Setting Plans In Motion

Heres the next chap.

Its a bit dull, but it helped me set out more of the story.

Enjoy :)

[2342 words]

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Chapter 9

Setting Plans In Motion

{3rd POV}

''I see, so he has a new kekkai genkai,'' Ryuuji said as he drummed his fingers on the table in contemplation.

''Not a word should escape this room, it would've been fine if it was a normal kekkai genkai, however, a new type would merit the greed of many ninja. Masahiro, tell Arata not to reveal anything of it until he is strong enough to contend with jonins'' He advised

''I understand'' Masahiro responded.

''Other than that, how long do you have left Masahiro?'' he asked solemnly, causing the rest of the elders to turn gloomy.

''A little more than a year,'' he responds.

''I see...I relieve you of your duties as a ninja, I will confirm this with the hokage but just live the rest of your life with your grandchild, however, we still do require your assistance as a elder'' He ordered.

''Thank you, Ryuuji'' He gratefully says.

''Can you finish his iaijutsu training before you pass?'' he asked.

''Yes, he should reach the final stage in 2 months and should finish in another 6 months. His technique with swordsmanship by far outweighs any swordsman I've seen in my life, however, the large amounts of excess yin chakra has weakened and slowed the development of his body significantly'' He informs.

''Has it affected his taijutsu?'' Ryuuji asks.

''Somewhat, the training I give is several times harder than a normal Uchiha should experience, however, due to it his body is developing normally. His taijutsu has been much harder to progress than normal, but, due to the intensity of his training, his progression of it has been normal, though, I do expect his body reach threshold of physical power lower than normal shinobi'' he reports

''Have you informed him?'' He questions.

''No, not yet. I don't want to give him an excuse to stop training, he just thinks he's less talented in taijutsu''

''I see...how would you rate his strength by the time you finish with him'' he asks.

''He would be around mid level chunin, his young body and his lack of variety in his jutsu hold him back. However, his battle instincts, swordsmanship and his kekkai genkai solidify him in this position, especially when we discovered that his kekkai genkai can gain corrosive properties when he projects his chakra outside his sword''

''How corrosive is this substance?''

''From what I've tested on chakra beasts and metals, it can melt through most things and if Arata condenses a large amount of chakra into his ink, it can melt through chakra as well''

Ryuuji stops questioning Masahiro and starts thinking again.

''We can't afford to lose him, he's displayed potential only seen in Madara. I'll have to move him in with me after you pass, Masahiro''

''I have no problems with that''

''Other than that, Sojiro, how have our plans progressed?'' He asked.

''We are preparing to open the police force to a small number of ninja with the excuse that Uchiha cannot be the only ones to protect the villagers. This certainly will raise many voices of suspicion, but they will die down within due time. The only problem is the Nara, although our intentions is good, our methods isn't the most upfront which will raise some eyebrows with them'' Sojiro recounted the plan he has developed.

''This is where you come in, Masahiro. Please explain to the head of the Nara clan, Takaki Nara, our intentions and reasons for our recent movements. As a friend he will trust you the most out all of us'' He informed Masahiro.

''I have no problems with the arrangement, I gather it wouldn't hinder your plans if I do it before we begin our opening'' He asks.

''No, it won't hinder my plan'' He responds curtly.

''As you can see, the plan we have thought up was the one given by young Arata, his method was the most naive but the most honest out of our options, this will lower our presence on the hokage's radar and the dilution of our ranks in the police force will allow to us to assign more of our ninja to other duties within the village including the anbu. Our genins have been instructed to take up a less arrogant attitude with the villagers and to perform as many D-rank missions as possible to increase our reputation with the villagers as much as possible'' He recounts their plan.

''What about the opposition we will face from our clan when doing this?'' Musashi asks.

''The next meeting at Naka shrine will only consist of the highest ranking members that have passed an extensive investigation we will conduct soon on them. Once they pass and the meeting begins, we will inform them of our intentions and the reasons as to why we are taking up these movements. We will have to pacify them, but, once they understand they will pacify their side of the clan''

''The Third Hokage isn't the most observant of the village, he uses the Nara and the Yamanka to sense clan movements within the village so us informing the Nara beforehand will also eventually inform the hokage of our intentions which will allow us to avoid suspicion with him,'' Ryuuji finished.

''I agree, compared to the second hokage, the third is nothing. That man used to watch each and every clan like a hawk without prejudice, although that is what allowed us to keep our peace. Still his way of managing things caused a lot more tension than needed. I assume his intention of introducing the police force to us was to observe us through our interactions with the villagers and see our attitude to the village. His plan seems to have worked its purpose as he has seen we mean no ill will, however, he has compromised us far too much for such a plan'' Tanaka said.

''I agree, however, we must not dwell on it too much, he is long gone'' Musashi intervened.

''Yes, we understood the implications of taking up such a proposal when he informed us of it. Although it is frustrating we were essentially forced the position of the police force, we cannot do anything about it.'' Sojiro finished.

''Yes, let's not waste time on such thinking and move onto the next set of matters''

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{Arata's POV}

''Arata!, let's go,'' my grandfather suddenly shouted.

''Where are we going, Masa-jii'' I asked confused as we hadn't planned to go out today.

'' We're going to meet Takaki, go play with his kid while we talk''

It was out of the blue, but I complied and followed him to Nara's household. It turned out my grandfather's friend was the head of the Nara clan. I was somewhat impressed with my grandfather's connections when I noticed. Once we reached his house we knocked and waited patiently for his arrival.

''Ah, Masahiro, you came early'' The door to the residence opened to reveal an aged man with black hair.

