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Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_391
🕑 Added 2025-06-06 22:31:09 +0000 UTCIt took until the following midnight for them to be released from their cells.
The door to Takuma's cell opened while he was repeating a kick routine. He opened his eyes to see Barbary standing in front of his cell. The ANBU lieutenant was so big that Takuma couldn't see his face because the door cut it off; he had to bend down to clear the door as he stepped into the room.
"Making good use of your time even in a cell, huh, Ratel?" said the lion-masked ANBU with his usual jovial tone. "Quite musty though. This room's better ventilation."
Takuma wasn't sure if Barbary was angry because he was always upbeat. It was a better mask than the one he wore over his face. However, he doubted that getting summoned to another city by a jōnin because his subordinates screwed up was anything to be happy about.
"Mistakes were made, sire. I'll take responsibility," Takuma said firmly. He had the option to play the blame game and somehow shift the blame to the assault squad, the main combat force for the mission, but if he wanted to be flawless, then that needed to come from the lack of faults instead of flinging mud on others.
"This was indeed a mistake," Barbary replied as he gazed around the tiny cell.
The entire team was released from their cells. The guards seemed to be relieved. The jail wasn't equipped to contain that many chūnin-level combatants, so everyone had to put in an extra shift to ensure round-the-clock security in case they attempted an escape. The suppression seals were removed, and their gear was returned to them. The team wanted to leave the jail premises immediately, but couldn't because the captured ROOT agents were still locked in there, and thus gathered in the empty mess hall.
Barbary's counterpart for the assault squad talked to them in one corner while they did the same on the other side of the room.
"Give me a brief summary," Barbary asked the duo. After listening to their testimonies, he audibly hummed for a moment. "Mistakes indeed. While you captured multiple agents, one of them managed to escape. Keeping it hidden from ROOT isn't possible anymore. They'll know that we exposed this cell, but also that we found their laboratory."
Takuma felt worse when he heard his boss reiterate what he had been thinking about for the past day and a half.
"That being said, we can't change the past, so there's no use devoting energy to worrying about it, but I do hope that both of you learn from this experience."
"Yes, sir," Takuma replied.
Barbary looked at him and perhaps noticed how much it bothered him that he said, "Everyone makes mistakes, Ratel. It's part of life. What's important is how we deal with and fix those mistakes."
"By catching the agent?" Krait voiced with doubt. The only fix for their current problem was to track the agent and kill him before he had the chance to relay the information.
"No, that's impossible. If he had given all of you the slip, he would have been smart enough to leave the city as soon as possible. We probably won't catch him even if his teammates fully cooperate with us," Barbary chuckled light-heartedly, which irritated Takuma.
"Then what?" he asked, his tone inappropriately sharp.
Barbary seemed understanding as he patiently answered. "While a mistake in itself can be bad, the primary focus is to manage the outcome. If I hand you something of mine and you break it, I'd be upset, but a replacement might compensate for it. You chose not to inform the jōnin. The results were imprisonment and having your face revealed to the prison crew; I think we might want to avoid that from now on.
"You think letting that agent escape is the mistake because it jeopardises the case, but we won't know until you fail. I don't need to tell you this, but there are eyes on this case from higher-ups who only care about the results. So as long as you produce satisfactory results, they won't care that you stumbled while doing it."
If they wanted the higher-ups to turn a blind eye to the escaped agent, they would need to give them something worth enough for them to consider as a resounding success.
"I'm not sure this is a stumble in the park," Krait sighed. "They now know our source of information, so we lose that informational advantage. If we weren't imprisoned, we could've rushed back home and interrogated the agents to form a time-sensitive action plan, but that too—"
"There wouldn't've been any time-sensitive plan of action," Barbary interrupted.
"Pardon?"
"Jōnin Aramasa looked at the agents after he took everyone in custody. The agents have been here for around three years. Even if they aren't a sleeper cell, most of what they would know wouldn't be up to date. Chances of anything we could've managed to extract in a short amount of time being usable without verification would've been low."
The team of ROOT agents ran their flour mill for three years while they resided full-time in the city as ordinary citizens. According to their customer, the business, and the shops around the mill, they couldn't remember anything. The mill was closed for an extended period, which meant that if they were responsible for anything other than supplying the bunker, it would've been a short mission that wouldn't take too much time away from their cover. Any recent information was likely to be related to those missions, which would already be done and dusted and thus not actionable for ANBU in the very short term.
"They might not have up-to-date information, but simultaneously, not all that they know needs to be updated. Some things are bound to stay the same. We still have a treasure trove of information that could be useful if we get our hands on it. It's your job to find something valuable in there."
"It's not going to be easy," Takuma clicked his tongue.
While his team of agents had remained in Inahara, ROOT had gone through a massive change. How much of what they knew would still be applicable? The reveal of information itself would present a problem. If the agents opened their mouths, what they choose to reveal first might not be helpful, and it might take a lot of time to get to something meaningful.
"When do we leave?" he asked.
"Preferably at first light, but let's see what Fox says," Barbary replied.
"Fox is here?" Takuma was taken aback because he hadn't expected to meet Hatake Kakashi again so soon.
"Jōnin Aramasa made a stink about what happened. And because a full squad of his was involved, he had to come here to appease him so he would let it go without escalating it," Barbary replied before sighing. "We'll probably need to make this right with them before we can ask to work with them again."
It was impressive how Barbary towed the line between apologising and ensuring they didn't take the complete blame. It was a showcase of professional workspace navigation that was envious. It helped that the entire assault squad thought that Barbary was hot shit because of his Mr. Olympian physique.
As everyone talked, Takuma nudged Yazo, aka Ten.
