Land of Rice Fields
It was almost afternoon, and Ren was still asleep when someone knocked on his door.
"Big brother Ren, wake up!" It was a girl's voice.
"I'm up," Ren mumbled. "I'll be down in ten minutes."
He dragged himself to the washroom, sat down on the toilet, and started thinking about life. For the past few days he had done nothing but eat, sleep, and design clothes and shoes. Why not? Money kept coming in from the Land of Rain.
He looked down at the white porcelain beneath him, his mind drifting to his ultimate ambition.
I've been saving some private money without Mom knowing. A spark of pride warmed his chest. Thirty million Ryo saved up so far. And I'm only three hundred and seventy million short for the solid 24-karat Golden Toilet.
When he finally went downstairs, a girl who looked to be around eight to ten years old was waiting for him, tapping her foot impatiently.
"What's going on, Akiko?" Ren asked, stifling a yawn. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the Academy with Mom?"
"Sensei sent me to get you!" Akiko said. "She said you can teach me better than she can."
Ren paused. Akiko was one of the children with an Evolution Seal who had awakened a bloodline limit. There were about a hundred of them, and Mom and Dad taught them personally. Akiko was special even among that group. Her bloodline combined Yang and Water Release, and the water it produced could heal. It was, simply put, holy water. Its effect was still below A-rank medical ninjutsu, but she had great potential. She was Mom's favorite student.
"Why would Mom want me there?"
Akiko only shrugged.
"Then let's go."
On the way, everyone who saw Ren bowed to him respectfully, and Ren nodded back politely.
They reached the academy just as lunch began, so Ren took Akiko to the dining hall. In the original blueprints for the Academy, there hadn't been a cafeteria at all—students were simply expected to bring their own bento boxes from home. However, once they realized the majority of the enrolled children were orphans with no family, a cafeteria was added to the construction plan.
The moment Ren stepped into the noisy dining hall, the chatter died. Hundreds of students and staff scrambled to their feet in a rush of scraping chairs. A few instructors who were in the middle of their meals rushed over.
"Ren-sama, do you need anything?"
"Please, sit and finish your meals," Ren said, raising a hand placatingly. "I'm just looking for Mom and Dad."
"They're in the office, Ren-sama," one of the instructors said.
Ren told Akiko to eat here while he went to see his parents. He had thought about eating here himself, but with everyone still standing and staring even after he told them to sit, he wouldn't be able to swallow a bite. Akiko ran off to join her friends, and Ren headed for the office.
Inside, Kaori was going through a pile of documents, and Satoshi was sorting the pages she had set aside. He made a show of rechecking each one, but Ren could tell that paperwork was not his father's strength.
"Mom, what are you doing? What are all these documents?" Ren asked, picking one up.
Kaori put down the paper in her hand. "I can't find the audit for ten million Ryo, so I'm going through the records."
Ren's heart skipped. He had to keep his mother from finding his embezzlement.
He did his best to sound calm and casual. "Mom, it's only ten million. Think of it as a bonus for everyone. We'll warn the staff so nobody skims money again. Nobody here is perfectly trustworthy, but a strict warning should be enough."
Out of the corner of his eye, Ren noticed Satoshi, who had been pretending to read the documents, suddenly start gathering the scattered papers into a neat stack.
Kaori looked at Ren for a few seconds, her expression shifting as if something had just occurred to her. Ren was sure he had been caught.
"You're right," Kaori said. "It's only ten million. I'll warn them. It isn't easy to spend that much without being noticed, either. If the thief buys anything, I'll know."
Ren began to sweat. I'll have to find another way. Nevertheless, he breathed a sigh of relief when Kaori didn't pursue the matter further.
"Mom, Dad," he said, "you two should hire someone trustworthy for this kind of work, so you can get some rest." He moved behind his mother and began massaging her shoulders.
"And who would that be?" Kaori asked.
"Someone you've known your whole life," Ren said cheekily. "Someone who would never make a mistake or take a coin."
He was suggesting himself, of course, so that he could embezzle without any trouble.
Satoshi's face lit up. "We could hire people from our clan."
"That is a very good idea!" Kaori beamed, slapping her palm lightly on the desk.
Ren saw his suggestion heading in the wrong direction. "Dad, that's only a possibility. We won't know anything until we meet them, and only if they agree to relocate here. Until then, Mom, you should find someone else."
Kaori and Satoshi both looked dejected.
Ren saw their dejected expressions and tried to console them. "Don't lose hope, Mom, Dad. Put it out of your minds for now. We'll have our answer soon enough."
"Let's leave that aside," Satoshi said. "There's another problem we need to discuss. It's about the children who awakened Kekkei Genkai."
"What about them?" Ren asked.
"We don't know how to teach them," Kaori said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "None of our instructors has a Kekkei Genkai. The older shinobi who awakened one are too new to it themselves. Every child who has awakened a kekkei genkai must learn to use it from scratch, which is particularly difficult for those with little experience controlling chakra."
She sighed. "Look at Akiko. Her bloodline has never been recorded in history, and she may need two to five years to develop her abilities properly. It's the same for the children with Lava Release and the other, more common ones. They have to build up their basics before they can develop any techniques. If we had ninjutsu scrolls, or someone's training notes and methods, it would be far easier for them to learn, and far less dangerous."
Konoha — The Hokage's Office
Hundreds of miles away, the afternoon sun slanted through the tall windows of the Hokage Office.
Only two men occupied the room. Hiruzen reached across his desk and held out a sealed scroll toward his student.
Jiraiya, "Hiruzen said, "This is an S-rank mission. You are to travel to the Land of Rain and deliver this scroll to Hanzō."
"That's it?" Jiraiya asked.
"No," Hiruzen replied. "The delivery is your cover. Your true objective is to investigate Hanzō and assess the internal state of Amegakure. Based on our latest intelligence... we suspect that Hanzō is under the control of Ren Uchiha."
Jiraiya weighed the scroll in his hand. "So what's in it?"
"An invitation to the Chūnin Exams," Hiruzen replied, drawing on his pipe. "If Hanzō is acting freely, there's a good chance he'll accept. If someone else is speaking for him, I expect the answer will be no."