Masaru stood stiffly in the Hokage's office, suddenly regretting his rash decision. The office itself was very well put together. Both walls were lined with shelves filled with countless paper and scrolls. The desk was old, very old, in fact that thing was probably older than the Sanin seeing how deep the grooves and cracks in it were.
The window had been cracked, yet the smell of tabaco permeated the office, telling anyone who walked inside just how much Lord Hiruzen smoked. And the man himself was sitting calmly in his seat, working on a new pile of paperwork.
He was donning his shinobi gear without the cloak, and his hat was resting on his desk. To Masaru...he seemed kind. As of right now, he couldn't see the God of Shinobi, more so the man he was facing seemed to be the Professor today.
Soon enough, Hiruzen finished the packet he's been working on and set it to the side with a sigh. He picked up his pipe, which had been resting beside his hat, and took a long puff before looking up at the kid standing stiffly before him.
Masaru could feel the man's eyes study his body before he finally seemed to relax, a smile reaching his lips. "Hello young Masaru, I believe it's our first time meeting face to face."
"Yes sir, it is."
Hiruzen chuckled. "There's no need to be so stiff, I won't be punishing you or anything. Your letter actually gave me quite a laugh!"
Masaru hesitated for a moment, but then decided to drop all formalities. "And?"
"I think I'll take you up on that. Of course you won't work on anything important, but taking care of civil problems will be a great help to me."
"And the pay?"
"Haha! Don't worry, you'll be compensated. Two thousand ryo a day."
"Three." Masaru narrowed his eyes.
Hiruzen's smile deepened. "Two thousand two fifty."
"Two thousand seven fifty."
"Two and a half, final offer."
Masaru's scowl dropped from his face and he instead adopted an easy smile. "Deal!"
He'd been aiming for five hundred a day, so to gain five times that was a great boon. Seing that he'd been played, Hiruzen laughed harder rather than getting angry. "It's great to see you in such high spirits Masaru. Now before you get to work, I must ask, what does the will of fire mean to you?"
All expression dropped from the Hokage's face, and Masaru suddenly felt a pressure fall on his shoulders. It seemed Hiruzen had switched from the Professor to the Hokage proper.
Despite the tension, Masaru considered his words heavily. "...The will of fire means that everyone in the village is like family."
Hiruzen didn't say anything, waiting for a proper answer.
"But to me it means I need to be strong. Stronger than anyone and everyone."
The Hokage raised his eyebrows, intrigued at the strange answer. "To gain strength?"
Masaru nodded, hesitation giving way to resolve. "I need strength to be able to protect myself, more for those close to me, and much more to protect the village."
The office fell silent as the two stared at each other, the clock on the wall slowly ticking in the background.
Then, a slow smile returned to the Hokage's face. "That's quite a goal, young Masaru."
"I know, but it's all I've got."
Hiruzen shook his head wryly, then a thought occurred to him. "Have you ever thought of becoming Hokage one day?"
Masaru thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Everyone has at one point. I don't particularly want to be, but if a time comes when I'm strong enough to sit in that seat and there's no other option, I wouldn't mind holding it."
Hiruzen nodded. "That's understandable. Not everyone only sees the bright side to this position."
Masaru had a feeling he wasn't only talking about paperwork, but he didn't say anything about it yet. He wasn't close enough with the man for that. "So, what pile should I work on?"
A sly smile slid onto the Hokage's lips, and he gestured to his right, where several tall stacks of paper sat patiently. There had to have been tens of thousands of papers awaiting to be looked after.
Masaru looked between his piles and Hiruzen's humble pile, which was a fraction of one of his. He looked back and forth, before turning a blank stare towards the Hokage, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his reaction.
"...I'm using shadow clones for this."
---
Late at night, a young man could be found standing between one of the many shelves of the Leaf Library. This was the village's official library, where all citizens could visit and read whatever they wish, and it was also where all D ranked jutsu were kept. It was done like this because jutsu of this rank weren't truly that valuable, and some civilians could even use them for everyday life.
Currently that young man, Kano Masaru, was browsing through the summoning jutsu section and honestly, there were far more than he remembered being in the original series. All kinds of birds, reptiles, and even aquatic summons.
"Ideally, I'd want one of the three sage summons, but that's out of my range for now. In the future I'll probably aim for Ryota cave, but for now these two are also good."
Masaru had found two scrolls. One for the Raven clan, and another for the Wolf clan. He'd chosen the first because he wanted their ability to scout for him as well as the possibility of flying, and he'd chosen the Wolves for their combat and tracking ability.
There was a caveat that made people turn away from them however, as they held themselves quite high. Because of this they themselves owned contracts for 'lesser' wolves like dogs.
Taking both scrolls, he walked to the front and presented them to the librarian. "I'm going to buy both of these scrolls."
She raised a brow. "Are you sure? It's pretty pricy to buy a scroll rather than borrowing it."
Masaru nodded, and handed her the scroll his teacher had given him. "This is a purchase notice by Genin Kosuke Maruboshi, allowing for one scroll to be charged at his account. I'll personally by the other scroll."
She sighed and nodded. "Alright. That'll be 15,000 ryo then."
The transaction was over fairly quickly, and Masaru soon found himself on his way back home. As he went, his thoughts briefly went back to the Hokage, who had clearly abused his half hearted offer, and a slow smile found its way onto his lips. "I have a feeling this is the start of a great prank war."
A deep chuckle started echoing throughout the darkened streets as he started brainstorming ideas. 'Oh poor Hiruzen, you're going to dearly regret this.'
|AN| Don't forget to vote!
I also fixed the problem in the chapter number in case anyone caught that!