"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.
Ok. First of all, this is shaping to be the war to end all wars. I would say that we are screwed but we didn't lose that many ninjas against Tide and the Tide survivors were anexed which would somewhat make up for our loses. On the other hand, Tide lost a lot of ninjas and a lot also joined Island. Considering that we are really small villages, small loses are still very bad and Island is even stronger than before, not only outnumbering us but outclassing us, with greater morale and more rested. So yeah, I am going to say that we are screwed.
Also, story tittle cameo.
"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!"
That, at least, is one less thing to worry about. While I am not yet ready to discard Emiko, so far she seems to really care about the kids. Now, whether that is because of altruism or because she is scouting I don't know. It could also be an excuse to remain in the village for some other purpose. Not like the council would reject free training for their ninjas when the war is about to scalate.
Though if the whole thing was rehearsed, that means that the council knew she would stay beforehand. More importantly, if it is rehearsed then they are putting a show, which leads us to ask for who and why. The who is obviously those that are watching. The why is probably so that people don't grow concerned about what she will do or why she stays and so don't question it or ask for her to leave.
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.
Good to see that Reef's secretive tendencies are as strong as ever. I will not be surprised if rumors of a traitor start to circulate at this pace.
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.
Well, I guess it is kind of illogical to expect the attack to happen immediately since it depends on how ready the enemy is instead of which would be the most dramatic moment for it to happen.
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.
She is going to hide in a safe place and attack with Stinger without leaving cover. At least if I have any say about it.
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.
Which reminds me, we have been learning genjutsu in class and our skill is not small at all. At which point can we start using it in battle? I don't think we have any jutsu that uses that skill yet but if we are near the point of buying one I would like to know to take advantage of the modifiers when ranking it up.
"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."
That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence considering the state our Friends ended in in the last two fights.
As always, I advice we follow the Path of the Coward. Ambushes, lying, debuffs and hiding. Never go near unless we are certain of the kill.
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--"
Genta is still overworking it seems. That is not really healthy. Is he just excited about his bloodline or should we talk to him about how he performed lately to calm his worries?
"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.
I really like details like that, that reminds us that for all that Reef is a ninja village, it is also a little town. Simple pleasures, like hanging out with your friends... though now that I think about it, the speed at which rumors spread in Reef should also remind me of such.
It is good to see that both are enjoying their friendship though, considering that they were both pariahs.
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
I might be wrong but didn't Rika mention earlier that they write to each other every week? I have to say, between her comments about the things he works on and is interested in, his relationship with his daughter being that he obviously cares but disagrees with her in fundamental things and now this, that it is not only his letters that are long but that he has an habit of writing, her father sounds like an interesting character. It feels like we know him better than most of the ninjas in the village.
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.
Well, that isn't omminious or anything.
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.
Oh, the
irony of this paragraph. "I am conducting an investigation that is extremely dangerous and might get me killed because it involves ninjas. My only consolation is that you are not involved in anything of the sort"
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.
Well, that is worrying. Someone is taking advantage of the confusión caused by the war. It could be a
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731"]Unit 731 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [/URL] using this as a testing ground, it could be slavers, it could be that someone in a high position is selling them for profit (unlikely since it is in several islands and they are so many), it could be a secret revolutionaary movement or it could be as he suspects and they are fleeing. It wouldn't surprise me if it were the last one given the casualties so far.
Either way, I will continue my investigation, but will soon report it to the council. And we shall see what they say.
It runs in the family it seems.
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 certainly doesn't sound related to it, unless it is a conspiracy from a foreign power.
Also, ice-cream makes everything better.
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.
Yet another reminder that we are likely to die if we engage in close combat. I urge us to get sealess replacement next week to make up for this deficiency. Either that or get puppetry to a point in which we can have one focused on defense. Or perfect our genjutsu (once we have any) and hiding jutsu in order to get away safely and not engage in close combat.
Funny how none of those solutions involve just improving our taijutsu.
