Industrious OG - Chapter 62

I slid a plate of food in front of Satsuki, another in front of Yakumo, and a final one in front of Naruko. Even if the three genin were visibly refreshed from their trip, they were obviously still hungry given the way they quickly dug into the ravioli-like treats I'd prepared for them. Tenten, still on post-mission leave herself, was sitting atop one of the thick shelves jutting out from the kitchen wall, slowly working her way through a pastry.

“So... mission went alright?” I asked, picking up my own plate of food and beginning to eat.

“It was soooo~oooo crazy!” Naruko cried, reaching up to pull at her hair with the hand that wasn't deep in food. “There were a bunch of A-Rank Hidden Mist ninja running around!”

Tenten blinked, her eyes subsequently shooting open in surprise.

I nodded, unable to help myself. “So a completely normal mission for your team, then?”

Yakumo shuddered, speaking unusually candidly as she swallowed. “Ugh. I hope not.”

“The swords were useful,” Satsuki nodded, her cheeks pinkening just a bit as I smiled at her.

“Ha! Satsuki's only saying that 'cause she fought one of the Legendary Seven Swordsmen!” Naruko cried, grinning.

“No fucking way!?” Tenten shouted, turning back to the Uchiha with even wider eyes. “Which one!?”

Satsuki, looking pleased with herself but also somewhat embarrassed, turned her face away. “The one with the giant cleaver. Biwa Juzo.”

“Kubikirihocho,” Tenten breathed reverently, clasping her hands together as she stared at the other girl. “Tell me everything.”

Satsuki snorted and rolled her eyes. “It was a giant slab of metal that ate the iron out of someone's blood to grow back if it got damaged. “Kota's sword was better.”

“Of course it was! Kota's stuff is way better than any Kiri knockoff!” Naruko enthused, grinning widely. “Like, I can't even say how cool our coats were. They soaked so much damage! Especially when I was fighting these two Kiri hunter-nin twins.”

“You handled two hunter-nin at the same time?” Tenten asked, surprised yet again and looking the blonde over speculatively. “Maybe I should have tried to make a few more of the training sessions we used to have?”

“You were busy with Guy-sensei,” Yakumo noted with a shake of her head. “It wouldn't have worked.”

Tenten grimaced, hissing a breath as her expression flirted with a haunted and hollow appearance. “Yeee-ah, right. Ugh, we're going to be back to training in a few days.”

“We've got two weeks off,” Naruko grinned, smashing one of her fists into her other palm. “Because we're so awesome!”

“More like Obito-sensei and the Hokage need to figure out what the political repercussions are,” Satsuki grimaced, putting another tomato-stuffed ravioli into her mouth. “We kind of... did some high-level stuff we weren't cleared for.”

“Especially when we let Zabuza take the sword,” Yakumo noted with a nod.

“You just gave up one of the legendary blades?” Tenten turned back to Satsuki, holding her hands up and making clawing motions with her fingers.

“Kota's blades-” Satsuki began, snapping her chopsticks together for emphasis. “-are better.” Her free hand dropped onto the sheathed sword at her side and clapped it once, making the guard rattled against the metal fixtures on her belt, punctuating the sentence.

“Pfft! Yeah, who needs some Hidden Mist trash when Konoha has the best sword-maker around!” Naruko grinned, then her eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah, thanks for those knuckle-things! They were awesome!”

“You're welcome,” I smiled, nodding. “Keep your mother off me and we'll call it even.”

Naruko blinked as Satsuki and Yakumo's faces clouded with confusion while Tenten's previous horror at the famous Kiri blades being called 'trash' abated and she smirked. “Huh? What's my mom-I mean, we got back yesterday and she was walking, which is amazing! But, uhh... has she been bugging you?”

“Lady Kushina and Kotaro had a full-contact spar in one of the training grounds,” Tenten revealed, grinning almost as widely as Naruko. “They went at it so hard the villagers thought they were under attack and it almost caused a panic.”

Naruko blinked, looking unsure of how to react and tilting her head. “Huh. I guess mom was supposed to be pretty crazy back when she was active-duty. I've heard some stuff from my aunts and uncles, but...” She turned to me, curiosity plain on her face. “How was she? Fighting, I mean?”

I huffed a laugh, smiling a bit as I leaned back and grabbed my mug of juice. “I mean this in the best possible way, Naruko, but... your mom is an absolute monster. Honestly, I'd rather fight a typhoon than have to match her seriously.”

Naruko's eyes sparkled at the praise, Yakumo, Satsuki, and Tenten each smiling softly as well. “Damn! I'll have to get her to practice with me now that she can walk! Rin-nee said it was some old monk who fixed her back, I'll have to find that guy and thank him...”

As the blonde looked off to the side and began mumbling about searching for my alter-ego, I noted the eyes of the other young women in the room trailing towards me in a speculative fashion. Finishing the sip of my drink, I cleared my throat and looked off to the side.

Satsuki rolled her eyes.

Yakumo's expression softened.

