Bone and Blood (Naruto Quest)

[No Country]

Flexing your injured arm, you bring your hands together to perform the seals for Jet Movement. The flesh is an angry red, and your fingertips are burnt, but it's moving just fine, you don't think the tendons or muscles were damaged. It would have been worse had you had one of your Wind Style movement techniques activated, but you're not going to give the big Iwa-nin that opportunity again.

You vault over a stream of lava shot at you by your opponent before drawing your injured hand back and using Hibiscus Dance: Fruit. The Wind rippling around your wrist extends to cover your extended radius and ulna as they wrap around each other like vines, creating the handle for a mace with an evenly segmented head created out of duplicated carpals. Despite it still being connected to your arm, you lightly grab the bone weapons's haft.

Blinding speed carries you next to Nengyou, who throws up a supported block a split second before you would have caved his chest in with your new mace. Bones audibly crack under the force of your blow, and he uses body flicker to back away from you.

"I knew you were holding back, a shinobi of—"

You shut him up and shatter another hastily-prepared igneous shield with an upward diagonal strike with your mace. Though, as his secondary mouth spits out an oversized, square tooth, you do opt to respond. "I'm going to finish this quickly, so that's enough talk out of you."

"Don't get cocky, k—"

He twists to dodge a snapped out heel kick, but you pepper him with a scattergun blast consisting of that ankle's tarsi. The largest bone lodges painfully in his shoulder, and some of the smaller ones impact his upper arm, but he manages to escape any real damage.

Stomping down, you crack the lava field that's turned into a skin of stone over the muddy ground, then swing your mace at his head again. The weapon slams into his forearm again, and again, you hear his bones cracking.

"I said," he sweeps at your legs, which drives you back, "don't get cocky!" You stomp down on his lead foot, breaking it, but he doesn't stop forming hand signs, and his stomach expands like cheeks puffed up with air, "Lava Style: Cryptodome!"

Expending all of the wind around your right arm, you create a firebreak and slash through the bubble of glossy black stone spat out by your opponent. The molten lava beneath is wicked away by the spiraling Wind around the head of your mace, which draws it all into a whirlpool that crashes into the ground.

While the fiery explosion separates you from your opponent and breaks the line of sight between you. While it isn't the exact opening you were looking for, you still take it, slinging your left arm over your shoulder and grabbing a loop sprouted from that shoulder blade. Pumping chakra into those bones, you explode them outward while you swing out your hand, turning them into an oversized pair of serrated blades resembling the jaws of an alligator. The irony of beating a man with two mouths with a set of giant jaws makes you grin.

You spin your hand, thrusting the giant Orange Blossom construct forward and through the guttering explosion. Nengyou, as it turned out, had hardly moved, instead focusing on casting another Lava technique and using more of that medicine on his wounds.

Your kekkei genkai technique tamps out the explosion and flames, and you see the big Iwa-nin has been easily mangled by your technique, his limbs crushed at awkward angles and blood welling out of both of his mouths.

He attempts to say something, but simply gurgles and slumps over, dead.

You really don't mind that you weren't able to hear his last words, it's not like they would have been profound. Now that your fight has ended, you can hear the sounds of battle slowing down on the other side of the hill, so you get to work reabsorbing your bones.

Once you're done, you don't feel low on chakra at all, though once you look at your injured arm, the right one, you grimace. The skin is burned through, mostly angry red with some black spots, and you can see white spots peaking through. Your hand is structurally fine, though three of your fingers are black or burnt to the bone, and now that you're done fighting, you see that the only nail left is the one on your thumb. You should probably get some bandages put on that soon-ish, it aids in the healing process, even for you.

"J-jounin Tsubaki, that was amazing," you hear a weak voice when you move back to where the fight started, closer to the ridgeline.

Looking down and away from the crest overlooking the road, you see that the Ame chunin who was wounded by the first pair of Iwa-nin you killed is still there. He's bleeding from a deep wound in his side, though it looks like he's mostly staunched it.

"I've never seen anything like those techniques, it's truly incredible," looking around, you can see that he's the only (living) person around, you can't even see anyone on the road below, thanks to the distance and the darkness of the stormy night.

"Jounin Tsubaki?"

[] Kill him, he's seen too much. It's unfortunate, but the life of a chunin doesn't hold much weight in the village as a whole.

