Chương 447: CH_12.14 (447)

The offices of Ratel's squad were hushed that day. The operatives and staff sneaked glances at the group of clones working around the bullpen as usual, but they were quieter as they went about their tasks. Ratel had barely left his office, and if his clones were any indication, he seemed to be deep in thought.

"What do you think happened?" Mor asked, sipping steaming hot green tea in the snack room.

"Doesn't seem to be about work, or else he would've said something by now," Aquilla replied. Mor watched with disgust as the Hyūga poured an absurd amount of sugar into his coffee. He felt his teeth rotting just by looking. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal; everyone had days when they weren't in a good mood, but when over half a dozen sombre people walked around the office, it tended to affect others' moods, especially when it was the boss.

"Personal stuff, huh. What concerns a fifteen-year-old, though?" Mor wondered aloud.

"Can we treat him like a fifteen-year-old?" Ratel's age had been a point of contention for everyone on the team. They all knew about his exploits, and as spectacular as they were, there were doubts about whether a young teenager, who, by all standards, was still an ANBU rookie, could do a good job leading a team of seasoned operatives on something as important as the only anti-ROOT unit. They had joined despite that potential worry.

However, after working under him, as brief as it had been, they often forgot that he was only fifteen.

"Hippo, weigh in. What's up with the little boss today?" Mor asked Hippo, who walked into the snack room, scratching his belly.

"He got his ass handed to him in a sparring session—not my words," he replied while idly gazing into the fridge for something to eat.

"How did you know?"

"I asked. A clone said that he lost to an Uchiha."

"Weasel?" Aquilla asked.

"Would you be this upset if you lost to Weasel?" Yet another abnormal teenager, but unlike Ratel, who made people forget about his age, this one made others conscious about it; that's how unthinkable his achievements were.

"Ratel's close with the Uchiha," Mor commented and then glanced at the other two to gauge their reaction. Weasel personally recruited him, and it wasn't difficult to discover his background in the Leaf Military Police Force, especially when there were multiple newspaper articles with his name and quotes on them. Not to mention, he was a civilian-born shinobi. It wasn't a stretch to think he had taken shelter under the Uchiha clan's umbrella.

Even in ANBU, associations were something that even ANBU-nin couldn't ignore. The saying, ' who you knew, not what you knew, might matter more' still held strong. They had to carefully consider whom they cosied with, as it might exclude them from other spheres of influence. Out of everyone, Aquilla was the most surprising one to be on Ratel's squad. None on the squad was forced to join through the means of mandatory assignment; they all agreed to be recruited.

In that situation, to see a Hyūga in a squad directly under an Uchiha was truly unexpected. He had either made that decision of his own volition or his joining had been approved.

"Maybe he is or maybe he's not. Does it really matter at this point?" Hippo said as he longingly stared at his lunchbox, lovingly cooked by his wife. There was still an hour until lunchtime.

"I'm sure all of us mulled over it hard and long before joining. It was exhausting then; it's exhausting now. It's not like you can leave now, so let's focus on other things of interest."

"Like?"

"Like the lack of snacks in the pantry! I can feel myself losing weight here!" Mor sighed, thinking about the squad's composition. He was the only ANBU-nin from his clan and chose to join the Aburame with the ANBU through Tachanid. They were bystanders who rarely took sides, making it an ideal position to slot themselves in various spheres. However, because the Aburame took no sides, there was always a limitation on how much they could get involved with different groups; he was never part of an inner circle.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. There was no question about Aquilla; he was deeply entrenched in the Hyūga side of things, which lay in the complete opposite direction to the Uchiha sphere of influence. Hippo's involvement in departmental politics was fairly limited due to being a genin operative. Ironically, genin operatives were more often than not judged and recruited based on their performance and experience.

