It's probably good I held this vote, since I had a pathetic showing today. 2.6k words after an entire free day, and I have work tomorrow, so...well, we'll see.
Not yet at the part with the puppets, so plenty of time, please vote. Puppets.
Okay, last call for votes...sorta. I'll close votes when I get back from work at 7 PM, CST. But I've written up and then around the puppet part, and so will be finished with the update other than that tonight, as well. Update may be posted tomorrow, depends on how I go for finishing up the writing and editing. Currently...
We haven't used any of our Equipment XP to do any equipment upgrades yet. Presumably, we get that vote in the next update, or when we next tinker on Stinger 2: Reloaded.
Edit: You're at six fingers. Two more points, and you are at five...but not two puppets. Your concentration and skill at commanding a puppet with one hand isn't great enough, but being at 32 does mean you'd have an entire hand free!
Also, I skipped a lot of desiccation, what is the mechanical benefit of Earth affinity? Less XP cost on razing Earth release/Earth techniques?
Next time XP is spent, we really need the next rank of Replacement guys. Sealless Replacement. If the enemy gets past the puppet, we just switch so they are facing the puppet again and now we're behind them.
That's WAY better than a training discount. You can work skill with time and effort, but if you can fling two jutsus of your favored element for the same effort as any other, or get twice as much maximum output, it's not really comparable.
Act 1, Scene 15: A Last Breath! The Calm Before The Storm
"Peace is at hand, today! Yet," Ken told the screaming, cheering crowds, the endless masses of civilians and ninja, all alike in this moment in their exuberance. They knew what he'd say, they knew what the truth was, but today they'd won. Today thousands, maybe tens of thousands of deaths through a long, long war had at last paid off. Days without food, nights without sleep, a thousand hardships, and at last there was something to show for it. At last, Tide was destroyed. And yet…
"Yet, this war is not over. This is but the breath before another plunge, but let us endeavor, with all of our might and courage, to make this the final plunge. That no more must die, that no more will the world burn, that we will restore an era of peace and prosperity, that we will end an era of war. From the treaty comes techniques, assistance, and money. And so," Ken said, turning to face Emiko. Behind him was the rest of the council.
"We have officially paid off our debts to the mercenary-nin. You are free to leave whenever you will like."
Shizue, near the back with her friends, was sure this had been rehearsed.
Indeed, Emiko's smile was smooth, but it clearly didn't come as a surprise, and her words, "And I might do so in the future, though at the moment I am a bit too busy teaching your wonderful genin. I shall inform you before I choose to leave."
"Thank you, thank you," Ken said, "Now, let me keep you all no longer! Let the party continue!"
[Opening Credits]
There was this oppressive expectation after that morning of celebration, that came on in the afternoon. Surely, surely the attack would come sooner than later. By now, word had leaked out that they had reason to suspect that there would be an attack designed to destroy Reef with a single blow. Shizue knew that they must have guessed or gotten something out of the prisoner, but either way.
When the first night, despite being on guard, no attack happened, everyone was shocked. Shizue trained, Rika studied, everyone kept on guard. It wasn't that she had wanted the war at all, and in fact, the more she learned, of war and treason, the more she wanted to hide away from it all. Had this been the sort of world her mother had lived in? It made Shizue feel a little unclean, but she continued working on repairing Stinger, investigating the traitor, and training.
She didn't know what she'd do when it came time to go to battle. Would they have the courage to act? Twice they'd gotten into a fight, but they were reminded that Monday that this wasn't the same thing.
Emiko had started some sort of new regime after the big ceremony the day before, and now she could be seen exercising when she wasn't teaching classes, and even the classes focused on physical training, albeit rather lighter than usual. When Shizue went to her Genjutsu class, she learned more genjutsu and started to work on how to use it in a fight, but she also got a lecture from Emiko. Or rather, the whole class got a single sentence.
"Be careful, a battle is nothing like a fight on a mission. It doesn't have a clear end, one victory might beget a defeat. A single mistake will pile upon itself, any weakness will immediately be exploited. If not by your opponent then their allies."
She gave a similar warning in the class on Traps and Tactics, and it seemed that she too was concerned. Perhaps her physical exercise was a way to burn off stress. Shizue wasn't sure how much of anything Emiko did that she could trust as genuine, but it certainly felt like something she might do.
That Monday, Shizue headed down to see Rika, only to find her waiting outside her house. She looked annoyed, and every so often she'd glance down the road. When she saw Shizue, her face lit up, and she waved, "Hey, here to visit, or want to talk about the investigation? Genta's been training, but when he's not been, he's been attacking the papers furiously, I think he sees--"
"No," Shizue said with a smile, "I just wanted to talk to you. See if maybe you wanted to go get some ice-cream." It was a cool day, for the end of summer. Fall would perhaps begin to creep up in the next few weeks, but even now, it was still warm.
