- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They
Takuma being the Naruto equivalent of the Revenant.
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve
He is pragmatic enough to know that at his state/power becoming a missing nin is suicide. He won't be rewarded nor will he be punished, just a clan-less village ninja doing his job.
Compared to other orphans his life isn't more difficult or worst than them, sure he seeks to improve himself and his situation so that means no pain no gain at this stage.
He himself stated that he was lucky enough to be born inside the village rather than outside of it else his situation would be way worst.
CH_3.36 (095)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
"I'm ready to leave," Iruka looked uncomfortable with two people hanging off him. Raiden was tied to Iruka's back while the lighter Susumu was in a princess carry. "Are you sure you don't want to leave together?"
"You should get them to safety," said Takuma, tightening the bandage around his shoulder wound. "I'll catch my breath for a second before starting out myself."
In truth, he felt pissed beyond words and wanted some time alone to calm himself down. Iruka was his team leader, who was leaving him alone in a foreign country whose shinobi had just betrayed them. On top of that, he was being asked to travel across two countries alone. He didn't want to see Iruka's face any longer in case he blew up at the chunin.
"… I understand," Iruka said quietly, "but don't stay here for long. We don't know when someone might come here looking."
"Yes, sir," Takuma went quiet and didn't look at Iruka.
"Get home safely, Takuma," Iruka said, and moments later, he disappeared into the woods.
Takuma, leaning against the tree, looked up at the sky that had grown dark. The overcast clouds blocked the stars from view. At no point since receiving the mission had Takuma thought it would go the way it had gone— he lost Yumiko and Dai, the two people he liked working with— he lost two friends. He bitterly questioned whether they would be alive if Takuma hadn't recommended them to Iruka.
After staring at the sky, Takuma stood up with a groan. He was thankful to Taro's father for recommending the first aid course— without it, he would be in a much worse condition than he was in right now, which wasn't good, but anything was better than the worst. He walked to the backpack he had thrown away during the fight and took the hand ax from it to chop the nearest trees down for lumber. He gathered all the materials he needed to start multiple fires before heading to the dead bodies of his comrades lying around the clearing.
'—A shinobi's body holds the village's secret that our enemies can use against us. We can't allow them to get our secrets for they can endanger us—'
One of Maruboshi's many teachings echoed in Takuma's mind as he dragged Yumiko, Dai, Aya, and Yuko's bodies into a line before stripping their bodies of gear and then redressing them in the plain clothes they had changed into the moment they had exited the Land of Fire. Yumiko's and Dai's wouldn't hold many secrets, but Yuko and Aya had secrets pertaining to the Onikuma and Izuno clans.
He didn't care about any of that. They were shinobi who had lost their lives for the village— they needed the best funerals he could provide them.
Takuma made four pyres from the wood he had chopped and laid the bodies of his friends and comrades on them before lighting them up on fire one by one. Takuma didn't know if they preferred to be buried or cremated— in the field, the only option was to be cremated to leave no evidence behind.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," tears streamed out of Takuma's eyes as he lit fires on Dai and Yumiko's pyres. He recommended them to Iruka, but when the time came where he should've been protecting them, he was floundering on the field in panic like a pathetic loser. If only he had been prepared, he could've saved them, and they would've been alive.
"Please forgive me…." He didn't particularly like Yuko and Aya, but that didn't mean they had to die. They were young shinobi who didn't deserve to die like this— he had seen how excited they had been the entire time since they had left the village. The memories of the two having fun in the Shiyuka village flashed through his mind as he bowed his head in shame. Why did he have to fight with them?
Takuma dropped to his knees and prayed to the guardian of the forest to guide their souls safely to the afterlife so they could attain the peace they deserved.
Takuma didn't care if the fire and smoke from the funeral pyres attracted attention; he refused to have their funerals simultaneously as the Hidden Frost shinobi who had killed them. Only after the fires had died down did Takuma turn to his dead enemies. Despite his disgust and hate for them, Takuma gave the Hidden Frost shinobi the same treatment because they deserved basic human decency.
Soldiers didn't start wars. Takuma knew the Hidden Frost shinobi were only following orders, but it didn't matter— they had murdered his friends. Takuma lit their pyres on fire and briefly prayed for their souls before going through their gear.
The information they were supposed to obtain, if it existed in the scrolls, had been burnt to a crisp. He wanted to see if there was anything of importance he could find among their belongings. Unfortunately for Takuma, except for the map to the meeting place, he couldn't find anything of importance—
"Hmm?"
Takuma stared at the two kunai in his hands. They had come from the two Hidden Frost chunin shinobi, one from each— but as Takuma looked at the two kunai, they were different— one had a leaner blade while the other had a longer grip. He looked at the other kunai in the weapon packs and found that there were indeed two distinct types of kunai— the first type belonged to one of the chunin while the second type belonged to the other chunin.
Weapons like kunai were an essential part of a shinobi's life. They were so important that they needed to be forged exactly to a template dimension and weight. The blacksmiths forged so many of them that no matter where you went in the country, you'd find the same kunai everywhere without any discrepancies.
However, every country had its own way of forging its weapons. His own kunai were different from both types in front of him. Hidden Frost must've their own specifications— but it was beyond strange that they had two different types as shinobi liked their tools to be uniform.
Takuma searched the genin's weapons and found the same— two types of kunai. He then went beyond comparing the shuriken and the other gear… there were two distinct types of everything.
"What is happening—"
A chill rose up Takuma's spine as a thought passed through his mind.
Every country had its own way of forging its weapons.
"They're not from the Hidden Frost," Takuma muttered to himself. He swallowed the saliva as the conclusion shaped inside his brain. He looked at the gear— one chunin and three genin had the first type of gear while the other chunin and other three genin had the second type of gear.
One team wasn't from the Hidden Frost.
He recalled the genin he had pried away from Yuko, who had tried to say something to him before silencing himself. Another thought passed through Takuma's mind—
'What if the Hidden Frost hadn't betrayed them… What if this was someone else… What was the information Hidden Frost was trying to share?'
"But who?"
Takuma didn't have the answer to any of those questions.
———
.
Iruka sat on a bed in a medical ward of a border post on the Land of Fire-Land of Hot Waters border. He hadn't ever felt this exhausted in his life̦— the last sleep was already over two days ago. His Chunin Exam hadn't been this tough on his mind and body. The day and a half straight of sprinting with two bodies while his own body was injured were one of the toughest ordeals. It didn't help that he smuggled himself across the Land of Frost border to avoid any contact with Hidden Frost.
And yet, despite all that, his mind disallowed sleep no matter how much his body demanded it. The long, arduous travel without treatment had put Raiden and Susumu in a critical condition for which they were being treated by the iryo-nin… and Iruka's heart couldn't stop worrying about how Takuma was faring alone in foreign lands.
He sighed heavily into his hands covering his face only for the faces of Yumiko, Dai, Aya, and Yuko to flash behind his eyelids. He had lost four genin in a C-rank mission which rarely had any deaths.
"No, no... no… why…"
His body contorted from the inside thinking about the mission, and he couldn't think about anything else. All he wanted was for his mind to stop going there, but it was all he could think about.
"Chunin Iruka…"
Iruka tiredly looked up at the head iryo-nin of the border post. He had been treating Raiden from the moment they had stumbled into the camp.
"How are they?" asked Iruka.
"Aburame Susumu has been stabilized, but we can't do anything about the insects feeding on his chakra…. We were able to neutralize the poison in Shimura Raiden's body" — Iruka felt a wave of relief pass through him — "unfortunately, he wasn't able to survive the damage already done to his body… Chunin Shimura Raiden had passed away. I'm sorry…"
Iruka felt his mind go blank at the sudden news. Had he been too slow? Was that why Raiden failed to survive— because he wasn't able to bring him to treatment fast enough? That one thought now plagued Iruka's mind.
"We have already called for the Aburame clan for their help; they'll be here as soon as possible. We're in the process of contacting the Shimura clan to inform them about Chunin Raiden," said the iryo-nin.
Whatever said after didn't filter into Iruka's mind as he continued to fall into the tragedy he had been served. He didn't notice when the head iryo-nin left him. If Takuma didn't return safely, Iruka would've lost six people and salt on the wounds, the information they were sent to retrieve was absent.
He had failed worse than anyone could on a mission.
———
.
For the first time in very long, Takuma didn't enjoy sleeping outside in nature under the open sky. The Land of Frost's cold hurt his wounds— he could take the pain and discomfort during the day spent running, but he didn't appreciate it when it messed with his sleep at night. Nothing had made him appreciate Sango's medical care after every fight and their personal session than the days he had spent without healing as he traveled secretly through the Land of Frost.
'Just one more day,' Takuma thought.
Illegally crossing borders wasn't hard. Any type of border patrol could only cover so much ground, leaving many unprotected spots where people could cross in-and-out of countries. The real problem was surviving harsh undeveloped terrain that sat on the borders and reaching the nearest settlement only for them to reject shelter to the immigrants. He didn't have that problem. Takuma had the gear and experience to sleep outside every night, enough rations to feed multiple shinobi, and he could ground much faster than any civilian, even with his injured body.
He had already crossed out of the Land of Frost into the Land of Hot Waters, and in the morning, he would skip the first line of border towns with shinobi presence and rest at one of the towns at a comfortable distance from the border. While he was 'safe' in the Land of Hot Waters, Takuma didn't want to meet any shinobi in his current condition.
Takuma snuggled into his sleeping bag with painful groans and closed his eyes to get some sleep….
A few hours later, Takuma snapped his eyes with his body drenched in sweat. His labored breathing couldn't beat out the sound of his rushing heart in his ears. He started at the cloudy sky through the insect net and saw the beautiful moon, whereas a few moments ago, he was dreaming of Yumiko and Dai's smiling faces that quickly turned lifeless and bloodied. They didn't say anything— they were dead after all— but they simply stared at him with their dull eyes as though judging him for being alive.
After drinking some water, Takuma went to sleep again… only to wake up to the same images.
Takuma looked to the side at the fire that burned slowly, providing him with some much-needed warmth. He stared at the fire for a moment before reaching into his pouch for a joint that he lit on the embers.
Takuma didn't know when he closed his eyes, but somewhere while blowing smoke at the moon, sleep overtook him— and this time, they didn't visit him in his dreams… because he didn't dream at all.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
"You should get them to safety," said Takuma, tightening the bandage around his shoulder wound. "I'll catch my breath for a second before starting out myself."
In truth, he felt pissed beyond words and wanted some time alone to calm himself down. Iruka was his team leader, who was leaving him alone in a foreign country whose shinobi had just betrayed them. On top of that, he was being asked to travel across two countries alone. He didn't want to see Iruka's face any longer in case he blew up at the chunin.
