Chapter 209: Utakata Rage Quit His Job and Took the HR Department With Him

Chapter 209 - Utakata Rage Quit His Job and Took the HR Department With Him Back in the council hall, silence hung heavy in the air, broken only by the faint creak of chairs as people shifted uncomfortably. The aura Ren had left behind was still thick, and a phantom pressure lingered in everyone's minds. Homura sighed and bent down to help Koharu to her feet. "I told you," he muttered under his breath as he hoisted her up. "You shouldn't impose your views on powerful children. They may not understand politics, but they're strong enough to ignore it and make you regret trying." But Koharu wasn't listening. Her face was flushed with fury and shame, and her breath came in ragged pants. "That... that damned brat!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "I'll rip him apart..." From the civilian side of the room, Utakata leaned slightly forward. His tone was soft. "You're barely standing, and you talk like you still have the capital to act against him," he said. "Even in your prime, if you had tried anything, you would've died instantly." Koharu's head snapped toward him. Her glare was seething. "You? You think you're something just because your student clawed his way to power? Don't forget you still serve under me." She took a deep breath and spat, "As your superior... and in the name of the village elder, I hereby suspend you from active duty for one month and fine you the equivalent of three S-rank missions!" Utakata blinked, then calmly reached into his pocket. He pulled out a sealed envelope and placed it on the table in front of her. "The fine," he said flatly. Then, without pause, he reached into the other side of his clothes and took out two more envelopes. With quiet finality, he placed them both before Hiruzen and slid them forward. "My resignation as interim head of the Medical and Fuinjutsu Departments," he said. "And my resignation from active duty as a jonin of the Hidden Leaf." The room froze. Utakata stood, reached to the hooks on his jacket, and unclipped his flak jacket. He folded it and laid it neatly on the table. Then he turned and began walking toward the doors. But Shikaku shot to his feet, his usual lazy demeanor forgotten. "We can't afford this kind of loss right now," he said sharply, looking directly at Hiruzen. "Utakata's strength as a jonin aside, he's the best medic in the village and probably in the world, outside of Lady Tsunade. His Fuinjutsu alone is equivalent to a team of level 5 Fuinjutsu master. Losing him right now would be a disaster." All eyes turned to the Hokage. Hiruzen's face was tired, but his voice was steady. "Utakata," he said gently. "I don't accept your resignation." Utakata paused, one foot still forward. Slowly, he turned to face them again. "My Lord," he said, and his voice was calm but firm. "I've given this village everything. My skills, my years, my students, my health. But today I stand here, degraded by someone whose only lasting merit is having once been your teammate. I won't continue serving under such a person." He turned his gaze directly at Koharu now. "I'll rescind both letters if Elder Koharu apologizes, right here, right now, and acknowledges she was in the wrong." A tense silence fell over the room again. Even the clan heads, who usually keeps arguing over political consequences, now leaned back, simply watching and enjoying the show. The council could barely believe it. First Ren, now Utakata. Two pillars of modern Konoha, both daring to challenge the old ways to their faces. If word of this spread, it would shake the shinobi world. Koharu's face contorted into a mask of outrage. "You!" she sputtered, "You think you deserve an apology? You?! I've served this village for longer than you've been alive! And never in my life, never, have I been so humiliated!" She practically screamed the last word. Utakata's voice remained level, but his words cut clean. "Even in terms of qualifications, I surpass you by a wide margin. So I truly don't understand why you keep quacking like a duck when you're not even worth the noise. Like you I was a teammate of a Hokage, unlike you who's barely even a level 5 Medic, I can be considered one of the best in the whole world, unlike you who hasn't even touched Fuinjutsu books, I am also a master in that regard. So I truly don't understand your arrogance." Koharu's face twitched with fury. Her lips parted to retort, but she was cut short by a sigh which was long, weary, and deliberate. Hiruzen rubbed his temples and spoke at last. "The tension in this room has clearly reached its peak. Everyone has let their emotions cloud their judgment, and some... regrettable words were exchanged." He looked around the council chamber, eyes lingering briefly on each side. "But we have far more pressing matters to resolve. Let's move forward." He turned to Koharu, who was still visibly seething. She met his gaze and saw that this time, there was no room for argument so finally, with teeth gritted so tightly they almost cracked, she spat out. "I. AM. SORRY." Then she slumped into her seat, deflated, the fight drained from her. There was an uncomfortable silence before Hiruzen's voice filled the space again. "Utakata," he said, turning toward the calm jonin. "The village still needs your service, for a long time. Please, take back your resignations." But Utakata didn't move. He stood still, hands at