Growth
Mei was baffled. The letters she had been receiving from the Hokage lately had largely been regarding their shared soldier. Questions regarding any kind of medical records (of which there were none, which caused a rather… strained exchange), regarding any other mission history (which Mei hadn’t been willing to hand over, though she suspected Tsunade understood that some of those missions had to remain as classified as possible), and general progress as a shinobi. With the reports and her little plan for Ren, she had no doubt the girl was a shoe-in for a jounin position upon her return.
This one was different. It had the usual inquiries and diplomatic motions, but it also contained the first step to cementing a relationship between the two villages, though. The first one that said they wanted to do anything to keep the two allies, at least as long as they were in peace times.
At your earliest convenience, I would like to meet and discuss sending a shinobi to learn your Korean language. I believe relations between our villages, and nations, will be significantly improved if we find a way to reach understandings in both of our native languages.
“Well I’ll be damned.”
If she hadn’t sent him on a mission, she would have waved it in Ao’s face, laughing even as he undoubtedly just continued to be a downer. They were making progress with Konoha, and that was enough of a reason to celebrate, in her opinion.
Maybe she could get her favorite red head to share a drink with her when she got back from her mission. Until then, though, she had a fellow Kage to talk to.
Soo-Jung was going to drive her up a wall, she swore that girl was going to die, and if she wasn’t careful she would…
A hand grabbed her sleeve. Ji-Su. “Seonsaengnim, I don’t think killing your friend will help.”
“I’m not going to kill her. Just maim her enough that some wild animals come looking.”
“You gotta catch me first, Sunbae!” Soo-Jung was on top of one of the buildings they were rebuilding, dancing around with a look of glee on her face. “And to do that you’d have to, you know, actually move!”
Her pain had gotten worse, and while she could ignore it, it made fooling Soo-Jung much harder than fooling her genin.
“What’s she talking about Seonsaengnim?” Mi-Na poked her side.
At least Jae-Un was smiling. She had been getting quieter and more reserved the longer they stayed.
“Nothing, Hakseng. Come on, let the crazy person yell and dance, we’ve got work to do.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault most of the jounin in this country are fucked up beyond belief.” Soo-Jung was suddenly beside her and threw an arm around her. Painfully. “Besides, it’s not like you’ve got mental health that’s so stellar yourself, ya know.”
“Yes, I’m more than aware that the psych ward has a running file on me.”
It was true. She had never been committed, but after some of the more… some of her missions, she had heard they kept tabs on her behavior and mission reports to make sure she wasn’t about to go off the deep-end. Apparently, when Mei had heard word of the Uchiha Massacre all those years ago, it had impacted her. Now that she had power, she had set it up that those who were competent enough and had been emotionally compromised in the line of duty were kept under watch. If they were deemed a potential danger they were either put on mandatory administrative leave or removed from the force. Both options came with armed guards.
Even Kirigakure had lines they never wanted crossed.
The civilians in this town still didn’t implicitly trust the shinobi in their borders, much less other shinobi, but they seemed to have warmed up to them in the last few weeks.
Oh the magic of fresh-faced, starry-eyed genin. There was something to be said for Mei’s idea to send the occasional genin team on the rebuilding missions.
They were technically B-Ranked because of the damage done during the war and the lack of trust from and for the civilians in some areas. When her genin were ready for the Chuunin exams it would serve them well to have a couple of these higher ranked missions to pad their resumes. The other kages wouldn’t necessarily be eager to send a Kiri team up a rank, but it would be hard to deny a team with a solid mission record and good performance.
Jae-Seon grabbed some supplies and started towards her work, elbowing Ren lightly in the side. “Take a rest, seonsaengnim! We’ve got this!”
“You say that now, but-“
“No buts, seonsaengnim, you’re taking the day off!”
One of the older women smiled at the exchange, laying a hand on Ren’s shoulder (which she fastidiously avoided reacting to) as she said, “I would listen to them, young lady. You’re not going to win this one.”
The woman walked off, Soo-Jung watching her go as she leaned in and whispered about “damned nosy ajumas” and punched Ren in the shoulder. “Well, Chae-Seon, you’re off the clock and I’m here to make sure you stay that way. Come on.”
Chae-Seon didn’t move. Instead, she shrugged her friend’s hand off. “Nah. I’m helping.”
“No. You’re not.”
The resulting fight didn’t last very long.
One of these days, Chae-Seon would start listening to doctors. But it was not today.
Iruka fidgeted outside the Hokage’s office. There was no way he had messed up. Had he? He had a few clan kids in his class, did he accidentally offend one of them?
Oh god. He was screwed.
“Relax, Umino-san.” Shizune looked up from her filing. She was in from the hospital this morning, and Iruka had to wonder if it was Tsunade’s way of making her take a break. “I know for a fact you have nothing to worry about!”
Somehow, that wasn’t very comforting.
Yep. Not comforting at all. Instead of getting to keep his comfortable teaching job that he was actually good at, he was being given a promotion to jounin so he qualified to go to another village and work towards a peace pact with them, because that was an excellent use of his skills.
Absolutely not.
“Are you sure about this Hokage-sama? I appreciate your faith in me, but don’t you think it’s maybe...”
“A little misplaced?” Tsunade arched an eyebrow. “I’ll admit, my jounin commander wasn’t sure you would be good for the job. He had his reservations, particularly about your lack of field experience.
