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After the Mako and Haruto were done with the formalities with the Jujutsu division, the three Zenins were on their way back home.
"Do you two want to stop somewhere to eat?" asked Naoya, feeling hungry.
"I am good," replied Mako.
"I want to go back and rest. I think you should drop the idea as well. People will be uncomfortable seeing a child covered in blood," replied Haruto.
Naoya blinked and then looked at himself and realised that he was in no condition to go out for a meal at the moment.
He sighed in disappointment and shrank back into his seat.
Once the car stopped in front of the Zenin estate, the three were immediately greeted by the servants from the Zenin clan.
However, the moment the servants noticed a bloody Naoya, they went into panic.
Seeing a sorcerer coming back bleeding was not an unfamiliar sight for them, but for them, Naoya was still a kind boy who was nice to them and seeing him having possible severe injuries made them worry a bit.
Unknown to them, the blood on him and his clothes belonged to the rogue sorcerers who attacked him and were brutally murdered by him.
Naoya didn't focus on their expression, as right now he was too hungry to focus on useless stuff.
"Dinner. Extra portion," ordered Naoya, and slowly trotted towards his room.
Hearing the weak order, the servants immediately got into action, with one of them immediately going to inform the kitchen staff, while another went to prepare the bath for Naoya.
"Little boss. You need to report the mission details to the acting clan head," informed Haruto.
"Will do so later," replied Naoya, not much bothered by the proceedings. He can meet Naobito and Kagenori later and will inform them then, no need to rush at the moment.
Right now, he needed to focus on the current important matter at hand.
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Currently in the bathroom, which was surrounded by the rabbit army from all sides.
After an assassination attempt in the bathroom, Naoya made sure to have the rabbits keep an eye on the surroundings so that he could relax a bit.
After he was done cleaning and was relaxing in the bathtub, Naoya finally looked at the ceiling with a blank gaze.
"...Today's attack meant that someone from the clan or jujutsu division informed them..." muttered Naoya, not understanding why his clansmen and people from jujutsu society were after him when he, of all people, was good to all of them. He has not done anything to offend or make enemies with anyone in the clan or anyone actively for that matter, yet they were after him.
"...Am I looking like an easy target to them?" muttered Naoya and glanced towards the dried blood that he scrubbed off his body.
"..."
The bathroom grew silent, with only the sound of dripping droplets echoing.
After taking a long dip inside the water to clear his head, Naoya got out of the bath, dried himself and got dressed up.
Once he was clad in fresh clothes, Naoya headed straight towards Naobito's office and entered without any notice, making the acting clan head and the other people working in the room surprised by the rude behaviour and look up from their documents.
"Naoya! Wh-" Naobito raised his voice to warn Naoya of the disrespect he just shown, but Naoya simply clapped once with cursed energy reinforcement, making a loud noise and stopping Naobito from speaking further.
Naobito blinked in shock, not expecting Naoya to act so rudely.
The same was the case with other elders and Zenin clansmen who looked confused, only to turn angry towards the rude kid. One of them was about to scold Naoya; however, Kagenori, who was present in the room as well, stood up, making the others hold their tongues.
He walked upto Naoya and gazed into his eyes before turning towards the others present in the room.
"Let's do the rest tomorrow," ordered Kagenori.
The elders wanted to protest, seeing that the clan head was not scolding or punishing the rude brat, but none of them voiced their complaints. They simply bowed and walked out of the room.
Naobito huffed in annoyance, seeing that his father was promoting Naoya's disrespectful behaviour.
"What is all this commotion for?" asked Naobito, knowing well that Naoya wouldn't act like this unless something was wrong.
"Did you know where the mission was going to take place?" asked Naoya in a serious tone.
"Hm? Yes. Since I am acting as the clan head for this term, I did read through the mission document from the jujutsu division," replied Naobito.
"Apart from you, is there anyone who knew where the mission was going to take place?"
"...What are you getting at? What happened at the mission?" asked Naobito.
Naoya didn't answer; he simply stared at Naobito.
