- Location
- sweden
This is WAY too much good news all at once
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve
Interesting. Between his 3 options I'd guess ANBU is the most dangerous but get him a head start on his revenge quest. Police force seems the safest and will give more Uchicha politics. Otherwise, Chuunin exam will give some more interaction with other villages and maybe bring him closer to his classmates.
I'm in favor of Anbu to improve his fighting, get revenge, and show more interesting missions. Chuunin exams have been done a thousand times in fanfic, and the story's already done police investigation.
I'm in favor of Anbu to improve his fighting, get revenge, and show more interesting missions. Chuunin exams have been done a thousand times in fanfic, and the story's already done police investigation.
Frankly his way of doing things is very ANBU already.
CH_8.15 (280)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
The location of the Leaf Village's ANBU headquarters wasn't a secret. It was common knowledge that the headquarters was inside Hokage Mountain. A single path carved into the mountain led to the entrance, which was restricted through several security checkpoints manned by regular shinobi.
Takuma walked that path and passed through all the checkpoints. The seal drawn inside the recruitment scroll served as his security pass but he was extremely nervous as he passed several signs bolted into the thick metal warning people that unlawful entry could result in death. He was given no time to prepare for his first interview as it was scheduled the very next day after he received the scroll.That barely gave him the time to update and modify his resume to appeal to the ANBU but the problem was that he didn't know what they were looking for and it wasn't like he could ask someone for advice on the matter.
Beyond the entrance lay a sizable front lobby area with a single reception desk and two receptionists sitting behind a long desk. They were dressed in the standard Leaf uniform like him, which was a surprise, but it made sense that not everyone in ANBU would be masked operatives.
The hall was shaped like a dome and lined with a thick layer of metal for structural integrity and fortification. It was spacious and clean, giving it a sanitary look, but the illumination was on the warmer side, projecting some light into the space.
Two more regular shinobi guards stationed inside the headquarters flanked him as he approached the reception desk.
"How may I help you?" asked a middle-aged kunoichi with a tight bun wrapped with a mesh cloth.
"I am here for my interview," Takuma said and presented his recruitment scroll as instructed within the scroll.
The kunoichi handled the scroll as though she had seen several of them and unfurled it to a point with a fuinjutsu seal. She weaved hand seals and pressed her thumb in the middle of the seal for the ink to reassemble into a pattern.
"I have confirmed the authenticity of the scroll." She smiled and returned it to him before reaching underneath the table to retrieve a tray. "Please deposit all of your weapons and belongings in here. You can collect them when you exit."
"I don't feel comfortable parting with my weapons," said Takuma. He had vowed not to leave home without the necessary weapons after the assassination attempt.
"Genin Takuma, you are a shinobi. We are taking your weapons away, not your ability to protect yourself," the receptionist said in an assuring manner. "I'm afraid there'll be no exception. If you don't wish to submit your weapons, you're free to leave, and we will consider our recruitment offer rejected."
Takuma bit the inside of his cheek and stared at the uncompromising receptionist before relenting with a sigh. He unbuckled his utility belt and weapons pouches and set them inside the trays.
"Please allow the guards to check you," said the receptionist.
The guards patted him down, and Takuma wasn't embarrassed when they found a tiny dagger and a few rolled-up explosive tags hidden on his body.
The kunoichi asked him to follow her and looked completely unbothered by his attempt to hide weaponry. They entered a circular staircase with multiple exit points on each floor. Takuma looked down into the well; it was deep enough that he would fracture a bone if he tried jumping. He looked up, and noticed there were fewer floors above than below.
"May I ask a question?" Takuma said as he observed the kunoichi.
"Please do, but I might not be able to answer the question."
"How did you end up working at ANBU?" he asked. Takuma noticed a weapon pouch with an open flap hanging from her waist.
"I was recruited for the position just like you're being recruited for your position," the kunoichi replied.
Their voices echoed in the staircase.
He couldn't take the pouch off her, and if he tried to pick something, the sound of metal would get him caught. He glanced at the railing along the stairs and felt the metal beneath the white paint.
