Great chapters. Looks like Takuma will be safe for now after being sent into the back lines.
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve
Love the anbu fanart. I know he's not one for adornment, but I think his anbu mask being an octopus would be funny, what with the pun of him being "Takoma" and using the tentacle jutsu.
Tiger probably fits better? Since he's Scars already and the scars could look like tiger stripes.
With that said... Yeah, he picked a good time to get injured and fall back. The jonin in this are monsters.
Tiger probably fits better? Since he's Scars already and the scars could look like tiger stripes.
With that said... Yeah, he picked a good time to get injured and fall back. The jonin in this are monsters.
Thanks for the chapter !
The ANBU fanart got me thinking that Takuma would be a nice fit in the ANBU.
1) Personality wise, he has no problem doing some grimly stuff. ( He already interrogated and tortured another shinobi just a while back)
2) He has a lot of unusual skills that are very useful in and outside battles.
3) He already was able to juggle a concerning amount of illegal activities with remaining clean as a white sheet. He was only discovered when they made a more thought investigation
4) He is in a team dedicated to extract intel and that is the kind of stuff that ANBU does a lot.
And being a ANBU would bring almost everything he needs to eventually get to be considered to be a Jonin, and that is advanced training and advanced jutsus. The only exception is that he will not be able to work on his leadership skills while in the ANBU because he will not lead but follow(until he gets to be a team leader and who knows how long that will be).
OBS: I consider that he will be promoted to Chunnin in the war or right after the war. And right now he is mowing down the opposition, he was able to outright kill alot of genin-level oposition, so much that he was specifically target by a Chunnin. He is making an impact and there is so much that being clanless can hold you back.
The ANBU fanart got me thinking that Takuma would be a nice fit in the ANBU.
1) Personality wise, he has no problem doing some grimly stuff. ( He already interrogated and tortured another shinobi just a while back)
2) He has a lot of unusual skills that are very useful in and outside battles.
3) He already was able to juggle a concerning amount of illegal activities with remaining clean as a white sheet. He was only discovered when they made a more thought investigation
4) He is in a team dedicated to extract intel and that is the kind of stuff that ANBU does a lot.
And being a ANBU would bring almost everything he needs to eventually get to be considered to be a Jonin, and that is advanced training and advanced jutsus. The only exception is that he will not be able to work on his leadership skills while in the ANBU because he will not lead but follow(until he gets to be a team leader and who knows how long that will be).
OBS: I consider that he will be promoted to Chunnin in the war or right after the war. And right now he is mowing down the opposition, he was able to outright kill alot of genin-level oposition, so much that he was specifically target by a Chunnin. He is making an impact and there is so much that being clanless can hold you back.
CH_6.33 (204)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Anko dumped him and the kunoichi at the location away from the battle where the iryo-nin were treating the injured. She said a few words to them about being careful before dashing away back into the battlefield. Takuma watched her disappear into the pit. He glanced up at the sky. The sun was now clearly visible over the pit's walls, pouring down ample light into the hole, illuminating everything clearly.
The iryo-nin had their hands full, and after doing a quick visual check on him to judge that he could wait for a moment, they left him alone and went back to the more critically injured.
In the waiting time, Takuma unzipped his flak jacket, pulled off his shirt, and chainmail undershirt to bare his torso. He looked down. His chest was littered with red blotches, and his abdomen was covered in black-and-blue spots. His lungs burned; every breath hurt and his mouth was overflowing with the taste of blood and iron.
After a few minutes, a middle-aged iryo-nin with thinning hair arrived beside Takuma and began patching him up. When he saw Takuma had removed his clothes, he paused for a moment, seeing the scars, but then praised him for his foresight while checking his injuries.
"Good, very good," said the iryo-nin, touching and pressing Takuma's torso with his fingers and palm, causing Takuma to gasp sharply. "Okay, this isn't bad; we can work with this. You will be fine; don't worry," the iryo-nin spoke comforting words, thinking Takuma was panicking. But Takuma was already thinking of the near future.
The iryo-nin's hands began to glow green above Takuma's abdomen. A sharp, burning pain clutched Takuma's body before a hot comfort made him slack and relax. It was a sensation very similar to a high fever breaking. Takuma took out his water canteen and drank in small sips as the iryo-nin fixed the damage.
"I think my ribs are cracked," said Takuma.
The iryo-nin checked, nodded and moved one of his hands to Takuma's chest. There wasn't an instant relief like before, but he breathed a little easier with some of the pressure lifted.
He lay there looking at the sky, listening to the explosions, the clash of metal, the screams and shouts. The smell of smoke hung on his nose, and his skin prickled from the oversaturation of chakra in the environment from several dozen shinobi throwing jutsu around, pumping chakra into the environment.
After a few minutes, the iryo-nin removed his hands from Takuma to bandage some nicks and cuts. "This is good enough for now. Rest here for—Hey! What are you doing!?"
Takuma grunted as he got up and put his gear back on. "You said this is enough and I feel alright so I'm going back out. Don't worry, doc, I'll be here again if something happens" he said, putting on his chainmail undershirt with a little stiffness.
It was the best course of action he could think of.
The faster the battle ended, the lesser the casualties. There was also the fact that if people just retired after injuries, their side would weaken. They needed more bodies out there doing the work. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he alone could change the tide of battle. Only the jonin from either side had the actual power to do that—but if he could kill one more person or take two more out of the battle, injure three others—he would've done enough.
Takuma zipped his flak jacket. He looked behind at the iryo-nin, who didn't stop him. It was solely his decision to go back into the battle. He then looked at the kunoichi. She was still being treated and was swaddled in bandages more bloody than his.
She raised her hand and shot him a thumbs-up.
Takuma chuckled and gave her a nod before jumping down into the pit.
———
.
Kameko couldn't catch her breath. Her legs were little more than deadweight, they felt like someone had injected lead into her muscles; her arms and shoulders were the same. She couldn't lower her sword because there was danger in every direction and her sword was the only thing between her and it. Kameko couldn't see her face, but she was sure it was matted and tangled with blood.
None of it was hers—she was pushed down to the ground, and ended up landing in the pool of blood surrounding a body. It was awful, gross, and she had vomited after the fact from the thought. She was sick of the rainy weather going on because of the humidity, but she wished it would rain now so she could wash herself.
Too many people had died, both ally and enemy.
She saw two enemies cornering someone she'd seen around the camp. As tired as she was, she gripped her sword and forced her protesting body forward to help an ally.
"Hey, listen to this…"
Kameko turned around in a flash with her sword ready to cut her enemy down. She came to a sudden stop when she saw Takuma behind her, looking worse for wear. A gust of wind hit his face from her kenjutsu, but Takuma looked unbothered that she could've sliced his head off.
"C'mon, I need your help," he said quickly before turning away, expecting her to follow.
Kameko turned away from Takuma to look at the man she was about to help, only to find him dead on the ground with the two enemies absent. She stared at the dead body for a moment, her mind blank, without any thoughts. The man had been alive just a few moments ago, and she had just turned her attention away for not even half a minute, and he was dead…
"Kameko!"
She was snapped out of her stupor by Takuma's voice. Without giving it any thought, she turned away and followed him. She was too tired to think about anything else. Kameko glanced at Takuma, who was moving through the battlefield, but quickly shot toward any movement or sound near her. Her nerves were frayed from panic that a sharp blade was always only an inch away from stabbing her.
She took deep breaths to calm herself down. It wasn't good for her to be this prickly.
'Control… you're in control,' she repeated to herself.
Kameko brought herself down and found the composure to stop jumping at everything. She eased her grip so that the sword's handle didn't dig so painfully into her palm and even though the exhaustion slammed into her all at once, she felt much better.
She returned her attention to Takuma, wanting to ask what he wanted to do, and noticed him talking to a chunin from Toridasu's ranks. She listened to their conversation and was shocked at what she heard.
"I'm going to attack their iryo-nin at the medical station. I need some help," Takuma said to the chunin, shouting as the surroundings were too loud.
"What?" She stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder and shook it violently. "What are you talking about?"
The chunin's face was thoughtful. He asked, "Do you know the location?"
Takuma nodded. "They've set up inside a mine—just near the entrance. It's a bit troublesome location-wise, but I think it's doable. What do you say?"
The chunin nodded. "Alright. What do you need?"
"Get two or three genin, and meet me there." Takuma pointed at a point on the pit wall that was cut into steps for easier access to the mines in the walls.
He turned to her and shouted, "Let's find Anko! We have to be quick!"
Kameko wasn't able to say anything as Takuma dashed away. She hurried after him, the gears in her mind turning at Takuma's plan. She couldn't believe Takuma developed a plan like that in the middle of a bloody battle. Not to mention, he had managed to convince—and some people would even say that he had ordered—a chunin to do his bidding. Were they experiencing the same battle?
"Anko!" Takuma yelled. His chakra-modulated voice pierced through the noise and reached their team leader, who was spewing a river of angry flames at a group of enemies, trying to burn them alive. She looked at them after her ninjutsu was over and reached their position with a single high jump.
Anko smiled at Takuma. "You're already back. Very good," she gave him a nod of praise.
"We are going to attack the enemy's iryo-nin. Chunin Ito has agreed to join with a couple of genin of his choice. I think that combined, we can do enough damage to hinder if not outright take out their healing capabilities," said Takuma.
There was a moment of silence from Anko, where she stared at Takuma before her quick agreement came. "Let's get a move on then," she nodded.
Takuma led Kameko and Anko to the meeting location. They were there first. Takuma took out some of his kunai and quickly began looping explosion tags on the rings at the ends of the handles. He did it with surprising nimbleness and speed.
"Make more," he said to Kameko.
Kameko followed his lead and tied some tags to her kunai. By the time she was done, Chunin Ito had arrived with three genin; they were all under his command. As far as Kameko knew, Ito and Anko didn't have much interaction with each other—but she had seen them exchange nods on the streets, so she knew that they weren't adversarial to each other.
'Did he think about that when he chose him?' Kameko wondered as he looked at Takuma.
"It's your idea; you lead it," Anko said to Takuma. She gave Ito a look, saying that she didn't want any resistance from him.
Ito gave Takuma a nod. "We're fine with that," he said.
Takuma didn't hesitate as he asked everyone to huddle. He wasted no time in revealing his plan to the gathered people.
"There are guards in front of the mine who need to be drawn away for this to work; the two chunin are going to do that. You two will start alone, and we will move in only when the guards are occupied. The point is to overwhelm them. When they see us appear, after a moment, they will try to hastily re-adjust—that will be the window for the rest of us to slip in.
"When we're inside, don't worry about anything else; just cause as much damage as possible." Takuma held up a kunai with an explosion tag. "Chuck them in before you attempt any ninjutsu. Don't try to ration your tags. If you want more, scavenge later."
Kameko felt a cold hand close around her heart at Takuma's suggestion of pulling tags from the bodies of not only their enemies… and their allies as well. She nodded stiffly when he looked at her.
As everyone got ready to move out, Takuma addressed the team one final time. He said, "If something unexpected happens. Remember: Improvise— Adapt—Overcome. Now, let's go!"
Kameko hadn't heard that one before, but it hit deep. She had no time to contemplate his words as they stealthily proceeded towards the target mine. They took the long route so as not to attract any additional attention from others. As they neared the mine, they arrived at the last bend that gave them cover. Takuma raised his fist, signaling everyone to stop. He then looked at Anko and Ito and motioned them to go in.
The two chunin first peered around the bend to study the situation before they charged and disappeared; the sounds of battle reached their ears a few moments later. Out of the assembled genin, Takuma peered ahead while everyone else waited for his command.
"Go!"
The moment he said those words, the ground of scuffed shinobi burst around the corner and dashed towards the mine with bloody weapons in their hands.
Kameko saw Anko and Ito fighting against three guards who had surrounded her and Ito. Kameko was overcome with worry momentarily before steeling her heart and focusing on her task.
As they approached the mine entrance, a couple of enemies stepped out. At the front of the group, Takuma weaved quick hand seals before spitting out a torrent of water that startled the enemy group. Kameko and the rest took advantage of the successful water ninjutsu and charged the enemy group.
In the chaos of battle, Kameko slipped into the mine. She noticed how Ito's genin weren't very keen on following after her out of fear of who was inside. What if there were injured chunin still capable of combat—they could also quickly be outnumbered by a number of genin so their hesitance was understandable. The fear of unknown was strong, and this was Team-9's mission, they didn't feel particularly
Takuma, however, kicked one of the enemies down the wall before rushing inside after Kameko.
"The moment you see them, throw the kunai," he whispered to her.
"Understood," she whispered.
It only took a few seconds of running until they saw a makeshift camp. There were a few injured shinobi with iryo-nin working on them. The scent of disinfectant mixed in with the smell of blood and the cave's natural earthen dampness and lingered in the air. However, the camp wasn't as defenseless as Takuma's plan suggested. It seemed that the sound of fighting and rushed footsteps had alerted the camp, and they were ready.
Unfortunately for them, Kameko and Takuma weren't looking for close combat. They took out their explosive-tag-equipped-kunai and immediately threw them towards the camp. The able-bodied people and the iryo-nin tried to run further into the mine. The tags exploded faster than they could move and caught those who tried to run. Takuma moved further inside and threw a few kunai deeper into the mine, setting off more explosions.
Kameko followed his example and did the same. But then, as she was about to follow Takuma, she caught the mine's craggy roof sinking inwards, releasing a dusty shower. She gasped in realization and yanked on the back of Takuma's collar. And this time, she didn't stop until she had his attention.
"What?" he asked, utterly surprised.
"It's going to collapse! We have to leave!" Kameko urged, going as far as to drag him with her. He tried to ask the specifics, and she just pointed at the top at the cracks and crevices.
Takuma looked up at the ceiling, and, at that moment, a big chunk of rock fell just a few feet away from him. He didn't need to be told anymore and ran out with her. But as they ran out, Kameko noticed Takuma throwing tagged kunai into the wooden beams that were reinforcing the collapsing ceiling.
He was trying to make the mine collapse faster.
"Fuck you, Takuma!" she cursed and ran faster.
A string of explosions erupted behind them. Kameko could feel the heat and force behind her back as they exited the mine, which had collapsed behind them, completely blocking the entrance.
Kameko looked at Takuma in shock.
And then the madman had the gall to say something other than an apology.
"I think we can count them out," said Takuma.
There was a possibility that the innermost portion of the mine hadn't collapsed and there were survivors—but they had meters of rocks in their way to escape. They could get out, but they would either have to dig out by hand or risk using powerful ninjutsu that could trigger a collapse.
Whatever the case, she realized that Takuma was right.
The enemy's iryo-nin were not a problem anymore.
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 iryo-nin had their hands full, and after doing a quick visual check on him to judge that he could wait for a moment, they left him alone and went back to the more critically injured.
In the waiting time, Takuma unzipped his flak jacket, pulled off his shirt, and chainmail undershirt to bare his torso. He looked down. His chest was littered with red blotches, and his abdomen was covered in black-and-blue spots. His lungs burned; every breath hurt and his mouth was overflowing with the taste of blood and iron.
After a few minutes, a middle-aged iryo-nin with thinning hair arrived beside Takuma and began patching him up. When he saw Takuma had removed his clothes, he paused for a moment, seeing the scars, but then praised him for his foresight while checking his injuries.
"Good, very good," said the iryo-nin, touching and pressing Takuma's torso with his fingers and palm, causing Takuma to gasp sharply. "Okay, this isn't bad; we can work with this. You will be fine; don't worry," the iryo-nin spoke comforting words, thinking Takuma was panicking. But Takuma was already thinking of the near future.
The iryo-nin's hands began to glow green above Takuma's abdomen. A sharp, burning pain clutched Takuma's body before a hot comfort made him slack and relax. It was a sensation very similar to a high fever breaking. Takuma took out his water canteen and drank in small sips as the iryo-nin fixed the damage.
"I think my ribs are cracked," said Takuma.
The iryo-nin checked, nodded and moved one of his hands to Takuma's chest. There wasn't an instant relief like before, but he breathed a little easier with some of the pressure lifted.
He lay there looking at the sky, listening to the explosions, the clash of metal, the screams and shouts. The smell of smoke hung on his nose, and his skin prickled from the oversaturation of chakra in the environment from several dozen shinobi throwing jutsu around, pumping chakra into the environment.
After a few minutes, the iryo-nin removed his hands from Takuma to bandage some nicks and cuts. "This is good enough for now. Rest here for—Hey! What are you doing!?"
