"What did you call me for?"
Hayate opened the door and spoke straight to the point. In his mind, Hanzō surely has his agenda for the child but it wasn't for the village.
"Why did you assign an infiltration mission without my approval?"
Reading a scroll with a frown on his brow, Hanzō then glanced at Hayate's countenance. Any mission from the crucial S-Rank to the trivial D-Rank was mandatory to go through his approval and careful deliberation.
"Regarding this case, this mission is only considered as an infiltration task with urgency in mind," Hayate said, in a deeper voice.
"Hayate! Are you disregarding my position as the leader of this village?" In one sentence, Hanzō understood its mockery and slammed his table in anger. Hayate's defiance towards the rules and its higher-ups still holds on to this day but Hanzō wasn't having anything for it.
Noticing Hanzō's dissatisfaction, Hayate said, "This thing hardly mattered to you in the first place. Also, our village had a lot on its plate."
"Then, I'll have to object to this mission. This matter requires much more consideration." Upon hearing Hanzō's judgment, Hayate involuntarily exuded intangible yet murderous intent.
"Why do you always have to stick your nose around me? Is it because of Yoichi?" The temperature around the room felt lowered by a margin. Hayate's tremendous intent skyrocketed along with his voice, deeper and scarier in front of Hanzō.
What Hanzō truly feared has come. Due to Hayate's infamous reputation and his sky-high achievements, Hanzō felt like his authority was threatened.
In the past, he defeated Hayate in a fair-and-square battle. However, after being in this position for far too long, power along with its domination throughout the Land of Rain made Hanzō easily influenced by its tainting greed for power and supremacy.
That's why a talented guy like Hayate was in the mines for 4 years was due to Hanzō's concocted scheme but it seems power and prestige precede any given difficulty.
"That brat?! Don't be ridiculous! Don't forget that you are serving me!" Hanzō's soaring authority boomed across the room, confronting Hayate's murderous intent with intensity.
"Me? Working for you?! It seems that the seat you are currently owning has truly beguiled your mind! I serve the common people who thought that this wretched land could still be taken care of, not for your petty politics!"
As Hayate admonished loudly, his intense spirit became stronger which made Hanzō's eyebrows flinch amidst the terrifying magnitude of this ethereal pressure.
"You dare to defy my will?! I—" Hanzō wanted to angrily reprimand Hayate until Hayate turned back with resolve and said, "Do as you please, Hanzō. I'll continue this mission regardless of your foolish decisions or shady goals."
"Don't turn your back on me!" Soon, Hanzō heavily scolded Hayate but all he saw was Hayate's silhouette departing through the door.
"Fuck! If you think this is the end of this farce. I'm telling you, Hayate! This perverse disobedience of yours will be the end of you!!!" In a fit of fury, Hanzō aggressively heaved out the stacked paperwork and yelled loudly with malice.
Fucking bastard, I will never forgive your dereliction of duty and insubordination!
His unstoppable outrage shook the building as Hayate returned to his office with cold indifference. From his perspective, Bloodline Limit was influential but the one who holds this said power could be culled in a second of complacency and arrogance.
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...
...
"Get in! You worthless brats!"
On the other hand, the three were violently shoved into the prison cell as countless onlookers eyed the newcomers with pity and curiosity.
Afterwards, the shinobi locked the iron gate with a bang, sneering in disdain towards the children before he left as soon as his task was done.
"Whoa! Newbies! This is the first time in ages since these bastardous shinobi locked us here!"
"Are you all from the Land of Fire? How did they abduct you three?"
"What a pain! Three freeloaders to a dwindling portion of meals!"
While the jeers and inquiries resounded in the cell, Yoichi assessed the overall condition and situation in his mind.
The number of children was quite small and the cell was relatively wide considering that the vast majority of prison cells comprised only a little space. The area was somewhat healthy and not cramped up but the stench these kids radiated was actually overwhelming in Yoichi's enhanced five senses.
Furthermore, there was a comfort room on the side. Overall, a pretty good prison cell compared to the other confinement rooms.
"Try to fish out some intel about the Land of Fire's geography and act as ignorant children for the meantime. We couldn't let this complicated issue implicate us in our mission."
Whispering with logical advice, Mineru took control of the situation in his hands. At this point, Yoichi agreed with Mineru's reasonable suggestion and slightly nodded.
Mineru... He's quick to adapt and think through the matter with reason. That's good...
"Hey, you three! Are you really from the Land of Fire?" Soon, Yoichi's reflection was interrupted by a child with a bandana, feeling a little bit suspicious about the group's arrival.
"Yeah... We are children born in the Capital city of the Land of Fire and unexpectedly abducted here..."
Unleashing his inner brilliance, Mineru appeared to be slightly distressed and dejected, expressing his emotions as a way to capitalize on the children's identical condition and current status.
"Then let me ask you a question... What's the name of the First Hokage and his signature ninjutsu?"
However, the child with a bandana on his head remained prudent, narrowing his eyes as he glared at Mineru and his group.
What's with this tricky question?! If I knew this would happen, I should've learn the names of famous shinobi instead of practicing ninjutsu!
As the cold sweat formed on Mineru's forehead, Yoichi fell into reflection and thought, Although he has a bit of intelligence in that department, he's a bit lacking just like me in strategic planning...
After all, this was their first time in the infiltration mission. Mineru and Akizo excelled in escort missions in addition to assassination missions at very young ages of 11 and 12 respectively.
However, due to the focus on other aspects, information gathering wasn't their best suits. In fact, they learned the name by word of mouth from the shinobi they associated with in the past.
"I-It's Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi—" When Mineru was about to falter, Yoichi interjected and said, "Along with his signature, Wood Release!"
Soon, the child in a bandana glanced at Yoichi with a bit of skepticism. In contrast, Akizo and Mineru sighed inwardly and then felt optimistic about Yoichi's evident way to save his ass out of the question.
"Next question, who was his brother and what is his position in Konoha?"
"Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, and the one who built the Ninja Academy as well as the ANBU."
"Lastly, when was Konoha founded?"
"It was after the Warring States Period that which Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan concluded a peace treaty."
After a long series of inquiries, the boy in a bandana became satisfied and said, "Great! You are really from the Land of Fire! My name is Raku and I want to be a shinobi!"
Attentively catching the obvious excitement in the boy's tone, Yoichi felt neither joy nor distress. These questions were merely general knowledge in the Naruto Universe.
If I failed these questions... Then I don't know what the hell I'm doing in my past life.
"My name is Yoichi. Nice to meet you, Raku..."
In a while, the sudden change simply proved a wild guess in Yoichi's mind.
Perhaps the prison cell made Raku's mind a little bit chaotic. Inquisitive then optimistic all of a sudden. Their unforeseen arrival felt like it coincidentally poked at Raku's nosiness.
"I'm Akizo. Raku huh... You had a good name!"
"Mineru. Pleasure to meet you."
By the time Akizo and Mineru introduced themselves, Raku spotted Yoichi's pouch on his waist and asked, "How come you have a pouch in your belongings?"
"It's...a memento, given by my mother. I fought valiantly when the shinobi wanted to confiscate this keepsake but somehow, I managed to convince them..." Yoichi lowered his head and explained his item with a melancholy on his face.
"How nice... I wonder what my mother has been doing for months..." Affected by sadness, Raku felt nostalgic and closed his eyes.
What the hell? Isn't that just a tattered pouch with nothing else but stones inside?!
Akizo and Mineru were dumbfounded.
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(Current Progress)
[Still the same]
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Next is another time skip then the Konoha Arc with the golden pulls!
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