"Oh. Any advice?"
"I don't know if my experience will help you, but if I have to say something, I'd say: be true to yourself. Let them know exactly what they're getting; if they like what they see, they'll take you. The work done here is of the utmost importance, which is why they need people who fit the bill. Presenting a false version of yourself will only get you in trouble when they find the real you."
Takuma charged his ring finger with a sliver of chakra and then flicked the metal railing. The metal sang like an instrument, filling the stairwell with a metallic, semi-melodious trill.
The kunoichi stopped and looked back at him in surprise.
"Sorry about that. Intrusive thoughts won," Takuma put on an apologetic and embarrassed look. "It's good advice, though. I'll be sure to follow it."
The kunoichi gazed at him for a moment before turning around with a sigh.
Takuma followed her down the stairs but couldn't help but be disappointed because he had only managed to steal a few senbon, a smoke bomb, and a small loop of metal wire. The smoke bomb was useful, but he didn't like senbon much and usually didn't carry metal wire, though anything was better than nothing.
They got off the stairs, and the receptionist stopped at a large, heavy-duty yellow door with a rectangular cutout of frosted glass.
"They're waiting for you," the kunoichi said.
Takuma stepped into an empty workspace. The floor was at least four times the size of the Narcotics Taskforce's new space. One half was converted into rooms and offices, while the other half was an open workspace. The walls and ceiling were white, with every light on the floor switched on.
Two masked ANBU-nin sat behind a desk in the middle of the floor and that desk and the accompanying chairs were the only pieces of furniture on the entire floor. One of the agents was a large man so jacked that it felt like his muscles wanted to pop out of his skin; he wore a boar mask with black and red markings. The other one was a brunette woman with white streaks in her hair and she wore a hornet mask with yellow markings.
"Welcome, Genin Takuma. Please call me Swine," said the large man. His voice was quite light for his size.
"Thank you for having me," Takuma said as he sat opposite them. He thought it was amusing that the boar-masked ANBU was codenamed Swine, but the name made sense.
"Have you settled down since your return? I know that you stopped renting your home when you were deployed and that we had to deliver your recruitment offer to your mentor's home," said Swine.
"It's in process. He has been kind enough to open his house for me," Takuma said shortly. Frankly speaking, it was creepy that they delivered the scroll to Maruboshi's home. He briefly glanced at the hornet-masked woman who silently stared at him.
"I wish you the best in that regard. I know it can be jarring to return home from war," said Swine. It made Takuma wonder if they knew about his breakdown, which he didn't want strangers to know about. "Please consider this meeting as a simple introduction. This isn't part of your testing process, so you aren't being judged now."
"I see," Takuma nodded.
"Now, before we start, we have to clear the most important question," said Swine. "Are you interested in joining the ANBU? There's no sense in continuing if you don't want to join. Of course, I understand you might have doubts, so we will dedicate this meeting to clearing them. By the end of this meeting, you'll have to give us an answer—which won't be a final commitment, mind you. We are interested in you and want to see if you feel the same."
"Fair enough. I'll give you my answer after you have cleared my doubts," said Takuma, appreciating their straightforwardness. He could tell they wanted him to say something in the vein of being interested in the offer, but he withheld his answer.
"Excellent. How do you wish we proceed? I recommend you ask us questions, and we'll answer them to the best of our abilities."
"Hmm... I don't know anything about the ANBU. You said this meeting is an introduction; give me an introduction," said Takuma, pushing the ball in their field.
This question-and-answer system didn't sit well with him because they would only need to answer what he asked, and if he didn't ask the right questions, he wouldn't get the correct answers. He didn't think they were doing it on purpose because, as Swine said, they were interested in him—or maybe they were doing it on purpose and this was some kind of test.
"The Department of ANBU is in charge of matters pertaining to national security. It's our responsibility to keep domestic and foreign powers in check to protect our great nation. You have worked for the Police Force; a good portion of our work is not dissimilar to yours—and it can often look much like we're doing the same thing as them, but our scope is on a higher level with a reach that goes beyond the Leaf Shinobi institution and our borders."