"Maybe, but I'm waiting for a package. Should be here any moment now."
Indeed, after a moment of waiting, a mailman came up, looking exhausted, and set a package down in front of Rika before moving to another house. They didn't even stop to chat, but Rika didn't seem to expect it as she opened the package to reveal...what had to be forty pages of paper. With a staple in the corner. And a title.
"My father writes a lot. I once joked he should have a title page...so now he does. And when I joked about an Index…" she thumbed a page forward, to reveal...an Index. With headings like "Salutations...1", "Perfunctory Talk on the Weather...2" "Discussion of Office Politics….", "Inquiries on how you have been doing...6" and, near the end, "Disturbing News That I think you should read first, honestly...28."
Rika blinked and flipped to the page and then began to read, eyes scanning the page rapidly, before she handed it to Shizue. Who read it with increasing dismay.
*****
There is something else I have been holding off telling you, Rika-chan, because I did not wish to worry you. I have been conducting an investigation into rather dangerous matters, and feared that were you caught up in politics of that sort, which might involve ninjas, your life would be at great risk.
Simply put, peasants and others have been disappearing for the past two weeks from a variety of islands. Some with all of their belongings, some with only some of them, and some as if they'd gone out for a stroll and merely not come back. Self-theft is a crime, and there are also no legitimate passenger ships off of most islands, not now with all of the dangers. Thus far, nobody has been able to tell me where they have gone, and it's hard to tell whether there are smugglers, or if they are dead, or worse. It is all a complete mystery, but already two or three hundred have complete disappeared, and most of them were peasants. The Reef Council would be deeply disturbed to hear that their property is being stolen away, and thus I have labored to try to solve the matter on my own.
But perhaps it is time to admit that I can't see a path forward. If they are fleeing, they are doing so in the dead of night, with the help of smugglers. And if they are being taken away, the only explanation is enemy action: but why would an enemy kidnap civilians when they could instead conduct raids with far greater rewards and risks that are only moderately increased.
Either way, I will continue my investigation, but will soon report it to the council. And we shall see what they say.
*****
Rika frowned, "People disappearing? I hope they don't blame my father, governors have been fired for less, even if it sounds like it's more than just his island. Which complicates things, doesn't it?"
Shizue nodded, "I have no idea who might have done it. It doesn't sound like it's related to our investigation, right?" She hoped not.
"No, of course it isn't," Rika said, "It'd be easier if this all tied up in a neat bow. But...about that ice-cream?"
It was a lovely day, letter or no, and after the ice-cream they sparred a little. Rika seemed to have been improving her form quite a bit, and Shizue was rather overmatched when they fought. Out of practice at some aspects of fighting compared to others. Still, she could improve, though she was so busy lately. Despite the lull, it still felt like there was so much to do, too much.
******
Two days later, and Genta had more news, though this was something he'd run by Rika for a while, because while he liked using his new Shomeigan, he knew that he'd have to justify every single leap he made, every single idea he had. And he did so, with Rika's help, in writing. It was interesting to see his logic, honestly. Because it was always founded in logic, yet it made surprising leaps that he would then have to backtrack and explain. It wasn't that he skipped through it to the answer, it was that he had trouble unpacking all of the minute signs he had carefully noticed. Yet even with the Shomeigan on, it didn't make him infallible, and he had to- he said Emiko had told him- guard especially against the possibility that he could let biases seep in.
If he set out to prove that Emiko was guilty, he could construct an entirely plausible set of conclusions that seemed to point in that direction. If he acted to do the opposite, that same intelligence and skill at putting facts together, of analyzing things, could make the very idea of Emiko's guilt seem an absurdity. It couldn't make up what wasn't there--or at least, it couldn't unless he was actively trying to lie to other people--but that just meant that the bias was more subtle if he didn't double-check everything.
"Well, it's not directly tied to the aftermath of Emiko, like we thought. The switchover took place somewhere between a few days to a week before Emiko killed the Tide jonin. The timing seems like it can't be a complete coincidence, but--" Genta shrugged.
"Well, so, the most logical thing to assume is that the second traitor was unrelated to the first, at least because otherwise, wouldn't their more careful methods of passing on messages have been used from the start?" Rika asked.
"Yeah, so this first bastard, they...what, convinced someone else to turn traitor?" Okiie asked.
"Or they got caught, but the person who had caught them," Shizue said, frowning, her thought trailing off, "Two suspects is a lot for such a small pool. What if one of the jonin…"
Genta looked a little sickly at the very idea, and why wouldn't he? Everyone should, Shizue knew. A special jonin as a traitor was unbelievable. A jonin could mean the death of the entire village as it tore itself apart. It was almost easier to discount the idea rather than think about it, and how badly this could all end.
"If one of them is a jonin," Rika said, "We need to make sure to catch him. If we merely catch one party but not both, the other will…"
She glanced over at Genta who nodded. "It's weird how you can guess what I am thinking. Illogical."