Tenten just nodded knowingly.

A confession without a confession.

“So, how'd the mission close out, anyway?” I asked, authentically curious about the subject. I'd seen the original 'Wave Mission' arc a few times, even read it back during high school. Which was... over thirty years ago now, if one counted the time after my reincarnation. Gods, that made me feel old. In addition to that, though, I'd read at least a few dozen iterations and variations on the entire mess of a mission in the following two decades. It was, so often, where Naruto fanfiction tended to die as it got bogged down dealing with well-trodden ground.

But... I hadn't ever seen or read an instance where Gato hired Team 7 instead of Tazuna.

I mean, under further examination, that made more sense than what had happened in canon. Gato was more of a petty warlord than a business magnate, but even he had to know that missing ninja had a well-deserved reputation for shitty work. Without a village at their back, their reputations tended to take a nosedive and with the exceptions of the S-Class monsters among them, they got desperate. That meant taking work from all sorts of lowlife scum and, more often than anyone knew, killing their employer and making off with anything that wasn't nailed down.

While I had no doubt that this world was just as full of wealthy people who were also very stupid as my last one, someone who relied on shipping as their primary source of revenue should have better risk-assessment skills than that. It wasn't as if many village-nins would blink twice at the casual poverty and cruelty in Wave.

That was cold of me to think, yes, but it was also pragmatic.

I might have scrapped my plans to run off to space, as petty and childish as they were in retrospect, but neither had I embraced the opposite extreme. This world was a complete and utter mess and I wanted none of the responsibility or blame for how either the mistakes people made or the mistakes I would doubtless make.

I'd made friends here in Konoha. Perhaps against my will and perhaps stupidly, but I would try to do as best I could for them.

Them, specifically.

The rest of the world wasn't my problem.

Oh, I knew the problems that would beat a path to Konoha's door eventually, but even in something of a worst-case scenario, that was years off. And I wasn't being idle. My own contingencies just in case the village decided to renege on its kind offer were shaping up quickly and would only grow more thorough over time.

I knew that, eventually, there would likely come a time when I needed to step out on the stage in some fashion as well. Oh, I still had no plans of being a ninja as an occupation, but as the incident with the Iwa shinobi had taught me, even being in the splash zone of significance meant you'd get trouble coming your way. Even if I wasn't going to go out of my way to turn the world into a utopia, I understood there would likely be violence of some type in my future.

But that still didn't mean I had any obligation to people I didn't know, people I'd never met, or people from other parts of the world who actively wished ill upon those who I called friends and lovers.

In some ways, that ideology was a betrayal of my past self.

Once upon a time, I'd envisioned having the power to make the world a better place entailing an obligation to do so. That idealism hadn't entirely left me, despite my best efforts. It was part of the reason why I was still in Konoha. I was a person who liked to help people. I found it hard to turn away someone asking for it as long as they were genuine in their need and sincere in their desire.

That part of me was still here, it'd just been tempered by the world I now lived in.

“...so, in the end, Gato decided it was too much of a hassle to kill all the villagers. He needs someone to do his work for him, I guess.” Naruko hummed with a look of distaste on her face. “He's really scummy, but he's got the Wave Daimyo's ear and kicking his ass would upset a lot of people, so-meh.”

“What Naruko means is that with the help of both ourselves and the Mist ninja, we were able to negotiate an agreement where Gato would be paid a portion of the taxes collected on the bridge as fees to have the security wing of his business protect it.” Yakumo explained more thoroughly, setting her chopsticks down on the plate with a polite show of gratitude.

Satsuki did much the same, then picked up the story. “In exchange, Tazuna has to sign up as a member of Gato's company because he didn't really get the Daimyo's permission to build the bridge in the first place. Neither the Fire or Wave Daimyo, and either of them could order it destroyed for the slight. Gato's going to smooth things over for him, though and maybe set him to work creating a proper harbor in Wave to start receiving shipment from the Land of Water.”

“The drunk old bridge builder was steamed. He really hated Gato,” Naruko scoffed, belatedly offering her own thanks.

Satsuki snorted. “He should be grateful he's not being executed. Gato has a charter for his company from the Wave Daimyo. That means anyone who tries to conduct business between the mainland and Wave without paying him a fee is breaking the law.”

Yakumo nodded sternly. “The villagers are, likewise, lucky that either Gato's ronin or a proper samurai force weren't sent in to put down the miniature uprising they were conducting.”

Naruko sighed, grimacing. “Yeah, yeah... he's a jerk but he's the customer and he's got powerful friends. I know. He could at least make sure the villagers have food, though.”

“Obito-sensei will be including a detailed account of the situation in his report to the Hokage. Which, considering that it dealt with a potential new trade route with the Land of Water, will likely be forwarded to the Fire Daimyo.” Yakumo replied patiently, even as I rose to pick up the dishes.

Naruko stared at her for a moment, blinking, then grinned. “Ah, gotcha! Then that means Gato's boss is gonna' hear about how he's a shitheel, huh?”

