I'll post a dedicated reaction and collection of thoughts later but this continues to be absolutely awesome and I'm eager to see more of it.
[X] Double agent.
[X] Double agent.
Downwind the Mountain: An Amegakure Quest (Naruto)
- Thread starter NonSequtur
- Start date
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
[X] Bloodthirsty
- Location
- France
[X] Coward.
[X] Double agent.
[X] Double agent.
- Pronouns
- Reader
Probably not. That was sort of a post yahiko death move by God(of edge and angst) Pein.
Wow just three posts in and I can already say this ranks among some of the best written Naruto content I've seen in a long while. Poltics, engaging dialogue and fights with twists and turns, strategy and innovative uses of techniques yeah this is quality stuff.
if the rest of this really promising story maintains this quality I could put it on par with the works of @Sengachi @Ser_Serendipity or @RepThe21st aka my all time favourite Naruto writers on this site.
I loved the depth of detail and nuance worked into this and the perspective on Hidden Rain and Hidden Rain's newly bloodstained and a lot colder than in universe expected leadership. It will be very interesting to see where this narrative goes and what results from the implied divergences from canon. Because if what the story seems to be hinting at has actually happened then the Naruto plot is set to go off the rails in a pretty epic way.
if the rest of this really promising story maintains this quality I could put it on par with the works of @Sengachi @Ser_Serendipity or @RepThe21st aka my all time favourite Naruto writers on this site.
I loved the depth of detail and nuance worked into this and the perspective on Hidden Rain and Hidden Rain's newly bloodstained and a lot colder than in universe expected leadership. It will be very interesting to see where this narrative goes and what results from the implied divergences from canon. Because if what the story seems to be hinting at has actually happened then the Naruto plot is set to go off the rails in a pretty epic way.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Bloodthirsty
[X] Bloodthirsty
haha this is one of the most promising naruto fanfics ive seen in foreverrrrr
loving it
haha this is one of the most promising naruto fanfics ive seen in foreverrrrr
loving it
NonSequtur
a body
There's a few reasons for a genin team.
The big one is to square a circle when it comes to writing a quest - meaningful increases in personal power while also being involved in the important events of the day from the start. There are ways a genin or young chunin could get entangled in some Serious Stuff, as the original story demonstrates, but I don't know how well I'd be able to maintain it without being dependent on things (like a character having a uniquely powerful bloodline or being a jinchuriki) that I didn't want to include. But young genin and chunin have a lot to learn and acclimate to, so they're excellent at providing a sense of meaningful progression.
Meanwhile, jonin level ninja handle the serious stuff, but don't really improve in the same way. They already have a fairly well-defined and practiced skillset that, Kakashi aside, they presumably do not simply add new techniques to unless it represents a meaningful improvement. But meaningful improvements put you in increasingly more rarefied company. It's a question of how do you know a person is improving. I could just tell you 'hey you're improving', but that could fall flat. The stuff I can actually convey through fights and political dynamics escalates from 'background jonin' to 'you singlehandedly terrify the continent into peace' in like... five steps?
I could - and to some extent I will, with Target Profiles - give 'ranks', but I think they have to be of limited precision to make sense as in-universe designations. How do you, a hypothetical ninja working in an intelligence department, answer 'can Hatake Kakashi kill Momochi Zabuza' if they haven't fought? The war ended when they were teenagers, so presumably they've improved as they matured. How much of their mission history since do you know about? How sure are you they aren't hiding something? If they have famous kills under their belts, how sure are you about how good whoever they killed even was? How close was the fight? How comparable the skills? So the ranks are imprecise - I can't just slowly ratchet up a characters 'ninjutsu' rating up from A to A+ to A+++, even if the graphs have a bunch of pixels between one line and the other.
(I love making the graphs but they are mostly lies. In-universe lies, maybe, but lies.)
So pairing jonin and genin gets you both - the characters who improve and add to their skill-sets and knowledge constantly, and the one who has serious agency and is given important, sensitive assignments because there simply aren't that many ninja who you'd rather have and can give the job to.
The other reasons are more about character dynamics. Early teenage characters entering a new stage of their lives is ripe for drama, provides some dynamism for an older character who may have gotten a bit comfortable in routine, and the nature of the progression I was talking about also sets a natural arc and time-limit for graduation, so to speak.