"People do this all the time," Genta said quietly, "I'm merely looking closer at your features than the average person does, and yet I'm reasonably sure Shizue knew what you were going to say as well."
"Yes," Shizue admitted, "Kill us. There is a famous saying--"
Rika couldn't help herself, "If you strike at a daimyo or a ninja, endeavor to kill him.*"
"Then we shall not miss," Okiie said, "I'm sure we can figure this out...if Zenzo's not the baddie. If it is, we're kinda screwed, aren't we?"
Another thing that it was disconcerting to have to think about.
*****
On the fourth day, the news came in. On a mission, Toyo had just disappeared. Was it like the civilians? Yet signs indicated that there was a struggle, that he'd been kidnapped. If he wasn't dead, he was captured, and if he was captured…
No side was nice to prisoners. No side hesitated to torture them. No doubt the enemy chunin was even now enjoying Reef's warm hospitality at this moment.
Shizue hadn't liked Toyo, yet the news came as a hammer blow. Children even younger than them might have been sent out into this. Might still, if the war was continuing in a month. Toyo's parents were on the streets, demanding an eye for an eye, the whole village was up in a storm, though not merely because of Toyo.
During the past few days, there had only been a few probing attacks. Several on Unrae, near the border, and another on Shiro, so named because it was all but a fortress, an island that had been designated a rally point should war spread across the front and a resupply point and forward medical base be needed. Yet nobody on either side had died, and as soon as any real risk presented itself, the enemy had fled. Testing their defences, presumably.
This was the context, this worry, this tension. This sort of fear that had crept up on Shizue inch by inch until she wasn't entirely sure she was in control of herself. That is why she went to see Junko. The girl looked up to her, and she was a nice girl, and seeing her, seeing her would allow Shizue to imagine a future. Imagine that it wouldn't be until next year that the girl would graduate, to a world at peace.
Shizue reached the training yards where class had been held, as if today was going to last forever, as if anyone who might bother to teach wouldn't be pulled away if the fighting got truly fierce. Then she found a convenient tree to lean up against and waited.
Junko looked tired but energetic as she hurried off of the yard, and she blinked in surprise when she saw Shizue. Shizue took a breath and gave a wave, and Junko pointed at herself, a little puzzled. As if there might be someone else she wanted to speak to. Junko skipped over, eyes wide. "Hello? You wanted to talk to…"
"Yeah," Shizue said her voice grave, "I've heard what you've been saying about me."
"W-wait, what have I been saying about you, has someone said I've been saying something mean about you, because I--"
"And I'm flattered that I have someone who looks up to me, as strange as that seems," Shizue said with a smile, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.
Junko blushed, and then said, "Oh, so that was a trick?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to say hello. I heard about what you did, a while back, and it must have been pretty tough, saying no to Jonin and Special Jonin--"
"I had help. I went to Emiko, and she really helped me. She's the greatest," Junko said, "Except when she ruffles my hair. That's a little annoying, but I don't want to tell her, because she smiles when she does it."
Junko had her hair in a single long braid, but it was a little wild. Not unmanaged, but as if it'd grown just a little too long for its style. She was a slim girl, though she was starting to get some of the wiry muscle that most kunoichi gained if they weren't either lazy or very good at using their chakra to enhance themselves. Shizue herself, by civilian standards, was at least somewhat athletic, though her chakra control had allowed her to cheat a little more than some others.**
"I will not ruffle your hair," Shizue said with mock solemnity.
"Good! So, well, you know how I feel. I've always looked up to you, you're so cool and mysterious, but I can be cool too. In fact," Junko said, "Want to see something really cool I can do? You won't believe what you see!"
"Of course," Shizue said with a smile.
And then Junko disappeared right in front of her. Cloak of Invisibility?
"I'm here," a voice said right in front of Shizue, "And I'm doing the Eri dance, you know the one from that song?" There'd been a somewhat popular song that had a dance that went with it. A really simple dance that involved staying in place, though you did lean up and down and left and right, and your arms one way and then another, and did this odd pose with your hands. Shizue didn't really get it, but she knew how to do it. Sorta. "Only...really slowly. Because. I have. To move slowly."
"You're right… I can't believe what I see. Or don't see," Shizue admitted, "But watch this." And she too used her Cloak of Invisibility and began to dance the 'Eri dance' even though she didn't know it very well.
"What is it?"
"Invisible Eri dance, as well," Shizue said.
"Well then…" Junko said, and she felt a hand press very slowly into her palm as she turned it for another one of those silly motions, "Invisible, slow-motion high-five while I'm leaning so that I don't step from this spot."
Shizue smiled and said, "It's impressive, learning something like that as an Academy student, and you're already pretty good at it."
