Kapitel 196: Ch196. Anko Mitarashi 3
"You see, from a political standpoint, you are a nuisance." Tsunade dryly stated, causing Anko to furrow her brows in a show of confusion. "The clan heads do know you are not Orochimaru's subordinate but unless you are close to them or are somehow profitable for their clan, they will not stand up for you. So, Anko Mitarashi, are you profitable to some clan in Konoha?" Tsunade asked despite knowing the answer.
Anko looked a bit conflicted at having it spelled like this to her. Naturally, she knew about this but some things are better left unsaid. Now her mind wouldn't stop thinking what assholes the clan heads are. "No." She simply shook her head.
Tsunade hummed before continuing, "Then there are civilians which are the worst of your problems." She started with a sentence she knew would get Anko's complete attention. "Konoha's civilian council is made of a few seats for wealthy merchants and civilians who have influence in certain fields. These seats are just like clan head seats and seldom change the ass sitting on them. And then there are elective seats where elected civilians sit to safeguard the interest of the general public. These seats change every three years and have nothing to do with the ninja stuff..." Tsunade paused for a moment, her eyes smiling at how Anko leaned forward, "at least, that's what they would like you to believe. In reality, these people have some indirect influence over ninja matters and unfortunately for you, it is these people who will never see you as anything but the Snake Whore." Tsunade brutally stated, causing Anko to wince before lowering her head in a pondering manner as a concerned frown etched itself onto her face.
Despite Tsunade's goal of manipulating Anko to their side, she did somewhat care for the girl. If only because both were in some form screwed by Konoha and neither really desired revenge on the village. They were simply alike and Tsunade liked that. Even if Anko decided she wanted nothing to do with them, Tsunade would count it her victory if the girl at least started thinking about how the ruling system in the village really works and why some unworthy individuals get promoted to jonin rank while having only chunin level skill, or why some people with clearly jonin level skill can never get their promotion.
Seeing Anko raising her head again, Tsunade quickly noted the resigned look in her eyes. 'So the girl got it, heh?'
Honestly, Anko was not dumb. She would not be alive after being assigned one suicide mission after another for years on end if she was stupid. She was simply disinterested in politics. Once Tsunade nudged her in the correct direction, Anko could come to the conclusion herself.
Civilians didn't understand how the ninja world worked. For them, a rumor of her being this vile traitorous bitch who likes to fuck with whoever is available before stabbing them with a poisoned kunai was all they knew about her.
"I see how getting support from the civilian side of the council would be... difficult." Anko said with a grimace, making Tsunade snort at her choice of words.
"Difficult, she says. They hate you almost as much as the Kyuubi brat, girl. But unlike him, you don't have a chakra factory stuffed in your gut which means you are not really all that important to the village. No... civilians will not give you any sort of support be it due to fear or contempt and the other parts of the village's council see no worth in helping you either. Especially since you were on the Red List for years, you idiot." Tsunade clicked her tongue, still in disbelief, somebody was stupid enough to agree to be put on the Red List for years.
"What do you mean?" Anko asked. "What does being on the Red List have anything to do with civilians?"
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose and looked at Anko with a difficult expression. "You know... every time a ninja is about to be promoted, the council has the right to put a stop to the promotion. Sure, they have to get at least three thirds of the council in favor for this to pass, which means it almost never does, but that's not really a problem in your case, is it now? The problem is, the second they see your track record and the amount of time you were Red Listed, they can argue you are unstable, incompetent, or untrustworthy. Neither of which is a good thing to have on your resume if you pursue a promotion. You were put there for four years, Anko," Tsunade sighed in exasperation, "and one can not simply officially state that the reason for your placement there is a 'deal' with the Third Hokage. You would be laughed out of the council room if you did that. Do you understand where I am going with this?"
