Back From the Front

Ashitaka's request for an audience with the Hokage was the peak of formality, barring its location at roof of the Grand Konoha Training Facility, where he waited in a meditation pond surrounded by a half dozen Wood Clones. All seven copies of the Senju Prince were carefully collecting senjutsu chakra. Those on either side of him were sitting on stones in the pond, the ones on his front left and rear right sat on the surface of the water itself, and the last two sat on pockets of compressed air. The young man himself sat in a large bansai tree that looked like an upturned hand, with the heel of its "palm" level with the heads of the floating clones.

The process of collecting the energy for the first time was dangerous enough that needing to focus on it banished all of his thoughts, which was a relief, considering what had been on his mind lately. The war had him under constant stress, both as an administrator of a clan who held no love for him and as a warrior who seemed to find himself on every front involved. Not to mention the storm of general contempt he'd earned for himself by surrendering to Tamwyn at the Todoroki Shrine arena. Being blamed for every loss suffered at the front lines (and there were many, considering their lines had collapsed), was as soul-crushing metaphorically as the attack from Darkseid was literally. His best friend was dead, the girl he liked was in a coma more often than not, and his mortal enemy's whereabouts were unknown. He had been humiliated by the Seraph of Lightning and sent home nearly devoid of chakra by the Seraph of Swords.

But today was special. Today, Nyguyen Uchiha was finally going to teach him something. At least, that's what was promised to him and therefore it's what he'd hoped. Logic would dictate that he had no reason to believe otherwise. They both had agreed to a contract wherein he would sack the village at Hot Springs and in return he'd receive access to some of Konoha's Exclusive techniques. Ashitaka had fulfilled his end of the bargain in spades, and would more than likely never be welcome in that land again. Which was a shame, because he never did get a chance to enjoy the springs themselves. Still, all hopes and concerns were eclipsed by the mounting demand of the moment: the need to carefully obtain senjutsu chakra in a manner that didn't result in his petrification.


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While meditation did drastically reduce one's awareness of the passage of time, enough had gone by that Ashitaka noticed. It made him nervous, because even though his communication with the Hokage was sparse, it was unlike the man to completely cut him out. The silence, coupled with the mysterious absence of the Uchiha's top brass from the general public, had him on edge. Granted, the clan having secret meetings and keeping the rest of the village in the dark regarding their actions and intentions was nothing new. But this late into such a costly war, their opaque behavior was adding to everyone's displeasure with their leadership. And though he was as fiercely loyal as anyone could expect, even he had his limits.

To add insult to insult, his assigned Watcher took it upon himself to disrupt Ashitaka's meditations. The man had been sending Nyguyen what amounted to the same message on a weekly basis: 'The boy's power is growing at an alarming rate.' Although this was technically accurate, he was doubtless feeding into the Hokage's paranoia with his choice of phrasing. The Senju Prince probably would have had some words to say to his remote babysitter if he was aware of the contents of those letters, but he was not. In fact, up to this moment, he was barely aware of being spied on in the first place. He looked at the man as the clones continued their collection of the world's chakra uninterrupted, and despite the ANBU mask he could tell that the spy was an Uchiha even without his Sensory abilities. Both of Konohagakure's Dojutsu clans had incredibly arrogant bearings in general, but the Hyuuga were generally colder about it.

"You are not Nyguyen Uchiha." Ashi greeted the man. "What do you want?"

"To be frank, I'd like you to die, Mannequin." the ANBU responded, unfazed by the unknown temperament of the teenager he was provoking. "Your cowardice and incompetence are what led to-"

"I've had enough of being blamed for the failures of our frontline soldiers." he cut in without stirring from his seat. And he was really underselling his position. He doubted that he'd be credited with any successes, so he didn't see why he had to shoulder the blame for everyone's failures.

"You're just lucky that Lord Nyguyen is watching over you. If it wasn't for his protection, we'd have cut you down back when you assaulted your own clan's district." the ANBU declared. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, but they had to be certain of his self-control. Even absent all external factors, the child was in a naturally unstable stage in his life, and said factors were not only making matters worse, they were significant. Despite his training, the masked man thought he felt his heart stop when the half dozen clones opened their eyes and looked at him in sync. Even his Sharingan didn't reveal to him what they were doing, but whatever it was, it seemed to press an imperative on them to not stir from their present positions.

"You mean you would have tried. If you so-called "Special Forces" were capable of handling the spirit that had abducted me back then, it would have been you and not me who instigated my freedom." With that, the Senju and his clones returned their focus to their task, closing their eyes and drawing further power from the environment. His watcher grit his teeth. While it was great that the boy hadn't flown into an explosive rage, being dismissed without comment was still chafing.



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The ANBU was contemplating throwing a kunai at the brat's face when his partner appeared beside him and whispered in his ear. He stiffened, but outwardly showed no other sign of his emotional distress. He vanished, and she took over his role as Ashitaka's monitor, and while she was annoyed that he compromised the secrecy of their mission, at least the young Senju was showing no signs of agitation over the revelation of their presence. It seemed he was growing into his clan's policy of being unbothered by anything, which would be something a relief to deal with were it not for the potentially dangerous contrast it displayed with his prior abject paranoia.

However, he ignored the woman and resumed meditating, focusing instead on collecting his Senjutsu chakra. If there was an issue that merited the recall of an ANBU, then he needed to be as ready as he could manage to handle it, even if it was clearly an intraclan matter since the one that stayed was not an Uchiha like the one who left. When he didn't seem liable to move any time soon, she vanished from his sight, but he knew that she would still be somewhere she could see him. As the day wore on, he felt that he'd waited as long as he could and gained about as much as he could. Eventually he stood, banishing his clones as he stretched, then wandered back to his forge. He never once addressed the woman who was trailing him.


[Exit Thread]


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