Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
May 25, x788.
Like every morning, Alfonzo and the other visitors to the Village Hidden in the Leaves woke up shortly after sunrise. Then, they took the time to get prepared for the day. Also like always, Yamato was waiting for Alfonzo and Miyuki outside the front door of the residence. However, instead of just escorting them to the training grounds, he had a different order to fulfill.
"Hey, morning, Yamato." Alfonzo said with a smile. "You know, if you were to show up a little earlier each morning, you could join us for breakfast. In fact, Kakashi used to do that every now and then, too."
Taken slightly aback, Yamato found himself annoyed with his senior shinobi. He had met with Kakashi on more than a few occasions since Kakashi first got the mission to follow Alfonzo while he worked. And every time he did, Kakashi would brag about how good Alfonzo's cooking was.
However, when he was assigned the same mission after Kakashi received a Genin team, Kakashi never told him about the fact that he would come over early to join the visitors for breakfast from time to time.
"*Sigh* It looks like I need to have a long conversation with Kakashi next time I run into him." Yamato muttered in a discontent tone. Then, he shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. "Anyway, Lord Hokage asked me to escort you to see him. So, if you wouldn't mind following me."
Hearing that, Alfonzo had an idea of what Hiruzen wanted to talk to him about. So, he nodded in understanding. Then, he turned back to Miyuki.
"Alright, Miyuki, you don't have to follow me to the Hokage's office." Alfonzo said. "I'll come to get you before we head to the training grounds."
"Understood." Miyuki replied. "I'll await your return, Master Alfonzo."
Then, with a polite bow, Miyuki turned around and retreated into the house.
"Alright, let's go." Alfonzo said with a nod.
Nodding back in return, Yamato, with Alfonzo following him, turned around and started walking towards the Hokage Tower. Then, after about fifteen minutes, the two arrived outside Hiruzen's office.
*Knock!* *Knock!*
"Lord Hokage, it's Yamato." Yamato said respectfully after knocking on the door. "I've brought Alfonzo Marcus per your request."
"Come in." Hiruzen said from the other side of the door.
Once again nodding to Alfonzo, Yamato grabbed the doorknob before opening the door and gesturing for Alfonzo to enter.
Wasting no time, Alfonzo stepped through the open door before Yamato followed him inside Hiruzen's office and closed the door behind him. Then, as Yamato stood by the door, Alfonzo strode towards Hiruzen's desk and took a seat after Hiruzen gestured for him to do so.
"Good morning, Alfonzo." Hiruzen said with a grandfatherly smile. "I've heard about the progress of your work on the training grounds from both Kakashi and Yamato. And I must say, I'm quite impressed."
"Well, I aim to please." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "but I doubt that's why you actually called me here. In fact, I have a pretty good idea why you asked to see me. But just in case I'm wrong, can you tell me what's going on?"
"*Sigh* I figured you would understand before I even had the chance to tell you." Hiruzen replied while shaking his head. "but just to make sure we're on the same page, I'll tell you."
Reaching that point, Hiruzen picked up his pipe, held it to his mouth, and lit it before taking a deep drag. Then, after holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment, he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"I'd like you to postpone your work until the Chunin Exam ends." Hiruzen said. "Although we can stop the visiting shinobi from the other large and small villages from going to the classified areas of the village, we can't justifiably stop them from travelling to the public training grounds. And I'd rather not chance them seeing you working to upgrade our facilities."
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was expecting to hear." Alfonzo replied with an understanding nod. Then, he put on a cunning smile as he continued. "You're looking to have an advantage over the other villages, so you don't want them to see me working and inquire about what I'm doing. But I have a question for you."
Knowing that Alfonzo would see through his request, Hiruzen nodded. But he was quite curious about Alfonzo's question. At the same time, he was dreading to hear it.
"Please." Hiruzen said, gesturing with his free hand for Alfonzo to continue.
"What exactly do I get out of accepting your request?" Alfonzo asked in a solemn tone after shifting his expression to one that matched his tone. "As you know, I'm a businessman. And working with those villages would bring me quite the profit. So, why should I stop working and preventing them from seeing the upgrades. You should also keep in mind that this was not mentioned in the contract."
