Chapter 21
"I don't care what your business is with my fiance. I don't want you or any of your kind invading our privacy. Get lost or I destroy Gama no Kuni right away," she threatens as she oozed out murderous intent. Knowing who she was, the toad was shaking in fear--dreading his decision to come here to this place without much thought and knowing that the Phoenix Sage lived here.
"My apologies, Phoenix Sage-sama but I do have an important message for him," the toad stuttered in fear. Hikari who was drying out his hair, went out to the balcony to see what was all those fusses were about.
"Hitori, he's a friend. Be nice now, would you?" the boy chided. The sage pouted before she stomped her way inside childishly. Hikari just had to laugh at her antics whilst the toad swallowed the bile that rose to his throat.
"Good morning, toad-san. She didn't like a stranger too much even more since yesterday's event. What is it that you have for me?" Hikari asked. The toad cleared his throat beforehand.
"Jiraiysama is to arrive this morning and he asked you to meet him at the Hokage Tower," the toad finished.
"Very well. Thank you, toad-san. Try to reach me outside of our home next time," the boy bowed at the toad and then he hurriedly went inside to dress up for the day after the toad was gone. He wore his recently received jounin attire with the Jukengi served as an overcoat.
"Hitori-san, I'm going out to meet Jiraiysenpai and maybe the other senpai. I'll be back this evening, I think," Hikari shouted as he tied his Konoha headband on his forehead. Hitori merely shouted back in return from the bathroom. After he finished putting on his sandals, he went out immediately.
At the Hokage Tower
"I am amazed you were able to persuade her..." the councilman was speechless when he had seen it with his own eyes that Jiraiya had succeeded.
"Hah! A handsome devil like myself only needs his charm to persuade anyone! Gyahahahahaha!!!!" Jiraiya boisterously said as Naruto shot him an irritated look. Hikari, on the other hand, was arriving as they speak.
"Naruto! Jiraiysenpai!! Welcome home!" the boy shouted while he was still in mid-air before he gracefully landed in front of the blond boy.
"Hikari!! I got loads to tell you, Dattebayyo!" Naruto immediately high-fived the white-eyed boy.
"I'm sure we can do it over a bowl of ramen," Hikari fondly said and then he turned to the remaining Konoha council members before he dipped his head to nod at them. "Good morning, councilman, councilwoman."
The way Hikari seemingly stood like an equal to the council members hadn't slipped the Sannins noticed and the way the council members replied in a respectful tone didn't help it either. Jiraiya and Tsunade were intrigued.
"So, this is our junior, huh? Jiraiya? I'm surprised that he took in a student after all this time," the prominent blonde-haired woman loudly said.
"Yes, ah, Hikari-kun! Let me introduce you. This is Senju Tsunade; your last senpai and the G.o.daime Hokage!" Jiraiya loudly announced, earning him a clock on the head by the said Hokage. The scene was eerily familiar that the two kids had s.h.i.+vered in fear. The woman was scary like Sakura. Recovered, Hikari bowed to greet the woman.
"Welcome home, Hokage-sama! My name is Hyuuga Hikari," the boy said and the blonde woman chuckled at his att.i.tude.
"Glad you're are much polite than your idiot senpai here. You can call me senpai too, Hikari-kun," Tsunade said. Her voice was loud, clipped, authoritative and stern like she was used to commanding somebody. She should be as she was the one that changes Konoha's situation with the Third s.h.i.+n.o.bi War to the village's favour with the implementation of a medic-nin must be placed within each team and thus reducing the casualty rate substantially. The conversation was interrupted by the councilwoman who was reminding them of their task at hand.
"Genma, Aoba! You'll know what to do," she said and the two said yes immediately.
"Wait up!!! Granny Tsunade has some stuff to take care of first. Come with us, Hikari!" Naruto held them off before he made his way towards the stairs with Hikari. On the stairway, they b.u.mped into the village slouch-genius along with his son making their way to the administration building.
"Hey! What's up, Naruto? Hikari? What are you guys doing here?" s.h.i.+kamaru asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing! The only building around here is the ninja administration," Naruto surveyed the guy.
"Nothing really, just taking care of troublesome business," s.h.i.+kamaru seemed annoyed by his situation. The adults were conversing with each other while the boys were having one with one another.
"Jiraiysenpai asked me to meet him here," Hikari explained.
"You had a vest already?" s.h.i.+kamaru commented and Hikari could only laugh nervously while Naruto remained clueless.
"Yeah, I got it yesterday. Hias.h.i.+-sama pulled some strings, don't tell anyone though. I feel embarra.s.sed if they knew how," Hikari explained as sweat dripped by side of his forehead and s.h.i.+kamaru sighed in agreement.
"Tell me about it, the clans' heads sure are troublesome. Who's that you woman with a big att.i.tude?" s.h.i.+kamaru whispered to both of the boys.
"She's the new Hokage. Oh, and although she looks young, she's fifty-ish," Naruto whispered back. Tsunade, on the other hand, wasn't going to waste too much time as she bid Nara's goodbye.