"...The elders and the clansmen who were present here just a moment ago also went through the documents. Apart from them, the mission came from the jujutsu division, so the ones who handle the mission filing and record keeping should know about the location of the mission as well," replied Naobito.
"Would the people from the Jujutsu division know who all from the clan were assigned to the mission, or do they simply know that the Zenins are handling the mission?"
"... Before the mission, they should have only known that the mission was assigned to the Zenin clan. After the mission is over, the members of the Jujutsu division at the site would record the names of the participants and pass the details to the Jujutsu division," replied Naobito.
'...So it is someone from the cla,n then.' thought Naoya grimly.
"Anything else?" asked Naobito.
Naoya shook his head.
"Good....Now tell me what happened at the mission for you to ask these questions?" asked Naobito.
Kagenori's focus was on Naoya as well. He already had some ideas as to what might have happened, but he needed to hear things first.
Naoya nodded and started giving the details about the mission to the two of them. From splitting up in groups, to fighting against a group of rogue sorcerers, and finally, the encounter and eventual defeat of the potential Special Grade cursed spirit.
Naobito and Kagenori were surprised by the turn of events. From what Naoya told them, the kid had almost single-handedly won against a cursed spirit that had the potential to reach Special Grade. Kagenori was already expecting Naoya to reach Special Grade level by the time the age for evaluation came, but it seemed like the kid was already about Special Grade level.
Now for the more serious matter at hand.
"...It seems like one of the elders or the ones who deal with the paperwork is leaking information..." muttered Naobito grimly and glanced at Kagenori. This ought to look bad in his evaluation for the seat of the clan head since such a huge scandal came up during the time he was acting as the clan head.
He looked towards Naoya...and for a moment thought that he should not have notified this news in the presence of Kagenori.
Naoya, on the other hand, was already somewhat aware of Naobito's thoughts. He knew that his actions might cost him some points in his father's clan head evaluation, but he also knew that if he didn't create a scandal in front of Kagenori, Naobito might have put the matter off until the end of his term.
For better or worse, the ones who were vying for the position of the clan head were trying their best to make sure that their records were clean, and that meant either working well or making sure that the dirt was not visible.
Kagenori, though, was not thinking about such matters. The old man was considering whether he needed to remind the clansmen, who were acting as they pleased, that there were consequences of the actions.
He was favouring Naoya and Naobito and was openly showing it as well, and yet some people in the clan had the balls to try to harm his grandson.
'...Should I?' pondered Kagenori and glanced towards Naoya, wanting to gauge what the kid was expecting.
Kagenori's gaze met Naoya's, and a small surprise appeared on his wrinkled face. The kid was looking at them, not with a pleading gaze but with determination. The kind of gaze that somehow reminded Kagenori of his younger self.
"...What do you want to say? I don't think you are here to just complain to your father and grandfather and ask them to console you?" asked Kagenori.
"I wouldn't mind if you both did that...But for now, I am here to ask you permission to act against some clansmen that might be involved in leaking secrets about the clan and clansemen to outside forces. Who knows how much they have shared and how much more they would share. They need to understand that there is a reason why no one messes with our clan and why we have survived for such a long time," said Naoya and looked towards Kagenori.
"Clan Head. Let me end the low lives who dared to betray the clan," said Naoya and got on his knee.
Naobito was in shock at Naoya's request. His son was actually asking to kill some clansmen.....and the scarier part was he was making it seem like a big issue by involving the whole clan, not a personal vendetta, effectively avoiding all allegations of pointless infighting amongst the clansmen.
'....Is he actually more of a 'Zenin' than I actually assumed?' thought Naobito.
"Hmm....this situation does seem like it needs to be handled with care since the clan's security is at stake..." said Kagenori with a serious tone before looking towards Naoya with a huge smile on his face.
Seeing that smile, Naoya smiled back, already getting the answer.
The Grandfather's and Grandson's smiles, filled with malice, made Naobito shudder a bit.
'...I don't know what is worse. Father becoming more like Naoya or Naoya becoming more like father.' thought Naobito already dreading about the future.
'Grandpa said yes. Be ready, you snitches.'