.three
Anbu Finch did not regret his occupation.
Anbu Finch did not regret fulfilling his duty to the great and glorious Konoha, and he loved every day of his job. If you love your job you'll never work a day in your life. Yes, Hokage-sama, the Will of Fire burns brightly in this one. Finch loves it when small children give him chakra headaches. It's not even the container! No, no, not the beacon of Uzumaki-Bijuu chakra tightly compressed into a baby. No, it's the little demon child who pulses her chakra in irregular patterns with no warning at all! The equivalent of a monkey slapping away at a typewriter, except in this case, you gave the monkey a Morse code guide and a flashlight.
Squad, reassignment request. Finch is standing too close to his taichou but he does not care. Anbu Dog turns his head slowly and lifts his hands agonizingly slow to respond.
Denied.
Taichou. Finch signs with shaking hands and stares into the black pits of the anbu mask.
Dog does not break eye contact, and if Anbu didn’t have the training to control emotions Finch knows Dog would be laughing at him. Dog finger spells in Konoha standard.
D-E-N-I-E-D
Finch hates his job and he hates Konoha.
“You requested my presence, Sandaime-sama.”
“I did.”
The air is heavy with tension and Hisako knows she has to tread carefully. The Sandaime may be old, but the man before her is not the grandfatherly persona created for civilians. This is the man called the God of Shinobi. Hisako does not bow, she stands at attention and does not glance away at the anbu in the room standing like wraiths at the Hokage’s either side.
The newly reinstated Sandaime levels her with a look.
“Explain your reasoning in attempting to relocate the Jinchuriki.”
“Hai Hokage-sama. You are aware of the child currently caring for the container.”
“I am.” The hat tilts forward and the brim shadows the face of Konoha. Smoke drifted from his nose into the cloud gathering on the ceiling.
“The incident where a volunteer tried to harm the container occurred because the container was not in the care of the child known as Ei. I judged that the container would be better protected outside the orphanage.” Hisako’s voice was steady, her face was blank. Despite her civilian clothes, a grey yukata, and tight black pants, Hisako was not the motherly matron of the Konoha Orphanage but a chunin of Konoha right now.
“The child has bonded with the container, and I thought it prudent to place the container with a caretaker free from the prejudice found in my workers.” There was no point in hiding that the former shinobi working as matrons and helpers openly disliked the container.
“Are you aware that moving the Jinchuriki, was not in your authority Hisako?”
“I was given authority to protect the container when you placed him in my care, I made a decision based on those mission parameters.” Hisako’s dusty blonde hair brushed over her shoulder as she bowed low at the waist but remained standing. “Hokage-sama.”
“Good.” The tension lifted and the Hokage’s shadowed face brightened, closer to the old ji-ji known by academy students. “I approve of this decision. The child will be joining the academy soon won’t she?” The purposeful ‘this’ was used instead of ‘your’ saying that the unauthorized move was unappreciated but the sentiment of protecting the child was acknowledged.
Hisako rose from her bow but did not smile back. She still had a mission.
“Hai, she will be joining the Shinobi Academy this year. Her lodgings will be selected so the container can be supervised.”
“Thank you, Hisako-san. This decision was made with good intentions, but be careful to ask for approval when making decisions regarding Naruto hmm?” He puffed on his pipe and blew the smoke to the side. The grandfatherly smile was somewhat offset by sharp glinting eyes.
“It is reassuring to this old man to see his shinobi still have the Will of Fire.”
When Ei came back to the orphanage with Naruto’s room empty, she panicked, but Hisako said that everything in the room had been moved to the apartment. So she rushed back and found the apartment full. She and Naruto did not have much in that old room, and most of what was in the room would be used again for other children. They didn’t own much, definitely not enough to fill an apartment.
Ei knew for a fact that she did not own a rug. She also did not own a green froggy throw blanket. Naruto did not own anything, but he had a box of clothes labeled “Naruto” placed in the bedroom. Ei did not buy meal kits, or toothbrushes, or formula cans, or pencils. She certainly did not fill the cabinets with baby food or put thin story books on the shelf.
“Do you think this is what fully furnished means?” EI asked Naruto in awe. She admired the box of new pencils and fingered the soft fabric of Naruto’s clothes. She laid on her back in a starfish on the new rug and stared at a ceiling with no water-marks.