"… I understand," Iruka said quietly, "but don't stay here for long. We don't know when someone might come here looking."
"Yes, sir," Takuma went quiet and didn't look at Iruka.
"Get home safely, Takuma," Iruka said, and moments later, he disappeared into the woods.
Takuma, leaning against the tree, looked up at the sky that had grown dark. The overcast clouds blocked the stars from view. At no point since receiving the mission had Takuma thought it would go the way it had gone— he lost Yumiko and Dai, the two people he liked working with— he lost two friends. He bitterly questioned whether they would be alive if Takuma hadn't recommended them to Iruka.
After staring at the sky, Takuma stood up with a groan. He was thankful to Taro's father for recommending the first aid course— without it, he would be in a much worse condition than he was in right now, which wasn't good, but anything was better than the worst. He walked to the backpack he had thrown away during the fight and took the hand ax from it to chop the nearest trees down for lumber. He gathered all the materials he needed to start multiple fires before heading to the dead bodies of his comrades lying around the clearing.
'—A shinobi's body holds the village's secret that our enemies can use against us. We can't allow them to get our secrets for they can endanger us—'
One of Maruboshi's many teachings echoed in Takuma's mind as he dragged Yumiko, Dai, Aya, and Yuko's bodies into a line before stripping their bodies of gear and then redressing them in the plain clothes they had changed into the moment they had exited the Land of Fire. Yumiko's and Dai's wouldn't hold many secrets, but Yuko and Aya had secrets pertaining to the Onikuma and Izuno clans.
He didn't care about any of that. They were shinobi who had lost their lives for the village— they needed the best funerals he could provide them.
Takuma made four pyres from the wood he had chopped and laid the bodies of his friends and comrades on them before lighting them up on fire one by one. Takuma didn't know if they preferred to be buried or cremated— in the field, the only option was to be cremated to leave no evidence behind.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," tears streamed out of Takuma's eyes as he lit fires on Dai and Yumiko's pyres. He recommended them to Iruka, but when the time came where he should've been protecting them, he was floundering on the field in panic like a pathetic loser. If only he had been prepared, he could've saved them, and they would've been alive.
"Please forgive me…." He didn't particularly like Yuko and Aya, but that didn't mean they had to die. They were young shinobi who didn't deserve to die like this— he had seen how excited they had been the entire time since they had left the village. The memories of the two having fun in the Shiyuka village flashed through his mind as he bowed his head in shame. Why did he have to fight with them?
Takuma dropped to his knees and prayed to the guardian of the forest to guide their souls safely to the afterlife so they could attain the peace they deserved.
Takuma didn't care if the fire and smoke from the funeral pyres attracted attention; he refused to have their funerals simultaneously as the Hidden Frost shinobi who had killed them. Only after the fires had died down did Takuma turn to his dead enemies. Despite his disgust and hate for them, Takuma gave the Hidden Frost shinobi the same treatment because they deserved basic human decency.
Soldiers didn't start wars. Takuma knew the Hidden Frost shinobi were only following orders, but it didn't matter— they had murdered his friends. Takuma lit their pyres on fire and briefly prayed for their souls before going through their gear.
The information they were supposed to obtain, if it existed in the scrolls, had been burnt to a crisp. He wanted to see if there was anything of importance he could find among their belongings. Unfortunately for Takuma, except for the map to the meeting place, he couldn't find anything of importance—
"Hmm?"
Takuma stared at the two kunai in his hands. They had come from the two Hidden Frost chunin shinobi, one from each— but as Takuma looked at the two kunai, they were different— one had a leaner blade while the other had a longer grip. He looked at the other kunai in the weapon packs and found that there were indeed two distinct types of kunai— the first type belonged to one of the chunin while the second type belonged to the other chunin.
Weapons like kunai were an essential part of a shinobi's life. They were so important that they needed to be forged exactly to a template dimension and weight. The blacksmiths forged so many of them that no matter where you went in the country, you'd find the same kunai everywhere without any discrepancies.
However, every country had its own way of forging its weapons. His own kunai were different from both types in front of him. Hidden Frost must've their own specifications— but it was beyond strange that they had two different types as shinobi liked their tools to be uniform.
Takuma searched the genin's weapons and found the same— two types of kunai. He then went beyond comparing the shuriken and the other gear… there were two distinct types of everything.
"What is happening—"
A chill rose up Takuma's spine as a thought passed through his mind.
Every country had its own way of forging its weapons.
"They're not from the Hidden Frost," Takuma muttered to himself. He swallowed the saliva as the conclusion shaped inside his brain. He looked at the gear— one chunin and three genin had the first type of gear while the other chunin and other three genin had the second type of gear.
One team wasn't from the Hidden Frost.
He recalled the genin he had pried away from Yuko, who had tried to say something to him before silencing himself. Another thought passed through Takuma's mind—
'What if the Hidden Frost hadn't betrayed them… What if this was someone else… What was the information Hidden Frost was trying to share?'
"But who?"
Takuma didn't have the answer to any of those questions.
———
.
Iruka sat on a bed in a medical ward of a border post on the Land of Fire-Land of Hot Waters border. He hadn't ever felt this exhausted in his life̦— the last sleep was already over two days ago. His Chunin Exam hadn't been this tough on his mind and body. The day and a half straight of sprinting with two bodies while his own body was injured were one of the toughest ordeals. It didn't help that he smuggled himself across the Land of Frost border to avoid any contact with Hidden Frost.
And yet, despite all that, his mind disallowed sleep no matter how much his body demanded it. The long, arduous travel without treatment had put Raiden and Susumu in a critical condition for which they were being treated by the iryo-nin… and Iruka's heart couldn't stop worrying about how Takuma was faring alone in foreign lands.
He sighed heavily into his hands covering his face only for the faces of Yumiko, Dai, Aya, and Yuko to flash behind his eyelids. He had lost four genin in a C-rank mission which rarely had any deaths.
"No, no... no… why…"
His body contorted from the inside thinking about the mission, and he couldn't think about anything else. All he wanted was for his mind to stop going there, but it was all he could think about.
"Chunin Iruka…"
Iruka tiredly looked up at the head iryo-nin of the border post. He had been treating Raiden from the moment they had stumbled into the camp.
"How are they?" asked Iruka.
"Aburame Susumu has been stabilized, but we can't do anything about the insects feeding on his chakra…. We were able to neutralize the poison in Shimura Raiden's body" — Iruka felt a wave of relief pass through him — "unfortunately, he wasn't able to survive the damage already done to his body… Chunin Shimura Raiden had passed away. I'm sorry…"
Iruka felt his mind go blank at the sudden news. Had he been too slow? Was that why Raiden failed to survive— because he wasn't able to bring him to treatment fast enough? That one thought now plagued Iruka's mind.
"We have already called for the Aburame clan for their help; they'll be here as soon as possible. We're in the process of contacting the Shimura clan to inform them about Chunin Raiden," said the iryo-nin.
Whatever said after didn't filter into Iruka's mind as he continued to fall into the tragedy he had been served. He didn't notice when the head iryo-nin left him. If Takuma didn't return safely, Iruka would've lost six people and salt on the wounds, the information they were sent to retrieve was absent.
He had failed worse than anyone could on a mission.
———
.
For the first time in very long, Takuma didn't enjoy sleeping outside in nature under the open sky. The Land of Frost's cold hurt his wounds— he could take the pain and discomfort during the day spent running, but he didn't appreciate it when it messed with his sleep at night. Nothing had made him appreciate Sango's medical care after every fight and their personal session than the days he had spent without healing as he traveled secretly through the Land of Frost.
'Just one more day,' Takuma thought.
Illegally crossing borders wasn't hard. Any type of border patrol could only cover so much ground, leaving many unprotected spots where people could cross in-and-out of countries. The real problem was surviving harsh undeveloped terrain that sat on the borders and reaching the nearest settlement only for them to reject shelter to the immigrants. He didn't have that problem. Takuma had the gear and experience to sleep outside every night, enough rations to feed multiple shinobi, and he could ground much faster than any civilian, even with his injured body.
He had already crossed out of the Land of Frost into the Land of Hot Waters, and in the morning, he would skip the first line of border towns with shinobi presence and rest at one of the towns at a comfortable distance from the border. While he was 'safe' in the Land of Hot Waters, Takuma didn't want to meet any shinobi in his current condition.
Takuma snuggled into his sleeping bag with painful groans and closed his eyes to get some sleep….
A few hours later, Takuma snapped his eyes with his body drenched in sweat. His labored breathing couldn't beat out the sound of his rushing heart in his ears. He started at the cloudy sky through the insect net and saw the beautiful moon, whereas a few moments ago, he was dreaming of Yumiko and Dai's smiling faces that quickly turned lifeless and bloodied. They didn't say anything— they were dead after all— but they simply stared at him with their dull eyes as though judging him for being alive.
After drinking some water, Takuma went to sleep again… only to wake up to the same images.
Takuma looked to the side at the fire that burned slowly, providing him with some much-needed warmth. He stared at the fire for a moment before reaching into his pouch for a joint that he lit on the embers.
Takuma didn't know when he closed his eyes, but somewhere while blowing smoke at the moon, sleep overtook him— and this time, they didn't visit him in his dreams… because he didn't dream at all.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_3.37 (096)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Sneaking into a town wasn't tricky for Takuma. He scaled a wall, dipped into alleyways, and stayed in the shadows. A walk around the town found him in the less affluent part of the town at a distance from the main districts, a place much like where his home was situated in the Hidden Leaf.
He glanced at the "hotel" sign as he entered the three-storied building that hadn't seen maintenance in many cycles, something reflected by the interior. The floorboards creaked under his feet, the furniture setup in the tiny lobby was grimy, and the front counter was an old desk with scratches and dirty stains on the wood.
The woman sitting behind the reception read a woman's magazine with a cover as absurd as her over-the-top makeup and hairdo. She glanced at Takuma when he knocked on the countertop, giving him a look over. Takuma wore a fresh set of clothes that hid his bandaged wounds, but all of that was covered by a hooded travel cloak.
"Room for the night," said Takuma, modulating his voice to be a smidge fuller, "with water in the bathroom."
She pointed to the crooked board hanging on the wall with room prices that had been crossed out and written over multiple times. Takuma chose the cheapest room and put down some paper bills on the countertop, revealing his bandaged hand.
"We don't take that," the woman pointed at the Land of Frost currency that Takuma had put out.
