Maruboshi was stunned silent by the time Takuma was done retelling of events of his mission. He looked at his student, who was staring at the persimmon tree in the garden. Takuma had been targeted by ROOT, and by some bizarre coincidence, he found the agent behind his assassination in the same city he was stationed to reclaim after the assassination attempt.

It made one wonder whether it was really a coincidence. "Takuma... do you think ROOT had a hand in your conscription?"

Takuma looked back from the tree, and he saw thoughts sprinting behind the perpetually tired eyes. "I've got no idea," he said. "It doesn't seem likely because there was no way to guarantee I'd be in that city as part of the mission unless Jonin Toridasu, who assigned the mission, was somehow connected with ROOT. But then, why didn't he get rid of me during the Gojiro Gold Mine operation by making it look like a combat death?"Maruboshi breathed in deeply, using the break in conversation to think things through. Takuma had come to terms with being targeted by ROOT, but Maruboshi had known about it for less than half an hour and was more stressed than his student.

He had been a Leaf shinobi for decades, but because of his position as a genin, he wasn't privy to secrets like ROOT—but knew of them because larger secrets tend to drip out in the form of rumours. He knew they were dangerous—and from the recent revelations, he also knew that ROOT was headed by Shimura Danzo.

Maruboshi knew personally just how dangerous it was, which was why he had to ask.

"Did the letter to Uchiha Mikoto have to do something with ROOT?" he asked.

When Takuma turned to look at him, Maruboshi clenched his feet to restrain any reaction at the glint of cold calculations in his student's eyes. He got the feeling that Takuma was trying to discern if he had read the contents of the letter. But the look disappeared almost instantly, hidden behind the following disappointment and shame.

"I don't want to lie to you," Takuma said as he looked away.

Maruboshi sighed but nodded slowly—he preferred Takuma to be honest with him, even if he couldn't share the things he knew. "That is fine, I understand. But if you ever need help, you must know that you can always come to me."

"I know," Takuma nodded, slowly meeting his eyes with a fond smile.

Maruboshi returned the gesture, but his mind raced. Takuma had just all but confirmed to him that he was somehow part of the entire Uchiha-Danzo-ROOT incident that had shaken the village. It was perhaps the most high-profile incident since Orochimaru's defection, and even that occured soon after the Nine-Tails' rampage.

A deep sense of helplessness overcame him then.

His student had grown into a splendid shinobi but suffered through the loss of loved ones, and now bore a secret he couldn't share, all of which he was unable to help with as much as he wished.

If it were up to him, Takuma would've stayed free of that weight for longer, but now, he was now on a road of his own and an old fossil like him could only provide support when asked to.

"What was she like, your teammate?" Maruboshi asked, wanting Takuma to release more of his sorrow.

"You would've liked her," Takuma said with a hint of the softest smile, the first since he had come to the house. "She was straight as an arrow, and her words were blunt as hammers. It got her into trouble, but it was also her charm. To be able to live with such straightforward convictions was admirable. You could trust her because you knew that she would tell you the bitter truth. I envied her for that. I want to be like her, but I know I can't..."

Maruboshi didn't interrupt and let Takuma continue talking so he would fall deeper into his memories with Rikku, which would undoubtedly be attached to positive emotions that would act as a balm for his aching heart.

"Rikku was our team's backbone. She would ask questions others were embarrassed about asking because they thought it would make them look stupid. She was the only one who could've done that and you need someone like that on your team, you know? For us, she was that person…"

The smile that had developed as he spoke about his teammate suddenly flipped, replaced by a tight frown. A muted rage tugged on his posture, his expression, and pulsed in his dark eyes. Maruboshi was taken aback by the sudden change and warily noticed the hand holding Takuma's empty cup tightening to the point where it would shatter.

The emotion wasn't out of place, but Takuma hadn't shown anger before when he had initially talked about Rikku. There was sorrow and anguish but not anger.

This was new.

"You are angry," he stated.

Takuma exhaled through deep breaths. "That piece of junk killed her while she was trying to protect me... I owe her my life, and if I find that bastard, I'm going to make him suffer. I want him to regret being born. I hope he lives a good, satisfied, and healthy life because it'll mean so much more to me when it ends—and I want to be the one to end it."

Revenge. Maruboshi immediately wanted to dissuade Takuma from pursuing revenge. It was an ugly emotion that destroyed the lives of those in the pursuit of it. His student had potential and a bright career ahead of him; he didn't want it snuffed out by something like revenge.