"But Emiko says I haven't mastered it yet, though she also said that there's plenty of time, but I think she was just saying that because she doesn't want me to think about her leaving, y'know?" Junko said.
"Well, how about we both try to master it? I haven't mastered it myself, and then we can dance with literal moves as well, as long as we don't go too fast. I've heard you can walk if you really work at the technique, though I've only read it in a book…"
"Well, how about I ask Emiko if that's how it works," Junko proposes, "And then we can see which of us learns it first. You're cool and experienced, so you'll probably win, but…" She took a breath, "I can try my best."
"Sure," Shizue said amicably, "That sounds like it could be a fun competition. Hey, would you like to get something to eat? I still have plenty of money from the mission the other day--"
"The one where you fought a chunin?" Junko asked.
"Me and three others," Shizue said.
"Wait, but aren't teams limited to…" Junko trailed off, wide-eyed.
"Well, you see, we were...worried about the mission, because they've been really dangerous lately, and so we just decided to have a little backup," Shizue said, breaking the Cloak of Invisibility technique.
Gained a Quest...sort of! Try to get to Rank 5 of Invisibility!
*****
They ate at a food stand, that served ramen and fried fish kebabs and other such street foods. Junko had said she couldn't eat too long, that her parents would probably wonder, but at the same time, she was very glad to have someone to talk to. She was content with the fact that Shizue was choosing her words carefully, and more than made up for Shizue's care by talking all about how she had a lightning affinity and her rival, Chobunsai Seiichiro, who had almost applied to graduate early. Apparently he was annoying, but also very strong, though recently he'd stopped training his body as much. He'd declared to Junko, "If you keep up with the cheating Genjutsu, I need to train my eyes so I can see through your tricks!"
Which annoyed her, though also made her feel like she should keep up the training, and--
That was when Akachi burst into the stall, surprising the chef, who gaped as Akachi said, "Hey, Shizue, finally found you. Finally found it." His eyes were wide as he set down a bingo book right next to you. Then he glanced over at Junko before seeming to mentally shrug and opening it up, flipping through it until you saw a picture of a nineteen year old.
She was plain looking, brown hair, wearing a typical chunin flak vest. It was Emiko, only a little younger.
Iwasaki Emiko
Former Rank: Chunin (She was only a Chunin?) Age: 25 (Not that old…) Village: Iwa (So, Genta was right.) Defection date: 95 PN (five years ago…) Current Expected Danger Level: A
Noted Skills: Stealth, assassination, spying, genjutsu, earth and wind jutsu, others
Bounty (Dead): 25,000 Ryo (That's less than you get for a real, challenging C-rank.) Bounty (Alive): 34,000,000 Ryo
Information: Dangerous. Missing-Nin Assassin, location unknown. Appearance similar to in photograph.
And there was more information, a few mentions of incidents and known associates, including one 'Asai Naota'. What baffled you most of all were the bounties. 34 million Ryo was a lot of money, and 25,000 Ryo was basically nothing. An insult, almost, considering how she was ranked as Jonin-grade. As if she was so much more valuable alive than dead. Yet it didn't say how or why she had run, or why someone who was clearly so talented--or was now, had she merely improved that much in five years, to go from a chunin to a terrifyingly competent jonin-level ninja?--had only been a Chunin. Iwa did explain a lot, of course.
A village like that could afford to coddle its ninja. Well, not coddle, but Shizue understood some of what Emiko was now, if that was accurate.
"Wow...her bounty's so huge," Junko said, wide-eyed, "Please don't show that to too many people. I mean, that sort of bounty's enough to tempt people if they knew about it."
"Tempt people to try to go after her, considering that within weeks of coming here, she wiped out Tide's Jonin?" Akachi asked, raising an eyebrow, "The world's bigger than this little village, and I doubt anything we have could for sure capture her. Kill her, maybe, but keeping her captured would be all but impossible. But I thought you'd want to know, Shizue. And Junko… I've heard that you're a fan of her, so it doesn't hurt to show you either. It took so long, I was starting to think I'd never find it, but I've finally figured out the mystery of Iwasaki Emiko. And it turns out she's got mysteries behind that. So I guess I didn't figure out anything--"
"It's more than we knew before," Shizue pointed out.
"Odd that she'd use her real name. I mean, if she wanted, she could disguise herself as anyone," Junko said.
"Well, mind if I take a seat and join in?" Akachi asked.
And so their little group became three as Shizue and the other two talked and chatted about the bingo book, parting ways in a far better mood than before. Maybe things would be okay. Maybe they wouldn't, but at least she was starting to make friends.
*****
The next meeting with Zenzo saw him haggard, his shirt ruffled, dark circles under his eyes. He looked like Genta had, back when he was pushing himself towards a collapse, but even more notable was his tone of voice. It was Saturday morning, almost a week since the war with Tide had ended, and yet another attack had not come. Island was still waiting and gathering its strength.