Takuma stared at the woman, and a silence fell between them before the woman sighed in annoyance and took the foreign currency. "It'll cost more," she said pointedly, and Takuma gave her what she asked him. Only after that did she take a key off the wall key hanger and toss it on the counter.
Takuma took the key and went to his room on the second floor. The room ended before it could start and had the basic of basics in the form of a double bed, a dingy cupboard, a small study table with an old chair, and a less than pleasant bathroom.
First thing first, Takuma checked the entire room. He tested the door locks to see if the inside bolt was intact, checked the cupboards and side tables, lifted the bed for bed bugs, cleaned out the bathroom, and finished testing the integrity of the window grate— which was weak enough for Takuma to kick out in case he needed to make an emergency exit.
He locked the door, reinforced it with nylon wire, and immediately jumped into the bathroom. His injuries weren't severe, but they weren't shallow enough to be left alone. The only reason he had stopped at the town was to retreat his injuries to prevent infections. He planned to stay here for the day before starting the second leg of his journey back home.
Takuma took out the length of gauze that he had stuffed in the deep-deep hole in his hip with a long groan. He bathed, properly irrigated the wound with water treated with a few drops of iodine because he wasn't sure about the water quality in the town, and then redressed the wound while smoking another joint to help dull the pain. After repeating the process a couple more times, he ate his rations and drank plenty of water before crashing on the bed for a couple hours of rest.
A poor bed was better than an outdoor sleeping bag, and by the time Takuma woke up, he had overslept for several hours. The sun was already up. He looked at the clock in his room, and his checkout time was in two hours— not wasting any more time, he got dressed and was out of his room before the minute could move quarter way across the circle.
The woman was behind the counter again, her hairdo as ridiculous as yesterday. He wordlessly handed her the key and walked out when she acknowledged him. Takuma felt her eyes on him as he exited the building but ignored it.
However, it seemed that the gaze spelled trouble. Just when Takuma walked out of the block, a trio of men approached him.
"Hey man, where you from?" asked one of them.
Takuma ignored them and turned into an alleyway.
"That's rude, oye," said the second man.
"Yeah, what's with the hurry? We only wants to talk to you," the third man smiled as he cracked his knuckle.
The trio followed Takuma into the alleyway, where he was waiting for them. They weren't allowed anything but to scream, which were stifled almost immediately. Takuma walked out of the alleyway a few moments later, leaving behind the battered trio to be found later that day by the time Takuma had already left.
Takuma didn't pursue the matter with the hotel and left the town. Every minute spent away from the Hidden Leaf made him feel sicker.
He just wanted to get home.
———
.
"The Hidden Frost betrayed and launched an attack during the exchange," said the tokubetsu jonin in charge of Iruka, who solemnly nodded. "You lost four genin in that attack. Unfortunately, Chunin Shimura Raiden died at the border post due to his injuries. Genin Aburame Susumu is out of danger… But you left one genin— Genin Takuma— as you rushed to get Shimura and Aburame back to the country."
"… Yes, sir," said Iruka.
"Even if we assume Genin Takuma can return home, less than half of the team made it back on a C-rank mission. Even if it was a multi-ranked mission, it doesn't change that it was a C-rank mission— and you even failed to get back the information… This is difficult, Chunin Iruka."
"… Yes, sir."
Iruka had no words. The facts were as follows: the mission had failed, and they had lost shinobi— and even though it wasn't his fault, this mission would cause difficulties between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Frost, and in some ways, he would have to suffer the brunt of it. And they might have faced an equal number of opponents and had 'won,' but to lose a chunin and four genin was unacceptable. They were from the Hidden Leaf, one of the five great shinobi villages, while the opposition was the minor village of Hidden Frost— this type of loss was a slight to their reputation.
There was no silver lining to this mission. Iruka wasn't even allowed to wait at the border post so he could wait for the Takuma and was forced back to the Hidden Leaf only to be put in a room with T&I personnel who were put in charge of the aftermath of the situation.
Iruka knew the reason why a tokubetsu jonin was put in charge. Raiden was from the Shimura clan, an important chunin who had the potential to be a jonin in the future, who had now died on a C-rank mission. They were looking for foul play. It didn't help that Izuno and Onikuma clan members had died, and an Aburame had come close to death— on a C-rank mission. Shinobi didn't die on C-rank missions.
"Did you recognize any of the Hidden Frost shinobi?"
Iruka shook his head.
A bingo book was thrown on the table. "Try again," said the investigator, with a stare that wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Tell me about Genin Takuma," the invigilator asked as Iruka looked over the bingo book with Hidden Frost profiles.
Iruka looked up from the book and furrowed deeply. "What do you mean?"
"You left him behind? He agreed to that?"
"He had no choice in the matter… He followed the orders I gave him," said Iruka bitterly.
"And he must be bitter about it," the investigator looked at a file. "To be left behind on his first mission outside the country…. Do you think he'd defect because of that?"
"What?"
"I mean, he doesn't have any family here. And to be left behind right after being in a fight for his life, there must be some anger because of that— amplified as he's alone in a land with no friends…. I have seen men defect for much less. Do you think he'll defect?"
"Takuma won't defect," said Iruka with disgust. "He's a shinobi who the Leaf should be proud of. He will be back home soon."
"If you say so," the investigator shrugged. "He'll be back… if he's alive, that is…."
Iruka bit the inside of his cheek and returned his gaze to the bingo book.
The door to the interrogation room opened, and a genin peered inside, "Genin Takuma has crossed the border and is now getting treated at the Deguchi border post."
The investigator turned to Iruka and smiled, "Looks like you were right. Very well then, let's get our boy back home…."
———
.
Takuma breathed a sigh of relief as his feet touched the familiar pavements of the streets he had walked so many times. He looked behind at the inner-city gates behind him and the weight weighing his heart down ever since the ambush lifted. He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief.
He was back home.
"Come on, let's get a move on."
Takuma looked back at the two genin who had escorted him from the Deguchi border post to the Leaf village.
'Escorted,' Takuma clicked his tongue— more like detainers.
They had stuck to him like glue ever since he had appeared at the border post. His reception at the border post had been warm and respectful— a chunin iryo-nin had treated his injuries— he hadn't been treated that well since Enomoto— and they had made him feel as comfortable as possible. But then the order from Hidden Leaf came— he was to return to the village as soon as possible. Takuma had been more than happy to oblige; there was nothing more he wanted but to return home.
However, he was told that two genin would accompany him back to the village. Upon asking, he was told they were escorts because he had just been healed. Takuma found it strange, but he graciously accepted their offer. But the entire time on the road, his two 'escorts' tried to subtly control his actions.
"Where should we go?" asked Takuma.
"Err, to the," one of the genin took out a slip of paper, "the T&I Force headquarters…."
"And where's that?" asked Takuma. He had got them talking during their travel and knew for a fact that neither had been to the Leaf village— even now, their eyes were darting from place to place like country bumpkins in the big city for the first time.
"… W-We don't know," their voice grew smaller at the end.
Takuma sighed. He knew they were following orders, but it pissed him off regardless.
"Come, follow me," Takuma sighed, and he led them to the T&I Force headquarters situated in one the most protected regions inside the village, for which they had to go through two layers of security.
When they finally reached the headquarters, Takuma was allowed inside while his escorts were stopped at the door. He was sat down in a small interrogation room.
"Genin Takuma," a shinobi entered the room soon after. "I'm Tokubetsu Jonin Shiroma. I just have some routine questions about the Hidden Frost mission."
Shiroma sat down across from Takuma and set down some files on the table; the topmost one had Takuma's name on it. Takuma looked up from the file to Shiroma, who was now staring at him silently. Takuma stared back— and a silence settled in the room.
"How was the journey back home?" asked Shiroma.
"Lonely," replied Takuma.
"Yes, you were ordered by Chunin Iruka to return home alone. You must've been hurt by that order, Takuma. To be left behind by your team leader— must've been tough."
"It's not my place to question orders, sir," answered Takuma calmly. "Chunin Iruka did what he felt was the best for the team. I simply followed the orders."
"But to leave someone who hasn't been out of the village, much less out of the country… was that wise?"
"Chunin Iruka's decision to go ahead and get Chunin Raiden and Genin Susumu the help they needed showcased his trust in my ability to handle myself in tough situations. I'm flattered if nothing else," Takuma said. He knew what the investigator was trying to fish for, but he wasn't going to give it to him.
Shiroma hummed. "Can you tell me about the mission? Start from the beginning and narrate your recollections of the events. Don't leave anything out."
Takuma gave his account. He told him everything except for a few things. First of all, he omitted the conflict with Raiden's team. And as they arrived at the meetup with Hidden Frost, Shiroma interrupted him and asked,
"Don't you find it strange that the Hidden Frost betrayed us? They've been our allies for a very long time— why so suddenly?"
Takuma said, "I found it strange, yes. And I also think that things weren't as simple as they seemed on the surface," saying that Takuma began unpacking weapons on the surprisingly large table. Shiroma was surprised by Takuma's action, but he didn't seem worried. Why would he? A tokubetsu jonin had no reason to be worried of a genin.
"What am I looking at?" asked Shiroma.
There was a row each of kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive tags, smoke bombs, and a single short sword. The numerous weapons covered the entire table.
"Do you notice the difference between these weapons? This here is a kunai I purchased from the supply," Takuma pointed at the first kunai, "then there's this one that I picked up from one of the Hidden Frost shinobi," he pointed to the kunai with a thinner blade, "and this one here is from another shinobi," which had a longer grip. "Do you notice how each set is different? Of course, we would expect our kunai to differ from Hidden Frost's— but why would Hidden Frost shinobi have kunai different from each other on them? And it's not just the kunai. Everything on this table is of three different types. One of them is mine, and thus from the Hidden Leaf, while the other two are from the Hidden Frost…."
Shiroma looked up from the table to Takuma. His previous carefree expression of observation he had pointed at Takuma was nowhere to be seen— it had been replaced with something that showed that he was hanging off every word that Takuma said with a hint of alarm in his eyes.
"Sir… it's either that Hidden Frost has changed the designs of all of their official weapons recently, which is unlikely based on how I found them— Or one of the teams that we fought wasn't Hidden Frost and were only disguised as them." Takuma probably had never held someone's attention as firmly as he did at the moment,
"I'm sure we have samples of weapons from other villages lying around somewhere in our archives, and if we compare them with these… we will know the third party's identity."
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He glanced at the "hotel" sign as he entered the three-storied building that hadn't seen maintenance in many cycles, something reflected by the interior. The floorboards creaked under his feet, the furniture setup in the tiny lobby was grimy, and the front counter was an old desk with scratches and dirty stains on the wood.