[] Let him live, but tell him everything he saw is a state secret.

And pick one set:
[] "Melee" Ninjutsu:
Unlock:

• Fire Style: Pilot Light:
  Create floating points of flame which burst with surprising power if touched or activated. (Tier 2)
• Fire Style: Black Powder:
  Convert Fire Chakra into a combustible ash around the user, which can be set off by another source. (Tier 2)
• Fire Style: Black Breath:
  Expel superheated soot from the mouth to hit targets at very close range. (Tier 3)
• Wind Style: Serrated Palm:
  Surround your hand with a pulsating mass of Wind Chakra, creating a sawing effect. (Tier 3)

[] Ranged Ninjutsu:
Unlock:

• Fire Style: Flame Bullet:
  Shoot a small fireball from your mouth or the air around you. (Tier 1)
• Fire Style: Flame Bomb:
  A large fireball expelled from the mouth. Medium to long range. (Tier 2)
• Wind Style: Air Bullets:
  Create multiple small spheres of air that fly at high speeds towards targets or that can be controlled. (Tier 2)
• Wind Style: Air Formation Sphere:
  Create a large sphere of air to fire at an opponent, or surround them with compressed air and crush them. (Tier 2)
• Wind Style: Disorder Balloon:
  Compress a large amount of air into a sphere, either to be fired at target, or to crush a target with. No matter what, the sphere will eventually explode. (Tier 3)

[] Offensive Shikotsumyaku:
Unlock:

• Bracken Dance:
  Plant a bone or mold chakra into the ground, summon a forest of bone spikes. (Tier 4)
• Larch Dance (Lv. 3): Cone:
  Fire the sharpened bones created by Larch Dance (Lv. 2) with excessive force. (Tier 4)
• Thistle Dance (Lv. 2):
  Summon a massive tangle of spinal cords by infusing a massive amount of chakra into a bone planted into the ground. Their emergence can be delayed, or used as landmines, and they can move autonomously. (Tier 5)

[] Support Shikotsumyaku:
Unlock:

• Pollen Dance:
  Expel miniscule bone fragments into the air, which are impregnated with chakra, bestowing a makeshift sensory ability, and countering techniques which obscure sight. (Tier 4)
• Increased Efficiency/Enhanced Regeneration:
  Make chakra manipulation more efficient and increase your rate of regeneration by exerting control over soft tissues that you're not yet able to ossify and completely control. Can be used to upgrade Cedar Dance. (Tier 3)
• Finger-Drilling Storming Thunder-Bullets:
  Rapidly fire the finger bones while regrowing new ones, allowing automatic fire so long as the user has chakra. (Tier 5)

Unlocked:
Wind Style: Withdrawing Jutsu (Fuuton: Torisage): Compress a large amount of air either by inhaling it or drawing it in the path of a strike, creating a vacuum effect in its wake.
Wind Style: Lancing Tailwind Jutsu (Fuuton: Oite Mori): Concentrate a large amount of Wind Chakra around a limb or weapon for massive piercing power, at range.
Fire Style: Flame Bullet (Katon: Endan): Fire a small fireball from the mouth or the air around you.
Robe of the Fire Rat: ??? (Shiktosumyaku)

Voting closes at Oct 28, 2024 at 10:10 PM !

A/N: Originally the "kill the chunin vote" was in the middle of a longer post, but that was scrapped, which was part of the reason this took as long as it did. Yes, this technique vote is the campaign reward, even if it's tied to a bit of a bummer. There were errors in the shikotsumyaku skill tree, so I'm redoing it again.

A/N2: I've typed the word "tier" so much that it's lost all meaning to me.

 

[No Country]

"Anything you saw here was a state secret, repeating any of it will be considered an act of treason," you tell the chunin before you finish reabsorbing the Orange Blossom and Hibiscus constructs you used to beat the Captain of Iwa's Sappers. You leave the chunin there since he seems stable before overseeing the end of the fighting.