For someone like Shizue, it was a little easier to try to ignore, since she wasn't required to go out and patrol and wait for the war to begin again in earnest. Of course, once that happened, she'd have no control over what happened. At most she could try to influence things, but...it was not something she liked to think of.
"I have ruled out Takudo-san. Despite his boasts, he doesn't have any skill at summoning, and I've definitively ruled out both Kutsuna-san and Ken-sama," Zenzo said, "You may wonder why I investigated Ken? Well, there is bad news, from what I've been able to do of the analysis, and looking at things, there is only one solution--"
He took a breath, "There is a second traitor."
Rika opened her mouth, but Okiie held out a hand and made a silly pose, "You see! There is something we must confess to you! You see, we have labored long and hard ourselves," Okiie said, "And we have discovered--"
"We know there's a second traitor," Genta said bluntly, and Okiie turned and looked at him.
"C'mon, I was going to be dramatic about it, it'd be really cool," Okiie said, "Trying to add some levity."
"You can levitate on your own time," Rika muttered.
Zenzo was staring at them, "How did you--"
Genta's eyes started glowing around the rims, and he nodded, "Ah, so you...well. So I assume you gathered that the only person that could be this second traitor is a jonin?"
Now it was Genta's turn to look surprised, "No...why would it--"
"Whoever was using the new code, and with the way the security procedures are described, they're all superior. It's clear someone discovered the traitor, or the traitor recruited someone, and that someone could only be someone better than them. A jonin. Yet we can't possibly find this next level of traitor until we identify the first leak. So we have three suspects. Inoguchi Nami, Sakata Yumiko, and Iwasaki Emiko."
And Akutagawa Zenzo, Shizue thought but didn't say.
"Emiko is dangerous, and I don't want any of you getting too close to her, so I will investigate her, but the other two...who would you rather look into?"
After the meeting, Shizue finally felt up to doing what she hadn't been willing to do before- ask Okiie out. Ninja didn't have a lot of the civilian hang-ups, that's what her research in the library when she was hanging with Rika the other day told her. The idea of 'a boy asks a girl out, not the other way around' and a thousand other assumptions weren't nearly as prevalent among ninjas. It was a little weird, to read about the way civilians did things. Both more open in some ways--or at least, the books talked about civilians in the city who didn't have clan politics to deal with--and also more prudish, more given to caution.
So she decided to just plunge forward, "Okiie, I've been meaning to talk to you about something."
"Yes?" he asked, looking around until his eyes met Rika, "Rika-chan, thanks for the tea, I've been wondering what your recipe is--"
"Oh, my recipe. Let me go look for it. And leave the two of you. Alone."
She departed in a hurry, and Shizue shook her head, "I've been wondering if you'd like to go out?"
"To eat, sure, I'm starved. Her tea's great, but it isn't food," Okiie said, and then kept on talking, smiling at her. So close she could smell him. So close she could imagine leaning in and...
"On a date."
"And there's a really good place that does salads and I'm--" Okiie trailed off, blinking. "Wait, really, me?"
"Yeah. I've had a crush on you for a little while, and what I figure is, well, we're friends. So we might as well try," Shizue argued, "And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But with all that's going on, war and danger, I don't want to wait. I don't wait," Shizue said, "To just keep it to myself when before the month is out one or both of us might be dead. I've been a long time without friends, you know."
"I'm sorry I wasn't a friend...earlier. I mean, you're really cool, and Rika's cool, and everyone's so cool and I didn't even know it," Okiie said.
"I've been a long time without friends, without people I care about. Without people that I knew cared about me," Shizue said, "I think I got out of practice, you know? Like anything, you have to work at it. You know how to work hard, and I was always impressed by you learning five different elements, even when we weren't friends."
"Gee, thanks. But," Okiie said blushing, "Your puppets are really cool, and you're a lot more diplomatic than me. I'm just some silly elementalist with a big nose--"
"And a big smile," Shizue said, smiling back at him, "Who always tries to be upbeat. I like that, you know? I like it enough that I have a crush on you, and I understand if you don't like me back like that, but I don't think I could just hide it. Not with everything that's happened. We've seen so much, this past month and change, and it's been hard, hasn't it?"
"Yeah. I'm scared, somewhere, deep down, all the time," Okiie admitted, "Chusei doesn't even do his pranks anymore. And that sorta stuns me, because he's the prank guy, so I keep on smiling harder, and making jokes, because that feeling we had back in class...well, I guess the feeling I had back in class. It's hard to replicate, now that we're in the real world. I don't know if it'll work out. But you're cool and smart, and you know I kind of like your hair." He blushed harder. "I mean, the way it gets a little bit frizzy at the end, and when it's late in the afternoon, the sun goes through it like…" he trailed off.
