Leadership × Mission

When Tobirama returned to Konoha with the document bearing the Land of Fire daimyo's hints and expectations, Izuna was at a newly opened dessert shop in Konoha, chatting about anything and everything with his group of "young friends."

Inside the dessert shop, the air was filled with a cloyingly sweet aroma and cheerful laughter.

Several familiar faces were gathered together, chatting. Somehow, the conversation turned to major life events.

"So, the wedding's next month. You're all coming!" Inuzuka Dobin patted the Ninja Dog beside her, a hearty, slightly bashful smile on her face. "It's a bit late, but we finally set a date."

"Congratulations, Dobin!" "We'll be there!" Everyone offered their congratulations.

Izuna's eyes widened as he looked at Dobin's face, which was just as young as his own. He couldn't help blurting out, "Whoa! You're getting married in your early twenties? Isn't that too young?"

Inuzuka Dobin laughed heartily, her wheat-colored skin glowing with health in the sunlight. "What do you mean, young? I'm already twenty-three. In my clan, that's considered late. Just look at Sasuke." She gestured with her chin toward Sarutobi Sasuke, who was drinking tea beside her. "His boy can already say 'Dad.'"

Sarutobi Sasuke looked up, a gentle smile of new fatherhood on his refined face.

Izuna froze. A fragment of memory about the original story suddenly surfaced. Sarutobi Sasuke... Hiruzen Sarutobi's father?

He practically blurted out, "Is his name 'Hiruzen'?"

Sarutobi Sasuke paused and looked at Izuna in surprise. "Huh? Izuna, who told you that? Was it one of the boys in my clan running his mouth?"

He thought it must have been one of the mischievous children in his clan who had let it slip.

Realizing he'd said too much, Izuna hastily waved a hand. "Ah, right, I think... someone mentioned it. I can't remember who." He quickly changed the subject. "It's a nice name!"

Sarutobi Sasuke didn't press the matter. Perhaps he thought it was no surprise Izuna knew, given how well liked and "well informed" he was in Konoha.

He pondered for a moment, then looked at Izuna. His tone took on an uncharacteristic note of entrustment. "Izuna, if possible... when Hiruzen's a little older, could you... let him join your 'little squad' too?"

At some point, Hyuuga Haruhi had also become able to smile gently among their little circle. Now Haruhi chimed in, "My boy too. Next year he'll be old enough to run and jump. If possible, sorry for the trouble."

Even the usually lazy Nara Shikyou slowly raised a hand. "Count my daughter in."

Dobin laughed. "I'm reserving a spot!"

Izuna: "..."

His mouth twitched as he looked at these parents, already worrying about the next generation's education at such a young age. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Come on! Everyone! I'm not a preschool teacher! Don't leave the next generation's education to me!"

Everyone burst out laughing at his frantic expression.

"So what? The kids like you!"

"Listen to the person who takes the kids running all over the place every day!"

"Exactly!"

The dessert shop was filled with merriment.

Just then, an Anbu Ninja appeared silently at the shop entrance and bowed slightly toward Izuna. "Lord Izuna, Lord Hokage, Lord Madara and Lord Tobirama are at the Hokage Building. They have an important matter to discuss with you and request your presence."

The laughter died down for a moment.

Izuna sighed and stood up in resignation, brushing the dust from his clothes. "Looks like I have to go 'work.' Bye, everyone~"

Yamanaka Iharu teased, "You call that 'work'? Aren't they just dragging you off to be their free 'idea machine' again?"

Izuna made a face at her. "Quit showing off! You bastards get to run all over the world on missions! I want to go out too!"

Everyone roared with laughter again and waved him goodbye.

The atmosphere in the Hokage Building's office was a world apart from the easy cheer of the dessert shop.

Hashirama stood before the window with his arms folded, his face unusually grave and his back radiating a suppressed anger.

Madara sat in a chair, his face dark, an icy aura warning others to stay away.

Tobirama appeared the calmest as he stood before the desk, the gold-embossed document in his hand, but undercurrents stirred deep in his red eyes as well.

Before coming, he had sent word to Izuna ahead of time. Only then did he explain the daimyo's commission and the "hints" it contained.