Reconvening the entire team shortly after, you're pleased to see that casualties were minimal, and that not a single med-nin was killed. However, enough of your medics (and chunin with some medical training) were injured enough that all they did was field-dress your arm and tell you to see a doctor when you got back to the village.

~~~~~~~~~~​

It turns out that burns from something like lava are a lot different from regular heat burns. There's the chemical effect to worry about, something about the underlying tissues, the fusion of the minerals within the lava to your skin, and a whole bunch of other things that mean you spend a few hours in the hospital having your arm poked, prodded, slung up, and then wrapped in a weird bluish mesh that's supposed to help it heal. You even had to slow the rate of your healing so that it would repair itself correctly.

On your way from the hospital to where you are now, you contemplated just pulling off the affected flesh and filing for medical leave, but you did the math and figured out that getting approved would take just as long as your arm will take to heal as it is now.

Where you are now is kneeling in Lord Hanzo's cavernous audience chamber near the center of his compound in the heart of Amegakure. Kneeling with one arm slung across your chest just feels wrong, even if it's close to the position you'd usually be in. You can even see the sling out of the corner of your eye as you keep your gaze cast to the floor.

"Jounin Kaguya, your first mission leading a team for the Assault Division went well," the Leader of Amegakure says once he finally appears on the raised dias in front of you.

"Thank you, Lord Hanzo," you slightly incline your head even further downward.

"Your thanks are not necessary," the elder ninja says with what might be a scoff, "I am merely repeating what the mission reports said."

You would still thank him for that, having Lord Hanzo himself reading your mission reports isn't normal. And to be called to an audience with him to be told that means that your reports reaching him was only a good thing.

"However, I've never seen you come here injured before," you can feel his unusual eyes on your arm.

"It was a calculated risk, Lord Hanzo," you explain, "I'm able to tolerate injuries like this more than the average ninja, it's not a hindrance."

Glancing up without raising your head, you see Lord Hanzo nod ever so slightly.

"Maintain this standard, Jounin Kaguya," the village's Leader says. However, instead of dismissing you, which you expected, after a few moments, Lord Hanzo speaks again. "However, there have been reports that you made a large transaction with a uniform supplier that was recently liquidated. Why?"

You almost raise your head at that, but keep your eyes trained on the floor. "I needed new clothes," you explain, "the tailors I used before are no longer in business. It's the only indulgence I have," you add, feeling like you have to.

"That's true," the infamous ninja states emphatically. That just makes you wonder if the village somehow keeps track of all transactions that take place within it, and if they do, how they manage that. "I trust that you won't repeat this, but with war coming to the Land of Storms, this is a turbulent time for the village," you would never repeat what was said between you and Lord Hanzo, even if you were simply recounting a mission to him, "so be careful of who you associate with."

You incline your head over so slightly to nod.

"Dismissed, Jounin Kaguya."

~~~~~~~~~~​

The first thing you do after leaving Lord Hanzo's compound is go to your bank. Luckily, the rather large transaction with the (apparently now defunct) uniform supplier was deposited back into your account. But all that really means is that you're back to where you started, and you really don't want to ask Satou for another lead. Especially after what Lord Hanzo said before dismissing you.

Unsurprisingly, your mother is doting when you arrive back home in scrubs with one arm in a sling. You're able to assuage any concerns she has rather quickly though, and you retreat to your room to puzzle out what you're going to do about the dire fashion situation you've found yourself in while she prepares dinner.

It doesn't come to you until after dinner, when you're lying in bed after redressing your arm and staring up at the ceiling, twirling a strand of hair between your fingers.

'My hair,' your eyes light up at the realization.

It grows fast, it's always grown fast. When you were much, much younger, before you started the Academy, when your mother used to dye your hair the same color she dyes hers, she had to do it at least twice a week. You figured it had something to do with your natural regeneration and abundance of Yang Style energy (though you still don't fully grasp what the latter means), but whenever it's been burnt off or cut short, it's grown even faster than normal. And it always slows down when it gets near your preferred length.

So you've always had some control over hair growth. But now with Cedar Dance…

Several minutes of testing confirms your theory that you have control over growing it, though getting any real results requires you to use Cedar Dance on your scalp, which isn't the most pleasant feeling. But once you cut off what you've grown with a sharpened finger and test it through several methods that won't burn your house down or blow it up, you're more than satisfied with the result.

You spend the rest of the night creating more bolts of the 'fabric', managing to organize it into several sheets. You're rather proud of yourself when the dim gloom of dawn lights up your window, having produced enough for seven or eight yukata.

Then you remember you don't know how to weave. You can sew well enough, though you never trusted yourself enough with silk to try making your own kimonos in the past. But when you pick up one of the soft (though entirely white) sheets, you realize just how loose it is, certainly not ready to be stitched into an outfit. It's soft though, and, when you concentrate, you can move it and even lengthen the fibers slightly, so with chakra, it could be self-repairing.