Shizue was staring at him. She felt as if she was going to melt into the ground. He liked her hair? Her hair that wasn't a tenth of what her mom's was. Her hair that didn't even grow right, got all frizzy and unmanageable ever since the accident with the explosives? How could he possibly--
"Sorry, I'm rambling."
"No," Shizue said, "I like it. So would you like to go on a date?"
"Sure, but not tonight," Okiie said, "I had this idea for a jutsu training session, and I don't have any amazing clothes to wear. So how about tomorrow?"
"Sure," Shizue said, "I had to finish repairing Stinger anyways. I've been working on him--it, I mean--for a while now."
"Good, I hope Stinger Mk 2, Reloaded, or whatever he's called, is even better," Okiie said, "Cause he was pretty impressive. Saving Rika's life like that."
"I plan on it. There's not as much to do as I thought, but over the last while, I've started to have some ideas for how I could make everything a little better," Shizue said, "Hopefully it'll pay off."
*****
And so that night, Shizue finally finished repairing Stinger. He needed to be faster, and so she focused on his limbs. He was already nimble, so it was easier to give the joints more flexibility, and this little change created an avalanche. A more flexible design was also a stronger one, a faster one, and she was able to, with a little work, make it so that Stinger's attacks would be moderately more lethal. In all, the upgrades weren't huge, though she had other ideas she was waiting to use, but they together created a puppet in front of her, laying there, that was quite simply better than anything she could have made before. And that was not all that was better, there was more.
What to do with the equipment XP (20)?
[] Improved Poison Kunai Thrower
-[] Better Poison (6 XP)
-[] Improved Launch Stability (4 XP)
-[] Bigger Magazine (2 XP)
[] Bound Jutsu
-[] Cloak of Invisibility (1 XP)
-[] Water Release: Manipulation (1 XP)
-[] Water Release: Spitting fish (1 XP)
-[] Water Release: Condensation (1 XP)
-[] Transformation (1 XP)
-[] Clone Jutsu (1 XP)
[] Pit Spike Technique
-[] Poisoned spikes? (4-14 XP, choose)
[] Poisoned Stinger: Make its regular attacks with the kunai in its arms poisonous. It would fit the name 'Stinger' quite well. All 'regular attacks' from now on would be poisoned (6-14 XP)
[] Internal Armoring: Improve the internal armor that allows the parts to survive even something that would destroy the puppet itself. Currently at 5. (1-??? XP)
As she was admiring her puppet, there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, there stood Rika.
"The attack came. The Jonin sent me to round up all Genin. Come, take your puppet, there might not be time later."
*****
They rushed towards the mission center as Rika explained all that she knew. Island had launched massive, all out attacks against the frontier, and then past it, to Shiro and even a number of richer islands, including the one that Rika came from. At the same time they had attacked several Tide islands, though reports on the radio had indicated that they'd been driven off, for now. But it was likely that every battlefield of the war was only going to get more bloodsoaked. Thus far a chunin had been injured badly, and others were hurt but unharmed. Tide reported they'd killed an Island Genin during the retreat, and Reef had bagged one as well. The war had begun again in earnest, and Shizue would be part of this time in a far more direct way. The fate of the Archipelago was balanced on the edge of a knife, and a single mistake could send it tumbling into dark waters.
[End credits]
What does Shizue do?
[] Try to get put on guard duty in case of a further push, it might be safer. How?
-[] Play on your successful work at capturing the chunin. You're clearly still too tired from that fight…
--[] Also try to get your friends in on that…
-[] Try to see if Zenzo can help you with this.
-[] Bribery?
-[] Try just asking, or see if you get put on guard duty, since that's what you want.
[] Tide: The seat of your enemies, defended by your enemies… your former enemies. The war is currently going alright there, but this is likely to change, and this could be an important front. Though it would mean Shizue would be smack dab in the midst of former enemies.
-[] Try to convince her friends to also join in on this front…
[] Frontier: The place where the action is hottest, the war grinds on here, at the very border. Merciless, though those who are injured are taken back to Shiro.
-[] Do you try to get your friends to go with you here?
[] Shiro: Site of several battles, it seems as if it's a target. Depending on how things shake down, this could be the safest or the least safe posting. It's a big, fat target, but it's the best defended.
-[] Do you try to get your friends...etc, etc.
[] Economy Islands: The wealthier islands just beyond Shiro have been attacked all throughout the night. Civilians' lives are at stake, but the enemy is fast and slippery, and they keep on hitting everywhere, making this the second most brutal front outside of the actual frontier. But the one where the most innocent lives are at stake.
-[] Do you try...friends...etc
******
*) This is by some fictional guy who gives the same advice as the two greatest political strategists of all time. Machiavelli and Omar Little from the Wire. Basically, if left alive, both a ninja and a politician can totally fuck you over. You win or you die, to use another cynical quote about power politics.
