Ch. 24
Two weeks later
Moriko paused on a branch as she ran back to the village, feeling the scroll in her breast pocket begin to buzz, alerting her of a message. She opened it swiftly before sighing in mild annoyance. Being able to use so many shadow clones and being an expert in sealing could be a pain at times. With the coming threat to the village, it meant she had a huge workload as they worked to get the village ready for the coming invasion. With the way things were going, she didn't have the time to run missions despite being able to make the number of clones she did because of the importance of the projects she was working on for the village.
She had several and sometimes it was hard to decide which should take priority with the coming invasion in mind.
The teleportation seal, the flying thunder god? With it, they would be able to recall any ninja that was injured and appear in an area with entire teams if needed, saving countless numbers of ninjas and increasing mission effectiveness to nearly 99%.
The medical stasis seal? It would freeze people the moment they were mortally wounded, allowing the wounded to be frozen in time until a medic could reach them and heal them before removing the seal saving the body from the trauma of fighting for survival.
The mobile medical defense seal? It would allow more medics in the field with greater effectiveness in missions with a medic capable of healing the wounded ninja, allowing the mission to progress despite previous injuries.
In truth, all of them had great value and it was hard to determine which seals to prioritize since all of them centered around the general theme of keeping their ninja from dying. She and her teacher had made great strides with different aspects of the multiple projects, reaching breakthroughs here and there, but even with how hard they were both pushing, they weren't sure how many of the projects they would be able to complete before the invasion. Thankfully they had received further intel that suggested that the invasion would be scheduled for the end of the chunin exams during the final matches, which gave them another month to work with.
And thankfully she and Jiraiya had already finished the hospital defense system and a village-wide barrier system.
A village-wide barrier system was important for maintaining surveillance of all incoming and outgoing people. To know who was coming in and out of the village and to control the flow of information that spies might try to leak could be a major tool in their hands. While it was possible to create a village-wide barrier that could repel attacks, the amount of energy needed to fuel a barrier that could cover the village would be astronomical, even for one of the minor-tailed beasts.
No, it was too much waste for the return. If anything, there was enough to create a focused barrier that could protect against a first attack and take the brunt of it, giving the village a chance to retreat and regroup as needed. After that, it was best to focus one's resources on one or two areas to ensure they got the resources needed to remain properly protected.
The hospital's defense system however was their crowning achievement so far. Without a doubt, Hiruzen's hospital project would revolutionize Konoha's hospital system. With it being so advanced, word would eventually get out and other nations would target the hospital the most, if only to steal their methods for their own use. The hospital itself would need to be the greatest stronghold that the village had in case of invaders, impenetrable to safeguard its people and secrets. The plan was for the injured to be frozen in stasis and be teleported to the hospital. The hospital would be the last line of defense for the village, hence why it was turning out to be a fortress inside the village.
Despite being unable to take missions, she was luckily being paid handsomely for her time as a professional seal master since the seals for the village would revolutionize the shinobi forces. She frowned rereading the missive before sighing and re-rolling the scroll and putting it in her pocket.
The Hokage needed the shipment of concrete in Tea Country picked up since the contracted caravan had been hit with illness and was delayed. With her summons, she would be the only one able to leave and return in a day with the required items. It seemed she would also be picking up more supplies on her journey back.
Moriko sighed, as she created and then released a clone to tell all her other clones to return to her location. Soon all the clones arrived and released their supplies into different piles. Soon there were large mounds of logs, rock, and clay and a group stood off to the side with scrolls full of water. Off to the other side was a group of clones going over the plants that they had gathered.
She was gathering building supplies and plants for her compound when the Hokage's message had interrupted her task. This had been one of the few breaks she had gotten since her impromptu nap at the Nara compound two weeks ago, and she was peeved that her personal time for personal projects had been interrupted again. She also felt kind of bad since she hadn't really had the time to train Naisho or his teammates like she had promised. Sighing she made a few clones and sent them to the kids to help Kakashi train them for the day and to catch up with the team's progress.
With all the building supplies sorted out and resealed, Moriko went about summoning her summons. The faster she got this done, the better.
...
Jiraiya opened the door to the Sarutobi compound. Hizashi had to hold back a wince as he shifted in place, a large box in his hands. Jiraiya looked him up and down, taking in the way Hizashi was impeccably dressed in a formal kimono and hakama, his hair brushed till it gleamed. Little shades of green and purple were mixed into his attire, bringing out the healthy warm glow of his smooth skin and brought out the slight hint of purple in his eyes. Jiraiya snorted.
"Are you wearing makeup?" Jiraiya chortled making the other man glow cherry red with humiliation.
"The Oba would not let me get away to deliver gifts without pimping me out like a prized stallion," he growled making the other man begin to howl with laughter sliding down the doorway to laugh on the floor as Hizashi glowered at him. After a minute Jiraiya pulled himself to his feet, chuckling as Hizashi glared.
