twelve.
Some small evaluations and quick lessons later, Ikaru had her own mask and was doing work around HQ. She was placed at a mid-chunin level. Since her abilities mainly centered on her very detailed but small-ranged (for now) sensing, she was doing odd jobs while continuing to train her taijutsu, kenjutsu, and bukijutsu up to jonin standards.
Wires were something she was actually quite good at, her small and nimble fingers coupled with her fine chakra control made her a quick learner, and an even better shinobi. With only a few coils she had a good, chakra conductive weapon, with a couple feet of wire she could make a razor-sharp net and easily lop off a couple fingers. Even though her sparring partner at the time was just a bunshin, it made bile rise to her throat when Shouman-san’s pinky was cut off so easily during training.
Shouman-san was her main sparring partner, and he hit hard . In line with his unfortunate name, Shouman-san was very good at making every spar extremely painful. Ikaru ended up learning some basic iyro-ninjutsu just because of how often she had to fix her own broken bones. Sparring with him and others on a daily basis made her stronger, faster, and more lethal. Once he was satisfied that she could hold her own against most opponents he stopped showing up at her room at 0500 hours every day to drag her to the giant open rooms for training. She was expected to continue to upkeep and hone her other skills without intervention from instructors.
As for kenjutsu, every shinobi in the foundation was required to have a good knowledge of the Tanto. It was a short straight blade a bit longer than a knife. Ikaru did not like the tanto, the short blade was made for stabbing and slashing which suited her strengths in close-quarters taijutsu but she just didn’t feel any need to further her skills with the tanto or try to learn the skills for a longer blade like some. From her observations, plenty of people used chokuto blades as well, which were like straight wakizashi, but kenjutsu wasn’t as popular in Konoha as ninjutsu or bukijutsu.
She had enough ninjutsu, knowing basic jutsu like Mud Wall, Mud Slide, Hiding in the Earth, Lesser Fire Ball, Greater Fire Ball, and Water Bullets. Smaller chakra manipulations that weren’t really combat-oriented but useful to know, like refilling a water bottle from the air and covering up disturbed earth. Root’s style wasn’t flashy and didn’t require a large accumulation of jutsu, her skills in taijutsu and shinobi hand-skills was good.
Her duties were mostly in the HQ, and her most recent one was working with other shinobi from the Foundation to upkeep the seal network that kept the base hidden and stopped it from collapsing. Quite poetically, the main Foundation compound was centered under Anbu headquarters, but there were tunnels, record rooms, training facilities, meeting rooms, laboratories, and dorms connected and scattered through the forest and under the Hokage mountain. Some of the Sennin Orochimaru-sama’s laboratories originally belonged to Root and could be accessed through those tunnels. Those tunnels were largely jutsu-created, so without the seals they could collapse. Ikaru’s job was checking for weakening seals, which looked faded and tattered to her eyes, and letting the rest of the group know. Those with more sealing know-how than Ikaru could fix up the seals, and then she’d check over to make sure there was nothing malicious or traitorous hiding in the seal matrix. She’d call it paranoid, but paranoia kept most shinobi alive.
Her ‘duties’ were basically just maintenance. Ikaru had the feeling that she was just waiting around for a real assignment. Not that she minded the menial tasks but, it made her uneasy to think that there would be something worse than the exam in her future. She didn’t know how missions were assigned or who she could ask.
She had partners during sparring or while working but she didn’t talk to them much. Not that anyone really talked much at all here, but not being part of the gossip network meant she usually had no idea what was going on.
Ikaru knew about the big things, like that the Sandaime had received an offer to a peace treaty with Kumogakure, but the smaller things like people's names, how to ask for new uniforms, where the library was, those things she had to figure out on her own. Like the seal.
Through trial and error, and many nights spent curled up paralyzed on her bed, she figured out what would make her freeze up. Doubts. Doubting Konoha, or doubting Danzo-sama would make her freeze up and feel pain. It made things much easier, she wouldn’t have to worry about confusing things. If the seal stopped a thought, then it was because it was unnecessary and harmful, and she would no longer think about it.
Such thoughts as, Why am I here? I want to leave. Does Kaho-kun think I am dead? Am I dead? Why is there an agent with a kekkei genkai from Mist here? I think this scroll is stolen from the Yamanaka. Oh God, Ushitora-taichou just shattered my tibia, I hate it here- These all made some little twitch in the brain that signaled an unnecessary thought.
Ikaru could usually figure things out on her own, but it would still be useful to have somebody to ask things though. Like if they were allowed to go into the Village.
For shopping.
Not to see family, because shinobi don’t have pasts or futures or names or emotions. Definitely, not so she could check on her- The Container. Yeah.
Shopping. For weapons. Because that’s what Shinobi shop for.
