Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
[ https://www̧̧.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
"The kid's a magnet. Or is it just his fate?" Kakashi said as he read Ratel's report from the border outpost.
"You believe in destiny?" Itachi asked out of curiosity.
They were in Kakashi's office in the ANBU Headquarters. Itachi had received Ratel's report and wanted to consult his former boss about it. He wasn't expecting any communication from Ratel until after he returned, but the best-performing operative had unearthed something significant.
"Depends on the day," Kakashi shrugged and put down the report.
Itachi noticed he only skimmed through the report. If it were just a year ago, Kakashi would've given it a more thorough read. The extra year Lord Hokage had asked him to stay on as an ANBU Captain had been tough on the man, who could have had the coveted ANBU Commander position if he wished for it; the decade at the department was more than enough for him.
If the Hidden Leaf wanted Jōnin Hatake Kakashi to be involved in the future, they needed to give the man some well-deserved rest so that he could recover from a simmering burnout on the cusp of boiling over.
Now, with only a couple of months remaining on his contract, he was winding down and not taking any additional responsibility in preparation for leaving his post. His involvement in the anti-ROOT initiative primarily consisted of an advisory role and a means to garner interest from agents within the Domestic Branch.
"Did you know? That ROOT was somehow involved with these murders," he asked.
"I couldn't be sure," said Itachi.
"So, you sent him to verify it?"
"There's no better person for the job. If it's ROOT, he will sniff them one way or another, sooner or later."
In four short months, Ratel had carved out a noteworthy niche for himself. He was the foremost operative when it came to ROOT-related matters. The damage he had done to them, by catching their agents and affiliates, was substantial, but not enough to break their foundation. His real work was tied to slowing down their progress, in turn, their recovery, by sniffing out any new plans they had brewing around the country before they came to fruition.
Half of the anti-ROOT initiative was running on intel provided by him.
"The investigation by Jōnin Hanezawa Souta. Why did he order it and keep it hidden... I don't think that old man is connected to Danzo. Am I missing anything?" Kakashi asked.
"Not as far as I know, but Jōnin Souta wants control of that border outpost. Getting it would mean influence over various aspects of the trade," Itachi answered.
"Well, that old man is notorious. Plenty of rumours about him being greedy," Kakashi nodded.
Bluntly speaking, Hanezawa Souta wanted to benefit from having control of the trade on the Hidden Leaf's side. Being in charge meant becoming someone that merchant houses and trading companies would like to keep happy. They would shower him with gifts, bribes, and favours—whatever it took to ensure that they could get more profit out of their business.
Even though his position as Hidden Leaf jōnin came with plenty of power and compensation, there were always people who would never be satisfied no matter how much was put before them.
The investigation aimed to discredit Tokubetsu Jōnin Fujita from his position as outpost leader and replace him with someone who would follow Souta's command. Unfortunately, the jōnin didn't have the authority to decide who would take Fujita's place. The outpost was currently under another jōnin's purview, but the murders had become such a big mess that the jōnin-in-charge would have to relinquish control. Souta would be ready to grab it when that happened.
"ROOT wants Jōnin Souta to be in charge," Kakashi sighed.
Itachi nodded. The two parties didn't have to be aligned for both of them to benefit. ROOT could have known that Souta had his eye on the Fire-Earth trade and got the ball rolling with the murders. The jōnin noticed the opportunity and jumped on it. Souta would get the position and influence he desired, and ROOT would have someone in charge who was much more susceptible to being influenced through bribes and favours.
It was a win-win for the two parties, who had no direct connection to each other.
"Jōnin Souta probably knows someone is pulling the strings, but he's willing to get manipulated because he gets what he wants in the end," Kakashi said as he leaned into his chair to stare at the roof. "So what are you going to do? What's Ratel's suggestion?"
"Nothing," Itachi answered. "Well, he does want to ensure that Jōnin Jin, the current jōnin in charge, retains his purview so that ROOT won't be able to use the Fire-Earth trade to their benefit."
"Are you sure that's a good move? The kid doesn't really have a good track record with ROOT. He has almost died more times at their hands than most people are ever in danger in their entire lives."
"He's not a kid; he's an ANBU Operative. I'm not going to send babysitters to look after him if he doesn't want them," said Itachi.
All operatives, to some extent, took pride in their professional abilities. Unless they were truly underwater, sending unwanted help caused only trouble. It was almost always perceived as the boss's attempt to micromanage, a sign of a lack of trust, and unnecessary meddling in their affairs.
Ratel had quickly become a valuable asset, even within the ANBU. He didn't want to make a similar mistake as his father and the Police Force. Keeping Ratel happy was a small price to pay for continuous excellent performance.
Kakashi might not have aspirations for the position of ANBU Commander, but Itachi wanted that position as his future. The anti-ROOT initiative's performance was one of the achievements that he needed to get over his "handicap." His status as an Uchiha was a privilege, but in this case, it was a hindrance because no one wanted the scion of the most powerful clan in the Hidden Leaf to be in charge of the ANBU.
It was essentially seen as giving the Uchiha clan free rein to do as they desired. It wouldn't have been as big a shackle if he were a Hyūga or even from the recently disgraced Shimura clan. It was his status as an Uchiha that came with additional baggage. The village wasn't entirely at fault, because the clan, until recently, had been planning a coup.
ANBU Commander appointments were political positions entirely at the discretion of the Hokage, who could appoint anyone they desired. It was always someone from within ANBU—current or former. Itachi didn't want to be the ANBU Commander under the Third Hokage. It would be an honour, but it wouldn't be ideal if he had to step down when the Fifth Hokage took the throne. Sarutobi Hiruzen had been the Hokage for a full forty years combined during his two tenures. He had spent more years in the office than all other Hokage combined.
