Hiruzen was sitting inside his office, smoking his pipe, and reading his favorite book. The time between the second and the third test of the chunin exam was always rather leisurely. Well, this time an annoying problem popped up, but that has been solved for now.
Kabuto, the spy, was caught yesterday due to the help of Yuna’s tracking seal. It was just in time, too, since he was about to kill Hayate Gekkou. Hiruzen guessed that Kabuto wanted to kill Hayate because he managed to get some important information. Unfortunately, Hayate was still unconscious and couldn’t be questioned yet. Kabuto was currently being interrogated and will hopefully spill Orochimaru’s plans as soon as possible.
Hiruzen took another drag of his pipe when the door was slammed open and Kakashi staggered into the room. Hiruzen frowned when he saw that. No matter how urgent or important the report is, there is no need to panic like this. He was just about to reprimand Kakashi when Kakashi started to speak.
“Rose-sensei announced the release date of her new books!”
Hiruzen’s eyes widened when he heard that. He stood up and slammed both his hands onto his desk, leaving two, hand-shaped, dents behind.
“WHAT?! WHEN?! WAIT!!! DID YOU SAY BOOKS?! AS IN: MORE THAN ONE!?”
Kakashi eagerly nodded his head.
“A week after the end of the chunin exam is the release date. Apparently, there are two different books. They are called: The Fox devours the Rabbit, and: The Fox tangles with the Snake. Although the titles are a little weird, I confirmed that the…theme… of the books is the same as the previous ones.”
“Hahaha, good. Very good. Kakashi, I assume you know what to do?”
Kakashi immediately went down on one knee.
“Yes, Hokage-sama. I will prepare an adequate amount of henged shadow clones one day before the release date and have them camp in front of different stores through Konoha to secure a satisfactory number of copies and hope, that Rose-sensei will appear in one of them to provide autographs.”
Hiruzen nodded his head.
“Dismissed!”
“Yes!”
Kakashi quickly left the office and Hiruzen sat back into his chair.
“Hehe, two new books. I can’t wait.”
Unfortunately for him, his day wasn’t over yet. About an hour later, a red and blue blur entered his office through the window.
“Yo, old man, I came to bargain.”
Seeing the wide grin on the young girl’s, Yuna’s, face, a shiver went through Hiruzen’s whole body.
‘I have a very bad feeling about this. I should tell her that I have no time right now.’
“I heard a certain person is about to release not one, but two new books. I assume you have heard about it. My bargain is about that.”
Hiruzen’s hand instinctually moved and activated the privacy seal of his office.
‘Or maybe I should listen to what she has to say. As the Hokage, it’s my job to listen to my citizens after all.’
“Haha, I have, of course, no clue what you might be talking about.”
Yuna nodded in understanding.
“Ah, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Those books are rather…spicy…after all. It would be weird for the honorable Hokage to read something like that, but maybe you can help me anyway. There is something that I would like to have. Or to be more precise, it is something that should have been mine from the start.”
Hiruzen nodded his head.
‘Yup, I am having a very bad feeling about this.’
“Well, how about you tell me your part of the trade first.”
“Haha sure. I actually managed to get my hands on a copy of one of the books…”
*Crack* Part of Hiruzen’s desk shattered apart due to him clenching his hands too hard. Yuna, however, ignored that.
“…Actually, it is even signed by the author…”
*BOOM* Hiruzen lost control over his chakra and accidentally turned his chair to dust. He was now standing up and was looking at Yuna with crimson red, greedy eyes. Yuna, however, still ignored that.
“…Oh, by the way, the signature is actually directly addressing someone called Hiruzen Sarutobi, I wonder who that is~”
…
Half an hour later, Hiruzen regained his sense. He glanced around his office with confusion in his eyes. He looked down and saw that he was holding a book with the title “The Fox devours the Rabbit” in his hands. He couldn’t help but shiver in excitement when he saw that, however, there was still one problem left.
“What the hell did I give Yuna? The last thing I remember is that she said that the signature…”
Hiruzen immediately discarded his thoughts and opened the book in front of him. Every single page was turned with the utmost care and moments later he reached the page he was looking for.
“To one of my greatest fans: Hiruzen Sarutobi.
May your path in life be illuminated by the gentleman’s enlightenment.
