Big chapter Big Chapter. New year so imma try harder to get this stuff done faster.
Kagome's eyes could barely keep themselves open and her body felt as heavy as lead. She was exhausted to the bone, despite her lack of any real exercise and she couldn't pinpoint any reason for why that was the case.
There wasn't any good reason as to why she was tired, it was barely past noon and she'd only just an hour ago left the training field, having barely worked up a sweat. It'd been months since she'd been able to access the Root's exclusive underground facilities, and it was starting to show. She could practically hear her taijutsu tutor barking at how sloppy her form had become.
"Stand straight, you worthless runt! Even coal turns into diamonds under enough pressure, so what's your excuse then, huh!?""
He'd always had catchphrases for every little thing, like he was some kind of propaganda machine. She'd never seen his face though, just a blank emotionless mask that completely contrasted his furious voice, angry eyes and aggressive body language. Kagome got more and more worked up thinking about the man, so much so that she considered turning back and heading to the training fields again if only to vent some excess anger. Instead she walked aimlessly towards the village centre, thirst overcoming her need to vent.
Kagome found herself walking down the roads leading to one of the larger commercial districts in the village, the crowds were heaving, which only added to her already wild levels of discomfort. She was tired and overstimulated by potential threats, every person that brushed by her was sending her into panic.
Of course, she knew passersby weren't a threat consciously, not a single civilian or shinobi in the whole village truly wished to harm her, and she included Mitsumi Uchiha and his cousins in that statement. But it didn't stop her well trained reflexes however, and every movement on the peripheries of her vision made her stiffen and flinch subtly.
Finding refuge in a nearby tea shop Kagome took a seat and ordered an entire pot of tea. The shop was relatively dark, only letting in the midday sun through small windows at the front of the shop, seated at nearly the back of the shop, by the counter, Kagome's eyes adjusted to the more dim setting.
The small building housed a few spaced out chairs and tables, clearly made for the comfort of its patrons rather than packing them tight for containing more customers.
There were news clippings pinned up on the wall opposite the counter, likely for the owner of the shop's preferred decoration by comparison to the white lily floral displays all across the shop. Kagome fixed her eyes on the topmost headlines and read downwards.
THE SEVEN SWORDSMEN, CUT DOWN: A TRIUMPH FOR KONOHA
KAGEROU VILLAGE FALLS: A THORN REMOVED FROM OUR SIDE
IWAGAKURE AND KUMOGAKURE: AN ALLIANCE TO FEAR? THE ANSWER IS NO
DRUNKARDS FROM KUSA: IS THIS THE HEIGHT OF THEIR COMPETENCE? YES IT IS.
KIRIGAKURE, WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING? DO THEY THINK THEY'LL WIN?
The titles were clearly biased, something she'd never considered until she'd seen Rin casually criticise a journalist's writing style in an article she had been reading. The most popular publications in the village were always those that made out that Konoha was in no danger, and that their foes were idiots or incompetant. Kagome had made a habit of picking out more objective news articles from then on, although she never did more than glance over the day's paper with nothing more than a brief scan.
Kagome noted that the papers were pinned on the wall in chronological order, from top to bottom, although they weren't separated in any pattern, being years, weeks or days apart. They seemed to only be those that the decorator found relevant.
A tray of tea hit the table, tearing Kagome away from her thoughts.
"Will that be all, dear?" The middle aged woman asked, she had sunkissed skin and only the slightest signs of ageing.
Kagome shook her head gently. "This should be fine. Thank you, ma'am."
"So polite! Just call if you need me, I'm only in the backroom." The woman said with a delighted squeal at the sound of Kagome's thanks. As she left for the backroom a curious thought struck Kagome.
"E-excuse me." Kagome mumbled. The woman halted before the doorway behind the counter, apparently having caught Kagome's hushed tone despite the distance.
"Yes, dear?" She responded, a curious lilt in her tone.
"Do you own this shop?" Kagome asked quietly.
"I do indeed! Why do you ask?" The owner confirmed, firing back her own question.
Kagome wouldn't have initiated a conversation normally, very happy to settle into the background, but she felt compelled. The small tea shop was such a contrasting presence however.
"The decor is nice. I just wondered whether you designed it this way." Kagome mumbled, not making eye contact.
There was a brief silence, apparently she'd said something worth thinking before replying.
"What do you mean by that?"
An odd question considering the long pause she'd taken to ask it.
"The flowers, lilies. And the newspaper headlines are all celebrating successes or smearing the enemy." Kagome explained carefully, making sure that she herself was certain in what she had analysed.
The woman folded her arms with a soft smile, she didn't seem too happy however.
"I thought it'd be a nice bit of satire… Most of those excerpts make light of incredibly impactful losses on both sides, so the flowers are an apology... Almost." She replied although the look in her eyes seemed distant.
Kagome could tell when someone was in mourning and the woman before her struck all the notes of someone still clinging to the memories of a loved one. She didn't miss the irony at herself being able to identify that so casually.
"You know, the early afternoon's are pretty slow... Do you play Shogi by any chance?" The woman asked with an incline of her head.
Kagome took a sip from her clay cup.
"Sometimes." Kagome replied.
"Sometimes is more than enough, I'm terrible at it myself." The woman replied with a giggle.
She swiftly walked into the back room and eventually emerged with a shogi board, pieces in a cup in one of her hands. They set the board slowly after moving Kagome's tea tray to the edge of the table, starting the game slowly. Kagome could barely remember the last time she'd played.
And then all at once she did.
"You're pretty good 'Mei." Kagomi praised her despite the fact she'd just been demolished.
"You just won though." Kagome mumbled, she wasn't willing to admit her eyes were watering in the humiliation of her defeat.
Kagomi tousled her hair and made cooing sounds.
"It's not fair, that's all, I had more time to learn the game than you have. And even then you clearly learnt the Climbing Silver quicker than I did!" Kagomi gushed, slapping away the board and hugging her sister tightly. "You can't keep using me as a measuring stick, you're doing incredible." She whispered gently.
"Oh dear! That ended quickly, didn't it? How about another game? You're a very sharp young lady, aren't you?" The shop owner gushed, even after losing she seemed very happy. Kagome wished she could be as graceful in defeat, but she never quite managed to stop herself from tearing up at the end of a heated game.
"My sister was a genius at this kind of thing, we used to play all the time." Kagome excused, resetting the board while occasionally taking a sip from her tea.
"Oh, and you stopped?" The owner asked with a raised eyebrow.
"She's... on a mission." Kagome replied vaguely, not delving further as they both reset the board.
Several minutes later and the next game was at its apex, a critical mass of pieces had been taken by Kagome while a few relatively valuable pieces had been seized by the older woman.
"My husband was very good at this too." The woman replied, as she moved a piece superfluously, even Kagome could see it was a waste of a move, so much so that she was looking for the trap in it. After a brief scan, there was none. "He's… On a mission too." The statement came completely unprompted, and like a slap across the face. She didn't exactly know what to do with that bit of information.
