even said that they would try to get clearance to bring some herbs that only belong to the Land of Earth."
"That's great! Suna?"
"The three from Suna have been a huge help. They're willing to do anything I ask, and they already brought along what few medical herbs they could. They also catalogued all the poisons and antidotes known in Suna, so I've handed those over to Sakura to add to our own records. But they said that they will have to return to Suna once the exams start since they need to help out their own program there."
"Alright. That's fine. Before they go back, ask them to come see me. I want to thank them personally."
"I'll be sure to let them know. The two kunoichi from Kumo have been a lot of help too, but I think that they are more interested in catching your attention than they are in the training program," Ino said, frowning a bit. I laughed and nodded, asking her if there was anything else that she would need to get the program going within the month since the Chuunin Exams were starting next week.
"I could use some more man power to get the building actually built, but otherwise everything is more than on track to be ready by the finals."
"Alright. I can get you that. Thanks for keeping me updated," I said, dismissing her. Then I filled out some summons to meet with Sakura later before I headed out to check on the genin that would be promoted soon.
Unsurprisingly, I found Lee radiating his usual youthful enthusiasm while Udon followed instructions much less eagerly.
"Hey guys! Training going well?" I asked once I was in range, grinning and waving at the pair.
"Naruto-kun! Training is most excellent! Udon-kun is a fast learner and though he lacks the same youthful energy that I encourage, he puts much effort into every task I give him!" Lee exclaimed. Loudly. But I was already used to him. I was more worried about Udon since he wasn't used to Lee's personality.
"Sounds good! How do you feel about it, Udon? Learning a lot?"
"Yeah. I don't really get some of the rules that he makes up, but I know that my taijutsu has improved and so has my timing for ninjutsu," he said, sniffing a bit, but he looked pretty confident. I was glad that it was paying off.
"Good! Now, I have a request of the two of you."
"Absolutely! Putting our training to work will only make us improve even more!"
"What is it, Naruto-niichan?"
"Well, I was hoping that you guys could help build the Konoha Medical Training School for the next few days. I know that the Chuunin Exam starts soon, but if you could spend the next few days helping out there before doing whatever you need to prepare for the exams at the last minute, I would really appreciate it. But I understand if you guys want to keep working. This isn't an order or anything, so don't feel like you have to do it," I said looking at the two of them.
"Of course, Naruto-kun! This can be even more training for Udon-kun. If the building isn't finished by the time the exams start, I will build the entire building myself!"
"Ah, that's really not necessary. I just want to finish it by the time the finals start, so you guys don't need to push yourselves that much. I'm going to ask your teammates to join you, Udon, so you may want to use the opportunity to brush up on last-minute teamwork training"
"Okay, Naruto-niichan. I'll do my best."
I smiled at him and nodded before I left them to it as I went to ask the others for help too. They all responded the similarly, but with less exuberance than Lee. I was glad that everyone seemed confident in their training. I was sure they would need it since the proctors that ran the exam when I took it were running it this time too, and I was sure that they wouldn't let passing be any easier.
Once I finished up asking for help with the school, I headed over to the Academy, deciding to make a surprise visit to see how everything was going there.
I walked into the building and was greeted by several teachers carrying materials to their offices, and I asked them about their classes and students before continuing to Iruka-sensei's room. But, since it was so nostalgic being in the Academy again, my old prankster side flared up and I couldn't help wanting to cause a little ruckus.
"Iruka-sensei! It's been a while since you've treated me to ramen, dattebayo! I'm totally going to pass the next genin exam, so we have an early celebration dinner?" I asked, suddenly appearing on top of his desk during the middle of class in a henge of my 12-year-old self.
The whole classroom gasped in surprise at my sudden appearance, and Iruka nearly yelled at me for disrupting class. But he caught himself just in time, remembering that I wasn't a little kid anymore. Once he figured it out, I grinned more and released the henge before hopping off his desk.
"Sorry about that, Iruka-sensei. I couldn't help myself," I said, scratching the back of my head as I smiled at him. He just sighed, exasperated, before quietly asking me not to do such things again. I just smiled at him before looking at the students in the classroom. They were all wide-eyed at suddenly seeing the Hokage of all people appear in the middle of class.
"Hey guys! Sorry about that. That was how I looked when I was your age. Anyway, I'm just going to sit in with you guys for a while, so keep paying attention to Iruka-sensei, okay?" I said, smiling at them before looking around and then taking a seat in the back of the room next to a kid that looked like he just woke up.
Iruka sighed again, but he seemed pleased that I told them to pay attention, even if I was the one causing distractions in the first place. He continued the lesson, one that I probably slept through when I was at the Academy, and I surveyed the classroom. Some of the kids were trying to not get caught while glancing back at me and others were taking notes furiously now, apparently trying to do what they were told (or trying to ignore my presence because it made them nervous. Either way.)
