Naruto AU Quest--100 Years later
This is based off of an AU of Naruto a friend and I made a...
This is based off of an AU of Naruto a friend and I made a...
End of an Era (Naruto AU)
- Thread starter The Laurent
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 291
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 245
-
Statistics (214 threadmarks, 820k words)
User Total The Laurent 211 lkmcclenahan 3 -
Loading…
-
Loading…
-
Loading…
Character Generation/Intro 1
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Naruto AU Quest--100 Years later
This is based off of an AU of Naruto a friend and I made a while back, as Naruto, having taken a left swerve or two, was entering the final Ninja war (around the point with the army of clone-things). The idea was sorta 'let's imagine Naruto ends with Naruto becoming Hokage, or something like it, and Madara being defeated and a golden age of peace being created...what happens a hundred years later, when the peace starts to fall apart?' And thus we created a big, complicated setting, based on a world that had begun to advance, in which Ninja villages had proliferated and relative peace had reigned.
This is not that era. The Pax Naruto has begun to fall apart. Naruto is still alive, but quite ancient and no longer Hokage, currently searching for an heir to bear his burden, to be the next host of Kurama, the nine-tailed fox. And across the world, in hidden villages large and small, shifts are happening, factions are aligning, and perhaps soon the Ninja world will erupt again into open, brutal conflict. The world has changed, but some things stay the same.
And one of them is that each year more Genin graduate from academies all across the lands, and your character is one of them, from a minor hidden village, to be more precise. Will they make an impact on the world and become a splendid ninja, or will they fade away? Their ninja chronicles begin now begins here and now!
First, pick a gender and a village. Gender will slightly influence some stats, though not the ones you are thinking (no Str+ vs. Wis+ or anything here), as well as some background/character stuff, so it is important.
[] Male
[] Female
[] Other
Villages
[] Tsutagakure (Village Hidden Among the Cliffs): Founded shortly after the end of the last Ninja war, they draw their strength from their multiple clans, but also from several other factors. Their dug-in cliff-side village is hard to assail, their alliance with Konoha has been relatively solid, and they place an emphasis on teamwork and small-unit tactics, each squad meant to work together perfectly, from Genin to Jounin levels. They have plenty of business, even if they're somewhat crowded out of some markets by Konoha, and their strong traditions and clans seem to be seeing them through, even if there has recently been some internal tension.
Pros: Slow start to plot, teamwork bonuses, a number of established clans (with a wide variety of skills, including some unexpected for the area like Puppets) you could be part of, other small bonuses.
Cons: Slow start to plot, high-profile missions might be taken by Konoha, internal tension.
[] Takumigakure (Hidden Craftsman): Aligned with Suna, this small village in the middle of the Land of Rivers (between Konoha and Suna), they are well known for their customized weaponry, and their skill at fuinjutsu and chakra manipulation necessary to turn these weapons even deadlier. Being aligned with Suna, they also have more than a little skill at both puppetry and its sister, poisons.
Pros: Start with a cool weapon (quality/etc depends on background), large bonuses to weapons training, moderate bonuses to poisons and puppetry training, Suna's got your back.
Cons: Somewhat predictable, relatively small, plenty of other villages to compete with for ninja jobs.
[] Numagakure (Hidden Swamp): Aligned with Kiri, this village is very hidden, within a thick swamp. Besides holding a number of interesting clans and kekkai genkai related to the swamps themselves, they are noted for their skill at Water release and their absolute mastery of a number of rare poisons, to a degree that impresses even Grass ninja. With these skills come an impressive talent at healing jutsu and medical skills, the other side of the coin. Kiri is not a harsh taskmaster, and the new Mizukage seems reasonable, and so there is plenty in the way of opportunity.
Pro: Bonus to Water Release, poison, and medicine. Have allies to back you up, clans related to swamp-based jutsu. Live in a swamp.
Cons: Live in a swamp. Somewhat out of the way of the action, slower start.
[] Hidden Lock: Living in the Land of Keys, managing to have no connection to any of the five great villages, they have a surprisingly standardized package, almost suspiciously so in the eyes of the most paranoid. All of their Ninja, whatever their other skills, know kenjutsu, genjutsu, stealth and Earth Release. They are relatively secretive, even among their own, and the adult Jounin are happy to pass on their knowledge, yes, but secret-keeping is also definitely a part of this village.
Pros: Bonuses to a wide variety of skills, custom traits available for them. Tons of potential trainers for skills, plenty of jobs involving the more secretive side of the world of ninjas.
Cons: Incredibly predictable (you'd really better branch out), some points already allocated, unaligned fence-sitters, village might/might-not have dark, hidden secrets. Nobody tells you anything.
[] Anshogakure (Hidden Reef): A very minor village indeed, it and Hidden Tide and Island are locked in a three-way competition, in a land without real Daimyo. In this small chain of islands, Ninja rule, extracting tribute and warring to try to dominate the land. Provincial as heck, they tend to be weaker than even their numbers (the fact that the entire village has only 5 Jonin, for instance) would suggest, having little in the way to stretch them. All three villages tend to favor direct ninja battles, and disdain things like stealth and genjutsu. Recently, though, a strange Missing-Nin has washed up, almost literally, on their shores, and for a rather high price, she has used her powerful genjutsu and stealth to do what years of war couldn't do: wipe out the four Jonin of Hidden Tide. She then returned and has asked to be able to give lessons to some of the Genin and Academy students while they scrounge up the money and consider asking her to go on more missings. This Iwasaki Emiko likely has all sorts of plans, but for the moment it seems a godsend.
Pro: Powerful missing-nin Sensei, knows Stealth, Genjutsu, Wind and Earth releases, among other Jonin (like, actual jonin, not what passes for Jonin in Reef) level skills, prepared plotline, all sorts of odd clans and 'last survivors' wash up here, away from anyone important that might wipe them out.
Cons: Subtlety is for losers (those who are at all subtle with their Ninja skills are traditionally looked down on). Penalties to some training stuff, and start with fewer points to distribute.
(Was thinking of adding one more, feel free to complain if you feel these five choices aren't enough!)
[] Civilian Parents: They are a first-generation ninja. Their parents might or might approve, but while they're somewhat stunted in terms of Ninja skills and jutsu, they have knowledge and experience among civilians that might be useful, and they may take one extra trait.
[] Ninja Family: They are the child of a ninja, and learned from an early age that they wished to follow their parents' foot-steps. They receive extra training and support, though not nearly so much as a Clan would have, and are likely not as civilian socialized, or driven in the same ways as someone civilian-born.
[] Clan Born/Bloodline: Whether they grew up knowing them or not, your character has access to a bloodline or special clan techniques and training. You receive the same bonus to stats that a Ninja Family gets, and then a few small extras depending on bloodline/clan (which will be picked later, since it partially depends on village), and perhaps a few free Jutsu. However, the focus on learning the clan techniques will place limits on other knowledge and eat away at the 'other jutsu' category, to start out with. There are tons of bloodlines and clans to choose, some non-canon. I can tell you some of the Bloodlines in each village if you ask nicely, though others would be revealed/voted on in the next round.
A/N: As much as possible, I've tried to make it so that all choices are balanced, I love Genjutsu and Puppetry so no, neither of them is a weak choice, nor is any other build, though yeah, biases do exist but the system should be able to create a lot of different types of ninja. Please vote, like, subscribe, donate a million dollars if you have it lying around, and welcome to the world of Ninjas!
Also, a free hug to anyone who thinks of a good name/title.
Also, fingers crossed that @Tekomandor 's quest hasn't fulfilled everyone's Naruto-based Quest needs with its awesomeness and Hyuuga-ness.
Feel free to start voting...after I make a few 'filler' posts for when the character sheet comes up.
This is based off of an AU of Naruto a friend and I made a while back, as Naruto, having taken a left swerve or two, was entering the final Ninja war (around the point with the army of clone-things). The idea was sorta 'let's imagine Naruto ends with Naruto becoming Hokage, or something like it, and Madara being defeated and a golden age of peace being created...what happens a hundred years later, when the peace starts to fall apart?' And thus we created a big, complicated setting, based on a world that had begun to advance, in which Ninja villages had proliferated and relative peace had reigned.
This is not that era. The Pax Naruto has begun to fall apart. Naruto is still alive, but quite ancient and no longer Hokage, currently searching for an heir to bear his burden, to be the next host of Kurama, the nine-tailed fox. And across the world, in hidden villages large and small, shifts are happening, factions are aligning, and perhaps soon the Ninja world will erupt again into open, brutal conflict. The world has changed, but some things stay the same.
And one of them is that each year more Genin graduate from academies all across the lands, and your character is one of them, from a minor hidden village, to be more precise. Will they make an impact on the world and become a splendid ninja, or will they fade away? Their ninja chronicles begin now begins here and now!
First, pick a gender and a village. Gender will slightly influence some stats, though not the ones you are thinking (no Str+ vs. Wis+ or anything here), as well as some background/character stuff, so it is important.
[] Male
[] Female
[] Other
Villages
[] Tsutagakure (Village Hidden Among the Cliffs): Founded shortly after the end of the last Ninja war, they draw their strength from their multiple clans, but also from several other factors. Their dug-in cliff-side village is hard to assail, their alliance with Konoha has been relatively solid, and they place an emphasis on teamwork and small-unit tactics, each squad meant to work together perfectly, from Genin to Jounin levels. They have plenty of business, even if they're somewhat crowded out of some markets by Konoha, and their strong traditions and clans seem to be seeing them through, even if there has recently been some internal tension.
Pros: Slow start to plot, teamwork bonuses, a number of established clans (with a wide variety of skills, including some unexpected for the area like Puppets) you could be part of, other small bonuses.
Cons: Slow start to plot, high-profile missions might be taken by Konoha, internal tension.
[] Takumigakure (Hidden Craftsman): Aligned with Suna, this small village in the middle of the Land of Rivers (between Konoha and Suna), they are well known for their customized weaponry, and their skill at fuinjutsu and chakra manipulation necessary to turn these weapons even deadlier. Being aligned with Suna, they also have more than a little skill at both puppetry and its sister, poisons.
Pros: Start with a cool weapon (quality/etc depends on background), large bonuses to weapons training, moderate bonuses to poisons and puppetry training, Suna's got your back.
Cons: Somewhat predictable, relatively small, plenty of other villages to compete with for ninja jobs.
[] Numagakure (Hidden Swamp): Aligned with Kiri, this village is very hidden, within a thick swamp. Besides holding a number of interesting clans and kekkai genkai related to the swamps themselves, they are noted for their skill at Water release and their absolute mastery of a number of rare poisons, to a degree that impresses even Grass ninja. With these skills come an impressive talent at healing jutsu and medical skills, the other side of the coin. Kiri is not a harsh taskmaster, and the new Mizukage seems reasonable, and so there is plenty in the way of opportunity.
Pro: Bonus to Water Release, poison, and medicine. Have allies to back you up, clans related to swamp-based jutsu. Live in a swamp.
Cons: Live in a swamp. Somewhat out of the way of the action, slower start.
[] Hidden Lock: Living in the Land of Keys, managing to have no connection to any of the five great villages, they have a surprisingly standardized package, almost suspiciously so in the eyes of the most paranoid. All of their Ninja, whatever their other skills, know kenjutsu, genjutsu, stealth and Earth Release. They are relatively secretive, even among their own, and the adult Jounin are happy to pass on their knowledge, yes, but secret-keeping is also definitely a part of this village.
Pros: Bonuses to a wide variety of skills, custom traits available for them. Tons of potential trainers for skills, plenty of jobs involving the more secretive side of the world of ninjas.
Cons: Incredibly predictable (you'd really better branch out), some points already allocated, unaligned fence-sitters, village might/might-not have dark, hidden secrets. Nobody tells you anything.
[] Anshogakure (Hidden Reef): A very minor village indeed, it and Hidden Tide and Island are locked in a three-way competition, in a land without real Daimyo. In this small chain of islands, Ninja rule, extracting tribute and warring to try to dominate the land. Provincial as heck, they tend to be weaker than even their numbers (the fact that the entire village has only 5 Jonin, for instance) would suggest, having little in the way to stretch them. All three villages tend to favor direct ninja battles, and disdain things like stealth and genjutsu. Recently, though, a strange Missing-Nin has washed up, almost literally, on their shores, and for a rather high price, she has used her powerful genjutsu and stealth to do what years of war couldn't do: wipe out the four Jonin of Hidden Tide. She then returned and has asked to be able to give lessons to some of the Genin and Academy students while they scrounge up the money and consider asking her to go on more missings. This Iwasaki Emiko likely has all sorts of plans, but for the moment it seems a godsend.
Pro: Powerful missing-nin Sensei, knows Stealth, Genjutsu, Wind and Earth releases, among other Jonin (like, actual jonin, not what passes for Jonin in Reef) level skills, prepared plotline, all sorts of odd clans and 'last survivors' wash up here, away from anyone important that might wipe them out.
Cons: Subtlety is for losers (those who are at all subtle with their Ninja skills are traditionally looked down on). Penalties to some training stuff, and start with fewer points to distribute.
(Was thinking of adding one more, feel free to complain if you feel these five choices aren't enough!)
[] Civilian Parents: They are a first-generation ninja. Their parents might or might approve, but while they're somewhat stunted in terms of Ninja skills and jutsu, they have knowledge and experience among civilians that might be useful, and they may take one extra trait.
[] Ninja Family: They are the child of a ninja, and learned from an early age that they wished to follow their parents' foot-steps. They receive extra training and support, though not nearly so much as a Clan would have, and are likely not as civilian socialized, or driven in the same ways as someone civilian-born.
[] Clan Born/Bloodline: Whether they grew up knowing them or not, your character has access to a bloodline or special clan techniques and training. You receive the same bonus to stats that a Ninja Family gets, and then a few small extras depending on bloodline/clan (which will be picked later, since it partially depends on village), and perhaps a few free Jutsu. However, the focus on learning the clan techniques will place limits on other knowledge and eat away at the 'other jutsu' category, to start out with. There are tons of bloodlines and clans to choose, some non-canon. I can tell you some of the Bloodlines in each village if you ask nicely, though others would be revealed/voted on in the next round.
A/N: As much as possible, I've tried to make it so that all choices are balanced, I love Genjutsu and Puppetry so no, neither of them is a weak choice, nor is any other build, though yeah, biases do exist but the system should be able to create a lot of different types of ninja. Please vote, like, subscribe, donate a million dollars if you have it lying around, and welcome to the world of Ninjas!
Also, a free hug to anyone who thinks of a good name/title.
Also, fingers crossed that @Tekomandor 's quest hasn't fulfilled everyone's Naruto-based Quest needs with its awesomeness and Hyuuga-ness.
Feel free to start voting...after I make a few 'filler' posts for when the character sheet comes up.
Character Sheet
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Character Sheet
Money: 140k Ryou ($14,000)
| Suzuhisa Shizue (3129) | |||||
| Age: 13 | Gender: Female | Village Affiliation:Missing-nin, formerly Reef | Rank: Genin | Affinity: Earth | |
| Traits | A Little Drop of Poison, Genius (Puppetry), Isolated, Messages in the Flowers, Walk Like a Civilian, Ninjutsu Focus | ||||
| Hit Points | 39 | Chakra | 768 | Initiative | 42 |
| STATS | |||||
| Strength | 23 | Intelligence | 44 | ||
| Dexterity | 33 | Perception | 42 | ||
| Agility | 50 | Power | 35 | ||
| Constitution | 36 | Willpower | 42 | ||
| Coil Capacity | 42 | Chakra Molding | 48 | ||
| Skills | |||||
| Athletics | 27 | Movement | 32 | Stealth | 35 |
| Awareness | 35 | Ninjutsu | 41 | Survival | 25 |
| Earth Jutsu | 21 | Persuasion | 37 | Taijutsu | 24 |
| Evasion | 42 | Poisons | 33 | Traps | 36 |
| Explosives | 22 | Puppetry | 58 | Water Jutsu | 16 |
| Fuinjutsu | 36 | Short Blades | 10 | Wires | 31 |
| Genjutsu | 25 | Shurikenjutsu | 11 | ||
| Infiltration | 40 | Socialize | 46 | ||
| Derived Abilities | |||||
| Notice | 39 | Persuade | 36 | Social Will | 44 |
| Earth Attack | 27 | Short Blades Attack | 17 | Hide | 39 |
| Dodge (+8 Suna) | 46 | Short Blades Defense | 22 | Sneak | 34 |
| Short Movement | 41 | Shurikenjutsu Attack | 22 | Taijutsu Attack | 24 |
| Long Movement | 34 | Social Per | 44 | Taijutsu Defense | 29 |
| Ninjutsu Attack | 37 | Social Pow | 41 | Water Attack | 25 |
E-Rank
Body Replacement (Rank 3)
The user replaces themselves with an object within sixty feet of them. Any object up to -/+50% of the user's size is a valid target. Instead of an object the user may use an individual with less chakra than them if they succeed in an opposed Chakra Control check against the target. This technique is now performed seallessly, and may be used reactively without prior preparation.
Cost: 10 chakra.
Cloak of Invisibility (Rank 5)
The user is rendered completely invisible while the jutsu is maintained; however, they are not hidden from other senses, or chakra sensing. The user may move freely if they make no rapid, sudden movements; eg. they may not attack.
Cost: 5 chakra, then 1 chakra per 2 minutes.
Clone (Rank 1)
Creates up to two insubstantial clones that disperse when touched; the clones do not cast a shadow but are visually identical to the user. They appear with an obvious puff of smoke, last for a maximum of two rounds and mimic the user's movements exactly.
Cost: 10 chakra per clone.
Earth Release: Earth Moulding (Rank 1)
The user can slowly manipulate and shape up to four pounds of soft dirt or mud, even causing it to move against gravity, as long as they keep their hand in contact with the material; this technique is commonly used to bury waste, bodies and so on, and is one of the group commonly known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 10 chakra per round.
Ninja Art: Dizzy Spell (Rank 5)
This jutsu uses a pulse of sound to confuse the inner ear of everybody within a 30ft radius, causing them to suffer a -5 penalty to physical actions rolls for four rounds. The technique is indiscriminate; anybody, allies as well as opponents, within the affected area will suffer the penalty, and the jutsu requires a source of sound to work. The user may freely exclude any number of individuals from the jutsu's effects.
Cost: 5 chakra
Ninja Art: Piercing Note (Rank 5)
This jutsu inflicts an intense, painful pulse of sound on everybody within a 25ft radius, causing them to suffer a -3 penalty to all actions for four rounds as well as 2 damage. The jutsu requires a source of sound to work, and the user may freely exclude any number of individuals from the jutsu's effects.
Cost: 5 chakra
Ninja Art: Whispering (5)
A simple utility jutsu, it can allow the user to whisper into the ear of a target within 40ft of them. They must still say the words, but they can be as quiet as one wants, the target will hear them. It is very useful for any number of purposes, but combat is definitely not one of them.
Cost: 6 chakra per minute.
Transformation (Rank 3)
The user may adopt the accurate likeness of any human being or animal of up to +/-75% of their own body mass. They may also transform into any simple (no moving parts or unusual properties) inanimate form of roughly similar mass. The transformation is physical, but it can be easily dispersed by even the weakest of attacks. It does not disguise their scent, nor does it conceal them from chakra sensors.
Cost: 5 chakra, then 1 chakra per 2 minutes.
Water Release: Condensation (Rank 3)
By condensing ambient water vapor, this jutsu produces up to five litres of water, although the output is halved in a dry environment such as a desert. One of the group of techniques commonly known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 4 chakra per litre.
Water Release: Manipulation (Rank 1)
The user is can manipulate and control half a litre of water, causing it to hold certain shapes or flow against gravity; the user must keep in contact with the water being utilized. One of the group of techniques known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 5 chakra per round.
Water Release: Thin Mist (Rank 1)
The user creates a cloud of thin mist ten feet in diameter, lasting for three rounds after which it will dissipate. The cloud obscures sight slightly; anyone inside it suffers a -2 penalty to Awareness rolls. This jutsu requires a nearby source of water to perform.
Cost: 15 chakra.
Water Release: Spitting Fish (Rank 1)
The user spits a small, forceful stream of water at a single target within ten feet. Though at this level it does no damage, if hit the target will stumble and receive a -1 penalty to defensive rolls until the beginning of the user's next turn.
Cost: 10 chakra
D-RANK
Ninja Art: Inner Ear Disturbance (Rank 3)
This technique acts as an enhanced version of Dizzy Spell, inflicting a -8 physical actions penalty on one target within 35ft for a duration of one round; in addition, for the duration any character attempting to use a genjutsu against the affected target gains a +4 bonus to their roll. This technique does not involve any audible sound and so it does not give away the user's location.
Cost: 35 chakra.
Ninja Art: Keen Ears (Rank 3)
This jutsu enhances the user's perception considerably, granting them a +10 bonus to hearing-based Awareness checks. At this rank of the jutsu they are no longer vulnerable to sudden loud sounds.
Cost: 18 chakra per minute.
Ninja Art: Sonar Burst (Rank 3)
This jutsu is the first step towards echolocation; creating a brief picture of everything within a 50ft radius in all directions, regardless of obstruction. At this level the resolution is not terribly fine; the user must pass a Perception check at a -4 penalty to notice things that would otherwise be hidden from view; however, they receive a +7 bonus to Perception when attempting to notice a genjutsu. The technique has its limits; it cannot, for example, show writing on a page, and it requires a source of sound to perform.
Cost: 35 chakra
Ninja Art: Sound Dampening (Rank 3)
Based on observing certain of Emiko's wind techniques, this jutsu suppresses sound and prevents it from travelling. The user gains a +10 bonus to sound-related Stealth checks against anybody not within 10ft radius of them.
Cost: 18 chakra per minute
Ninja Art: Wall of Sound (Rank 3)
This jutsu amplifies sound to the point that it gains physical force, creating an effect similar to a sonic boom affecting a 25ft narrow cone. Anybody within the area of effect is knocked back five feet, knocked down, and suffers 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage as well as a -3 penalty to all actions for the next round due to their head ringing from the intense pulse of sound.
Cost: 35 chakra.
Ninja Art: Utter Silence (Rank 1 - 5/25 XP)
Ninja Art: Sound Clone (Rank - 13/50 XP)
Body Replacement (Rank 3)
The user replaces themselves with an object within sixty feet of them. Any object up to -/+50% of the user's size is a valid target. Instead of an object the user may use an individual with less chakra than them if they succeed in an opposed Chakra Control check against the target. This technique is now performed seallessly, and may be used reactively without prior preparation.
Cost: 10 chakra.
Cloak of Invisibility (Rank 5)
The user is rendered completely invisible while the jutsu is maintained; however, they are not hidden from other senses, or chakra sensing. The user may move freely if they make no rapid, sudden movements; eg. they may not attack.
Cost: 5 chakra, then 1 chakra per 2 minutes.
Clone (Rank 1)
Creates up to two insubstantial clones that disperse when touched; the clones do not cast a shadow but are visually identical to the user. They appear with an obvious puff of smoke, last for a maximum of two rounds and mimic the user's movements exactly.
Cost: 10 chakra per clone.
Earth Release: Earth Moulding (Rank 1)
The user can slowly manipulate and shape up to four pounds of soft dirt or mud, even causing it to move against gravity, as long as they keep their hand in contact with the material; this technique is commonly used to bury waste, bodies and so on, and is one of the group commonly known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 10 chakra per round.
Ninja Art: Dizzy Spell (Rank 5)
This jutsu uses a pulse of sound to confuse the inner ear of everybody within a 30ft radius, causing them to suffer a -5 penalty to physical actions rolls for four rounds. The technique is indiscriminate; anybody, allies as well as opponents, within the affected area will suffer the penalty, and the jutsu requires a source of sound to work. The user may freely exclude any number of individuals from the jutsu's effects.
Cost: 5 chakra
Ninja Art: Piercing Note (Rank 5)
This jutsu inflicts an intense, painful pulse of sound on everybody within a 25ft radius, causing them to suffer a -3 penalty to all actions for four rounds as well as 2 damage. The jutsu requires a source of sound to work, and the user may freely exclude any number of individuals from the jutsu's effects.
Cost: 5 chakra
Ninja Art: Whispering (5)
A simple utility jutsu, it can allow the user to whisper into the ear of a target within 40ft of them. They must still say the words, but they can be as quiet as one wants, the target will hear them. It is very useful for any number of purposes, but combat is definitely not one of them.
Cost: 6 chakra per minute.
Transformation (Rank 3)
The user may adopt the accurate likeness of any human being or animal of up to +/-75% of their own body mass. They may also transform into any simple (no moving parts or unusual properties) inanimate form of roughly similar mass. The transformation is physical, but it can be easily dispersed by even the weakest of attacks. It does not disguise their scent, nor does it conceal them from chakra sensors.
Cost: 5 chakra, then 1 chakra per 2 minutes.
Water Release: Condensation (Rank 3)
By condensing ambient water vapor, this jutsu produces up to five litres of water, although the output is halved in a dry environment such as a desert. One of the group of techniques commonly known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 4 chakra per litre.
Water Release: Manipulation (Rank 1)
The user is can manipulate and control half a litre of water, causing it to hold certain shapes or flow against gravity; the user must keep in contact with the water being utilized. One of the group of techniques known as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 5 chakra per round.
Water Release: Thin Mist (Rank 1)
The user creates a cloud of thin mist ten feet in diameter, lasting for three rounds after which it will dissipate. The cloud obscures sight slightly; anyone inside it suffers a -2 penalty to Awareness rolls. This jutsu requires a nearby source of water to perform.
Cost: 15 chakra.
Water Release: Spitting Fish (Rank 1)
The user spits a small, forceful stream of water at a single target within ten feet. Though at this level it does no damage, if hit the target will stumble and receive a -1 penalty to defensive rolls until the beginning of the user's next turn.
Cost: 10 chakra
D-RANK
Ninja Art: Inner Ear Disturbance (Rank 3)
This technique acts as an enhanced version of Dizzy Spell, inflicting a -8 physical actions penalty on one target within 35ft for a duration of one round; in addition, for the duration any character attempting to use a genjutsu against the affected target gains a +4 bonus to their roll. This technique does not involve any audible sound and so it does not give away the user's location.
Cost: 35 chakra.
Ninja Art: Keen Ears (Rank 3)
This jutsu enhances the user's perception considerably, granting them a +10 bonus to hearing-based Awareness checks. At this rank of the jutsu they are no longer vulnerable to sudden loud sounds.
Cost: 18 chakra per minute.
Ninja Art: Sonar Burst (Rank 3)
This jutsu is the first step towards echolocation; creating a brief picture of everything within a 50ft radius in all directions, regardless of obstruction. At this level the resolution is not terribly fine; the user must pass a Perception check at a -4 penalty to notice things that would otherwise be hidden from view; however, they receive a +7 bonus to Perception when attempting to notice a genjutsu. The technique has its limits; it cannot, for example, show writing on a page, and it requires a source of sound to perform.
Cost: 35 chakra
Ninja Art: Sound Dampening (Rank 3)
Based on observing certain of Emiko's wind techniques, this jutsu suppresses sound and prevents it from travelling. The user gains a +10 bonus to sound-related Stealth checks against anybody not within 10ft radius of them.
Cost: 18 chakra per minute
Ninja Art: Wall of Sound (Rank 3)
This jutsu amplifies sound to the point that it gains physical force, creating an effect similar to a sonic boom affecting a 25ft narrow cone. Anybody within the area of effect is knocked back five feet, knocked down, and suffers 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage as well as a -3 penalty to all actions for the next round due to their head ringing from the intense pulse of sound.
Cost: 35 chakra.
Ninja Art: Utter Silence (Rank 1 - 5/25 XP)
Ninja Art: Sound Clone (Rank - 13/50 XP)
Suna Ryu taijutsu
Rank 1 - The Sand Shifts: +8 bonus to dodging
Rank 2 - Following a successful dodge in melee, a practitioner may choose to immediately relocate to the opposite side of the opponent that attacked them.
Wall Walking
Invisible Strings
Rank 1 - The Sand Shifts: +8 bonus to dodging
Rank 2 - Following a successful dodge in melee, a practitioner may choose to immediately relocate to the opposite side of the opponent that attacked them.
Wall Walking
Invisible Strings
STINGER (425/415 possible)
Armament 36
Structure 26
Design 30
Agility 42
Melee Attack +34
Ranged Attack +35
HP 26
15 Equipment Slots (15 Occupied)
Poison Kunai Thrower (26): Costing half of Poison level, this allows the puppet to temporarily have Poison 20 for the purposes of its attack. Now improved. Has a Stability 4 mod on it, and larger technique slots. Stinger has a much larger Kunai magazine, and thus is less likely to run out in an extended conflict. Two slots.
Stealthy Puppet (5): Through the clever use of painting and finding ways to muffle the various sounds a machine is likely to make, the agility of this puppet acts as 5 points higher when sneaking.
Sound Generator (5): This puppet has been outfitted with (kept silenced until activated) bells and chimes that can generate the noise required for low-level Sound jutsu to work.
Ball-Joint Flexibility (4): A puppet is more flexible than any human can be, when made well. For the purpose of Taijutsu and evading attacks, it can count its score as 4 points higher, and is thus much harder to land a 'solid hit' on.
Internal Armoring (8) : There are many important gears, joints and parts to be protected in this complex puppet, and so Shizue has decided to work on that by putting in internal protection without sacrificing the speed of the puppet in any way. Damage to the puppet's outside is less likely to disable or screw up any equipment or important mechanisms immediately.
Waterproofing (8) : While Shizue is pretty sure the puppet *shouldn't* be submerged in water, and it creates difficulty, being soaked in Water Releases is no problem with its tight joints and waterproof materials, and it can be completely soaked and yet unaffected, important considering the area.
Wired Reflexes (3): Agility is increased by 2 for the purposes of acting first, quick reactions.
Cloak and Dagger (Free): +1 to Stealth rolls, cooler puppet
Spring Loaded (6): Boy, won't that be a surprise!
Every Joint a Puzzle (10): By creating a flexible physical design that includes many points of rotation, Stinger can be made stranger, his motions harder to track, so long as Shizue knows how to control him just right. For the first five rounds of combat, while opponents are getting used to the strange motions, Stinger's agility counts as 4 higher for the purpose of dodging or deflection of attacks. Upon a second fight with the same opponent, it only takes them three rounds, and if someone's still alive after 3 fights (they shouldn't be if they're not an ally), there's no bonus against them. Two slots.
Extending Arms (12): Completely stolen from watching...I mean, based on Ichiman's spear-extension jutsu, a careful hydraulic process can make the length of the arms extend in mid-stab, thus turning a near-miss into a hit. Because of various factors, it's somewhat more predictable than Ichiman's jutsu, and so after a number of times of using it, an opponent will begin to compensate for it, but in the meantime, it's an effective way to continue to keep up the surprises.
Taijutsu-ification (16): Modifying the body to more easily be able to use taijutsu, Shizue will then 'teach' the puppet the basics of Suna Ryu. It's...a little complicated, but certainly possible to program in responses to chakra twitches that mimic the complicated forms she has learned as best she can. Three slots.
RYUKO (415/415)
Armament 33
Structure 28
Design 37
Agility 19
Melee Attack +32
Ranged Attack +34
HP 28
18 Equipment Slots
Whip-tail (16): If someone gets close, or tries to get behind the puppet, then something needs to be done. A spiked tail would be just the thing. It'd be her primary melee attack, and a last ditch matter, but it could be cunningly designed to be able to extend and retract, and the spiked ball at the end would hurt quite a bit. (Melee weapon: 1/1 damage)
Scale Armor (35): The dragon must be armored against its enemies. By cunningly covering its body in scales designed not to weigh it down too much, and yet very useful in other ways, she can give it the protection of armor. (Armor 5)
Dragon's Roar (18): It is a sixth head, of sorts, but one that could be quite useful. Ryuko could do Ninja Art: Wall of Sound. (Creates a massive pulse of intense sound strong enough to translate into physical force in a 25ft narrow cone. It inflicts 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage, 5ft knockback plus knockdown, and a -3 all actions penalty for the next round.)
