Chapitre 321: CH_9.6 (321)
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———
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In the afternoon, after lunch, the Uchiha family gathered in the living room to relax together while doing their own things. This was a rare occurrence, as their schedule seldom allowed them to spend time together except for meals, and even that was irregular.
The youngest of the family, Sasuke, had a cute frown between his brows as he stared at the shogi board before him. His elder brother, Itachi, sat on the other side with a calm smile.
"There's nothing left for you, Sasuke. It's over," said Itachi.
"No, give me a minute!" Sasuke pouted.
It had been several months since Shimura Danzo had abandoned the Hidden Leaf and more time since Shisui's death. The family that had been fractured due to the reveal of Itachi's action had healed to the point they could behave as they did normally before everything happened. However, the truth remained in the back of their minds, and it created walls that the family as a whole chose to ignore to preserve their peace and harmony.
Fugaku was reading some literature when he heard his wife gasp. He looked up to see her covering her mouth with a hand in surprise as she read a letter. He asked what it was about.
"Takuma..."
"Yes?"
"He's getting promoted," she said with joy.
There was a social tradition where shinobi announced their promotions to family, friends, and acquaintances. Only a few managed to get promoted to chunin, making it a significant event in a shinobi's life.
Fugaku remembered sending out letters before his chunin promotion. He had to send them to more than a thousand people, making it impossible to write them by hand—but his father didn't want to send printed letters, so he hired calligraphers to write the letters.
Takuma's letter was also handwritten. The calligraphy was barely average but it showed that he had put in the effort to address everyone individually.
"Where did he join?" asked Fugaku, trying to see which entity had given Takuma his promotion. He was disappointed to see a promising talent like him leave; unfortunately, the circumstances weren't right.
"It doesn't say. I bet he got a field promotion," Mikoto sighed.
Fugaku paused. He had managed to get his hand on the war commission's file on Takuma, and what the lad had done in the Steam-Frost war had been surprising, to say the least. His position as the Uchiha clan head granted him a great deal of influence, allowing him to see even the confidential bits.
Reading that he had killed a jonin was the biggest surprise he had gotten that week. That alone made a field promotion unsurprising and Takuma had done a lot more during his time away from the village.
"Mister Takuma is a chunin now?" said Sasuke, using the conversation as an excuse to escape the lost game. Takuma had been at their house enough that he had left an impression strong enough that Sasuke remembered him despite not seeing him for a year.
"Yes, dear," said Mikoto. "Want to come with me to the ceremony?"
"Okay!"
"No wonder he passed on the Police Force offer; he must be confident about earning a field promotion," said Itachi as he reset the shogi board.
"He's the first one from his batch who went to the Genin Corp to get a chunin rank promotion," said Mikoto with pride.
"Aren't brother and Mister Takuma the same age? Brother is better; he's already a jonin!" said Sasuke with a similar pride.
As his wife bragged about her student, their kid bragged about his elder brother.
"That's not a fair comparison," said Fugaku from the side.
Mikoto chuckled. "Listen to this: Takuma actually introduced a Uchiha to me. Isn't that funny? An outsider introduced two clan members to each other. Isn't that hilarious, Sasuke?"
"Yes!"
"Who was it? Someone from the Police Force?" asked Fugaku.
"It was Izumi. She's your friend, right, Itachi?" Mikoto looked at her son.
"Izumi?" Itachi muttered with a slight raise of his eyebrows. "They are from the same academy batch." Technically, he was as well, but he took an early graduation after attending for one year.
"Are you planning to take her as a student?" Fugaku asked Mikoto. She had been focused on their children and parenting for over a decade, but now that Itachi was grown and Sasuke was increasingly able to take care of himself, she had a lot of free time.
"I don't know. It was easy with Takuma because he was an outsider and from the Police Force, so no one complained, and they definitely won't complain now," said Mikoto. Takuma had cemented his position as her student. "But if I teach Izumi, everyone and their grandfather in their clan will beg me to teach their kids... I don't know if I want to do that."
It all sounded very annoying from Mikoto's point of view.
"Did Izumi want to discuss taijutsu?" asked Itachi.
"Yes, she has been facing blocks with her taijutsu progress and wanted my advice." Mikoto sighed, "How can a Uchiha face a block with taijutsu? They just need to use their eyes properly."
The father and eldest son held back their sighs as they heard the familiar rant. Mikoto saw the sharingan and its abilities much differently than the rest of the clan. The father-son duo agreed with her views and saw the potential—she was a jonin—but they had heard the same rant hundreds of times over the years.