Then one kid raised his hand and Iruka called on him.
"Can we have the Hokage-sama show us an awesome jutsu? We probably won't get a chance like this again, after all," the kid said. His cheeks were red from nervousness and embarrassment, but he spoke confidently once he was called on. I smiled. The next generation would definitely be able to take on whatever problems arose as long as we took the time to prepare them.
Iruka glanced at me for a second before shaking his head. He was about to reject the idea when I cut in.
"I don't mind. But you all have to show me your best technique too if I'm showing you this. Got it? Also, I don't want you saying that you may not get a chance like this again. You guys and all your friends can come see me anytime. You all will be the ones running the village once I retire, and maybe one of you will be the next Hokage, in which case I'll be taking orders from you, so don't think that just because you're young now means that you can't come and see me anytime, alright?"
The whole class stared at me in awe before smiling and nodding. Some of them looked nervous, but I just smiled at them and headed to the front of the room again, forming a Rasengan.
"This is called the Rasengan. It's probably my favorite jutsu since it was invented by my father, the Yondaime, and the Sanin Jiraiya taught it to me when I was only a little older than you guys," I said, smiling at the excited looks on everyone's faces. Then I turned it into the Rasen Shuriken and smiled at everyone more.
"This one is one of my most dangerous attacks. Once when it goes off, even I get hurt if I'm too close," I said, smiling before letting it dissipate. "So, now it's your turn! The person who asked goes first, so let's see it."
The kid nodded nervously before heading to the front of the room and produced a couple bunshin. I could tell that they weren't kagebunshin, but they were a lot better than what I could do at his age, and there were two of them. I smiled at him and nodded.
"Good! Much better than what I could do while I was at the Academy. Ask Iruka-sensei. I failed the genin exam three times before I finally graduated because I couldn't even make one decent bunshin! You must have some pretty good chakra control for your age," I said, smiling at him as I made a mental note to add him to the list of potential med-nin students. He smiled back at me and each student went one by one, showing me what they could do. I complimented each of them and made a few suggestions here and there until everybody finished.
"Alright! Thank you guys! I may not be coming back again for a while since the Chuunin Exams are coming up, but keep up the great work! I want to see some even more awesome stuff next time I see you!" I said with a grin at everyone as they all smiled back at me. Then I looked at Iruka and apologized for interrupting class before waving goodbye to everyone going back to my office just in time to see Kiba, Shino, and Hinata walking in.
"Guys! You're back! How was Suna? Baa-chan and Shizune seem alright there?" I asked as I waved them into the room and took my seat behind my desk.
"Suna was welcoming, and Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san seemed well when we left," Shino replied, as stiff as ever. Still, I smiled, glad to know they were well.
"Good, good. So did you have anything specific to report?"
"Well, Kankuro-san gave us this for you. He said that it was Suna's security plan for their training program and said that it might be helpful for Neji," Hinata said, handing me a sealed scroll.
"Great! Anything else?"
"We helped advertise the program at the Academy in Suna and went on errands for Tsunade and sometimes Gaara, but other than that it was a pretty dull trip," Kiba said, pouting slightly.
"Well you guys really helped out a lot. You'll get your pay at the desk downstairs on your way out. Be sure to rest up for a couple days, but once you're refreshed I'd like you to help out with building the school here until your next mission. I have Lee, Tenten, and Choji working helping out for the next few days, but the sooner it gets done, the better. Aside from that, you guys are free to go," I said smiling at them. Shino and Hinata filed out, but Kiba stayed behind.
"Was there something else?" I asked, confused.
"I want to join ANBU," he said, looking at me seriously.
"You won't be able to take Akamaru with you on most of your missions, you know. He's too recognizable."
"I know that. He can still help you out here when I'm out on missions."
"You're sure about this?"
"I want missions with more action, and you know I'm capable of doing more than being an escort. And I've matured, so I know that I won't act rashly on ANBU missions. I've been on a team with Shino long enough to know that caution is necessary," he said, trying to convince me.
"You don't need to tell me all that, Kiba, I already know. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what you're getting into, but since I know that you do, I'll fill out the papers. Take this and go to T&I. They'll take you to headquarters where you'll get your gear," I said, handing him a small, sealed scroll. He nodded and took it before heading out.
"Take care of yourself, Kiba," I called after him. People joining ANBU made me nervous, but I knew that he was right. He had skills that would be put to better use in Black Ops than on escort missions.
I sighed and wrote out a summons for Neji for the following day since I knew that he would need the scroll from Kankuro, and I also wanted to know how the security plan for the Chuunin Exam was going since things were going to get very busy, very quickly.
