I don't want to touch "seduction class" with a ten-foot pole or go back to talking about nincest but even if it was a thing (it's not, especially not in the Academy, yuck) those fanfics usually say that having a bloodline keeps you from having to train in that. Doubly so for a volatile bloodline like shikotsumyaku that presents irregularly.
Speaking of bloodlines though, did you know that shikotsumyaku is the only non-dojutsu physical bloodline that's actually named? Neither Jugo's nor Sakon and Ukon's has a name, while that gold stuff Kidomaru can make and the Hozuki's water technique are Hidens, and Deidara's hand mouths are a kinjutsu.
Speaking of bloodlines though, did you know that shikotsumyaku is the only non-dojutsu physical bloodline that's actually named? Neither Jugo's nor Sakon and Ukon's has a name, while that gold stuff Kidomaru can make and the Hozuki's water technique are Hidens, and Deidara's hand mouths are a kinjutsu.
Honestly I assume it has to do with the fact that most of those "bloodlines" aren't truly consistent enough to classify and those that have them lack the reputation or infamy to force the acknowledgement of it as something inherent to their "bloodline" and worth publicizing. Most dojutsu are terrifying due to the person inherently only needing to see you rather than hit you, the Shikotsumyaku is likely the only other controllable and consistent bloodline ability that would warrant the kind of fear and concern that outweighs the downside of others knowing your abilities.
Jugo's clan's whole thing was more of an ingrained natural affinity for Natural Energy without any real consistency in the expression and they remained so isolated from others that it likely was an intentional thing on their part that it remained utterly unknown. Else they'd likely have been conscripted kidnapped pressured into joining another village even if only by the family level if not the whole clan.
Takes a certain level of "Oh god this is horrifying." Combined with having sufficiently powerful enough members with it and the ability to have some consistency in reproducing the bloodline gets you a reputation enough to get labelled as such.
EDIT: Confirmed as not the case. Even without the active control, I'd imagine that "normal" Kaguya still have surprisingly large chakra reserves due to their still normal-ish bones being able to store chakra.
It does make sense that the Shikotsumyaku can express itself by degrees via incomplete penetrance, especially given how it's full expression affects basically the entire body. It affects nervous tissue, connective tissue, epithelial tissue, and muscle tissue, and that's literally all the tissues in a human body, plus it also affects the chakra system as well.
So logically, you'd expect to have some effects even if it's only partially inherited.
Jugo's clan's whole thing was more of an ingrained natural affinity for Natural Energy without any real consistency in the expression and they remained so isolated from others that it likely was an intentional thing on their part that it remained utterly unknown. Else they'd likely have been conscripted kidnapped pressured into joining another village even if only by the family level if not the whole clan.
Jugo's clan didn't get forcibly integrated into a village because they're all essentially schizophrenic and their episodes consist of them transforming into monsters and killing everything they can get their hands on.
It does make sense that the Shikotsumyaku can express itself by degrees via incomplete penetrance, especially given how it's full expression affects basically the entire body. It affects nervous tissue, connective tissue, epithelial tissue, and muscle tissue, and that's literally all the tissues in a human body, plus it also affects the chakra system as well.
It's not that it appears incomplete (it doesn't) but that it just crops up randomly in members of the Kaguya clan, it's not like the byakugan where every member is born with it or the sharingan where it's basically guaranteed with blood purity.
The next post might be a while, things aren't good right now. I'm really sorry. I say it a lot, but I do mean it this time. Not that I didn't the other times, it's just worse now.
The next post might be a while, things aren't good right now. I'm really sorry. I say it a lot, but I do mean it this time. Not that I didn't the other times, it's just worse now.
The lashing, freezing rain and the keening wind made you reconsider dropping into Satou's through her window, which is why you now find yourself at the interior door of one of the upscale residential mid-rise on the border between a residential and commercial district, on the Village's west side.
The absence of traditional nobility in the Land of Storms, along with Amegakure's rapid growth and the country's massive rebuilding effort in the wake of both the First and Second Wars created a far more competitive climate for enterprising investors and inventors alike. Satou's father, like most of those who lived in this part of the village (out of convenience, giving what the next zone over is), is involved in that line of work. As far as you can understand, he's something of a broker for the less business-savvy innovators and architects who flock to Lord Hanzo's aegis. Unusually for one in that typically soft position, Shuro Koifuku, from your understanding, started his career as a promising ninja, rising to the rank of jounin before entering semi-retirement in something of a liaison role. You're pretty sure that's the case, at least, that side of Ame's administration isn't quite relevant to you.
It's not Satou or her father that opens the unit's door (each of the buildings here has four, three-story residences within the same structure), but a tired-looking young woman with glasses. She looks down at a notepad in her hands, then back to you, then back to the notepad. She doesn't have much noteworthy about her, though you note that her hair is only a few shades darker than Satou's, and green is a rare color. "Hm," she stiffles down a stammer, "Mister Koifuku, sir!" She calls back into the house, ignoring your raised finger, "caller for you!"
"Actually, I'm here for Satou, you and," her glasses don't help the owlish look she's giving you when she looks back, "you and her father seem busy. Jounin Tsubaki," you clarify, indicating yourself.
"Nevermind sir!" She shouts back, and you hear an office door close, "I can take you up. I'm Kagine, Mister Koifuku's sec- personal assistant," she tells you before finally letting you in.
"I know where Satou's room is," you wave the assistant off, "you should get back to," every flat surface in the posh living room and attached kitchen-separated-by-a-counter is covered in what look like either official documents or business forms, "whatever you're doing here."
Making your way up to Satou's room, you figure that you should knock on her door as well. Normally you wouldn't but considering the state her house is in, you don't want to just barge in on her. Your light rapping is met with the scrape of a chair and near-silent footsteps across the bedroom's hardwood floor.
"Dad, if it isn't important, I have a lot—" your best friend sounds distracted.
"It's Tsubaki," you state flatly.
"Tsubaki?" Satou greets you in a more put-together state (though she's in civilian lounging clothes) than her father's assistant, with one eyebrow raised in surprise. "What's up?" She looks you up and down quickly before stepping aside and letting you in. While her room is in a better state than the rest of the house, her desk is still far messier than its usual ordered state.
"I was wondering if you knew a good tailor," you turn when she closes the door. Instead of sitting back at her desk, she sinks into what must be a brand-new beanbag chair, since you haven't seen it before. It's got a mate, at the foot of the bed instead of in front of the closet, which you plop down on, crossing your legs.
Satou squeezes her eyes shut before she starts pondering the question, you notice there's tension in her shoulders. It's probably the situation on the border with the Land of Meadows that's causing her family's troubles. That, and you heard that Rivers was practically only trading with Wind now, for some reason. You don't let your eyes wander over to her desk to see what she's working on, while you are kind of curious, it's also a bit of a professional faux pas. You've never liked paperwork, it's nice that you have to do a lot less now that you're a jounin.
"There's one I can think of," your friend pulls you out of absent thought, and you see she's feeling the fabric of her loose sweatshirt. Her doing that makes you realize how cold the apartment is. Most people in Ame take advantage of the cheap heating during the Land of Storms' damp winter months, and you distinctly remember it being uncomfortable compared to outside in previous years. "I don't use them, but my dad says they're good. They're one of the village's uniform suppliers," she rocks back in the chair, looking to her desk. "We can go see them, if you want. I haven't been out in a while," the last part makes it seem more like Satou is telling you that's what you're doing, more than a simple suggestion.
"Alright then," you hop to your feet with a nod.
Satou leads you out of her room without another word, only pausing to enter her father's office and tell him that she's going out with you. You catch a glimpse of the hectic state of his office, along with the man himself looking more disheveled than you've ever seen, something about his typically perfectly-coiffed blond hair being even slightly out of order is a red flag.
~~~~~~~~~~
As you turn into the industrial district, farther than you had expected to go, Satou lets out a deep breath you realize holds all the stress she was holding in at home. Your friend looks down at the business card she retrieved from her father's office before turning down a wide thoroughfare between looming, fortified factories. Between the time of day and the terrible weather, there's no one else on the streets.
"Tsubaki," Satou's voice is low as you slow your pace to match hers. "What would you do," you know that you have good senses, even for a shinobi, but even you have to lean in to hear the next part, "if you knew the village was making a dire mistake. But you couldn't correct it?"
"The village?" You keep your voice low, still confused as to what exactly Satou is asking you. "The whole village is too big to make mistakes like that, it self-corrects," you look away as you say it, nonchalantly scanning for any eavesdroppers. There aren't any. Still, it doesn't feel right talking about something like this openly, "if something was dire," you use Satou's own wording, not wanting to go any further, "someone near the top—" 'Lord Hanzo' remains an implication, "would have caught it."
"What if it's from the top-down?" She directs.
"Then it isn't a mistake," you conclude.
Satou purses her lips, stopping momentarily. You worry that she was afraid you'd reach that conclusion, or that she even wasn't aware that it was a possibility. But Satou's always been more astute than you are when it comes to this sort of thing, she would have to know.
"What if you knew that the village was wronging someone who didn't deserve it, who only had its best interests at heart?" That she asks in less than a whisper, barely a murmur.
You can't really conceive of that. Sure, the heir might not like you, but Lord Hanzo has always been fair to you, even your mother, who doesn't want to fight, was made an Academy instructor instead. And you know that Amegakure takes in emigres from all over, not just political asylum seekers and war refugees it can use. But the lost look in Satou's dark blue eyes makes you feel like you have to answer.
"I—" the answer dies as the first word passes your lips, you've never been one of hypotheticals like this. If it even is a hypothetical, if it's not, then you don't know where to begin. "I suppose, if that—"
You're saved from having to answer by the door to your destination opening before you can say anything more.
~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, as the uniform supply is a wholesaler, you're going to have to buy your new kimonos in bulk. And they don't even have the right materials, but you expected that.
[] Get twelve, the smallest order possible. You suppose that stripes are a pattern, even if they're a boring one. Sadly, they'll all be the same color.
[] Get twenty-eight. At least this way you can have different patterns, even if it's two sets of fourteen. Their selection of colors isn't great though.
[] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[] Get a hundred and sixteen, the most you can order thanks to wartime rationing. The price is steep, but you don't spend the money you get from your missions on much anyway. This way you'll at least have some variety, even if there are a lot of repeats.
~~~~~~~~~~
Satou doesn't broach any deep or uncomfortable subjects on your way back to her house, though you say your goodbyes to each other at her front door.
Early the next morning, after reporting to the mission office, you stand at one of the flattened, raised fields that were constructed at the far ends of Amegakure's great bridges when the war began. Before long, you're joined in the freezing downpour by thirty other ninja. Five other jounin, all of whom are older than you, and twenty-five chunin, most of whom are older but who are, aside from their uniform dress, a lot more varied than the jounin.
You are their commander.
Unlike your last two missions though, this one has been hastily assembled, and the projected casualty rate is a lot higher. That is courtesy of your opponents though. Iwagakure's Deep Insertion Sappers, who managed to penetrate deep into the Land of Storms through a breach created by other Iwa-nin in the nation's border patrols. They're likely just scouts, evaluating the Land of Storms for a possible future invasion, but their presence in the country at all must be met with swift reprisal, lest Ame see its position weaken. And a weakened state in the middle of an all-out war would invite invasion on at least three fronts. That can't be allowed to happen.
The platoon organizes itself into a loose square with the jounin arrayed at the front. You don't recognize anyone, especially the jounin, but all of the chunin are in masks and boilersuits, so it's entirely possible that you've worked with some of them before. They appear to be waiting for your orders.
Pick one of each:
[] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[] Split the platoon into three squads of ten, appointing a jounin to lead two of them while you take the lead on the third. Send each one to target the areas it's most likely for the enemy to be in, using summons to alert the other squads when contact is made.
[] Keep the platoon together to increase survivability, even if it impacts mission effectiveness. You're up against a strong foe, but so you'd like to increase your team's chances as much as you can.
[] Write-in (Have a plan.)
And:
[] They're all experienced ninja, at least in the village's eyes, you don't need to say anything to them except what you have planned and the mission parameters.
[] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
[] The danger is clear, you don't have to mention that, but maybe you should… rally the platoon? That sounds right, you'll emphasize that they were chosen because they were the best for the mission (even though you don't know if that's true), and do your best to inspire them.
[] Maybe you should downplay the danger, if you can increase their fervor and make them think you're going into this with the advantage, you can strike a devastating first blow against the Iwa-nin, even if it means your team suffers increased losses.
[] Write-in (Please be somewhat detailed.)
Voting closes at!