So Ei- Ikaru. Ikaru went on a quest for someone not scary to talk to. Shouman-san never said anything at all, so he was out of the count. The med-nin did answer her question about where the record room was, which was very helpful. The man at the armory released killing intent when he saw how chipped her blade was so she hadn’t been back there since the day she arrived. Her usual partner on seal upkeep duty just stared at her blankly when she asked where the library was, Ikaru still wasn’t sure if the boy just thought it was a dumb question or he also didn’t know. She figured he didn’t know either.
Finally, she had a breakthrough. She was walking to the record room (one of them) and looking for materials on explaining idioms. One of her other jobs was being part of the messenger system in Root, passing along messages with chakra pulses. A recent message had come up, “ The Minister of Right drinks mugicha from golden cups .” She still wasn’t sure if it was a saying or a joke and figured she’d just look it up in the Civilian Interactions For Dummies handbook.
Then she saw it. Him .
Tree Man.
Ikaru had kept an eye on his chakra signature in the back of her mind for a long while now. Normally she kept her chakra close to herself unless she was on the job but, He was just so fascinating to look at! He’s a whole Tree!!
Ikaru really loved to look at his chakra, it really was like a patch of sunlight. A perfect balance of green, earth and water natures. So balanced they looked like a singular chakra nature, almost like a Bloodline, but not like that. Now that Ikaru was so close, just a hallway away from Tree Man, she could see that the chakra natures didn’t mix perfectly. Which only made him more interesting to look at! Similar to the original Hashirama trees grown by the Shodaime, the chakra was so alive and it danced! And it had all the intelligence of a human, and a kind human at that!
He did have kind chakra, very naturey. It wasn’t blank and neutral like so many of her fellow shinobi, or sad or angry, but just a peaceful Good . Her own chakra, which has always looked a pale green to her, paled in comparison to the Greenness of his chakra.
Ikaru tamped down her excitement to finally see the Tree Man with her own eyes and veered to the right to enter the record room.
Ikaru wasn’t dumb, she wasn’t going to just touch someone else’s chakra with her own, especially the nice Tree Man. It would be rude to startle someone like that! So she grabbed the materials she came for and sat at one of the tables.
The layout of the room had tables positioned so that the door could be seen from every table and so that you could see between the shelves. The shelves were organized well, and there was a mix mash of scrolls, folders, books, and loose-leaf papers in stacks. Ikaru had taken a stack of thin books that described expressions and idioms and how humor can change the meaning of a phrase. It was very dry and she didn’t focus at all on the guides, instead devoting her attention to the Tree Man.
He had his back turned, but he had a slim and lean body of an older boy, and long brown hair that reached past his shoulder blades and was definitely taller than her. He must be very skilled if he was allowed to keep such long hair, and the more Ikaru sat pretending to read the drier-than-sand book, the more she really wanted to ask the man questions. Two minutes became five, the silence interrupted by turning pages stretched on.
The main two questions were, Why do you look like a Tree? and How does your hair look so nice?
He probably noticed she was there and that she was staring at him a couple of minutes ago. Ikaru wasn’t really making an effort to hide or to act like she wasn’t staring. His chakra was steadily becoming more wary and closed off so she figured she should probably say something.
Just as he closed the folder he was thumbing through and placed it under his arm, she put down the paperback book a little too loudly.
“Senpai. May I ask a question?” She said suddenly, breaking the silence.
As soon as he turned around, she realized that asking why his chakra looked weird sounded very hostile. His mask was turned fully to her now, a silent Well go then, ask . She switched to her other very important question to try and save face.
“How do you keep your hair nice.”
Great. Nice job Idiot. Real Smooth.
“I…? Wash it?” The confusion was clear even with the heavy monotone filter of his mask, a bright red and green cat covering his face.
Oh great, you made Tree Man feel uncomfortable. Quick, save the situation.
“I see, thank you for your advice senpai.” Ikaru inclined her head to the boy and walked away quick as she could while still looking normal. She had the feeling that it didn’t look very graceful or shinobi-like because Tree-Man’s chakra was colored with pops of amusement and confusion as she walked back to her cell. She tried to give off the impression of a nervous newbie so he would be more inclined to answer questions but she thinks that she just made herself look like an idiot.
Several other similarly awkward conversations and encounters later she did actually find out why his chakra looked so pretty. And his designation was Kinoe. He wasn’t a tree, he made trees. He was in one of the training rooms sparring against a man with messy hair and a monkey mask clipped to his belt. The sparring rooms were as close to watching a busy market as she could get, so occasionally instead of resting in her room she would sit and observe some taijutsu matches. It was a coincidence that she was usually there when people with interesting chakra were there. Coincidence.