**) All Strength scores are, as I said before, 'with chakra' which means there are some people who can get away with doing a lot less fitness training and just apply chakra until it works. And others who train themselves up and only master using chakra to supplement their body's movements later on. Hence why not every girl in Naruto looks like she could be in the olympic games, despite the fact that holy shit the things they do. Or it could be anime conventions, but hey.
A/N: This is it. The beginning of the war. Of slaughter and death. Your choices could doom Shizue, could doom her friends, could make it so that she never gets to have that date with Okiie! Choose wisely.
Also, with all of the danger for Shizue and her friends, you might want to start thinking about whether you can afford to let the investigation take a back-burner for another week...though that choice of Junko completely paid off. Right now the two things that you can most do to change the way things go in the plot as a whole (as a Genin, a lot of it is out of your direct control, you can only do your best) are the investigations you lead...and the friends you make.
[X] Plan RoI
[X] Poisoned Stinger: Make its regular attacks with the kunai in its arms poisonous. It would fit the name 'Stinger' quite well. All 'regular attacks' from now on would be poisoned (14 XP)
[X] Internal Armoring: Improve the internal armor that allows the parts to survive even something that would destroy the puppet itself. Currently at 5. (6 XP)
[X] Try to get put on guard duty in case of a further push, it might be safer. How?
-[X] Try just asking, or see if you get put on guard duty, since that's what you want.
I think that improving the puppet's arm kunai would be a good investment of time, as would improving the armoring. As for the fighting, I would prefer to tke a bit more time to recuperate. After all, with our jutsu and skills, we are not very good at huge multi-person brawls.
[X] Improved Poison Kunai Thrower
-[X] Improved Launch Stability (4 XP)
-[X] Bigger Magazine (2 XP)
[X] Bound Jutsu
-[X] Cloak of Invisibility (1 XP)
[X] Poisoned Stinger: Make its regular attacks with the kunai in its arms poisonous. It would fit the name 'Stinger' quite well. All 'regular attacks' from now on would be poisoned (13 XP)
"My father writes a lot. I once joked he should have a title page...so now he does. And when I joked about an Index…" she thumbed a page forward, to reveal...an Index. With headings like "Salutations...1", "Perfunctory Talk on the Weather...2" "Discussion of Office Politics….", "Inquiries on how you have been doing...6" and, near the end, "Disturbing News That I think you should read first, honestly...28."
Simply put, peasants and others have been disappearing for the past two weeks from a variety of islands. Some with all of their belongings, some with only some of them, and some as if they'd gone out for a stroll and merely not come back. Self-theft is a crime, and there are also no legitimate passenger ships off of most islands, not now with all of the dangers. Thus far, nobody has been able to tell me where they have gone, and it's hard to tell whether there are smugglers, or if they are dead, or worse. It is all a complete mystery, but already two or three hundred have complete disappeared, and most of them were peasants. The Reef Council would be deeply disturbed to hear that their property is being stolen away, and thus I have labored to try to solve the matter on my own.
But perhaps it is time to admit that I can't see a path forward. If they are fleeing, they are doing so in the dead of night, with the help of smugglers. And if they are being taken away, the only explanation is enemy action: but why would an enemy kidnap civilians when they could instead conduct raids with far greater rewards and risks that are only moderately increased.
Either way, I will continue my investigation, but will soon report it to the council. And we shall see what they say.
Oh damn. This is big. We're going to have to discuss this more.
Do Zenzo and Emiko already know about this? What about the Council?
If it weren't primarily peasants disappearing, I would suspect that they were extracting the important people then rigging the islands to explode once Island arrives. That would be the kind of scheme hatched by the remaining Yaramachi and Zenzo.
On the fourth day, the news came in. On a mission, Toyo had just disappeared. Was it like the civilians? Yet signs indicated that there was a struggle, that he'd been kidnapped. If he wasn't dead, he was captured, and if he was captured…
"I had help. I went to Emiko, and she really helped me. She's the greatest," Junko said, "Except when she ruffles my hair. That's a little annoying, but I don't want to tell her, because she smiles when she does it."
"You're right… I can't believe what I see. Or don't see," Shizue admitted, "But watch this." And she too used her Cloak of Invisibility and began to dance the 'Eri dance' even though she didn't know it very well.
And so their little group became three as Shizue and the other two talked and chatted about the bingo book, parting ways in a far better mood than before. Maybe things would be okay. Maybe they wouldn't, but at least she was starting to make friends.
What baffled you most of all were the bounties. 34 million Ryo was a lot of money, and 25,000 Ryo was basically nothing. An insult, almost, considering how she was ranked as Jonin-grade. As if she was so much more valuable alive than dead. Yet it didn't say how or why she had run, or why someone who was clearly so talented--or was now, had she merely improved that much in five years, to go from a chunin to a terrifyingly competent jonin-level ninja?--had only been a Chunin. Iwa did explain a lot, of course.