ANBU sounded like a traditional intelligence agency. Takuma knew their existence wasn't a secret from living in the world, but he didn't know much beyond that, as there was not much about them in his incomplete meta-knowledge about this world.
Swine continued, "It's a misconception that there's no war if there aren't boots on the ground. The Five Great Nations are always at war with each other. Peace is a deadlock achieved by the great powers constantly trying to preempt threats from others."
"Peace is a deadlock," Takuma couldn't help but whisper as goosebumps rose. He had never considered it that way, but he couldn't help but feel those words were especially true in this world. "That is a grim outlook on the concept."
"It's the reality," said Swine, heavily. "The ideal future would be for the deadlock to persist through eternity, but we know that isn't possible, so it's our job to ensure that when this deadlock breaks, the Hidden Leaf will be on top. No matter what people might say— we aren't in the business of control; we simply exist to protect."
Takuma didn't believe that last part. Wasn't control the best way to achieve protection? There was no need to protect against the threats if one could control them.
"Why me? Why do I interest the ANBU?" Takuma asked. He kept his questions short to get as wide an answer as possible.
"We have been following your career since you started in the Police Force. Thriving in an environment controlled by a few who only allow certain people inside and decide who gets to succeed and doing it as one of the first outsiders is impressive. Establishing and running the Narcotics Taskforce as you did was a highly impressive feat. In fact, you were so impressive that we thought it would be a waste to recruit you as you could've been a catalyst of change in a closed system that is the Police Force."
"What changed your mind?"
"Your demotion and deployment to the war," said Swine.
"I see." Takuma's lips pressed into a thin line. He had promised himself to let go of his bitterness, but it was an ongoing journey and a difficult one.
"Once we discovered that the Police Force didn't value you as much as we did, we decided we wanted to work with you. We were planning to approach you as soon as you returned from the war... and then you went ahead and showed us something that blew away any of our doubts."
He expected his war contributions to factor into ANBU's assessment of him. He didn't hold his experience in the Steam-Frost war in high regard and would rather forget it ever happened, but there was no denying that he had worked his ass off to accomplish what he did.
"You and your team were responsible for bringing down an oppressive power controlling that city. We read the reports, and we know how important your role was. The cherry on top is that you killed a jonin," said Swine, openly showing how impressed he was.
Takuma simply blinked as he was transported back to Yu for a moment. The sounds of explosions and screams echoed in his ear as he sat in the back of the banquet hall. He smelled the scent of blood and felt the weight of Rikku's body in his arms.
"...Thank you for the compliment," he said as he shifted in his chair to make it so that he was finding a comfortable spot, but in reality, he didn't want them to notice in case he was showing what was happening inside his mind. "The killing of a jonin wasn't received well by many."
"Of course, the way you did it shouldn't be done lightly by anyone, and I'm sure it was a difficult choice for you."
"It was."
"But there are times when someone has to make those choices. You made that difficult choice, and it had real, measurable benefits. You not only saved the lives of our shinobi, but you also damaged a foreign nation by killing one of their jonin, who could have escaped during the invasion," said Swine.
"I chatted with two of your ANBU-nin when I was in Yu. I don't think they liked me very much. How will that affect my chances of getting in?" asked Takuma.
He didn't want to get his hopes up, go through whatever arduous testing process they surely had, only to have the door shut in his face and waste his time.
"If you're implying what I think you are, then I feel insulted. If you fail to get in, it'll be because we don't think you can survive here," Swine said with the seriousness of a principal addressing students.
"That's great to hear." Takuma nodded.
"Though I must say, the so-called chat you had with our operatives was interesting in itself. I think if you manage to pass, you'll do well in ANBU."
Takuma thanked Swine for his confidence in him and swiftly moved on to the next question, "What will be my role here?"
"We don't know that currently. The Department of ANBU is divided into two sub-departments. One handles domestic affairs and the other deals with foreign threats. We will decide where to place you depending on your skills and how you perform in our testing process."
