Nice fic. But feels a bit too "realistic". That is some things not making sence.
1. Criminal underworld. I get that crime is everpresent but this is shinobi village, one of Great Five. And we have some gangs with ninga members openly roaming streets and smugling in and out of village? Come on this level of security breach is not even funny. With such crappy security invasions like crunin exam one will be monthly occasion. All this "criminals" would have been rolled up as soon as single ninga failed mission from drag abuse or ANBU learned thet ninja trained goons smugling something from village. Yamanaka and Uchihas will get every single name and deal with them. All this crime can be Root plants but if it reached such scale Danzo would have an "assident" or downsized operations.
2. I get that civilian ninja theated worse then clan one. But such system mean civilian born shinoby ceiling in weaksause chunin. With such crappy training and expensive jutsus no one can get to jonin. Of couse it can explaine why Mizuki turned traitor but then why only he(fine there was guy with lighsaber but still)? I think there would be dozens traitors and defectors a month if enemy promised desent training and some jutsus. TI and ANBU have to consist of 30% of ninja polulation to prevent it, but then who is doing missions?
Shirakumo frowned. "There shouldn't be a need to insult her and her clan… It's unsightly."
"I like it," Anko smiled. "A shinobi needs to maintain calm during battle. He riled her up, and she is clearly falling for it… But I don't know if it was wise to do it to Kameko."
Toridasu glanced at Anko and then at Kameko. "A Taketori, is she?"
"Yes."
———
.
Takuma took a step back when he saw Kameko's sword hum dangerously. He didn't need to be told that he needed to avoid getting cut from that. It was bad that he was no longer scared of bladed weapons like swords from his time Ring—he needed to feel the fear to keep himself safe. Fear kept him on his toes.
Kameko charged at him with her sword. Takuma equipped six of his eight with kunai and left two free for other uses.
He could immediately tell the difference in her. She was clearly more aggressive than before, and her sword became sharper. Not the blade, but the movements; her strikes were becoming tighter, faster, flowing through the air, cutting through it as though no resistance existed for the sword.
Takuma might have insulted her sword, but it was mesmerizing.
Kameko gave Takuma a chase. Her footwork worked in conjunction with her arms as she slashed and stabbed at Takuma, who jumped around her, using his entire body and his tentacles to keep her sword away from her. With every sword strike, she chipped away at the tentacles. Not even the kunai worked as the chakra around the sword disturbed the integrity of the tentacle, taking little sips of water from the tentacles.
This was just like his spar against Okubo Momoe. Eight Tentacles was a bad fit against kenjutsu users.
Her sword was like his augmentations, but unlike him, who expunged his chakra outwards to create an outward-going force, her chakra stuck to the sword, vibrating at high speeds to create a razor edge, and from observations, it increased the sword's range by an amount.
With her non-stop aggressiveness, raging offense, it was difficult to judge that invisible range.
Perhaps he was wrong to anger her.
She was skilled.
But, that wasn't enough.
———
.
"The Taketori sword. Even in the hands of a youngster like her, it's deadly as ever," said Toridasu, fanning himself with a folding hand fan.
"She is apparently the most talented in her generation," Anko commented.
"Oh? Did she say that herself? Isn't that touting one's own horn?"
Anko shook her head. "Her father wrote me a letter."
"That would've been embarrassing for Genin Kameko."
"It would be if I told her," Anko smiled.
The Taketori clan was one of the premier clans who had developed a style of deadly kenjutsu. The Taketori sword was a sword of swiftness and efficiency. They had existed since the pre-Hidden Villages Warring Eras and had developed their sword on the battlefield.
The Taketori ideal was pure offense—discarding everything that hindered the sword's destructive capabilities and refining the remaining till the sword achieved its most deadly form.
Takuma's offense was fast-paced, but Kameko's was on the next level. Her sword sliced through the air, every strike with the sole intention to draw blood. Takuma used force to push Kameko back, but she used sheer speed and finesse to leave him on choice to retreat as anything else would have him come in the blade's trajectory.
Kameko raised her sword high up and swung it down for a sharp cutter of wind to fly out towards Takuma, who hadn't stopped moving on his legs since he had insulted her. He hadn't been given a moment's rest. And as the wind cutter flew towards him, he slid under it on his knees, bending his torso backward as though the wind cutter was a limbo pole.
"A wind affinity. Excellent for kenjutsu," said Shirakumo. "It seems Taketori's future is going to be stable."
Possessing an affinity towards the wind or lightning nature transformation was highly desirable for shinobi pursuing the kenjutsu as they had the best compatibility with blade weapons.
"That said, these two are from the same batch?" asked Shirakumo.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Anko said.
"Just a thought about how people from the same batch can differ in just a few years. They have been shinobi for the same duration… but the difference in experience is plenty clear."
———
.
'Why can't I hit him!?'
Kameko gritted her teeth as she sheathed her sword, built chakra into the blade, and unleashed a strong and wide wind cutter as she unsheathed the blade with a wide swing.
She ran towards Takuma after unleashing the wind cutter. And as she expected, Takuma ducked under the cutter, and other than small cuts on his arms that he used to protect his face, he left uninjured. Knowing this would happen, Kameko unleashed a vertical wind cutter, but Takuma rolled away without even looking at the wind cutter.
She had been bombarding him with attacks, but not a single one had hit him.
It was getting frustrating.
She released two more wind cutters, disregarding pacing her chakra consumption.
Takuma weaved hand seals and disappeared into the ground.
Her senses were set on fire as she looked around everywhere in search of where Takuma would appear from the ground. She heard the ground crack, and she immediately dashed to the spot. Kameko switched from her wind cutter to the vibrating edge as she got into close range.
As she was about to slash her sword down, a figure appeared in her peripheral vision. There was no sound or any other indication that someone was behind her until she saw them. The self-preservation kicked in, and Kameko changed her target; she turned to slash at the new target, which turned out to be Takuma.
"Huh?"
Her sword went through Takuma clean without any resistance because there was nothing corporeal to cut. Takuma disappeared like he never existed.
'Clone Jutsu!?'
Kameko's heart leaped in her chest as she turned back only to be slammed with pain. She looked down to see a gash in her side. It was a mistake to give her wound attention as she felt a powerful punch assault her face. One moment, she was standing; the next moment, she was on the ground. The air was knocked out of her lungs, leaving her breathless. Once again, she was reminded that Takuma knew how to use chakra augmentations.
Her vision was blurry, her ears rang, and she felt the strong urge to empty her stomach. The pain in her sides was actually the one thing that held her together as she got up. She didn't expect to get up; especially not being allowed to grab her sword.
Something was wrong.
Ding!
Her swimming vision settled, but as she regained focus, her sight was filled with dozens upon dozens of Takuma surrounding her.
She drew on her sword but found her body to be bound by paralysis. The more she struggled, the more her body felt like stone.
Then, from out of nowhere, she felt herself locked in a rear naked choke hold. And her paralysis didn't allow her to get out of it. Within seconds, she felt herself go faint, and before she went unconscious, a few words hit her ears as the dozens of Takuma disappeared as though they never existed and she felt control return back to her, but it was already too late.
"I will work with you, Taketori Kameko. I will give you at least that…"
———
.
Takuma let Kameko go after she went limp in his grasp. She fell down to the ground, and he stepped back. Immediately, two people came up with a stretcher to carry her off to presumably the medical house for the treatment.
"Good fight, come on, let's get you treated," said one of the people helping Kameko on the stretcher.
He had only left a gash in her side, and with iryo-nin, that was but a light scratch. He was injured too, but they were essentially inconsequential that even he could treat on his own. It felt good not to come out with a fight with critical injuries.
"Thanks, you guys go ahead; I will be right there," he said.
The man glanced at Anko and the two jonin walking towards them before nodding. He made sure Takuma knew the location of the medical house and then took an unconscious Kameko away.
"You're on the team, that's for sure," said Anko.
"I'm glad you liked the performance," said Takuma.
He looked at Toridasu and Shirakumo and introduced himself to the latter.
"I followed the Narcotics Taskforce's work in the Police Force. It was quite impressive," said Shirakumo.
"It was a team effort, sir," Takuma replied.
"You created such a hubbub upon your arrival, Genin Takuma. I hope this won't become a regular thing around here," said Toridasu, fanning himself. "Though some excitement here and there is always welcome," he laughed 'hohoho' like Santa.
"I came here to do my duty, sir. I will do that; anything other than that is just a bonus," said Takuma. "Now, if you will excuse me. I shall get myself treated."
As Takuma left, the two jonin and Anko followed him with their eyes.
"What do you think he will do now?" asked Toridasu.
Shirakumo replied, "If he's smart, he will take care of the situation as soon as possible," he turned to Anko, "and if he doesn't, you will have a problem."
Anko shrugged with a grin on her face.
"If they don't get along, I will make it so they won't have a choice but to get along or their lives would be miserable the entire time they are here," she said.
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When Kameko opened her eyes on a bed in the medical house, she found Takuma sitting at her bedside, reading a scroll. He looked up from his scroll at her.
"You're awake and fairly quickly at that. How are you feeling?" he asked.
She narrowed her eyes, showing her displeasure. "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you to wake up so we can have a chat."
"I don't have anything to say to you."
"Well, I do, and you will listen because I will only say this here," said Takuma; something in his demeanor told her that she should listen. "I won, so according to the bet, we will be working on the same team…"
Kameko bit the inside of her cheek and clenched her fists. She sat up on her bed to be on the same level as Takuma.
"So, what? You're here to gloat about it?" she spat.
"… but I don't want there to be bad blood between us, so I'm here to dispel the animosity between us for the sake of the team. I don't want to spend my time here locking horns with you. Therefore, I suggest we make peace. And as a token of my intention, I will forgo the two months of my tasks we decided for your punishment."
Kameko stayed silent. It was clear from the look in her eyes that she was suspicious of Takuma.
Takuma stood up and bowed to Kameko. "I apologize for bad mouthing you and your clan during the fight. I didn't mean any of that; it was simply a tactic to throw you off your calm. Your sword was dangerous enough that I had to resort to other tactics."
"So, we are just supposed to become friends now?" asked Kameko, scoffing.
"Not really," Takuma shrugged. "Honestly speaking, I'm not interested in becoming friends with you. All I'm proposing is that we treat each other as professionally as we can. We don't need to be friends to functionally operate as teammates. I simply don't wish for unnecessary hostility."
Takuma stood up and rolled up his scroll.
"I have said my piece. It's up to you if you wish to be civil with me; my peace offering will hold even either way. Rest well, I will see you tomorrow," he said before taking his leave.
Kameko dropped back to the bed and sighed as she stared at the ceiling, thinking.
———
.
"Huh, I thought she would give me a reply," Takuma muttered as he exited the building.
Barely an hour had passed since the fight. It was a strange feeling—the fight was akin to a Ring fight, and he usually had those in the late evening, but today, the day had barely started.
"I should go talk to Anko," he muttered.
"I'm here."
Takuma flinched and looked to the side to see Anko leaning against the wall. She waved to him as she walked to him. "Yo, that was a good fight. Chakra Augmentation, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Water Release, Earth Release—that's a good amount of stuff in your repertoire. I must say I'm liking you more and more as a member of my team."
Takuma smiled. "So, what do you think? How did I do?"
"Well, if you are asking," Anko hummed. "You wasted too much time at the start. If you had planned it better, you could've ended the fight without using the genjutsu. You only hit her with a couple of augmented strikes, and those hurt her enough to make her not risk being close to you, even with a sword in hand. You heavily underutilized those and let her get in the cuts and knicks she did."
Takuma lifted his hand and looked at his fist.
"It's more like I can't utilize the chakra augmentation," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"I made this chakra augmentation on my own—"
"You created it on your own!?"
Takuma laughed and waved Anko's surprise down. "It's not that impressive." He explained the base concept of how he used to overload the chakra adhesion (used for wall-sticking) to create power by expunging the chakra outwards. "Because I don't have any experience in jutsu creation, and I was told once by someone that the base concept itself was flawed from an augmentation perspective, the use-case is quite restrictive.
"My augmentation has multiple variables I have to consider with every strike. Whenever I hit someone with an augmented strike, I experience a knockback recoil. I have long gotten used to it, but each recoil makes me slow down just a bit, but it's enough that I have to be mindful, or I can put myself at a disadvantage. I have to consider if I'm using a punch, a palm strike, a kick, what kind of kick, or if I'm using my elbow or knee; then I have to consider my opponent, where am I hitting them, how much force can they shrug off, and because of the recoil I have to think about the follow-up—if I want a quick successive attack then I need a lower recoil to make the transition seamless, but if I can afford a moment of pause, I can go for a heavy hit.
"Moreover, the techniques' demand of control itself is a problem. In the start, I used to break the bones in my arms whenever I used the augmentation recklessly." He looked at his hand. "I have fractured my knuckles, wrist, and fingers more times than I can remember. I have gotten better through experience, but the flaws in the technique that caused the injuries in the first place still remain. I can't go above a certain power limit, or I would injure myself."
He looked at Anko.
"Every augmentation is a risk. I have to mentally and instinctually calculate all of it to land a proper punch. If I didn't need to, every attack of mine would've been augmented—I have the chakra for it. I know that if I tried, I could've shattered Kameko's jaw in one shot or caused heavy internal injuries in her abdomen, or killed her if I placed my hits properly on a vital—in return, however, I would've lost my arm. From a certain standpoint, a kill for a broken arm doesn't sound bad, but that trade-off is immensely risky."
Iryo-jutsu was miraculous, but it couldn't solve everything. A broken arm not treated quickly could get complicated enough that amputation was the only choice.
"Sounds dangerous," Anko said as they walked through the camp. "If it's so dangerous, why do you still use it?"
Takuma had only one answer to the question. "Because it makes me dangerous. When they realize that I can hit that hard, they become hyper-conscious of it. There's fear in their eyes, caution in their movement, hesitation in their intentions." Takuma didn't realize that there was a grin on his face. "And flawed doesn't mean useless; I figured a couple of things that work around it."
He removed two kunai from his pouch and pointed at a nearby tree.
"Watch," he said.
Takuma threw the two kunai one-at-a-time at the kunai.
"The second one was faster?" Anko commented.
"Let's see, shall we?"
They walked to the tree and saw that the first kunai was barely a quarter of its length into the thick tree bark, but the second kunai was more than halfway into the tree.
"It's brutish, but everything has its uses," he said.
Takuma had figured out that he could propel the kunai faster and stronger by expunging chakra behind the kunai a moment before it left his hand. Force was a product of mass and acceleration; Takuma increased the acceleration with his augmentation technique and created a sharp jump in force. In return, he sacrificed accuracy, so he could only use it at close range or when he had extra time to aim.
"You used it against Kameko, didn't you," asked Anko, unsure if her guess was correct.
Takuma nodded.
"I don't think it's particularly impressive, but I can see it having its uses," she said. "Would improving chakra control improve your augmentations?"
"Improving chakra control improves everything, ma'am," Takuma chuckled.
"Anko," she reminded him.
"Yes, my apologies," he replied. "But it's not like I haven't worked on chakra control." He trained chakra control on a regular basis. But it was also true that he hadn't seen improvement in his control recently.
"I don't know what method you used, but you haven't used mine," she said.
"Your methods?"
