457 Chapter 57

Title: Becoming Captain Once again

...

"You should calm down Karin." Sai's calm voice broke through to Karin as she assumed the worst of Shun's disappearance.

"Wha- You! Why are you this calm?" She asked in annoyance. She had always seen Sai's calm appearance as normal, but seeing him not reaching left a bad taste in her mouth.

"I think the better question is...Why are you not calm?" Sai asked back as he tore his eyes from the painting and turned to Karin.

"Haven't we been under Sensei's tutelage for close to two years now? How can you be panicking over this little disappearance? You should know by now, the amount of big shots in this village hate his guts." Sai said with admiration.

Karin looked at Sai speechlessly. Listening to his words, she managed to calm down as she remembered how strong Shun was in the first place.

But seeing the admiration in Sai's eyes caused her mind to come to a halt for a split second.

'Was that an illusion?' she thought as she saw he had gone back to his normal stoic expression.

Shaking her head, she decided to just go with the flow and observe Shun's painting. Maybe she'd understand how these two think...She thought.

As for Shun...

"What's the meaning of this!? Abduction in pure daylight? Even if you're my captain, I'll have you sued for this! Where's my right as a human!?" Complained an angry looking Shun.

"Eh? You guys are here too?" He asked as he saw the other occupants of the room.

"Wait a minute. What are you guys doing here?" He continued asking in evident confusion on his face.

"Settle down Shun." An aged Kurotsume said as he sat down on his chair. "I brought you here to take up your new post. As for where we are... shouldn't you be aware already?"

"What? New post? No way. Not interested." Shun waved his hands at his captain and continued. "As for where we are, how should I know? One minute I was chilling with my students, the next I'm here? Gasp! Yo-you...you didn't kidnap the village higher ups to stage a coup did you?"

Kurotsume and the other captains' face's all twitched at Shun's blatant and wild imagination.

"Shun, you're in the hall we've all been having our monthly Black Numbers meeting. This shouldn't be your first time... right?" Kurotsume began with a tired sigh but asked the last question with an uncertain tone.

"Eh? Yeah yeah, sure. I know. Hehehe." Shun answered while scratching his cheeks, fortunately for him, his eyes were blindfolded so no one thought it was weird except for two people.

Kurotsume and the Hanakage.

"I see. So you've been sending your duplicate to the previous meetings?" The Hanakage asked, or rather stated with an understanding look.

"Even I was fooled, as expected of you. It would be this village fortune to have you protecting it from the dark." The Hanakage continued.

Shun didn't really know how to react to this as denying was kinda stupid and accepting would be seen as an insult to all the captains and vice captain, but seeing as the Hanakage gave him a way out by diverting the topic to his new post, he couldn't help but raise his hands.

"Yes?"

"I don't think I'm quite qualified to hold any position of power in the village." Shun stated seriously, causing most of the vice captains to look at him weirdly.

"That's true." The Hanakage began causing Shun to breathe a sigh of relief, but his next words caused him to freeze once more. "But unfortunately, you were appointed so you'll become one."

Shun looked at the Hanakage with an incredulous look as he didn't know if he was praising him or actually insulting him.

"Then as captain of the Assassination Squad, I hereby tender my retirement while appointing Sugehiro as the next captain of the Assassination Squad." Shun immediately found another counter.

"Unfortunately, you can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because you haven't been made the captain yet."

"Then can't I not be made captain?"

"Unfortunately, No."

"And my freedom?"

"You were never a prisoner, Shun, you'll just have to put in your efforts into maintaining the village's peace from the shadows as your predecessors have done."

"N-No..no..that's impossible. You can't do that."

Shun visibly paled as he took several steps back.

"Wha-you... this is impossible. I haven't even lived my life to its fullest yet. I haven't heard what needs to be heard, seen sights that need to be seen, gone on adventures that need to be adventured. You guys...you're pretty stealing my life from me."

"Don't whine like a pussy now, Shun. Be a man and accept the noble task given to you." A voice replied to Shun causing him to turn and observe the owner.

He was Renjiro Hayashi, captain of the Taijutsu Squad. They were basically a squad filled with martial arts enthusiasts.

"You..."

"It's not like you're even going to be doing anything. Just focus on continuing where Kurotsume-dono left off." Another captain said.

He prided a slim figure that made anyone who looked at him assume he was easily breakable. He was the captain of the Village Defence Unit, Kuroda Yuto.

"You..."

"Mah mah. It's not like you're dying or anything. Plus, rejecting this is similar to going against the rules set by our elders, YOUR elders to be precise." Another captain said, however, this one was a female.

Looking at the owner, Shun couldn't help but pale more as he recognised this woman.