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
We had already expressed our concerns about this. It is good to know we are not going to use "our friend's magic eye said so" as a justification for our results.
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.
So it is like rhetoric in ancient Greece, in which the important thing was being able to justify anything. That said, Genta should improve his Power stat and talking skills. I now have this image on my head of him and friends being captured or surrounded by enemies and Genta using the Shomeigan to uther bullshit his way into making them think they are full of traitors in their group so that they fight each other and they can escape. Being able to find logical connections to justify anything sounds like something that is not only good for data gathering but for misdirection and bluffing.
"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.
So the second traitor and code appeared before Emiko killed the Tide jounin? Would that make the code she found the old or new code? It dismissed the hypothesis of Emiko taking over after finding the note but it does not discard her taking over before that.
"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.
A terrifying but all too likely possibility. As it was said at the beginning of the investigation, they have better ways to betray the village and no clear gain. Also, the second traitor is supposed to send less accurate information with a better code, right? A jounin would have Access to better information so there is something going on beyond just betraying the village. Perhaps it is to negotiate for a better rewards before giving more information or maybe it is a matter of timing, about when the Island offensive begins or how long can the confusión caused by the war last. In which case it might be related to the disappearnces after all.
"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.*"
So the stakes have risen. Good thing we didn't bring this to the jounin council, right?
"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.
Yes, but we already knew this.
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.
Did the moron go to a mission alone? It is likely he was just captured by Island. That is the most logical choice. The narrative choice is that he ran into the ones making the civilians disappear but in that case they would have just killed him.
Random thought. Any idea if fish girl joined Island after she escaped?
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.
Oh right, Zenzo wanted to send academy students to the war, who would be easier to kill or capture and then torture. Suddenly, I am not feeling as bad about killing that kid on Shizue's first mission. I know it is only a one year difference but it would still be more tragic because the students would not have had a chance.
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.
It seems like this will be a defensive war. On the bright side, Tide is between Island and Reef so its destruction will probably come before Reef's and serve as a warning. No sudden attacks on the capital without expecting them since they don't have the needed skills (Emiko's) to damage it severely without a big invassion force.
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.
And also a world in which Reef knows how to ninja instead of simply being warlords. A world in which a ninja war is more about secrecy than raiding civilian towns. A world in which smart and subtle ninjas are considered strong ninjas.
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."
Look at Shizue being big and intimidating. It reminds me of Hey Arnold!, the chapter in which the fifth graders bullied the fourth graders. How the size of a single year made all the difference and how often it was exagerated. Though now that I think about it, Shizue killed someone already and helped capture a chunin so Junko might have a reason to be worried if she acts hostile...
Uh, that changes the tone of the Exchange. One thing is a kid a year older than you being angry and another is a trained and proved ninja being angry.
"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.
"Like the sun coming out from behind the clouds" No wonder she is the best at socializing in the pariah team. If these are the results I might want to improve it eventually when things are not so pressing.
Shizue is a long way from snark but she does has a tendency for mischief it seems. Granted, what we have seen so far is a normal amount of mischief between friends but since she speaks little and we see a limited number of interactions then it seems to appear more frequently.
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.
We finally have confirmation of Emiko's involvement and that it was Junko that went to her and not the other way around.
How much younger than Shizue is Junko? Because the way they interact it seems to be more than a single year but that is probably just me.
On Emiko ruffling her hair, that is in manga an epic chibi win when the older party is of the opposite gender but it doesn't seem to work that well in this case.
Finally, the fact that chakra control determines how muscular one is fits with one of the cardinal rules of shonen: If the enemy has a loli in its team then, unless she is someone's daughter figure she will probably be one of the strongest in the group and certainly more than the gigantic muscular one.
"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?
Another one with cloak of invisibility. Once she masters it then between Junko, Genta and Shizue we will have a team able to go invisible! Which from now on will be called team Ninja because of it!
Also, impressive for an academy student.
"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."
Have I mentioned how much I like when this kind of trivia appears in the story?
Impressive. However, you are three weeks too young to challenge Shizue in this!
