Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_564: Hope For The Future (Patreon)

“Jōnin Itachi, it’s such a surprise to see you. I was of the impression that you didn’t attend such events,” said Hyūga Hiashi.

The Hyūga clan head wore traditional, loose-fitting robes with a long-sleeved brown haori. Traditional sandals would usually accompany his attire, but he wore shinobi sandals instead. Like all members of his clan, he had white, featureless but striking Byakugan that gave the impression they could pierce through a person and all their secrets.

“The weather was nice for a walk,” Itachi replied.

Takuma looked between the two jōnin. Neither of them cracked a smile.

The two clans had a long-standing rivalry dating back to the earliest days of the Warring States Period. Among the strongest shinobi clans out there, they clashed repeatedly on the battlefield. Their clashes had been especially personal, as their dōjutsu were repeatedly compared and their superiority debated. Before the emergence of Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara, the Hyūga clan had been in contention for the position of the top dog, relying on their powerful Byakugan—which, unlike the Sharingan, was sure to appear on every single clan member, allowing them to cultivate stronger shinobi on average than any other clan out there.

That remained true to this day. Not only did the Hyūga have the strongest shinobi on average among their peers, but they also consistently had the highest number of jōnin and chūnin among the Leaf clans.

Hiashi turned to Takuma. “I noticed what you did.”

“Pardon?”

“The ramparts, they were hollow,” Hiashi said. “Worried that Jōnin Kagero wouldn’t have been able to burn your walls down?”

Takuma was impressed, but maybe it was obvious for a Hyūga. He had indeed hollowed out his ramparts. The ramparts would’ve gone down regardless of his meddling. He just didn’t want any problems with Jōnin Kagero because the ramparts remained standing a second longer.

“If anything, I was worried they wouldn’t stand long enough. Unfortunately, it seems, my best effort wasn’t any good against a jōnin.” Takuma smiled. He wasn’t going to claim what he did and risk undermining Jōnin Kagero.

Hiashi’s gaze was piercing. “Here I thought you were incapable of cooperation, but it seems I was mistaken. I wish we could come to an understanding of our own for the good of everyone.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Takuma said, knowing full well what the clan head had been trying to say.

“I’d rather not play the game. All of us are busy men,” Hiashi said, not impressed. “This village was a result of various powers coming together to cooperate to create something greater than the sum of its parts. In much the same manner, your predecessors believed in cooperation to keep this village strong. Your actions are commendable, right, and necessary—and yes, someone in your position has to make tough decisions like this—but I believe the way you handled it was deeply flawed. You’ve ruffled many feathers, and now they feel the chill. I regret to inform you that you’ve made your job harder. Your predecessors understood the importance of maintaining the delicate balance of things that makes the Hidden Leaf work as it has, and they were right, even if you can’t see it that way.

“Nonetheless, I understand the passion and initiative of youth. It’s needed even if it comes with its follies. Youth is a blade without a hilt; it cuts deeply, but it bleeds the hand that wields it. If you continue to swing so blindly, you will bleed yourself dry.

“That youthful energy will be tempered and honed with experience, which will come with time. What you need right now is some much-needed guidance.” Hiashi didn’t spare as much as a glance for Takuma. “I can provide it to you. I’m offering you a perspective that only someone in my position can give you. The Hyūga has stood as the strongest pillar of this village since its founding. We know how the political winds shift. We can help you identify which roots to sever and which to water.

“I want to help you, Chūnin Takuma. Because even though I don’t agree with your methods, I can see that your heart is in the right place. Work with us.”

In that moment, Takuma got a better understanding of the man named Hyūga Hiashi than he did from reading the man’s history and psychological profile in his file. He dared to call the man who led the Arborist Squad inexperienced, cited his youth as a negative, and criticised his actions even while agreeing with their positive result. He told him that he needed guidance right in front of his boss and then tried to put a leash on him.

Takuma was speechless at the utter hubris of it all.

“Lord Hiashi, I think I’ve mistaken you for someone else,” Takuma said, knowing how annoying he was being, since there was no use hiding his work identity from someone like the Hyūga clan head.

Before Hiashi could continue, Itachi interrupted. “If the current system can only work if a delicate balance must be maintained, then perhaps the system is flawed and requires change so we can have a solid foundation built upon proper checks and balances.”

“What if changing the so-called flawed system does unprecedented damage without the guarantee of things improving? There’s wisdom in the words: Don’t fix things if they aren’t broken.”

“Well, you can’t make a delicious omelette without cracking a few eggs,” Takuma said.

The Hyūga clan leader looked unimpressed at the two teenagers. “In time you’ll understand the importance of my words. There’ll be consequences to your actions; you’ll find it hard to do your job now. If you continue on recklessly as you have, you’ll surely come to regret denying my offer.”

