A Request [Hokage]

Shihouin's progress had been amazing during his genin years, he'd ranked up quicker than most of his teammates and was a skilled individual. Lately however, Shihouin found himself not at where he knew his potential was. He'd felt this way before and had paid the price for it, but this time, now he knew he was ready. He was tired of being a genin and he was tired of being on the low end spectrum of things. The C and D Rank missions were troublesome and he'd worked his but off to get the points he needed. He was at least B Rank now and his attention had been diving into other areas of combat. Genjutsu for one was something that he wanted to learn, his Sharingan would greatly benefit from this and the training he'd get would be tremendous. He wanted to learn more techniques, specifically Doton techniques. At his level he was capable of at least pumping out a couple of A Rank techniques. He was ready for much, much more.

The guards at the gate of the Hokage's mansion stopped him, putting a hand on his chest as they blocked the door to th entrance. Security was normal as it always was though, he would have to deal with them and move on. The tall dark haired one that had touched him, looked down to him and scanned his eyes. Shihouin didn't realize how he looked and how different he looked with his hair cut. He didn't look like an Uchiha anymore, but a regular civilian. "I'm sorry boy, but you aren't allowed into the Hokage's mansion without proper entrance." Shihouin's brow tightened up, but he relaxed mentally. He reached into his pocket slowly, and dug around for his Konoha headband and his identification. Without a word he handed the materials over to the guard and he read them. "Shihouin Uchiha..." He smirked and chucked out of the corner of his lips. "Wow I didn't even recognize that you were a shinobi or anything. Plus that get up you're in makes you look plain and normal. You on a mission or something?" Shihouin took back the materials as the Chuunin guard handed them back. Shihouin cleared his throat and answered in a low mono-tone. "Yeah. I just got off of it. I was wondering was it possible to see the Hokage at this time." "Sure, he's in there. Doors wide open."

The gates of the mansion opened wide, giving entrance to Shihouin. He walked in with his hands in his ragged gray jacket and looked out among the yard. It was a huge yard, filled with rolling hills and nice green grass that seemed to have just been cut. Since the rain had slacked up, the grass glistened even under the gray clouds that rolled across the skies. It made the entire place shimmer a bit, but Shihouin's focus had been on the eccentric architecture of the building ahead of him. He couldn't make it out, but it was probably built weirdly like that for a reason. The front door had been cracked slightly, but the wind had been pushing it around from the inside. He walked up to the door and made obvious footstep sounds and pushed his hand on it while removing his hood to show his face to the Hokage inside.

Shihouin remembered that day he attacked the Hokage for position of C Rank genin. Running on his desk and soiling all of his papers with his feet, then burning his office up. He couldn't do that in this new office, but the desk looked somewhat familiar. He knew the Hokage knew he was there, and he knew the Hokage knew who he was beside his different appearance. He didn't say a word, but walked over and pulled up a chair in front of the Hokage's desk and looked around. The gray zip jacket and the dark ugly pants wouldn't help him look presentable at all but he decided to speak. "Umm." His eyes seemed to wander all over the Hokage's desk. "I know I haven't been the best shinobi, and umm, I know that I'm not the most well behaved and that theres a lot of things wrong with me. I know that I've caused lots of trouble but." He stopped and tried to look the Hokage in the eye but failed halfway. "I'm trying to say that I think I'm ready. I know you've heard this before, and i know you might say no but I'm ready to serve the village more than am I now. I've grown up, I'm almost fifteen now and as a genin I feel stuck. I can't learn other things until I get Chuunin and I was wondering, I was wondering could I ask to become Chuunin." He began to ramble, "I'll do anything, I'll do anything that you want me to do if you can give me this chance. Just like last time I showed you that I was worthy of C Rank by attacking you, but I figured a more humble approach would work this time." He couldn't look not nervous for the life of him. The sounds of the chair echoed across the room and Shihouin's head dropped. Shihouin took a respectfull knee in front of the Hokage. His shaved head was down and he sincere. He wanted to show that he had honor and that he could respect his superiors, even though he hadn't done a good job of that before. Respect was one of the highest honors culturally, "Please. Here am I, Shihouin Uchiha asking for you to consider me becoming a Chuunin of Konohagakure. Please?"