Takuma grunted as he got up and put his gear back on. "You said this is enough and I feel alright so I'm going back out. Don't worry, doc, I'll be here again if something happens" he said, putting on his chainmail undershirt with a little stiffness.
It was the best course of action he could think of.
The faster the battle ended, the lesser the casualties. There was also the fact that if people just retired after injuries, their side would weaken. They needed more bodies out there doing the work. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he alone could change the tide of battle. Only the jonin from either side had the actual power to do that—but if he could kill one more person or take two more out of the battle, injure three others—he would've done enough.
Takuma zipped his flak jacket. He looked behind at the iryo-nin, who didn't stop him. It was solely his decision to go back into the battle. He then looked at the kunoichi. She was still being treated and was swaddled in bandages more bloody than his.
She raised her hand and shot him a thumbs-up.
Takuma chuckled and gave her a nod before jumping down into the pit.
———
.
Kameko couldn't catch her breath. Her legs were little more than deadweight, they felt like someone had injected lead into her muscles; her arms and shoulders were the same. She couldn't lower her sword because there was danger in every direction and her sword was the only thing between her and it. Kameko couldn't see her face, but she was sure it was matted and tangled with blood.
None of it was hers—she was pushed down to the ground, and ended up landing in the pool of blood surrounding a body. It was awful, gross, and she had vomited after the fact from the thought. She was sick of the rainy weather going on because of the humidity, but she wished it would rain now so she could wash herself.
Too many people had died, both ally and enemy.
She saw two enemies cornering someone she'd seen around the camp. As tired as she was, she gripped her sword and forced her protesting body forward to help an ally.
"Hey, listen to this…"
Kameko turned around in a flash with her sword ready to cut her enemy down. She came to a sudden stop when she saw Takuma behind her, looking worse for wear. A gust of wind hit his face from her kenjutsu, but Takuma looked unbothered that she could've sliced his head off.
"C'mon, I need your help," he said quickly before turning away, expecting her to follow.
Kameko turned away from Takuma to look at the man she was about to help, only to find him dead on the ground with the two enemies absent. She stared at the dead body for a moment, her mind blank, without any thoughts. The man had been alive just a few moments ago, and she had just turned her attention away for not even half a minute, and he was dead…
"Kameko!"
She was snapped out of her stupor by Takuma's voice. Without giving it any thought, she turned away and followed him. She was too tired to think about anything else. Kameko glanced at Takuma, who was moving through the battlefield, but quickly shot toward any movement or sound near her. Her nerves were frayed from panic that a sharp blade was always only an inch away from stabbing her.
She took deep breaths to calm herself down. It wasn't good for her to be this prickly.
'Control… you're in control,' she repeated to herself.
Kameko brought herself down and found the composure to stop jumping at everything. She eased her grip so that the sword's handle didn't dig so painfully into her palm and even though the exhaustion slammed into her all at once, she felt much better.
She returned her attention to Takuma, wanting to ask what he wanted to do, and noticed him talking to a chunin from Toridasu's ranks. She listened to their conversation and was shocked at what she heard.
"I'm going to attack their iryo-nin at the medical station. I need some help," Takuma said to the chunin, shouting as the surroundings were too loud.
"What?" She stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder and shook it violently. "What are you talking about?"
The chunin's face was thoughtful. He asked, "Do you know the location?"
Takuma nodded. "They've set up inside a mine—just near the entrance. It's a bit troublesome location-wise, but I think it's doable. What do you say?"
The chunin nodded. "Alright. What do you need?"
"Get two or three genin, and meet me there." Takuma pointed at a point on the pit wall that was cut into steps for easier access to the mines in the walls.
He turned to her and shouted, "Let's find Anko! We have to be quick!"
Kameko wasn't able to say anything as Takuma dashed away. She hurried after him, the gears in her mind turning at Takuma's plan. She couldn't believe Takuma developed a plan like that in the middle of a bloody battle. Not to mention, he had managed to convince—and some people would even say that he had ordered—a chunin to do his bidding. Were they experiencing the same battle?
"Anko!" Takuma yelled. His chakra-modulated voice pierced through the noise and reached their team leader, who was spewing a river of angry flames at a group of enemies, trying to burn them alive. She looked at them after her ninjutsu was over and reached their position with a single high jump.
Anko smiled at Takuma. "You're already back. Very good," she gave him a nod of praise.
"We are going to attack the enemy's iryo-nin. Chunin Ito has agreed to join with a couple of genin of his choice. I think that combined, we can do enough damage to hinder if not outright take out their healing capabilities," said Takuma.
There was a moment of silence from Anko, where she stared at Takuma before her quick agreement came. "Let's get a move on then," she nodded.
Takuma led Kameko and Anko to the meeting location. They were there first. Takuma took out some of his kunai and quickly began looping explosion tags on the rings at the ends of the handles. He did it with surprising nimbleness and speed.
"Make more," he said to Kameko.
Kameko followed his lead and tied some tags to her kunai. By the time she was done, Chunin Ito had arrived with three genin; they were all under his command. As far as Kameko knew, Ito and Anko didn't have much interaction with each other—but she had seen them exchange nods on the streets, so she knew that they weren't adversarial to each other.
'Did he think about that when he chose him?' Kameko wondered as he looked at Takuma.
"It's your idea; you lead it," Anko said to Takuma. She gave Ito a look, saying that she didn't want any resistance from him.
Ito gave Takuma a nod. "We're fine with that," he said.
Takuma didn't hesitate as he asked everyone to huddle. He wasted no time in revealing his plan to the gathered people.
"There are guards in front of the mine who need to be drawn away for this to work; the two chunin are going to do that. You two will start alone, and we will move in only when the guards are occupied. The point is to overwhelm them. When they see us appear, after a moment, they will try to hastily re-adjust—that will be the window for the rest of us to slip in.
"When we're inside, don't worry about anything else; just cause as much damage as possible." Takuma held up a kunai with an explosion tag. "Chuck them in before you attempt any ninjutsu. Don't try to ration your tags. If you want more, scavenge later."
Kameko felt a cold hand close around her heart at Takuma's suggestion of pulling tags from the bodies of not only their enemies… and their allies as well. She nodded stiffly when he looked at her.
As everyone got ready to move out, Takuma addressed the team one final time. He said, "If something unexpected happens. Remember: Improvise— Adapt—Overcome. Now, let's go!"
Kameko hadn't heard that one before, but it hit deep. She had no time to contemplate his words as they stealthily proceeded towards the target mine. They took the long route so as not to attract any additional attention from others. As they neared the mine, they arrived at the last bend that gave them cover. Takuma raised his fist, signaling everyone to stop. He then looked at Anko and Ito and motioned them to go in.
The two chunin first peered around the bend to study the situation before they charged and disappeared; the sounds of battle reached their ears a few moments later. Out of the assembled genin, Takuma peered ahead while everyone else waited for his command.
"Go!"
The moment he said those words, the ground of scuffed shinobi burst around the corner and dashed towards the mine with bloody weapons in their hands.
Kameko saw Anko and Ito fighting against three guards who had surrounded her and Ito. Kameko was overcome with worry momentarily before steeling her heart and focusing on her task.
As they approached the mine entrance, a couple of enemies stepped out. At the front of the group, Takuma weaved quick hand seals before spitting out a torrent of water that startled the enemy group. Kameko and the rest took advantage of the successful water ninjutsu and charged the enemy group.
In the chaos of battle, Kameko slipped into the mine. She noticed how Ito's genin weren't very keen on following after her out of fear of who was inside. What if there were injured chunin still capable of combat—they could also quickly be outnumbered by a number of genin so their hesitance was understandable. The fear of unknown was strong, and this was Team-9's mission, they didn't feel particularly
Takuma, however, kicked one of the enemies down the wall before rushing inside after Kameko.
"The moment you see them, throw the kunai," he whispered to her.
"Understood," she whispered.
It only took a few seconds of running until they saw a makeshift camp. There were a few injured shinobi with iryo-nin working on them. The scent of disinfectant mixed in with the smell of blood and the cave's natural earthen dampness and lingered in the air. However, the camp wasn't as defenseless as Takuma's plan suggested. It seemed that the sound of fighting and rushed footsteps had alerted the camp, and they were ready.
Unfortunately for them, Kameko and Takuma weren't looking for close combat. They took out their explosive-tag-equipped-kunai and immediately threw them towards the camp. The able-bodied people and the iryo-nin tried to run further into the mine. The tags exploded faster than they could move and caught those who tried to run. Takuma moved further inside and threw a few kunai deeper into the mine, setting off more explosions.
Kameko followed his example and did the same. But then, as she was about to follow Takuma, she caught the mine's craggy roof sinking inwards, releasing a dusty shower. She gasped in realization and yanked on the back of Takuma's collar. And this time, she didn't stop until she had his attention.
"What?" he asked, utterly surprised.
"It's going to collapse! We have to leave!" Kameko urged, going as far as to drag him with her. He tried to ask the specifics, and she just pointed at the top at the cracks and crevices.
Takuma looked up at the ceiling, and, at that moment, a big chunk of rock fell just a few feet away from him. He didn't need to be told anymore and ran out with her. But as they ran out, Kameko noticed Takuma throwing tagged kunai into the wooden beams that were reinforcing the collapsing ceiling.
He was trying to make the mine collapse faster.
"Fuck you, Takuma!" she cursed and ran faster.
A string of explosions erupted behind them. Kameko could feel the heat and force behind her back as they exited the mine, which had collapsed behind them, completely blocking the entrance.
Kameko looked at Takuma in shock.
And then the madman had the gall to say something other than an apology.
"I think we can count them out," said Takuma.
There was a possibility that the innermost portion of the mine hadn't collapsed and there were survivors—but they had meters of rocks in their way to escape. They could get out, but they would either have to dig out by hand or risk using powerful ninjutsu that could trigger a collapse.
Whatever the case, she realized that Takuma was right.
The enemy's iryo-nin were not a problem anymore.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_6.34 (205)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
While Takuma was lugging himself across the battlefield, trying to get himself to an iryo-nin to get himself healed, in another part of the battlefield, two opposing jonin faced each other.
"I didn't think I would meet you here, 'rainy cloud' Ogata." Toridasu smiled at the bear-bellied man while he fanned himself gently with his folding fan. "I didn't know the Hidden Cloud was involved in this war. I must say, I'm unpleasantly surprised to see someone like you."
Ogata of the Hidden Cloud was a large and hairy man with a wide frame, big, meaty arms and legs, and a broad torso. He had been a resident of the top-level Bingo Books issued by villages other than the Hidden Cloud. There was a large bounty on the accomplished jonin's head and no one wanted him alive.
Ogata scratched his scruffy beard. "Color me surprised to see your bald head here. This isn't a place for old bones like yours; go home and have your nanny tuck you in. I don't want to be accused of abusing the elderly."
Toridasu laughed behind his elaborate folding fan with metal tips. "But I'm not here, Ogata. None of us are," he said. "And you are going to be nowhere after today."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ogata sighed as though finding the conversation utterly dull. He had a heavy gauntlet around his left hand, and he put on another on his right hand as he exchanged words with Toridasu. "You made a mistake coming here, old man. All of your men will perish here because of that. Worry not, I will give all of you a proper burial. Unlike you Hidden Leaf folk, we are honorable people."
The two jonin stood facing each other with bloody chaos around them. Dozens of shinobi from each side fought around them, but no one dared to approach the two men, leaving a wide berth for their own sakes.
"Really? Kidnapping a toddler from her home to steal her bloodline is honorable?" Toridasu shot back.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is that you people killed one of ours on the day we visited your filthy village to sign a peace treaty conference," Ogata said in counter.
The infamous incident, now known as the Hyuga Affair, was an episode between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud, who were in conflict with each other. However, because of the prolonged fighting, the two villages sought to end it and came to a mutual decision to cease fire and sign a peace treaty. Both villages sent an envoy each to the other village.
However, the treaty was soon revealed to be nothing more than a cover when the Hidden Cloud envoy in the Hidden Leaf village kidnapped Hyuga Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, on her third birthday. The envoy was killed during the attempt by Hiashi before he could leave the village with the little girl.
However, the Hidden Cloud denied all accusations of the kidnapping, and demanded the body of Hiashi as compensation for the death of their envoy as per the stipulations of the signed peace treaty.
Ultimately, the Hidden Leaf conceded as they didn't want to break the peace treaty. The Hidden Leaf had suffered from the Nine Tail incident a few years prior and desperately needed time to recover. The continuance of the war with the Hidden Cloud would only drain the village's already dwindling resources, and the Daimyo had tightened his purses.
The Hidden Leaf village sent the body of Hyuga Hiashi to the Hidden Cloud, but everyone involved knew that the Hidden Leaf had sent Hyuga Hizashi, Hiashi's identical twin brother, instead. The Hidden Cloud didn't say anything—rather, they couldn't. They too wanted peace, and it didn't matter whose body they got; they weren't getting anything of use because the Hyuga's cursed seal rid the body of all the Byakugan secrets—and anything else would be removed surgically before the body was sent out.
Toridasu snapped his fan shut, and the landscape changed drastically. The wet, muddy ground cracked, and bubbling lava flowed from between the gaps below. A series of cracks appeared around Ogata, and harsh lava in the shape of large monster claws snapped towards him. They grasped at the empty air with Ogata nowhere to be seen. The large man was much faster than his heavy frame suggested and shot forward Toridasu like a whistling arrow.
The cracks in the earth deepened and more lava burst to the surface. A dozen more claws burst forth, grabbing for Ogata, who evaded with agility and precision beyond what his frame suggested. More than his physical prowess, his mind was more impressive as he calculated the locations of a dozen moving lines on the fly.
He finished his hand seals and stomped his foot on the ground that cracked under his force. Cobalt sparks crackled around his leg before the stomp forced the concentrated lightning into the ground. There was a split second of silence before the earth groaned. Chunks of earth were sent hurtling in every direction and the cracks widened, and the ground shook as though struck by a mid magnitude earthquake. The lands shifted, displacing in every direction, making the cracks bigger. The lava surged, engulfing the claws in wide pillars that roared angrily.
They were on the same plane at the start of the fight, but Ogata's stomp had altered the landscape through pure force that resembled natural calamities. He looked down at Toridasu from a height and weaved hand seals with his metal-gloved fingers. His gauntlet-covered fingers sparked but just as he was about to leap toward Toridasu, the fiery claws burst out of the pillars—dripping and brighter than before— to surround him from all directions, jumping at him akin to starving wild wolves.
Ogata changed direction in the blink of an eye and leaped up high in the air to avoid certain death and looked down at Toridasu's smiling face.
"Aye, you tricky old bastard," Ogata scoffed.
The false world around him, constructed by genjutsu, shattered, and in the next moment, he was standing in front of Toridasu, taking a step forward. Toridasu looked surprised before taking a step back and standing upright.
"So there is a tiny bit of brain behind all that brawn," he said.
"I think it's good to have that tiny amount; it means there's less for your kind to play around with," said Ogata.
The two jonin smiled at each other and simultaneously flew through hand seals. Ogata finished first, a second earlier than Toridasu. A spark of lightning rose up into the air before the arcs and currents grew until a humongous lion made up of lightning stood behind Ogata. When Toridasu finished, he moved his hands apart for a growing ball of fire to mold itself into a bird akin to a phoenix.
As the lion roared and thrashed, jumping towards Toridasu, the tiny phoenix flew into the lightning lion and ballooned from within it. The two ninjutsu melded together, creating a dangerous flux of high volumes of chakra and a kaleidoscope of flashing light and color before resulting in an explosion that disrupted more than half the battlefield.
When the dust settled, the two jonin, who were deep in the blast's territory, hadn't moved an inch from their spaces. Toridasu was covered in a deep shroud of gentle winds while Ogata had erected a dome of chained lightning that snapped angrily.
Ogata dropped his defensive jutsu first and immediately went on the offensive. He appeared before Toridasu and punched the wind envelope. A crackle of lightning sparked around the wind before lighting lit up the surface. Within a moment, the wind defense broke down, already weakened thanks to the explosion the two had caused.
"Get hit by my honorable fist, old timer," Ogata roared in laughter.
Ogata smashed Toridasu with a lightning-charged gauntlet but it passed through Toridasu as though he were an illusion. A cold chill shuddered down Ogata's back, and he turned to see Toridasu hurling gouts of sweeping fire in his direction—but in the exact moment before they collided against him, Ogata flexed his chakra and the fires vanished, but the danger wasn't over. Toridasu vanished in the distance and appeared beside him with a different, fully metal, folding fan in his hand. Ogata sensed chakra flowing through that metal.