Kagome started raining down pieces in a flurry of offensive advances, the tea shop owner didn't seem particularly worried however, putting up a lame defense using the remainder of her pawns to prematurely halt a sudden defeat.
"I kept playing Shogi though, in his absence." The olive skinned woman murmured gently, picking up a single piece she had taken from Kagome far earlier in the game, the Lance. Kagome stared down at her King, the owner had boxed her in ever so slowly throughout the game, her king was stuck between an unused Silver General and Knight.
"Ote." The middle aged woman whispered.
Kagome only had stolen Pawns remaining in order to block the Lance from immediately taking her King and ending the game. This action was repeated twice more before the Lance was promoted and Kagome had run out of Pawns, her escape route was blocked off by the Lance's new diagonal range, although she was no longer under the immediate threat of losing her King. She moved her Silver General forward diagonally, to threaten the promoted Lance, knowing it would be taken and in return, but at this point she needed to remove the potential future threat before she pushed back on the offensive.
The tea shop owner had seen that coming apparently, because she proceeded to drop pawns directly in front of Kagome's remaining Gold General and awaited the girl's next move.
In a few more moves Kagome had been completely defeated. She was staring down at the board sullenly. She knew she shouldn't, it was immature, but even now she could feel her eyes watering in shame.
"Ohh, sweetheart, don't be sad… You're a very talented young lady… You just need more practice." The middle aged woman cooed, reaching out to straighten out Kagome's fringe. A motherly action.
"I-It's fine, I just… I'm a sore loser." Kagome lied, wiping her eyes. The exhaustion she felt weighed on her and only continued to do so as she tried to keep herself composed, but all that accomplished was making her look far more upset than she really felt.
"You just need practice." The woman reiterated softly.
The middle aged lady took the shogi board away without a word, entering the back room to put it away, Kagome went to drink her tea, but it had gone cold and bitter.
The bell at the top of the door jingled as more customers arrived, a Genin team and a large man with thick, long hair, an Akimichi if she'd ever seen one.
They were chatting avidly amongst themselves, one of the Genin wore a green spandex jumpsuit that clashed with a red cloth to hold his headband around his stomach, as well as a red balaclava wrapped around his bowl style haircut. Another Genin wore teashade sunglasses and a durag, but what caught Kagome's attention the most was his outfit, it looked like a child playing grown up, with his grey suspenders and tucked in shirt. The third wore an overcoat several sizes too big for him and a plain grey shirt, with a blue bandana tied at the front of his forehead. He seemed to be more interested in chewing the toothpick fixed in his mouth, rather than participating in the heated debate unfolding before him.
"Boy's please, be civilised, this is one of the few places left that don't already have you all barred." The large Akimichi Jounin groused, however the sunglasses wearer and the spandex boy were near enough fistfighting already.
"Oh my, oh my! If it isn't my favourite customer!" The owner's voice rang from the backroom. A roaring laughter bellowed through the tea shop, Kagome held on to her clay cup just in case the vibrations made it fall off the table.
"Hase Eiko! It's been too long! Good to see you're as busy as usual, huh?" The Jounin bellowed, gesturing to the almost entirely empty tea shop.
The owner, or Hase as Kagome now knew, put on a mock frown and even punched the big man's arm as she approached the team. The action on it's own made the spandex clad boy halt instantly in his assault on his bespeckled teammate.
"Hmph... I think I've changed my mind, you're my second favourite, for now." Hase stated haughtily, crossing her arms with a smirk.
"Oh? And who, if I could be so bold, would be in first place?" The long haired man asked with a grin of his own.
Hase briefly glanced in Kagome's direction, and Kagome immediately turned away, sipping on her cold tea.
"Oh I'm sure you'd get along… She's a shinobi, that much I've gathered, a rather quiet soul." Hase replied, her smile becoming wider. In the periphery of Kagome's vision she could see the large man's head subtly turn in her direction, it was impossible not to notice when she knew that she was the topic of discussion, all Kagome could do was pray the large man didn't try making her talk.
"Not better than me at Shogi, I expect." The man replied, almost dismissively while still watching her from the corner of his eye.
Laughter filled the tea shop, soft, harmonious and warm.
"Oh… Oh I'm so sorry, Choza." Hase said, her voice dripped with insincerity. "Some people are just better suited for it than others."
Choza.
Choza Akimichi.
Kagome's hand tightened around the clay cup so hard and fast that it cracked, cold tea splashed over her hand and a small cut formed over her on her palm.
Clan heads and their heirs were to be avoided at all costs.
That was one of the most important rules for orphans in the Root. She barely understood why, but Kagomi had once explained it to her. Kagomi's explanation had been completely different to the instructor's. While the instructor had stated that anbu as a whole were to remain hidden in order to not burden their comrades, Kagomi's explanation gave a better context.
"If we're recognised as part of the Root by a regular shinobi, that's fine and dandy, no one interferes. But if a clan head finds one of us? And they think they're doing us a favour by trying to save us? The Root gets put under a lot of pressure. Danzo-sama almost died in a duel against Tsukamaeru Inuzuka over just one kid. The Root can't afford to lose shinobi like that."
"Oh dear! Let me clean that up for you, I'll get you a new drink too, that one must've gone cold." Hase called out rushing over to the counter with a cloth rag, swiftly collecting the remains of the cup and taking away the tray.
Choza turned back to his three Genin students, starting to complain loudly once more about their inability to be civilised, as they continued to scuffle amongst themselves, even the quiet one had started spitting toothpicks at his two teammates with his apparent infinite supply of them. He was putting on an act, the clan heir still had his eyes trained on her table every chance he had to turn his head.
"I-It's fine, I have t-to go." Kagome spat out. Standing straight and rushing out of the tea house in a brusque pace but almost as if planned, the boy in grey suspenders tipped backwards in his chair, falling onto his back with a shriek, blocking her way.
"Y-you there!" The boy scrambled to his feet, resembling a beetle in Kagome's mind as he brushed off his shoulders.
Kagome stared apprehensively, rubbing her eyes to make sure they were dry.
"Settle this argument right now!" The Genin demanded, pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.
Kagome might have considered barging past the teen if he wasn't clearly Choza's student.
"The Akimichi techniques! They're unparalleled in the field of taijutsu, correct!? There's no form of hard work that could defeat an already hard working Akimichi like Choza-Sensei in purely taijutsu, correct!?" The boy yelled more than he asked, turning to glare and the spandex clad teen whose leg was still extended from a recent kick he'd delivered.
Kagome couldn't help but frown. She had to weigh up the question properly, or rather why he'd ask such a strangely posed question. The way the other two Genin stared so intently at her, as they waited for her response seemed as if they were genuinely invested in hearing the answer. She could only surmise that they were likely taijutsu specialists in some form or another.
"T-the Akimichi techniques, the body expansion jutsu's are all ninjutsu though…" Kagome replied quietly.
The teen shook his head aggressively. "Forget about that detail for a moment, it's not important."