Grip Claws (12): Climbing up the walls isn't easy, but with specially designed grip claws, even if the puppet can't really run on the walls as a ninja can, it could use the walls as a platform, or as a way to escape attacks, digging its claws in and stabilizing itself before preparing an attack. (Allows Ryuko to wall walk slowly on surfaces strong enough to support her, +4 to hit bonus with ranged attacks if puppet does not move this round.)
Main Weapon (100):
-Embershot Thrower: Shooting a D-ranked ball of fire at a single target. (Spits a projectile of red hot, glowing embers at a single target within 30ft, doing 5 + 1/3 (max. 16) damage.)
-Steaming Death: By combining fire and water, Ryuko can shoot a thick cloud of steam that can boil one's enemies. (Breathes out a jet of searing steam in a 20ft narrow cone, doing 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage. The cloud of steam lingers in the affected area for two rounds before dispersing, causing a -3 penalty to Awareness rolls.)
-Piercing Winds. A single, powerful gust of wind, a sort of piercing arrow, goes straight at the enemy. (Shoots an arrow of cutting wind at a single target within 40ft, doing 4 + 1/3 (max. 15) damage.)
-Oilslick Attack: By 'vomiting' up an oil slick, Ryuko can unbalance enemies, making them slip and slide. (Spits out a stream of slippery oil to cover the ground in a 25ft narrow cone. The oil lasts for five rounds; anybody who passes through the affected area must succeed in an Agility check against Ryuko's Armament stat or fall prone. Even if successful, they suffer a -6 penalty to all physical actions while in the affected area due to uncertain footing.)
-Roar of Thunder: A smaller charge could be generated, but one which shoots a sort of web of lightning, dealing a little damage to a wide area. (Spits a spread of crackling lightning covering a 20ft wide cone, doing 3 + 1/3 (max. 13) damage. the target suffers a -2 penalty to their defense roll; a near enough miss will cause the lightning to arc to them anyway.)
Armament 36
Structure 26
Design 30
Agility 42
Melee Attack +34
Ranged Attack +35
HP 26
15 Equipment Slots (15 Occupied)
Poison Kunai Thrower (26): Costing half of Poison level, this allows the puppet to temporarily have Poison 20 for the purposes of its attack. Now improved. Has a Stability 4 mod on it, and larger technique slots. Stinger has a much larger Kunai magazine, and thus is less likely to run out in an extended conflict. Two slots.
Stealthy Puppet (5): Through the clever use of painting and finding ways to muffle the various sounds a machine is likely to make, the agility of this puppet acts as 5 points higher when sneaking.
Sound Generator (5): This puppet has been outfitted with (kept silenced until activated) bells and chimes that can generate the noise required for low-level Sound jutsu to work.
Ball-Joint Flexibility (4): A puppet is more flexible than any human can be, when made well. For the purpose of Taijutsu and evading attacks, it can count its score as 4 points higher, and is thus much harder to land a 'solid hit' on.
Internal Armoring (8) : There are many important gears, joints and parts to be protected in this complex puppet, and so Shizue has decided to work on that by putting in internal protection without sacrificing the speed of the puppet in any way. Damage to the puppet's outside is less likely to disable or screw up any equipment or important mechanisms immediately.
Waterproofing (8) : While Shizue is pretty sure the puppet *shouldn't* be submerged in water, and it creates difficulty, being soaked in Water Releases is no problem with its tight joints and waterproof materials, and it can be completely soaked and yet unaffected, important considering the area.
Wired Reflexes (3): Agility is increased by 2 for the purposes of acting first, quick reactions.
Cloak and Dagger (Free): +1 to Stealth rolls, cooler puppet
Spring Loaded (6): Boy, won't that be a surprise!
Every Joint a Puzzle (10): By creating a flexible physical design that includes many points of rotation, Stinger can be made stranger, his motions harder to track, so long as Shizue knows how to control him just right. For the first five rounds of combat, while opponents are getting used to the strange motions, Stinger's agility counts as 4 higher for the purpose of dodging or deflection of attacks. Upon a second fight with the same opponent, it only takes them three rounds, and if someone's still alive after 3 fights (they shouldn't be if they're not an ally), there's no bonus against them. Two slots.
Extending Arms (12): Completely stolen from watching...I mean, based on Ichiman's spear-extension jutsu, a careful hydraulic process can make the length of the arms extend in mid-stab, thus turning a near-miss into a hit. Because of various factors, it's somewhat more predictable than Ichiman's jutsu, and so after a number of times of using it, an opponent will begin to compensate for it, but in the meantime, it's an effective way to continue to keep up the surprises.
Taijutsu-ification (16): Modifying the body to more easily be able to use taijutsu, Shizue will then 'teach' the puppet the basics of Suna Ryu. It's...a little complicated, but certainly possible to program in responses to chakra twitches that mimic the complicated forms she has learned as best she can. Three slots.
RYUKO (415/415)
Armament 33
Structure 28
Design 37
Agility 19
Melee Attack +32
Ranged Attack +34
HP 28
18 Equipment Slots
Whip-tail (16): If someone gets close, or tries to get behind the puppet, then something needs to be done. A spiked tail would be just the thing. It'd be her primary melee attack, and a last ditch matter, but it could be cunningly designed to be able to extend and retract, and the spiked ball at the end would hurt quite a bit. (Melee weapon: 1/1 damage)
Scale Armor (35): The dragon must be armored against its enemies. By cunningly covering its body in scales designed not to weigh it down too much, and yet very useful in other ways, she can give it the protection of armor. (Armor 5)
Dragon's Roar (18): It is a sixth head, of sorts, but one that could be quite useful. Ryuko could do Ninja Art: Wall of Sound. (Creates a massive pulse of intense sound strong enough to translate into physical force in a 25ft narrow cone. It inflicts 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage, 5ft knockback plus knockdown, and a -3 all actions penalty for the next round.)
Grip Claws (12): Climbing up the walls isn't easy, but with specially designed grip claws, even if the puppet can't really run on the walls as a ninja can, it could use the walls as a platform, or as a way to escape attacks, digging its claws in and stabilizing itself before preparing an attack. (Allows Ryuko to wall walk slowly on surfaces strong enough to support her, +4 to hit bonus with ranged attacks if puppet does not move this round.)
Main Weapon (100):
-Embershot Thrower: Shooting a D-ranked ball of fire at a single target. (Spits a projectile of red hot, glowing embers at a single target within 30ft, doing 5 + 1/3 (max. 16) damage.)
-Steaming Death: By combining fire and water, Ryuko can shoot a thick cloud of steam that can boil one's enemies. (Breathes out a jet of searing steam in a 20ft narrow cone, doing 3 + 1/4 (max. 11) damage. The cloud of steam lingers in the affected area for two rounds before dispersing, causing a -3 penalty to Awareness rolls.)
-Piercing Winds. A single, powerful gust of wind, a sort of piercing arrow, goes straight at the enemy. (Shoots an arrow of cutting wind at a single target within 40ft, doing 4 + 1/3 (max. 15) damage.)
-Oilslick Attack: By 'vomiting' up an oil slick, Ryuko can unbalance enemies, making them slip and slide. (Spits out a stream of slippery oil to cover the ground in a 25ft narrow cone. The oil lasts for five rounds; anybody who passes through the affected area must succeed in an Agility check against Ryuko's Armament stat or fall prone. Even if successful, they suffer a -6 penalty to all physical actions while in the affected area due to uncertain footing.)
-Roar of Thunder: A smaller charge could be generated, but one which shoots a sort of web of lightning, dealing a little damage to a wide area. (Spits a spread of crackling lightning covering a 20ft wide cone, doing 3 + 1/3 (max. 13) damage. the target suffers a -2 penalty to their defense roll; a near enough miss will cause the lightning to arc to them anyway.)
Money: 140k Ryou ($14,000)
Last edited:
Character Creation, 2
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Character Generation Part 2
Pick a name
[] Last name first, QM veto activated! For some Clans, there is a family name already provided. Non-Japanese names will be rejected out of hand.
Pick a Clan/Bloodline:
[] Once the Asai were powerful, she'd been told. Then they were accused of treason, treason against the very village they helped found- Hidden Moon, famous for its loyalty to Kiri and its clans who practiced the art of the weapon. That all changed, and the Asai who had survived the resulting purge had been scattered to the four winds. When she was seven, her parents took her aside and told her a tale of future vengeance, of the rebirth of the clan, their spears buried in the guts of those who engineered their downfall. They'd given her a small scroll to practice, low rank jutsu and exercises for a spear or trident, and then they'd left her with a friend of hers, another ninja. They said they'd be back in a year or two at most- that, though, was six years ago. Now this Iwasaki Emiko says that she knows an Asai, a missing-nin, and that she might be able to help you. (Gain Spears skill, gain bonus to spears skill, gain a mission of vengeance, gain several clan jutsu you can learn, from E to C rank. Don't gain inherited weapon automatically, but it has bonus synergy with it.)
[] She was an orphan, found washed up like so many others. Alone, scared sometimes, she made her way through the world, somewhat calmly, somewhat quietly, but with a hope that there was a reason for all of this. When Emiko, the missing-nin, the assassin came, that's when they were carefully taken aside and told, 'I know what power you hold. Those eyes are unmistakable. I do not have those eyes, but I can help you unlock them, train them.' The name of this power, hidden inside her: the Scholar's Eye, the Shomeigan. (Have a currently inactive Shomeigan. Do not currently know what it involves, except for what the name might imply and the fact that the QM doesn't give you mystery boxes without there being something in it. Gain 'Isolated' drawback, as well as another additional ½ Trait point (for a total of 4 to spend).
[] Whenever a cold comes around, she catches it. Sickly all her life, her grandmother says that it's part of their family, and that she should use her 'chakra, or whatever it's called' to do something with it. Thus far, though, she's only found a few uses, and her sickness (nothing like the sickness in stories, where you just go pale and pretty) seems far more trouble than it's worth. Still, there is something special about her body, that it can capture and contain poisons and diseases, and perhaps even more besides- all she really has to go on is a very basic scroll and her grandmother's stories, on that front. (Gain Doku Karada kekkei genkai, gain Sickly (extra ½ trait point, penalties to physical stats, stacks with Book Smart), gains access to a few low level clan techniques, but no tutor because grandmother is just a civilian family member who wound up here. Yes, this is a kekkai genkai from Swamp!) [Clan name is Fukusaku]
[] A few weeks before he went on the mission that killed him, her father drowned her. Took her fishing and pushed her into the water and held her down. Water filled her lungs and burned her eyes, and then… and then it didn't. Suddenly she could see clearly, and when she opened her mouth, water flowed through the gill slits she'd acquired. Slowly, she was transforming into some hybrid between fish and human, yet when she got out of the water the transformation reversed, over a minute or so. Ever since she has loved to swim, and while she hasn't been able to unseal the clan jutsu scrolls yet, there is definitely something interesting in there if only she could open them. (Big bonus to swimming, gain sealed clan jutsu scroll, Gain transformation into fishy form whenever immersed in water for long enough. Probably has an affinity for water but she isn't sure, at least not without being tested.)
[] Her mother never talked about Kumo, but she could guess that their departure had not been peaceful. She was four when they'd left, so all she remembered was a house and sometimes not even that. But theirs was the power of Storm Release, of water and lightning working together to create something quite unlike either of them. Her mother has not shared many of the ways to use this power, seeming to prefer that her daughter not surpass her anytime soon, but she has learned to use both of the component elements, the first step in the journey. (Have affinities for lightning and water, bonus to each. Must raise both Affinities up to a certain level to begin to combine them into the powerful Storm Release.)
[] The proudest and oldest of the clans of Reef, Clan Yaramachi is nearly ninety years old and is down to...two ninja! One of them is a Jonin and the other a new Genin, and hopefully between them and the retired civilians they will be able to make a comeback. They possess a number of clan fuinjutsu and also the knowledge of how to make explosives, as well as several jutsu related around making and fighting with mines, and other submerged explosive weapons, including some which could do fantastic things like scald enemies or move in the direction of their chakra, or be activated into explosion by even a small burst of chakra. Theirs is the strength that made Reef great (for a given value of great), and their scion will surely revive the clan's explosive potential. (Gain Skill: Explosives, unlock Fuinjutsu, gain potential trap making synergy. Also, can't take Isolated)
[] Eleven years ago, a missing nin from a Clan famed for its lightning jutsu came with his one year old daughter. Hearing that the new Jonin-Oyabun from Tide was a powerful user of lightning and water, he hoped to slay him in combat and lord it over all as a big fish in a small pond. However, it was him and not Hirigo Matsume who died that day. His daughter was left with nothing more than his sword and a damp, water-logged scroll. Now someone has killed her father's killer, but through secrecy, stealth, and perhaps even poison. She...doesn't know how to feel about that. (Gain lightning affinity, gain waterlogged scroll of lightning jutsu, gain Inherited Weapon: sword.)
[] Keep the sound of my voice in your heart, her mother had told her as she died. Keep the secret weapons, keep the flute and cymbals, keep the scrolls with the techniques they didn't trust me to do, for it will matter. You will matter, she had been told. Now she is a Genin, with access to a set of sound based jutsu, including many that are looked down on in Reef for being too subtle for the brash islanders' tastes. She has kept to her mother's words all of these years, the only thing that kept her going through a rough few years at the academy. (Gain clan jutsu scrolls, bonus to Ninjutsu, gain flute (unknown use), gain bonuses to Persuasion, Socialize, Stealth and Traps)
[] Her father was a jackdaw and a scoundrel, but now he was dead, and even a month later she didn't know what to do. All of those summoning contracts, many of them rather weak, were now hers by law, part of her 'clan', founded by her father in a moment of ambition as he danced across all of the known world stealing whatever summoning contracts he could get his hands on. She now owns them, even if she can't even understand the code they are written in. Iwasaki Emiko, though, says that she knows codes quite well and could help her. (Gain bonuses to Stealth, Persuasion, Infiltration and Genjutsu because her father's that sort of guy. Unlock Summoning. Gain contracts and notes that are untranslated. Cannot summon anything...yet.)
[] She was told by her mother that she would be the one to end the Shimakage- never mind that the islands had not been under a single ruler in four decades. Her mother was crazy, but she knew herbs and knives, poisons and medical jutsu, and she taught her daughter as much as she could before the madness completely claimed her. She visits her mother, sometimes. She shouldn't, she knows that every time she does she wonders whether she too will go crazy, and also just what her mother's secrets are, why she came here and what some of her ramblings mean. Perhaps one day she too will go mad, but until then, she hopes to use her clan jutsu and all that she has learned to be a splendid kunoichi. (Have: a crazy mother. Bonuses to Short Blades, Medicine, unlocks Poisons and Medical Jutsu.)
Traits (Pick 3)
General Traits:
Blooded: She's killed before, and while this is unusual for a rookie Genin it does mean they are more experienced and hesitate less, even if it also means that she's different from the others, many of whom haven't even thought about the fact that one day, perhaps very soon, they will have to kill.
Book Smart: While she's not always the strongest, she knows how to learn by reading and thinking things through, and this has paid off. She's better at learning through these sorts of methods, and while she takes a penalty to physical stats, she has a bonus to mental stats. (Can't be taken with Hands-on Learner)
Elemental Affinity: She knows what her elemental affinity is, whether by tradition or because it's been tested. She can thus train that element up beyond low levels and begin to really use it. Can choose her element.
Focused Study (Pick Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, or Taijutsu): She devoted her time to one of the three core shinobi skills- either Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, or Taijutsu. She thus gains a few extra points in it, but also a wider choice of starting techniques, (Ninjutsu), more understanding of the variety of illusions (Genjutsu), or more knowledge of different styles (Taijutsu.)
Genius (Pick a skill): She is very good at something, and gains +5 to it, as well as learning more about it faster. She must pick a skill in the Basic or Advanced categories, unless she has unlocked something else via her Bloodline/Clan, or via Unusual Talent.
Hands-on Learner: She is far better at learning things physically than mentally. She has penalties for learning that she doesn't directly experience, and she starts with a few more points of physical stats and a few less of mental.
Inherited Weapon: She has been given a weapon, whether from a friend, a mentor, or a family member, which might have special properties, and certainly has special meaning to her. (Pick which type of weapon, QM veto possible.)
Master of Mannerisms: She has gained skill at impersonating other people using Transformation. This can't really fool them and Transformation isn't good at tricking Ninja, but the knowledge of how different people move and act might be useful, or might be honed in the future. Bonus to Infiltration.
People Person: She is very personable, and good at making friends, and gets a few bonus points in both Persuasion and Socialize.
Prankster: She was particular good at traps and stealth, using them to play a few tricks on some people, though they might not appreciate it, or her, for what she's done. Either way, add a few free points to Stealth and Traps.
Rivalry: She has a rival, someone who challenges them, tries to get one better on them, and spurs them on. May have social consequences, training consequences, and so on.
Robust: She's rougher and tougher than most people expect, and is harder to put down, getting up again and again in a fight. She gains a bonus to health, and is generally just a little bit more scrappy.
Strong Reserves: For a genin, and one her age, she has a lot of chakra. While it's all quite relative, it does mean she can keep going for considerably longer with jutsu.
Unusual Talent: Beyond what one is usually taught as a Genin, she has picked up a less common skill. Normally you are only allowed to learn Basic and Advanced skills and anything unlocked by Clans, so this opens it up a lot more. Pick one of the following. Can take multiple times if you wish.
Village Traits:
Campaigner: She's seen what ninja of Tide have to do sometimes, and unlike the other new Genin she knows just what the real job of this village is. She's been on the patrols involving overseeing the civilians and making sure the taxes are paid on time, whether she liked it or not.
Provincial (½) : She's proud of her glorious village and its long and proud history, and she doesn't care that much about the outside world! What do they have compared to the glory of Reef? She thus knows all about the personalities, history, and feuds of this little region, and knows all of the gossip. Strong loyalty to the village.
Wanderlust (½): She's not necessarily disloyal, she just wants to see the world, see all she can and explore something far wider than what she knows is a backwater. If she only had the ability to sing, she could sing a song about wanting to be part of the wider Ninja world.
Clan Traits
Isolated (Drawback, worth ½ a trait extra): Not only is she looked down upon, for one reason or another, but she is disliked. Friendless, sometimes even despite her own social skills, she might have people who tolerate her company or are polite with her, but it's very clear that she's separate or different in some way.
Kunoichi traits
Flower Arrangement- A Little Drop of Poison (½) : When she asked the teacher about the flowers, they revealed after a pause that they could be used for poison, though it wasn't always something that everyone approved of. Unlock Poison as a Skill.
Flower Arrangement- Healing Herbs (½) : That which can kill can also heal, and she learned just a little bit about how to use plants to heal. Bonuses to Medicine and Survival.
Flower Arrangement- Messages in the Flowers (½) : When she learned about flower arranging, she also learned something about secret codes. Bonuses to infiltration, and a mind more given to thinking through and realizing various sneaky things.
Walk like a Civilian (½): Many kunoichi have a bit of a problem blending in with civilians on infiltration missions. Trained to be alert, constantly scanning for danger and ready for a fight from birth, they stand out from civilian women who are not allowed in the armies of the Daimyo. While many might be very tough indeed, they are neither trained nor expected to be the physical equal of men. This can be quite useful for infiltration and assassination, but many have to relearn how to behave as a civilian' in order to be good at infiltration. Your character doesn't have that problem, and gains bonuses to Persuasion, Socialize, and Infiltration. They know how to act like they're normal. The cost is halved because walking like one of the inferiors, one of the people you lord over, is hardly a skill that many would approve of, in this village at least. Instead, they say, a ninja should not hide their nature, but be immediately distinguishable so that everyone knows what they are and treats them with the respect (and fear) that is their just due.
*****
Laurent: So a lot of things to note! First, the Shomeigan is partially based on something from Naruto canon and you'll get a bonus if you figure it out, though it's only partial and it's a bit more complicated. What it isn't is a hax eye. It also is a bloodline which can work with any build in the sense that there's no "Puppets don't work while the eyes are activated" clause, or something. I will say that a build that involves running at people, swinging, and stabbing them without any thought or tactics, would not dovetail well with the Shomeigan. All options are balanced against each other rather fairly, and there's a chance to get even puppets (Puppets!) here! The sky's the limit, build-wise, and I am not sure whether I'll do by plan or by vote. I'll base it on what makes sense. Like if the Swamp bloodline wins x votes, but so does 'Flower Arrangement- A Little Drop of Poison' I'll change it to something else since unlocking something doesn't stack.
But yeah, hope these all seem like cool things! All are balanced between 'time it takes to master' 'advantages and drawbacks' and 'short-term advantages versus long-term advantages.'
Some additional info. Reef has 5 Jonin that form a ruling council, 5 Special Jonin, 20 Chunin, and 30-40 (it fluctuates rapidly) Genin, for a total of 60-70 Ninja. It's the second biggest village (Out of the three from the islands, it needs to be pointed out.) Island, with 8 Jonin, and 9 Special Jonin, is the largest with around 120 shinobi. Tide had around fifty, including four Jonin, but now that they're all dead, especially their infamously powerful Oyabun, the village is in a bit of trouble! Now, my new Assistant/co-QM, McClenahan (who withdrew their vote to offer to help, being one of the ones to help create the 'hundred years on' setting) and I, have made a range for minor villages and their size.
The scale goes like this 'small, medium, large.' Small is anything under 500, Medium is 500-1500, and large is over that, but below the size of the Major villages. Only those who can really tangle with the Five Great Villages ever reach Large Minor Village size. They're still *smaller* than them, but they're at least in vaguely the same league of manpower. Which is to say, in the thousands. Cliff is the largest, in the 450s or so (it fluctuates, of course), which means they have around fifty Jonin. Swamp has around 360, so about 40 Jonin. Craftsman around 300, so 30ish Jonin. Lock has around 220...and 30 Jonin, surprisingly a bit lopsided. So, yeah, you picked the village that was the most podunk, and remember that these Jonin are probably not, on average, equal to, say, Leaf or Cloud Jonin. So yeah, nowheresville.
As a note, I'll probably give some small amount of bonus XP to people who actually analyze each of the choices before picking, even just a sentence or two. For one, it'll be nice and refreshing, for the other, it'd give me a chance to catch any misconceptions, like claiming that X bloodline/clan does Y and thus isn't any good/is better than all of the others combined.
McClenahan: The creative dream team of Laurent & McClenahan rides again! Or rather, rides some more, since it never actually stopped. Yet another setting we cooked up together that's been bouncing around for quite a while- I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of character our voters come up with. The system we're using has been around about the same length of time although it's been updated, with some stripped-down mechanical influences from NSMS' Ninja of the Leaf quest.
Fake Edit: Also, as always, questions are welcome and will be answered!
Pick a name
[] Last name first, QM veto activated! For some Clans, there is a family name already provided. Non-Japanese names will be rejected out of hand.
Pick a Clan/Bloodline:
[] Once the Asai were powerful, she'd been told. Then they were accused of treason, treason against the very village they helped found- Hidden Moon, famous for its loyalty to Kiri and its clans who practiced the art of the weapon. That all changed, and the Asai who had survived the resulting purge had been scattered to the four winds. When she was seven, her parents took her aside and told her a tale of future vengeance, of the rebirth of the clan, their spears buried in the guts of those who engineered their downfall. They'd given her a small scroll to practice, low rank jutsu and exercises for a spear or trident, and then they'd left her with a friend of hers, another ninja. They said they'd be back in a year or two at most- that, though, was six years ago. Now this Iwasaki Emiko says that she knows an Asai, a missing-nin, and that she might be able to help you. (Gain Spears skill, gain bonus to spears skill, gain a mission of vengeance, gain several clan jutsu you can learn, from E to C rank. Don't gain inherited weapon automatically, but it has bonus synergy with it.)
[] She was an orphan, found washed up like so many others. Alone, scared sometimes, she made her way through the world, somewhat calmly, somewhat quietly, but with a hope that there was a reason for all of this. When Emiko, the missing-nin, the assassin came, that's when they were carefully taken aside and told, 'I know what power you hold. Those eyes are unmistakable. I do not have those eyes, but I can help you unlock them, train them.' The name of this power, hidden inside her: the Scholar's Eye, the Shomeigan. (Have a currently inactive Shomeigan. Do not currently know what it involves, except for what the name might imply and the fact that the QM doesn't give you mystery boxes without there being something in it. Gain 'Isolated' drawback, as well as another additional ½ Trait point (for a total of 4 to spend).
[] Whenever a cold comes around, she catches it. Sickly all her life, her grandmother says that it's part of their family, and that she should use her 'chakra, or whatever it's called' to do something with it. Thus far, though, she's only found a few uses, and her sickness (nothing like the sickness in stories, where you just go pale and pretty) seems far more trouble than it's worth. Still, there is something special about her body, that it can capture and contain poisons and diseases, and perhaps even more besides- all she really has to go on is a very basic scroll and her grandmother's stories, on that front. (Gain Doku Karada kekkei genkai, gain Sickly (extra ½ trait point, penalties to physical stats, stacks with Book Smart), gains access to a few low level clan techniques, but no tutor because grandmother is just a civilian family member who wound up here. Yes, this is a kekkai genkai from Swamp!) [Clan name is Fukusaku]
[] A few weeks before he went on the mission that killed him, her father drowned her. Took her fishing and pushed her into the water and held her down. Water filled her lungs and burned her eyes, and then… and then it didn't. Suddenly she could see clearly, and when she opened her mouth, water flowed through the gill slits she'd acquired. Slowly, she was transforming into some hybrid between fish and human, yet when she got out of the water the transformation reversed, over a minute or so. Ever since she has loved to swim, and while she hasn't been able to unseal the clan jutsu scrolls yet, there is definitely something interesting in there if only she could open them. (Big bonus to swimming, gain sealed clan jutsu scroll, Gain transformation into fishy form whenever immersed in water for long enough. Probably has an affinity for water but she isn't sure, at least not without being tested.)
[] Her mother never talked about Kumo, but she could guess that their departure had not been peaceful. She was four when they'd left, so all she remembered was a house and sometimes not even that. But theirs was the power of Storm Release, of water and lightning working together to create something quite unlike either of them. Her mother has not shared many of the ways to use this power, seeming to prefer that her daughter not surpass her anytime soon, but she has learned to use both of the component elements, the first step in the journey. (Have affinities for lightning and water, bonus to each. Must raise both Affinities up to a certain level to begin to combine them into the powerful Storm Release.)
[] The proudest and oldest of the clans of Reef, Clan Yaramachi is nearly ninety years old and is down to...two ninja! One of them is a Jonin and the other a new Genin, and hopefully between them and the retired civilians they will be able to make a comeback. They possess a number of clan fuinjutsu and also the knowledge of how to make explosives, as well as several jutsu related around making and fighting with mines, and other submerged explosive weapons, including some which could do fantastic things like scald enemies or move in the direction of their chakra, or be activated into explosion by even a small burst of chakra. Theirs is the strength that made Reef great (for a given value of great), and their scion will surely revive the clan's explosive potential. (Gain Skill: Explosives, unlock Fuinjutsu, gain potential trap making synergy. Also, can't take Isolated)
[] Eleven years ago, a missing nin from a Clan famed for its lightning jutsu came with his one year old daughter. Hearing that the new Jonin-Oyabun from Tide was a powerful user of lightning and water, he hoped to slay him in combat and lord it over all as a big fish in a small pond. However, it was him and not Hirigo Matsume who died that day. His daughter was left with nothing more than his sword and a damp, water-logged scroll. Now someone has killed her father's killer, but through secrecy, stealth, and perhaps even poison. She...doesn't know how to feel about that. (Gain lightning affinity, gain waterlogged scroll of lightning jutsu, gain Inherited Weapon: sword.)
[] Keep the sound of my voice in your heart, her mother had told her as she died. Keep the secret weapons, keep the flute and cymbals, keep the scrolls with the techniques they didn't trust me to do, for it will matter. You will matter, she had been told. Now she is a Genin, with access to a set of sound based jutsu, including many that are looked down on in Reef for being too subtle for the brash islanders' tastes. She has kept to her mother's words all of these years, the only thing that kept her going through a rough few years at the academy. (Gain clan jutsu scrolls, bonus to Ninjutsu, gain flute (unknown use), gain bonuses to Persuasion, Socialize, Stealth and Traps)
[] Her father was a jackdaw and a scoundrel, but now he was dead, and even a month later she didn't know what to do. All of those summoning contracts, many of them rather weak, were now hers by law, part of her 'clan', founded by her father in a moment of ambition as he danced across all of the known world stealing whatever summoning contracts he could get his hands on. She now owns them, even if she can't even understand the code they are written in. Iwasaki Emiko, though, says that she knows codes quite well and could help her. (Gain bonuses to Stealth, Persuasion, Infiltration and Genjutsu because her father's that sort of guy. Unlock Summoning. Gain contracts and notes that are untranslated. Cannot summon anything...yet.)
[] She was told by her mother that she would be the one to end the Shimakage- never mind that the islands had not been under a single ruler in four decades. Her mother was crazy, but she knew herbs and knives, poisons and medical jutsu, and she taught her daughter as much as she could before the madness completely claimed her. She visits her mother, sometimes. She shouldn't, she knows that every time she does she wonders whether she too will go crazy, and also just what her mother's secrets are, why she came here and what some of her ramblings mean. Perhaps one day she too will go mad, but until then, she hopes to use her clan jutsu and all that she has learned to be a splendid kunoichi. (Have: a crazy mother. Bonuses to Short Blades, Medicine, unlocks Poisons and Medical Jutsu.)
Traits (Pick 3)
General Traits:
Blooded: She's killed before, and while this is unusual for a rookie Genin it does mean they are more experienced and hesitate less, even if it also means that she's different from the others, many of whom haven't even thought about the fact that one day, perhaps very soon, they will have to kill.
Book Smart: While she's not always the strongest, she knows how to learn by reading and thinking things through, and this has paid off. She's better at learning through these sorts of methods, and while she takes a penalty to physical stats, she has a bonus to mental stats. (Can't be taken with Hands-on Learner)
Elemental Affinity: She knows what her elemental affinity is, whether by tradition or because it's been tested. She can thus train that element up beyond low levels and begin to really use it. Can choose her element.
Focused Study (Pick Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, or Taijutsu): She devoted her time to one of the three core shinobi skills- either Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, or Taijutsu. She thus gains a few extra points in it, but also a wider choice of starting techniques, (Ninjutsu), more understanding of the variety of illusions (Genjutsu), or more knowledge of different styles (Taijutsu.)
Genius (Pick a skill): She is very good at something, and gains +5 to it, as well as learning more about it faster. She must pick a skill in the Basic or Advanced categories, unless she has unlocked something else via her Bloodline/Clan, or via Unusual Talent.
BASIC
Awareness
Evasion
Short Blades: Kunai and knives
Movement: Speed and efficiency of movement both in and out of combat.
Ninjutsu
Shruikenjutsu : Throwing stuff.
Stealth
Taijutsu
ADVANCED
Athletics
Fuinjutsu
Genjutsu
Infiltration (posing as someone she is not)
Long Blades: Swords, etc.
Medicine
Persuasion
Socialize
Survival
Traps
Water Release (maximum limited because she doesn't have an affinity, but there are some basic things taught, since Reef is, well, Reef.)
Wire Use
Awareness
Evasion
Short Blades: Kunai and knives
Movement: Speed and efficiency of movement both in and out of combat.
