Disturbances (lV)

Izumi was apparently just as surprised as he, to the point that she even forgot that she was 'angry' with Shisui. "Wait, the daimyo's palace? That sounds so cool! I want to go there as well!"

"Be a bit more patient," Shisui laughed. "Give it some more time and you will play courier for him too. It's pretty neat the first time it happens, but after that, it gets real boring real fast."

She seemed doubtful but didn't protest.

"Shisui," he said, "even if the information you carry isn't important, people might still be after it. You should-"

"I know, I know," he interrupted him. "It's still dangerous and I should be careful." He laughed. "Seriously Itachi, you worry too much. You will go grey if you go on like that. You have those wrinkles already-"

"Tear-troughs."

"-so you can't afford to get grey hair as well if you don't want to look like an old man before you turn twenty!"

"Shisui-"

He didn't give him time to reply. "Fine, fine, I promise I will be careful. There, happy?"

He sighed. "Very."

"C'mon, it will be fine! I'm Shunshin no Shisui! What is the worst thing that could happen?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Kazuma-Sama! I tried-"

"Enough." He had put a lot of work into learning to speak authoritatively without raising his voice, so it was somewhat satisfying to see the man in front of him snapping his mouth shut at his softly spoken command. "I'm not interested in your whining, nor your excuses. Now, would you be so good and explain to me why the prices are still so low when you were ordered to rise them until low-income citizens wouldn't be able to pay them anymore?"

"I tried, Kazuma-sama, I really did, but it just can't be done that fast! No without the shinobi catching up to it, anyway. We need to rise them slowly over time and make it look natural!" He swallowed. "Also, your commands were a bit unclear, so-"

"Are you implying your failure is my fault?"

"No, no, of course not! It's just, well, you told us to raise the prices but not on which products, right? We weren't sure if you meant all products or just stuff like food and essentials, and you haven't given us a way to communicate with you, so…"

"I see." Maybe he had indeed been a bit unclear.

The thought made him scoff. Who would have thought that organizing an uprising and the eventual downfall of a Hidden Village was so complicated? It would have been so much easier if he could just march in and conquer it. Unfortunately, the daimyo was still too scared of going against Konoha and thus not ready to offer the support of his troops.

It was a shame, really, for they would have been most helpful. Not enough to win the day, of course, with them being slightly below a regular shinobi in strength and outnumbered by Konoha's forces, but helpful nonetheless.

How can no one see the problem of Daimyo-dono not having the strongest army in his own country? he thought, getting angry on behave of his lord.

"And such a raise in the price can't be done any faster?"

"We're getting there," the bowing man promised. "Only a few more months and we will have reached the point we're aiming for."

He didn't want to wait for 'a few more months', though.

"What about you?" he asked the other two people in the room, one man and one woman, who stood a bit further away. "How did your part progress?"

The man answered first. "It's just as you have said, Kazuma-sama. The Uchiha haven't noticed a thing, believing civilian matters to be of no importance and leaving it all to us. The people you sent did a great job in provoking shinobi and causing incidents, none of which are remarkable enough to catch the eye of the police."

Now, that was much better already. "Well done, well done." He turned towards the woman. "Itami-san, what do you have to report?"

Going by the way her face was frozen into a polite mask, he wouldn't like her news as much as the last. "I replaced as many teachers with our allies and sympathizers as I could, but it's impossible to make any noticeable changes in the curriculum. It might be a civilian matter, but such a thing needs to be brought up for review before a committee. And as there are several families whose members are shinobi, well…"

He spat on the floor. "So you achieved nothing at all?"

"I let several of my people found clubs where they-"

"Nothing at all!" he interrupted her. "That's what you did! Nothing!"

Unbelievable, why did I even ally with them in the first place? They're useless!

He took a calming breath. "Nothing we can do about that now. When I officially arrive tomorrow, act as if you don't know me. It's unlikely anyone would find it suspicious, but there is no need to risk it."

"Hai, Kazuma-sama!"

"Hai, Kazuma-sama!"

Even if their aid was less helpful than I hoped, it's still something, at least, he thought. Still, I doubt they would get anywhere on their own. His lips turned into a victorious smile. Fortunately, I'm here now. It's time that I move the plan forward a bit, isn't it?

Akihito sighed when he finally closed the shop for the day.

Dealing with customers was almost as exhausting as any mission he ever had. No matter what he did, it was never enough. Either the food was too hot or too cold, the portion too big or too small, or the price was just too high. Then he needed to explain for the hundredth time that no, they could not negotiate the price. Honestly, go to the market if you wanted to haggle, not a restaurant!

Still, it was much more fulfilling than his old profession had ever been.

He didn't regret becoming a shinobi and he definitively didn't regret that he fought to protect his home, but it just wasn't the same.

Doesn't makes dealing with annoying customers any easier, though.

It was already late at night, his boss allowing him to do overtime in exchange for higher pay. He had a good amount of money laid to the side, of course, but if he wanted to open his own restaurant one day, he needed as much money as he could get. After all, it was unlikely that he would be a great success from the get-go. There would be a transition period at the beginning where he wouldn't earn enough and he wanted to be prepared for that.

So, considering the time of the night, it was highly suspicious when he noticed movements on the roofs.

ANBU were usually much more subtle, preferring to stay unnoticed while they watched the area, so it couldn't be one of them. Besides, Akihito knew that there weren't many of them in the village right now to begin with.

By the way the person moved, it was also clear that they didn't use that path regularly, which meant it couldn't be one of the few shinobi that lived in these parts of the village. And as there wasn't anything here that would bring another shinobi to this place, especially at this time of the night, well…

It could be just some shinobi that got lost, or maybe one that wanted to visit a friend, but his gut was telling him otherwise. This person was suspicious and even though he was only a former shinobi of Konoha, he couldn't let them get away that easily.

With another sigh, he moved to subtly follow that person.

I really should have put more effort into keeping my skills sharp.

"Asuma, you coming?"

"Yes, yes, just give me a minute to finish my smoke first, would you?"

Chiriku laughed. "Alright, but you better hurry. It's going to start raining soon."

He looked after his friend with a smile on his lips before turning his gaze upwards to look at the dark clouds that were slowly but steadily moving towards them and taking another drag from his cigarette.

The weather was fitting, he thought. Right now, everything was fine, but the storm could already be seen and it was only a matter of time until all hell broke loose, just like he already saw the signs of a future fight in his head. Were things a bit different, were he just a little more bitter, he might have missed them, but they were there for everyone with eyes to see. Asuma would have never agreed with some of Kazuma's ideals and opinions, but he might have been willing to turn a blind eye to them for as long as he thought it was just all talks. In a different world, he might have done nothing until things went too far and there was no other choice than to confront his friend.

In this world, however, that was not the case.

As far as he could say, only two of his comrades agreed with Kazuma. However, there was no way to say how many others would join him as well if the man got more time to convince them; Asuma wasn't willing to allow that. For all that he was his friend and, as he believed, a genuinely good person, he couldn't allow him to threaten his home.

It wasn't even that his loyalties were split about that. On one hand, his loyalty to Konoha, as well as his family and friends that lived there, urged him to protect the village while his loyalty to the daimyo urged him to stop Kazuma before he could tarnish their liege's reputation.

He took another drag to calm himself.

It was time to talk to the daimyo. He should have done so earlier, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to do so until he had solid evidence to back his claims up. Evidence he now possessed, thank to the search he did of Kazuma's room. He had waited for months for this opportunity and while he had hoped that nothing would come from it, that it was all just inside his mind, he was also kind of relieved.

At least things would start moving now.

And if the gods were good, it would be over shortly after.