[ Charisma B ] —-> [ Charisma A ]
‘Alright, let’s give this another shot.’ Kazuo thought before heading inside the Hokage Office once more.
Kazuo went through the exact sa dialogue as he had during his previous turns, the only difference being the fact that he could tell his acting was leagues beyond what it had been.
His control over his emotions had grown past its previous limits and his capability to show the emotions that he wanted had similarly grown at the sa ti.
There were other factors that had increased as well.
His likeability, his ability to lead a conversation in the direction that he wanted had similarly had an improvent.
All of this had led to the point where the question Hiruzen had pointed at him during the first and consecutive turns didn’t appear again.
“Allright, I’ll make sure to have everything properly investigated Kazuo, but before that, I must give you a congratulations though I’m sure Minato would have preferred he did it himself.” Hiruzen said as a soft smile appeared on his expression.
Kazuo’s eyes widened slightly, he showed both joy at the words of the Hokage whilst at the sa ti, it was clear that he wasn’t proud of the news he was about to receive. He looked like a man who felt like he didn’t deserve a reward after his teammate had been killed.
“I’m sure that you might not feel like this reward is deserved however let tell you Jonin Kazuo, your advancent to this rank is deserved, not many shinobi could go against an S ranked foe and survive whilst at the sa ti being under attack from a team mate.” Hiruzen said as he got up from his chair and walked around the desk before arriving infront of Kazuo.
“So stand proud as a leaf shinobi Jonin Kazuo, I as the leader of this village am extrely proud that young ninja like you devote yourself to this village and the people living in it.”
Hiruzen’s voice was soft, almost as if he was a grandfather praising his own grandson after they had just graduated from school.
“Thank you Lord Hokage, your words an a lot to . I’ll continue trying my best so that this village may prosper even further and that the next generation will have an easier ti.” Kazuo replied, his voice almost cracking whilst his eyes slightly moistened.
Hiruzen’s smile widened slightly before he gave Kazuo a pat on the shoulder.
“Now you can go, I’m sure Minato will be pleased to hear that you’ve co back.”
“Yes sir, have a nice day.” Kazuo replied before giving another ninety degree bow to the man.
After which he turned around and walked outside of the office and then continued to walk to the outside of the Hokage Building.
Once outside, Kazuo took a long deep breath, holding it for a mont before releasing it slowly.
‘I’m finally not fodder.’ Kazuo thought to himself as his mories seed to flash past his eyes.
From the first day when he had woken up in an unknown tent, all the way up to his fight with Kakuzu.
“I should be celebrating however considering the future…” Kazuo mumbled before releasing a soft shallow sigh.
He was too far away from actual safety.
Jonin was a high rank, at this point he would be considered one of the elites in the leaf army however in the grand sche of things?
He was rely an unknown fodder still, maybe not at this point in ti but if he didn’t grow stronger than by the ti of the fourth great ninja war? Even a cloned zetsu would be as strong if not stronger than him.
“Let’s first go et Minato, after which I should go and inform Hizashi about the advancent. The wedding should be near.” Kazuo thought as he continued walking through the leaf roads.
Now that the war was over, the village had started investing into rebuilding itself more and more as each day passed.
Before the leaf had a multitude of dirt roads but by now most if not all of them were under repairs and were being turned into stone roads.
There were similarly countless apartnts being built around the village as the population growth spiked quite significantly after the announcent that the war was over.
Most of the ninja who had already grown past their pri had decided to finally settle down and start their own family.
After around half an hour, Kazuo finally arrived at his destination.
It was a small house, but it was situated in one of the best areas of the village.
‘The yellow flash and the red habanero sure are loaded.’ Kazuo thought to himself as he walked to the door.
Before he could even knock it was opened up.
Looking at the red-haired woman wearing an apron whilst holding a spatula, Kazuo felt nothing really.
Kushina had been annoying him to no end most days, her fiery deanor and attitude were a complete contrast to Kazuo’s desires.
So say opposites attract, Kazuo would call those people dumbasses.
“Hello Kushina-San, Is Minato Senpai here?” Kazuo asked as he gave the woman a slight bow.
Whether it was the increase in Charisma or maybe it was just one of those days, Kazuo couldn’t get angry or frustrated anymore, He simply felt like it was a waste of energy.
However, there was a noticeable difference. If before Kazuo had a lot of trouble faking so emotions like gratitude then now it was as easy as switching the light switch.