All you need now is a loom, and someone who knows how to make clothes. You don't even need a tailor! Or a seamster, really, just the loom. Or someone with a loom, which would be a seamster, or just a bored homekeeper, if you're lucky.

Oh, and a name for your technique, supplemental though it may be. It doesn't take long to come up with, you had plenty of less-sleep-addled time to think about it while you were cutting your hair, it's from an old story you remember. Which is fine, plenty of jutsu have derivative names, or are even named in homage of something else.

The Robe of the Fire Rat, you decide to call it. It's fittingly named after a garment woven from the pelts of (almost definitely mythical) fireproof and incredibly hardy rodents.

After coming up with the name, you realize you have no idea how or even if the Robe can be dyed.

Rather than try to puzzle that out as well, you decide to crawl into bed and figure it out when you have a full night's sleep. Or a full day and a full night, that would probably help your arm heal faster too.

~~~~~~~~~~​

Just over a day later, fully rested and full of breakfast, you step out into one Ame's rare cloudless days and stretch your now just-bandaged arm as the late winter sun bleeds through the village's skyscrapers.

Even though you're basically already fully healed, the 'injury' did afford you a couple of days of convalescence.

Pick two:

[] Juura's pretty resourceful, and you know that he's stuck on desk work. Maybe you can get his input on the Robe situation. And check up on those genin he was tutoring, you had fun with that last time.

[] Between getting burned with lava, Lord Hanzo's cryptic warnings, Satou's cryptic hypotheticals, and losing all of your clothiers, you're feeling oddly pressured. Spending time with Iori, your other former teammate, always helped you clear your head back when you were both genin, so you'll go find him.

[] It's been a while since you really worked one-on-one with Youme-sensei, but she'd probably have insights into further developing your new supplemental ability. And if the War really will ramp up in the Land of Storms, getting more insights on poisons would be helpful.

[] Youme-sensei's teammate Tobiko can be… offputting, but you think her field of research might help you figure out how to dye the fabric you've made. And she's something of a gossip, so maybe you can figure out just what Lord Hanzo meant by the 'turbulent time' that the village was facing.

[] Write-in (Do you want to see someone else? Who? Do you want to do something else? What?)


Voting closes at Nov 19, 2024 at 10:35 AM !

A/N: A/N2 and 3 were written before the update was completely finished so there might be some weirdness. This voting window is a bit long, they're usually under a day (for some reason), but I'd rather close it in the morning then at midnight, which is why this one is long.

A/N2: This ended up being a little longer than initial inter-mission chapters usually are, so that's good. On the subject of short chapters, the current pace probably isn't going to hit what I (completely arbitrarily) decided was a goal for November, so sorry about that; I'm not even sure why this took as long as it did. I was even planning a sort of one-shot for either October because it was vaguely spooky or November for that novella thing people do, but I can't say anything definitive about that right now.

A/N3: Hey what if that chunin you spared was a deep-cover ROOT agent? Wouldn't that be wacky? Just a fun hypothetical.

 

[No Country]

"Ohhh, this is lovely," Tobiko Uebido gushes as she runs a bolt of the cloth you made over her hands. "Full of Yang chakra," she nods while handing the cloth back to you, "but why bring it to me? I didn't think you were aware of my specialty."

"Not exactly," you admit, "and thank you." You stow it back in the bag you brought it in, shuffling somewhat unsurely on your feet as Tobiko returns to a table stacked with papers behind her. The room you're meeting in is neither an office nor a laboratory, it's more like a converted conference room that's being used for storage.

"Of course, if there's anyone left in this village who can appreciate fine craftsmanship, it's me," the older jounin taps her cheek with a ring finger, "how do you think I stay so spry?"

You know she's the same age as Youme-sensei, but she looks like a teenager, barely older than you are. "Hn, I could guess…" you trail off, completely unsure of what to posit.

"Don't, it was rhetorical," her amber eyes rolling exaggeratedly. "Or I guess it wasn't, since there actually is an answer. Huh." She bites her tongue, "Anyway! Yin-Yang Style, which is, I suppose, a theoretical answer."

You've heard of Yin-Yang Style, most jounin have, and you're conceptually aware of the fact that you're naturally very inclined towards Yang Style. Yang Style governs physical energy, like enhancing one's strength and stamina, your kekkei genkai, or the Hiroge clan's hiden; while Yin Style governs things like genjutsu or infusing chakra into seals. Beyond that, you haven't heard or read much about the direct applications of Yin or especially Yang Style, more the byproducts of their usage, and you've certainly never heard of an actual usage of Yin-Yang Style.

"How that applies to," Tobiko gestures vaguely to her face and body, "all of this, I'll leave to your imagination. However! With just a little bit of creative sealwork for processing, I can solidify an illusion cast on the fabric into reality!" One hand raised to her chest, the older jounin beams, "Impressive, right?"

"Sure," you state flatly. It does sound impressive, but it also doesn't sound entirely practical, or if it is, very simple.

"Hmm, I should've asked after the redhead, he would've at least humored me," she deadpans back, clearly referring to Juura.

It's just a jab, but that means you have to jab back, "Does your former team not play along, Jounin Uebido?" You ask with a cocked head.

"I'm much too busy for a team," she replies, clearly totally unphased. You drop the attempts at verbal sparring after that, she's clearly more practiced than you are. "Enough of that though, I'll happily dye that for you, did you have any patterns or colors in mind?"

[] Share the Robe of the Fire Rat with Tobiko so she can dye it. There probably isn't too much she can derive from the dregs of your chakra left in it.

[] No, you'll just find a dye shop to take the job, even if it takes a lot longer.

