A ninja village decides what a girl wants.
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Chapter 1 - Childhood
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
Chapter 1 - Childhood
My name is Uzuki Yugao. I am a Jounin of Hidden Leaf Village. I am not listed in any Bingo Books. At various points in time I have been the most skilled sword-user in Konoha.
----
I will start my story at the beginning.
When I was six I went to the academy. After the rush of my first day, there was a minor issue and I was let out fifteen minutes after all the other children. By the time I stepped out the doors everyone had left but a small group of older children who were training. I had been forgotten about, and I did not know how to return to the orphanage on my own.
I stood on the steps of the academy with my hands on the straps of my bag. I remember this because part of the excitement of the day was that I now had a personal possession: my bag. It was not something I had to share with anyone else. I enjoyed rubbing my thumbs along the stitching on the inside of the shoulder straps.
I watched the older children train and feelings of awe and terror arose in me. Awe because they were impossibly fast. Their skill was beyond my ability to perceive, and they had an easy camaraderie I had never seen before. Terror because while ninja were nothing new to me, I had only ever seen the performances ninja would put on for us orphans. Here I felt as if I was peering into something I should not see, ninja among themselves. Ninja acting without pretense to civilians. Practicing their secret deadly techniques. It was as if I was sneaking into the staff room at the orphanage, but worse.
I thought that if they noticed me the children would chase me off, or worse, have me chopped up. But I feared to return to Daichi and the matrons and the crying and my dismal cot. I couldn't return anyways, even if I wanted to, because I didn't know how. But I knew I could not keep watching.
But I knew that to be a ninja was good, and that a good ninja trained. There was a safety in that.
So I ran in circles on the academy track, because it was the only thing I remembered from the morning exercise. It became tiring very quickly, but I never stopped, because I was afraid that if I relaxed then someone would become angry and snatch me up and return me to the orphanage. I ran until the sun started to set, because that was when the orphanage's curfew was. And then I kept running because despite the pain it was easier to run than to do anything else. And when the sun truly set and it became dark I reasoned that I had no hope of finding my way to the orphanage without light and it was already past curfew so I might as well keep running.
I have no memory of returning to my cot at the orphanage, but I woke up there anyways. I only remembered collapsing down on to the track out of exhaustion. Someone had snatched me up after all.
I feared greatly my punishment after I dressed and went to the mess hall, but instead I was given a double portion of food. And Hachiko-oba even hit Daichi-kun on the head when he tried to steal from my bowl. She scolded him heavily and I turned away so he did not see that I saw him humiliated. And then as I was leaving for the academy the orphanage matron -- a woman who had never spoken to me before -- gave me two bento boxes, a hug, and told me that I had to be in my cot before village curfew but that otherwise I was free to stay out past sundown as long as I was training.
----
And so it became my routine that I would train in the academy yard as late as I could. I exercised in peace, carefully avoiding interacting with the older children who tended to stay near the training posts. Until one day my isolation was disturbed.
"Hey girl, come here!"
One of the older children who often trained in the yard -- the only girl besides me -- had called out to me. I was wary of a trick but I ran to her anyways.
"Do you want to train with us? Pick up the shuriken and kunai after we throw them. But don't cut yourself because then the instructors will stop you from training with us," she said with a tilt of her head and a gesture to the training posts. She had long blonde hair and pale eyes, which I knew meant she was important but I did not know anything more.
"Okay," I said, and she smiled at me, and her smile was so kind I decided to do a very good job so that she might smile at me again.
So I ran and very carefully collected their tools for them. It was here that my fascination with weaponry began. The beautiful dark steel of a kunai, moving so quickly it seemed as if it had become buried in the target before it even left the throwers hand. I kept imagining an enemy being cut repeatedly by shuriken until they were slumped on the ground, covered in their own blood. Or a senbon piercing through someone's eye into their skull. Or a kunai passing entirely through an enemy, leaving a gruesome hole one could look through.
I did not cut myself even once on the oiled black steel tools. To this day I have never cut myself on a blade I was handling.
Once or twice the boys "accidentally" threw shuriken at me but I did not mind, since I was expecting it and their effort was so halfhearted it only confirmed to me that there were no worse tricks in store for me.
That night as I was walking back to my bed at the orphanage I struggled to not jump for joy or smile (a shinobi must never show emotion) but I let myself celebrate once once I was covered completely with my blanket by smiling to myself privately.
I was never one of this group, but they did not mind if I was among them. I kept silent unless spoken to, and they were not unkind to me. The occasional instruction from them and the integration into a community of my ninja peers was critical in my development as a shinobi. I picked up many tricks from observation or from being taught, but the most valuable lesson was that I was able to internalize a correct understanding of the shinobi way of life. I believe most of my peers from the orphanage died so young because they did not live long enough to understand what it meant to be a shinobi.
----
I was eight when I first met Danzo-sama.
There was a kindly old man who ran a ramen shop with his young adult son, and I would read my scrolls by the light of his stall when I didn't want to train. I would take a spot at the end of the counter, nestled behind a wooden support beam. I never bought his ramen (I had no money) but he would make me a bowl from time to time when he wanted to go home but there was still broth left over.
I was at the top of my class in the academy and living the high life. I had my own room at the orphanage and was otherwise left alone. I had started to experiment with my evening freedom, seeing as I only needed a few nights training a week to keep my top scores.
And so I sat at this stained counter and let my mind wander and watched the customers as they came and went through the shop, as long as I kept up the pretense of work. At first I felt like I was cheating the village and doing something wrong by relaxing like this. Surely someone would see that I was using studying as an excuse to slack off, and then they would deprive me of everything I had worked for? But over time as nothing happened the fear dissipated. Still, I only ever "studied" in this way at most twice a week, I knew not to get greedy. On every other evening, including the entirety of my weekends, I trained.
Then an old-man entered the ramen shop, and after a moment's squinting Ichiraku-the-elder cried out "Danzo-sama!" half in fear and half in respect, in the way that civilians tend to do. Ichiraku-san bowed deeply to Danzo-san, but I did not bow or call out, because I did not know who this man was and as a ninja I was taught to only bow to my superiors, the daimyo, and clients. I merely watched with curiosity, as I had done with many other interactions at this ramen shop.
"No need for that," said Danzo-sama in a kindly way, "I'm just here to speak with little Yugao-chan there," and he turned to me and I was afraid. Who was this man? What did he want with me, an academy student? I started calculating. If he was a civilian then he couldn't hurt me, but if he was a ninja then I had no hope. Did I need to raise the alarm preemptively?
As these thoughts flashed by the man smiled and said "Relax, child. I work for the Hokage." and I did relax. And then I disrupted my chakra circulation while thinking Kai! because that is what the academy taught me to do when meeting a stranger who claimed to be a friend. But nothing changed.
"Well done," said Danzo-sama. And then, "follow me."
He left the ramen stall and after grabbing my beloved bag I ran after him.
Danzo-sama leapt onto a rooftop, and I followed him even though it was forbidden to me as an academy student. He jumped from tile roof to lamppost with great dignity, barely bending his knees and with his arms behind his back. But he was still fast enough that I could barely keep up. I tumbled and collapsed many times on my landings, but whenever I missed entirely and would have broken something on the landing Danzo-sama caught me. It was exciting and new and difficult. I was in quite some pain by the time we arrived from all my fresh cuts and bruises, but I was smiling.
We were on a street in front of a large and beautiful house in a part of Konoha I had never been to. It was the only house I could see, but by the presence of gates along the street I assumed there were other houses here as well. The street was dimly lit with lanterns, someone was plucking at a koto, and there were well-dressed ladies and lords strolling through the summer night. Most importantly to my memory was that the air was delicious.
But as we entered the house I did not look around in wonderment or shyly hide behind Danzo-sama as he spoke with the fat man with the swirls on his cheeks (a ninja must never show weakness). I kept my back straight and eyes forward. I tried to lean away when the fat man went to pinch my cheek, but of course he was a ninja so he pinched my cheek anyways and I had to fight down a smile at his teasing.
We were given a small room to ourselves, with a sliding paper door and a grill in the middle. We were at a restaurant. In fact, we were at the Akimichi Gogi Meat Bonanza House, but I didn't know that at the time. An aside -- what a shame that that place was destroyed in the demon attack of the Nine-Tails.
The names of the foods Danzo-sama ordered were so strange it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language with the waiter. And then once we were alone, Danzo-sama fixed his attention onto me.
I straightened in my seat automatically, but not out of fear at his authority but out of excitement. This man worked for the Hokage, and I already trusted him completely.
"Will you serve your village?" he asked.
"Yes," I said instantly.
"Tomorrow you will join the senior class at the academy. In six months you will graduate at the top of your class in every subject, and then you will begin working for me."
"Understood," I said, even though I was already worried about failing him.
"All of this is a secret. If anyone but the Hokage asks, you do not know who I am and we have never met."
"Understood," I said again, reminding myself to brush up on the techniques I was taught on secret-keeping.
"That's it," he said, and as if on that signal the food arrived.
Danzo-sama only had white rice with a reddish pickled cabbage. He explained to me that he had taken a wound to his stomach in the Second Shinobi World War and that he could only eat simply.
Which made me all the more grateful for the incredible feast he had ordered for me of a dozen different types of meat. Meat was very rare for an orphan such as myself, let alone high quality Akimichi prepared meat. Danzo-sama would grill each piece individually and would place them on my plate for me, and tell me which sauce to use with which piece.
As I stuffed my face he told me a funny story from his time in the war of how he tricked a Suna-nin into drinking his own poison, and how he had replaced the Suna-nin's antidote with more of the same poison. He also told me a grave story of how Umino "Lightning Jaguar" Matsuda sacrificed his arms to redirect a lightning bolt that would have killed the Sandaime Hokage. Danzo-sama would put on different voices, he would use little jutsu to help tell his story, and he would probe me on what lessons I thought each story had.
By the end of the meal I was rubbing my belly and ready to fall asleep, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of a stomach filled to bursting. But when Danzo asked me if I wanted dessert, I of course said yes.
----
It was difficult to graduate at the top of the class rankings after skipping four years and with only six months left in the year. I managed to defeat Uchiha Naori in a taijutsu spar after three months, and after four I had a comfortable lead in everything except ninjutsu, where I was third in the class. I have very small chakra reserves you see, small even for someone with no ninja heritage, which makes practice difficult and meant I could barely make two clones. Still, I drilled my Academy Three until I was very efficient with them and could execute them with only a single seal, which I hoped would push me to first place. It did.
When my academy instructor handed me my Genin headband, I immediately slipped away to report to Danzo-sama on my mission success. That day was my last as Yugao for many years and the first of many as Akita.