The woman sitting behind the reception read a woman's magazine with a cover as absurd as her over-the-top makeup and hairdo. She glanced at Takuma when he knocked on the countertop, giving him a look over. Takuma wore a fresh set of clothes that hid his bandaged wounds, but all of that was covered by a hooded travel cloak.
"Room for the night," said Takuma, modulating his voice to be a smidge fuller, "with water in the bathroom."
She pointed to the crooked board hanging on the wall with room prices that had been crossed out and written over multiple times. Takuma chose the cheapest room and put down some paper bills on the countertop, revealing his bandaged hand.
"We don't take that," the woman pointed at the Land of Frost currency that Takuma had put out.
Takuma stared at the woman, and a silence fell between them before the woman sighed in annoyance and took the foreign currency. "It'll cost more," she said pointedly, and Takuma gave her what she asked him. Only after that did she take a key off the wall key hanger and toss it on the counter.
Takuma took the key and went to his room on the second floor. The room ended before it could start and had the basic of basics in the form of a double bed, a dingy cupboard, a small study table with an old chair, and a less than pleasant bathroom.
First thing first, Takuma checked the entire room. He tested the door locks to see if the inside bolt was intact, checked the cupboards and side tables, lifted the bed for bed bugs, cleaned out the bathroom, and finished testing the integrity of the window grate— which was weak enough for Takuma to kick out in case he needed to make an emergency exit.
He locked the door, reinforced it with nylon wire, and immediately jumped into the bathroom. His injuries weren't severe, but they weren't shallow enough to be left alone. The only reason he had stopped at the town was to retreat his injuries to prevent infections. He planned to stay here for the day before starting the second leg of his journey back home.
Takuma took out the length of gauze that he had stuffed in the deep-deep hole in his hip with a long groan. He bathed, properly irrigated the wound with water treated with a few drops of iodine because he wasn't sure about the water quality in the town, and then redressed the wound while smoking another joint to help dull the pain. After repeating the process a couple more times, he ate his rations and drank plenty of water before crashing on the bed for a couple hours of rest.
A poor bed was better than an outdoor sleeping bag, and by the time Takuma woke up, he had overslept for several hours. The sun was already up. He looked at the clock in his room, and his checkout time was in two hours— not wasting any more time, he got dressed and was out of his room before the minute could move quarter way across the circle.
The woman was behind the counter again, her hairdo as ridiculous as yesterday. He wordlessly handed her the key and walked out when she acknowledged him. Takuma felt her eyes on him as he exited the building but ignored it.
However, it seemed that the gaze spelled trouble. Just when Takuma walked out of the block, a trio of men approached him.
"Hey man, where you from?" asked one of them.
Takuma ignored them and turned into an alleyway.
"That's rude, oye," said the second man.
"Yeah, what's with the hurry? We only wants to talk to you," the third man smiled as he cracked his knuckle.
The trio followed Takuma into the alleyway, where he was waiting for them. They weren't allowed anything but to scream, which were stifled almost immediately. Takuma walked out of the alleyway a few moments later, leaving behind the battered trio to be found later that day by the time Takuma had already left.
Takuma didn't pursue the matter with the hotel and left the town. Every minute spent away from the Hidden Leaf made him feel sicker.
He just wanted to get home.
———
.
"The Hidden Frost betrayed and launched an attack during the exchange," said the tokubetsu jonin in charge of Iruka, who solemnly nodded. "You lost four genin in that attack. Unfortunately, Chunin Shimura Raiden died at the border post due to his injuries. Genin Aburame Susumu is out of danger… But you left one genin— Genin Takuma— as you rushed to get Shimura and Aburame back to the country."
"… Yes, sir," said Iruka.
"Even if we assume Genin Takuma can return home, less than half of the team made it back on a C-rank mission. Even if it was a multi-ranked mission, it doesn't change that it was a C-rank mission— and you even failed to get back the information… This is difficult, Chunin Iruka."
"… Yes, sir."
Iruka had no words. The facts were as follows: the mission had failed, and they had lost shinobi— and even though it wasn't his fault, this mission would cause difficulties between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Frost, and in some ways, he would have to suffer the brunt of it. And they might have faced an equal number of opponents and had 'won,' but to lose a chunin and four genin was unacceptable. They were from the Hidden Leaf, one of the five great shinobi villages, while the opposition was the minor village of Hidden Frost— this type of loss was a slight to their reputation.
There was no silver lining to this mission. Iruka wasn't even allowed to wait at the border post so he could wait for the Takuma and was forced back to the Hidden Leaf only to be put in a room with T&I personnel who were put in charge of the aftermath of the situation.
Iruka knew the reason why a tokubetsu jonin was put in charge. Raiden was from the Shimura clan, an important chunin who had the potential to be a jonin in the future, who had now died on a C-rank mission. They were looking for foul play. It didn't help that Izuno and Onikuma clan members had died, and an Aburame had come close to death— on a C-rank mission. Shinobi didn't die on C-rank missions.
"Did you recognize any of the Hidden Frost shinobi?"
Iruka shook his head.
A bingo book was thrown on the table. "Try again," said the investigator, with a stare that wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Tell me about Genin Takuma," the invigilator asked as Iruka looked over the bingo book with Hidden Frost profiles.
Iruka looked up from the book and furrowed deeply. "What do you mean?"
"You left him behind? He agreed to that?"
"He had no choice in the matter… He followed the orders I gave him," said Iruka bitterly.
"And he must be bitter about it," the investigator looked at a file. "To be left behind on his first mission outside the country…. Do you think he'd defect because of that?"
"What?"
"I mean, he doesn't have any family here. And to be left behind right after being in a fight for his life, there must be some anger because of that— amplified as he's alone in a land with no friends…. I have seen men defect for much less. Do you think he'll defect?"
"Takuma won't defect," said Iruka with disgust. "He's a shinobi who the Leaf should be proud of. He will be back home soon."
"If you say so," the investigator shrugged. "He'll be back… if he's alive, that is…."
Iruka bit the inside of his cheek and returned his gaze to the bingo book.
The door to the interrogation room opened, and a genin peered inside, "Genin Takuma has crossed the border and is now getting treated at the Deguchi border post."
The investigator turned to Iruka and smiled, "Looks like you were right. Very well then, let's get our boy back home…."
———
.
Takuma breathed a sigh of relief as his feet touched the familiar pavements of the streets he had walked so many times. He looked behind at the inner-city gates behind him and the weight weighing his heart down ever since the ambush lifted. He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief.
He was back home.
"Come on, let's get a move on."
Takuma looked back at the two genin who had escorted him from the Deguchi border post to the Leaf village.
'Escorted,' Takuma clicked his tongue— more like detainers.
They had stuck to him like glue ever since he had appeared at the border post. His reception at the border post had been warm and respectful— a chunin iryo-nin had treated his injuries— he hadn't been treated that well since Enomoto— and they had made him feel as comfortable as possible. But then the order from Hidden Leaf came— he was to return to the village as soon as possible. Takuma had been more than happy to oblige; there was nothing more he wanted but to return home.
However, he was told that two genin would accompany him back to the village. Upon asking, he was told they were escorts because he had just been healed. Takuma found it strange, but he graciously accepted their offer. But the entire time on the road, his two 'escorts' tried to subtly control his actions.
"Where should we go?" asked Takuma.
"Err, to the," one of the genin took out a slip of paper, "the T&I Force headquarters…."
"And where's that?" asked Takuma. He had got them talking during their travel and knew for a fact that neither had been to the Leaf village— even now, their eyes were darting from place to place like country bumpkins in the big city for the first time.
"… W-We don't know," their voice grew smaller at the end.
Takuma sighed. He knew they were following orders, but it pissed him off regardless.
"Come, follow me," Takuma sighed, and he led them to the T&I Force headquarters situated in one the most protected regions inside the village, for which they had to go through two layers of security.
When they finally reached the headquarters, Takuma was allowed inside while his escorts were stopped at the door. He was sat down in a small interrogation room.
"Genin Takuma," a shinobi entered the room soon after. "I'm Tokubetsu Jonin Shiroma. I just have some routine questions about the Hidden Frost mission."
Shiroma sat down across from Takuma and set down some files on the table; the topmost one had Takuma's name on it. Takuma looked up from the file to Shiroma, who was now staring at him silently. Takuma stared back— and a silence settled in the room.
"How was the journey back home?" asked Shiroma.
"Lonely," replied Takuma.
"Yes, you were ordered by Chunin Iruka to return home alone. You must've been hurt by that order, Takuma. To be left behind by your team leader— must've been tough."
"It's not my place to question orders, sir," answered Takuma calmly. "Chunin Iruka did what he felt was the best for the team. I simply followed the orders."
"But to leave someone who hasn't been out of the village, much less out of the country… was that wise?"
"Chunin Iruka's decision to go ahead and get Chunin Raiden and Genin Susumu the help they needed showcased his trust in my ability to handle myself in tough situations. I'm flattered if nothing else," Takuma said. He knew what the investigator was trying to fish for, but he wasn't going to give it to him.
Shiroma hummed. "Can you tell me about the mission? Start from the beginning and narrate your recollections of the events. Don't leave anything out."
Takuma gave his account. He told him everything except for a few things. First of all, he omitted the conflict with Raiden's team. And as they arrived at the meetup with Hidden Frost, Shiroma interrupted him and asked,
"Don't you find it strange that the Hidden Frost betrayed us? They've been our allies for a very long time— why so suddenly?"
Takuma said, "I found it strange, yes. And I also think that things weren't as simple as they seemed on the surface," saying that Takuma began unpacking weapons on the surprisingly large table. Shiroma was surprised by Takuma's action, but he didn't seem worried. Why would he? A tokubetsu jonin had no reason to be worried of a genin.
"What am I looking at?" asked Shiroma.
There was a row each of kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive tags, smoke bombs, and a single short sword. The numerous weapons covered the entire table.
"Do you notice the difference between these weapons? This here is a kunai I purchased from the supply," Takuma pointed at the first kunai, "then there's this one that I picked up from one of the Hidden Frost shinobi," he pointed to the kunai with a thinner blade, "and this one here is from another shinobi," which had a longer grip. "Do you notice how each set is different? Of course, we would expect our kunai to differ from Hidden Frost's— but why would Hidden Frost shinobi have kunai different from each other on them? And it's not just the kunai. Everything on this table is of three different types. One of them is mine, and thus from the Hidden Leaf, while the other two are from the Hidden Frost…."