Kiyoshi let out an exhausted yawn as he sat in the Hokage’s chair, reading the pages of his book silently with an incredibly bored expression on his face. The chair was turned over towards the direction of the opposite side of the room, keeping any distractions from plaguing him while he continued reading his book, absentmindedly mouthing the words as he read them. The book Kiyoshi was reading was just a brush up of the earlier shinobi wars in history, titled “The Origins of Shinobi Wars.” With a picture taken of several platoons of shinobi going against an enemy village’s several platoons.

To be perfectly honest, Kiyoshi didn’t know why he was always picked to be temporary Hokage whenever the time came, he usually didn’t do much or anything at all except sit in the Hokage’s desk and read, sometimes even doing a few paperwork. ‘Is this really what kages do all day?’ After getting a taste of the so called “power”, Kiyoshi had quickly resolved that being a kage just wasn’t the best job in the world; sure, you get respect among the world as the strongest shinobi of your village, but you’d have to pay the dear price of going through incredible boredom, especially from paperwork. Kiyoshi loved to protect people, but let’s face it, there was no way he’d ever be fit to be a kage.

A sharp but small sting entered his mind as Kiyoshi felt a small presence right outside the office, distracting him from the book he was reading. He didn’t think of the source as a threat in the least, but closed his eyes in order to open his mind’s eye and see exactly who was beyond that door. The shape of his chakra suggested that it was a teenage kid, his emotions conflicting as he walked through the door.

Kiyoshi made a silent sigh in his mind as the young shinobi walked through the door. ‘Bet money that this kid is going to come over either demanding or begging for a rank up.’ Kiyoshi has never met the boy in his life, but this was the typical behavior of a good majority of Gennin when meeting with the Hokage, a rank up, a better mission, or just plain and simple, a magical way to gain respect among the villagers. So on top of the usual boredom of being a step in for Hokage, he had to deal with a rank up that he probably didn’t even have the authority to do.

Kiyoshi listened as the kid started giving in his reasons and request, wishing that he actually had someone to bet with so he could claim his prize. Nevertheless, Kiyoshi spoke out. “I’m sorry, the Hokage isn’t present at this time, I’ll be his fill in for the evening, may I take a message?” Kiyoshi then turned around quickly, a bit shocked at what he himself had just said. “What am I, his secretary? I got this.” Taking a look at the kid, Kiyoshi leaned his elbow on the table of the Hokage’s desk and laid his chin on his palm. “So, you wanna be Chuunin, huh. Alright, before I check your file, you gotta tell me yourself why you deserve to be Chuunin.”

Shihouin jumped back a bit in his chair when he realized he'd just dumped a whole bunch of emotional content on the wrong individual. This person was someone he'd never seen before, and looked quiet young when stood next to the image of the Hokage in his head. He claimed to be filling in for the Hokage, and without question, Shihouin decided to buy it. He hadn't seen or heard from the old man in a long time, and it had been kind of silent in the village without him. Maybe he had gone to train or do something important for the village. Shihouin wasn't necessarily worried about that though. If this guy had the power to rank up, he would have to put his pride in his back pocket and be sincere. This was the moment he had been waiting for, and being a cocky bastard would not help him with anything.

"Well." Shihouin paused and looked at the guy in the eyes. "I feel like I'm at that level. I've been genin for what feels like a long time, and I'm able to do B Rank technique's and I'm just able to do a lot more, more than any genin would be able to do. I find myself stuck at what seems to be a glass ceiling you know? Like I can see that I can still go up, but for some reason I'm stuck and I can't move. I've done the most missions out of all the genin there are. I remember going to the Rice Country on a B Rank mission as a genin. Normally we aren't allowed to go, but the Hokage, err Keiden-sama made an exception because he believed we could do it. My jounin instructor Kaosu sensei let me commandeer that mission, and with my leadership we came out successful. Of course, being on a team helped also." Shihouin blinked his eyes and shook his head a bit.

"I'm rambling. When it comes to being asked questions like this, it's really hard for me to answer. Why do I deserve to be a Chuunin?" Shihouin thoguht about it for a second, quickly coming up with what he felt would be the best answer. "Because I can do so much more for the Hidden Leaf village, I can train and become someone who has the strength to protect more people, and lastly I can benefit myself above all of that. I'm sure you didn't become able to sit in that chair by being a genin for a very long time. I need to be Chuunin, not just for myself, but for the village." He shut up, and hoped that was good enough. End of the road.

The answer yes or no would decide a lot of things.