CH_4.29 (129)

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @

[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]

The link is also in the synopsis

———

.

Takuma entered the headquarters after his one-week suspension with heavy eyelids. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night. The events of yesterday bore heavily on his mind. The awareness he would be at Sasuke's house five times a week was a stressful realization.

It went without saying that he preferred if things were different. But they weren't. He was stuck with visiting arguably one of the most important buildings in the Hidden Leaf village. However, after a night of thinking, Takuma realized that things weren't as bad as he initially thought. He was using his lunchtime for the lessons in the middle of the day. No one except Mikoto would be home— so Takuma wasn't worried about meeting with 'problematic' people on a regular basis. He was going to learn genjutsu and get out as soon as possible every day.

When Takuma entered the Organized Crime offices, he felt eyes fall on him. He had expected that, so he walked to his desk while staring down at anyone staring at him. Most of them turned their eyes away when Takuma maintained eye contact for more than a moment, some were frowning at him, but most surprisingly, a few even gave him appreciative smiles and discreet thumbs up as he passed by. One even wordlessly patted him once on his back.

He had not expected that reaction from anyone who wasn't directly involved. It seemed some people liked what he and his team had done.

"Look who decided to show up."

Takuma had just dumped his bag on his desk when he heard the voice. He turned back to see Arisu before him, her arms crossed and a faint smile on her face. He had been completely cut from the department in his suspension, so it had been a week since he had seen her.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Ready to get back to work," he answered. "What about you? How's the wrap-up going?" One week was more than enough to arrest multiple people, have multiple interrogation sessions, get confessions, and possess ample information to implicate more people. He was sure by this point; they had already finished the lion's share of their job and had passed the work to the state prosecutors who would press charges and present the cases in court.

"Still going at it. It has been a lot of work. Everyone had to pool their hands together to process everyone we bought in," said Arisu. It was crucial that they [department] moved quickly to ensure that the suspects they brought in didn't have enough time to get their stories straight, threaten people, and do things that might make their jobs difficult.

"Please tell me it's at least as good as we thought it would be," asked Takuma.

"It's much better," she said. "Big-wigs are very happy about it. A lot of good press."

"Yeah, I saw the articles. No wonder I got some smiles today," Takuma looked around the office.

"You know, some people came asking me if you had another big scoop planned… they would like to help, as they put it," said Arisu. "I mean, come on, big things like this don't come every day…" Takuma was smiling. "... do they? Do you have something planned?" she asked, stepping closer to him.

"I might have something. Why, you interested?" he asked.

Arisu was interrupted before she could speak.

"Genin Takuma. In my office, please," Kano entered the office and ordered as she passed by their desks.

Takuma took out a folder from his bag and turned to Arisu. "Well, wish me luck." Arisu had her mouth agape; her eyes stuck to the folder in Takuma's hand as he walked away from her.

Takuma entered the office as Kano was setting her things down. He waited patiently by her desk, not speaking a word until she addressed him. He observed her, trying to check her body language, but the woman gave nothing away.

"Sending Chunin Oishi to assist in the investigation. Trying to be helpful, Genin Takuma?" she said.

Takuma didn't apologize. If he did so, he would be admitting that he was at fault. He had made a suggestion in his report, which the higher-ups had deemed logical enough to follow— and in return, they had got a competent interrogator to consult and oversee the process. He wasn't at fault. In fact, he was the benefactor.

"I called in a favor for the sake of the case, ma'am," he replied.

"Yes, I can see that," she replied, sitting down behind her desk.

From the looks of it, she wasn't mad at him, but she wasn't pleased either. Meaning he was safe. As long as he continued to bring in the results, Takuma was sure their relationship as boss and subordinate would survive just fine. After all, Takuma wasn't really interested in making friends with anyone with 'Uchiha' in their name. That would only lead to hurt.

"What now, Takuma? Now that you're back," she asked.

"Work as usual, ma'am," Takuma said before taking a page from the folder. "This is my request to not be disturbed during my lunchtime. I would be out for an hour every day without fail and wouldn't be available through any means of contact except for the most concerning emergencies."

Kano received the request letter. "And why is that?"

"I'd be studying under Lady Uchiha at her house every day during my lunchtime," said Takuma.

"Lady Uchiha?" asked Kano as she read the letter.

"Jonin Uchiha Mikoto," answered Takuma.

Kano stilled for a moment before looking up from the letter. "Pardon?"