Shiroma looked up from the table to Takuma. His previous carefree expression of observation he had pointed at Takuma was nowhere to be seen— it had been replaced with something that showed that he was hanging off every word that Takuma said with a hint of alarm in his eyes.
"Sir… it's either that Hidden Frost has changed the designs of all of their official weapons recently, which is unlikely based on how I found them— Or one of the teams that we fought wasn't Hidden Frost and were only disguised as them." Takuma probably had never held someone's attention as firmly as he did at the moment,
"I'm sure we have samples of weapons from other villages lying around somewhere in our archives, and if we compare them with these… we will know the third party's identity."
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I cannot wait for the tokubetsu jonin reaction. I am sure weapon specialists could see the difference between the weapons but they are rare going by the anime. The fake frost ninjas made a great mistake lmao. This is great, Thanks for writing!
That is true, but I think betting that none of Frost's Shinobi would notice the difference or the Konoha's Shinobi when part of your plan is to kill them is a even bigger mistake. They should have spent some time getting acquainted with Frost's loadout because without it they have to completely succeed and not leave behind anything while (potentially) fighting 2-1. That they almost succeeded doesn't change the fact that because they didn't spend a few days practicing Frost's loadout Leaf, and likely Frost soon enough will know who exactly fucked up their handoff.
CH_3.38 (097)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
After Takuma put down his discovery in front of Shiroma, the investigation took another direction altogether. Gone were the pointed questions about his actions and feelings, replaced by a lengthy discussion about the involvement of a third party. For hours, they talked about the battle, recording the profiles of the shinobi Takuma had fought, the shinobi he had not fought but noticed, and every aspect in brain-squeezing detail.
There was no clock in the room, and Takuma didn't know how much time had passed until he was out of the building and saw the early evening sky. His genin escorts were no longer there, and Takuma couldn't care less. Instantly he felt tired from spending a day in a tiny room answering questions about a very unpleasant situation, bringing up memories he didn't want brought up. He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply to recollect himself.
"Takuma…"
He opened his eyes to find Iruka standing in front of him. A wave of emotion hit him, but Takuma clenched his fist to keep them from bursting out.
"I'm glad to see you fine, sir," Takuma straightened his back.
"Takuma… I can't say how relieved I was when I heard that you had reached the border safely," Iruka said as he walked to Takuma and put a hand on his shoulder. "Takuma, about the mis—"
"Would you accompany me somewhere, sir?" Takuma cut off Iruka and locked eyes with his team leader.
Iruka was silent for a moment before he stepped back and nodded.
Takuma nodded back, and they were off. Iruka followed Takuma's lead as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Not a word was exchanged between the two, but Takuma could feel Iruka's gaze on his back, but he ignored the man and picked up speed.
They soon entered a well-to-do residential district in the eastern part of the village. The homes in the district were known to attract upper-middle-class and lower-upper-class families looking to build or buy their family homes. Their destination was a home in that district.
[Taguchi]
"Takuma, why are we…" said Iruka, wide-eyed.
Taguchi… as in Taguchi Yumiko.
Takuma opened the front gate and stepped onto the property, snapping Iruka out of his daze. "Takuma, stop! What're you doing?" Iruka grabbed Takuma by the arm and stopped him.
"They lost their daughter; I'm going to pay my respects," said Takuma, not looking at Iruka. He pried Iruka's hand off his arm and walked inside towards the front door.
"Takuma, it's already late! We will come tomorrow," Iruka tried to convince Takuma.
"No, we have to do this now as soon as possible," Takuma said as he rang the doorbell. If not for the T&I Force interrogation, he would've headed here right after entering the Leaf village.
The door opened, and a young man, probably in his early twenties, opened the door. From the first look, Takuma saw the similarities between Yumiko and the young man. They had the same eyes and nose. It was Yumiko's elder brother.
"Yes?" asked Yumiko's elder brother, his eyes going to Takuma's headband. Then he noticed Iruka and recognized him. It seemed Iruka had come to pay his respects before.
"Good evening. I apologize for disturbing you so late. My name is Takuma. I was with your sister on the Land of Frost mission… May I come in?" asked Takuma.
Yumiko's elder brother seemed conflicted but nodded a moment later. They entered the house, and Yumiko's elder brother led Takuma to the room where they had established Yumiko's shrine. Takuma knelt in front of the shrine and gazed at Yumiko's picture. She was smiling in the picture. It was so much different from her serious demeanor during meetings and missions. Takuma closed his eyes, and instead of praying, he apologized to Yumiko, confessed his regret, told her how much he missed her… and simply talked with his teammate.
After a while, Takuma got up and left the shrine room to the living room where Yumiko's parents had joined her elder brother and Iruka. They didn't seem to be talking, and the vibe of the room was awkward with a sense of hostility in the air. As Takuma sat down, he noticed Yumiko's mother glaring at Iruka.
"… You say you were with Yumiko on the mission," Yumiko's father spoke. The older man looked tired, and every wrinkle on his face seemed sorrowful.
"Yes, sir."
"Are you the one who got left behind?"
Takuma looked at Yumiko's father and nodded.
"You who left got left behind made it home alive, but my daughter didn't. Why is that?" asked the mourning father.
"… I'm sorry, sir," was all Takuma could say to the grieving man.
A hush fell in the room before Yumiko's elder brother broke it, "If that was all, I'd ask you to leave. Today was a tiring day for us, and we'd like to rest."
Takuma nodded, but then he took out a water canteen from his backpack that he had been lugging around and placed it on the table. "The team's decision for me to travel alone allowed me to take time to perform the funeral rites," there were gasps as Yumiko's family looked at the water canteen, understanding what was in there. He didn't have containers he could store the ashes in, so he used their respective water canteens as 'urns.' "I couldn't get her back to the village, but I could do this, so I did."
Takuma then took out a package of Yumiko's personal effects he could fit in his backpack and placed her headband over the package. He tried to halt the tremble in his hand as he put the package in front of them, but his hands refused to stop shaking.
"Thank you for hosting us," said Takuma as he got up. "I'm sorry for disturbing you this late in the day…. I'm sorry for your loss."
The sobs from Yumiko's mother as Takuma walked out stayed with him for the rest of the day and beyond.
———
.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
Iruka watched Takuma bowing his head to Onikuma Yuko's family as he passed Yuko's ashes and personal effects to her family before heading out just like he had done with Yumiko's family and with Izuno Aya's family. Iruka had visited the families when he had returned and hadn't thought he'd be returning so soon.
By the time they exited the Onikuma clan compound, it was already dark.
"I'm going to use my break for this week to visit Dai's family," said Takuma.
Dai's family wasn't from the Hidden Leaf. Dai had come to the Hidden Leaf from his home when he was eleven after his academy graduation and had stayed ever since. Iruka wasn't sure if Dai's family had yet gotten the news of their son's death. Another department handled those responsibilities. Takuma could very well be the first time they would hear about their son's death.
Iruka stared at Takuma. Even now, he was in disbelief that Takuma had disposed of the bodies. With Raiden's and Susumu's lives at risk, he had left at the moment's notice without giving Takuma any instructions regarding what to do with the scene. In hindsight, he had expected Takuma to bury the bodies in rough graves, but for him to cremate the bodies as described by the proper field directives surprised Iruka. He knew many who would choose to bury in the same situation as it was safer than lighting fires that attracted attention.
"I'll come with you," said Iruka.
"No, it's okay. I'm sure the aftermath of the mission will force you to be busy. It won't be wise for you to leave the village while the investigation is ongoing," said Takuma, not looking at Iruka.
"Takuma… Dai was my teammate as well," said Iruka, feeling a bit insulted. Takuma remained silent. "What do you want me to say, Takuma? You won't even look at me," said Iruka.
Takuma snapped his head to Iruka, fixing him with a glare, and like trapped pressure suddenly released, he erupted, "YOU LEFT ME THERE ALONE!"
Iruka was once again startled, not because of the accusation— that was expected. However, he hadn't seen Takuma raising his voice like this and acting with such heat. The genin he had taken under his wing had been even-tempered, calm, and under control no matter what the situation.
"You left me there in favor of Shimura and Aburame! I was your team, NOT THEM!" Takuma yelled, frustrations rolling off of him. "Do you know how it felt to chop wood knowing that it'd be used to cremate my friends! Do you know how it feels to run through an unknown country with their ashes in my backpack, hiding in fear, looking over my shoulder every other moment in fear, not knowing when Hidden Frost shinobi might come and kill me! I had to do that while being injured the entire time! I'd be dead in a ditch if a simple three-man genin cell had found me— that's the condition I traveled through Land of Frost AND Land of Hot Waters!"
Takuma rubbed a hand over his face and temple.
"I… si-… Ir… I was— ugh!" Takuma started the sentence many times over before stopping and changing his word until he grew frustrated and kicked the ground.
"I'm sorry, Takuma," said Iruka. He knew if a similar situation presented itself in front of him, he would do it again— as long as people like Raiden and Susumu could be saved, he'd take the risk. But, he also recognized that it was completely unfair to Takuma, and he was justified to feel the anger, betrayal, and frustration he currently felt.
He had left Takuma in a place with his dead teammates. He could only imagine how that had affected Takuma.
And he knew what was about to come in the following few days was going to again hurt Takuma. The past few days hadn't been great for himself, and he had found himself doubting his ability to lead— he had made several misses during the mission that he shouldn't have made, and in some ways, those misses contributed to where they were today.
If only he had tried to smoothen out the friction between the teams and help them better work with each other… if only he had asked his team to maintain a formation during the exchange… if only he had asked Takuma to check the surroundings— maybe things would've turned out differently.
He needed time…
However, what had happened was all in the past. He could only look in the future— and Iruka wanted to salvage his relationship with Takuma. He needed to take care of his best genin and make sure that his decisions weren't going to affect Takuma's future.
Fortunately for him, he knew exactly the thing for it.
… He just needed to make sure his plans worked.
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There was no clock in the room, and Takuma didn't know how much time had passed until he was out of the building and saw the early evening sky. His genin escorts were no longer there, and Takuma couldn't care less. Instantly he felt tired from spending a day in a tiny room answering questions about a very unpleasant situation, bringing up memories he didn't want brought up. He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply to recollect himself.
"Takuma…"
He opened his eyes to find Iruka standing in front of him. A wave of emotion hit him, but Takuma clenched his fist to keep them from bursting out.
"I'm glad to see you fine, sir," Takuma straightened his back.
"Takuma… I can't say how relieved I was when I heard that you had reached the border safely," Iruka said as he walked to Takuma and put a hand on his shoulder. "Takuma, about the mis—"
"Would you accompany me somewhere, sir?" Takuma cut off Iruka and locked eyes with his team leader.
