231. Interlude: Neji / Yamato
Neji’s life had gone to shit after the chunin exam. His uncle and himself had been cripled worse, his uncle had gone into a coma and even a year later the man hadn’t woken up. To put the cherry on top, the new hokage refused to help citing that Hyuga internal affairs needed to be dealt with by the Hyuga. Neji isn’t dumb, he understood that this was a tacit agreent that the birdcage seals should stay off.
With the main families crippled they had no way to take back control of the branch families. It was bad to the point that all of the main family mbers had been pretty much exiled from the clan. Instead, the hyuga council had been set up with mbers being those voted upon by the rest. It was simply ridiculous in Neji’s opinion.
For the last year he had been stewing in his anger, his hatred and worse, his impotence to do anything at all. He could barely walk a few steps with the help of a cane before imnse pain would attack his nerves. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking no matter what he tried. He is simply miserable.
The only saving grace was that his uncle had quite a fortune saved for his personal use. One that was currently being consud by dical bills and whatever other necessity he needed. Not to ntion the nurses that took care of both Neji and his uncle.
“Do you want revenge?” Neji’s thoughts were interrupted by a gravely deep voice, one that shouldn’t be here. Turning around with great effort Neji’s eyes landed on a man wearing a red oni full mask. The oni mask held an expression of incredible rage and sadness.
“Who are you?” Although Neji wanted to take a fighting stance he simply couldn’t. He had difficulty standing up from his chair much less trying to fight, there was simply no point in even trying.
“Well, I am wearing a mask so giving you my identity would defeat its purpose don’t you think. You can simply call Oni.” Hearing the man’s nonchalant comnt reminded Neji of Tomoka making him want to kill the man here and now.
“Ah, there it is, that anger is why I am here. You and , we have a common enemy. That is why I ask… Do you want revenge?”
Elsewhere Yamato dashed towards the hokage tower. This past year has been…. difficult, for him. Especially so after the attack, to think that his whole team would turn traitor and even to this day, he couldn’t understand why. No, he kinda did, he had known that it was a possibility but he hadn’t thought that it would actually co to happen.
Sure, Tomoka didn’t show any love for the village as a whole but at least, she had people she cared for here. Friends and family, Yamato was sure that would be enough to keep her tied down especially if Hinata and Nozomi remained.
Thinking back on it, it's more likely that those two were the reason for their desertion. It’s said that hindsight is twenty-twenty, Nozomi’s clan had been massacred and so there is little reason for her to truly be loyal to the village that let it happen. Not to ntion, her killing the elders would an that they either had sothing to do with it or soone made her believe so.
Then there is Hinata. Taking into consideration the little love she held for her clan, one mind you that tried to pretty much make her a slave and you could puzzle the rest together. To tell the truth, Yamato was simply in denial. He had figured it out long ago but even to this day he simply didn’t want to believe it.
So lost he was in his thoughts that he didn’t realize he had already reached the hokage’s office until he opened the door. There he saw Jiraiya, one of the three sannin. Even to this day seeing the white haired man seated there gave Yamato a bit of whiplash. His stern expression however made Yamato focus on the here and now.
“Yamato, I would like to personally talk to you about your past team. I have read all the reports on them already, including ones you have written. However, I would like to hear so of it from your own mouth.” Yamato wasn’t a jonin for nothing. Even more to the point, he hadn’t been a root operative for nothing. Sothing had happened involving his past team. Sothing grave from the look of it.
“If I may inquire, why the sudden interest?” He knew that asking was out of line but he wanted to know. The girls had been his first teaching team ever. He felt responsible for their actions. With a sigh Jiraiya just looked out the window before speaking.
“They infiltrated my office sohow without anyone noticing-” That made Yamato flinch. That single sentence had far more information within it that one would think of at face value. For starters the fact that their stealth is so good that not even a full team of expertly trained ninja could perceive them unless they wanted to.
Second, they were here, in the village. The fact he had been called ant that they hadn’t been caught. Which made things even scarier. All of this made Yamato’s ninja training kick in. It took but a mont for him to notice the slight coloration on the floor boards. One that he recognised as recently cleaned blood.
“Sohow, they placed us in a genjutsu which resulted in friendly fire as one of my ANBU almost died, stabbed six ways to sunday as Tomoka said.-” The more Yamato heard the more he realized that the girls had been holding back, a lot. Sure, he is good, he is really good but Yamato would be the first to say that he isn’t that good.
“That is why I want to know more about them. From the little we interacted I fear even I would fall victim to them if they so wanted.-” And wasn’t that frightening. Jiraiya had lived through two wars. He had escaped death more tis than he cared to count. He is a sage and knows how to use the power that cos with that title. Yet, he felt hopeless at the mont Tomoka locked her eyes on him.
“That is why, I need you to tell anything about them, anything you can think about.” At that mont Yamato felt the pressure of a mountain on his shoulders. It wasn’t like the hokage was actually pressuring him actively with his chakra or killing intent. He simply felt the pressure of the mont.
“I… wouldn’t know what to tell really. I knew they were hiding so of their strength. I always thought that it had sothing to do with their dojutsu or clans. In hindsight, I should have known better. Especially after their change after the second round in the chunin exam.”
