Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_275

Maruboshi was stunned silent by the time Takuma was done with the retelling of events of his mission. He looked at his student, who was staring at the persimmon tree in the garden. Takuma had been targeted by ROOT, and by some bizarre coincidence, he found the agent behind his assassination in the same city behind enemy lines as him. It made Maruboshi wonder if it was really a coincidence.

"Takuma... do you think ROOT had a hand in your conscription to the war?" Maruboshi voiced his doubt.

Takuma looked back from the tree, and he saw thoughts sprinting behind the perpetually tired eyes. "I do not know," he said. "It doesn't seem likely because there was no way to guarantee I’d be in that city as part of the mission unless Jonin Toridasu, who assigned the mission, was somehow connected with ROOT. But then, if I were in his place, I would've gotten rid of me quite easily in the chaos of the gold mine operation by making it look like a combat death... I say coincidence," he said and then returned to look back at the tree.

Maruboshi breathed deeply. From the looks of it, Takuma had the time to come to terms with being targeted by ROOT, but he only had known about it for less than half an hour and was more stressed about it than his student. He had been a Leaf shinobi for decades, but because of his position as a genin and only that, he wasn't privy to secrets like ROOT—but despite that, he knew of them because large secrets tend to drip out in the form of rumours. He knew they were dangerous—and from the recent revelations, he also knew that ROOT was headed by Shimura Danzo, and he knew firsthand how dangerous that man truly was.

Which was why Maruboshi had to ask.

"Did the letter to Uchiha Mikoto have to do something with ROOT?" he asked.

When Takuma turned to look at him, Maruboshi clenched his feet to restrain any reaction when he saw a glint of cold calculations in his student's eyes. He got the feeling that Takuma was trying to discern if he had read the contents of the letter. But the look disappeared almost instantly as Takuma quickly hid the look of self-disappointment and shame that followed.

"I don't want to lie to you," Takuma said in a half-whisper, unwilling to meet his gaze.

Maruboshi sighed but nodded. "That is fine, I understand. But if you ever need help, you must know that you can always come to me."

"I know," Takuma nodded softly.

Maruboshi smiled, but his mind raced internally because Takuma had just all but confirmed to him that he was somehow part of the entire Uchiha-Danzo-ROOT incident that had shaken the village. It was perhaps the most high-profile incident after Orochimaru's defection, which had happened soon after the Nine-Tails incident.

He felt melancholic as he recognised that the helpless academy kid had grown into a splendid shinobi who had already seen a war. His student had suffered through the loss of loved ones and now bared a secret he couldn't share, all of which weighed on him. Maruboshi wished that Takuma would've stayed free of that weight for longer, but he was now on a road of his own and an old head like him could only provide support when asked of him.

"What was she like, your teammate?" Maruboshi asked, wanting Takuma to release more of his sorrow.

"You would've liked her," Takuma said with a hint of the softest smile, the first since he had come to the house. "She was a straight arrow, and her words were blunt as a hammer. That would get her in trouble, but it was also her charm. To be able to live with such straightforward convictions was admirable. You could trust her because you knew that she would tell you the bitter truth. I envied her for that. I want to be like her, but I know I can't... I would fail... It's too difficult if you aren't fully committed."

Maruboshi didn't interrupt and let Takuma continue talking so he would fall deeper into his memories with Rikku, which would undoubtedly be attached to positive emotions, which would bring some relief to his aching heart.

"Rikku was the backbone of the team. She would ask questions others were embarrassed about asking because they thought it would make them look stupid, and it would help everyone clear misunderstandings. It fostered an environment of openness. She was the only one who could’ve done that. You needed someone like that in your team and she was that someone for us..."

The smile that had developed as he spoke about his teammate suddenly flipped, replaced by a tight frown, as the mood plummeted. A muted storm of rage tugged on his expression, and his hand holding the empty cup tightened around the clay on the verge of breaking.

Maruboshi was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude. The emotion wasn't out of place, but Takuma hadn't shown anger before when he had initially talked about Rikku. There was sorrow and anguish but not anger. This was new. His instinct told him that he should be worried about it.

"You are angry," he stated.

Takuma exhaled the anger through deep breaths. "That piece of junk killed her while she was trying to protect me... I owe her my life, and if I find that bastard, I'm going to make him suffer. I want him to regret being born. I pray to the divine that he lives a good, satisfied, and healthy life because that way it'll mean so much more when it ends—and I want to be the one to end it."