"...Is she home?" he asked. Jiraiya shot the other man an affronted look.
"Oh so no gifts for me despite helping make that seal?" Jiraiya challenged though it was a bit weak. Moriko had been doing most of the legwork using her clones to do the brunt of the work while she spent the rest of the time picking Jiraiya's brain for his extensive knowledge before implementing their ideas using his input.
Hizashi gently kicked something by the door that gave a ceramic thrum and Jiraiya stuck his head out the door to see what was on the porch. Jiraiya goggled at the ten large jugs of expensive sake.
"I hope that you find these satisfactory, Jiraiya-sama. You have the clan's gratitude," Hizashi said and he bowed formally though the boxes were still in his hands. Jiraiya began fluttering around the enormous jugs gleefully placing seals over them to keep them from breaking. He paused as he remembered his manners before giving a bow back.
"It was an honor to get rid of such a nasty piece of work," he said before straightening with a wide grin. The other man nodded gratefully before looking around for the young woman. Jiraiya crossed his arms once more into an intimidating pose.
"She's away on a mission," he said and the other man wilted. Taking mercy on him Jiraiya relaxed slightly.
"You should give it to her when she gets back," Jiraiya allowed as the other man perked up. Jiraiya's neutral expression suddenly grew wicked.
"I'll have a word with the old Oba on what her tastes are so when you show up you are suitably appealing," Jiraiya cackled as the other man's face went white. He seemed to recover shortly as he regained his composure.
"Still angry with me then?" Hizashi stated. Jiraiya's face grew dark, eyes glittering dangerously.
"If you were not a Clan head I would have killed you," he stated bluntly causing Hizashi to flinch at the coldness in the man's tone.
"I see," Hizashi murmured, his composure masking the increased discomfort he suddenly felt. Jiraiya leaned against one of the pillars that supported the porch's overhang.
"This village has only seen a few sides to her. All good sides. But I have been her teacher for the past eight and have seen far more than that. Under the right circumstances, she can be petty, scathing, and a cruel little thing. Sometimes unspeakably cunning, though she tends to wield such cunning against those she cares about as gently as possible. Her enemies, not so much.
"Her kindness, and empathy pull people in. But I've seen what she's done in battle. And I've seen how she doesn't lose any sleep at night over it. She can be an outrageous flirt and a bit of a cocktease. She knows her own strength and is sometimes scared of it. She is not a swooning damsel Hizashi, but sometimes she can be too lenient, especially to the people in this village since she sees them as hers and to be treated with kid gloves. If this village had the gall to take advantage of that goodwill and destroy it, I don't doubt who the victor of that battle would be but I won't let it come to that. This is my home as well. She is human like all of us and I will not let people think that she can be taken advantage of, not even the Hokage," Jiraiya said firmly and the other man nodded thoughtfully.
"I don't blame you. I can see she has taken good care of you these past years Jiraiya-sama," said Hizashi as he bowed to show his gratitude for the warning the Sage had given him to give his Clan. Moriko would not always be forgiving and the Sage did not doubt who would win that fight. It had been as much for his clan as it had been for her standing to make an example out of him, even if it had been the Hokage's plan all along. Hizashi didn't doubt that the dressing down the Hokage had gotten from his student was the reason the Hokage had been seen at the hospital a few days after the resealing of the clan for a 'training accident.'
Jiraiya nodded, satisfied. Hizashi hesitated before speaking up.
"Will you look at the gifts we procured and give your input?" Hizashi asked hesitantly as the Sage regarded him carefully. Finally, Jiraiya nodded before inviting him in. It took months to order commissioned kimonos, Jiraiya knew, and he knew how ridiculously expensive they were and how much Moriko loved them. He would make sure that Hizashi paid his due.
AN: to translate that long ass thing Jiraiya told Hiashi, Moriko isn't some all-forgiving Angel, and Jiraiya made an example of Hizashi and Hiruzen because if people thought they could treat Moriko like that then they would.
If they treated her like crap, Moriko's kid gloves would come off and Jiraiya knows his student will come out the victor, but doesn't want to see the village weakened by Moriko having to put people in their place, so Jiraiya nipped this behavior in the bud to prevent it from escalating into something direr in the future.
And yes, I've had this happen to me in real life. People will treat you like utter garbage if they think they can. The best thing you can do is push back against that behavior the first time it happens or the person in question will act entitled to treat you like that instead of backing off if you try to correct that behavior later on.
...
And just think about the audacity that Jiraiya is seeing right now. The clan she went out of her way to help is trying to snag her into a political marriage with the man who hurt her. He's frankly pissed off. At this point, he's going to make them pay dearly for the opportunity to court her, and if she's not interested in the least? She got a few gorgeous and expensive kimono out of it.