CH_10.36 (402)The ANBU headquarters was a block of concrete built inside a mountain without any natural light. On the best days, it was a dreary place with art curated by a sixty-year-old as the only form of common decor. That was why people who worked in the building took it upon themselves to individualise personal spaces like their offices and desks to breathe so life into their workplace.
Takuma looked around the office, decorated according to a traditional Japanese the, with green tatami on the floor and a wooden facade covering the concrete walls to give the room a softer feel with warm lights diffused through screens. There was even a big plant in the corner with a thermal lamp hanging above it. It was a big office befitting a jōnin and ANBU Captain. The secretary outside had a small office of her own and had two assistants to help with her work.
He felt déjà vu when the sliding door on the side opened and Itachi stepped in with a tray of tea and snacks.
"Eight agents in a month. I'll admit I wasn't expecting such quick progress," said Itachi.
"Neither did I," Takuma replied as he put the cup to his lips and took a sip before putting it down.
"I guess I can't match Mother when it cos to tea, can I?" Itachi said with a small smile.
"You need practice."
It had been two days since the ROOT capture operation within the Hidden Leaf Village. Capturing and transporting the agents was hectic, but telling everyone about it was an ordeal. Everyone with clearance wanted to know how they did it. Fortunately, he only had to produce a rushed initial report; Barbary and Campbell did the rest of the talking and were missing from the evening of the operation.
"The thing we talked about..."
"The departnt-wide initiative?"
The gaps left behind by ROOT had been filled to a point where ANBU wasn't worried about gaping holes that local or foreign powers could exploit, so it was nearly ti for the Hidden Leaf to target ROOT. As a part of that effort, Itachi ntioned starting a targeted initiative against ROOT in a couple of months.
Itachi nodded. "I've decided to move up the titable."
"Because of us?"
"The montum your team has created can be harnessed to rally operatives and staff behind a common goal. You can expect greater results when people are motivated and invested instead of having a case assigned to them."
Takuma couldn't agree more. He had multiple reasons to go after ROOT. He would've worked hard regardless, but then his sole motivation would've been to accumulate more results to get his performance benefits in terms of B-rank ninjutsu.
"I wanted to ask. What's the benefit of joining this initiative?" asked Takuma. There were tis when so teams had the sole authority to work on specific cases, but he didn't think that would be the case with ROOT. If it wasn't for case access, then why would people join whatever Itachi was planning?
"Access to information," said Itachi. "Those who join will have to share information with everyone else. Units and even squads can be very possessive of the information they hold. There's so rit to it in many circumstances, but it is also true that when many parties are working towards the sa goal, sharing information far outweighs any downside that it might bring."
There were cases where information had caused conflicts within ANBU. A team heard about another team's operation that could jeopardise their case, leading to the forr leaking the information about the latter's operation to keep their case intact. Ideally, communication could solve things, but ANBU wasn't a singular-focused hive mind; people often could only care about what they were invested in, and thus were often resistant to entering a discussion that might lead them to be forced to concede.
"...And I'll declassify information about ROOT for those who agree to the terms of joining my operation," Itachi added.
Just because Takuma was an ANBU operative didn't an he had access to all information within ANBU. He could only access information that his status as a chunin, ANBU operative of the Dostic Branch, and a mber of the inquisitor squad granted him. He had access to much information, but it would an nothing if it wasn't useful to him.
As a jōnin and an ANBU Captain, Itachi had the authority to give people access to classified and privileged information and the ans to gather sensitive information.
"Do you have the green flag for it?" asked Takuma.
The Departnt of ANBU was held by two Jōnin Commanders—ANBU Commanders—one for each branch of ANBU, who reported directly to the Hokage. As part of ANBU's Dostic Branch, Itachi answered to one of the ANBU Commanders, and this initiative, which involved information sharing and access to classified information, seed big enough to require sign-off from the Dostic Branch's top dog.
"Stag has given
the go... The orders ca from Lord Hokage himself," said Itachi.
Stag was the Dostic Branch's ANBU Commander, and his word possessed imnse power, but if the Hokage wanted sothing, even the ANBU Commanders couldn't deny him.
"Lord Hokage is going to be keeping tabs on this," Takuma half-said to himself, feeling so pressure all of a sudden.
"Who says he already isn't?"
Takuma's eyes widened because of the implication. "He knows about my operation?" he asked.
"Your report's summary was part of his daily intelligence briefing. I was there and talked to him about the initiative, and he agreed with
that your
success has created montum to utilise."
The Hokage knew about his work. That sounded amazing to Takuma. He t Sarutobi Hiruzen at his promotion ceremony, and the Hokage only knew about him because he blew up a jōnin and was joining the ANBU. But now his work was being talked about in the Hokage's office; it was being recognised, and he couldn't deny that it felt good.
"So, what do you say? Are you going to join?" asked Itachi.
"Of course," Takuma responded imdiately, "but I'll have to discuss it with my team." He couldn't just work under Itachi without discussing it with the squad leader, lieutenant, and the captain, whom he had never seen. "What about my team? What happens if I'm the only one who ends up wanting to join?"
While he could work on missions alone, it was much more practical to have his squad's help. Even though he had worked alone on the Maizuru Quarters, at the end of it, both Campbell and Barbary had co to the military base, and everyone else had contributed afterwards.