She was Ayumi...just Ayumi. That was what he knew her as when she was still buddies with Yusano, his sister.

Due to her lack of talent in the Elemental natures, she chose to become quite adept in chakra control, and due to her low chakra reserves, she was able to reach a near perfect level of control in her chakra.

With this, she was able to implement various techniques that didn't exactly need elemental natures and quickly found her talent in disguises, deceit and manipulation.

"You..." Shun didn't really know what to do or say now, so he just sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. When do I begin?"

...

Shun's POV

What in the nine hells is going on today? I had just gotten a piece of good news after so long and was about to tell it to my students when I suddenly noticed a black bolt of lightning shoot out from nowhere and capture me.

It was so fast that even my perception failed to track its movement clearly until it made contact with me, and as soon as it did, I immediately recognised it as Kurotsume.

He really did master that technique he claimed would be able to defeat me in a contest of speed. Unfortunately, like many others before him, I was near invincible when it came to speed.

Near because Kaguya could choose to stop time with me included.

I would be conscious, but that would only be my thoughts, however, my body is still human, and susceptible to the machinations of time.

Anyways, getting to the room I was oh so familiar with, I was immediately made captain of the assassination squad.

Imagine my horror when I discovered my actions all these years didn't help reduce the stress on Kurotsume, but rather, made him feel a need to retire.

Wait. Perhaps I was the one in the wrong in the first place? Maybe.k shouldn't have been so perfect in all my assignments...right?

After a few back and forth between the Hanakage and myself, I was forced into the position.

This was the very position I swore never to sit in after my time as Kuchiki. Being in a position of power meant that despite all that power, your freedom was reduced to an appalling Zero.

What? You think it's a lie? Please. Any dedicated person thrust into a position of authority would need to make sure he leaves that office better than he entered, and as prideful as I am, there was no possible way I would leave my office any worse than I met it.

"So I would have to make sure this village doesn't encounter any attacks from the dark, huh?" I spoke to myself as I went through what I needed to know as the captain.

It was not like I didn't already know, afterall, I was amongst the damned Elders that put these rules and regulations in place.

"Damn me and my perfectionist mentality." I muttered in mild anger.

Although I could use my Clones to put up appearances, those idiots all have stupid personalities of their own and are not trustworthy at all.

"And I wanted to go to Suna...Guess I'll just have to send Karin and Sai then."

I had planned on attending the Chunin Exams that'll take place in Sunagakure so as to meet Fû and place a seal I had created for the Jinchurikis.

Despite already helping out Nigito a few years ago attune with her chakra, there was no way I would leave it up to chances that she survives.

Hidan and Kakuzu are dangerous, that was a fact, and without prior knowledge of their abilities, there was no way she'd survive, however, with this seal, she would be able to escape death when Matatabi-chan is extracted from her.

The same goes for Fû and Gaara. Since the extraction would literally drain one's life force, the seal would simply gather the residual Bijuu chakra and reboot their system.

This was the seal I had taken from my initial attempt at making a cultivation technique based on Fuinjutsu.

With me placing the seal, it would begin copying the Bijuu chakra, and when the original is extracted, the copy would then kick in to keep Jinchuriki alive.

Simple and Ingenuous.

Sigh... Unfortunately, I can't now go there personally... That's right!

"Sugehiro!" I called out and immediately, a shadow manifested behind me.

"Here."

"Call for both Karin and Sai at once."

"Hai." He replied and immediately sunk back in the shadows.

Hopefully Karin and Sai would see to it that this is completed.

Minutes later, Karin and Sai were standing in front of me, one with a curious expression, the other with a confused expression.

Normal POV.

"First off, I'm not going to quell your confusion, it just happened. Second. I like your confusion as I have a mission for you." Shun began, addressing Karin first and Sai second.

"You...what happened?" Karin asked, causing the three others in the room to look at her weirdly.

"I'm beginning to think my efforts these past three years have been in vain." Shun muttered causing Karin to blush in anger.

"I was just being worried about you Sensei! Humph!"

"Hai hai. Sorry about that. It really just happened, unfortunately, I can't really teach you guys anymore." Shun said apologetically.

"How can something just happen without a cause? You did teach us that everything that happens has an initial cause right?" She asked and Shun nodded.

"The cause is quite simple. I'm just too strong..." Shun said with a sad sigh causing Sugehiro and Karin's lips to twitch while Sai just looked on in admiration and awe.

"Anyways, I have a mission for you."

"Eh? Why?"

"What do you mean why? You're my students, so by extension, you're both members of this squad. As for your mission, it's quite simple...How would you like to win a Chunin Exams?"