He snorted at them one final time before walking away, but not before Itachi called out to him, “One last thing, Lord Hiashi. You misunderstand experience as a function of time. It’s not. It’s a function of effort. Some learn and accomplish more in an afternoon than others fail to learn in a lifetime.”

Hiashi gave Itachi an intense but stone-faced look, but then walked away without saying anything.

“You also have to beat the eggs thoroughly,” Takuma said to Itachi. “Maybe add some vegetables to make it healthier. Maybe some spice and cheese...”

“It’s okay. He’s gone now,” Itachi replied.

Takuma chuckled, then turned his head to where the Hokage was merrily conversing with Toridasu and Kagero. In two days, the inquiry against the Aburame clan would convene again, and they would announce that the administration had decided to press charges against the clan officially. The inquiry would continue to talk to all those who were involved in the effort of creating a holistic recommendation report. Meanwhile, the prosecution would build their case. He hoped the preparation stage would be short because a big part of the Arborist Squad’s work had been to assign blame properly. They had poured a lot of time and effort into making sure they knew everyone’s role in the scheme—not only to understand the crime better, but also to ease the prosecution's load so they could better utilise their efforts to build an airtight case.

“Hyūga Hiashi is right about one thing,” he said. “After this, the Arborist Squad will find it difficult to get the clans to cooperate with them.”

“Was it easy before?” Itachi asked.

“No, but still…”

“Don’t tell me you thought this was going to be easy.”

“I could at least have hope.” Takuma sighed but then straightened up. “Well, I guess not all things are bad. With this, the motivation within the squad would be high. They’d be more receptive to my ideas.”

His year as the lieutenant overseeing the Arborist Squad hadn’t been easy sailing. As Hiashi mentioned, his predecessors had run things differently. They had gone after clan crimes, but they had been communicative with the clan leadership, allowing them a measure of self-regulation, chances to right their wrongs, and recommending lenient punishments. In return, the clans had been more cooperative, and the information had flowed more freely.

While the approach had its pros and cons, Takuma found the clans had taken advantage of the long-standing arrangement. By the time ANBU caught them in their wrongdoing, they had already profited enough to afford the lenient punishment and still come out on top.

Instead of punishment, it was more like they were paying for the permission to overstep their already generous bounds.

The operatives of the Arborist Squad were used to working under that system. They truly believed that they were doing their job properly because it was the only way they had seen it done. Takuma wanted actually to hold the clans accountable. However, change was rarely easy, especially when it came from a teenager who hadn’t been in ANBU long enough to be in such a high-ranking position.

They hadn’t been very receptive to his new vision for the squad. There was a lot of resistance; constant complaints about the ‘correct way of doing things.’ The operatives were one thing, but even the staff presented resistance to change.

Takuma couldn’t transfer them all out and assemble a new team because he needed the institutional knowledge only the members of the Arborist Squad had. He had to work with what he had.

In the end, it took booting one operative out and ‘motivating’ another one to put in for a voluntary transfer for the mood to change. He replaced one of them with Nenro and chose one of Itachi’s recommendations for the second position. Once the operatives were willing to play ball, the staff fell into line soon after. He still booted a number of them from the team and put some of his own people from the anti-ROOT squad into place.

And while that was the start, progress was still slow because scepticism remained.

However, with the success of the Aburame case, he believed he had finally changed the culture and brought about a true new start. As long as he maintained the squad’s momentum, he was confident that he could bring about more positive change in the village.

“Now that the majority of the workload of this case is done, what’s next?” Itachi asked.

“There are a few irons in the fire,” Takuma answered, gazing at the burning remains of the walls and ramparts. Black smoke rose into the sky as the shinobi worked hard to put out the fire.

“It’s a matter of right timing,” Itachi said. “Pile on small successes leading up to the Aburame court hearing. And when the situation is just right—political environment and rising societal pressure—you can strike big. Right now, they’re feeling cautious and apprehensive, but they might see it as a fluke. But if you can show them that you’re truly serious, and more importantly, capable—then they’ll be scared.”

“…And that’d be the start of true change,” Takuma said.

Itachi nodded.

Takuma glanced at his friend. He had a wish for the future. If he and the world survived what was to come, he wanted Itachi to lead the village into the new era not because he was his friend, but because he didn’t know anyone else better suited for the job. However, for that to happen, Itachi had to be a part of the future. But as it stood now, he wouldn’t live to see the future.

And as far as Takuma was concerned, Itachi’s well-being was just as, if not more, important than bringing the clans in line.

“There are a lot of things to do, and so little time to do it,” Takuma said.

He enjoyed the day of rest, but as it stood, he didn’t have many in his foreseeable future.

— — —

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A/N:

X-Files, Season 2 Episode 4: Sleepless has some very interesting ideas for genjutsu.

My goal is to post another chapter tomorrow. Hopefully, I can do it.

And then, I'll aim for 3 chapters next week as well.

You can only achieve it by doing.