The two still seated Genin groaned in unison behind him.
"Then I suppose so, b-but a well versed Hyuuga could prevent the use of those jutsu's if they strike first, and anyone could memorise where those tenketsu points are with enough practice." Kagome concluded, getting over her nerves slowly as the erratic teen in front of her seemed to calm down the more she spoke.
The teen nodded, pulling out a notebook, opening it and flipped it around to show Kagome. The contents of the pages he showed was a list of techniques and a few sentences listing their application, but most importantly there was a black line scraped through all of them.
"I tried blocking tenketsu points three weeks ago, if the target has a large enough chakra pool, they can simply overpower the block in their system." He replied, and if the large scribble on the front of the notebook was anything to go by, the Genin before her was called Ebisu, and he was showing her his diary.
Kagome scanned quickly over each crossed out technique, becoming more and more impressed at the teen's research as she read.
"Any of those could work. You'd just need a lot of practice." Kagome whispered in awe.
Ebisu shook his head. "That's simply not practical! Sensei has far more experience, and he's far too prepared for all of this!" Ebisu retorted, his voice rising in pitch once more.
Kagome stared once more at the open diary he had almost pushed in her face.
"Well, I don't see A Thousand Cuts on here…" Kagome mumbled quietly.
Ebisu's eyes narrowed, as did the Genin in the overcoat, leaning on his chair behind them
"What was that? Speak up." Ebisu demanded.
Kagome was about to, when she noticed the large Jounin had started to overtly watch her talking to his student, it wasn't exactly a topic she felt comfortable discussing in front of the relatively new Akimichi clan leader. Ebisu's foot tapped on the floor impatiently as Kagome jolted back into a state of awareness. She gave Choza a sideways glance but the man seemed relatively unphased.
"I have to go now, thank you for your time." Kagome stated calmly, erring on the side of caution, as she made to step past the teen. Ebisu extended a hand to grab her forearm but she pulled away quickly, leaving through the door, exiting without another word.
"What does she mean, 'A thousand cuts' ?" Ebisu asked, turning to his teacher.
Choza snorted.
"Like I'd tell you. Why do you have to dedicate so much time to trying to assault me, hm? I thought I was doing an alright job training you knuckleheads, and yet you spend all your time trying to beat me up!" Choza grumbled back his own response flippantly, giving each of his students a wounded look.
None of the students looked apologetic in the slightest, even Ebisu only looked distressed because a potential lead had just revealed itself and left. Ebisu seemed just about ready to weep when Choza spoke next.
"Well, that girl certainly knows what she was talking about. I'd better get her name if I were you. Most kunoichi are a Well of book-smarts." Choza suggested casually, folding his arms and looking up at the ceiling, purposefully ignoring his student's gaze.
Ebisu hesitated, his eyes flickering between his teammates.
"Gai, you have nothing to say?" Ebisu regarded the green-clad Genin carefully.
The teen huffed, leaning further back into his seat.
"I have no need for gimmicks, the only way I will seize victory is through my own grit and determination." Gai replied stoutly, folding his arms with a scowl.
Ebisu's head turned to his other teammate.
"And you, Genma?" Ebisu asked.
"I'm not following you, dweeb, but let me know if you actually learn anything useful." Genma replied, chewing on a new toothpick.
Ebisu nervously turned to stare out towards the open tea house door, a sudden realisation dawning upon him.
He'd never talked to a girl on his own.
Red slowly creeped up his neck and heated up his cheeks.
A hand roughly the size of his head patted him on the shoulder, accompanied by a loud chuckle. "Go, Ebisu. Hurry up, you'll miss your chance." Choza insisted.
Both Gai and Genma could barely contain their sniggering as Ebisu's sudden bout of nerves struck him.
Ebisu fled the Tea Room swiftly, turning in the same direction he'd seen Kagome go.
"There was something off about that Hase lady." Kagomi said with a hard tone.
"I'm aware." Kagome replied softly, keeping her voice low while she walked past passersby. The cut on her hand ebbed softly.
"Like, something weird." Kagomi insisted.
Kagome looked around to make sure no one was eying her as she hissed back.
"Not any weirder than me, now is she!?" Kagome growled. Kagomi snorted, not replying. Heavy footfall behind her called to attention that someone was quickly approaching.
Kagome winced internally at how loud her scratchy voice came out. She peered around again, only seeing the outline of a single figure bobbing up and down some distance away behind her.
"I can tell when I'm not wanted." Kagomi said back, in a huffy voice before her head snapped back at the sound of stomping feet.
"E-e-excuse me!" A timid male voice called out breathlessly.
"And who the hell is this guy? What did you say to him exactly?" Kagomi asked incredulously, and rhetorically as far as Kagome was concerned, as far as she knew her sister perceived everything she did. It was unsettling sometimes. It almost completely ruined the moment.
"Can I help you, Ebisu-san?" Kagome asked calmly, her eyes only briefly flicking between the teen and her sister, who was inspecting him from every angle
Ebisu straightened his posture and stretched his back to catch his breath. Pushing up his sunglasses, Ebisu frowned, having noticed Kagome's split attention, he turned around to survey the street behind him.
"Were you just talking to someone?" Ebisu asked innocently.
"No." Kagome replied flatly. Her sister was now waving her hands distractingly behind Ebisu's head, wiggling around like paper in the wind, brown locks of hair practically floating around the outline of Ebisu's head. If there was ever a worse time for Kagomi to start acting up, Kagome couldn't imagine it.
"How did you know my name?" Ebisu asked in sudden realization.
"It was on the front of your diary." Kagome answered, flagrantly ignoring her sister criticising the genin's outfit aloud.
"Oh…" Ebisu trailed off. Every fiber of Kagome's being wanted to scream at her sister to stop playing around, behind the Genin in front of her.
"It's a journal, though. There's a difference." Ebisu clarified.
"Dork."
"My mistake, I'm sorry." Kagome replied, followed by a long silence.
Kagome was the first to break eye contact, beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"Can I help you?" Kagome repeated patiently. The longer she stood around, the more she wanted to find a plaster or bandage for the fresh cut on her hand.
Ebisu jolted upright, pushing his glasses hard against the bridge of his nose, likely a comfortable motion for the nin. Kagomi snickered to herself, half-imitating his mannerisms, standing beside the teen as he spoke.
"R-right! You said something about A Thousand Cuts, but sensei refused to explain about it. He only ever clams up when my teammates and I are discussing methods to try and use against him, so I was a little hopeful you see." Ebisu explained himself as clearly as he could.
Kagome exhaled softly, she hadn't raised any alarms in front of the big man, then.
"The A Thousand Cuts technique was a torture method developed by Suna originally." Kagome explained, immediately Ebisu pulled out his diary and a pencil, taking notes as she spoke.
"It got its name coined by it's application to the victim. The user would use a blade to take incredibly small chunks of skin or cuts from the target and repeatedly cut away at the body until no skin remained." Kagome continued, Ebisu already seemed to understand where the application of the technique would impact an Akimichi, he was quick witted, Kagome gave him that.
"So all that's required is a sturdy blade, hmm?" Ebisu asked studiously. "We've all used kunai in the past, Genma even tried a tanto, but Sensei has been able to snap them quite effectively." Ebisu stated.
Kagome nodded. "Akimichi, like any clan, are aware of their own weaknesses. I'd expect the head of the clan to be prepared to counter a counter." She agreed.
"A sturdy blade and an efficient range of movement is necessary to avoid losing it, and considering a Genin's lack of experience, it's only fair to assume even with a winning strategy, Choza-sama would still come out victorious. Only some shinobi in Suna have ever been seen using the technique in pitched combat, but there have been a lot of casualties and all of them were Akimichi. Their transformation jutsu's only worsen the wounds inflicted on them." Kagome concluded.
Ebisu's face turned a little more serious by comparison to his previous intense interest.
"Perhaps I was a little insensitive to request such information directly from Choza sensei." Ebisu muttered to himself.
Kagome sighed.
"I'm sorry I let it slip without explaining afterwards, I'm very tired." Kagome apologised without any real concern, the large man hadn't seemed very upset even with the look of recognition he'd given her when she'd mentioned the technique originally.
It was a strange thing, that she could pick up on the attitude of senior shinobi better than she could with people her own age. It must've been their shared experience, or at least similar experiences that gave her the insight to know how they felt at any given moment. There were outliers to the rule however; Minato-Sensei and The Hokage came to mind, with the latter being a master of disguising his intent, while the former's cheeriness never seemed to vanish, regardless of how grim the situation was.
She felt like, in this case, Choza had been more interested in hearing what she had to say, rather than being angry. Even when the man was behaving boisterously in the Tea House, Kagome could tell the man was self aware, constantly vigilant.
"If that's all… I was heading home." Kagome trailed off as Ebisu took more notes.
"Yes, right. Of course! I would like to thank you, this habit of mine isn't one I can indulge in often due to such a high demand for Choza-sensei's talents… Our team is going on a mission a day from now in fact." Ebisu said, by way of explanation.
Kagome hummed in response, not really sure where to go from there, Ebisu seemed to understand and stepped back slowly.
"Thank you for your time…" Ebisu trailed off, not remembering if she'd told him her name.
"Kagome, my name's Kagome." She stated her name assertively.
"I hope I see you around, Kagome-chan." Ebisu said, departing as swiftly as he arrived, with a heavy blush on his face.
Kagome stood there for a moment, watching the Genin flee in mild confusion.
"I didn't scare him, did I?" Kagome asked, her sister drifting to her side once more.
"No, you're precious, he's just a nerd." Kagomi declared, unhelpfully, gliding around Kagome as she continued to walk through the sunny Konoha streets. Apparently having run out of steam around the time Kagome had started explaining the A Thousand Cuts, completely forgetting how irritated she had been beforehand.
"He's motivated. I like that." Kagome retorted quietly, slipping down different alleys and taking every shortcut she knew, soon arriving at her apartment complex with no one to interrupt her on her way back.
She swung the door open to find her immaculately cleaned living space, having only tidied up that very morning. It was drab and ugly now that there wasn't any clutter to hide the rooms and apartment furniture.
Kagome slammed the door shut and sat down on her rigid sofa, finding it to be as unyielding as ever. Her hand fell into the crease between the sofa's arm and the cushion beneath her, touching something cold and metal. Lifting up the cold piece of metal to inspect it, Kagome recognised it as a spare kunai knife she'd likely left there months earlier.
"I need a better place to sleep than this." She murmured to herself, not expecting a reply.
Her sister spoke back regardless.
"Hmm, if only you knew somebody who could offer you furniture, someone who's literally offered in fact?" Kagomi retorted sarcastically.
Kagome sighed.
"I'm gonna take a nap first." she replied.
"You baby." Kagomi snickered, watching as Kagome proceeded to lie flat on the rock-like textured sofa and close her eyes.
"Sleep tight." Kagomi whispered, before she stopped plaguing Kagome's eyes and ears completely.
Inoichi had certainly had worse weeks.
Paperwork sucked, but when didn't paperwork suck?
The Sandaime was buried in paperwork all hours of the day and so was his own father. Any clan head, for that matter, were forced to sign off on everything recorded as clan activity. Inoichi poured out a saucer of Sake to his missing teammate, right over the corner of the bar counter. He'd spent the entirety of his afternoon running errands and pulling favors in order to get the evening to himself, and now that he'd earned it he couldn't help but grieve for a fallen comrade.
"What the hell, Inoichi?" Shikaku slurred in confusion to his left.
Inoichi snorted, his shoulders shaking with weak laughter.
"Pouring one out for Choza." Inoichi said by way of explanation. Shikaku nodded in understanding, grabbing a used saucer, filling it with Sake and then tossing the contents behind his shoulder. Someone yelped in shock behind him but neither of the clan heirs acknowledged it.
"Wait a sec." Shikaku murmured, rubbing his face with one hand.
"Choza ain't dead, ya' dumbass!" Shikaku shouted angrily at his teammate, swinging a hand to bat at the back of Inoichi's head. He missed. By a lot.
A quarter-full bottle of Sake toppled off of the countertop, shattering completely.
Inoichi snickered and giggled at the lack of coordination, tipping off of his barstool and falling flat on his ass in the process.
"I'm grieving the loss of his freedom! The cold and harsh enslavement of leadership!" Inoichi declared, miming a toast despite his saucer remaining on the counter he'd been seated in front of.
Shikaku stared down at his teammate.
"We were meant to eat barbecue." His tone was sombre but his words were still very slurred.
"We ate barbecue, Shikaku." Inoichi reminded his teammate.
Shikaku slumped forward on the counter, knocking his drink onto Inoichi's limp form.
"Yeah… But I had this whole thing planned out." Shikaku mumbled sadly. "I did research… I checked files 'n' stuff."
A stout man, clearly an Akimichi stood behind the bar, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"You two have to leave, and I'll be informing Choza-Sama of your conduct tonight." The man informed them sternly.
"Fuck you." Inoichi replied without much thought. A pair of hands clasped themselves around his shoulders and hoisted him to his feet.
"Oh, is this your daughter? She grew up fast huh, Gatchin-Kun?" Inoichi regarded the man behind the bar rather than the hearty woman who had lifted him to his feet.
"My name is not Gatchin, and that is my wife, Inoichi-Sama." The man replied gruffly. Inoichi turned around to see the woman was scowling ferociously at him.
"Oh come on, that's a compliment! You look way too young to be with a geezer like Gatchin!" Inoichi reasoned. Shikaku raised his head from the counter and gave an incredibly weak 'yeeeaah' in support of his close friend.
Before any more words could be exchanged both Inoichi and Shikaku found themselves manhandled and thrown out of the Akimichi bar and grill and onto the cold pavement outside.
"It's dark." Inoichi commented on the starry sky he was currently lying face up and looking at.
"Mfmmrl." Shikaku replied inquisitively, lying face-down beside Inoichi, his mouth pressed into the floor.
"The sun was up when we entered." Inoichi continued to carry the conversation, he felt like he did that far too often.
Shikaku raised his face from the floor.
"That's what I said." Shikaku moaned sadly.
Inochi snorted out a chuckle.
"There's no way you said all that while making out with the floor. You owe that gravel an apology." Inoichi said reproachfully.
"Don't tell Yoshino… Please." Shikaku begged quietly.
If Inoichi were a braver man, he would have delved deeper into that request, even in an inebriated state he knew that was a red flag.
"I'm not gonna ask." Inoichi decided quickly, brushing the dust off of his friend after helping him up properly.
They both knew vaguely that they had to leave the Akimichi district before they bumped into any Akimichi they knew, and face the shame of explaining why they were out late in the evening, drunk out of their minds.
They meandered for a while, regaining their footing together, using each other for balance despite the fact that neither man could stop the world around them from spinning. Shikaku was the first to stop trudging along, which simultaneously caused Inoichi to halt as well although not gracefully, the streetlight directly overhead helped him see weary glances of mostly Akimichi shinobi walking up and down the street.
Inoichi recognised the path from his first two attempts at meeting peacefully with Genba, the unruly and newly settled shinobi who had only recently returned from a deep-cover mission in Kusa. Shikaku seemed to have something more on his mind, if his confused mumbling was anything to go by, Inoichi was more than willing to wait if the man had more to add to the plan than veiled threats.
"My plan… I had a plan." Shikaku murmured softly.
"I got that leaflet I guess…"
"Was that it? No, no that wasn't all…"
Shikaku crouched, attempting to kneel but stumbled. This process was repeated several times over until Shikaku secured his footing and balance, even with his eyes closed.
Inoichi took the time to stand there simply to get his bearings, while Shikaku revealed his secret idea. There wasn't much to say really. The plan had been to convince Genba "Akimichi", of whom lived a single street away, to apologise and return to the Yamanaka clan, which would save his father and Choza from a political nightmare.
"We were going to have a talk with Genba. That was it." Shikaku finally answered, having forcefully sobered himself up in a matter of seconds.
Inoichi glared down at his kneeling friend.
"You forgot?" Inoichi asked with a scowl.
"We stood out in the cold because you forgot!?" Inoichi yelled incredulously, his voice more than making its way to his less inebriated team mate's ears.
"I thought we were on the same page! I thought you had something else to add, damnit!" Inoichi slumped against a wall pressing his forehead against the rough texture.
Shikaku had the audacity to look offended.
"You're a mean drunk, you know that?" Shikaku asked, rhetorically, Inoichi assumed, because he certainly wasn't replying to that.
Shikaku got up from where he knelt and patted Inoichi on the back, his eyes were sharper and less out of focus.
"There's more to this than we know, your dad and Choza haven't even officially stated this as an issue during meetings, and we've been through at least four of them since Genba's sudden turnabout." Shikaku explained, creasing his brows.
Inoichi shrugged. "That doesn't really mean anything." He declared, knowing as well as anyone the implications of clan issues being kept quiet. "My plan… Was to pretend we knew what was going on anyway, and see if we could get any explanation." Shikaku continued. "We need to talk to him first, before we can get him to do anything." He concluded firmly.
Inoichi groaned, the whole situation stunk of those missions he'd done in his adolescence, the kind that became way more complicated the longer he spent trying to finish the job. It felt like a milestone every shinobi went through, where they had to go far beyond any code of conduct they had been given up until that point.
The one thing those missions all had in common, for himself at least, was that they all had Shikaku sitting right in the center of them, unravelling problems like a puzzle. He'd never seen someone so systematically solve interpersonal issues, which was high praise coming from a Yamanaka.
"So your plan is to talk to him." Inoichi replied, still in a somewhat unimpressed tone.
Shikaku nodded, dusting off his trousers and stepping forwards in more of a straight line than before. Inoichi followed, stuffing his hands in his pockets, still avoiding any passer-by's prying eyes.
"Yep. Talk first, fix later… If we can." Shikaku affirmed confidently.
The vagueness of the plan was exactly what the two men were used to acting by. Choza had been the one to teach them that complexity wasn't the most effective form of planning, the ability to improvise, and act was far more effective.
The streets were semi-lit as the pair finally reached the street they had intended to visit, albeit less tipsy than the pair of them still were. Shikaku had his tried and tested meditation/mind-clearing techniques but that only went so far when he was still under the influence of alcohol, his body literally still digesting the drink. Inoichi was left at the mercy of willing himself to sober up and enjoy the crisp, fresh air.
Before the two of them reached the house they intended to knock the door of, Inoichi grabbed Shikaku's shoulder and pulled him backwards, their backs against a side-alley wall nearby.
"Wha-" Shikaku growled but saw Inoichi pressing a finger to his own lips to signal silence, it wasn't hard to figure out why.
"-And that couch wasn't cheap, make sure to keep it safe and unseal it properly when you get home!" A warm voice called out only just around the corner. There was no reply, other than soft footsteps, slowly approaching the alleyway.
The warm, masculine voice spoke out again. "If you really need to, you can take that note I gave you straight there, he'll still be working even in the late evenings, kid." He said more seriously than his previous friendly tone.
The footsteps stopped, the sound of gravel underfoot crunched at the pressure of someone swivelling in place to face the speaker.
"Thank you, Genba-San." The girl's voice said, in a scratchy tone that was hardly louder than a whisper.
A door slammed shut and briefly there was no noise. The footsteps continued, right on the precipice of the building corner, Inoichi and Shikaku could literally see the tip of a sandal, but whoever the child was stopped suddenly.
"Why should I go a scenic route? There's no reason to." The whispering girl asked.
Silence filled the air.
"That's not a reason to avoid the alley." The whispering girl muttered in restrained irritation.
Shikaku raised his eyebrows silently, staring questioningly at Inoichi, who was equally confused and suspicious.
"You've been weird all day, but if you stop pestering me, we can go look at the Hokage Monument if you like." The girl bargained, sounding almost desperate.
More silence, followed by a loud exhale.
"Thank you." She whispered finally, before slowly walking across the alleyway without even looking their way.
She was plain looking, shoulder length brown hair that formed a bob, although clearly not purposefully arranged as such. Her eyes were impossible to make out from the angle that both Shikaku and Inoichi were hunched in the alley, but in her hands was gripped a napkin and a sealing scroll with a very rushed and smudged Kanji that boldly stated it to contain 'FURNITURE'.
There wasn't a second person accompanying her.
After silently counting out a minute, the two men finally relaxed and stood straight, and exited the alleyway.
"What was that?" Inoichi asked flatly.
Shikaku grumbled under his breath before replying. "Genba's job since returning from active duty, he serves as an Assessor now." Shikaku answered.
"We both know Assessor is just a placeholder name, anyone with any kind of information could be an Assessor." Inoichi snorted.
Shikaku nodded. "He's doing reviews on personnel, but I haven't been able to request their identities or details, at least for the alive ones. All I know is that the last three have died in the last few months after being cleared for active duty." Shikaku answered. Inoichi should've known all of this already, being the Director of the Analysis Squad, but of course he had more to worry about. He scolded himself for not being aware all the same, and compartmentalised the information he was given.
"So these shinobi he assesses are likely not entirely sound of mind, or is that an outlier?" Inoichi asked as an educated guess, feeling more and more guilty for his drunken outburst towards his friend earlier.
"Most shinobi aren't of sound mind, who would be after going through a war? But the records I found on the dead ones imply that they've been through some pretty traumatic stuff, the kind that needs someone to confirm they're still fit to do missions." Shikaku explained.
Inoichi and Shikaku surveyed the street one more time before slowly walking towards the house.
"Does this mean anything to us in the grand scheme of things?" Inoichi asked.
Shikaku knocked on the door.
"Nah, but it's good to have context, right?" Shikaku asked, turning to his friend, Inoichi nodded back in response.
The sound of out of sync footsteps came from behind the door, followed by the telltale silence that signalled that the man was now staring through the door's peephole.
The door opened a fraction, a door chain preventing it from being swung any further open.
"Can I help you?" Genba asked, his weary eyes didn't hide his animosity directed at Inoichi.
Shikaku was taken aback by the difference in tone from when the man had been speaking to the girl compared to now.
"We were hoping to have a word, if that's ok with you, Genba-San." Shikaku answered as politely as he could manage.
Genba paused, not taking his eyes off Inoichi to even regard the man actually speaking to him.
"You both stink." Genba replied flatly, slamming the door in Shikaku's face.
Shikaku was just about to defend himself when he realised that he'd been left at the doorstep.
"Well, that didn't go-"
The sound of the door chain clanking and the creak of the hinge swinging fully cut off Shikaku's attempt at dry humour.
Genba was dressed in duck adorned pyjamas and a bathrobe, a mug of tea held in his free hand and walking stick in the other. He looked incredibly unhappy.
"Come in, I've got some tea for sobering up if you want it." Genba grumbled as he hobbled down the hallway leading to his living room. "Close the door behind you." He ordered without turning back.
Entering the living room the pair of Jonin sat on the available couch, studying the several documents strewn across the coffee table in front of them, before Genba slammed his mug of what seemed to be hot chocolate down on the table and quickly flipped each individual piece of paper face-down. "Those are confidential." Genba stated. Inoichi cleared his throat staring at the coffee table. "They're double-sided too." Inoichi commented quietly.
After a long time those documents were taken off of every nearby surface and placed somewhere in a study further up the hallway they had entered from. Genba looked even more aggrieved as he returned to the living room.
"I'm surprised you were even willing to let us in, really… All things considered." Inoichi stated in a leading tone, Shikaku suppressed a smirk at hearing his friend lie so easily. Neither of them understood anything about Genba's situation beyond what they'd discussed.
Genba simply grunted in response, collapsing into a large armchair placed opposite the pair.
"I don't think it's too much trouble, you're both clearly tipsy, it'd be irresponsible not to show hospitality to two clan heirs." Genba replied, brushing off the vague statement, but whether it was on purpose or not was up for debate.
Genba slapped his knees, and stood up with a wince.
"So, that detox tea, are you interested?" Genba asked, earning casual nods from the pair of Jounin.
Genba hobbled towards the adjoining kitchen without his walking stick, which had been abandoned in the study.
"I guess I should repeat myself. How can I help you two?" Genba repeated his initial question over the sound of a whistling tea pot.
After a shared look, Shikaku was the one to speak up and answer after a nod from his old teammate.
"We were hoping to hash out the Clan issue, if it's possible." Shikaku replied steadily, with an underlying level of confidence he didn't really have.
There was the sound of two consecutive soft thuds as two cups hit the kitchen counter and the boiling water was dispensed into them, a putrid smell filled the air, reaching the noses of Shikaku and Inoichi in the living room.
"I don't see how the two of you could do so, but I'm not blind to the existence of nepotism, hm?" Genba stated in rhetoric.
Inoichi stiffened in his seat.
"What's going on between me and the Clan Heads… That's really none of your business, even if you're either the team mates or relatives of them." Genba concluded calmly, placing the mugs with their putrid smelling contents down on the empty table before them.
Genba sat down with a huff, reaching for his own mug of hot chocolate, while the two heirs recoiled at just the smell of the tea before them.
"That's some strong stuff, tastes pretty bitter, but you'll be sober enough to walk out of here without weighing on my conscience." Genba stated, his intentions seeming overwhelmingly clear. They were out of their depth, with little to go on.
"So there's nothing we can do?" Shikaku asked, raising his clay cup up to his lips. It took all of his restraint not to retch as he took a sip.
Genba shrugged.
"You could start with an apology I suppose? Neither of you intended on coming here to help me in the first place, did you?" Genba retorted, not expecting an answer from the pair, they had nothing to go off of beyond Inoichi's dad having insisted things would be better if Genba didn't change allegiances between clans.
"The only thing we really know is that no one besides Choza and my father are aware of your sudden change in name, and that it's causing both of them problems. We want to get it out of the way before it gets in the way of more important things." Inoichi relented, admitting to himself at the same time that he really should have garnered more understanding before approaching the clearly moody Chunin.
Genba sighed, although Inoichi could see the slightest hints of a smile tugging at his features when Shikaku coughed and hacked after a third sip of his tea. Inoichi reflected much more self discipline, sipping his own tea with measured resilience. Another quirk of the Yamanaka, it was seen as unforgivable to show nothing but gratitude, even if the food before them was blatantly poisoned. The older Yamanaka really enjoyed that, lacing their foods with harmless poisons, poisons that made the victim more open to suggestion or telling the truth.
There was no such ingredient in their tea and Inoichi was grateful, he couldn't think of a more insidious habit than that of the Yamanaka's, when compared to any other Leaf Village residing clan.
"Well, I'll be out of their hair soon enough, rest assured." Genba murmured. The implication felt grim to the pair of them.
"And what's that supposed to mean, Genba?" Shikaku asked.
Genba snorted. "I'm reaching the end of my active shinobi career, I have no remaining relatives directly connected from either clan, and my current position only lasts as long as there's shinobi on the watchlist, and that list shrinks quickly these days, the war's taken a lot of our forces." Genba explained, although the point was lost on the two men sitting opposite him.
A quick glance at Shikaku, and Inoichi knew that his friend was equally as lost as he was, although nowhere near as consertive with his facial expressions.
"While there's a war going on, the clan's matters, Yamanaka or Akimichi, are kept to casualties and clan technique developments. Everything else is put on the backburner. The moment I'm no longer seen on the Yamanaka register, I'll be found on the Akimichi one, and with only a semi-active role as a shinobi there's no considerable benefit to the Akimichi to condone my transfer. To put it bluntly, Choza-Sama is trying to find a way to justify my transfer even though I already have, and when I'm found out, it won't even be in either clan Head's duty, it'll fall onto any available elder and they won't have any reservations about kicking me out." Genba summarised, to Inoichi's satisfaction finally.
All of that explanation begged a certain question, however.
"So why the hell did you switch clan names to begin with!?" Shikaku asked in both annoyance and even more confusion. Inoichi noted the completely empty mug of tea in Shikaku's hand, drinking from his own a little faster.
Genba's fair hair looked dishevelled, his eyes looked tired, and the tension around his brow all spoke of someone stressed beyond reason. He had a weak stubble growing and his thin jaw tightened, displaying the tiny hairs like needles on a hedgehog.
"My mother died while I was out in Kusagakure. It was a deep cover mission so there was no way I could have known, of course." Genba said casually, but the bitterness of his words weren't lost on Inoichi.
"When I returned home, after getting this-" Genba gestured towards his clearly injured leg. "No one had thought to tell me." He spat out.
Genba looked directly at Inoichi.
"And when I found out, I went straight to the first elder I could find. I screamed, I shouted… I cried. The old lman just looked at me like I was stupid. He said 'of course we wouldn't inform you, she was an Akimichi, that's the Akimichi's duty'." Genba seethed, his grip on the arm of his chair tightened.
"That's horrible." Inoichi made sure he'd prefaced what he intended to say next. "Awful and insensitive, a clan elder should know better." Inoichi continued. "But… Is that it?" Inoichi asked, uncertainly, feeling brave enough to look Genba in the eye.
Genba seethed even more, for a moment a vein on his forehead became even more prominent, before the Chunin suddenly relaxed in his chair and sighed. The change was so seamless that Inoichi knew it was a well practiced interrogation technique, completely masking his emotion.
"It's a horrible thing to go through, trust me, we both understand your grief, but to change names and move to this district? It's got lasting consequences." Inoichi reasoned. Genba's calm, polite smile was something Inoichi recognised, even before the Chunin spoke, Inoichi knew what he was going to say.
With the finality of someone who had nothing left, Genba's smile widened, his eyes crinkling softly although they were watering, unless it was just a trick of the light, Inoichi's vision was still not the best.
"Well, whatever the reason is, it's not your problem anymore, it's not the Yamanaka's duty. After all, I'm not a Yamanaka anymore." Genba declared with a soft, wry grin, punctuating the statement by standing up and taking the pair's empty mugs of tea.
The silence that followed was only filled with the sound of running water and the clinking of china and hard clay.
Shikaku eyed Inoichi with concern, there'd been very little information to wrestle with and Genba had all but sealed his own coffin before anyone could even help him. He could tell that his team mate was already formulating a new plan though, this wasn't a closing of the book. The dire conclusion of their discussion Genba had left a better taste behind, as did the tea, but neither of the pair had stopped considering their next move.
An unspoken agreement formed between the two as they shared a look, Inoichi could tell.
Genba was a petty guy, undoubtedly the situation was his fault, but that wouldn't stop them from trying to help. They'd done more for less in the past.
Returning from the kitchen Genba didn't take his seat again, silently watching them with a weak smile, expectantly waiting.
Inoichi and Shikaku stood up and nodded, giving their thanks and walking towards the hallway and back out the front door. The whole ordeal had been a strange one, but the two Jonin had learnt far more about the goings on between Choza and Inoichi's dad. Mainly that Choza was suffering in silence, with someone's livelihood in his hands.
Before they got to the door Shikaku halted for a moment, turning back to look at Genba, surprising Inoichi.
"Before we came here, you had a visitor." Shikaku said carefully.
Genba nodded, nonplussed, although he was clearly urging the two sober Jonin out of his house.
"Yes, my job encourages visits at all times of the day, wherever I am." Genba answered back, shuffling the two men closer to the door.
Shikaku grimaced.
"Yeah, it's just… That kid, she was talking to someone as she left your house. Me and Inoichi were hidden, but nobody else was there…" Shikaku trailed off meaningfully, hoping for some kind of understanding from the shorter blonde man.
"I'm not inclined to share the details of the shinobi I'm assessing, but for the sake of putting your mind at ease, I'm completely aware." Genba replied vaguely.
"She's a kid coping with some pretty bad stuff from what I've read on the reports." Genba answered.
As the two clan heirs exited through the door Shikaku didn't look satisfied. The dark streets were still lit by lamplight outside. Concern was still practically palatable, rolling in waves off of Shikaku.
"Was she talking to herself?" Shikaku asked.
Genba chuckled.
"She's certainly not as subtle as she thinks she is, huh? It's a pretty bad conflict for a shinobi like that." Genba sighed in exasperation.
Shikaku frowned, something seemed off about Genba's tone. The girl he'd seen couldn't have been much older than twelve and yet she was being assessed by the ex-Yamanaka, rather than simply being given a compulsory leave of absence.
Instead of pressing on, Shikaku stepped out of the doorstep with his old friend and not a second after the door slammed shut behind them without so much as a goodbye. The pair stood there in stunned silence for a while before slowly walking away.
"I'll be honest with you Shika'." Inoichi sighed.
Shikaku grunted in response.
"I didn't think tonight would be so depressing." Inoichi concluded.
Shikaku grunted again.
"At least we're not going home drunk. Yoshino would get mad at me." Shikaku replied with a tinge of relief and a shiver. Inoichi frowned but didn't comment.
"Your wife scares me, Shikaku." Inoichi commented.
"Me too, man. Me too." Shikaku agreed, before they finally left the Akimichi District in silence.
"It's great, right?"
"..."
"A record of our history, literally written in stone."
"Books, ledgers, diaries. All of those cover the village's history in way more detail."
"Shut up, I'm being deep."
"Oh, sorry."
Kagome sighed leaning on the railing that faced the colossal Hokage Monument, their stone faces watching over the village with silent vigilance, and pride.
"The Third looks so young over there, right?" Kagomi asked, floating past the railing and over a sheer drop down onto the street below.
"Mhm."
"Do you think the First and Second looked any older than their cliff faces? I mean, we'll never see what they looked like, and all we have to go on are some inaccurate stone carvings, and we already know the Third aged way past when they carved that." Kagomi gestured, pointing at the third solemn face on the cliff.
"I dunno." Kagome replied eloquently, staring at the folded napkin in her hand with an intensity close to obsession. She didn't care to mention the several paintings and illustrations of the Hokage that could be found in any history book.
Kagomi seemed content to wax poetic about the Hokage monument for a while longer, so Kagome simply replied with single words, enough to make her sister continue without pause.
Only one question dominated her mind however, having visited Ganba to collect her sofa, she hadn't expected to be invited in, to talk for almost an hour and to leave with a message for the Hokage.
What could someone like Genba possibly have to say to the Hokage, that could convince him to do anything?
What could he have written on a napkin that would help her?
Her hand tensed for a second as she considered unfolding it, and reading. It would go against every fiber of her being.
"It's really not that big of a deal, y'know. You could read it." Kagomi suggested, leaning into Kagome's personal space.
"I don't want to." Kagome replied softly, and dejectedly.
"You don't want to do what, dearie?" A voice called out from far behind her, so far behind her that she was shocked she'd been overheard.
Kagome's head snapped back in shock, before she caught herself and calmed down.
It was an elderly woman, slowly approaching the Hokage Monument, having climbed up the thousand steps to get up to the platform.
The streetlights below were made to illuminate the fenced off platform, and in such light, Kagome could make out the elderly woman's features. The woman's hair had likely once been a deep blonde, Kagome determined by the weak shade of grey her hair currently was, her eyes seemed like little more than beads and her rosy cheeks were round and pronounced.
"Nothing, ma'am. Talking to myself, it's a bad habit. " Kagome replied, louder than before.
The woman seemed to have trouble, hobbling towards the railing, to stand beside Kagome but she eventually made her way there.
"It's lovely, isn't it? Such a fantastic record of our village's history." The elderly woman marvelled, Kagome internally groaned and turned to look at her sister, who proudly nodded along.
"It is, yeah." Kagome replied in defeat.
"I come up here often, when I want some peace and quiet. I'm a Yamanaka, so even at my age there's always something going on, people to find, ingredients to source, that kind of thing." The Yamanaka woman explained casually.
"...I just like to stand here and stare, however long it takes for me to clear my mind. Are you the same? Miss…" The elderly woman trailed off.
"Kagome, and I guess so, but I don't normally come here." Kagome answered, feeling more awkward having missed her cue to ask for the woman's name herself.
"It's an unparalleled sight, truly, Kagome-Chan. I can't fault you for keeping such visits scarce, it helps to savour the feeling." The old woman commended her, although Kagome was doing no such thing. Following the whims of her sister was simply easier than being bullied by her.
Kagome glanced at the old woman's wrist, having noticed the sound of a ticking wristwatch.
"What time is it?" Kagome asked politely.
"Six-thirty, dear." The woman replied without even looking down at her watch.
Kagome nodded.
"Thank you, I have somewhere to be." Kagome excused herself, pushing away from the railing.
Stepping away, Kagome bowed her head quickly and made to leave, but the woman grabbed her wrist gently, nowhere near strong enough to stop her if she wanted to force the issue.
"I'm terrible at judging heights, but you're around five foot tall aren't you, dear?" The woman asked, completely throwing Kagome off.
"Y-yes I think so?" Kagome replied in confusion.
"Well, I best not keep you, Kagome-Chan, have a good night." The elderly woman said in farewell.
Her wrist was let go and Kagome stood there only for a second before leaving. Her next stop was the Hokage's office.
An uneventful trek later and she arrived at the office door without so much as a glance in her direction, Kagomi having since vanished, during her conversation with the old Yamanaka woman. Kagome's hand hovered in front of the office door before she summoned up the courage to wrap her knuckles against the coarse wooden surface.
"Come in." Grumbled an audibly exhausted voice behind the doors.
Kagome complied, and looking up from a pile of papers, the Professor of Shinobi made eye contact with the girl, his eyes wrinkling into a weary smile.
"I didn't expect to see you again today, Kagome-Chan." Hiruzen voiced his mild surprise.
Kagome approached the desk, taking note of the open balcony window. Likely for easy access for the shinobi guarding him.
"I met Genba this evening and he told me to see you." Kagome explained mechanically, reaching out to place the napkin held firmly in her grasp.
Hiruzen's eyebrows raised in interest, unfolding the napkin and reading it's contents. He sighed in exasperation, looking back up at the girl and then the napkin.
"Would you perhaps like to accompany a Genin team's mission?" Hiruzen asked, already rifling through what looked like a pile of signed and confirmed mission scrolls.
"... What?" Kagome asked in confusion. That was all it took? She'd been going stir crazy over the span of three days without a mission and that was all she'd needed to do?
She owed Genba so much, her confusion gave way to gratitude instantly.
"Genba-San is highly trusted among those in the Intelligence Department. If it's his recommendation I can only help but to agree." Hiruzen replied, finally finding the mission report he was looking for.
"There is a B-rank escort mission due tomorrow morning. I have the details here. Of course I will have to provide the Jonin teacher with a summary of your skills. I will omit any ninjutsu and genjutsu prowess beyond that of Academy techniques, you may display any taijutsu at your disposal without fear… And your summoning contract, that will be an effective tool in this instance." Hiruzen added.
Kagome simply nodded, buzzing with excitement, she didn't care about the restrictions, a mission was a mission.
"Go, prepare for your mission then." Hiruzen dismissed her as quickly as she'd entered.
Kagome didn't need to be told twice, she shot out of her chair and walked briskly out the room, humming happily.
Hiruzen sighed, staring at the napkin in his hand.
She's gonna go insane if she doesn't do something soon.
Please give her something to do.
I owe you ramen, thanks.
It wasn't exactly a strong medical statement but he owed Genba at least this much, the poor soul.
Morning broke on the next day to the sound of birds chirping, the sun had yet to rise yet shinobi were milling around the village, getting ready for missions or starting on their training regimes with varying levels of enthusiasm.
For Genma, enthusiasm was something he could find around him in spades. Between Gai's 'Youthful Exuberance' and Ebisu's studious observations on absolutely everything, Genma felt like all of his inspiration had been sucked dry since he'd been placed on a team with the two of them.
Choza-Sensei was the worst, his cheery grin was always present, regardless of the time of day, and the way his voice boomed with every word practically rattled Genma's skull.
They were currently waiting for the client to arrive at the gates, although they still had half an hour until they were expected to depart. Genma turned to see Gai doing squats where he stood while Ebisu was reading through one of the many diaries stored on his person.
Choza cleared his throat, garnering everyone's attention while he himself looked up from a sheet of paper in his hand.
"We've had a last minute change in mission details." Choza announced.
Ebisu squawked in objection while Gai didn't even halt in his squats. Genma patiently waited for the explanation.
"We're getting a fourth member to our team for this mission." Choza stated camly, his grin growing as he watched Genma scowl in annoyance.
"Why'd you only tell us now!?" Ebisu asked, clearly panicking.
Choza nodded in the direction in front of him, making his students turn around to look as well.
"Well, because that's her over there." Choza answered, as if it should have been obvious and chuckling to himself.
There was a girl standing at the corner of a building still some distance away, shuffling her feet and staring at the ground, a giant backpack on her back, almost dwarfing her in terms of height and width.
Ebisu's face immediately turned beet red, recognising the girl while the other two Genin looked in confusion.
"I think you guys might remember her, we met yesterday." Choza said, looking at Ebisu's blushing face.
"She seems shy. Ebisu, go get her for me." Choza ordered his student.
Genma groaned, watching his teammate panic and flounce about, trying to find any excuse not to be the one to do it. Choza-Sensei could be so cruel sometimes.
Then again, Genma wasn't going to do anything about it.
What could he say?
It was funny to watch.