บท 27: Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Kaen was now a jonin, an elite shinobi, yet he was bored. There weren't any missions for him for months. He played with Ash while reading books about seals and enjoying the warm sun outside his house. In the end, Kaen gave up on learning anything new and let Ash grab his hand and bite his thumb while he used his other fingers to scratch Ash's neck.
He had too much time to do nothing. There were no S-rank missions, A-rank missions were already taken, and the B-rank didn't interest Kaen. As he didn't have much to do, Kaen would find Sasuke to torture him for amusement. Well, Sasuke found it to be extra training. Kaen was concerned about how much Sasuke seemed to like it.
No matter how much Kaen pushed and punished Sasuke, he always returned seeking more. Even now, Sasuke would run to him after the academy to be trained. If Kaen weren't so bored, he would shoo him away, but besides training, Kaen didn't have much to do. He started to wonder if he was even a functional member of society. He had no love interest, friends to hang out with, or hobbies.
"How come nobody comes to visit me?" Kaen asked the empty air. "When have all of it gone so wrong?"
"You have only yourself to blame," The empty air, otherwise now as Hana Inuzuka replied. "You were always an asshole, so nobody wanted to get close to you."
"What do you want, dog piss?" Kaen asked, surprised that he didn't notice Hana approaching. It was because he was too relaxed or because Hana had improved her sneaking skills.
"I wanted to tell you that I have been promoted to a jonin too," She proudly said.
"It seems all kinds of losers can be promoted to a jonin nowadays," Kaen sighed. "And how did you get promoted? You can barely use two chakra natures. There is no way that you are skilled enough."
"She got promoted to special-jonin," Anko said while eating dango and walking towards us.
"Heh, as I thought," Kaen laughed.
"Shut up. It's just stupid chakra nature. I can learn them whenever I want," Hana growled.
"So, what did you want?" Kaen asked.
"That's why you don't have any friends," Anko said. "We were just bored and thought we would say hi to a certain loner."
"It's that so?" Kaen asked. "I heard you were busy with missions."
"It was because a certain one heard you got promoted to jonin before her, so she had to work her ass off to catch up," Anko replied. "Now that she got promoted, we can take it easy."
"Shut up, Anko. I didn't hear you complain about coming with me," Hana responded with a low growl.
"Anyway, we thought we would ask you to join us for a drink to celebrate," Anko said.
"I see how it is," Kaen understood. "Just when I turned eighteen not long ago, you want to drink with me. I can see through your motives."
"Shut up and come with us," Both Anko and Hana hit Kaen's head and dragged him away while Ash looked at him and then rolled to his side and went to sleep.
…
Higher-ranking shinobi were quite wealthy. Especially for those who took many missions, the entertainment industry boomed in Konoha. Especially in bars and restaurants, shinobi could handle much more alcohol than ordinary people, and they ate a lot to keep up the energy they spent on missions or training sessions.
Kaen had no choice but to spend time celebrating Hana's promotion, which was definitely not because he liked the company. Anko had dragged Kaen to a bar where by one look, you could tell it was frequented by shinobi often. It seemed that not only Kaen was not taking any mission, as he recognized quite a few jonin and chunin sitting in the bar.
"Hmm, it seems there isn't much work nowadays," Kaen commented as they took seats on the table not far from the bar.
"It is peaceful. Not even bandits are coming to the Land of Fire much," Hana agreed.
"It is just a short period. There will always be someone messing around, and then request for protection, information, and assassination will pour into the village again," Anko replied. "Especially if the nobles are involved."
"You are not wrong," Kaen agreed. "I am only worried that something big might happen, and we aren't six months away from new genins graduating the academy. It would be bad if something happened to your little brother, Hana."
"He is strong enough to take care of himself," Hana dismissed the provocation or didn't notice it.
"It is your big day, Hana. Let's drink," Anko changed the subject quickly.
"So, where is Yugao?" Kaen asked. "Since you came for me, you should have asked her to join too."
"She is outside the village. ANBU doesn't get a day off," Anko answered.
As the day went on, more and more drinks were ordered. Kaen didn't like alcohol very much, as it would dull his senses. So, he drank moderately while Anko forced Hana to drink more and more. Any ordinary person would have already passed out, but it was just beginning for them.
After a while, Kaen noticed that not even one person was close to them, but many would glance at us. At first, he thought it was because of him, but then he discerned that the glances went not for him but for Anko. As Kaen narrowed his eyes and took a good look at them, he could tell they looked at Anko with distrust.
"Don't mind them," Anko whispered as she caught Kaen looking menacingly at other people.
"Hmph, they are beneath me. Even if I stepped on them, I would not notice them," Kaen replied.
Kaen saw that Anko seemed to relax at his reply. Still, it left a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn't as bad as people looking at Naruto with pure hatred, but that unwanted and underserved distrust made Kaen want to beat them to their senses. Kaen knew why Anko got these glances. She was a student of Orochimaru, one of the most detestable people Konoha had ever had.