Hiruzen groaned internally after hearing Alfonzo's question. In fact, that question was the exact reason why he was dreading Alfonzo's question. To keep him from disclosing his ability to upgrade the training grounds, Hiruzen knew it would cost him quite the sum.
["You're really crafty, Alfonzo."] Bedlam said from Alfonzo's inner world with a shit-eating grin on his face. ["We all know that you're absolutely against doing another job like this one. So, even if Hiruzen had not asked you to stop while the other village's shinobi were here, you would have come up with a reason to stop on your own."]
'Yeah, but he doesn't know that.' Alfonzo replied, smiling like an old fox on the inside. 'And if I can, why shouldn't I get some extra benefits for myself. It's not like I'm doing anything against my conscience or that breaks the contract, right?'
["Hell yeah!"] Riot shouted ecstatically. ["fleece the fuck outta that negligent old man. He can see this as a punishment for letting Danzo run wild for so many years. It's not like he doesn't deserve it. Hmph! He's supposed to be the leader of this village. Yet, he let his personal feelings affect the way he dealt with his subordinates."]
["For one of the few times since we were created, I fully agree with Riot."] Bedlam said with a chuckle. ["I just didn't expect you to go this route, Alfonzo."]
'Well, the fact that he let so much evil fester in his own village, for so long, made me think he needed to be punished, too.' Alfonzo replied internally. 'I just couldn't think of a way to justifiably punish him for it. I mean, he's too worshipped in this village to take a heavy handed approach. But running his pockets won't bother anyone, right?'
While Alfonzo was conversing with his [Armament Spirits], Hiruzen was visibly grimacing. He knew everything Alfonzo said was true. And like Alfonzo discussed with Riot and Bedlam, it was not against the terms of the contract he signed with the village. So, there was no reason for Alfonzo to heed his request.
Meanwhile, Yamato and the Anbu hidden in the room were staring at Alfonzo with dumbfounded expressions while their mouths hung open. Never had they expected Alfonzo to counter with such a reason. And although they were not happy with Alfonzo's attitude, they knew he was right. And as a businessman, everything he did was for the sake of his profits.
Eventually, Hiruzen put on a resigned expression. Then, he took another long drag from his pipe. After once again holding the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds, he exhaled a cloud of smoke. Then, he looked at Alfonzo with a pleading expression.
"*Sigh* What would it take for you to accept my request?" Hiruzen asked.
"Hmm.... Now... That's the million Jewel question, isn't it?" Alfonzo asked while cupping his chin with his right hand. "Hmm.... How about you let me pick a few of my guild mates to get their chakra affinity tested. Then, when we discover their affinities, you let me teach them a few Jutsu?"
Hiruzen audibly groaned once again.
"Haven't we already done that?" Hiruzen asked.
"Nope." Alfonzo replied. "That was compensation for Danzo's attack on us, remember? Besides, you only let them learn one Jutsu each."
"And how many do you have in mind?" Hiruzen asked apprehensively.
"The three from before and the ones who have come since." Alfonzo replied. "That would make a total of..."
Reaching that point, Alfonzo began muttering the names of everyone who has accompanied him to the Village Hidden in the Leaves over the past year and a half while counting on his fingers.
"Nine." Alfonzo said after he was done counting.
Though he struggled for a while, Hiruzen eventually agreed. At first, he was expecting Alfonzo to want a monetary reward for accepting his request. However, only allowing nine people to have unrestricted access to their library of Jutsu was a lot less of a hit than he expected.
In fact, the reason the number was so small, was simple. Most of the wizards in Fairy Tail were not smart enough to comprehend the intricacies of [Ninjutsu] or [Genjutsu]. And those who were, were either wielding stronger magic or were not willing to split their attention to another branch of magic.
"Oh, I wanna teach some of my wives and wives to be, too." Alfonzo added after a few seconds of thought. "So, I guess that would add another eight to the total. Oh, I think the guild master, Ur would benefit from learning another discipline, too."
As Alfonzo continued to speak, Hiruzen's expression grew more and more pale. Because despite wanting to reject, He knew that Alfonzo was not being excessive if you considered how much money he stood to make if he cooperated with the other villages.