Takuma didn't know why, but seeing the glint in Anko's eyes as she coyly smiled sent alarm bells in his mind. Something in him told him otherwise, but he still asked, "Will they help improve my chakra control?" If his improved his chakra control, his abilities all-round would improve.
"Of course, but it might be tough; if you agree now, I won't accept complaints later."
Takuma's fingers twitched. He was wondering what kind of training Anko was talking about. Her behavior was tingling his instincts; the last time he had felt like this was with Maruboshi, who had put him through his 'basic training' during the academy. He had hated every second of the training because of how tough it was.
Takuma trained every day, but he didn't particularly enjoy it. Training was a way to grow stronger; as such, he did it every day.
'Maybe I should decline...'
"My methods are actually my teacher's special methods," she said.
Anko's eyes gained a particular look as though she was testing him, observing his every expression.
Usually, Takuma would notice the change, but the moment he heard that Anko's methods were her teacher's methods, his answer was decided, and he replied as enthusiastically as possible.
"I will take your offer, thank you!"
Takuma, of course, knew who her teacher was. Even if he hadn't read the source material, after living in the Hidden Leaf for as long as he had, he knew Mitarashi Anko and her teacher, Orochimaru of the Snake, one of the Legendary Sannin. One of Hidden Leaf's most wanted, currently rogue missing-nin, one of the shinobi with the highest bounty on their heads.
The man was terrible— terrible, but great. Anko was a chunin, so he figured she would have some more advanced training methods, but Orochimaru simply gave her more credibility.
Anko looked stunned for a moment before she laughed and slapped Takuma on his shoulder a couple of times.
"You're an interesting guy!" she said. "I will teach you, and I will teach you good!"
Takuma felt good. He had showcased his ability to the entire camp and had managed to build a good rapport with his chunin lead. It was not bad for a day's work.
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Lunchtime soon arrived, and Takuma lined up at the mess hall with a tray to get his food. As he was waiting in the line, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked back to see the towering figure of Daiki standing behind him with a tray that looked tiny in his large hands,
"I enjoyed the fight in the morning," smiled Daiki.
"I'm glad you did," Takuma replied as the line moved up.
"I was thoroughly impressed by how you combated Miss Kameko. We spar regularly, and I'm always perplexed about how to overcome that sword of hers. The way you keep moving around the field to avoid her attacks was inspiring; it's a feat of footwork not to stumble in the face of an unending assault," said Daiki.
"Let's just say not getting cut is enough motivation not to make a mistake."
"On the contrary, don't you think the pressure would push people to make mistakes?"
Takuma glanced back at Daiki. "Do you know what separates good fighters from great ones? The ability to operate under pressure. Between the two people possessing the same combat level, the one able to function the same under pressure will always be superior."
His experience in the Ring had taught him that. Many fighters would buckle under the pressure when they had a long win streak on the line, when a lot of money was riding on them in the betting pools, or when they were scheduled for a fight on a special fight night.
Takuma preferred the pressure.
It was deeply uncomfortable, but that's what kept him on the thin line.
"Well said," Daiki nodded.
"So what does Team-9 do on a daily basis?" asked Takuma. In his attempt to build a good rapport with Anko by making himself look like a desirable shinobi, he had forgotten to ask her what they did in the camp.
"Most days, not much. Each team only gets deployed for missions once, at most twice a month. When we aren't preparing for missions, the day is usually slow. If you don't have patrol, guard, or other duties, you are usually free to do anything unless the team leader has something else planned for you…. Life at Camp Banana is slow until it's not."
"Is that so," Takuma hummed. From the looks of it, they had ample free time, which was great for Takuma as he needed free time to go through and practice his newly bought genjutsu. "Well, Anko offered to train, so I guess I will have something to go to every day," he said.
"E-Eh," Daiko cleared his throat, "training with Anko? Did you, by chance, take her up on the offer?"
"Of course, it's not every day one gets to train under a chunin," said Takuma. He had been training genjutsu under a jonin for almost a year, but that didn't make him desensitized to guidance from chunin.
"Yes, yes, of course," Daiki's eyebrow twitched.
"Would you like to join me for the training?" Takuma offered. "I would also like to train with everyone so I can familiarize myself with how everyone operates. I'm sure Anko wouldn't mind. It would be good for our teamwork."
"A-Ah, I appreciate the offer, Takuma. I truly do. But I very much prefer to train alone," said Daiki.
Takuma was disappointed, but he understood that everyone had their own methods.
"No worries, the invitation will remain open; you can join me anytime."
Both of them got their food and searched for a place to sit. The serving area of the Mess was a huge tent placed adjacent to a building used as the kitchen.
"There's space there, let's go," Takuma pointed to a table with people that had two chairs free. He wanted to converse and introduce himself to people outside his team.
Daiki placed a hand on Takuma's shoulder and shook his head. "Let's go there," he pointed at an empty table in the corner of the tent.
Takuma noticed Daiki's expression and didn't argue. But when they sat down, Takuma asked the question, "May I ask why?"
"Because our chunin lead is Anko," Daiki said as he poked his food with the chopsticks.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," said Takuma.
"Most people here aren't fond of Anko," Daiki said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's…. are you aware of her jonin teacher?"
Takuma didn't need to be told any further.
"Orochimaru, yes, I know," he said, but unlike Daiki, he didn't lower his voice. "No need to say anymore, I understand. It's fucking stupid behavior by a bunch of mindless sheeple." He didn't bother looking back to see if anyone was listening to him.
He had grown in the era of social media. In the chronically online world, the concept of 'innocent until proven guilty' didn't exist, and people operated on frontier justice—misinformation could ruin a person's life because the internet full of people hiding behind their screens and handles assumed that everything on the internet was true and deem the person guilty even if they were not. Of course, not all victims of internet frontier justice were innocent, and the justice system wasn't perfect, but the moronic people with brains full of internet rot would jump on pouring their hate on a person from the second they saw that resembled damning evidence. The stupidity could be quelled by researching for a few minutes, but no one was willing to do that much before making up their minds.
This world didn't have the internet, and if someone wanted to say something brain-dead, they could do so but, in turn, get punched in the face for it.
Takuma loved that.
And while he didn't mind people being suspicious of a criminal's friends and acquaintances—he, too, would be—but much time had passed since Orochimaru was declared a rogue, and Anko was declared innocent of any involvement in his dealings. But if people still thought that she was to blame…
"Fuck 'em all. Let's eat," said Takuma. "After this, maybe we can go meet Iori? I wasn't able to talk to her yesterday."
"That's a fine plan," Daiki nodded.
———
.
After the meal, Takuma and Daiki went to meet Iori.
"Perhaps I should have coordinated with everyone so we could have lunch together," said Takuma.
"Miss Iori doesn't usually partake in lunch. You will only see her in the Mess during breakfast and the evening supper. She's a light eater." Daiki took out a pocket watch, which looked equally tiny in his hand as everything else. "I believe she will be awake by now."
"By now?"
It was already past noon. Takuma, in his previous life, had times when he considered opening his eyes before noon as blasphemy, but all the people were active shinobi on a battlefront. He had woken up at six in the morning and was going to do so every day unless he had night guard duty.
"Miss Iori's sleep schedule is unusual. She sleeps four to five hours twice, so while it may appear as though she is lazy, Miss Iori may as well be the hardest worker in this entire camp."
"If I remember correctly, she is a fuinjutsu specialist," Takuma looked at Daiki.
"Indeed. Miss Iori is an incredibly knowledgeable person with great skill when it comes to the sealing arts. Anko was quite happy with Miss Iori's assignment to the team."
Takuma nodded. A fuin-nin had great utility, and were one of the most sought after shinobi for their services—moreover, they earned the same if not more than iryo-nin if they were good at their craft.
"Speaking of our teammates, it's shameful on my part, but I never got the name of our final teammate," said Takuma. Anko's Team-9 had five genin— Takuma, Kameko, Daiki, Iori, and the final unnamed one.
"Ah, Miss Rikku. She was there in the morning to witness the fight."
"I couldn't've recognized her," said Takuma. "What is she like?"
"Miss Rikku… is stubborn. She means well, but she can be quite stalwart when it comes to her own opinion. There's no gray—only black and white. But do not worry, she is a straightforward kunoichi who doesn't like, as she would put it, 'bullshit'— so as long as you don't do that, I believe both of you will get along splendidly."
"And what is this 'bullshit' she doesn't like?"
Daiki scratched his cheek. "That I believe you will understand when you meet her," he said.
Takuma quirked his brow before shrugging.
They reached the girl's house, and unlike Anko, who shouted in the streets, Daiki properly knocked on the door. The one who opened the door was Iori. Unlike yesterday, when the dark circles were as dark as charcoal, today they were lighter and seemed as though she had gotten some well-needed sleep.
Iori smiled upon seeing Takuma,
"It's nice to meet you, Takuma. I apologize for yesterday; I was simply not in the mental and physical condition to greet you properly," she said.
"Please, there's no need for apologies. I heard from Daiki that your sleep schedule is unique. May I ask why?"
"To be honest, I don't know. It somehow ended up like that when I came here. I'm trying to get it back to normal, but there's this entire thing where I work better at night," she sighed, "they give me too much work. I'm going to complain about it to Anko."
"Your work?" he asked.
"Primarily helping the quartermaster with the production of explosive tags," she said. "It's tough and tiring work, but in return, I don't have to do any of the usual duties. It's probably not a great trade-off, but hey, at least I get some serious practice."
According to Iori, Camp Banana got the majority of its supplies from the village, but because they had fuin-nin and iryo-nin on site, the supplies included raw materials to turn into supplies they desired, depending on demand.
"I wasn't there to watch the fight, but congratulations on winning. I'm impressed that you were able to win against Kameko." Iori giggled as she pointed back to the house. "She's in there sulking. It's the second time I saw her like this…. Would you like to talk to her?"
Takuma shook his head. "I already talked to her in the medical house…. However, I would like to meet Rikku if she's available. I haven't been able to introduce myself."
"Ah, Rikku is out training. Maybe you can find her during the dinner service?" she said.
"If I'm not mistaken, Rikku is a combat-forward shinobi. Seeing that she's training must mean she takes her job quite seriously," said Takuma.
Takuma knew a lot of people who didn't train regularly.
Iori laughed. "That she does. But it's more like she can't stand still and needs to use up all the energy in her small package."
Daiki smiled as he nodded.
It was little, but Takuma was able to imagine his final teammate. And he was able to properly introduce himself to three of his teammates even if one of them didn't like him much (the feeling was mutual).
Only one remained.
However, Takuma wasn't able to meet Rikku that day.
———
.
Early in the morning, Takuma stood in a farm field. It was six-thirty in the morning; the sun was up, but the air was chilly. Being a resident of the Hidden Leaf, which had a much warmer climate, Takuma felt the cold seep into his body. He had packed some warm clothes, but because he was training, he only wore a shirt and shorts.
Standing in front of him was Anko, dressed in a similar fashion, but unlike him, the cold didn't seem to bother her. She had a smile on her face and had her arms folded in front of her.
"Are you ready for training, Takuma?" she said.
"As ready as I ever will be," he replied.
"Good."
Anko leaned down and picked up something beside her, and threw it towards him. As it flew towards him, Takuma recognized it to be an armor-vest along with something else that he wasn't able to point. Before he could guess, the armor vest landed on the ground near his feet.
Thud.
"Hmm?" The sound was wrong.
Takuma leaned down to pick the vest up but wasn't able to because it was unexpectedly heavy. As he put in more strength, his eyes widened, as his arms strained as he lifted the vest.
And he realized what Anko meant by giving him the vest.
"No way, you gotta be kidding me," he said to her.
"Step-One, you will not remove those as long as you're awake and not on missions," she said.
Takuma looked down, and beside the vest, Anko had thrown what were clearly ankle and wrist weights.
Before they even covered an hour of training, Takuma took back what he said about being ready.
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Takuma wheezed as he ran around the farm with the weighted vest, ankle and wrist weights that were more like demons trying to pull him into hell than training aids. A burning and painful amount of lactic acid had built up in his muscles, and after a mere two hours of running with the weights on his body, he was finding it hard to lift his legs and swing his arms. He could sprint for a good chunk of the day, but the weights had slashed all of that to a less than two hours.
He was so slow that while he was trying his level best to run, Anko was keeping up with a light jog. She had been supporting (prodding) him to keep going despite his request for breaks. She had refused all of his requests other than his requests for water.
"Why are we doing this?" asked Takuma, unable to contain the whining tone.
"Finally. I was expecting to get the question an hour ago. You endured beyond my expectations," she chuckled. "Think about what that says about you—you may or may not like that about yourself.
"And to answer your question, let me pose one to you. It's quite simple. What is chakra made of?" she asked.
"… It's a product of two components found within every living being. The Physical and Spiritual Energy which fuse together to produce chakra," he answered.
"Correct," said Anko. "To increase your chakra reserves, one must increase the Physical and Spiritual Energies to be able to create a higher amount. It's simple math. Next question: How can you increase your Physical and Spiritual Energies?"
Takuma spoke with difficulty as he continued to run. "Physical Energy is collected from each of the body's cells and can be increased through training and exercise. To increase Physical Energy, you have to develop your body. The more you train your body, the higher amount of Physical Energy you will have."
According to the prevalent chakra theory, a person's Physical Energy would gradually develop naturally from birth until they reached physical maturity in their mid-twenties. They would remain at that level for the next five to ten years before deteriorating as they grew older.
People who exercised or trained their bodies to extract their body's potential would have much greater amounts of Physical Energy. Shinobi who used chakra and trained their bodies extensively could extend their peak and retain their peak physical potential beyond what was possible by normal people.
But the Physical Energy demanded effort.
Lack of exercise deteriorated physical health, which affected Physical Energy. A peak human specimen at the height of pure physical performance would start going out of shape within two weeks if they stopped training— which would decrease the amount of Physical Energy they possessed. To have the highest possible amount of Physical Energy, a person needed to be in tip-top shape.
Physical Energy was also affected by injury and disease. An unwell body caused a decline in Physical Energy.
Takuma continued, "Spiritual Energy is derived from the mind's consciousness and can be increased through studying, meditation, and experience. Keeping oneself at peace and achieving happiness, and gaining all types of different life experiences is the way to increase Spiritual Energy."
Unlike Physical Energy, which was straightforward, Spiritual Energy was much more elusive. There was no one way to increase Spiritual Energy as shinobi didn't have a concrete way to increase Spiritual Energy reliably. The current chakra theory stated that emotion, life experience, and mental health were related to Spiritual Energy, but there was no consensus on how to harness those components to increase Spiritual Energy.
Spiritual Energies generally increased in a person as they grew up, and they continued to grow until old age when the body would start to deteriorate. There was no peak maturity age or peak period, as every person was unique.
However, Spiritual Energy was fickle.
Like Physical Energy, it was also affected by disease. Impaired mental health, negative stress, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction in life caused a decrease in mental energy. One day, a person could be at 100 points of Spiritual Energy, but the next day, that same person could go down to 80 points because of an adverse incident in their lives.
But simultaneously, negative emotions were good for Spiritual Energy. A person who had overcome depression would see an increase in Spiritual Energy as that was considered another life experience. A person grieving the loss of a loved one could be bad in the short term, but it could have positive effects later on.