Ninjutsu
Shruikenjutsu : Throwing stuff.
Stealth
Taijutsu
ADVANCED
Athletics
Fuinjutsu
Genjutsu
Infiltration (posing as someone she is not)
Long Blades: Swords, etc.
Medicine
Persuasion
Socialize
Survival
Traps
Water Release (maximum limited because she doesn't have an affinity, but there are some basic things taught, since Reef is, well, Reef.)
Wire Use
Hands-on Learner: She is far better at learning things physically than mentally. She has penalties for learning that she doesn't directly experience, and she starts with a few more points of physical stats and a few less of mental.
Inherited Weapon: She has been given a weapon, whether from a friend, a mentor, or a family member, which might have special properties, and certainly has special meaning to her. (Pick which type of weapon, QM veto possible.)
Master of Mannerisms: She has gained skill at impersonating other people using Transformation. This can't really fool them and Transformation isn't good at tricking Ninja, but the knowledge of how different people move and act might be useful, or might be honed in the future. Bonus to Infiltration.
People Person: She is very personable, and good at making friends, and gets a few bonus points in both Persuasion and Socialize.
Prankster: She was particular good at traps and stealth, using them to play a few tricks on some people, though they might not appreciate it, or her, for what she's done. Either way, add a few free points to Stealth and Traps.
Rivalry: She has a rival, someone who challenges them, tries to get one better on them, and spurs them on. May have social consequences, training consequences, and so on.
Robust: She's rougher and tougher than most people expect, and is harder to put down, getting up again and again in a fight. She gains a bonus to health, and is generally just a little bit more scrappy.
Strong Reserves: For a genin, and one her age, she has a lot of chakra. While it's all quite relative, it does mean she can keep going for considerably longer with jutsu.
Unusual Talent: Beyond what one is usually taught as a Genin, she has picked up a less common skill. Normally you are only allowed to learn Basic and Advanced skills and anything unlocked by Clans, so this opens it up a lot more. Pick one of the following. Can take multiple times if you wish.
Chakra Flow
Chakra Sensing
Fuinjutsu
Medical Jutsu
Poisons (thanks to the village you picked it's locked rather than merely 'Advanced.')
Puppetry
Summoning
Chakra Sensing
Fuinjutsu
Medical Jutsu
Poisons (thanks to the village you picked it's locked rather than merely 'Advanced.')
Puppetry
Summoning
Village Traits:
Campaigner: She's seen what ninja of Tide have to do sometimes, and unlike the other new Genin she knows just what the real job of this village is. She's been on the patrols involving overseeing the civilians and making sure the taxes are paid on time, whether she liked it or not.
Provincial (½) : She's proud of her glorious village and its long and proud history, and she doesn't care that much about the outside world! What do they have compared to the glory of Reef? She thus knows all about the personalities, history, and feuds of this little region, and knows all of the gossip. Strong loyalty to the village.
Wanderlust (½): She's not necessarily disloyal, she just wants to see the world, see all she can and explore something far wider than what she knows is a backwater. If she only had the ability to sing, she could sing a song about wanting to be part of the wider Ninja world.
Clan Traits
Isolated (Drawback, worth ½ a trait extra): Not only is she looked down upon, for one reason or another, but she is disliked. Friendless, sometimes even despite her own social skills, she might have people who tolerate her company or are polite with her, but it's very clear that she's separate or different in some way.
Kunoichi traits
Flower Arrangement- A Little Drop of Poison (½) : When she asked the teacher about the flowers, they revealed after a pause that they could be used for poison, though it wasn't always something that everyone approved of. Unlock Poison as a Skill.
Flower Arrangement- Healing Herbs (½) : That which can kill can also heal, and she learned just a little bit about how to use plants to heal. Bonuses to Medicine and Survival.
Flower Arrangement- Messages in the Flowers (½) : When she learned about flower arranging, she also learned something about secret codes. Bonuses to infiltration, and a mind more given to thinking through and realizing various sneaky things.
Walk like a Civilian (½): Many kunoichi have a bit of a problem blending in with civilians on infiltration missions. Trained to be alert, constantly scanning for danger and ready for a fight from birth, they stand out from civilian women who are not allowed in the armies of the Daimyo. While many might be very tough indeed, they are neither trained nor expected to be the physical equal of men. This can be quite useful for infiltration and assassination, but many have to relearn how to behave as a civilian' in order to be good at infiltration. Your character doesn't have that problem, and gains bonuses to Persuasion, Socialize, and Infiltration. They know how to act like they're normal. The cost is halved because walking like one of the inferiors, one of the people you lord over, is hardly a skill that many would approve of, in this village at least. Instead, they say, a ninja should not hide their nature, but be immediately distinguishable so that everyone knows what they are and treats them with the respect (and fear) that is their just due.
*****
Laurent: So a lot of things to note! First, the Shomeigan is partially based on something from Naruto canon and you'll get a bonus if you figure it out, though it's only partial and it's a bit more complicated. What it isn't is a hax eye. It also is a bloodline which can work with any build in the sense that there's no "Puppets don't work while the eyes are activated" clause, or something. I will say that a build that involves running at people, swinging, and stabbing them without any thought or tactics, would not dovetail well with the Shomeigan. All options are balanced against each other rather fairly, and there's a chance to get even puppets (Puppets!) here! The sky's the limit, build-wise, and I am not sure whether I'll do by plan or by vote. I'll base it on what makes sense. Like if the Swamp bloodline wins x votes, but so does 'Flower Arrangement- A Little Drop of Poison' I'll change it to something else since unlocking something doesn't stack.
But yeah, hope these all seem like cool things! All are balanced between 'time it takes to master' 'advantages and drawbacks' and 'short-term advantages versus long-term advantages.'
Some additional info. Reef has 5 Jonin that form a ruling council, 5 Special Jonin, 20 Chunin, and 30-40 (it fluctuates rapidly) Genin, for a total of 60-70 Ninja. It's the second biggest village (Out of the three from the islands, it needs to be pointed out.) Island, with 8 Jonin, and 9 Special Jonin, is the largest with around 120 shinobi. Tide had around fifty, including four Jonin, but now that they're all dead, especially their infamously powerful Oyabun, the village is in a bit of trouble! Now, my new Assistant/co-QM, McClenahan (who withdrew their vote to offer to help, being one of the ones to help create the 'hundred years on' setting) and I, have made a range for minor villages and their size.
The scale goes like this 'small, medium, large.' Small is anything under 500, Medium is 500-1500, and large is over that, but below the size of the Major villages. Only those who can really tangle with the Five Great Villages ever reach Large Minor Village size. They're still *smaller* than them, but they're at least in vaguely the same league of manpower. Which is to say, in the thousands. Cliff is the largest, in the 450s or so (it fluctuates, of course), which means they have around fifty Jonin. Swamp has around 360, so about 40 Jonin. Craftsman around 300, so 30ish Jonin. Lock has around 220...and 30 Jonin, surprisingly a bit lopsided. So, yeah, you picked the village that was the most podunk, and remember that these Jonin are probably not, on average, equal to, say, Leaf or Cloud Jonin. So yeah, nowheresville.
As a note, I'll probably give some small amount of bonus XP to people who actually analyze each of the choices before picking, even just a sentence or two. For one, it'll be nice and refreshing, for the other, it'd give me a chance to catch any misconceptions, like claiming that X bloodline/clan does Y and thus isn't any good/is better than all of the others combined.
McClenahan: The creative dream team of Laurent & McClenahan rides again! Or rather, rides some more, since it never actually stopped. Yet another setting we cooked up together that's been bouncing around for quite a while- I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of character our voters come up with. The system we're using has been around about the same length of time although it's been updated, with some stripped-down mechanical influences from NSMS' Ninja of the Leaf quest.
Fake Edit: Also, as always, questions are welcome and will be answered!
Last edited:
Character Creation 3: Stats and Skills
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Character Creation Part 3 (of 4)
Score guide:
1-16: E Rank (Academy student/fresh genin)
17-32: D Rank (Typical genin)
33-48: C Rank (Typical chunin)
49-64: B Rank (Skilled chunin or jonin)
65-80: A Rank (Skilled jonin)
80<: S Rank
Cost Guide:
Up to 10 - 1 XP per point
11 to 20 - 2 XP per point
21 to 35 - 3 XP per point
36 to 55 - 4 XP per point
55 to 80 - 5 XP per point
80 < -10 XP per point
XP Total: 600 (base graduate)+50 (Clan)-30 (Reef)+5 (Guessing the Shomeigan)+3(Vote analysis)+2 (Some creative plans, so why not round it out?)+5 (More analysis, and cause I like you)=635 XP. Now, basically, imagine a generic graduate. 16 in all fields, has no hobbies, no life, and no soul. Has no clan, nor even any interests, likes punching things equally to sneaking past things. An impossible being, that is. Just that alone would cost 504 XP. Thus, the base is designed to give XP to play around with at least some Advanced Options. Civilian-born Ninja have the short end of the stick, with a penalty to their XP, but even this difference can be overcome once missions start. Either way, the average 'spread' for a new Genin is that some scores will be as low as 12, others will be as high as 20, with maybe one stand out above that. Reef Genin, on the other hand, have an average of 12. Some as high as 16, or 18, some as low as 8.
Basic Skills and Stats: You must spend between 8 and 54 XP on each of the following. In a more 'normal' case, you'd have to spend between 10 and 60 XP, but you picked Reef. That means the lowest any one of these will be is 8, the highest is 28, which is to say already at the high end of Genin the moment you walk out of the Academy doors. Though modifiers can bring that slightly higher than that.
A Note: Your final modifier for a skill is (in almost all cases) an average of the relevant stat and skill/skills. Thus, someone with Strength 10 and Taijutsu 80 would only be rolling a 45 for fighting, which is pretty pathetic for supposedly S-rank skills! Relevant stats change depending on the circumstances. Softer forms of martial arts might use Dexterity, or Agility, and watching an enemy to learn their Taijutsu would involved Intelligence and/or Perception. And so on.
STATS:
Strength: Physical strength, fitness, you know the drill!
Dexterity: Covers things like hand-eye coordination, affects accuracy with ranged weapons.
Agility: Covers things like balance, reaction times, overall... well... agility...
Constitution: This affects both how quickly you get physically tired, and how much punishment you are able to take.
HP: Average of Strength+Constitution.
Intelligence: How smart you are, how capable you are of thinking things through and coming up with answers and solutions.
Perception: How much you are able to notice details, whether emotional, mental, or, most commonly, physical. Pretty darn important for a ninja, since this is one of the things that would be rolled to oppose Stealth.
Power: This is social power, the force of personality expressed, and also the mental flexibility, not just intelligence but the ability of one's mind to stretch its limits. For instance, Genjutsu uses Intelligence and Power, Power serving as the intuitive, careful judging of just how to build a good genjutsu, while Intelligence is the workhorse. Perception would also come in, because that's also important for genjutsu.
Willpower: Never give up! Never give in! Used to keep on fighting even though you're in agony, to decide in a sudden moment to buck trends, break rules, and so on! Doesn't grant social power, though, that's the previous stat, so even if you have high willpower, it doesn't help with persuading people to follow you!
Chakra Coil Capacity: -4 penalty, this is less to do with your actual quantity of chakra, more the theoretical capacity of your chakra network. Girls tend to have smaller chakra coils than boys overall, so you start out with a penalty.
Chakra Molding: +4 bonus, represents ability to effectively use chakra, and is often the gate for subtler techniques that require careful use of chakra. Girls start out with a bit of a bonus in this category.
Chakra: After a long discussion and figuring out that averaging two stats, and all sorts of other methods, meant that a Genin had a fifth of a Kage's chakra, we decided to go with NSMS' complicated, but actually exponential, formula. (Chakra Coil Capacity * ((Physical Stats/4)+(Mental Stats/16)))/2.5. That allows a more reasonable spread of power, even if it's a little complex. We'll round up or down as makes sense. It also handily reflects the fact that chakra is made up of a combination of physical and spiritual energy!
BASIC SKILLS:
Awareness (Perception): Uses perception to average with, this is how you notice things! Like the ninja right behind you about to shank you. It's pretty important!
Evasion (Agility): And this is how you dodge said ninja about to kill you!
Short Blades (Strength, usually): This is your skill at stabbing said ninja with a kunai (or other form of knife.)
Movement (Agility): This is your ability to run away, both short-term (out of that room) and long term (perhaps Snow Village is nice this time of year?)
Ninjutsu (+4 bonus, minimum (before bonus, note) 16): This is how you try to use Replacement to escape but he easily predicts it because he's S-class. It both relates to your skill at using ninjutsu (like knowing how to find objects for Replacement...Ninjutsu and Perception averaged) and also how many jutsu you start out knowing. After character creation, jutsu will have to be purchased using XP. This category includes your clan jutsu.
Shurikenjutsu (Dexterity, usually): Your skill at throwing things, whether kunai or shuriken or a number of other common thrown weapons. You contemplate trying to do so against them, but then remember that they could just throw it back at you.
Stealth (Minimum 16, +3 Bonus): You have no stealth skill at all, so you try to hide in a corner, sobbing and weeping before your inevitable death.
Taijutsu (Strength, usually, but all four plus mental stats matter): In your last, feeble moments, you punch them hard on the nose, breaking it. You've at least hurt them before your painful death. This doesn't grant any extra techniques, unless you have a Clan or learned style that has 'special techniques' this just simply means general ability to fight. Special martial arts techniques are of course unlocked by Taijutsu.
ADVANCED SKILLS: You may spend up to 54 XP on each of the following, but don't have to! Some, however, have a minimum expenditure because of your clan specialties. Please note that bonuses are applied on top of this minimum expenditure.
Athletics (Strength or Constitution): Climbing, swimming and other general forms of physical exertion not covered by Movement.
Chakra Control (Chakra Molding): How good you are at using and managing your chakra. Together with molding, it gates a number of things, and also determines your skill with using chakra subtly (or even whether you can walk on water or climb trees.)
Fuinjutsu (Intelligence and Power): Seals and all! Pretty self-explanatory.
Genjutsu (Intelligence, Power, and Perception): Doesn't feature many set techniques because genjutsu is very flexible, subtle, and often personalized.
Infiltration (+6 (Message+Walk)): Posing as someone they are not, the more visible side of sneaking, as opposed to the 'shadow ninja' routine. Making up and maintaining a fake identity, accent, backstory, hairstyle, etc etc...all of this goes into this skill.
Long Blades (Strength, etc): Swords, etc.
Medicine (Intelligence, Perception): Non-jutsu based medicine, from first aid to weird medical experiments and beyond! Also includes the in-depth anatomical knowledge required to make senbon an effective weapon.
Persuasion (Power, Willpower) (Minimum Rank 16, +6 (3 (Clan)+3 (Walk)): Convincing people to do what you want!
Poison (Intelligence): It makes you good at sewing...what do you think? The art of using, applying, creating and handling poison.
Puppetry ( +5 bonus): The noble and ancient (and yet also modern) art of puppetry.
Socialize (Minimum Rank 16, +6 (3 Clan, 3 Walk) bonus): Getting along with people, fitting into a group, generally mingling!
Survival (Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, etc): Managing to rough it in the wilds, catching game (or in Reef's case fish), making tents, building fires, knowing all sorts of things related to that.
Traps (Intelligence, Perception, Power) (Minimum Rank 16, +3 Bonus): Traps, be they lethal or nonlethal! Can be combined with Wire or Fuinjutsu for extra-special trap fun!
Water Release: Use of Water Release jutsu, pretty self-explanatory. (Maximum of 16 at creation)
Wire Use (Intelligence, Perception): The use of wires both offensively, defensively, and within traps.
A/N: Okay, so! The bonuses and penalties are going to be applied after XP is assigned because it's the only thing that doesn't get confusing and weird. This is definitely a Plan build sort of thing, and I hope it doesn't scare anyone off compared to the earlier, less number-intensive section. This is important though, both for the characterization of what she is and isn't good at that this provides, and also because several of the skills (namely Ninjutsu and Water Release) have to do with what jutsu you know, which will (probably) be the fourth and final round of the voting! I will be checking each vote to make sure that XP is properly allocated.
It's certainly possible! You'll see more once you meet her. Currently finish up her stats, actually.
Score guide:
1-16: E Rank (Academy student/fresh genin)
17-32: D Rank (Typical genin)
33-48: C Rank (Typical chunin)
49-64: B Rank (Skilled chunin or jonin)
65-80: A Rank (Skilled jonin)
80<: S Rank
Cost Guide:
Up to 10 - 1 XP per point
11 to 20 - 2 XP per point
21 to 35 - 3 XP per point
36 to 55 - 4 XP per point
55 to 80 - 5 XP per point
80 < -10 XP per point
XP Total: 600 (base graduate)+50 (Clan)-30 (Reef)+5 (Guessing the Shomeigan)+3(Vote analysis)+2 (Some creative plans, so why not round it out?)+5 (More analysis, and cause I like you)=635 XP. Now, basically, imagine a generic graduate. 16 in all fields, has no hobbies, no life, and no soul. Has no clan, nor even any interests, likes punching things equally to sneaking past things. An impossible being, that is. Just that alone would cost 504 XP. Thus, the base is designed to give XP to play around with at least some Advanced Options. Civilian-born Ninja have the short end of the stick, with a penalty to their XP, but even this difference can be overcome once missions start. Either way, the average 'spread' for a new Genin is that some scores will be as low as 12, others will be as high as 20, with maybe one stand out above that. Reef Genin, on the other hand, have an average of 12. Some as high as 16, or 18, some as low as 8.
Basic Skills and Stats: You must spend between 8 and 54 XP on each of the following. In a more 'normal' case, you'd have to spend between 10 and 60 XP, but you picked Reef. That means the lowest any one of these will be is 8, the highest is 28, which is to say already at the high end of Genin the moment you walk out of the Academy doors. Though modifiers can bring that slightly higher than that.
A Note: Your final modifier for a skill is (in almost all cases) an average of the relevant stat and skill/skills. Thus, someone with Strength 10 and Taijutsu 80 would only be rolling a 45 for fighting, which is pretty pathetic for supposedly S-rank skills! Relevant stats change depending on the circumstances. Softer forms of martial arts might use Dexterity, or Agility, and watching an enemy to learn their Taijutsu would involved Intelligence and/or Perception. And so on.
STATS:
Strength: Physical strength, fitness, you know the drill!
Dexterity: Covers things like hand-eye coordination, affects accuracy with ranged weapons.
Agility: Covers things like balance, reaction times, overall... well... agility...
Constitution: This affects both how quickly you get physically tired, and how much punishment you are able to take.
HP: Average of Strength+Constitution.
Intelligence: How smart you are, how capable you are of thinking things through and coming up with answers and solutions.
Perception: How much you are able to notice details, whether emotional, mental, or, most commonly, physical. Pretty darn important for a ninja, since this is one of the things that would be rolled to oppose Stealth.
Power: This is social power, the force of personality expressed, and also the mental flexibility, not just intelligence but the ability of one's mind to stretch its limits. For instance, Genjutsu uses Intelligence and Power, Power serving as the intuitive, careful judging of just how to build a good genjutsu, while Intelligence is the workhorse. Perception would also come in, because that's also important for genjutsu.
Willpower: Never give up! Never give in! Used to keep on fighting even though you're in agony, to decide in a sudden moment to buck trends, break rules, and so on! Doesn't grant social power, though, that's the previous stat, so even if you have high willpower, it doesn't help with persuading people to follow you!
Chakra Coil Capacity: -4 penalty, this is less to do with your actual quantity of chakra, more the theoretical capacity of your chakra network. Girls tend to have smaller chakra coils than boys overall, so you start out with a penalty.
Chakra Molding: +4 bonus, represents ability to effectively use chakra, and is often the gate for subtler techniques that require careful use of chakra. Girls start out with a bit of a bonus in this category.
Chakra: After a long discussion and figuring out that averaging two stats, and all sorts of other methods, meant that a Genin had a fifth of a Kage's chakra, we decided to go with NSMS' complicated, but actually exponential, formula. (Chakra Coil Capacity * ((Physical Stats/4)+(Mental Stats/16)))/2.5. That allows a more reasonable spread of power, even if it's a little complex. We'll round up or down as makes sense. It also handily reflects the fact that chakra is made up of a combination of physical and spiritual energy!
BASIC SKILLS:
Awareness (Perception): Uses perception to average with, this is how you notice things! Like the ninja right behind you about to shank you. It's pretty important!
Evasion (Agility): And this is how you dodge said ninja about to kill you!
Short Blades (Strength, usually): This is your skill at stabbing said ninja with a kunai (or other form of knife.)
Movement (Agility): This is your ability to run away, both short-term (out of that room) and long term (perhaps Snow Village is nice this time of year?)
Ninjutsu (+4 bonus, minimum (before bonus, note) 16): This is how you try to use Replacement to escape but he easily predicts it because he's S-class. It both relates to your skill at using ninjutsu (like knowing how to find objects for Replacement...Ninjutsu and Perception averaged) and also how many jutsu you start out knowing. After character creation, jutsu will have to be purchased using XP. This category includes your clan jutsu.
Shurikenjutsu (Dexterity, usually): Your skill at throwing things, whether kunai or shuriken or a number of other common thrown weapons. You contemplate trying to do so against them, but then remember that they could just throw it back at you.
Stealth (Minimum 16, +3 Bonus): You have no stealth skill at all, so you try to hide in a corner, sobbing and weeping before your inevitable death.
Taijutsu (Strength, usually, but all four plus mental stats matter): In your last, feeble moments, you punch them hard on the nose, breaking it. You've at least hurt them before your painful death. This doesn't grant any extra techniques, unless you have a Clan or learned style that has 'special techniques' this just simply means general ability to fight. Special martial arts techniques are of course unlocked by Taijutsu.
ADVANCED SKILLS: You may spend up to 54 XP on each of the following, but don't have to! Some, however, have a minimum expenditure because of your clan specialties. Please note that bonuses are applied on top of this minimum expenditure.
Athletics (Strength or Constitution): Climbing, swimming and other general forms of physical exertion not covered by Movement.
Chakra Control (Chakra Molding): How good you are at using and managing your chakra. Together with molding, it gates a number of things, and also determines your skill with using chakra subtly (or even whether you can walk on water or climb trees.)
Fuinjutsu (Intelligence and Power): Seals and all! Pretty self-explanatory.
Genjutsu (Intelligence, Power, and Perception): Doesn't feature many set techniques because genjutsu is very flexible, subtle, and often personalized.
Infiltration (+6 (Message+Walk)): Posing as someone they are not, the more visible side of sneaking, as opposed to the 'shadow ninja' routine. Making up and maintaining a fake identity, accent, backstory, hairstyle, etc etc...all of this goes into this skill.
Long Blades (Strength, etc): Swords, etc.
Medicine (Intelligence, Perception): Non-jutsu based medicine, from first aid to weird medical experiments and beyond! Also includes the in-depth anatomical knowledge required to make senbon an effective weapon.
Persuasion (Power, Willpower) (Minimum Rank 16, +6 (3 (Clan)+3 (Walk)): Convincing people to do what you want!
Poison (Intelligence): It makes you good at sewing...what do you think? The art of using, applying, creating and handling poison.
Puppetry ( +5 bonus): The noble and ancient (and yet also modern) art of puppetry.
Socialize (Minimum Rank 16, +6 (3 Clan, 3 Walk) bonus): Getting along with people, fitting into a group, generally mingling!
Survival (Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, etc): Managing to rough it in the wilds, catching game (or in Reef's case fish), making tents, building fires, knowing all sorts of things related to that.
Traps (Intelligence, Perception, Power) (Minimum Rank 16, +3 Bonus): Traps, be they lethal or nonlethal! Can be combined with Wire or Fuinjutsu for extra-special trap fun!
Water Release: Use of Water Release jutsu, pretty self-explanatory. (Maximum of 16 at creation)
Wire Use (Intelligence, Perception): The use of wires both offensively, defensively, and within traps.
A/N: Okay, so! The bonuses and penalties are going to be applied after XP is assigned because it's the only thing that doesn't get confusing and weird. This is definitely a Plan build sort of thing, and I hope it doesn't scare anyone off compared to the earlier, less number-intensive section. This is important though, both for the characterization of what she is and isn't good at that this provides, and also because several of the skills (namely Ninjutsu and Water Release) have to do with what jutsu you know, which will (probably) be the fourth and final round of the voting! I will be checking each vote to make sure that XP is properly allocated.
It's certainly possible! You'll see more once you meet her. Currently finish up her stats, actually.
Last edited:
OOC: Questions Open
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Vote'll probably close tomorrow afternoon, so plenty of time to get your thoughts in! Also, because you've gotten this far, I can now begin to answer questions your character would know ICly, so, it's open season on Question-Asking now!
Whether about the world, about Reef, about the history of the region (though you don't know it in depth thanks to not taking provincial), and any number of other things! Including stat and skill related things!
Whether about the world, about Reef, about the history of the region (though you don't know it in depth thanks to not taking provincial), and any number of other things! Including stat and skill related things!
Last edited:
Character Creation: Part 4
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Character Creation (Part 4)
Revised RAG wins. Here you go!
Pick your Jutsu
You start with the Basic Three, one additional E-rank jutsu, one E-rank clan jutsu, and two E-rank water jutsu.
Basic Three:
Body Replacement Technique (Rank 1)
You may replace yourself with an object within ten meters that is approximately the same size as you.
Cost: 10 chakra
Clone Technique (Rank 1)
You may produce up to two clones per use. They are insubstantial, cannot affect solid objects in any way, and will disperse when touched or after ten seconds. They cannot be independently directed and will only mirror your movements.
Cost: 10 chakra per clone
Transformation Technique (Rank 1)
You may transform yourself into an accurate likeness of any human being. The transformation is physical, but can be easily dispersed, such as by a punch thrown by an average civilian child. It does not disguise your scent, nor does it conceal you from chakra sensors.
Cost: 10 chakra to activate, 2 chakra per minute
Choose one of the following:
Cloak of Invisibility Technique (Rank 1)
This jutsu renders you completely invisible as long as it is maintained. However, it does not hide you from other senses, including chakra sensing. In addition, the technique is ended easily- if you maybe any movement beyond breathing, or anybody touches you.
Cost: 15 chakra to activate, 3 chakra per minute.
Rope Escape Technique (Rank 1)
This technique frees you from minor mundane restraints, such as having your wrists bound with tape, rope or other fabrics. No hand seals are required to use this jutsu.
Cost: 20 chakra
Choose one of the following:
Ninja Art: Piercing Note (Rank 1)
By the creation of a sound, such as from a bell or flute, with this jutsu a ninja can transform that sound into a most annoying one, loud, unnerving, like 'nails on a chalkboard' and similarly causing minor pain and annoyance which can be useful in some circumstances. Its range is within close hearing distance, but the farther away one is, the less effect it has. It is, as it stands now, completely indiscriminate, except for the user.
Cost: 10 chakra
Ninja Art: Dizzy Spell (Rank 1)
Using the generation of a single sound, such as from an instrument, the user can induce a mild bout of dizziness lasting a second, or two at the most, in all around them within hearing distance except themselves. This isn't enough to entirely throw off their balance, but it can leave them somewhat clumsy, open and vulnerable at a critical moment, if they don't have the skill to compensate for the sudden change. Its range is within hearing distance, but the farther away one is, the less effect it has. It is, as it stands now, completely indiscriminate, other than the user.
Cost: 10 chakra
Choose two of the following E rank Water Release:
Water Release: Condensation (Rank 1)
The user condenses the ambient water vapor in the air into liquid water. Produces 1 liter of water. One of the techniques colloquially referred to as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 10 chakra
Water Release: Spitting Fish (Rank 1)
The user spits a volley of water with about the force of a tennis ball hitting a target, no more. It is, however, the first step on the way to learning more powerful offensive Water Release jutsu, and thus most ninja who go on to use Water Release as a major part of their style begin by learning this.
Cost: 10 chakra
Water Release: Manipulation (Rank 1)
The user is able to manipulate and direct up to half a liter of water. They can cause it to flow against gravity or maintain certain shapes, as long as they remain in physical contact with it. One of the techniques colloquially referred to as the Traveller's Ten- at some point, a ninja discovered that it's handy for having a cursory wash in the field.
Cost: 10 chakra per minute
Water Release: Thin Mist Technique (Rank 1)
The user creates a patch of floating mist ten meters in diameter. The mist obscures sight slightly- all within it suffer a -4 penalty to Awareness. The mist requires a nearby source of water to create, and dissipates after 20 seconds.
Cost: 15 chakra
Puppets
You won't be making your puppets, instead we have built them based on your skills, both with Puppetry and with a wide variety of other skills.
First, to explain how puppets work.
They have 4 stats, and then Equipment.
The stats are as follows:
Armament: The weapons and ability to use them that has been granted to a puppet. A puppet might wield a weapon, or open up into a whirring hacksaw death-trap, but either way, if it cuts, slices, dices or shoots something at an enemy (like Kunai) it's armament.
Structure: The toughness/armor of the puppet. This affects how quickly and easily it can be destroyed, or at least begin to be crippled. The stronger the structure, the more it can take a beating and keep on going.
Design: Design is the care, cunning, and cleverness that went into its mechanisms. If one wants a puppet to be equipped with a camera for scouting, or to be capable of Taijutsu effectively (having the full range of motions to do so), or to set up (using Fuinjutsu) any number of sealing arrays...it starts with design.
Agility: How fast a puppet can react, but also how stealthily. A puppet might be big, bulky, incapable of moving across the ground quickly, and make loud grinding noises as it moves, or it might be a shadow upon the darkness of the forest.
Equipment: Equipment represents special tools and abilities that are not fully captured by four stats. That a puppet-owner has captured an A-rank Fire Release and made a mechanism to release said attack on their enemies through their puppet cannot be represented, nor can poison. Equipment allows it to be temporarily represented, and also represents design differences. A Puppet colored to fit into the background of a forest might have an Agility of +5 when sneaking in forests to represent that, in this one area, but not in speed, for instance, their Agility should be counted as higher. These too are worth points, and a good puppet has some of both. One that has no surprises, that is entirely without equipment, is unlikely
So, what does your character have? Two puppets, only one is combat worthy. The first, Testbed, is just that, a puppet made with cheap materials and designed to be rather durable, and there for testing new weapons and the like. The other has the following stats, based on this formula. Average of Puppetry and Intelligence (to build it)*10=XP. Score of 18.5, which is what I built this off of. Its stats use the same XP system as the rest of everything (1 XP for 1-10, 2 XP for 11-20, 3 XP for 21-35, etc).
Armament: 22
Structure: 16
Design: 20
Agility: 23
Equipment:
Poison Kunai Thrower (8): Costing half of Poison level, this allows the puppet to temporarily have 'Poison 16' for the purposes of its attack.
Bound Techniques (3): Through clever engineering, Shizue has made it so that the motions of handsigns on certain techniques of hers do not impede the operation of the puppet. She can use Replacement, one of her Sound Ninjutsu, and one of her Water Releases without any worry.
Stealthy Puppet (5): Through the clever use of painting and finding ways to muffle the various sounds a machine is likely to make, the agility of this puppet acts as 5 points higher when sneaking.
Sound Generator (5): This puppet has been outfitted with (kept silenced until activated) bells and chimes that can generate the noise required for low-level Sound jutsu to work.
Pit Spike Technique (8): In the front of the puppet are covered holes, and beneath them are carefully prepared spikes. When an enemy gets close they shoot out. Their force isn't the best and they aren't so long, so--and Shizue doesn't regret this--they're unlikely to impale someone, but it's still being stabbed with a bunch of spikes coming out of nowhere.