The more Tsunade talked, the more disgruntled Anko appeared. Until... the realization settled in. "I am never gonna be promoted, am I?" Anko whispered with wide eyes. "This is why I was always passed up when it came to promotions. This is why I was always selected for the promotion process but was never chosen as a 'fitting' individual to pass it and receive one, isn't it?" She spoke with a resigned undertone full of hurt, hanging her head in disappointment.
Tsunade gave the downtrodden girl some time, slowly sipping her tea and enjoying the silence. She was glad Anko was getting the right conclusions by herself so she doesn't have to waste time persuading the girl. She was certainly clever enough to understand the implications and put events that happened to her in the past together.
"Holy shit, purely judging by my track record, I am the most probable person to betray the village." Anko suddenly exclaimed, unshed tears wetting the edges of her eyes.
"Yes... the only place where they would accept you is T&I and even then it is more to have you always surrounded by experts at spotting and putting down traitors rather than to fulfill your wish for promotion. I believe that is exactly what Hiruzen aimed at when he proposed such a deal. Funny thing is, if you declined, you would already be in that division by now if only to have more experienced eyes on you. The Elders and the clan heads would strong arm you there if you wanted it or not. The only thing stopping them is your placement on the Red List active rooster. Worse yet, getting the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin would not be hard in the T&I department since it would depend more on your direct superior rather than the council and you certainly have the skills necessary for it. Jonin rank would still be impossible though. I have no idea what Hiruzen promised you but even he can't push through the council and give you the rank of Jonin without expending quite a bit of his political capital... which he would certainly not do. Not for you." Tsunade shrugged, enjoying the gaping expression of the girl who was inwardly surely cursing like a sailor.
"Why?" Anko weakly asked, not understanding. If what Tsunade told her was true, the Third Hokage made her ruin her career, assigned her to the worst missions for years, and won't be able to fulfill his part of the deal.
"Because you were young, stupid, easily manipulatable, and most importantly, the village just lost quite a lot of troops due to the Kyuubi a few years prior." Rei brutally interjected from his position behind the stove as he cooked. Hearing him, Anko's head snapped to him but he didn't bother looking at her and focused on the food as he continued. "My guess is that the Hokage needed somebody doing the missions Red Listed individuals usually did. He could not red-list people on a whim and even those strong individuals failing somewhat important missions had to be pardoned in fear of losing them on suicide missions, therefore reducing the overall strength of the village. He needed someone expendable for the suicide missions. Someone whose death would not matter but also someone who could pull it off. And damn girl, you did pull off four consecutive years! Talk about real talent." Rei chuckled, not even needing to see Anko's mortified expression to know how she felt.
"You want to tell me I am expendable!?" Anko ground her teeth in anger and glared at Rei's back, only to be stopped by Tsunade's narrowing her eyes and seeping a bit of her killing intent outward. That quickly froze any fiery anger Anko could feel, causing her to involuntarily shiver. She quickly realized her former sensei had nothing on Tsunade when it came to a pure killing intent.
"We will get to that." Tsunade told the girl, releasing the pressure she put on her. "Next on the council are Elders. I believe I don't have to tell you much about them."
"No... they made their hatred of me widely known." Anko tightly squeezed her fists, preventing her anger from resurfacing.
"What they most certainly didn't do, was tell you their hatred of you is totally faked." Tsunade quipped, causing Anko's head to snap in her direction and uncomprehendingly blink at her. "Elders seldom do something based on emotions alone. You can always count that they have some sort of vision or a plan. Especially Danzo. I must admit, I have no knowledge of why they act as if they hated you so I can only give you my guess. You are hated by the general public? They also hate you because it appeals to the masses. I doubt this is the real reason when it concerns you though so you should be always on your best guard around them. At best, they will be neutral to you but there is nothing you yourself can do to make it so. The initiative has to come from them and their emotions can be easily swayed by the political winds." Tsunade amusedly said.
"Another dead end, then." Anko nodded, somewhat accepting now. "The political winds hate me." She shrugged, causing Rei to laugh. "The last part of the council is the Hokage." Anko's back straightened, only to freeze when her eyes met Tsunade's gaze. The sadness in her eyes was something even Anko found hard to deal with. Thankfully, Tsunade started talking soon enough, distracting Anko from these thoughts.
