Chương 356: CH_9.41 (356)

Onikuma Kumagoro was a month away from completing eleven years as the jōnin commander of Maizuru Quarters. He had been a jōnin for fourteen years, promoted just before the Great Five had waged the Third Shinobi World War. His contributions to the war had catapulted him to his current position. Maizuru was a mess when he arrived. The previous leadership had been inefficient, slow, and unreliable. Open complaints from the border stations and fortifications, which were never addressed, filled an entire room.

No one seemed to care if the work was done properly. It was so bad that he felt as though he was being set up as the scapegoat and wished he would rather play with death on the battlefield. However, the commander's position was important for the clan. The clan head had been the first jōnin in their history, which brought prosperity and boosted their status from an insignificant clan to one backed by a jōnin.

Kumagoro knew how lucky he was; he got opportunities and resources unavailable to his parents and their generation. So he worked hard. He grew stronger, took on dangerous missions, and contributed to the clan and village. He volunteered to be on the frontlines against his clan's wishes, who wanted to protect their newly promoted jōnin. When a clan produced one jōnin, the clan was considered fortunate to have such a talent born in their house.

But when they produced a second, and that too in the next generation, the perception changed from 'lucky' to 'a clan capable of producing jōnin.' Kumagoro's jōnin rank promotion had brought about that change. If the Onikuma were based elsewhere in the Land of Fire, they would've been seen as royalty, but they were situated in the Hidden Leaf Village. Compared to the great clans, they seemed utterly lacklustre.

If they wanted to cement their position and carve out real influence, they needed to produce more talent consistently. He overhauled the base and its operations until it was a well-oiled machine. It took him three years to make the Maizuru of old into a dream and two more years to make it one of the best bases in the Land of Fire. But that came with its cost and sacrifices he had to make.

"What do you have to say about the assassination squad running under your roof?" asked the ANBU-nin double his size, wearing a lion mask.

"What?" Kumagoro frowned.

"The off-the-books assassination squad here in Maizuru that takes unauthorised contracts."

"Yeah, like I just said: What the fuck are you on about?" The ANBU-nin was momentarily still and silent. His eyes stared at him through the mask, observing him as though considering his response.

"I find it hard to believe that you don't know about something so serious happening in your base, Jōnin Kumagoro," replied the ANBU-nin with a flat tone that was neither sceptical nor blaming.

"Are you also going to refuse knowledge about the illegal mission market you have running in the town over?" Someone was running an assassination squad under the cover of Kanaoka jobs. Kumagoro maintained his composure. He couldn't be sure if the ANBU-nin was telling the truth or if this was some ploy aiming for something else.

"That's a serious accusation. Do you have proof?" he asked.

"Your assassination squad is out on a mission right now. My people will bring them in shortly; then, we will have all the proof we need." He was wondering where the other ANBU-nin and the inspector were, and now he knew.

"If it's true, I'd also like to ask some pressing questions." Internally, he felt all his effort and everything he had built crumbled around him. Even though he had been running Maizuru for eight years, Kanaoka jobs hadn't been his creation. It had been present since before he took control—a result of the negligence of previous leadership. By the time he had arrived, it had entrenched its place among the shinobi stationed at the base. The relationship between Maizuru and Kanaoka was complex.

Due to its entertainment establishments, the town had always seen high shinobi traffic from the base. Somewhere along the line, someone from the town asked a visiting shinobi if they could do a job for them. The shinobi accepted. Why would the shinobi accept knowing that it was illegal? The answer was the desire for money. Unlike most shinobi stationed around cities or big towns, those stationed at military bases weren't allowed to take commercial jobs.

They were paid a fixed salary but couldn't earn commission from missions. Even though they were paid a higher fixed salary to compensate, they had less earning potential than their peers. Thus, Kanaoka jobs soon became popular and grew when someone recognised the gap in the market and filled it by starting the agencies, turning it into an organised industry. But monetary greed was only the lesser half of the motivation. Soon after Kumagoro became Maizuru's jōnin commander, he banned Kanaoka jobs.

He had plans to fix Maizuru, and he couldn't attain them if his shinobi were taking illegal jobs. However, he soon realised how bad the problem was. The reaction was widely unpopular. Many of his Division Heads and advisors—even those who actually couldn't benefit from the jobs because they were too low level for chunin like them—subtly tried to advise him to reinstate the practice. He had not only reprimanded them but warned everyone that ignoring his ban would result in harsh punishments.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Although morale was low, he ignored it, thinking they would get over it—that was until someone got caught. He kept to his promise and dealt with punishment. Back then, he was glad someone broke the rules because he could use the opportunity to set an example. The voices of dissatisfaction subsided.

Thinking that the problem was behind him, Kumagoro overhauled how things were down at Maizuru to turn into an efficient operation—only to find that none of his initiatives gained traction and adoption was in the mud. He had created too much change; people didn't like change. They were unhappy that he shuttered Kanaoka jobs and made it worse by changing how they knew things were done. He was so angry that he wanted to uproot the town as punishment. If they wouldn't listen nicely, he could rule by fear.