"Farewell, ma'am. See you at work, Hikari-kun," s.h.i.+kaku said, earning a bow from the boy. They resumed their journey after Naruto got clocked on the head for bragging about his new jutsu.
At the hospital
"Sakurchan, he'll be alright now! She's a great doctor!" Naruto suddenly emerged from behind the Hokage.
"He's back, Sakura! Can you believe it? Our knucklehead brought back the new Hokage!" Hikari was next to emerge as he pushed Naruto's head down to barge in the room. Sakura immediately stood up in delight at the sight of us.
"Hikari-kun! Naruto! Eh, you already got those?" Sakura pursed her lips when she saw Hikari who was clad in Jounin attire. As usual, the black-haired boy rubbed the back of his head and grinned at the girl.
"Don't ask me, Hias.h.i.+-sama did it without going through
"Nah! You've earned it and I expect you won't whine about not being worthy or anything or else, you will answer to my fist!" she said while she cracked her knuckles at the boys. She then greeted the Hokage and pleaded her to treat Sasuke.
"Alright! Leave it all to me!" Tsunade said. The Sannin then placed her right hand onto Sasuke's head and it glowed in a greenish hue. Sakura watched the events intently whilst Hikari was sure that tears would be imminent so he went to the next room ahead of them to find Gai who was visiting Kakas.h.i.+.
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"Hmmph, you were beaten by only two enemies? I thought you were a genius," Tsunade chided Kakas.h.i.+ who was panting and chuckling tiredly like an old man after he had told her the whole story of how he became unconscious.
"Forget about this idiot!! Please take a look at my student, Lee!!" Gai cried desperately while Hikari chuckled at his antics.
"Go ahead, senpai. I can watch over my sensei here," the boy said between chuckle. Those two immediately went out of the room.
"So you made jounin after all?" Kakas.h.i.+ broke the silence as Hikari took a seat next to him.
"Courtesy of Hias.h.i.+-sama and Sandaime-sama. He was distraught during my absence and I have no one to blame but you, you laid back, perverted teacher," Hikari's eyebrow was twitching as he said it before he made a sign to seal the room.
"From Itachi's mind, I saw that our enemy currently is his organization, the Akatsuki. They had already made a move on the Jinchuriki and Naruto is in danger," the boy said and the white-haired jounin nodded.
"Jiraiysama wanted to step in as the boy's G.o.dfather, he'll be safe with Jiraiysama," Kakas.h.i.+ explained.
"Oh, yeah. Yondaime made him the boy's G.o.dfather. I'll have a ROOT shadowing them just in case," Hikari casually said as he crossed his arms around his body. Kakas.h.i.+ was confused and taken aback.
"You knew?! Wait, ROOT??! Don't tell me Danzo got to you already. I thought, Sandaime-sama and I had masked your records well enough from him," Kakas.h.i.+ rubbed away the non-existent headache on his temple.
"He couldn't sway me at first but then he had Hitori killed in front of me and I killed him for it," Hikari slowly said.
"What? How do you manage? That man is more conceited than Orochimaru himself," Kakas.h.i.+ was in disbelief.
"With immense difficulties and," Hikari said as he peeled off his vest to reveal his cursed seal, "dire consequences."
"No way..." words had escaped Kakas.h.i.+'s mouth.
"Yup, I am the current ROOT director and don't go at me with the burden lecture and such. That s.h.i.+p had sailed. I am hoping to change the organization for the better and also, I got a therapy session on Monday every other week," the boy continued. Kakas.h.i.+ heaved out a sigh as he considered the situation. He reminisced his times with ROOT. They were ruthless and unfeeling to even their comrades. ROOT was a thorn within Konoha's shadow and he had long since despised the discrete organization's way of thinking. With Hikari at the helm, no doubt things would be different.
"I'll approve of it as long as you remained yourself," Kakas.h.i.+ finally gave in.
"Ah, about that, you know, I was lost in my rage and almost annihilated the entire organization. Luckily, Hitori, the Phoenix you saw during the siege and she is immortal. She managed to pull me back from my fury. I was in a huge mess since that was the first time I had killed a human being," Hikari explained as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, it was never easy to deal with your first kill, even the best of us had problems dealing with it. It's good that you're in therapy," Kakas.h.i.+ commented.
"Multiple personality disorder induced by emotional stress. Of course, I had to go to therapy," Hikari finished the man's words.
"How are your teammates taking in this information?" Kakas.h.i.+ probed and Hikari grinned at the man.
"Don't tell them or anyone anything about ROOT, S-Cla.s.s secret. I can handle the Jounin situation," the boy said. They talked about a few mundane kinds of stuff afterwards before a bird made of ink made its way inside the ward. Hikari immediately opened an empty scroll and the bird flew into the scroll and disappeared into a form of writing.