Iruka was silent for a moment before he stepped back and nodded.
Takuma nodded back, and they were off. Iruka followed Takuma's lead as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Not a word was exchanged between the two, but Takuma could feel Iruka's gaze on his back, but he ignored the man and picked up speed.
They soon entered a well-to-do residential district in the eastern part of the village. The homes in the district were known to attract upper-middle-class and lower-upper-class families looking to build or buy their family homes. Their destination was a home in that district.
[Taguchi]
"Takuma, why are we…" said Iruka, wide-eyed.
Taguchi… as in Taguchi Yumiko.
Takuma opened the front gate and stepped onto the property, snapping Iruka out of his daze. "Takuma, stop! What're you doing?" Iruka grabbed Takuma by the arm and stopped him.
"They lost their daughter; I'm going to pay my respects," said Takuma, not looking at Iruka. He pried Iruka's hand off his arm and walked inside towards the front door.
"Takuma, it's already late! We will come tomorrow," Iruka tried to convince Takuma.
"No, we have to do this now as soon as possible," Takuma said as he rang the doorbell. If not for the T&I Force interrogation, he would've headed here right after entering the Leaf village.
The door opened, and a young man, probably in his early twenties, opened the door. From the first look, Takuma saw the similarities between Yumiko and the young man. They had the same eyes and nose. It was Yumiko's elder brother.
"Yes?" asked Yumiko's elder brother, his eyes going to Takuma's headband. Then he noticed Iruka and recognized him. It seemed Iruka had come to pay his respects before.
"Good evening. I apologize for disturbing you so late. My name is Takuma. I was with your sister on the Land of Frost mission… May I come in?" asked Takuma.
Yumiko's elder brother seemed conflicted but nodded a moment later. They entered the house, and Yumiko's elder brother led Takuma to the room where they had established Yumiko's shrine. Takuma knelt in front of the shrine and gazed at Yumiko's picture. She was smiling in the picture. It was so much different from her serious demeanor during meetings and missions. Takuma closed his eyes, and instead of praying, he apologized to Yumiko, confessed his regret, told her how much he missed her… and simply talked with his teammate.
After a while, Takuma got up and left the shrine room to the living room where Yumiko's parents had joined her elder brother and Iruka. They didn't seem to be talking, and the vibe of the room was awkward with a sense of hostility in the air. As Takuma sat down, he noticed Yumiko's mother glaring at Iruka.
"… You say you were with Yumiko on the mission," Yumiko's father spoke. The older man looked tired, and every wrinkle on his face seemed sorrowful.
"Yes, sir."
"Are you the one who got left behind?"
Takuma looked at Yumiko's father and nodded.
"You who left got left behind made it home alive, but my daughter didn't. Why is that?" asked the mourning father.
"… I'm sorry, sir," was all Takuma could say to the grieving man.
A hush fell in the room before Yumiko's elder brother broke it, "If that was all, I'd ask you to leave. Today was a tiring day for us, and we'd like to rest."
Takuma nodded, but then he took out a water canteen from his backpack that he had been lugging around and placed it on the table. "The team's decision for me to travel alone allowed me to take time to perform the funeral rites," there were gasps as Yumiko's family looked at the water canteen, understanding what was in there. He didn't have containers he could store the ashes in, so he used their respective water canteens as 'urns.' "I couldn't get her back to the village, but I could do this, so I did."
Takuma then took out a package of Yumiko's personal effects he could fit in his backpack and placed her headband over the package. He tried to halt the tremble in his hand as he put the package in front of them, but his hands refused to stop shaking.
"Thank you for hosting us," said Takuma as he got up. "I'm sorry for disturbing you this late in the day…. I'm sorry for your loss."
The sobs from Yumiko's mother as Takuma walked out stayed with him for the rest of the day and beyond.
———
.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
Iruka watched Takuma bowing his head to Onikuma Yuko's family as he passed Yuko's ashes and personal effects to her family before heading out just like he had done with Yumiko's family and with Izuno Aya's family. Iruka had visited the families when he had returned and hadn't thought he'd be returning so soon.
By the time they exited the Onikuma clan compound, it was already dark.
"I'm going to use my break for this week to visit Dai's family," said Takuma.
Dai's family wasn't from the Hidden Leaf. Dai had come to the Hidden Leaf from his home when he was eleven after his academy graduation and had stayed ever since. Iruka wasn't sure if Dai's family had yet gotten the news of their son's death. Another department handled those responsibilities. Takuma could very well be the first time they would hear about their son's death.
Iruka stared at Takuma. Even now, he was in disbelief that Takuma had disposed of the bodies. With Raiden's and Susumu's lives at risk, he had left at the moment's notice without giving Takuma any instructions regarding what to do with the scene. In hindsight, he had expected Takuma to bury the bodies in rough graves, but for him to cremate the bodies as described by the proper field directives surprised Iruka. He knew many who would choose to bury in the same situation as it was safer than lighting fires that attracted attention.
"I'll come with you," said Iruka.
"No, it's okay. I'm sure the aftermath of the mission will force you to be busy. It won't be wise for you to leave the village while the investigation is ongoing," said Takuma, not looking at Iruka.
"Takuma… Dai was my teammate as well," said Iruka, feeling a bit insulted. Takuma remained silent. "What do you want me to say, Takuma? You won't even look at me," said Iruka.
Takuma snapped his head to Iruka, fixing him with a glare, and like trapped pressure suddenly released, he erupted, "YOU LEFT ME THERE ALONE!"
Iruka was once again startled, not because of the accusation— that was expected. However, he hadn't seen Takuma raising his voice like this and acting with such heat. The genin he had taken under his wing had been even-tempered, calm, and under control no matter what the situation.
"You left me there in favor of Shimura and Aburame! I was your team, NOT THEM!" Takuma yelled, frustrations rolling off of him. "Do you know how it felt to chop wood knowing that it'd be used to cremate my friends! Do you know how it feels to run through an unknown country with their ashes in my backpack, hiding in fear, looking over my shoulder every other moment in fear, not knowing when Hidden Frost shinobi might come and kill me! I had to do that while being injured the entire time! I'd be dead in a ditch if a simple three-man genin cell had found me— that's the condition I traveled through Land of Frost AND Land of Hot Waters!"
Takuma rubbed a hand over his face and temple.
"I… si-… Ir… I was— ugh!" Takuma started the sentence many times over before stopping and changing his word until he grew frustrated and kicked the ground.
"I'm sorry, Takuma," said Iruka. He knew if a similar situation presented itself in front of him, he would do it again— as long as people like Raiden and Susumu could be saved, he'd take the risk. But, he also recognized that it was completely unfair to Takuma, and he was justified to feel the anger, betrayal, and frustration he currently felt.
He had left Takuma in a place with his dead teammates. He could only imagine how that had affected Takuma.
And he knew what was about to come in the following few days was going to again hurt Takuma. The past few days hadn't been great for himself, and he had found himself doubting his ability to lead— he had made several misses during the mission that he shouldn't have made, and in some ways, those misses contributed to where they were today.
If only he had tried to smoothen out the friction between the teams and help them better work with each other… if only he had asked his team to maintain a formation during the exchange… if only he had asked Takuma to check the surroundings— maybe things would've turned out differently.
He needed time…
However, what had happened was all in the past. He could only look in the future— and Iruka wanted to salvage his relationship with Takuma. He needed to take care of his best genin and make sure that his decisions weren't going to affect Takuma's future.
Fortunately for him, he knew exactly the thing for it.
… He just needed to make sure his plans worked.
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Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_3.39 (098)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Takuma woke up to the sound of his doorbell. He glanced at the bedroom wall clock, telling him it was already eleven in the morning. He had returned late last night from his journey to Dai's parent's house, and he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep after returning home.
He pulled himself off the bed, grabbed his weapons pouch, and kunai in hand as he walked to the door while the doorbell rang again. He cracked a peek through the peephole, and his sleep vanished a level as he opened the door to Taro, Ai, Nenro, and Masaaki in front of his house.
"This is a surprise," Takuma said as he returned the kunai to the weapons pouch. "What are you guys doing here?" He could guess why they were here altogether. It was obvious.
"How are you?" asked Ai, worried as she looked him over.
"I'm fine," Takuma fully opened the door and stood aside. "Come inside."
All four entered the apartment, instantly crowding the small living room more than ever. Takuma had two chairs for his small dining table— there used to be a two-seater couch that Takuma had long ditched— as such, Nenro and Masaaki had to sit down on the floor while Ai and Taro took the two chairs. Takuma served them with refreshments before sitting down on the floor.
"This is the first time you guys are here, isn't it," said Takuma to his friends. He had been to Taro and the trio's home, but they hadn't been to his. "How do you like my humble abode?"
"You should've told us," Taro spoke. "It doesn't feel good to know about these sorts of things from the rotating gossip."
Takuma pursed his lips, feeling his friends' gazes on him. "I didn't have the time," he said. "I was in the village for a night before I was out again. I was going to tell you guys today."
"Did you have to leave so quickly? Where did you go?" asked Ai.
"I had to," Takuma said— he didn't answer the second question.
"… What happened?" Masaaki asked.
"The mission went wrong, people died." The particulars of the mission were under lock because of the international relations implications between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Frost, so he couldn't divulge the particulars to anyone, and he didn't want to. "The remaining team had to go ahead to minimize our casualties, and I was asked to follow, which I did. The injuries made the journey back home a hassle and took a lot of time… but other than that, the way back was uneventful."
Ai and Masaaki were worried while Nenro and Taro were searching.
"You all don't have to look at me like that," Takuma shrugged. "Things went south, but I'm here now, and the problem with the mission doesn't happen often— it was a C-rank mission, for god's sake. Worry about me when I'm doing B-rank missions; I'll dump all over you guys then."
They didn't laugh, but Takuma saw a smile or two of relief crack up on their faces.
"What is that?" Nenro pointed at the wall across him.
Takuma looked up at his information wall that detailed his Ring fights, combat records, notes on skills he was learning, some of his drug dealing records, and other things he needed to visually track.
"All kinds of things," said Takuma with a small smile. The notes were openly displayed, free for anyone in his house to read, but Takuma wasn't concerned. They were written in a combination of two 'otherworldly' languages that didn't exist in the world. He knew for a fact it was nigh impossible to decipher an unknown language— especially language as complex and fully formed as he was using. There was no known language to use as a reference or obvious picture references that could give meaning to a particular sentence. It was a dead language(s). It was another skill he could add to his repertoire as a creator/user of coded language, but for that to happen, he would need to teach the language to someone else, but that wasn't in Takuma's plan— a way to store information only accessible to him was a huge advantage.