Was indulgence good or bad? On the one hand, it made a person happy, which was good for the mental state, but on the other hand, indulgence without limit eroded a person's fortitude against harder times.
Did Spiritual Energy grow more when a person lived a happy life of no difficulties or when they had to face challenges and hardships one after another, leading to a generally unhappy life?
No one concretely knew how Spiritual Energies worked.
Anko slapped Takuma on his back, which almost made him stumble and fall. Almost. He cursed as he wanted to fall so he could rest, but it was already too late to take advantage of Anko's slap for it and fall down.
"Alright, you can stop running now."
Takuma let himself fall down without hesitation and kissed the ground. He didn't care what Anko thought about him and sprawled out without any shame.
Anko sat cross-legged beside him.
"Do you know that most people have higher levels of Spiritual Energy than Physical Energy?" she said. "In an ideal situation, people would have an equal amount of Physical and Spiritual Energy—but that rarely happens."
"… If the energies are in different amounts… which means chakra volume would be limited by the energy with the lower amount," Takuma muttered as he turned his face towards Anko.
"That's right. And do you know that the difference in amount affects the quality of chakra?" she said.
"Quality of chakra? Chakra has quality?" he said. This was the first time Takuma had heard about it—from his knowledge, chakra was all about quantity.
"Of course. You are aware that every jutsu requires a certain amount of chakra to perform it. If that amount isn't used, the jutsu will fail or won't perform as required," she said. "Most people, however, put in more chakra than needed when using a jutsu— the extra amounts go to waste as chakra can't be stored in the body. Shinobi train the jutsu by performing it repeatedly until they have got the right amount perfected.
"But do you know that people can reduce that required amount. It can be done by going beyond the mastery of the jutsu and understanding its intricacies—but it can also be done by producing higher quality chakra that possesses more 'power per unit' so a lower amount can be used for the same effect."
Takuma didn't know that. He had read some books and papers on chakra theory in his time at the Hidden Leaf, but this wasn't a topic he had covered yet. But then Anko said something that shocked Takuma,
"You have a pretty severe imbalance between the Physical and Spiritual Energy," she said. "A severe imbalance means a lower quality of chakra."
"What? How do you know that?" Takuma asked, skeptical.
"It's in your eyes," she pointed. "People with energy imbalance develop flecks in their iris. Your eyes are dark, so it's not noticeable, but if you look closely, you will see that you have a rather high number of flecks in the inner region of the iris.
"Short, spotty flecks on the outer area of the iris means your Spiritual Energy is lacking behind your Physical Energy. Longer flecks on the inner area of the iris means your Physical Energy is lacking behind your Spiritual Energy," said Anko.
Takuma sat up on the ground, the heavy vest weighing him down. "I don't have enough Physical Energy? But how could that be? I train every day without fail. Conditioning and taijutsu take up the largest measure of time in my training!"
His combat style revolved around getting close to the enemy and using augmented strikes to create openings. To be proficient in his style, he needed endurance and stamina along with agility and dexterity to always be on his feet so as to not get hit while in close-quarters. He trained his body more than he practiced his ninjutsu and genjutsu.
"Well… you're either not training your body… or you have an abnormally high amount of Spiritual Energy in your body," said Anko.
"An abnormal amount of Spiritual Energy?" Takuma muttered.
Could that be it?
'Getting transmigrated into another world is one hell of a life experience. Did that cause me to have the abnormal volume of Spiritual Energy?'
"I don't think training is the problem," said Takuma. "A sensory-nin told me that I am on a Grade-2 chakra scale," which was significantly high for someone Takuma's age, "and if my Physical Energy is lacking, then it must mean that my Spiritual Energy is abnormally high; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to reach Grade-2."
"Oh, you had your chakra measured by a sensory-nin? Were you worried about your chakra reserves?" she asked.
"No, I hired a sensory-nin to my team," said Takuma.
He was never concerned with his chakra reserves as he hadn't run out of chakra ever in a fight. He only ever paid attention to his chakra control and efficiency with jutsu. But now, Anko was telling him that he had an energy imbalance that was affecting the quality of chakra—he could no longer ignore
"I told you that I would be helping you with your chakra control, but I would advise that you take the energy imbalance seriously," said Anko. "I can help you with this, but I wanted to see if it would be a waste of my time—which is why I told you to run with that on." She pointed at the vest. "If you had complained too much, I would've stuck with chakra control training, but you didn't complain once.
She asked, "Do you want to train on the energy imbalance?"
Takuma's answer was obvious. "Yes, I would," he said immediately.
"Good choice," Anko nodded, pleased. "But before we seal the deal. I must warn you of something. Are you aware of the genetic limit?"
"I'm not sure I am," said Takuma.
"As you said yourself, Physical Energy is derived from the cells in your body. But there is a limit to how much energy your cells can hold; once that limit is reached, you won't be able to increase your Physical Energy no matter how much you train. You can continue to grow stronger and faster, but once you hit the limit defined by your genetics, your Physical Energy itself won't grow."
Takuma stared at Anko for a moment as questions popped up in his mind.
"… Does that mean it's possible that if I hit this genetic limit before I'm able to close the gap between my energies, I will be stuck with the imbalance?" he asked.
Anko nodded. "You're still young, and your body is still growing, so I don't believe you will hit that limit anytime soon, but if you continue to train your body diligently, you will hit that genetic limit one day."
"Is there a genetic limit on Spiritual Energy?"
"No, there isn't," he said.
"So, let's say I close the gap one day and then reach my genetic limit. But my Spiritual Energy, which is already abnormally high, will continue to grow, and someday I will again have an imbalance?"
"That is possible," she said.
Takuma sighed heavily. That sounded so bothersome. That even after all the hard work, he could once again find himself in the same place.
"Now, now, don't feel bad. It's an unfairness that all of us face," Anko patted his shoulder. "A good part about having excessive Spiritual Energy is that if you work hard on your Physical Energy, your chakra reserves will grow quickly. And unlike Spiritual Energy, increasing Physical Energy is so much more straightforward. So, cheer up now. You won't get a chance to be happy while we train."
"Eh?"
Takuma felt a shiver go down his spine as he gazed at Anko's playful smile.
———
.
AN [1]: First, I enjoyed writing his chapter. I love some magic/power system development. My approach is always conservative as I want to respect the source material—but I do enjoy the little changes I introduce.
AN [2]: Mental Energy will be known as Spiritual Energy from now on.
AN [3]: Now, I was looking at Naruto's chakra system to see what I could do, and I saw a few things I found interesting. First of all, I believe I already covered the first half of the chapter about the introductory knowledge of Physical and Spiritual Energies in ARC-01 during Maruboshi's training—but it was such a long time ago that I felt it would be good to do a refresher course.
AN [4]: The part about Spiritual Energy being fickle and elusive is new. I want to present a fact about the world— Chakra is not something that's been completely explored. People are still exploring and researching it. I also like the fact that sometimes there are things that just can't be explained in a power/magic system.
AN [5]: I developed chakra here a little bit. Like if you slack in training, you will get punished as Physical Energy will go down and, in turn, your chakra reserves— it's inspired by real life. Injuries, diseases, bad mental health, and things that affect us in real life also affect the shinobi of this world. In this world, you can't just reach a certain level of chakra reserve and expect it to stay there for the rest of your life.
AN [6]: Chakra Quantity. The key to having high chakra reserves is to be balanced. If you let one of them fall behind, your potential will suffer. It's crucial to be balanced.
AN [7]: Following up with the above point. The Physical Energy Genetic Limit— This is "semi-canon." There is a genetic limit that applies to chakra reserves— Kakashi has poor chakra genetics, which is why no matter how much he trains, he won't ever have huge chakra reserves. I simply attached that genetic limit to the Physical Energy to give it more substance and explanation.
AN [8]: The Eye Fleck indicator. This is my own making. I was inspired by a person's chakra rotation, which was explored during the Rasengan Training with Jiraya. People's chakra rotated clockwise or anti-clockwise— and the way to find it out is by looking at the direction in which the hair turned on a person's head. I thought about what could be an indicator and decided on the eye flecks.
AN [9]: Chakra Quality. It's also canon, but it's barely explored. It's not explored in humans, but it's explored in the Tailed-Beasts. How their chakra is different (and how Kyuubi's chakra is full of hatred.) But I think this chakra quality also balances out the sheer advantage of chakra quantity.
AN [10]: It might seem unfair that someone works hard to resolve the imbalance for it to come up again in the future. It's unfair. But this world is unjust—and it's unfair for everyone. And it also has the connotation that it's difficult to grow and remain strong. A person's Spiritual Energy will continue to grow while the Physical Energy will one day stop growing— so let's say a shinobi reaches their limit when they're a Jonin—but from now on, their chakra quality would decline as their Spiritual Energy grows, so they will have to figure out a different way to become stronger. The journey becomes tougher the closer you climb towards the summit.
AN [11]: Physical and Spiritual Energies are NOT the same as Yin and Yang chakra nature. They're very loosely related, but they are their own different things.
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Early in the morning, Takuma roused from sleep without the help of an alarm. His biological clock was fine-tuned because of the routine he had followed for years without change. Even his new surroundings, the unfamiliar bed, and the weather could do nothing to disrupt his sleep—but he reckoned that his deep sleep was mainly due to Anko's rigorous training; he had fallen asleep the moment he had hit the pillow top.
Takuma slept in nothing but his underwear. He groaned in ache as he stood up from his bed, his muscles spiking with pain because of his training; he walked to his travel bag that he hadn't unpacked to take out a set of shirt and shorts along with the toiletries he had gotten from the quartermaster and headed to the toilet start his day. He brushed his teeth and washed his face before returning to his room to put on the weighted vest and ankle and wrist weights, and pick up his weapons pouch to take with him.
The house was silent as Takuma tied the laces on his dirty boots near the front door. Last night, his housemates had stayed up late at night, and it seemed none of them were early-rise types. He was invited—it was a good avenue to get to know everyone, but he was tired and had to get up early, so after weighing the pros-and-cons, Takuma politely declined.
As he opened the door, the moist but cool early morning air hit him. The monsoon season had arrived, and it rained substantially at the border region of the Land of Hot Waters and the Land of Frost.
It had rained last night. The pressed dirt roads were wet and muddy from the rain, and Takuma's already dirty boots picked up more mud as he jogged to start his day off.
The extra weight on his body changed how he moved and breathed forcibly. He had experimented with ankle weights before, but he wasn't consistent with them to achieve any substantial gains. Takuma hoped that someone overseeing his training would motivate him to keep up the weight training.
His body, while mostly healed, was also showing signs of strain. It was minuscule, but after the combat situations he had been in the past few days, Takuma could tell that he wasn't the same as he was before the assassination. His body's limits had changed, shortened by the injuries; he could do everything he was capable of before, but there was a 1-2% shortcoming he noticed he had developed. It wasn't much, but Takuma was concerned that that final couple percent would be all that mattered in a life-or-death situation.
Anko wanted him to develop his body to increase his Physical Energy to close the gap between it and his Spiritual Energy to correct his energy imbalance. Takuma hoped that this physical training would also help him regain the 1-2% he had lost.
The news about the imbalance and its effect on chakra quality wasn't a cause of worry to Takuma. He had been doing just fine until now, and with Anko's training, his situation was bound to improve as long as he wasn't completely screwed over by genetics. The path was straightforward—train hard every day until the fault became a blessing; the more he trained his body, the more chakra he would be able to produce, and that of a higher quality than he currently produced.
There was no hidden catch; thus, he was happy.
Takuma reached the farm designated as the training ground by Anko. Seeing that she had not yet arrived, Takuma jogged around the farmland for a while before moving on to stretching—stretching before training allowed the body to warm up, while stretching after a workout was a good way to let the body settle down gradually.
While stretching, Takuma heard footsteps and turned to greet Anko, only to see that it was someone else.
A short and petite girl with copper-brown hair was walking towards him. Her hair were cut in a horrendous bowl-cut style, and she wore an unflattering brown tracksuit. Takuma stood up from the ground and faced the girl who stopped a small distance from him.
She spoke first. "Are you Takuma?" Her voice was crisp, her tone strong. The expression on her face was unwavering, and her firm body language landed a solid first impression on Takuma.
"My name is Takuma. Who might you be?"
"Heard you defeated Kameko. Fight me," she said.
Takuma was taken aback by the sudden challenge. He stared at the strange girl, wondering who she was. She had found him this early in the morning to pick up a fight against him.
'How did she even know to find me here?' Then, a thought popped up in his mind.
He asked, "Are you Rikku?"
"I am. Come on, let's fight," said Rikku, the final member of Anko's Team-9.
"Uhm," Takuma wasn't sure how to respond. He was not expecting the first meeting with her to be like this. Kameko had picked up a fight against, and he was more than happy to oblige so he could punch that annoying face of hers—but there shouldn't be any ill will between him and Rikku, and even from the looks of it, she didn't seem to be angry with him.
"You want to spar with me?" he asked.
"I want to see how strong you are," Rikku said in reply.
Was this another test? Did Rikku, too, want to see if he was capable of being one of the combatants on the team?
"So? Are we fighting or not?" she asked again.
"Well, I don't mind, but only until Anko arrives."
"Good," Rikku nodded.
Takuma's hand went to the vest's clasp, but he stopped himself.
'—You will not remove those as long as you're awake and not on missions—'
Anko's words popped up in his mind. He glanced up at Rikku, who had assumed a stance. This was only a spar, and his spot was already guaranteed; he didn't need to prove anything. Moreover, the problem with his personal experience with ankle weights failed due to his inconsistency.
Takuma decided to keep his weights on during the spar.
When Rikku saw that, her brows furrowed.
"I notice that you don't have a weapons pouch on you. Should we make it a taijutsu-only spar?" he asked.
Rikku raised her fists up and center. "You can use whatever you want."
Takuma stared for a moment before shrugging. If she was going unarmed, then he would do the same.
"We start the moment this lands on the ground." Takuma held up a shuriken in his hand.
Rikku nodded, and he threw the shuriken up into the air. In the moments that the shuriken descended from the air, Rikku fully faced Takuma and bent her knees.
'She's planning to make the first move,' deduced Takuma. He immediately switched to a defensive stance because of the training gear weighing him down.
The shuriken hit the ground, and Rikku shot forward with full force.
'She's not that fast,' he thought.
Takuma took a step forward the moment Rikku stepped into close quarters to close in the gap prematurely, attempting to throw her off by preventing a first solid, satisfying strike. Takuma threw in a jab as he shifted forward to get the first strike.
Rikku weaved her head to the side and threw a full-windup fist. The move was all but telegraphed, making it easy to block. Takuma used his hand to catch the fist, so he counterattacked, but when the fist hit his palm, a heavy force shot up his arm. It was so intense that Takuma's elbow buckled under the pressure.
While Takuma was surprised, Rikku followed up with a fast uppercut aimed at his chin. Takuma barely evaded the strike, but he felt a draft of wind brush his face.
'How can she generate so much force?'
As someone who used chakra augmentation as his bread-and-butter, Takuma could tell that the girl before him was not using any form of augmentation. That one punch was purely physical force, and it was at least as strong as one of his augmented punches. He had only faced another person capable of generating that much force just from their body—and that was his teacher, Maruboshi, who Takuma bet could take on jonin.