"You should give Izumi a chance, mother," said Itachi.
He knew his mother was disappointed that she never taught him much when he was younger. For a year before Sasuke was born, she taught him taijutsu, and he picked up her methodology and even applied it, making her happy. The problem was that Itachi preferred genjutsu and ninjutsu over taijutsu; thus, he never took it anywhere near where she wanted him to.
Mikoto wanted a taijutsu-centred student.
Takuma was her genjutsu student and didn't possess the sharingan to copy her methods. Until Sasuke unlock his sharingan, he couldn't be a true student, and even then, there was no telling if he would take to her teachings. However, Izumi not only had the sharingan but was also interested in taijutsu.
"She's very open-minded. If you teach her your philosophy, she might apply it earnestly," said Itachi.
Mikoto gazed at her son before giving him a knowing look.
"Mother?"
"Okay, I will meet with her again to test her. She's your friend, right? When was the last time you met her?"
"It's been some time."
"That's not good. You have to keep in contact with friends, dear. Go catch up with her and invite her to come meet me."
Fugaku, reading the letter, noticed the date of the promotion ceremony. It made him realise that it hadn't been too long since Takuma returned home, but he was already getting promoted, which was surprising as field promotions took at least a couple of months to go through.
He remembered the Takuma's jonin-in-command out at the war, Toridasu—an unreasonable type with no problem being pushy. He was an old player who had done a lot for the village. At Toridasu's age, jonin didn't go to the frontlines, leaving such duties to younger jonin, but the old man remained active—and it had given him a large amount of influence.
A jonin's interference could explain the quick turnaround.
Fugaku nodded. It made sense why Takuma felt comfortable not taking his offer.
———
.
A rank promotion was debatably the most important moment in a shinobi's career. A meagre percentage of genin managed to get promoted to chunin. For most, it was the ceiling they would yearn to reach in their lives, making it all more special.
There was a dedicated hall in the Hidden Leaf village, which was exclusively used for rank promotions. Even jonin—all of them—had their promotion ceremony held at the same hall, which increased the importance and charm of the location.
Takuma, dressed in the standard Leaf gear without the flak jacket, looked at the tall ceiling of the hall and felt the jitters of nervousness. Everything from the carpet beneath his feet to the ornaments decorating the hall dripped with opulence.
Culturally, shinobi lived simple lives—but this place was the complete opposite.
Today, he was getting promoted to chunin.
Officially speaking, he was already a chunin. The ANBU had made it so that anyone looking would see that he had received a field promotion. He had all the paperwork sitting in his room in Maruboshi's home.
The promotion ceremony was a social tradition in the Hidden Leaf. Initially, he didn't want the fanfare, but Maruboshi insisted he do it because it was an occasion of celebration and joy. He had written nearly a hundred invitations to his promotion ceremony that went to all his friends, colleagues, and acquaintances.
Thankfully, he had the Water Clone jutsu to assist him in the mindless copying while he personally handled the personalised variations he sent to the people he was close to, like Mikoto. The chunin rank promotion ceremony was a group event that only happened three to four times a year, during which a handful of chunins would have their ceremony together. However, because the Chunin Exams had happened recently, there had already been a ceremony—making it so that Takuma was having his ceremony alone.
Better yet, Takuma hadn't spent a single coin on expenses besides the letters. Normally, he would have had to wait for his ceremony until the next group slot, but ANBU pulled strings to have it done immediately because they wanted everything over before he joined so he could focus on training.
Takuma was suddenly slapped on the back, leaving a searing burn that made him hiss. He turned back to see the trio of Masaaki, Ai, and Nenro all dressed up for his ceremony.
"Lighten up; why are you so stiff?" said Masaaki after slapping him.
"Congratulations. This is from us," Nenro smiled as he gave him a gift-wrapped box.
"You didn't have to," said Takuma as he received the gift.
"This place is too much, as always," Ai sighed as she looked around the hall.
"Ah, right. You were here for Mister Oishi's promotion ceremony," said Takuma. Taro's dad had been promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin while he was at the war. Ai, being his student, was naturally invited.
"Yo, Takuma!"
A loud voice flew through the hall. Anko walked in her usual attire but perhaps had a more fancy coat on and had her hair combed properly. She waved with a big wine bottle with a gift ribbon in one hand while her other hand was around Kameko, dressed in standard gear, who looked a tad bit embarrassed.
Takuma had an inkling that Anko would end up drinking that wine bottle on her own.
