9 Job interview

"In light of your rather impressive test results, the ANBU commander has decided to meet you, to see if you would be worth ANBU training"

Koro's words have a weight to them like he's delivering a grave sentence but all I hear is 'your plan worked perfectly you little genius you'.

"That in mind, report to the Hokage tower, Genin."

"Yes sir, thank you sir"

With that I accept the scroll he gave me, with instructions to hand it to the front desk when I get to the tower.

And I do exactly that, with a little jig on the way to get my excitement at being a murder wizard out of my system. When I arrive, the tower is rather crowded, but I don't think that anything new, since it is the centre of the village.

I approach an overworked looking ninja manning the front desk, and am greeted by the typical bland customer service voice,

"name and purpose of your visit"

"Hanabira Haruno, I'm here for a meeting"

Saying such I hand over the scroll, they unfurl it and briefly read its contents before rolling it back up and telling me to go to room 601.

Asking briefly for directions, 'I've never been here before!' I head up the stairs to the correct room and knock twice before waiting to be called in, not that I am left waiting long.

"Come in"

I open the door and am greeted by a rather plain office in all honestly, there aren't even any paintings or decorations, just a man behind a big desk fighting an endless battle against paperwork.

Only once I am standing in front of his desk does he seem to take notice of me, and without a word he stops what he was writing and gestures to the seat facing his desk, i take the que and sit down but stay silent, letting him be the first to speak.

"Hanabira Haruno, do you know who I am?"

"No sir"

Since he likely has something to do with ANBU its probably best to be succinct and to the point, plus being polite never hurts.

"Well I know who you are Hanabira Haruno, son to a Mabayui and Shutsuga Haruno, civilians owning a small shop and with no history of shinobi ancestors, you however, were admitted into the academy at age four, at your own request, with chakra reserves of a low chunin that you have been hiding, and I have a note here saying that during the acceptance speech you were observed slowly releasing your chakra until you were showing a little over half your total, before going back to hiding it.

Then following your first day at the academy you were immediately seen sneaking into the Konoha library, where you read one book on chakra theory, and a revision book meant for the graduating class, following this you went home and proceeded to spend the next two years being mostly unremarkable, except for your continuous chakra growth, where you scored slightly above average, in every test, the only notable exception being shurikenjutsu?"

Only now does he finally stop talking, only to hit me with a prompting gaze, which I reluctantly answer, with a small blush.

"Shuriken don't agree with me, sir"

"hmm, is that so? Well carrying on, after two years of this unremarkable academy performance, during which your reserves grew to that of the average chunin until suddenly you decide you want to graduate early, where you proceed to set a new record for every graduation exam, Notably, managing to beat the Genin testing your taijutsu. The only exception being shurikenjutsu."

At the reminder I definitely did not fidget.

"And that then brings us to yesterday, where after graduating you, instead of celebrating ask specifically if you can join ANBU.

"All of which brings us to now. But first is there anything you would like to add to my summary? Would you say there are any inaccuracies?"

"No and no, sir"

At my response he leans back in his chair and seems to study me, I don't know if he's looking for something or just thinking so I just stay silent and return his stare. After a brief silence he seems to find what he's looking for and sits upright again.

"What made you request to join ANBU Haruno-kun"

"My desire to be in ANBU, sir"

I swear his lip twitched a little at that but I could have been imagining it, he has a really good poker face.

"And why do you want to join ANBU Haruno-kun?"

At this I actually take a moment to think, I don't want to leave anything out, but I'm not sure how to word it.

"Because... haah, permission to speak freely, sir?"

He really looks a little bemused at my request, but I'd rather be seen as stupid than impolite, he humours me regardless.

"Permission granted"

*sigh*

"It's cuz I'm super lazy, I really want to be a cool murder wizard and go on super dangerous infiltration and or espionage missions where I could die with a single mistake or assassinations where I will die if I get caught, but to do these fun things I need to be a strong murder wizard, and that means I have to train really hard in a lot of stuffs. Only problem is that I'm super lazy and left to my own devices I will most definitely not do any training and will just sleep instead, proof enough of this is that I very rarely do any physical exercise despite wanting to be strong. However, were I in ANBU I highly doubt I would be allowed to slack off and I 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 that motivation if I ever want to experience the euphoria of adrenaline and have fun outside of my bed. Sir"

Ok now he definitely looks bemused, he seems to take a moment to process what I just said then responds with levity in his tone.

"Murder wizards?"

Obviously, I hadn't meant to say that part out loud, but I got too carried away with my speech, I don't answer his silent question and just look at the wall behind him so I don't have to see his smile which I don't have to see to know has turned into a smirk, and as the silence grows so does my embarrassment until I can't take it and blurt out in a rush,

"I'm six!"

And now he actually starts laughing and I really want to leave. It takes him a good minute or two before he stops laughing at me, though it felt like an hour and I'm sure he stopped laughing genuinely after a few seconds but kept going anyway, just to be a dick.

"Well, I can certainly say that I have never had anyone want to join ANBU because they were too lazy to train themselves before."

"Not even a Nara?"

My mouth moves before my brain can even process it, and before I even have time to worry if he's the type to get mad over me speaking out of turn he just bursts back into laughter. It's at this point that I realise I don't need to keep being so stiff, I just didn't want to mess up by being overly casual but it seems like this guy doesn't care too much about formality, at least in these kinds of situations.

"haha, no, not even a Nara, since they would rather keep being lazy than sign up for intensive training, which, on the subject of, the next ANBU recruitment is two weeks from now, so go home and be lazy, because you won't have an opportunity to afterwards, someone will come pick you up when its time, so just relax for now kid."

I see the dismissal for what it is and give him a nod of the head before walking to the door, however only when I've got one foot beyond the border of the door do I hear him speak up again and pause mid stride.

"oh and kid? My names Takeshi, and if you survive recruitment then I'll be your ANBU commander"

I say nothing and just keep walking, closing the door behind me.

Commander? like, leader of all the ANBU? only below the Hokage? Don't they have a recruitment guy? Why was I just in a room with the leader of all the ANBU? And I called him a murder wizard!

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Things are finally kicking off!!

also im taking a lot of inspiration with the ANBU stuff from 'Hear the silence' on Ao3 by 'EmptySurface', go check that out because its amazing, probably top 3 read of all time for me.