Ei had not had new things ever, she only had worn clothes and cheap pencils sharpened until they were nubs. She had not had a choice in what kind of miso soup she drank or what color toothbrush she got before. ‘Fully Furnished’ was her new favorite phrase.
“I think this is why everyone becomes a shinobi Naruto!”
Ei could not stop smiling. She pointed out everything in the apartment and narrated everything she did to Naruto. She poured the shitake miso power mix into a mug for breakfast and had a packaged cream bun for dinner. She dressed Naruto in stainless clothes that would always belong to him. She washed their laundry in a little bit of every kind of soap available and laughed when the combination of happy scents made her dizzy.
Ei sat with Naruto and felt every shift and wondered at the colors that moved around her.
There was a bug crawling on that girl’s face. Ei silently watched a bug crawl up the girls cheek and into her ear. Ei glanced at the teacher and back at the girl. Other kids were talking so it was probably fine for Ei to talk quietly as well. She shifted in her little chair and leaned further down the long desk to speak to the girl.
“You have a bug in your ear.” Ei informed the girl in a whisper.
The girl had dark square glasses and brown hair, when she turned the light glinted off the edges.
“I know. I am an Aburame.”
Ei did not think bugs were supposed to be in people’s ears. She tapped her finger against the desk. One. Two. Th-
“The Aburame clan works with insects.” The hooded girl had taken Ei’s wide eyed silence as horror and prepared for the kids around to peel back in disgust.
Ei stared. What she thought was a hair clip was actually another bug. One. Two. Three.
She pointed at the bug masquerading as a clip. “Does that mean the bug in your hair is supposed to be there?” Ei liked bugs, she did not like them in her hair, but she did not mind when they buzzed around her in summer.
The hooded girl waited as well. She had been warned by her parents that the children in the academy were unkind towards bugs, but this girl had not been mean. And she hadn’t screamed when she saw the kikaichu beetle like the girl from the park.
“Yes. The Aburame clan hosts insects inside our bodies. I am training my hive to stay with me.”
Ei nodded to herself. That was a little weird. It was cool though.
“My name is Ei. Can I see one of your bugs?”
The hooded girl nodded back. “My name is Aburame Kaho. I host a hive of beetles called Kikaichu.” Kaho allowed the beetle that had been hiding under her thumb to crawl to the back of her hand. She extended the hand towards Ei and could not hold back the pleased hum. Maybe not everyone would think she was gross.
Ei smiled at the shiny beetle, she told the beetle it was very pretty and the relaxed hum around her grew a bit louder. Kaho pulled her hood back to shake her hair, displacing two beetles that flew down to join the one on her hand.
“Do they have names Aburame-san? Your beetles?” Ei was now fully ignoring the teacher writing simple hiragana sentences in big swoops on the chalkboard and focused entirely on the clicking kikaichu in front of her. She scooted her chair a bit further down the line towards Kaho to properly observe the creatures.
Kaho shook her head, “No. I have many beetles in my hive, and they all breed too quick for me to name them.” She hummed and Ei’s smile grew bigger when the beetles matched the humm with their buzzing wings.
Ei liked the buzzing around Kaho. It was different than Naruto’s orange sun, or Hisako’s water over rocks. The buzzing around Kaho wasn't just the beetles, every breath she took Ei could feel a thousand other tiny breaths, but it wasn’t bright or overwhelming. Kaho reminded Ei of the rumbling drying machine on the bottom floor of her apartment complex. “Cool.”
Ei looked up just before the teacher turned around to admonish the talking students behind him. Her sensei was called Renji, and he was the tallest man she’d ever seen. He had a shorter haircut and wore his hitai-ate on his forehead. “Bring your attention towards me please!”
Kaho’s beetles crawled back into her hair and shuffled her hood back on. She was excited to tell her parents about the girl who liked her bugs. Being an Aburame, Kaho outwardly only had pink cheeks, but she was extremely pleased.
Renji-sensei rapped his knuckles on the board to call the wandering attention back to the board. “Can anyone read these hiragana? It’s alright if you can’t, but I'd like to see where everyone’s reading level is.”
One boy shouted out, “Ano- sensei! The first sentence, the first one says "To Eat Dinner!”
“Thank you Shota, that is correct! However, I was going to ask everyone who can read hiragana to raise their hands.”
