Haruto meanwhile looked at the screen in front of him and came to a startling realization.
'Wait a second… what if this is a test from the ANBU unit?'
'What if they want to see if I'll leak information about the village to outsiders!?'
'Yeah… that could very well be the case…'
'So I just don't respond to the letter and I'll be fine?'
'But what if it was from the root?'
'What if they wanted me to leak info?'
'Won't they just enter my room and assassinate me for disobeying their orders? Or simply put a curse seal on me and force me to obey them?'
'What do you think, Megumin? Do I respond or do I not?'
Megumin was silent for a few seconds before she mustered up a response.
'I think you should respond to them…'
'Why?' Haruto immediately asked, startled that this advice was coming from her.
'While you can earn my fire release talent… from what you've told me, you require the magic spell equivalent of this world, the jutsus, to truly be able to use that talent.'
'And you won't be able to get those spells through the general means… you need to cultivate a source to be able to sell you those high level spells.'
Haruto was dumbfounded.
He hadn't thought as far as that.
He truly did need some source of jutsus. After all there wasn't a way for him to organically earn jutsus through mission contribution points since he was no longer a shinobi and counted now as a civilian staffer.
So Haruto fell into a deep mode of contemplation.
His hands worked automatically to fill in the numbers that were required for digitizing the bills and receipts, but his mind was elsewhere.
'To earn a source for learning about new jutsus huh…'
'And the only way open for me currently is to hand over information about the village's finances to a third party…'
'Or is it?'
'Can I not flip the script?'
'Hmm… I can do that right?'
'I can pretend that I've fallen for the trap while activating my own trap card. Kakashi.'
'But will Kakashi even help me out? A high level Jonin helping a random Civilian…. will that work?'
'If it does work, I can cultivate my jutsu source through Kakashi… right?'
'No… that's too weak a connection… Kakashi wouldn't go that far…'
Haruto frowned as he worked, thinking about something from the original anime that he could use to save himself in this situation and continue growing stronger.
'...Hmm… there is a way I can handle both things at once.'
'I can try entering the research department at Konoha, one that so many villains in Naruto seem to have to leave because of their crazy forbidden jutsu plans.'
'But how do I enter a forbidden research department? Can 'I' even enter that place?'
Haruto wondered for a few seconds before he spotted his reflection in the CRT monitor in front of him as an idea par none struck him in that instant.
'I could become a computer scientist!'
'I can start by introducing small changes into this world and then use the excuse of combining chakra with electronics to study various ninjutsu?'
'Wouldn't that become a source for me to learn new ninjutsu?'
Haruto's eyes sparkled.
'To start with, I can do something simple like making a graph making software that can produce graphs to notice trends in the data we all digitize. This way I can help someone in the analysis department and try to get a promotion to the computer research department by showing my skill in making new products.'
"Haruto-kun." Shinakawa's voice broke through to Haruto finally snapping him out of his contemplation when Shinakawa called his name and assigned him his daily routine job of manning the logs for the entry and exit at the torture wing of the ANBU department.
Today his companion was Kakashi as usual so Haruto asked him the questions that had been burning within him.
"Kakashi-san… is there a way I can work on the Computers after work? I think I can contribute to its working and development."
Kakashi looked at Haruto with some surprise, his brows raising slightly as he noticed the seriousness in Haruto's eyes before he nodded and explained, "There is a R&D department at Konoha that works on that sort of stuff. But I don't know if there are currently any openings available. Talk to your supervisor about it, she should be knowledgeable about it."
Haruto nodded.
As they walked further, Haruto fidgeted with his sleeves lightly as he tried putting his next question into words without sounding suspicious.
Kakashi looked at this behaviour and said nothing before parting from him once they reached the torture wing.
After spending an hour of his time there hearing the painful screams of all those that had sinned in the eyes of the Dark God, Haruto made up his mind about what he would ask Kakashi and met up with him again.
"So you figured out what you wanted to ask me?" Kakashi asked politely, seeing the resolute look in Haruto's eyes as he signed in the register to close his shift.
Haruto nodded before proceeding to ask his question, "Kakashi-san, if I'm being spied upon at home and being forced to give information about my day to day job at the I.T department to a third party, can I request help from you?"
Kakashi froze in his steps, nearly stumbling from the act as he stared at Haruto with wide eyes.
"You're serious." Kakashi mumbled mostly to himself but since it was audible, Haruto nodded.
"Do you have any proof?"
Haruto blushed, "....I ate it up.."
"Ate it up…" Kakashi repeated, slightly dumbfounded, then he simply looked up at the ceiling as if it had all the answers in the world before looking back at Haruto and speaking in a soft whisper. "Then give them what they want and leave the rest to us."
Haruto let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. He had been worried about this since the morning, and now seeing someone reliable like Kakashi take the burden off his shoulders felt nothing less than a life saving procedure.
"Thank you… I knew I could rely on you, Kakashi-san." Haruto finally nodded in Kakashi's direction and began walking back towards the office, meanwhile Kakashi behind him mumbled the words 'rely' as if it had brought up some core memories.
Kakashi stayed there in the corridor for a while longer, mulling over some things before he too left.
Haruto entered the office but before beginning to do his work, he went up to Shinakawa to ask her the same question he'd asked Kakashi, "Shinakawa-san, is there a way I can contribute to the working and development of these computers? I think I've got a knack for it and I can help in making them better."
Shinakawa gave Haruto a slightly suspicious glance too, but in the end after remembering how on the first day Haruto had worked on the printing so effortlessly without anyone's help her gaze softened and she said in a calm voice.
"The R&D department does have openings currently for computer researchers. But you need to have a solid contribution or two before you are allowed to join them. That is, you need to have done something in your own time, something of value, before your application to join them is even considered."
"Ah… I see…" Haruto nodded. "Thank you for letting me know about this, Shinakawa-san. I do have a few ideas on what I can contribute, I'll get to working on it immediately in my free time."
With that he went back to his desk and began working on printing his digitised documents for today and working on his new idea for the transfer.