Takuma took his resume scroll out of his pocket and placed it on the table. The scroll got him on Iruka's team when he was doing D-rank missions. Iruka himself had used a semi-updated version of his scroll to get him into the Police Force and it worked with Anko when he joined the team when it was already established.
"These are my skills for your reference," he said.
"I like the initiative," Swine said as he received the scroll.
"Now that I know why the ANBU wants me," said Takuma as he sat up straighter, "it's time for you to tell me why I should join the ANBU."
"The ANBU is the best there is. It's an honour for anybody to serve with the best because you'll be among the best; I can promise you that you'll grow here—"
Takuma raised his hand to stop Swine from speaking. "On the risk of being crude, I understand how valuable the ANBU is in protecting the village and our nation, and the prestige that has been developed over decades of hard service, but the last time I joined a place because of its prestige and the promise of growth, they stripped me of the fruits of my effort and shipped me off to war.
It frustrated him that he couldn't see their reactions behind the masks, but Takuma continued to speak anyway.
"If you want me to be interested by the end of this meeting, I want you to tell me what tangible, measurable benefits ANBU can offer me."
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Takuma walked that path and passed through all the checkpoints. The seal drawn inside the recruitment scroll served as his security pass but he was extremely nervous as he passed several signs bolted into the thick metal warning people that unlawful entry could result in death. He was given no time to prepare for his first interview as it was scheduled the very next day after he received the scroll.That barely gave him the time to update and modify his resume to appeal to the ANBU but the problem was that he didn't know what they were looking for and it wasn't like he could ask someone for advice on the matter.
Beyond the entrance lay a sizable front lobby area with a single reception desk and two receptionists sitting behind a long desk. They were dressed in the standard Leaf uniform like him, which was a surprise, but it made sense that not everyone in ANBU would be masked operatives.
The hall was shaped like a dome and lined with a thick layer of metal for structural integrity and fortification. It was spacious and clean, giving it a sanitary look, but the illumination was on the warmer side, projecting some light into the space.
Two more regular shinobi guards stationed inside the headquarters flanked him as he approached the reception desk.
"How may I help you?" asked a middle-aged kunoichi with a tight bun wrapped with a mesh cloth.
"I am here for my interview," Takuma said and presented his recruitment scroll as instructed within the scroll.
The kunoichi handled the scroll as though she had seen several of them and unfurled it to a point with a fuinjutsu seal. She weaved hand seals and pressed her thumb in the middle of the seal for the ink to reassemble into a pattern.
"I have confirmed the authenticity of the scroll." She smiled and returned it to him before reaching underneath the table to retrieve a tray. "Please deposit all of your weapons and belongings in here. You can collect them when you exit."
"I don't feel comfortable parting with my weapons," said Takuma. He had vowed not to leave home without the necessary weapons after the assassination attempt.
"Genin Takuma, you are a shinobi. We are taking your weapons away, not your ability to protect yourself," the receptionist said in an assuring manner. "I'm afraid there'll be no exception. If you don't wish to submit your weapons, you're free to leave, and we will consider our recruitment offer rejected."
Takuma bit the inside of his cheek and stared at the uncompromising receptionist before relenting with a sigh. He unbuckled his utility belt and weapons pouches and set them inside the trays.
"Please allow the guards to check you," said the receptionist.
The guards patted him down, and Takuma wasn't embarrassed when they found a tiny dagger and a few rolled-up explosive tags hidden on his body.
The kunoichi asked him to follow her and looked completely unbothered by his attempt to hide weaponry. They entered a circular staircase with multiple exit points on each floor. Takuma looked down into the well; it was deep enough that he would fracture a bone if he tried jumping. He looked up, and noticed there were fewer floors above than below.
"May I ask a question?" Takuma said as he observed the kunoichi.
"Please do, but I might not be able to answer the question."
"How did you end up working at ANBU?" he asked. Takuma noticed a weapon pouch with an open flap hanging from her waist.
"I was recruited for the position just like you're being recruited for your position," the kunoichi replied.