As he had expected, everyone reacted strongly.

"No! Absolutely not!" Hashirama turned around, adamant. "Have Izuna 'perform' for those nobles? What do they take him for?! An entertainer?! This is an insult to him! An insult to the Uchiha! And an insult to our Konoha!"

Madara said nothing, but his tightly clenched fists and the flash of scarlet in his eyes made his position abundantly clear.

He would never allow anyone, in any way, to put his younger brother in a position where he might be treated with contempt.

Seeing their reactions, Tobirama abandoned the faint thought he'd had that perhaps it might be worth a try.

He was just about to say that he would find a way to negotiate, and was even prepared to bear the pressure from the daimyo's side, when—

The door opened.

Izuna walked in, traces of the ease he'd felt joking with his friends still on his face. "Brother Hashirama, Brother Madara, Tobirama? Did you need me? Is there another problem you need me to 'come up with an idea' for?"

His gaze swept over their unusually grave faces, and he paused. "...What's wrong? Why so serious?"

Hashirama took a deep breath and stepped forward, his tone carrying the uncharacteristic firmness of a protector. "Izuna, it's nothing. There's a pointless request from the capital, but we've already decided to refuse it. You don't need to worry about it."

Madara also stood and walked over to Izuna, his voice low. "Yes, it has nothing to do with you. Go back and rest."

Izuna blinked. He looked at Hashirama, whose face said, "This is not up for discussion," then at Madara, whose whole bearing said, "I'll kill anyone who dares mistreat you." Finally, he turned a questioning gaze on the silent Tobirama.

"Tobirama?" Izuna asked. "What's this about?"

Tobirama pushed up his glasses, avoiding Izuna's eyes as he set the document on the desk. His voice was flat. "The Land of Fire daimyo sent a commission. He hopes you will travel to the capital and play the biwa at a celebration he will be holding soon."

He paused, then added, "When you played and sang in the street that day, a minister of the Land of Fire happened to be there. The Biwa Hōshi whose instrument you took brought your 'music' to the Land of Fire and promoted it there."

"The minister and I agreed that this was a good opportunity, but if you don't want to do it, then..."

He had expected Izuna to look offended or resistant immediately.

But...

Izuna froze for a moment, then his eyes flew wide and shock spread across his face. He abruptly cut Tobirama off.

"What the fuck?!" Izuna's voice rose several pitches. "A minister was there when I was playing that day?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Tobirama: "...?" Isn't something wrong with that reaction?

Hashirama and Madara were taken aback too.

"Izuna, don't worry, we..." Hashirama tried to reassure him.

"Worry, my ass!" Izuna cut him off, strode over to the desk, and snatched up the document. After scanning it, he looked up and glared at the three "high and mighty" men before him. "No! Brother Hashirama! Brother Madara! Tobirama! Do you... do you know what it means when 'a leader comes down to inspect the village'?!"

The three of them: "???"

"A leader came to inspect us, and our village looked like that—dead as a doornail and lacking everything?!"

Izuna was beside himself. "How bad a first impression did you leave?! If you make a good impression on a leader, it'll be easier to ask for policies, resources and support later! Don't you understand something that simple?!"

He looked at Hashirama, Madara and Tobirama's faces, which said either "I don't care" or "So what?" He practically wanted to throw back his head and sigh.

It wasn't as if he liked the noble lords all that much himself, but reality was reality! Konoha was dependent on the Land of Fire now. Building a good relationship could only help, not hurt! Offend them, and they could make life difficult and cut them off later, leaving them nowhere to turn!

To him, this invitation was a heaven-sent opportunity! A perfect chance to change Konoha's image as a "cold weapon" in the eyes of the Land of Fire's upper echelon and show its "cultural vitality" and "human warmth"!

"I'm going! I have to go! And I have to prepare properly!" Izuna declared firmly, his eyes bright with a certain... eagerness to take on the challenge.

Hashirama and Madara were stunned once again, and Tobirama even frowned slightly.

This was nothing like the scenario he had imagined, where Izuna might resist out of wounded pride, or at least hesitate.