~~~~~~~~~~​

"It's a clotting compound?" You ask Youme-sensei while you stretch an amaranth-colored compound between your thumb and forefinger.

"That's right, it creeps up from any wound and stops blood flow both ways, it takes a lot to kill directly, but its side effects can easily become fatal, what do you think?" Your former sensei responds, corking the vial.

You shrug, washing your hand off, though it can't infiltrate through your skin. "It's a good idea, but I think I need something more fast acting. Besides, any good med-nin would be able to pick up on this pretty quickly."

"Sharp as ever Tsubaki, though it does have its uses," she turns to a rack of scrolls behind her desk, though there's not much space in the small office behind her lab. "Here," she finally says after finding what she was looking for, handing you a small, pale green scroll bound with an off-white string. "This has plenty of information about synthesizing and concocting quick-acting and powerful poisons, you should be able to requisition the necessary base compounds on your way out, if you want to take a look now."

"Thank you, Youme-sensei," you accept the scroll with a nod, deftly untying the string and looking at the basic components of the recommended poisons. They're all rather rare and expensive, certainly only readily available here, in the Research Division Headquarters. "Sensei, I recently developed a new supplemental technique," you begin, producing a sample of the Robe of the Fire Rat from your sleeve, "It's rather sensitive, but I was wondering if you might know of a way to enhance it, or alternative uses."

You go onto explain how your new technique produces a durable, self-healing type of cloth, making sure to note that you're the only one that it would actually regenerate for. "I call it the Robe of the Fire Rat," you add at the end, making sure not to smile and seem too proud of yourself.

"Like the old fable, charming," your former sensei notes. "I have a few ideas, mainly on a different thread structure that would make it resistant to electricity as well as slightly more fire-retardant. Here," she gestures for you to give her the piece of cloth, and you do.

Youme-sensei traces a manicured nail along the pattern of the Robe, showing you how the horizontally tight and vertically packed threading, while physically tough, could be improved to have greater defenses against elemental techniques if there were more gaps and and different 'stitching' between the individual layers.

"So it creates insulation against Fire and Lightning while working like samurai armor does to dampen physical impacts?" You summarize Youme-sensei's explanation of her tweaks to the structure of the Robe of the Fire Rat.

Youme-sensei nods, "that's right Tsubaki, you really are more insightful than you get credit for."

That makes you blink, and you take a beat longer than you would've liked to respond, "I- thank you, Sensei."

"Of course. That reminds me, on your way out, ask after the refined formula for that numbing solution I gave you before, they should have plenty of samples for you to take."

