CH_5.11 (154)

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From the day they left the village to the day they returned. The mission took a whopping ten days to wrap up. They had to process the entire farm— search the whole place for information, take samples of the crop and equipment, and then torch the remaining crop down to shut the site down permanently. Moreover, they had to stay on the farm for a couple of days to recover from their injuries, and their return journey was made slower as they had prisoners along with them.

The Hidden Frost incident had been the last time since Takuma had been out of the village for such a long time. The most time outside the village he did was on his regular hunts and overnight stays in the wilderness. But those only went for two days at tops ever since he had taken up his position in the Narcotics Task Force.

He wanted to go on hunts more often, but he didn't have the time these days. And because the mission had taken so long, Takuma could only take a two-day break before he was back in the Police Force Headquarters for work.

"An unexpected element during a B-rank mission that your plan didn't account for. You and the other genin were lucky that you survived the ordeal," said Jonin Uchiha Sayuri, the Head of Organized Crime.

"As the saying goes, ma'am: No plan survives first contact with the enemy," Takuma replied. They sat in her office while Takuma gave the big boss a debrief of the mission.

"I have not heard of that saying, Genin Takuma… but those are some wise words," said Sayuri, impressed. "I shall remember them."

Takuma smiled and nodded. He disagreed with the luck part— luck was only half of the equation; the rest of it was pure life-risking effort. It made sense that not every saying from his world made it to this world, but he thought a war saying by a military man would've made it to the world of mercenary shinobi.

"What's next?" she asked.

"I have contacted Tokubetsu Jonin Oishi for the interrogation." Taro's mother had very recently gotten a promotion. "We will get some hard actionable intel out from the farm help and the genin part of the delivery convoy and proceed from there. If things go well, we might have the location of the main distribution center."

"How long do you think this will take?"

"Hopefully, soon," said Takuma. "I want to hit the distribution center as fast as possible before they get a whiff that we are involved. Right about now, they might be thinking that the courier stole the consignment and ran away with it…. And for that reason, I would like to keep this away from the media. Nothing should go out until I say it's time."

"Which means another mission soon?"

"Indeed. Speaking of which, I might need additional funds for the mission."

"Let's discuss that after you have actionable intel that's confirmed by our sources," said Sayuri.

Takuma wanted to sigh, but he had gotten used to this. Any time the matter of money came up, the subject would be changed. It wasn't that he didn't understand the budgetary conflicts between the departments; Takuma needed the money to run his small team. They ran a small weekly raid, targeting dealers much like Takuma's level when he was still dealing. But once a month, they tried to strike it big by hunting a supplier.

And because of Enomoto's intel, Takuma and the Narcotics Task Force had a 100% strike rate. Every time they had put their crosshair on someone, they had caught them with enough evidence to put them away for good and had resulted in significant disruption in the Hidden Leaf drug trade. True, Hidden Leaf village was just one "city," meaning they weren't putting any serious dent in the drug trade around the Land of Fire— but Takuma chose to focus on the present and deal with the problems in his home ground before looking elsewhere.

"Given that the distribution center is bound to be outside the village, will you be joining that mission as well?" asked Sayuri. "Those in managerial positions don't remain operational in the field."

"I'm more hands-on," said Takuma, "and well, I simply like to be involved. Lead by example. Slum with my people in the mud. I don't mind going on raids, it keeps me sharp."

"So you say, but you're aware spending more time away from here diminishes your chances."

Takuma looked at his watch. "I'm afraid I'll have to leave now. I have prior plans with Lady Uchiha, and she is a stickler for punctuality." He stood up to leave.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to keep her waiting." Sayuri saw him off.

The woman was his boss' boss. She was essentially in charge of who replaced Takuma at the Narcotics Task Force, and he was going to be replaced; that much was set in stone. Nothing he could do was going to change that. The new outside recruits like him didn't have the power and influence yet; they hadn't had the time to assimilate. Takuma was cognizant of the fact he was a publicity case, but the need for publicity was over. The second batch of outsider recruits was already on active duty, and even if they removed him from his position, as long as optics were concerned, they were simply putting a reputable chunin/jonin over a team of genin, which still put Takuma in a good position.

But Takuma wasn't satisfied with that.

He could've made a power play if he had more time, but he lacked the support— and the Narcotics Task Force was too valuable. He couldn't even get Arisu to have the Fuma clan back him up. Why would they back him up when they could make a play for the Narcotics Task Force for themselves?

If he was being honest, he had no way to maintain his position in the Narcotics Task Force. He didn't have enough leverage to keep his position. His achievements weren't enough; politics still held more weight.

He only had one card… meta-knowledge.

Takuma stepped out of the headquarters and stared at the bright sun.

He knew the Uchiha were going to die soon, and when they did, he would be the prime candidate to lead the unit. With the Uchiha gone, all the other important positions will open up for the pickings, and one little task force would be easy to acquire— then his achievement would be enough as the value of the Narcotics Task Force would significantly weaken in terms of politics.

However, with every passing week, the plan's viability seemed to dwindle a little. Takuma didn't have an exact idea of when the Uchiha Massacre took place, but he knew that it was high time it happened. But… Uchiha Shisui was still alive, and every day that man lived, the more Takuma feared that something had changed.

He had no proof that things had changed. He had tried to get some information about the Uchiha Coup, but if evidence was that easy to find, then other clans would've already found it. Even though he worked in the Police Force, he was as blind as an ostrich with his head in the sand.

Takuma sighed.

It was tough working among the walking dead.

———

.

"Sir, the information you asked about the farm raid," said the subordinate.

The emotionless, middle-aged man behind the desk with buzz-cut light brown hair looked up from his desk. "Report," he said.

"The raid was conducted by the Leaf Military Police Force. The Narcotics Task Force in the Department of Organized Crime," responded the young, equally emotionless subordinate.

"I believe that's a new task force."

"Yes, sir," the subordinate placed a file on the table. "Led by a genin called Takuma, graduated from the academy two and a half years ago. An orphan of no notable lineage. He founded the Narcotics Task Force nine months ago. Under his leadership, the task force has conducted several significant raids around the Hidden Leaf. He was present on the farm raid as the lead. The rest of the people involved in the raid are on the file."

The man picked up the file and flipped through it.

"Three teams filled with clan shinobi," he said. "Anything else notable about this Takuma?"

The subordinate placed a second file on the table. "He was involved in the Hidden Frost incident we engineered. He was trained by Maruboshi Kosuke during his last year at the academy. Fights in the underground gladiator arena Ring under the stage name Scars. And he is currently being tutored by Jonin Uchiha Mikoto, the wife of Uchiha Fugaku."

The last sentence got a reaction from the man. "The nature of their relationship?" he asked.

"Strictly teacher-student…. Additionally, we sent one of our own into the Police Force as part of their new recruits. According to the information, Takuma is about to lose the command of the Narcotics Task Force."

"… No notable parentage; Maruboshi Kosuke, while, has connections won't present a problem; about to lose his important position… and a Police Force officer who moonlights as an underground prizefighter, that crosses the Uchiha connection." He looked up at his subordinate. "What is the status of the trainees?"

"Our trainees?"

"Yes, the current batch. Are they ready for a joint mission?"

"I'll relay the request to the Master Instruction. May I ask what this mission pertains to?"

"Assassination of a threat to the foundation."

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