A/N: Sorry again for the wait, it ended up being a combination of how things were going and the kind of downer vibe of the content itself making it hard to sit down and write. It's right back into the action now, unless you decide I have to write a speech…
A/N2: Especially lately, there's been a lot of action back-to-back, would you want to see more downtime once this campaign is over (after this mission)? There is a war on, but I'm not sure if it's well balanced as-is.
Hmm I have the beginnings of a plan but I'm not sure if it'd work so feedback would be good.
Maybe we split the chunin off into scouting groups without jonin oversight while keeping all the jonin as a giant fucking hammer we can slam into whatever they find?
The danger is clear, you don't have to mention that, but maybe you should… rally the platoon? That sounds right, you'll emphasize that they were chosen because they were the best for the mission (even though you don't know if that's true), and do your best to inspire them.
Maybe we split the chunin off into scouting groups without jonin oversight while keeping all the jonin as a giant fucking hammer we can slam into whatever they find?
Added Ame, Taki, Kusa, and Tanito the Village Overviews. Sonogakure (Tea), Yugakure (Steam), and Shimogakure (Frost) are probably next, but let me know what you want to see! The cast list is also on my (extensive) to-do list, but I might also do clan overviews. Honestly, I find worldbuilding can help me break writer's block, at least sometimes. Feel free to voice any criticisms/questions about the village overview too, even if they feel like nitpicks.
I'll admit that some of those numbers are quite a bit higher than I expected for the secondary powers with the exception of Grass's current ninja. Maybe poke around ww1 & ww2 to get a feel for how a bunch of major and secondary powers all throwing hands at each other looks like in terms of troop ratios and figure out if you want to adjust it a bit. This might be a decent example, though it counts ww2 countries by total mobilization rather than starting standing army (so countries that got knocked out or mobilized late or have skewed numbers for obvious reasons).
Just spit balling here, (I'm trying to make our character be seen as someone who knows how to respect the skills of those under her, so fellow ninja will look more favourably upon her):
1. Call over for the three to five most battlefield experienced Chunin and the five Jonin. "I've been put charge, and the only reason why it's not one of you" - nods to Jonin - "must be my combat capability, because you've all been surviving as ninja for longer than I have. So I'm going to use your experience. Your first orders are to point out any flaws in this and suggest improvements, or say if you consider it non-viable and why."
[plan goes here]
Edit: reminder, our character is 14. She don't know shit.
Reminder that for all that Tsubaki is a lot more free spirited about things she's still very much bought into the ninja culture and methodologies. Her conversation with Satou is a reminder of that.
Just spit balling here, (I'm trying to make our character be seen as someone who knows how to respect the skills of those under her, so fellow ninja will look more favourably upon her):
1. Call over for the three to five most battlefield experienced Chunin and the five Jonin. "I've been put charge, and the only reason why it's not one of you" - nods to Jonin - "must be my combat capability, because you've all been surviving as ninja for longer than I have. So I'm going to use your experience. Your first orders are to point out any flaws in this and suggest improvements, or say if you consider it non-viable and why."
[plan goes here]
Edit: reminder, our character is 14. She don't know shit.
I think Tsubaki has revealed a hidden competency for team leadership. Not only has she maintained her talent for getting results, but she has also shown that she is capable of getting them while looking out for her team; a minimum of casualties. In addition she has been willing to use her strength to reign in the indulgences of other Ame nin if those indulgences run counter to the interests of the village.
Even if she might believe she isnt a capable field commander, I think she has distinguished herself in the eyes of Ame leadership. Not only as a weapon they can throw at things to make them go away, but a leader of other ninja as well.
Which basically means when Hanzo becomes paranoid that she will have a giant ass target painted on her back.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
Left to ponder why the higher-ups put Tsubaki up to leadership, even if she might be up to the challenge.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
I'm keen on the strategy, but buying lots of kimonos is a bit much.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
Hopefully this speech will get them to think of prioritizing launching a flare. If they die without launching a flare they're worse than trash.
[X] Get sixty-six. Eleven sets of six should be enough variety, even if their patterns are dreadful.
[X] Split the platoon into five six-man squads, each led by a jounin, with yourself detached. This way you can spread a wider net to make it more likely to encounter the Iwa-nin, and whoever makes first contact can launch flares to alert the rest of the teams.
[X] Tell the platoon that it's very likely that some of them will die, but that you and the jounin leading them will do your best to keep them alive, even while facing such a powerful enemy force.
