Naruto : Chapter 35
Thank you. Goodbye." Kakashi said.
"Goodbye." The three genin also said.
Kakashi led his team out of the village and once they were outside he increased their travelling speed to low running speed. They would speed things up once they were out of Tea Country.
...
Team seven reached the gates of Konoha without interruption late in the afternoon. Kakashi signed them in and led them to the Hokage tower to deliver the scrolls and give the short report.
Normally the team that got the mission would deliver the scrolls to the hospital directly, but with their animosity towards Naruto, he didn't want to give them the chance. When they entered the mission office Kurenai and team eight were just busy with debriefing.
"Team eight back from D-rank mission to weed the garden at Mrs Ukunari's. Mission successfully completed, the garden was clean after two hours." Kurenai said and handed over the signed mission scroll. "Performance of my genin will be in the written report."
"Okay, noted. Next." The chunin said.
"Team seven back from C-rank mission to get delivery from Tea Country for the hospital. No problems during the mission. We got to Tea Country harbour in about eight hours. The goods are the usual quality and are sealed in these twenty storage scrolls.
Three of the scrolls from the armoury that were supplied to my team for the mission were too old to be safely used and were replaced by Naruto Uzumaki from his private stock.
He needs to get them either back or replaced by new ones after the goods are unsealed at the hospital. I recommend a check of our stocked seals that are older, like the storage scrolls, by Dark Phoenix. Performance of my students will be in my written report." Kakashi said.
"Why did team seven already get a C-rank mission, Kurenai sensei?" Kiba complained.
"Because they got special training and Kakashi is one of the strongest jonin in the village. You will be taking C-ranks once you are proficient in the basic skills for the higher ranked missions and have done the required number of D-rank missions." Kurenai answered.
"What does the strength of Kakashi sensei have to do with the decision, Kurenai sensei?" Hinata asked. Her stuttering had lessened a lot, even if she still had a long way to go.
"In case something unplanned happens that is above the abilities of the genin, the jonin sensei will protect them.
And the more inexperienced a team is, the stronger the jonin sensei needs to be to make sure the team will be safe. I was only promoted to jonin half a year ago; Kakashi has been a jonin since he was thirteen." Kurenai explained.
All the genin were impressed hearing that and looked at Kakashi in awe. Even Naruto was very impressed by that.
"Okay, team seven, you can go home, be at the gates tomorrow morning at six like usual." He said.
"Yes, Kakashi sensei." They said.
"Team eight, you're also dismissed. Meeting is tomorrow at eight in our training ground." Kurenai said.
"Yes, Kurenai sensei." Team eight answered.
"Dark Phoenix?" Kurenai asked Kakashi once the genin were outside.
"The new sealing specialist the Hokage has hired for supplying the village with seals. The former one died a few weeks ago and Dark Phoenix replaced him. For security reasons he is only known by the codename." Kakashi explained.
"So that's the reason for the new seals in the armoury and at Jakonato's." The chunin in the mission office said. "When I got the scrolls for your mission, Kakashi, I saw that the stock has been filled up and that some new variants have been added."
"Indeed. From what Hokage Sama told me, Dark Phoenix is really good." Kakashi confirmed.
"So you got to meet Mr Takamishi again. How was he?" Kurenai asked.
"Cheery as always. Told some old stories while we were sealing the boxes and crates. This time from when he had just started sailing on a merchant ship and they were entered by Kiri ninjas in the second war." Kakashi said.
"Ah, yes I remember when my team got that mission; he was always good at telling stories." Kurenai remembered.
"That he is. Well, I'll be off." Kakashi said.
"Me too, I have planned meeting Anko tonight." Kurenai said.
"Have fun." Kakashi said and left in a body flicker.
...
Danzo and the Sandaime Hokage sat in the completely sealed Hokage office, looking over the results the investigation by the ROOT agents had had.
"This is more troubling than I thought. I was aware that you had overlooked quite a few decrees that weren't to the best of the village, but even I didn't know it were this many." Danzo said.
"Me too. And I suspect I didn't overlook all of them, but that somebody that had access to the stamp of the Hokage did get some passed secretly.