He had managed to keep himself unallied through his very long career. And yet, now that he was in the squad, different groups were trying to recruit him to their side to gain influence within the squad. Boobook's clan had long-term alliances with the Sarutobi and the Akimichi-Nara-Yamanaka triad. As the only ANBU-nin from her clan, she had chosen to maintain that public alliance inside ANBU as well. Then there was the problem child, Tern.

Having a Shimura on the team was a disadvantage when dealing with others, as very few wanted to connect with them on anything beyond the surface, fearing that they would be tainted by association. The rumour mill seemed to believe that she was put on the team to sabotage it. He could maybe understand why Ratel built the squad the way he did, but why Weasel allowed it evaded his mind. Why allow so many outside influences that actively weakened his grip on an important squad?

Until the last moment, everyone thought that the squad would be filled with operatives from Weasel's sphere of influence. When Tachanid told him to contact Ratel, Hippo genuinely thought the interview was all a show for the sake of appearing fair in the selection process, and had zero expectations, which helped because it was the least nervous he had been during an interview. It was only when Ratel returned with a legitimate offer that he realised it had been a real interview.

Even then, he thought maybe he was the exception for optics, but then he met others, and he no longer knew what to think about the decision made regarding the formation of the squad. He gently blew on his steaming tea as he gazed out of the snack room at Tern heading to Ratel's office with documents in her hand. But if he understood one thing, then it was that Ratel, whether the team was his choice or not, was going to make use of everything in his reach. ———.

"Are the preparations coming along well?" Takuma asked as he nursed a headache, feeling a clone's memories slam into his head. The updated method for processing the clone's experience and memories still had some flaws that had to be ironed out. The trials for the third shadow clone were coming along reasonably well. At least, Yamanaka Inenpachi was happy with the progress, but the loss against Izumi had left him feeling impatient. Clearly, his efforts weren't enough.

He needed more time; time was always the problem. He always had the choice to pull back on work, which took the majority of his day, and devote all of his clones to training, but he didn't have that liberty. He wanted to be a jōnin and needed the accomplishments and exploits befitting one. Becoming a jōnin was more than getting the strength—that was the minimum. However, unlike others, he was working on an accelerated schedule.

For the vast majority of jōnin, they had long shinobi careers to earn their promotion as their strength rose to the level. He didn't have that sort of time. He needed strength fast and exploits faster. For the young chūnin who attained the strength before feats, the village supported them by helping them build accomplishments, but that route took too much time. Most of the time, they were in no rush to push a young jōnin.

Instead, they wanted them to grow more experienced and become well-rounded in fields other than combat. It was also in the village's interest to protect young, prodigious talent by keeping them in the shadows as long as possible before their time in the spotlight, where all the foreign powers would have their eyes on them, looking at them as what they were— a threat. Takuma didn't have that time.

He wanted to become a jōnin as quickly as possible—the access to A-rank ninjutsu, the resources, the authority—everything depended on him getting up there. Each day he rested was another day he would have to wait until he could become a jōnin. If Grey were born a decade earlier, Takuma would've focused more on building combat strength because he could've taken his time with a career, like most people did, and perhaps even built a life worth enjoying.

Izumi wasn't rushing to earn her laurels because she, and everyone advising her, knew that she could take her time. They didn't know what he knew, and they were better for it because the way he lived was no way to live. He was actively sacrificing the " early years" of his life in the hope that he would enjoy life afterwards. They were lucky. That's what he wanted to think. They were living a life of blissful ignorance—but he knew his knowledge was his biggest boon, even if, every day, it felt like a curse.

"Everything's on schedule," Tern said with a nervousness that came from a sense of excitement.

"We're ready to leave tomorrow."

"Then we leave tomorrow," he said, returning his attention to her.

"You'll be taking the lead on this. Whatever you say goes." She was an operative with experience, so running lead wasn't anything new for her, but she had been sidelined ever since ROOT's exodus. He wanted her to gain her confidence back by allowing her to exert control, so Takuma was going to accompany her on a few outings right until she'd start thinking he was babysitting her. She was on her own after that. It was time to get started on the things he had promised the higher-ups.