Industrious - Chapter 64 (Patreon)

Kokoro stared at Hiruzen.

Hiruzen stared at Kokoro.

They stared at each other.

Then my daughter turned to Yakumo and myself. “I don't like him. He's got too much darkness inside him. Is he an enemy? Can I eat him?”

The ANBU around us were too good to give tells, but I felt the atmosphere electrify like the moments before a lightning strike. While Yakumo looked downright mortified, I merely shook my head and crossed my arms at Kokoro as she wilted under the emotions I was projecting.

“We talked about this, young lady. This is the head of the village, the Hokage. He's the one who makes the rules about who can stay here and is responsible for keeping everyone in the village safe.” I paused, letting that sink in. “If he thinks you'll hurt someone, it will make it really hard for your mother and I to stay here in Konoha with you. And you want to stay here with us, don't you?”

Kokoro's eyes shot wide and she turned back to the aging shinobi who watched the goings-on with a neutral expression, his pipe held carefully between his fingers. “I'm sorry! I won't eat you! Please don't make me leave or get Mommy and Daddy in trouble!”

Sarutobi blinked once.

His eyes flicked to me, then he nodded. Crouching slightly, he reached out and rubbed Kokoro's head, stilling the burgeoning tears from spilling over onto her cheeks. “There, there little one. Your... father has gone to a great deal of trouble to convince me that you're not a threat to my village. Let me ask you, though. Are you dangerous?”

I held out a spread hand, stopping Yakumo from stepping forward.

“I think so?” Kokoro hesitated, looking to me for a reassuring nod. “Daddy says I can hurt people if I'm not careful. I haven't yet, though!”

Hiruzen nodded slowly, his hand moving down to rest on her shoulder. “Your father is right, Kokoro. You have the power to hurt people very badly and kill them if you're not careful. Given that you can see the emotions I'm feeling right now... would you care to tell me what they are?”

Kokoro shifted under the old ninja's intense gaze. “I can see the part of you that wants to hurt people... and if you don't like me, that makes sense, but... they... you're... scared? But... aren't you really really strong? Why are you scared?”

Bloodlust, have to teach her what that means. The dangers of having an eldritch abomination as a child, I suppose.

To her credit, the ANBU seemed just as confused as her, even if they made no move to express that confusion obviously. I probably didn't have the same acuity or depth of perception as my daughter, but I had my own bag of esoteric tricks to fall back on. Tricks, in particular, that allowed me to understand the lack of emotional self-knowledge and understanding these soldiers were displaying.

Have to watch out for that too, ugh... being a parent is a lot of work.

“I'm scared because there are people that need me to protect them,” Hiruzen looked out beyond the fence line of the small backyard. “It is my responsibility to make sure nothing places them in danger. Tell me, what do you think your father or mother would do if something tried to hurt you?”

Kokoro frowned, looking back at myself and Yakumo again, to which I gave her another reassuring smile.

“They'd... get angry?” Kokoro asked, then nodded slowly, growing more firm in her opinion.

“And we'd hurt whatever was hurting you, to protect you,” I added, understanding where Hiruzen was going with this.

The Hokage gave me a tolerant nod at the assist, but added a cloaked warning look at the end before turning his attention back to my daughter. “Just like parents protect their children, I am the one who protects the people of the village.”

“Like Mommy and Daddy?” Kokoro asked.

Hiruzen chuckled and I discreetly rolled my eyes at the honest, if slightly dark amusement in the sound. “Yes, like your mother and father. And you.”

“Me?” Kokoro asked, blinking owlishly as she pointed a finger at her chest.

“If you want to be,” Hiruzen nodded. “Everyone born in this village has a choice. They choose to be a good person or a bad person. Good people live in the village and don't hurt anyone inside it. Bad people decide to hurt each other, even while they're in the village.”

Mmm, smell that warm patriotic nationalist in the morning. It's what's for breakfast.

“So I can eat people who hurt other people in the village?” Kokoro asked, the one-tracked mind of a child on full display.

I saw Yakumo silently press her hand to her face out of the corner of my eye.

If I hadn't known better, I would have believed Hiruzen's mask of amusement. “Sometimes people make mistakes and hurt each other accidentally, Kokoro. It would be very bad if you tried to eat someone who didn't mean to hurt you.”

My daughter frowned, almost pouting. “That's too hard. How do I know who means it or not?”

“You should ask your father,” Hiruzen stated, shamelessly making me do the job I had already accepted. “Especially before you do something you can't take back, like... eat someone. Your father has more experience than you do and... good judgment-”

My expression deadpanned at the old man.

He could have at least tried a little harder than that.

“-about things like these,” Hiruzen continued. “So if you're ever not sure about how you should act or what you should do, ask your parents. That way you won't make trouble for them.”

Kokoro nodded, gravely serious in the way only young children could be. “I'll ask Mommy or Daddy if I want to eat someone.”