At the last moment, Ogata brought his other arm up to block the sharp edges of the folding fan with his gauntlet. The two metal weapons screeched and scratched against each other as both jonin channeled their strength through the instruments, putting their best behind them.
"Your little tricks are annoying, old geezer," Ogata spat. "Why not face me like a man?"
Toridasu beamed, taking Ogata's words as praise. "Treating genjutsu as tricks in this day and age? What an old-fashioned belief. I worry about the Hidden Cloud's future if they let someone like you crawl up to jonin."
Ogata snarled the beginnings of a response but was cut off by an ear-shattering explosion in another part of the battlefield. He and Toridasu briefly turned part of their attention to see a cluster of fire—large enough to see from where they were—crashing into the side of the pit, causing a wide-spread landslides.
"Worried about your friend?" Ogata asked.
Toridasu shook his head. "My colleague is a proud jonin from my village. He will never be in danger against mere Hidden Frost jonin. These little Hidden Villages have no standards—they allow anyone to become jonin, as I'm sure you're aware."
The snide-mockery against the Hidden Cloud was not hidden in his tone or voice.
While Toridasu and Ogata were fighting each other, Shirakumo was fighting two Hidden Frost jonin alone.
"He can take care of himself," Toridasu continued. "You worry about yourself… You're bleeding, you know."
Ogata looked down at his body and saw that he was bleeding from his lower abdomen above his thigh.
"This is a genjutsu," he scoffed and disrupted his chakra to lift the genjutsu.
Ogata felt the genjutsu shatter. However, his eyes widened when the wound didn't appear, and instead, two more injuries—shoulder and calf—made themselves known to him.
'D-Did he place a genjutsu on me so that I would not notice my injuries, so I would continue fighting?' Ogata thought.
"Are you thinking that I hid your injuries with genjutsu?" Toridasu's words snapped Ogata out of his thoughts. The smile on Toridasu's face grew as he said, "Or maybe these injuries are genjutsu to deceive you into thinking that you're injured."
Ogata once again disrupted his chakra.
Toridasu laughed, full of amusement. "Are you trying to break the genjutsu? Maybe it's not genjutsu, and this is reality. Or maybe every time you try to lift the genjutsu, it's not you, but me tricking you into thinking that you disrupted your chakra? Try it again; perhaps it will work this time," he chuckled.
Ogata felt a distinct fear settle into his heart as he disrupted his chakra. Once again, he felt the genjutsu shatter, but nothing changed. The wounds on his body remained and Toridasu still stood in front of him laughing.
"And so… are you in a genjutsu, or are you not? What is real and what is not?" Toridasu asked. His lips then flattened, and his voice dropped a few notes into a menacing laughter that echoed in Ogata's ears, "This thing you call a trick will kill you today, my thick-skulled foe."
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.
"I didn't think I would meet you here, 'rainy cloud' Ogata." Toridasu smiled at the bear-bellied man while he fanned himself gently with his folding fan. "I didn't know the Hidden Cloud was involved in this war. I must say, I'm unpleasantly surprised to see someone like you."
Ogata of the Hidden Cloud was a large and hairy man with a wide frame, big, meaty arms and legs, and a broad torso. He had been a resident of the top-level Bingo Books issued by villages other than the Hidden Cloud. There was a large bounty on the accomplished jonin's head and no one wanted him alive.
Ogata scratched his scruffy beard. "Color me surprised to see your bald head here. This isn't a place for old bones like yours; go home and have your nanny tuck you in. I don't want to be accused of abusing the elderly."
Toridasu laughed behind his elaborate folding fan with metal tips. "But I'm not here, Ogata. None of us are," he said. "And you are going to be nowhere after today."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ogata sighed as though finding the conversation utterly dull. He had a heavy gauntlet around his left hand, and he put on another on his right hand as he exchanged words with Toridasu. "You made a mistake coming here, old man. All of your men will perish here because of that. Worry not, I will give all of you a proper burial. Unlike you Hidden Leaf folk, we are honorable people."
The two jonin stood facing each other with bloody chaos around them. Dozens of shinobi from each side fought around them, but no one dared to approach the two men, leaving a wide berth for their own sakes.
"Really? Kidnapping a toddler from her home to steal her bloodline is honorable?" Toridasu shot back.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is that you people killed one of ours on the day we visited your filthy village to sign a peace treaty conference," Ogata said in counter.
The infamous incident, now known as the Hyuga Affair, was an episode between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud, who were in conflict with each other. However, because of the prolonged fighting, the two villages sought to end it and came to a mutual decision to cease fire and sign a peace treaty. Both villages sent an envoy each to the other village.
However, the treaty was soon revealed to be nothing more than a cover when the Hidden Cloud envoy in the Hidden Leaf village kidnapped Hyuga Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, on her third birthday. The envoy was killed during the attempt by Hiashi before he could leave the village with the little girl.
However, the Hidden Cloud denied all accusations of the kidnapping, and demanded the body of Hiashi as compensation for the death of their envoy as per the stipulations of the signed peace treaty.
Ultimately, the Hidden Leaf conceded as they didn't want to break the peace treaty. The Hidden Leaf had suffered from the Nine Tail incident a few years prior and desperately needed time to recover. The continuance of the war with the Hidden Cloud would only drain the village's already dwindling resources, and the Daimyo had tightened his purses.
The Hidden Leaf village sent the body of Hyuga Hiashi to the Hidden Cloud, but everyone involved knew that the Hidden Leaf had sent Hyuga Hizashi, Hiashi's identical twin brother, instead. The Hidden Cloud didn't say anything—rather, they couldn't. They too wanted peace, and it didn't matter whose body they got; they weren't getting anything of use because the Hyuga's cursed seal rid the body of all the Byakugan secrets—and anything else would be removed surgically before the body was sent out.
Toridasu snapped his fan shut, and the landscape changed drastically. The wet, muddy ground cracked, and bubbling lava flowed from between the gaps below. A series of cracks appeared around Ogata, and harsh lava in the shape of large monster claws snapped towards him. They grasped at the empty air with Ogata nowhere to be seen. The large man was much faster than his heavy frame suggested and shot forward Toridasu like a whistling arrow.
The cracks in the earth deepened and more lava burst to the surface. A dozen more claws burst forth, grabbing for Ogata, who evaded with agility and precision beyond what his frame suggested. More than his physical prowess, his mind was more impressive as he calculated the locations of a dozen moving lines on the fly.
He finished his hand seals and stomped his foot on the ground that cracked under his force. Cobalt sparks crackled around his leg before the stomp forced the concentrated lightning into the ground. There was a split second of silence before the earth groaned. Chunks of earth were sent hurtling in every direction and the cracks widened, and the ground shook as though struck by a mid magnitude earthquake. The lands shifted, displacing in every direction, making the cracks bigger. The lava surged, engulfing the claws in wide pillars that roared angrily.
They were on the same plane at the start of the fight, but Ogata's stomp had altered the landscape through pure force that resembled natural calamities. He looked down at Toridasu from a height and weaved hand seals with his metal-gloved fingers. His gauntlet-covered fingers sparked but just as he was about to leap toward Toridasu, the fiery claws burst out of the pillars—dripping and brighter than before— to surround him from all directions, jumping at him akin to starving wild wolves.
Ogata changed direction in the blink of an eye and leaped up high in the air to avoid certain death and looked down at Toridasu's smiling face.
"Aye, you tricky old bastard," Ogata scoffed.
The false world around him, constructed by genjutsu, shattered, and in the next moment, he was standing in front of Toridasu, taking a step forward. Toridasu looked surprised before taking a step back and standing upright.
"So there is a tiny bit of brain behind all that brawn," he said.
"I think it's good to have that tiny amount; it means there's less for your kind to play around with," said Ogata.
The two jonin smiled at each other and simultaneously flew through hand seals. Ogata finished first, a second earlier than Toridasu. A spark of lightning rose up into the air before the arcs and currents grew until a humongous lion made up of lightning stood behind Ogata. When Toridasu finished, he moved his hands apart for a growing ball of fire to mold itself into a bird akin to a phoenix.
As the lion roared and thrashed, jumping towards Toridasu, the tiny phoenix flew into the lightning lion and ballooned from within it. The two ninjutsu melded together, creating a dangerous flux of high volumes of chakra and a kaleidoscope of flashing light and color before resulting in an explosion that disrupted more than half the battlefield.
When the dust settled, the two jonin, who were deep in the blast's territory, hadn't moved an inch from their spaces. Toridasu was covered in a deep shroud of gentle winds while Ogata had erected a dome of chained lightning that snapped angrily.
Ogata dropped his defensive jutsu first and immediately went on the offensive. He appeared before Toridasu and punched the wind envelope. A crackle of lightning sparked around the wind before lighting lit up the surface. Within a moment, the wind defense broke down, already weakened thanks to the explosion the two had caused.
"Get hit by my honorable fist, old timer," Ogata roared in laughter.
Ogata smashed Toridasu with a lightning-charged gauntlet but it passed through Toridasu as though he were an illusion. A cold chill shuddered down Ogata's back, and he turned to see Toridasu hurling gouts of sweeping fire in his direction—but in the exact moment before they collided against him, Ogata flexed his chakra and the fires vanished, but the danger wasn't over. Toridasu vanished in the distance and appeared beside him with a different, fully metal, folding fan in his hand. Ogata sensed chakra flowing through that metal.
At the last moment, Ogata brought his other arm up to block the sharp edges of the folding fan with his gauntlet. The two metal weapons screeched and scratched against each other as both jonin channeled their strength through the instruments, putting their best behind them.
"Your little tricks are annoying, old geezer," Ogata spat. "Why not face me like a man?"
Toridasu beamed, taking Ogata's words as praise. "Treating genjutsu as tricks in this day and age? What an old-fashioned belief. I worry about the Hidden Cloud's future if they let someone like you crawl up to jonin."
Ogata snarled the beginnings of a response but was cut off by an ear-shattering explosion in another part of the battlefield. He and Toridasu briefly turned part of their attention to see a cluster of fire—large enough to see from where they were—crashing into the side of the pit, causing a wide-spread landslides.
"Worried about your friend?" Ogata asked.
Toridasu shook his head. "My colleague is a proud jonin from my village. He will never be in danger against mere Hidden Frost jonin. These little Hidden Villages have no standards—they allow anyone to become jonin, as I'm sure you're aware."
The snide-mockery against the Hidden Cloud was not hidden in his tone or voice.
While Toridasu and Ogata were fighting each other, Shirakumo was fighting two Hidden Frost jonin alone.
"He can take care of himself," Toridasu continued. "You worry about yourself… You're bleeding, you know."
Ogata looked down at his body and saw that he was bleeding from his lower abdomen above his thigh.
"This is a genjutsu," he scoffed and disrupted his chakra to lift the genjutsu.
Ogata felt the genjutsu shatter. However, his eyes widened when the wound didn't appear, and instead, two more injuries—shoulder and calf—made themselves known to him.
'D-Did he place a genjutsu on me so that I would not notice my injuries, so I would continue fighting?' Ogata thought.
"Are you thinking that I hid your injuries with genjutsu?" Toridasu's words snapped Ogata out of his thoughts. The smile on Toridasu's face grew as he said, "Or maybe these injuries are genjutsu to deceive you into thinking that you're injured."
Ogata once again disrupted his chakra.
Toridasu laughed, full of amusement. "Are you trying to break the genjutsu? Maybe it's not genjutsu, and this is reality. Or maybe every time you try to lift the genjutsu, it's not you, but me tricking you into thinking that you disrupted your chakra? Try it again; perhaps it will work this time," he chuckled.
Ogata felt a distinct fear settle into his heart as he disrupted his chakra. Once again, he felt the genjutsu shatter, but nothing changed. The wounds on his body remained and Toridasu still stood in front of him laughing.
"And so… are you in a genjutsu, or are you not? What is real and what is not?" Toridasu asked. His lips then flattened, and his voice dropped a few notes into a menacing laughter that echoed in Ogata's ears, "This thing you call a trick will kill you today, my thick-skulled foe."
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_6.35 (206)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
It had been around an hour since those in the Evacuation Unit capable of chakra masking had descended into the pit to evacuate the dormitories. His training sessions were always longer than an hour—but he hadn't felt more exhausted than he was at the current moment. Even the assassination attempt on his life was more overwhelming than exhausting.
Takuma felt his concentration was slipping and all his brain wanted to do was listlessly stare at the ground and stop processing the excessive input his senses took in from the chaos around him. He wanted to stop moving and just drop flat, but that wasn't an option.
The cave-in that had eliminated the enemy's iryo-nin had only happened around ten minutes ago and while it didn't end the battle it pushed Camp Banana up to a clear advantage. Ten minutes was a significant time in a shinobi battle where people dropped faster than flies.
He had to return to the battle at the bottom of the pit after bombing the mine. The feeling of frustration that the enemy didn't opt to cut their losses and retreat gnawed at his mind. He wanted it to end and the lack of enemy, even if it meant through them escaping, was the end condition. But simultaneously, as he looked around the pit, he could understand why they couldn't. Their escape route was blocked by the ongoing battle between the jonin duking it out against each other. Anko had told him that Jonin Shirakumo was fighting two jonin in that part of the pit—and that he had successfully killed one of them, making escape an unattractive choice.
Takuma felt a strange relief as he stared at the battlefield.
Through the lingering smoke and bright fires, he could see more Hidden Steam gear than he did Hidden Frost. So long as Toridasu and Shirakumo didn't die, Camp Banana had won the battle over the Gojiro Gold Mines. They had the win in their grasp, and they needed to do was stand their proverbial flag and declare their victory.
So many corpses littered the ground that he had to look out for them not to trip and inadvertently get killed by an enemy. In that sense, the dead were still fighting in the battle. The thought mae him want to vomit. Takuma didn't have the mental capacity to contemplate the sheer loss of life from the battle—he was sure it would linger in his thoughts and disturb his nights when he had the chance to rest.
A group of Camp Banana shinobi surrounded two enemy shinobi, poised and ready to kill the pair. Takuma lifted his heavy feet to join them, weapons drawn; they didn't have any orders to accept surrender.
A horn blared across the battlefield and brought a short burst of energy to the Hidden Leaf troops and despair to the last few remaining enemy forces across the pit. It was the signal that they had won and successfully occupied the Gojiro Gold Mines. Evidently the enemy was still alive, but the horn meant that the jonin had defeated their counterparts—which for all intents and purposes was victory.
Takuma let his shoulders relax as he approached the group. cornering the two enemies glued to each other's backs for protection.
"Surrender," Takuma straightened himself as he spoke. Everyone— ally or enemy— turned towards him as he continued to talk. "You either die here where you've already lost, or live another day to potentially be traded back to your nation in exchange for our own imprisoned in yours. If you cooperate, your stay will be as comfortable as possible given the situation.
"Choose or I will choose for you," he said authoritatively.
The Camp Banana shared confused looks but held their tongues. Takuma kept his eyes on the two enemies, who didn't bother to hide their suspicion, which was to be expected. The gathered ground could kill them, but they were suddenly asking for surrender—but Takuma knew they were exhausted enough not to notice the confusion around them.
Takuma sighed. He turned to the kunoichi beside him. "Will you lend me your dagger? I misplaced mine in the battle."
The kunoichi was surprised but unsheathed the dagger strapped to her lower back and handed it to Takuma.
"Alright, let's get this over with," said Takuma as he stepped towards the two.
"Wait!" shouted one of the two enemies. "We will surrender!"
The second one wasn't as thrilled. "What are you doing!?" he hissed.
"Shut up!" The first one turned to Takuma. "We surrender. Please, spare us. We will surrender. W-We will, so…" he licked his cracked lips and looked at Takuma with damp hope and desperation in his eyes.
Takuma silently played with the dagger in his hand as he stared at the two shinobi. With each silent second, the desperation and despair grew thicker in his eyes.
"Drop your weapons and lay down on your stomach with your hands on your head. We will apply chakra seals and then take you in," said Takuma, dropping his hand with the dagger limp down by his side.
The second, unwilling shinobi looked suspicious but was quickly persuaded to surrender when his comrade did as instructed. He followed and threw his weapons and pouches away before lying on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.
Takuma pointed at the weapons and weapon pouches and a couple people collected them before he alone approached the two and crouched down beside them to whisper: "You made the right choice."
He first approached the unwilling enemy and planted a knee in the center of his back. Takuma pulled the man's hands down from his head, raised his head by the hair, and quickly slit his throat. He gurgled wetly, alerting his more willing comrade. Takuma knew he didn't have time, so he skipped to the next. Before the panicking enemy could rise, Takuma booted him across the face and mounted him.