"You're right… I can't believe what I see. Or don't see," Shizue admitted, "But watch this."
Come on Shizue! Show her who is BOSS! DANCE OFF!
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."
Well, on the bright side she was invisible so Junko didn't see Shizue's disappointing dancing. Her pride as sempai is safe. If she asks, it was great.
Also, this whole interaction was adorable.
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.
It seems like a safe bet that those who idolize Emiko will have this technique. From now on, invisible Eri dance is the new secret greeting of the Emiko fan club. Let's hope she does have time to master it though. Or that what Emiko said is not because she has an evil plan that will let her stay and rule the village though that seems unlikely given how much she hates how we do stuff in Reef.
"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
That was the plan from the beginning so there is no problem with it. We can't buy it this week since we won't have enough chakra control (we were at the limit for Rank 4) so I propose we buy replacement upgrade this week with chakra control and ninjutsu being priority 2 (priority 1 being puppetry) and then the next week buy invisibility cloakrank 5)
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.
Yeah, for all that I bitch about nobody in Reef keeping their mouth shut, I guess that if I beated a chunin I would want to tell everyone too...
Gained a Quest...sort of! Try to get to Rank 5 of Invisibility!
Ok, so Rank 4 costed us
Rank 4 - 16 XP (Chakra Control 20, Ninjutsu 20) [By the way, the character sheet in the first page says we are at Rank 2 when we are at Rank 4]
We have 20 Ninjutsu and a little more chakra control so we are going to need to level both of them, most likely up to 24 given the costs of the other jutsus. If we do so, we can win the bet in two weeks.
@The Laurent Do these kind of Quest give XP?
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!"
Trying to beat your rivals is good but Seiichiro should remember that the guys that are likely to kill him in the battlefield will most likely not use genjutsu. Also, if we befriend Junko and Genta has a wáter affinity then we would have one for each element since we are earth, Okiie is wind and Rika is fire.
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
I guess this technically is a miniquest that we failed. Also, if he went out of his way to come looking for us to show us this, it probably means we are the only ones who showed an interest in it besides him.
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.
I gather that is the last picture she took on that village.
Iwasaki Emiko
Former Rank: Chunin (She was only a Chunin?)
Three options. Either the archipiélago is way weaker than we thought, she leveled up like crazy since then or there was a reason for which they kept her as chunin, maybe a political one. Oh, one more, maybe she was a spy a la Kabuto and she didn't show her true strength.
Depends on how new is this Bingo book.
Village: Iwa (So, Genta was right.)
Give Akachi some credit, he was the first one to guess that.
Defection date: 95 PN (five years ago…)
95 Pax Naruto. So fairly recent and an updated Bingo Book. One would think the council would have gotten it, even if they weren't interested in her.
Current Expected Danger Level: A
So Jounin level.
Noted Skills: Stealth, assassination, spying, genjutsu, earth and wind jutsu, others
So very informative. We knew all of those but "others".
Bounty (Dead): 25,000 Ryo (That's less than you get for a real, challenging C-rank.)
Bounty (Alive): 34,000,000 Ryo
One million less than Asuma. Now that I think about it, Kakuzu must have been royally pissed for leaving the corpse behind.
Information: Dangerous. Missing-Nin Assassin, location unknown. Appearance similar to in photograph.
No shit Sherlock.
And there was more information, a few mentions of incidents and known associates, including one 'Asai Naota'
Asai is Ichiman's last name and in her backstory Emiko told him that she knew a missing nin by that name. With this we have an IC reason to ask him about it.
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.
Yeah, if the bounty wants her alive then most likely than not it is because what they want is information that she has rather than punishing a deserter. If the knowledge is about techniques it could explain the jump in Rank but it seems that her overall skills are jounin level so it doesn't sound like that is the case. Other reasons include that she is related or engaged to someone important (though in that case they wouldn't bother with the dead reward even if it so small), that there is something about her that disppears with her death (I find it very unlikely for her to be a jinchuruki so probably not it) or as a hostage.
