Necessary Corruption 37

Necessary Corruption

Chapter 37

-VB-

Finally, it was the day of the Chunin Exam Finals, the tournament.

I, of course, had my people book seats for all of them with me, Inari, and Tsunami in the center, because I knew what was coming.

While I have been working on keeping the Hokage wanting to ally with me by providing sanitized information about my operations, Yina kept on looking and she found a lot … not in Konohagakure’s people but in the newcomers.

It was so very hard to not miss the talks about the future “conquest” and “crushing” Konoha Sand and Sound planned on. Oh, the Sunagakure ninjas thought they were being secure when they got drunk in their own little camps outside the hidden village but all it did was give Yina more room to move around, because a dark forest had more shadows than a town like Konohagakure.

So yes, my men were prepared but I had also not warned Konohagakure about it. It would make a good showing for my retinue to go out there and show the Konoha ninjas that my men and women weren’t mere peasants.

The Takanori name would be associated with prowess and strength after today.

I looked down onto the arena and smiled as Naruto came out.

I knew that he wasn’t the best ninjas while the one fighting him, Hyuuga Neji, was considered to be a genius. Even so, I bet some pittance on Naruto because it wasn’t about money (because I had a lot of it) but the sentiment that I cheered for Naruto.

-VB-

“Eh, he bet on me?!” Naruto gawked.

Standing in front of him was one of the good noble guy’s bodyguard, a guy called Hisou.

The stern looking man nodded. “Yes. It’s good to have your friends cheering for you, isn’t it?”

A friend?

Naruto had to bite his lips for a second before nodding quickly.

“Yeah. It’s … good!”

Hisou nodded.

“But it’s sad because you’re going to lose.”

Naruto froze.

“... What?”

“You’re going to lose,” Hisou sighed. “You’re not as trained as him. I could see it even from here. My lord’s attention to you… it’s going to be wasted.”

“Nuh uh! It’s not gonna be, ‘ttebayo!”

He just raised an eyebrow. “I am not saying that you haven’t trained, Uzumaki-san. Merely that there is a difference between his thousands of hours of training and your … some. My lord will be disappointed, but it matters not, right?”

“No, it does matter! I ain’t gonna lose!” he vehemently shouted back at this asshole!

Hisou scoffed. “You’re going to let your friend down.”

Something inside him dropped like a rock at Hisou’s words. Naruto felt … anger. It wasn’t like the shallow things he felt before. He could feel the difference. It was like the loneliness he felt whenever he was alone in his apartment compared to being alone when he was waiting for his team. It was different. All other anger he felt before today was shallow, weak, and selfish.

This?

It bubbled like boiling water ready to shake the entire pot and spill everywhere.

“I’ll show you,” he hissed as he glared up at him. “I’m gonna make you eat your words. I’m gonna win, and I’m gonna show them all that Jin isn’t misplacing his trust in me!”

“... words, words, words,” Hisou yawned in the face of Naruto’s … words. “Go out there and prove it. Words mean nothing if there is no action behind it.”

Naruto turned around on a dime and stomped out there.

He would show Hisou that he wasn’t a waste of time. Jin was a good guy. Jin was his … friend.

He wasn’t going to let his friend down…!

-VB-

“Oh, is that what happened?” I asked Hisou with a mirthful smile.

“Hai, Takanori-sama,” Hisou reported.

I sighed. “I keep on telling you to call me Jin, but you don’t, do you?”

“I may be legitimized but I am still a bastard of the clan. I can never call you by your name in public.”

I dismissed him. “Fine, fine, fine. Be that way, but you better keep your words then. In private, you better call me Jin.”

“Hai.”

“... But you really are good at riling someone up, huh?”

Hisou frowned. “Just as a child who was disciplined knows how to discipline others when they grow up, a child who’s been bullied and discarded knows how to make others feel the same when they grow up to be an adult.”

My eyes softened. “... I’m sorry I wasn’t there earlier.”

Hisou bowed instead. “You have done far more than anyone else has done for me, my brothers, and my mother. Please don’t apologize.”

“Still. Was it that bad?”

“... Hai.”

I let out a slow breath. “Perhaps a talk for later. Come, sit. Let’s watch our little friend do his best to prove himself.”