And it was clear that Kushina was eating his lies as if they were cupcakes.
Her eyes curled upwards whilst she gave Kazuo a large smile.
“Yeah, He’s inside with Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, co in. Im just about done with making the food.” Kushina said as she turned around and headed back towards the kitchen.
Kazuo gave a light nod before taking his sandals off and leaving them in the shoe drawer and then closing the door and walking inside.
The house had grown even more friendly if he had to put a na to the change.
Minato had stopped his monitoring of Kazuo a while back and had started to completely accept Kazuo into his inner circle.
As for Kakashi, Obito and Rin? They had never even suspected Kazuo, theyr trust had been easy enough to gain. Simply save them in a dangerous encounter and it was a done deal.
Kazuo had thought that Kakashi would be a tough nut to crack but he found out that he was just a jaded kid, nothing more.
“Kazuo you’re back!” Rin said as she stood up from the couch.
Obito and Kakashi rely turned their heads to look at Kazuo, one looked uninterested though his gaze clearly showed a different emotion whilst the other looked annoyed beyond belief at the sight of Kazuo.
Minato who sat next to Rin stood up as well, giving Kazuo a light wave.
“So how did the mission go?” He asked.
“It went sideways but atleast I still got the promotion.” Kazuo replied, bringing a hand behind his head to scratch it, showing signs that he was uncomfortable.
“What happened?” Rin questioned imdiately, satisfying both Obito and Kakashi who similarly to eachother felt like they couldn’t ask or it would break their ‘cool’ image.
Minato anwhile already had a frown on his face.
Kazuo released a sigh, walked to the couch and sat down next to Kakashi, seeing his actions Rin and Minato similarly sat down aswell.
Obito and Kakashi by this ti had both noticed that Kazuo wasn’t joking, their expressions had already grown much more serious.
“So where do I even start? I’ll just drop the bombs first.” Kazuo said, lifting his gaze to look at his sensei.
“One of my teammates was a root ninja who tried to poison , that was easy enough to deal with however the next problem took quite a bit of effort.”
At his words, Minato’s frown only grew, his lips already forming a thin line.
“I t a guy called Kakuzu, he was from the hidden in the waterfalls village at least he used to be a part of it at so point in ti. The problem however was that he was clearly an S-ranked Ninja.” Kazuo continued.
“An S-ranked Ninja?” Obito asked, imdiately widening his eyes and sitting up straighter whilst looking at Kazuo in disbelief.
“Yeah, thankfully he didn’t anticipate my paper jutsu or I would have already been dead.” Kazuo replied as he soft shook his head before continuing.
“Two of my teammates, the ones that weren’t actually trying to kill were eliminated by Kakuzu, that’s why this promotion doesn’t really feel that great,” Kazuo said, his voice lowering as he said the latter half of his sentence.
None of the others gave a reply for a mont before Minato spoke up.
“It was deserved Kazuo, I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you either.”
“It actually was Minato sensei, I even managed to kill Kakuzu, I could have escaped with my life whenever I wanted but I wasn’t strong enough to protect my teammates, even if I have all this strength, what’s it matter if I can’t even protect anyone? Aren’t we supposed to be ninjas protecting the leaf? I couldn’t even protect two people let alone the entire village.” Kazuo spoke up, his voice clearly getting more agitated with each sentence that he spewed out before he finally took a deep breath and cald himself back down again.
Minato didn’t reply, rely standing up and giving Kazuo a pat on the shoulder.
“You might not have been strong enough to protect them but you were strong enough to survive to see another day, and that’s enough for as your sensei Kazuo. It might be selfish however I’m glad it wasn’t you who died.” Minato said before walking toward the kitchen.
“The food’s ready, co!” Kushina’s voice was heard calling the rest of them over a mont later.
Kazuo gave a light nod, it looked more like he was giving it to himself rather than in return to Minato’s words.
anwhile inside his mind.
‘Hmm, Charisma sure is useful.’
_________________________________________________________________________
Here’s the chapter, this is about 2x the regular chapter length, I could have split it up and made it 2 chapters but I just decided to release one long chapter instead.
If you want to read ahead then check out my Patreon at:
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Haven't slept in 2 days so I won't be able to reply to comnts as I'll be in a sleep coma till tomorrow.
As always Lots of Love
NarutoAuthor
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