Hiruzen looked as though he wanted to push for more, but visibly decided against it as he straightened up and took a draw from his pipe. “I suppose that will have to do. I'd like to speak with your father, if that's alright young lady?”

Kokoro nodded, turning back to Yakumo and clinging to her while I stepped up to the plate.

The old man's eyes cut my way as he turned to walk towards the gate. “Young Kotaro.”

“Lord Hokage,” I nodded.

The older ninja breathed a cloud of smoke and ash out, pinning me with his gaze. “I have to admit, even with my reservations, now that I've met her I think you may have a point.”

I nodded, “She's terrifying, but not fundamentally evil.”

“Beings such as her seldom are,” Hiruzen replied with a scowl. “The issue is whether or not she can control her urge to commit violence or satisfy her baser instincts. Contrary to my concerns, though, it seems as if she has bonded to little Yakumo and yourself to the extent that she values her connection with you two more than the satisfaction acting on impulse would bring.”

“Thank you for your tolerance of my own apparent impulsiveness, Lord Sarutobi,” I stated deferentially.

Because even exaggerated or falsified gratitude is worth expressing, if you can do so sincerely enough.

Hiruzen snorted, then took a long draw from his pipe, letting a long stream of smoke out. “You're a good negotiator, Kotaro... especially where the interests of your women are concerned. While I do not always agree with your whims, it is good to see they have the Will of Fire behind them.”

I sighed, giving the old man a bit of a look over that.

He merely smiled at me and shook his head. “You're not the first cynical youth I've had the dubious honor of becoming acquainted with, you know. I'll admit that, perhaps, you're the most qualified claimant to such a title at such an age I've ever met. Believe me, though, the Will of Fire lives within the truth of your actions and the heart behind them.”

“Are you trying to make it difficult to cling to my shield of cynicism, Lord Hokage, or does this come naturally?” I asked tiredly.

Well, at least he had the gall to laugh. It was enough of a joke that it was meant to be funny, after all. Even if it was true as well.

The laughter, at least, put the still-hovering ANBU at ease, though of course they didn't care to show it.

“I trust you'll keep to your part of the bargain you've made?” Sarutobi asked. “I won't be so gauche as to draft a man in the middle of peacetime right after the birth of his child. Even a birth so unconventional.”

With that, the Hokage held out a curved metal band bound to a strip of cloth.

I stared at it, and him, with a scowl.

“Only while you are training your team,” the Hokage stated, his tone growing more stern. “It will raise certain... questions, if you do not wear it.”

“I imagine it will raise an equal number of questions should I be seen wearing it,” I sighed, staring stubbornly at the headband..

“That is what masks are, generally speaking,” Hiruzen stated, smirking at me as he held the offending object out. “Anyone who knows in spite of that won't care. And anyone who cares about a new shinobi in our ranks, won't know anything beyond your paperwork.”

I stopped, one eyebrow slowly climbing.

A mask, huh?

Absently, one of my hands reached up to brush against my lower face.

Hmm... on one level, I know I shouldn't. On another, there's a teenage edgelord deep inside demanding I follow through.

Now Hiruzen was staring at me, no doubt having picked up on the change in my mood. “Kota...”

I reached out and took the leaf headband with a smirk. “As Lord Hokage commands.”

The old man narrowed his eyes at me, equal parts concern and irritation that his ploy hadn't paid off. “Should I be worried, young man?”

Eh... I'll take pity on them. The resemblance won't be too close, but I'll still have some fun with it. Besides, that version of him won't have ever existed here.

“No more than usual,” I replied glibly, turning back to my family and smiling at how Satsuki and Tenten were cooing over Kokoro now that things with the Hokage were – for the moment – settled.

…

“Lord Hokage?”

Hiruzen turned his head to regard the mask the hid Itachi's face, then nodded as they discretely removed themselves from the blacksmith's small backyard. “Move forward with the plan. Observation at all times for three months. I don't want her out of sight for seconds, let alone minutes.”

“As you say, Lord Hokage,” Itachi replied, his voice muffled into an indistinguishable mess by the clever application of a bit of legacy seal work. “I take it I should begin the stand-down.”

Hiruzen nodded and, instantly, a pair of shadow clones split off from Itachi to enact the stand-down orders. While he and the ANBU that had been positioned around the target had been the most immediate response, they were far from the only layer. Indeed, it was more than a bit ironic that three of the reserve teams on alert were the newest crop of sealing specialists armed with fuuinjutsu-augmented prostheses designed by Kotaro himself, on top of being armed with the fully-functional generation of shinobi gauntlets and scroll cartridges.

He would give such a collection of teams good odds at leveling a good portion of any other Hidden Village.

In another few years, they would have a sufficient force to do so without stripping Konoha of its reserves.