The impetus for writing this was like, 30% Konan's aesthetic and how neglected it is. She was always going to be a driving character in this quest, though I had two significantly different ideas for how to handle it. One was to make Konan herself the protagonist, assembling herself Dr. Manhattan-style and trying to enact the revolution, with her recent disintegration into paper letting be the experienced high-level ninja and the weak, inexperienced ninja with a lot of potential at the same time. The other was to make the protagonist a weak chunin-level missing-nin - possibly an Uzumaki Karin who was never recruited by Orochimaru and therefore spent a few more years being a hyperspecialized 'healer'/sensor in Grass before bolting as soon as she got a good opportunity - with a disembodied Konan serving as like part magical girl mascot/mentor, part criminal employer to someone with no other options than helping her get revenge. Both options kinda fell apart on structure, so this quest, where you have missions assigned by the village and genin to teach, won out. Downside: can't have Konan quite as present. Upside: can make Konan terrifying from start to end.
Anyway, there's other characters whose visuals and mood I'm fond of - Itachi, for example - but most of them have a significant amount of fan-content around them, while Konan does not. I'd say it's just being introduced late but there's an obscene amount of Warring Clans era stuff and I don't know if they were that much more present in the original work. The best explanation I have is she and Nagato aren't easy characters to involve in a romance plot, and that's really the engine of fan works.
Another solid 40% of my impetus for writing this was to take my many unsolicited opinions on the setting and just put as many of them as I could into one work so they'd stop bothering me, which is why I'm going to try to not answer outright lore questions in posts like this, out of the text itself. The target profiles are already pushing things as far as worldbuilding dumps go - if I just told you all the AU elements and personal interpretations, what reason would there be for me to write anymore?
The impetus for writing this was like, 30% Konan's aesthetic and how neglected it is. She was always going to be a driving character in this quest, though I had two significantly different ideas for how to handle it. One was to make Konan herself the protagonist, assembling herself Dr. Manhattan-style and trying to enact the revolution, with her recent disintegration into paper letting be the experienced high-level ninja and the weak, inexperienced ninja with a lot of potential at the same time. The other was to make the protagonist a weak chunin-level missing-nin - possibly an Uzumaki Karin who was never recruited by Orochimaru and therefore spent a few more years being a hyperspecialized 'healer'/sensor in Grass before bolting as soon as she got a good opportunity - with a disembodied Konan serving as like part magical girl mascot/mentor, part criminal employer to someone with no other options than helping her get revenge. Both options kinda fell apart on structure, so this quest, where you have missions assigned by the village and genin to teach, won out. Downside: can't have Konan quite as present. Upside: can make Konan terrifying from start to end.
Anyway, there's other characters whose visuals and mood I'm fond of - Itachi, for example - but most of them have a significant amount of fan-content around them, while Konan does not. I'd say it's just being introduced late but there's an obscene amount of Warring Clans era stuff and I don't know if they were that much more present in the original work. The best explanation I have is she and Nagato aren't easy characters to involve in a romance plot, and that's really the engine of fan works.
Another solid 40% of my impetus for writing this was to take my many unsolicited opinions on the setting and just put as many of them as I could into one work so they'd stop bothering me, which is why I'm going to try to not answer outright lore questions in posts like this, out of the text itself. The target profiles are already pushing things as far as worldbuilding dumps go - if I just told you all the AU elements and personal interpretations, what reason would there be for me to write anymore?
I sympathize about getting out an idea that has been itching you. Glad you can finally scratch that itch with this quest. Can't wait to explore what you've come up with as far as lore is concerned.
Nice touch on the disrespectful summons btw.
It's a very good upside, to be fair.
Can I just say that this is a fascinating concept that I would read the hell out of? I'm perfectly happy with - very much enjoying the current incarnation of this quest and eagerly await the next update but I've always had a soft spot for Karin and wished she was given the chance to do more in the manga/anime so the notion you've presented is really engaging.
Ah well, maybe we'll get lucky and she'll defect to Hidden Rain instead of Orochimaru in this AU. Kohaku getting a defected Karin on her genin team with Konan maybe having some feelings about a relative of the apparently deceased Nagato being around would be fun. Fingers crossed.
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Double agent.
Orientation 1
NonSequtur
a body
[x] Bloodthirsty.