Shota let out an “ack” and sat down, giggles from the kids around him made him slump down in his chair a little.
“That's alright Shota-kun! Remember class, when you want to answer a question please raise your hand and wait for me to call on your name please.” Renji smiled kindly at the boy.
Ei did not see why this was funny but resolved to raise her hand when the next question was asked. Ei privately thought that she was very lucky to sit next to the polite bug girl.
Renji-sensei called for those who knew hiragana to raise their hands, those who knew katakana, and those who knew keigo. The only children who knew how to write keigo were the two Hyuuga boys and an Akimichi girl.
“Alright!” He clapped his hands together. “It seems like I have a very accomplished class this year!” Ei beamed back at her sensei, Hisako-san was right to tell Ei to practice her characters before the school started. “I will hand out this worksheet, please try your very best to read and complete the paper. If anyone needs help, please ask your seat neighbors or me!”
Renji placed three sheets on each desk row and low chatter filled the room as students began working. Ei takes the page passed down to her by Kaho and pulls a shiny new blue pencil from her bag. The worksheet is easy for her, very similar to the ones in her book. Trace the sentence, write your name in hiragana, katakana, and the kanji. Ba-n, Go, Ha-n, Wo, Ta, Be, Ma, Su. She whispers he-no-he-no-mo-he-ji like Hisako taught while the pencil scratches on her paper. When she is done she places her pencil on the desk and looks around.
Kaho was still working and the seat next to her was empty. The row in front of her has two kids working together while the third scratched his head. A Hyuuga boy is using a brush. The row with three girls is comparing their colorful erasers. Ei thinks about the smooth unmarked sun eraser in her bag.
Kaho taps her shoulder and points with her pencil toward the Kanji that makes her name.
“Is that how you spell your name?”
“Yes Aburame-san, the kanji for-” Ei, Gap, Loneliness, Nothing, “Sky.”
Kaho hmms. “You do not have a last name?”
“No. I am an orphan.”
Kaho hmms again. “I can not call you by your last name, so you may call me by my first name.”
Ei blinks. Few people at the orphanage had last names, but she had always been told to use the family name. She tilts her head. “Kaho…san?”
Kaho shuffles in her seat. She hopes that she is right.
“You should use kun. We are similar in age, Ei-kun. And we are friends.”
Ei blinks again and smiles brightly. “Mh! Kaho-kun!”
Renji smiled at the two shy girls in the back of his class. He had hoped that his class would be kind to the only Aburame in their year. His worries seemed to be for nothing though, the two girls said to be the shyest in their reports appeared to be good for each other.
Finch dropped from the ceiling of the ‘Lady’s Kunai’, a small but respectable shinobi bar on the north side of Konoha. The normal rowdiness of a bar catered towards people who can breathe fire was not present. All shinobi had sobered up and were staring at the anbu in a squat on the bar counter.
“Naka.” Said kunoichi jerked and the entire bar looked between the woman and the anbu wraith.
“Shinobi registration number 208594. Chunin Rank. Shinobi Academy Sensei of class four, year three.” Finch was suppressing the urge to shake with rage. His monotone voice was the only sound in the entire bar.
“Y-Yes? AN-Anbu-san!” She squeaked and quickly set down her neon blue concoction of Suna alcohol before the rest of it shook out of her glass.
“Students at the shinobi academy begin chakra studies in their second year, correct?”
“Yes?” Her voice did not crack but she also hadn’t blinked since Finch dropped from the ceiling.
That was unacceptable. Finch would not wait a year. A year of chakra headaches. Finch wished he could dramatically throw down his mask and scream ‘I QUIT!’ but alas, he was not allowed to quit. He wrapped a chameleon jutsu around himself without hand signs and disappeared. Halfway across the district with a shunshin and he thought. Surely I could pull strings to stick the kid in advanced classes.
He stopped on a roof and didn’t bother to unwrap the jutsu. It was his off-day and as long as he didn’t cause problems, he could sit on a roof while invisible as long as he pleased.
The Sandaime doesn’t allow early graduation outside of wartime. So I’ll have to- WAIT.The Uchiha heir. He was put in advanced classes. Yeah. I could definitely do something like that. I know the kid can read. Yes. Perfect.
The body posture and steady breathing did not indicate that the shinobi was losing his mind. Perks of Anbu reaction training.