Revenge. Maruboshi immediately wanted to dissuade Takuma from pursuing revenge. It was an ugly emotion that destroyed people by derailing lives. His student had potential and a bright career ahead of him; he didn't want any of that snuffed by something like revenge.

"A man that seeks revenge keeps his wounds green," Maruboshi said solemnly, choosing his words carefully.

The anger in Takuma’s eyes flared. "So you're saying that I should just let it go?" his voice was heated.

"Yes, I am saying that you should let it go because it would be better for you, but if you can not, then you should not let it become your sole goal. You will become a shell of yourself if you let it consume you. I know it might feel that revenge focuses you, but it will take away everything else that is not essential to the revenge itself, and you’ll be left with nothing." said Maruboshi with a sad expression. A close friend of his had fallen into the pit of revenge, unable to climb out for ages, and when he did, he found there was nothing left in his life as he sacrificed everything to attain his goal. “Do not make the mistakes so many others have made. Give priority to things in life that are truly important.”

Takuma nodded, but Maruboshi could see that he wasn't convinced, which was fine for now; as long as his words stayed in Takuma's mind, there was a chance that they would someday take hold and steer him on the right path.

———

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Oishi Taro was one of the many genin analysts working in the Analysis Team of the Hidden Leaf's Intelligence Department. He was at the bottom of the wrung at his place of work, but he enjoyed his job, which involved sifting through the information that passed through his desk to find valuable intel of any sort. He spent his days behind a desk in a drab office building, which was always a welcome experience because the alternative would be doing physical duties outdoors like many of his peers. His mother still forced him to train his combat skills, which was something he didn't want to do, but he felt like he had no choice. Life couldn’t be perfect.

Just like any other day, the clock struck half past one to start lunchtime. Taro closed the several open information folders and a dozen scrolls on his cluttered desk that was packed with paper on the top and in the drawers. And like everyone on the floor, he promptly left the building for their break without looking  back, his work already at the back of his mind by the time he stepped out of the building.

He had been extremely busy since he had started the job. He was a green rookie, and it took twice, even thrice, as long to do the same work that his experienced coworkers could do so much quicker. He had spent months staying late after office hours, spent his weekends working, and hadn't had a proper office break just so he could complete his job on time and learn how to do it quicker to make his life easier.

Finally, he had gotten a hold on the job and had reached a level where could afford to take breathers. He no longer needed to work through breaks, and that day, he was meeting with some of his academy classmates to catch up. The location was a quaint diner near his office, and to Taro’s delight, there wasn't a rush which meant he could take his time without feeling the pressure to vacate right after eating.

"Taro, here!"

He looked across the diner floor to see Aimi, an academy classmate, enthusiastically waving her hand. He felt exhausted just by looking at the energetic girl. He dragged his feet toward the four-top table where three people were already seated and waiting for him.

"I would pay real money to see you exhausted to the point of crying just once," Taro said as he sat down, and the thought brought a floaty smile to his face.

"I resent that look," Aimi pouted.

Taro looked past her and greeted his other two ex-classmates. Inuzuka Hana and Takeshi Ono. He was never close to Hana as they were never in the same groups, but he connected to her through Aimi. Ono was a close friend; they were practically joined by the hip when they were in the academy, but their paths had diverged since Ono passed the jonin test, whereas he had failed it. They no longer had as much time to hang out with each other. However, their friendship remained strong regardless.

"You have been working hard," Ono commented with a smile.

"I am. What gave it away?" asked Taro as he stretched his arms above his head.

"The ink stains on your palm. I never thought I would see a day where you'd be willing to pick a pen enough for it to leave stains."

Taro glanced at his writing hand, and his palm was indeed stained with black ink. Note-taking was an essential part of his job and he went through pens faster than his chain-smoking boss went through packs of cigarettes. He had even started to smell like paper because of his job.

"It's a pain in the butt," Taro scoffed.

"I think you like it," Hana said with a knowing smile.

"Not really," Taro shook his head after thinking about it. The job was tough, and he had to put in so much effort just to become decent at it. He wasn't looking forward to the amount of effort that it would take to become good at it.

"Oh, come on. You're Taro—bare minimum is your life motto—and you just admitted to having worked hard. Either they force or you are willingly doing it and seeing that you haven’t started moaning about your work, I think you like it. You're working hard because you finally found something that suits you," said Hana. She was sitting on the outer side of the sofa bench, and one of her trio of grey ninken(dogs) that lay on the floor beside their table near her leg barked happily. "See, even the triplets agree. Congratulations, you’re now one step closer to a normal boy."

"I am a normal boy, and they sure have gotten bigger," Taro said as he stared at the ninken.