Normally, the influx of formerly-retired shinobi back into service would have bolstered their ranks to that point already, but storm clouds were building on the horizon. The incident involving Hidden Stone had simply been one in a long stream of mounting problems that were requiring more and more forces be mobilized far from Konoha itself to deal with them.

It was, in other words, the prelude to some kind of attack.

He doubted the slow increase of hostilities would have fooled him thirty years ago, let alone with the three extra decades of experience. Still, there was a fine line between seeing the trap being set and being able to prepare for it adequately.

In a world without Kotaro, without the incredible gates he'd built connecting the Land of Fire – and a few other regions – in a few quick otherworldly steps, the Leaf Village would have already stripped their ANBU forces to the bone putting out politically-sensitive problems without anyone the wiser.

And that was before one got into the deployment of regular forces.

Missions had seen a dramatic uptick in the past few months. To the uneducated eye, that was a good omen. However, taken in concert with the comparative lack of movement from Iwa and Kumo regarding missions meant they were likely doing off-the-books work cleaning out the more obedient bandits that were usually allowed to continue existing on the basis of justifying the shinobi's own existence.

It was why he would never tell Kotaro that his cynicism was a mistake, after all.

It was seldom as profitable to fix an issue than cut it down to a manageable size and simply keep charging for upkeep.

It was even justifiable, from a certain point of view. The bandit leaders who survived long enough to meet those qualifications were predictable and 'behaved' compared to the wilder and less-civilized ones that were quickly culled in routine missions. Those same relatively good behaviors meant they were predictable and the villages would know where to find them were they to truly fly off the handle and do something problematic.

Of course, it wasn't exactly possible to remove banditry as a problem altogether, either. Which was another reason in favor of leaving murderers, rapists, and thieves running loose in the countryside. As long as they killed, violated, and robbed the least-important people in society.

Running a Hidden Village was rarely a happy business.

Especially when the friendly neighborhood bandits went missing.

Long experience told Hiruzen the more cooperative ones would be pressed into service to bolster a given village's own troops, particularly the Genin Corps. But it was the stashes of wealth that the other villages were really after. While bandits would spend cash as easily as they came into it, many of the more 'trusted' encampments would hoard small objects of significant value. Jewels, artwork, family relics, the occasional hostage... they all went into a rainy day fund of sorts, both in case the pickings ever got slim and because there was barely ever a sufficient underground market for the rarest of prizes. The only hope a bandit clan had of ridding themselves of such important and noticeable treasure was to parlay with a rival noble.

Do that enough, though, and you earn an unenviable amount of attention for different reasons.

Just as the bandits served a purpose in the grand scheme of things, so too would their destruction. Individually, those caches of treasure might be comparatively small, but if a village were willing to consolidate all of them? Well, it would represent a not-insubstantial sum, even when augmenting a reduced mission budget.

For a short time, at least, a Hidden Village could subsist on reduced income streams.

Long enough, at least, to ensure an opponent would overreach themselves while picking up the slack in missions, putting their forces out of place should it come to a fight.

I wonder if any of the other leaders remember the Second Great War? Or if all of my contemporaries save Onoki? He's stepped down in favor of that young buck Deidara... but he'd still be in an advising roll, wouldn't he? Or perhaps the rumors of his mind going are true?

It was a worrying possibility.

As Itachi gave him the signal that the troops were fully standing down, the complex machinations of the Elemental Nations filled Hiruzen's mind. Finally, as he landed in the Hokage's office, he turned to the Uchiha prodigy.

“I'll be formally announcing you as my successor during the Chunin Exams,” Sarutobi stated bluntly, taking in the brief cessation of movement. “With the intent to turn over full control of the village to you inside of six months.”

“Lord Hokage...” Itachi began slowly, removing his mask. “We had discussed a longer timetable.”

“Circumstances with the other villages are forcing my hand,” Hiruzen replied, removing his hat and easing into his chair with a long sigh, putting his pipe on its holder. “Perhaps, with the thought of a less-experienced Fire Shadow taking the reins soon, the other villages will hesitate and over-extend their finances, forcing them into a more natural equilibrium and deescalation. I will remain in a formal advisory position for as long as I am able, but with a potential crisis, perhaps even another war on the horizon, I do not want the village searching for leadership should my health fail me suddenly.”

Itachi swallowed, thought over the argument, then nodded. “Of course, Lord Hokage.”

The older man smiled. “And call me Hiruzen, Itachi. It will be good practice.”

The normally-expressionless face soured slightly. “As you wish... Hiruzen.”

The Sandaime chuckled and shook his head. “We'll work on it.”

~~~

...and done!

Had to review a few chapters to make sure I knew what I was doing with this one, but I'm back in the saddle, baby! Woo!

Anyway, expect... probably another chapter of Mind Games next. Then it'll be a tossup whether I get the upcoming chapter of The Hand We're Dealt finished up or have another Industrious Marvel chapter ready first.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!