'*Sigh* Maybe I should have let him just cooperate with the other villages.' Hiruzen thought to himself. 'If I did, there's a good chance he and his guild would end up destroying those villages after they tried to keep him from working with the other villages by force. Because despite each village having thousands of shinobi, I'm sure that woman, Irene Belserion could destroy most, if not all of them, by herself with very little effort.'
While Hiruzen continued toying with that thought in his head, he eventually forgot about it as his conversation with Alfonzo came to an end.
After speaking with Hiruzen, Alfonzo and Yamato left the Hokage Tower. And while they made their way back to the residence where the visitors from magnolia were staying, Yamato could not help but look at Alfonzo with an awed expression.
Never before had he ever considered doing anything but following the Hokage's instructions without question. But that was natural, as he was a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf who did not have any traitorous thoughts.
"Is there something on my face?" Alfonzo asked, snapping Yamato out of his revelry.
"Huh? Oh, no." Yamato replied as he quickly looked away.
"Anyway, since I don't have anything to do for the rest of the day, wanna come over and grab a bite with us?" Alfonzo asked. "But since there's a while until lunch, we could have a little spar in the meantime... If you're up for it, that is."
Remembering how Kakashi bragged about getting to eat Alfonzo's cooking on more than one occasion, Yamato immediately agreed to have lunch with him. As for the spar, he did not mind, either. In fact, Yamato was looking forward to it. Since he knew that Alfozo was one of the stronger wizards on Fiore, he knew that it would definitely broaden his horizons.
Eventually, the two arrived at the house. And when they did, they immediately headed to the backyard to spar, which attracted the attention of those in the house. So, Laki, Saeko, and Miyuki also made their way out to the backyard to watch. At which point, Alfonzo explained the result of his conversation with Hiruzen.
After Alfonzo's explanation, Laki, Saeko, and Miyuki backed away, giving Alfonzo and Yamato enough room to spar. And when she saw Yamato's [Ninjutsu], which was a combination of [Water-Style], [Earth-Style], and [Wood-Style Ninjutsu], Laki could not keep from having her eyes light up at the [Wood-Style] in particular.
Alfonzo had told her about the [Wood-Style] after his first trip to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Unfortunately, he did not have the permission to teach it to others at that time. But getting the chance to see it for herself, she was having all sorts of ideas how she could use her [Wood-Make Magic] in combat.
Naturally, that was Alfonzo's reason for wanting to spar with Yamato at his residence. In fact, with Hiruzen's promise, he was even allowed to teach Laki all the [Wood-Style Ninjutsu] that were cataloged in Danzo's records.
["Are you sure you want to do that?"] Bedlam asked with a cheshire grin as Alfonzo dodged away from a wooden tendril that grew from right beneath him. ["You did so much to get her interested in Kakashi. But if you actually teach her all those [Ninjutsu], she might shift her focus back to you."]
'*Sigh* I know what you mean.' Alfonzo replied as he closed the distance with Yamato and lashed his right leg at the shinobi's left shoulder. 'But that's not a good enough reason to not help her get stronger. And considering all the shit Hashirama could do with the [Wood-Style], Laki will probably be a god damn monster if she combines that with her high amount of magic power, her [Soul Armament], and her strange imagination.'
["Yeah, I know you're right."] Bedlam replied.
["Quit your bitchin'." Riot interjected. ["We all know that if Laki was willing to share, Alfonzo would accept her. So, just let shit happen as it's supposed to."]
With that, Alfonzo's conversation with his [Armament Spirits] continued while he simultaneously sparred with Yamato. Eventually, the time for lunch came and they stopped. Then, with Miyuki's help, Alfonzo cooked a rather large lunch and the group sat down to eat. And while they did, Laki energetically questioned Yamato about his [Wood-Style Ninjutsu].
Then, after lunch ended, not sure if they had already had her lunch or not, Alfonzo, accompanied by Yamato, brought some lunch he packed away for Wendy and Carla to the hospital. After that, the rest of the day passed peacefully as the number of visitors to the Hidden Leaf increased due to the Chunin Exam.