"Anko, you are a Snake Summoner." Tsunade stated, getting a nod from the young girl but when she saw her expression... "You totally don't get it, do you?" Tsunade pointed out with a tired sigh. "Fine... more explanations, then."
(Cliff-kun says hello!)
Kapitel 197: Ch197. Anko Mitarashi 4
"Tell me, Anko, who gave you and is still the main summoner of the Snake Contract?" Tsunade started, continuing with her tactics of leading Anko to the answers rather than outright telling her.
Anko's eyes widened at the question, her mind comprehending the meaning behind it as her lips set into a frown. "You want to tell me the reason why I am distrusted is that I am a Snake Summoner?" She asked a bit miffed.
Tsunade just shook her head, "It's more than that. You see, the Summons are not exactly allied to a village. Let's talk about something famous... for example Toads of Jiraiya. They will listen to him and work for him in exchange for whatever he promised them. But if, hypothetically, someone new performed the Kuchiyose no Jutsu and got into the Mount Myoboku because of his compatibility with toads, the Toads would not refuse him just because he is from Iwa, Suna, or whatever village. The person would probably not become the main summoner of Toads until Jiraiya's death and only in case, Jiraiya doesn't find a worthy successor. Such a person would be in a very similar situation you are currently in."
Anko scrunched her eyebrows as she thought about the implications before a conflicted look appeared on her face, "My snakes will not betray me. I can't command most of them but those I befriended and use I believe are loyal to me." She said.
Anko never thought about it this way but it made sense. If Orochimaru was the main and only summoner of snakes, he had decades to form a trusting, or at the very least, profitable relationship with them. Adding to that the fact snakes are not the most trustworthy animals... yeah, Anko could see why Snake Summons could be a bit of a problem. But she still believed in her snakes!
"Maybe, maybe not, nobody can know for sure." Tsunade uncaringly shrugged, causing Anko to grow irritated. "That's not the point. You should be glad Orochimaru never saw a point in creating a cordial relationship with his summons as I and Jiraiya did. For him, Snakes were tools to use that had a certain price in sacrifices. That was it. And that is the only reason why your own snakes are most likely not spying on you." Tsunade sighed tiredly and Anko looked as if she just ate something sour, "You gotta understand Anko, most ninjas, maybe even some clan heads, do not know nor care about these small nuances of summoning contracts but the Hokage and the Elders certainly do know. In their eyes, the main summoner of snakes is Orochimaru and he had it for decades before you were added. They have no idea or care in the world that Orochimaru probably never formed enough trust for snakes to betray their secondary summoner. For them, you are a constant threat but they can't just get rid of you. That would simply send a bad message and the Snake Contract can, after all, be still useful to the village."
Anko was listening in rapt attention. Orochimaru never really went all that deep into the theory of the contracts. He simply told her to get a few snakes, make a deal with them or beat them in combat. As long as they find her worthy, they will help for a price. Thankfully, Anko didn't always listen to every word and so she managed to befriend several snakes, rather than making them business partners of a sort.
It was when she realized that, her eyes flashed with surprise, "The Hokage is waiting to see if I can get more Snake Summons. He..." Anko stopped in disbelief.
"He hopes you would get enough snakes on your side to be able to spy on Orochimaru. He knows exactly what kind of a man Orochimaru is and what kind of relationship he has with his summons. He also probably grossly underestimated Orochimaru in this particular matter, though. In your place, I would be glad if there is no spy among my own summons rather than trying to subvert animals so deceitful as snakes. Say, are there some snakes who joined you and provided support for you right after Orochimaru abandoned you?" Tsunade trailed off, seeing the answer clearly on Anko's hurt and betrayed expression. In order to prevent the girl from making some kind of hasty mistake, Tsunade quickly added, "Well, there is always a chance they really wanted to help you."