The distance between them was small, and Takuma would've leaped back to make some if not for the weight. He went for the alternative and went for a lead hook to Rikku's face, but she bobbed her head in a dodge. The lead hook was just a setup as Takuma used his forefoot as a pivot and rotated his body to build momentum for a seamless spinning back fist into Rikku's head as she rose up.
The fist struck her solid in the jaw. Rikku staggered from the impact, and Takuma took advantage of the situation. He didn't have his usual speed, so making the most of every opening was paramount. Takuma unleashed a combo to do the most damage.
The spinning back fist flowed into a body shot followed by a palm strike to push Rikku away so he had enough space for a side-kick from his lead foot. He aimed for his face, but with the ankle weight, Takuma's foot only reached her upper chest despite Rikku being of a short stature.
Rikku fell to the ground.
Perhaps it was the strong punch from Rikku that Takuma didn't throttle his usual aggressiveness. He pursued the fallen Rikku to keep the pressure on. He jumped towards Rikku, tucked his knees to generate power, and aimed for the girl. He was going to use his full weight to dig both of his feet into Rikku.
Rikku rolled away to the side, and Takuma landed on the field, cracking the ground underneath his feet. Takuma turned towards her only to catch a foot on his chest. Once more, he felt an overwhelming amount of physical force that sent him flying into the air. He tried to control his posture in the air, but the weights made everything infinitely difficult.
Takuma wasn't even given the chance to properly crash on the ground as Rikku chased after him. He managed to crash on his back but immediately saw a thin foot coming his way; he covered his face with his arms. He dragged the ground with him as he was kicked, his arms trembling from the impact.
Rikku was once again within range as Takuma stood up. She struck out with a heavy strike that rang the bones in Takuma's arms. He felt them go numb. Rikku wasn't particularly fast, but neither was he in his condition. She had him on the defensive as she attacked him with powerful strikes—he could only use his augmented strikes at certain times, but she was continuously assaulting him with equivalent force.
He used his vest and weights as guards to dull the force, but because they were so heavy, every other strike almost made him topple.
"Kameko told me you were strong, but this is disappointing," said Rikku suddenly; her brows furrowed as though displeased that her expectations weren't met.
Takuma felt irritation sizzle in his heart. Despite barely having exchanged a few words, Takuma roughly understood the girl's personality in front of him. As Daiki had told him, Rikku seemed to be the straightforward kind, someone who said whatever was on her mind bluntly without any tact. He didn't dislike such people, and he was somewhat experienced with the kind as Masaaki did that too occasionally, but this girl…
"Fine then," he said. "I hope you aren't a glass cannon."
It had been a while— and even though he was trying to adapt his combat style to not take as much damage, even if it meant losing out attack opportunities— he switched to 'Scars' mode.
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Rikku frowned as the boy in front of her stepped in close. It was a stupid move, and she punished him by punching him in the shoulder. Surprisingly, Takuma didn't seem to be affected and kicked her knee.
She quickly caught herself before she could go off-balance and dug a punch into his side. She saw the flinch on his face, which meant he did feel it, but once again, he shrugged it off and attacked her with a closed fist. She raised her arm to block but felt a sharp sting. Rikku looked at her arm to find a senbon needle had gone clean through the width of her arm with the pointed edge sticking out the other side.
Baam!
As Rikku removed the senbon from her arm, she felt a devastating force hit her in the leg. It was utterly on another level from anything he had thrown at her. Nothing she could do could stop her from staggering, but she wasn't completely helpless as she controlled herself enough to stagger away from him.
Takuma raised his arm with a kunai in his hand that he threw at Rikku's shoulder.
Surprised, Rikku raised her arm to catch the blade. The kunai cut the inside of her palm because of her hasty move.
In an instant, Takuma closed the gap.
'Fast!' she thought, aware of the fact that he was wearing weights.
Takuma grabbed her arm and twisted it so the back side was up, and in one seamless movement, he slammed his elbow down at hers, forcing it to go against its natural motion, and with came the pain along with the fear that Takuma would force it past the breaking point.
But instead, he used the same elbow to smash in her face.
Rikku dropped to one knee and brought her arms together to form a block, but Takuma grabbed both of her arms, pulled them apart before slamming his knee into her face. At the last moment, Rikku turned her face away so he didn't get her chin or nose, but it was still painful.
This time, it was Rikku's turn to shrug the pain off. She jumped Takuma, pouncing at him using the strength she built up in her legs to compensate for her light body weight. It worked as Takuma's weighted gear worked against him.
They tumbled to the ground, and Rikku switched to wrestling, trying to lock Takuma in a hold so she could force him into submission. He struggled on the ground due to his weighted clothes and tried to struggle, but Rikku caught his head between his legs while restricting his hands with her own.
Rikku quickly got to work and tried to get him to submit. Takuma struggled for a moment before he stopped moving. Rikku thought he had given up and tried to push forward when Takuma suddenly returned with greater strength and freed one of his hands.
'It's okay, I can take it,' Rikku ignored the free arm and focused on making Takuma submit.
But when Takuma hit her in the side with one of those strong punches, she felt a stinging pain so bad that her grip went slack. Takuma escaped and rolled away from her.
Rikku had just stood up when she saw Takuma running towards her. She raised her guard, ready for the next attack.
'What's it going to be? A punch, kick, maybe a palm strike, or is it going to be one of those stronger strikes?'
Takuma came to a sudden stop a meter away from her and kicked the ground, gorging the soil, and flinging the loose mud towards her. Rikku covered her face, but some mud hit her face and got into one of her eyes, making her squeeze her eyes shut as an instinctual response.
'Shit!'
Just as Rikku rushed to open her eyes, she got punched in the throat. Her breathing got cut suddenly, and she gasped and coughed in panic.
Takuma took out a kunai and slashed one of her arms before stabbing at her stomach. Rikku barely moved aside, but the kunai still got her in the side.
Without getting any time to respond in any way, Takuma kicked her in the calf so hard that she felt the stress on her knee and hip. She fell down and helplessly watched as Takuma swung the kunai down at her.
She closed her eyes.
"And that ends the fight."
Rikku opened her eyes to see Anko standing behind Takuma, holding his kunai-bearing arm.
"The winner is Takuma," she said with a grin.
———
.
"Shouldn't you stop them," Kameko said to Anko as they watched Rikku and Takuma fight from a distance. Neither of them had noticed that they had spectators.
"Why? They're just sparring," said Anko with a look of interest on her face.
Kameko sighed. With Anko like this, there was no convincing her.
Kameko was awakened by the sound of the door opening and closing in the morning. It was from the room across from her—Rikku's room. She didn't think anything of it as Rikku woke early in the morning, as did she.
But as Kameko gazed out of her room's window to start her morning, she noticed Rikku walk out of their house. Rikku trained in the morning, but when Rikku walked in the opposite direction to her usual training spot, Kameko was intrigued. Then she realized that Rikku was walking to the fields that Anko used as the training spot when she wanted to do a training activity.
Anko hadn't scheduled anything for the day. Then it dawned on Kameko that Rikku was going to meet Takuma.
'—I want to fight him—'
Rikku had said in passing when she had come to meet Kameko in her room on the day of her fight against Takuma.
'Don't tell me…'
Kameko quickly got dressed up and followed after Rikku. She knew how blunt Rikku could be, and she didn't expect Takuma to understand that the blunt way of speaking was just how Rikku spoke—she knew that Takuma wasn't above throwing poisonous words, and she didn't want her team to have more conflict against Takuma. She had decided to work with him properly even though she didn't like him.
By the time she reached the training field, it was already too late because they were already fighting.
"Now, this is a pleasant surprise."
Kameko flinched in surprise when she heard Anko beside her.
"Come on, let's not disturb them," said Anko as she dragged Kameko to a distance to watch the fight.
With Anko wanting to watch the spar, Kameko had no choice but to join her. The first thing she noticed was the gear Takuma was wearing.
"He's wearing weights?" she asked.
Kameko knew that Takuma was training with Anko, but not what type of training they were doing. All four team members had been offered training by Anko, but they had either refused or dropped out soon. Kameko followed her own training and didn't want to change her routine, but she understood the value of Anko's offer, so she went to Anko whenever something troubled her; Rikku only asked to spar with Anko once or twice every week; Iori wasn't interested at all; Daiki who had accepted the offer had only lasted two weeks before quitting.
"I like it," Anko smiled.
Kameko, having fought Takuma, immediately noticed the difference in his movements. He was moving sluggishly, finding it difficult to move around with the extra weight, which wasn't part of his body naturally. The weighted vest, which hugged his entire torso with equal weight distribution, was one thing, but the ankle and wrist weights were concentrated at a singular point, joints at that, were much more problematic. The arm and its two joints were essentially a system of lever machines, and with the weight concentrated so far away from the fulcrum, it got more difficult to move around. The same concept applied to the legs.
"He is at a disadvantage," she said.
"It doesn't look like they are using weapons or jutsu," said Anko.
"Rikku's strength is her strongest weapon. She will win if he doesn't remove his gear," said Kameko. The handicaps both had overtaken weren't equal.
"He has his chakra augmentation," Anko replied.
"It's going to be nowhere as useful if he can't move around," Kameko said.
The fight started with Takuma doing pretty well. Kameko noticed when Takuma felt the power behind Rikku's punches. Unlike Takuma, who augmented his strikes, Rikku used pure physical strength; Kameko, for the life of her, couldn't get used to the power that the petite frame could produce.
Naturally, things changed in Rikku's favor when Takuma couldn't move properly. He couldn't dodge or evade and could only block, which itself was damaging.
But then things changed.
Takuma was suddenly faster with his movements becoming tighter and crisper. His fighting style changed drastically, switching from being forced to be on defense to becoming recklessly offensive, but it seemed to work as Rikku was suddenly on the back foot.
"She forced him enough to use weapons," said Anko.
If Kameko knew Rikku well enough, then Rikku wouldn't pull out her weapons and stubbornly only use her body because Takuma was burdened by his gear.
As Kameko continued to watch, she found herself not recognizing the man in front of her from the man she had fought. She could still connect the combat style he used during their fight, but the one he was showing now was so different.
"This is very interesting," Anko whispered.
As Takuma temporarily blinded Rikku and took out his kunai, Kameko turned to Anko, only to see that her chunin lead was missing. Kameko looked back at the spar to see Anko standing beside Takuma.
Kameko rushed forward as well and helped Rukki get up.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yes, I just got mud in my eyes," Rikku replied.
Kameko noticed Rikku's bleeding wounds, but they weren't serious enough for her to be rushed to the medical house. The iryo-nin weren't going to be happy about healing Rikku so early in the morning.
Kameko turned to look at Takuma and found him on his hands and knees, wheezing, trying to catch his breath. Even though the weather was cool, he was dripping sweat from his face.
"I… hate… these," Takuma said as he could barely look up at Anko.
"Sometimes things good for you don't feel good," Anko grinned.
'Ah, he exchanged longevity for speed,' Kameko thought. Takuma probably pushed himself, burning his stamina in exchange for being able to move 'normally' with the extra weight.
Rikku stood up with Kameko's help. She faced Takuma, who was still on the ground, "You're strong, for sure. Let's fight again, seriously this time. I will bring my batons next time, so next time, fight me without the weight."
"S… Sure, whatever," Takuma said, stretching his words.
"Alright!" Anko clapped her hands. "Kameko, take Rikku to the medical house. We are already late for training."
"Training!?" Takuma exclaimed.
"Of course, I didn't tell you to spar with her," Anko chuckled.
Takuma groaned as he got up to his feet.
"Next time, give me a day or two's notice, you know," he said to Rikku.
"I understand. Let's fight the day after tomorrow," Rikku nodded.
Takuma's mouth opened and closed wordlessly before he nodded with a sigh.
Kameko supported Rikku as they walked to the medical house. On the way, Rikku didn't say a word; she was naturally taciturn, but Kameko could tell that Rikku was in deep thought.
"Is something wrong?" asked Kameko.
"He is dangerous," said Rikku.
"I know."
"No, I don't think you do," Rikka looked at Kameko. "What is your first instinct when you see an adversary?"
"…Disarm and detain?"
"That is mine as well," Rikku glanced back at Takuma and Anko in the distance. "I don't think that's his first thought… I think his first instinct is to kill."
Rikku rubbed her throat where she had been hit by Takuma during the fight.
Kameko didn't know if she agreed, but with the image of Takuma standing over the defenseless Rikku with his kunai, she could tell why Rikku would think that.
———
.
AN: I must admit, that was a longer break than I was expecting to take. Health-issues and a writers block atop my head at the same time—and I ended up taking a near month long break. I think I'm back on track with the usual 3 chapter drop per week schedule.
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.
Huh, all that stuff about chakra quality in reference to physical health must mean that Hiruzen has TERRIBLE chakra quality, which makes his chakra efficiency in his old age all the more impressive.
Thanks for gifting us this bulk release! It's a bit early for a Christmas gift isn't it?
Is there no way for Takuma to learn a different type of Chakra Augmentation? Being able to keep it up consistently like we see in Shippuden fights would be much better than his current one, even if the consistent one is a little weaker.
AN: I must admit, that was a longer break than I was expecting to take. Health-issues and a writers block atop my head at the same time—and I ended up taking a near month long break. I think I'm back on track with the usual 3 chapter drop per week schedule.
Iori was in the best condition she had been in a while. She had woken up completely awake without a hint of fatigue, and the delightful shower she had taken afterward had freshened her up like a spring flower. Even the rain, which brought along the miserable humidity, couldn't bring her mood down.
"Kameko! Rikku! We are going to be late if we don't leave now!" Iori shouted from the kitchen as she removed the large stock pot filled to the brim with boiling water from the fire. Boiling water before consumption was mandatory in Camp Banana because of the season and their proximity to the forest—they couldn't afford disease to spread in the camp.
With Team-9 finally having five genin on its roster, Anko had asked for a team dinner to welcome Takuma—it wasn't anything special, just the team sitting together for one meal.
Every chunin ran their team differently. Some chunin leads mandated that their teams ate their meals together, maintained their gear together, and trained together, all in the name of team building. Anko was on the other end of the scale—she didn't care how they spent their day as long as they performed in the individual and team exercises she conducted frequently—but if the team failed, they were made to go through grueling training to correct their mistakes.
Anko's team was motivated by their abhorrence towards her training to function together as a team.
It was a simple, hateful, but effective tactic, as expected from the Snake's student.
"Let's go," Iori said when Kameko and Rikku came down from their respective rooms.
As they were leaving the house, Iori noticed the bandage wrapped around Rikku's hand. "Injured yourself during training? You should be more careful, you know," she said.
"She sparred against Takuma this morning. Went to him first thing in the morning and issued a challenge and all," said Kameko.
"It was a good spar," Rikku nodded as if satisfied with what had happened in the morning.
"You were too rash," Kameko shook her head.
This was the first time Iori had heard about that. She hadn't met either of the girls today because of her sleep schedule. She sighed as she gazed at her two teammates, "You know what this looks like, right? He has been here barely a few days, and two of his teammates have already picked a fight with him. I haven't talked to him much, either. Daiki is probably the only one who has given a proper welcome; let's hope the big bag of muscles got along with him and it's not totally hopeless," Iori sighed.
They hadn't known each other for a long time, but Iori believed she had a good grasp of her teammates, which was why she was worried that the relations with their newest member were already on the rocks. She was afraid that if their first impressions were beyond what they could recover.