You thank Youme-sensei again before leaving her to her work, while it's not messy, there are a lot of papers in her 'incoming' pile.

~~~~~~~~~~​

Pick 3 2 (Mission 2 has been locked by previous events):

[] A large trading caravan recently failed to arrive in Rivers' northernmost major city after helping negotiate an important deal between companies in Rivers and Amegakure. Several envoys from Storms were traveling with them, and there were several important missives. A team has to be deployed to find out what happened to them, and at least return with the receipts.

[] Smuggling has become an epidemic along the Land of Meadows' borders and inside of its territories occupied by Iwa and Konoha, but with Kusa's newfound resistance, the trade is now something Ame is looking to prop up. Several of Iwa's supply depots have been singled out for softening up to allow them to be infiltrated and stolen from. Covertness isn't necessary, but having plausible deniability for attacking Iwa assets in Meadows couldn't hurt.

[] Some monks based out of the northeastern Land of Wind have been stirring up agitation among the civilian populaces of the Land of Stone and the former Land of Birds. The center of this unrest is an old monastery across the border that was previously shuttered by the First Kazekage, but has seen sporadic activity since the end of the Second War. Perhaps it would be better for everyone involved if it were a ruin.

[X] A heavy assault team is being assembled to attack a fortified town in the Land of Fire near the intersection of the border between Fire, Storms, and Meadows. You were asked to be part of this mission by name, though you haven't yet been alerted to that fact. (Locked as Mission 2)

Voting closes at Feb 20, 2025 at 1:00 PM !

A/N: This took a while both for no particular reason to be honest I did lose a lot of motivation in general after September, because I had to rewrite the Tobiko part, and because I honestly don't like writing Youme. I think if I could go back and change one thing (besides update frequency and something I don't want to get into) about the quest would be not having her as a sensei option. How do you all feel about her?

A/N2: Apparently the Robe of the Fire Rat is a real thing. Not made from the actual pelts of giant, fireproof rats, but rich ancient and medieval people liked weaving asbestos into cloth when they could find it and showing it off as a party trick. I guess someone somewhere didn't know about the fibers coming out of the ground, so it got attributed to a mythical animal. It's also part of the reason salamanders were associated with fire, since the cloth was attributed to (mythical) salamanders in Persian folklore.

 

[No Country]

Several days later, tucking your mission briefings into the sleeve of your kimono (not one of your Robes, as Tobiko is still busy dyeing them) as you leave the mission office, you hear someone calling your name.

"Hey, Tsubaki," it's Satou, clearly on her way from delivering some sort of report, she's even still in her flak jacket. It's not like your best friend to call out to you in public, but her mood at least seems better than the last time you saw her.

With a little wave, you greet her back. "Hi Satou," you look her up and down once again, confirming your initial assessment, "are you busy?"

She blinks at that, "No, I just got back from filing a mission report, I got back a little early actually, so I have some free time."

"I just got a mission, but I don't have to go until later," you tell her.

"Well, do you want to get something to eat? Ramen or something, I'll pay," your friend offers.

You shake your head but quickly realize that it looks like you're saying you don't want to go with her, so you stop. "Uh, sure," you salvage, "but I can pay, I really don't mind." You're sure that you make more on missions than Satou does, and it's odd for her not to go straight home after reporting in after a mission. So it would be the nice thing to do to treat her, you figure.

~~~~~~~~~~​

"You're still mad about last time?" Satou asks as your orders are placed in front of you, at the corner table of a small, glass-fronted ramen shop on one of Ame's busier streets.

"I'm not mad," you prod your appropriately bland-looking bowl of noodles and broth with your chopsticks, "you would know if I was mad," the bowl even smells like they didn't pepper it, like you asked.

Eyeing Satou's bowl, you watch as she picks up a bundle of steaming noodles and happily slurps them down, despite the presence of peppers piled up in the bowl. You have to suppress a shudder. "I guess that's true," she says after swallowing, "but you were pretty insistent on not going to the last place again, and it's one of my favorites."

"You have to like this one too," you jab your chopsticks in her direction, "you suggested it."

Satou shrugs, "I mean yeah, it's pretty good, but they don't have the same options."

You glance back at her bowl, then back at her, "you ordered crab."

"The shrimp isn't as good," the chunin taps her chopsticks against the rim of the bowl.

Typically, you'd roll your eyes, but something about the situation makes you smile, "that's fair, I guess." However, you instantly grimace when you take a sip of what's supposed to be a glass of iced white tea. It's bitter, overly sweet, and definitely has citrus in it. "This is black," you comment after choking it down, being sure not to put the glass back down too hard.

"You didn't ask if they even had white tea, you just ordered it."

