Just Another Multiverse Chat Group

The next morning, birds chirped outside to greet the sunrise. Townsfolk started setting up shops for the day. Shinobi switched guard and patrol shifts. 

All in all, Konoha looked like it was experiencing a day like any other. 

In the Hokage's office, however, Hiruzen entered to an immediate greeting by an Anbu captain. The Anbu rattled off the urgent report he had been holding onto in trepidation while waiting for the Hokage to arrive.

"Lord Third, Lord Danzo has passed away in the middle of the night while working at his desk. The cause seems to be sudden heart failure."

The smoking pipe sitting between Hiruzen's lips slipped out and tumbled to the floor. The burning ashes within it scattered on the wood paneling. 

Without saying anything, Hiruzen's dark brown eyes widened and stared at the Anbu captain. 

In response, the captain hurriedly cleaned up the ashes before they could start a fire and handed the pipe back to Hiruzen.

The middle aged Hokage closed his eyes, sighed, and took back his pipe. He quietly stuffed the pipe and lit it again. He took several deep puffs before asking, "Was there outside interference?"

"Some of the more experienced members from Root examined the area, but they did not find any evidence of invasion or tampering anywhere. They reported that his heart seemed to have suddenly stopped without any signs of poison, disease, or Genjutsu. He simply passed away suddenly without any explanation. They came to the conclusion that he might have overworked himself."

Hiruzen puffed a few more clouds of smoke before asking, "Where is his body now?"

"...They burned it, sir."

"Excuse me?"

"The Root Captain who sent the report said that they burned his body. They did not mention why even when I tried to forcefully extract an answer, only eventually stating that it was a contingency he had in place."

Eyes narrowing, Hiruzen ordered, "I will go to the Root base to see his body. Or what's left of it should they really have burned it. Also, order all Anbu not currently assigned to other duties to investigate any suspicious visitors in the village just in case."

"Yes, sir."

* * * * *

Elsewhere, the culprit of the chaotic undercurrents that had yet to shake the village casually awoke. Waking to his internal clock, Jin stretched and yawned in his futon. His eyes slowly opened and stared blankly at the ceiling. 

'Hmm. Seems like Shisui switched with that girl from before. Yugao, I think her name was?'

For a few moments, Jin stared at the ceiling rafters where he could sense her life force. In the end, he decided not to bother with her since he did not have much of an impression of her aside from crying over her dead lover by the memorial stone.

When Jin moved his studying gaze away from the rafters, Yugao shifted uncomfortably. Having been an Anbu for a few years now, she immediately recognized that he could sense her location. She recalled how easily he had forced her and two of her squadmates to the ground and frowned behind her mask. 

Not minding the presence of the girl watching from the rafters, Jin cracked his neck and wandered over to the bathroom. He noted that she maintained her distance after he closed the door behind him.

After cleaning up a bit using the oddly modern amenities, he changed into fresh clothes, though his fit still consisted of black athletic pants, a plain white tee, and his black windbreaker jacket. Of course, it was the third of five windbreakers he brought with him after two of them got punctured and fileted in battle. 

He then exited the bathroom and walked over to the short square table in the main room. Taking a seat on one of the pillows, he retrieved the residency papers from his windbreaker pocket and started filling them out. Luckily, they were legible.

Quickly filling out random info for most things aside from his name, Jin finished filling out the paperwork in record time. 

With that out of the way, he looked up at the ceiling and casually asked, "You seem to use swords?"

He waited for an answer, but the masked girl did not respond. Still, Jin materialized Kokūnokoe on his lap without moving his eyes from the ceiling.

"Care to do some morning training with me? If not, then I'll just do my normal routine."

A few seconds passed with only the birds outside chirping in response.

"Suit yourself."

Shaking his head, Jin stood up and walked out through the side door of the inn room that led to a latticed-off yard about the same size as the inn room itself. A few outdoor decorations such as a picnic table and a couple's swing furnished the area. There was even a small sand and stone garden in the far left corner to spruce up the place. 

'Fancy place. No wonder it cost me half of my reward money to book the next five days.'

Even while admiring the scenery, Jin began his morning routine. Stretches, followed by simple aerobics and bodyweight exercises. To finish, he swung his Zanpakuto a few hundred times. 

All the while, Yugao quietly observed as she had been ordered to. No manner of orders could stop the itching in her fingers, though. The longer she watched Jin train, the more she wanted to train herself.

"You sure you don't want to spar or something? I could use a decent sparring partner since nobody back home can give me a challenge."

'Well, not in the school or kendo championships, anyway, and I'm not about to go challenge Kenpachi right now.'

After waiting for the span of a few breaths, the girl finally body flickered into the small courtyard. Her hands rested on the handles of her two swords strapped to her back, but her body language still showed some level of hesitance.

"...Is this really a spar, or do you plan to legitimately attack me?" The teenage girl, completely armed to the teeth with Anbu gear, quietly asked.

"A spar. Swordsman's honor. If you don't believe me, then I don't know what to tell you."

"..." 

Rather than respond with words, the girl slowly drew the short swords from her back and took a semi-offensive stance with one blade in front of her and the other at her hip.

Jin nodded and lifted a sheathed Kokūnokoe in front of him. 

Eyes lowering to look at the sheath, Yugao resheathed her short swords and removed them from where they were strapped on her back. Then, she adopted the same stance as before. 

Before starting, Jin bowed slightly. Although slightly confused by the gesture, Yugao assumed it to be something like the Leaf's Seal of Reconciliation and reciprocated.

"Begin."

Yugao's eyes widened. Her shortswords barely moved to block a quick chop at her shoulder. Her arms buckled slightly under the weight of the attack. Although somewhat caught off guard, she reciprocated with lithe diagonal movements. She left her right-hand sword to hold off Jin's sheathed blade and swung her left hand sword at his waist. 