"You made me worry for nothing, you little bastard," said Anko, laughing. "You should've told me you were getting promoted. I was so worried when you quit your job and turned down the T&I offer."
"Congratulations, Takuma," said Kameko after pushing Anko and presenting him with a gift.
"Thank you," said Takuma before introducing the two parties. "This is Chunin Mitarashi Anko; she was my commanding chunin at Land of Hot Waters. Anko, these are my friends... and everyone already knows Kameko."
Anko was quick to get chatty with the trio, who knew a couple of things here and there about her from his letters. And after Masaaki challenged Anko to a spar as the first thing he said to her, making her laugh, there was no sign of awkwardness.
More and more people began to arrive at the hall.
"Congratulations, Chunin Takuma," said Iruka with a grin.
"That sounds strange," said Takuma before gazing at the man for a silent second.
"What?" asked Iruku.
"I wouldn't be here if not for you," said Takuma.
Iruka was his first chunin team leader. He had then retained him on his team, allowing him to go on C-rank missions, which was the start of him adding experience to his resume. But much more importantly, if not for Iruka submitting an application to the Police Force on his behalf, Takuma would not have touched them with a hundred-foot pole.
"Please, it was all you. I think you would've come here even if I did nothing," Iruka smiled and patted him on his shoulder. "I am very proud of you, Takuma."
Takuma thought about it and shook his head. His career trajectory could've been very different if he had not entered the Police Force.
Then came Arisu and two more guys, Minoru and Gouki, from the Narcotics Taskforce. Minoru was the sensory-nin, and Gouki was the first and only Uchiha to join the team when he was running the show.
Both of them and Arisu had been with him on the farm raid mission.
"I knew you would make chunin sooner rather than later," said Gouki with a small smile. Maybe because Gouki had unlocked his sharingan during the raid, he held Takuma, who selected him for the mission, in high regard.
"Not as fast as you," said Takuma. Gouki was internally promoted to chunin while he was out at war. It wasn't surprising. An Uchiha received a huge boost to combat when they unlocked their eyes.
"Who knew the ear-biter would be the first one to get promoted from our Genin Corps batch," Arisu said with a beaming smile.
"I think your ear was lucky. I ended up winning the tournament, didn't I? said Takuma.
Arisu turned red and smacked his arm.
Just then, Mikoto walked in with Sasuke, both wearing yukata; they looked the most formal out of everyone present. Unlike when she was at home, Mikoto looked much more dignified and reserved, fitting her position as the Lady Uchiha.
"Takuma," she said.
The Narcotics Taskforce group turned and immediately turned stiff in attention as they suddenly faced their chief's wife, who also happened to be a jonin.
"None of that is needed. Relax," said Mikoto, chuckling.
They did not relax.
"Congratulations, Mister Takuma," said Sasuke, presenting a 'gift scroll' to him.
"Thank you, Sasuke. You look very smart today," Takuma gave the kid a smile. It was all sorts of surreal having Uchiha Sasuke at his rank promotion ceremony.
"So, who's the jonin?" asked Mikoto, looking around. "Maybe I should ask if I can do it."
The chunin promotion ceremony involved presenting the shinobi with a flak jacket. There was no restriction on wearing a flak jacket as it was functional tactical gear—but receiving a flak jacket was a tradition for new chunin.
And the one presenting the flak jacket was always a jonin.
That's where Takuma's nervousness came from.
"It's... Might Gai."
.
———
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Chapitre 322: CH_9.7 (322)
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
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Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed in contentment as he gazed at the empty side-table-trolley beside his desk. It was usually full of paper, requiring his attention as the Hokage. Even though he had been the Hokage for decades, he still hated paperwork with a passion. It was the bane of his existence.
In truth, the amount of paperwork wasn't much—but he had many other responsibilities as the head of the village than just toiling away at paperwork in his office. In fact, on a typical day, he was only in his office for a couple of hours at most. He had to keep up to date with domestic and foreign matters, regularly meet with division and department heads, go on social visits, and do a hundred things his office required from him.
These things took time and energy. And just when he would think it was all over and he could rest, someone would dump paperwork over him. Sometimes, he thought being on the battlefield was better than reviewing paperwork.
However, today, not only had he completed all of his commitments and appointments, but he also confirmed from his secretary that there was no more paperwork. Which meant as long as nothing disastrous happened, he was free for the day. And it was only midday, meaning he had the afternoon and the evening to relax.
He called his secretary into the office.