Their voices echoed in the staircase.
He couldn't take the pouch off her, and if he tried to pick something, the sound of metal would get him caught. He glanced at the railing along the stairs and felt the metal beneath the white paint.
"Oh. Any advice?"
"I don't know if my experience will help you, but if I have to say something, I'd say: be true to yourself. Let them know exactly what they're getting; if they like what they see, they'll take you. The work done here is of the utmost importance, which is why they need people who fit the bill. Presenting a false version of yourself will only get you in trouble when they find the real you."
Takuma charged his ring finger with a sliver of chakra and then flicked the metal railing. The metal sang like an instrument, filling the stairwell with a metallic, semi-melodious trill.
The kunoichi stopped and looked back at him in surprise.
"Sorry about that. Intrusive thoughts won," Takuma put on an apologetic and embarrassed look. "It's good advice, though. I'll be sure to follow it."
The kunoichi gazed at him for a moment before turning around with a sigh.
Takuma followed her down the stairs but couldn't help but be disappointed because he had only managed to steal a few senbon, a smoke bomb, and a small loop of metal wire. The smoke bomb was useful, but he didn't like senbon much and usually didn't carry metal wire, though anything was better than nothing.
They got off the stairs, and the receptionist stopped at a large, heavy-duty yellow door with a rectangular cutout of frosted glass.
"They're waiting for you," the kunoichi said.
Takuma stepped into an empty workspace. The floor was at least four times the size of the Narcotics Taskforce's new space. One half was converted into rooms and offices, while the other half was an open workspace. The walls and ceiling were white, with every light on the floor switched on.
Two masked ANBU-nin sat behind a desk in the middle of the floor and that desk and the accompanying chairs were the only pieces of furniture on the entire floor. One of the agents was a large man so jacked that it felt like his muscles wanted to pop out of his skin; he wore a boar mask with black and red markings. The other one was a brunette woman with white streaks in her hair and she wore a hornet mask with yellow markings.
"Welcome, Genin Takuma. Please call me Swine," said the large man. His voice was quite light for his size.
"Thank you for having me," Takuma said as he sat opposite them. He thought it was amusing that the boar-masked ANBU was codenamed Swine, but the name made sense.
"Have you settled down since your return? I know that you stopped renting your home when you were deployed and that we had to deliver your recruitment offer to your mentor's home," said Swine.
"It's in process. He has been kind enough to open his house for me," Takuma said shortly. Frankly speaking, it was creepy that they delivered the scroll to Maruboshi's home. He briefly glanced at the hornet-masked woman who silently stared at him.
"I wish you the best in that regard. I know it can be jarring to return home from war," said Swine. It made Takuma wonder if they knew about his breakdown, which he didn't want strangers to know about. "Please consider this meeting as a simple introduction. This isn't part of your testing process, so you aren't being judged now."
"I see," Takuma nodded.
"Now, before we start, we have to clear the most important question," said Swine. "Are you interested in joining the ANBU? There's no sense in continuing if you don't want to join. Of course, I understand you might have doubts, so we will dedicate this meeting to clearing them. By the end of this meeting, you'll have to give us an answer—which won't be a final commitment, mind you. We are interested in you and want to see if you feel the same."
"Fair enough. I'll give you my answer after you have cleared my doubts," said Takuma, appreciating their straightforwardness. He could tell they wanted him to say something in the vein of being interested in the offer, but he withheld his answer.
"Excellent. How do you wish we proceed? I recommend you ask us questions, and we'll answer them to the best of our abilities."
"Hmm... I don't know anything about the ANBU. You said this meeting is an introduction; give me an introduction," said Takuma, pushing the ball in their field.
This question-and-answer system didn't sit well with him because they would only need to answer what he asked, and if he didn't ask the right questions, he wouldn't get the correct answers. He didn't think they were doing it on purpose because, as Swine said, they were interested in him—or maybe they were doing it on purpose and this was some kind of test.