"Izuna, you don't have to force yourself..." Madara said in a low voice. He was worried his brother was swallowing his grievances for the village's sake.

"Force myself? I'm not forcing myself!" Izuna gave Madara a puzzled look. "Someone appreciates my music and wants me to perform on a big stage. I couldn't be happier! Besides, isn't this good for the village? Two birds with one stone!"

Then he changed tack, tapping his chin with a look that mixed cunning and calculation. "But... if we agree too easily, it'll make Konoha look cheap and too eager. We have to make them 'beg' us to go."

He glanced at Tobirama. "You said... a Biwa Hōshi brought the pieces back and stirred up some discussion among the nobles? There were plenty of objections too, right? Especially from those 'orthodox' Biwa Hōshi?"

Tobirama nodded, feeling both surprised and uncertain. How does Izuna know so much about it?

"Then that makes it easy." Izuna snapped his fingers, smiling like a little fox that had stolen a chicken. "We need to make the objections... a little louder."

He hadn't spent the past few days hanging around with the young people from Konoha's various clans just for fun.

He remembered that there seemed to be a young ninja in the Uchiha Clan named Uchiha Shinya who played the biwa quite well. Supposedly, he had learned it as a disguise while on an undercover mission in the pleasure district.

Yep, he'll do.

Uchiha Shinya was summoned soon after. He was a young man with cool, handsome features and a slightly melancholy air. Having heard Izuna's summons, he bowed respectfully.

"Shinya, I hear you're very good at the biwa?" Izuna got straight to the point.

"I know a little, but I wouldn't dare show off before you, Lord Izuna." Shinya's voice was calm.

"It's fine. I need your help with something." Izuna leaned closer and lowered his voice. "I need you to go somewhere..."

He explained the mission in detail: infiltrate the gathering place of the Biwa Hōshi where Master Matsuda was, and pose as a "fanatical young musician" who had come after hearing of Izuna's reputation and greatly admired his performance that day.

Then he was to stir up intense dissatisfaction and criticism among the other Biwa Hōshi toward Izuna's "unorthodox" style of playing.

Simply put, he was to act as the "chief hater," steer the conversation and fan the conservatives' resistance to Izuna's music to its height, ideally creating an outcry to "purge the heretic" and "uphold tradition."

After listening, Shinya's expression barely changed. He simply nodded. "I understand. Infiltration and incitement are Uchiha specialties. Rest assured, Lord Izuna, I will not fail you."

He paused, as though recalling something, and added, "When I was undercover in the pleasure district before, I sometimes had to play similar roles to gather intelligence. I even had to receive certain special guests to extract—"

"Stop! That's enough!" Izuna abruptly raised a hand, his face twisting as he stopped Shinya from continuing. At the same time, he instinctively glanced at Madara, whose face had instantly gone as black as the bottom of a pot, Hashirama, who was looking everywhere else, and Tobirama, whose mouth had begun to twitch.

My instincts were right! If I let him keep talking, I'm definitely going to hear some explosive details about ninja missions!

Izuna hurriedly steered the conversation back. "Anyway! That's the mission! Stay safe and don't blow your cover! Once it's done, I'll give you a bonus... uh, double the mission reward!"

"Yes." Shinya accepted the order and withdrew without a sound.

Madara watched Shinya leave, his brow tightly furrowed. "Izuna, doing this... if the opposition gets too loud, won't the daimyo instead..."

"Brother Madara, trust me." Izuna turned around with a confident smile. "This is called 'putting something down before lifting it up,' and it's also called 'hunger marketing.' When everyone says this won't work and that's wrong, and expectations are driven to rock bottom, or even replaced by doubts..."

He blinked, his eyes shining with confidence. "When I actually step onto that stage and play it my way—the effect will be explosive!"

He lifted his chin, his expression haughty and his tone assured. "I'm a musical genius, after all!"

Hashirama, Madara and Tobirama looked at Izuna, who seemed to have switched modes in an instant, changing from an innocent, carefree younger brother/troublemaker into a confident and even somewhat "cunning" planner. For a moment, all three were at a loss for words.

It suddenly occurred to them that perhaps... they had never truly understood this Uchiha Izuna.