Well, this was going to be interesting. A jounin he'd never heard of claiming to have information about Sousetsu, Sousetsu's shadow dealings, and all that stuff that he was still completely in the dark about. Joyous days, when you where stuck with a metric fuckton of inept code breakers that refused to even try, or outright couldn't, break the ciphers on the records, and there where just enough loyal commanders left that refused to spill beans on their preferred Hokage, so he was only able to gather tiny bits of the cipher keys. Not enough to be useful, though. Typical. Nothing was ever easy in his life, least of all in relation to his Hokageship.

Oh well. Maybe he'd get some useful information from this one. There was some promise, or at least an illusion toward, information being shared. It would be new information to him anyway, so he'd take it. He needed to know what happened while he was gone; but not the public information that everyone had. He needed the stuff that even most of the Jounin wouldn't know, the stuff that was locked behind the ciphers and codes that he was having zero luck cracking. So he was more willing to give this persona a meeting immediately; or nearly so; he'd be alerted to the request the day prior, but it was too late for him to get anything done. However, he was able to speed through the most important paperwork and such, which allowed him to clear his entire afternoon, and send the majority of the bothersome aides that would interrupt them away.

Now, there was still a chance of being bothered, but that would be one of his kids, or Michizuka, or Naota, or Amaya, or someone that he wasn't going to destroy for being a bother. Either way, they should be able to get some work done; and he wasn't above admitting that he was... interested. What little he'd gather was that this Jounin had been locked up over some mishap around a murder? Or something. It was confusing; but he was curious, so he'd humor them. That, and he needed to be sure he didn't have a problem Jounin on the loose; so there was that. He'd decide if he needed to be worried or not by how this meeting went; but he was rather hopeful that he'd have a neutral party at the least; he didn't see himself having enough karma to cash in to grab a loyal, or active, Jounin out of this. He'd take neutral and be happy enough with it.

Settled in his chair, he was keeping busy flipping through a pile of paperwork nearly as thick as his arm was long; another in a long line of new laws or trade agreements that seemed to pass his desk with alarming frequency. That they where so far behind on economic and social policy updates was... not good. It was a miracle that the village was still functioning, really. He really needed to get on getting an emergency council together to just handle all of this shit so that he could focus on everything else he had to do. Like this meeting. That he needed to focus on. Weeeeeee.

WC: 555

The sounds of heavy thuds echoed throughout the otherwise silent halls of Academy’s Administrative Wing, the location at the heart of Konohagakure which housed the Hokage’s office. Kyohei made no attempts to lighten his steps as he pressed forward, allowing the heavy soles of his combat boots to crash against the floor with each step in what was more akin to a soldier’s march than a casual stroll. The two masked ANBU operatives that flanked each of his sides, escorting him down the main hall which led to the room where Inuzuka Kenta lied in wait, made the circumstances of this meeting clear; this was business, not a friendly chat.

Given the length of the Uchiha’s absence from the village and the mysterious circumstances that surrounded the last mission he was deployed on before said disappearance, it was no surprise that some, if not all, members of the Hokage’s guard were skeptical of his intentions. They would be foolish not to. The life of a shinobi was far from pedestrian, but such circumstances were unusual even for Kyohei’s occupation. The village’s investigations and evaluations of him upon his return were thorough, and cleared his story well enough to allow him to return to active duty, but appearances still mattered. The fair-haired man had taken to putting his head down and simply focusing on his work, careful not to step on too many toes in the process. It was a surprisingly difficult feat for the brash young man.

What such inconspicuous diligence did allow Kyohei to do, however, was look into his interests without drawing too much unwanted attention to himself. Everyone that he had expected to meet upon his return was gone, either by disappearance of occupational hazard. This included the previous Hokage, Sousetsu Senju, the man who had conscripted the Uchiha into his expansion of the Military Police Force for his expertise in the looming threat of the Black ANBU that hung over Konohagakure. And with him left Kyohei’s strongest ally in his war against Hataro and the remnants of Enaka’s organization. He had not expected a man as young as Sousetsu to falter in the role so quickly, but it seems as though the position had been cannibalizing candidates at an alarming rate in recent years, forcing the village to turn back to a previous hokage who had been, for all intents and purposes, retired. Trying to acclimate a new kage with little to no exposure to or experience with Enaka’s dealings was not Kyohei’s first choice, but it was his best course of action at this point.

When they arrested Enaka and locked him away in the deepest, darkest cell available there was a feeling of relief amongst those who worked the case, as if some victory had been won. Kyohei knew better. He knew better than anyone that Enaka’s time in that cell would only last as long as he wanted it to and no amount of security measures would keep him there forever. The Uchiha was surprised that Enaka had remained still for this long, but it gave him no peace of mind. That man was never without a contingency plan. If it was taking this long, there was likely something brewing beneath the surface.

As Kyohei and his two escorts reached the large wooden double-doors bearing Konohagakure’s symbol, their gait was brought to a halt. The ANBU operative on his right would knock thrice against the wood before announcing their presence and awaiting a response from within. Once clearance had been granted, the two men at his flanks would play the Uchiha more closely, giving him as little room to work with beyond what was necessary for the most base level of comfort. It was like he was an approaching enemy in his own village. What else was new?

