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Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Maruboshi was washing dishes when his front doorbell rang. He wondered if Takuma had returned from visiting the Police Force headquarters and hoped everything had gone well. The timing made him think that perhaps his plans to have lunch with his friend had fallen through, and he had returned early but when he opened the door, he found no one at the door.
When he turned around, however, he saw a cloaked and masked ANBU-nin standing before him, nearly stopping his heart
"Genin Maruboshi Kosuke," said the ANBU-nin.
"...That is me, yes. May I ask what business an ANBU-nin has with me?" he asked. It was not every day that one encountered an ANBU-nin, and it was seldom a good thing if one showed up at one's house.
"I would like to meet Genin Takuma. I'm told that he's currently residing with you."
"Yes, he is living with me. Unfortunately, he's not in at the moment," he said.
Many possible reasons flashed through his mind, including the letter to Uchiha Mikoto but then he also remembered that Takuma had told him he had interacted with a pair of ANBU-nin prior to returning from the war.
Maruboshi had decided not to pursue the matter, but it still concerned him.
"I see... Then can you perhaps pass this on to him?" The ANBU-nin retrieved a scroll from his cloak. The scroll was sealed with fuinjutsu and had the official seal of the ANBU department stamped on the front.
"And this is?" he asked.
"All relevant information is in the scroll. He'll understand when he reads its contents," said the ANBU-nin. "I shouldn't need to say it but do not open the scroll. The contents of the scroll are for his eyes only."
"Of course," said Maruboshi.
The ANBU-nin nodded and disappeared, leaving Maruboshi with a sealed scroll for Takuma.
———
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"Wow, this place, huh?" said Arisu as they sat in a familiar diner.
"Well, it's been a while for me," said Takuma. He took Arisu to the diner they frequented when they still worked under Kano. After they started the Narcotics Taskforce, they had no time for consistent breaks, and when things settled down, they started ordering the team's lunch directly to the office. "What about you?"
"I've been here a couple of times here and there, but it's good to be back here with you," she smiled.
"So, the usual?" he asked. They ordered the same meals every day because it took away one choice among dozens they had to make in their day.
"The usual," she said and ordered for both of them.
"I remember we used to pay for our own stuff every day, but then we got a weekly tab and started paying it alternatively," said Takuma. "And you owe me money because your food costs more than mine."
"And I wouldn't change a thing," Arisu laughed. "So tell me, what's your plan? I'm sure you're going for the Chunin Exams, right?"
"That's on the docket. Wanna join me?" Takuma asked. He planned to ask Nenro and Masaaki, but if she said yes, he would take the exam with her because, as much as he loved the boys, he worked perfectly with Arisu because of their history and he would choose her over any other genin in the nation.
Arisu shook her head. "Not this time. My first attempt will be the exam after the coming one. I don't think I'm ready yet, but I think I'll be ready to start participating in the next one. Of course, I'll be happier if I get promoted internally, but you know how that is."
Takuma rapped his fingers on the table and gazed at Arisu.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"I met with Setsuna and well... he said he might be able to get me promoted internally."
"Seriously?" Arisu asked as a glimmer of excitement shimmered in her eyes. "That's great, Takuma! That means you're staying in the Police Force. Oh my god, this is the best possible outcome!"
"Before you get too excited, it's not guaranteed and I don't think Setsuna will be able to pull it off."
"Why so negative?"
"It's called being realistic," said Takuma. "If the Police Force wanted to promote me, Setsuna would've guaranteed it yesterday and served me a five-year contract for me to sign with a golden pen. The fact that he's asked me to wait until the end of my contract and not sooner says that he will be campaigning for my promotion. I think he'll come back with a promise of a promotion a couple of years down the line along with some benefits to soothe the burn."
Perhaps he was being pessimistic, but he would rather set lower expectations and overachieve than the opposite. When he started the Narcotics Taskforce, he truly believed that he could take it all the way to the top, but in mere months, that foolish dream had been beaten down by office politics. The more success he achieved, the more eyes coveted his efforts and because he was growing his crop on borrowed land, he had limited power from the start.
"It's no use thinking about it until Setsuna delivers on his promise," said Takuma. "Let's change the subject. When do you think you're free? This is not enough time to catch up. Let's train together. We can talk more and spar. I'm thinking about getting back into a routine."
Arisu didn't look like she wanted to change the topic but sighed. "Sure, let's train. Maybe once a week, but I can't commit to a specific day," she said quickly when Takuma perked up. "On the topic of catch-up, there's a class gathering on Saturday. You've never come to them, so you'll come to this one—I'll drag you if I have to."
"Should I come? I mean, I've never been to one. I don't want it to be weird," said Takuma.
Before he had started working with Arisu, he had never actually been invited—to be fair, they were informal events open to the entire class, but he was never informed of the time and date because he wasn't connected to the class. There was Taro, but he barely cared about the gatherings and didn't bring them up during their conversations. Arisu did inform him about the gatherings, but they were held on weekends, and he was busy with primetime Ring fights. Then, the Narcotics Taskforce came along and he was literally too busy to make time for it.