Once I finished the summons and the paperwork for Kiba, I went to work attacking the other stacks of paper on my desk. However, I wasn't able to concentrate on it for long because of worries about Kakashi's mission. He wouldn't be back for two more days at the soonest, and I couldn't help worrying. I sent him out two weeks earlier with his new ANBU team to infiltrate an old Orochimaru base. I'd assumed that the snake had moved on from his old bases, but I could never guarantee that he wouldn't decide to return for some reason. I gave the team orders to abort the mission immediately if the base seemed like it was still active, but I would still be concerned every moment that they weren't in Konoha, safe and sound.
Sighing, I got up from my desk and decided to go for a walk. Eventually, my feet led me to the new and improved Konoha Hospital. The building was just a bit bigger than before, and its floors were categorized by the severity of the injury, something that Sakura suggested to Tsunade after the Pein attack when the hospital had to be rebuilt. The most critical were on the bottom floor for ease of access, and the healthiest were at the top of the four-story building. It took a while after the war for the hospital to be in as good of shape as it was, but Tsunade finished it a few months before I took office.
While I was there, I figured that I would go ahead and see Sakura. My summons for her wasn't for a few more hours, but since I was already there I decided to go ahead and get that done.
"Are you busy?" I asked, knocking at the door frame of her office on the second floor.
"Naruto! No, things are pretty calm for right now. We've basically just been preparing for the Chuunin Exams," she said as she gestured for me to sit.
"Hopefully there won't be too many injuries this time. We have a lot more genin coming this year than before, though, since more villages are willing to send their teams to Konoha now."
"That's why we've been preparing and getting a little extra practice in. But we'll be ready, I guarantee you that."
"I don't doubt it. Ino told me that Suna gave us some medicinal herbs and poison and antidote catalogues, so that's probably keeping you busy too."
"Right. The herbs are ones that are native to the Land of Wind, so they are difficult to grow here, but it'll be nice to have some since they have a lot of applications. As for the catalogues, some of the poisons don't have antidotes listed, probably because they were made by Sasori or Chiyo-obaasama, so when I have time I've been working out the antidotes for those. It's a slow process, but I should have it done in a month or so."
"You're the best, Sakura! But honestly, the reason I was planning on meeting with you later is because I want to send some useful medical supplies back with them too, and no one could be better to discuss that with than you," I said, giving her a smile. She smiled back, glad for the praise even if she didn't need it to know that it was true.
"Well, I can get you some herbs that are hard to find around Suna. That'll be easy enough. And I can get copies made of our own poison-antidote catalogues if you want."
"It'd be great if you would, but we can help them more than that. I mean, they gave us what they could, so the exchange won't be equal if we just give them what's easiest, right? We have most of the best med-nin ever known, so we have a lot more that we can give."
"Fair enough. How about some medical jutsu scrolls for their new training program? I can have copies made of ours, and then Konoha's medical jutsu will be taught in both programs, which could make exchanging students and teachers easier too."
"Yeah! Perfect. Can you have the copies made within a couple days, though? The Suna shinobi are apparently planning to leave before the Chuunin Exams start."
"Sure. I'll get them to you tomorrow morning just in case they need to leave sooner. Do you need anything else?"
"Nope, that's it. Thanks. Just take care!" I said, giving her a smile and wave before leaving.
Then I headed back to my office, now determined to not lose the battle against paperwork. As soon as I sat down to begin, though, a familiar feeling washed over me.
"Shit. Get me Shikamaru!" I shouted at the guard before creating four bunshin. I had them henge into ANBU and switch into Sage Mode before they immediately left, dashing out of the village. Shortly after they left, Shikamaru arrived, and I spoke before he could even get one word in.
"I sent a bunshin out with the ANBU squad investigating one of Orochimaru's old hideouts. Apparently it wasn't as inactive as we thought. The squad was attacked and my bunshin held them off while the others tried to escape, but I don't know if it held them off long enough. I just sent four more henged as ANBU to act as backup."
"How far were they from Konoha when they were attacked?"
"A day and a half."
"How long did your bunshin hold them off for?"
"A few hours. If it hadn't already been out there for two weeks, it could have been longer," I nearly growled, angry with myself for not putting more chakra into it.
"Did it take any of the attackers down?"
"Five of twenty. Injured six more, but they were still planning to follow the team. We recovered some encrypted data on some of Orochimaru's experiments and they didn't want it to get out," I said, cringing. My own bunshin disobeyed my orders! The mission was supposed to be abandoned when they discovered that it was still active two days ago. But instead they stayed and observed, and when they saw a chance to infiltrate, they took it, against my orders.
"Alright. The squad is a few hours ahead of their assailants, which means they're probably only a day away now. And you have another team of your bunshin heading out after them which, knowing you, will probably meet up with them in less than a day. So as long as they don't meet any more unexpected company, they should be in the clear. But, are you planning on sending out a bunshin with every ANBU squad from now on?"