Ball-Joint Flexibility (4): A puppet is more flexible than any human can be, when made well. For the purpose of Taijutsu and evading attacks, it can count its score as 4 points higher, and is thus much harder to land a 'solid hit' on.
Internal Armoring (5) : There are many important gears, joints and parts to be protected in this complex puppet, and so Shizue has decided to work on that by putting in internal protection without sacrificing the speed of the puppet in any way. Damage to the puppet's outside is less likely to disable or screw up any equipment or important mechanisms immediately.
Waterproofing (8) : While Shizue is pretty sure the puppet *shouldn't* be submerged in water, and it creates difficulty, being soaked in Water Releases is no problem with its tight joints and waterproof materials, and it can be completely soaked and yet unaffected, important considering the area.
(Two slots left open)
In Testbed
Water Gun (8): Still testing, though it seems almost done, if it's what's needed.
Net Trap Explosion (7 of 8): There are a few bugs that need to be worked out.
Fuinjutsu? (0 of ???): Surely it could help with something on a puppet.
Some sort of Power-drill thing, it didn't work and Shizue hasn't taken it out yet (0/0)
*****
A/N: And thus begins the last stage of character creation! Vote'll last probably until Monday morning or the like, and I'll be working on the first narrative post in the meantime, as well as getting up a character sheet and the like.
Revised RAG wins. Here you go!
Pick your Jutsu
You start with the Basic Three, one additional E-rank jutsu, one E-rank clan jutsu, and two E-rank water jutsu.
Basic Three:
Body Replacement Technique (Rank 1)
You may replace yourself with an object within ten meters that is approximately the same size as you.
Cost: 10 chakra
Clone Technique (Rank 1)
You may produce up to two clones per use. They are insubstantial, cannot affect solid objects in any way, and will disperse when touched or after ten seconds. They cannot be independently directed and will only mirror your movements.
Cost: 10 chakra per clone
Transformation Technique (Rank 1)
You may transform yourself into an accurate likeness of any human being. The transformation is physical, but can be easily dispersed, such as by a punch thrown by an average civilian child. It does not disguise your scent, nor does it conceal you from chakra sensors.
Cost: 10 chakra to activate, 2 chakra per minute
Choose one of the following:
Cloak of Invisibility Technique (Rank 1)
This jutsu renders you completely invisible as long as it is maintained. However, it does not hide you from other senses, including chakra sensing. In addition, the technique is ended easily- if you maybe any movement beyond breathing, or anybody touches you.
Cost: 15 chakra to activate, 3 chakra per minute.
Rope Escape Technique (Rank 1)
This technique frees you from minor mundane restraints, such as having your wrists bound with tape, rope or other fabrics. No hand seals are required to use this jutsu.
Cost: 20 chakra
Choose one of the following:
Ninja Art: Piercing Note (Rank 1)
By the creation of a sound, such as from a bell or flute, with this jutsu a ninja can transform that sound into a most annoying one, loud, unnerving, like 'nails on a chalkboard' and similarly causing minor pain and annoyance which can be useful in some circumstances. Its range is within close hearing distance, but the farther away one is, the less effect it has. It is, as it stands now, completely indiscriminate, except for the user.
Cost: 10 chakra
Ninja Art: Dizzy Spell (Rank 1)
Using the generation of a single sound, such as from an instrument, the user can induce a mild bout of dizziness lasting a second, or two at the most, in all around them within hearing distance except themselves. This isn't enough to entirely throw off their balance, but it can leave them somewhat clumsy, open and vulnerable at a critical moment, if they don't have the skill to compensate for the sudden change. Its range is within hearing distance, but the farther away one is, the less effect it has. It is, as it stands now, completely indiscriminate, other than the user.
Cost: 10 chakra
Choose two of the following E rank Water Release:
Water Release: Condensation (Rank 1)
The user condenses the ambient water vapor in the air into liquid water. Produces 1 liter of water. One of the techniques colloquially referred to as the Traveller's Ten.
Cost: 10 chakra
Water Release: Spitting Fish (Rank 1)
The user spits a volley of water with about the force of a tennis ball hitting a target, no more. It is, however, the first step on the way to learning more powerful offensive Water Release jutsu, and thus most ninja who go on to use Water Release as a major part of their style begin by learning this.
Cost: 10 chakra
Water Release: Manipulation (Rank 1)
The user is able to manipulate and direct up to half a liter of water. They can cause it to flow against gravity or maintain certain shapes, as long as they remain in physical contact with it. One of the techniques colloquially referred to as the Traveller's Ten- at some point, a ninja discovered that it's handy for having a cursory wash in the field.
Cost: 10 chakra per minute
Water Release: Thin Mist Technique (Rank 1)
The user creates a patch of floating mist ten meters in diameter. The mist obscures sight slightly- all within it suffer a -4 penalty to Awareness. The mist requires a nearby source of water to create, and dissipates after 20 seconds.
Cost: 15 chakra
Puppets
You won't be making your puppets, instead we have built them based on your skills, both with Puppetry and with a wide variety of other skills.
First, to explain how puppets work.
They have 4 stats, and then Equipment.
The stats are as follows:
Armament: The weapons and ability to use them that has been granted to a puppet. A puppet might wield a weapon, or open up into a whirring hacksaw death-trap, but either way, if it cuts, slices, dices or shoots something at an enemy (like Kunai) it's armament.
Structure: The toughness/armor of the puppet. This affects how quickly and easily it can be destroyed, or at least begin to be crippled. The stronger the structure, the more it can take a beating and keep on going.
Design: Design is the care, cunning, and cleverness that went into its mechanisms. If one wants a puppet to be equipped with a camera for scouting, or to be capable of Taijutsu effectively (having the full range of motions to do so), or to set up (using Fuinjutsu) any number of sealing arrays...it starts with design.
Agility: How fast a puppet can react, but also how stealthily. A puppet might be big, bulky, incapable of moving across the ground quickly, and make loud grinding noises as it moves, or it might be a shadow upon the darkness of the forest.
Equipment: Equipment represents special tools and abilities that are not fully captured by four stats. That a puppet-owner has captured an A-rank Fire Release and made a mechanism to release said attack on their enemies through their puppet cannot be represented, nor can poison. Equipment allows it to be temporarily represented, and also represents design differences. A Puppet colored to fit into the background of a forest might have an Agility of +5 when sneaking in forests to represent that, in this one area, but not in speed, for instance, their Agility should be counted as higher. These too are worth points, and a good puppet has some of both. One that has no surprises, that is entirely without equipment, is unlikely
So, what does your character have? Two puppets, only one is combat worthy. The first, Testbed, is just that, a puppet made with cheap materials and designed to be rather durable, and there for testing new weapons and the like. The other has the following stats, based on this formula. Average of Puppetry and Intelligence (to build it)*10=XP. Score of 18.5, which is what I built this off of. Its stats use the same XP system as the rest of everything (1 XP for 1-10, 2 XP for 11-20, 3 XP for 21-35, etc).
Armament: 22
Structure: 16
Design: 20
Agility: 23
Equipment:
Poison Kunai Thrower (8): Costing half of Poison level, this allows the puppet to temporarily have 'Poison 16' for the purposes of its attack.
Bound Techniques (3): Through clever engineering, Shizue has made it so that the motions of handsigns on certain techniques of hers do not impede the operation of the puppet. She can use Replacement, one of her Sound Ninjutsu, and one of her Water Releases without any worry.
Stealthy Puppet (5): Through the clever use of painting and finding ways to muffle the various sounds a machine is likely to make, the agility of this puppet acts as 5 points higher when sneaking.
Sound Generator (5): This puppet has been outfitted with (kept silenced until activated) bells and chimes that can generate the noise required for low-level Sound jutsu to work.
Pit Spike Technique (8): In the front of the puppet are covered holes, and beneath them are carefully prepared spikes. When an enemy gets close they shoot out. Their force isn't the best and they aren't so long, so--and Shizue doesn't regret this--they're unlikely to impale someone, but it's still being stabbed with a bunch of spikes coming out of nowhere.
Ball-Joint Flexibility (4): A puppet is more flexible than any human can be, when made well. For the purpose of Taijutsu and evading attacks, it can count its score as 4 points higher, and is thus much harder to land a 'solid hit' on.
Internal Armoring (5) : There are many important gears, joints and parts to be protected in this complex puppet, and so Shizue has decided to work on that by putting in internal protection without sacrificing the speed of the puppet in any way. Damage to the puppet's outside is less likely to disable or screw up any equipment or important mechanisms immediately.
Waterproofing (8) : While Shizue is pretty sure the puppet *shouldn't* be submerged in water, and it creates difficulty, being soaked in Water Releases is no problem with its tight joints and waterproof materials, and it can be completely soaked and yet unaffected, important considering the area.
(Two slots left open)
In Testbed
Water Gun (8): Still testing, though it seems almost done, if it's what's needed.
Net Trap Explosion (7 of 8): There are a few bugs that need to be worked out.
Fuinjutsu? (0 of ???): Surely it could help with something on a puppet.
Some sort of Power-drill thing, it didn't work and Shizue hasn't taken it out yet (0/0)
*****
A/N: And thus begins the last stage of character creation! Vote'll last probably until Monday morning or the like, and I'll be working on the first narrative post in the meantime, as well as getting up a character sheet and the like.
Last edited:
Act 1: A Summer of War
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Act 1: A Summer of War
Last edited:
OOC: On War
- Pronouns
- They/Them
So, this is an interesting question, and the reply is slightly delayed because I wanted to give it my full attention. Some information might be well beyond Shizue's knowledge, but because this is OOC knowledge of the sort that won't benefit her in any way, I'm willing to answer it.
1) Well, not completely peaceful. Civilian nations (outside of the big five) do go to war, bandits and nonaligned or missing-nin are still a threat, and minor villages, while they might not go to war, do engage in shadow conflicts. Never to the extent of one of the shinobi world wars, though. Plus there are certain needs that are universal. So long as there are people, there are people who will wish another assassinated. And thus jobs both to do the killing and to prevent a suspected killing, both of which are B and A rank, do exist. MIssing-nin are used as assassins more often than village ninja, so it's said, but then again...
Well, since all of the five main villages have Ninja with skillsets for assassination, who is to say they don't do that? And why not the others? Certainly some villages engage in a lot of jobs like that. Or, if not murder, the theft of valuable objects. Civil war, too, is a very profitable business, as long as it's kept from spreading or becoming an outright bonfire. On the less martial side, there are a lot more Ninja who go on peaceful missions. Like spying on people, carefully disseminating court blackmail, and all sorts of things that a Ninja can do very well, but which definitely fall into the B/A-rank category. Is breaking into someone's well-guarded house to steal photos of their infidelity to their wife in order to embarrass them politically, while making sure there's not even the slightest hint or evidence that a Ninja was even involved less of a B-rank mission than one that involved violence? Also, as commerce grows, there grows the need to protect it, as pirates and, as said before, bandits try to take advantage of the chaos, or the fact that for the most part the militaries in the five great nations are now a joke, half-full. Why? Both because peace had spread, and because the Hokage insisted that ninja could deal with any bandits, handle any threats to the safety of the people or their prosperity. And, well, if Naruto swore that they'd manage it, who would disbelieve him?
These, and probably a few other avenues are all the ways Ninjas have managed to remain viable. Now, the next part of the question actually segues into your next question a bit, but I can answer it here as a supplement to that below. In the run up to a war major villages, the ones who suffer most are the minor villages. They are quietly picked off from the shadows, jobs are taken from them, internal dissent suddenly occurs (thanks to a jonin who has infiltrated), they might even be invaded, losing large numbers of their Ninja and coming temporarily under the dominion of a greater power. Or, as in the case of Uzushiogakure, annihilated entirely.
If wars were bad for the Big Five (and they were, see below) they were even worse for weak villages without the resources to defend themselves against the Big Five if it came time for war. So when peace came, all of those prospective villages that might have been strangled in the grave by Konoha not wanting a rival and straight up murdering their incipient leader (or one of the other ones, Konoha isn't... they're the good guys, sure, but still...) now had a chance to vie for market share. Many did so by specializing, by offering to be the village you came to for all of your espionage needs, say, though not all of them. Others stood out by virtue of location. Why send messengers thousands of miles to one of the big players when there's a local village close by?
Similarly, small villages that already existed were able to expand their operations, and while they did get into disagreements with the bigger villages over who had the unofficial right to carry certain missions in certain areas, Naruto wasn't the sort to go "Haha, fuck you, I got mine and who cares about your happiness and autonomy." He was a big advocate and protector both of Konoha and of the rights of other Ninja Villages to exist. He continued with the policy of cutting Suna a lot of slack rather than barging in on their territory and stealing their missions, which as you'll note the Third Hokage was perfectly fine with. Business was business, after all. He had a lot of policies that only make sense if you're coming at it from someone who isn't a Machiavellian schemer trying endlessly and ruthlessly to enhance the strength of his village at any and all costs. In other words, Naruto was not Danzo. He wasn't even the Third Hokage, who did some questionable things, even though he was pretty good overall. He got away with it because he was literally the strongest person alive, and if you tried to fight against him, he'd punch you until you'd either died or somehow became his friend.
So yeah, room for expansion, new types of missions, new threats and dangers, a growth in missing-nin after the war, and missions caused by dealing with those missions (expanding villages means a deeper reach and a greater ability to take every contract that comes along, and to even solicit more business in strange circles) in a sort of virtuous feedback loop.
2) 'How come these ninjas, who have only known peace, are so vastly better than the ones of Reef who have basically spent the last decades in constant combat and should have a lot more experience than them?' This stems from a belief, held among some Ninja long since dead (cough, Kimmimaro's clan, cough), that war makes you strong. This is a belief that some in the real world have also held. To begin with, we'll look at an example from Narutoverse history. Remember Dan? Charming young Shinobi, had a ton of promise, wanted to become Hokage. Dead in the war, before he could reach his full potential. There are hundreds of Dans in any ninja war, both in the major villages and, even more so, the minor ones. There's a reason Naruto doesn't begin with the Hokage saying 'ah, for the days of war, when the village was much stronger.' Every instance of war and violence we've seen has actually been surprisingly realistic in some ways. Konoha is literally destroyed in the fourth war by a single S-rank madman.
Tsunade's loss and heartbreak are not shown to be exceptions. During war, in real life, recruitment and conscription standards drop. Trade slacks off, and substandard equipment and lack of funding plague most armies to one extent or another. People get PTSD, lose limbs and worse, return broken shells of themselves unable to relate to others. Sure, some are strengthened by it. And similarly, there are ninja who reach the height of their power during the stress and pressure cooker of war, but for every one that gets stronger, plenty die. People are rushed out into missions well beyond their abilities, that much is also evident in the past.
Thus, the strength of a village doesn't actually correlate to it getting into lots of long, bloody wars that leave talented and promising shinobi dead thanks to a stray kunai, whatever Danzo and other hawks might have to say about it. Naruto is actually somewhat good, in the first part at least, at portraying that war's kinda shit. Konoha at the time of the start of the series had prospered from several years of peace. It had perhaps grown complacent, but as the Third Hokage said, it had the Will of Fire and had not grown weak. Ninja of this era still face death and danger, they just don't face war, all consuming and all devouring war. They have time and chances to learn, grow and train.
Speaking of war, there's another example that is often missed. The Sannin themselves, some of the greatest ninja that ever came from Konoha...could have died on a battlefield to Hanzo the Salamander. Imagine if instead of crowning them with a title they didn't want, he had killed them. Three powerful people who changed the fate of the entire world, wiped out like yesterday's garbage. People who might have become an A or S-ranked Ninja, invented entirely new forms of ninjutsu or dozens of new techniques, can die, rather horribly mind, before they reach their true potential. Prodigies can be murdered just as easily as mundane ninja, in the right circumstances. War is chaos, and in chaos, few thrive unless they're Petyr Baelish.
Now, about Reef.
First, it's not constant battle, there is an ebb and flow, and some raids that might or might not be opposed, but there is a lot of fighting. Which means they need bodies, which means they set their standards for academy students at rock bottom. If you can use chakra, congratulations, you have a good chance of becoming a genin. The idea that you would have a test in which you weed out new genin would seem bizarre. As long as you pass the very minimum standards (Basic Three, a written test, a short Taijutsu test) you're in as a genin. Which, in the first few months, is unlikely to get you thrown into the line of fire, but by a year in you're starting to be used as a soldier, and within two you're a soldier through and through. Assuming you're not dead, which there's a good chance you may be. Because, when you're thrown out there half-trained and without a jonin-sensei to specifically look after you and care about your wellbeing, death can come swiftly. It's why the number of genin ranges so much. 30-40 means that at any point ten or eleven of the usual number might be dead, so they quickly try to find any Academy Students who are 'advanced in their studies' to promote.
Additionally, the concept of the honorable duel means that in some cases a weaker opponent, rather than fleeing like a decent ninja, fights to the death for nothing. A chunin who might have been a jonin-level opponent with a few more years seasoning turns and charges Matsume. He fries her with a lightning jutsu. There's a really, really good reason that literally every single clan background had a "And then your parents/caregiver/etc died, or weren't around in the first place." Shizue's mother died a cold, lonely death on a distant battlefield as a chunin on the verge of being a tokubetsu jonin who, with training, might have been the equal of any jonin.
War makes Reef strong? No, war makes Reef weak.
Meanwhile larger villages have more time for their genin to get used to their skills and train and practice, more resources to give them the best kunai possible (did I mention Reef equipment is often shitty because of lack of funding because it turns out that war is bad for the economy, overall?), high standards that mean only those who deserve to be genin become genin, only those who deserve to become chunin become chunin, and skilled jonin-sensei to pass on their knowledge in a consistent fashion.
To use an example, since you asked about the Yaramachi before. If the elder Yaramachi died (he himself was rushed up the ranks to fill a hole), and you were playing as the younger, you'd have a long meeting with the Council in which you'd basically be forced to take up the mantle and job in exchange for being accelerated through the ranks. You might be a 'chunin' by 14, and a 'tokubetsu jonin' by 15, even if all you'd be doing is making bombs and mines, setting them and, checked up on mines that'd already been set... and don't worry about the fact that you're a walking target. It would have been an offer that was... hard to refuse. And also most likely to end in death.
3) This one I'm going to have to block off partially IC, but it is known that as little as four decades ago the family did still exist, and was petitioning feebly among various Daimyo for support. However, while monetary support is given so that their family can live in a 'fitting style', little else is given. They're outcast royalty of sorts, living off the goodwill of others, in shabby clothing and shabbier dwellings, growing more and more inbred...yet still a dangerous threat to the peace of the Shimakage. Now, this portraying of them as both pathetic, stupid, immoral and also a grave threat that all of the Islands must unite against is...totally and completely propaganda. Shizue is canny enough to understand this, but it's the only source of information they have on this matter.
A/N: Wow, that was longer than I thought.
Last edited:
Act 1, Scene 1: Enter Iwasaki Emiko, Stage Right
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Act 1: A Summer of War
Scene 1: Enter! Iwasaki Emiko! Stage Right.
When the entire Jonin Council signed off on an order in unison, it got carried out very quickly. Stunningly quickly, for a village in the hot, humid days of early summer when the only dry thing to be seen was the mission pool, and the village's genin, some having only graduated the month before, tended to dream of vast battles with a thousand enemies from Island or Tide… and then signed up for the most routine, boring, laid back patrols, or those that put them with someone they had a crush on. It was so swift that few, even Suzuhisa Shizue, had time to ask many questions.
The orders couldn't be misinterpreted anyway. All available Genin and interesting academy students report to the main lecture hall, and that Iwasaki Emiko would be there. No, not the fields and buildings that they ambitiously called their ninja academy, but the big block of a structure that had once, forty years before, been the site of some ambitious project to teach the children and adults of this island. Now it was just used for big meetings and lectures and speeches by important ninja on upcoming fights- no doubt there'd be another one soon, concerning the offensive against Tide everyone was speculating about.
Row upon row of benches filled the building, rising upward a little towards the back. The room could have fit the whole village perhaps, high-ceilinged and brightly lit, if they'd been willing to crowd in a little. As it was, it was rather too crowded for Shizue's liking, though she knew that she was probably just touchy.
She had been that way for too long, and it showed in her, she knew, in the way she sat and looked and acted, in a thousand things that she could acknowledge after the fact yet couldn't seem to change. Her mom was dead, and that fact should have long since lost any power at all to control her, yet it still seemed, half a decade later, the central event in her life, the moment she went from being mocked on occasion to being completely ignored. And had lost the only person she was sure loved her. Everything else existed in a world of uncertainties, and she was sitting near the middle, a compromise between wanting to be close to the door if something happened and away from it for the same reason.
She had a mind that thought of things like that incessantly, endlessly, a sort of motor that powered her down avenues that few others walked. The number of exceptions, people who practiced fuinjutsu, or thought about stealth is anything more than, at best, a cheap tactic to use before a raid, were very few in number, and Shizue noted that they were there too.
What had been demanded was all of the genin who were available, and most of the academy students. A huge crop of future warriors, if they practiced and trained and remained strong, Ken had said in one lecture, a great generation to end this bloodshed. Maybe they would be, or maybe they wouldn't. It wasn't that Shizue didn't believe in the village, it was that even though she was a genin, one of those young warriors of the future, she was an outcast, a pariah, and thus to a certain extent she wondered whether it was her victory if Reef won, or if she would be excluded from that too? Her mother had had both enemies and allies, and like a dutiful daughter she had inherited the enemies along with the clan jutsu, yet the allies had not come.
Perhaps it was her- she had (others told her and she would have been the first to admit) not half of her mother's beauty or grace. Her hands were rough with work and scars, her hair had never grown back quite the same since an accident while practise with explosive tags and was now short and frizzy, given to being impossible to manage if it was any longer than neck length. She had greyish eyes, just like her mother, but her nose seemed slightly too big, lips a little too small, and she was gawky, still growing into a little bit of extra height even as the rest of her body grew too.
She sat there, right in the middle of the room, yet feeling as if she could see everything, waiting on the lecture. Sometimes jonin did that, she'd learned, as had everyone else. Gotten it in their head to teach for a while and then went back to running the village because teaching was a boring profession for chuunin, unless it was an apprentice, or someone a little closer to an equal than some academy student. That, if someone had taken a poll of those there, was the most likely reason. Everyone had heard that Emiko was going off to do a mission for the village, though everyone also had no idea what the mission was exactly, and the speculation that Shizue had been able to listen to, people acting as if she wasn't even there, was all over the place.
Not even a tenth of it could be true. Shizue was not a trusting soul, she understood how lies, gossip and misdirection spread, and her position outside the social hierarchy had, ironically enough, allowed her to observe far more than most would expect- when someone said to another, 'Did you hear about...' she probably had, whether she wanted to or not.
She leaned forward, looking one way and the other, scanning the lecture hall for even the least sign of Emiko. Nothing. She glanced over towards Genta, the only person nearly as much an outcast as her. The boy, dark circles around his eyes from a late night of study, sat halfway across the hall, as far away from anyone as he could be, reading.
Doi Genta always seemed like there was a lot going on behind his dark eyes that he never expressed. Sitting at the back, watching the room, Shizue got the distinct impression, that he was taking in far more than he ever let on. That he was probably smarter than her, and watched situations and details in the same way she could watch people. Over the past year or so she had struck up, if not a friendship, then at least an acquaintance with the strange genin.
Up near the front, one of the other genin was getting fed up. Of course, Uwai Toyo was always fed up with something. It seemed in his very nature, along with loving a good scrap. Thin, as if his fire jutsu had burned up every ounce of fat in his body, he had dark hair but brought eyes, dressed as if he were going for a walk, rather than an important meeting. He leapt up and said, "That's enough! Where the fuck is this bi--" he looked at Ginchiyo, who was sitting in front of him but had turned around to look at him. Considering she was a year older than him, experienced in battle, and had both lightning jutsu and her father's sword, he changed his phrasing mid-word, "--iick. This chick? I could be doing something important!"
"Like what?" Sakagami Saya asked. She was small herself, and looked delicate, with makeup carefully applied to her face and long, billowing sleeves. Toyo had always mocked her and her affinity for poisons and tricks right up until the boys and girls had started doing taijutsu classes together. They'd been paired up, and his cockiness lasted exactly as long as it took her to close the distance and deliver a distinctly one-sided beatdown. The chunin-sensei had had to pull her off of him and he'd refrained from calling her weak ever since then.
"Practicing your abysmal shuriken-jutsu," she answered for him, just a moment later, and then give a silvery laugh, covering her mouth with her long sleeve politely as she did. It came off as old-fashioned, more than anything else.
"Why, you! Say that to my face," Toyo dared.
"Darling, I just did," Saya said, looking at him as if he was a moron.
"Alright!" Toyo said, pushing past Izumida Akachi and Reizei Okiie, sitting between the two of them, to confront her directly.
"Enough," Ginchiyo said coldly, turning to him, Aiura Sanosuke and Ijuin Ginjiro, her friends and the closest thing she had to a team, turned around to look as well. They turned to see who the idiot who'd annoyed Ginchiyo was and… sure enough. "Sit down and stop barking. We are to wait patiently, as we have been ordered to do by our leaders."
"Yeah, yeah, I never heard them say 'patiently," Toyo said pointing an accusatory finger at the tall, black-haired Ginchiyo, managing to not glance nervously at her sheathed sword, "And you're not the boss of us! Just cause you're older and you lick boots for a living doesn't mean anything! Hell, you're not even that special anymore, we have our own powerful weapon-user in this very class! He wounded two enemy genin just last week! You're old news compared to Ichiman-san, and soon even I'll surpass you! So if you really wanna boss us around, why don't you put up or shut up!"
Ginchiyo rolled her eyes as Toyo pushed through the crowd of people, 'accidentally' shoving Yasukawa Rika off her seat. He stormed up to where Asai Ichiman stood, spear at his side, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else.
Ichiman was a tall young man, still growing into his limbs, with a messy mop of dark-brown hair and dark, thoughtful eyes. He tended to be aloof, and many girls were of the opinion that he was cool, and many guys that he was arrogant, that his isolation from others was because he thought he was better than them.
Shizue had her own hypothesis, however. It was that, whatever else he was, Ichiman was a little shy, and he couldn't entirely figure out how to relate to people when he was born outside the village and probably didn't particularly like half the people in his class, like Toyo. It was only a hypothesis because she'd never had a real, sustained conversation with him, though in this at least, her failure was matched by everyone else's.
"You can't let her talk like that! It's an insult to the rest of us genin, talking like she's so high and mighty,," Toyo declared, marching up an impassive, somewhat boring looking Ichiman. Everyone, including Shizue, had turned to watch what would happen. "Fight, for the honor of the village, Ichiman-sama!"
Ichiman said, simply, "No."
Then, there was a clap from the front of the room. Shizue turned, startled, as did half of the people in the room, to see that sitting at the desk at the front was a woman. She had light brown hair, black eyes, and features that could only be described as plain. Not ugly, not pretty. Not even unremarkable, really. A book Shizue had read had said that looking too unremarkable, too average, could in itself be suspicious. See a person who looks too plain, too perfectly unmemorable, and an astute ninja should tag them as suspicious. Instead she seemed normal, somewhat thin lips, small nose, if Shizue had been told she was a Reef chunin she'd have almost believed it. Even her clothes, well…
Jonin dressed notably. Ken wore stolen samurai armor passed down from one of the men who had died defending the Daimyo a hundred years ago, Yaramachi Haruo always had explosives on him, Hirotomo dressed flashily, and when off duty wore gold rings and the like, Sano Tomoyo had that bandolier of hers. To be a Jonin was to have a voice of thunder, a body of steel and stone, a knife like a thunderbolt and a fist like a crashing tidal wave, an indomitable will like an out of control wildfire, and a reputation that spread like a cool sea breeze across all of the islands.
They didn't dress in standard issue flak jackets and muted greyish, greenish, brownish clothing. Her hands lay flat on the table as she said, "I've been waiting." Even her voice was pretty standard, slightly wry but no more than a hint of irony at everyone's surprise. She looked to be in her early twenties, if Shizue had to judge, though she was more busy trying to figure out how she had gotten in here so fast, and without anyone noticing.
"Hey, don't scare me like that," Toyo said, apparently in a mouthy mood, "We were waiting forever for you!"
"Were you? I was here the whole time," Emiko said, "Did you not notice?"
Toyo's eyes narrowed, and he asked, "Wait, so you were hiding? Or something?"
"No, I was not, Uwai Toyo. I was looking around, listening to people talk, looking here and there."
Shizue looks over at Genta, sure that if anyone saw her, it would be him, but he looks shocks, genuinely surprised as if he expected he'd always be able to notice things, "I didn't see…" Genta said quietly, then raised his hand.
"Yes?" Emiko asked.
"How did you… I didn't…"
"Well, the explanation is simple. Genjutsu. That's an interesting book you're reading, but I wouldn't put too much faith in it. The illustration on the page you were reading, page twenty-nine, will get you killed if you try to use it in battle. Someone will stab you in the kidneys while you're trying to be fancy."
Genta's eyes widened as he glanced down at his book, currently closed. He'd set it down in his hurry to turn and see what the fuss was about with Toyo and Ichiman. Shizue felt a cold certainty slowly drape itself over her. She'd been among them the whole time, and nobody had seemed to notice.
"Oh, yeah, psh, genjutsu, I thought it was something cool. Useless, compared to real fighting skills," Toyo said. Several other genin didn't nod- few enough liked Toyo- but did make appreciative noises, and it was clear at least half the people there agreed. Even Ginchiyo, usually very polite, looked a bit flummoxed. Ichiman, for his part, snorted, and Genta kept his gaze on Emiko.
"Useless, is it? I thought you valued your lives more," she said, her voice not changing at all in inflection as Ginchiyo and Ichiman tensed. Up went a hand, and her fingers snapped, once. Shizue saw, on the back of Chusei's shirt in front of her, right about at the base of his spine, a bright orange dot of paint, and when he turned she saw that there were other dots and dabs of paint on other people too.
"Eight points."
Genta muttered them along with Emiko, as did several others, and as Shizue looked around she'd see that everyone had the dots of paint on them. How had they missed them? It had to be Genjutsu. She pulled out a small hand-mirror and checked herself. There they were.
"Larynx, spine, heart, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys. The traditional spread. Sometimes abbreviated," Emiko's voice sounded clinical, which was now terrifying when one considered what she'd just done, "Triple LL, double SS, KHS, kiss. Lame Losers Let Stupid Shinobi Kiss Her Sister. Or other similar mnemonic devices, mostly for use by teenagers. They're all rather silly. If I had so wished, you would all be dead."
"I'd like to believe," Saya said regally, "That we would have noticed after four or five of our classmates died messily. Probably, dear."
Which was when Emiko lifted her hands off the desk. At each fingetip was a dab of orange paint. "That could have been a contact poison. There are a number of fast-acting ones that can paralyze the body for several minutes. But even without that, what would you have done, run for the door?"
It was Haigo Chusei, right in front of Shizue, who responded, stunned and impressed, "A trap?"
"Yes, I had set up, after you had all come, several fuinjutsu and wire traps, as well as a launching mechanism for poisoned kunai...and explosives of the grade that the Yaramachi Clan calls 'A-Antipersonnel.'"
Yaramachi Hachiro, the other Yaramachi, the spare, with reddish-brown hair that came with the Clan, spluttered in shock, looking at that seemingly normal hallway that led to the door.
"I- " Toyo said, trembling. He looked terrified, and so did half of the room. The other half looked impressed...and scared. Shizue was firmly in that category, though across the room, an eleven year old academy student, a young girl whose name Shizue didn't know, said, "So cool..." Cool? That was certainly...one word for it.