"What's Fox like?" he asked.
"Oh, you're a fan, Thirteen?" Yazo had a grin in his voice from behind his mask.
"Well, he's the Copy Ninja. Who hasn't heard about his exploits?" said Takuma. Even though he wasn't the biggest fan of the series, Kakashi was still one of anime's most popular characters. And after having lived in the world, he had heard and read much about Kakashi of the Sharingan.
Yazo held his chin as he answered, "If I had to choose one thing, then it would be that he always has our backs. To him, we aren't just one of his many subordinates—we are part of his team."
"Sounds like he's close to his guys. How often do you see him?" he asked.
"He visits the barracks at least once a week."
Takuma nodded while internally thinking about how he hadn't even seen his captain in person, much less talk to him, in the months he had been an operative in the ANBU. It had bothered him for the first month or so, but he recognised how good he had got with the culture under Barbary, and if not being familiar with his jōnin superior was the cost, he would pay it gladly. Even now, with the mess up, his boss had focused on the future and the solution rather than blaming them for their mistakes.
"Speaking of, here he comes."
Takuma turned to see a fox-masked ANBU operative enter the mess hall. His spiked, silver hair was too eye-catching, but hiding his identity didn't seem a priority for someone like Kakashi, who, as a jōnin, would never go on a mission where he would be required to hide his illustrious identity. His identity was power itself, as people who would recognise him from his hair would also know what he could do to them. He was dressed like the rest of the assault squad and had a sword on his back. Takuma peered into his mask and saw one normal, black eye, but the other eye hole was dark; he was either wearing a patch or had his eye closed.
Perhaps it was because Takuma knew who Kakashi was that he felt he had a different presence as he was dressed in operative gear, like that of a sheathed sword—even though the edge was concealed, no one doubted its lethality.
Everyone knelt on one knee and lowered their heads as ANBU Captain Fox approached them. Even though Fox wasn't their commanding officer, nor were they required to listen to his commands, the inquisitor three also knelt because he was the one who had come to get them out.
"Stand up. Is everyone well?" Kakashi posed the question as his first words as he looked over everyone.
"Yes, sir," Hopper replied as he stood up.
Even though it was a simple inquiry about well-being and nothing special, Takuma could tell that it came from a genuine place because the atmosphere among the assault squad wasn't tense, as they had caused a mess. They weren't afraid in the presence of their captain. Instead, he felt respect and trust as they stood in attention.
"Jōnin Aramasa said his wrinkles got worse because of you," said Kakashi. "He was really upset about that..."
Yazo immediately laughed before hurriedly trying to hide his chortle behind his hand, others from the assault squad bowed their heads to hide their smile, while Hopper and their lieutenant were the only ones to sigh. The tension from facing an ANBU captain and jōnin instantly faded. The inquisitor unit trio looked at each other awkwardly. Even the ever-stable Barbary seemed momentarily unsure how to proceed.
"Fortunately, I bought the face cream he likes, and the gift calmed him down."
The idea of giving gifts to appease someone was by no means strange, but the image of a masked ANBU operative, a high-level captain at that, presenting a small case of beauty cream to an angry jōnin boggled Takuma's mind.
"Pardon?" he uttered in confusion.
Kakashi glanced at him momentarily before glancing at the inquisitor three as a group.
"Having said that, I found myself agreeing with him. None of this would have happened if the inquisitor unit had simply followed procedure and informed him of the mission. He said that if he knew there was a ROOT cell in his territory, he would've personally gotten involved, and the escaped agent would also be in custody." No one could say anything against that. If a jōnin were indeed involved, none of the agents would've made it out of the mill. "However, at the end of the day, we still have ROOT agents in custody, and our job now is to get them back to the village. We should focus on that. As for what happened during the operation, that would be discussed after we reach home."
There was a lot of work to do because under the orders of the jōnin, the assault squad's entire inventory was unsealed, so the team had to put them back together the best they could. More importantly, they had to flesh out their return and transportation plans; the mission was rushed, so they had no concrete discussion about how to transport their prisoners and decided to deal with it after the capture.
As everyone began to move, Kakashi glanced at Takuma and asked,
"Are you wearing weights?"
"Yes, sir," Takuma replied, surprised Kakashi noticed. When he put on his weighted gear, the way he moved and breathed changed. He was at a point with his current load where he had gotten used to driving like he would without them.
"They're a training tool that has fallen out of favour," Kakashi said as he scanned Takuma's body. "I'm surprised to see you're wearing them outside... Remind me of someone I know."
"They're gifts from Jonin Might Gai," said Takuma. It was a personal detail he wouldn't share with anyone in ANBU because it helped keep "Takuma" and "Ratel" separate, but given the relationship between the two jōnin, and a possible subconscious desire to get close to Kakashi after finding out that the jōnin was going to stay at ANBU for an additional year, he shared the detail.
"Ah," Kakashi uttered and then stilled as he gazed at Takuma, who couldn't see his face because of the mask, but felt something was wrong.
"Is... something wrong?"
"No... I was wondering if you also like wearing green spandex—"
"No," Takuma replied firmly before he repeated himself. "No."
"Got it," Kakashi said, but something told Takuma that he didn't fully believe him.
So much for a good first impression.
———
.
A/N: I'm back. I'm feeling well and have recovered from the fever that made me think me envy my teenage self who thought that fevers weren't serious because I could shrug them off in a night's time top.
The past month had been high inconsistent for my standards. I'm aiming that nothing else happens in the near future so I can return to my usual output.
I hope you enjoyed the little bit of funny at the end.
Comments
Myrdin
Using weights on missions is idiotic.
Arana 1
i needd more gai interactions!! thx for the chap!