As I didn't check all the decrees that went over my desk in detail because I simply didn't have the time, I'll allow to think that some were passed by me, but many of these here I would have stopped for sure.
And if there had been an overly large amount of decrees that were placed on my desk I would definitely have got suspicious earlier.
The stamp is kept in the Hokage's office all the time and the tower is guarded by the ANBU. So somebody inside the tower has got access or somebody copied the stamp and slipped the stamped decrees into the outgoing paperwork." The Hokage mused.
Danzo nodded. He had thought that Sarutobi had got senile in his old age, but even he would immediately say that those many decrees that were passed in the last twelve years that he hadn't been aware of were impossible. There was more wrong in the village than he had thought and had wanted to change by becoming Hokage himself.
"My ROOT have also found quite a number of listening devices all over the village and detected four probable spies. They are well-hidden, but we are keeping them under constant watch now.
We hope to follow the small fishes we identified to the bigger ones. We also noticed a strange sealing array in the old Uchiha district. As far as I know Jiraiya is coming here next week. He should look at the seal and tell us what it is." Danzo said.
"Yes, that will be best." The Hokage agreed.
"How do you want to proceed with the problem with the shopkeepers that are overcharging on the taxes?" Danzo asked.
The ROOT agents had found out that over sixty per cent of the shop keepers demanded two per cent more taxes on the goods than the Hokage had allowed.
With that great number nobody had ever detected anything when they just bought their normal groceries. They had just assumed it were the costs for delivery and the like that made them more expensive.
"Well, they'll get messages that massive additional payment on taxes plus a fee for tax evasion is to be paid to the village coffers.
They can decide if they want to keep their prices like they are or lower them to the appropriate level. No matter what they do, they'll be exposed for their trickery publicly.
I'll publish a list with all tax dodgers to make clear that I won't tolerate them. I'll also publish a list with the decrees that are voided as of now. That will take away a good part of power that the civilian council and the wealthy merchants that bribe them have in the village.
And I'll make sure Naruto is out of the village when I do this. I'm relatively sure they will try to vent their anger on him and there is no possibility to say what he will do in retaliation." The Hokage said.
"You don't talk about pranks, do you, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked.
"No, I talk about at least broken bones and at worst massive damage from wind elemental jutsus. Naruto won't take the abuse anymore. He is too close to exploding. And he has the skill to back his threats up." The Hokage said.
"Shouldn't you keep him under close watch then?" Danzo asked, wanting to know the reason why the Hokage didn't do it.
"What do you think Kakashi is doing all day? I'm no idiot, Danzo. Kakashi is doing damage control before things get out of control. There is a reason I put him as the sensei of team seven and it's not Sasuke's potential sharingan." The Hokage said.
"Hm, an interesting deception you came up with. Everybody in the village and outside will assume his main job is getting Sasuke Uchiha ready and training him in using his sharingan once it awakens.
But with him being one of the ninja in the village that always kept Uzumaki safe and who doesn't hate the boy, you bind Uzumaki closer to the village.
The training matches with teams eight and ten have the same intention, getting more ties to the village so in case something happens to you, his main tie at the moment. If he feels accepted by his peers, he won't be as tempted to desert the village as he might otherwise be.
The effect is increased as all members of teams eight and ten are the children of the current heads of their clans. So he will be on good terms with the future shinobi council. And it would be fatal for the village to lose the power of the Kyubi and Uzumaki's own impressive skills to another village like Kumo." Danzo said.
"I see you haven't got stupider in your old age, Danzo. The only way Naruto can manage to have an easier life in the village is to be accepted by those he will be working with in the future. I'm absolutely sure that he will be promoted to chunin after the exams in Konoha.
Therefore he will be leading teams of genins on missions soon. From what I have heard from the senseis for the new teams there are some really talented ones this year. Some won't be ready by the time the exams come to Konoha.
But the teams will be able to get through the first two phases and show the world the power of Konoha's new generation. And these genin represent the most well-known clans we have. Nearly all of them are the clan heirs." The Hokage said.
"Yes, indeed an important generation." Danzo agreed.
They continued to plan how to get the embezzled money back into the village coffers.
====================
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :
p atreon.com/CarriePoppins