"Is there anything else that I need to do today? If not, I am ready to head home for the day," said Hiruzen as he arranged the things on his desk.
"There's nothing else scheduled on your schedule, Lord Hokage," the secretary smiled, seeing the Hokage already setting up his desk, eager to leave.
"Very good." Hiruzen stood up. "I will not be available today. Unless it's vital, I do not want to be disturbed with anything else until tomorrow."
The secretary nodded before remembering something. "There is one thing, Lord Hokage. There is a chunin promotion ceremony scheduled for today. You said you want to attend at least one every year. Would you like to attend this one?"
"A promotion ceremony? One so soon after the Chunin Exams?" asked Hiruzen. "Is it a private ceremony held by a clan?"
As the Hokage, he attended the Hidden Leaf Village's academy graduation ceremony every year. He also publicly promoted every jonin and thus was at every jonin promotion ceremony. However, he didn't have the time to attend every chunin promotion ceremony—and he didn't need to show up, but he made sure he attended at least one. Most of the time, it was a private ceremony held by a clan for political reasons.
"No, sir. It's for one Chunin Takuma, a civilian-born shinobi. For some reason, he's having his ceremony alone."
"Takuma? Family name?"
"No family name."
"Takuma... Takuma... Takuma? Ah!" Hiruzen exclaimed, recalling the name and person. "Do you have a file?"
"Yes, sir... Though, some parts of it are redacted." As the secretary to the Hokage, one was given a high-security clearance to prepare for any questions the Hokage might want answers as they didn't have time to read through convoluted files and documents.
Usually, the secretary had the clearance to unlock the seals used to redact and obscure sensitive information on personnel files. However, this file required a higher level of clearance to disclose the redactions.
Hiruzen grabbed the file and opened it. He was right. It was Maruboshi Kosuke's student, whom he had seen in the hospital a few years ago. The last time he had heard of Takuma was nearly a year ago when the ROOT targeted him. Back then, he was surprised to see words like the Ring and Police Force mentioned in the history of the same individual.
"Hmm? The Steam-Frost war?"
"Chunin Takuma just returned from the Land of Frost... If you remember, a few months back, you were briefed about a jonin death at the war. He killed that jonin."
"... Is that so?" Hiruzen muttered as he weaved hand seals to lift the redactions in the war section of the file. His gaze sharpened when he saw the confidential notes about the ROOT involvement, which directly linked to the assassination attempt, which was also redacted.
"I think you should visit, Lord Hokage. To attain the chunin rank at such a young age by a civilian-born shinobi is a rarity. Moreover, he achieved it through a field promotion, which is all the more impressive. I believe Chunin Takuma, who has just returned from the war, would be honoured to see you at his promotion ceremony."
As the secretary spoke, Hiruzen read another redacted paragraph that told him that Takuma hadn't received a field promotion but was promoted by the ANBU, who had very recently hired him.
"Not to mention, Chunin Takuma is an orphan who has made something great out of himself. His accomplishments here are beyond impressive," said the secretary.
"You are right. I should at least show my face," said Hiruzen as he turned toward his desk. "Make the preparations for the visit, please."
The secretary left the room, leaving Hiruzen with the file.
He stared at the page with Takuma's background, which said his parents were merchants who had died during the Nine-Tails Incident.
A complete lie.
He knew it because he ordered the fabrication himself. No one would bat an eye because the day of the incident had made numerous orphans; slipping a false one into the mix made for a perfect cover.
Hiruzen flipped to the last page of the file. There was a single line on the page which was redacted. He weaved the special hand seals before pressing his thumb on the line—but the redaction didn't lift. There was nothing in the village he didn't have access to. He could open the redaction seal, but on his orders, it was given a confidentiality level that required him to be in a special room to lift the seal. One such special room was his office. He looked at a tall bookshelf in the corner, hiding a secret door leading to the secret room.
However, he didn't need to go to the room.
He already knew the redacted line was a file number, which Hiruzen hoped was gathering cobwebs in a dusty file room somewhere in a secure facility. But seeing that Takuma had joined ANBU, one other person with clearance would have seen the file and the truth within.
———
.
"Congratulations, Chunin Takuma!"
Mikoto gazed at the tall, well-muscled man. He was immediately identifiable by his shiny bowl-style haircut, thick eyebrows, signature green jumpsuit and orange-stripped leg warmers.
If it were anyone else, she would've laughed at the style choices, but none of those thoughts passed her mind when facing the man before her.