In the academy, she used to carry one of them on her head, the second one in a pouch in her clothes, and the last one in her arms. Now they were big enough that neither of those methods were viable. He had seen several Inuzuka clan’s ninken—they could grow bigger until Hana could ride any of them as steads.

"Look at you avoiding the topic! It's so cute." Aimi had a lopsided grin as she rested her face in her arms and looked at him, amused.

"I'm hungry, so let's order something," Taro said, disregarding their chuckles as he picked up the menu.

They ordered and got back to catching up with each other with their busy lives.

Aimi had been on several back-to-back outstation missions that took her all over the Land of Fire. She described it as half work, half travel and seemed to enjoy the time spent away from the village.

"I met the Fire Daimyo," she bragged.

"No way, seriously? How was that?" asked Taro as he munched on the fried Enoki mushrooms that they had ordered for the table.

"It was like meeting with the Lord Hokage. I mean, I knew that I could wipe the floor with him, but he had this presence to him—like I got it—the man before me was the ruler of an entire nation. I have to say, though, he had these armoured samurai with him, and those guys were serious—they were sharp if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't know what you mean."

"They would cut you in an instant if you made a wrong move. You'd be dead, Taro," Aimi said sympathetically.

"I mean... I wouldn't make a wrong move."

Unlike Aimi's busy team, Ono's team had entered a period of downtime and were taking a break from missions to dedicate an extended period of time to training up their individual skills.

"Izumi is already training her second B-rank jutsu. It's completely wild," said Ono. He was on the same team as Uchiha Izumi, who had been earning a reputation as one of the most promising young talents in the village, standing apart from even her elder Uchiha peers. "And that's not even the crazy part. It’s the nature of the B-rank: it’s not her primary affinity. She’s setting herself to meet the two nature jonin requirements."

Taro whistled. It was clear that the Uchiha clan was investing in Izumi. He didn't even have a B-rank on his horizon. In fact, he didn't know when he would have enough contributions to get himself a B-rank jutsu—or if he would ever need one.

"And what about you, Miss Chunin?" Taro asked as he turned to Hana. "You better pay for this meal. Bter yet, I want a party."

Their academy batch had participated in their first Chunin Exams and their performance as a batch had been relatively phenomenal. Their batch had produced twelve teams, out of which only four were accepted by jonin, which led to twelve people with early chances to become chunin. And on their first try, three out of twelve genin had managed to get promoted.

Inuzuka Hana was one of them.

"There'll be a party next week; you can stuff your mouth there, Everyone from the class is invited" said Hana with a smile.

"Works for me," said Taro. Both Aimi and Ono had participated, but both were eliminated after the second round. As for Taro, he hadn't even participated because he had managed to get into the Intelligence Division and was in no rush to risk his life in the Chunin Exams. "So what's chunin life like?"

"I don't know; it's not any different yet. Sensei said that he would have me take the team on a C-rank mission as the leader next month. That's going to be exciting, but until then, nothing's really changed," said Hana, shrugging before she remembered something. "Oh, something happened recently. We met with this old shinobi—as old as Lord Third. He said that he was merely two years younger."

"Someone retired?" asked Ono.

"Actually, no, he’s still very much active, as in field active," said Hana.

"Wow, now that's something. A jonin?"

"Here’s the shocker. A genin," said Hana.

The reactions were expected because people a genin the age of the Hokage were practically unheard of. Most genin and even some chunin retired in their forties, and there was no reason for someone as old as the Hokage to be active in the field as a genin.

"If I remember correctly, his name is Maruboshi Kosuke," Hana said, and that made Taro furrow his brows because he felt like he recognised that name. She continued, "The chunin in charge of the exam wanted us to meet him and listen to his advice because he had been shinobi for such a long time. In fact, he said that Mister Maruboshi knew more about being a shinobi than the Lord Third himself."

"What? Someone said that?" Aimi gasped in surprise. The Third Hokage was dubbed the 'God of Shinobi'; saying that there was someone who knew more about being a shinobi than the Third Hokage was a bold claim.

"It made sense after we talked to him," Hana nodded deeply. "Even though he's only a genin, the village asks him to lead teams on B-rank missions because of his sheer field experience and capabilities. Mister Maruboshi has been on the field longer than any shinobi alive. Lord Third hasn't been an active shinobi for decades now— but Mister Maruboshi has been on the field his entire, very long career; he has officially completed more missions than any Leaf shinobi on record and the chunin said no one’s breaking that record. And the way Mister Maruboshi talked about being a shinobi—I'll say that the claim isn't a stretch."

