“And with that, this month’s meeting is over. Does anybody have any questions?”
s.h.i.+kamaru closed his eyes as he listened to the dispa.s.sionate voice addressing the gathering. The bespectacled man speaking was Chojuro, a s.h.i.+n.o.bi from Kirigakure. s.h.i.+kamaru knew him from the war as one of the Mizukage’s bodyguards.
“If n.o.body has anything to ask,then, s.h.i.+kamaru-san…” Chojiuro spoke with an imploring tone from where he was seated next to him.
s.h.i.+kamaru opened his right eye to glance at Chojuro, then slowly opened both.
Ten s.h.i.+n.o.bi were seated around the circular table; both men and women could be found, all generally around s.h.i.+kamaru’s age.
They were in the Country of Iron;the s.h.i.+n.o.bi Union’s Headquarters.
The country had a mult.i.tude of strong samurai, and thus, not one single s.h.i.+n.o.bi was needed. Before the war,the Kages of the Five Great Hidden Villages would comfortably hold meetings in the Country of Iron, and now it was the Headquarters for the s.h.i.+n.o.bi Union founded by those Five Powers. The roots of the Union’s headquarters had been set in the same Country of Iron where the alliance had initially begun.
All the leading villages of the Five Great Nations had some of their s.h.i.+n.o.bi gather at the Union’s Headquarters and, whether night or day, continue their hard work for the sake of the expansion of the s.h.i.+n.o.bi World overall.
This meeting was full of people who would bear the burden of the next era’s world of s.h.i.+n.o.bi. It was a place where the future of s.h.i.+n.o.bi was discussed. s.h.i.+n.o.bi sent to this meeting were the most capable ones in their villages, considered as candidates for kage as well as other positions. Of them, s.h.i.+kamaru and Chojuro were the youngest.
Besides s.h.i.+kamaru, and Chojuro, who was chairing the meeting, there was Temari of Sunagakure, and Omoi of k.u.mogakure as well.
s.h.i.+kamaru had been charged with being the leader of this gathering of s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Obviously, he hadn’t volunteered. This was the result of everyone recommending him for the job.
“s.h.i.+kamaru-san?” Chojuro sounded like he’d become worried by s.h.i.+kamaru’s long silence.
s.h.i.+kamaru cleared his throat, and looking at all the members, opened his mouth to speak.
“I believe we don’t have any new topics of discussion for this meeting. I hope for more meetings at a comfortable pace like this. With that, see you next month.”
As he said that, s.h.i.+kamaru rose to his feet and gathered all the scrolls and doc.u.ments that had been spread across the table. Folding them under his arm, he turned to leave.
Confused by their leader’s cold att.i.tude, the other members got ready to leave at haphazard paces. Everyone milled out into the two hallways leading left and right out of the room.
Even though so many s.h.i.+n.o.bi were restlessly walking down the hallways, not a single echo of their footsteps was heard. They were s.h.i.+n.o.bi, after all. Other people’s footfalls could be heard, but not a s.h.i.+n.o.bi’s. That had been one of the basics of the basics, back at the Academy.
“Oi.” A voice called out to him from behind.
s.h.i.+kamaru anxiously clicked his tongue. Right now, the owner of that voice was the person he didn’t want to talk to the most.
He stepped forward as if he hadn’t heard.
“Hold it, s.h.i.+kamaru!”
The voice that hit his back felt like a flying kick.
“What is it?” s.h.i.+kamaru turned his head to look over his shoulder at the woman behind him.
Temari of Suna. Her hair had gotten shorter since two years ago, and was now tied into two bunches on either sides. Her face looked a little bit more like an adult’s, and her eyes were even calmer than they’d been in the old days.
She was older than s.h.i.+kamaru. Rather than say she looked like an adult, it was more like she had already grown into a splendid adult.
“What’s wrong with you?” She asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’ve been acting strange lately.” Temari’s hands reached out to s.h.i.+kamaru’s shoulders, turning him to face her.
Troublesome…
The word rose up to his throat, only for him to frantically swallow it down.
“Like your cold att.i.tude at the meeting.” she said, “You’ve been making decisions without saying a word or giving an explanation, and it’s made everyone nervous. The atmosphere was so strained.”
“Oh, did that happen?”
“You didn’t even notice that…?” Temari’s eyes widened slightly. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing…”
“It’s something you’re not going to tell anyone about? Not even me?”
Temari’s gaze was pained.
Since the war had concluded, he’d been working with Temari at the Union for two years now. She was an understanding, good partner. They both shared the sentiment of not wanting all the s.h.i.+n.o.bi who had been gathered together during the war to separate again, as well as the intention to work together and make the Union as good as it could be.
When you added that to the strong bond between Naruto, who intended to become Konoha’s Hokage, and Gaara, Suna’s present Kazekage, that easily made the bond between Suna and Konoha the strongest amongst all the villages united under the Union. With such external forces at work as well, it was natural that s.h.i.+kamaru and Temari had reached a stage of existence where both was the other’s biggest support within the Union.
“Since you’re like this, something bad must be happening in Konoha.”
Temari had made a very good discernment. However, she’d missed the mark a little. The situation wasn’t in Konoha, though the situation did affect all of Konoha’s s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Temari’s theory was half-right, half-wrong.
If there was one thing that never changed about the life of s.h.i.+n.o.bi, it was that anything which pa.s.sed the borders of your own village had to be jointly carried out with other villages. This was a basic principle of the Union. The course of action that s.h.i.+kamaru and Kakas.h.i.+ were taking was a blatant violation.