It's been two months since the coup, and the desertions are slowing down. You've never chased down quite so many idiot chunin in your life. Most of them even survived the experience, to be dragged in front of their new leader and offered her particular brand of mercy.
They tended to get a better deal than Kandachi did, at least. So long as they weren't stupid enough to try and run again.
You frown as your hip twinges. The last chunin had been clever, and strong. Someone should've marked him down for promotion, if only so you would've known not to go after him solo. Maybe he wouldn't have ended up dead and you wouldn't have left the hospital on two weeks light-activity-only.
It's one thing to get injured. That's never pleasant. Getting injured to the point that your mother, who has friends in the medic corps, can know that you're definitely not on a mission is much, much worse. Because that means she'll come over and want to talk.
"Have you considered your future?" she eventually asks, because of course she does.
You try not to grimace at the inevitable question. Yes, it made me sick, sits on your tongue. "Things are busy enough in the present," you say instead.
"It's an opportunity, and you have time," she replies. Prodding.
You respect your mother a lot. She's only a chunin. The kind of chunin who earned her rank on paper, for clearance and payroll purposes, rather than in the field, even. But the fact that there's genin who'd be more useful in a fight has little bearing on how you feel about her. Your mother is driven, with more contacts than you can hope to remember and a seeming inability to lose focus or yield to human weakness.
"The new leadership will need more trusted jonin. Kandachi's death gives you an opportunity," she elaborates. "She is reaching out with reassurances to most of the jonin, or so I've heard."
It makes her rather intimidating. At least to you. "It was an order, which I followed. I don't need reassurances," you say, cheerfully dutiful.
She looks at you flatly. You're hardly stupid. You know what she means. But there is nothing in the world you want to do less than try to trade political favours with the Shikigami.
Apparently she sees that, because she immediately pivots. "Your last blind date went well, or so you told me." She pauses. "Three months ago."
"He was nice enough," you agree. "Doing well?"
"Alive, intact," she replies dryly. "Hasn't heard from you."
"I've been busy."
"So you'll see him this week, now that you're on medical leave?"
"Mmm."
Your mother sighs. You brace yourself. Thankfully, before the eternal lecture can recur, you're saved by a knock at your apartment door. The speed at which you move to answer it is definitely impolite, but your mother gave up that fight years ago.
The chunin flinches when you open the door and you have to hold back a sigh of your own. Amazing, how doing the same thing you've done for years is suddenly a red flag.
"Yes?" you ask.
"Lady Konan wishes to see you," he says. "As soon as possible."
You blink and furrow your brow. "I'm on enforced medical leave."
"I, uh." He swallows thickly. "Don't know if she cares? She didn't say why..." he trails off. Were you this green when you were promoted?
Probably. Maybe even worse. "I'll be there in fifteen," you say, waving him off.
And then he's gone. You turn to your mother.
"Sorry," you say, relief bleeding into your voice. "I need to get to the palace."
From how your mother's mouth twists, she can tell that you really mean 'I need to get out of this conversation'. But there's nothing she can do about it. "I have a key," she says as she waves you off. "I'll clean and lock up, should you not return."
You duck into your room to grab your rebreather, vest and weapons, and leave through the window.
Amegakure rises up around you. You take a moment to admire the view. The defiance of Rain, squeezed between six nations, writ in monolithic concrete, snaking pipes and flashing signs. Hanzo's hubris and Hanzo's genius. Your country's beating heart, unique in all the world.
But you have places to be. You hop from exposed strut to exposed strut as you work your way down to nearly street level. In principle you could jump between the upper stories, but you are on medical restrictions, so you limit yourself to the paths favoured by chunin as you work towards what was once Hanzo's palace - the only part of the central island not dominated by concrete towers. Hearing the dull, muffled noise of the streets beneath you is always more enjoyable, anyway, though it fades as you approach your destination.
Finally, you drop down to street level. The new boss might have different opinions, but when Hanzo ruled you didn't jump into the palace district without a very good excuse. That kind of habit isn't going to be broken in a month or two, and so you walk the last block towards the Shikigami's compound, taking in what changes you could see.
You quirk an eyebrow at an entire stand of pamphlets titled The Little Southern Girl, and pick one up. A quick flip through confirms your suspicions - the title is a pun, and the pamphlet is a fictionalized account of the former Akatsuki leader's life. With cute illustrations and in simple language.