Kameko was too proud, Rikku was a muscle head without a shred of tact, and Daiki was nice but the man was too self-absorbed with a hint of narcissism hidden under all the niceties. There was a great chance that they might end up unknowingly isolating Takuma.
"Now, I want both of you to listen to me carefully," she addressed the other girls. "Let's be nice to Takuma, alright? He's new. We have to make him feel welcome. At least for today, let's not argue with him if you disagree. I want him to get along with his."
Kameko looked indifferent, while Rikku shrugged.
Iori felt concerned, so she decided to be blunt. "I don't want to participate in Anko's punishment training. If he doesn't get along with us, we don't know what she might do if she isn't satisfied with our teamwork."
As expected, being blunt was the right choice, as Kameko and Rikku showed they understood the gravity of the situation.
They reached the mess hall. The boys and Anko were already there. The girls picked up their plates and loaded them with slop. Iori sighed as she looked at her food; it was edible with the primary focus on nutrients, but that's all it was—if nothing else, she missed her home because of the food.
"Alright, let's get this party started!" Anko was high energy, as usual.
"There's no fun in this slop," Iori sighed.
Anko laughed. "It's all in the vibes—in the vibes!"
Iori glanced at Takuma. He had a small smile on his face as he raised his glass of juice. She could see traces of fatigue on his face, and he was still wearing a weighted vest. There was a reason why none of the Team-9 individually trained with Anko. She wondered how long Takuma would last. However, seeing him being careful with how he moved his hands because of the wrist weights was amusing as heck.
"If you don't mind me asking, Iori. How did you get into fuinjutsu? Did you aim for it from the beginning?" asked Takuma.
"Hmm? Not really. I guess it's more like I fell into it," Iori set down her chopsticks. "My first contact with fuinjutsu was from a friend of a friend. My friend wanted to learn how to put together a basic storage seal, and she asked me if I wanted to tag along. I said, sure. And well, then I guess it just clicked…"
After that, she found a retired shinobi who had opened a fuinjutsu workshop and officially entered an apprenticeship. She had been receiving training at the shop until the conscription order arrived.
"That so. I was wondering if you could give me some tips. I, too, only know how to make a basic storage seal, but I'm not really good at it. I fail more than half of my attempts," said Takuma.
'A chance!' Iori's eyes shined. "For sure, let's compare our free time and make a plan. I'm not sure if I will be a good teacher, but there's no harm in trying." She felt happy that she had made a connection and was satisfied that Takuma was the one to initiate—it showed that he was still willing to get along with the team.
Takuma turned to Rikku. "We didn't get to talk in the morning, Rikku. Your strength was surprising, to say the least… it was for the first time that I felt I got a taste of my own medicine," he laughed. "My body stings in the places where you hit me."
Daiki stepped into the conversation. "Traditionally, chakra augmentations are a rare class of jutsu. Initially, during your fight with Miss Kameko, I assumed you possessed strength similar to Miss Rikku. I didn't think you were using chakra to augment your strikes. It was a fascinating experience."
"Well, you're not completely incorrect in your initial assumption," Takuma spoke. "My augmentations depend on the durability of my body. I assume you spend most of your training time with body conditioning?" he asked Rikku, who nodded. "I do the same, and I could've gone the same route as Rikku and spent time on my natural strength, but I found augmentations earlier in my development, and my focus shifted to durability and endurance. Personally, even without the augmentation, I still hit harder than most people."
It was then that Anko chimed in.
Anko said, "Unlike ninjutsu and genjutsu, most taijutsu don't have any chakra component. But it would be wrong to say that chakra has no stake in taijutsu. The chakra inside of us nourishes our bodies. The more you train or abuse your body, the more chakra will seep into your muscles, bones, tendons and transform them. Chakra reacts to what you're trying to accomplish.
"If you're training for strength, chakra would react to it." She pointed at Rikku, "She trains to hit harder and harder, so her chakra reacts to it and develops her body in that direction." Anko pointed her chopsticks at Takuma. "From what you have told me, your conditioning training is balanced with a tilt towards endurance and durability, so that's how your chakra would elevate your body." She turned to Kameko. "Her kenjutsu benefits from agility and dexterity, and she trains for it, and her chakra aids her gain more in that direction." Sitting beside her, Daiki got poked by her chopsticks in his triceps. "He wanted bigger muscles, and his chakra responded to that partial cosmetic desire, and even though you don't need big muscles for strength, he grew bigger, but despite his size, he is weaker than our petite Rikku."
'This is good, this is good!' thought Iori.
More shinobi than not didn't prefer to talk about their combat skill set and style, thinking that they would be giving out their secrets. They didn't even open up to teammates, and the only way to get familiarity with someone's combat style was to spar against them and learn through experience. The method was flawed and inefficient as people held back during spars, and it took ages to get a decent measure of a person's skills.
However, Takuma was actively speaking about his technique and having a discussion about it. Anko was to be praised for expanding on the conversation. But, it showed that Takuma was investing in the team by opening himself up in front of the entire team. It was an invitation to everyone that this was the chance to get to know him.
"… I heard a little from Arisu about what you guys did in the Police Force, but I never did get a clear picture of your responsibilities," Kameko spoke to Takuma.
Iori looked between the two ex-classmates. She was aware that the two didn't get off to a good start, and from what she had heard from Anko, they weren't on good terms. Which was why Iori was proud that Kameko was the one to initiate a conversation. Moreover, it was an interesting topic as it involved the Uchiha's Leaf Military Police Force— Uchiha and the Hidden Leaf—two topics that interested all who had never been to the Hidden Leaf.
'Now, don't you disappoint me, boy,' Iori turned to Takuma.
"Narcotics Taskforce. As the name implies, we were a small group inside the Organized Crime department who handled drug-related crimes," Takuma started.
'Bingo!'
"I had this idea about a dedicated team who only handled narcotics. That way, they could develop a specialty toward a niche of crime, thus increasing competence and efficiency, which was lacking when the cases were being handled disjointedly. When I pitched the idea, Arisu joined me. Pretty sure the entire thing would've failed if she wasn't with me," said Takuma.
Takuma told them about what the Narcotics Taskforce did. Arresting people possessing drugs, catching street-level drug dealers, shutting down suppliers, and restricting the flow of drugs into the Hidden Leaf.
"… and while most of our cases dealt with psychoactive drugs, we are also responsible for combat drugs like soldier pills and other dangerous drugs and restrictive ingredients," he said.
"They were quite popular and successful back home," Anko smiled in praise.
"… I wouldn't say that," Takuma shook his head.
"Now, now, don't be so humble," Iori chuckled.
"No, it's nothing like that," said Takuma. "I'll be the first one to admit that the reason I pushed for the Narcotics Taskforce was purely selfish. I was an outsider in the Uchiha's kingdom; to progress my career there, I needed a way to claim ground, make myself stand out, and gain achievements. I knew that I would need to work harder than the people with legacies to get the same recognition— that was the reason why I started the Narcotics Taskforce—nothing more, nothing less. It was simply a way to climb the ladder.
"… I didn't really care about the cause—but when you come face to face with the victims on a daily basis. But, when you look at them in the eye, see how they live, hear their plight and of the people around them, it's… difficult to stay unaffected."
"Aren't they just addicts? They ruined their lives by themselves," Kameko said with displeasure.
"That's the problem," said Takuma. "People who fall into drug addiction are ruining their lives; not only that, but they also make the lives of the people around them miserable. Then shouldn't we as a society try to raise these people who can't fall anymore instead of condemning them to lives full of misery?"
Kameko didn't say anything in return.
Iori didn't know if it was because she had asked Kameko not to disagree or if it was something else.
Takuma leaned back into his chair. The moment of silence on the table was filled by the chatter in the Mess.
Takuma continued, "Sure, we brought a lot of important players to justice, but what about the victims? The addicts. The children and teens who got influenced into joining the trade from a young age. And to a degree, the small street-level dealers who did it because they couldn't see any other choice.... I sent most of them to prison, plantations, and mines because it was the law, and I followed it."
"Is there anything wrong with that?" asked Anko.
"It's the law, so legally, no. But morally? Well, it sure didn't feel good all the time," said Takuma. "One of my long-term plans was to bring in some change into the law and education. Rehabilitation of the victims and education from a young age to educate the coming generation." He sighed. "I thought I would start on the plans when I made chunin and had a little weight to throw around… I should've started those plans from day one, even if I had no grounds to promote them… I regret it nevertheless."
Iori watched Takuma. The few times she had seen him, he was like most of the combat-forward shinobi she had seen—straight back, squared shoulders, and chin raised. But right now, his back was curved, his shoulders hunched, and his chin was pointing down. And she was sure it wasn't because of the weighted gear he was lugging around.
"What now, then?" Rikku spoke up. "Maybe you can do that when you go back home."
Iori closed her eyes. 'Rikku…' She had no idea what happened in the Leaf Military Police Force, but if Takuma were in a position as important as Kameko and Anko had made it out to be, then he wouldn't be here on the border region of an allied country, fighting a war against a trade partner nation.
Unexpectedly, Takuma smiled,
"I don't need to. I have given my dreams to the team I built from the ground up." He looked at Kameko. "Our mutual friend Arisu shares my vision, and I think she and the team will achieve my dream in my place…. Crap, that sounds like a 'death flag,'" Takuma laughed.
The conversation might have gone down in energy, but it came right back up due to Anko, and the group rode on her energy till the end of the dinner.
The boys and girls split up and returned to their homes.
Kameko and Rikku walked forward while Iori and Anko tailed behind.
"So?" Anko asked.
Iori glanced at her chunin lead for a moment before starting, "He knew what he was doing. He wanted to build a rapport with the team, and acted in a way to facilitate it. It feels good to know that he is someone who can read the room."
"What about the thing about the addicts?"
Iori pursed her lips. "It was either a genuine conversation, or he is really good at making people feel positively towards him." The story had everything from a flawed hero as a start, a sad middle, to a hopeful end. "Or maybe it was both of them—truths and half lies make for great tools."
"So, he's good at talking. Let's see how he will be on the field," said Anko.
"You mean?"
"We got a mission."
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.
Takuma checked his gear for the n-th time before sighing as he leaned against the large earthen wall constructed from ninjutsu surrounding the village.
"It's amusing to see you this way, Takuma. I didn't take you for the type who gets nervous before a mission," said Daiki, standing beside Takuma. He was similarly outfitted in combat-ready gear.
Of course, he was nervous. He was in an unfamiliar location, accompanying a team with people he barely knew, and they were venturing out of the camp, which was in a conflict-intense region. He had every reason to be nervous because it was the complete opposite of the situation he was used to—he knew the streets of the Hidden Leaf, he worked with a team he had built up from the ground, and he was aware of the power dynamics in the village.
"It'll pass," Takuma smiled. He was more comfortable during the missions than the idle time before it.
By the time the rest of the team arrived, Takuma was unknowingly tapping his foot against the ground.
"Excited much?" Iori said to Takuma.
"Sure," he replied.
Kameko looked around as she commented. "Where's Anko? It's not like her to be late."
"True, I'm not late."
All five genin flinched and turned their faces to Anko, who was suddenly standing among them. Takuma even had a kunai in his hand from the surprise.
"Everyone's here, so let's leave. We have a long day ahead of us; I would like for us to keep on schedule so we can take it easy later on," she said. "Let's move out."
""Yup, yup!""
"Yup, yup," said Takuma, a full beat later.
Camp Banana was built on a strategic defensive location to halt the enemy's forward movement into the Land of Hot Water's territory. The location was chosen with broad coverage in mind. Camp Banana had access to numerous roads and trade routes in the area for quick deployment and shorter travel times. Hidden Leaf was given the responsibility to control the position because of its strategic importance, and because of that, two Hidden Leaf jonin were placed at Camp Banana.
The problem was a fixed infrastructure that couldn't be destroyed like roads that were very much usable by the enemy forces. To prevent exploitation by the enemy those routes needed to be kept under observation to prevent them from being exploited by the enemy.
For that purpose, hideouts and outposts were built in important places for scouts to keep an eye on and keep the enemy in check.
As the hideouts were being manned by people who required food and water for sustenance, the hideouts needed to be re-supplied with rations periodically.
That's where Anko's Team-9 came into play. They were charged to head north to hit a list of watch positions, and restock every hideout with enough rations to last the scouts until the next supply run. And as they visited each hideout, they were to collect detailed reports from each watch position about any activity the scouts had noted from the last visit—carrier birds took time to complete round trips and could only carry so much; as such, they were reserved for the most critical of information.
From what Takuma was told, the risk factor of the mission was low as they weren't going deeper into the field of combat. But they were still required to be vigilant about tails and ambushes as they visited the hideouts not to give away the positions.
Takuma was pleased to have a supply run as his first mission. Being new to the area, it was a great opportunity to understand the area and points of importance beyond what was specified on maps. Being aware of the terrain and territory was a critical advantage. Plus, the mission was perfect for him to observe his teammates and Anko to see how they operated—they had been working together for a couple of months, and it was expected that he would catch up to speed quickly.
So, he observed.
Because Anko's team had been a five-man band, they followed a pitchfork movement formation. Rikku and Daiki in the front with Anko between them and a couple of steps behind, forming a 'V'— behind Anko in a straight line, making up the shaft with Iori in the middle and Kameko as the rearguard. But with Takuma completing the team, they had reverted to the formation Anko preferred for her six-man group. Rikku, Anko, and Daiki made up the front 'V' while Kameko, Iori, and Takuma made up the back 'inverted-V.' The pitchfork had been a temporary alteration to the 'mirrored-V' formation, but Takuma took so long to arrive that it seemed that the team was more comfortable with the pitchfork.
It felt strange being at the back. As the team leader for the Narcotics Taksforce, he was always in the front. Even when he was working with Iruka, he always took the forward position. Being at the back was a new experience, and having his back exposed, an unpleasant one.
But he could see why Anko set the formation in the way she did.
Daiki was in the front because he was the tracker and scout, Rikku because she was one of the main combatants, and Anko in the middle, providing a stable backbone to round out the front, which was more susceptible to attacks. In the back, Iori was protected by being sandwiched between Anko in the front and two combatants, Kameko and Takuma, in the back, who had the responsibility of protecting the group from being hit from behind.
If he were to make a change, Takuma would've switched his and Rikku's positions so he wouldn't have to match with Kameko. He had told her he would be professional and civil, but he preferred if they kept their interaction to a minimum.
During their travel, Daiki and Anko chatted to each other, with Iori chiming in, and Rikku seemed to be intently listening to them.
However, things were entirely dead on the rearguard.
Takuma sighed. He was bored. He glanced at his companion to the side.
He said, "So…"
Kameko looked at him. "What?"
"I don't keep up to date with what's happening with our classmates. I was wondering if you would catch me up," said Takuma.
Kameko stared at him for a moment. "I thought you weren't interested. You never showed up for any of the get-togethers and parties," she said.
'I didn't show up because none of you fuckers invited me.' Of course, those thoughts went unsaid. Takuma awkwardly chuckled, "Unfortunately, I let my personal social life slip away due to work. I am curious how everyone's doing though."
"Really? If I remember correctly, you weren't interested in us during the academy," she said.
Takuma shot her a look. He wasn't the only one who showed disinterest; the rest of the class, too, didn't seem to be interested in him. Why wasn't she just taking the hint that he was making idle conversation? He narrowed his eyes. No… she did notice the hint; she was just having fun at his expense.
