137 CH_4.37 (137)

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Takuma sighed deeply as he made himself home on the quality cushion of the seating inside the private room of a high-grade barbeque restaurant.

"Don't sigh like that; you're not an old man," said Ai, bumping his shoulder with hers. The seating was a circular couch with an in-built barbeque grill in the table in between; a pipe fell from the ceiling with a very silent suction that would suck any and all smoke from the barbecue. It was a very Korean-style barbeque restaurant.

"People say I'm an old soul," Takuma smiled.

"What people? You're like the most active person I know," Taro rebuked. He sat across from Takuma. "Old people don't go learning a hundred different things every month. Do those things actually stick in your mind?"

"I know, right?" Ai joined in. "I was surprised when he fixed the plumbing at our house. And I had no idea you could work a field radio, much less that you had an official certification for it."

"I didn't know a certification even existed," Taro commented.

Takuma didn't realize that he was considered a man with many skills and technologically savvy by his friends and peers. He simply claimed to be an old soul because he was literally older than all of them.

"You seem tired. The Police Force's keeping you busy?"

On Ai's other side sat Nenro, looking immaculate like a teen male model as ever. There was not a single moment outside of training and sparring where Nenro didn't look a hundred percent fresh and perfectly dressed, with not a single hair out of place. If Nenro had a course in the LRC (Learning Resource Center) on personal style, Takuma would've forked a real mission point to attend those lessons. Nenro gave them tips, and they helped, but he didn't look anywhere as good as him.

"I was given a small team to lead. It's not something I'm used to yet," said Takuma. He was much more comfortable on his own, and managing a team was a different skill set altogether.

"You're already in a supervising position?" Nenro looked surprised. "They must be very happy with you. That's very good, Takuma."

Takuma waved the compliment away. He didn't want to tell them it was only temporary, and if he failed, it would set him back quite a bit.

He looked at the last member of their friend group sitting beside him. Masaaki was intently tending to the meat on the charcoal with focus. It seemed the Akimichi company had rubbed on his friend. Out of all of them, Masaaki had changed the most. He had gone through a massive growth spurt; he had grown until he was at least a head taller than Takuma and Taro, who were previously the tallest among their group and had even filled out with his frame widening considerably. Masaaki wasn't putting on fat like a traditional Akimchi, but he was getting big in his own way.

"What about you, Masaaki? How are the Akimichi treating you?" asked Takuma. Out of everyone in the group, Masaaki was the one he worried about the most.

"Good," Masaaki didn't take his eyes off the grill. "I've started training for the Chunin Exam next year."

"Same for me as well," Nenro added.

Takuma was surprised by the sudden declarations from his two friends. It had been nineteen months since they had graduated from the academy. Genin Corp genin were mandated to serve thirty months in the Genin Corp. Takuma's graduation batch had eleven more months before they could apply for the Chunin Exam. Even though Takuma had exited Genin Corp, the Chunin Exam restriction still applied to him. His Police Force contract also had a similar stipulation, but that didn't matter as that would end before the Genin Corp restriction ended. All in all, he still had the same eleven months just like everyone else— but he could get promoted through a field promotion.

As for Nenro and Masaaki, they were technically still in the Genin Corp. Technically being the focus word. Masaaki was under the sponsorship of the Akimichi Clan, and his situation was vastly better than any of his peers in the Genin Corp. Nenro, on the other hand, no longer took D-rank missions as he was a go-to genin for a couple of Chunin Teams who only took C-rank missions. If either of them tried, they could easily get out of the Genin Corp.

They didn't do so because, despite all the negatives, Genin Corp had one unmatched advantage over other locations. That advantage was freedom. As long as a genin met their monthly mission quota, they were free to do whatever they liked. Nenro and Masaaki could easily fill the mission quota and were free to do anything in their considerable free time— according to them, they were free an average of fifteen days a month.

Even Ai and Taro had at least a week or ten days free every month.

Takuma, on the other hand, was working a full-time job in the Police Force with a fixed schedule.

By no means was this the norm, but his four friends were all competent shinobi and had managed to reach such a stage in their careers. Moreover, they shared resources, helped each other, and made each other's life easier in the Genin Corp.

"You two also preparing for Chunin Exams?" Takuma turned to Ai and Taro.

Ai shook her head. "A rank promotion isn't in my plans for at least a couple more years. I'm preparing for the Medic Corp examinations eight months from now. If I pass it, I will join iryo-nin training the day my thirty months end." She looked at Taro. "Mister Oishi is helping me prepare every Saturday."

Takuma knew about Ai's desire to be an iryo-nin and how Mister Oishi, Taro's dad, an iryo-nin, had offered his help to Ai. But Takuma didn't know Ai was working with him so regularly. He felt guilty not knowing such an important thing.