There are worse things for kids to be reading, you suppose, slipping the pamphlet into your pocket. Maybe there's some useful information to glean from it, if only to understand what the new leader wants to be seen as. Knowing what you do about Konan's role in the rebel group, there's a solid chance she wrote the pamphlet herself.
You enter the palace district.
~
Much like Amegakure as a whole, the compound hasn't visibly changed much. Still the same shoji walls and fine wood beams. There are clouds on the banners and gardens of paper flowers, and it's possible one of the secondary buildings has simply ceased existing, but as you step under the eaves and let the chunin escort you up the stairs to Konan's office, nothing seems different.
Particularly not the undercurrent of lethal threat, you think, reaching out with your chakra sense. It tells you what has changed in the palace. Shioriko had told you her cousin, among others, had been removed from Hanzo's Guard. You frown. Konan's Guard? The Amekage's Guard? So many things in Rain had simply been Hanzo's, no title necessary.
Whatever they should be called now, there's far fewer of them, and they seem to be positioned away from the main building, to defend outlying targets rather than the village head. She might not consider them loyal enough to trust with her back. Or maybe she considers them unnecessary. Shoji walls and folding screens aren't just fine and tasteful, after all.
They're mostly paper.
With that comforting thought, you're allowed into her office. Konan isn't alone - Heiji is with her, as he nearly always is, smoothing out the bumps of regime change. The dependable, unambitious sort of old ninja. The kind who fades into the background. Hanzo and Kandachi trusted him. Given they're both dead and he's the right hand of Ame's new leader, you wonder if he's actually that boring, or just knows something most ambitious men don't.
Still, as influential as he is, he's not the one you bow to. "You summoned me, Lady Konan?"
"I did," she says, voice perfectly smooth. She's still wearing the same robes as before, but she's left the hat to rest on the corner of her desk. The character for Rain stares at you. As she speaks, the scroll she was reading rolls itself up and flies to a shelf. Two more fly down to replace it, one of them unrolling to present itself to her. "You may take a seat, if you like."
Your rebreather hides your brief confusion. There's no chair besides the ones she and Heiji are already sitting in. In fact- your eyes narrow. There's an open window behind Konan, through which you can see Ame's towering skyline. But this room doesn't have exterior walls.
"No, thank you," you say as calmly as you can manage. You can't detect an illusion. "My injury…" you offer as an explanation for why you'd rather not sit in a chair that you're now fairly sure would be made out of her favoured weapon. A matter of principle for jonin, though you're under no illusions that she's any less capable of killing you standing.
"Very well," she says, still unruffled. "Here are your assignment details." The second of the two scrolls floats gently towards you. You pick it up gingerly and unfurl it. It takes you half a second to stop reading and look at your commander-in-chief like she's crazy.
"A fresh genin squad." It's not a question, though it should be.
"It shouldn't violate the terms of your medical leave," she replies, like that's the problem here.
"I'm not registered for a genin squad." You glance at Heiji, who should know that, and get nothing. Even with barely two hundred jonin in Amegakure, it wasn't an unpopular duty to sign up for. The graduates given a jonin captain were, inevitably, clan-born or exceptionally talented. And they could form lasting bonds, like you and Shioriko. Political connections and potential heirs. Good pay and easier missions.
You'd never wanted any part of it.
Konan nods, slowly. Her brows are furrowed. "You were not," she admits. "But you are the best available option."
You look back at the scroll. It's not an all-girl team, which means you weren't tapped for lack of women on the roster. A team of potential genjutsu specialists, maybe? Not many jonin who could teach the art, so that might explain it. Names first. Ashiude… their bloodline's taijutsu focused, you think. Haganeyama is a name you've heard before, but can't place. The last kid doesn't have a family name. Orphan, probably. Nothing conclusive. On to their assessments. Taijutsu for the Ashiude, you were right about that. Ninjutsu for the Haganeyama. Only the presumptive orphan showed any particular talent in genjutsu, though- you stop and double-take. Feel your eyebrows climb up your forehead. Graduated a year early, near the top of his class in everything.