"W-What. Y-You said—!"He thrashed desperately beneath him. "No, please! I b-beg…"
Takuma grabbed the man's arm with his free hand and plunged the bloody dagger deep into the man's heart and twisted it violently. The man flailed for a moment a few moments before the resistance faded. Takuma gazed into the dying man's betrayed brown eyes until the light faded completely—never breaking eye contact. Takuma kept the man company in his last moments before wiping the blood on the dagger from the dead man's pants and returning the dagger to its owner.
"Thank you," Takuma said to her before tiredly walking away.
The kunoichi reclaimed her weapon and kept it at arm's length, glancing furtively between it, Takuma, and two men he'd killed in cold blood.
Everyone in the small group looked at him with a mix of shock, admiration, and a strong dose of fear. They turned to look at him as he walked away. None of his previous sharpness was present as he swayed from side to side.
———
.
After the battle ended, everyone was called to gather in the middle of the pit. Takuma slowly wandered around the crowd, looking for his team. Camp Banana had come with fourteen teams—two jonin, fourteen chunin, and seventy genin—but the group was thinner now after the battle. While they had wiped out the enemy, they had paid a steep price in lives.
Takuma stopped in his tracks when he saw three of the four people who he called his teammates. His heart beat faster as he approached the group.
"Where… Where is Iori?" he asked.
Kameko, Rikku, and Daiki turned to face Takuma and gave him a fierce one-armed hug. Takuma patted the big guy on his back.
"I'm glad you're safe," said Daiki.
"Iori?" Takuma asked again.
"She's with the iryo-nin," said Daiki, his expression unpleasant.
Takuma felt flustered. "How bad is it? Will she make it?"
Daiki was taken aback and for a moment looked like he didn't know how to answer the question. "Her life is not in danger" — Takuma breathed a sigh of relief — "but she lost two fingers from her writing hand. …They're trying to reattach them right now but the iryo-nin aren't sure if it will work."
Takuma gasped with wide eyes. As a fuin-nin, Iori's hands were extremely important to her. Accurate calligraphy was an essential part of fuinjutsu and losing her fingers would put a huge handicap on her progress—if not outright destroy her future prospects as a fuinjutsu expert. It was imperative that they fixed her hand.
"…She could switch to her other hand, but that doesn't sound good, does it," Daiki said.
Takuma nodded, but knew that was the last thing Iori would want to hear. He didn't know how much time and effort switching to the other hand would take—let alone returning to her previous level of skill.
He gave the other three a look over. Kameko looked ragged but mostly uninjured. Rikku had a bandage around her head and right leg, and her left arm in a sling. Daiki had a limp that he tried to hide, and had only hugged Takuma with one arm—it seemed there was something wrong with his shoulder. But seeing them alive put Takuma's heart at ease which brought more fatigue. He legs were begging him to amputate them so they could be put out of the misery.
"Anko is upfront with the jonin," said Kameko.
Takuma nodded. "Does anyone have some water?".
Rikku threw her canteen to him with a small gulp of water that Takuma downed.
"Thank you."
He looked around the pit and at the bodies of those who had died fighting for both sides. Takuma opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing emerged. He couldn't think of anything that would suit the current situation.
"It's always numbered, isn't it?" They looked at him. "The dead. When I was in the Hidden Leaf, they only ever mentioned the number of casualties. 'Fourteen perished, three found dead, ten killed in action, one missing.' They rarely mention names—not unless it's a jonin or someone important. Newspapers don't have enough space, radios not enough time.
"Even if they do mention names, do we remember them? I don't. And with these numbers, the names won't show up except the official documents and reports." He turned towards his teammates. "That's why we should make sure they get the most honorable shinobi funeral for them in the hopes that when—if this happens to us… we'll be fortunate enough to get the same treatment."
The three of them nodded somberly.
Anko met with them a few minutes later after her brief discussion with the jonin. She looked better than all of them and seemed completely uninjured—but there was a burden that weighed down her usual carefree expression.
Considering the overwhelming presence of death around them, and their proximity to it, Takuma didn't blame her.
"One of the enemy jonin, the one Toridasu was fighting, decided to escape. The two Shirakumo fought are both confirmed dead," she informed them of the larger picture of the battle. "There might be enemies hiding in the mines, so be careful—but with most of them dead, they aren't a priority problem. Everyone who can still move around will work on the funeral preparation—after which we'll proceed to the bombing of this hellhole."
""Yes, ma'am""
"All of you did good." Anko looked at Kameko and Takuma. "Especially you two. The jonin will want to talk to you after we return to camp, I'm sure." Her eyes lingered on Takuma as she gave out the praise. "Now, let's go meet Iori together."
""Yes, ma'am""
———
.
Takuma gazed at the dozens of burning funeral pyres burning before him. The deceased shinobi were recorded thrice to ensure everyone was included, and their belongings, if available, were carefully packaged to be returned to their families. They were cleaned and prepared for their funeral and then respectfully placed on the funeral pyres provided by the nearby forestry.
The Hidden Leaf shinobi went first. The enemy were also given funerals, but they weren't treated the same. They weren't cleaned and were pushed into larger group pyres, while the Hidden Leaf shinobi were all given their own individual pyres.
"Were you close to anyone?" Takuma asked Iori, standing beside him.
Her hand was heavily bandaged. While the iryo-nin had successfully attached her fingers back, the results would only show as they properly healed and if they worked for Iori when she completed physical rehabilitation.
"I could recognize all of them. I knew a few of them," Iori answered, fire reflecting in her eyes. "I… I haven't seen anything like this. T-This is too many…"
She was the most social member of their team, and was even well-liked despite being on Anko's team.
Takuma gave her a side hug to offer her some comfort. She'd been too occupied by her own uncertain future to truly process it all, and it was for the first time in the last few hours that she'd pulled herself together, only to have the reality of the deaths of her friends and peers shoved in her face.
As he comforted her, Takuma stared at the funeral pyres. He didn't feel much in the face of so much death. He had only attended a shinobi funeral once, and he was the only attendee and looking back on it, Takuma recognized the shift in his reaction to it all, even when the scale of the two events was on different levels.
He wondered what might have caused such a drastic shift. He thought that he wouldn't get an answer out of himself, but it came surprisingly easily when he personally set fires to the larger group pyres in the distance.
Takuma was sure he would've hurt like Iori and the others around him in grief if he was close to the deceased. He was confident that he had that at least that much humanity still burning alive within him but was terrified of losing what made and kept him human, what kept as himself. He knew that he would be perfectly fine being that person—that version of him that stabbed the surrendered enemy in the back after promising them sanctuary—he was afraid if that part of him would bleed into every aspect of life—it utterly terrified him.
The cause of his current indifference was relatively recent. This wasn't the biggest concentration of death he had seen—the largest was the massacre of the innocent civilians who had been killed by the small group of shinobi. He was there, right in the middle of it; he heard the piercing screams and cries for help. That was much worse than what had happened in the pit.
The shinobi could at least fight back and would kill him in a heartbeat. That was why he didn't feel much.
He was sure that if any of the shinobi—deceased or alive; enemy or ally—were asked to kill him,, they would do it… and he knew that because so would he. It didn't matter if they liked it or not, or if they were just following orders, he was sure all of them would do it.
It was a norm in the shinobi world—killing. Some hated it and only killed when necessary; others learned to enjoy it but every single shinobi killed—it was a fact of life as true as the sky being blue..
Those "strangers" who could do that didn't deserve his empathy and compassion. He could kill hundreds or thousands of them and he wouldn't feel anything for them. They were in a profession where those ready to kill should be prepared to be killed. It didn't matter if it was his own compatriots or a foreign enemy—every single one of them was the same.
The same went for himself. Takuma knew that if one day he was killed, he absolutely deserved it.
In his pursuit of survival, he had made himself a man okay to kill in his own eyes. He blinked, the image of the begging enemy shinobi flitting across his vision for a moment. But it wasn't the time to contemplate on the implications of that. Right now, he had to provide comfort to his teammates and friends.
Takuma took a deep breath and gave Iori's arm a comforting rub. He said, "I know this doesn't change anything, but your memories of them will at least keep them alive in your thoughts. They will live in your heart so take some solace in that."
Iori leaned against him. "You're a good one, Takuma," she said.
That wasn't true and he knew it. Unlike him, she shed tears. Takuma thanked Iori in his heart for it anyway because at least someone liked him—because he didn't like himself very much right now.
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Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Takuma felt his concentration was slipping and all his brain wanted to do was listlessly stare at the ground and stop processing the excessive input his senses took in from the chaos around him. He wanted to stop moving and just drop flat, but that wasn't an option.
The cave-in that had eliminated the enemy's iryo-nin had only happened around ten minutes ago and while it didn't end the battle it pushed Camp Banana up to a clear advantage. Ten minutes was a significant time in a shinobi battle where people dropped faster than flies.
He had to return to the battle at the bottom of the pit after bombing the mine. The feeling of frustration that the enemy didn't opt to cut their losses and retreat gnawed at his mind. He wanted it to end and the lack of enemy, even if it meant through them escaping, was the end condition. But simultaneously, as he looked around the pit, he could understand why they couldn't. Their escape route was blocked by the ongoing battle between the jonin duking it out against each other. Anko had told him that Jonin Shirakumo was fighting two jonin in that part of the pit—and that he had successfully killed one of them, making escape an unattractive choice.
Takuma felt a strange relief as he stared at the battlefield.
Through the lingering smoke and bright fires, he could see more Hidden Steam gear than he did Hidden Frost. So long as Toridasu and Shirakumo didn't die, Camp Banana had won the battle over the Gojiro Gold Mines. They had the win in their grasp, and they needed to do was stand their proverbial flag and declare their victory.
So many corpses littered the ground that he had to look out for them not to trip and inadvertently get killed by an enemy. In that sense, the dead were still fighting in the battle. The thought mae him want to vomit. Takuma didn't have the mental capacity to contemplate the sheer loss of life from the battle—he was sure it would linger in his thoughts and disturb his nights when he had the chance to rest.
A group of Camp Banana shinobi surrounded two enemy shinobi, poised and ready to kill the pair. Takuma lifted his heavy feet to join them, weapons drawn; they didn't have any orders to accept surrender.
A horn blared across the battlefield and brought a short burst of energy to the Hidden Leaf troops and despair to the last few remaining enemy forces across the pit. It was the signal that they had won and successfully occupied the Gojiro Gold Mines. Evidently the enemy was still alive, but the horn meant that the jonin had defeated their counterparts—which for all intents and purposes was victory.
Takuma let his shoulders relax as he approached the group. cornering the two enemies glued to each other's backs for protection.
"Surrender," Takuma straightened himself as he spoke. Everyone— ally or enemy— turned towards him as he continued to talk. "You either die here where you've already lost, or live another day to potentially be traded back to your nation in exchange for our own imprisoned in yours. If you cooperate, your stay will be as comfortable as possible given the situation.
"Choose or I will choose for you," he said authoritatively.
The Camp Banana shared confused looks but held their tongues. Takuma kept his eyes on the two enemies, who didn't bother to hide their suspicion, which was to be expected. The gathered ground could kill them, but they were suddenly asking for surrender—but Takuma knew they were exhausted enough not to notice the confusion around them.
Takuma sighed. He turned to the kunoichi beside him. "Will you lend me your dagger? I misplaced mine in the battle."
The kunoichi was surprised but unsheathed the dagger strapped to her lower back and handed it to Takuma.
"Alright, let's get this over with," said Takuma as he stepped towards the two.
"Wait!" shouted one of the two enemies. "We will surrender!"
The second one wasn't as thrilled. "What are you doing!?" he hissed.
"Shut up!" The first one turned to Takuma. "We surrender. Please, spare us. We will surrender. W-We will, so…" he licked his cracked lips and looked at Takuma with damp hope and desperation in his eyes.
Takuma silently played with the dagger in his hand as he stared at the two shinobi. With each silent second, the desperation and despair grew thicker in his eyes.
"Drop your weapons and lay down on your stomach with your hands on your head. We will apply chakra seals and then take you in," said Takuma, dropping his hand with the dagger limp down by his side.
The second, unwilling shinobi looked suspicious but was quickly persuaded to surrender when his comrade did as instructed. He followed and threw his weapons and pouches away before lying on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.
Takuma pointed at the weapons and weapon pouches and a couple people collected them before he alone approached the two and crouched down beside them to whisper: "You made the right choice."
He first approached the unwilling enemy and planted a knee in the center of his back. Takuma pulled the man's hands down from his head, raised his head by the hair, and quickly slit his throat. He gurgled wetly, alerting his more willing comrade. Takuma knew he didn't have time, so he skipped to the next. Before the panicking enemy could rise, Takuma booted him across the face and mounted him.
"W-What. Y-You said—!"He thrashed desperately beneath him. "No, please! I b-beg…"
Takuma grabbed the man's arm with his free hand and plunged the bloody dagger deep into the man's heart and twisted it violently. The man flailed for a moment a few moments before the resistance faded. Takuma gazed into the dying man's betrayed brown eyes until the light faded completely—never breaking eye contact. Takuma kept the man company in his last moments before wiping the blood on the dagger from the dead man's pants and returning the dagger to its owner.
"Thank you," Takuma said to her before tiredly walking away.
The kunoichi reclaimed her weapon and kept it at arm's length, glancing furtively between it, Takuma, and two men he'd killed in cold blood.
Everyone in the small group looked at him with a mix of shock, admiration, and a strong dose of fear. They turned to look at him as he walked away. None of his previous sharpness was present as he swayed from side to side.
———
.
After the battle ended, everyone was called to gather in the middle of the pit. Takuma slowly wandered around the crowd, looking for his team. Camp Banana had come with fourteen teams—two jonin, fourteen chunin, and seventy genin—but the group was thinner now after the battle. While they had wiped out the enemy, they had paid a steep price in lives.
Takuma stopped in his tracks when he saw three of the four people who he called his teammates. His heart beat faster as he approached the group.
"Where… Where is Iori?" he asked.
Kameko, Rikku, and Daiki turned to face Takuma and gave him a fierce one-armed hug. Takuma patted the big guy on his back.
"I'm glad you're safe," said Daiki.
"Iori?" Takuma asked again.
"She's with the iryo-nin," said Daiki, his expression unpleasant.
Takuma felt flustered. "How bad is it? Will she make it?"
Daiki was taken aback and for a moment looked like he didn't know how to answer the question. "Her life is not in danger" — Takuma breathed a sigh of relief — "but she lost two fingers from her writing hand. …They're trying to reattach them right now but the iryo-nin aren't sure if it will work."
Takuma gasped with wide eyes. As a fuin-nin, Iori's hands were extremely important to her. Accurate calligraphy was an essential part of fuinjutsu and losing her fingers would put a huge handicap on her progress—if not outright destroy her future prospects as a fuinjutsu expert. It was imperative that they fixed her hand.
"…She could switch to her other hand, but that doesn't sound good, does it," Daiki said.
Takuma nodded, but knew that was the last thing Iori would want to hear. He didn't know how much time and effort switching to the other hand would take—let alone returning to her previous level of skill.
He gave the other three a look over. Kameko looked ragged but mostly uninjured. Rikku had a bandage around her head and right leg, and her left arm in a sling. Daiki had a limp that he tried to hide, and had only hugged Takuma with one arm—it seemed there was something wrong with his shoulder. But seeing them alive put Takuma's heart at ease which brought more fatigue. He legs were begging him to amputate them so they could be put out of the misery.
"Anko is upfront with the jonin," said Kameko.
Takuma nodded. "Does anyone have some water?".
Rikku threw her canteen to him with a small gulp of water that Takuma downed.
"Thank you."
He looked around the pit and at the bodies of those who had died fighting for both sides. Takuma opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing emerged. He couldn't think of anything that would suit the current situation.
"It's always numbered, isn't it?" They looked at him. "The dead. When I was in the Hidden Leaf, they only ever mentioned the number of casualties. 'Fourteen perished, three found dead, ten killed in action, one missing.' They rarely mention names—not unless it's a jonin or someone important. Newspapers don't have enough space, radios not enough time.
"Even if they do mention names, do we remember them? I don't. And with these numbers, the names won't show up except the official documents and reports." He turned towards his teammates. "That's why we should make sure they get the most honorable shinobi funeral for them in the hopes that when—if this happens to us… we'll be fortunate enough to get the same treatment."
The three of them nodded somberly.
Anko met with them a few minutes later after her brief discussion with the jonin. She looked better than all of them and seemed completely uninjured—but there was a burden that weighed down her usual carefree expression.