He wasn’t blind, Yamato had noticed how the girls seed to have had quite the growth spurt in the span of a few weeks. He hadn’t suspected much back then but now… Now sothing told him that it was relevant.
Like that Yamato talked with Jiraiya as they tried to figure out what to do. Especially so after they started connecting so dots. After taking the position of hokage Jiraiya had gained access to a lot of information. He had known that the elders had been taking advantage of their position, though now that he is hokage he finally found out how much.
This combined with Yamato's conjectures and a rather grim picture was being painted. One that got even worse as his sensei’s involvent beca clearer. This problem had been fernting under the surface for the longest ti. After investigating more and more buried docunts the two realized the truth of the matter.
“Fucking Danzo, I never liked the bastard and even now he still gives us problems from beyond the grave.” To put it simply, the two found out all the dirty laundry of the previous governnt officials, from the hokage to the elders and even worse, Danzo.
Because of those old fools Konoha didn’t have one, not two but a total of five S-ranked rough ninjas to their na. Well, blaming Orochimaru desertion to them was a bit much but then again, Jiraiya much preferred to bla them anyway.
Yamato had known that Konoha wasn’t paradise, he as a root operative had known the darkness fairly well. Even he was horrified to see the sheer amount of rot that those old fools had imposed on Konoha. Now, he could very well understand why the girls did what they did and to a certain extent, he agreed with them. All three deserters had sacrificed themselves for the village.
“This is such a ss.” Jiraiya complained under his breath. Yamato just agreed it was an awful, awful ss. At the very least however, Yamato’s guilt diminished a little. Now he knew that the girls didn’t hold any actual grudge against Konoha. Or at least, he thinks they don’t, he couldn’t be sure without asking them anyway.
With their impromptu investigation finished Yamato was dismissed. To tell the truth, he felt drained, not physically or even ntally but emotionally. He had gotten to et the rotten underbelly of his village and he hadn’t liked it one bit. At least, with the rot now extirpated he hoped that things would turn for the better.
Lost in thought once again, Yamato was a bit surprised when a green blur passed him at incredible speed leaving a dust cloud behind. It took but a mont for him to realize who that was. It hadn’t been all that hard, especially taking into consideration the rather loud shouting about youth.
Gai had reminded Yamato about another person, one he considered a friend, Kagami Hatake. It had taken quite a while to get used to the change. Especially so since despite whatever anybody may say he is still a healthy young man.
The first few weeks after the change Yamato had avoided Kagami like the plague. Don’t get him wrong, he did it for both their sake since the always lazy Kagami hadn’t gotten used to her new body at that point. aning she had once opened the door shirtless giving Yamato quite the eyeful.
Worse were the comnts the damned woman would make. Ones that weren’t out of place coming from a pervert like Jiraya or Kakashi, but Kagami is a woman and those very sa comnts simply made Yamato’s mind go to so unhealthy places. Worse is the way Kagami seed to take delight in Yamato’s discomfort.
Yamato had to admit he was a bit at fault for that one. For the longest ti he had teased Kakashi when they were ANBU, now Kagami had found a way to get him back. Thinking about his friend, Yamato decided to pay her a visit. Who knows, maybe go out, get so drinks to forget the grim reality he discovered today.
With that in mind Yamato found himself at Kagami’s apartnt a while later. Before he could knock on the door it swung open showing Kagami with wet hair covered by nothing more than a pair of pastel blue panties that clung tightly to her showing a cal toe. Worse was the fact the only thing covering her upper body modesty was a towel around her neck barely covering her nipples. Of course her face was covered by the ever present mask anyway.
“Damit Kagami, cover up before opening the door!” Yamato had to quickly push his head up while plugging his profusely bleeding nose. Damned be that woman one of these days Yamato would lose control and just push her down. That thought only made the bleeding worse though.
“It's fine, it's fine, it's you anyway, nothing you haven’t seen before.” A tick mark appeared on Yamato’s head hearing how nonchalant the woman was about the whole situation. Sure, she was right, he had seen her like this more than once. That didn’t an it wasn’t troubleso for him!
“What if it wasn’t huh, then what?” Hearing that Kagami just turned around and gave Yamato an infuriating eye smile. While bending over to pick up so clothes giving Yamato a new nose bleed as his eyes were assaulted by the glorious sight of her majestic ass.
“Enhanced senses, rember? I could tell it was you by the door.” That ant she had done it on purpose. Yamato knew this of course but the fact the shaless woman was admitting it in a roundabout way made him very annoyed.
“If I didn’t know better I would think you are trying to seduce .” All he got for an answer was another infuriating eye smile as the woman shalessly wiggled her hips while putting on so rather tight pants.
“What brings you here anyway.” Yamato was very much glad for the change in subject. Especially now that Kagami had finished putting on her clothes. If things had continued as they were he would have needed to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion.
“Nothing important, I had so free ti so I thought we might go out for so drinks.” He regretted saying those words instantly. He knew how they sounded, especially coming from a man to a woman. Kagami wouldn’t let him live this down.
“Sure, it's a date then.-” And there it was, he had seen it coming yet he still couldn’t help but cringe a little. Especially after her next set of words.
“-You are paying.” Shaless, shaless to the bone. Yamato just sighed knowing she wouldn’t let it go. Might as well accept his fate and play along.
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