"The jonin who was meant to take this team was on a mission," Konan cuts in. She sounds almost amused. "He is a few weeks late, and was marked absent without leave three days ago. The nature of his squad's mission makes sending back-up impractical."
Back-up, or hunters, you translate in your head. Whoever the jonin is, he's probably dead or deserted. Now should be the moment you accept the assignment and stop talking. "Nobody else on the list?" you ask, like an idiot.
The Shikigami smiles thinly, and shifts in her seat. A lock of blue hair slips between her eyes. "Nobody acceptable," she answers. She pauses for a moment. Considering whether to say more. When she continues you pay her your full attention. "I believe teaching to be a position of considerable trust," she says. "This world we live in is often cruel. For some, their teacher is the last, first, or only person the student will ever have that they can rely upon as a child might, before they are forced to live as adults do."
That just makes it worse. You swallow, like that green chunin who told you to come here. You never wanted to be responsible for anyone. But what can you do? Tell the woman who could kill you with a word that she shouldn't trust you? Confess to her your secret fears, your faulty character?
A part of you realizes that, somehow, you've entered the political game. You're here because, for whatever reason, Konan thinks you're reliable. Your mother would despair - her little girl, stumbling forward with no plan again.
"I'm not really a ninjutsu specialist," you say. It's the only excuse you have left. You're proud of how professional you sound making it.
If she notices it's just a facade, she doesn't show you. Instead she leans slightly over the desk, like she's sharing a secret. "My teacher never really suited my talents either," she stage-whispers before sitting up straight once again, as if where she sits, who she is, needs any emphasis. It's the closest you've ever seen her come to good cheer. It's terrifying. You have to stifle a giggle. Heiji, still sitting in the corner, keeps up his silent work.
You really should read that pamphlet, you think to yourself as you accept the assignment. The scroll sits heavy in your pocket when you leave.
~
So you've been given a genin team. While many ninja reach jonin without being assigned to a jonin captain on graduation, it's no secret that between selecting for talent and focused training, almost no ninja who is so assigned fails to make it to chunin, and far more jonin come from the tripartite apprenticeships than from the broader chunin corps.
Provided, of course, they survive. Which is now your responsibility. Fantastic. What are you going to focus on the first day you meet them?
[-] Taijutsu
More shinobi die from sharp objects, whether held or thrown, than all ninjutsu combined. Unfortunately, you can't really push them on it for the next week and a half, until your hip is all the way healed, so this will have to wait.
[ ] Ninjutsu
Chakra exercises, elemental affinities and grand displays of excessive force. An excellent way to grab any student's attention. If you take them in for chakra testing you might be able to come up with a better plan for teaching them.
[ ] Genjutsu
Plenty of jonin reach their rank with mediocre skill in illusion, whether done with chakra constructs or direct spiritual influence, but being vulnerable to genjutsu is an excellent way to die a genin. You're going to pretend to take them for chakra testing.
[ ] Teamwork and Mission Structure
Training is important, but you should get them used to the routines of being an Amegakure ninja - working in a team, mission assignment and completion, the specialist corps and various other institutions. You'll show up with a nice, simple D-rank and see how they handle it.
It's been two months since the coup, and the desertions are slowing down. You've never chased down quite so many idiot chunin in your life. Most of them even survived the experience, to be dragged in front of their new leader and offered her particular brand of mercy.
They tended to get a better deal than Kandachi did, at least. So long as they weren't stupid enough to try and run again.
You frown as your hip twinges. The last chunin had been clever, and strong. Someone should've marked him down for promotion, if only so you would've known not to go after him solo. Maybe he wouldn't have ended up dead and you wouldn't have left the hospital on two weeks light-activity-only.
It's one thing to get injured. That's never pleasant. Getting injured to the point that your mother, who has friends in the medic corps, can know that you're definitely not on a mission is much, much worse. Because that means she'll come over and want to talk.
"Have you considered your future?" she eventually asks, because of course she does.
You try not to grimace at the inevitable question. Yes, it made me sick, sits on your tongue. "Things are busy enough in the present," you say instead.
"It's an opportunity, and you have time," she replies. Prodding.
You respect your mother a lot. She's only a chunin. The kind of chunin who earned her rank on paper, for clearance and payroll purposes, rather than in the field, even. But the fact that there's genin who'd be more useful in a fight has little bearing on how you feel about her. Your mother is driven, with more contacts than you can hope to remember and a seeming inability to lose focus or yield to human weakness.