"The Department of ANBU is in charge of matters pertaining to national security. It's our responsibility to keep domestic and foreign powers in check to protect our great nation. You have worked for the Police Force; a good portion of our work is not dissimilar to yours—and it can often look much like we're doing the same thing as them, but our scope is on a higher level with a reach that goes beyond the Leaf Shinobi institution and our borders."
ANBU sounded like a traditional intelligence agency. Takuma knew their existence wasn't a secret from living in the world, but he didn't know much beyond that, as there was not much about them in his incomplete meta-knowledge about this world.
Swine continued, "It's a misconception that there's no war if there aren't boots on the ground. The Five Great Nations are always at war with each other. Peace is a deadlock achieved by the great powers constantly trying to preempt threats from others."
"Peace is a deadlock," Takuma couldn't help but whisper as goosebumps rose. He had never considered it that way, but he couldn't help but feel those words were especially true in this world. "That is a grim outlook on the concept."
"It's the reality," said Swine, heavily. "The ideal future would be for the deadlock to persist through eternity, but we know that isn't possible, so it's our job to ensure that when this deadlock breaks, the Hidden Leaf will be on top. No matter what people might say— we aren't in the business of control; we simply exist to protect."
Takuma didn't believe that last part. Wasn't control the best way to achieve protection? There was no need to protect against the threats if one could control them.
"Why me? Why do I interest the ANBU?" Takuma asked. He kept his questions short to get as wide an answer as possible.
"We have been following your career since you started in the Police Force. Thriving in an environment controlled by a few who only allow certain people inside and decide who gets to succeed and doing it as one of the first outsiders is impressive. Establishing and running the Narcotics Taskforce as you did was a highly impressive feat. In fact, you were so impressive that we thought it would be a waste to recruit you as you could've been a catalyst of change in a closed system that is the Police Force."
"What changed your mind?"
"Your demotion and deployment to the war," said Swine.
"I see." Takuma's lips pressed into a thin line. He had promised himself to let go of his bitterness, but it was an ongoing journey and a difficult one.
"Once we discovered that the Police Force didn't value you as much as we did, we decided we wanted to work with you. We were planning to approach you as soon as you returned from the war... and then you went ahead and showed us something that blew away any of our doubts."
He expected his war contributions to factor into ANBU's assessment of him. He didn't hold his experience in the Steam-Frost war in high regard and would rather forget it ever happened, but there was no denying that he had worked his ass off to accomplish what he did.
"You and your team were responsible for bringing down an oppressive power controlling that city. We read the reports, and we know how important your role was. The cherry on top is that you killed a jonin," said Swine, openly showing how impressed he was.
Takuma simply blinked as he was transported back to Yu for a moment. The sounds of explosions and screams echoed in his ear as he sat in the back of the banquet hall. He smelled the scent of blood and felt the weight of Rikku's body in his arms.
"...Thank you for the compliment," he said as he shifted in his chair to make it so that he was finding a comfortable spot, but in reality, he didn't want them to notice in case he was showing what was happening inside his mind. "The killing of a jonin wasn't received well by many."
"Of course, the way you did it shouldn't be done lightly by anyone, and I'm sure it was a difficult choice for you."
"It was."
"But there are times when someone has to make those choices. You made that difficult choice, and it had real, measurable benefits. You not only saved the lives of our shinobi, but you also damaged a foreign nation by killing one of their jonin, who could have escaped during the invasion," said Swine.
"I chatted with two of your ANBU-nin when I was in Yu. I don't think they liked me very much. How will that affect my chances of getting in?" asked Takuma.
He didn't want to get his hopes up, go through whatever arduous testing process they surely had, only to have the door shut in his face and waste his time.
"If you're implying what I think you are, then I feel insulted. If you fail to get in, it'll be because we don't think you can survive here," Swine said with the seriousness of a principal addressing students.
"That's great to hear." Takuma nodded.
"Though I must say, the so-called chat you had with our operatives was interesting in itself. I think if you manage to pass, you'll do well in ANBU."
Takuma thanked Swine for his confidence in him and swiftly moved on to the next question, "What will be my role here?"