his sides, his expression unchanged. Hiruzen sighed again, slower this time. "As an apology from the village," he added, "your salary will be doubled from this day forward." That did it. Utakata stepped forward and casually retrieved his flak jacket and envelopes. He even picked up the envelope containing the fine and, very deliberately, held it up toward Koharu before tucking it away. The air in the room finally began to loosen, the tension beginning to settle. But the matter of Danzo still loomed like a storm cloud overhead. Fugaku took the opportunity. "Elder Danzo," he said, voice calm but resolute, "why don't you show us your arm? The Senju heir emphasized it repeatedly as proof of your collusion with Orochimaru. I believe everyone here would appreciate some clarity." Danzo let out a derisive snort and stood. "I will cooperate fully with the village's investigation. But don't think you're free of scrutiny either, Uchiha leader. There are still several unresolved charges against your clan. Perhaps we should dig those up right now?" Fugaku didn't miss a beat. "By all means. With you removed from any position of influence, I'm confident a fair investigation can finally take place." That smug edge in Fugaku's voice made Danzo's chakra pulse, his killing intent briefly flaring. But he bit it back, forcing himself to appear composed. He turned, expression neutral, and began walking toward the chamber exit. But as he moved, he felt everyone's gaze on his back however he kept going until Yoru flickered into existence directly in front of him. Danzo's steps halted. Yoru tilted his head slightly, his voice filled with apparent confusion, "Do you not remember that you are currently charged with high treason?" he asked. "In such cases, the accused is guilty until proven innocent. You are a criminal under village law, like anyone else, and as such, you are to be taken into custody." Danzo's chakra coiled and hissed around him. "I have served this village for decades," he said, voice low and heated. "I won't tolerate being labeled a criminal when nothing has been proven. I'll comply with questioning but I will not be detained like some common traitor." He made to walk again, but Yoru stepped fully into his path this time, blocking any way forward. "The privilege you've grown used to..." Yoru began, his voice turning sharper, "has made you forget where you actually stand. So let me remind y-" [BOOM!] He never got to finish as a thunderous blast ripped through the air, distant but unmistakable. Somewhere in one of the outer districts of the village, an explosion had erupted shaking the whole village. All eyes whipped toward the direction of the noise. Hiruzen's gaze snapped instantly to Danzo. Yoru did the same and not just these two, almost everyone was looking at Danzo as it could very well be his tactic to delay things. But Danzo just stared back at them, wide-eyed and equally confused. For once, there was no cunning behind his expression. No one wasted another second. In synchronized motion, the council chamber emptied as one by one, clan leaders, ANBU, and elders flickered away, leaping to investigate the source of the explosion. ~~~ {A little while earlier} A dense jungle loomed on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf, untouched by development and intentionally left wild. It stretched like a green sea at the edge of the village's domain, so thick with trees and brush that even animals rarely passed through easily. To most, it was just a forest. But Ren knew better. Hidden deep within was one of the many secret Root bases, part of the shadow web Danzo had spread throughout Konoha. These bases were scattered in locations no one would reasonably think to look, protected by layered seals, chakra barriers, and near-perfect camouflage. Ren strolled toward the treeline at a leisurely pace, his hands in his pockets and a soft hum escaping his lips. His gait was light, almost joyful, as if he were heading to a picnic instead of a covert facility full of trained killers. Even before he'd returned to the village, he had deployed shadow clones to scout out all known and suspected Root installations. After all, if Danzo tried anything, Ren wanted to be ready and Danzo, as expected, had delivered. The moment Ren had stepped out of the council chambers, word came in from his butterflies that Noi had been taken. Dragged off by Root operatives right after everyone else had left. Ren didn't particularly care for the man, but now, he had a clear, justifiable reason to act. 'Thanks, Danzo,' he mused, eyes half-lidded with amusement, 'You make it so easy.' Arriving at the approximate coordinates of the hidden base, Ren extended his divine sense. He swept it through the trees like a net, searching not for chakra signatures but for inconsistencies, disruptions in natural flow that came from Fuinjutsu suppressing visibility. And just as he expected, there it was, a subtle warping, barely detectable, but present. He smiled wider. Even before he could move forward, the air shifted, the leaves trembled and shadows emerged. Squads of Root shinobi silently surrounded him, appearing from the trees and brush with fluid discipline, there were at least fifty in total. They formed a ring around him, their masks expressionless, their blades already drawn. Ren didn't stop walking. He barely glanced at them. His divine sense kept probing deeper underground, threading past the initial seal layers until, "Ah," he muttered, pausing mid-step. "There you are." He had found Noi. Alive. His grin widened into something almost childishly delighted. "Looks like I win," he announced cheerfully to the masked Root agents around him. "Guess my luck's better than my clones'. They're all off at the other bases handling your friends, but lucky me, I get the jackpot." The Root shinobi didn't speak. They never did. But a coordinated shift in their formation signaled their response. In perfect unison, they launched forward with no hesitation, no pause, just immediate lethal force. Ren let out a breath. 