"The new leadership will need more trusted jonin. Kandachi's death gives you an opportunity," she elaborates. "She is reaching out with reassurances to most of the jonin, or so I've heard."
It makes her rather intimidating. At least to you. "It was an order, which I followed. I don't need reassurances," you say, cheerfully dutiful.
She looks at you flatly. You're hardly stupid. You know what she means. But there is nothing in the world you want to do less than try to trade political favours with the Shikigami.
Apparently she sees that, because she immediately pivots. "Your last blind date went well, or so you told me." She pauses. "Three months ago."
"He was nice enough," you agree. "Doing well?"
"Alive, intact," she replies dryly. "Hasn't heard from you."
"I've been busy."
"So you'll see him this week, now that you're on medical leave?"
"Mmm."
Your mother sighs. You brace yourself. Thankfully, before the eternal lecture can recur, you're saved by a knock at your apartment door. The speed at which you move to answer it is definitely impolite, but your mother gave up that fight years ago.
The chunin flinches when you open the door and you have to hold back a sigh of your own. Amazing, how doing the same thing you've done for years is suddenly a red flag.
"Yes?" you ask.
"Lady Konan wishes to see you," he says. "As soon as possible."
You blink and furrow your brow. "I'm on enforced medical leave."
"I, uh." He swallows thickly. "Don't know if she cares? She didn't say why..." he trails off. Were you this green when you were promoted?
Probably. Maybe even worse. "I'll be there in fifteen," you say, waving him off.
And then he's gone. You turn to your mother.
"Sorry," you say, relief bleeding into your voice. "I need to get to the palace."
From how your mother's mouth twists, she can tell that you really mean 'I need to get out of this conversation'. But there's nothing she can do about it. "I have a key," she says as she waves you off. "I'll clean and lock up, should you not return."
You duck into your room to grab your rebreather, vest and weapons, and leave through the window.
Amegakure rises up around you. You take a moment to admire the view. The defiance of Rain, squeezed between six nations, writ in monolithic concrete, snaking pipes and flashing signs. Hanzo's hubris and Hanzo's genius. Your country's beating heart, unique in all the world.
But you have places to be. You hop from exposed strut to exposed strut as you work your way down to nearly street level. In principle you could jump between the upper stories, but you are on medical restrictions, so you limit yourself to the paths favoured by chunin as you work towards what was once Hanzo's palace - the only part of the central island not dominated by concrete towers. Hearing the dull, muffled noise of the streets beneath you is always more enjoyable, anyway, though it fades as you approach your destination.
Finally, you drop down to street level. The new boss might have different opinions, but when Hanzo ruled you didn't jump into the palace district without a very good excuse. That kind of habit isn't going to be broken in a month or two, and so you walk the last block towards the Shikigami's compound, taking in what changes you could see.
You quirk an eyebrow at an entire stand of pamphlets titled The Little Southern Girl, and pick one up. A quick flip through confirms your suspicions - the title is a pun, and the pamphlet is a fictionalized account of the former Akatsuki leader's life. With cute illustrations and in simple language.
There are worse things for kids to be reading, you suppose, slipping the pamphlet into your pocket. Maybe there's some useful information to glean from it, if only to understand what the new leader wants to be seen as. Knowing what you do about Konan's role in the rebel group, there's a solid chance she wrote the pamphlet herself.
You enter the palace district.
~
Much like Amegakure as a whole, the compound hasn't visibly changed much. Still the same shoji walls and fine wood beams. There are clouds on the banners and gardens of paper flowers, and it's possible one of the secondary buildings has simply ceased existing, but as you step under the eaves and let the chunin escort you up the stairs to Konan's office, nothing seems different.
Particularly not the undercurrent of lethal threat, you think, reaching out with your chakra sense. It tells you what has changed in the palace. Shioriko had told you her cousin, among others, had been removed from Hanzo's Guard. You frown. Konan's Guard? The Amekage's Guard? So many things in Rain had simply been Hanzo's, no title necessary.
Whatever they should be called now, there's far fewer of them, and they seem to be positioned away from the main building, to defend outlying targets rather than the village head. She might not consider them loyal enough to trust with her back. Or maybe she considers them unnecessary. Shoji walls and folding screens aren't just fine and tasteful, after all.