He was afraid that if he were alone, he wouldn't be able to contribute as much and would be left behind. If he was going to join Itachi's initiative, he wanted to be the top perforr.
"You can always transfer under ," Itachi offered, his expression and tone indicating that it was a serious offer.
There had been one surprise after another in his conversation with Itachi, but he was still surprised by the offer. This was the third ti a Uchiha, all from the sa family, had given him a job offer. He just needed Sasuke to complete his collection.
He considered the offer and realised that he liked his current situation. Campbell was strict but fair, and Barbary ensured that his subordinates had freedom as long as they delivered. Even though he hadn't t his captain, he liked that he didn't send orders down and left them alone. Not to ntion, he had good luck with squadmates compared to the stories he had heard, and the staff was absolutely lovely and incredibly competent.
Working under the Uchiha Itachi sounded excellent, but Takuma believed that few things were more important than the right work culture for peace of mind and an environnt in which to be productive. He didn't know how Itachi ran things—they might be wonderful—but he was satisfied with what he currently had and didn't have the need or appetite to risk it for sothing that might just be worse.
"Thank you," Takuma started after a thought, "but I'm satisfied with where I am now. I'm excited about this initiative, and to be completely honest, it's going to be at the top of my priorities. As long as I think I've the tools to do a proper job, I'd like to stay where I am, but if that changes, I hope this offer will stand."
Itachi seed disappointed, but he nodded and raised his teacup,
"To a safer village."
———
.
"Congratulations, Ratel."
The next morning, Barbary walked into Campbell Squad's office with a cake, and many of the unit's staff followed behind him. The big man looked like he was one move away from breaking into a dance. The entire group seed in a joyous mood, like they were ready for a party.
For a mont, he thought soone had mistaken his birthday and got worried about how awkward the aftermath was going to be. He glanced at his squadmates, who ca out of their offices to look at the commotion, and they, too, looked just as confused as he was.
"Congratulations for what?" he asked in doubt.
"For your debut," Barbary passed off the cake to a staff mber and received an A5-sized page that he handed to Takuma. "Congratulations, Ratel. You're now part of the bingo book wanted listings."
Takuma looked down and was taken aback when he saw his recent photo on the bingo book listing, which was captured when his identity card was updated to show his rank promotion. It even showed the scar on the edge of his lip that he had gotten at Yu. The listing had his na, age, rank, physical characteristics like height and identifying marks, past and present associations, and a short list of his skills that included his preference for taijutsu, an incomplete list of his Water and Earth Release ninjutsu, his ability with genjutsu, and a special note about his personal brand of chakra augntation.
He had owned bingo books before. He was issued one when he joined the Police Force, another when he reached Camp Banana, and two more when he joined ANBU. He had read the entries but never considered the amount of information listed on the small page; seeing so much about himself written on the page gave him pause.
"Wow... that-that's a lot," he said.
"Bingo book? Let
take a look at that." Amami appeared from behind and took the page from his hands, and imdiately comnted on his photo. "Hmm, you're a bad subject. Learn how to smile a little. Bring so joy into your life, dear Thirteen."
Dhole joined her in looking at his page. "Wow, that's a handso reward. Oof, but they want you dead—but they're offering more for your body. They must hate you. What did you do?"
"How would I know?" Takuma said. They never revealed who posted the bounty.
"Let's see... Where was this posted?" Caracara asked the staff as she, too, looked at the page.
"It was in the dostic listings."
There was no single issue of the bingo book. There were several different types. A "dostic listing" ant that the person would only show up in the book that targeted people from a certain country. Takuma's listing was from the Land of Fire bingo book category, which was mostly seen and purchased by bounty hunters within the country. So listings only targeted active shinobi, others showcased rogue shinobi, or listings officially sponsored by a hidden village, and so bounty offices even offered "recomnded curations" as bizarre as that was.
"So, it's soone who knows that you don't travel out a lot, or they just put it in there because you're a Leaf shinobi. Is there a reason listed?" Caracara asked while she read before going silent as she glanced at him.
"...Killed a Hidden Frost jōnin," said Amami.
"Well, that makes sense," Krait said. "So, it's the Hidden Frost that wants you dead."
There was a mont of silence in the room as Takuma felt eyes on him. So of the people in the room had read his file, but it was supposed to be a secret for most people here. He montarily felt angry to have it out in the open, but just as quickly, he realised it wouldn't have remained a secret if it were in his bingo listing. ANBU watched for their agents appearing on any of the lists.
Amami imdiately broke the silence. "No nickna though," she said as she handed the page off, seemingly already bored. "I was hoping it would be a fun one... a stupid one. Who else has one?"
"I do," Dhole said.
"What did you do?" Takuma asked. Dhole would've been his last guess.
"I pissed off a court noble. No big deal," Dhole waved it off.
No one else in the squad had a listing except for Barbary, who apparently had been on the list for a decade.
Takuma looked at the cake. Getting one's na might seem like a grim mont because it ant there was a price on his head, but it was treated as a sign of renown when a shinobi got a bingo book listing.
"Well screw it," Takuma said, taking the cake from the staff. "Who wants so cake!"
The crowd cheered as they got into a celebratory mood.
He already had too much going on in his life for him to overthink another one. As Amami said, he needed a little joy in his life, and what better way to introduce so joy than cake?
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón []. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Reviews
All reviews (0)