'As expected.' He didn't want to kill them. Not yet. Root shinobi weren't beyond saving. Once the binding seals were removed and their minds were freed from Danzo's conditioning, they could be turned and rebuilt into a force that served the village, not its shadows. Which meant he had to hold back and that was the annoying part. Ren flicked his wrists and thin black rods shot outward in all directions, embedding themselves into the ground in a perfect circle around all the attackers. A split second later, his hands blurred through a sequence of hand signs. [Sealing Array: Ring of Suppression] With a low hum, a dome of bluish-green chakra flared into life around the perimeter, encasing both Ren and the converging Root shinobi. The moment the seal completed, pressure dropped like a hammer. The chakra in the air grew dense and oppressive. All at once, the Root operatives slowed, their momentum staggering as if they'd stepped into molasses. Their fingers twitched in frustration as they found that they could use no ninjutsu, no chakra reinforcement, not even a decent substitution jutsu. The field crushed chakra flow directly at the source. Unless someone possessed monstrous chakra reserves, anything beyond a basic E-rank technique was instantly locked down. Inside this ring, raw physical skill reigned. The Root ninja adapted quickly, drawing their blades or rushing in barehanded, trying to overwhelm him with numbers. But Ren was already moving. A second set of hand signs flickered through his fingers, and the chakra walls lit with a glowing violet hue. The ground groaned as the gravity shifted. A crushing force slammed down within the seal, far denser than before. The Root ninja didn't even have time to scream and dozens of masked bodies slammed to their knees or crumpled outright under the weight, pinned flat like insects caught beneath a glass pane. Ren walked forward casually, ignoring the pressure entirely. He flicked his wrist again, and a half-dozen shadow clones shot out from his sides, each racing into the now-exposed underground entrance of the Root facility. Their tasks were simple, search and seize. Ren himself veered toward the lower interrogation hall, easily peeling open the sealed metal door. Inside, Noi lay slumped in a chair, unconscious and clearly roughed up. Ren placed a hand on his chest and sent a steady flow of green healing chakra into his body. Noi's vitals stabilized, his breathing eased. Then, with zero ceremony, Ren slung him over his shoulder like a sack of rice. "I'd say you owe me one," he muttered, stepping back out into the sunlight, "but you don't really have something that's worth it." A few minutes later, his clones returned, dumping thick scrolls of documents, sealing files, and coded orders at his feet. Ren inspected them with a nod, then sealed them neatly into his belt scroll. He slid his sunglasses back onto his face with a light click and turned toward the pile of groaning, immobilized Root agents still twitching under the seal's pressure. He gave them a bright, sincere smile. "Smile for the village, boys. You're gonna be real popular soon." Then, he turned his gaze back toward the base entrance, his smile widening. He formed hand signs, slowly this time. Purposefully. One by one, he cycled through thirty-six distinct seals. Each one pulled chakra from deep within, binding intention to destruction. When he reached the final sign, he slammed his hand to the ground. A wide ring of fire erupted outward from the point of contact, encircling the entire entrance of the Root facility in an expanding perimeter. The flames surged upward, forming towering walls of fire that obscured everything behind them. The circle spun once, slow and lazy, then faster, faster still, until it was a whirling vortex of flame. The very air began to ripple with heat distortion. The vortex suddenly collapsed inward, folding in on itself with the fury of a thousand jutsu compressed into one point. Then. [KA-BOOOOOM.] The jungle rocked. Trees bent from the shockwave. A massive mushroom cloud of smoke and flame rose into the sky, visible from nearly every part of the village. The earth trembled beneath Ren's feet as he stood motionless, watching the inferno die down, sunglasses reflecting the glow. Behind him, the paralyzed Root operatives remained stuck in place, barely conscious enough to comprehend what had just happened. ~~~~~ {I don't know who is more crazy, Ren who is comparing his luck with his own clones or me who is writing about it.} {Also, Utakata wasn't just going through the motions, the real politics has just begun, many more things are about to come and everything would slowly become clear.} {If you want, you can support me on pat-reon} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else} {280 Stones = Extra Chapter} {STONES!!!!}