"Simply put, there is something to be said for the subtle arts, far more than Reef would admit. Poisons, stealth, traps, genjutsu, and a dozen other arts are neglected here. Put simply, it is the mark of a poor ninja to ignore possible threats. In the past, those who ignored the danger of new techniques or new kinds of ninjutsu found themselves dead on the battlefield. One doesn't have to use these methods, but one must be prepared to face ninja who do. I neither have nor particularly like certain dojutsu or the ability to sense chakra, but I have prepared to deal with them. That is the same thing I will offer you… after we hear any more objections. Are there any weaknesses to what I did that you can spot?"
Shizue knew genjutsu. There were ways to end them- suppressing your chakra flow momentarily was one, pain was another if all else failed. "What if someone had simply disrupted it? It's at least theoretically possible that they could have, and then it all would have fallen apart."
Akachi, who had recently been talking about perhaps learning a genjutsu or two (only as a distraction, he'd been quick to add, to confuse an opponent as to the location of his shuriken) turned to Shizue and said, "That's a maybe, at most. All the books I've read say that doing that sorta thing, so that we didn't feel, see or hear anything she didn't want us to, to the point that she could walk down the rows right in front of us and put paint on us… that's jonin-grade genjutsu. II doubt any of us could have broken it."
"Very good, both of you. Yes, I'll grant, going against someone of my skill is unfair, but most opponents you will face will not be so skilled, and so techniques like that are vital. The reason nobody used them was that there was no good reason to suspect genjutsu. The greatest weapon of a ninja is surprise, whether it is a trick or simply a powerful new jutsu. Learning how to use surprise and how to see through your opponent's tricks...these are things I am prepared to teach," Emiko said, reaching under the desk and pulling out five clipboards.
"For as long as I am here on my vacation, doing easy jobs like last night's, I will be teaching a number of classes," Emiko begins, only to note that Ginchiyo, now, is raising her hand, "Yes?"
"Is information on your mission classified, Emiko...sensei?" she asked, sounding curious. Everyone had been, but in this case it was Ginchiyo who was both boldest and most polite.
"No, it is not. I killed the jonin of Hidden Tide, including their Oyabun, and returned here to present evidence of their deaths. All four of them are now dead."
Ginchiyo looked stunned, and confused, and she lapsed into silence, biting her lip. Emiko had to have realized it, certainly Shizue knew what it meant. Ginchiyo had been determined that someday she would kill the man who had killed her father. Even if she had never known him, but was that not Matsume's fault? Now it had been ripped away from her by a hired assassin. No speeches, no duels to the death, no honor. Just a woman casually- she still sounded almost bored- informing her that her goal was no longer possible.
Empathy was a skill you practiced just like everything else, and though she was an outcast and had even accepted it to the point where she no longer would have crawled on her knees through broken glass if one of the popular kids had told her that if she did so she'd be allowed back in- not anymore- she did have something of an understanding of how devastating that had to be.
Emiko seemed to understand that there was a time for words, and there was a time not to comment on the way Ginchiyo sat there, hands trembling ever so slightly. "The five classes I shall teach, three or so times a week, are as follows. First, genjutsu. Not only learning to use genjutsu, but learning how to break them, how to tell when you're caught in one. How to fight against against them so nothing like this happens again. Next, elemental ninjutsu. Training in them is not all that lax, but often genin are left to figure it out on their own, and I am willing to teach a class to help others with that. When I was your age I couldn't wait to discover my element and start mastering it." She gestured to the first two clipboards, which had a some words written at the top and then lines for names. Though Shizue was too far away to make out exactly what it said.
"The next course I'm going to teach to any and all genin or academy students interested is...well, I'll just read the name I used for it: Traps and Lateral Thinking. How to fight smart, how to fight to win, and how to counter an opponent that tries to trick you or lure you into a trap. The fourth class is simple: Taijutsu, Tactics, and Modern Combat. This is one you probably think you know much on, and it's definitely the place that the academy misses the least, but you can always improve your skill with taijutsu, knives, and other forms of close combat, and more importantly, the tactics that one uses to survive in a fight. Finally, the course I call 'Snake in the grass or knife in the kidney?: A primer.' Basically, a class on how to protect yourself against opponents who use stealth against you. You are not required to take any of the classes, but feel free to sign up for as many interest you, or that you can handle. I'll be giving them my full attention, and you can expect to learn a lot if you're willing to put in the time and effort. So, you may come forward now."
Everyone hesitates for a moment, and then they start moving. Ginchiyo first, and then others following.
Which classes, if any, does Shizue sign up for? She may take two without any extra cost in time, taking a third takes up one of her three slots for the week.
[] Genjutsu.
[] Elemental Ninjutsu
[] Traps and Lateral Thinking.
[] Taijutsu, Tactics, and Modern Warfare.
[] Snake in the grass or knife in the kidney?
Over the next week Shizue… (Pick three, the options with more than one sub-option can be picked repeatedly if a different sub-option is used.)
[] Tinkers with her puppets, trying to work a few things out involving Testbed and that damned water gun.
[] Interacts with the civilians: they're not as cold and somewhat more polite, if aware that ninja are their lords and betters.
[] Trains with someone
-[] Ask one of the chunin for help on a subject. They're often busy, but less so than others. They're often busy, but less so than those even farther above on the food chain.
-[] Ask one of the tokubetsu jonin for help. One was an enemy of her mother, but surely not all of them were. They're likely to be busy, though.
-[] They're very busy planning the coming offensive, but one could try asking one of the jonin! If so, which one?
-[] Shizue could try to train with one of her fellow genin, though she'd have to train in what they wanted to train in. If so, which one?
[] Takes a mission
-[] Take a D-rank mission or two around the village. There's not a lot on offer, but few genin actually want to do menial drudgery. Thus, she's almost certain to find something.
-[] Try to sign up for a C-rank escort mission for a small merchant group. Short, boring, just guarding them as they travel from one island to another. It will take Shizue out of the village for a day or two, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
-[] As the planned offensive begins, standards are dropping. In order to free up experienced ninja for more important tasks, missions and patrols in less dangerous areas are being assigned to new genin like Shizue and her former classmates, and there's talk of letting promising academy students take part in patrols in the safest areas. Shizue could try to sign up for one of these missions, though competition will be fierce.
[] Talks to her fellow genin (choose two)
[] Write-in, subject to QM veto.
*****
A/N: So here it is! Hope the vote isn't too overwhelming, the way it works is that once things are picked it'll go into scenes and votes beneath that, and the plot will sorta advance from there based on what's picked. It'll be shorter next time, since this time I'm trying to introduce all of the genin that Shizue knows and might want to talk to.
Other notes. Shizue has 'sufficient' ryou. I won't be providing some exact number at this point. She has enough that if she takes a D-rank every couple of weeks or so she should be fine in providing the bare minimum for herself, and she can afford to buy the necessary parts for her puppet and a few odds and ends without additional income, having a house all her own and a small stipend in taxation inherited from her mother. Taking missions more often will make her income a bit more than just sufficient in the sense of opening up some new purchases- but at this point, in a backwater village, I don't think a complex monetary system is needed.
And yeah, introducing important characters!
Also, as to why literally the best relationship Shizue has with any of them is 'totally neutral', well, that's Isolated for you!
Next on the agenda, I'd like to say that reaction posts are always welcome and might be worth a few XP, potentially.
Final note. I was thinking of doing 'Arcs' and 'Episodes' as the 'Chapter' and 'Update' gimmick for the organization, and I might still do that, but for now it's Acts and Scenes.
McClenahan: I hope you like the little crop of genin we have here!
Scene 1: Enter! Iwasaki Emiko! Stage Right.
When the entire Jonin Council signed off on an order in unison, it got carried out very quickly. Stunningly quickly, for a village in the hot, humid days of early summer when the only dry thing to be seen was the mission pool, and the village's genin, some having only graduated the month before, tended to dream of vast battles with a thousand enemies from Island or Tide… and then signed up for the most routine, boring, laid back patrols, or those that put them with someone they had a crush on. It was so swift that few, even Suzuhisa Shizue, had time to ask many questions.
The orders couldn't be misinterpreted anyway. All available Genin and interesting academy students report to the main lecture hall, and that Iwasaki Emiko would be there. No, not the fields and buildings that they ambitiously called their ninja academy, but the big block of a structure that had once, forty years before, been the site of some ambitious project to teach the children and adults of this island. Now it was just used for big meetings and lectures and speeches by important ninja on upcoming fights- no doubt there'd be another one soon, concerning the offensive against Tide everyone was speculating about.
Row upon row of benches filled the building, rising upward a little towards the back. The room could have fit the whole village perhaps, high-ceilinged and brightly lit, if they'd been willing to crowd in a little. As it was, it was rather too crowded for Shizue's liking, though she knew that she was probably just touchy.
She had been that way for too long, and it showed in her, she knew, in the way she sat and looked and acted, in a thousand things that she could acknowledge after the fact yet couldn't seem to change. Her mom was dead, and that fact should have long since lost any power at all to control her, yet it still seemed, half a decade later, the central event in her life, the moment she went from being mocked on occasion to being completely ignored. And had lost the only person she was sure loved her. Everything else existed in a world of uncertainties, and she was sitting near the middle, a compromise between wanting to be close to the door if something happened and away from it for the same reason.
She had a mind that thought of things like that incessantly, endlessly, a sort of motor that powered her down avenues that few others walked. The number of exceptions, people who practiced fuinjutsu, or thought about stealth is anything more than, at best, a cheap tactic to use before a raid, were very few in number, and Shizue noted that they were there too.
What had been demanded was all of the genin who were available, and most of the academy students. A huge crop of future warriors, if they practiced and trained and remained strong, Ken had said in one lecture, a great generation to end this bloodshed. Maybe they would be, or maybe they wouldn't. It wasn't that Shizue didn't believe in the village, it was that even though she was a genin, one of those young warriors of the future, she was an outcast, a pariah, and thus to a certain extent she wondered whether it was her victory if Reef won, or if she would be excluded from that too? Her mother had had both enemies and allies, and like a dutiful daughter she had inherited the enemies along with the clan jutsu, yet the allies had not come.
Perhaps it was her- she had (others told her and she would have been the first to admit) not half of her mother's beauty or grace. Her hands were rough with work and scars, her hair had never grown back quite the same since an accident while practise with explosive tags and was now short and frizzy, given to being impossible to manage if it was any longer than neck length. She had greyish eyes, just like her mother, but her nose seemed slightly too big, lips a little too small, and she was gawky, still growing into a little bit of extra height even as the rest of her body grew too.
She sat there, right in the middle of the room, yet feeling as if she could see everything, waiting on the lecture. Sometimes jonin did that, she'd learned, as had everyone else. Gotten it in their head to teach for a while and then went back to running the village because teaching was a boring profession for chuunin, unless it was an apprentice, or someone a little closer to an equal than some academy student. That, if someone had taken a poll of those there, was the most likely reason. Everyone had heard that Emiko was going off to do a mission for the village, though everyone also had no idea what the mission was exactly, and the speculation that Shizue had been able to listen to, people acting as if she wasn't even there, was all over the place.
Not even a tenth of it could be true. Shizue was not a trusting soul, she understood how lies, gossip and misdirection spread, and her position outside the social hierarchy had, ironically enough, allowed her to observe far more than most would expect- when someone said to another, 'Did you hear about...' she probably had, whether she wanted to or not.
She leaned forward, looking one way and the other, scanning the lecture hall for even the least sign of Emiko. Nothing. She glanced over towards Genta, the only person nearly as much an outcast as her. The boy, dark circles around his eyes from a late night of study, sat halfway across the hall, as far away from anyone as he could be, reading.
Doi Genta always seemed like there was a lot going on behind his dark eyes that he never expressed. Sitting at the back, watching the room, Shizue got the distinct impression, that he was taking in far more than he ever let on. That he was probably smarter than her, and watched situations and details in the same way she could watch people. Over the past year or so she had struck up, if not a friendship, then at least an acquaintance with the strange genin.
Up near the front, one of the other genin was getting fed up. Of course, Uwai Toyo was always fed up with something. It seemed in his very nature, along with loving a good scrap. Thin, as if his fire jutsu had burned up every ounce of fat in his body, he had dark hair but brought eyes, dressed as if he were going for a walk, rather than an important meeting. He leapt up and said, "That's enough! Where the fuck is this bi--" he looked at Ginchiyo, who was sitting in front of him but had turned around to look at him. Considering she was a year older than him, experienced in battle, and had both lightning jutsu and her father's sword, he changed his phrasing mid-word, "--iick. This chick? I could be doing something important!"
"Like what?" Sakagami Saya asked. She was small herself, and looked delicate, with makeup carefully applied to her face and long, billowing sleeves. Toyo had always mocked her and her affinity for poisons and tricks right up until the boys and girls had started doing taijutsu classes together. They'd been paired up, and his cockiness lasted exactly as long as it took her to close the distance and deliver a distinctly one-sided beatdown. The chunin-sensei had had to pull her off of him and he'd refrained from calling her weak ever since then.
"Practicing your abysmal shuriken-jutsu," she answered for him, just a moment later, and then give a silvery laugh, covering her mouth with her long sleeve politely as she did. It came off as old-fashioned, more than anything else.
"Why, you! Say that to my face," Toyo dared.
"Darling, I just did," Saya said, looking at him as if he was a moron.
"Alright!" Toyo said, pushing past Izumida Akachi and Reizei Okiie, sitting between the two of them, to confront her directly.
"Enough," Ginchiyo said coldly, turning to him, Aiura Sanosuke and Ijuin Ginjiro, her friends and the closest thing she had to a team, turned around to look as well. They turned to see who the idiot who'd annoyed Ginchiyo was and… sure enough. "Sit down and stop barking. We are to wait patiently, as we have been ordered to do by our leaders."
"Yeah, yeah, I never heard them say 'patiently," Toyo said pointing an accusatory finger at the tall, black-haired Ginchiyo, managing to not glance nervously at her sheathed sword, "And you're not the boss of us! Just cause you're older and you lick boots for a living doesn't mean anything! Hell, you're not even that special anymore, we have our own powerful weapon-user in this very class! He wounded two enemy genin just last week! You're old news compared to Ichiman-san, and soon even I'll surpass you! So if you really wanna boss us around, why don't you put up or shut up!"
Ginchiyo rolled her eyes as Toyo pushed through the crowd of people, 'accidentally' shoving Yasukawa Rika off her seat. He stormed up to where Asai Ichiman stood, spear at his side, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else.
Ichiman was a tall young man, still growing into his limbs, with a messy mop of dark-brown hair and dark, thoughtful eyes. He tended to be aloof, and many girls were of the opinion that he was cool, and many guys that he was arrogant, that his isolation from others was because he thought he was better than them.
Shizue had her own hypothesis, however. It was that, whatever else he was, Ichiman was a little shy, and he couldn't entirely figure out how to relate to people when he was born outside the village and probably didn't particularly like half the people in his class, like Toyo. It was only a hypothesis because she'd never had a real, sustained conversation with him, though in this at least, her failure was matched by everyone else's.
"You can't let her talk like that! It's an insult to the rest of us genin, talking like she's so high and mighty,," Toyo declared, marching up an impassive, somewhat boring looking Ichiman. Everyone, including Shizue, had turned to watch what would happen. "Fight, for the honor of the village, Ichiman-sama!"
Ichiman said, simply, "No."
Then, there was a clap from the front of the room. Shizue turned, startled, as did half of the people in the room, to see that sitting at the desk at the front was a woman. She had light brown hair, black eyes, and features that could only be described as plain. Not ugly, not pretty. Not even unremarkable, really. A book Shizue had read had said that looking too unremarkable, too average, could in itself be suspicious. See a person who looks too plain, too perfectly unmemorable, and an astute ninja should tag them as suspicious. Instead she seemed normal, somewhat thin lips, small nose, if Shizue had been told she was a Reef chunin she'd have almost believed it. Even her clothes, well…
Jonin dressed notably. Ken wore stolen samurai armor passed down from one of the men who had died defending the Daimyo a hundred years ago, Yaramachi Haruo always had explosives on him, Hirotomo dressed flashily, and when off duty wore gold rings and the like, Sano Tomoyo had that bandolier of hers. To be a Jonin was to have a voice of thunder, a body of steel and stone, a knife like a thunderbolt and a fist like a crashing tidal wave, an indomitable will like an out of control wildfire, and a reputation that spread like a cool sea breeze across all of the islands.
They didn't dress in standard issue flak jackets and muted greyish, greenish, brownish clothing. Her hands lay flat on the table as she said, "I've been waiting." Even her voice was pretty standard, slightly wry but no more than a hint of irony at everyone's surprise. She looked to be in her early twenties, if Shizue had to judge, though she was more busy trying to figure out how she had gotten in here so fast, and without anyone noticing.
"Hey, don't scare me like that," Toyo said, apparently in a mouthy mood, "We were waiting forever for you!"
"Were you? I was here the whole time," Emiko said, "Did you not notice?"
Toyo's eyes narrowed, and he asked, "Wait, so you were hiding? Or something?"
"No, I was not, Uwai Toyo. I was looking around, listening to people talk, looking here and there."
Shizue looks over at Genta, sure that if anyone saw her, it would be him, but he looks shocks, genuinely surprised as if he expected he'd always be able to notice things, "I didn't see…" Genta said quietly, then raised his hand.
"Yes?" Emiko asked.
"How did you… I didn't…"
"Well, the explanation is simple. Genjutsu. That's an interesting book you're reading, but I wouldn't put too much faith in it. The illustration on the page you were reading, page twenty-nine, will get you killed if you try to use it in battle. Someone will stab you in the kidneys while you're trying to be fancy."
Genta's eyes widened as he glanced down at his book, currently closed. He'd set it down in his hurry to turn and see what the fuss was about with Toyo and Ichiman. Shizue felt a cold certainty slowly drape itself over her. She'd been among them the whole time, and nobody had seemed to notice.
"Oh, yeah, psh, genjutsu, I thought it was something cool. Useless, compared to real fighting skills," Toyo said. Several other genin didn't nod- few enough liked Toyo- but did make appreciative noises, and it was clear at least half the people there agreed. Even Ginchiyo, usually very polite, looked a bit flummoxed. Ichiman, for his part, snorted, and Genta kept his gaze on Emiko.
"Useless, is it? I thought you valued your lives more," she said, her voice not changing at all in inflection as Ginchiyo and Ichiman tensed. Up went a hand, and her fingers snapped, once. Shizue saw, on the back of Chusei's shirt in front of her, right about at the base of his spine, a bright orange dot of paint, and when he turned she saw that there were other dots and dabs of paint on other people too.
"Eight points."
Genta muttered them along with Emiko, as did several others, and as Shizue looked around she'd see that everyone had the dots of paint on them. How had they missed them? It had to be Genjutsu. She pulled out a small hand-mirror and checked herself. There they were.
"Larynx, spine, heart, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys. The traditional spread. Sometimes abbreviated," Emiko's voice sounded clinical, which was now terrifying when one considered what she'd just done, "Triple LL, double SS, KHS, kiss. Lame Losers Let Stupid Shinobi Kiss Her Sister. Or other similar mnemonic devices, mostly for use by teenagers. They're all rather silly. If I had so wished, you would all be dead."
"I'd like to believe," Saya said regally, "That we would have noticed after four or five of our classmates died messily. Probably, dear."
Which was when Emiko lifted her hands off the desk. At each fingetip was a dab of orange paint. "That could have been a contact poison. There are a number of fast-acting ones that can paralyze the body for several minutes. But even without that, what would you have done, run for the door?"
It was Haigo Chusei, right in front of Shizue, who responded, stunned and impressed, "A trap?"
"Yes, I had set up, after you had all come, several fuinjutsu and wire traps, as well as a launching mechanism for poisoned kunai...and explosives of the grade that the Yaramachi Clan calls 'A-Antipersonnel.'"
Yaramachi Hachiro, the other Yaramachi, the spare, with reddish-brown hair that came with the Clan, spluttered in shock, looking at that seemingly normal hallway that led to the door.
"I- " Toyo said, trembling. He looked terrified, and so did half of the room. The other half looked impressed...and scared. Shizue was firmly in that category, though across the room, an eleven year old academy student, a young girl whose name Shizue didn't know, said, "So cool..." Cool? That was certainly...one word for it.
"Simply put, there is something to be said for the subtle arts, far more than Reef would admit. Poisons, stealth, traps, genjutsu, and a dozen other arts are neglected here. Put simply, it is the mark of a poor ninja to ignore possible threats. In the past, those who ignored the danger of new techniques or new kinds of ninjutsu found themselves dead on the battlefield. One doesn't have to use these methods, but one must be prepared to face ninja who do. I neither have nor particularly like certain dojutsu or the ability to sense chakra, but I have prepared to deal with them. That is the same thing I will offer you… after we hear any more objections. Are there any weaknesses to what I did that you can spot?"
Shizue knew genjutsu. There were ways to end them- suppressing your chakra flow momentarily was one, pain was another if all else failed. "What if someone had simply disrupted it? It's at least theoretically possible that they could have, and then it all would have fallen apart."
Akachi, who had recently been talking about perhaps learning a genjutsu or two (only as a distraction, he'd been quick to add, to confuse an opponent as to the location of his shuriken) turned to Shizue and said, "That's a maybe, at most. All the books I've read say that doing that sorta thing, so that we didn't feel, see or hear anything she didn't want us to, to the point that she could walk down the rows right in front of us and put paint on us… that's jonin-grade genjutsu. II doubt any of us could have broken it."
"Very good, both of you. Yes, I'll grant, going against someone of my skill is unfair, but most opponents you will face will not be so skilled, and so techniques like that are vital. The reason nobody used them was that there was no good reason to suspect genjutsu. The greatest weapon of a ninja is surprise, whether it is a trick or simply a powerful new jutsu. Learning how to use surprise and how to see through your opponent's tricks...these are things I am prepared to teach," Emiko said, reaching under the desk and pulling out five clipboards.
"For as long as I am here on my vacation, doing easy jobs like last night's, I will be teaching a number of classes," Emiko begins, only to note that Ginchiyo, now, is raising her hand, "Yes?"
"Is information on your mission classified, Emiko...sensei?" she asked, sounding curious. Everyone had been, but in this case it was Ginchiyo who was both boldest and most polite.
"No, it is not. I killed the jonin of Hidden Tide, including their Oyabun, and returned here to present evidence of their deaths. All four of them are now dead."
Ginchiyo looked stunned, and confused, and she lapsed into silence, biting her lip. Emiko had to have realized it, certainly Shizue knew what it meant. Ginchiyo had been determined that someday she would kill the man who had killed her father. Even if she had never known him, but was that not Matsume's fault? Now it had been ripped away from her by a hired assassin. No speeches, no duels to the death, no honor. Just a woman casually- she still sounded almost bored- informing her that her goal was no longer possible.
Empathy was a skill you practiced just like everything else, and though she was an outcast and had even accepted it to the point where she no longer would have crawled on her knees through broken glass if one of the popular kids had told her that if she did so she'd be allowed back in- not anymore- she did have something of an understanding of how devastating that had to be.
Emiko seemed to understand that there was a time for words, and there was a time not to comment on the way Ginchiyo sat there, hands trembling ever so slightly. "The five classes I shall teach, three or so times a week, are as follows. First, genjutsu. Not only learning to use genjutsu, but learning how to break them, how to tell when you're caught in one. How to fight against against them so nothing like this happens again. Next, elemental ninjutsu. Training in them is not all that lax, but often genin are left to figure it out on their own, and I am willing to teach a class to help others with that. When I was your age I couldn't wait to discover my element and start mastering it." She gestured to the first two clipboards, which had a some words written at the top and then lines for names. Though Shizue was too far away to make out exactly what it said.
"The next course I'm going to teach to any and all genin or academy students interested is...well, I'll just read the name I used for it: Traps and Lateral Thinking. How to fight smart, how to fight to win, and how to counter an opponent that tries to trick you or lure you into a trap. The fourth class is simple: Taijutsu, Tactics, and Modern Combat. This is one you probably think you know much on, and it's definitely the place that the academy misses the least, but you can always improve your skill with taijutsu, knives, and other forms of close combat, and more importantly, the tactics that one uses to survive in a fight. Finally, the course I call 'Snake in the grass or knife in the kidney?: A primer.' Basically, a class on how to protect yourself against opponents who use stealth against you. You are not required to take any of the classes, but feel free to sign up for as many interest you, or that you can handle. I'll be giving them my full attention, and you can expect to learn a lot if you're willing to put in the time and effort. So, you may come forward now."
Everyone hesitates for a moment, and then they start moving. Ginchiyo first, and then others following.
Which classes, if any, does Shizue sign up for? She may take two without any extra cost in time, taking a third takes up one of her three slots for the week.
[] Genjutsu.
[] Elemental Ninjutsu
[] Traps and Lateral Thinking.
[] Taijutsu, Tactics, and Modern Warfare.
[] Snake in the grass or knife in the kidney?
Over the next week Shizue… (Pick three, the options with more than one sub-option can be picked repeatedly if a different sub-option is used.)
[] Tinkers with her puppets, trying to work a few things out involving Testbed and that damned water gun.
[] Interacts with the civilians: they're not as cold and somewhat more polite, if aware that ninja are their lords and betters.
[] Trains with someone
-[] Ask one of the chunin for help on a subject. They're often busy, but less so than others. They're often busy, but less so than those even farther above on the food chain.
-[] Ask one of the tokubetsu jonin for help. One was an enemy of her mother, but surely not all of them were. They're likely to be busy, though.
-[] They're very busy planning the coming offensive, but one could try asking one of the jonin! If so, which one?
-[] Shizue could try to train with one of her fellow genin, though she'd have to train in what they wanted to train in. If so, which one?
[] Takes a mission
-[] Take a D-rank mission or two around the village. There's not a lot on offer, but few genin actually want to do menial drudgery. Thus, she's almost certain to find something.
-[] Try to sign up for a C-rank escort mission for a small merchant group. Short, boring, just guarding them as they travel from one island to another. It will take Shizue out of the village for a day or two, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
-[] As the planned offensive begins, standards are dropping. In order to free up experienced ninja for more important tasks, missions and patrols in less dangerous areas are being assigned to new genin like Shizue and her former classmates, and there's talk of letting promising academy students take part in patrols in the safest areas. Shizue could try to sign up for one of these missions, though competition will be fierce.
[] Talks to her fellow genin (choose two)
[] Write-in, subject to QM veto.
Iesato Ginchiyo: She believes some of what the liars said about Shizue's mother, but she has also been unfailing polite and professional. She's older though, and has her own friends and priorities. Shizue could certainly try, though, and it could be an important contact to make. Some in the village have earmarked her for promotion to chunin, if she continues to progress as she has done so far.
Asai Ichiman: He's never been rude to Shizue- well, any more than he's been to anyone else. Just what is it about him, then? Shizue certainly wouldn't mind getting to know him better. And not just because he's handsome. Which he is.
Doi Genta: An outcast like her, for reasons she doesn't even know. Just what is it that caused his isolation, and is there anything a friend could do for him? Of course he could just prefer his own company, Shizue isn't really sure.
Haigo Chusei: A prankster and a bit of a tease, he's not a bad guy. Except she has been a target of his pranks before, because who cares if the Suzuhisa girl gets her clothes ruined by paint bombs? Shizue doesn't forgive him, but she could at least try to talk to him.
Izumida Akachi: Besides a budding interest in genjutsu,he doesn't have that much in common with Shizue, treating her no worse than the others, but no better either. However, he does seem excited foreign ninja teaching them, someone who's actually been to places he's only heard stories about.
Reizei Okiie: A determined young man with a big nose and a dedication to learning ninjutsu that has led to him knowing at least one jutsu in each of the five elements. He's a font of knowledge, but doesn't stand out in the crowd because he's working on his own project, his own passions. He talks a lot about the fate of the village, and is chomping at the bit to go on a 'real mission' after a month and a half as a genin. Shizue doesn't understand some of this eagerness, but she respects his dedication to his ninja way.
Sakagami Saya: Princess, both ice and otherwise, she's been mean to Shizue before. She's haughty, arrogant even when she shouldn't be, but also feisty, mysterious, and strange. It makes her interesting, at that, and she's certainly someone to trail along after, if Shizue can put up with her, and she with Shizue. Also, she always seems to have extra spending money.
Uwai Toyo: He's a jerk and he constantly belittles Shizue, but maybe, she thinks, she should try to mend fences. They're all genin now, maybe they can just hate each other in private like adults are supposed to.
Watabe Chieko: In some ways, she too is trying to live with her mother's absence. Chieko's mother, however, is still alive but completely mad. Her whole life- unlike Shizue, who defended her not only to the last but beyond it- was spent denying it. She was sane, she was rational, she kept control over her emotions and herself, used her medical jutsu and skills with a blade, and was going to become a perfectly sane, perfectly normal ninja. Shizue saw her mother once, hobbling along, hair grey, staring at nothing and babbling.
Yaramachi Hachiro: The weight of the world is upon him. Being a stalwart of the village, he tended to ignore her- sometimes rudely, sometimes not. Shizue had seen his vulnerability though, his doubts as his world slowed disintegrated around him. He doesn't have a father anymore, or a mother, and his clan has fallen apart. Sometimes Shizue wants to help him. Sometimes, when she's feeling really bitter, she wants to watch him fall.
Yasukawa Rika: When someone is nearly at the bottom, does that create kinship with those further down? No. Rika is the daughter of a civilian administrator, a first generation ninja who's often called a jumped-up farmer by her classmates (Toyo is always ready to point out that she should know her place in the world instead of putting on airs), and the quiet, studious girl cares as much as Shizue once had. She's also snubbed Shizue though, rebuffed her efforts before, out of fear that associating with her would destroy any chance of ever being accepted. Shizue, as much as it hurts her, understands this, but she keeps on trying anyway.
Asai Ichiman: He's never been rude to Shizue- well, any more than he's been to anyone else. Just what is it about him, then? Shizue certainly wouldn't mind getting to know him better. And not just because he's handsome. Which he is.
Doi Genta: An outcast like her, for reasons she doesn't even know. Just what is it that caused his isolation, and is there anything a friend could do for him? Of course he could just prefer his own company, Shizue isn't really sure.
Haigo Chusei: A prankster and a bit of a tease, he's not a bad guy. Except she has been a target of his pranks before, because who cares if the Suzuhisa girl gets her clothes ruined by paint bombs? Shizue doesn't forgive him, but she could at least try to talk to him.
Izumida Akachi: Besides a budding interest in genjutsu,he doesn't have that much in common with Shizue, treating her no worse than the others, but no better either. However, he does seem excited foreign ninja teaching them, someone who's actually been to places he's only heard stories about.
Reizei Okiie: A determined young man with a big nose and a dedication to learning ninjutsu that has led to him knowing at least one jutsu in each of the five elements. He's a font of knowledge, but doesn't stand out in the crowd because he's working on his own project, his own passions. He talks a lot about the fate of the village, and is chomping at the bit to go on a 'real mission' after a month and a half as a genin. Shizue doesn't understand some of this eagerness, but she respects his dedication to his ninja way.
Sakagami Saya: Princess, both ice and otherwise, she's been mean to Shizue before. She's haughty, arrogant even when she shouldn't be, but also feisty, mysterious, and strange. It makes her interesting, at that, and she's certainly someone to trail along after, if Shizue can put up with her, and she with Shizue. Also, she always seems to have extra spending money.
Uwai Toyo: He's a jerk and he constantly belittles Shizue, but maybe, she thinks, she should try to mend fences. They're all genin now, maybe they can just hate each other in private like adults are supposed to.
Watabe Chieko: In some ways, she too is trying to live with her mother's absence. Chieko's mother, however, is still alive but completely mad. Her whole life- unlike Shizue, who defended her not only to the last but beyond it- was spent denying it. She was sane, she was rational, she kept control over her emotions and herself, used her medical jutsu and skills with a blade, and was going to become a perfectly sane, perfectly normal ninja. Shizue saw her mother once, hobbling along, hair grey, staring at nothing and babbling.