“Not quite in those words, but sure. Dumbass,” Satsuki stated, huffing the final insult in a way that made Naruko scoff instead of blowing her top. “But, yeah, that's probably what'll happen.”

“Good.” Naruko nodded. “Even if he was paying us, Gato was a major sleazeball.” Naruko blinked and reached for a pocket, pulling out the watch I'd given her for her birthday two years ago. “Ah, shit! I gotta go! Mom's-ah, she's putting me and little bro through a workout!”

“I'd wish you luck, but I think it's better to wish you survive,” I smirked at her.

“Ha! Good one, Kota! Seeya!” Naruko called, bounding down the stairs energetically.

For a few moments after the front door slammed closed, there was a comfortable silence between the four of us. Finally, though, Yakumo spoke up. “So. I did a lot of thinking on the mission. I think it was good, for me to get away for a while, I mean.”

I turned towards her, leaning against the kitchen sink as I flexed a spark of chakra and dried my hands off. Satsuki, of course, focused on the small non-jutsu and flashed her eyes crimson a half-second too late. I smirked at her, though only got an embattled pout in response.

“I think,” Yakumo started again, drawing our attention back on her. “That I'm ready. For Kokoro. If you are, Kota.”

I met her gaze, brown eyes flecked with gold staring back at me.

I nodded. “I'm ready. On a personal level, at least. In terms of her body... I want a week to do some final checks, but I think I've got everything worked out.”

Tenten and Satsuki exchanged looks.

“This is really happening then, huh?” The bun-haired girl asked, frowning thoughtfully. Or, at least, what I interpreted to be thoughtful.

“It's always been the plan,” I replied, looking between the three of them. “Anyone have any last minute objections?”

Satsuki paused, then shook her head. “Just...”

I raised my eyebrows silently as she trailed off.

“Jealous,” the Uchiha heiress bit out, looking irritated. If I had to guess, both with herself and me. “I know having a child would mess my life up right now, but part of me wants to. A lot.”

Tenten sighed, nodding. “Same.”

I nodded, taking in the problem before turning to Yakumo. “Would you object to Kokoro having three moms instead of one?”

Kokoro blinked and blushed, looking between the other girls as she bit her lip. “Maybe... aunts? I mean, of course you'd be involved, given... everything-” She flicked her eyes to me. “-and I'll want help. Kotaro and my parents will be watching her while we're on missions, but I'll need to run errands and train and maybe have some time for dates, too...”

I nodded. “It's probably not what you want, but Yakumo's jumping into the deep end due to her circumstances. Satsuki, Tenten? You can think of this as a training exercise. Get used to the practical reality of having a child, not just liking the idea of it.”

The Uchiha and my fellow orphan shared another look, this time less sure.

Then, they both nodded slowly.

“You're right, it's not what we want,” Tenten spoke first, her voice soft. “But it's the closest thing we can get without destroying our careers. Even if the village would give me a pension while I'm out, it'd pull me off Guy-sensei's team almost certainly. Plus, I wanna' be in a place where I can help raise them once I have a kid.”

That wasn't something a newly-turned fourteen year old would have considered in the place I'd come from, once upon a time. But, here in Konoha, kunoichi had a very narrow window to get to the point where they'd have a reliable pension.

“Same, for the last part anyway,” Satsuki stated, her cheeks slightly red. “I... well, the clan would help. A lot. But...” Her fingers clenched into tight fists. “I have a dream I want to make come true. And, for that, I have to do things in order.”

Which, for Satsuki, meant getting to jounin before having kids. Just like Tenten. Unlike the other girl, though, Satsuki would likely return to some level of active field work. She had too much drive not to. That, and she wanted to succeed her brother in his (eventual) position as Hokage.

Which I'd object to the probability of but, hey Hashirama and Tobirama apparently made it work.

It's an odd thought, that if everything works out I might be the Hokage's house-husband one day.

Odd, but not unwelcome.

Satsuki could help herself to the politics. I was going to have more than enough on my plate already if that noble title worked out for me.

“So, the chunin exams are coming up in two weeks. Let's work out a timetable that everyone can agree to,” I stated, snapping my fingers and producing a notepad.

Satsuki twitched, the flash of her sharingan especially telling.

I raised an eyebrow, giving her an amused smile, and repeated the process to summon a brush and ink. This time, she caught it, but was obviously dissatisfied with whatever she saw.

“If you two are quite done?” Yakumo asked tiredly, her tone exasperated but her smile amused.

“Ah, leave them alone. It's how they flirt,” Tenten grinned.

Satsuki blushed crimson.

~~~

Ahhh... getting back into the swing of things was a little difficult, but I think I found a good groove to work.

Next chapter will be the long-awaited emergence of Kokoro into the real world.

Next update, though, will be The New Ron.

Looking at the end results of this month's poll... pretty much the expected. Winning Peace came in a strong first, Industrious with a strong second, and The New Ron, Where Your God Is, and Nexus Event following in pretty much that exact order. I plan to have the next update out Saturday at the latest.