---
ROOT was difficult at first. Because of the lax standards of the academy I was years behind my peers and I was punished many times in the first six months until I caught up. The punishments were painful but since there was no laughter, and there was no staff enjoying my humiliation, it was not so terrible. It was merely porcelain masks. I wore my mask, something painful happened, and then it was over.
In this environment where it was not necessary to interact with human beings I devoted myself entirely to the ninja arts. The punishments ceased after the first year, yet anyways I felt the entire time as if I was drowning. Danzo-sama gave me his personal attention, which I was grateful for but which also meant standards were much higher for me.
Besides the constant training, Danzo-sama ensured I went on increasingly difficult missions. I was grateful for this as well since it was a respite. It helped that each time I fought for my life in the field I returned to the dark chambers beneath Konoha with new ideas and fresh motivation to improve. I progressed rapidly, and I estimated myself to be equivalent to a middling Jounin by the age of eleven.
It was in in ROOT that I fell in love with kenjutsu. Swords require little to no chakra-use. And swords have unmatched killing power out of all ninja tools. Kunai and shuriken do not have enough penetrating power, and ninjutsu are predictable and have to be used at range which makes them easy to dodge. But there was no stopping a chakra-steel sword thrumming with lightning except for another chakra-steel sword (or other rare but powerful techniques such as the Lightning Armor of the Raikage). It was my tool of choice for turning dangerous objects into harmless meat.
Despite my attempts as a ninja to kill my emotions, I enjoyed combat. I enjoyed it because it was exhilarating and difficult. I enjoyed it because it was my meaning in life: to cut things with my sword on behalf of Konoha. Every other moment was prologue and epilogue to the one instant when my sword passed through an enemy. Was it not why I was alive and cared for, was it not my mission to serve Konoha? I did not spy, I did not heal, I did not teach, I did not analyse, I did not do any other of the myriad jobs needed to keep Konoha alive. I cut. My sword was an extension of my body, and I was an extension of my village. I don't think it's so strange that I enjoyed my work.
----
On occasion I would catch a glimpse of my former peers at the academy or other Konoha-nin. What I saw disgusted me. It was unfortunately exactly as Danzo-sama said, peace was making us weak. While they sharpened their knives in Kumo and Mizu, Konoha encouraged complacency.
Instead of looking to the battlefield to guide their training, genin and chunin were training to avoid falling behind their peers. They trained to fight honorable duels on training grounds instead of death struggles in combat situations. They let their emotions control them on missions. They used their bloodlines as crutches.
It was because of this and my apparent status as a kenjutsu prodigy that I started developing my ego. It is impossible to hold someone else in contempt without the reciprocal, thinking highly of yourself. This was another of my failings as a ninja. But I couldn't force myself to kill the thoughts as I had so many others, and instead I nursed my feelings of superiority. Were they not confirmed constantly, on the sparring grounds and in the field, where I invariably succeeded where my peers and enemies fell? Was my pride not pushing me to ever greater heights of skill, justifying itself?
----
I was twelve when the books say the Third Ninja World War began. But I had already been fighting that war for two years.
But on the day of the declaration of war, I was assigned to a regular ANBU team on the Hokage's orders. During that war the arrangement between Danzo-sama and the Sandaime was that ROOT provided manpower but the Hokage ran the war.
It is here that my story as a human being begins.
My name is Uzuki Yugao. I am a Jounin of Hidden Leaf Village. I am not listed in any Bingo Books. At various points in time I have been the most skilled sword-user in Konoha.
----
I will start my story at the beginning.
When I was six I went to the academy. After the rush of my first day, there was a minor issue and I was let out fifteen minutes after all the other children. By the time I stepped out the doors everyone had left but a small group of older children who were training. I had been forgotten about, and I did not know how to return to the orphanage on my own.
I stood on the steps of the academy with my hands on the straps of my bag. I remember this because part of the excitement of the day was that I now had a personal possession: my bag. It was not something I had to share with anyone else. I enjoyed rubbing my thumbs along the stitching on the inside of the shoulder straps.
I watched the older children train and feelings of awe and terror arose in me. Awe because they were impossibly fast. Their skill was beyond my ability to perceive, and they had an easy camaraderie I had never seen before. Terror because while ninja were nothing new to me, I had only ever seen the performances ninja would put on for us orphans. Here I felt as if I was peering into something I should not see, ninja among themselves. Ninja acting without pretense to civilians. Practicing their secret deadly techniques. It was as if I was sneaking into the staff room at the orphanage, but worse.
I thought that if they noticed me the children would chase me off, or worse, have me chopped up. But I feared to return to Daichi and the matrons and the crying and my dismal cot. I couldn't return anyways, even if I wanted to, because I didn't know how. But I knew I could not keep watching.
But I knew that to be a ninja was good, and that a good ninja trained. There was a safety in that.
So I ran in circles on the academy track, because it was the only thing I remembered from the morning exercise. It became tiring very quickly, but I never stopped, because I was afraid that if I relaxed then someone would become angry and snatch me up and return me to the orphanage. I ran until the sun started to set, because that was when the orphanage's curfew was. And then I kept running because despite the pain it was easier to run than to do anything else. And when the sun truly set and it became dark I reasoned that I had no hope of finding my way to the orphanage without light and it was already past curfew so I might as well keep running.
I have no memory of returning to my cot at the orphanage, but I woke up there anyways. I only remembered collapsing down on to the track out of exhaustion. Someone had snatched me up after all.
I feared greatly my punishment after I dressed and went to the mess hall, but instead I was given a double portion of food. And Hachiko-oba even hit Daichi-kun on the head when he tried to steal from my bowl. She scolded him heavily and I turned away so he did not see that I saw him humiliated. And then as I was leaving for the academy the orphanage matron -- a woman who had never spoken to me before -- gave me two bento boxes, a hug, and told me that I had to be in my cot before village curfew but that otherwise I was free to stay out past sundown as long as I was training.
----
And so it became my routine that I would train in the academy yard as late as I could. I exercised in peace, carefully avoiding interacting with the older children who tended to stay near the training posts. Until one day my isolation was disturbed.
"Hey girl, come here!"
One of the older children who often trained in the yard -- the only girl besides me -- had called out to me. I was wary of a trick but I ran to her anyways.
"Do you want to train with us? Pick up the shuriken and kunai after we throw them. But don't cut yourself because then the instructors will stop you from training with us," she said with a tilt of her head and a gesture to the training posts. She had long blonde hair and pale eyes, which I knew meant she was important but I did not know anything more.
"Okay," I said, and she smiled at me, and her smile was so kind I decided to do a very good job so that she might smile at me again.
So I ran and very carefully collected their tools for them. It was here that my fascination with weaponry began. The beautiful dark steel of a kunai, moving so quickly it seemed as if it had become buried in the target before it even left the throwers hand. I kept imagining an enemy being cut repeatedly by shuriken until they were slumped on the ground, covered in their own blood. Or a senbon piercing through someone's eye into their skull. Or a kunai passing entirely through an enemy, leaving a gruesome hole one could look through.
I did not cut myself even once on the oiled black steel tools. To this day I have never cut myself on a blade I was handling.
Once or twice the boys "accidentally" threw shuriken at me but I did not mind, since I was expecting it and their effort was so halfhearted it only confirmed to me that there were no worse tricks in store for me.
That night as I was walking back to my bed at the orphanage I struggled to not jump for joy or smile (a shinobi must never show emotion) but I let myself celebrate once once I was covered completely with my blanket by smiling to myself privately.
I was never one of this group, but they did not mind if I was among them. I kept silent unless spoken to, and they were not unkind to me. The occasional instruction from them and the integration into a community of my ninja peers was critical in my development as a shinobi. I picked up many tricks from observation or from being taught, but the most valuable lesson was that I was able to internalize a correct understanding of the shinobi way of life. I believe most of my peers from the orphanage died so young because they did not live long enough to understand what it meant to be a shinobi.
----
I was eight when I first met Danzo-sama.
There was a kindly old man who ran a ramen shop with his young adult son, and I would read my scrolls by the light of his stall when I didn't want to train. I would take a spot at the end of the counter, nestled behind a wooden support beam. I never bought his ramen (I had no money) but he would make me a bowl from time to time when he wanted to go home but there was still broth left over.
I was at the top of my class in the academy and living the high life. I had my own room at the orphanage and was otherwise left alone. I had started to experiment with my evening freedom, seeing as I only needed a few nights training a week to keep my top scores.
And so I sat at this stained counter and let my mind wander and watched the customers as they came and went through the shop, as long as I kept up the pretense of work. At first I felt like I was cheating the village and doing something wrong by relaxing like this. Surely someone would see that I was using studying as an excuse to slack off, and then they would deprive me of everything I had worked for? But over time as nothing happened the fear dissipated. Still, I only ever "studied" in this way at most twice a week, I knew not to get greedy. On every other evening, including the entirety of my weekends, I trained.
Then an old-man entered the ramen shop, and after a moment's squinting Ichiraku-the-elder cried out "Danzo-sama!" half in fear and half in respect, in the way that civilians tend to do. Ichiraku-san bowed deeply to Danzo-san, but I did not bow or call out, because I did not know who this man was and as a ninja I was taught to only bow to my superiors, the daimyo, and clients. I merely watched with curiosity, as I had done with many other interactions at this ramen shop.
"No need for that," said Danzo-sama in a kindly way, "I'm just here to speak with little Yugao-chan there," and he turned to me and I was afraid. Who was this man? What did he want with me, an academy student? I started calculating. If he was a civilian then he couldn't hurt me, but if he was a ninja then I had no hope. Did I need to raise the alarm preemptively?
As these thoughts flashed by the man smiled and said "Relax, child. I work for the Hokage." and I did relax. And then I disrupted my chakra circulation while thinking Kai! because that is what the academy taught me to do when meeting a stranger who claimed to be a friend. But nothing changed.
"Well done," said Danzo-sama. And then, "follow me."
He left the ramen stall and after grabbing my beloved bag I ran after him.
Danzo-sama leapt onto a rooftop, and I followed him even though it was forbidden to me as an academy student. He jumped from tile roof to lamppost with great dignity, barely bending his knees and with his arms behind his back. But he was still fast enough that I could barely keep up. I tumbled and collapsed many times on my landings, but whenever I missed entirely and would have broken something on the landing Danzo-sama caught me. It was exciting and new and difficult. I was in quite some pain by the time we arrived from all my fresh cuts and bruises, but I was smiling.
We were on a street in front of a large and beautiful house in a part of Konoha I had never been to. It was the only house I could see, but by the presence of gates along the street I assumed there were other houses here as well. The street was dimly lit with lanterns, someone was plucking at a koto, and there were well-dressed ladies and lords strolling through the summer night. Most importantly to my memory was that the air was delicious.
But as we entered the house I did not look around in wonderment or shyly hide behind Danzo-sama as he spoke with the fat man with the swirls on his cheeks (a ninja must never show weakness). I kept my back straight and eyes forward. I tried to lean away when the fat man went to pinch my cheek, but of course he was a ninja so he pinched my cheek anyways and I had to fight down a smile at his teasing.
We were given a small room to ourselves, with a sliding paper door and a grill in the middle. We were at a restaurant. In fact, we were at the Akimichi Gogi Meat Bonanza House, but I didn't know that at the time. An aside -- what a shame that that place was destroyed in the demon attack of the Nine-Tails.
The names of the foods Danzo-sama ordered were so strange it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language with the waiter. And then once we were alone, Danzo-sama fixed his attention onto me.
I straightened in my seat automatically, but not out of fear at his authority but out of excitement. This man worked for the Hokage, and I already trusted him completely.
"Will you serve your village?" he asked.
"Yes," I said instantly.
"Tomorrow you will join the senior class at the academy. In six months you will graduate at the top of your class in every subject, and then you will begin working for me."
"Understood," I said, even though I was already worried about failing him.
"All of this is a secret. If anyone but the Hokage asks, you do not know who I am and we have never met."
"Understood," I said again, reminding myself to brush up on the techniques I was taught on secret-keeping.
"That's it," he said, and as if on that signal the food arrived.
Danzo-sama only had white rice with a reddish pickled cabbage. He explained to me that he had taken a wound to his stomach in the Second Shinobi World War and that he could only eat simply.
Which made me all the more grateful for the incredible feast he had ordered for me of a dozen different types of meat. Meat was very rare for an orphan such as myself, let alone high quality Akimichi prepared meat. Danzo-sama would grill each piece individually and would place them on my plate for me, and tell me which sauce to use with which piece.
As I stuffed my face he told me a funny story from his time in the war of how he tricked a Suna-nin into drinking his own poison, and how he had replaced the Suna-nin's antidote with more of the same poison. He also told me a grave story of how Umino "Lightning Jaguar" Matsuda sacrificed his arms to redirect a lightning bolt that would have killed the Sandaime Hokage. Danzo-sama would put on different voices, he would use little jutsu to help tell his story, and he would probe me on what lessons I thought each story had.
By the end of the meal I was rubbing my belly and ready to fall asleep, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of a stomach filled to bursting. But when Danzo asked me if I wanted dessert, I of course said yes.
----
It was difficult to graduate at the top of the class rankings after skipping four years and with only six months left in the year. I managed to defeat Uchiha Naori in a taijutsu spar after three months, and after four I had a comfortable lead in everything except ninjutsu, where I was third in the class. I have very small chakra reserves you see, small even for someone with no ninja heritage, which makes practice difficult and meant I could barely make two clones. Still, I drilled my Academy Three until I was very efficient with them and could execute them with only a single seal, which I hoped would push me to first place. It did.
When my academy instructor handed me my Genin headband, I immediately slipped away to report to Danzo-sama on my mission success. That day was my last as Yugao for many years and the first of many as Akita.
---
ROOT was difficult at first. Because of the lax standards of the academy I was years behind my peers and I was punished many times in the first six months until I caught up. The punishments were painful but since there was no laughter, and there was no staff enjoying my humiliation, it was not so terrible. It was merely porcelain masks. I wore my mask, something painful happened, and then it was over.
In this environment where it was not necessary to interact with human beings I devoted myself entirely to the ninja arts. The punishments ceased after the first year, yet anyways I felt the entire time as if I was drowning. Danzo-sama gave me his personal attention, which I was grateful for but which also meant standards were much higher for me.
Besides the constant training, Danzo-sama ensured I went on increasingly difficult missions. I was grateful for this as well since it was a respite. It helped that each time I fought for my life in the field I returned to the dark chambers beneath Konoha with new ideas and fresh motivation to improve. I progressed rapidly, and I estimated myself to be equivalent to a middling Jounin by the age of eleven.
It was in in ROOT that I fell in love with kenjutsu. Swords require little to no chakra-use. And swords have unmatched killing power out of all ninja tools. Kunai and shuriken do not have enough penetrating power, and ninjutsu are predictable and have to be used at range which makes them easy to dodge. But there was no stopping a chakra-steel sword thrumming with lightning except for another chakra-steel sword (or other rare but powerful techniques such as the Lightning Armor of the Raikage). It was my tool of choice for turning dangerous objects into harmless meat.
Despite my attempts as a ninja to kill my emotions, I enjoyed combat. I enjoyed it because it was exhilarating and difficult. I enjoyed it because it was my meaning in life: to cut things with my sword on behalf of Konoha. Every other moment was prologue and epilogue to the one instant when my sword passed through an enemy. Was it not why I was alive and cared for, was it not my mission to serve Konoha? I did not spy, I did not heal, I did not teach, I did not analyse, I did not do any other of the myriad jobs needed to keep Konoha alive. I cut. My sword was an extension of my body, and I was an extension of my village. I don't think it's so strange that I enjoyed my work.
----
On occasion I would catch a glimpse of my former peers at the academy or other Konoha-nin. What I saw disgusted me. It was unfortunately exactly as Danzo-sama said, peace was making us weak. While they sharpened their knives in Kumo and Mizu, Konoha encouraged complacency.
Instead of looking to the battlefield to guide their training, genin and chunin were training to avoid falling behind their peers. They trained to fight honorable duels on training grounds instead of death struggles in combat situations. They let their emotions control them on missions. They used their bloodlines as crutches.
It was because of this and my apparent status as a kenjutsu prodigy that I started developing my ego. It is impossible to hold someone else in contempt without the reciprocal, thinking highly of yourself. This was another of my failings as a ninja. But I couldn't force myself to kill the thoughts as I had so many others, and instead I nursed my feelings of superiority. Were they not confirmed constantly, on the sparring grounds and in the field, where I invariably succeeded where my peers and enemies fell? Was my pride not pushing me to ever greater heights of skill, justifying itself?
----
I was twelve when the books say the Third Ninja World War began. But I had already been fighting that war for two years.
But on the day of the declaration of war, I was assigned to a regular ANBU team on the Hokage's orders. During that war the arrangement between Danzo-sama and the Sandaime was that ROOT provided manpower but the Hokage ran the war.
It is here that my story as a human being begins.
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Akatsunami
The Bonetatoist
- Location
- Brazil
This is one Hell of a first chapter.
One of the best I have seen in a long while in fact.
An incredibly well put together balance between showing and telling, introducing the past and hinting at the future, making clear what it is going to be about and still keeping enough mystery to maintain interest.
Well done, keep it up!
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
Thank you, I'm working on the next chapter right now. I think if you hadn't left such a positive comment I definitely would have given up lmao.
- Location
- Right next to the butcher's shop.
This is pretty fantastic, showing a competent Danzo even as he's still a terrible human being. The way you described her life at the orphanage was brilliant - no excess details, but enough information to paint a vivid image.
I'm looking forward to more.
I'm looking forward to more.
Chapter 2 - War
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
"Oh great, one of the little black ops kids," said Chicken.
Buck shifted his body, and I could tell this movement meant something to Chicken but I didn't know what.
Chicken continued, "I heard about this. Team Ke got saddled with one of them. They don't talk, and they're all fucked up like. Perfect little ninja. I don't know where the Hokage gets 'em."
From the texture of their skin on their exposed shoulders, I estimated they were in their early thirties. Old ninja. Dangerous ninja. And my teammates for the next six months.
Buck took a knee and looked at me. Or, despite his mask and his controlled body language, I knew by some ninja instinct that Buck was doing more than looking at me. He was picking me apart.
Chicken kept talking, and I filed away everything he said without paying attention.
I was acutely aware of Buck's examination. I relaxed my body, emptied my mind, and focused on my surroundings. We were in the midst of a Konoha field encampment near the border with Kumo. I watched a Chunin squad make camp in the branches high above us, tying themselves onto branches with quick-release knots. I could handle someone paying attention to me. Behind my own mask I reasoned with myself that it was irrational to feel exposed. I was safe, Buck was searching for something he wouldn't find.
"You know I'm not your enemy, right?" asked Buck.
I didn't know what to say. Chicken continued, "Let's get out of here before we freak the fodder out any more."
And so we ran for two days in a sickle shape through Iwa, over the Northern Ocean, skirting the Snow coastline, and into Lightning country.
We stopped in the mountainous arid gray desert of northeastern Kumo. Sometimes there were large rocks that could hide a dozen men densely dotting the landscape, and sometimes there was only gravel. Besides the goats and dead-looking shrub, the only notable life-form was the strange lace-like white plant that grew on the rocks. I wondered if this is what the Moon was like. It was cold, the sun was halfway down, and the sky tinted pink.
We arrived at an unremarkable spot and Chicken lifted a small boulder up, revealing a tunnel.
He gestured inside, "In you go. Kill anything you find."
I had no affinity for fire jutsu, but every Konoha nin knew enough to conjure a small but bright ball of fire into their hand. With one hand holding my light and the other my fighting knife, I entered the tunnel. After twenty metres of crouch-walking through a spiralling and sometimes vertical tunnel, I was in a large cave, clearly constructed by Earth Jutsu. I executed the rabbit family living in the cave and shouted for Chicken and Buck to enter.
They did, and Chicken immediately collapsed with a sigh onto a protrusion of rock that formed a small bed, "Doesn't smell so bad when there's not a dozen guys living here."
"And there's no screaming," replied Buck. Chicken snorted, and then to my surprise Buck took his mask off.
He had dark blonde hair, with pale golden eyes. Unshaven, his stubble was tinged with a light red. The physical characteristics of one of the elite of Konoha.
"I'm Yamanaka Inoko. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said to me with a realistic smile.
Chicken lifted his head up to peer at Inoko, "Already? Trying to make the kid comfortable?"
"Yeah. Do you mind?"
"Nah, I don't care," replied Chicken, and then he took his own mask off.
He face was weathered, with an unusually thick bushel hair.
"I'm Nara Shikarou," he said and then he dropped his head again, using his arm as a pillow, "Inoko, do what you gotta do, I'm going to sleep," and he rolled over.
I worried Inoko was about to ask me to take my mask off and introduce myself, but instead he sat down in front of me, cross-legged and propped himself up with his arms behind his back.
He looked up at me, "So you like swords, huh?"
I glanced down at the chakra-steel Tanto I had strapped to my hip.
I looked back at him and nodded.
"I think they're pretty cool too. Does it have a name?" he asked.
And right as I was about to open my mouth he preempted me, "Why don't you take a seat and get comfortable?"
So I did, and unsheathed my sword, resting the blade on the pad of my index finger.
"No, it doesn't have a name. It is just a tool."
"If you could give it a name, what would it be?"
I thought about denying the question. Naming a sword was a defective gesture, it was the kind of sentimentality that led invariably to death. But Inobi seemed only curious, and I dimly remembered lessons from the academy stressing the importance of the bond between comrades. This was not a ROOT team, if my teammates expected emotional closeness then I would at least have to put up a façade.
While I pondered Inobi started writing in the small leather bound booklet in which we were obligated to log all relevant mission information. Of course, today's entry was probably quite simple, "Ran to Kumo, made camp".
I looked down at my blade. As always, I turned to the Code: A shinobi must be decisive. I resolved then that I would participate in these frivolities in the name of teamwork. I would keep my answers surface level, but I would never lie, since it was well known that it was impossible to lie to a Yamanaka.
I surveyed the dull gray steel. The sparkles in the grain. The stamp of Konoha just above the hilt. The scratches. All sorts of names flitted through my head, including the idea of calling it "Yugao" as a joke. But instead I went with what made the most sense.
"Cutter," I stated.
Inobi laughed once, and I almost shrunk back out of reflex. But I kept still. His laugh seemed honest and happy. I focused on the familiar sensation of the cool porcelain of my mask resting on my cheekbones. Control yourself.
"Sorry, I was expecting something very grand after how long you spent thinking. Well at least I can be glad you're not pretentious," he said by way of explanation.
I didn't respond, and he continued "Pretentious means to act more important or grand than you are. Like a noble putting on airs beyond his station, or a chuunin calling his sword 'God-slayer'."
I studied his face. How had he known? Had I given something away? Perhaps it was just that children my age in general didn't know such complicated words as 'pretentious'. Or perhaps since he was a Yamanaka he was reading me like an open scroll, and could tell I didn't know what he meant? No, Danzo-sama had trained me in the ninja art of bodily emptiness, and I had to trust in it's effectiveness. He had just guessed that I didn't know what that word meant.
"So, why Cutter?" he asked after I said nothing.
And that is how we spent the next few hours. Innocent questions and careful answers. And then once Shikarou -- I will not use our ANBU codenames henceforth to reduce confusion -- woke up, we went to sleep.
----
Three weeks later we were in some other cave somewhere in the mountains of Lightning country.
Shikarou was explaining what each of the pieces on the unconscious Kumo Jounin's necklace meant. This piece for her clan affiliation, this one for her loyalty to the Raikage. That one for her worship of the Buddha. This blue one declaring she was engaged to be married.
And then Inoko woke up, and Shikarou snapped her neck. I focused on her soul and chakra as they stilled in her body. The two P's to becoming a good sensor: Practice and Puberty.
Shikarou turned to Inoko, "Well?"
Both of their beards had grown thick by now.
The Yamanaka looked lost, before he visibly gathered himself.
"They've definitely noticed something's going on, but they still think it's mass desertions. Being all the way out here is a shit assignment, and there's a long tradition of quietly leaving your post to report to someone closer to the front-line to get more of a chance for glory."
Shikarou smiled and Inoko continued, "The girl also did a stint doing staff work, and it looks a lot like the local commander is a stereotypical Kumo alpha male. Aggressive, macho, lots of shouting. He's keeping his losses hidden from his superiors."
"Perfect," said Shikarou with a grin. And then he turned to me, leaned in as if sharing a great secret, and tapped the side of his head with his finger, "Know your enemy."
I nodded.
----
Another week and another half-dozen dead Kumo-nin had gone by, and we were nestled among rocks on the mountainside. Then sun was behind us, only just below the ridge of the mountain such that the mountain's shadow barely extended past its base. This far north, at this time of year, the evenings were always long and the always nights short. A perfect environment for a Nara.
Shikarou had his telescope out, and was peering into the great valley in front of us. The Great Basin, surrounded on all sides by mountains and fifty kilometres across at it's narrowest point. Inoko had told me it was one of the great natural beauties of the Elemental Nations.
Shikarou collapsed his telescope, "Yeah it's a trap, they're being a little too obvious. Still only local forces I reckon. If Commander Ra hasn't been relieved of command yet, this is probably his last attempt at dealing with us before he sends for help. We're going in immediately, we don't want to get spotted from afar."
I peered out into wasteland of the basin, but I couldn't see anything of note. Not that I expected to see any ninja at this great distance.
We stashed our bags beneath some rocks. Only the essentials now.
"Let's go!" urged Shikarou and we dashed down the mountain.
As we got closer I could start making out the shape of the enemy encampment through the small tracks they left and logical deductions about defensible positions. They spotted us when we were thirty seconds out, and we changed our angle so that we would just pass by the edge of their position, away from their concentration of force.
They came out to meet us, in scattered teams of three. Shikarou picked an isolated group of Chunin-looking Kumo-nin as our target. We got closer, but we avoided a direct heading. And then, right as we were in range of a long distance Kunai throw, I darted out out towards the Kumo-nin at full speed. Shikarou's shadow followed, snaking through the rocks littering the ground, hiding among them. It was connected with my own shadow and I fed Yin-chakra into it as Shikarou taught me, letting him extend his range dramatically through me.
They were getting ready to kill me. They were preparing two lightning jutsus, while their third member readied her sword. I was running right into a trap. Right before I was among the group, right before they surely would have killed me thrice over, fifty metres behind me Shikarou's foot touched the ground. And my own shadow snapped forward and ensnared all three Chunin. And in the moment they and their attacks were disrupted I struck, killing all three.
Shikarou never broke his stride, and I darted back to my team.
We managed to kill two more nin while looping around before they begun to concentrate themselves, and the hail of long-range jutsu and weapons forced us away from the camp.
Then the game began. They would try to surround us and kill us, and we would kill anyone that got out of position.
This was Shikarou's dance. This was the Nara tactical mind. Carefully managing our own movements, keeping track of the positions of our opponents and their capabilities. But most importantly he managed the mind of our enemy. With our behaviour he portrayed us like fools who had overcommitted. Our every little victory looked like luck, and our doom appeared inevitable. All to keep the enemy frustrated, chasing, and dying. Stupid Kumo-nin.
It took an hour and a six more dead (including a team of two Jounin) before the enemy commander finally understood he was wasting his men. And he sent a flare went up, and we ran like hell. Full speed. We made it halfway up the mountain and developed a good ten minute lead from the Kumo contingent.
And then we just barely managed to dodge a massive lightning bolt crashing down from the sky in front of us. I was deafened by the noise and thrown back. The lightning bolt briefly materialized into the form of a man with bright lightning coursing all over his body, before he turned into another lightning bolt and went straight towards me.
I tried to keep him away by throwing three short-fuse explosive tags, but he simply stopped stopped short, rematerialized for half a second and sent a streak of lightning at me. It was all I could do to absorb the powerful attack into my sword, even as the spillover coursed through me and seared my every nerve. I used a pulse of chakra from my hand to send my sword flying away from me, and it exploded from chakra overload, peppering my body with superheated shards. And then my explosive tags blew, and I was sent tumbling bonelessly down the mountain.
My fall was stopped by a boulder. I was shaking uncontrollably, but I was conscious enough to focus on breathing manually using wind manipulation.
I could feel the heat of a massive fire jutsu, and I recognized it as Shikarou's chakra. Good. And then I felt Inoko's soul-chakra flare up and start moving in a straight line. Hope blossomed in my chest. And then there was the sound of lightning and Inoko's chakra kept moving in that straight line, and I knew he had missed.
This was it. A stronger ninja was here, and now we died. That's how it went. I made preparations to commit suicide.
Through my ringing ears I registered the bang of another lightning bolt. I rotated my head with chakra so I could watch the fight. There was an explosion of smoke, promptly cleared away by a massive wind jutsu from our enemy. Inoko and Shikarou, holding hands and moving as one leapt out of the clearing smoke towards the Lightning-nin. He turned into lightning again, moved back, and rematerialized.
Our enemy knew not to get close. He probably figured out that Shikarou was a Nara.
Lightning-nin stood and pulled his arm back, and I could feel even with my nascent sensory skill that he was charging a jutsu that there was no dodging. I would die even where I was over a hundred meters just from the area of effect. It was becoming difficult to sense anything besides the immense accumulation of lightning chakra. And right before I was sure the Kumo-nin would smite us he went limp. And an instant later there was a kunai handle protruding from his eye socket. And then he exploded into lightning as his semi-formed jutsu collapsed, and I was sent tumbling through the landscape.
Ten manual breaths later Shikarou and an unconscious Inoko, still moving in total lockstep and holding hands found me. Shikarou checked over my wounds and said something but I couldn't hear him, Inoko mimicking his actions towards the empty air beside me. Then Shikarou and Inoko both shifted to the side, and Shikarou made Inoko's unconscious body pick me up and hold me on his back, and we ran.
----
Inoko stayed unconscious for a full day. It wasn't good to Mind-Body Switch twice in such rapid succession. And it was especially damaging to be Mind-Body Switched into someone when they died. Even after coming to Inoko seemed like he was always off somewhere else, and needed reminding to eat and drink.
Though he was still capable of healing my nerves when prompted. I still felt a little shaky at peak speed but Shikarou reassured me, "Kid bodies are tough, you'll get it back."
And so we huddled around a fire, a few miles inland from the coast of Wolf country, all the way across the Kaizoku sea. Wolf was officially neutral in the war and Shikarou told me that they wouldn't bother three Konoha ANBU who weren't bothering anyone else.
We had been running, recovering, and hiding for three days now. It was nice to finally take a break. Wolf country was beautiful. Northeastern Kumo was certainly striking, but I liked trees and not having to live off goat.
I enjoyed the warmth of the fire on my face. Inoko stared into the distance while Shikarou stuffed his face with rabbit.
He tossed a rabbit leg at Inoko, and it hit him in the chest. Inoko looked down, surprised, before picking up the leg and started to eat.
"Any idea who that guy was?" asked Shikarou.
Inoko, who had now regained his presence, responded "Fifty-fifty he was DeeDee. Our latest profile on him's a decade out of date, but it mostly matches. Ten years ago he was just another A-rank speed-and-ninjutsu specialist from Kumo. Looks like he got better."
"And we got lucky," said Shikarou with a grimace.
He continued, "I shouldn't have gambled that they wouldn't call in one of the big boys. I got too greedy, and relied too much on our enemy commander being another idiot. Now you're all fucked up."
Inoko retorted, "We all knew the risks. And I'm the Saikoroji specialist here, I was the one who told you what he'd be like. I'm equally at fault."
"Well, looks like we both got rusty," said Shikarou.
I sipped sugary tea from my canteen. A log shifted in the fire, sending sparks up into the heavens.
Inoko spoke somberly, "We got lucky he didn't guess we'd have a Yamanaka, even after he escaped your Shadow Bind. If Chozou was still with us he'd have known instantly, and then we definitely all would have died."
I clutched my mask closer to my chest. I knew I was a replacement, and it wasn't hard to guess who the third person on a team with a Nara and a Yamanaka would be. But this was the first time hearing them talk about it.
Silence came and went, "Don't worry about it kid," said Shikarou and I looked up at him, "he died five years ago. Heart problem. Delayed casualty from the last war. It's what we ninja do anyways, we die."
I nodded in understanding.
Inoko pulled out his notebook, "On the bright side, 41 enemy dead in a little over a month. Mostly Chuunin. Nine Jounin. And DeeDee."
"We got so fucking lucky," muttered Shikarou. And then louder, "Good work overall. More than enough to justify continuing operations. Call DeeDee an S-rank kill. He definitely wasn't A-rank. The mission office won't question good news."
Inoko made some notes, and Shikarou continued, "Well, now we gotta figure out what to do next," and he leaned back.
Inoko put his notebook away and turned to look at me, "Where do you want to go?".
"Stop it," I said.
"Stop what?" asked Inoko.
He was always doing this. Ever since that first day when Inoko asked me what I would name my sword -- and only then did it hit me, where was I going to get a replacement sword? -- he kept asking me questions. Did I like the sunset or sunrise more? What was my favorite flavor of ration bar? Who was the coolest Hokage, and why? He was manipulating me and there was nothing I could do about it. I fought the urge to put my mask back on and hide.
"Nothing," I said, "nevermind. We should return to the village and report."
Then Inoko broke out into an evil smile, "Sounds like you were just defying your superior! I never thought I'd see the day. Rebelling against authority now? Is that also part of the Shinobi Code?"
"You-!" I stifled my frustration before he could get more out of me. Calmly -- ignoring Shikarou and Inoko's laughter -- I put my porcelain mask on, carefully tucked my hair beneath the hood, and emptied my body.
I focused myself on the breathing glow of the embers in the fire, and the crackle of the young wood as the water inside it boiled.
The moment passed, and Shikarou spoke "Alright, if we go to Konoha they'll rope us into some bullshit. We still have four and a half months before we have to report in. I don't feel like going to Iwa yet. I'm thinking we infiltrate Hot Springs and surveil them for a few days, just to make sure they're not thinking of breaking their neutrality."
"Any objections?" he asked, looking between myself and Inoko.
"A shrewd move team leader," replied Inoko, affecting wiseness.
Shikarou looked at me and I signed agreement with a smile behind my mask.
Buck shifted his body, and I could tell this movement meant something to Chicken but I didn't know what.
Chicken continued, "I heard about this. Team Ke got saddled with one of them. They don't talk, and they're all fucked up like. Perfect little ninja. I don't know where the Hokage gets 'em."
From the texture of their skin on their exposed shoulders, I estimated they were in their early thirties. Old ninja. Dangerous ninja. And my teammates for the next six months.
Buck took a knee and looked at me. Or, despite his mask and his controlled body language, I knew by some ninja instinct that Buck was doing more than looking at me. He was picking me apart.
Chicken kept talking, and I filed away everything he said without paying attention.
I was acutely aware of Buck's examination. I relaxed my body, emptied my mind, and focused on my surroundings. We were in the midst of a Konoha field encampment near the border with Kumo. I watched a Chunin squad make camp in the branches high above us, tying themselves onto branches with quick-release knots. I could handle someone paying attention to me. Behind my own mask I reasoned with myself that it was irrational to feel exposed. I was safe, Buck was searching for something he wouldn't find.
"You know I'm not your enemy, right?" asked Buck.
I didn't know what to say. Chicken continued, "Let's get out of here before we freak the fodder out any more."
And so we ran for two days in a sickle shape through Iwa, over the Northern Ocean, skirting the Snow coastline, and into Lightning country.
We stopped in the mountainous arid gray desert of northeastern Kumo. Sometimes there were large rocks that could hide a dozen men densely dotting the landscape, and sometimes there was only gravel. Besides the goats and dead-looking shrub, the only notable life-form was the strange lace-like white plant that grew on the rocks. I wondered if this is what the Moon was like. It was cold, the sun was halfway down, and the sky tinted pink.
We arrived at an unremarkable spot and Chicken lifted a small boulder up, revealing a tunnel.
He gestured inside, "In you go. Kill anything you find."
I had no affinity for fire jutsu, but every Konoha nin knew enough to conjure a small but bright ball of fire into their hand. With one hand holding my light and the other my fighting knife, I entered the tunnel. After twenty metres of crouch-walking through a spiralling and sometimes vertical tunnel, I was in a large cave, clearly constructed by Earth Jutsu. I executed the rabbit family living in the cave and shouted for Chicken and Buck to enter.
They did, and Chicken immediately collapsed with a sigh onto a protrusion of rock that formed a small bed, "Doesn't smell so bad when there's not a dozen guys living here."
"And there's no screaming," replied Buck. Chicken snorted, and then to my surprise Buck took his mask off.
He had dark blonde hair, with pale golden eyes. Unshaven, his stubble was tinged with a light red. The physical characteristics of one of the elite of Konoha.
"I'm Yamanaka Inoko. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said to me with a realistic smile.
Chicken lifted his head up to peer at Inoko, "Already? Trying to make the kid comfortable?"
"Yeah. Do you mind?"
"Nah, I don't care," replied Chicken, and then he took his own mask off.
He face was weathered, with an unusually thick bushel hair.
"I'm Nara Shikarou," he said and then he dropped his head again, using his arm as a pillow, "Inoko, do what you gotta do, I'm going to sleep," and he rolled over.
I worried Inoko was about to ask me to take my mask off and introduce myself, but instead he sat down in front of me, cross-legged and propped himself up with his arms behind his back.
He looked up at me, "So you like swords, huh?"
I glanced down at the chakra-steel Tanto I had strapped to my hip.
I looked back at him and nodded.
"I think they're pretty cool too. Does it have a name?" he asked.
And right as I was about to open my mouth he preempted me, "Why don't you take a seat and get comfortable?"
So I did, and unsheathed my sword, resting the blade on the pad of my index finger.
"No, it doesn't have a name. It is just a tool."
"If you could give it a name, what would it be?"
I thought about denying the question. Naming a sword was a defective gesture, it was the kind of sentimentality that led invariably to death. But Inobi seemed only curious, and I dimly remembered lessons from the academy stressing the importance of the bond between comrades. This was not a ROOT team, if my teammates expected emotional closeness then I would at least have to put up a façade.
While I pondered Inobi started writing in the small leather bound booklet in which we were obligated to log all relevant mission information. Of course, today's entry was probably quite simple, "Ran to Kumo, made camp".
I looked down at my blade. As always, I turned to the Code: A shinobi must be decisive. I resolved then that I would participate in these frivolities in the name of teamwork. I would keep my answers surface level, but I would never lie, since it was well known that it was impossible to lie to a Yamanaka.
I surveyed the dull gray steel. The sparkles in the grain. The stamp of Konoha just above the hilt. The scratches. All sorts of names flitted through my head, including the idea of calling it "Yugao" as a joke. But instead I went with what made the most sense.
"Cutter," I stated.
Inobi laughed once, and I almost shrunk back out of reflex. But I kept still. His laugh seemed honest and happy. I focused on the familiar sensation of the cool porcelain of my mask resting on my cheekbones. Control yourself.
"Sorry, I was expecting something very grand after how long you spent thinking. Well at least I can be glad you're not pretentious," he said by way of explanation.
I didn't respond, and he continued "Pretentious means to act more important or grand than you are. Like a noble putting on airs beyond his station, or a chuunin calling his sword 'God-slayer'."
I studied his face. How had he known? Had I given something away? Perhaps it was just that children my age in general didn't know such complicated words as 'pretentious'. Or perhaps since he was a Yamanaka he was reading me like an open scroll, and could tell I didn't know what he meant? No, Danzo-sama had trained me in the ninja art of bodily emptiness, and I had to trust in it's effectiveness. He had just guessed that I didn't know what that word meant.
"So, why Cutter?" he asked after I said nothing.
And that is how we spent the next few hours. Innocent questions and careful answers. And then once Shikarou -- I will not use our ANBU codenames henceforth to reduce confusion -- woke up, we went to sleep.
----
Three weeks later we were in some other cave somewhere in the mountains of Lightning country.
Shikarou was explaining what each of the pieces on the unconscious Kumo Jounin's necklace meant. This piece for her clan affiliation, this one for her loyalty to the Raikage. That one for her worship of the Buddha. This blue one declaring she was engaged to be married.
And then Inoko woke up, and Shikarou snapped her neck. I focused on her soul and chakra as they stilled in her body. The two P's to becoming a good sensor: Practice and Puberty.
Shikarou turned to Inoko, "Well?"
Both of their beards had grown thick by now.
The Yamanaka looked lost, before he visibly gathered himself.
"They've definitely noticed something's going on, but they still think it's mass desertions. Being all the way out here is a shit assignment, and there's a long tradition of quietly leaving your post to report to someone closer to the front-line to get more of a chance for glory."
Shikarou smiled and Inoko continued, "The girl also did a stint doing staff work, and it looks a lot like the local commander is a stereotypical Kumo alpha male. Aggressive, macho, lots of shouting. He's keeping his losses hidden from his superiors."
"Perfect," said Shikarou with a grin. And then he turned to me, leaned in as if sharing a great secret, and tapped the side of his head with his finger, "Know your enemy."
I nodded.
----
Another week and another half-dozen dead Kumo-nin had gone by, and we were nestled among rocks on the mountainside. Then sun was behind us, only just below the ridge of the mountain such that the mountain's shadow barely extended past its base. This far north, at this time of year, the evenings were always long and the always nights short. A perfect environment for a Nara.
Shikarou had his telescope out, and was peering into the great valley in front of us. The Great Basin, surrounded on all sides by mountains and fifty kilometres across at it's narrowest point. Inoko had told me it was one of the great natural beauties of the Elemental Nations.
Shikarou collapsed his telescope, "Yeah it's a trap, they're being a little too obvious. Still only local forces I reckon. If Commander Ra hasn't been relieved of command yet, this is probably his last attempt at dealing with us before he sends for help. We're going in immediately, we don't want to get spotted from afar."
I peered out into wasteland of the basin, but I couldn't see anything of note. Not that I expected to see any ninja at this great distance.
We stashed our bags beneath some rocks. Only the essentials now.
"Let's go!" urged Shikarou and we dashed down the mountain.
As we got closer I could start making out the shape of the enemy encampment through the small tracks they left and logical deductions about defensible positions. They spotted us when we were thirty seconds out, and we changed our angle so that we would just pass by the edge of their position, away from their concentration of force.
They came out to meet us, in scattered teams of three. Shikarou picked an isolated group of Chunin-looking Kumo-nin as our target. We got closer, but we avoided a direct heading. And then, right as we were in range of a long distance Kunai throw, I darted out out towards the Kumo-nin at full speed. Shikarou's shadow followed, snaking through the rocks littering the ground, hiding among them. It was connected with my own shadow and I fed Yin-chakra into it as Shikarou taught me, letting him extend his range dramatically through me.
They were getting ready to kill me. They were preparing two lightning jutsus, while their third member readied her sword. I was running right into a trap. Right before I was among the group, right before they surely would have killed me thrice over, fifty metres behind me Shikarou's foot touched the ground. And my own shadow snapped forward and ensnared all three Chunin. And in the moment they and their attacks were disrupted I struck, killing all three.
Shikarou never broke his stride, and I darted back to my team.
We managed to kill two more nin while looping around before they begun to concentrate themselves, and the hail of long-range jutsu and weapons forced us away from the camp.
Then the game began. They would try to surround us and kill us, and we would kill anyone that got out of position.
This was Shikarou's dance. This was the Nara tactical mind. Carefully managing our own movements, keeping track of the positions of our opponents and their capabilities. But most importantly he managed the mind of our enemy. With our behaviour he portrayed us like fools who had overcommitted. Our every little victory looked like luck, and our doom appeared inevitable. All to keep the enemy frustrated, chasing, and dying. Stupid Kumo-nin.
It took an hour and a six more dead (including a team of two Jounin) before the enemy commander finally understood he was wasting his men. And he sent a flare went up, and we ran like hell. Full speed. We made it halfway up the mountain and developed a good ten minute lead from the Kumo contingent.
And then we just barely managed to dodge a massive lightning bolt crashing down from the sky in front of us. I was deafened by the noise and thrown back. The lightning bolt briefly materialized into the form of a man with bright lightning coursing all over his body, before he turned into another lightning bolt and went straight towards me.
I tried to keep him away by throwing three short-fuse explosive tags, but he simply stopped stopped short, rematerialized for half a second and sent a streak of lightning at me. It was all I could do to absorb the powerful attack into my sword, even as the spillover coursed through me and seared my every nerve. I used a pulse of chakra from my hand to send my sword flying away from me, and it exploded from chakra overload, peppering my body with superheated shards. And then my explosive tags blew, and I was sent tumbling bonelessly down the mountain.
My fall was stopped by a boulder. I was shaking uncontrollably, but I was conscious enough to focus on breathing manually using wind manipulation.
I could feel the heat of a massive fire jutsu, and I recognized it as Shikarou's chakra. Good. And then I felt Inoko's soul-chakra flare up and start moving in a straight line. Hope blossomed in my chest. And then there was the sound of lightning and Inoko's chakra kept moving in that straight line, and I knew he had missed.
This was it. A stronger ninja was here, and now we died. That's how it went. I made preparations to commit suicide.
Through my ringing ears I registered the bang of another lightning bolt. I rotated my head with chakra so I could watch the fight. There was an explosion of smoke, promptly cleared away by a massive wind jutsu from our enemy. Inoko and Shikarou, holding hands and moving as one leapt out of the clearing smoke towards the Lightning-nin. He turned into lightning again, moved back, and rematerialized.
Our enemy knew not to get close. He probably figured out that Shikarou was a Nara.
Lightning-nin stood and pulled his arm back, and I could feel even with my nascent sensory skill that he was charging a jutsu that there was no dodging. I would die even where I was over a hundred meters just from the area of effect. It was becoming difficult to sense anything besides the immense accumulation of lightning chakra. And right before I was sure the Kumo-nin would smite us he went limp. And an instant later there was a kunai handle protruding from his eye socket. And then he exploded into lightning as his semi-formed jutsu collapsed, and I was sent tumbling through the landscape.
Ten manual breaths later Shikarou and an unconscious Inoko, still moving in total lockstep and holding hands found me. Shikarou checked over my wounds and said something but I couldn't hear him, Inoko mimicking his actions towards the empty air beside me. Then Shikarou and Inoko both shifted to the side, and Shikarou made Inoko's unconscious body pick me up and hold me on his back, and we ran.
----
Inoko stayed unconscious for a full day. It wasn't good to Mind-Body Switch twice in such rapid succession. And it was especially damaging to be Mind-Body Switched into someone when they died. Even after coming to Inoko seemed like he was always off somewhere else, and needed reminding to eat and drink.
Though he was still capable of healing my nerves when prompted. I still felt a little shaky at peak speed but Shikarou reassured me, "Kid bodies are tough, you'll get it back."
And so we huddled around a fire, a few miles inland from the coast of Wolf country, all the way across the Kaizoku sea. Wolf was officially neutral in the war and Shikarou told me that they wouldn't bother three Konoha ANBU who weren't bothering anyone else.
We had been running, recovering, and hiding for three days now. It was nice to finally take a break. Wolf country was beautiful. Northeastern Kumo was certainly striking, but I liked trees and not having to live off goat.
I enjoyed the warmth of the fire on my face. Inoko stared into the distance while Shikarou stuffed his face with rabbit.
He tossed a rabbit leg at Inoko, and it hit him in the chest. Inoko looked down, surprised, before picking up the leg and started to eat.
"Any idea who that guy was?" asked Shikarou.
Inoko, who had now regained his presence, responded "Fifty-fifty he was DeeDee. Our latest profile on him's a decade out of date, but it mostly matches. Ten years ago he was just another A-rank speed-and-ninjutsu specialist from Kumo. Looks like he got better."
"And we got lucky," said Shikarou with a grimace.
He continued, "I shouldn't have gambled that they wouldn't call in one of the big boys. I got too greedy, and relied too much on our enemy commander being another idiot. Now you're all fucked up."
Inoko retorted, "We all knew the risks. And I'm the Saikoroji specialist here, I was the one who told you what he'd be like. I'm equally at fault."
"Well, looks like we both got rusty," said Shikarou.
I sipped sugary tea from my canteen. A log shifted in the fire, sending sparks up into the heavens.
Inoko spoke somberly, "We got lucky he didn't guess we'd have a Yamanaka, even after he escaped your Shadow Bind. If Chozou was still with us he'd have known instantly, and then we definitely all would have died."
I clutched my mask closer to my chest. I knew I was a replacement, and it wasn't hard to guess who the third person on a team with a Nara and a Yamanaka would be. But this was the first time hearing them talk about it.
Silence came and went, "Don't worry about it kid," said Shikarou and I looked up at him, "he died five years ago. Heart problem. Delayed casualty from the last war. It's what we ninja do anyways, we die."
I nodded in understanding.
Inoko pulled out his notebook, "On the bright side, 41 enemy dead in a little over a month. Mostly Chuunin. Nine Jounin. And DeeDee."
"We got so fucking lucky," muttered Shikarou. And then louder, "Good work overall. More than enough to justify continuing operations. Call DeeDee an S-rank kill. He definitely wasn't A-rank. The mission office won't question good news."
Inoko made some notes, and Shikarou continued, "Well, now we gotta figure out what to do next," and he leaned back.
Inoko put his notebook away and turned to look at me, "Where do you want to go?".
"Stop it," I said.
"Stop what?" asked Inoko.
He was always doing this. Ever since that first day when Inoko asked me what I would name my sword -- and only then did it hit me, where was I going to get a replacement sword? -- he kept asking me questions. Did I like the sunset or sunrise more? What was my favorite flavor of ration bar? Who was the coolest Hokage, and why? He was manipulating me and there was nothing I could do about it. I fought the urge to put my mask back on and hide.
"Nothing," I said, "nevermind. We should return to the village and report."
Then Inoko broke out into an evil smile, "Sounds like you were just defying your superior! I never thought I'd see the day. Rebelling against authority now? Is that also part of the Shinobi Code?"
"You-!" I stifled my frustration before he could get more out of me. Calmly -- ignoring Shikarou and Inoko's laughter -- I put my porcelain mask on, carefully tucked my hair beneath the hood, and emptied my body.
I focused myself on the breathing glow of the embers in the fire, and the crackle of the young wood as the water inside it boiled.
The moment passed, and Shikarou spoke "Alright, if we go to Konoha they'll rope us into some bullshit. We still have four and a half months before we have to report in. I don't feel like going to Iwa yet. I'm thinking we infiltrate Hot Springs and surveil them for a few days, just to make sure they're not thinking of breaking their neutrality."
"Any objections?" he asked, looking between myself and Inoko.
"A shrewd move team leader," replied Inoko, affecting wiseness.
Shikarou looked at me and I signed agreement with a smile behind my mask.
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Chapter 3 - Conclusion
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
The Land of Hot Springs was neutral territory. But their neutrality ran deeper than their non-participation in the current war. Craftily, the pacificists in charge of the village had ensured that each of the great ninja villages had a stake in the highly profitable tourism industry. Nobody wanted to mess with the golden pheasant.
Nowhere was truly safe, but an elite jounin could relax his shoulders for a day or two in Hot Springs without raising eyebrows from his peers.
So we stood as a team just past the gates of the carefully managed tourist town, in the little bubble of fear that kept civilians from getting too close.
"Well, I'm going to go fuck some boys," said Shikarou, "You two do your father-daughter thing. Make a lot of noise if you need me," and he marched off.
We watched him leave, and then I turned to look up at Inoko.
"Isn't that wrong?" I asked.
He shook his head, "There's less of a chance of bloodline theft this way."
I nodded.
There were more people on the streets of Yugakure than I had ever seen in Konoha. Tourists spoke to each other in foreign languages, hawkers called out for their wares, in the distance there was shouting and drumming. Tours, Authentic Land Of Hot Spring Style Pork Belly, tobacco, little trinkets, and onsen.
Inoko took me to a quiet teahouse. The teahouse was nice. I learned I didn't like matcha.
I sipped my tea and allowed myself to grimace.
I looked to Inoko, "Why are we doing this? Why are we here when our comrades are fighting? There's a war going on," I asked.
"Why do you think?" he replied.
"Does our team leader have some kind of secret mission objective here?" I asked.
Inoko chuckled, "He's not very good at keeping secrets then."
I frowned.
Inoko set his tea down and begun to explain, "We're here because we want to be and we can. We did good work, and so we reward ourselves. The Hokage isn't here is he? Even if he somehow found out we spent a week in Hot Springs, he'd be more upset that he had to pretend to punish us than that we wasted time."
I thought about this.
"You get an understanding for this as you get older. Don't try anything so cavalier as this until you're twenty. Old-timers like us get more leeway."
I hoped I wouldn't be punished when the Hokage inevitably found out. But I trusted Inoko enough to put my fears aside for now.
"The question you should be asking however, is 'what do I want to do here?'" said Inoko.
I thought about it.
"I don't know," I said.
——
I watched Inoko put beads in my hair through the polished brass mirror in the shop. I was standing on a small raised platform, in a beautiful silk kimono, of a purple that matched my hair. I had had flowers sown into the seams of the Kimono. The dressmaker cooed and flitted about, suggesting various fans I might pair with my dress. None of the shades of lip-coloring I was trying seemed to work.
I caught Inoko's eyes in the mirror, "Why are you doing this?"
He tied the string of beads off with a little bell.
"Would you excuse us?" he asked the dressmaker, and she and her staff hurriedly exited the room. Civilians knew not to overhear ninja secrets.
Inoko took a seat on a stool, carefully folding his silver and gray kimono, appearing the picture of noble refinement.
"How much do you know about the second Hokage?" he asked.
I shook my head. Danzo-sama prioritized teaching fighting techniques, not history.
He snapped his fan open and begun fanning himself, "Well, he had just as much of a hand in building Konoha as the first Hokage. And part of that was working with the head of the Yamanaka clan at the time to carefully construct the society of the village. You see, children who sublimate their will into the will of Konoha make for excellent ninja. Through carefully controlling your early childhood we hurt you until you naturally derived your sense of self-worth through duty and service.
"It doesn't always work, but it works often enough and produces enough geniuses that the system stays intact. No I'm not talking about ROOT, that is entirely Danzo's creation," and at this I held back surprise that he knew about that, "I'm talking about the way you were treated in your crib, about the orphanage, and about the academy. You don't even remember most of what we did to you."
I thought about this. Then I replied, "Okay. But I'm a strong ninja. I'm happy to serve Konoha. Is that wrong?"
I saw him shake his head in the mirror, "You're not strong. You're a rare prodigy, true. But right now you're potential and speed. You might have thought DeeDee was strong, but he's dead. Strength is more than just the size of your jutsu, it's also the decisions you make."
I nodded, because I understood this, and he continued.
"But that's not the point. The point is that I think this system is wrong. You've been robbed of your humanity and you don't even know it. As a Yamanaka and a Konoha Jounin, I feel responsible. And while I can't change the system, and I don't even know if I would given the power, I can help you. I can help you rediscover what you've lost. And as it happens the Hokage agrees with me, and so you were assigned to my squad."
"Okay," I said.
-----
Then Minato Namikaze killed a thousand Iwa-nin in one day and ended the war.
Now I kneeled in the Hokage's office. I was fifteen now, and for all of my skill still technically a genin.
"I'm told you fought Kumo's Kinkaku squad and killed almost all of them. Are my reports correct?" he asked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," I replied.
"That wasn't one of your mission objectives. Why did you take this initiative?" he asked.
"Revenge for the Second," I replied.
"Alright," he said, "As a sitting Hokage I thank you. But let's talk about your future. I want you to take a more public role in the village. You're one of our heroes, an example of Konoha's power", he said.
"May I stand, Hokage-sama?" I asked.
"Of course," he said.
I stood, and looked him in the eyes. After all that practice hiding my true feelings from Inoko, I knew the Hokage had no hope reading the fear that I felt asserting myself in front of the Hokage.
"I don't want to be a hero, Hokage-sama. I want to live a quiet life. Let me stay the unseen blade, Hokage-sama."
"Okay," he said with a brilliant smile as if he was waiting for me to say that, "Congratulations on your promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin then, Yugao-san. I'll make sure your public file says the right things. I'll keep you on the active ANBU roster. Is that acceptable?"
"It is, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed," he said. I saluted, and I left.
----
I like to imagine Konoha as a large organism, like a human composed of hundreds of ninja with a collective thousand years of paranoia and experience. It is a hulking beast, larger and more powerful than any tailed beast, and it squats over Fire Country, eyeing Kumogakure and Iwagakure. And Kumogakure and Iwagakure will be doing just the same, eyeing Konoha back. Like moderately intelligent animals, the villages strut and provoke and fight. And the minor villages run underfoot, nipping and biting according to their master's wills. Konoha is of course the King of this jungle.
So when Itachi Uchiha executed his entire clan, it was as if someone had gouged out one of Konoha's eyes.
And the question ran through everyone's minds, "Is Konoha finally weak enough to take a shot for the throne?"
I'm being too circuitous -- the point being I took the opportunity after the Uchiha Massacre to murder Hachiko, who was the worst of the staff at the orphanage during my time there. It was very satisfying.
----
Years passed.
----
I kicked Shikarou's leg.
He moaned, and reached his hand out, grasping at nothing. I grabbed one the bottles that still had some drink in it and handed it to him. He took a gulp without looking and hissed, "Disgusting shochu."
"Whatever," I said, "The sun's already setting. Get up."
He groaned very dramatically and leaped to his feet. He was an old man now. He was an old man when we first met, but it had been a decade and half again since then. Though his hair had stayed the same.
He swiped a bottle from the floor and finished the contents in one pull.
"Who's that?" I asked, gesturing to the pair of muscular legs still sticking out from underneath his comforter.
"No idea," he said without looking and he marched, naked as the day he was born, out of his room and into the Nara compound courtyard. He walked over the deep snow, and jumped into the garden pond, shattering the ice.
After ten seconds his head emerged from the water, pushing little shards of ice to the side. "Need a pick-me-up?" he called out to me.
"No thank you," I replied.
He splashed around for a bit more and then he marched right out of the pond, and dried himself off with a small burst of chakra. He came back into his bedroom and put his funeral robes on.
"Let's get this over with," he said.
----
"Yugao, is that you?" Inoko asked.
"It is me, sensei," I said and took his hand.
He searched my face, looking for something.
"How you've grown," he said.
"Yes. I'm twenty-eight now," I replied.
"Oh."
I gently squeezed his hand.
"It's time, isn't it?" he asked.
"It is, sensei"
I sat beside his bed, Shikarou beside me. On the other side of his bed was his family. His wife and son.
We said our goodbyes. There was no crying.
Inoko held the vial and looked around, confused.
"Drink," said his wife with a sad smile.
He smiled at her, and drank.
I took the vial and put it away, and then I held his hand, and his wife held his other.
He passed with a smile on his face.
Shikarou left. I stayed, trying to carve the memory of Inoko's chakra into my mind, a chakra I would never sense again. Then I left Inoko's family to grieve alone.
This was the curse of the Yamanaka. Every bad Mind-Body Switch shortened the lifespan of his mind. Inoko's combat career had been long and illustrious. I'm told he did well to hang on past forty.
Shikarou was waiting outside the gates of the Yamanaka compound. I noticed he had tied a funerary ribbon around his everpresent flask.
"The Hokage is reactivating me and giving me a genin team," he complained unprompted, "The bastard's memory is too long. He told me he reserved the three most rebellious delinquents for me," he took a drink from his flask.
Before he could start one of his treasonous rambles I cut him off, "I'm think I'm going to try a crossing of the Great Sunrise Ocean."
He raised his eyebrows, "Finally going to do it huh? Off to the great unknown?"
I replied, "I'm getting two years to do it. Then I come back, marry Hayate, and have kids."
"Changed your mind on children then?" he asked.
I wrinkled my nose, "A compromise with the Hokage."
He offered me his flask, and I declined.
"Keep Hayate alive for me will you?" I asked.
He nodded. I went home.
THE END.
Nowhere was truly safe, but an elite jounin could relax his shoulders for a day or two in Hot Springs without raising eyebrows from his peers.
So we stood as a team just past the gates of the carefully managed tourist town, in the little bubble of fear that kept civilians from getting too close.
"Well, I'm going to go fuck some boys," said Shikarou, "You two do your father-daughter thing. Make a lot of noise if you need me," and he marched off.
We watched him leave, and then I turned to look up at Inoko.
"Isn't that wrong?" I asked.
He shook his head, "There's less of a chance of bloodline theft this way."
I nodded.
There were more people on the streets of Yugakure than I had ever seen in Konoha. Tourists spoke to each other in foreign languages, hawkers called out for their wares, in the distance there was shouting and drumming. Tours, Authentic Land Of Hot Spring Style Pork Belly, tobacco, little trinkets, and onsen.
Inoko took me to a quiet teahouse. The teahouse was nice. I learned I didn't like matcha.
I sipped my tea and allowed myself to grimace.
I looked to Inoko, "Why are we doing this? Why are we here when our comrades are fighting? There's a war going on," I asked.
"Why do you think?" he replied.
"Does our team leader have some kind of secret mission objective here?" I asked.
Inoko chuckled, "He's not very good at keeping secrets then."
I frowned.
Inoko set his tea down and begun to explain, "We're here because we want to be and we can. We did good work, and so we reward ourselves. The Hokage isn't here is he? Even if he somehow found out we spent a week in Hot Springs, he'd be more upset that he had to pretend to punish us than that we wasted time."
I thought about this.
"You get an understanding for this as you get older. Don't try anything so cavalier as this until you're twenty. Old-timers like us get more leeway."
I hoped I wouldn't be punished when the Hokage inevitably found out. But I trusted Inoko enough to put my fears aside for now.
"The question you should be asking however, is 'what do I want to do here?'" said Inoko.
I thought about it.
"I don't know," I said.
——
I watched Inoko put beads in my hair through the polished brass mirror in the shop. I was standing on a small raised platform, in a beautiful silk kimono, of a purple that matched my hair. I had had flowers sown into the seams of the Kimono. The dressmaker cooed and flitted about, suggesting various fans I might pair with my dress. None of the shades of lip-coloring I was trying seemed to work.
I caught Inoko's eyes in the mirror, "Why are you doing this?"
He tied the string of beads off with a little bell.
"Would you excuse us?" he asked the dressmaker, and she and her staff hurriedly exited the room. Civilians knew not to overhear ninja secrets.
Inoko took a seat on a stool, carefully folding his silver and gray kimono, appearing the picture of noble refinement.
"How much do you know about the second Hokage?" he asked.
I shook my head. Danzo-sama prioritized teaching fighting techniques, not history.
He snapped his fan open and begun fanning himself, "Well, he had just as much of a hand in building Konoha as the first Hokage. And part of that was working with the head of the Yamanaka clan at the time to carefully construct the society of the village. You see, children who sublimate their will into the will of Konoha make for excellent ninja. Through carefully controlling your early childhood we hurt you until you naturally derived your sense of self-worth through duty and service.
"It doesn't always work, but it works often enough and produces enough geniuses that the system stays intact. No I'm not talking about ROOT, that is entirely Danzo's creation," and at this I held back surprise that he knew about that, "I'm talking about the way you were treated in your crib, about the orphanage, and about the academy. You don't even remember most of what we did to you."