And yet, s.h.i.+kamaru still had no intention of telling Temari the truth. It wouldn’t be a wise move to get the whole of the Union involved with the business of the Country of Silence.
He’d firmly resolved that Konoha would handle it by themselves…
“You’re saying there’s nothing going on that you can depend on me for?”
“Nothing.”
s.h.i.+kamaru’s firm tone made Temari close her eyes.
“Is that so…”
The punch came in the next moment.
It had been one split second where the hurt look on Temari’s face had morphed into righteous fury. There had been no time to avoid it. Before s.h.i.+kamaru even knew what was happening, his body was already flying.
He rolled onto the hallway’s floor before coming up into a sitting position. He silently raised a hand to touch his stinging cheek, already red.
Before him, Temari was glaring at him with an outraged expression on her face.
“I never could have believed that I’d misjudged you this much!” She shouted, her words turning to wind that slammed against his face.
“I- I’m sorry…”
The apology came without conscious thought.
His father would come home as late as sunrise on some days, and get yelled at in the house’s entryway by his mother. Somehow, s.h.i.+kamaru had found himself suffering that same scolding from Temari.
She strode past him with swift, large steps, and disappeared over his shoulder.
Those eyes of hers had looked slightly wet…
“You’ve stopped eating.”
The voice came from Chouji who sat in front of him, both of his cheeks puffed up with food. Ino was sitting next to him.
They were at Yakiniku Q.
In the two years since the war, his two friends had become quite the adults. Chouji was still as chubby as ever, but there was a masculine look in his eyes now, and he now had a goatee. Ino had been growing out her hair more and more, abandoning her ponytail for leaving it loose, and looked more like an adult compared to before as well.
“Did you eat something before you came here?” Chouji opened his mouth wide to drop in even more meat, chewing and swallowing it down.
“s.h.i.+kamaru and I’ve stopped growing a long time ago, so we’re not eating ridiculously the way you do, Chouji.”
“Hey!” Chouji’s eyes widened in indignation.
s.h.i.+kamaru laughed without thinking. A calming breeze was blowing through his heart. It’d been a while.
“I came specifically to eat lunch with you two, so how could I have eaten something beforehand?” So saying, s.h.i.+kamaru extended his chopsticks towards a piece of beef that looked like it was about to burn.
Another pair of chopsticks intercepted him.
“Hey, that’s the meat that I put on the grill!” Chouji protested.
“Alright, alright.”
They’d gone through this many times before. s.h.i.+kamaru let go of the beef, and turned his gaze on the piece next to it. He glanced at Ino, who gave a nod of permission.
“It’s been a while since you invited us out, s.h.i.+kamaru.” She said.
“Yeah,” Chouji chimed in, “Lately, I haven’t been able to see you unless we set a time to meet like this.”
“s.h.i.+kamaru’s got his job at the Union and well as being the Hokage’s Support. He’s super busy, Chouji, he can’t always hang out with us anymore.”
“I understand that, but…” Chouji laid his arms on the table, his cheeks puffing out as he pouted.
While there was a part of s.h.i.+kamaru that was happy they’d noticed his absence, another part of him also felt lonely, like a new distance had come with their separation.
If he wanted to be an adult, then he had to stop thinking like a child. They were long out of the Academy. Things weren’t the same as those days when he could while away time playing with his friends till dusk.
The same way s.h.i.+kamaru was swamped with work from both the Union and his responsibilities in Konoha, Ino and Chouji had struggled through the last war and become fine, reliable chuunin. While they said it was because s.h.i.+kamaru was so busy, his two friends had just as little free time as he did.
And yet, they’d come to meet up with him without a word of complaint, simply because he said he wanted to see them.
They were his oldest, closest friends.
“What’s up?” Ino asked when she saw how s.h.i.+kamaru’s chopsticks hovered in the air, not moving.
“It’s nothing. I’ve just wanted to see you guys for a while.” s.h.i.+kamaru put a tiny pit of meat into his mouth.
“Ah, kay.”
Ino didn’t ask whether there was anything more to it. Chouji continued happily stuffing his mouth with meat.
Then, the three started to talk. It was a light-hearted, silly conversation.
Chouji’s eternal love of food.
Ino’s usual talk about her love life.
And then, the memories about Asuma…
s.h.i.+kamaru could feel the distance between him and his friends shrinking. It was almost like he’d gone back to that moment when Asuma had first brought them here.
That time, he’d been full of complaints about how things were ‘troublesome’…
Looking at how Chouji and Ino had grown up, s.h.i.+kamaru could feel his heart grumbling about how they’d never be able to return to those old days.
s.h.i.+kamaru went home alone.
At the end of the day, he hadn’t been able to tell them.
He’d thought that if he’d go to the Country of Silence, then he’d go with the two of them. He’d invited them out to eat with that purpose in mind. But seeing their smiling faces had somehow made him unable to say anything.
The road he was taking was a dark one.
For Konoha’s sake, for the Union’s sake, for the sake of every single s.h.i.+n.o.bi, one man had to be killed.
It wasn’t a victory that could be gained from playing fair. And so, he had to be killed in secret.
a.s.sa.s.sinated.
It wasn’t like a.s.sa.s.sination was anything new to s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Growing up, you realised sooner or later that things like that were necessary in this world.
But, still…
It was still good to have as few people as possible get their hands dirty. He didn’t have the heart to drag Chouji and Ino into the darkness too.
“So, it’s the Anbu after all…”
s.h.i.+kamaru looked up at the night sky, and couldn’t see a single star.