She also wonder why she was a chunin. Politics? Or was she at that level back then?
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.
It would also explain why she cares so much about the children, for a big village it would seem barbaric.
"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.
Do not underestimate what stupid people would do. One of the special jounin, for example, is drowning in gambling debts and might get desperate enough. Toyo would have totally tried too.
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.
Reef= Tanteigakure.
"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.
Missing ninja live from their reputation so it is not that weird. Also, yay for contacts!
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.
The guy seems overworked which isn't exactly surprising. As a special jounin he has more responsabilities, in war time even more and he tried to follow more leads in a week that the four of us could. At least it seems like he is doing something which is a point in his favor.
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.
Totally going to hide once the battle starts.
"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--"
Dude, we already knew that. Those are the guys you didn't show the code (Ken and Kutsuna). To be fair, it is good that Takudo was ruled out and if the second traitor was introduced by the first then the first traitor could have taught codes to the second. Still, that is underwhelming.
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?"
Shizue did bring up the possibility of it being a jounin.
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.
Genta's surprise is probably because he didn't want to see it with the Shomeigan so he didn't.
So, if the first recruited the second, we might start investigating the jounin depending on who is the special jounin who is involved and if it was discovered it could be anyone. Besides that, if the basis of the deduction is skill then Emiko might be the second (if she managed to steal the codes). Zenzo is a follower of Hirotomo and Momoka and I think Yumiko was of Tomoyo? I don't remember. Takudo was a follower of Ken.
"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?"
Investigate (choose one)...
[]...Emiko
[] Nami.
[] Yumiko
[]...Zenzo
I didn't see the invisitext until you pointed it out.
Actually, considering that Emiko is encouraging us to consider her and seems to have a soft spot for children it might be safer for us to investigate her than Zenzo.
Nami is more suspiscious.
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.
I always thought that the kids in Naruto were so obsessed with finding their significant other because the culture made it very clear to them that they might die very young and so they wanted to find love as son as possible on the belief that it may be too late if they delay. Sincé girls mature faster, it ended with things like the Sasuke fangirls in which they look for the best candidate and the one with the most chances of surviving rather than love.
On the other hand, it could be just that it was Sasuke.
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--"
That sounds like an evasive. I mean, really? Tea's recipe? Is he changing the subject? We haven't even begun! Maybe he screwed up and thinks we want to talk about that?
"Oh, my recipe. Let me go look for it. And leave the two of you. Alone."
"Oh the recipe? I think it is on one of my father's letters... this might take a while"
Good job as a wingwoman.
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...
"If he mentions tea one more time I am going to hit him" It still sounds like he is evading the subject. Shizue still has it bad for him and wants to Kiss him already (or smell him, it is unclear). I will abstain from the stalker jokes for now.
"On a date."
"And there's a really good place that does salads and I'm--" Okiie trailed off, blinking. "Wait, really, me?"
Sadly, I can emphatize with him here.
"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.
Shizue uses Guilt trip! It is super effective!
Seriously though Shizue, you want to ask him on a date and begin by telling him how it has been so long since you had friends or people that cared about you and how he wasn't one of them. I would say it is on purpose but it comes up rather frecuently when you talk to people.
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--"
Then she follows by flattering something he is proud of. Good call. Of course he returns the fvor, it is only natural.
I'm just some silly elementalist with a big nose--"
"And a big smile," Shizue said, smiling back at him
Okiie's smile grew wider "Also, a very big..."
"Okiie!"
"...heart. You know, to fit all these feelings I have for you guys..."
"Ah, yes. Of course."
"And to pump the blood to fill my humongeous...!"
"You are doing it on purpose!"
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.
From complimenting something he is proud of to reminding him that they have been through a lot together. Shizue, you are on a roll.
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
She managed to get him to open up! That is a good sign! Go for the kill!
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?"
Remember when he was explaining about chakra natures to Shizue and I wondered if he was doing it on purpose? Boy has skills.
That is an adorable couple. I foresee awkwardness though.
