Shota stood in his ANBU uniform once again in front of the Kazekage's desk. He had barely returned from the mission against Kumo when another summons came for him. It had only been 2 days.
He was given no rest. No break. Just another call to the kage office.
'If there is another mission, I would complain about child labour. I just did an S-rank mission. I deserve some rest. Well-earned rest. I just faced the Raikage who was hell-bent on killing me. I nearly pissed my pants. I need my mental peace.'
'It would have been better if I had come back injured. At least that way I would have been able to sleep on the hospital bed without any missions.'
Shota internally imagined himself sleeping on the soft hospital bed. 'Ah, that would have been a life. Maybe I should just hurt myself if I don't get injured on missions. A little self-inflicted paper cut, maybe? Or stub my toe really hard? No, too painful. Maybe trip over my own feet in front of the medical team and pretend it was an enemy trap.'
'Yeah, that could work. "Oh no, I was ambushed by a rock!" Perfect alibi. The nurses would pamper me for days. I would get sweet rice balls on demand. There would be no missions. Just pure, lazy bliss.'
Shota almost smiled under his mask at the thought.
'But knowing my luck, the Matron would show up and make me scrub floors while I'm "recovering." She'd say, "If you can walk, you can work." Then she'd twist my ear again. Old lady has fingers like steel. Maybe I should just accept the mission and hope it ends quickly. Or maybe hope the Raikage comes back from the dead just to give me a break. Wait, no, that's a terrible idea. He'd probably tear me apart with his hell stab jutsu into two. Focus, Shota. Focus. No more self-harm plans. Just survive the next five minutes.'
He sighed inside his mask.
Rasa finished signing some documents and looked up.
"Raven. For the next month, you will be assigned to my protection detail squad of ANBU."
Shota raised an eyebrow under his mask. He was part of the assassination division, not the Kazekage safety squad. But he nodded anyway.
Rasa continued without waiting for questions.
"I will be traveling to the Land of Earth to talk with the Tsuchikage about our deal. Then to Konoha. They are also getting a new Hokage. You might be familiar with him. Minato Namikaze. You would be accompanying me."
Shota's mind lit up.
'Ah, so we are getting closer to canon. Well, it would be nice to meet the Yellow Flash again.'
Rasa kept talking.
"Iwa has already silently spread rumours that it was your ability that helped them get rid of the Third Raikage. They still want you eliminated and are looking for other villages to do the same. You coming with me will be a slap in their face."
"You will wear your binding cloth scarf at all times so that others can tell it is you."
Shota understood immediately.
'So it's a power move against other villages. To tell them Suna is not weak or scared of them. They have a new dojutsu user that can pause a threat to their Kage and other S rank shinobi. It's also a powerful move against the elders of Suna. He wants to tell them that I belong to him.'
Shota understood the message. Rasa wanted him close. He wanted the elders to see that the boy belonged to the Kazekage, not to any faction.
Shota was fine with it.
Shota had started having interaction with the other elders in the Suna council during the past month.
For the past month, offers had been coming in from different elders to join their faction. Shota had stayed quiet and listened to every single one.
He used this opportunity to find the traitor that was a ally of Danzo and was responsible for many deaths of Suna shinobi.
He knew the traitor was among them. The one who had fed information to Danzo. The one who had helped set up Tamashiro's trap.
He had not rejected any offer either. He decided to play the elders against each other and benefit from it.
One elder had come to him with a brand-new B-rank fire jutsu as a "starting gift."
Shota had smiled and said he had already received an A-rank wind jutsu from another elder. The elders had to keep raising the stakes to outbid each other. He then got an A rank Fire style jutsu from the same elder.
Shota had accepted every scroll with a polite bow.
"Thank you, Elder. This will be very helpful."
Inside, he was laughing.
They were fighting among themselves to win his loyalty. Every gift was another jutsu scroll, another rare training manual, another pouch of special weapons. He stored them all in his scroll collection and never promised anything back.
Another elder had offered him private lessons from a retired puppeteer master. Shota had smiled and said, "That sounds very generous. I will consider it carefully."
The elder had left thinking he was close to winning.
Shota had no intention of joining any faction. He just kept collecting. The more they gave, the more he took. It was the easiest way to build his strength without doing extra work.
He had become the greediest kid in the village and no one realised it yet.
Of course, he had not started learning these jutsus yet. A-rank jutsus required a lot of knowledge about the chakra nature, a lot more mastery about shape transformation and nature transformation.
But he had also received some scrolls about the different chakra nature's and how to master them.
'I would have started learning these jutsus if the village gave me time from the missions. Fucking child labour.' Shota thought as Rasa finished explaining the details of the mission.
"We will leave in three days. Prepare yourself." Rasa said
Shota bowed and left the office.
---------Author Notes--------
Thankyou Max Sweet and SpeedyG for supporting me!
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