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[GUtW]—❈—34:: All Wrapped Up with A Neat, Little Bow
🕑 Added 2023-07-10 09:50:24 +0000 UTCWe run back.
Kakashi suggests it, and no one argues with him on it. For one thing, it's faster and more engaging, and none of us really feel eager to spend the next two and a half days in a slow moving train marinating on what we've just done.
Plus, from a purely economical standpoint, it's cheaper to run back, and we need to save money where we can considering the village won't be making any from this mission, on account of the fact that our client would probably rather die than pay us after what we've done.
I almost sigh.
I know what we did is the right thing. I know it.
In fact, it isn't just the right thing, it's the obligated thing, in that we're obligated to bring in Ken and Kei (dead, if necessary), especially after she attacked us.
So, yes, what we did is the right, and even lawful, thing. But then thinking that reminds me that someone may have used that same argument to justify the annihilation of my clan.
See, the truth is, I don't know if my father and the elders of my clan really were planning a coup as the story said.
I doubt it, of course, since that's a remarkably stupid thing to plan as it would never work. Madara tried it once before, about sixty years ago, and even with all his power it had only ended in a lot of pointless deaths, including his and those of the people who supported him (though I guess Madara himself might not be as dead as once thought).
The fact is, no one clan can take on the entire village, that's the whole point of the village. Not even a Tailed-Beast managed it, despite breaking free within the very walls.
Even Itachi, for all the damage he caused, could only do so because he had help and a lot of prep time. Unlike in the story where it seemed like it was a simple matter of him pulling out a sword and getting it over with, in reality, if he'd done that he would have had half the village down on his head in thirty seconds flat, seeing as the chakra sensors guarding the village generally tend to notice when chakra signatures start getting extinguished.
In fact, Itachi did have half the village on his head in thirty seconds, it was why the first part of his plan was to seal off The Uchiha Compound with The Hexagon Triple-layer Barrier; a barrier strong enough, they say, to (albeit temporarily) hold back a Tailed-Beast.
… Well, no actually. That hadn't been the first part of his plan. The first part were the weeks he spent slowly infiltrating the minds of the ninja members of the clan with his mangekyō sharingan.
Not enough to truly control them, no, not even he is that powerful, but enough to induce deeper than normal sleep, especially after a night of feasting and drinking and retiring to warm beds right in the heart of a 'safe' village; Itachi induced in them sleep that was deep enough to make veteran ninja not notice their neighbour's life forces flashing out.
Anyway, back to what I was saying, I doubt my clan really was planning a coup. But if they were, then someone had justified their massacre as the right and lawful thing to do; eliminating a threat to the village before it becomes a threat.
And I don't quite know how to feel about that.
We reach the The Leaf by midmorning the next day, having run through the night.
Our return is quiet, subdued, none of us, not even our most boisterous member feeling like announcing our arrival.
We head straight for The Hokage Tower.
Being one of the largest buildings in The Leaf at nine stories high and with an unknown (to me) number of sublevels, The Hokage Tower contains a lot more than just The Hokage's Office.
In fact, excluding The Hokage's Office, it currently houses four different departments, one of them being The Missions Office located on the fourth floor, and that is where we now head for debriefing.
The tastefully decorated floor is sparsely populated when we enter, the only people present seeming to be ones who work here.
Most of them look like civilians, which makes sense since most of the people I can see right now look like they handle the plethora of menial tasks that keeps any bureaucracy running smoothly.
There are several numbered offices scattered around the floor, and from the 'fieldtrips' we took here back in The Academy to familiarize ourselves with the workings of the village's administration, I know they contain the chūnin that can be reported to.
An office attendant, an obvious civilian, approaches us an asks us if we're here for a debrief.
At my answering nod, he leads us to office three, knocking and gesturing for us to go in when the woman within asks for us to do so.
The chūnin within the office is old and sports an empty, pinned up sleeve where a right arm should be.
Many of the chūnin who work in administration are this way, former combatants on indefinite 'medical leave'. As a result, many of them tend to be cranky and disliking of their jobs.
Kaede Kubo, the chūnin we will be reporting to, seems to be just as cranky as any I've ever met.
At least, she is until she spots Kakashi, and her whole bearing changes as she seems to recognize us.
"Jōnin Hatake," the chūnin says, rising up to bow properly at our sensei.
"Hey, Kubo," Kakashi says pleasantly. "How're the grandnieces?"
"Noisy," Kubo says simply.
Kakashi laughs. "Yeah, they're just little bundles of joy, aren't they?"
Chūnin Kubo looks unamused.
"This is your team?" she asks, though obviously already knowing the answer.
"Yep, my cute, little genin," Kakashi chirps, reaching out to ruffle our hair one after the other.
I bear it stoically, Sakura doesn't really seem to mind all that much, and Naruto makes a valiant, but, ultimately, pointless attempt to dodge.
Kubo bids us to seat, and with the numerous chairs in the rather spacious office, it goes smoothly.
Debriefing commences, and, speaking for the team (with a lot of interjections from Naruto), I recount our mission in as much detail as I can manage, all of it recorded by the recording scroll Kubo sets up.
When I'm done, Kubo contacts T & I (The Department of Torture and Interrogation), and they send one of their officers to collect the incarceration scroll containing Kei and Ken from us.
And just like that, in less than forty minutes, everything is wrapped up and we're free to go.
Once again, I don't really know how to feel about that. Especially since that ache that's been in my chest since Springtree is still there; dulled but ever present.
"So, what now?" Sakura asks as we leave The Hokage Tower.
"Now, you go home," Kakashi says. "Bathe, eat, sleep." He emphasizes the last word. "We'll meet at Sasuke's place tomorrow at nine a.m."
My teammates and I nod.
Before we can walk away though, Kakashi says; "I know you might not feel that way, but you did the right thing today.
"It isn't your faults that the right thing isn't always the easy thing."
Before we can dwell on that too much, Kakashi says again; "Go home. Eat, sleep." He emphasizes again. "We'll meet tomorrow."
And then something incredibly weird happens; Kakashi walks away.
He walks away. He doesn't vanish in a burst of mist or smoke or leaves or simply stops being there. No, he walks away.
My teammates and I stand on the street watching as the jōnin walks away.
"That is the weirdest exit he's ever made," Sakura says.
Naruto and I wholeheartedly agree.
Comments
lala jhones
Nice chapter, ty!