''Come in, come in'' he said, ushering us in, leading us to his house.

''Young Arata, you can go meet my son. He's cloud watching in the garden, you're the same age as each other so you might get along well with each other'' He said upon arriving at his house's front door, gaining a nod in agreement from me.

Following his directions, I enter the garden only to see a young boy sleeping under the shade of a tree. He had a satisfied smile on his face as he leaned on the tree happily. Walking up to him, I sit beside him and leaned on the tree, which caused him to wake up.

''Who're you?'' He asked slightly irritatedly at someone interrupting his sleep.

''Oya, you should introduce yourself before you ask someone for their name'' I tease with a smile on my face.

''Troublesome'' He says and just goes back to sleep.

''Haha, I'm just joking, don't take it so seriously. My name's Arata Uchiha, what's yours?'' I ask while snickering.

''Shikaku'' He responds curtly.

''Well then, I understand your irritation, so I'll let you continue your sleep, just wake me up when you're up so we can talk to each other'' I say, causing the boy to instantly drop back down and go back to sleeping.

Seeing I had nothing to do, I just joined him and slept on another tree beside him.

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{3rd POV}

Both Takaki and Masahiro enter an office and sit in front of one another. Takaki takes out some teacups and starts pouring Masahiro tea as he waits for him to begin the conservation.

''Should we begin with business first?'' Masahiro begins.

''That would be preferable'' Takaki responds and he passes Masahiro his tea

''Well then, I am here to inform you of our movements beforehand'' Masahiro informs, sipping on his tea.

''Is this to avoid arousing suspicion at your motives towards the village'' Takaki infers as he poured tea into his own cup.

''Yes'' Masahiro simply says.

''I'm guessing you only want me to inform the hokage if he gets excessively suspicious'' Takaki continues his prediction.

''Yes, us informing him directly before our plans will just restrict us excessively, even if our motives are good'' Masahiro responds.

''I understand, you're most likely trying to increase your reputation within the village, correct?'' He guesses.

''Your skills never cease to amaze, yes we are trying to do that. We can't have our reputation decrease any further or else it might bring up suspicion on our allegiance to the village, now please let me tell you the whole story'' He responds

''Tch , at least, let me have my fun guessing your intentions'' He grumbles.

''You can do that later, I'd rather not have you guess our intentions incorrectly. First, everything we are doing is to increase our falling reputation within the village, I promise you we have no hostile intentions. Secondly, our movements may be erratic, if you get suspicious on anything just ask me and I will respond to the best of my ability. Lastly, we are going to rearrange our shinobi due to our plans, you wont need me to understand our intentions'' Masahiro lists.

''I understand'' Takaki simply replies.

''Now onto our plans. We are going to gradually open the police force and move some of the police shinobi to other areas that require assistance, we are planning to send some to the anbu to further solidify our loyalty to the village. Our main purpose for this is so we stop taking the main brunt of the suspicion that the villagers have. To improve our reputation, we will be moving our genins to take as many D-rank missions to assist the villagers and along with the relocated shinobi we shall send some around to assist the other clans within the village, so don't be suspicious if an Uchiha suddenly shows up. We are trying to get the children and young adults in the clan to improve their attitudes since mostly them have problems with their personalities'' Masahiro lists.

''This is surprisingly simple yet honest of the Uchihas. Normally your movements are excessively suspicious but get the job done well, I'm guessing the one who suggested this is not apart of the elders or the clan head'' Takaki says.

''We've determined excessive movements with the villagers will just further hamper our relationship with them due their limited information; they will just guess the closest thing that makes sense to them which will put our reputation down again. Also, yes, the one who suggested this was not a part of the elders nor was it Ryuuji. It was my grandson'' Masahiro answers, pride evident in his tone.

''Hoh, to think young Arata would suggest such a thing, wasn't he recently chosen to become the head successor, I've heard he made a rather flashy display'' Takaki smiles.

''Hahaha, that match was hilarious'' Masahiro laughs. Seeing him laugh so happily, it felt like decades ago since his friend laughed with such vigour.

''It looks like you're enjoying things Masahiro, I'm happy for you'' Takaki smiles sadly.

''Yes, he really has changed my life, it looks like even I can get lucky sometimes'' Masahiro grins with a silly smile.

'For the amount you've lost Masahiro, this happiness is something you deserve' Takaki thinks to himself as he smiles melancholically.

''I understand your intentions, your plans seem to have no malicious intent towards the village so I'll keep quiet for now and face the Hokage when the time comes'' Takaki moves on.

''Now enough of that boring talk, let's move onto more enjoyable stuff'' Masahiro says as he brings out a bottle of sake.

''Oooh, you really know me well Masahiro'' Takaki says as brings out his sake cup from his sleeves, expecting such a gift.

''Of course, I needed you to accept our terms so I brought some bribing material'' Masahiro smiles cheekily.

''If it was brought as bribing material, then it must be good'' Takaki says excitedly as Masahiro starts pouring into his cup.

''Of course it is, I've been saving this for years. I personally had to get it from the land of whirlpools'' Masahiro says proudly.

''Kami, you're telling me you got this from the land of whirlpools, those stingy people, they act all peaceful and nice but I swear to Kami, when it comes to their sake, they guard it with their lives. The last time I went there, they had 20 shinobi stationed at their brewing den'' Takaki says as he starts looking at the sake like its a treasure.

''Of course, I had to save a high ranking politician to get this and that stingy man only gave me two bottles'' Masahiro scoffs.

The two spent the rest of their day getting drunk and retelling their war stories, much to Arata's annoyance who had to drag his grandfather back home and put him back to his bed.