"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."
Priorities. You are doing it right. And yes, from now on constant increase in puppettry. We want the best puppet in the history of Reef! Which we probably have already but still!
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.
I take that there won't be any issue improving this as we raise the stats. Also, every Little bit counts. It probably won't survive another fight with a chunin but we are more likely to fight Genin.
I can imagine how the increase in stats will work in the field, when we have no Access to a workshop to repair it.
Rika: "Oh my god, look at his back. It is filled with enemy kunai!"
Shizue:"Cool! It has spikesnow! And more ammo!"
Shizue:"Weird, Stinger is moving faster since that jounin dropped a Boulder on top of it. What the fuck did it do to it?"
[] Improved Poison Kunai Thrower
-[] Better Poison (6 XP)
-[] Improved Launch Stability (4 XP)
-[] Bigger Magazine (2 XP)
Better buffs, more accuracy and more ammo, everything is useful. As a rule though, more precission and ammo is better since poison is useless if it doesn't hit.
[] Bound Jutsu
-[] Cloak of Invisibility (1 XP)
We need this. Sincé we can't replace sealessly we need to hide. Besides, this was always the plan ever since we got that jutsu in character creation.
-[] Water Release: Manipulation (1 XP)
-[] Water Release: Spitting fish (1 XP)
-[] Water Release: Condensation (1 XP)
To be honest, I don't see much appeal since they are not strong techniques. True, they could delay the enemy for enough timet that Stinget could get him from behind if he/she rushes us ut I think there are better ways.
-[] Transformation (1 XP)
This is on us, not the puppet. Though it might work so that we transform us while holding the puppet so instead of looking like a kid with a puppet on her back we look like a burly sailor. That way we can make ambushes by transforming into civilians or escap by mixing ourselves in the crowd. For both of those we would need to improve transformation though.
Right now this isn't a priority but the academy three are really versatile. We might want to look into them once things are not as hectic.
I know it doesn't work like that and if it did we would probably need to level the clone technique up to level 5 or 6 to do so. But I am now imagining doind the clone jutsu and several illusionary Stingers roaming the battlefield distracting the enemy and sowing chaos.
Sincé clone is not at a high level though, not a priority.
By the way, do we need the bunshin to learn the other clone techniques?
[] Pit Spike Technique
-[] Poisoned spikes? (4-14 XP, choose)
Didn't we already have this? Or is the vote only to poison it?
[] 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)
Worth it. Debuffs for everyone!
[] 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)
Is this so that the puppet can keep functioning after the exterior is damaged or so that we can recycle the parts if it is destroyed?
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."
It has begun.
[] 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.
This is safer, probably but it has less chance of getting XP and might get us laveled as a coward which is a serious issue as we have seen with our mother's death. I am reluctant to ask Zenzo though it might be best if Genta remained behind so that we don't risk losing the Shomeigan for the investigation. Bribery is inadvisable since we won't have anything worth trading and it will certainly label us a coward.
[] 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…
On one hand, it would allow us to investigate from the side of those who received the information and might help us to learn what happened to fish girl. Also, we need to learn to work with them eventually. On the other hand, we killed an acaemy student and they might switch sides if things go to shit so I rather not.
[] 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?
Considreing our last brush with death and Rika's last two brushes with death, I rather not.
[] 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.
This place is crucial. It is where the wounded are taken and the supply train uses it, if we lose it then we can't maintain the frontier. A good choice in that we can't let it fall but the council knows this already.
[] 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
Rika will probably come here and I want to do so as well. However, we should make clear how we are going to act beforehand so that we can plan accordingly without much arguments. Do we want to protect or to kill? If there iss a choice between saving civilians and damaging the enemy forces, which do we choose? If it is the first, the council will be pissed at us. If it is the second, we might disappoint Emiko by showing to her that we are no different than the others. Whichever the case, we should bring our friends along since we are already used to working as a team.
**) 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.
Let's make new friends! As said before, ASAI and Yaramachi are people of interest.