"That's the same thing," you pick up your own noodles, content that they're cool enough to eat. You don't hear Satou's reply over the wheeze you force out as you swallow the mouthful.

"What's the problem now?" Satou asks, bemused.

Desperate for something to wash the taste out, you're forced to gulp down even more of the saccharine tea. "All I can taste is garlic!" You should've let Satou bring you to the other place, too much pepper is much better than too much garlic.

~~~~~~~~~~​

Somehow, when you and Satou are going your separate ways afterward, you feel like you've helped her with something. What that was exactly, you aren't really sure.

After turning around, you nearly run into someone else you hadn't expected to see on your way home from the mission office.

"Stop doing that," you say, almost on instinct, holding up your hands.

Juura, looking just as unrested as he did the last time you saw him, takes a step back. "Sorry Tsubaki, I thought you'd look where you were going," he looks over your head, where you're pretty sure Satou is still visible down the street, "are you distracted too?"

You shrug, he's right, you are usually more aware of your surroundings. "Not distracted," you state plainly, "just trying to work something out in my head, I guess."

"That was Satou, wasn't it? How was she?"

You glance back, but your other friend is gone, "fine, I guess. You can ask her yourself, if you want."

Juura turns his attention back to you, exhaling before responding, "I'd rather not, not right now at least, I'm ah- just getting back home."

That makes you pause for a second, for one, he doesn't live around here, and for two, he's changing the subject. Then again, if he's changing the subject with you it's probably not something you want to know about anyway. "You're going the wrong way then," you finally settle on. It's not really calling him out, but you don't like your teammate lying to you anyway.

"Oh," the taller boy pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly mentally kicking himself, "I moved to an apartment closer to the office. Also security concerns," he explains. "I guess I forgot to mention it the last time I saw you, I guess the circumstances made it skip my mind."

Now you feel like kind of a jerk for assuming he was lying to you right away, despite him acting kind of weird. "Wow, you moved out? But your family is so," you make some sort of vague, sculpting gesture with your hands, but that just makes him raise a red eyebrow, "you know what I mean. Close and stuff."

"Yeah," he laughs awkwardly, adjusting his collar, which makes his forehead protector flash under the streetlights, "that's part of why I did."

"Sorry," this feels like a good time to apologize.

Your former teammate shakes his head, "don't worry about it. I'd invite you to see it, but I just had Iori over before I had to run out for more paperwork, and now it's a mess." You wouldn't really mind, given that he has a good excuse, but you don't interrupt. "If you want to catch up, I guess I could fit tea in, I think Youme-sensei drilled brevity into both of us pretty well," the laugh he punctuates that statement with at least feels natural.

Your mouth sets in a line when he mentions tea though, "Just invite me over when you can," you let him down, "I don't think I can stomach any more restaurant tea today."

"Fair enough," Juura lets you go with a little wave that you return.

Now alone and back on your own way home, you think about Iori, who Juura mentioned, and that clanmate of his who had that… disagreement with you. You could go looking for him, but that would cut into what little downtime you have before your next mission. In the end, you put it out of mind for the moment. You used to be teammates, it's not like it's going to be hard to find him after this mission anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~​

A few days later around sunset, as you lean against a tree at a field camp several kilometers from the border with the Land of Meadows and observe an early cicada molt, the one of the commanders of the strike operation against Iwa's supply caches gets the attention of all of the shinobi at the camp.

There are only a few of you, three other jounin and a handful more special jounin, but the tall, boilersuited shinobi still saw fit to come and oversee your less structured deployment. While you're all gathered around, he points out the exact locations of the depots on the map before burning it in the little campfire at the center of the makeshift encampment, then asks to know how you'll be deploying.

[] Alone, you operate better that way and, survivors aside, it's probably the stealthiest way to go about something like this. Besides, it's been too long since you weren't part of a team.

[] With two of the special jounin, they could probably use somebody to watch their backs and they'd be more capable of taking down defenses while you softened up the defenders anyway, probably. It just seems like the best way to get a good fight.

[] With another jounin, that way you can probably divide the duties equally and you'll have the highest chance of success, though it might make one of the other attacks less effective.

Voting closes at Mar 24, 2025 at 10:15 PM !

A/N: In the interests of getting this done sooner rather than later (relatively), here's a quick operational vote for the upcoming mission.