"A man that seeks revenge keeps his wounds fresh," Maruboshi said solemnly, choosing his words carefully.

The anger in Takuma's eyes flared. "So you're saying that I should just let it go?"

"Yes, I am saying that you should let it go because it would be better for you, but if you can not, then you should not let it become your sole goal. You will become a shell of yourself if you let it consume you. I know it might feel that revenge focuses you, but it will take away everything else that is not essential to the revenge itself, and you'll be left with nothing." said Maruboshi with a sad expression.

A close friend of his had fallen into the pit of revenge, unable to climb out for ages, and when he did, he found there was nothing left in his life as he sacrificed everything to attain his goal.

"Do not make the mistakes so many others have made. Give priority to the things in life that are truly important to you."

Takuma nodded, but Maruboshi could see that he wasn't convinced but that was fine for now. So long as his words stayed in Takuma's mind, there was a chance that they would someday take hold and steer him on the right path.

———

.

Oishi Taro was one of the many genin analysts working in the Analysis Team of the Hidden Leaf's Intelligence Department. He was at the bottom of the rung at his place of work, but he enjoyed his job, which involved sifting through the information that passed through his desk to find valuable intel of any sort.

He preferred to spend his days behind a desk in a drab office building than doing physical duties outdoors like many of his peers.

His mother still forced him to train his combat skills, which was something he didn't want to do, but he felt like he had no choice because life couldn't be perfect.

Just like any other day, the clock struck half past one to signal the start of lunchtime. Taro closed the several open information folders and the scrolls on his cluttered desk. Like everyone on the floor, he promptly left the building for the break without looking back. Taro had been extremely busy since he had started the job. He was a green rookie, and it took him twice, even thrice, as long to do the same work as his experienced coworkers. He had spent months staying late after office hours, spent his weekends working, and hadn't had a proper office break just so he could complete his jobs on time and learn how to make his life easier.

And now, he'd finally reached a level where could afford to take breathers. His breaks were left untouched and overtime was a thing of the past. Today, he was meeting with some of Academy classmates to catch-up—something he was able to do now that he longer needed to work through breaks, and that day, he was meeting with some of his academy classmates to catch up.

The location was a quaint diner near his office, and to Taro's delight, there wasn't a rush, which meant he could take his time to eat without feeling the pressure to vacate right after eating.

"Taro, over here!"

He looked across the floor to see Aimi, an academy classmate, enthusiastically waving her hand. He felt exhausted just by looking at the energetic girl. He dragged his feet toward the four-top table where three people were already seated and waiting for him.

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"I would pay real money to see you exhausted to the point of crying just once," Taro said as he sat down, and the thought brought a floaty smile to his face.

"I don't like that look on your face," Aimi pouted.

Taro looked past her and greeted his other two ex-classmates. Inuzuka Hana and Takeshi Ono. He was never close to Hana as they were never in the same groups, but he met her through Aimi.

Ono was a close friend; they were practically joined by the hip when they were in the academy, but their paths had diverged since Ono passed the jonin test, whereas he had failed it. They no longer had as much time to hang out with each other.

However, their friendship remained strong regardless.

"You've been working hard," Ono commented with a smile.

"I am. What gave it away?" asked Taro as he stretched his arms above his head.

"The ink stains on your palm. I never thought I would see a day where you'd be willing to pick a pen long enough for it to leave stains."

Taro glanced at his writing hand, and his palm was indeed stained with black ink. Note-taking was an essential part of his job and he went through pens faster than his chain-smoking boss went through packs of cigarettes. He had even started to smell like paper because of his job.

"It's a pain in the butt," Taro scoffed.

"I think you like it," Hana said with a knowing smile.

"Not really," Taro shook his head after thinking about it. The job was tough, and he had to put in so much effort just to become decent at it. He wasn't looking forward to the amount of effort that it would take to become truly good at it.

"Oh, come on. You're Taro—bare minimum is your life motto—and you just admitted to having worked hard. Either they forced you, or you're willingly doing it. Since you haven't moaned about it, I think you like it. You're working hard because you finally found something that suits you," said Hana.

She was sitting on the outer side of the sofa bench, and one of her trio of grey ninken that lay on the floor beside their table near her leg barked happily. "See, even the triplets agree. Congratulations, you're now one step closer to being a normal person."