But his advisors again gave counsel—they weren't subtle this time. They warned him that if he took Kanaoka away, he wouldn't accomplish any of his goals. The shinobi of Maizuru stayed away from their families. Only being able to see them once a year for ten days or so while they spent the rest of their time switching between the base and the border. Kanaoka allowed the shinobi to blow off some steam and stay refreshed. It filled a void left by not being able to be near friends and family.

When he calmed down, he realised he didn't want to command his troops by fear. It wasn't his style. In his experience, keeping people happy resulted in better results in the long term, and he knew that he was in there for the long haul. But the damage had been done. Even if he rolled back his initiatives to then release them gradually, the people now knew his plans and were bound to be resistant at each and every step, slowing the process to a crawl—and that wasn't something he could accept.

He was under a lot of pressure. There was a new Hokage on the throne, and he wanted to use Maizuru to catch the young leader's eye and get the Onikuma clan in his good graces. His plans for Maizuru had to succeed no matter what. He needed to give the Maizuru shinobi something to show goodwill and lift the negative opinion.

"Lift the ban on the Kanaoka jobs," he'd said. He told himself that it was only temporary and that once his plans were in motion and he had more control over and trust of his men, he would also fix this problem. But that time never came, and that wasn't due to his lack of trying.

He tried to raise the salaries of the shinobi at Maizuru so they wouldn't require Kanaoka jobs—but the administration back home rejected the idea because he was already spending a lot of money fixing the base, and the Hidden Leaf hadn't recovered from the Third Shinobi World War. He approached the problem from another angle. He tried to get them extra vacations; a month every year to visit home—but his suggestions and plans were deemed too complex and would require a lot of work to build around.

He wasn't explicitly turned down, but his proposal was cast into bureaucratic hell. Then, the Fourth Hokage, the man who was supposed to lead them into a new era, died. Things were too chaotic for him to propose anything, so he waited for things to calm down and focused on improving Maizuru. His next attempt at a solution was to build a new town near Maizuru, which would house the families of shinobi working at the base.

Maizuru's reputation had risen to the point that the Third Hokage personally visited him at the base to commend him for his efforts, so he thought he would surely get approval. His plans were once again rejected and deemed too expensive as Hidden Leaf was still recovering from the Nine-Tails Attack.

Ironically, the very next year, his budget was tripled, and he was ordered to expand the base in preparation to gain more responsibility—but his plan to bring his people closer to their families wasn't part of the funding. He got busy with the daunting task of expanding the base. Although it was stressful work, he handled it well and was handsomely rewarded for it. His rising reputation and accomplishments benefited the Onikuma clan, which was what he wanted in the first place.

However, he still considered the Kanaoka jobs—which had also grown as Maizuru expanded—a black spot on his legacy. By then, he knew he was bound to become the Onikuma clan head. He wanted it gone before he returned home.

It seemed his wishes weren't in the stars because just as he was about to submit his best proposal to date, which would not only see raised salaries and better vacations, but also included a future plan for a new residential town—Shimura Danzo fucked him over by committing bloodline theft and deserting the Hidden Leaf with his ROOT at the worst time possible which turned his proposal low priority. The situation worsened as the Steam-Frost War got intense, and money was directed towards that border.

Despite all of that, Kumagoro knew his proposal would be approved this time. But he wouldn't get complete credit because he would have left Maizuru by then, and the spotlight would be on the new jōnin commander. He resigned himself to that future and told himself that, just as credit would go to his successor, the Kanaoka problem would also become his. But as he sat opposite the ANBU-nin, he knew that the future didn't exist anymore. He was a jōnin, so he knew that he would be protected.

He would still be the next Onikuma clan head—but his political career would be crippled. If he was young, he could have recovered by earning more accomplishments on the battlefield, but the clan wouldn't allow their leader to be anywhere near danger unless necessary.

"I have read a lot about you and Maizuru, Jōnin Kumagoro. I must say I respect your work and accomplishments. Not every jōnin can lead so many men and do it so masterfully. The Hidden Leaf is lucky to have you as one of our leaders," said the ANBU-nin. The words were filled with praise, but they sounded like backhanded insults to his ears.

"Oh yeah? You admire me?"

"Of course."

"Then why don't you and your lackeys fuck off and leave me to handle my business," Kumagoro spat harshly. He had the urge to wipe the ANBU-nin and that damned inspector from the face of the earth, and nothing would give him more pleasure, but he knew that would do him no good.

"... Well, that's not impossible," said the ANBU-nin. Kumagoro looked up at the masked shinobi, wide-eyed, astonished.

"What did you say?"

"You have contributed a lot to the Hidden Leaf, Jōnin Kumagoro. It doesn't seem fair that one mistake derails and taints all that good. There's a chance we can remedy this. Would you be perchance interested?"

"What are you trying to say? Out with it, clearly," Kumagoro said, heated. His heart was beating as though someone had thrown a rope at him as he was drowning in the ocean.

"My captain would like to meet you," said the ANBU-nin with his hands crossed in his lap.

"If you're interested, he invites you to meet him back home..." Kumagoro was speechless. He felt his mind was playing tricks on him because he thought the fierce lion mask was now smiling at him.