"I don't recognize the language," Nenro said.
"That's the point. Don't worry about it. It's some stuff I'm working on. It helps me keep track of random things."
"You created a new language to keep track of… random stuff?"
Takuma shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do," he gave a nonsensical answer that seemed to make sense but didn't on a second thought. He didn't mind these four people finding some stuff about him that didn't make sense, except he didn't want to explain.
"Never let your guard down," Takuma suddenly said, making everyone take their eyes off the wall. "When you're outside, always be on the lookout— keep track of your surroundings. Maintain active communication; sound out abnormalities so your team is aware of them. Rely on your teammates, but never become dependent. Trust, but not blindly. Even if someone is your ally, if you don't know them personally, be conscious around them. You're responsible for yourself on the field, never forget that, even for a moment."
The room's vibe immediately turned grave as Takuma looked at them severely. He didn't want them to one day go out for a mission and not return. He was aware of the unavoidable risks if they continued to grow as shinobi and eventually got dangerous missions; however, if he could even remotely reduce the risks by making them aware, he would scream his words from rooftops.
"What are you going to do next? What did they say?" Taro asked.
"My chunin team lead is taking a break for some time, so I'm stuck to D-rank missions until he starts retaking C-rank team missions. I've to start Monday to safely make the monthly quota," Takuma sighed— he wanted a slightly longer break but had to work to not get penalized.
Ai frowned, "They aren't reclassifying the mission to a higher ranking?"
Takuma shook his head, "Not yet. It'll happen after they complete their investigation— it'll be a while before I see the effect of reclassification if it happens."
Because of how the mission had gone, and the ongoing investigation, the two C-rank missions that should've been added to Takuma's record were put on hold, which meant he was coming short of his mission quota. He had to work overtime to meet that quota. If the investigation went well, those two C-rank missions would be added later, or the classification might get elevated to more C-rank missions or even a B-rank mission— but who knew when that might be.
"Do you want me to talk to one of my chunin?" asked Nenro.
"No, I'll take it easy for a moment. I'll tell you when… Thanks," Takuma sighed.
The two weeks had been longer than he had expected and planned for before leaving the village. He had to return to his dealing in the village and get his usual life back on track.
… It was alright, he needed to work right now.
———
.
"I'm fine," Takuma told Maruboshi, who slightly cocked his head. "Everyone remotely aware of the mission has been asking how I am. I just answered if you wanted to know."
"But you are not… fine, are you?" Maruboshi replied. "Doesn't seem that way to me."
"Should I be smiling constantly so people would leave me alone?" asked Takuma, feeling the irritation bubbling up inside of him. He had gotten sick of random people who he had perhaps talked to once or twice coming up to him, all but demanding to know what had happened on the mission as if it was their birthright.
He looked at Maruboshi, and his half-glare softened as he audibly sighed. "I'm sorry, that was unwarranted. I… just," he sat down on the tree stump in the same training area they had met during Takuma was in the academy.
Maruboshi sat down on the grass in front of Takuma. "You do not have to apologize to me, child. I understand what you are feeling right now."
"Do you?"
Maruboshi stayed silent for a moment. "Unlike you, I was on a jonin team when I was a genin"— Takuma knew about that, Maruboshi had mentioned it in passing— "my teammates were as close to me as my blood sister, if not closer. My jonin teacher was strict, but he was closest to what I had to a big brother. The way I taught you during the year was majorly based on how he taught us…. Do you know where they're now?"
Takuma slowly shook his head. He could tell where Maruboshi was going, but the exactness of it was lingering out of his reach.
"They all are dead," Maruboshi stared right into Takuma's eyes. "They did not die one-by-one during their own missions or during the war. They all died on an inconsequential mission while our team was still operational. And they died due to me because I made a reckless decision— my teammates got wiped before I could move a finger, and my teacher had to sacrifice himself to allow me a chance to escape.
Do you know how close we had to be for a jonin to sacrifice himself for a genin? Closer than family."
Jonin were infinitely more valuable than genin. Everyone knew that. The jonin knew, the genin knew, and it universally understood that if the entire ship was sinking and there was no way to salvage the situation, the jonin's life was a priority— even if the rest of the team had to die, the jonin had to come out alive.
"Did you not ever think why I am still a genin?" asked Maruboshi.
Of course, Takuma always had that question in the back of his mind. But he never asked because it would be rude.
"… They held back your promotion because of your team's death?" Takuma took a guess.
"Would anyone still be a shinobi if the village kept them down with no future prospects? Especially at my age?"
Takuma shook his head.
"No, I would not have been. I have rejected promotions at least twice yearly for decades because I do not think I can lead shinobi on missions. I led my teammates to death once; I do not want to do it again," Maruboshi firmly grasped Takuma's shoulder. "But you are different, my child. You are bright, competent, and hardworking— the type of shinobi this village needs and deserves. You cannot get bogged down because of this mission. What happened was not your fault. You were not prepared for the mission that you faced. So do not blame yourself for their deaths."
Takuma closed his eyes and bowed his head. His heart felt like lead again.
"I can't get them out of my mind," Takuma held his head in his hands. "They're always there when I close my eyes."
"It's okay, it's okay," Maruboshi rubbed his arm. "What you're feeling right now is normal. Death of closed ones is not easy— it never was, it never will be."
"How do I get them out?" Takuma asked. Yumiko and Dai always came smiling, but they always changed to them being dead. He didn't want to think about them, but his mind betrayed him. It was as if they were etched behind his eyelids.
"The dead are remembered and survived through the living, Takuma," Maruboshi said. "You have to grieve… take it one day at a time. In my experience, you do not do anything special or different to cope, you just do. You just keep living and put one foot in front of the other. Everyone says time heals, but I not know if that is true—" Takuma looked up at Maruboshi— "but it does help you forget more often. Life will be good again… just in a different way."
"That sounds terrible," said Takuma, tears welling in his eyes.
Maruboshi hugged Takuma, "Death always is, my child."
———
.
"W-What… did you say?"
Takuma stared at Iruka sitting across from him with a baffled experience.
"Genin Takuma, your transfer out of the Genin Corp has been expedited and finalized," said Iruka as he placed a scroll on the table in front of Takuma. "You now fall under the directive authority of the Leaf Military Police Force… effective immediately."
"… What?"
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
He pulled himself off the bed, grabbed his weapons pouch, and kunai in hand as he walked to the door while the doorbell rang again. He cracked a peek through the peephole, and his sleep vanished a level as he opened the door to Taro, Ai, Nenro, and Masaaki in front of his house.
"This is a surprise," Takuma said as he returned the kunai to the weapons pouch. "What are you guys doing here?" He could guess why they were here altogether. It was obvious.
"How are you?" asked Ai, worried as she looked him over.
"I'm fine," Takuma fully opened the door and stood aside. "Come inside."
All four entered the apartment, instantly crowding the small living room more than ever. Takuma had two chairs for his small dining table— there used to be a two-seater couch that Takuma had long ditched— as such, Nenro and Masaaki had to sit down on the floor while Ai and Taro took the two chairs. Takuma served them with refreshments before sitting down on the floor.
"This is the first time you guys are here, isn't it," said Takuma to his friends. He had been to Taro and the trio's home, but they hadn't been to his. "How do you like my humble abode?"
"You should've told us," Taro spoke. "It doesn't feel good to know about these sorts of things from the rotating gossip."
Takuma pursed his lips, feeling his friends' gazes on him. "I didn't have the time," he said. "I was in the village for a night before I was out again. I was going to tell you guys today."
"Did you have to leave so quickly? Where did you go?" asked Ai.
"I had to," Takuma said— he didn't answer the second question.
"… What happened?" Masaaki asked.
"The mission went wrong, people died." The particulars of the mission were under lock because of the international relations implications between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Frost, so he couldn't divulge the particulars to anyone, and he didn't want to. "The remaining team had to go ahead to minimize our casualties, and I was asked to follow, which I did. The injuries made the journey back home a hassle and took a lot of time… but other than that, the way back was uneventful."
Ai and Masaaki were worried while Nenro and Taro were searching.
"You all don't have to look at me like that," Takuma shrugged. "Things went south, but I'm here now, and the problem with the mission doesn't happen often— it was a C-rank mission, for god's sake. Worry about me when I'm doing B-rank missions; I'll dump all over you guys then."
They didn't laugh, but Takuma saw a smile or two of relief crack up on their faces.
"What is that?" Nenro pointed at the wall across him.
Takuma looked up at his information wall that detailed his Ring fights, combat records, notes on skills he was learning, some of his drug dealing records, and other things he needed to visually track.
"All kinds of things," said Takuma with a small smile. The notes were openly displayed, free for anyone in his house to read, but Takuma wasn't concerned. They were written in a combination of two 'otherworldly' languages that didn't exist in the world. He knew for a fact it was nigh impossible to decipher an unknown language— especially language as complex and fully formed as he was using. There was no known language to use as a reference or obvious picture references that could give meaning to a particular sentence. It was a dead language(s). It was another skill he could add to his repertoire as a creator/user of coded language, but for that to happen, he would need to teach the language to someone else, but that wasn't in Takuma's plan— a way to store information only accessible to him was a huge advantage.
"I don't recognize the language," Nenro said.
"That's the point. Don't worry about it. It's some stuff I'm working on. It helps me keep track of random things."
"You created a new language to keep track of… random stuff?"
Takuma shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do," he gave a nonsensical answer that seemed to make sense but didn't on a second thought. He didn't mind these four people finding some stuff about him that didn't make sense, except he didn't want to explain.
"Never let your guard down," Takuma suddenly said, making everyone take their eyes off the wall. "When you're outside, always be on the lookout— keep track of your surroundings. Maintain active communication; sound out abnormalities so your team is aware of them. Rely on your teammates, but never become dependent. Trust, but not blindly. Even if someone is your ally, if you don't know them personally, be conscious around them. You're responsible for yourself on the field, never forget that, even for a moment."
The room's vibe immediately turned grave as Takuma looked at them severely. He didn't want them to one day go out for a mission and not return. He was aware of the unavoidable risks if they continued to grow as shinobi and eventually got dangerous missions; however, if he could even remotely reduce the risks by making them aware, he would scream his words from rooftops.
"What are you going to do next? What did they say?" Taro asked.
"My chunin team lead is taking a break for some time, so I'm stuck to D-rank missions until he starts retaking C-rank team missions. I've to start Monday to safely make the monthly quota," Takuma sighed— he wanted a slightly longer break but had to work to not get penalized.