Wait, what? Very suspicious bounty differential. And that kind of skill progression ought to be reserved for protagonists and their closest side characters.
Hmm, maybe Nami is trying to con Island in revenge for her mother getting exiled? Emiko and Zenzo are probably more important to investigate, but at this point, I feel like we would only learn more by chance.
[x] [Equipment] Plan Slain
[x] Improved Poison Kunai Thrower
-[x] Improved Launch Stability (4 XP)
-[x] Bigger Magazine (2 XP)
[x] Bound Jutsu
-[x] Cloak of Invisibility (1 XP)
-[x] Transformation (1 XP)
-[x] Clone Jutsu (1 XP)
[x] Poisoned Stinger: Make its regular attacks with the kunai in its arms poisonous. It would fit the name 'Stinger' quite well. All 'regular attacks' from now on would be poisoned (6 XP)
[x] Internal Armoring: Improve the internal armor that allows the parts to survive even something that would destroy the puppet itself. Currently at 5. (5 XP)
Projectile spam for keeping away multiple enemies and covering escapes. Basic jutsu are OP, even if only used once. (@The Laurent, what exactly does a Bound Jutsu mean?) And general close range and durability improvements. I know this isn't optimized for one specific type of attack, but the diversity of our possible opponents is quite broad.
I think it's becoming obvious that Reef was fed misinformation about Island only planning a single big attack. Island is probably trying some kind of subterfuge too.
[X] [War Plan] Arkatekt
-[X] Try to get put on guard duty in case of a further push, it might be safer. How?
--[x] Try to see if Zenzo can help you with this.
---[X] Also try to get your friends in on that…
--[x] Separately alert Zenzo and Emiko about the civilian peasant disappearances.
I'll be curious to see how Zenzo reacts to this. If he recognizes us as allies and important information gatherers, he'll keep us around or assign us a special info-gathering mission. If he sends us off to fight or simply be far away, I'd be suspicious. Also, if Emiko truly cares about protecting the innocents and isn't already looking into the disappearances, now she will.
Oh yeah, protecting Rika's father's island with a group of our friends could be interesting too. @The Laurent, how close is that to the front? Is that an option?
[X] [Equipment] Plan Arkatekt
-[X] Improved Poison Kunai Thrower
--[X] Better Poison (6 XP)
--[X] Improved Launch Stability (4 XP)
--[X] Bigger Magazine (2 XP)
-[X] Bound Jutsu
--[X] Cloak of Invisibility (1 XP)
-[X] Poisoned Stinger: Make its regular attacks with the kunai in its arms poisonous. It would fit the name 'Stinger' quite well. All 'regular attacks' from now on would be poisoned (6 XP)
-[X] Internal Armoring: Improve the internal armor that allows the parts to survive even something that would destroy the puppet itself. Currently at 5. (1 XP)
[X] [War Plan] Arkatekt
-[X] Try to get put on guard duty in case of a further push, it might be safer. How?
--[x] Try to see if Zenzo can help you with this.
---[X] Also try to get your friends in on that…
--[x] Separately alert Zenzo and Emiko about the civilian peasant disappearances.
First of all... Ascended Meme achieved. I knew consistently alternating stock subtitles for Stinger 2: The Next Generation would pay off eventually.
Onto business. I would have liked to investigate Zenzo, but with the war coming back into things, screwing around with our only current ally in the higher ups probably won't help us.
For the equipment vote, I like the Kunai Thrower spam idea, and added it in shortly before finishing this post. Poison is a wonderful Debuff.
I don't think most of the bound jutsu are necessary. We are highly unlikely to ever use Transformation, and (only) unlikely to use Clone, simultaneously with Stinger 2: Legacy deployed.
I figured getting the Melee Poison up at least at least a little, in case we don't manage to get a kunai out, would be a good idea, and Armouring up neverrarely hurt anybody.
for the war plan, it's Slain's but with the addition of trying to get our friends to not be sent to the front.
Poisoned basic attacks is the most potent option there(since the puppet hits a lot more with melee than ranged unless it's a surprise), but there's more to it than that. A puppet that can transform to look like one of us greatly increases survivability of allies, and Clone likewise, buys a few more moments of confusion, especially if stacked on Transform(enemies are likely to assume that someone who looks like one of us, and trying to avoid getting hit using clones, is one of us).
Then internal armor because never enough.
[X] [War Plan] Economy Islands
-[X] Try to get your friends in on that.
Nobody is looking out for the civilians, and they are what keeps this operation running at all. We also know that they are under priority attack since the windup to the war. Deny the enemy their objective.
Plus, additionally...Rika's father is there. Rika would want to protect him too.
Machiavelli and Omar Little from the Wire. Basically, if left alive, both a ninja and a politician can totally fuck you over. You win or you die, to use another cynical quote about power politics.