Yaramachi Hachiro: The weight of the world is upon him. Being a stalwart of the village, he tended to ignore her- sometimes rudely, sometimes not. Shizue had seen his vulnerability though, his doubts as his world slowed disintegrated around him. He doesn't have a father anymore, or a mother, and his clan has fallen apart. Sometimes Shizue wants to help him. Sometimes, when she's feeling really bitter, she wants to watch him fall.
Yasukawa Rika: When someone is nearly at the bottom, does that create kinship with those further down? No. Rika is the daughter of a civilian administrator, a first generation ninja who's often called a jumped-up farmer by her classmates (Toyo is always ready to point out that she should know her place in the world instead of putting on airs), and the quiet, studious girl cares as much as Shizue once had. She's also snubbed Shizue though, rebuffed her efforts before, out of fear that associating with her would destroy any chance of ever being accepted. Shizue, as much as it hurts her, understands this, but she keeps on trying anyway.
*****
A/N: So here it is! Hope the vote isn't too overwhelming, the way it works is that once things are picked it'll go into scenes and votes beneath that, and the plot will sorta advance from there based on what's picked. It'll be shorter next time, since this time I'm trying to introduce all of the genin that Shizue knows and might want to talk to.
Other notes. Shizue has 'sufficient' ryou. I won't be providing some exact number at this point. She has enough that if she takes a D-rank every couple of weeks or so she should be fine in providing the bare minimum for herself, and she can afford to buy the necessary parts for her puppet and a few odds and ends without additional income, having a house all her own and a small stipend in taxation inherited from her mother. Taking missions more often will make her income a bit more than just sufficient in the sense of opening up some new purchases- but at this point, in a backwater village, I don't think a complex monetary system is needed.
And yeah, introducing important characters!
Also, as to why literally the best relationship Shizue has with any of them is 'totally neutral', well, that's Isolated for you!
Next on the agenda, I'd like to say that reaction posts are always welcome and might be worth a few XP, potentially.
Final note. I was thinking of doing 'Arcs' and 'Episodes' as the 'Chapter' and 'Update' gimmick for the organization, and I might still do that, but for now it's Acts and Scenes.
McClenahan: I hope you like the little crop of genin we have here!
Last edited:
Act 1, Scene 2+3!
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Act 1, Scene 2: The First Premonition! Emiko's Lessons!
It was madness, sheer madness, pushing and shoving and shouting, and Emiko watched it a little startled. Perhaps Shizue was projecting her own feelings though, hovering at the back of the pack trying to push forward to sign up. Once they'd had a few moments to process it, everyone realized that a Jonin level ninja was offering to teach them classes. Even the most pigheaded could see what an opportunity it was, and Toyo was right among them, pushing and shoving and once punching someone in the head when they accidentally dug their elbow into his ribs while trying to sign. What a mess. The future soldiers of victory? Shizue thought, looking at them, reminded for a startling moment just how young they all were. Young, and in need of growing strong if they didn't want to die.
And from the rush to someone who had made the offer, to train them, to teach them, to help them better themselves- even if she was a funny looking foreigner who had odd ideas of what a Ninja truly was- showed that, most of all, they knew it.
[INSERT OPENING THEME SONG IN JAPANESE OR EXPOSITORY RAP IN ENGLISH]
*****
In the end, Shizue signed up for three different classes. Genjutsu, Traps and Lateral Thinking, and the oddly named 'Snake in the Grass', primarily about stealth. She hoped that she wouldn't have to wait too long for the classes, but as it turned out, it wouldn't be long before she'd see what Emiko taught in detail. In fact, the first Genjutsu class was this afternoon, then the stealth class the day after, and traps the day after that- then the pattern continued, three sessions a week for each, which was time consuming but doable. Emiko seemed to use the day of the initial meeting as the start of the week when she was scheduling things, and Shizue noted there was an asterisk leading to a declaration that it was fine to miss sessions in order to go on missions, but that telling Emiko would be a good idea.
At that point she was pushed out of the way, and, stumbling back from the shove, looked around but failed to find the source. She wished she were more capable of figuring out exactly who did these things, sometimes. Other times, after a moment's reflection, Shizue realized that the exact answer didn't matter.
What mattered was that it was probably a different person each time, and all in all, the true injustice was that few really thought about it, much less cared. Indifference and dislike were compounded by the fact that it wasn't merely a few people, but too many. And the fact that eventually she stopped trying to befriend everyone, or protest to the right people about what was being done. It never worked, and Shizue knew she should keep on trying, that now that she was a Genin something could have changed… but it also might not have.
She had four hours and knew where the first class would be, so she headed up to the boards, glancing over them before eating a light lunch, ignoring stares. People talked and gossiped around her, both about what mission 'that foreign ninja' had taken, the information not yet released to mere civilians, and rumors about what was being charged.
If half the numbers were half true, it was far more than Shizue was likely to see anytime soon, that was for sure. She wanted a mission, one that would get her out of the village, but not too soon. She wanted to learn a bit more about Emiko, and from Emiko, and she needed time to finish the modifications to her puppet.
Thus far only a single mission had involved actual combat, and that was a C-rank in which a bandit attacked someone gathering supplies, saw that a ninja was protecting them, and ran. He was caught anyway, but that was as close as Shizue had ever gotten to combat. Yet she brought her puppet along to each mission, even without a scroll to seal it in.
She'd manage to pass a few hours, with relatively little to show for it, but a greater understanding of the village rumor mill as it currently stood, before walked over towards what everybody referred to as the 'makeout tree.' At the edge of the village, it was near some nice wilderness, some old buildings, and a nice stream. It also was the place a lot of villagers went to, well, make out. No neighbors to spy, nice and quiet for a private picnic…
To get there, Shizue walked through the village, which she knew was better off than many others. It had paved roads, at least in most places, and electric lighting down most alleys, and the buildings, while squat and obeying no single law either of architecture or building codes, were familiar, and to Shizue it was cozy, as were the winding streets, the people crowding on the street, staring at the ninja as they pass, or calling a greeting or imploring something. In the back alleys they played 'Ninja' with pretend shuriken and came home with black eyes and missing teeth.
All in childish fun, though some of the people playing those games were as old as she was now. There was poverty, sure, and there was the ninja quarter, where her own home was, and everywhere else where non-ninja were allowed to live, but it was still her village, and she knew it. Was comfortable around it, if not always most of the people in it.
She kept on going, until they got to the old buildings that had been left standing there after the fire fifteen years back, which had killed nearly fifty peasants and one unlucky Chunin. All that was left were ruins, and it had hardened into a scar. Criminal sorts tended to meet here, and the buildings just beyond this scar had been abandoned as well, as if they were cut off from the lifeblood of the village by just a few dozen buildings, left to wither down into even more of a husk. That should have made it dangerous, but there was another route to the same tree, and several retired ninja lived along that route, and so it remained open. 'Walk down ninja way' the song went, 'And meet your girl under the makeout tree.'
Shizue saw, as she walked up the hill, that either around twenty people had decided to go on a makeout session at once, in which case a fight would soon ensue, or that she wasn't the only person who thought to show up early. She could see Saya, sitting on a silken blanket, sipping tea she'd brought, while Ginchiyo and her two friends, Sanosuke and Ginjiro glanced around curiously. There was no such thing as set Genin teams, but teamwork was appreciated, and so friends like that usually got paired together for missions, often enough that they became teams in all but name.
Lower on the hill Genta sat with a book, the same one from earlier, seemingly dead to the world, though Shizue doubted it. Four or five academy students were clustered together, chatting, clustered around Akachi, and as Shizue got closer she heard what she expected- they were asking him questions about the world beyond their archipelago now that it had suddenly been brought to their attention.
Chieko, on the other hand, was talking to another one of the Genin, holding up a kunai and seemingly giving them a few quick pointers. She always did try to befriend others that way, by giving them something even if it was just a moment of her time. It worked better than expected really, though Shizue's own efforts to do the same had run into a wall of indifference. She reached the top, passing by Genta, wondering if she should say something to him, ask about the book… but no, would he even care? He had his own affairs, and Shizue crossed up to the top of the hill as quickly as she could, passing him by.
Shizue saw in this, nowhere she could be, so she stood a little way up the hill from him, and kept an eye out out for Emiko. She thought she had some idea of Emiko's style, her own brand of flashiness. She'd appear out of nowhere, reveal she had been listening in… it was, Shizue reasoned, just as flashy as any other Jonin, normal even, just in a very different way. Instead, though, after a few minutes of listless waiting, she came walking down Ninja Way carrying a large backpack, dressed in her customary manner. By the time she reached the top, everybody had gotten to their feet.
"Greetings, Iwasaki-sensei," Ginchiyo finally said, with a formal bow, breaking the ice. Shizue could at least guess that Ginchiyo had determined not to let her own dislike get in the way of the chance to learn, and that as far as she was concerned she was being considerate rather than overly polite.
"Hello Iwasaki-sensei!" three of the Academy students shouted in unison, and the babbling of greetings continued for a while, as Shizue watched Emiko carefully. Even when being normal and unsurprising… that in itself was a surprise.
Finally said, "Greetings, and welcome. Now, I'll try to be brief, and there will be no introductory lecture in this case, I'll save that for much later, but I feel it's important to explain what we're going to be doing. We won't be learning how to disrupt genjutsu just yet, because without the proper knowledge it is useless. Genjutsu is complex, and so is the art of countering it. But they begin in the same place. Can anyone guess as to where?"
"Hand signs?" one of the academy students asked.
"Not necessarily, and more fundamental than that," Emiko said politely.
Shizue thought for a long moment, but just as she was starting to come up with an answer, Emiko said, "Yes, Genta?"
"Observation?" He sounded uncertain, but then his eyes widened as Emiko smiled, grinned even.
"Exactly! A master of genjutsu must be able to create a realistic illusion, and if they are trying to fake something it has to both look real and fit in with the rest of the environment. It requires a thousand details, and that's before one gets into the other senses that have to all be fooled for the most powerful genjutsu, like the one I used earlier. But it begins with the eyes, and what you see. A master of genjutsu can look at something for just a second and take in enough details to replicate it, even on a battlefield. Most, though, are not that skilled, and either take more time than that, have imperfections and flaws, or both. Thus, to begin this lesson, I want you all to look around you. Look everywhere, including at your fellow students. I'll give you two minutes, and then the test begins."
Everyone was turning every which way as Shizue started by looking at the others, trying to take in details, not entirely sure what this test was but wanting to do her best. She looked over at the buildings, spotting a small tent in one of the burned out ruins. Was someone camping out there? Well, the weather was decent enough except for the fact that it rained every couple of days. Finally, Emiko would end Shizue's musings by saying, "Alright! Now everyone… close your eyes. You too!" Shizue closed her eyes, and several seconds later she heard, "Open them!"
Shizue opened her eyes to… the same scene as before. Nothing seemed to have changed, and then she looked around and saw that the burned building was not only whole now, but in better repair than it had ever been before the fire. She gaped and heard Ginchiyo say, "Sensei, that building…"
"Indeed. This is the test. You have as much time as you need to look around, and find what has changed. The building was meant to be the obvious sign, in case people thought I was lying to them about having created, with genjutsu, a slightly false impression of things."
"So it's like those picture puzzles, spotting the difference?" Akachi asked, and Emiko nodded.
"Indeed, many young ninja are given those to train their powers of observation, and the same skills are used for genjutsu. When you have found all that you can, raise your hand and I will question each of you privately," Emiko said.
With that, everyone got to the work of looking around, including Shizue. A few things stood out obviously. Like Akachi's shirt was the wrong color, noticeably too bright a shade, and Ginchiyo's shuriken holster was on the wrong side. The color of the tree was slightly off, the stream was a bit too close to them… one of the windows of another building was boarded up rather than simply broken, and a few other minor details. She felt like she was missing something, and so she kept on looking, as Genta raised his hand and... disappeared. As did Emiko. It was a full minute later, as a few academy students were raising their hands, though they looked frustrated, that Emiko reappeared, but not Genta. "It seems we have our first perfect result." Then she and one of the academy students disappeared for thirty seconds, and then she reappeared and continued down the line. Eventually Shizue resigned herself to not get them all and raised her hand, and then found herself standing in...a field. A plain field, grass tickling her sides, Emiko standing there. "So what did you see?"
Shizue took a breath and said, "Akachi's shirt was the wrong color, Ginchiyo's holster was on the wrong side, the color of the tree was wrong, the stream was too close, the cloud formation was different than it should have been, and one of the windows of another building was boarded up rather than broken. I'm sure I missed some."
"You did, but not bad. Note, though, that the pattern of burns on the land was different, and you missed all of the changes to Ninja Way, plus a few details such as the number of visible stones in the stream. However, you do seem quite observant of human details. Just keep practicing and you'll get even better."
Shizue blinked, and found herself among the others again. Genta was sitting, reading a book, but it was a different book than before, thick and full of pictures. Some of the others looked up or blinked every so often, turning to talk to someone who wasn't there. Akachi said, "Really? I missed that? I guess I'm not as observant as I'd hoped…" Then he blinked and look around, just like Shizue had. Eventually, though, Emiko had gotten to everyone and she reappeared, her mood buoyant.
"So we have a variety of skill levels here, but everyone's putting in some good effort. There is more to learn, but I don't want these sessions themselves to take too long, so I'm going to leave you with some homework."
The academy students groaned, and even Shizue felt a bit surprised as Emiko pulled out some thick books, more copies of the the one Genta was holding, and handed them out. "Simply put, do the first three exercises in this book. These are merely more complicated and detailed version of those 'find what doesn't match' books many of you read as a kid, and thus it's pretty good practice. In fact, I have a variant of it that I'll be giving to those who take my class on stealth. I'll be checking that everyone did them two days from now, and while I can't fail you, don't expect to learn much from this class or get as much personal attention if you don't do the work. Understood?"
There was a chorus of 'Hai, Sensei!' that sent several birds scattering from nearby trees.
******
The next few days were very busy for Suzuhisa Shizue, and for the village as a whole. She continued to monitor the mission board, and worked on the homework she'd been given. Surprisingly, she found she was very good at it, when she worked on it. Finding mistakes and differences was also rather fun, and she mentally did some scheduling, deciding that after the second class on stealth, on Thursday- the fifth day since Emiko's classes had started- would be the perfect time to finish any modifications on her puppet before going on a mission and stretching her legs a bit.
Meanwhile, Reef began to send out probing attacks on some of the Tide islands. Ken even gave a lecture about how the five islands under target were the 'eastern wall' to break into Tide more fully, and that they had to be claimed in order to allow a more broad offensive. The first push wasn't necessarily planned as well as it could have been, but what happened was unexpected none the less.
In one of the first assaults, an older genin, Saiga Tokimune, fifteen and nearing the time when he would have started being considered for promotion to chunin (and already treated like one in terms of missions), died. His civilian mother cried over his casket as it was lowered into the ground, wailing and weeping as half the village watched. Honor the fallen, the council had declared, and everyone went, even Emiko, who was (again, according to the rumor mill) having arguments with the Jonin Council behind closed doors as to the rest of her payment. They'd stood out in the rain, and if Shizue was more poetical, she would have thought the skies were weeping, rather than it merely being common for it to rain this time of year.
What the civilians didn't know was that they'd had to put his body back together for burial. One of the enemy chunin had a meatgrinder technique involving wires, a large quantity of kunai and a huge expenditure of chakra. There had only been pieces left, and he'd had to be collected up, while under attack from Tide shinobi. The only good news from the first failed assaults is that one of the enemy genin had also been killed, though the means of her death had not been revealed, only that she'd been killed while trying to prevent Saiga's body from being recovered.
Meanwhile, Shizue tried to learn. In the stealth class she had found herself far clumsier than expected, as the first lesson had involved a discussion of various features of terrain, speed of movement and ways to get close to an enemy, and then a practical test involving trying to sneak up on Emiko. Everyone failed, but to different degrees, and there was much frustration to be had. Genta still seemed hopeful, but Ginchiyo, with grass stains over her knees, seemed frustrated by her failure. The homework, though, was a little bit more interesting than expected. In addition to the book, this one full of 'find the ninja hidden in this picture'-type puzzles, there was an assignment to pick one civilian target and try to follow them for a short time without being noticed.
Eager to make up for her failure, Shizue worked on that all all through the next few days on both the assignment and everything else Emiko was having them do. That Tuesday, she had both another class on genjutsu, and one on traps. The former included much of the same as before, but also a new assignment. They were to practice the hand signs for a basic genjutsu, and their job was to be ready to show one image of their choice, in two dimensions but as realistic a manner as possible, to Emiko. Shizue eventually decided on her flute, and together with more assignments out of the book, she turned out to be rather distracted going into the Traps and Lateral Thinking class.
Shizue looked around the group, assembled at the practice field near a small wooded area that Emiko had chosen. There was Ginchiyo and her teammates, though they were leaving that afternoon for a mission, Genta and several academy students that Shizue had seen all three times. And finally Chusei, who popped out from behind a bush and chased some of the academy students while wearing an Oni mask, before they turned and started chasing him around the field- only Emiko's arrival stopped them. She started simply, going over a few basic types of traps, about the use and dangers of each, and then giving assignments to locate the traps that were in this field.
Where things got interesting was when she pulled both Chusei and Shizue aside. The boy looked nervous, as if he was going to be called out for a prank, but instead Emiko said, "Both of you have some knowledge of traps, right?"
"Y-yeah, I'm great at them! I swear I didn't do that prank with the--"
"Never mind that," she said, "I meant merely that I have an assignment for both of you." She pulled out a scroll and opened it up. Inside were diagrams of a bear trap, a pit trap, a overhead net trap, an explosive seal array of the sort Shizue couldn't even imagine how to make, and then…
Shizue was not the sort to stop and stare, but who couldn't? It made the poisoned kunai launcher in her puppet look like a cheap toy. The internal mechanisms seemed impossible fine and delicate, and the notes for how fast the kunai was launched and how accurately dwarfed anything Shizue could have done, and the poison listed would have killed even if the kunai hadn't. And considering that with that level of force it could have gone straight through Shizue like a knife through butter rather than flesh and bone, it seemed almost overkill, while being half the size of Shizue's launcher. She heard Chusei whistle and say, "Holy shit... you're amazing. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."
"Thank you. Your assignment is to take a look through those woods and determine where, if you had one each of those traps and were trying to throw off or kill a ninja chasing you, you would place them," Emiko explained, "It'll be due in three days, so I hope I see good work from you. It'll be a while before you can make things like this, but if you practice, it is certainly possible in the long run. Shame that Watabe-san didn't take this class, I would have told her more about the poisons that could be useful. Ah, well… I suppose I can do that next week, when I'm not spending all my time teaching and arguing with the council."
"I've heard rumors about it," Shizue said, without thinking about it, drawn into making the statement, even though a moment later she realized that of course Emiko probably knew about the rumors. But she soldiered, on, saying, "Is it true that they haven't paid you in full yet?"
"They haven't. A quarter, and they've promised to pay five percent within the next two days, and then ten percent a week. I'll probably be here long enough to collect, and they won't run out of money," Emiko explained, "A fair enough bargain when I'm not in any rush. So, get to it," she said with a smile, "And may the best trapper win."
*****
Over the next day, Shizue worked as hard as she could on her assignments. She 'stalked' a baker about his daily routine without being seen, though she did use something of a loophole with Transformation at one point in order to get a closer look, and she went through all of the other assignments as fast as she could before going back fo the forest for a full afternoon of walking up, down, and around. It wasn't that Shizue was out of shape, but after a day of crawling on her knees, climbing trees, checking streams to see if a pit trap near one was viable, she ended the day soaked in sweat, her clothes nearly ruined, trudging all the way home through the village, wondering what people saw when they looked at her?
Did they see a pariah, an isolated outcast? Or did they see a shinobi, one of the elite, whose life- by both law and custom- was worth more and whose voice counted for more, than any civilian or peasant, no matter how rich? Did they see some girl who really, really was looking forward to a hot shower at home? What they probably didn't see was a girl who had triumphed. She had put in a lot of effort, and she believed that she might even beat Chusei, who was a smart and clever prankster, but who probably never would have applied himself that hard for something like this.
She had a secret of sorts behind her drive, her dedication and determination, and that was that Emiko was the first Jonin since that one time at the academy who paid attention to her, and had Shizue had received some personal instructions a few times. It was all minor, she was sure that Emiko had far more interesting people to talk to than her, but a little bit could go a long way to open up a sort of needy yearning for contact, for approval. It grew only slowly, but she was starting to realize that it was there. She was not a young woman who allowed herself either optimism or much in the way of self-delusion, yet she found herself hoping, just a little…
The real question she couldn't figure out, no matter how many minutes she pondered it in the shower, was what she was hoping for. She stayed up late that night, thinking and writing up a few notes to help her remember, glancing around her house. There were so many objects in it that weren't hers. The large throw rug her mother had always loved, the big couch, the small television set, the paintings on the wall, the hidden compartments full of kunai and explosive tags, just in case… it was a lovely home, and the outside was well maintained, even at the expense of Shizue growing up like a half-starved weed, wanting to maintain the home as if- and she had eventually realized that this wasn't so- the home would have mattered to her mother more than her own safety. Even her own room was mostly the same, except for a few odds and ends. Too sparse, too much like it was five years ago.
There was only one space that was truly hers, and tomorrow she'd finally have time for some uninterrupted time in her puppet workshop.
*****
First, though, Shizue had another stealth class in the morning with Emiko. The Jonin did her usual trick (by now so familiar that Shizue had stopped gaping at how impressive it was) of talking to people inside of specially created genjutsu 'realms', outside of everyone else's hearing. When she got to Shizue, she asked who Shizue had stalked, and she'd explained, then shyly added that she'd transformed into a younger girl who looked civilian in order to get closer. She'd been nervous but also excited at the time, and now her actions were rewarded with praise.
"Good job, really good job! Thinking beyond the current lesson to what I wanted to highlight later on, stealth isn't necessarily just people sneaking through bushes. I didn't know they taught anything like that at a village like this," Emiko said.
Shizue knew people, and she knew something of how people worked, even if it was a sometimes distant sort of knowledge, but in some ways she recognized what this was. It was an offer. Emiko's opinion of the village's practices were no secret, but she had expressed them again in the context of a compliment to Shizue. She was aware that what Shizue did and who she was was not someone who fit in...and she gave her approval and was offering to allow Shizue to share in her disapproval of others. Hope. She grasped at it every time, so maybe she was absolutely everything like Rika.
"They don't," Shizue said with a sly smile, "I had to pick it up for myself, as best I could."
"And you've done quite well for a new genin," Emiko said, "Keep it up and you'll be a great ninja one day."
It was while still aglow with the compliment that she opened the door to her workshop. It was not a particularly spartan space. There was a bulky music player in the corner with a huge, ugly, old couch and a few posters on the wall, including one movie she'd always liked. They sometimes showed films outside on a big projector, the village lacking frivolities like a dedicated movie theatre. Her first real crush had been on a seventeen year old movie star in a corny comedy watched from all the way in the back, the good seats having long since been taken by the time she'd cleaned the peanut butter out of her hair from yet another 'hilarious' prank. The poster for that movie, his face prominently displayed on it, had a place of pride in her 'thinking corner' where she spent time relaxing in between a stage of work and the next.
The carpeting had been stripped from the floor after the last accidental explosion, and there was now concrete and various workbenches, tools, and storage areas littering the remainder, in an order that only she knew well. She went over to a far wall and touched a panel, pulling it back to reveal Testbed, as scrawny as ever. He (Shizue did not personify them, but somehow still thought of the puppet as a he, just like his former owner) was a off-white greyish color, dents all over his wooden body, his joints quality plastic, hands ending in that silly drill. He was a bit taller than her, but skinnier, and weighed a lot less. She opened him up and set him on the table before retrieving her other puppet.
The puppet was as tall as an adult male, with somewhat long limbs, only just thick enough to hold the poisoned kunai launcher. He was grey-brown with a bit of green, designed to blend into, say, a tree stump in the forest, or a compost heap in other circumstances. He could go flat on his belly and crawl along, his head tucking in a little bit as it did. She usually dressed him in a ratty cloak or the like, to make him look like he might be something else at a distance, but she wasn't sure how well that worked. What did work were the retractable blades in his arms, the spring-loaded spikes in his torso, a last ditch defense, and the other mechanisms she'd incorporated. His legs were similarly long but a bit thicker, to hold the right sorts of gears to allow reasonably quick movement, and each of his joints was carefully made with a material that was both hard to destroy but also allowed greater flexibility with far less trade off than she'd feared.
It was strange, looking at him, how much she remembered of her struggles, how hard it had been to build a puppet from scratch, and how sometimes the simplest things (like the joints, and making him watertight) had taken far longer than the spikes to get just right. She'd made him, she was his creator- perhaps one day she'd make a puppet she called 'it' or 'she' in the privacy of her mind, but Shizue was too attached to him- and thus she had named him.
[] Please Vote on a Name
After a careful check over his mechanisms to make sure everything was in order, she began to carefully concentrate chakra into her fingertips as she'd learned- forming chakra strings was a delicate process, the eight thin threads extending toward the connection points on the puppet. Once they met, she ran through a series of quick exercises, testing his movement, making sure he was responding as he should, before turning her attention to Testbed, to try to decide what to work on today. She had so many things to do, but at last she was sure, and she was also sure that it was going to take quite a while to get done.
What does Shizue work on (pick one)
[] Finishing up the last tests and installing the water gun into her main puppet. It is strong enough to make someone hit with it stumble, which could be useful, but it has only so many charges and isn't a lethal weapon...which could be an advantage, since she hadn't been able to use her puppet in sparring sessions since pretty much everything it did other than serve as an additional focus for her clan jutsu was incredibly lethal.
[] Continue working on the trap net explosion. The explosion was currently weak, and there was only a single net, and furthermore there had been some real problems fitting it in. It would be a tight fit in her main puppet even if she worked out all of the kinks, but it could be useful for trapping enemies, though the net was nothing special and could be cut through if the opponent wasn't moving enough to tangle themselves up, and maybe even if they were. But she hoped she could manage it in a fight. Probably. Maybe.
[] Try to brainstorm ideas in general, come up with a new concept or two. This will be influenced by Shizue's experiences prior to reaching this point in this (or in future) updates.
******
That night, while she tinkered, people fought. And people died. That night, three new souls went to whatever afterlife there was for warring ninja. Soldiers in the dark of a nighttime raid, corpses before the morning came. At Tokimune's grave, his mother still sat. Her wailing had been reduced to bitter sobs, and perhaps eventually they would be reduced to nothing more than numb, grim acceptance. Nobody watched her, because who can stand to watch heartbreak? And which of the villagers would have said, deep in their cups, what at least some of them certainly thought- what could she have expected, letting her son grow up to be a ninja?
[INSERT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DEPRESSING ENDING THEME MUSIC]
****
A/N: So...haha! Nope! Double-header episodes baby!
Act 1, Scene 3: The First Premonition! Misery's Bounty!
It takes time to learn what happened, after the fact. It was a task of her whole morning, from waking up, to signing up for a mission to start later that afternoon, and even into her trap evaluation with Emiko. It was odd, the things she noticed first and last. What she noticed first was that Chusei was absent- she later learned he was away on a mission, thus rendering competitive mindset meaningless. She headed to the board first thing to sign up for a mission of her own, having already planned to do so, but now seeing it as more than a priority, and hearing some jokes on the way there.
Apparently the Special Jonin of Tide had all promoted themselves to Jonin, a comment that drew jokes about how 'special' they were to have suddenly reached Jonin level in a matter of a few days, and also how they had formed a council to rule, as if theirs hadn't been a dictatorship, unlike Reef which was used- Shizue knew, and so did the shinobi talking- to a council of leadership. There were bets placed on how long it would take for the triumvirate to break apart, because that was the other piece of news. One of the Special Jonin had then promptly been killed, along with a genin.
Here, Shizue had to listen close, because they seemed to rush and brush past the fact that they had lost someone in return, a chunin named Isozaki Senzo, though nobody seemed to mention how it had happened. In fact, it's going to the board to sign up for the mission that provides the next clue to unraveling the events of the previous night. For, prominent on the board was a large, gaudy looking poster, parts of it hand-drawn and filled in.
*****
There was a picture of what looked like a perfectly ordinary girl, the details were general at best, but below were words 'Wanted! Head of Murderous Fish Bitch of Tide! B-rank mission pay in bounty given to anyone who fillets, fries, guts, fricassees, dries out, or otherwise ends the life of this girl! Proof by body part is required, or by verifiable witness statements.' This was, Shizue presumed, the one who had killed Isozaki.
[INTRO MUSIC PLAYS, OPENING SONG BEGINS]
*****
She was a little shocked by the language, but it was not that surprising overall. It had to be a loved one that posted it, bounties like that were common after a death, and it meant that most enemy Ninja that got lucky enough to kill one beloved figure had to keep their heads down for the next few battles or risk getting mobbed by enemies eager to claim the price on their head. It usually went away, or the other ninja died, which was usually a relief to the grieving loved ones. She walked back home to pick something up, and along the way heard another conversation that continued her slow, careful education on the subject.
Rumors were like that, hard to hold and grasp if one wasn't willing to hear them in bits and pieces.
*****
Snippets heard while walking the streets.
"It's a damn shame what happened, do you think Amaya's handling it right, with the-"
"Foolish business."
"At least there'll be a good corpse for the ceremony tonight, the funeral."
"Drowned by a rookie genin is not what I'd call making a 'good corpse.'"
"I just meant that he'd not have to be stitched back together, you don't have to be a goddamn bitch about it."
"He was a reckless fool, chased after a fleeing genin, jus' trying to get away, and he got hisself killed."
"You were reckless once too, Kiyo-chan, now you're a snuggle bug."
"Oh, quit it Manami, I'm trying to be cynical…"
Shizue had moved away from them at that point, not particularly wanting to see two ninja make out in the streets, their argument somehow seamlessly have turned into something rather different. Either way, it was somewhat instructive.
*****
The next piece fell into place when she went for a quick early lunch before the lesson with Emiko. There was a sushi shop that, by virtue of exploring while transformed, Shizue had found she could go to without getting drawing too many stares, and their sushi was quite good. But when she walked down the narrow, crooked lane, it was only to find a crowd in front of the bar nearby area. "What's going on?" she asked, in the guise of a somewhat plain looking black haired girl, her hair in pigtails.
"One of the ninja's holed herself in there. She threatened to kill anyone who stopped her," an old man said, "And you know that ninja keep their word, don't you? Anyone tryin' to put a hand on her and stop her, like a bouncer, would be breaking the law and prolly die. Not worth it for one drunk ninja."
"You say that, but you're not the one who just had their best booze downed like it was nothing," a fat, older man said, the owner of the bar.
They argued for a while, but Shizue merely watched the scene until some other ninja came along. There was a crash of breaking glass, then another crash, and then they came out dragging a sobbing woman in her early twenties, busty- a fact that Shizue was aware of because she was wearing a night robe and an overcoat, and no bra- and looking a mess, eyes blotchy with tears, screaming and bawling as she was dragged off by the two chunin.
*****
What happened next was common knowledge. She'd been dragged before the council, and dressed down first by Ken, then Tomoyo and Hirotomo. "I understand your anger, your rage at the vile enemies of all that is good, like that murderous girl," Tomoyo said, "But it is undignified to leave a poster up like that. Why did you do it?"
Amaya whispered something, then tearfully demanded to talk in private. Five minutes later, the council came out and announced that they would match the bounty on the Tide genin, but that Amaya would be on house arrest until a suitable punishment could be devised.