A palm smacked the hilt of her sword and redirected it into the dirt below.

Hopping backward, Yugao blinked a few times in a confused manner and glanced down at her wrist that now stung from the force of the palm strike.

"...That is not a sword."

"A swordsman is a sword himself, should the need arise. Now, if you don't mind, let's continue."

Noticing the almost innocently satisfied smile on the face of her opponent, Yugao blinked. Several thoughts passed through her mind, but then she set them aside. Even though she was on duty, she felt the stirring of excitement from sparring she had not been able to feel since joining the Anbu. 

From there, the two danced around the courtyard in a wild yet controlled swordplay. Neither went all out, but they did not need to. 

Eventually, Yugao started to slow down. She didn't know exactly how long their spar lasted, but their sheathed swords cracked against each others' sheaths and bodies multiple times. Even though she sensed that her opponent was holding back more to make the fight more even, she frowned upon realizing that he did not look tired at all even though her breath grew increasingly ragged from exertion. Only a thin sheen of sweat highlighted his face under the sunlight.

At some point, the swords stopped. Yugao stumbled backward and leaned against the bamboo fence. She spent a few moments catching her breath.

"Not bad. You're the closest person in skill to me that I've met recently. Everyone else is either way weaker or way stronger. Thank you for the spar."

"...Thank you… too."

"I'm going to go get some breakfast. Since you're supposed to observe me, anyway, you might as well join me."

Behind her mask, Yugao frowned. Sweat made her undersuit uncomfortably stick to her body. She pulled on some of the thick fabric to give it some airflow.

"..."

"Do you want to clean up a bit first? I'll wait. I don't know where any good restaurants are, so I'll need a guide, anyway."

Yugao's brows furrowed together enough that Jin could notice it even with her mask covering her face. In the end, she gave in to temptation and nodded. Perhaps it was his hair color, but the guy didn't seem too bad. 

Without saying anything, she entered the inn room. 

While waiting, Jin checked the chat group. There weren't many messages, but one particularly stood out to him.

OrigamiMaster: [Jin, did you do something? Konoha Anbu increased their presence around the village. My clone retreated a few kilometers because of it.]

Jin: [@OrigamiMaster. Sorry about that. Konoha's advisor is dead. Not sure whether that will be good news to you or not? I investigated his memories, and he was somewhat involved in Yahiko's death.]

OrigamiMaster: [...]

Railgun: [Whoa, there. Hold on a moment. Did you kill somebody, @Jin????!!!!]

Jin: [I separated his soul from his body after he threatened me, so essentially, yes.]

Railgun: [...]

Railgun: [I don't know what to say.]

Wizard-san: [Railgun, unfortunately, such things can happen. It is truly unfortunate, but when you must choose between your life and the lives of people you care about over the life of an enemy, hard decisions need to be made. Of course, if you are able to stay innocent your whole life and not be forced into such a situation, that would be preferable. My life is a shining example of how darkness can derail you.]

Jin: [Reaping a life does indeed have consequences. I lived as a soldier for a long time, so I second that advice. Just stay young and pure as long as you can, Railgun.]

Railgun: [...]

Zoro: [These things happen somsetims. Hope you are okay, Jin. I still need a sparring partner.]

Jin: [Thanks, Zoro. I'm fine.]

Jin: [Also, for context, the guy was essentially a corrupt politician of a military state who believed he should be the leader, even to the point that he created his own hidden squadron of elite slave soldiers who would be recruited from orphanages and forced to kill their closest friend at the end of their training. He has been the cause of tens of thousands of innocent deaths in OrigamiMaster's world, including thousands of children all because of selfishly misled ideals. Hopefully that assuages any secondhand guilt you might have, Railgun.]

Railgun: [...]

Railgun: [You should have led with that. I wasted my words. Still not great, but at least you had a reason.]

Jin: [Your concern was understandable. I hope you stay as you are now.]

Jin: [Also, @OrigamiMaster, since Danzo is out of the picture, the Leaf Village might become a little more united and less aggressive. Your village might be able to negotiate with them a little more easily for food and other necessities in the near future without his interference.]

OrigamiMaster: [I see. I will forward that to Pain.]

Railgun: [Pain? What kind of cringe edgelord username is that?]

OrigamiMaster: [*Deadpan emote*]

Jin: [@Railgun… That is the name her friend goes by. It's a touchy subject. I won't say more unless she wants to say something.]

OrigamiMaster: [*Headshake*]

Railgun: [Sorry OrigamiMaster. I had no idea. I won't mention it again.]

Jin: [One other thing. If you still want your clone to train with me tonight, OrigamiMaster, I gathered tons of Jutsu from Danzo's memories. I may need your assistance in organizing everything.]

OrigamiMaster: [Ok.]

Jin: [Gonna go eat something. I'll check in with you all later.]

Finishing that conversation, Jin sighed and unsummoned his phone. Behind him, he sensed Yugao approaching. When he turned around, he noticed that her body language showed some hesitance in her gait.

"Something wrong?"

"...Something happened in the village. My Captain informed me that all visitors are temporarily suspects in a potential murder case, though the investigation still has to go through. Once it is cleared to not be murder, observation on visitors will stop."

Raising a brow, Jin asked, "Are you even supposed to tell me this?"

"Both my teammate and I witnessed you sleeping through the night, so you aren't very high on the potential suspect list. I just wanted to let you know."

"Heh. Thanks," Jin chuckled, stood, and patted the girl's head. 

At first, Yugao's body instinctively pulled away as though trying to avoid an attack, but the next moment, she leaned into his hand without realizing it.

'Ah, dang, that was rude. Accidentally treated her like my little brother for a moment.'