Considering the overwhelming presence of death around them, and their proximity to it, Takuma didn't blame her.
"One of the enemy jonin, the one Toridasu was fighting, decided to escape. The two Shirakumo fought are both confirmed dead," she informed them of the larger picture of the battle. "There might be enemies hiding in the mines, so be careful—but with most of them dead, they aren't a priority problem. Everyone who can still move around will work on the funeral preparation—after which we'll proceed to the bombing of this hellhole."
""Yes, ma'am""
"All of you did good." Anko looked at Kameko and Takuma. "Especially you two. The jonin will want to talk to you after we return to camp, I'm sure." Her eyes lingered on Takuma as she gave out the praise. "Now, let's go meet Iori together."
""Yes, ma'am""
———
.
Takuma gazed at the dozens of burning funeral pyres burning before him. The deceased shinobi were recorded thrice to ensure everyone was included, and their belongings, if available, were carefully packaged to be returned to their families. They were cleaned and prepared for their funeral and then respectfully placed on the funeral pyres provided by the nearby forestry.
The Hidden Leaf shinobi went first. The enemy were also given funerals, but they weren't treated the same. They weren't cleaned and were pushed into larger group pyres, while the Hidden Leaf shinobi were all given their own individual pyres.
"Were you close to anyone?" Takuma asked Iori, standing beside him.
Her hand was heavily bandaged. While the iryo-nin had successfully attached her fingers back, the results would only show as they properly healed and if they worked for Iori when she completed physical rehabilitation.
"I could recognize all of them. I knew a few of them," Iori answered, fire reflecting in her eyes. "I… I haven't seen anything like this. T-This is too many…"
She was the most social member of their team, and was even well-liked despite being on Anko's team.
Takuma gave her a side hug to offer her some comfort. She'd been too occupied by her own uncertain future to truly process it all, and it was for the first time in the last few hours that she'd pulled herself together, only to have the reality of the deaths of her friends and peers shoved in her face.
As he comforted her, Takuma stared at the funeral pyres. He didn't feel much in the face of so much death. He had only attended a shinobi funeral once, and he was the only attendee and looking back on it, Takuma recognized the shift in his reaction to it all, even when the scale of the two events was on different levels.
He wondered what might have caused such a drastic shift. He thought that he wouldn't get an answer out of himself, but it came surprisingly easily when he personally set fires to the larger group pyres in the distance.
Takuma was sure he would've hurt like Iori and the others around him in grief if he was close to the deceased. He was confident that he had that at least that much humanity still burning alive within him but was terrified of losing what made and kept him human, what kept as himself. He knew that he would be perfectly fine being that person—that version of him that stabbed the surrendered enemy in the back after promising them sanctuary—he was afraid if that part of him would bleed into every aspect of life—it utterly terrified him.
The cause of his current indifference was relatively recent. This wasn't the biggest concentration of death he had seen—the largest was the massacre of the innocent civilians who had been killed by the small group of shinobi. He was there, right in the middle of it; he heard the piercing screams and cries for help. That was much worse than what had happened in the pit.
The shinobi could at least fight back and would kill him in a heartbeat. That was why he didn't feel much.
He was sure that if any of the shinobi—deceased or alive; enemy or ally—were asked to kill him,, they would do it… and he knew that because so would he. It didn't matter if they liked it or not, or if they were just following orders, he was sure all of them would do it.
It was a norm in the shinobi world—killing. Some hated it and only killed when necessary; others learned to enjoy it but every single shinobi killed—it was a fact of life as true as the sky being blue..
Those "strangers" who could do that didn't deserve his empathy and compassion. He could kill hundreds or thousands of them and he wouldn't feel anything for them. They were in a profession where those ready to kill should be prepared to be killed. It didn't matter if it was his own compatriots or a foreign enemy—every single one of them was the same.
The same went for himself. Takuma knew that if one day he was killed, he absolutely deserved it.
In his pursuit of survival, he had made himself a man okay to kill in his own eyes. He blinked, the image of the begging enemy shinobi flitting across his vision for a moment. But it wasn't the time to contemplate on the implications of that. Right now, he had to provide comfort to his teammates and friends.
Takuma took a deep breath and gave Iori's arm a comforting rub. He said, "I know this doesn't change anything, but your memories of them will at least keep them alive in your thoughts. They will live in your heart so take some solace in that."
Iori leaned against him. "You're a good one, Takuma," she said.
That wasn't true and he knew it. Unlike him, she shed tears. Takuma thanked Iori in his heart for it anyway because at least someone liked him—because he didn't like himself very much right now.
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.
- Location
- USA
Thanks for the chapters!
Ch 35 showed just how horrifying a Genjutsu user can be!
Here's hoping Takuma can become a much more skilled version of Toridasu. Endless layers and mind games!
But, I personally would have just thrown a Kunai to slice the enemy's throat the moment I got them under 1 or 2 Genjutsus. Easy kill while they are unable to see it coming.
No explaining that they are in a illusion to fuck with their heads - just kill and move on.
Ch 35 showed just how horrifying a Genjutsu user can be!
Here's hoping Takuma can become a much more skilled version of Toridasu. Endless layers and mind games!
But, I personally would have just thrown a Kunai to slice the enemy's throat the moment I got them under 1 or 2 Genjutsus. Easy kill while they are unable to see it coming.
No explaining that they are in a illusion to fuck with their heads - just kill and move on.
Ah yes… even though the Naruto world is presented in a pretty upbeat light, they still don't have things like " fair treatment of prisoners" "fair treatment of non-combatants" or even just "no you can't use a jutsu that causes your enemy's to drown in their own blood" or real any type of laws against what we would definitely consider warcrimes, and condemn instantly.
I'd guess (after the initial fake wound genjutsu) he's just repeatedly applying an easy to apply one that maybe does nothing just to screw with the guy's head. If what you're doing is more of a distraction to the enemy than to you, it seems like a win.
Wow, thats a lotta warcrimes. Just how shinobi fight, so I don't doubt he's gonna get that field promotion soon.
Takuma the war criminal. I shouldn't be surprised seeing how based Takuma is. These mines would have been perfect for chemical warfare. Drop ton of natural gases and Kaboum their ass.
- Location
- sweden
Than you for the chapters
Still think this story deserves more readers. I haven't read naturo and I just think this is straight up just good storytelling. Great even.
Which means that at least for me there is no source material crutch, I genuinely think this story stands strong on its own two feet.
Still think this story deserves more readers. I haven't read naturo and I just think this is straight up just good storytelling. Great even.
Which means that at least for me there is no source material crutch, I genuinely think this story stands strong on its own two feet.
CH_6.36 (207)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Takuma rubbed his ear in irritation; it had been ringing for over an frustrating hour. The dynamite explosions used to destroy the mining infrastructure were to blame even though he was wearing earplugs when they went off. Sure, they weren't professionally made earplugs, but Takuma expected them to at least do something. His ears were especially sensitive because of training.
"You should get that looked at," Anko commented as she ran beside him.
They were journeying back to Camp Banana after the successful raid on the Gojiro Gold Mines. Some of the troops had to stay back to escort the miners who had planted the dynamite as the shinobi weren't experienced in that field. The miners also couldn't run as far as shinobi and needed to be escorted to a safe location. The rest returned to Camp Banana as they couldn't leave the position unprotected for long.
"It's fine. I'm not going to bother the iryo-nin right now. They must be exhausted," Takuma replied to her.
It was true; everyone was exhausted. They first traveled from Camp Banana to the Gojiro Gold Mines, then fought a bloody battle, lost too many people, destroyed the mine, and then journeyed back to Camp Banana. They'd barely rested during the entire process when the jonin insisted that they return to Camp Banana as soon as possible. Takuma didn't want to disturb anyone until they reached the base.
Takuma looked ahead and at one of the teams traveling with them.
"That's them, isn't it?" Takuma pointed them out to Anko. "The team that ditched the Evacuation Unit."
"Hideki," Anko spat and she evil-eyed the chunin in charge of the team.
Chunin Hideki and his two genin were meant to be part of the Evacuation Unit but broke away from the unit to set off explosions around the pit at the start of the raid to surprise the enemy.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he's going to get reprimanded for what he did," said Takuma.
"No, they won't. Toridasu most probably ordered them to do that regardless of how the Evacuation Unit was doing. He wouldn't have dreamed of doing that if he wasn't protected by Toridasu." As she ran, the ground under her feet cracked under the oppressive weight of her chakra, startling the people around her. "You know what the kicker is? Those explosions were actually fucking useful—he's going to get fucking praised for it. Ugh, the bastard; I want to feed him to my babies."
Takuma shuddered at the remembrance of Anko's snakes. He had one of them wrapped around him when she was rescuing him, but he was so out of it that he didn't pay any attention to it. However, from how Kameko described it during a small break, her snakes were absolutely dreadful.
"You can have partial credit for the mine collapse if that will help us get more sway in the camp," said Takuma. He was a genin, and getting full credit would be huge for his reputation and career—but in the current moment, Anko, a chunin, getting some sway in the camp would do the entire team, including Takuma, some good. It was him trading some of his rightful credit and investing it in hopes that it would yield more benefit in the future.
"No," Anko shut Takuma's down immediately, "like hell you will do that. I'm going to make sure that there's no ambiguity in the report when I mention your actions and how crucial they were. Be careful when you say things like that. People will swallow whole when you offer a bite."
"But—"
"I know what you're trying to do, but I'm not comfortable with it."
Takuma nodded when Anko's intense gaze lingered, as though seeking a response from him.
"New people are going to come to the camp," Takuma said. They had lost a significant number of people in the raid; as such, Camp Bana needed to refill its ranks with new blood. "Guess I won't be the new guy anymore." A lot of people still called him the new guy till date.
"We might be looking at an advantage at our hands. The number of complete teams has decreased… The number of chunin have decreased, but Team-9 is a complete team that can go on active missions on short notice if required. There's a chance if we play it right, we might be able to get on the precursor missions."
"Precursor mission?"
"The Gojiro Gold Mines was a late addition to Camp Banana's mission calendar. Before that became a priority, we were in the midst of planning a big operation…"
Apparently, Camp Banana was created by the enemy's advance, who had already invaded the borders and captured numerous important bits of territory in the Land of Hot Water. They had the dual purpose of being a line of defense to stop them from capturing more while also responsible for recapturing enemy-occupied enemy territory. Before the Gojiro Gold Mines came along, Camp Banana was working on a plan to accomplish the recapture part of their purpose.
The enemy had captured three essential border cities that had great strategic locations as they were the hubs for trade routes and roads built in the region. Everything flowed in and out of those cities, and by controlling the cities, the Hidden Frost—and the Hidden Cloud by proxy—had established a chokehold on the entire region. Camp Banana was planning to break that chokehold by recapturing the cities and move their base location up to one of those cities to ensure that they had a stronger position in the region.
Anko continued. "With our losses, the operation could only realistically start after about forty-five days so the new blood can integrate enough to function as teams—but there were talks of a precursor mission before the operation… and I think I can get us into that precursor mission."
"What's the mission objective?" asked Takuma.
"There are several towns and villages that feed into those three cities. Those villages and towns are still selling their harvest and produce to the cities because if they don't, they will go broke. The few villages that refused are being forced to sell because of the fear of being pillaged and massacred. The mission, whatever it is, will be to weaken the defense of cities for when the main forces go in to liberate the cities. We want any advantage we get, no matter how small it is."
"Sounds like a lot of time outside the camp," said Takuma.
Anko shot him a challenging grin. "Are you up for it?"
"It's up to you, boss. If you think this is worth it, then why not," he said.
Takuma didn't want to waste his time. He could be doing the precursor mission outside the camp or do equally meaningful work inside the camp. He didn't care where he did or what he did so long as it was useful and moved him closer to becoming a chunin.
"If we're taking this mission, the preparation period will be busy," said Takuma with a sigh.
"Busier than what we did for the raid," Anko nodded
"Much busier," Takuma sighed.
The battle at the gold mines made him painfully aware that he lacked attack variety and needed to gain another weapon as soon as possible.
The question was how.
Fortunately, he had some ideas.
———
.
Dear Taro,
How are you doing, buddy? I hope you didn't quit your job because it was too hard.
I just completed a long and hard mission that I can't really share the details about because I'm technically not supposed to be here. As I write this letter, I have just woken up from a sixteen-hour deep sleep because I hadn't slept in more than two days.
The appeal of all this wore off very quickly, you know. The food sucks, the water tasted off for weeks, my mattress should be ashamed of being called one, and the fucking humidity is the curse that doesn't end.
I'm finally seeing the appeal of getting an off-the-field position so much. However, I'm good at what I do, so I guess I can only complain so much.
Well… I guess I'm just writing this because I miss you and everyone else.
I've made friends here, but it's somewhat difficult to care when you don't know if they will be alive by the end of the month. Kameko's here, and I still do not like her very much—she hasn't changed much from the basic training days—but at least she reminds me of home.
Forgetting the above, while I'm homesick, I'm as safe as possible in my current situation.
Take care of yourself, okay?
I will see you soon,
Takuma.
———
.
Dear ma'am,
I hope this letter finds you in good health.
This morning, as I sat on my bed, my mind fetched the memory of our discussion when I brought you my deployment order. Your words about it being an opportunity when I was so adamantly against it was the start of it all.
You were right. This is an opportunity—a great one at that. I still would've preferred working at my office in the Police Force, though, but I believe that'd be most people's preference. Regardless of my preference, I believe this was the right move. I might be made for this—for wars—or is it for violence—or maybe it's simply for killing.
There was a mission with a lot of deaths, and afterward, the iryo-nin were asking everyone if they slept well, how they were feeling, or if they were experiencing any out-of-the-ordinary distress. I knew what they were on the lookout for, and I'm thankful that they care.
But… I didn't feel anything. I don't like taking lives. I don't feel any sick pleasure from it. If given the choice, I don't want to do it—but, to be honest, it comes really easy. It's no different than doing any other activity.
Alright, this is enough. I didn't intend this to be so heavy.
Regardless of how I feel about it or don't feel about it, I'm focused on making the most of what I can get out of here.
Your student,
Takuma.
PS: How's Sasuke doing? I hope he's having a great time at the academy.
PPS: I think I'm done with pre-made genjutsu. It took a long time, but I think I'm ready for some customization.
———
.
Dear Kano,
I hope you're in good health.
I know you're not supposed to tell me about the investigation, but I wonder if there has been any progress in finding the blacksmith behind the touchmark or anything else related to the assassins.
I have attached the details of the office through which you can send letters to me.
Please send me a reply.
Regards,
Takuma.
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"You should get that looked at," Anko commented as she ran beside him.
They were journeying back to Camp Banana after the successful raid on the Gojiro Gold Mines. Some of the troops had to stay back to escort the miners who had planted the dynamite as the shinobi weren't experienced in that field. The miners also couldn't run as far as shinobi and needed to be escorted to a safe location. The rest returned to Camp Banana as they couldn't leave the position unprotected for long.
"It's fine. I'm not going to bother the iryo-nin right now. They must be exhausted," Takuma replied to her.
It was true; everyone was exhausted. They first traveled from Camp Banana to the Gojiro Gold Mines, then fought a bloody battle, lost too many people, destroyed the mine, and then journeyed back to Camp Banana. They'd barely rested during the entire process when the jonin insisted that they return to Camp Banana as soon as possible. Takuma didn't want to disturb anyone until they reached the base.
Takuma looked ahead and at one of the teams traveling with them.
"That's them, isn't it?" Takuma pointed them out to Anko. "The team that ditched the Evacuation Unit."
"Hideki," Anko spat and she evil-eyed the chunin in charge of the team.
Chunin Hideki and his two genin were meant to be part of the Evacuation Unit but broke away from the unit to set off explosions around the pit at the start of the raid to surprise the enemy.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he's going to get reprimanded for what he did," said Takuma.
"No, they won't. Toridasu most probably ordered them to do that regardless of how the Evacuation Unit was doing. He wouldn't have dreamed of doing that if he wasn't protected by Toridasu." As she ran, the ground under her feet cracked under the oppressive weight of her chakra, startling the people around her. "You know what the kicker is? Those explosions were actually fucking useful—he's going to get fucking praised for it. Ugh, the bastard; I want to feed him to my babies."
Takuma shuddered at the remembrance of Anko's snakes. He had one of them wrapped around him when she was rescuing him, but he was so out of it that he didn't pay any attention to it. However, from how Kameko described it during a small break, her snakes were absolutely dreadful.