'The little…!'
"Who do you want to know about?" she asked.
"Well… how about Uchiha Izumi? How's she doing?" he asked. After Taro and Arisu, Izumi was the person he was 'closest' to, even if it was just on the level of classmate acquaintances, much different from the other two, who were his close friends.
'I wonder if Lady Mikoto got my letter,' the thought passed through Takuma's mind, but he pushed it away quickly.
"Really? I thought you would run into her with you working in the Police Force and all," she said.
"If I ran into her, why would I ask you?" he sighed, looking pitifully at the silly girl who was asking redundant questions.
Kameko's eyebrow twitched. "She's participating in the Chunin Exams with her team."
"That makes sense. I guess that most, if not everyone, who got selected by the jonin would be participating in the Chunin Exams."
"They are."
"Is it everyone's first time, or did a team make an attempt last year?"
It had been more than two and half years since Takuma and Kameko's batch had graduated from the academy. In a few months, both Takuma and Kameko would complete their third year as shinobi of the Hidden Leaf.
She scoffed, "No one takes the Chunin Exam after their first year. There was a team who participated in the last exam," the Chunin Exam happened bi-annually, "but they failed out in the first round. It's going to be everyone's first time."
Having lived in the world for nearly three years, Takuma was, of course, aware that, on average, most genin participated in their first Chunin Exam after four or five years of service. That average was so because of the Genin Corp. But when only considering jonin-lead genin, many of them had their first attempt after their third year, with a few of the jonin teachers registering their teams right after the second year.
But he astutely remembered that Naruto's generation did all register for the Chunin Exams right after their first year, and thought that some jonin might have wanted to make a statement with their own genin.
"What about you? Were you planning to participate?" he asked.
Kameko wordlessly nodded.
"Oh."
Not everyone had the option to defer conscription like Takuma. Even those with connections and access to jonin, people couldn't escape a conscription order. Escaping the conscription was a black mark on a shinobi's record, something that would stay with them throughout their lives, being a hindrance every step of the way. It was one of the worst things one could do for their career.
The only reason Mikoto had given him the option was because he had managed the Narcotics Taskforce before the order came. The case for Takuma was that he was needed at the Narcotics Taskforce to ensure its success and that his contribution at the Police Force was equal to or more than he would contribute at war.
Most other people didn't have that option. No one could reject the conscription just because they didn't want to go to war. Not even the precious clan scions could reject the order. Any selfish attempt to do so came with heavy scrutiny and punishment if found to be invalid. A shinobi village couldn't afford their shinobi to be averse to war, so no matter, clan or not, if they were called to war, they had to pack their bags and fight.
Takuma sympathized with Kameko. Having one's plans thwarted by unforeseen circumstances didn't feel good.
"Who else?" she asked, moving the conversation along.
"What about the Okubo Momoe?" he asked.
"The golden girl, huh," Kameko's eyes narrowed. "If she weren't participating, no one would."
Takuma didn't know the girls well, and nor was he aware of the dynamic between them, but even someone as detached as him knew what was going on. Kameko's clan, Taketori, was the premier kenjutsu clan in the Hidden Leaf. She was burdened by the expectations that she would be the best with the sword and kenjutsu. It would've been true if not for the existence of Okubo Momoe, the Rookie of The Year from their batch, who used the sword as her weapon of choice.
Their swordsmanship was often compared, and because Okubo was overall stronger than Kameko, the prevailing view was that Okubo was better skilled at kenjutsu than Kameko.
Takuma, who had fought both, couldn't give an opinion as Kameko's combat style heavily revolved around kenjutsu while it was only a part of Okubo's combat. Unless they fought each other using only kenjutsu, it was difficult to judge who was better.
He could tell that Kameko was bothered that Okubo, who had a civilian background, was seen as better than someone from a kenjutsu clan like her.
"Well, she probably would make chunin soon even if she doesn't get promoted right after the exam," said Takuma. "But those guys sure have it tough, huh, being used as show horses."
The current Chunin Exam was a popularity contest, a show of strength, between the numerous Hidden Shinobi Villages. It was the 'alternative to war.' Every Hidden Village sent their best genin and made them fight each other to see who had the best young talent and thus the brightest future. The Chunin Exam was one big advertisement for the Hidden Villages to attract big clients and gain their confidence that their Hidden Village was the best.
This was why every genin on a jonin-led team was 'unofficially' mandated to participate in the exams as soon as their jonin deemed them ready, even if the genin themselves might not want to participate in the exam.
"I would love to be used as a show horse," she said.
"It's a win-win for sure." He laughed. "Taro wouldn't have liked it at all though."
"What about you? Did you prepare for the Chunin Exams?" asked Kameko.
"No, I was aiming and hoping for a field promotion," said Takuma, "but I would have loved to participate in the final round if nothing else."
The Chunin Exams were altered every iteration to prevent genin from preparing for scenarios so that it would truly be a test of their preparedness. Every host had their own preferences, but because five different villages hosted, the exams were diverse in nature. But the final round was always the same— Arena Combat—the best-of-best duking it out in a tournament format.
It was the only event open to an audience and the main 'advertisement' for clients.
"Huh, why?"
"I want to experience how genin from other villages fight. I wonder how different they are from us."
The underground prizefighter in him wanted to understand how shinobi from other villages fought. What were the key differences in combat philosophies? What was the current popular meta? He wanted to see if he could take something from them and assimilate it into his combat style. The potential of it all excited him.
"Wait… does that mean none of the genin on a jonin-led team are participating in the war?" asked Takuma.
"If the team is younger than four years, they don't have to," she said.
Kameko explained that the jonin stayed with the genin for four years, after which the teams were usually turned inactive if not for the jonin and the administration both wanting the team to remain active. The usual case for teams remaining active after four years was when all the genin had been promoted to chunin.
As the Hidden Leaf was an ally helping the Hidden Steam and the Hidden Leaf as a whole wasn't at war, the genin on jonin teams younger than four years weren't sent conscription orders.
"That's shit," he said.
"We are about to reach the first hideout. Focus up!" Anko said.
Takuma and Kameko stopped talking and focused ahead.
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Anko asked the team to stop a kilometer away from the first scout hideout.
"Why did we stop?" asked Iori.
"It's a concealed post. They have a clear view of their target location, but that goes the other way around as well— we have to ensure it's safe to approach the post and we aren't compromising their cover and location." Anko turned to Takuma. "Send a message to them."
Takuma nodded. He set his backpack on the ground, retrieved a portable communication radio, half the size of a shoe box, and began turning the dials to tune to the radio frequency of the radio in the post.
"You know how to work a radio?" Iori asked in surprise.
"l learned it last year," said Takuma.
He had spent good money to join a short course, buy a second-hand communication radio to train, and studied a very thick instruction manual with detailed everything from maintenance and standard communication procedures to make himself competent with a radio. With their current equipment, they could communicate around two kilometers before the reliability tanked. It took up too much space in the backpack, however.
"The post has given their clear," said Takuma. "The instruction is to remain below the summit and wait for one of them to guide us to the hideout."
"Excellent, let's go," Anko nodded.
The post was built near the summit of a hill that oversaw a valley that served as a viable point of entry into the Land of Hot Water territory. Both sides knew its importance. The post was responsible for observing the valley and reporting their observations. If the Hidden Frost shinobi decided to use the valley as an entrance point, they needed to pick them out before they penetrated deeper into the territory.
One of the shinobi from the post met them behind the summit.
"It's better if only half of you come up," said the scout.
Anko nodded and asked Iori and Takuma to follow her while Daiki, Rikku, and Kameko stayed behind.
As they reached the concealed post, Takuma could see why the location was chosen as a scout hideout. They had a vast view of the valley from a high altitude. It was a perfect vantage point.
The hideout itself was a hole in the ground on the slope of the hole. One look told that it was built from using Earth-Style ninjutsu. Perhaps because it was made with ninjutsu, the hole was very spacious for four people who lived in it.
It was standard procedure for each hideout to have four people who would take six-hour shifts keeping watch. Two people would remain awake, with one on the lookout and the other on standby, and the remaining would sleep and rest until their shifts. Standard procedure was at times broken due to a lack of manpower, but it was essential that every hideout had at least three people.
"Welcome," said one of the scouts.
"I hope we aren't late," said Anko.
"Not at all," said the man.
Takuma noticed that all four scouts were Hidden Steam shinobi. He thought since they were making the supply runs, they would be supplying food and water to Hidden Leaf shinobi.
Iori handed the storage scrolls with rations to the scouts and sealed the garbage they had accumulated into empty storage scrolls. They couldn't litter as it could attract birds, which could attract the enemy's attention—burying was an option, but taking it away from the site was the safest option.
Takuma watched Iori work. Storage scrolls were perhaps the most important part of logistics for shinobi. The simple ability to seal something into a scroll was of tremendous use. It eliminated the weight and space occupied, making it so that a civilian could carry more than the strongest shinobi. There were limitations to storage spells—they were one-time use only, and higher-grade storage scrolls capable of carrying a lot of weight were difficult to make, requiring masterfully skilled fuin-nin—but the world of shinobi would look much different without the existence of storage scrolls.
"Anything out of the ordinary?" Anko asked.
The scout handed Anko the report scroll.
"A few sightings here and there, but other than that, there hasn't been anything to be worried about," the scout replied.
"Do you recommend we use the valley to advance?" she asked.
Takuma gazed out at the valley. If they had a good look at the valley, it was safe to assume that the enemy would be keeping on it as well. Any sign of aggressive advancement from either side could quickly turn the valley into a conflict hotspot with high tension from both sides.
"No, our recommendation would be to be on the defensive stance," said the scout. "Mounting an advance would be a high-cost affair. The Frost scum would use the sloped mountains to pick at our troops while we struggled down at the ground. The potential for lost lives is too high. Our recommendation is in the report."
"Thank you. That will be all," said Anko.
The two sleeping scouts had woken up. Anko asked everyone some more questions before ending the conversation, which is when everyone relaxed.
She then asked, "Any letters you would like to be delivered?"
"Yes, please." The scouts handed Anko a thin stack of letters.
Takuma stared at the letters. He hadn't thought about it, but the people back at home would be worried about him. He decided that he would be sending letters periodically to his friends.
They exited as quickly as they came.
As they were walking away from the hideout, Anko ordered. "Takuma, check if there are people nearby."
Takuma was surprised but complied. He knelt on the ground and weaved hand seals before pushing his palm on to the ground.
Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu
The jutsu allowed him to sense the presence of people in a one-kilometer radius. He had gone from being able to sense the simple presence of people to being able to detect their detection to finally reaching a level where he could tell how far away they were from him. It worked best in the wilderness, away from any man made structures, as the jutsu couldn't search for people if they were on the higher floors of a building, making the jutsu much less useful in an urban landscape.
A thrum of earthen chakra rippled out from his palms as the epicenter. Takuma closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds before the ripples returned to him. He breathed out as he interpreted the input, filtering out the unnecessary until he had what he wanted.
"I sense ten people in a one-kilometer radius. From the directions, they're the four scouts, the three of us, and the rest of our team. Unless they're above ground, I don't sense any additional people," he said.
"Let's move," she said.
As they ran to the summit and down the other side, Takuma asked, "May I ask why we did that scan? Do we not trust our own scouts? Was it because they're from the Hidden Steam?"
"I trust our scouts, even if they are from the Hidden Steam, but these guys are responsible for keeping an eye on the valley ahead… there's a good chance that they end up ignoring what's near them. There's no harm in checking; it's for their safety."
"Understood," said Takuma.
He glanced back at the vast valley for a moment before they left it behind.
———
.
Their next location wasn't another hideout; instead, it was a message drop location used for messages that couldn't be sent through carrier birds in fear that they could potentially be intercepted along the way. The messenger would personally deliver the message to the drop box, and someone else would collect it and bring it to the final destination.
So Takuma was immensely confused when Anko pushed away the leafy camouflage to reveal what looked like emergency supplies. She lifted a backpack out of the small hole and replaced all the canned food, sealed water, checked on the dry clothes, tent and survival kit, and the three weapons pouches.
"I thought this was a message drop location," he asked.
"It is," Anko laughed. "As one of the commandments goes: a shinobi must look underneath the underneath— but the problem is that they don't." She used her hand to dig some of the ground out to reveal a tube container. "When people find something hidden, they stop looking, thinking that they found all there was to be found. But in truth, they might have only found what they were allowed to find."
Anko removed the cap from the tube without pulling the container out of the ground, looked inside, recapped the tube, and buried it back to hide it underground.
"This way, even if someone did somehow find this location, they might miss its real purpose because of the emergency backpack," she said. "But always remember, this is the final life of defense—when approaching a hidden drop location, so you don't have a tail or someone waiting at the location in hiding."
———
.
The rest of the day, Team-9 went from place to place, visiting watch positions, checking up on the scouts, replenishing their rations, and receiving their reports. They moved quickly and with caution, and thankfully, they encountered no danger. The only hindrance they faced was the heavy rain they encountered.
Traveling in the rain was a hassle because they eventually got soaked even with their rain gear, and they struggled to find a good campsite to rest for the night. They ultimately found themselves in a shallow cave to camp under.
Anko spoke to him to the group as they were drying themselves in front of a fire,
"We had an easy time today, and I want tomorrow to be the same. And it's imperative that we are like ghosts tomorrow," she said.
"Because of the mines?" asked Iori.
"Yes, the hideout near the gold mine is of utmost importance. We can't risk breaking their cover no matter what the cost."
Takuma stopped tending to the fire, opened a map, and looked for the gold mine on it. He frowned when he saw that the gold mine was on the border, but it was in the Land of Hot Waters territory. Even if the border was a disputed territory, it was still well within the control of the Land of Hot Waters.
"Did the enemy take control of the mine?" he asked.
"They captured the gold mine quite early in the conflict. It was one of the first areas they targeted," she said. "From the previous reports, they have been directing the mined gold into their territory."
A gold mine was an essential resource for a nation as gold was one of the most valuable metals. Losing territory was one thing, but losing access to an entire gold mine was a matter of another magnitude altogether.
"Why haven't they taken the mine already?" he asked.
"That's something only the people in the capital know," Anko shrugged. "The gold mine is the property of the Hot Water Daimyo, and he has left the decision to the Hidden Steam. They haven't made a move, so even if the Hidden Leaf wanted to retake the mine for them, we can't move unless they approve it."
"What about the civilians in the mine?" asked Takuma. If the gold was still being mined, then it meant that someone was mining it.
"… The miners are all there as punishment," Anko said.
Takuma sighed. He didn't need to be told more. Forced labor was an acceptable and popular form of punishment in this world. It was much more popular than traditional prisons as the governments were able to turn criminals into dirt-cheap labor. Many of the people Takuma had arrested and sent to trials were sent to plantations and mines. While they served shorter times than they would in a traditional prison, working in mines was a very arduous time.
The Land of Hot Waters had decided that the lives of the criminals in the mine weren't important enough for immediate rescue.
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For some reason, Takuma always thought that a gold mine would be a deep cave that was being excavated for its precious natural resource. The reason was his ignorance. What lay in front of him was a ginormous pit that spanned wide and deep with dozens upon dozens of mines with a complex system of rails connecting them.