"Ah, I recognise that name!" Taro, who had been deep in his thoughts, trying to grab the memory that escaped him frustratingly, suddenly banged his fist on the table, startling Hana's triplet ninken, who raised their heads with their ears standing straight up and stared at him. "Maruboshi Kosuke—yeah, that's Takuma's teacher. I met him once. And yes, he is… ancient."

He had met Maruboshi in the hospital the day after Takuma had been admitted to the hospital after the assassination attempt on his life. Maruboshi had introduced himself as Takuma's former teacher.

"Speaking of Takuma, I just remembered," Ono said as he snapped his fingers. "The Uchiha really use him for their General Induction Program."

"What do you mean?" asked Taro.

The Hidden Leaf Military Police Force, which only recruited from the Uchiha and a couple of their allied clans, had opened up to any Leaf shinobi interested in joining the Police Force. The General Induction Program was the way to apply and get into the Police Force and involved meeting demanding criteria and passing numerous tests to see if the applicants were fit to join the Police Force.

"I attended one of their introductory forums where they were telling us why we should join the Police Force, and he was the biggest highlight example they used. Everyone's sceptical that they wouldn't rise up the ranks inside the Police Force because the Uchiha will only promote their own—but they used Takuma as an example—he joined one of the biggest departments in the Police Force from Day-1 and launched and led a new team that's now a full-on sub-department," Ono looked like he was impressed by what he saw. They were trying to say that they could be like Takuma if they joined the Police Force.

Taro sat up prouder as he heard his friend getting praised. "You know, he was in the paper a lot for conducting drug busts."

"Arisu said he was a big deal," said Hana, who was close with Fuma Arisu, who had worked closely with Takuma.

"I mean, we discussed Takuma before at our class gatherings, but when I saw a Uchiha talking about him with his face on the board—they did not use a good photo—it hit me that he was really doing something big," said Ono.

Takuma was a topic of discussion in their class gatherings. Because Arisu worked with him, she told him all sorts of stories about Takuma, but a lot of people didn't take her seriously because of Takuma's academy reputation and thought that she was just trying to hype him up because she was working under him and didn't want to be made fun of because she was the "dead-last's" subordinate. Taro had tried to support and prop up her claims, but he didn't have the social standing within the class for anyone to really listen to him.

Taro sighed. He missed his friend. It had been three months since he had received his last letter that said that he wouldn't be writing for a while because of a mission. He felt really nervous every time Takuma showed up in his thoughts and wished he would return home safely as soon as possible.

"Why were you at a Police Force forum?" asked Hana, confused.

Ono slumped in his chair and sighed. "Our sensei isn't sure that he would continue the team past the next year, so I've started looking for options about what I should do after the team is declared inactive."

The jonin teams that were formed right after academy graduations had a life of four years where the jonin was in charge of the development of the genin, but after that, it was up to the jonin if they wanted to continue the team and could disband it if they weren’t interested. Their batch had already been genin for three years with only one year left before the jonin could disband the teams.

"I don't want to get stuck in the Genin Corp, and Izumi suggested that I look into the Police Force, so I went to the open forum. I don't know if I'll enter, but it's on the list," Ono shrugged.

"Well, I'm set, so I don't have to worry," Taro raised his hands. He was in the Analysis Team and produced enough work that there was no way he was going to get fired—which couldn't happen because his mother would rip his head from his body if he lost the job. "Sucks for you, though," he smirked.

"We hadn't sparred in forever. Let's do it. I want to spar with you," Ono said and tried to lock Taro in a head-hold.

"Get off me!" Taro pushed Ono away before his hands could get close to him.

"So, how's he? I heard he had a difficult time out there," asked Aimi.

Taro picked up another slice of fried mushroom and was enjoying the crispiness when he realised that Aimi was talking to him.

"Me? What did you say? I missed it," he asked.

"I'm talking about Takuma. Have you met him yet? How is he?" asked Aimi.

"Takuma's not back. What are you talking about?" asked Taro, perplexed.

"Kameko's back home and she said that he came back with her."

Taro was utterly baffled by Aimi's words and couldn't believe her because he would've heard from Takuma if he had come back, but then he calmed down. "When did they return?" he asked, thinking Takuma must have returned only a day or two ago and was resting.

"A full week—seven days."

———

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AN: This was a long boy. I didn't know why, but I could not stop wrap up that diner conversation and it just went and on and on before I could finally bring Takuma up and reveal that his friends don't know that he's back home for a week already.