---

650 | 650

Marching. Weird to hear, even when you took into consideration that they where technically soldiers and should have been trained to move as such. However, they where more guerrilla soldiers that had to focus on stealth than on the carefully organized militarizes of the civilian countries. It made them stand out, the strange cadence was harsh and loud compared to anything a normal shinobi would allow themselves to use. Strange, very strange. He'd only known shinobi to use a march like that for prisoner transport, yet for all he could find, this Jounin, Kyohei, was not listed as such. He was... blacklisted, in many ways; but not a hostile combatant. Something had definitely happened between him and the village leadership, but once again, he was hitting the walls of ciphered and sealed documents and history that he shouldn't have to worry about. This fracturing of loyalty was worrying, but he just hadn't had the time to focus on it; instead working to stabilize the things that did matter to him; namely making sure there was enough food, ryo, and jobs to go around for the civilians and ninja alike. Fighting a non-functional coup was worthless if your people where hungry and unhappy.

Triple tap of knocking. Yay. Time to be Hokage.

"Enter." Simple, clear, and neutral; he wanted to keep the tone of this meeting as neutral as possible until necessary. There was no need to hostility initially, and while he had a reputation for snapping into heightened emotional states rather instantly, he was no young pup anymore. He understood the need and value of a calm approach to negotiations and meetings with non-hostile forces. He was going to assign the label of non-hostile to Kyohei until otherwise needed. Allowing the man and his guard to enter as they saw fit, he took a moment to adjust and settle the masses of paperwork sprawled across his desk. Adjust a pile here, move a pile there, make sure there was a pen nearby in case, things like that. He was also brushing his hands across the embedded seals within the wood, making sure they where clear, without being obviously so, allowing him access to them if needed. They appeared to be nothing more than decorative glyph and symbols anyway, so that helped; ever Hokage's desk had something similar in them, so there was no reason to find them strange or for them to stand out.

Once the Jounin, and his guard, if they chose, had entered the room, he turned his attention to them; "So, you requested a meeting. Would you care to explain what it is that you need to speak about?"

WC: 451

1006 Total.

Upon being given the clearance to enter, the two guards flanking Kyohei’s sides would press open the wooden doors before them, swiftly pivoting themselves to face back towards the Uchiha trailing behind them in the hall. Like statues they stood at attention, never uttering a word beckoning the fair-haired man to pass. He didn’t need to be guided like a lost child. Despite it being quite some time since he last stood in this office, the feeling was the same. The person in the chair mattered not, a name and a face that ultimately represented the same thing, for better or worse. More often than not, he found, it was for worse.

Kyohei entered the office, stepping forward until he was about five paces shy of the ornate desk behind which the Inuzuka sat. His typical, defiant scowl plastered on his face, the Uchiha paused for a moment before responding, sizing up the former hokage that had retaken office during his absence. This was the first time that this particular man sat before him. It was a face he would be sure to remember well.

“Good afternoon, Lord Hokage. I’m unsure of exactly how much you know about my work within the Military Police. I was brought on by Sousetsu Senju, but as you may know I was gone for quite some time. I’m assuming that you’ve pulled my file, at least, although I doubt that the more… sensitive information surrounding the operations I ran would be included in a general file. Even within the Military Police, my work was highly classified. I operated superficially as an investigator, but I largely worked under the order of your predecessor.

With so many of the individuals involved suddenly… absent, I imagine that almost all of the living memory of the operations within the village aside from myself has vanished into thin air. Whether or not the threat I was charged with hunting down still looms over the village I have not had enough opportunity to yet discover, but I believe you and I both know that problems rarely just “go away” so easily. I would ask you, does the name Orochi Enaka mean anything to you?”

---

370 | 1,020

Well, for once a talkative one. Befitting someone that had worked closely with Kage before; most just waited on him to start talking before they did more than give a name and a greeting. This made things far easier, as it seemed that the male's tongue was a bit looser than most; or seemingly so in areas that overlapped with the information he hoped to gain from him. Excellent. Leaning forward so that his elbows rested upon the large desk, he clasped his hands in such a way as to allow his fingers to lace so that he had a spot to rest his chin; bright eyes focused intently on the Jounin in appraisal. Habit, born of years with an Uchiha brother-in-arms; it gave him insight into the clan and it's members that allowed him to learn much about them from just a glance. The way they stood, they way they carried; there where innate ticks that no amount of training ever fully overrode. This one however, this one was very nearly a blank slate. The MP did good work, or had in training him, anyway. With luck, he could use that.

"Sit, it you wish. You ask many questions, and give much information in return. Whether you intend or not, I appreciate that. I will confess, the name Orochi Enaka means little; I know I have heard rumor, and seen the name in a few files; but much has been hidden from me. The Jounin Council has grown scared, they fear another short-lived Hokage, and have refused to turn over records and the like to me. The MP have been much the same; it seems that so many of my predecessors have died to left suddenly that they refuse to trust anyone new; which is rather stupid, given I was Hokage for so long before I was... deposed. My own secrets you see; they know little of what happened then, so I believe that has caused problems now too; they can't decide if they trust me at all, let alone with extremely classified and valuable information. As to you; I know very little. I know you've been all but blacklisted for all ops at this point; and that you're lucky that no one's trying to kill you to suppress what you know; beyond that, only that you're a free man because someone liked you enough to release you. How much of that is because they believed your innocence I can't tell you, as I don't know myself."

WC: 430

1436.

Exiting due to inactivity.

Total WC: 1436

END B3 - A0 1000/1000

436 leftover.