*****
It was in that context that Shizue went to Emiko's Traps class , and right when Emiko was about to start introducing things, an eleven year old academy student raised his hand. Shizue couldn't remember his name, but now that she thought about it, she'd seen him in literally every class she'd had with Emiko. Didn't he have academy studies? There was also something about his face as he said, "Emiko-sensei!" It slowly began to dawn on Shizue- improbably as it was, what did she know about the minds of boys- that perhaps he had a crush on Emiko. Or maybe he was merely taking classes to become a better shinobi. That would certainly make more sense than having a crush on a plain looking older kunoichi, even if she did have the lure of being seen as rather cool, and also foreign. She even had, as Shizue had noticed the other day, a strange accent.
When one of the kids had nearly lost a finger poking a bear trap, she'd shouted something in a thick accent of some kind, hard to understand. Objectively, Shizue knew that everyone had an accent, so it was merely Emiko dropping her approximation of an Archipelago accent, but it still sounded strange to her ears.
Whether crush or idol, Emiko turned and said, "Yes, Yukinaga-kun?"
His eyes were shining, it almost seemed, as he said, "Are you going to go after that fish girl for the bounty?"
There was a long pause, "No." It was a flat sound, almost harsh as a word, and if it were Shizue asking she'd know not to press any further, would have been scared off, but the boy pressed on.
"You aren't scared of her, are you? Cause you're awesome, Emiko-sensei! You'd be like pow, and whop, and then boom!"
"I could beat her, easily. Kill her, even easier," Emiko said.
"Then why…"
"They couldn't afford what I would charge," Emiko said, her voice going even flatter. There is a note, an edge there that even the boy doesn't miss, nobody misses, and Emiko adds, to break the tension, her voice a little lighter, "Makes one wonder how they'll find the money to pay up if anyone does hurt her?"
Shizue looked at Emiko, and wondered at her behavior. Some things were obvious, but others not so much. Emiko's own mood was strange the whole time, though she praised some of Shizue's trap choices and compared them to a scroll that Chusei had given her before he left on his mission, and apparently both had done well, though neither had done perfectly. But while walking about the woods discussing locations, Emiko would turn and say, "I've heard you are a puppeteer?"
"Yes," Shizue said, knowing her voice sounded defensive, "I am." She remembered her act, four years ago, probably her boldest flouting of the village's norms and mores. That which the village values least is worth most, her mother had said, and so she had found that thing, and taken it.
"Well, it is not an art I know much of, it being one that is hard to dabble in, but if you wish I could be an extra pair of hands next week. I do know some about mechanics and fuinjutsu, so I might not be entirely useless in this matter," Emiko said.
Shizue hesitated. It was an invaluable offer, of course, but it was also Shizue's space, the area she'd never let a single other person in, so she hesitated and said, "Can I give you an answer once I get back from my mission?"
"Very well, Suzuhisa-san" Emiko said, "Good luck on the trip."
*****
Shizue didn't believe in packing light, and so she made sure to have plenty of every kind of weapon, and ration packs, and she also had to carry along her puppet to the dock, where the ship and her teammates, selected at random since she'd made no requests for people brought along, were waiting. She looked at the ship as they approached. It was a big ship, with high masts, definitely not new, which could be told immediately by the fact that it lacked any electric power at all, instead possessing huge sails that made it feel like a 'real' ship. A classic junk, she knew, sometimes employed as a raiding vessel. Standing outside the gangway were two other genin.
Reizei Okiie had packed light, and was hopping from one foot to the other, grinning like a lunatic, not glancing over at the third of their impromptu team, Yasukawa Rika, who had packed nearly as much into her bags as Shizue. "Whoa," Okiie said, looking at her, "That's a lot of stuff! We're only going to be gone for a day, you know that right?"
"Yes I do," Shizue said. During missions, people tended to be a bit more polite, if only because there was nobody else to talk to. "But I want to have the puppet in case there's trouble."
"Nah, you won't need to worry, 'cause I'm stronger than ever. Iwasaki-sensei gave me the paper, and it turns out I'm wind natured! So I'll cut through all of the problems!"
"She gave you a piece of chakra paper?" Shizue asked, surprised. It was expensive, and usually given out upon promotion to chunin, unless a genin bought it themselves or knew their affinity thanks to a family history.
"Yeah, Iwasaki-sensei said that in the big villages, every genin gets one within a week of graduating the academy, for free! And the sensei are required to either teach people how to build up their affinity, or there's a big board where people can search for a teacher if their sensei doesn't have the right element! So weird! But she said she didn't have enough made to give them to everyone at once, cause the class was so big, so she's doing a competition. Each week so many people get them, and by the end of the month everyone will know their affinity! It was weird, though, half the people that took it got water."
Rika mumbled something, and Okiie asked, "What was that?"
"It's probably because of epigenetics."
"Epi...genetics? Sounds like some weird thing in an Iruka Book," Okiie said, "Never heard of it." Iruka Books were the colloquial name for a practice that started just after the Fourth, and hopefully last, Ninja War. Many small villages didn't have the money for good textbooks and new textbooks, and certainly didn't have the time to make their own, so Konoha would ship out books, carefully designed to be stripped of political or historical biases (though many said that the Hokage's 'ninja are not tools, be friends with each other' biases slipped through, for better or worse, and there was that one infamous edition in which ramen was listed as a 'staple ninja food' alongside protein bars and other healthy meals), for free. Even now they still did it, and it was a huge cost-saving measure for most small villages.
Of course, they also did things like sent crates of the things addressed to 'The Shimikage [sic] of Island' as if it hadn't been forty years of war. The three villages would fight over who got most of the books, and the losers would have to use old, worn out books, or just shrug and start teaching kids by memory.
Rika apparently decided to to elaborate, except Shizue was curious and leaned in, asking, "Can you tell me? It sounds interesting."
Rika smiled, she clearly liked the idea of being able to show off, and said, "So, well, affinities run in families, right? But there have also been studies among some ninja who are more...scientific that environment plays a factor. People who move to live in a very different region can find their descendents affinities affected, as their chakra systems adapt a little bit towards their new surroundings. The ninja around water finds their children are more likely to have a water affinity, even if their family tend to be fire natured- though family affinity wins out often enough that it's still a good rule."
"So you're saying if we did the same paper thing in, say, Suna--"
"Yep, lots of wind natures. And lightning in Kumo, and so on."
"I guess that makes sense, but isn't genetics some… civvie something or other?" Okiie asked casually.
"Just because it's a civilian science doesn't mean--"
"Listen, I get that you have to defend your roots as some civvie's daughter--"
Rika blushed and said, "No, I'm just saying…" her eyes looked a little bit wet, though she clearly wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She looked like someone who had been pushed too long and hard today, and this single event had pushed her past some invisible barrier. Okiie had the good sense to notice and then immediately begin to apologize, not having realized that his words were offensive.
Which was typical. Boys. Well, not all boys, but Okiie was distinguished in his tactlessness from Toyo only in that he wasn't trying to be a total jackass and that he'd apologize if he realized he was being one. As if any person wouldn't be insulted by someone casting aspersions on their parentage.
Shizue brushed past them and got to work preparing. She had to talk to a few of the sailors before she got agreement, but who would question a ninja's strange whims? It was early evening by the time the ship cast off, her puppet carefully secured on deck beneath a tarp by a some string that would probably be enough to keep the less than incredibly heavy puppet from moving around too much (though it'd provide little protection in case of a storm), but would also allow it to easily break free if needed. Anyone looking would figure it was a crate, or perhaps a coil of rope, under there, and thus it would be both easy to hide and easy to get at, just in case. Not that an attack was likely, but one never knew, and raids on shipping were very popular among all three villages.
The captain held dinner down below deck, fare heavy on seafood and fatty dishes, relatively light on vegetables unless they were fried, breaded, or otherwise. Korokke was present, as was the less rare tempura (this from packages, rather than cooked onboard) and seafood karaage. It wasn't a bad meal, though the conversation was...interesting.
Okiie had little enough to say to the Captain, and except occasionally commenting on the food in vague, full-mouthed compliments, leaving Shizue and Rika to do most of the talking.
*****
"So trade's been going down ever since fall to that island, but I've been making it up by taking trips to a few other places," the Captain, who was named Obata Tokuhei, explained to Rika. He was a somewhat tall man whose considerable muscle had begun running- no, sprinting- to fat as he approached his fifties.
"Oh, but what about doing some of 'the trade' with kunai? I know that Reef is always short of them, and allocation management is apparently something--"
"We're short on kunai? How short?" Shizue asked.
"Well, my father wrote to tell me that the demands in tribute from the mine have increased, well beyond sustainability, and since they're not gold mines or anything that would have value except as a weapon," Rika said.
Shizue nodded, impressed. Rika seemed a bit of a pushover, and Shizue knew that she typically underestimated the girl, but then times like these she was reminded of just how smart she actually l was. And how much they shared together if only they could get along consistently without Rika pushing her away in a sudden fear that people would associate the two of them so closely together that they'd start ignoring her all of the time, instead of just most of the time.
Another thing she noticed was that Captain Obata didn't trust ninja. It was subtle, but he seemed to keep as far away from ninja business as possible, except to hire them as guards for missions whenever the war got to the point where any ship could be attacked at any time. This was reasonable enough, though it did get Shizue to thinking.
It was something she'd end up doing all through her watch, the first, then while she was laying down trying to sleep through Okiie's watch, and so when the lookout called "Land ho!" at three in the morning because the ship was scheduled to dock in the early morning, she almost expected it. She shifted to get out of her hammock, as Okiie scrambled to get out of his. Okiie tripped over something as he got out of his hammock and faceplanted on the ground before scrambling out the door, and then up the ladder to the deck, Shizue close behind. Up on deck, Rika stood near the wall of Obata-san's,, looking around as he emerged and turned his gaze towards the shore.
It was early in the morning, but some lights on the dock were already lit for any ships trying to find the harbor, though there were few enough ships in port, and the place seemed to be enjoying a quiet, sleepy morning. And then, out of early morning fog came a small boat, rowing towards the ship, "Ahoy!" a young woman's voice said, "One moment of your time please."
"What is it?" Obata-san called, leaning over the bulwark, looking down at the boat as it drew close to the side of the ship. "I don't want any fresh catches of fish, however good you claim the prices are--"
When was when the figures from the boat, three of them, leapt up, the one in front hurling a perfect, textbook spread of primarily kunai, but with shuriken mixed it, the others throwing immediately after. There was no time to react, to do anything at all to stop it, and Shizue reached for her shuriken holster, trying to figure out what to do first, brain still blurry from lack of sleep. Which meant she almost didn't believe what she saw. Suddenly, in a single moment, instead of Captain Obata there, Rika stood in his place. She saw the girl wince as one of them scored a shallow cut across the top of her head, but aimed as it was to kill a man twice her bulk and significantly taller than her, the attacks mostly missed as the three enemy ninja landed and leapt at her.
Shizue had to move, and fast, though in the back of her brain she figured out what had happened when she saw the Captain standing where Rika had before, baffled but unharmed. A sealless, instant Body Replacement? Shizue hadn't known Rika could do that. And now, they had to move fast if Rika wasn't going to pay a heavy price for her selfless protection of the Captain.
[Insert Ending Credits and Theme Song]
What does Shizue do? (This is the first move, the rest of the battle until any important decision points will flow from this and what the QM thinks Shizue is likely to do.)
[] Move to help Rika. She can't survive against three to one odds for long, can she? And there's little for her to replace with, unless she thinks of Shizue's puppet on the fly. But two to three, or maybe even three-all odds, would probably serve better. Looking closely, none of the enemies seem older than fourteen or fifteen. Still, Shizue is no experienced close combatant.
[] Use Replacement to switch with her puppet and then attach chakra strings and use it to fight. This will take a second, though, and then time for it to be deployed, meaning Rika *might* be on her own for some vital seconds, but it'd be safer for Shizue, and hopefully she'll be able to do more good hanging back.
[] Follow Okiie's lead. Try to coordinate with Okiie, since working as a team is important. In this case, since Shizue doesn't have a rapport with anyone, this'll mostly involve going along with whatever Okiie does, since arguing at the start of a deadly fight is a...bad idea.
[] Write-in. QM has right to correct or refuse, but I will also ask for clarification if any part of it seems openly flawed (like, to the point where Shizue would know it wouldn't work IC) or unclear.
*****
The Laurent: So, a lot of author's noting to do, here. First, to those asking 'where are the rolls'? There are rolls, but in order to get a narrative experience, they are behind the scenes and in the background.
So, Emiko built up, and war starts getting started in earnest. It gets a little bit dark in that respect, I apologize! To cheer things up
I'm going to have a running counter.
Ninjas Killed in latest escalation of the war: 9 (4 Tide Jonin, 1 Tide Special Jonin, 2 Tide Chunin, 1 Reef Chunin, 1 Reef Genin)
Civilians Killed: ???
This is likely to be going up and up and up. And up. Also, war destroys people, and also makes them assholes. And yeah, the bounty thing means that Ninja who manage to do a 'good job' at killing enemies then have to worry about being attacked en masse, meaning even gaining experience might just be another way to get killed.
Now, on accents. Me and my co-QM talked for a long time, but neither of us are linguists, so we weren't able to come up with a specific, exact accent. However, we did determine that accents vary by region, and come up with some dialect groups. Fire (Coastal), Fire (Southern), Fire (Northeastern), Fire (Northwestern), Fire (Standard/Konoha), Wind (Deep Desert), Wind (City), Wind (Northern), Earth (Southern), Earth (Northern), Lightning (Mountain), Lightning (Coastal), Lightning (Southern), Water, and of course, on top of others we didn't think of, Archipelago. Accents of course blend, mix, and get complicated, especially the fact that different enough dialects can cause trouble understanding each other, but it's all the same language, fortunately enough, though also because in the show everyone spoke the same language and it'd be inconvenient to create language barriers, as fun as those can be in a story. Shizue doesn't know enough about accents to say, "Oh, so that means that Emiko is from 'X' village." Infiltration is the skill that tracks to faking accents, or recognizing them too. Emiko's accent only says that she's not born and raised in the Archipelago, which is sorta a 'no duh.'
Tinkering will be a constant thing with puppeteering, it's cool. There would also be similar sorts of 'bull sessions' available for Fuinjutsu at higher levels, as well as Jutsu creation in general once Shizue reaches the point where she starts making up her own Jutsu. Anything that can be worked on ahead of time will have a session that doubles as both a training session and a 'tinkering section.' Emiko, for instance, took one such session this week to work on [REDACTED.]
It's called premonitions for a reason, cause there's a lot of that going around. Epigenetics are a real thing, and we decided it'd be neat if there was some sort of magic version of it, that explained affinity clusters. Rika doesn't know hers, and Shizue doesn't either...if only she were taking the Elemental class. Of course, there's things she would have missed not taking the classes she did, so it's all a matter of choice.
And, yes, Iruka books.
Just in case people thought this was a setup, the truth was that there was a 50% chance that this would be a perfectly normal C-rank, so blame the dice, not me!
Next, important detail:
Chakra Strings:
--Effect: Can use Chakra Strings to control a puppet. Puppets that aren't one's own will, of course, not respond to the same delicate manipulations, making it hard to hijack someone's own puppet on the fly, unless they spend time and effort learning how to make it move. At this level, these motions are physical, but at higher levels, chakra manipulation does the work, or else how could a single finger control an entire puppet?
--Cost: 1 Chakra Per String
--Currently, it takes 8 strings to control, meaning Shizue can control it and also draw and throw a single kunai, hold one of the bells of hers, or hold her flute though it's hard to play. And also do the hand-signs for the bound jutsu. The number of strings taken is flatly (as in, no stats involved) connected directly to Puppets, with the number of strings going down and down, and other options also being opened up. Like, just a hint, Puppetry+Fuinjutsu+Ninjutsu (Sound) can get some...interesting things. I can tell you because Shizue has had a few fantasies of the 'And then I'll beat everyone with super ninja skillz' dreams that many young ninja have.
Finally, please tell me if this update was too long. I was thinking of stopping at, well, the halfway point, since there were and are two votes there, but I realized it wouldn't *much* effect what came next (the length got away from me, it was all supposed to be one 'episode' but got so long that I split it in two), the tinkering sessions, and that I *could* show it in flashback in the next episode. So I kept on charging along late last night, secure in the belief that this would turn out well. I now sorta leave it to you to decide. It comes to you faster, but I *could* have given it in a smaller chunk and sat on the rest of this for 2-3 days. It would have certainly made my task easier, since this was a mountain and a half to write, but...eh, anyways, feedback is appreciated, especially on the topic of 'votes in the middle of an update'.
Also, to note again, reaction posts are adored and will be rewarded with a few XP. They get my creative juices stirring just like likes do, in the sense that it allows me to see what the voters think and see, so that if there are any misapprehensions, good ideas, clues, hints, etc, I can be aware of them.
Thanks to McClenahan for editing this!
McClenahan: And probably the longest update I've ever proofread, as well. This is going to be interesting… if you hadn't already realized from the tone, well, this entire update, this isn't going to be like the surprising number of fights in the anime where nobody actually dies. The enemy are playing for keeps here.
It was madness, sheer madness, pushing and shoving and shouting, and Emiko watched it a little startled. Perhaps Shizue was projecting her own feelings though, hovering at the back of the pack trying to push forward to sign up. Once they'd had a few moments to process it, everyone realized that a Jonin level ninja was offering to teach them classes. Even the most pigheaded could see what an opportunity it was, and Toyo was right among them, pushing and shoving and once punching someone in the head when they accidentally dug their elbow into his ribs while trying to sign. What a mess. The future soldiers of victory? Shizue thought, looking at them, reminded for a startling moment just how young they all were. Young, and in need of growing strong if they didn't want to die.
And from the rush to someone who had made the offer, to train them, to teach them, to help them better themselves- even if she was a funny looking foreigner who had odd ideas of what a Ninja truly was- showed that, most of all, they knew it.
[INSERT OPENING THEME SONG IN JAPANESE OR EXPOSITORY RAP IN ENGLISH]
*****
In the end, Shizue signed up for three different classes. Genjutsu, Traps and Lateral Thinking, and the oddly named 'Snake in the Grass', primarily about stealth. She hoped that she wouldn't have to wait too long for the classes, but as it turned out, it wouldn't be long before she'd see what Emiko taught in detail. In fact, the first Genjutsu class was this afternoon, then the stealth class the day after, and traps the day after that- then the pattern continued, three sessions a week for each, which was time consuming but doable. Emiko seemed to use the day of the initial meeting as the start of the week when she was scheduling things, and Shizue noted there was an asterisk leading to a declaration that it was fine to miss sessions in order to go on missions, but that telling Emiko would be a good idea.
At that point she was pushed out of the way, and, stumbling back from the shove, looked around but failed to find the source. She wished she were more capable of figuring out exactly who did these things, sometimes. Other times, after a moment's reflection, Shizue realized that the exact answer didn't matter.
What mattered was that it was probably a different person each time, and all in all, the true injustice was that few really thought about it, much less cared. Indifference and dislike were compounded by the fact that it wasn't merely a few people, but too many. And the fact that eventually she stopped trying to befriend everyone, or protest to the right people about what was being done. It never worked, and Shizue knew she should keep on trying, that now that she was a Genin something could have changed… but it also might not have.
She had four hours and knew where the first class would be, so she headed up to the boards, glancing over them before eating a light lunch, ignoring stares. People talked and gossiped around her, both about what mission 'that foreign ninja' had taken, the information not yet released to mere civilians, and rumors about what was being charged.
If half the numbers were half true, it was far more than Shizue was likely to see anytime soon, that was for sure. She wanted a mission, one that would get her out of the village, but not too soon. She wanted to learn a bit more about Emiko, and from Emiko, and she needed time to finish the modifications to her puppet.
Thus far only a single mission had involved actual combat, and that was a C-rank in which a bandit attacked someone gathering supplies, saw that a ninja was protecting them, and ran. He was caught anyway, but that was as close as Shizue had ever gotten to combat. Yet she brought her puppet along to each mission, even without a scroll to seal it in.
She'd manage to pass a few hours, with relatively little to show for it, but a greater understanding of the village rumor mill as it currently stood, before walked over towards what everybody referred to as the 'makeout tree.' At the edge of the village, it was near some nice wilderness, some old buildings, and a nice stream. It also was the place a lot of villagers went to, well, make out. No neighbors to spy, nice and quiet for a private picnic…
To get there, Shizue walked through the village, which she knew was better off than many others. It had paved roads, at least in most places, and electric lighting down most alleys, and the buildings, while squat and obeying no single law either of architecture or building codes, were familiar, and to Shizue it was cozy, as were the winding streets, the people crowding on the street, staring at the ninja as they pass, or calling a greeting or imploring something. In the back alleys they played 'Ninja' with pretend shuriken and came home with black eyes and missing teeth.
All in childish fun, though some of the people playing those games were as old as she was now. There was poverty, sure, and there was the ninja quarter, where her own home was, and everywhere else where non-ninja were allowed to live, but it was still her village, and she knew it. Was comfortable around it, if not always most of the people in it.
She kept on going, until they got to the old buildings that had been left standing there after the fire fifteen years back, which had killed nearly fifty peasants and one unlucky Chunin. All that was left were ruins, and it had hardened into a scar. Criminal sorts tended to meet here, and the buildings just beyond this scar had been abandoned as well, as if they were cut off from the lifeblood of the village by just a few dozen buildings, left to wither down into even more of a husk. That should have made it dangerous, but there was another route to the same tree, and several retired ninja lived along that route, and so it remained open. 'Walk down ninja way' the song went, 'And meet your girl under the makeout tree.'
Shizue saw, as she walked up the hill, that either around twenty people had decided to go on a makeout session at once, in which case a fight would soon ensue, or that she wasn't the only person who thought to show up early. She could see Saya, sitting on a silken blanket, sipping tea she'd brought, while Ginchiyo and her two friends, Sanosuke and Ginjiro glanced around curiously. There was no such thing as set Genin teams, but teamwork was appreciated, and so friends like that usually got paired together for missions, often enough that they became teams in all but name.
Lower on the hill Genta sat with a book, the same one from earlier, seemingly dead to the world, though Shizue doubted it. Four or five academy students were clustered together, chatting, clustered around Akachi, and as Shizue got closer she heard what she expected- they were asking him questions about the world beyond their archipelago now that it had suddenly been brought to their attention.
Chieko, on the other hand, was talking to another one of the Genin, holding up a kunai and seemingly giving them a few quick pointers. She always did try to befriend others that way, by giving them something even if it was just a moment of her time. It worked better than expected really, though Shizue's own efforts to do the same had run into a wall of indifference. She reached the top, passing by Genta, wondering if she should say something to him, ask about the book… but no, would he even care? He had his own affairs, and Shizue crossed up to the top of the hill as quickly as she could, passing him by.
Shizue saw in this, nowhere she could be, so she stood a little way up the hill from him, and kept an eye out out for Emiko. She thought she had some idea of Emiko's style, her own brand of flashiness. She'd appear out of nowhere, reveal she had been listening in… it was, Shizue reasoned, just as flashy as any other Jonin, normal even, just in a very different way. Instead, though, after a few minutes of listless waiting, she came walking down Ninja Way carrying a large backpack, dressed in her customary manner. By the time she reached the top, everybody had gotten to their feet.
"Greetings, Iwasaki-sensei," Ginchiyo finally said, with a formal bow, breaking the ice. Shizue could at least guess that Ginchiyo had determined not to let her own dislike get in the way of the chance to learn, and that as far as she was concerned she was being considerate rather than overly polite.
"Hello Iwasaki-sensei!" three of the Academy students shouted in unison, and the babbling of greetings continued for a while, as Shizue watched Emiko carefully. Even when being normal and unsurprising… that in itself was a surprise.
Finally said, "Greetings, and welcome. Now, I'll try to be brief, and there will be no introductory lecture in this case, I'll save that for much later, but I feel it's important to explain what we're going to be doing. We won't be learning how to disrupt genjutsu just yet, because without the proper knowledge it is useless. Genjutsu is complex, and so is the art of countering it. But they begin in the same place. Can anyone guess as to where?"
"Hand signs?" one of the academy students asked.
"Not necessarily, and more fundamental than that," Emiko said politely.
Shizue thought for a long moment, but just as she was starting to come up with an answer, Emiko said, "Yes, Genta?"
"Observation?" He sounded uncertain, but then his eyes widened as Emiko smiled, grinned even.
"Exactly! A master of genjutsu must be able to create a realistic illusion, and if they are trying to fake something it has to both look real and fit in with the rest of the environment. It requires a thousand details, and that's before one gets into the other senses that have to all be fooled for the most powerful genjutsu, like the one I used earlier. But it begins with the eyes, and what you see. A master of genjutsu can look at something for just a second and take in enough details to replicate it, even on a battlefield. Most, though, are not that skilled, and either take more time than that, have imperfections and flaws, or both. Thus, to begin this lesson, I want you all to look around you. Look everywhere, including at your fellow students. I'll give you two minutes, and then the test begins."
Everyone was turning every which way as Shizue started by looking at the others, trying to take in details, not entirely sure what this test was but wanting to do her best. She looked over at the buildings, spotting a small tent in one of the burned out ruins. Was someone camping out there? Well, the weather was decent enough except for the fact that it rained every couple of days. Finally, Emiko would end Shizue's musings by saying, "Alright! Now everyone… close your eyes. You too!" Shizue closed her eyes, and several seconds later she heard, "Open them!"
Shizue opened her eyes to… the same scene as before. Nothing seemed to have changed, and then she looked around and saw that the burned building was not only whole now, but in better repair than it had ever been before the fire. She gaped and heard Ginchiyo say, "Sensei, that building…"
"Indeed. This is the test. You have as much time as you need to look around, and find what has changed. The building was meant to be the obvious sign, in case people thought I was lying to them about having created, with genjutsu, a slightly false impression of things."
"So it's like those picture puzzles, spotting the difference?" Akachi asked, and Emiko nodded.
"Indeed, many young ninja are given those to train their powers of observation, and the same skills are used for genjutsu. When you have found all that you can, raise your hand and I will question each of you privately," Emiko said.
With that, everyone got to the work of looking around, including Shizue. A few things stood out obviously. Like Akachi's shirt was the wrong color, noticeably too bright a shade, and Ginchiyo's shuriken holster was on the wrong side. The color of the tree was slightly off, the stream was a bit too close to them… one of the windows of another building was boarded up rather than simply broken, and a few other minor details. She felt like she was missing something, and so she kept on looking, as Genta raised his hand and... disappeared. As did Emiko. It was a full minute later, as a few academy students were raising their hands, though they looked frustrated, that Emiko reappeared, but not Genta. "It seems we have our first perfect result." Then she and one of the academy students disappeared for thirty seconds, and then she reappeared and continued down the line. Eventually Shizue resigned herself to not get them all and raised her hand, and then found herself standing in...a field. A plain field, grass tickling her sides, Emiko standing there. "So what did you see?"
Shizue took a breath and said, "Akachi's shirt was the wrong color, Ginchiyo's holster was on the wrong side, the color of the tree was wrong, the stream was too close, the cloud formation was different than it should have been, and one of the windows of another building was boarded up rather than broken. I'm sure I missed some."
"You did, but not bad. Note, though, that the pattern of burns on the land was different, and you missed all of the changes to Ninja Way, plus a few details such as the number of visible stones in the stream. However, you do seem quite observant of human details. Just keep practicing and you'll get even better."
Shizue blinked, and found herself among the others again. Genta was sitting, reading a book, but it was a different book than before, thick and full of pictures. Some of the others looked up or blinked every so often, turning to talk to someone who wasn't there. Akachi said, "Really? I missed that? I guess I'm not as observant as I'd hoped…" Then he blinked and look around, just like Shizue had. Eventually, though, Emiko had gotten to everyone and she reappeared, her mood buoyant.
"So we have a variety of skill levels here, but everyone's putting in some good effort. There is more to learn, but I don't want these sessions themselves to take too long, so I'm going to leave you with some homework."
The academy students groaned, and even Shizue felt a bit surprised as Emiko pulled out some thick books, more copies of the the one Genta was holding, and handed them out. "Simply put, do the first three exercises in this book. These are merely more complicated and detailed version of those 'find what doesn't match' books many of you read as a kid, and thus it's pretty good practice. In fact, I have a variant of it that I'll be giving to those who take my class on stealth. I'll be checking that everyone did them two days from now, and while I can't fail you, don't expect to learn much from this class or get as much personal attention if you don't do the work. Understood?"
There was a chorus of 'Hai, Sensei!' that sent several birds scattering from nearby trees.
******
The next few days were very busy for Suzuhisa Shizue, and for the village as a whole. She continued to monitor the mission board, and worked on the homework she'd been given. Surprisingly, she found she was very good at it, when she worked on it. Finding mistakes and differences was also rather fun, and she mentally did some scheduling, deciding that after the second class on stealth, on Thursday- the fifth day since Emiko's classes had started- would be the perfect time to finish any modifications on her puppet before going on a mission and stretching her legs a bit.
Meanwhile, Reef began to send out probing attacks on some of the Tide islands. Ken even gave a lecture about how the five islands under target were the 'eastern wall' to break into Tide more fully, and that they had to be claimed in order to allow a more broad offensive. The first push wasn't necessarily planned as well as it could have been, but what happened was unexpected none the less.
In one of the first assaults, an older genin, Saiga Tokimune, fifteen and nearing the time when he would have started being considered for promotion to chunin (and already treated like one in terms of missions), died. His civilian mother cried over his casket as it was lowered into the ground, wailing and weeping as half the village watched. Honor the fallen, the council had declared, and everyone went, even Emiko, who was (again, according to the rumor mill) having arguments with the Jonin Council behind closed doors as to the rest of her payment. They'd stood out in the rain, and if Shizue was more poetical, she would have thought the skies were weeping, rather than it merely being common for it to rain this time of year.
What the civilians didn't know was that they'd had to put his body back together for burial. One of the enemy chunin had a meatgrinder technique involving wires, a large quantity of kunai and a huge expenditure of chakra. There had only been pieces left, and he'd had to be collected up, while under attack from Tide shinobi. The only good news from the first failed assaults is that one of the enemy genin had also been killed, though the means of her death had not been revealed, only that she'd been killed while trying to prevent Saiga's body from being recovered.
Meanwhile, Shizue tried to learn. In the stealth class she had found herself far clumsier than expected, as the first lesson had involved a discussion of various features of terrain, speed of movement and ways to get close to an enemy, and then a practical test involving trying to sneak up on Emiko. Everyone failed, but to different degrees, and there was much frustration to be had. Genta still seemed hopeful, but Ginchiyo, with grass stains over her knees, seemed frustrated by her failure. The homework, though, was a little bit more interesting than expected. In addition to the book, this one full of 'find the ninja hidden in this picture'-type puzzles, there was an assignment to pick one civilian target and try to follow them for a short time without being noticed.
Eager to make up for her failure, Shizue worked on that all all through the next few days on both the assignment and everything else Emiko was having them do. That Tuesday, she had both another class on genjutsu, and one on traps. The former included much of the same as before, but also a new assignment. They were to practice the hand signs for a basic genjutsu, and their job was to be ready to show one image of their choice, in two dimensions but as realistic a manner as possible, to Emiko. Shizue eventually decided on her flute, and together with more assignments out of the book, she turned out to be rather distracted going into the Traps and Lateral Thinking class.
Shizue looked around the group, assembled at the practice field near a small wooded area that Emiko had chosen. There was Ginchiyo and her teammates, though they were leaving that afternoon for a mission, Genta and several academy students that Shizue had seen all three times. And finally Chusei, who popped out from behind a bush and chased some of the academy students while wearing an Oni mask, before they turned and started chasing him around the field- only Emiko's arrival stopped them. She started simply, going over a few basic types of traps, about the use and dangers of each, and then giving assignments to locate the traps that were in this field.