Ai frowned, "They aren't reclassifying the mission to a higher ranking?"
Takuma shook his head, "Not yet. It'll happen after they complete their investigation— it'll be a while before I see the effect of reclassification if it happens."
Because of how the mission had gone, and the ongoing investigation, the two C-rank missions that should've been added to Takuma's record were put on hold, which meant he was coming short of his mission quota. He had to work overtime to meet that quota. If the investigation went well, those two C-rank missions would be added later, or the classification might get elevated to more C-rank missions or even a B-rank mission— but who knew when that might be.
"Do you want me to talk to one of my chunin?" asked Nenro.
"No, I'll take it easy for a moment. I'll tell you when… Thanks," Takuma sighed.
The two weeks had been longer than he had expected and planned for before leaving the village. He had to return to his dealing in the village and get his usual life back on track.
… It was alright, he needed to work right now.
———
.
"I'm fine," Takuma told Maruboshi, who slightly cocked his head. "Everyone remotely aware of the mission has been asking how I am. I just answered if you wanted to know."
"But you are not… fine, are you?" Maruboshi replied. "Doesn't seem that way to me."
"Should I be smiling constantly so people would leave me alone?" asked Takuma, feeling the irritation bubbling up inside of him. He had gotten sick of random people who he had perhaps talked to once or twice coming up to him, all but demanding to know what had happened on the mission as if it was their birthright.
He looked at Maruboshi, and his half-glare softened as he audibly sighed. "I'm sorry, that was unwarranted. I… just," he sat down on the tree stump in the same training area they had met during Takuma was in the academy.
Maruboshi sat down on the grass in front of Takuma. "You do not have to apologize to me, child. I understand what you are feeling right now."
"Do you?"
Maruboshi stayed silent for a moment. "Unlike you, I was on a jonin team when I was a genin"— Takuma knew about that, Maruboshi had mentioned it in passing— "my teammates were as close to me as my blood sister, if not closer. My jonin teacher was strict, but he was closest to what I had to a big brother. The way I taught you during the year was majorly based on how he taught us…. Do you know where they're now?"
Takuma slowly shook his head. He could tell where Maruboshi was going, but the exactness of it was lingering out of his reach.
"They all are dead," Maruboshi stared right into Takuma's eyes. "They did not die one-by-one during their own missions or during the war. They all died on an inconsequential mission while our team was still operational. And they died due to me because I made a reckless decision— my teammates got wiped before I could move a finger, and my teacher had to sacrifice himself to allow me a chance to escape.
Do you know how close we had to be for a jonin to sacrifice himself for a genin? Closer than family."
Jonin were infinitely more valuable than genin. Everyone knew that. The jonin knew, the genin knew, and it universally understood that if the entire ship was sinking and there was no way to salvage the situation, the jonin's life was a priority— even if the rest of the team had to die, the jonin had to come out alive.
"Did you not ever think why I am still a genin?" asked Maruboshi.
Of course, Takuma always had that question in the back of his mind. But he never asked because it would be rude.
"… They held back your promotion because of your team's death?" Takuma took a guess.
"Would anyone still be a shinobi if the village kept them down with no future prospects? Especially at my age?"
Takuma shook his head.
"No, I would not have been. I have rejected promotions at least twice yearly for decades because I do not think I can lead shinobi on missions. I led my teammates to death once; I do not want to do it again," Maruboshi firmly grasped Takuma's shoulder. "But you are different, my child. You are bright, competent, and hardworking— the type of shinobi this village needs and deserves. You cannot get bogged down because of this mission. What happened was not your fault. You were not prepared for the mission that you faced. So do not blame yourself for their deaths."
Takuma closed his eyes and bowed his head. His heart felt like lead again.
"I can't get them out of my mind," Takuma held his head in his hands. "They're always there when I close my eyes."
"It's okay, it's okay," Maruboshi rubbed his arm. "What you're feeling right now is normal. Death of closed ones is not easy— it never was, it never will be."
"How do I get them out?" Takuma asked. Yumiko and Dai always came smiling, but they always changed to them being dead. He didn't want to think about them, but his mind betrayed him. It was as if they were etched behind his eyelids.
"The dead are remembered and survived through the living, Takuma," Maruboshi said. "You have to grieve… take it one day at a time. In my experience, you do not do anything special or different to cope, you just do. You just keep living and put one foot in front of the other. Everyone says time heals, but I not know if that is true—" Takuma looked up at Maruboshi— "but it does help you forget more often. Life will be good again… just in a different way."
"That sounds terrible," said Takuma, tears welling in his eyes.
Maruboshi hugged Takuma, "Death always is, my child."
———
.
"W-What… did you say?"
Takuma stared at Iruka sitting across from him with a baffled experience.
"Genin Takuma, your transfer out of the Genin Corp has been expedited and finalized," said Iruka as he placed a scroll on the table in front of Takuma. "You now fall under the directive authority of the Leaf Military Police Force… effective immediately."
"… What?"
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My boy Takuma, top tier ring fighter, most sly of cons, the best dealer who ever did deal, has now been conscripted to the popo.
Let's pour one out for our boy.
Agreed. The occasional Uchiha interludes implied there was going to be shenanigans during the plot...but frankly Takuma was in no position to do squat about anything. Not even to know when things were going down until well after it was too late. He is, frankly, STILL in no position for any sort of personal intervention in the martial or deceptive sense...but being close to the MP's, and consequently to critical Uchiha members whom he could interfere in a social sense is rather different. Better, contact with him could come with minimal handwaving if only because while Takuma is nobody special, a non-Uchiha, particularly a green genin-corp nin getting transferred in just reeks of politics...and it probably is.
From there...well. The whole plot is a complicated mess with a bit too much ambiguity in who knows what and is manipulating who else between Danzo, Hiruzen, Uchiha Elders (who get ZERO screentime in the show and are a driving force of the plot here), and possibly Obito. But for two of the most critical figures in Itachi and Shisui? Having some sort of friend or sounding board (even one not necessarily in the 'know') would do a lot to help with their deeply tense and isolating positions (something that Danzo at least definitely abuses). And that's not even getting into the fact that Takuma is probably a political ploy on Hiruzen's part to force the reintegration of the Uchiha with their 'everyday' Konohan comrades. It's too obvious for Danzo to be trying to swing it as an insult, and the only other figure with the kind of clout to make the UMP accept an outside transfer is the Hokage. The plan there might be to defuse tensions by winning over the younger Uchiha generation, most of whom are in the UMP. The Elders might remain obstinate assholes, but they aren't accomplishing anything without the rest of the Clans support, and that's a lot harder to get without the isolation from the rest of the Village that is their separated district and their traditional role as the police (who don't engage much beyond their professional capacity) creating an echo-chamber that the Elder's can fill with their own voices.
From there...well. The whole plot is a complicated mess with a bit too much ambiguity in who knows what and is manipulating who else between Danzo, Hiruzen, Uchiha Elders (who get ZERO screentime in the show and are a driving force of the plot here), and possibly Obito. But for two of the most critical figures in Itachi and Shisui? Having some sort of friend or sounding board (even one not necessarily in the 'know') would do a lot to help with their deeply tense and isolating positions (something that Danzo at least definitely abuses). And that's not even getting into the fact that Takuma is probably a political ploy on Hiruzen's part to force the reintegration of the Uchiha with their 'everyday' Konohan comrades. It's too obvious for Danzo to be trying to swing it as an insult, and the only other figure with the kind of clout to make the UMP accept an outside transfer is the Hokage. The plan there might be to defuse tensions by winning over the younger Uchiha generation, most of whom are in the UMP. The Elders might remain obstinate assholes, but they aren't accomplishing anything without the rest of the Clans support, and that's a lot harder to get without the isolation from the rest of the Village that is their separated district and their traditional role as the police (who don't engage much beyond their professional capacity) creating an echo-chamber that the Elder's can fill with their own voices.
- Location
- USA
Oh wow, Iruka probably just made Takuma's life so much harder.
Good intentions and all that.
He is f*cked!
Good intentions and all that.
- Surrounded by Uchiha (who will be ostracized soon)
- Takuma is a Underground Pit fighter. And now a Cop. Surrounded by people who's job it is to catch illegal activity & have super eyes.
- Takuma sells weed illegally. Once again, he's a cop. Pretty sure there are Inuzuka in the Force too, who could smell him.
- Any secret he has is a simple Sharingan Genjutsu away if they get suspicious of him! (Example: spotting cuts and injuries from Pit fights)
He is f*cked!
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
The pit is know by Anbu and likely are know by the Uchiha, it is allowed to exist because it provides something to konoha even if its filling a power vacum.
Weed is a thing he would just stop, he do not need the money so is better to rotate the regulars he have to his fleecer and wash his ands out of it.
The main problem is the fact the uchiha are about to be purged of he do not butterfly it somehow ( it happened when sasuke was 8 wich would make so when takuma is 12 i think) , this means he would likely to try survive the organizational purge the massacre have and the chaos that would be filling the depleted police ranks.
- Location
- USA
Huh, that makes me think what are the odds that Takuma uses the purge to promote all the way to Police Chief?
One of the best positions of power in the village, plenty of mission points most likely, and plenty of time to train (since he wouldn't be travelling outside on missions)
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
Not likely, for takuma life is sufering, chances are the hokage would start to transfer anbu to fill the ranks wich would leave the ones not killed on itachi and Danzo rampage as trainer for police operations, and takuma specifically on a particular shitty situation, this would mean he would be able to abuse the police resources to ge good enought to be called a chunin trough wich would likely still be fast enough so he can be a elite jounin at the time Shippuden specifically rools in, likely as an Anbu.
I hope it isn't a consistent crudfall as that gets boring and is genuinely nonsensical.
Pit fight sure, the weed thing initially was weird as hell and makes so little sense in the context I don't know why it was there. Talking of which
Also hy is weed illegal? Why would it be illegal in pre-atomic era fantasy Japan? In Japan it wasn't made illegal until 1945 post ww2 under the American occupatio. Maybe frowned upon, but illegal makes little sense. Maybe opium would have made sense?
Pit fight sure, the weed thing initially was weird as hell and makes so little sense in the context I don't know why it was there. Talking of which
Also hy is weed illegal? Why would it be illegal in pre-atomic era fantasy Japan? In Japan it wasn't made illegal until 1945 post ww2 under the American occupatio. Maybe frowned upon, but illegal makes little sense. Maybe opium would have made sense?
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Didn't see this coming but what did get Takuma transferred specifically tho? Hyped to read more!
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
The fact he basically was good enough of an investigator that break the false flag operation.