And his chakra, oh it was amazing in action. It was Trees ! He fought! With! Trees!
Ikaru had thought that the match was over when Hinoto-san spewed that geyser of hot water towards Tree Man but she straightened and leaned closer than she should have to watch the younger boy’s chakra pool up. Wondering what kind of counter jutsu he would use, Ikaru opened up her senses further to watch the chakra bloom out from his center and form- not earth or water jutsu but - Trees! Tiny Hashirama sprouts become huge trunks that smacked into Hinoto-san and wove around and tossed him around until Hinoto-san started spitting fireballs in return.
Kinoe….san? No, he was cooler than that, he deserves better than ‘san’, Kinoe-senpai! Kinoe-senpai created walls with the wood jutsu, sprouting totem pools from the barren stone floor to block Hinoto-sans kunai and eventually trapping him in a nest of woven branches.
It was so beautiful! The trees were mostly naked but even without leaves they were still graceful, and at a twist of chakra from Kinoe-senpai the branches parted to let Hinoto-san leave the wooden cage. Kind and strong, just like the Hashirama trees from above, just like Kinoe-senpai’s chakra!
Ikaru could only see this much green life when she went outside, which wasn’t often. She wanted to sit and admire the wild new landscape that had appeared in just a few minutes but Kinoe-senpai cleared it all away quickly. She would have stayed in the training room and asked for a spar herself but a masked agent appeared to deliver a mission scroll.
Ikaru did not often look at her own appearance.
She didn’t want to be disappointed in whatever change she saw. She would make sure she had her uniform straight but beyond that she didn’t really check besides a cursory glance. Her life these past few years hadn’t changed much, the scenery yes but she still had brutal training every day and no real reason to look nice . It was actually kind of annoying that Kinoe-senpai had such straight soft hair and her own always looked so ruffled.
She didn’t even have her own mirror. The only time she saw herself was mirrors in the shower rooms, coated in steam and scratches and suspicious smudges.
But since she would be going outside, she decided to at least make sure her hair looked neat. After all, the Foundation was a reflection on Danzo-sama and the will of Konoha.
Once the Head-nin and his people arrived in the village they would have a constant guard around them to ensure the Kumo delegation was under watch at all times. Kumogakure had a bad habit of stealing bloodlines, according to one of the conversations Ikaru had shamelessly listened in on, so the clans wanted insurance that they wouldn’t be in danger by letting bloodline thieves into Konoha. The Sandaime didn’t order any Anbu to watch the delegation, only having Jonin escort them in the village and the police guard the estate.
Danzo-sama did not trust that Kumo would be sticking to their own business, so he would be making sure they did.
Ikaru would be joining sensors from Root, she didn’t have any bloodline to lose and all she had to do was keep watch on anyone Kumo. The task was simple enough. That’s how it was framed anyway. A pig masked shinobi delivered a yellow tasseled mission scroll to her and explained she would be joining the task force. Ikaru could read between the lines and see that she was only there because she was an unknown shinobi and could see chakra nature without a byakugan. It was probably a test as well.
It would be her first time in the village since she left. Danzo-sama was testing how much he could trust her. She was going to have to go outside the base. Ikaru would have to see the village and have to see Orange again. Ikaru was unrecognizable now.
A glimpse in the mirrors in the shower rooms had shown pale skin, sad eyes, and lank hair. Her chakra signature had changed since she’d been gone.
Shinobi only had the mission, they have no names, no emotions, no past, and no future. Ikaru was afraid though. Would she be able to stop herself from running-
Ikaru’s thoughts froze. It made her drop the pen in her hand. No running from the Foundation. She was chosen to be a protector.
The foundation is made of Konoha’s unseen protectors. Unseen.
Unseen.
If you can prove that it’s a loophole then you didn’t actually break the law.
Unbidden, the old wisdom of her academy teacher came to her.
Well as long as she’s hidden then. Maybe just a peek. The mission wouldn’t be interrupted.
Yes. That could work.
Ikaru picked her pen up and gripped it tightly as she filed the report on the status of the left wing barrier seals. Her face stayed blank, minus a small eye twitch, leftover from the discharge of energy after triggering the seal.
Patience was a virtue of shinobi. She had waited this long. So Ikaru read her books, trained, studied, and bided her time.
“Trade should open back up with that peace treaty. Sure hope it goes through, but with how nervous all those shinobi are getten’ you’d think it’s doomed from the start.”
“The only nervous ones are the veterans. They’re worried that the war will start again if Kumo doesn’t keep its word. Can’t say I blame the old coots.” The woman sighed. She called to the man behind the counter for another bottle and another dish of pickles, once the two women refilled their glasses she continued. “The Sandaime let the war drag on. Namikaze ended it for us and became Yondaime, then he kicked the bucket and left us with ol’ reliable again.”