Where things got interesting was when she pulled both Chusei and Shizue aside. The boy looked nervous, as if he was going to be called out for a prank, but instead Emiko said, "Both of you have some knowledge of traps, right?"
"Y-yeah, I'm great at them! I swear I didn't do that prank with the--"
"Never mind that," she said, "I meant merely that I have an assignment for both of you." She pulled out a scroll and opened it up. Inside were diagrams of a bear trap, a pit trap, a overhead net trap, an explosive seal array of the sort Shizue couldn't even imagine how to make, and then…
Shizue was not the sort to stop and stare, but who couldn't? It made the poisoned kunai launcher in her puppet look like a cheap toy. The internal mechanisms seemed impossible fine and delicate, and the notes for how fast the kunai was launched and how accurately dwarfed anything Shizue could have done, and the poison listed would have killed even if the kunai hadn't. And considering that with that level of force it could have gone straight through Shizue like a knife through butter rather than flesh and bone, it seemed almost overkill, while being half the size of Shizue's launcher. She heard Chusei whistle and say, "Holy shit... you're amazing. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."
"Thank you. Your assignment is to take a look through those woods and determine where, if you had one each of those traps and were trying to throw off or kill a ninja chasing you, you would place them," Emiko explained, "It'll be due in three days, so I hope I see good work from you. It'll be a while before you can make things like this, but if you practice, it is certainly possible in the long run. Shame that Watabe-san didn't take this class, I would have told her more about the poisons that could be useful. Ah, well… I suppose I can do that next week, when I'm not spending all my time teaching and arguing with the council."
"I've heard rumors about it," Shizue said, without thinking about it, drawn into making the statement, even though a moment later she realized that of course Emiko probably knew about the rumors. But she soldiered, on, saying, "Is it true that they haven't paid you in full yet?"
"They haven't. A quarter, and they've promised to pay five percent within the next two days, and then ten percent a week. I'll probably be here long enough to collect, and they won't run out of money," Emiko explained, "A fair enough bargain when I'm not in any rush. So, get to it," she said with a smile, "And may the best trapper win."
*****
Over the next day, Shizue worked as hard as she could on her assignments. She 'stalked' a baker about his daily routine without being seen, though she did use something of a loophole with Transformation at one point in order to get a closer look, and she went through all of the other assignments as fast as she could before going back fo the forest for a full afternoon of walking up, down, and around. It wasn't that Shizue was out of shape, but after a day of crawling on her knees, climbing trees, checking streams to see if a pit trap near one was viable, she ended the day soaked in sweat, her clothes nearly ruined, trudging all the way home through the village, wondering what people saw when they looked at her?
Did they see a pariah, an isolated outcast? Or did they see a shinobi, one of the elite, whose life- by both law and custom- was worth more and whose voice counted for more, than any civilian or peasant, no matter how rich? Did they see some girl who really, really was looking forward to a hot shower at home? What they probably didn't see was a girl who had triumphed. She had put in a lot of effort, and she believed that she might even beat Chusei, who was a smart and clever prankster, but who probably never would have applied himself that hard for something like this.
She had a secret of sorts behind her drive, her dedication and determination, and that was that Emiko was the first Jonin since that one time at the academy who paid attention to her, and had Shizue had received some personal instructions a few times. It was all minor, she was sure that Emiko had far more interesting people to talk to than her, but a little bit could go a long way to open up a sort of needy yearning for contact, for approval. It grew only slowly, but she was starting to realize that it was there. She was not a young woman who allowed herself either optimism or much in the way of self-delusion, yet she found herself hoping, just a little…
The real question she couldn't figure out, no matter how many minutes she pondered it in the shower, was what she was hoping for. She stayed up late that night, thinking and writing up a few notes to help her remember, glancing around her house. There were so many objects in it that weren't hers. The large throw rug her mother had always loved, the big couch, the small television set, the paintings on the wall, the hidden compartments full of kunai and explosive tags, just in case… it was a lovely home, and the outside was well maintained, even at the expense of Shizue growing up like a half-starved weed, wanting to maintain the home as if- and she had eventually realized that this wasn't so- the home would have mattered to her mother more than her own safety. Even her own room was mostly the same, except for a few odds and ends. Too sparse, too much like it was five years ago.
There was only one space that was truly hers, and tomorrow she'd finally have time for some uninterrupted time in her puppet workshop.
*****
First, though, Shizue had another stealth class in the morning with Emiko. The Jonin did her usual trick (by now so familiar that Shizue had stopped gaping at how impressive it was) of talking to people inside of specially created genjutsu 'realms', outside of everyone else's hearing. When she got to Shizue, she asked who Shizue had stalked, and she'd explained, then shyly added that she'd transformed into a younger girl who looked civilian in order to get closer. She'd been nervous but also excited at the time, and now her actions were rewarded with praise.
"Good job, really good job! Thinking beyond the current lesson to what I wanted to highlight later on, stealth isn't necessarily just people sneaking through bushes. I didn't know they taught anything like that at a village like this," Emiko said.
Shizue knew people, and she knew something of how people worked, even if it was a sometimes distant sort of knowledge, but in some ways she recognized what this was. It was an offer. Emiko's opinion of the village's practices were no secret, but she had expressed them again in the context of a compliment to Shizue. She was aware that what Shizue did and who she was was not someone who fit in...and she gave her approval and was offering to allow Shizue to share in her disapproval of others. Hope. She grasped at it every time, so maybe she was absolutely everything like Rika.
"They don't," Shizue said with a sly smile, "I had to pick it up for myself, as best I could."
"And you've done quite well for a new genin," Emiko said, "Keep it up and you'll be a great ninja one day."
It was while still aglow with the compliment that she opened the door to her workshop. It was not a particularly spartan space. There was a bulky music player in the corner with a huge, ugly, old couch and a few posters on the wall, including one movie she'd always liked. They sometimes showed films outside on a big projector, the village lacking frivolities like a dedicated movie theatre. Her first real crush had been on a seventeen year old movie star in a corny comedy watched from all the way in the back, the good seats having long since been taken by the time she'd cleaned the peanut butter out of her hair from yet another 'hilarious' prank. The poster for that movie, his face prominently displayed on it, had a place of pride in her 'thinking corner' where she spent time relaxing in between a stage of work and the next.
The carpeting had been stripped from the floor after the last accidental explosion, and there was now concrete and various workbenches, tools, and storage areas littering the remainder, in an order that only she knew well. She went over to a far wall and touched a panel, pulling it back to reveal Testbed, as scrawny as ever. He (Shizue did not personify them, but somehow still thought of the puppet as a he, just like his former owner) was a off-white greyish color, dents all over his wooden body, his joints quality plastic, hands ending in that silly drill. He was a bit taller than her, but skinnier, and weighed a lot less. She opened him up and set him on the table before retrieving her other puppet.
The puppet was as tall as an adult male, with somewhat long limbs, only just thick enough to hold the poisoned kunai launcher. He was grey-brown with a bit of green, designed to blend into, say, a tree stump in the forest, or a compost heap in other circumstances. He could go flat on his belly and crawl along, his head tucking in a little bit as it did. She usually dressed him in a ratty cloak or the like, to make him look like he might be something else at a distance, but she wasn't sure how well that worked. What did work were the retractable blades in his arms, the spring-loaded spikes in his torso, a last ditch defense, and the other mechanisms she'd incorporated. His legs were similarly long but a bit thicker, to hold the right sorts of gears to allow reasonably quick movement, and each of his joints was carefully made with a material that was both hard to destroy but also allowed greater flexibility with far less trade off than she'd feared.
It was strange, looking at him, how much she remembered of her struggles, how hard it had been to build a puppet from scratch, and how sometimes the simplest things (like the joints, and making him watertight) had taken far longer than the spikes to get just right. She'd made him, she was his creator- perhaps one day she'd make a puppet she called 'it' or 'she' in the privacy of her mind, but Shizue was too attached to him- and thus she had named him.
[] Please Vote on a Name
After a careful check over his mechanisms to make sure everything was in order, she began to carefully concentrate chakra into her fingertips as she'd learned- forming chakra strings was a delicate process, the eight thin threads extending toward the connection points on the puppet. Once they met, she ran through a series of quick exercises, testing his movement, making sure he was responding as he should, before turning her attention to Testbed, to try to decide what to work on today. She had so many things to do, but at last she was sure, and she was also sure that it was going to take quite a while to get done.
What does Shizue work on (pick one)
[] Finishing up the last tests and installing the water gun into her main puppet. It is strong enough to make someone hit with it stumble, which could be useful, but it has only so many charges and isn't a lethal weapon...which could be an advantage, since she hadn't been able to use her puppet in sparring sessions since pretty much everything it did other than serve as an additional focus for her clan jutsu was incredibly lethal.
[] Continue working on the trap net explosion. The explosion was currently weak, and there was only a single net, and furthermore there had been some real problems fitting it in. It would be a tight fit in her main puppet even if she worked out all of the kinks, but it could be useful for trapping enemies, though the net was nothing special and could be cut through if the opponent wasn't moving enough to tangle themselves up, and maybe even if they were. But she hoped she could manage it in a fight. Probably. Maybe.
[] Try to brainstorm ideas in general, come up with a new concept or two. This will be influenced by Shizue's experiences prior to reaching this point in this (or in future) updates.
******
That night, while she tinkered, people fought. And people died. That night, three new souls went to whatever afterlife there was for warring ninja. Soldiers in the dark of a nighttime raid, corpses before the morning came. At Tokimune's grave, his mother still sat. Her wailing had been reduced to bitter sobs, and perhaps eventually they would be reduced to nothing more than numb, grim acceptance. Nobody watched her, because who can stand to watch heartbreak? And which of the villagers would have said, deep in their cups, what at least some of them certainly thought- what could she have expected, letting her son grow up to be a ninja?
[INSERT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DEPRESSING ENDING THEME MUSIC]
****
A/N: So...haha! Nope! Double-header episodes baby!
Act 1, Scene 3: The First Premonition! Misery's Bounty!
It takes time to learn what happened, after the fact. It was a task of her whole morning, from waking up, to signing up for a mission to start later that afternoon, and even into her trap evaluation with Emiko. It was odd, the things she noticed first and last. What she noticed first was that Chusei was absent- she later learned he was away on a mission, thus rendering competitive mindset meaningless. She headed to the board first thing to sign up for a mission of her own, having already planned to do so, but now seeing it as more than a priority, and hearing some jokes on the way there.
Apparently the Special Jonin of Tide had all promoted themselves to Jonin, a comment that drew jokes about how 'special' they were to have suddenly reached Jonin level in a matter of a few days, and also how they had formed a council to rule, as if theirs hadn't been a dictatorship, unlike Reef which was used- Shizue knew, and so did the shinobi talking- to a council of leadership. There were bets placed on how long it would take for the triumvirate to break apart, because that was the other piece of news. One of the Special Jonin had then promptly been killed, along with a genin.
Here, Shizue had to listen close, because they seemed to rush and brush past the fact that they had lost someone in return, a chunin named Isozaki Senzo, though nobody seemed to mention how it had happened. In fact, it's going to the board to sign up for the mission that provides the next clue to unraveling the events of the previous night. For, prominent on the board was a large, gaudy looking poster, parts of it hand-drawn and filled in.
*****
There was a picture of what looked like a perfectly ordinary girl, the details were general at best, but below were words 'Wanted! Head of Murderous Fish Bitch of Tide! B-rank mission pay in bounty given to anyone who fillets, fries, guts, fricassees, dries out, or otherwise ends the life of this girl! Proof by body part is required, or by verifiable witness statements.' This was, Shizue presumed, the one who had killed Isozaki.
[INTRO MUSIC PLAYS, OPENING SONG BEGINS]
*****
She was a little shocked by the language, but it was not that surprising overall. It had to be a loved one that posted it, bounties like that were common after a death, and it meant that most enemy Ninja that got lucky enough to kill one beloved figure had to keep their heads down for the next few battles or risk getting mobbed by enemies eager to claim the price on their head. It usually went away, or the other ninja died, which was usually a relief to the grieving loved ones. She walked back home to pick something up, and along the way heard another conversation that continued her slow, careful education on the subject.
Rumors were like that, hard to hold and grasp if one wasn't willing to hear them in bits and pieces.
*****
Snippets heard while walking the streets.
"It's a damn shame what happened, do you think Amaya's handling it right, with the-"
"Foolish business."
"At least there'll be a good corpse for the ceremony tonight, the funeral."
"Drowned by a rookie genin is not what I'd call making a 'good corpse.'"
"I just meant that he'd not have to be stitched back together, you don't have to be a goddamn bitch about it."
"He was a reckless fool, chased after a fleeing genin, jus' trying to get away, and he got hisself killed."
"You were reckless once too, Kiyo-chan, now you're a snuggle bug."
"Oh, quit it Manami, I'm trying to be cynical…"
Shizue had moved away from them at that point, not particularly wanting to see two ninja make out in the streets, their argument somehow seamlessly have turned into something rather different. Either way, it was somewhat instructive.
*****
The next piece fell into place when she went for a quick early lunch before the lesson with Emiko. There was a sushi shop that, by virtue of exploring while transformed, Shizue had found she could go to without getting drawing too many stares, and their sushi was quite good. But when she walked down the narrow, crooked lane, it was only to find a crowd in front of the bar nearby area. "What's going on?" she asked, in the guise of a somewhat plain looking black haired girl, her hair in pigtails.
"One of the ninja's holed herself in there. She threatened to kill anyone who stopped her," an old man said, "And you know that ninja keep their word, don't you? Anyone tryin' to put a hand on her and stop her, like a bouncer, would be breaking the law and prolly die. Not worth it for one drunk ninja."
"You say that, but you're not the one who just had their best booze downed like it was nothing," a fat, older man said, the owner of the bar.
They argued for a while, but Shizue merely watched the scene until some other ninja came along. There was a crash of breaking glass, then another crash, and then they came out dragging a sobbing woman in her early twenties, busty- a fact that Shizue was aware of because she was wearing a night robe and an overcoat, and no bra- and looking a mess, eyes blotchy with tears, screaming and bawling as she was dragged off by the two chunin.
*****
What happened next was common knowledge. She'd been dragged before the council, and dressed down first by Ken, then Tomoyo and Hirotomo. "I understand your anger, your rage at the vile enemies of all that is good, like that murderous girl," Tomoyo said, "But it is undignified to leave a poster up like that. Why did you do it?"
Amaya whispered something, then tearfully demanded to talk in private. Five minutes later, the council came out and announced that they would match the bounty on the Tide genin, but that Amaya would be on house arrest until a suitable punishment could be devised.
*****
It was in that context that Shizue went to Emiko's Traps class , and right when Emiko was about to start introducing things, an eleven year old academy student raised his hand. Shizue couldn't remember his name, but now that she thought about it, she'd seen him in literally every class she'd had with Emiko. Didn't he have academy studies? There was also something about his face as he said, "Emiko-sensei!" It slowly began to dawn on Shizue- improbably as it was, what did she know about the minds of boys- that perhaps he had a crush on Emiko. Or maybe he was merely taking classes to become a better shinobi. That would certainly make more sense than having a crush on a plain looking older kunoichi, even if she did have the lure of being seen as rather cool, and also foreign. She even had, as Shizue had noticed the other day, a strange accent.
When one of the kids had nearly lost a finger poking a bear trap, she'd shouted something in a thick accent of some kind, hard to understand. Objectively, Shizue knew that everyone had an accent, so it was merely Emiko dropping her approximation of an Archipelago accent, but it still sounded strange to her ears.
Whether crush or idol, Emiko turned and said, "Yes, Yukinaga-kun?"
His eyes were shining, it almost seemed, as he said, "Are you going to go after that fish girl for the bounty?"
There was a long pause, "No." It was a flat sound, almost harsh as a word, and if it were Shizue asking she'd know not to press any further, would have been scared off, but the boy pressed on.
"You aren't scared of her, are you? Cause you're awesome, Emiko-sensei! You'd be like pow, and whop, and then boom!"
"I could beat her, easily. Kill her, even easier," Emiko said.
"Then why…"
"They couldn't afford what I would charge," Emiko said, her voice going even flatter. There is a note, an edge there that even the boy doesn't miss, nobody misses, and Emiko adds, to break the tension, her voice a little lighter, "Makes one wonder how they'll find the money to pay up if anyone does hurt her?"
Shizue looked at Emiko, and wondered at her behavior. Some things were obvious, but others not so much. Emiko's own mood was strange the whole time, though she praised some of Shizue's trap choices and compared them to a scroll that Chusei had given her before he left on his mission, and apparently both had done well, though neither had done perfectly. But while walking about the woods discussing locations, Emiko would turn and say, "I've heard you are a puppeteer?"
"Yes," Shizue said, knowing her voice sounded defensive, "I am." She remembered her act, four years ago, probably her boldest flouting of the village's norms and mores. That which the village values least is worth most, her mother had said, and so she had found that thing, and taken it.
"Well, it is not an art I know much of, it being one that is hard to dabble in, but if you wish I could be an extra pair of hands next week. I do know some about mechanics and fuinjutsu, so I might not be entirely useless in this matter," Emiko said.
Shizue hesitated. It was an invaluable offer, of course, but it was also Shizue's space, the area she'd never let a single other person in, so she hesitated and said, "Can I give you an answer once I get back from my mission?"
"Very well, Suzuhisa-san" Emiko said, "Good luck on the trip."
*****
Shizue didn't believe in packing light, and so she made sure to have plenty of every kind of weapon, and ration packs, and she also had to carry along her puppet to the dock, where the ship and her teammates, selected at random since she'd made no requests for people brought along, were waiting. She looked at the ship as they approached. It was a big ship, with high masts, definitely not new, which could be told immediately by the fact that it lacked any electric power at all, instead possessing huge sails that made it feel like a 'real' ship. A classic junk, she knew, sometimes employed as a raiding vessel. Standing outside the gangway were two other genin.
Reizei Okiie had packed light, and was hopping from one foot to the other, grinning like a lunatic, not glancing over at the third of their impromptu team, Yasukawa Rika, who had packed nearly as much into her bags as Shizue. "Whoa," Okiie said, looking at her, "That's a lot of stuff! We're only going to be gone for a day, you know that right?"
"Yes I do," Shizue said. During missions, people tended to be a bit more polite, if only because there was nobody else to talk to. "But I want to have the puppet in case there's trouble."
"Nah, you won't need to worry, 'cause I'm stronger than ever. Iwasaki-sensei gave me the paper, and it turns out I'm wind natured! So I'll cut through all of the problems!"
"She gave you a piece of chakra paper?" Shizue asked, surprised. It was expensive, and usually given out upon promotion to chunin, unless a genin bought it themselves or knew their affinity thanks to a family history.
"Yeah, Iwasaki-sensei said that in the big villages, every genin gets one within a week of graduating the academy, for free! And the sensei are required to either teach people how to build up their affinity, or there's a big board where people can search for a teacher if their sensei doesn't have the right element! So weird! But she said she didn't have enough made to give them to everyone at once, cause the class was so big, so she's doing a competition. Each week so many people get them, and by the end of the month everyone will know their affinity! It was weird, though, half the people that took it got water."
Rika mumbled something, and Okiie asked, "What was that?"
"It's probably because of epigenetics."
"Epi...genetics? Sounds like some weird thing in an Iruka Book," Okiie said, "Never heard of it." Iruka Books were the colloquial name for a practice that started just after the Fourth, and hopefully last, Ninja War. Many small villages didn't have the money for good textbooks and new textbooks, and certainly didn't have the time to make their own, so Konoha would ship out books, carefully designed to be stripped of political or historical biases (though many said that the Hokage's 'ninja are not tools, be friends with each other' biases slipped through, for better or worse, and there was that one infamous edition in which ramen was listed as a 'staple ninja food' alongside protein bars and other healthy meals), for free. Even now they still did it, and it was a huge cost-saving measure for most small villages.
Of course, they also did things like sent crates of the things addressed to 'The Shimikage [sic] of Island' as if it hadn't been forty years of war. The three villages would fight over who got most of the books, and the losers would have to use old, worn out books, or just shrug and start teaching kids by memory.
Rika apparently decided to to elaborate, except Shizue was curious and leaned in, asking, "Can you tell me? It sounds interesting."
Rika smiled, she clearly liked the idea of being able to show off, and said, "So, well, affinities run in families, right? But there have also been studies among some ninja who are more...scientific that environment plays a factor. People who move to live in a very different region can find their descendents affinities affected, as their chakra systems adapt a little bit towards their new surroundings. The ninja around water finds their children are more likely to have a water affinity, even if their family tend to be fire natured- though family affinity wins out often enough that it's still a good rule."
"So you're saying if we did the same paper thing in, say, Suna--"
"Yep, lots of wind natures. And lightning in Kumo, and so on."
"I guess that makes sense, but isn't genetics some… civvie something or other?" Okiie asked casually.
"Just because it's a civilian science doesn't mean--"
"Listen, I get that you have to defend your roots as some civvie's daughter--"
Rika blushed and said, "No, I'm just saying…" her eyes looked a little bit wet, though she clearly wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She looked like someone who had been pushed too long and hard today, and this single event had pushed her past some invisible barrier. Okiie had the good sense to notice and then immediately begin to apologize, not having realized that his words were offensive.
Which was typical. Boys. Well, not all boys, but Okiie was distinguished in his tactlessness from Toyo only in that he wasn't trying to be a total jackass and that he'd apologize if he realized he was being one. As if any person wouldn't be insulted by someone casting aspersions on their parentage.
Shizue brushed past them and got to work preparing. She had to talk to a few of the sailors before she got agreement, but who would question a ninja's strange whims? It was early evening by the time the ship cast off, her puppet carefully secured on deck beneath a tarp by a some string that would probably be enough to keep the less than incredibly heavy puppet from moving around too much (though it'd provide little protection in case of a storm), but would also allow it to easily break free if needed. Anyone looking would figure it was a crate, or perhaps a coil of rope, under there, and thus it would be both easy to hide and easy to get at, just in case. Not that an attack was likely, but one never knew, and raids on shipping were very popular among all three villages.
The captain held dinner down below deck, fare heavy on seafood and fatty dishes, relatively light on vegetables unless they were fried, breaded, or otherwise. Korokke was present, as was the less rare tempura (this from packages, rather than cooked onboard) and seafood karaage. It wasn't a bad meal, though the conversation was...interesting.
Okiie had little enough to say to the Captain, and except occasionally commenting on the food in vague, full-mouthed compliments, leaving Shizue and Rika to do most of the talking.
*****
"So trade's been going down ever since fall to that island, but I've been making it up by taking trips to a few other places," the Captain, who was named Obata Tokuhei, explained to Rika. He was a somewhat tall man whose considerable muscle had begun running- no, sprinting- to fat as he approached his fifties.
"Oh, but what about doing some of 'the trade' with kunai? I know that Reef is always short of them, and allocation management is apparently something--"
"We're short on kunai? How short?" Shizue asked.
"Well, my father wrote to tell me that the demands in tribute from the mine have increased, well beyond sustainability, and since they're not gold mines or anything that would have value except as a weapon," Rika said.
Shizue nodded, impressed. Rika seemed a bit of a pushover, and Shizue knew that she typically underestimated the girl, but then times like these she was reminded of just how smart she actually l was. And how much they shared together if only they could get along consistently without Rika pushing her away in a sudden fear that people would associate the two of them so closely together that they'd start ignoring her all of the time, instead of just most of the time.
Another thing she noticed was that Captain Obata didn't trust ninja. It was subtle, but he seemed to keep as far away from ninja business as possible, except to hire them as guards for missions whenever the war got to the point where any ship could be attacked at any time. This was reasonable enough, though it did get Shizue to thinking.
It was something she'd end up doing all through her watch, the first, then while she was laying down trying to sleep through Okiie's watch, and so when the lookout called "Land ho!" at three in the morning because the ship was scheduled to dock in the early morning, she almost expected it. She shifted to get out of her hammock, as Okiie scrambled to get out of his. Okiie tripped over something as he got out of his hammock and faceplanted on the ground before scrambling out the door, and then up the ladder to the deck, Shizue close behind. Up on deck, Rika stood near the wall of Obata-san's,, looking around as he emerged and turned his gaze towards the shore.
It was early in the morning, but some lights on the dock were already lit for any ships trying to find the harbor, though there were few enough ships in port, and the place seemed to be enjoying a quiet, sleepy morning. And then, out of early morning fog came a small boat, rowing towards the ship, "Ahoy!" a young woman's voice said, "One moment of your time please."
"What is it?" Obata-san called, leaning over the bulwark, looking down at the boat as it drew close to the side of the ship. "I don't want any fresh catches of fish, however good you claim the prices are--"
When was when the figures from the boat, three of them, leapt up, the one in front hurling a perfect, textbook spread of primarily kunai, but with shuriken mixed it, the others throwing immediately after. There was no time to react, to do anything at all to stop it, and Shizue reached for her shuriken holster, trying to figure out what to do first, brain still blurry from lack of sleep. Which meant she almost didn't believe what she saw. Suddenly, in a single moment, instead of Captain Obata there, Rika stood in his place. She saw the girl wince as one of them scored a shallow cut across the top of her head, but aimed as it was to kill a man twice her bulk and significantly taller than her, the attacks mostly missed as the three enemy ninja landed and leapt at her.
Shizue had to move, and fast, though in the back of her brain she figured out what had happened when she saw the Captain standing where Rika had before, baffled but unharmed. A sealless, instant Body Replacement? Shizue hadn't known Rika could do that. And now, they had to move fast if Rika wasn't going to pay a heavy price for her selfless protection of the Captain.
[Insert Ending Credits and Theme Song]
What does Shizue do? (This is the first move, the rest of the battle until any important decision points will flow from this and what the QM thinks Shizue is likely to do.)
[] Move to help Rika. She can't survive against three to one odds for long, can she? And there's little for her to replace with, unless she thinks of Shizue's puppet on the fly. But two to three, or maybe even three-all odds, would probably serve better. Looking closely, none of the enemies seem older than fourteen or fifteen. Still, Shizue is no experienced close combatant.
[] Use Replacement to switch with her puppet and then attach chakra strings and use it to fight. This will take a second, though, and then time for it to be deployed, meaning Rika *might* be on her own for some vital seconds, but it'd be safer for Shizue, and hopefully she'll be able to do more good hanging back.
[] Follow Okiie's lead. Try to coordinate with Okiie, since working as a team is important. In this case, since Shizue doesn't have a rapport with anyone, this'll mostly involve going along with whatever Okiie does, since arguing at the start of a deadly fight is a...bad idea.
[] Write-in. QM has right to correct or refuse, but I will also ask for clarification if any part of it seems openly flawed (like, to the point where Shizue would know it wouldn't work IC) or unclear.
*****
The Laurent: So, a lot of author's noting to do, here. First, to those asking 'where are the rolls'? There are rolls, but in order to get a narrative experience, they are behind the scenes and in the background.
So, Emiko built up, and war starts getting started in earnest. It gets a little bit dark in that respect, I apologize! To cheer things up
I'm going to have a running counter.Ninjas Killed in latest escalation of the war: 9 (4 Tide Jonin, 1 Tide Special Jonin, 2 Tide Chunin, 1 Reef Chunin, 1 Reef Genin)
Civilians Killed: ???
This is likely to be going up and up and up. And up. Also, war destroys people, and also makes them assholes. And yeah, the bounty thing means that Ninja who manage to do a 'good job' at killing enemies then have to worry about being attacked en masse, meaning even gaining experience might just be another way to get killed.
Now, on accents. Me and my co-QM talked for a long time, but neither of us are linguists, so we weren't able to come up with a specific, exact accent. However, we did determine that accents vary by region, and come up with some dialect groups. Fire (Coastal), Fire (Southern), Fire (Northeastern), Fire (Northwestern), Fire (Standard/Konoha), Wind (Deep Desert), Wind (City), Wind (Northern), Earth (Southern), Earth (Northern), Lightning (Mountain), Lightning (Coastal), Lightning (Southern), Water, and of course, on top of others we didn't think of, Archipelago. Accents of course blend, mix, and get complicated, especially the fact that different enough dialects can cause trouble understanding each other, but it's all the same language, fortunately enough, though also because in the show everyone spoke the same language and it'd be inconvenient to create language barriers, as fun as those can be in a story. Shizue doesn't know enough about accents to say, "Oh, so that means that Emiko is from 'X' village." Infiltration is the skill that tracks to faking accents, or recognizing them too. Emiko's accent only says that she's not born and raised in the Archipelago, which is sorta a 'no duh.'
Tinkering will be a constant thing with puppeteering, it's cool. There would also be similar sorts of 'bull sessions' available for Fuinjutsu at higher levels, as well as Jutsu creation in general once Shizue reaches the point where she starts making up her own Jutsu. Anything that can be worked on ahead of time will have a session that doubles as both a training session and a 'tinkering section.' Emiko, for instance, took one such session this week to work on [REDACTED.]
It's called premonitions for a reason, cause there's a lot of that going around. Epigenetics are a real thing, and we decided it'd be neat if there was some sort of magic version of it, that explained affinity clusters. Rika doesn't know hers, and Shizue doesn't either...if only she were taking the Elemental class. Of course, there's things she would have missed not taking the classes she did, so it's all a matter of choice.
And, yes, Iruka books.
Just in case people thought this was a setup, the truth was that there was a 50% chance that this would be a perfectly normal C-rank, so blame the dice, not me!
Next, important detail:
Chakra Strings:
--Effect: Can use Chakra Strings to control a puppet. Puppets that aren't one's own will, of course, not respond to the same delicate manipulations, making it hard to hijack someone's own puppet on the fly, unless they spend time and effort learning how to make it move. At this level, these motions are physical, but at higher levels, chakra manipulation does the work, or else how could a single finger control an entire puppet?
--Cost: 1 Chakra Per String
--Currently, it takes 8 strings to control, meaning Shizue can control it and also draw and throw a single kunai, hold one of the bells of hers, or hold her flute though it's hard to play. And also do the hand-signs for the bound jutsu. The number of strings taken is flatly (as in, no stats involved) connected directly to Puppets, with the number of strings going down and down, and other options also being opened up. Like, just a hint, Puppetry+Fuinjutsu+Ninjutsu (Sound) can get some...interesting things. I can tell you because Shizue has had a few fantasies of the 'And then I'll beat everyone with super ninja skillz' dreams that many young ninja have.
Finally, please tell me if this update was too long. I was thinking of stopping at, well, the halfway point, since there were and are two votes there, but I realized it wouldn't *much* effect what came next (the length got away from me, it was all supposed to be one 'episode' but got so long that I split it in two), the tinkering sessions, and that I *could* show it in flashback in the next episode. So I kept on charging along late last night, secure in the belief that this would turn out well. I now sorta leave it to you to decide. It comes to you faster, but I *could* have given it in a smaller chunk and sat on the rest of this for 2-3 days. It would have certainly made my task easier, since this was a mountain and a half to write, but...eh, anyways, feedback is appreciated, especially on the topic of 'votes in the middle of an update'.
Also, to note again, reaction posts are adored and will be rewarded with a few XP. They get my creative juices stirring just like likes do, in the sense that it allows me to see what the voters think and see, so that if there are any misapprehensions, good ideas, clues, hints, etc, I can be aware of them.
Thanks to McClenahan for editing this!
McClenahan: And probably the longest update I've ever proofread, as well. This is going to be interesting… if you hadn't already realized from the tone, well, this entire update, this isn't going to be like the surprising number of fights in the anime where nobody actually dies. The enemy are playing for keeps here.
Last edited: