XII - Shifting Tides
Jin leaped through the trees as his eyes scoured the quiet morning countryside of the Land of Fire. His target was Kakuzu of Taki, wielder of the Earth Grudge Fear. The scroll on his belt clanked as he danced through the twilight shadows and landed on the ground, fingers brushing the hilt of his tanto.
"Hatake Kakashi? Your bounty is 40,000,000 Ryo. That'll keep my coffers afloat for quite some time."
The ancient ninja raised his hands into the air slowly, as his eyes narrowed. There was no emotion in his voice, just the clinical words of someone describing the weather.
Jin held up the scroll, and then threw it towards his recruit.
"I have a business proposition for you, Kakuzu of Taki. Lord Danzo Shimura of the Leaf desires your services."
Kakuzu shifted his glance to the scroll in his hands.
"To be a secretary? No need for missions & a fixed salary?" He raised his fingers into the air, as if performing calculations. "This has potential."
His eyes returned toward Jin, and he lowered his hands. "Not to mention the political clout... Very well, I accept."
Jin replied," Follow me. I will direct you to our operations base." He paused, before throwing another scroll to Kakuzu. "Think of that as an advance." Had Kakuzu acted too quickly? It was clear that he believed he was in the stronger position, and if it was a trap the Taki nin was more than confident in his abilities to defeat the masked 'Hatake Kakashi'.
Kakuzu relaxed in his chair in the underground ROOT base within the Land of Waterfalls. To be so close to his former village, and to encroach on them in such a way...
He couldn't deny the smile it brought to his face. It was almost as good as receiving a paycheck. As his attention returned to the ledgers in front of him, his thoughts moved toward his most recent projections or profit. The sheer scale of devices used by ROOT never failed to amaze him. The novelty and ingenuity present within the 'shadow' of the Leaf was impressive, turning chakra from a force of destruction into a new tool for innovation.
He rose to his feet, entering the filing room. Here lay countless records for the various bank accounts, industrial & land purchases, alongside various other records used by ROOT. Each file was sorted into the mechanical system, which would then revolve or rotate to allow easy access and sorting.
The papers themselves were sealed into canisters, making the (in theory) enormous library fit into a small room. It was a method that Kakuzu greatly enjoyed. No longer did he have to waste time sifting through files when this device would find them for him. Pipes built into the roof allowed functions that even he couldn't comprehend. He sat down in front of the central desk as his eyes zoomed in on the blue screen perched on the shelf.
This, no doubt, was the most essential method to explain the rapid success of ROOT. Using Fuin script to place a Genjutsu over a single sheaf of metal made of chakra conductive metal to form interactive pictures via a 'keyboard'.
From what he learned; the device was assembled by precision drilling on wafers of chakra metal. The resulting seals either served as + or – I/O inputs, which allowed huge amounts of processes. The user manual was 300 pages, and Kakuzu had read enough to familiarize himself with the main language system: JavaScript.
Using this language, he could create all forms of fascinating processes for the 'computer' to run, all without knowing a lick of Fuinjutsu. Truly, he had made a good choice all those years ago when he decided to join ROOT. As the latest data was pulled up on his screen, he mulled over the results.
An increase in profit of 2% was too little. It appeared that many of the smaller time yakuza they funded had underperformed and most of the investments were duds.
He marked down their names.
No one would swindle ROOT and live as long as Kakazu was the head of finance. However, the results for their publishing house were quite successful. Kakuzu, along with that brat of Danzo, Ryujin, had created a program for Word Processing on these 'computers' and then used it to massively increase their output of papers printed. With Danzo's clout, they had locked down on all major printing contracts in the Land of Fire, and had since expanded into Grass and Wind, albeit with smaller success.
Kakuzu would have to send some men to 'help' their business out there. As he left the computer, it powered off. Each one of these devices was keyed to ROOT's chakra, allowing complete control and security. He sighed softly.
It was meeting time.
Ryujin smirked slowly as he gazed at Konoha's ROOT Wave docks. The very first of their kind, and the center for the next generation of naval warfare. The people of Wave had been all too eager to help their 'liberators' and the Konoha nin had put that enthusiasm to good work.
With the reinforcements from home, he had been able to secure enough men to completely convert one of Gato's many trading vessels into a man-of-war. Making use of the unique Fuin system developed by himself and Lord Danzo, the battleship had been decked out with all the necessary tools for war.
The major advancement pushed in the development of their very first vessel Hashirama. Success had led to the creation of two more frigates, the Kagami, & the Namikaze.
The docks themselves were built inside an island cave and opened to the sea via a waterfall to ensure absolute secrecy of its construction. He mounted the railing and entered the captain's seat. Picking up the microphone (which was in turn a large-scale sound Genjutsu making use of special seals marked on its recipients to transport his voice).
"All crews, report to your frigates immediately! The rest of staff, and Dock Presiding officer continue with other operations!" It was finally time to put the fleet to the test. Ryujin had already received the news regarding Kumo and couldn't help but feel the eagerness to inflict some pain on them.
As the ships began leaving harbor, the commander's eyes shifted to the map next to him. Three blue shots had appeared marking where each of his ships were in comparison to the rest of the world. Making such a contraption had taken Ryujin quite some time, and he was pleased with the results. Using trigonometry along with creating a coordinate system for all of the Elemental Nations had been a troublesome task, much less verifying most of the info. Then creating a seal that could handle those calculations within the Genjutsu and constantly update them?
It was quite fun.
The Hashirama began to pick up speed, its mast inflating thanks to the wild winds of the coast off Wave. At the signal, two crew used a wind Jutsu to push them forward and into the Kaizoku Sea. Their destination was the Kasumi Straight, where Cloud merchants send most of their goods to via sea.
Ryujin climbed up and stood on the deck, looking down at his men. They saluted him, and he gave them a good-natured smile.
He then began to pull the water from the sea, spinning hand-seals as he entered a state of absolute focus.
"SUITON: SOARING WAVE JUTSU!"
The water around the boat roared to life as it began dragging the boat forward. More importantly was the initiation of the fans, which allowed ships to reach peak velocity. The most critical part of the boiler design was the Amaterasu flame, provided by Lord Danzo.
Refueling was unnecessary, along with budgeting fuel. He could feel the hull shaking as the men returned to their seats within the belly of the great ship, arming the weapons and readying the sensors. His attention returned to the map, and he could see his fellow frigates following his lead.
Kumo would never know what hit them.
"What will you do, Hokage-sama!?" Hiashi thundered in the council chambers, his rage evident. "My daughter was kidnapped by these Kumo ninja!"
"We cannot entertain any of their demands!"
Hiruzen sighed as he massaged his forehead. This meeting had already lasted for an hour, and no consensus had been reached. He could not risk angering Kumo, not while Konoha was still recovering. He already knew that Danzo had ordered some kind of retaliation (he really needed to have a long talk with his old friend, didn't he?).
Fugaku Uchiha took this moment to speak up. "What off the weakness of your security that allowed such an event to happen?"
He smirked at Hiashi. "What happened to your 'all seeing eyes'?" Then of course, there was the inter-clan politics and put-downs. The Uchiha clan head seemed pretty satisfied, which Hiruzen attributed to Danzo once more.
The discord in the room reached a fever pitch, with each of the clan-heads heaping insults at each other. The murderous glare Hiashi sent Fugaku explained the general mood very well.
"ENOUGH!" Hiruzen had had enough. Enough of these clan issues, enough of incompetence and laziness. Who were they to insult him, his authority this way?
He was the God of Shinobi, the Hokage who had led Konoha to victory twice before and created its most powerful shinobi. And did these children have the gall to act in this manner, just because they viewed him as weak & senile?
His voice was oddly quiet, but he forced all of his killing intent into those words. The room grew quiet nearly instantly. "It has become clear that you all are unable to arrive at any sense of a decision. As my authority as Hokage, I shall decide personally."
At the looks of outrage on the faces of the clan-heads, Hiruzen continued. "If any of you have any problems, I'm more than up for a friendly spar."
Unbeknownst to him, Danzo smirked in the shadows of the room. It was a smile of victory.
Anko smiled as she looked at those unfortunate Genin working under her. Thanks to Lord Shimura's help, she was able to form a new division under Konoha's Science Department.
It was the biological and chemical agent Research Team, or Poison Department. She rapped her knuckles on the wooden desk and returned to the scroll in her hands. Danzo had requested an agent for mass death of crops, and she mused on why such a thing would be necessary.
Unless it was because of Kumo.
Either way, the specific order had been something which caused "slow crop failure" not instantaneous, which meant more politics. Was he trying to starve Kumo slowly or something?
Last she checked they still imported 20% of their food supply from the Land of Rice, which...
Wait. The Land of Rice was Konoha's major competitor in the food market, and if it was crippled...
The special jonin was just thankful that the Elder was on Konoha's side.
"Anko-san."
She jumped into air, kunai in hand as she heard that dead voice.
"Holy shit! Jin, why do you always have to show up like that?" She turned her gaze towards 'Jin' who was Danzo's right-hand man. That he resembled Hatake Kakashi to an insane degree was something that she quietly 'forget' whenever he showed up.
A small smile danced on his face. "No - it only makes it more interesting. I'm here too drop of these samples." He gently placed some vials on her desk.
"They are some samples of Sasori of the Red Sand's best."
"Where the hell did you get them from?" As Anko turned towards Jin, the boy just gazed back. On second glance, his black kimono was pretty tattered...
"You have to be kidding me..." Anko sighed slowly. "Well, come here you big oaf."
Jin brightened up almost immediately. How could he switch emotions so quickly?! "Thanks."
Anko only blushed as she moved her hand over his wounds and cast the Mystical Palm Jutsu. She had been learning about Medical Ninjutsu ever since Jin had left her motherfucking Tsundae's notes!
Did the boy not know how to propose? It was baffling how socially incompetent he was, but also how terrifying he could be. At least the info had helped her in studying poisons and antidotes, along with some side experiments on chakra networks.
Danzo had been extremely intrigued by the prospect of transplanting tenketsus and chakra networks in a similar manner to human puppets. The least she could do was help him a little, and it wasn't like she was Orochimaru. She scratched at her seal, which had been weakened by the Elder.
It was one of the many things the 'kind' old man had done for her when he had helped her out. At least she knew why he had been so nice now.
"There, all fixed. You better not get hurt again, brat." She was totally mad! Not even blushing as he smiled back at her.
"You have a pretty smile, Anko-san. Oh, the poisons were taken from Suna's archives." He nodded at her and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. She burrowed her head in her hands to conceal her reddening face.
"Oi, look guys! Anko's got a boyfriend!" She turned her attention back to her assistants and growled at them. Those brats needed a reminder, didn't they?
"ALL OF YOU, TO THE FOREST OF DEATH OF NOW!" She smirked at the looks of horror on their faces. "I'll show you my true boyfriend, Kai the Tiger!"
Fugaku sat down in front of the shogi board.
"You have done well, Fugaku."
The Uchiha clan head smirked. "It was thanks to your assistance, Lord Shimura." The clans would soon fall apart, and the Uchiha could use the opportunity for all it was worth.
"Here are the profits from your investments." Danzo handed the envelope to him, and Fugaku pocketed it into his robes.
"If I could have some more minutes of your time?" Fugaku looked at the Elder.
"And what could the matter be?"
"My son, Itachi. He is a prodigy unheard of, and I want a suitable instructor. Someone I can trust, like Hatake Kakashi."
Danzo scratched his chin. "I'll tell Kakashi to stop by your residence. It will be up to Itachi if my student decides to teach him."
Fugaku nodded, a victorious smile on his face. "That should do then."
"Then good day, Lord Uchiha."
"Good day to you as well, Lord Shimura."
Kakashi smiled slowly as he gazed at the bowl of ramen on the counter.
"Do you like it, Naruto-kun?"
The boy smiled at him, and Kakashi had to bury his sadness deep within. Naruto reminded him too much of Obito; they even had the same dream.
"Yeah! It's super-super good!" The boy greedily slurped up the noodles and Kakashi reached for his mask, only to notice Naruto's curious gaze.
"Is something wrong?"
"Ne, are you going to remove your mask?"
Kakashi performed his patented eye smile. "Now, now, Naruto. I will." And in one second, he pulled it off and inhaled all the ramen.
"WAIT! I didn't even see your face!" He grumbled.
"Better luck next time."
At that, Naruto grinned. "Heh!" He scratched his nose and pumped his fist into the air. "You bet! I'm going to find out what's behind that mask!"
The boy suddenly stopped, as if he recalled something. "Wait a second! I did see your face!" He turned towards Kakashi and blew a razzberry.
"Really now?"
"Yeah, you visited the orphanage! All the kids talked about you for days after, you were so cool!"
Kakashi wonders when he had done this.
"You even talked to me and showed me some cool moves!"
"Did I tell you, my name?"
"Nah, just said you were a shinobi! C'mon Old man Kakashi, you can't mean you weren't that guy?"
Kakashi is thinking on how to formulate an answer when Tenzo enters the ramen stall.
"I overheard your conversation..." Tenzo mumbles slowly, as he scratches his back. Naruto is distracted by the arrival of someone he has not met before, so Kakashi motions to him.
Doppelganger? Spy?
Tenzo looks nervous...? He sighs before answering, "The shinobi Naruto met. I know him."
"What!?" Kakashi's mind is going haywire. There's another Hatake out there, and he never knew? Tenzo never even thought of telling him?! His teammate looks at him, before signaling.
Snake. Underground. Child.
And the breath is knocked out of Kakashi's lungs.