I thought about this. Then I replied, "Okay. But I'm a strong ninja. I'm happy to serve Konoha. Is that wrong?"
I saw him shake his head in the mirror, "You're not strong. You're a rare prodigy, true. But right now you're potential and speed. You might have thought DeeDee was strong, but he's dead. Strength is more than just the size of your jutsu, it's also the decisions you make."
I nodded, because I understood this, and he continued.
"But that's not the point. The point is that I think this system is wrong. You've been robbed of your humanity and you don't even know it. As a Yamanaka and a Konoha Jounin, I feel responsible. And while I can't change the system, and I don't even know if I would given the power, I can help you. I can help you rediscover what you've lost. And as it happens the Hokage agrees with me, and so you were assigned to my squad."
"Okay," I said.
-----
Then Minato Namikaze killed a thousand Iwa-nin in one day and ended the war.
Now I kneeled in the Hokage's office. I was fifteen now, and for all of my skill still technically a genin.
"I'm told you fought Kumo's Kinkaku squad and killed almost all of them. Are my reports correct?" he asked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," I replied.
"That wasn't one of your mission objectives. Why did you take this initiative?" he asked.
"Revenge for the Second," I replied.
"Alright," he said, "As a sitting Hokage I thank you. But let's talk about your future. I want you to take a more public role in the village. You're one of our heroes, an example of Konoha's power", he said.
"May I stand, Hokage-sama?" I asked.
"Of course," he said.
I stood, and looked him in the eyes. After all that practice hiding my true feelings from Inoko, I knew the Hokage had no hope reading the fear that I felt asserting myself in front of the Hokage.
"I don't want to be a hero, Hokage-sama. I want to live a quiet life. Let me stay the unseen blade, Hokage-sama."
"Okay," he said with a brilliant smile as if he was waiting for me to say that, "Congratulations on your promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin then, Yugao-san. I'll make sure your public file says the right things. I'll keep you on the active ANBU roster. Is that acceptable?"
"It is, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed," he said. I saluted, and I left.
----
I like to imagine Konoha as a large organism, like a human composed of hundreds of ninja with a collective thousand years of paranoia and experience. It is a hulking beast, larger and more powerful than any tailed beast, and it squats over Fire Country, eyeing Kumogakure and Iwagakure. And Kumogakure and Iwagakure will be doing just the same, eyeing Konoha back. Like moderately intelligent animals, the villages strut and provoke and fight. And the minor villages run underfoot, nipping and biting according to their master's wills. Konoha is of course the King of this jungle.
So when Itachi Uchiha executed his entire clan, it was as if someone had gouged out one of Konoha's eyes.
And the question ran through everyone's minds, "Is Konoha finally weak enough to take a shot for the throne?"
I'm being too circuitous -- the point being I took the opportunity after the Uchiha Massacre to murder Hachiko, who was the worst of the staff at the orphanage during my time there. It was very satisfying.
----
Years passed.
----
I kicked Shikarou's leg.
He moaned, and reached his hand out, grasping at nothing. I grabbed one the bottles that still had some drink in it and handed it to him. He took a gulp without looking and hissed, "Disgusting shochu."
"Whatever," I said, "The sun's already setting. Get up."
He groaned very dramatically and leaped to his feet. He was an old man now. He was an old man when we first met, but it had been a decade and half again since then. Though his hair had stayed the same.
He swiped a bottle from the floor and finished the contents in one pull.
"Who's that?" I asked, gesturing to the pair of muscular legs still sticking out from underneath his comforter.
"No idea," he said without looking and he marched, naked as the day he was born, out of his room and into the Nara compound courtyard. He walked over the deep snow, and jumped into the garden pond, shattering the ice.
After ten seconds his head emerged from the water, pushing little shards of ice to the side. "Need a pick-me-up?" he called out to me.
"No thank you," I replied.
He splashed around for a bit more and then he marched right out of the pond, and dried himself off with a small burst of chakra. He came back into his bedroom and put his funeral robes on.
"Let's get this over with," he said.
----
"Yugao, is that you?" Inoko asked.
"It is me, sensei," I said and took his hand.
He searched my face, looking for something.
"How you've grown," he said.
"Yes. I'm twenty-eight now," I replied.
"Oh."
I gently squeezed his hand.
"It's time, isn't it?" he asked.
"It is, sensei"
I sat beside his bed, Shikarou beside me. On the other side of his bed was his family. His wife and son.
We said our goodbyes. There was no crying.
Inoko held the vial and looked around, confused.
"Drink," said his wife with a sad smile.
He smiled at her, and drank.
I took the vial and put it away, and then I held his hand, and his wife held his other.
He passed with a smile on his face.
Shikarou left. I stayed, trying to carve the memory of Inoko's chakra into my mind, a chakra I would never sense again. Then I left Inoko's family to grieve alone.
This was the curse of the Yamanaka. Every bad Mind-Body Switch shortened the lifespan of his mind. Inoko's combat career had been long and illustrious. I'm told he did well to hang on past forty.
Shikarou was waiting outside the gates of the Yamanaka compound. I noticed he had tied a funerary ribbon around his everpresent flask.
"The Hokage is reactivating me and giving me a genin team," he complained unprompted, "The bastard's memory is too long. He told me he reserved the three most rebellious delinquents for me," he took a drink from his flask.
Before he could start one of his treasonous rambles I cut him off, "I'm think I'm going to try a crossing of the Great Sunrise Ocean."
He raised his eyebrows, "Finally going to do it huh? Off to the great unknown?"
I replied, "I'm getting two years to do it. Then I come back, marry Hayate, and have kids."
"Changed your mind on children then?" he asked.
I wrinkled my nose, "A compromise with the Hokage."
He offered me his flask, and I declined.
"Keep Hayate alive for me will you?" I asked.
He nodded. I went home.
THE END.
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- Pronouns
- He/him
Well, this was unexpected
- Location
- Right next to the butcher's shop.
It's too short.
Jokes aside, it felt like it could have used just a bit more of a glimpse into who she became after her conversation with Inoko. Whether she's developed her own goals, or personality.
This is very good for a short character study.
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
You're right. I'll think about this and add something in.
Thank you.
This was some good writing. I like how it is concise and every word is relatively important to the story either in advancing it or developing a character.
The only complaint I have is that I feel like it should be just a bit longer and show a bit more of her transition from robot to a human. I mean the transition shown feels like we are getting the first half of the transition and there needs a bit more of the second half of her closing on in regaining her humanity.
The only complaint I have is that I feel like it should be just a bit longer and show a bit more of her transition from robot to a human. I mean the transition shown feels like we are getting the first half of the transition and there needs a bit more of the second half of her closing on in regaining her humanity.
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
I removed some of the excessively boring battle and nerding out about ninja shit from the second chapter. But I can't force myself to proofread the entire thing again so I hope it still makes sense.
I added two segments to the last chapter showing more of Yugao being a person (cc @Markedpariah ).
I've reproduced those inserted segments below:
I added two segments to the last chapter showing more of Yugao being a person (cc @Markedpariah ).
I've reproduced those inserted segments below:
I like to imagine Konoha as a large organism, like a human composed of hundreds of ninja with a collective thousand years of paranoia and experience. It is a hulking beast, larger and more powerful than any tailed beast, and it squats over Fire Country, eyeing Kumogakure and Iwagakure. And Kumogakure and Iwagakure will be doing just the same, eyeing Konoha back. Like moderately intelligent animals, the villages strut and provoke and fight. And the minor villages run underfoot, nipping and biting according to their master's wills. Konoh is the King of this jungle.
So when Itachi Uchiha executed his entire clan, it was as if someone had gouged out one of Konoha's eyes.
And the question ran through everyone's minds, "Is Konoha finally weak enough that we can take the throne from them?"
I'm being too circuitous -- the point being I took the opportnunity after the Uchiha Massacre to kill Hachiko, who was the worst of the staff at the orphanage during my time there. She had just been promoted to head matron. It was very easy.
----
I leaped from crest of wave to crest of wave, carefully staying on top of the chaotic melee of water. It was dark and stormy and the rain was coming from every direction but above.
Where the massive waves collided with each other there were giant eruptions of white water reaching into the heavens. I was probably going to die here. But that wasn't unusual for ninja, so it didn't bother me.
I had been caught once now beneath a wave and pulled underwater. I reached the surface three minutes later half-conscious and running chakra and willpower. My storage scroll was missing. But that wasn't important right now --
I JUMPED and landed on a wave that would give me a few seconds of a stable platform before collapsing. This was a level of exhaustion I had only felt during the most strenuous times in the war. It came as much from my current struggle to stay alive and from thirty days of running and insufficient rest. My mind was focused.
I dances on the waves for an indeterminate amount of time, watching as my chakra slowly drained from my body.
Then the seas calmed and the next day I found an uninhabited island. It had fruits and strange colorful birds. And a shipwreck of completely unidentifiable make and with evidence of a totally foreign writing system. I was going to make it. I allowed myself to smile. I was going to be the first person to cross the Great Sunrise Ocean!
So when Itachi Uchiha executed his entire clan, it was as if someone had gouged out one of Konoha's eyes.
And the question ran through everyone's minds, "Is Konoha finally weak enough that we can take the throne from them?"
I'm being too circuitous -- the point being I took the opportnunity after the Uchiha Massacre to kill Hachiko, who was the worst of the staff at the orphanage during my time there. She had just been promoted to head matron. It was very easy.
----
I leaped from crest of wave to crest of wave, carefully staying on top of the chaotic melee of water. It was dark and stormy and the rain was coming from every direction but above.
Where the massive waves collided with each other there were giant eruptions of white water reaching into the heavens. I was probably going to die here. But that wasn't unusual for ninja, so it didn't bother me.
I had been caught once now beneath a wave and pulled underwater. I reached the surface three minutes later half-conscious and running chakra and willpower. My storage scroll was missing. But that wasn't important right now --
I JUMPED and landed on a wave that would give me a few seconds of a stable platform before collapsing. This was a level of exhaustion I had only felt during the most strenuous times in the war. It came as much from my current struggle to stay alive and from thirty days of running and insufficient rest. My mind was focused.
I dances on the waves for an indeterminate amount of time, watching as my chakra slowly drained from my body.
Then the seas calmed and the next day I found an uninhabited island. It had fruits and strange colorful birds. And a shipwreck of completely unidentifiable make and with evidence of a totally foreign writing system. I was going to make it. I allowed myself to smile. I was going to be the first person to cross the Great Sunrise Ocean!
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
You're right. I removed the ocean bit, but the Yamanaka dying bit and the abrupt ending are just how it is unfortunately. I tried to makeit a little smoother.