"I am normal," Taro said as he stared at the ninken. "Those three sure have grown some."

In the academy, she used to carry one of them on her head, the second one in a pouch in her clothes, and the last one in her arms. Now they were big enough that neither of those methods were viable. He had seen several Inuzuka clan's ninken—they could grow bigger until Hana could ride any of them.

"Look at you avoiding the topic! It's so cute." Aimi had a lopsided grin as she rested her face in her arms and looked at him, amused.

"I'm hungry, so let's order something," Taro said, disregarding their chuckles as he picked up the menu.

They ordered and got back to catching up with each other with their busy lives.

Aimi had been on several back-to-back outstation missions that took her all over the Land of Fire. She described it as half work, half travel and seemed to enjoy the time spent away from the village.

"I met the Fire Daimyo," she bragged.

"No way, seriously? How was that?" asked Taro as he munched on the fried Enoki mushrooms that they had ordered for the table.

"It was like meeting with the Lord Hokage. I mean, I knew that I could wipe the floor with him, but he had this presence to him—like I got it—the man before me was the ruler of an entire nation. I have to say, though, he had these armoured samurai with him, and those guys were serious—they felt sharp if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't know what you mean."

"They would cut you in an instant if you made a wrong move. You'd be dead, Taro," Aimi said sympathetically.

"I mean... I wouldn't make a wrong move."

Unlike Aimi's busy team, Ono's team had entered a period of downtime and were taking a break from missions to dedicate an extended period of time to training up their individual skills.

"Izumi is already training her second B-rank jutsu. It's completely wild," said Ono. He was on the same team as Uchiha Izumi, who had been earning a reputation as one of the most promising young talents in the village, standing apart from even her elder Uchiha peers. "And that's not even the crazy part. It's the nature of the B-rank: it's not her primary affinity. She's setting herself to meet the two nature jonin requirement."

Taro whistled. It was clear that the Uchiha clan was investing in Izumi. He wasn't anywhere near a B-rank jutsu and wasn't sure if he would have enough contributions to get himself one—or if he would even need one.

"And what about you, Miss Chunin?" Taro asked as he turned to Hana. "You better pay for this meal. In fact, I want a party."

Their academy batch had participated in their first Chunin Exams and returned with phenomenal news. Their batch had produced twelve teams, out of which only four were accepted by jonin. Out of those twelve, three of them had managed to get promoted after the Chunin Exams.

Inuzuka Hana was one of them.

"There'll be a party next week; you can stuff your face there, Everyone from the class is invited" said Hana with a smile.

"Works for me," said Taro. Both Aimi and Ono had participated, but both were eliminated after the second round. As for Taro, he hadn't even participated because he had managed to get into the Intelligence Division and was in no rush to risk his life in the Chunin Exams. "So what's the chunin life like?"

"I don't know; it's not any different yet. Sensei said that he would have me take the team on a C-rank mission as the leader next month. That's going to be exciting, but until then, nothing's really changed," said Hana, shrugging before she remembered something. "Oh, something happened recently. We met with this old shinobi—as old as Lord Third. He said that he was two years younger than him."

"Is he retired?" asked Ono.

"Actually, no, he's still very much active, as in field active," said Hana.

"Wow, now that's something. He a jonin?"

"Here's the shocker. A genin," said Hana.

The reactions were expected because people a genin the age of the Hokage were practically unheard of. Most genin and even some chunin retired in their forties, and there was no reason for someone as old as the Hokage to be active in the field as a genin.

"If I remember correctly, his name is Maruboshi Kosuke," Hana said, and that made Taro furrow his brows because he felt like he recognised that name. She continued, "The chunin in charge of the exam wanted us to meet him and listen to his advice because he had been shinobi for such a long time. In fact, he said that Mister Maruboshi knew more about being a shinobi than the Lord Third himself."

"What? Someone said that?" Aimi gasped in surprise. The Third Hokage was dubbed the 'God of Shinobi'; saying that there was someone who knew more about being a shinobi than the Third Hokage was a bold claim.

"It made sense after we talked to him," Hana nodded deeply. "Even though he's only a genin, the village asks him to lead teams on B-rank missions because of his sheer field experience and capabilities. Mister Maruboshi has been on the field longer than any shinobi alive. Lord Third hasn't been an active shinobi for decades now—but Mister Maruboshi has been on the field his entire career; he has officially completed more missions than any Leaf shinobi on record and the chunin said no one's breaking that record anytime soon. And the way Mister Maruboshi talked about being a shinobi—I'll say that the claim isn't a stretch."