It was high time for Lord Hokage to choose his successor. Itachi wanted his legacy as an ANBU Captain to drown all of his peers so that the Fifth Hokage had no choice but to appoint him as the ANBU Commander.
"May I ask a personal question?" Itachi said.
Kakashi silently stared at him for a moment. "Sure. I might not answer, though."
"How is your compensation package structured?"
"Pardon?" Kakashi was taken aback. "My compensation package structure?"
ANBU-nin were sticklers and misers when it came to information. They wouldn't share information if there was nothing in it for them. However, discussing pay wasn't something that ever came up, as everyone had too much on their plates to talk about those things.
"You're leaving, so it probably doesn't matter if you tell me. I'm assuming yours was structured to have the majority of your compensation in ryo and then a portion of it in mission points, right?" said Itachi. That was how he had structured his compensation.
"Yes, that's about it," said Kakashi, unsure where the topic was coming from.
"Most of us are probably like that. Some split between money and mission points. Money comes first and then mission points," Itachi said.
Money always came first because most shinobi didn't want to be shinobi forever. They were aware of the dangers associated with their profession and wished to leave sooner rather than later while minimising risk and maximising their wealth.
An eleven-year-old genin who left the academy was obligated to serve the village for ten years—until they were twenty-one years old. If they were promoted before that, they had to serve an additional fifteen years, extending their service until they were thirty-six years old. If they were promoted to jōnin, another twenty-five years were added to service—bringing their "official" retirement age to sixty-one years old at the very least.
Career genin most often signed the standard five-year extensions multiple times because they rarely encountered danger. On the other hand, most chūnin only signed at most two extensions before retirement, typically around age fifty—if they survived that long. For a jōnin, their village was their only home because they were locked in "for life".
99.99% of shinobi's motive was to earn enough money so they could retire from their dangerous profession and live a peaceful life with what they had earned. It was common sense understood by most shinobi.
"Why do you ask?" Kakashi said curiously.
"Ratel's compensation package is solely focused on B-rank jutsu access. Other than the base salary and benefits, all he wants is B-rank jutsu."
As far as Itachi knew, Ratel had purchased his first B-rank jutsu from the ANBU archives through mission points soon after he joined. He was given another after the bunker raid through an access pass. A third jutsu via another access pass after he caught the three agents in the Hidden Leaf Village. And recently, Itachi had signed off on the paperwork which would give him access to a fourth jutsu.
"In the year he has been an ANBU-nin, he has gained access to four B-rank jutsu—five because I'm going to give him another one when he returns. Actually, you'll sign the fifth for me because I just signed for the fourth," Itachi said.
Showing too much favouritism towards a single agent would be a negative. He had other ideas on how to personally reward Ratel.
"That is unusual, but not overly so," Kakashi said after a moment of thought.
"How so?"
"He's young; far too young. I'm not saying that as an insult. He probably thinks he has plenty of time to earn money later. He's investing in himself right now so that he can reap a boatload of benefits later when he's stronger." Kakashi looked at him with a smirk in his eyes. "You and he are quite different. You're the scion of the Uchiha clan; he's an orphan. You're the perfect genius; he clawed his way up from the Genin Corp. Even though you're the same age, it shouldn't be surprising that the difference in life experience makes the other seem alien in comparison."
Itachi couldn't disagree. He didn't know much about Ratel beyond their work. What was his motivation? What were his ideals and morals? What made him tick? Did he respond better to carrots or a stick?
"...I guess I just have to find more about him. My mother cares about him deeply, so getting to know him outside of a professional context is probably worth it," said Itachi. "What are you planning to do with your money when you retire?"
"Buying a failing publishing house that publishes adult contemporary romance novels."
"Adult contemporary romance novels?"
"It's okay, you'll understand when you grow up."
———
.
"Probably" wasn't good enough.
Hyouma had taken an inordinate amount of risk by leaking courier identities and falsifying documents that pushed the blame on Fujita. That man was a Tokubetsu Jōnin who was fully able to crush his skull if he was angered.
Even though he had put on a show for the ANBU-nin in the form of a boss trying to protect his subordinates, Fujita had been openly distrustful of everyone for a month. He had copies of patrol records in his office, rather than just in his secretary's office, because he wanted to keep a close eye on everything. The only reason he hadn't degraded to micromanaging every single thing was that it would be inconvenient to everyone and make things difficult at the outpost.
The outpost itself was the only thing working for Fujita, and he didn't want to jeopardise it.
As Fujita's second-in-command, he was the most suspicious of Hyouma because he possessed the most influence after him. He was in constant danger of being killed and having his body disappear one day. The number of grey hairs on his head had doubled in the past three months.
It was pure torture.
So, "probably" wasn't good enough.
If the ANBU-nin's report could harm his chance of becoming the outpost leader, then that report had to go away.
The ANBU-nin had to go away.
On any other weekend, he would be in the city, enjoying its vibrant nightlife, but since the ANBU-nin arrived, Fujita had banned all leisure trips. Today, he was at home. A house that he rented—a place that he had come to despise because it wasn't his own. His own home was being built on the land he had bought.
He was all-in on this. He needed the plan for his succession to succeed. In the dead of the night, while the stars twinkled in the sky, Hyouma placed his garbage in the street's assigned collection spot. He placed the folded cardboard at the side and walked away.
He just needed to follow their commands, and "those" people would turn "probably" to "definitely."
.
———
Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.
The link is in the synopsis!