"How many years did it take to dig this pit?" he uttered in astonishment.
"Not long, I presume. Shinobi use chakra and explosives to break the ground," Iori answered from the side. "And well, dynamite is a powerful thing."
'Ah, that's right. Should've taken Earth-style ninjutsu into consideration,' he thought.
Even though he stood at a far distance, he could see people walking in and out of the little caves with rail trolleys filled with dirt. They were the criminals of the Land of Hot Waters punished to work in the mines as forced labor. However, right now, they were working for the Land of Frost instead of their country. Even in a war, their lives remained the same—what an irony.
"Where's the hideout?" Kameko asked.
Anko pointed far away in the distance. "They've set up their base on the Land of Frost size to keep an eye on who and what goes in and out of the pit," she said. "We won't be going to their hideout; it's too dangerous—we could be spotted, and more importantly, we could ruin the scout's operation. They will come meet us at a designated spot."
She looked at Takuma. "Take out the radio; we need to tell them that we have arrived."
As Takuma set up the radio, Anko took out a palm-sized notebook from her person and flipped through the pages.
"This is the frequency," Anko showed Takuma the page that had instructions on what frequency to use depending upon the day. "And this is the code to use. We will be sending through tones, no speech communication."
"Understood," Takuma nodded.
He took the pre-crafted phrase that would tell the scouts they were the real deal, translated it through the code Anko selected, and began transmitting it to the frequency. For ten minutes, Takuma sent the tones of dot and line beeps of the phrase on a loop. They waited for a while before a message came back in tones.
Takuma translated it. "Make your way to the rendezvous location," he said.
"Daiki and I will go to the spot. You three stay here and keep yourself hidden. Don't take any unnecessary actions. Understood?"
""Understood.""
"If we don't return in an hour, go to the next location on the map and send a message to the camp through the carrier bird. One hour on the dot, don't wait, don't try to look for us. Understood?"
""Understood.""
The second reply was much more somber than the first one.
"Good, we will meet you here in an hour."
After saying that, Daiki and Anko stealthily moved away and disappeared into the landscape after a few moments.
The reason Anko only took Daiki with her was because he was the only one among the genin who knew how to mask his chakra signature. Every shinobi had an elevated chakra signature, and sensory-nin could pick up those signatures and locate the shinobi. It would be unwise to assume that Hidden Frost hadn't stationed at least one sensory-nin at the gold mine.
There was a way to mask the chakra signature and suppress their presence to evade the senses of a sensory-nin. Daiki had learned how to mask himself as part of his scouting and tracking skillset, and Anko knew it as well.
Takuma had the skill on his to-learn list, but he hadn't gotten to it yet.
"Imagine how much money you would have if you could own a gold mine," Iori whispered, gold shining in her eyes.
Takuma explained, "In the Land of Fire, upon discovering a mineral deposit, the owner is forced to sell their land to the Daimyo for a great profit. Entire towns are relocated if they're built upon a deposit. After that, the Daimyo's palace either handles the mining on their own, but more often than not, the Daimyo grants the mining rights to another party and takes a portion of the profit from the sales."
"How do you know that?" asked Rikku.
"The Uchiha Clan holds various mining rights. They're currently trying to get the mining rights for a gold deposit from the Daimyo," Takuma said as he gazed at the pit. "Shinobi clans don't earn their wealth by being shinobi—the huge majority of their wealth comes from other sources. Mining, oil, manufacturing, farming, pharmaceuticals, or wherever the money is— training and developing shinobi gives them strength, which allows them to continue their ventures without fear.
"Power and wealth—that's a shinobi clan."
That had been the truth long before the formation of the Hidden Villages. The shinobi clans had been amassing their wealth in the Warring Eras, competing with each other for resources and power in entire regions.
"Clans must be filthy rich," she said.
"Stupidly rich," said Takuma.
He took out a pair of binoculars from his backpack and observed the pit while he (and the others) lay on their stomachs. He had visited the quartermaster and had issued out binoculars for reconnaissance. As long as the chunin lead approved, a genin on their team could check out any equipment they needed for a mission.
Takuma gazed at the pit, and now that he could better see the movement of the people, he tried to locate the shinobi. It wasn't difficult to distinguish the shinobi from the criminals because of their attire.
"How many shinobi do you think are guarding the pit?" he asked.
"That'll be in the scout report," Iori answered. "Why?"
"I was wondering if Camp Banana would be enough to take it back."
"We have two jonin," she hummed. "I don't think Hidden Frost would station more than two jonin here. A takeback is not implausible; it would depend on—"
Kameko interrupted her. "Hidden Frost might not, but what about Hidden Cloud? They might have stationed more jonin here. This is a gold mine, after all."
Takuma had to agree with Kameko. A gold mine was enough potential motivation for Hidden Cloud to protect it as long as they got a portion of the gold output. If they maintained control of the mine long enough, Hidden Cloud could cover a considerable cost of funding the Hidden Frost in their invasion.
"Maybe that's why they aren't taking our help," Takuma put down his binoculars and turned to his teammates. "Are they scared that if we help them retake the mine, we would demand that they share the gold output? Or maybe someone higher-up has already set up that demand, but that's why the Hidden Steam hasn't agreed…"
"That's pure speculation," Kameko said in counter.
"That it is," Takuma went back to gazing at the pit.
"It's going to be difficult to take it over with all the workers," said Iori.
"Do you think they will care if those people die?" asked Takuma.
"…Are you really suggesting that?" Iori sounded horrified.
"They aren't caring now. They might not care afterward."
He got no reply, not even from Kameko. Takuma continued to gaze through his binoculars. Due to the potential value that the gold mine held, retaking it wasn't enough, they would need to defend it from the enemy's retaking attempts. The gold mine would require the constant presence of the military as the Land of Hot Waters would want to continue mining—the nation was at war, which wasn't cheap, and gold would very much help.
In Takuma's view, the gold mine was as much of a liability as it was an asset.
"I think it's a mistake for them not to do anything while the enemy mines precious gold. They're essentially bankrolling their enemy," Takuma said as he continued to study the pit.
The weather wasn't with them as soon the rain started to pour heavily, and the lack of vegetation around them made it difficult for them to find any natural shelter, forcing them to endure the cold rain in their rain gear as they waited for Anko and Daiki.
"How long has it been?!" Rikku shouted over the rain.
Takuma looked at his small timepiece. It had been three-quarters of an hour since Anko and Daiki had left. He and the rest of the team were hiding underneath the rain for half an hour. From all the hideouts they had visited yesterday, none had taken them longer than fifteen to twenty minutes to complete. Anko should've already been back, even if it was a high-priority area.
Had something gone wrong?
"They're here!" Kameko pulled on his backpack and pointed.
Takuma looked to see Anko and Daiki running towards them. Anko pointed away from the pit, and without a word, the team ran in that direction.
"Later!" Anko shouted as they dashed away from the pit.
None in the team were in the mood to talk because of the rain. They were dripping and cold and wanted nothing more than to find shelter from the rain. Takuma noticed from Anko and Daiki's grave expressions that whatever they had learned from the scouts wasn't good news.
They eventually found shelter.
"What happened?" asked Iori.
"Five jonin!" Anko said, her tone serious. "They have five jonin and thirty-odd chunin guarding that mine. The scouts haven't even been able to count the genin properly, but they're probably a hundred of them scurrying around in the mines."
Takuma was taken aback. For comparison, Camp Banana, with its two jonin and twenty chunin, was responsible for a much vast area, while it was safe to assume that the shinobi in the pit were there only to guard the mines. That amount of troops was far overkill.
"Are they Hidden Cloud jonin?" asked Kameko.
"Three of the five are potentially from Hidden Cloud. The scouts can't be a hundred percent sure," Anko rubbed her forehead.
Kameko was right. The Hidden Cloud had an invested interest in ensuring that the mine remained under their control.
"The scouts think that the enemy is using the gold mine as an excuse to build their troops to further penetrate the territory. I think I agree with them," said Anko. "There might be a big battle in our future."
Takuma looked at the sky and the falling rain.
It might be the time for him to take out a ninjutsu scroll or two and bring them to a field-usable state before he might need to share a battlefield with jonin.
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Dear Teacher, I hope this letter finds you in good health.
My journey to Camp Banana went smoothly bar one incident that showed me the true ugliness of the war. I was so wrapped up in the thoughts of danger I would face and the accomplishments I might achieve that I shamefully forgot the pain and suffering that war causes to people, the true victims, who want no part of it.
Perhaps for the first time, I felt dirty about being a shinobi as one day I might have to do the things that cause pain and suffering to innocent people.
I now serve under Chunin Mitarashi Anko, the former student of the traitor Orochimaru. She is an interesting personality to say the least. She's helping me with the energy imbalance that affects my chakra. I get along with my team as well; they are a diverse bunch. Though, I ended up fighting two of them within a few days of my arrival.
My first mission with the team was a supply run to scouts. It went smoothly, but we found something concerning. There might be a big battle in my future.
The worrying news has dowsed the camp in tenseness. The signs are subtle, but they're everywhere. People performing maintenance on their gear, the increase in the number of people training in the morning, and how often the news from our supply run comes up in conversations. It couldn't be more evident that the shinobi in the camp are anticipating a battle.
I'm no exception to it.
The weighted gear I have started wearing for training now feels heavier after returning from the supply run.
Your student,
Takuma
PS: Did she get my letter?
———
.
He sat on the floor of his room with the door latched and locked. A scarlet scroll sat near his feet with a notebook and pen in his hand. Takuma was studying one of the C-rank ninjutsu scrolls he had purchased before leaving the village.
Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu
In the silence of his room, Takuma read the text. The theory and rationality behind the jutsu were interesting despite the fact that Takuma had to read each paragraph thrice to gain even a basic understanding of the genius behind the jutsu.
"Fucking amazing," he muttered.
To Takuma, every jutsu, no matter its rank, was a stroke of genius—he couldn't imagine how someone went about creating jutsu. The academic text in every ninjutsu scroll seemed so complex, and yet everything, when put together… just worked. To him, all of it seemed like a miracle.
The Water Clone Jutsu was always one of the jutsu he had his eyes on it, but it was also the jutsu Takuma was most hesitant about acquiring because of the reputation of being chakra-extensive that was attached to every corporeal clone jutsu type.
The stakes were much higher performing a chakra-extensive jutsu rather than using ones that required low chakra inputs. In the scenario when the jutsu failed to achieve what the user intended, the losses would be low as the chakra used was considerably less.
His chakra augmentations took so little chakra that he could spam it without caring about failure. On the other hand, Water Release: Wild Water Wave took significantly more chakra; thus, the punishment for missing or getting blocked by the target was harsher—which is why he preferred Water Style: Eight Tentacles as the jutsu could be used for an extended period of time with very little chakra expenditure.
Chakra management had been the reason Takuma had prioritized other jutsu over the Water Clone Jutsu. However, he had reached a level of comfort that he could introduce a chakra-extensive jutsu into his combat style—his chakra reserves afforded him the use of those types of jutsu.
As the name suggested, the jutsu allowed the user to create a corporeal clone from water. The clone would possess 10% of the user's total chakra and comparable physical attributes to the user. The clones were much less durable than the user and would revert to water after sustaining enough damage—the amount of damage required to revert a clone to water depended on the mastery of the jutsu, the user's physique, and how large was the 10% of the user's total chakra.
The Water Clone Jutsu, like most corporeal clone jutsu, fundamentally favored shinobi with high chakra reserves.
"As expected, nothing comes for free," Takuma pursed his lips as he read the scroll.
Each clone contained 10% of the user's total chakra. One would think that the user, at full tank, would be left with 90% of their chakra—but that wasn't the case—there was a cost for making a clone.
"Up to ten percent… fuck me," Takuma sweated upon reading the numbers.
There was an additional cost that was deducted for making a clone. An inexperienced user could end up requiring an additional 10% of their chakra to make a single clone—in turn, potentially parting with their 20% chakra for each clone. Increasing the mastery of the jutsu and increasing water nature transformation were two ways to reduce the cost of creating a clone, and theoretically, the cost could be brought down until it was in decimals. The experienced users were able to bring the cost down to 1-3% of the total chakra.
"It's expensive, for sure."
Takuma could imagine losing 15% of his chakra on a clone that was defeated within seconds of being created. Just imagining it gave Takuma a pit in the stomach. The total potential risk was huge, but in his imagination, he could also see the vast potential. Two of himself working together in perfect unity to dismantle an opponent.
He shook off the excitement and focused back on the scroll in the silence of his room.
Unknowingly, a small smile appeared on his face.
———
.
"You want me to teach you how to mask your chakra?"
Daiki stopped pumping iron and looked up at Takuma in surprise.
"Yes, please," said Takuma with a small bow.
"Sure, but may I ask why?" asked Daiki.
From what he understood, Takuma was a combatant. He was able to beat both Kameko and Rikku, trained with Anko every day, and lugged those heavy clothes of his around all day. Why would he devote time to a non-combat skill when he could be training combat, especially when their team had brought back the news of the five jonin in the mines?
"Because it's a useful skill," said Takuma.
"That's it?"
"Do I need any other reason?"
"No, but why not focus on combat? Aren't you worried?"
Takuma sat on the ground outside their house. He shrugged, "I'm already doing whatever I can. If I do more, I'll run myself into the ground. And putting all of my time and mind space into preparing for a battle is more stress I need in my life—doing something different can be a good stress relief."
"…I don't mind, but I'm a busy person as well; I'm sorry, but I don't believe I will be able to give you much of my time. If that's fine with you…"
"That's absolutely fine. Tell me when you're free, and I will alter my day around it," Takuma smiled. "We can trade skills if you want. I'm a mean lockpicker if you want to learn how to unlock all the doors out there."
Daiki was confused if that was some sort of euphemism.
The next day, Daiki and Takuma met at the front of their house in the evening.
"I'm so ready. So how do we do this?" asked Takuma enthusiastically.
"First order of business, we visit my friend," said Daiki.
"Your friend?" asked Takuma as they walked.
"The practice of Chakra Masking was developed in response to the rise of skilled sensory-nin and their detection abilities. Sensory-nin are often the biggest defense and security assets, more so back in the day before masking was developed. And while one can learn how to mask chakra without them, it's a comfort to have a sensory-nin to track progress," asked Daiki.
"Your friend is a sensory-nin?"
"Indeed. One of two sensory-nin in Camp Banana."
Sensory-nin were extremely rare among the shinobi population. Out of all the numerous scouts they had supplied rations to, there was only one sensory-nin among them stationed at the gold mines, and that too only due to the gold mine's worth to the Land of Hot Waters.
"Won't he take offense to us using him to make his job harder?" asked Takuma.
Daiki laughed.
"Feel free to ask him that question," he said.
Daiki led the two to the tall earthen walls around the village that housed Camp Banana. Daiki looked up near the top of the wall and shouted,
"Hajime!"
One of the people on guard duty looked down, and Daiki could see the sigh as the tension left the man. Hajime stood still momentarily before speaking to the other guard and jumping down. Sensory-nin's extended chakra sense could be taxing on them when used for an extended period of time. Daiki was grateful to shinobi like Hajime, who kept them safe in dangerous places like the border.