"Ah, I recognise that name!" Taro, who had been deep in his thoughts, trying to grab the memory, suddenly banged his fist on the table, startling Hana's triplet ninken, who raised their heads. "Maruboshi Kosuke—yeah, that's Takuma's teacher. I met him once. He's… ancient."

He had met Maruboshi in the hospital the day after the assassination attempt on Takuma. Maruboshi had introduced himself as Takuma's former teacher.

"Speaking of Takuma, I just remembered," Ono said as he snapped his fingers. "The Uchiha use him for their General Induction Program."

"What do you mean?" asked Taro.

The Hidden Leaf Military Police Force, which only recruited from the Uchiha and a couple of their allied clans, had opened up to any Leaf shinobi interested in joining the Police Force. The General Induction Program was the way to apply and get into the Police Force and involved meeting demanding criteria and passing numerous tests to see if the applicants were fit to join the Police Force.

"I attended one of their introductory forums where they were telling us why we should join the Police Force, and he was the biggest highlight example they used. Everyone was sceptical that they wouldn't rise up the ranks inside the Police Force because the Uchiha will only promote their own—but they used Takuma as an example. He joined one of the biggest departments in the Police Force from Day-1 and launched and led a new team that's now a full-on sub-department," Ono looked like he was impressed by what he saw.

They were trying to say that they could be like Takuma if they joined the Police Force.

Taro sat up prouder as he heard his friend getting praised. "You know, he was in the paper a lot for conducting drug busts."

"Arisu said he was a big deal," said Hana, who was close with Fuma Arisu, who had worked closely with Takuma.

"I mean, we discussed Takuma before at our class gatherings, but when I saw a Uchiha talking about him with his face on the board it hit me that he was really doing something big," said Ono.

Takuma was a topic of discussion in their class gatherings. Because Arisu worked with him, she told him all sorts of stories about Takuma, but a lot of people didn't take her seriously because of Takuma's academy reputation and thought that she was just trying to hype him up because she was working under him and didn't want to be made fun of because she was the "dead-last's" subordinate.

Taro had tried to support and prop up her claims, but he didn't have the social standing within the class for anyone to really listen to him.

He sighed—after all these months, he really missed his friend. It had been three months since he had received his last letter that said that he wouldn't be writing for a while because of a mission. He felt nervous every time Takuma showed up in his thoughts or in conversation and wished he would return home safely as soon as possible.

"Why were you at a Police Force forum?" asked Hana, confused.

Ono slumped in his chair and sighed. "Our sensei isn't sure whether he wants continue leading the team past next year, so I've started looking for options about what I should do after the team is declared inactive."

The jonin teams that were formed right after academy graduations had a life of four years where the jonin was in charge of the development of the genin, but after that, it was up to the jonin if they wanted to continue the team and could disband it if they weren't interested. Their batch had already been genin for three years with only one year left before the jonin could disband the teams.

"I don't want to get stuck in the Genin Corp, and Izumi suggested that I look into the Police Force, so I went to the open forum. I don't know if I'll enter, but it's on the list," Ono shrugged.

"Well, I'm set, so I don't have to worry," Taro raised his hands. He was in the Analysis Team and produced enough work that there was no way he was going to get fired… which couldn't happen because his mother would rip his head from his body if he lost the job.

"Sucks for you, though," he smirked.

"We haven't sparred in forever. Let's go a few rounds," Ono said and tried to lock Taro in a head-hold.

"Get off me," Taro pushed Ono away before his hands could get close to him.

"So, how's he? I heard he had a difficult time out there," asked Aimi.

Taro picked up another slice of fried mushroom and was enjoying the crispiness when he realised that Aimi was talking to him.

"Me? What did you say? I missed it," he asked.

"I'm talking about Takuma. Have you met him yet? How is he?" asked Aimi.

"Takuma's not back. What are you talking about?" asked Taro, perplexed.

"Kameko's back home and she said that he came back with her."

Taro was utterly baffled by Aimi's words and couldn't believe her because he would've heard from Takuma if he had come back, but then he calmed down.

"When did they return?" he asked, thinking Takuma must have returned only a day or two ago and was resting.

"A full week—seven days."