That seemed to calm Anko, if only slightly. By now, she heard enough revelations, suggestions, and logical assumptions about her standing in the village, how others... people who actually matter... see her, and how even her own damn summoning contract can fuck her side-ways. Anko, while outwardly looking only slightly peeved, was inwardly a total mess.
"I guess that is not the end of it, heh?" Anko bitterly chuckled and put her hand on the left side of her neck. So many reasons people hate her and still, the main one was not even touched upon. She always believed that if there was one reason why the people of Konoha were justified in their actions against her, it would be the Cursed Seal.
"Yeah, but you already knew that." Tsunade rolled her eyes at the self-pitying girl. "I won't give you the spiel about how you are Orochimaru's apprentice and how untrustworthy that makes you. Adding to that the seal on your neck? Orochimaru might as well have branded you as his property and shipped you off to his enemies. Nobody knows what he can do to you through the seal. Can he control you? See through your eyes? Feel what you feel? Gain access to your memories? Seals can do many nasty things and all Konoha knows is that he can easily paralyze you through pain and honestly, that is enough to never send you on a mission pertaining to Orochimaru. You are simply useless against him and he could, potentially, torture you to compliance through the seal." She finished and quieted down, letting Anko process what she just told her.
Judging by the quickly changing twisted expression on Anko's face, the girl finally put her brain to use and understood that nobody ever told her the function of the Cursed Seal. She knew it was supposed to make her stronger. She also knew Orochimaru had fail-safes in the seal. But... she never really thought about it from the angle of, 'what else could be in the seal'. After Jiraiya examined it, he never informed her of his findings, after all. Only that it was impossible for him to erase because it was far too complex.
After three minutes of thoughts and emotions raging in her head, trying to make heads and tails of her current situation, Anko's shoulders slumped down in defeat. "Fine, lay it on me, Tsunade-sama. What do you want from me?" She resignedly asked.
Tsunade was not about to insult the girl's intelligence by denying it. Free lunches were very rare in the world and anyone who survived being a ninja for a certain period of time knows that a seemingly selfless helping hand is usually guided by hidden benefits. Hence, it is very dangerous to accept offered help without knowing what exactly would the other get out of it. Tons of people earned their traitor status by simply believing in the wrong 'samaritan'.
The blonde relaxed and looked at Anko with a knowing smirk that announced her victory. Simply theoretically, Anko could go back to Konoha, pretending nothing ever happened, but it would be hard to act clueless and never slip up now that she knows certain motivations of the higher-ups. Both knew no matter how good of a kunoichi the girl is, she was no long-term infiltrator. She WILL slip up if she refused Tsunade and returned. And once the higher-ups see that Lil' Anko got a bit smarter, that she doesn't fully trust Hokage as she used to... with her current status in the village, Anko wouldn't be surprised if the council thought her new cautious behavior was somehow influenced by Orochimaru and that would be the end of her.
After all, the only good weapon is one who doesn't ask questions. And Anko was not nearly as delusional to believe she is important enough to keep alive if she started showing curiosity and knowledge of things people didn't want her to know.
It was only now that Anko, in her resigned and defeated state, actually understood what Tsunade did. She closed all paths to retreat by informing her of things that will forever bug her and affect her behavior while also giving her a reason to not trust her superiors.
'She played me. Coming back from a mission where I met Orochimaru's subordinates and completely changing my behavior? I would be doomed without even being able to justify the change! I can't really say to the Hokage's face that I now know what a bastard he is.' Anko realized with grudging respect while also feeling a bit betrayed as she motionlessly stared at her clenched hands.
"What if I told you I can resolve pretty much all of your problems?" Tsunade tilted her head, "I am still the head of the Senju Clan, you know? I can give you the much-needed protection of a clan."
"And the price?" Anko whispered, causing Tsunade to grin.
"Mah, don't worry. If anything this will be more beneficial for you than me, girl. I want..."
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