Hajime was a short and muscular man in his mid-twenties. His physique wasn't as good as Daiki himself, but he could respect the effort Hajime had put into his physique: broad chest and shoulders, thin waist, and splendid arms. But one thing Daiki envied from Hajime were his legs—the thick thighs and bulging calves—Daiki hated to admit, but when it comes to legs, he couldn't compete. Daiki won everywhere else, of course.
"You're Takuma, the new guy," Hajime introduced himself to Takuma. "The name's Hajime. Daiki tells me you want to learn chakra masking?"
"Yes, I think it's a useful skill to have. Are you sure you don't mind helping us out with you being a sensory-nin?" asked Takuma.
Hajime seemed confused. "What do you mean?" He looked at Takuma and then toward Daiki with the question in his eyes.
Daiki said, "He's worried that you would be offended because he's making it hard for sensory-nin." He couldn't help but laugh.
Hajime, too, laughed as he patted Takuma on the shoulder. "Don't worry about that, kid. If you can learn to mask your chakra, we can train to sharpen our senses further. It's simply a race to see who comes out on the top—now that's exciting, isn't it?" There was a huge grin on Hajime's face.
Daiki leaned towards Takuma and whispered, "He's super competitive. Never play cards against him."
Takuma nodded.
"Hey, I'm not deaf," said Hajime.
Daiki then turned to Takuma. "You can come find Hajime whenever you want to see how much progress you have made. He has assured me that he will check you out every time you visit him."
"Yeah, come at me," said Hajime.
Takuma turned to Hajime and bowed lightly. "Thank you for your help."
As Hajime was still on guard duty, Daiki and Takuma left. They continued their walk around the camp.
"As you know, chakra is the sum of Physical and Spiritual Energies. When a shinobi performs a jutsu, they actively mix the two energies to produce the required amount of chakra. However, there's always some amount of chakra naturally being mixed by the body that continuously flows through the chakra pathway network," said Daiki.
Chakra was present in every living being. Be it plants, animals, or civilians who never practiced ninjutsu—any and every living thing had chakra flowing through them.
Daiki continued, "Chakra masking is slowing down that natural chakra flow. The lower you push the flow, the harder it gets for the sensory-nin to detect the chakra inside your body."
Takuma frowned and seemed contemplative for a moment. "Is that even possible?" he asked.
Daiki smiled, knowing that Takuma had just tried to see if he could control the natural flow, which was imperceptible to most people, including shinobi.
"There's a trick to it. I will be teaching it to you," said Daiki. "But I must warn you. If you're careless or push it… you will die."
———
.
AN: So, the "natural flow of chakra" or "the chakra that's mixed naturally by the body." That came to be when I was wondering what sensory-non detects? Because from what the source material and I have established, chakra is produced when you mix the two energies. So, I made it so that there's always some amount of chakra naturally produced by the body
And it's not something I pulled out of my ass. In the next chapter, I will give/reveal a justification that's backed by canon.
It's pretty easy to guess if you remember a portion of the lore that shows up once or twice throughout the whole series.
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.
That sounded needlessly ominous to Takuma, but the surprise lasted only a few seconds. There were a hundred different things that could kill him, and there were plenty of shinobi who knew how to mask their chakra.
"How so?" he asked.
"Are you aware of chakra exhaustion?" asked Daiki.
"When a shinobi uses up all of their chakra… which leads to death. Does that have something to do with the risk of death associated with chakra masking?" asked Takuma.
Chakra was akin to the life force, and using it all up was a well-documented cause of death among shinobi. There was a reason why chakra management was so crucial among shinobi, as running out of chakra literally spelled death, even if they defeated their enemies.
Daiki continued, "There's the traditional chakra exhaustion or Type-1 chakra exhaustion—when you use up all your chakra and there's not a drop left in your body and you die. But there's another type of chakra exhaustion, Type-2 chakra exhaustion. That passive mixing of chakra by the body is essential for keeping your body alive. If, for any reason, that passive mixing is cut off, you are immediately under the threat of death.
"Your organs start to fail. Your heart slows down, your lungs can't filter air, the kidneys can't clear toxins from your blood, your brain starts to shut down, and the sensory organs stop communicating. It's hazardous. One moment, you're healthy, the next moment, you are in a worse condition than a hundred-year-old man under round-the-clock care."
"And we are trying to limit that passive chakra mixing," Takuma commented.
"Indeed. We shinobi who train to utilize chakra are different from civilians. Our bodies naturally produce excessive amounts of that passively mixed chakra. We can limit that flow because we have an excess of it, but if you push it too far and accidentally cut the flow—which is not difficult to do—you push yourself into a high risk of dying by Type-2 chakra exhaustion," said Daiki.
"I have a question," said Takuma. "Let's say I accidentally cut the passive mixing of chakra. What if I then actively mix chakra and manually circulate that?"
"Excellent question. The problem here is that when you cut the passive mixing, you then become unable to mix chakra actively. I haven't done it, so I don't know the sensation, but someone with the experience told me that it's akin to tripping a fuse. You simply lose the ability to mix the two energies. You could be completely rested with full tanks of both energies, but once you cut that connection, you will be unable to do anything with those full tanks."
Takuma hummed. He focused inside, and it was as easy as a thought to command his Physical and Spiritual Energies to mix and have a gush of chakra flowing through the chakra pathway network. It was an uncomfortable thought to lose something that seemed so natural.
"The fact we know all of this and that you said you talked to someone with experience—meaning they lived to tell the tale means that there's something more to it," Takuma asked Daiki.
"That there is," Daiki smiled. "If you cut off the passive mixing of chakra, it resumes after some time. However, that time varies from person to person. It could be a few safe seconds or a couple of minutes, but you're dead by that time. And it's not constant— one day, your passive production could kick start within a quarter of a minute, but another day, you're struggling for two minutes without a peep.
"That's why it's dangerous. There's never any surety in it."
Takuma breathed out. He thanked himself that he delayed learning chakra masking. If he were in the village, he would've picked up a guide scroll to learn at his own pace because he couldn't have taken time off his already hectic schedule to learn from a teacher. Now, with all the free time he had at Camp Banana, Takuma could learn directly from someone experienced like Daiki.
"That's why Hajime wasn't worried and laughed. He doesn't have to risk his life to detect chakra signatures, but you have to put yourself at risk to hide from him," said Daiki. "Most don't progress after attaining a basic level of proficiency because of the fear that if they push it further, they're putting themselves under greater risk—true, but if you want to be great, you embrace that risk."
Daiki smiled as though the prospect of living on the edge of life and death was thrilling to him.
Takuma gulped.
It was true, then it was a very dangerous way of thinking.
"Before I teach you the trick, a few other things to remember," said Daiki. "It should be obvious, but you can't actively mix chakra while trying to limit the passive mix— that defeats the purpose of it all. The more chakra you have in your body, the louder you're to a sensory-nin.
"Second, it's unhealthy to limit the passive mix. We have an excess amount, but our bodies have adapted to that amount as our natural, and you're essentially doing something unnatural to your body. Limit your chakra for too long regularly; you will feel sick, tired, and weak. So, no overdoing it in training."
"Aye, aye, sir," said Takuma.
"Let's head back home to start and hope you don't die."
Takuma laughed.
As they turned back to move to their home, they encountered a small entourage of Hidden Steam shinobi walking towards them. They were immediately recognizable as everyone was dressed in Hidden Steam colors. A middle-aged man led the group. The group's body language suggested that the man was an important personage, or at least higher-ranking than others.
"Who are they?" Takuma whispered to Daiki.
He was aware that there was a small group of Hidden Steam shinobi in Camp Banana for 'coordination.' But it was plenty clear that Hidden Leaf was in charge of all missions that came to Camp Banana. The Hidden Steam group had some say and power— but not much.
"That's Tokubetsu Jonin Benzou," Daiki whispered back. "He's the highest-ranking Hidden Steam shinobi in Camp Banana and the one in charge of the Hidden Steam shinobi here."
"So a big shot," Takuma said.
As they passed by each other, Takuma's eyes met with Benzou. Takuma sent a respectful nod to Benzou, which the older man returned. The interaction ended as they passed by each other.
"He looked stressed," said Daiki.
"Who won't be after getting that kind of news," Takuma assumed Benzou, who was stationed at Camp Banana so close to the gold mine, would be stressed about the presence of five jonin in his territory.
Takuma said,
"Well, I hope he and the other higher-ups make the right decision."
———
.
Iori smiled at the sun shining bright in the sky. It was a rare day that the sun had risen so brightly, so Iori had pushed a table out in the open as she worked on her seals with the sunrays warming her. The near-constant overcast sky was depressing, so she greatly appreciated every moment of sunshine she could get.
Iori hummed to herself as she worked.
"You're in a good mood."
She looked up to see Takuma walking towards her.
"Ugh, just looking at you makes me tired," she said. He wore weighted gear every second of the day, and Iori couldn't imagine herself lugging that around all day long, even though she spent most of her time making seals in her room.
"And I can't imagine myself sitting in one place all day long," Takuma replied as she sat on the ground beside her.
Iori was working, but she didn't mind some company. She could make explosive tags in her sleep after creating thousands, if not tens of thousands of them. Having a conversation partner wasn't a bad thing right now.
"That ink is expensive, isn't it," said Takuma.
Iori glanced down at her inkpot of the special chakra ink used for fuinjutsu. The chakra ink was a base for creating seal-specific inks by adding other ingredients. There was also an ink slab on her table on which she had mixed a blend specially designed for explosive tags. There was an entire population of fuin-nin who seldom touched a brush to make seals and entirely focused on making chakra ink and developing ink blends for a variety of seals.
"It is expensive," she said.
"You know, I always wondered about this. I was wondering if you could answer my query," he said. "I use Grade-1 explosive tags, but whenever I go into a weapons store, there are so many different types of explosive tags—but all of them are Grade-1. I noticed all of them have different patterns. What's the deal with that?"
Iori laughed, "They're not patterns; they're called formulas. Do you buy your explosive tags randomly every time you need more?"
"No, I chose the kind my teacher recommended."
"That's one way to do it. Maybe that's why you didn't notice," Iori's hand moved on the tag paper as she drew the formula in a swift and unbroken manner without a hint of hesitations in her brush strokes. "A seal can be broken down into three basic components: the seal formula, ink blend, and the fuin-nin putting together a seal. These three basic components decide how the final seal will turn out."
She turned to look at the spread of explosive tags she had created and picked up one where the ink had dried. "Here, look at this. Do you have an explosive tag on you?" Iori gave the explosive tag to Takuma.
"Always," Takuma took an explosive tag from his pouch and held the two tags beside each other.
"Notice the difference?" she asked.
"Yeah, the patterns— the formulas are different," he said.
"Correct. There are dozens of different formulas that could be used to make an explosion tag. Every one of them results in an explosion, but they all achieve it in a different way, and that's where the difference lies— if you burn both of those, you will notice the difference in detonation time, explosion direction, and concentration— and there are other factors like durability against tamper, success rate, and shelf life.
"And then there's the fuin-nin side of things that don't concern the shinobi using the tag. The time it takes to complete a seal, its sensitivity to chakra, and the actual functionality." She pointed at the tag she had given to Takuma. "That tag is going into an emergency cache deep in the battlefield. The formula used has a long shelf life; that tag will last for a year before it starts deteriorating and becomes a dud. It will explode just like any other tag, but because we can't access emergency caches every month, that tag needs to last long for it to be useful in the cache."
"Wow," Takuma gazed at the two tags in his hands. "There's a lot to it, isn't there."
"There is. Half of it, you don't need to know, but every shinobi should be aware of the important half. Like a shelf-life option— if you know how long the tag will last, you will know when to replace it."
"Where do I learn all of this?"
"Just ask the shop to give you the catalog. Every tag on sale will be listed there, along with all the necessary information. That tag must be your teacher's preference, but you can choose your own."
"This is a whole lot more interesting than I thought it would be," Takuma said. "What about the ink blend? How does that come into play?"
Iori held up her ink pot. "This is chakra ink—ink infused with chakra. You use this as a base and add other ingredients to make a blend suited for a purpose. You can't use the blend for an explosive tag to create a storage seal. Good quality increases shelf life and reduces the chances of pulling a dud. A tag cheaper than its contemporaries almost always means they are using a lower-quality blend.
"This base chakra ink is not cheap, and you have to add other ingredients on top of that. I'm telling you, the real money is in selling this stuff. If I had the money, I would open a chakra ink factory. But it costs too much to enter the competition— the Hyuga crushes anyone who dares enter the market."
Takuma stared at the ink pot for a moment.
"Yes, I remember now. It wasn't my department, but I do remember there being cases of ink theft," he said.
"Police Force, right. Yeah, this stuff can sell for a lot if you're able to get a hand on it. I have a liter of it hidden in my bedroom," Iori winked.
Both of them laughed.
"And I assume the third component is a fuin-nin's skill," said Takuma.
"Yup, you can have the greatest formula and the highest quality blend, it's all useless if you don't have the skill for it," she said.
"No wonder you guys make bank," said Takuma.
"I'm still waiting to make bank," Iori sighed.
Takuma stood up and patted her on the shoulder.
"You will make it one day. I believe in you. Don't forget the little old me when you become a lady of vast riches."
Iori laughed, "Thanks. You going?"
"Yeah, that's it for today. I'll see you later, alright?" Takuma said as he walked away while waving.
Iori watched Takuma and sighed. Just watching him walk away was tiring.
———
.
"Did she find out?" asked Takuma.
"If she did, she didn't say anything," replied 'Takuma.'
Takuma stared at his water clone, impressed with what he had just accomplished. Iori just had an entire conversation with a water clone without realizing she was talking to one. He was hiding behind the house as he couldn't be away from the water clone lest it would return to water, which was a limitation he was completely fine with— there was only one could ask from a C-rank jutsu.
"So, what did you talk about?" asked Takuma.
"We got into a conversation about fuinjutsu and fuin-nin," the clone replied.
Takuma listened to the clone carefully, not intending to miss out on any information. Unlike the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the Water Clone Jutsu lacked the information-transfer-on-jutsu-release feature. Which was why the Water Clone Jutsu couldn't be used for reconnaissance missions or for the cheat-like training exploit.
"And that's about it," the clone told Takuma everything about their conversation.
"Alright, I will remember it," Takuma nodded before releasing the jutsu. The clone turned into a water splashed wide on the ground.
Takuma stretched his arms up above his head and decided to head back home. When he reached the building, he noticed one of the Hidden Leaf shinobi with a handful of letters. He immediately broke into a jog.
"Hey, is there anything for me? I'm Takuma."
"Takuma, Takuma… found it, yeah, there's one," said the man.
"Nice. Thank you," Takuma said as he opened the letter on the spot.
It was from Maruboshi.
A smile appeared on Takuma's face as he read his teacher's neat and flowing brush calligraphy. The first two paragraphs were routine. He chuckled at how formal Maruboshi sounded in writing. As Takuma read further—
"Huh…"
The Hidden Leaf shinobi looked up at Takuma, whose expression had flipped from joy to grave solemnity.
"Is something wrong?"
Takuma didn't reply because he didn't hear it.
All his attention was focused on the one line he had just read.
[—The Uchiha Clan has accused Shimura Danzo of Bloodline Theft—]
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.
The world you created based on Naruto feels so big and alive.
I honestly can't wait to find out more about sealing stuff, hopefully you dip into some uzumaki shit and the crazy things they could have done back in the day.