They're mostly paper.
With that comforting thought, you're allowed into her office. Konan isn't alone - Heiji is with her, as he nearly always is, smoothing out the bumps of regime change. The dependable, unambitious sort of old ninja. The kind who fades into the background. Hanzo and Kandachi trusted him. Given they're both dead and he's the right hand of Ame's new leader, you wonder if he's actually that boring, or just knows something most ambitious men don't.
Still, as influential as he is, he's not the one you bow to. "You summoned me, Lady Konan?"
"I did," she says, voice perfectly smooth. She's still wearing the same robes as before, but she's left the hat to rest on the corner of her desk. The character for Rain stares at you. As she speaks, the scroll she was reading rolls itself up and flies to a shelf. Two more fly down to replace it, one of them unrolling to present itself to her. "You may take a seat, if you like."
Your rebreather hides your brief confusion. There's no chair besides the ones she and Heiji are already sitting in. In fact- your eyes narrow. There's an open window behind Konan, through which you can see Ame's towering skyline. But this room doesn't have exterior walls.
"No, thank you," you say as calmly as you can manage. You can't detect an illusion. "My injury…" you offer as an explanation for why you'd rather not sit in a chair that you're now fairly sure would be made out of her favoured weapon. A matter of principle for jonin, though you're under no illusions that she's any less capable of killing you standing.
"Very well," she says, still unruffled. "Here are your assignment details." The second of the two scrolls floats gently towards you. You pick it up gingerly and unfurl it. It takes you half a second to stop reading and look at your commander-in-chief like she's crazy.
"A fresh genin squad." It's not a question, though it should be.
"It shouldn't violate the terms of your medical leave," she replies, like that's the problem here.
"I'm not registered for a genin squad." You glance at Heiji, who should know that, and get nothing. Even with barely two hundred jonin in Amegakure, it wasn't an unpopular duty to sign up for. The graduates given a jonin captain were, inevitably, clan-born or exceptionally talented. And they could form lasting bonds, like you and Shioriko. Political connections and potential heirs. Good pay and easier missions.
You'd never wanted any part of it.
Konan nods, slowly. Her brows are furrowed. "You were not," she admits. "But you are the best available option."
You look back at the scroll. It's not an all-girl team, which means you weren't tapped for lack of women on the roster. A team of potential genjutsu specialists, maybe? Not many jonin who could teach the art, so that might explain it. Names first. Ashiude… their bloodline's taijutsu focused, you think. Haganeyama is a name you've heard before, but can't place. The last kid doesn't have a family name. Orphan, probably. Nothing conclusive. On to their assessments. Taijutsu for the Ashiude, you were right about that. Ninjutsu for the Haganeyama. Only the presumptive orphan showed any particular talent in genjutsu, though- you stop and double-take. Feel your eyebrows climb up your forehead. Graduated a year early, near the top of his class in everything.
"The jonin who was meant to take this team was on a mission," Konan cuts in. She sounds almost amused. "He is a few weeks late, and was marked absent without leave three days ago. The nature of his squad's mission makes sending back-up impractical."
Back-up, or hunters, you translate in your head. Whoever the jonin is, he's probably dead or deserted. Now should be the moment you accept the assignment and stop talking. "Nobody else on the list?" you ask, like an idiot.
The Shikigami smiles thinly, and shifts in her seat. A lock of blue hair slips between her eyes. "Nobody acceptable," she answers. She pauses for a moment. Considering whether to say more. When she continues you pay her your full attention. "I believe teaching to be a position of considerable trust," she says. "This world we live in is often cruel. For some, their teacher is the last, first, or only person the student will ever have that they can rely upon as a child might, before they are forced to live as adults do."
That just makes it worse. You swallow, like that green chunin who told you to come here. You never wanted to be responsible for anyone. But what can you do? Tell the woman who could kill you with a word that she shouldn't trust you? Confess to her your secret fears, your faulty character?
A part of you realizes that, somehow, you've entered the political game. You're here because, for whatever reason, Konan thinks you're reliable. Your mother would despair - her little girl, stumbling forward with no plan again.
"I'm not really a ninjutsu specialist," you say. It's the only excuse you have left. You're proud of how professional you sound making it.