"You can have partial credit for the mine collapse if that will help us get more sway in the camp," said Takuma. He was a genin, and getting full credit would be huge for his reputation and career—but in the current moment, Anko, a chunin, getting some sway in the camp would do the entire team, including Takuma, some good. It was him trading some of his rightful credit and investing it in hopes that it would yield more benefit in the future.
"No," Anko shut Takuma's down immediately, "like hell you will do that. I'm going to make sure that there's no ambiguity in the report when I mention your actions and how crucial they were. Be careful when you say things like that. People will swallow whole when you offer a bite."
"But—"
"I know what you're trying to do, but I'm not comfortable with it."
Takuma nodded when Anko's intense gaze lingered, as though seeking a response from him.
"New people are going to come to the camp," Takuma said. They had lost a significant number of people in the raid; as such, Camp Bana needed to refill its ranks with new blood. "Guess I won't be the new guy anymore." A lot of people still called him the new guy till date.
"We might be looking at an advantage at our hands. The number of complete teams has decreased… The number of chunin have decreased, but Team-9 is a complete team that can go on active missions on short notice if required. There's a chance if we play it right, we might be able to get on the precursor missions."
"Precursor mission?"
"The Gojiro Gold Mines was a late addition to Camp Banana's mission calendar. Before that became a priority, we were in the midst of planning a big operation…"
Apparently, Camp Banana was created by the enemy's advance, who had already invaded the borders and captured numerous important bits of territory in the Land of Hot Water. They had the dual purpose of being a line of defense to stop them from capturing more while also responsible for recapturing enemy-occupied enemy territory. Before the Gojiro Gold Mines came along, Camp Banana was working on a plan to accomplish the recapture part of their purpose.
The enemy had captured three essential border cities that had great strategic locations as they were the hubs for trade routes and roads built in the region. Everything flowed in and out of those cities, and by controlling the cities, the Hidden Frost—and the Hidden Cloud by proxy—had established a chokehold on the entire region. Camp Banana was planning to break that chokehold by recapturing the cities and move their base location up to one of those cities to ensure that they had a stronger position in the region.
Anko continued. "With our losses, the operation could only realistically start after about forty-five days so the new blood can integrate enough to function as teams—but there were talks of a precursor mission before the operation… and I think I can get us into that precursor mission."
"What's the mission objective?" asked Takuma.
"There are several towns and villages that feed into those three cities. Those villages and towns are still selling their harvest and produce to the cities because if they don't, they will go broke. The few villages that refused are being forced to sell because of the fear of being pillaged and massacred. The mission, whatever it is, will be to weaken the defense of cities for when the main forces go in to liberate the cities. We want any advantage we get, no matter how small it is."
"Sounds like a lot of time outside the camp," said Takuma.
Anko shot him a challenging grin. "Are you up for it?"
"It's up to you, boss. If you think this is worth it, then why not," he said.
Takuma didn't want to waste his time. He could be doing the precursor mission outside the camp or do equally meaningful work inside the camp. He didn't care where he did or what he did so long as it was useful and moved him closer to becoming a chunin.
"If we're taking this mission, the preparation period will be busy," said Takuma with a sigh.
"Busier than what we did for the raid," Anko nodded
"Much busier," Takuma sighed.
The battle at the gold mines made him painfully aware that he lacked attack variety and needed to gain another weapon as soon as possible.
The question was how.
Fortunately, he had some ideas.
———
.
Dear Taro,
How are you doing, buddy? I hope you didn't quit your job because it was too hard.
I just completed a long and hard mission that I can't really share the details about because I'm technically not supposed to be here. As I write this letter, I have just woken up from a sixteen-hour deep sleep because I hadn't slept in more than two days.
The appeal of all this wore off very quickly, you know. The food sucks, the water tasted off for weeks, my mattress should be ashamed of being called one, and the fucking humidity is the curse that doesn't end.
I'm finally seeing the appeal of getting an off-the-field position so much. However, I'm good at what I do, so I guess I can only complain so much.
Well… I guess I'm just writing this because I miss you and everyone else.
I've made friends here, but it's somewhat difficult to care when you don't know if they will be alive by the end of the month. Kameko's here, and I still do not like her very much—she hasn't changed much from the basic training days—but at least she reminds me of home.
Forgetting the above, while I'm homesick, I'm as safe as possible in my current situation.
Take care of yourself, okay?
I will see you soon,
Takuma.
———
.
Dear ma'am,
I hope this letter finds you in good health.
This morning, as I sat on my bed, my mind fetched the memory of our discussion when I brought you my deployment order. Your words about it being an opportunity when I was so adamantly against it was the start of it all.
You were right. This is an opportunity—a great one at that. I still would've preferred working at my office in the Police Force, though, but I believe that'd be most people's preference. Regardless of my preference, I believe this was the right move. I might be made for this—for wars—or is it for violence—or maybe it's simply for killing.
There was a mission with a lot of deaths, and afterward, the iryo-nin were asking everyone if they slept well, how they were feeling, or if they were experiencing any out-of-the-ordinary distress. I knew what they were on the lookout for, and I'm thankful that they care.
But… I didn't feel anything. I don't like taking lives. I don't feel any sick pleasure from it. If given the choice, I don't want to do it—but, to be honest, it comes really easy. It's no different than doing any other activity.
Alright, this is enough. I didn't intend this to be so heavy.
Regardless of how I feel about it or don't feel about it, I'm focused on making the most of what I can get out of here.
Your student,
Takuma.
PS: How's Sasuke doing? I hope he's having a great time at the academy.
PPS: I think I'm done with pre-made genjutsu. It took a long time, but I think I'm ready for some customization.
———
.
Dear Kano,
I hope you're in good health.
I know you're not supposed to tell me about the investigation, but I wonder if there has been any progress in finding the blacksmith behind the touchmark or anything else related to the assassins.
I have attached the details of the office through which you can send letters to me.
Please send me a reply.
Regards,
Takuma.
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CH_6.37 (208)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Rikku knocked on the locked door but there was no reply. She waited for a couple of moments before knocking again, but again, there was a response.
"Go away!"
The voice was muffled, which meant that Iori was still in bed, hiding underneath the covers. It had been three days since they had returned from the Gojiro Gold Mines, and Iori had spent most of her days in bed, rarely getting out of her room, and not once had she stepped out of the dormitory—even on a clear day with ample sun—and Iori loved the sun.
Being in bed itself wasn't a problem. They had just returned from a deadly operation, and they deserved the rest. Iori had her fingers severed and reattached rest was certainly recommended. But she refused to eat more than one meal a day, which was left barely touched at her door as she didn't come to the mess hall. She bathed only once after returning to the base and refused to do any cleaning except letting Rikku do bandage work on her fingers.
None of it was healthy, and Rikku knew that it couldn't be allowed to become the norm.
"Right, I'm coming in," she announced.
"W-Wait—no!"
Rikku ignored her and kicked open the locked door. A wave of must slammed into her, and she waited for a moment, mind whirling. She glanced at the closed curtains and back at the door, where the light from outside pierced through the room's darkness.
After resting for a day, cleaning their gear was the first thing every shinobi on the Gojiro Gold Mine operation did upon their return. Dirt, grime, and blood needed to be scrubbed off from everything. As Iori's hand was injured, Rikku did it for her. The clean clothes and gear were still exactly where she had put them, completely untouched.
"Get out!"
Rikku moved to the curtains and pulled them apart, flooding the room with light, and then opened the windows to let some much-needed air in. Iori pulled the covers over her head and shrunk into herself, assuming a fetal position.
Rikku didn't say anything and sat on the bed beside Iori. A silence sat with them as Rikku said nothing and simply sat on the bed with her feet on feet on the ground. Rikku didn't mind the silence, but she knew that no matter how much Iori wanted to ignore her, she would find the silence awkward.
It was just who she was—even in this state.
Rikku was right; after a few minutes, Iori pulled the covers down from her head and stared out the open window listlessly. Her right hand was bandaged with a splint to keep her fingers in the correct position for healing.
"Let's get you out. A walk around the base will be good for you. Please. come on," said Rikku softly.
"I'm not in the mood, Rikku. Please leave alone," Iori croaked, turning her back to Rikku.
Rikku knew what to say to get Iori moving in her current mood. There was only one thing her teammate cared about right now. "It's time to have your hand checked out by the iryo-nin. Come on, get up. I will be waiting outside, so wash up and meet me downstairs. We leave in forty-five minutes."
Rikku got up and left without waiting for a reply.
An hour later, Iori was bathed, dressed, and downstairs, ready to visit the iryo-nin.
———
.
"This is coming along nicely,'' Iryo-nin smiled. "It'll be maybe another week or two before it's completely healed and you can start rehab."
Rikku stood to the side as the iryo-nin checked Iori's hand.
"…W-Will there be any complications?" asked Iori, desperation in her eyes.
The iryo-nin's smile was comforting, but there was also a hint of something that told Rikku Iori had asked that question multiple times before.
"The re-attachment was done properly, but it depends on how long the fingers were detached before the reattachment," explained the iryo-nin. "There's no infection, and the swelling is low, which are excellent signs of a full recovery… but we will only know for sure after it heals completely."
Iori's body shook for a moment. She closed her eyes and then calmed down before nodding and leaving the room. Rikku nodded to the kunoichi and then followed after her. She caught up to Iori who was heading toward the dormitory , but Rikku steered her away onto another path in the complete opposite direction.
"One hour. We stayed out for one hour," she said. "You can't fixate on your injury like this."
Iori seemed reluctant but nodded slowly.
They walked around, the ground drenched and muddy after another night of rain. Rikku didn't know anything meaningful to say to Iori. From her perspective, Iori was right to be worried, but she was overreacting. Her recovery period wasn't even over and she was so down in the dumps that Rikku could barely recognize her from the well-spoken, the social girl she knew before the injury.
She'd understand if Iori had definite confirmation that her hand was ruined for delicate work, but she didn't know that and already lost all hope. That bothered her more than anything—but she didn't know how to say it.
"How does a storage seal work?" asked Rikku.
If her words couldn't bring hope, then perhaps Iori's passion would do that itself.
Iori glanced at Rikku but then continued to walk in silence until a minute later when she started to speak.
"Storage seals are an application of space-time ninjutsu. They work by creating an artificial space parallel that can be used to store objects, with the seal itself serving as the access point for the artificial space. There are restrictions, of course; weight and size of the load need to be within the parameters of the created artificial space, otherwise there's a risk of the seal failing—which is dangerous."
Rikku asked. "What dangers?"
"There are two fail states," Iori replied. "The good failure state is that the seal spits out the stored items as the artificial space deteriorates and the seal goes bust—it's annoying and bothersome, but doesn't do much harm. However, the not-so-good failure state is that the artificial space deteriorates, destroys the stored items, turning everything inside a dangerous flux of matter that, in many cases, is spat out with an explosion. It was a huge problem back in the day."
There was a time when ignorant shinobi would stuff storage seals beyond the recommended load, thinking that a little over the limit wouldn't do any harm—but it did do harm, a lot of it. Whichled to the popular belief that storage seals were inherently unreliable, which was false, but people blamed the storage seals anyway rather than accepting it was their own fault.
The First Hokage had to issue a state-wide order to fix the 'unreliability' problem. The fuin-nin around the Hidden Leaf village and the Land of Fire got to work. After three years of intense research, someone figured out how to implement constraints to storage seals. The constraints added a weight and size restriction to the seals, which made it so that any attempt to put a load beyond the storage seal's capacity wouldn't be allowed to enter the artificial space.
The unreliability problem was solved as shinobi could no longer misuse storage seals.
"However, the Hidden Leaf didn't figure out a solution," said Iori, her dull eyes now holding a glimmer of admiration. "The Hidden Whirlpool, our allies, figured out the solution to the problem. Their Uzumaki clan, renowned for their fuinjutsu, are the ones to be praised. Lord First and the clan head of the Uzumaki clan were close friends, and when Lord First told the Uzumaki clan head about the problem, he asked the experts of the Uzumaki clan to look into it."
Rikku didn't care about any of that, but seeing the light return to Iori's eyes was all the reason for her to continue the conversation.
Iori held her index finger and thumb at a small distance away from each other. "When a fuin-nin creates a storage seal and primes it, the artificial space is the size of a small glass marble. The chakra provided by the fuin-nin is enough to sustain that marble-sized space for a long time, but it's not infinite—the space will collapse eventually, rendering the storage seal useless. When a user wants to use the storage seal, they provide chakra and activate it to expand that small space to its intended dimensions. Same as before, storage seals have finite lives—especially when in use as the dimensions are expanded and utilize more chakra. They will die down and spit everything stored out once the chakra sustaining it runs out."
"Why can't you just pump more chakra in?" asked Rikku.
"It's not currently possible. I prime the seal; you activate it. That's the only two times the formulae and the ink can handle chakra input," Iori replied.
Rikku made an 'is that so' expression.
They continued to wander around and chat until they reached a small field where they found Kameko sparring against Anko.
"… I didn't know Kameko was sparring with Anko," said Iori.
"Today's the first day," Rikku replied. "Kameko wasn't happy with how she did in the mines, so she asked Anko to spar with her once a day."
In fact, there was an increase in training all around the basebase—fear and a close encounter with death had driven people to put in more training. Rikku had seen this behavior before from other shinobi before, which was why she knew most would stop training and return to normal before the month ended. She didn't know if Kameko would be the same, but hoped she'd keep going.
She glanced at Iori, who was staring at Kameko desperately trying to fend off Anko's attack. Rikku had no idea what Iori was thinking but she could sense that she shouldn't disturb her. Rikku alsowatched Kameko and Anko—focusing on the chunin's every move in the hopes of catching some useful insight into her style of combat that she could integrate into her own.
In the middle of the fight, Rikku noticed Anko look in their direction. She flashed Rikku an almost imperceptible smile, which she knew was for bringing Iori out of her room.
"Let's go," said Iori.
They continued to walk in silence, and Iori immediately headed home at the end of the hour.
Rikku didn't expect Iori to make a complete turnaround with just a walk and some talk—but she did hope that it would elevate some of her gloom but Iori returned to her room and shut the door.
Rikku sighed before continuing with her day. She would try again tomorrow. However, that evening when she passed by Iori's room, the door was open and Iori was at her desk, flipping through a book on some obscure fuinjutsu script that Rikku couldn't make heads or tails of—but it brought a smile to her face.
She didn't disturb Iori and let her continue reading.
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"Go away!"
The voice was muffled, which meant that Iori was still in bed, hiding underneath the covers. It had been three days since they had returned from the Gojiro Gold Mines, and Iori had spent most of her days in bed, rarely getting out of her room, and not once had she stepped out of the dormitory—even on a clear day with ample sun—and Iori loved the sun.
Being in bed itself wasn't a problem. They had just returned from a deadly operation, and they deserved the rest. Iori had her fingers severed and reattached rest was certainly recommended. But she refused to eat more than one meal a day, which was left barely touched at her door as she didn't come to the mess hall. She bathed only once after returning to the base and refused to do any cleaning except letting Rikku do bandage work on her fingers.
None of it was healthy, and Rikku knew that it couldn't be allowed to become the norm.
"Right, I'm coming in," she announced.
"W-Wait—no!"
Rikku ignored her and kicked open the locked door. A wave of must slammed into her, and she waited for a moment, mind whirling. She glanced at the closed curtains and back at the door, where the light from outside pierced through the room's darkness.
After resting for a day, cleaning their gear was the first thing every shinobi on the Gojiro Gold Mine operation did upon their return. Dirt, grime, and blood needed to be scrubbed off from everything. As Iori's hand was injured, Rikku did it for her. The clean clothes and gear were still exactly where she had put them, completely untouched.
"Get out!"
Rikku moved to the curtains and pulled them apart, flooding the room with light, and then opened the windows to let some much-needed air in. Iori pulled the covers over her head and shrunk into herself, assuming a fetal position.
Rikku didn't say anything and sat on the bed beside Iori. A silence sat with them as Rikku said nothing and simply sat on the bed with her feet on feet on the ground. Rikku didn't mind the silence, but she knew that no matter how much Iori wanted to ignore her, she would find the silence awkward.
It was just who she was—even in this state.
Rikku was right; after a few minutes, Iori pulled the covers down from her head and stared out the open window listlessly. Her right hand was bandaged with a splint to keep her fingers in the correct position for healing.
"Let's get you out. A walk around the base will be good for you. Please. come on," said Rikku softly.
"I'm not in the mood, Rikku. Please leave alone," Iori croaked, turning her back to Rikku.
Rikku knew what to say to get Iori moving in her current mood. There was only one thing her teammate cared about right now. "It's time to have your hand checked out by the iryo-nin. Come on, get up. I will be waiting outside, so wash up and meet me downstairs. We leave in forty-five minutes."
