บท 200: Ch200. Back in Konoha 2
Anko wearily walked through the streets of Konoha on her way to her most favorite Dango shop in the village. She desperately needed some unwinding and there was no better way to accomplish that than getting stuffed with the food of gods.
When she arrived in the village, it was barely lunchtime but now, it was already late evening and Anko could only grumble that visiting several clan heads took her so much time. Alas, if she wanted everything to go smoothly, she needed to deliver a few messages from Tsunade before Hiruzen got his head out of his ass and stopped focusing on Tsunade who was currently unreachable. Anko simply needed to cover all her bases and safeguard her position.
'God, how I hate politics.' Anko mentally whined as she sat at the table near a window and ordered her favorite flavors of Dango before starting to remember her tiring day.
Her very first visit was to Shikaku Nara. This was not a coincidence. Tsunade made sure to choose who to visit first properly.
Shikaku Nara seemed to be deep within the Hokage's backside. He was the Jonin Commander and that meant something. He was one of the most trusted aides of the Hokage in the shinobi matters. Hence, Anko was really surprised when Tsunade wanted her to visit the man first.
Now, that meeting shook Anko to her core. Tsunade didn't explain much about clans but the letter she handed over to Shikaku must have requested an explanation for her if the annoyed and half-whining look the half-asleep man shot her was any indication.
And so, Anko got to know exactly how deep the politics in Konoha reached.
The position of the Jonin Commander was the dream of many ninjas in the village. Tough luck though, since as it appears, only a Nara could ever be appointed as such. The Hokage only made a show of the appointment to keep the masses dreaming as a motivation for improvement.
'Really, how Nara-ish to make a backroom deal with the First Hokage to safeguard a good, well-paying job where the most required thing is good strategic thinking. It actually makes a whole lot of sense considering the job is very easy-going in times of peace. A perfect place for napping the day off while being as important as it gets.' Anko snickered.
The actual damn thing was apparently written in the more obscure laws of the village. A very serious set of requirements had to be met for a non-Nara to become a Jonin Commander, one of which would be no available Nara of jonin level strength smart enough to fill the position. Hence, no matter what Hiruzen did, he HAD TO appoint Shikaku into the position and thus, being a Jonin Commander didn't really show that the Hokage trusted you. Apparently, that was the whole reason why Danzo didn't get the job.
Because of these backroom deals with Hashirama Senju, however, the Nara clan was an ally of the Senju Clan. The clan head of the Senju clan requested the Nara clan to support Anko? Shikaku simply had to do so to honor the alliance.
A good thing that Naras didn't bother with politics beyond what was necessary because they found them boring. The danger of being backstabbed by a Nara or them not honoring an alliance was almost nil.
With the Nara clan on board, Anko had an easy time persuading the Akimichi clan. If instant agreement the second they got to know the stance of the Nara clan and an invitation to dinner could even be called 'persuading'.
Anko had to shake her head in amusement at the Akimichi clan. Maybe if she pulled her head out of her ass when she was younger and approached one of these 'big-boned' people instead of feeling pity for herself, she would actually find real friends.
The Yamanaka clan head also easily agreed to give his support to her. Not like the man had any other choice since both the Akimichi and Nara clans already made their stance clear. The Yamanakas were the most neutral clan in the list of people Anko had to approach but Tsunade showed her cunning by ordering Anko to deal with Naras and Akimichis first. Now, if Inoichi did something different, it could potentially make his clan stand against his long-time allies in the village which wouldn't be good for him or the clan. Neutral or not, his side was chosen for him before Anko even knocked on his door.
And that led Anko's mind to reminisce about her last visit. The Hyuuga clan.
Yes, much to her eternal horror, it was these white-eyed assholes who were the closest supporters of the Senju clan. Or... at the very least, who had to lose the most if they didn't support the Senju clan.
Apparently, the Hyuuga clan businesses were very dependent on the Senju clan businesses. In short, the Hyuuga clan patriarch looked almost constipated after Tsunade pulled this card on him. Knowing how legendary their arguments in the council room were during the Third Ninja war... Anko could see that the man didn't expect Tsunade to know about how much influence she had over him and his clan. After all, even if the Senju clan owned the businesses supporting their own, Tsunade did not attend to the day-to-day matters and never showed any knowledge or interest in them. At best, she received her cut and let the businesses run themselves.
Anko could see the gears in Hiashi's head running and the utter bewilderment that Tsunade actually knew something about her family finances other than spending the seemingly unending supply of money flowing into her family accounts. The man sat motionless opposite Anko, staring in shock at the letter from Tsunade for ten whole minutes after reading it.
Naturally, it wouldn't do for assholes to deal with easy problems the easy way. Even someone like Anko, someone hopeless in economy and running of a clan, knew the Hyuugas had no other choice than to give their full support behind Tsunade on her whim. The second Hiashi spotted the special seal of the Senju clan head on the letter, it was as good as an order from Tsunade, someone who could ruin many of their businesses. It wasn't even that Tsunade asked much of the Hyuuga clan. Just show of support which would essentially cost them nothing.
So... what did the cold-faced bastard do?
He naturally called a meeting of Elders and dragged Anko straight into it! An issue that could be resolved in twenty minutes tops, and that was when Anko accounted for Hiashi's ten minutes long shocked state, was now stretched to three hours of debating between elderly men... yeah, Anko had had enough of living by the time she left the Hyuuga Compound with a ringing headache.
Is it any wonder she needed her daily dose of Dango thrice over after such a nightmare?
Worse yet... 'I will have to babysit the white-eyed princess for their support? How the heck did that happen!? Shit, Lady Tsunade will be so disappointed in me for letting them have their way and get compensation for her demands.' Anko mentally whined. She knew that promising something in return for their support would show weakness they would no doubt try to exploit later but she was just so damn tired of all the pointless talking.
In hindsight, she fell right into that trap. She should have refused to attend and demanded an answer from Hiashi. Even giving him time to consider it would be a nice power move, showing she had everything under control. It wasn't like the Hyuuga clan could refuse. But no... she just had to do the stupid thing and let them challenge her patience. A battle, she disgracefully lost and promised to train young Hinata in return for their support.
It was then that a commotion outside the Dango shop caught Anko's attention. Naruto Uzumaki was sitting on the ground with an angry shopkeeper hurling insults at the boy before huffily turning on his heel and stomping his way back to his shop.
Shrugging, Anko started tiredly munching on her Dango without any real excitement.
'Mah, the brat endured years of ridicule, he can endure two more days.'
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