"Director Hikari,
The G.o.daime Hokage is mobilizing the Jounins to complete various S-cla.s.s missions outside of the village. The number of the mission is quite a lot and I suggest that we help them. Monkey and I will be waiting for your orders in HQ.
Boar"
"G.o.daime-sama wasn't wasting time. She is mobilizing jounin for S-cla.s.s mission outside of the village," Hikari finally said after he stood up and withdrew another scroll before he stored the previous back to his vest pouch. He took off his Jukengi and folded it neatly.
"Are you up for a mission? Hokage is calling all of us to her office," he asked his sensei.
"Well, we don't have much choice now, do we?" Kakas.h.i.+ stood up and stretch a bit while the boy unravelled the scroll and put his robe onto the scroll then he made a sign. The robe disappeared in a puff and two khakis robed figures appeared in front of them holding a red Oni mask with three-eyed holes.
"Morning guys! This is my sensei. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei, meet two of my trusted new colleagues," Hikari said as he took the mask from them. The ROOT bowed at Kakas.h.i.+ who was agitated by their presence of course.
"Morning, Director Hikari, Kakas.h.i.+-senpai," both of them spoke in sync. Kakas.h.i.+ returned their greetings nervously. Hikari put on the mask and Rinne-Sharingan flared on the Oni's forehead.
"Right now, I am called Oni-kun. See you at the tower," Hikari said before all of them shuns.h.i.+nned away.
Hokage's Office
When the three ROOT representatives appeared in the Hokage's office, all of the Jounins were agitated and crouched defensively before s.h.i.+kaku told them to stand down.
"Sorry for barging in, the name's Oni-kun. I am the current ROOT Director. I was made aware that the village was understaffed. I am offering my operatives help in exchange for a prospect of reintegration of our unit as one of Konoha's covert branch once again with a promise of the Will of Fire as our new guidelines," Hikari began. There were murmurs from the Jounins who recognized the voice and was disbelieving that Hikari was the new leader of Konoha's most notorious covert ops apart from the clan heads who had met him of course. Most of them were startled by the boy's chakra levels and the third eye that looked to real to be a part of the mask seemed to peer into their souls. Tsunade was the first one who first broke out to a fit of laughter.
"I should have known that you weren't a normal s.h.i.+n.o.bi the minute I laid eyes on you," she said.
"Please, Hokage-sama. Keep the information to yourself and that goes to all of you who knew the person I am referring to. So, will we reach a decision?" Hikari implored her and she immediately smiled at the boy.
"The more the merrier. I expect all of you to treat his men as a member of Konoha all the same. ROOT will never be the same with him as the leader. Welcome aboard, Oni-kun. Stand next to me please and what did I said this morning?" she was subtly threatening the boy. Hikari groaned and stomped his way to stand next to Tsunade.
"Yeah, yeah, senpai," inside the mask, Hikari was pouting because Tsunade wasn't taking him seriously. The older Ino-s.h.i.+kCho trio was snickering along with Genma and Aoba and Hikari shot them a murderous glare in hope to shut them up in which the first trio had failed. The rest of the Jounins was baffled at this predicament. Their superiors knew who the ROOT director was, so that was enough for them to trust the new Director.
"Sorry, I'm late," Kakas.h.i.+ announced as he slipped inside the office through the window.
"What did I miss? Oh yo, Hikari!" On cue, the Jounins shouted in disbelief as the boy groaned.
"Shut up, pervert. Do you have to be late even when we both went out at the same time?" Hikari said as he took off the mask. The third eye that was a real eye had closed slowly but the rest of them didn't comment about it. Tsunade grinned before taking over the situation.
"Just in time, pipe down people. His ident.i.ty as a ROOT director is an S-Cla.s.s secret so don't mention it anywhere you like. Now, considering the situation at the village and around the Fire country borders, the economies had suffered. Thus, I am sending out the Jounins for S-Cla.s.s mission outside of the village except for some of the essential Jounins and Anbu Corps who are guarding the perimeter.
"News of Sandaime-sama's death had put the country in jeopardy along with the news of a few Oto-nin terrorizing the outskirts village. Hence, the mission. Please take the mission details here," she said.
"Monkey, Boar, have a ROOT member join each of the Jounin team at the gate. Masks on for the time being. One breach of secrecy is enough for a day. They can freely pick out the mission that they liked," Hikari said as he shot his sensei an annoyed look. The two ROOT snickered before disappearing in a puff of smoke. One by one, the towering paperwork had shrunk down significantly until Kakas.h.i.+ took his.
"Sorry for the slip-up," the man smiled at the pouting boy.
"Whatever, sensei. You suck at keeping secrets anyway," Hikari said as he let out his tongue at the man. Suddenly, Hikari's face had changed. With his Byakugan enhanced by the Rinne-Sharingan, he saw that his two teammates were fighting. Their chakra was increasing exponentially and from the looks of it, Sakura might be caught in the middle of it.
"We are needed at the Hospital, sensei," he disappeared after he said it before Kakas.h.i.+ followed him afterwards leaving everyone baffled yet again.