Rikku got up and left without waiting for a reply.
An hour later, Iori was bathed, dressed, and downstairs, ready to visit the iryo-nin.
———
.
"This is coming along nicely,'' Iryo-nin smiled. "It'll be maybe another week or two before it's completely healed and you can start rehab."
Rikku stood to the side as the iryo-nin checked Iori's hand.
"…W-Will there be any complications?" asked Iori, desperation in her eyes.
The iryo-nin's smile was comforting, but there was also a hint of something that told Rikku Iori had asked that question multiple times before.
"The re-attachment was done properly, but it depends on how long the fingers were detached before the reattachment," explained the iryo-nin. "There's no infection, and the swelling is low, which are excellent signs of a full recovery… but we will only know for sure after it heals completely."
Iori's body shook for a moment. She closed her eyes and then calmed down before nodding and leaving the room. Rikku nodded to the kunoichi and then followed after her. She caught up to Iori who was heading toward the dormitory , but Rikku steered her away onto another path in the complete opposite direction.
"One hour. We stayed out for one hour," she said. "You can't fixate on your injury like this."
Iori seemed reluctant but nodded slowly.
They walked around, the ground drenched and muddy after another night of rain. Rikku didn't know anything meaningful to say to Iori. From her perspective, Iori was right to be worried, but she was overreacting. Her recovery period wasn't even over and she was so down in the dumps that Rikku could barely recognize her from the well-spoken, the social girl she knew before the injury.
She'd understand if Iori had definite confirmation that her hand was ruined for delicate work, but she didn't know that and already lost all hope. That bothered her more than anything—but she didn't know how to say it.
"How does a storage seal work?" asked Rikku.
If her words couldn't bring hope, then perhaps Iori's passion would do that itself.
Iori glanced at Rikku but then continued to walk in silence until a minute later when she started to speak.
"Storage seals are an application of space-time ninjutsu. They work by creating an artificial space parallel that can be used to store objects, with the seal itself serving as the access point for the artificial space. There are restrictions, of course; weight and size of the load need to be within the parameters of the created artificial space, otherwise there's a risk of the seal failing—which is dangerous."
Rikku asked. "What dangers?"
"There are two fail states," Iori replied. "The good failure state is that the seal spits out the stored items as the artificial space deteriorates and the seal goes bust—it's annoying and bothersome, but doesn't do much harm. However, the not-so-good failure state is that the artificial space deteriorates, destroys the stored items, turning everything inside a dangerous flux of matter that, in many cases, is spat out with an explosion. It was a huge problem back in the day."
There was a time when ignorant shinobi would stuff storage seals beyond the recommended load, thinking that a little over the limit wouldn't do any harm—but it did do harm, a lot of it. Whichled to the popular belief that storage seals were inherently unreliable, which was false, but people blamed the storage seals anyway rather than accepting it was their own fault.
The First Hokage had to issue a state-wide order to fix the 'unreliability' problem. The fuin-nin around the Hidden Leaf village and the Land of Fire got to work. After three years of intense research, someone figured out how to implement constraints to storage seals. The constraints added a weight and size restriction to the seals, which made it so that any attempt to put a load beyond the storage seal's capacity wouldn't be allowed to enter the artificial space.
The unreliability problem was solved as shinobi could no longer misuse storage seals.
"However, the Hidden Leaf didn't figure out a solution," said Iori, her dull eyes now holding a glimmer of admiration. "The Hidden Whirlpool, our allies, figured out the solution to the problem. Their Uzumaki clan, renowned for their fuinjutsu, are the ones to be praised. Lord First and the clan head of the Uzumaki clan were close friends, and when Lord First told the Uzumaki clan head about the problem, he asked the experts of the Uzumaki clan to look into it."
Rikku didn't care about any of that, but seeing the light return to Iori's eyes was all the reason for her to continue the conversation.
Iori held her index finger and thumb at a small distance away from each other. "When a fuin-nin creates a storage seal and primes it, the artificial space is the size of a small glass marble. The chakra provided by the fuin-nin is enough to sustain that marble-sized space for a long time, but it's not infinite—the space will collapse eventually, rendering the storage seal useless. When a user wants to use the storage seal, they provide chakra and activate it to expand that small space to its intended dimensions. Same as before, storage seals have finite lives—especially when in use as the dimensions are expanded and utilize more chakra. They will die down and spit everything stored out once the chakra sustaining it runs out."
"Why can't you just pump more chakra in?" asked Rikku.
"It's not currently possible. I prime the seal; you activate it. That's the only two times the formulae and the ink can handle chakra input," Iori replied.
Rikku made an 'is that so' expression.
They continued to wander around and chat until they reached a small field where they found Kameko sparring against Anko.
"… I didn't know Kameko was sparring with Anko," said Iori.
"Today's the first day," Rikku replied. "Kameko wasn't happy with how she did in the mines, so she asked Anko to spar with her once a day."
In fact, there was an increase in training all around the basebase—fear and a close encounter with death had driven people to put in more training. Rikku had seen this behavior before from other shinobi before, which was why she knew most would stop training and return to normal before the month ended. She didn't know if Kameko would be the same, but hoped she'd keep going.
She glanced at Iori, who was staring at Kameko desperately trying to fend off Anko's attack. Rikku had no idea what Iori was thinking but she could sense that she shouldn't disturb her. Rikku alsowatched Kameko and Anko—focusing on the chunin's every move in the hopes of catching some useful insight into her style of combat that she could integrate into her own.
In the middle of the fight, Rikku noticed Anko look in their direction. She flashed Rikku an almost imperceptible smile, which she knew was for bringing Iori out of her room.
"Let's go," said Iori.
They continued to walk in silence, and Iori immediately headed home at the end of the hour.
Rikku didn't expect Iori to make a complete turnaround with just a walk and some talk—but she did hope that it would elevate some of her gloom but Iori returned to her room and shut the door.
Rikku sighed before continuing with her day. She would try again tomorrow. However, that evening when she passed by Iori's room, the door was open and Iori was at her desk, flipping through a book on some obscure fuinjutsu script that Rikku couldn't make heads or tails of—but it brought a smile to her face.
She didn't disturb Iori and let her continue reading.
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Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_6.38 (209)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Takuma huffed and puffed as he ran around the village's muddy roads fighting against his own worst enemy: gravity. The weight vest pulled down at his shoulders and he could feel it with every step. It had been five days since the return to base and two days since his abdomen had stopped hurting. That pain was replaced with muscle pain from lugging the weighted vest around all day long.
He was part of the wave of increased training and effort after the Gojiro Gold Mines operation.
Down in the pit, he felt rigid as he fought. It wasn't his body not obeying him, he was in great shape. It was his lack of options. He hadn't felt like that in a very long time, but the pit had been a new scenario for him.
The number of people on the ground differed from anything he had ever faced. It was almost flat terrain with no place to hide. There were as many allies as there were enemies, which was again as much of a problem as the environment because there were too many things to keep track of—allies might as well have been enemies at that point.
There was too much chaos, and the tools he currently had didn't work for him—or at least he wasn't using them properly.
He lacked a long-range option. Water Release: Wild Water Wave was a good jutsu; it had turned into something of a preference, but it didn't do enough damage for him—it never did. It was always a setup for destabilizing the enemy before he was forced to go in close for a killing blow—and if he wasted that opportunity, he was always in danger. He needed something that didn't require a follow-up every single time or at least did enough damage on its own to have some lasting effect. He had Lightning Release: Shock, but he sucked at it so much that it was an embarrassment. Even if he put in the extra-extra effort into improving the jutsu, it wasn't worth it because of the D-rank classification. He wanted different things from his D-rank jutsu, and offensive capabilities were not one of them.
Second, he lacked a serious crowd-control jutsu. Something that would exert his control and influence over a larger group of people. As much as he adored Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu, it was terrible when he was working with allies, which was a harsh restriction. He needed something that wouldn't involve his allies. Additionally, he had let his genjutsu progress go stale with the sudden war deployment
He was delighted with Earth-Style: Earthen Dome, Earth-Style: Hiding in the Rock Jutsu, and Earth-Style: Tremor Sense Jutsu—as they worked as intended with high efficiency. He did think he needed an offensive Earth ninjutsu option, which was in his plans.
The only problem was time.
Time…
He didn't have any.
It seemed like he was chasing after a runner while being pulled down by his weighted gear. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up. The feeling of helplessness, frustration, and anxiety weighed down on his heart. Had he been too focused on the current moment that he had neglected to keep the upcoming threats in mind?
He was fortunate to survive an enemy who had dismantled him before he could even move a finger to defend himself. The explosive tags were a last-moment, desperate gambit that had very luckily paid off.
Takuma had seen that man's dead body. In fact, he was the one to pull the corpse onto the joint pyre. If the man had taken him on as an equal opponent, the situation, without a doubt, would've been different. He had been having dreams every night without fail since his return to the base—and his own bloody corpse had been a mainstay in his nightmares.
He had to figure out how to get in front of the problem.
"Takuma!"
Takuma came to a skidding stop and turned back to see Anko looking at him strangely. Only then did he notice that his lungs hurt and burned and his breathing was noisy. He looked down at the muddy ground and noticed how his strides were very uneven.
"…Toridasu and Shirakumo want to meet you," Anko said to Takuma, who was dripping sweat as though he had been soaking in the rain. "C'mon… no, first clean yourself up and take a bath. Meet me in front of Toridasu's office in thirty minutes. Chop-chop."
"For what?" he asked between breaths.
"About your performance in the gold mines, of course. Now get your ass moving. You don't want two jonin waiting for you."
———
.
"Looking sharp, good," Anko complimented Takuma as he landed on the road before Toridasu's office. "Now flash me a smile and we'll be good to go."
Takuma resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Anko laughed boisterously and she slapped his back.
"Where are the others? Are they already inside?" Takuma asked, looking around.
"Others? It's just you and me."
"Huh, why? Kameko, and Chunin Ito's team were just as important. They should be here," said Takuma.
"That is true, but they only want to meet you. I'm just here as your team lead," Anko replied.
Takuma felt a spike of nervousness. He cracked the knuckles of his hands one at a time, wondering what the meeting would be like. He had attended a fair share of meetings with jonin presence in the Police Force, where he was the only genin every single time, and he had gotten used to the pressure—but he was rarely the main focus of those meetings. This time, he was going to be alone, and didn't know the two jonin very well.
"Hey, chin up," Anko smiled. "They obviously want to praise you, so just go in and bathe in the compliments. It's time for you to cozy up to the leadership. Who knows, Toridasu might look at us favorably if he finds you pleasing to the eye."
Takuma looked up at Anko and nodded. "I'll try my best."
He straightened and followed Anko into the building. He had only been in Toridasu's office once, which was his first day at Camp Banana where he handed Toridasu a brief on the refugee camp incursion. Just like the last time, Toridasu's secretary was sitting at her desk outside his office room. She clocked the two when they entered and rose to greet them.
"Jonin Toridasu will see you soon. Please take a seat until then," she said.
They sat down, and Takuma looked around. "This is the place where we first met."
"Did we? Oh yeah, I remember," Anko chuckled as she propped her muddy shoes up on the table, much to the chagrin of the secretary, who couldn't say anything to Anko because of the difference in ranks.
"So, do you have any family waiting for you at home?" Takuma asked.
"Oh? This is rare for you."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"It's fine. My parents are alive; they still serve as active shinobi, and both are chunin like me—but they moved out of the Hidden Leaf a long time ago. They moved to a city in the north where it's nice and cool when I was your age," she said.
After the Third Shinobi World War and the Nine-Tails incident, Anko's parents decide to slow down their careers and focus on their personal lives with each other. They couldn't do it if they stayed in the Hidden Leaf, the hub for Leaf shinobi, so they decided to move to a big city with enough work for shinobi but at a level where they would have sufficient time for their personal lives.
"They must be proud of their daughter."
"Damn straight, they are," Anko flashed a grin.
"Anyone special waiting for you back at the village? Someone who has my dear leader's heart."
Anko raised an eyebrow at Takuma with a smile. "Look at you, trying to be playful," she said. "Would it make you jealous? Unfortunately, no I don't have anyone like that. Life hasn't given me that luxury yet."
Takuma could see that. She had gone from the very sought-after position of Orochimaru's student to having the unjust stigma of being a traitor's accomplice. From then on, her life's work had been trying to get rid of it. It was understandable that she hadn't had time for her personal life.
And that people would refuse to be with her because of the stigma.
"What about you?" she asked.
Takuma couldn't help but laugh out loud. It startled the secretary, who fixed them with a displeased look. Even Anko looked at him with surprise.
"What?" she asked.
"It will sound sad, but I don't have a personal life. Except for the very little time I could spare for my friends, I spent the rest of it working. You know Kameko and I from the batch, right? It seems our batch has regular reunions, but I wasn't invited—it's a long story, don't ask, it's embarrassing—the point is that even if they did invite me, I probably wouldn't have gone. Even if I somehow freed up time, I would've given it to something else at the last moment…"
Sometimes, he wondered if it was all worth it. He wanted to live as long as possible, survival was his goal, which had eventually evolved into survive and thrive—but was all he did to achieve that goal, the price he was paying, worth it? Let's say that he survived the terrible future he knew was coming—what about the future after that? The world wasn't going to change. Peace and unrest were cyclic—humanity would return to their destructive ways and start more wars.
Was he supposed to deny himself any happiness and continue his struggles until the day he died?
"That's a surprising level of self-awareness," Anko said.
"Well, I have a lot of time to think," Takuma chuckled with self-deprecation.
A clear bell rang from within Toridasu's office. Anko and Takuma looked at the secretary, who instructed them to head inside. Toridasu and Shirakumo were both waiting for them. They were seated around a table in the office.
"There you are," Toridasu said as he fanned himself with a folding fan. "Come, join us. We have tea and snacks."
Toridasu and Shirakumo sat opposite to each other while Anko and Takuma sat together on the two-seater between them. While Takuma sat with his back straight, not making contact with the support, Anko leaned into the couch as though Toridasu's office was her living room.
Neither jonin paid her any attention and focused on Takuma.
"Good work on the field, Genin Takuma," said Shirakumo with a smile. Unlike Toridasu, who seemed vain with his silk haori, Shirakumo was much more professional in the crisp Hidden Leaf uniform. Shirakumo Hayama had long, dull, dark gray hair held in a ponytail. He also has a scar running down the right side of his mouth and pronounced tear troughs under his eyes.
"It was a team effort, sir," said Takuma.
"Be that as may, it was only possible because of your initiative. Both Chunin Mitarashi and Chunin Ito commended you in their reports and I must agree, targeting the enemy's iryo-nin was a fantastic decision," said Shirakumo.
Toridasu said, "I heard that you also pulled one of our injured through the battlefield and got them to our iryo-nin while you yourself were injured."
"Thank you, sir. I wouldn't have been able to get her to help if not for Chunin Mitarashi. She was the one who pulled us to safety. The idea to attack the iryo-nin came from my treatment. I would've been out of commission without them but was able to return to the battle—taking that advantage of the enemy just looked like a tide changer to me."
"It was the correct decision," said Shirakumo. "I must admit, I wasn't surprised seeing you contributing in such a way. Anyone as highly praised by Mr. Maruboshi has to be someone special."
That colored Takuma surprised. He asked, "You know my teacher, sir?"
"Yes, I do. I was a new chunin when I became acquainted with Mr. Maruboshi. I was as green as they came and was looking to set up my team. We were matched on a mission, and he was so wise and insightful that I requested him on literally every mission I took after that. I was the chunin, but he taught me everything I needed to know then. I'm sure he has forgotten more about being a shinobi than I have learned in my career."
Takuma felt pride surge in his chest from praise being showered on his teacher. A jonin spoke so highly of the man whom Takuma held in the highest regard—and it didn't feel one bit strange. A jonin respecting Maruboshi was only natural. Takuma was sure he would feel the same way if the Hokage praised Maruboshi in such a manner.
Toridasu snapped his folding fan shut and looked at Takuma with much more interest than before. "Maruboshi took a student? Now that's more surprising than coming across a thin Akimichi."
"Teacher really helped me when I was in the academy. I have consulted with him on every major decision in my career. I wholeheartedly believe that he would be the perfect fit for the Headmaster of the Academy," said Takuma.
"That would fit him, but he would've been much more useful if he let his stubbornness go and accepted his promotions," Toridasu said, clearly not a fan of Maruboshi's career decisions. "He's too old now; they won't even allow him to be a teacher at the academy."