…
Sasuke tried his best to be hidden, as he knew what it would mean if Kaen found him. Yet even his best wasn't enough to escape Kaen's eyes as a blunt arrow hit his chest, knocking him back. Once found, Sasuke started to run. Jumping in irregular directions with the speed he was proud of wasn't enough either. An arrow hit his leg, making him fall to the ground face-first.
"You need to blend into the environment, not just hide in it," Kaen said as he jumped near Sasuke. "Now, what did I tell you about feeding Ash that trash?"
"Do not do it," Sasuke replied.
"Yet you still did it," Kaen smacked Sasuke's head. "It took so long for me to manage his diet, and you still feed him whenever you want, you damn rascal."
Even though Sasuke received punishment for his actions, he didn't regret it. Sasuke couldn't resist feeding Ash whenever it would stand on his hind legs and wave his paws at him. No matter how much Kaen would tell him off about it, Sasuke didn't care. It wasn't his fault that Ash was too cute and fluffy to refuse. And now that Kaen stayed home more often, he got caught more.
Once he did the gruesome exercise that Kaen oversaw, he was let go. Sasuke had to endure the gravity field that Kaen created with his seals, and at the same time, he had to dodge hundreds of arrows. Ultimately, he was blue and red from all the arrows that hit him, and he had to drag his tired and beaten body back home. Sometimes Sasuke felt like Kaen just used him to experiment with his new jutsu or tactics. Knowing Kaen, Sasuke believed his intuition.
…
"Hihihi," Naruto giggled as he painted the Hokage rock.
The sun had just started to rise when he began. By the time people are awake, he will be done. He gave them whiskers on the cheeks that looked like his own. Then he painted their hair to be yellow. For a finishing touch, he gave a weird mustache and beard in different colors. Leaving a sign of his art, he poured oil over the rock so the paint would last longer, and making it slippery.
"Hmph, that will teach them to make fun of me," Naruto said as he climbed the rope to the top and left.
It was already more than six months since he failed the genin test. If only there weren't the stupid clone jutsu, he would be one step closer to his dream. Yet he failed, even when he begged Iruka-sensei and old man Hokage to let him take it. Now, no matter where he went, his classmates made fun of him.
The adults were worse, telling him he would never be a shinobi and that he should already give up. Naruto didn't care if they cursed or hated him, but he couldn't stand them telling him that he would never be a shinobi. They acted like he didn't deserve a chance, which made him furious. After all, he was no different from others, so why couldn't he be a shinobi?
"Naruto!"
Naruto heard his name while he walked through the streets. There was still paint on his hands and cheeks. The scream echoed through the village and was filled with fury, making Naruto run for his life. He quickly ran through the streets, looking for a place to hide. Yet when he turned a corner, he found a very furious-looking shinobi. Naruto almost fell to the ground from his glare, and when he was about to turn, a hand grabbed his collar and lifted him in the air.
"Now you are done, you brat," The shinobi spit flew on Naruto's face as he yelled. "Iruka isn't here, and the Hokage won't save you."
"Move it," Just as Naruto felt hopeless, a man came from behind the shinobi.
"What?" The shinobi turned to look at the man and glared. "Move to the side."
"I won't repeat myself."
The man's cold black eyes looked at the shinobi's eyes, and then Naruto felt the hand holding him tremble. Using the distraction, Naruto kicked the shinobi and freed himself before running away. Naruto decided to hide behind the corner and let the shinobi run past him, yet he was surprised that he wasn't being chased.
"Did you see what that brat did to the Hokage momentum?" Naruto heard the yelling of the shinobi.
"And you have proof he did it?"
"What? I don't need proof. I know he did it."
"And what if he didn't do it?"
"Then I will clean it myself, but that is not happening since everyone knows that he is nothing but a demon."
"I did it."
"What?"
"I, Kaen Uchiha, painted the Hokage momentum. Now clean it."
"What?"
"Are you a broken record, repeating the same word? I said I did it, so you were wrong, and as you said, if you were wrong, you would clean it yourself. Now go."
"You're not a police officer anymore. You can't order me anything," Naruto hearing the conversation, decided to give himself up, as he didn't want anyone else to get blamed for what he did, so he went to them only to see the man stabbing his finger at Kaen's chest.
"Ach," Suddenly, Kaen collapsed. "Murderer, you stabbed me."
"What?" Many people were looking at them as Kaen revealed his chest was bleeding.
"Murder," Naruto yelled, quickly catching up on what was happening.
Soon enough, the street was filled with turmoil as the shinobi started to yell at everyone. Kaen quickly explained how he was attacked to the police officer who arrived. He told them that he was walking and that the shinobi wouldn't let him through and then stabbed him with his finger so hard that he cut his chest.
"You should have proclaimed that he was attacking you," Kaen said to Naruto after the ordeal was done. "You have to observe more. If you did so, you would have noticed his strong alcohol smell. No matter the situation, not many believe a drunkard."
"Thank you," Naruto said.
"Still, you have not learned much," Kaen said. "You were caught."
"It won't happen again," Naruto proclaimed.
"It might not, but you were still caught. So, you will clean the Hokage rock, even if it takes you all night."
"Yes, sir," Naruto groaned as he knew how hard it would be. But he had only himself to blame for being caught. At least the unpleasant shinobi didn't beat him up.
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