Disregarding herself, who had been out of active duty for nearly fifteen years, her generation of shinobi were on the tail end of primes and had transitioned into positions away from the field. Their time had passed, and it was time for a younger generation to shine on the battlefields.
And in that generation, the man before her perhaps shone the brightest.
"Oh, my! Pardon my rudeness for not recognising you instantly, Lady Uchiha!"
Leaf's Noble Green Beast, Might Gai.
As he walked toward her, she could sense a steadiness in his gait and stance, a stability she couldn't put into words. The man seemed to exude a sense of boundlessness. She hadn't seen him fight, but she knew of his renowned taijutsu, unbeatable across the lands, perhaps only matched by the current Raikage. Her instincts told her that the tales about him were true. They said that his body was forged in a smithery, crafted to be indestructible.
She glanced at his bare toes, peeking out from his sandals; they looked beat up and entirely calloused—more than she had ever seen. Even his knuckles and fingers were crooked from being broken and healed thousands of times.
All Mikoto wanted to do was activate her eyes, politeness being the only thing holding her back. She wondered what she would see if they fought. What would it feel like to break down his moves and style to the fundamentals and adapt to make it her own?
His reputation was such that she had the ridiculous thought that perhaps even her sharingan would fail to copy his taijutsu. She remembered a conversation with her husband, who told her that there were rumours that Gai had developed a taijutsu counter to the sharingan. As a fight progressed, an Uchiha with a sharingan would gradually gain an advantage by copying and analysing their opponent's move. For that reason, fighting a Uchiha was known to be fighting a losing battle.
However, Gai was known to be friends with Hatake Kakashi, who the clan had allowed to keep one of their clan's eyes. They didn't know how much truth was behind the rumour, but it could very well be possible for someone like him.
Just the thought of it and its imagined thrill made her consider attacking him so that they would fight.
"Mom?"
Mikoto took a breath and looked at Sasuke, who was gazing up at her with a tilted head.
"I'm sorry, baby. Did I grip too hard?" she smiled while kicking herself in the mind.
"What brings you here, Lady Uchiha?" asked Gai with a bright smile before looking at Takuma, who was only one step behind.
"Is there something on my face?" asked Takuma as he touched his face.
Mikoto hid a smile when she saw Takuma looking nervous. It was amusing because he was always so calm and collected. It seemed that he looked up to Gai.
"Not at all. No, you aren't a Uchiha. The colour of the eyes and... yeah, even the shape of the face is wrong," said Gai confidently.
At first glance, Takuma resembled a Uchiha, but upon closer inspection, he didn't have any of the Uchiha's physical traits.
"How are you two acquainted?"
"Takuma worked at the Police Force and is my student," said Mikoto. "It's a pleasure to meet you here, Jonin Gai. You are performing the ceremony today?"
"I am. I do not enjoy things like these, but it's part of my duties, so I'm glad it's a solo ceremony." Gai flashed a winning smile as he heavily patted Takuma's shoulder. "So, you work at the Police Force? Admirable! Hmm?" He lightly patted Takuma's shoulder a couple more times.
"Ah, I worked there. I recently quit," Takuma replied
"Eh, why?"
"... I just wanted a little break and slow down."
"That won't do, Chunin Takuma! You are still young; right now is not the time to slow down! You must channel the power of youth and push forward at full speed! Be passionate and enthusiastic, and give it your all no matter what you do!"
"I-I see."
"This is the time to accomplish and achieve everything you wish for! Embrace your youth!"
Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle and was about to tease Takuma but caught something at the edge of her vision. Both she and Gai turned to see a masked ANBU-nin walking toward them.
It was said that a visit from an ANBU-nin was almost never a good thing.
Mikoto wondered who the ANBU-nin was visiting. Her thought immediately went to Itachi and if something had happened to her son. As a shinobi, she knew to expect danger; many people she knew had died on missions and battlefields—but as a wife and mother, she would never stop worrying about her husband and son and face the realistic fear that they might not return.
"Greetings, Jonin Gai, Lady Uchiha," said the ANBU-nin, his voice betraying no emotion.
"Is something wrong?" asked Gai, his previous merry attitude fading away into seriousness.
"Rest assured, there's nothing to be worried about. This is not that kind of visit," said the masked shinobi before looking at Takuma. "Congratulations on your promotion, Chunin Takuma."
"Thank you," said Takuma, surprised and unsure.
"It is a great achievement, and I'm happy to inform you that the Lord Hokage will soon be stopping by to offer you his blessings personally."
.
———
Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.
The link is in the synopsis!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
109 Power
stone 
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