If she notices it's just a facade, she doesn't show you. Instead she leans slightly over the desk, like she's sharing a secret. "My teacher never really suited my talents either," she stage-whispers before sitting up straight once again, as if where she sits, who she is, needs any emphasis. It's the closest you've ever seen her come to good cheer. It's terrifying. You have to stifle a giggle. Heiji, still sitting in the corner, keeps up his silent work.
You really should read that pamphlet, you think to yourself as you accept the assignment. The scroll sits heavy in your pocket when you leave.
~
So you've been given a genin team. While many ninja reach jonin without being assigned to a jonin captain on graduation, it's no secret that between selecting for talent and focused training, almost no ninja who is so assigned fails to make it to chunin, and far more jonin come from the tripartite apprenticeships than from the broader chunin corps.
Provided, of course, they survive. Which is now your responsibility. Fantastic. What are you going to focus on the first day you meet them?
[-] Taijutsu
More shinobi die from sharp objects, whether held or thrown, than all ninjutsu combined. Unfortunately, you can't really push them on it for the next week and a half, until your hip is all the way healed, so this will have to wait.
[ ] Ninjutsu
Chakra exercises, elemental affinities and grand displays of excessive force. An excellent way to grab any student's attention. If you take them in for chakra testing you might be able to come up with a better plan for teaching them.
[ ] Genjutsu
Plenty of jonin reach their rank with mediocre skill in illusion, whether done with chakra constructs or direct spiritual influence, but being vulnerable to genjutsu is an excellent way to die a genin. You're going to pretend to take them for chakra testing.
[ ] Teamwork and Mission Structure
Training is important, but you should get them used to the routines of being an Amegakure ninja - working in a team, mission assignment and completion, the specialist corps and various other institutions. You'll show up with a nice, simple D-rank and see how they handle it.
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Target Profile - Kitagawa Kohaku
NonSequtur
a body
Target Profile - Kitagawa Kohaku
Affiliation: Amegakure (New Regime), Jonin
Titles/Aliases: Heartbreaker Kohaku
Recognizable Traits: Green hair
Known Ninjutsu Affinities:
Fire, Lightning
Unique Skills and Equipment:
Summoning Contract (Crab), unreliable
The Heart-stopping Blade, ninjutsu-genjutsu hybrid
Bloodlines:
None
Other Notes:
Few political connections. Genjutsu specialist.
Summary:
Born to unremarkable chunin, Kitagawa displayed talent enough to be placed under a jonin-captain when she graduated near the start of the Third War. At the peak of Amegakure's involvement in the conflict, her teammate, the last heiress of the Kanimoto clan, perished when Konohagakure forces overran positions on the eastern front. For that and other losses in the operation her teacher was found guilty of dereliction of duty and suspected of treason, and was executed. After the war in Rain ended, Kitagawa was promoted to special, and then full jonin. She served ably, though without particular distinction, in the suppression of the Akatsuki and termination of deserters of chunin and tokubetsu jonin rank. Since Hanzo's death she has continued to serve in similar roles, loyalty apparently unquestioned.
Conclusions:
High B-rank.
Affiliation: Amegakure (New Regime), Jonin
Titles/Aliases: Heartbreaker Kohaku
Recognizable Traits: Green hair
Known Ninjutsu Affinities:
Fire, Lightning
Unique Skills and Equipment:
Summoning Contract (Crab), unreliable
The Heart-stopping Blade, ninjutsu-genjutsu hybrid
Bloodlines:
None
Other Notes:
Few political connections. Genjutsu specialist.
Summary:
Born to unremarkable chunin, Kitagawa displayed talent enough to be placed under a jonin-captain when she graduated near the start of the Third War. At the peak of Amegakure's involvement in the conflict, her teammate, the last heiress of the Kanimoto clan, perished when Konohagakure forces overran positions on the eastern front. For that and other losses in the operation her teacher was found guilty of dereliction of duty and suspected of treason, and was executed. After the war in Rain ended, Kitagawa was promoted to special, and then full jonin. She served ably, though without particular distinction, in the suppression of the Akatsuki and termination of deserters of chunin and tokubetsu jonin rank. Since Hanzo's death she has continued to serve in similar roles, loyalty apparently unquestioned.
Conclusions:
High B-rank.
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