"I was given the chance to study genjutsu by Jonin Mikoto. And she's only free during my lunchtime. This is a heads-up that I'd be absent during that time period, and in case my presence is truly needed, you can fetch me from there," said Takuma. He knew no one would come looking for him at that house unless it was truly important. They wouldn't want to offend Mikoto; her status as a jonin was enough to keep most away. "You can confirm it from Chunin Setsuna. He'd be able to corroborate my claim."

He didn't need permission from Kano as his lunchtime was his lunchtime. He was off-duty. But he understood that sometimes he might be needed, so this was his way of telling Kano where to find him.

"… I will do so," she muttered. Kano looked up at him. "Any other surprises you want to get out of your way before I let you return to work?"

"That depends on what surprises you, ma'am." Takuma placed the folder on her desk.

"What is this?" she asked.

"A proposition," he said. "During the week I was at home, I thought a lot about the Maiko Triad case. I believe the time I worked on the case was the most productive I have been. Due to how I handled it, I had to work alone, with help coming in the last stages. All that time spent alone forced me to learn faster and more than I had ever done in my life. I felt good about myself during that time— I was good at what I was doing," those feelings were partially true; Takuma did feel great when his plans slowly came together; he was proud of what he had accomplished. "I would like to on narcotics cases, ma'am. I live in a place with a big drug trouble. I see what they do to people who abuse them. I have seen civilians a little older than me running their lives. I want to stop that. I want to return to the community. What you have in your hand is a proposal to create a team that targets reducing the presence of drugs in the Hidden Leaf village. I want to go after every major and minor player that operates within our jurisdiction in hopes that one day our village would be narcotics free. No more lives lost due to the terrible substances which harm our loved ones, our youth, our shinobi."

If Takuma wanted to accomplish what he had planned with Enomoto, he needed control over the cases he worked on, so he could target whatever information Enomoto provided. If he had that freedom and hopefully a team behind him, the most difficult part of the challenge would already be solved.

Of course, Takuma knew things wouldn't be so easy.

"You realize you didn't pull the shutter on the Maiko Triad," Kano leaned forward in her chair. "We only got our hands on their low-level and some middle-level members. They're still very much running strong. This would be appropriate," she pointed at his proposal, "if you had put an end to them. You're overestimating your accomplishments."

Takuma spoke, "Ma'am, the truth right now is that the Maiko Triad isn't going to wage a territorial war. Due to the fact we caught so many of them, they're forced to take a step back and pull back their activities until the wind blows over. I did all that in less than two months while also handling other cases under you. Imagine what I can do much more if I can dedicate myself to one target— imagine what we could do if I had a team with me. We don't have a dedicated narcotics team within our department, I want to create a team specializing in such cases for maximum efficiency and impact. It's a well-known fact that drug money bankrolls so many illegal operations in and outside the village. Money makes the world go round, and if we hit them where it hurts, the effects will show everywhere else."

He could see that Kano was still skeptical. He didn't blame her, but he could help her.

"That proposal includes something akin to a proof-of-concept," Takuma pointed at the folder. "If you assign me a small team of my choice and let me work with them for a month, I will provide results that will prove the feasibility of this idea."

He opened the folder to a page and let Kano read over it. His time working under Iruka had taught him how to do paperwork. The young chunin was obsessed with proper paperwork and had forced his team to learn the appropriate way. Takuma had gone to Iruka during the week and shown him the drafts. As Takuma had expected, Iruka had torn into him about the mistakes and had him go through revisions. The final product was what Kano was reading. It was so polished that it glimmered.

"… Let's say I push this above the chain of command, and it gets accepted there," Kano spoke after reading, "what would you do if you fail to come up with results."

"If I fail, my reputation will fall to someone who got lucky once. I will lose all the momentum I have going for myself. People will be less willing to listen to me. It'll be a pretty bad setback," said Takuma.

"Then why are you smiling?"

Takuma didn't know he was smiling, but he indeed was. "Maybe because if I succeed, I shoot up in the opposite direction. High risk; high reward. And I feel confident about this, ma'am."

Kano asked Takuma to leave. When he got to his desk, Arisu jumped him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I can't tell you," Takuma replied. She frowned, but he continued. "Until Kano gives it a green flag, it's better if I don't say anything. If it goes well, she will come to you with a choice; it's up to you if you wish to accept it."

"What's the choice about?"

Takuma looked her in the eyes and said,

"An opportunity to do something great."

Three days later, a temporary narcotics task force was formed.

Takuma was declared the leader.

.

———

Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.

The link is in the synopsis!