More Than A Name (Naruto Fanfiction)

Spark of Youth

Anko and Kakashi arrived at the council building. They had met with their team to inform them that they had the day off. Today was the meeting of the Shinobi council, and due to the recent discovery of a spy, it was most likely going to be an all-day affair.

The council room contained a large desk shaped like a half circle in the center. Each clan had a designated spot marked with their symbol. Representatives from every clan were present at the table, except for the Senju and Uchiha seats, which were empty. The Hokage, accompanied by his three advisors, occupied the central position at the desk. The walls of the room were adorned with chairs for Jonin, Special Jonin, and other participants.

Anko spotted Kurenai sitting next to Asuma and motioned for Kakashi to follow her and take the surrounding seats. As they approached, Asuma and Kurenai were deep in conversation and didn't notice them. Anko then slid into the chair beside Kurenai and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, look at this. I guess you're so lovestruck that you don't even notice your best friend anymore," Anko teased.

Kurenai's cheeks turned red. "Oh, shut it," she said, throwing Anko's arm off her shoulder.

Despite her initial reaction, Kurenai was ecstatic to see her friend. Since becoming senseis, Anko and Kurenai had not been able to spend as much time together as they would have liked. They had tried to set aside a day at least once a week, but due to conflicting schedules, they couldn't hang out for almost a month.

"Asuma and I were just having a conversation," Kurena said, flustered.

Asuma, ignoring their antics, tilted his head in greeting toward Kakashi. "Hey, Kakashi."

"Yo," Kakashi said as he held his hand up.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes and said, "Hello, Kakashi."

Kakashi appeared confused by the cold reaction but shrugged it off. He then sat beside Asuma. He looked around the room, noticing the absence of a certain green spandex-wearing ninja.

"Where's Gai?" Kakashi asked, doubting that Gai would miss a meeting that had been emphasized as necessary.

"His team is out on a mission; they'll probably be back late tonight or tomorrow morning," Asuma said.

He reached for a cigarette out of habit, but Kurenai caught his hand and pointed to a 'No Smoking' sign, a rule strictly enforced in the council room. Asuma looked toward his father to see him casually smoking a pipe, looking bored out of his mind. Asuma sighed and slid his cigarette back into the carton.

"So, are you two finally dating?" Anko asked bluntly. Asuma and Kurenai cringed at the question, but luckily for them, the meeting started.

"Hello, everyone. May I ask you to quiet down before we begin the proceedings?" an aide stepped forward and said.

The noise of the many conversations in the room subsided in anticipation of the Hokage starting the meeting.

Hiruzen cleared his throat and began to speak.

"To skip the formalities of announcing every topic of the meeting, I would like to get straight to the most important subject of this meeting: We have recently confirmed that we have a spy within the village."

An uproar swept through the room, and they reacted with shock and disbelief at the news of a spy within the village.

Shibi Abruarme spoke, his voice not giving away any emotion,

"While I'm sure you have your reasons, I don't see why you would announce such information in such a public forum."

Hiruzen gestured for his aides to distribute documents to each member of the table. "If you go through that, I'm sure you'll understand. This all began when Jiraiya provided us with some information that led us to believe we had a possible mole. I dispatched several Anbu teams to search for a potential meeting place; unfortunately, the spy managed to eliminate one of the squads we sent."