Red Rose”
Hiruzen quickly swept away the tear that was about to come out of one of his eyes and carefully put the book down on his table.
To his surprise, however, he noticed that there was a second book on the table. He picked it up and saw that a small piece of paper fell out of it. He caught it in midair and read what was written on it.
“For use ;)”
Although Hiruzen was thankful for the additional copy, after all, the one with the signature would be going straight into his shrine, he still couldn’t help but groan.
‘That damn brat really knows no restrain…Mhh? Haven’t I forgotten something? Oh well, couldn’t have been that important. Let’s start reading.’
Yuna, meanwhile, was leisurely walking back to her home while happily humming.
‘That went pretty well. Seems like the preparations for the finals of the chunin exam are done. Let’s see how this plays out, hehe.’
It was finally the day of the finals. Massive amounts of people who think of themselves as important flooded the village. Yuna watched the conga line of extravagant carriages with a disdainful sneer on her face. Next to her stood Naruto and Hinata who had confusion clearly written on their faces.
“Nee-san, these people…errr…”
Yuna nodded her head.
“They are pathetically weak. Most of them are nobles from the capital. Dozens of generations ago, their ancestors did something worthwhile and they have been riding on that achievement since then. In my opinion, the old man should just overthrow the daimyo and be done with it. As for funding problems? Aren’t there massive amounts of corrupt nobles whose wealth can be harvested?”
Naruto and Hinata gave Yuna a weird look while Yuna only chuckled.
‘No matter the world, when someone talks about overthrowing a king that isn’t 100% incompetent or a tyrant they will always get incrediolous looks, no matter how weak the king is. Now that I think about it, the village is stuffed to the brim with young masters. I wonder if any one of them will get funny ideas and provoke us.’
[I don’t think they are stupid enough to provoke one of Konoha’s shinobi inside Konoha.]
‘…’
[Okay, maybe they ARE stupid enough to do that, but it is not like you will get a chance to meet them. You are heading straight for the arena after all.]
*two minutes later*
“I am making you one of my concubines. Be honored.”
A slightly overweight male teenager that looked to be around 15 years old pointed his finger at Yuna. Some might describe his clothes, which were colored in a mix of red and gold as extravagant. Yuna, however, was pretty sure that a maid asked him what he would like to wear today and he misunderstood the question and answered with yes. Behind him, stood two guards who clearly would have preferred to be somewhere else.
When Yuna saw him, a frown appeared on her face. She pointed her finger right back at him and was clearly annoyed.
“What the hell are you doing? How can a young master walk around like that?”
The young master was, naturally, shocked by that exclamation.
‘What does she mean? I put on my most extravagant dress today, so there should be no problem with that.’
A frown appeared on his face and he was just about to ask what she meant by that when Yuna continued to speak.
“Where the hell is your entourage?”
This got him even more confused. He looked back and saw his two guards still standing behind him. When Yuna saw him looking at his two guards she could only roll her eyes.
“I am not talking about your guards. I am talking about your bootlickers.”
“B-Bootlickers?”
Yuna nodded her head.
“Yes, bootlickers. A bunch of lower-ranked nobles that agree with everything you say. While you act like a noble, they can act like hooligans and support what you said. For example, when you said “I am making you one of my concubines. Be honored.”, one of them could have said stuff like: “Why are you not thanking the young master for his generosity?” or “Becoming the young master’s concubine is your good fortune.”.”
The young master staggered back when he heard what Yuna just said and looked at her with wide eyes.
“T-T-That is… an incredible idea! I will collect a few people right away!”
Without another word, he turned around and ran away, quickly followed by his two completely dumbfounded guards.
Yuna, meanwhile, only snorted in disdain.
“What a small-fry. He can’t even act like a proper young master. What a low standard.”
[I thought you hated people like that?]
‘I do, but if I have to deal with them, then they should at least put proper effort into their act. Even young masters should at least operate on a certain standard.’
Naruto and Hinata, meanwhile, had not even the slightest clue what just happened. They expected that Yuna would send that guy flying, but instead she…reprimanded him?…gave him advice? They shook their heads and decided to just file the incident under their “it’s Yuna so it’s fine” folder and be done with it.
“Well, Naruto, Hinata, let’s go. don’t want to be late for the third test, after all.”
“Yes, nee-san/Yuna!”