"It's not going to be weird but if it becomes too much the two of us can just grab a corner and chat the entire time," Arisu smiled.
"That sounds nice," said Takuma after a moment of thought. "So what's the occasion?"
"A celebration. Inuzuka Hana got promoted to chunin—she's the third one from our batch," said Arisu.
"Who else made it?"
"Take a guess."
Takuma thought about it, but it was difficult to make an educated guess when he had no idea where his classmates were in their careers. He narrowed it down to the people who passed the jonin's team test. He thought about it more, and the memory of a poorly executed B-rank fire release ninjutsu came to mind.
"Okubo Momoe," said Takuma. If she could shoddily use a B-rank jutsu before the Narcotics Taskforce existed, then she must have progressed a lot in that time. It had been a few months short of two years since that fight—he wondered how strong she was right now.
"Correct, the girl genius won the entire thing six months ago," said Arisu.
The Chunin Exam was a bi-annual event, and both the previous exams were conducted during his eleven-month war tour.
"Hana was promoted after the more recent one, though."
"As for the last one," Takuma raised his hands while shrugging. He had no recent data points to base his decision on, so he used the old ones: "I don't know, Uchiha Izumi, maybe? Am I right?"
Arisu nodded with a smile. Izumi and Arisu were close friends since before the academy as the Uchiha and Fuma were closely allied.
"Two on two," said Takuma. "Did she get it on her first attempt?"
"She did."
"Great for them." He sighed neutrally. "I guess I'll go to the gathering. I'm assuming Hana is paying for it all?"
"Free food for all."
"Can't say no to that, then, but don't blame me for leaving if it's boring or something."
He would have Arisu with him, but would also get to see Taro and Kameko, so he wouldn't be alone if he went. As for his other classmates, they were practically strangers, but they'd also seen him at his worst. If any of them were willing, he wouldn't mind creating and growing a few connections.
———
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After the lunch with Arisu, Takuma left to get a and then sat down in a tea shop to write letters to his acquaintances, informing them that he had safely returned from war. Handwriting all the letters took some time and could've been done much quicker if he had made copies of a generic format and filled in names, but he opted for the longer route because nothing else was occupying his time.
Besides, it was more personal too.
It was early evening when he posted the letters and returned to Maruboshi's home.
"I'm back," he announced as he returned. Maruboshi had given him a key in case he wasn't home when Takuma returned.
"In the living room," Maruboshi called from within the house. "Please come here. I've something to show you."
"I'll be there in a minute," Takuma said as he entered the bathroom to wash his hands and feet before heading to the living room. There, Maruboshi sat beside a low table with tea that had long since gone cold. Takuma sat on the floor opposite Maruboshi and placed a paper tote bag on the table. "I brought these snacks from a tea shop; please have them."
Maruboshi nodded. He had a slight furrow between his brows, and his lips were lightly pressed into a line. Takuma noticed that his posture and shoulders were stiff.
"You look tense. What is it?" asked Takuma.
Maruboshi took a deep breath and placed the sealed scroll on the table. "This came for you. Do you recognise the symbol on the scroll?" he asked.
"For me?" Takuma was confused.
Only a few people knew that he was living with his teacher and he didn't think they would send him anything when he had met all of them in the past three days. He picked up the scroll and turned it around to see the symbol. He recognised it because he had seen it just in the last month.
It was tattooed on the arms of both ANBU-nin he had met in Yu.
"ANBU?" He looked up at Maruboshi.
"An ANBU-nin delivered it today with instructions for you to read it," said Marubsohi.
"What is it? Did they say anything?"
Maruboshi shook his head. "He said that all necessary information is inside... Should I give you some space?"
"No, no, it's okay; please stay," Takuma said as he gazed intensely at the scroll.
He had no idea what could be inside it. Was it from the ANBU duo from Yu? Was the scroll additional information on Kon? He doubted it because their deal had been fulfilled and he basically extorted the information from them too. There was no reason for the duo to send him more information and he was sure they weren't feeling particularly generous towards him.
"Do you think it's from the pair you met?" asked Maruboshi.
"That seems to be the most likely and unlikely option." Takuma took a deep breath and injected a burst of chakra to burn through the sealed outer layer of paper and unfurled the scroll.
A long silence hung over the room during which Takuma read the scroll with little change in expression, and Maruboshi observed those changes to identify the possible contents and sentiment of the scroll.
After a few minutes, Takuma reached the scroll's end and took a deep breath as he put it down. He stared at Maruboshi for a few seconds until he said,
"They're trying to recruit me..."
"The ANBU?" Maruboshi's brows rose.
"Yes," Takuma nodded slowly, stunned by what he had just read. "There will be multiple rounds of interviews and testing, but if I pass through the process and they deem me worthy... I'll join them as a chunin."
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A/N: Because I wanted this week to end on this, I had to release 4 chapters. To rebuild that one chapter deficit, the next week's chapters will be released on Fri/Sat instead of the usual Wed/Thurs—and Fri/Sat would become the new posting day.
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The link is in the synopsis!