“Shush! We’re not supposed to say anything about that. Besides, there’s no way he’d let another war happen, we wouldn’t last another one.” The older woman, the more tipsy of the pair, muttered the last part.
“You’re right Maki. Guess those warmongers got to me too.” The younger woman, more girl than woman and much more sober, sniffed. “Best look to the bright side.”
“Exactly! Just think, once it’s all over we can have the reeaal stuff.” The older woman leaned forward with red cheeks to tap the label on the bottle.
“It’s not so bad. I’ve had worse.”
Ikaru wanted to wiggle in her stool further down the counter, the henge sat uncomfortably on her skin but she resisted the urge. The two women had some relevant gossip though so she stayed in place. That’s why she was currently sitting in this curtained hole-in-the-wall restaurant. For gossip. Definitely.
She ordered a bowl of noodles just so she wouldn’t look so suspicious sitting on a stool at the far end of the counter for hours. Definitely not so she could order the same thing she got every time she came here before.
The women continued to talk, they looked like off-duty kunoichi having a nice night out, and they had some interesting things to say. Ikaru looked over that them as one banged her fist on the table, loudly declaring that she didn’t care if the Land of Rice was allied with Kumo or not, they had some ‘damn fine’ shochu.
Interesting that they thought Rice was allied with Kumo. The foundation recently got information that the Sennin Orochimaru-sama was actually starting another hidden village over there, probably just a front for his experiments. He didn’t seem the type to make a move to ally himself with a Daimyo like the Kaminari no Kuni had.
Ikaru hadn’t planned on information gathering when she came out but it had turned out that many people had things to say about the upcoming treaty. The Sandaime had announced the meeting to the village with a big fancy speech this morning. He was basically just saying, “Behave yourselves, and don’t mess this up for us.” In the course of one afternoon spent walking around shinobi districts she had learned that the Sandaime apparently dragged out the war. Some said he wanted to end the war without destroying Kusa in the process, others said it made him look weak to offer an end to the war when Konoha could have won it after the Yellow Flash decimated kumo’s troops and the Kannabi bridge was destroyed. Some were just grateful that they could stand in a marketplace and gossip instead of the dying on the frontlines those years ago.
It was important to know the truth of the matter, but appearances were important too. It seemed that the general consensus with most shinobi was that the treaty was a good thing if it was true. Having an opinion wasn’t her job so Ikaru didn’t have one. It was useful though to know the current political arena.
“Excuse me Sir, is there anything else you need? Are you enjoying your meal? Anything I can get you?”
Ikaru’s musing was interrupted by a young girl, older than her but not by much coming to her side. Her henge gave her the appearance of a plain and forgettable middle aged man.
“That’s alright I’ll be leaving soon, tell your father I enjoyed the meal. Thank you Ayame-chan.” Ikaru gave a practiced smile in return to the girl’s grin.
She shouldn’t stay any longer. It could endanger them both.
He was coming nearer, and it could make the Anbu suspicious to be under a henge near the Container. It was getting darker now, stalls were putting out lanterns and turning on strings of lights transforming the markets into a world of street food and shinobi shops. She had yet to catch a glimpse of the boy yet but just seeing his chakra from afar would be good enough for today.
Ikaru fished the payment out of the fold of her henge’s yukata and waved goodbye to the father-daughter pair running the Ichiraku Ramen stall. She walked into an alley with her hands in the folds of the yukata and shook off her henge like water once she was out of sight.
The delegation from Kumo was scheduled to arrive tomorrow so Ikaru had been walking around the surface memorizing the feel of the village without the addition of the foreigners. That was her excuse anyway. It was half true because she did need to do that, but she didn’t need to be in the village to do that, she could have just camped in HQ to scan the village but she would take the opportunity to be outside while she could be.
It was, strange.
Her brother was still there, the village was still bustling. Some things had changed, the Uchiha had moved into a new compound on the edge of the village, Aburame lands had expanded further into the village, The Sandaime was older and the orphanage wasn’t as full.
Naruto was older, but just the same. A bit sadder, but his chakra still burned brightly. A contained hurricane carefully watched by shadows, some new and some old.
She could feel him now, walking towards that ramen stall. She wondered who took him there when she was gone. That stall was popular among the orphanage children because it was cheap and filling and the coupons made it even cheaper. She liked it because Teuchi-san and Ayame-chan were kind and they didn’t mind Naruto at all. Maybe Kaho-kun? Hokage-dono? If the Hokage had time to visit a little boy he had time to take him for dinner right?
She climbed onto the overhang shadowing the roof and stepped into a shunshin away.
(in honor of reaching 100 kudos, we drew some memes)