“But if we want this peace to last we have to make peace with the people, not just the village. And where we are right now, none of our people can communicate with the average person there. They have their own language, and if we want to start bridging a gap, we need to teach the next generation.
“You’ll be staying with an undercover of ours in Kiri, if everything goes to plan, and you’ll be learning the language from her and her roommates.”
“Undercover? We have someone in Kiri? Does the Mizukage know we’re spying while we try to make a peace pact? Should we have sent someone this soon after the war? Hokage-sama-“
“Umino,” Tsunade levelled a harsh glare at him. “You don’t need to worry about our politics. Everything was worked out with the current Mizukage, and they’ve been undercover for two and a half years.”
“During the war?” Something struck Iruka. Team Seven had been split up for training two and a half years prior, and as far as he knew, Riko wasn’t returning anytime soon.
The Hokage wouldn’t…
“Yes, during. There are negotiations in the works, which you will be attending. Upon your return to Konoha after learning Korean you will be back to teaching, but you will no longer be a general curriculum teacher. Understood?”
“Understood, Hokage-sama.”
“Umino, I wouldn’t have picked you for this if I didn’t think you could handle it.”
“Understood, Hokage-sama.”
Her team was going to kill her. But what could she say? ”Oh yeah, I come from the village just an hour or so east that got razed to the ground, and I know almost everyone here because my family hid out here before they ran!”
Nope. Nope. She wasn’t going to get into it with them. She had enough of that sappy shit when that when Eun-Jin, the woman who had tapped her teacher on the shoulder, had pulled her aside and hugged her.
She was a ninja. She wasn’t supposed to be sappy.
But it was so hard when she could see the damage from that day around her. And even if they were rebuilding, she could still feel the blood on her clothes and in her hair. She could still hear her mother screaming for her as she felt people run over her towards the boats to the mainland as the former Mizukage’s forces tried their best to beat out any rebels and potential supporters, not caring if this village went down just like hers had.
She hadn’t been able to get up, too many feet colliding with her.
She was only alive because Eun-Jin had picked her up in the mess and tried to get her to a boat. But Eun-Jin was closing in on ninety. She may be strong, a former kunoichi long since retired that had kept in shape, but there was only so much speed she could get up in that moment with a twelve-year-old in her arms.
Her mother’s face had been tear-streaked, and it was seared into her memory since then.
Eun-Jin had taken care of her, helped her recover from her injuries.
She had been the one to take her to Terumi-Seonsaengnim. She had been the one to set her on her path.
And now she was the one trying to find the girl and get her to speak to her.
And Jae-Un couldn’t bring herself to face her. She couldn’t look at the woman without knowing what she lost. She had family, and she didn’t even know if they were alive or dead, or if they had found refuge somewhere.
She had nothing on them, and all she had as some sort of connection was this old woman that had picked up a near-trampled twelve-year-old and tried to help her.
“You can’t run forever, Kim-shi.”
“Byeon-shi.” Jae-Un adjusted the tools she was carrying. “How may I help you?”
“You can help me by joining me for tea, young lady. I didn’t let you go into shinobi work just to watch you ignore me when I saw you again.”
“Let me? You practically pushed me into it!”
“And it was this or watching you go down the same route as so many of the other young women left destitute and alone by the war.
“You have an opportunity here to gain power, not to be demeaned for your profession and at the mercy of your madame.”
“I wouldn’t have gone into-“
“You can’t say that now. You can’t speak for what you would have done in a different situation, because you haven’t lived the possibilities.”
“Byeon-shi…”
“You can be as much of an individual as you’d like. All I ask is a request for you to let me know if you need help. If you’re okay.”
“Byeon-shi.” Jae-Un inhaled, bracing herself. “If I am to grow, I can’t cling to my past.”
“Clinging to your past and accepting it as part of you are different things, Jae-Un. You may never find your family, but you have people here for you, and you have a team that enjoys you.
“I was a kunoichi once too, young lady. Kiri doesn’t teach this, but your team can be one of your most valuable assets, and your past can draw you together where there hasn’t been enough time for the bond to form.
“I only want to help you, Jae-Un. It is up to you to take my advice.”
Jae-Un glanced at the chord around her wrist. It had a small piece of wood tied at either end with her name carved gently and carefully into it, though the wood had been worn down so her name was faint enough to be barely visible.
It had been a gift from her older brother.
“Understood, Byeon-shi.”
Naruto looked between his teacher and the Hokage.
“What do you mean?! First you say Ri-chan isn’t coming back, then you say you’re sending Iruka-sensei away, and now you’re taking Kaka-sensei too?!”
“Naruto, Iruka will only be gone for a few months, and with luck Riko will be coming back soon. Kakashi will be gone for a few weeks, at most.
“If all goes well on this mission, then we will be back in two weeks and I’ll have more answers. But you can’t come in here and complain every time you get mad.”
Naruto frowned, crossing his arms. “I still don’t think it’s fair. How else are we supposed to learn cool stuff?”
“I will be providing you a temporary teacher. Now get out of my office!”
“But, Baa-chan!”
“But, Naruto!”
If Kakashi decided to watch the conversation devolve from there (and keep his protégé captive to watch as well), well those in the Jounin headquarters would understand, and they were the only people whose opinions mattered. After all, they were the ones he went drinking with.
“Maa, Sasuke-kun. You shouldn’t leave your teammate to fight their battles alone, not even in-village. Haven’t you learned this by now?”