"Since it ended up being a good thing that I did in this case, I probably will," I said, staring him down. Just because I was Hokage didn't mean that I was off active duty. I was in charge of protecting everyone, and I was damn well going to make sure that I was doing my job.
"Troublesome. Fine, you've still got the chakra for it. Just remember that you can't use the same henge that you did for that one again, and you can't use techniques that make it obvious that it's you. So no Rasengan or Rasen Shuriken. Sage Mode is fine though since no one would be able to tell with your mask on."
I nodded and then he continued.
"Alright, what was in the data? Could you tell anything despite the encryption?"
"Not much. Fox seemed to think that it was on Orochimaru's experiments, but we didn't have time to figure out more than that. And since the base had a tight security system around it that sent twenty stronger-than-usual, curse-marked thugs after us, I'd say it's pretty sensitive stuff."
Shikamaru nodded and called for one of the ANBU that was guarding me to head over to the intelligence department to tell them to be prepared for decryption. The guard left immediately after he was dismissed, and Shikamaru sighed once the guard was gone.
"I'll help with paperwork," Shikamaru said, sitting down in front of a large stack of papers that had accumulated in front of my desk. I nodded, silently thanking him. He could tell that I was shaken and wouldn't calm down until the team was back, but he probably figured that it was just because it was my first close-call with a mission that I ordered. That was part of it, of course, but the fact that Kakashi was part of that squad made it much more difficult to accept. It also didn't help that Kakashi and the rest of the team narrowly escaped because Kakashi was too stubborn to leave a teammate behind until he realized that it was one of my bunshin.
I grit my teeth as I tried to focus on the paperwork that had slowly but steadily begun to overwhelm my office. I clearly underestimated how much paperwork I would be doing as Hokage.
Shikamaru had one of the guards bring us some food after a while, but I hardly had an appetite. I ate some, but much less than even he ate, and I continued doing paperwork, letting myself get lost in the monotonous activity instead of thinking about the ANBU team that was currently running for safety.
After a while, I noticed snoring in the room, and I saw that Shikamaru had fallen asleep next to the stack of papers that he had already cut in half. I smiled a little before continuing my work. I'd gone longer under worse conditions without sleep, so one night without it wouldn't hurt me too much.
Several more hours of paperwork later, one of my bunshin dissipated, letting me know that they found the chakra signatures of all three ANBU, about half a day away. Finally, I relaxed into the chair and took a deep breath. They were all safe. The mission was a success. I had some scolding to do, but I was glad that all went well. I woke Shikamaru and told him to go ahead and go home, letting him know what I had just learned. He yawned and headed out, but he gave me a small smile before leaving.
I collapsed back into my chair and stared out my window at the dark, sleeping village below. In a few more hours, the squad and my bunshin would be standing in front of me, and I knew that they would all be safe and sound. I felt the most relaxed I had since sending them out on the mission.
I smiled to myself and started into the paperwork again with a new vigor, silently declaring again that I wouldn't be outmatched by stacks of paper.
Finally, I felt some familiar chakra signatures at the gates, and I dismissed the guards around my office and set what I was working on to the side.
"Hokage-sama," one ANBU stated once he arrived, kneeling in front of me next to five other ANBU.
"Your fallen member already sent ahead a scroll with some of what happened. Good job for getting away, you three. I expect a full report later. For now, give the data to the intelligence department. They're already expecting you. Rest up. Dismissed."
Two of the three from the original team left and once they were gone, my bunshin dissipated.
"So, why is it that you decided to not abandon the mission like I ordered?"
Kakashi stood up and removed his mask. He looked tired.
"You already got that information from your bunshin. You know that that place was bustling because they were trying to move the information to another base. If we didn't trip the security, I would have ordered the team to follow them to the next base until you sent someone to relieve us," he said, his voice unapologetic. I stood and slammed my hands onto my desk.
"I gave you the order to abort if that exact situation arose! If I hadn't sent my bunshin with you, someone on your squad would have died, and I know that you would have made sure that it was you!" I fumed. Really, weren't ANBU supposed to follow their exact orders?
"I saw the opening, and I made the call as team leader. As it is, no one was hurt and we managed to retrieve sensitive materials. However, I apologize for not following orders and endangering my team. It won't happen again," he said seriously. Gone was the lazy Kakashi that most were used to seeing. This was the Kakashi that had years and years of experience in the field and earned the reputation that he had.
"Damn straight it won't," I said, staring harshly at him for a few moments longer before finally sitting back down.
"Go get some rest. I want a report later about what happened between when my first bunshin was separated from you guys and when my backups arrived."
Kakashi nodded and just turned to leave before he apparently thought better of it and walked over to me and placed a kiss through his mask in my hair.
"Thanks for saving us. Sorry for worrying you," he said quietly before disappearing. I exhaled and slumped into my chair. I couldn't stay angry with him for very long at all. Stupid sly fox.