"If you want to consult with a genin kunoichi iryo-nin, tell me I will introduce you to her," said Takuma.

"Someone in the Police Force?" asked Ai.

"No, she's my primary doctor," Takuma answered, "but if you want to talk to a chunin kunoichi iryo-nin, I can introduce you to her as well. I know her well, she's my boss."

"An Uchiha?"

"Uchiha Kano," said Takuma.

"I will think about it," said Ai.

Taro's dad was excellent help, but he was a man. Even if it was one meeting, Ai could get a lot of help from women in the field. One word from Ai and he would set those meetings as soon as possible.

Everyone looked at Taro, who had already begun eating the meat Masaaki was serving him. He noticed them looking at him. There was a silence as he chewed and swallowed the meat before speaking,

"I'm going to transfer to the Leaf Analysis Division in a couple of months."

Takuma looked at his other friends, and they seemed as surprised as he did, which meant they were hearing this for the first time, and he wasn't the only one in the unknown.

Before the group could flood Taro with questions, he raised his hands and silenced them.

"I didn't want to be an iryo-nin," Taro looked at Ai, "no offense, but it looks like a shit ton of work…"

"It is," she shrugged.

"… and I don't want to do whatever my mom does in the T&I Division. I mean, they don't have the best reputation when they have torture in the name," said Taro.

Even though Takuma was suspended for the week while Taro's mom was working with the Police Force on his request and didn't personally witness her work, he was told that she was very proficient in "Enhanced Interrogation Technique"— which was just a nice cover word for the use of advanced systematic torture to get the information with any means possible. She wasn't permitted to use the entire breadth of her skills as most of it wasn't suitable for the level of case and the charges being pressed against the people— but Arisu told him that the screams were still horrible and it still took some time to clean the blood from the rooms.

He wasn't going to talk about Taro about her mom and how she specialized in torture, regardless of if he knew it or not.

"What do they do in the Analysis Division?" Masaaki asked.

"Analyze information from our networks to recognize threats and mitigate risk. Or as mom said: the Analysis Division finds the threats and then sends people to whack 'em before they become a problem," said Taro. "You guys are always singing the praise of how incredibly smart and frighteningly intelligent I am, so I thought it would be the perfect job for me. I'm not that good at using my fists to protect the village, but I guess I can do a better job with my brain."

Taro was the weakest fighter in the group. And he didn't take any steps to change or improve his combat ability. They had tried to pull Taro into training, but he did the bare minimum. There was only so much they could push him.

"I'm a bad singer," started Takuma.

"I don't sing at all," Ai joined in.

"Vocals aren't my strong suit, but I can play the harmonica," Nenro followed.

"You're weak, Taro. It's good that you have a good brain in your head," Masaaki didn't pick up the ongoing joke but did reply in his own straightforward way.

"Have your laughs, but one day, I'm going to find a threat, and you guys will have to go take care of it like pawns doing my bidding," Taro scoffed. He then turned to Takuma, "I remember I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" said Takuma.

"I heard the Police Force is going to hire again this year. Are they?"

Takuma nodded as he ate yakitori off a skewer. "Yeah, I think they're going to open the process in a couple months. But this time, they're taking a lesser number, and the process will have some extra steps. The competition's going to be tough. I feel I lucked out," Takuma chuckled as he ate more. The food was good, and Masaaki was absolutely goated on the grill.

"I have this friend who wants to get into the Police Force. He wants to meet someone in the Police Force to know more about what it will be like. I told him about you," said Taro.

Before Takuma could speak, others spoke up.

"Actually, I have a few friends who are interested as well," said Ai.

"I also have a couple of guys who are thinking about the Police Force," Nenro said.

Takuma looked at his three friends and pursed his lips. "Guys, it'd be tough. I mean, I can't introduce this many people to an Uchiha. Kano is going to shut me down. I have an Uchiha, a genin, on my new team, but I don't think we are close enough for me to bother him like this. You guys will have more success asking Fuma Arisu; if you three remember her from basic training, she would be able to hook you guys up with some Uchiha. I will ask her for you, don't worry."

"Takuma," Ai spoke up. "They don't want to talk to an Uchiha. They want to talk to you."

Takuma's chopstick holding meat stopped midway between his mouth and plate.

"Me?" he asked, wondering if he had misheard Ai. "Why do they want to meet me?""Because you were in the same position as them. They want to talk to someone like them, someone who went through the process, got into a really high-up position right off the bat, and is now apparently leading a new team with an Uchiha on it," said Ai. "If it were you, who would you like to meet: someone who got in because of their clan or someone like you who worked hard to get in?"

"Me."

"Yeah, so will you meet them?" she asked.

"Sure."

That day Takuma realized he was a success story.

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