Takuma didn't appreciate Tordiasu's tone, but he didn't say anything in response. Somewhere in his heart, he did agree. Maruboshi had trapped himself into being a genin when he could've done a lot more if he was a jonin or even a chunin.
"Moving on, I heard something interesting," Toridasu continued. "Genin Takuma, I heard that you were the one who suggested the idea for the Gojiro Gold Mine operation to Hidden Steam's Benzou…. May I ask what you were doing discussing such a topic with an outsider?"
The pleasant vibe fizzled out at that moment. Shirakumo didn't look surprised, but Anko was and she sat up straight.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"Benzou told Shirakumo that he got the idea for the gold mine operation from Genin Takuma. I didn't know you two were close," said Toridasu.
Takuma could feel the gazes on him. While Shirakumo did well to hide it, Toridasu's suspicion was blatant. Anko was confused, but her eyes were silently asking Takuma to explain himself.
"We are not close. I'm happy if my words inspired Tokubetsu Jonin Benzou to push for the operation, but I can't take any credit. My five minutes of impromptu conversations is nothing when compared to all the work that went into planning by so many people who made the operation planning."
Takuma kept his involvement to a minimum. He could sense that they didn't know he gave Benzou the entire plan point-by-point—so he took a gamble that someone in Benzou's position wouldn't credit somebody else as the brain behind his very ambitious plan.
"Your team wasn't on the Evacuation Unit initially. Benzou pushed for your team, and from the way he tried, I'm to believe that you two are close," said Toridasu.
Takuma shrugged. "Or perhaps he was returning a favor he mistakenly thought he owed." He leaned forward and looked at Toridasu and Shirakumo. "I will say this outright so it's clear. If you think I have a budding relationship with Tokubetsu Jonin Benzou, then you would be wrong, and it would be better for everyone to boot that idea from your minds and that's all I have to say about it."
He was purposely rude and direct. There was no need to be polite, sensing the accusatory vibe in the room.
"If you say so," Toridasu smiled.
Takuma glanced at Shirakumo and found him staring. Seeing that, Takuma leaned back into the couch, letting them stare, no matter how awkward it got, until Anko asked to be excused.
"That went terribly," she said after they got out.
"And you said I'd be bathing in compliments. I think you jinxed me," Takuma said and then harshly kicked the ground to reflect how he was feeling.
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
He was part of the wave of increased training and effort after the Gojiro Gold Mines operation.
Down in the pit, he felt rigid as he fought. It wasn't his body not obeying him, he was in great shape. It was his lack of options. He hadn't felt like that in a very long time, but the pit had been a new scenario for him.
The number of people on the ground differed from anything he had ever faced. It was almost flat terrain with no place to hide. There were as many allies as there were enemies, which was again as much of a problem as the environment because there were too many things to keep track of—allies might as well have been enemies at that point.
There was too much chaos, and the tools he currently had didn't work for him—or at least he wasn't using them properly.
He lacked a long-range option. Water Release: Wild Water Wave was a good jutsu; it had turned into something of a preference, but it didn't do enough damage for him—it never did. It was always a setup for destabilizing the enemy before he was forced to go in close for a killing blow—and if he wasted that opportunity, he was always in danger. He needed something that didn't require a follow-up every single time or at least did enough damage on its own to have some lasting effect. He had Lightning Release: Shock, but he sucked at it so much that it was an embarrassment. Even if he put in the extra-extra effort into improving the jutsu, it wasn't worth it because of the D-rank classification. He wanted different things from his D-rank jutsu, and offensive capabilities were not one of them.
Second, he lacked a serious crowd-control jutsu. Something that would exert his control and influence over a larger group of people. As much as he adored Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu, it was terrible when he was working with allies, which was a harsh restriction. He needed something that wouldn't involve his allies. Additionally, he had let his genjutsu progress go stale with the sudden war deployment
He was delighted with Earth-Style: Earthen Dome, Earth-Style: Hiding in the Rock Jutsu, and Earth-Style: Tremor Sense Jutsu—as they worked as intended with high efficiency. He did think he needed an offensive Earth ninjutsu option, which was in his plans.
The only problem was time.
Time…
He didn't have any.
It seemed like he was chasing after a runner while being pulled down by his weighted gear. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up. The feeling of helplessness, frustration, and anxiety weighed down on his heart. Had he been too focused on the current moment that he had neglected to keep the upcoming threats in mind?
He was fortunate to survive an enemy who had dismantled him before he could even move a finger to defend himself. The explosive tags were a last-moment, desperate gambit that had very luckily paid off.
Takuma had seen that man's dead body. In fact, he was the one to pull the corpse onto the joint pyre. If the man had taken him on as an equal opponent, the situation, without a doubt, would've been different. He had been having dreams every night without fail since his return to the base—and his own bloody corpse had been a mainstay in his nightmares.
He had to figure out how to get in front of the problem.
"Takuma!"
Takuma came to a skidding stop and turned back to see Anko looking at him strangely. Only then did he notice that his lungs hurt and burned and his breathing was noisy. He looked down at the muddy ground and noticed how his strides were very uneven.
"…Toridasu and Shirakumo want to meet you," Anko said to Takuma, who was dripping sweat as though he had been soaking in the rain. "C'mon… no, first clean yourself up and take a bath. Meet me in front of Toridasu's office in thirty minutes. Chop-chop."
"For what?" he asked between breaths.
"About your performance in the gold mines, of course. Now get your ass moving. You don't want two jonin waiting for you."
———
.
"Looking sharp, good," Anko complimented Takuma as he landed on the road before Toridasu's office. "Now flash me a smile and we'll be good to go."
Takuma resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Anko laughed boisterously and she slapped his back.
"Where are the others? Are they already inside?" Takuma asked, looking around.
"Others? It's just you and me."
"Huh, why? Kameko, and Chunin Ito's team were just as important. They should be here," said Takuma.
"That is true, but they only want to meet you. I'm just here as your team lead," Anko replied.
Takuma felt a spike of nervousness. He cracked the knuckles of his hands one at a time, wondering what the meeting would be like. He had attended a fair share of meetings with jonin presence in the Police Force, where he was the only genin every single time, and he had gotten used to the pressure—but he was rarely the main focus of those meetings. This time, he was going to be alone, and didn't know the two jonin very well.
"Hey, chin up," Anko smiled. "They obviously want to praise you, so just go in and bathe in the compliments. It's time for you to cozy up to the leadership. Who knows, Toridasu might look at us favorably if he finds you pleasing to the eye."
Takuma looked up at Anko and nodded. "I'll try my best."
He straightened and followed Anko into the building. He had only been in Toridasu's office once, which was his first day at Camp Banana where he handed Toridasu a brief on the refugee camp incursion. Just like the last time, Toridasu's secretary was sitting at her desk outside his office room. She clocked the two when they entered and rose to greet them.
"Jonin Toridasu will see you soon. Please take a seat until then," she said.
They sat down, and Takuma looked around. "This is the place where we first met."
"Did we? Oh yeah, I remember," Anko chuckled as she propped her muddy shoes up on the table, much to the chagrin of the secretary, who couldn't say anything to Anko because of the difference in ranks.
"So, do you have any family waiting for you at home?" Takuma asked.
"Oh? This is rare for you."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"It's fine. My parents are alive; they still serve as active shinobi, and both are chunin like me—but they moved out of the Hidden Leaf a long time ago. They moved to a city in the north where it's nice and cool when I was your age," she said.
After the Third Shinobi World War and the Nine-Tails incident, Anko's parents decide to slow down their careers and focus on their personal lives with each other. They couldn't do it if they stayed in the Hidden Leaf, the hub for Leaf shinobi, so they decided to move to a big city with enough work for shinobi but at a level where they would have sufficient time for their personal lives.
"They must be proud of their daughter."
"Damn straight, they are," Anko flashed a grin.
"Anyone special waiting for you back at the village? Someone who has my dear leader's heart."
Anko raised an eyebrow at Takuma with a smile. "Look at you, trying to be playful," she said. "Would it make you jealous? Unfortunately, no I don't have anyone like that. Life hasn't given me that luxury yet."
Takuma could see that. She had gone from the very sought-after position of Orochimaru's student to having the unjust stigma of being a traitor's accomplice. From then on, her life's work had been trying to get rid of it. It was understandable that she hadn't had time for her personal life.
And that people would refuse to be with her because of the stigma.
"What about you?" she asked.
Takuma couldn't help but laugh out loud. It startled the secretary, who fixed them with a displeased look. Even Anko looked at him with surprise.
"What?" she asked.
"It will sound sad, but I don't have a personal life. Except for the very little time I could spare for my friends, I spent the rest of it working. You know Kameko and I from the batch, right? It seems our batch has regular reunions, but I wasn't invited—it's a long story, don't ask, it's embarrassing—the point is that even if they did invite me, I probably wouldn't have gone. Even if I somehow freed up time, I would've given it to something else at the last moment…"
Sometimes, he wondered if it was all worth it. He wanted to live as long as possible, survival was his goal, which had eventually evolved into survive and thrive—but was all he did to achieve that goal, the price he was paying, worth it? Let's say that he survived the terrible future he knew was coming—what about the future after that? The world wasn't going to change. Peace and unrest were cyclic—humanity would return to their destructive ways and start more wars.
Was he supposed to deny himself any happiness and continue his struggles until the day he died?
"That's a surprising level of self-awareness," Anko said.
"Well, I have a lot of time to think," Takuma chuckled with self-deprecation.
A clear bell rang from within Toridasu's office. Anko and Takuma looked at the secretary, who instructed them to head inside. Toridasu and Shirakumo were both waiting for them. They were seated around a table in the office.
"There you are," Toridasu said as he fanned himself with a folding fan. "Come, join us. We have tea and snacks."
Toridasu and Shirakumo sat opposite to each other while Anko and Takuma sat together on the two-seater between them. While Takuma sat with his back straight, not making contact with the support, Anko leaned into the couch as though Toridasu's office was her living room.
Neither jonin paid her any attention and focused on Takuma.
"Good work on the field, Genin Takuma," said Shirakumo with a smile. Unlike Toridasu, who seemed vain with his silk haori, Shirakumo was much more professional in the crisp Hidden Leaf uniform. Shirakumo Hayama had long, dull, dark gray hair held in a ponytail. He also has a scar running down the right side of his mouth and pronounced tear troughs under his eyes.
"It was a team effort, sir," said Takuma.
"Be that as may, it was only possible because of your initiative. Both Chunin Mitarashi and Chunin Ito commended you in their reports and I must agree, targeting the enemy's iryo-nin was a fantastic decision," said Shirakumo.
Toridasu said, "I heard that you also pulled one of our injured through the battlefield and got them to our iryo-nin while you yourself were injured."
"Thank you, sir. I wouldn't have been able to get her to help if not for Chunin Mitarashi. She was the one who pulled us to safety. The idea to attack the iryo-nin came from my treatment. I would've been out of commission without them but was able to return to the battle—taking that advantage of the enemy just looked like a tide changer to me."
"It was the correct decision," said Shirakumo. "I must admit, I wasn't surprised seeing you contributing in such a way. Anyone as highly praised by Mr. Maruboshi has to be someone special."
That colored Takuma surprised. He asked, "You know my teacher, sir?"
"Yes, I do. I was a new chunin when I became acquainted with Mr. Maruboshi. I was as green as they came and was looking to set up my team. We were matched on a mission, and he was so wise and insightful that I requested him on literally every mission I took after that. I was the chunin, but he taught me everything I needed to know then. I'm sure he has forgotten more about being a shinobi than I have learned in my career."
Takuma felt pride surge in his chest from praise being showered on his teacher. A jonin spoke so highly of the man whom Takuma held in the highest regard—and it didn't feel one bit strange. A jonin respecting Maruboshi was only natural. Takuma was sure he would feel the same way if the Hokage praised Maruboshi in such a manner.
Toridasu snapped his folding fan shut and looked at Takuma with much more interest than before. "Maruboshi took a student? Now that's more surprising than coming across a thin Akimichi."
"Teacher really helped me when I was in the academy. I have consulted with him on every major decision in my career. I wholeheartedly believe that he would be the perfect fit for the Headmaster of the Academy," said Takuma.
"That would fit him, but he would've been much more useful if he let his stubbornness go and accepted his promotions," Toridasu said, clearly not a fan of Maruboshi's career decisions. "He's too old now; they won't even allow him to be a teacher at the academy."
Takuma didn't appreciate Tordiasu's tone, but he didn't say anything in response. Somewhere in his heart, he did agree. Maruboshi had trapped himself into being a genin when he could've done a lot more if he was a jonin or even a chunin.
"Moving on, I heard something interesting," Toridasu continued. "Genin Takuma, I heard that you were the one who suggested the idea for the Gojiro Gold Mine operation to Hidden Steam's Benzou…. May I ask what you were doing discussing such a topic with an outsider?"
The pleasant vibe fizzled out at that moment. Shirakumo didn't look surprised, but Anko was and she sat up straight.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"Benzou told Shirakumo that he got the idea for the gold mine operation from Genin Takuma. I didn't know you two were close," said Toridasu.
Takuma could feel the gazes on him. While Shirakumo did well to hide it, Toridasu's suspicion was blatant. Anko was confused, but her eyes were silently asking Takuma to explain himself.
"We are not close. I'm happy if my words inspired Tokubetsu Jonin Benzou to push for the operation, but I can't take any credit. My five minutes of impromptu conversations is nothing when compared to all the work that went into planning by so many people who made the operation planning."
Takuma kept his involvement to a minimum. He could sense that they didn't know he gave Benzou the entire plan point-by-point—so he took a gamble that someone in Benzou's position wouldn't credit somebody else as the brain behind his very ambitious plan.
"Your team wasn't on the Evacuation Unit initially. Benzou pushed for your team, and from the way he tried, I'm to believe that you two are close," said Toridasu.
Takuma shrugged. "Or perhaps he was returning a favor he mistakenly thought he owed." He leaned forward and looked at Toridasu and Shirakumo. "I will say this outright so it's clear. If you think I have a budding relationship with Tokubetsu Jonin Benzou, then you would be wrong, and it would be better for everyone to boot that idea from your minds and that's all I have to say about it."
He was purposely rude and direct. There was no need to be polite, sensing the accusatory vibe in the room.
"If you say so," Toridasu smiled.
Takuma glanced at Shirakumo and found him staring. Seeing that, Takuma leaned back into the couch, letting them stare, no matter how awkward it got, until Anko asked to be excused.
"That went terribly," she said after they got out.
"And you said I'd be bathing in compliments. I think you jinxed me," Takuma said and then harshly kicked the ground to reflect how he was feeling.
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.
Thanks for the chapters
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Thanks for the chapters!
Didn't expect that sudden reversal of their opinions of Takuma.
Didn't expect that sudden reversal of their opinions of Takuma.
Takuma being Takuma. Suffering await overachievers that don't have plot armor.
Well it went better than expected. They don´t have any definitive proof that Takuma meddled with Benzou. Now sure they don´t like him but it is more akin to a personal dislike, this event will not make to a report of any kind, so Takuma is still on the clear. The only thing they can do is either send Anko team to clean the bleacher/latrines of the camp or send them in the most dangerous missions and hope they die(or survive and get promoted)
The good news is that Takuma will have a month and half to train to the sabotage mission(Precursor mission). I think is enough to learn a jutsu and make it battlefield worth if he dedicates himself to it.
OBS: It is good to know that Takuma did not forgot his friends, at least regular encounters with death is making him a better friend.
The good news is that Takuma will have a month and half to train to the sabotage mission(Precursor mission). I think is enough to learn a jutsu and make it battlefield worth if he dedicates himself to it.
OBS: It is good to know that Takuma did not forgot his friends, at least regular encounters with death is making him a better friend.
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
Will of fire is only relevant when you are super special or have a broken technique. Then the power of love of friendship can make the diference.
That said leaf is not mist, that is the real MVP in missing-nin production.
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As long as you don't get Danzo'd or are under Orochimaru though you usually won't be sent on completely idiotic mass wave attacks or literally stabbed in the back because you're inconvenient. Socially screwed over: yes, treated like a soldier: yes, thrown into a grinder because that's all you're good for: No. It's wasteful and I thought most Konoha commanders wouldn't see it as a normal way to really separate the skilled/strong from the weak.
…though maybe if you're under an Uchiha or Hyuga leader they'd do dumb stuff too. Okay upon reflection Konoha is probably average.
…though maybe if you're under an Uchiha or Hyuga leader they'd do dumb stuff too. Okay upon reflection Konoha is probably average.