"We don't know that currently. The Department of ANBU is divided into two sub-departments. One handles domestic affairs and the other deals with foreign threats. We will decide where to place you depending on your skills and how you perform in our testing process."
Takuma took his resume scroll out of his pocket and placed it on the table. The scroll got him on Iruka's team when he was doing D-rank missions. Iruka himself had used a semi-updated version of his scroll to get him into the Police Force and it worked with Anko when he joined the team when it was already established.
"These are my skills for your reference," he said.
"I like the initiative," Swine said as he received the scroll.
"Now that I know why the ANBU wants me," said Takuma as he sat up straighter, "it's time for you to tell me why I should join the ANBU."
"The ANBU is the best there is. It's an honour for anybody to serve with the best because you'll be among the best; I can promise you that you'll grow here—"
Takuma raised his hand to stop Swine from speaking. "On the risk of being crude, I understand how valuable the ANBU is in protecting the village and our nation, and the prestige that has been developed over decades of hard service, but the last time I joined a place because of its prestige and the promise of growth, they stripped me of the fruits of my effort and shipped me off to war.
It frustrated him that he couldn't see their reactions behind the masks, but Takuma continued to speak anyway.
"If you want me to be interested by the end of this meeting, I want you to tell me what tangible, measurable benefits ANBU can offer me."
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_8.16 (281)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
On the empty floor, Takuma sat opposite two ANBU-nin.
He was cognisant that ANBU was in charge of national security, and they probably required a sense of belonging and patriotism towards their homeland—and he was all for that; he didn't think he would ever leave the Hidden Leaf because his friends and life was here but he had to be direct with his demands even if it somehow lowered their impression of him.
"We have a standard compensation package that includes a very handsome salary beyond even the highest competitive rates of any other department. However, we don't have a mission-based commission system where you're paid after each successful mission. We don't want our operatives to be motivated by money when it comes to national security matters," said Swine.
Takuma was already used to it from his time in the Police Force. If there were a commission for the number of people arrested and charged, the officers would've been arresting people left and right to make more money. He could potentially make more money if he were an independent shinobi not associated with a department, but that was akin to owning a business rather than being a corporate employee.
"You'll have open access to our jutsu archive up to C-rank. The scrolls stay on the premises, but you're free to read and learn any amount of jutsu you can. We also have exclusive training facilities that you can book. We have in-house iryo-nin who will cater to any of your health needs and provide the standard three meals on all days of the week. There's also a store where everything is sold at heavy discounts and many more benefits, including top-quality gear custom-made for your preferences and generous access to our armoury. Almost everything is on our dime so you'll find that ANBU-nin's expenses fall because we take care of our own."
Takuma held back his reaction when Swine said he would have unlimited access to C-rank jutsu. Most of his career had been chasing mission points that afforded him jutsu. He had even bargained for ninjutsu from the Uchiha before his war deployment. That single benefit was so huge that it was enough for him to sign up on the spot.
"Of course, as we mentioned in the scroll, you'll get an instant rank promotion if you get selected," said Swine.
Takuma nodded. That was another benefit, arguably on par with the jutsu archive access. He had been gunning for a promotion for nearly two years.
"What about B-rank jutsu?" Takuma asked. He needed to get his hand on a B-rank jutsu to get to the next level.
"There's no open access to the B-rank jutsu archive, and you'll have to earn the privilege to learn a B-rank jutsu," said Swine as he crossed his hands on the table. "But like the jutsu in the archives, you have the benefit of not paying and how quickly you get one will solely depend on your performance. Of course, mission points are part of the compensation package, so you're free to go through the usual channel to redeem access to the standard B-rank jutsu archive like all other chunin."
"What about the time restriction?" Takuma asked an important question.
New chunin had a one-year time restriction before they could access the B-rank jutsu archives.
"We can take care of that for you," Swine nodded.
"What about developing new skills? If I want to learn, let's say, interrogation tactics, how's the ANBU going to help me?" He hadn't forgotten his motto—'A shinobi is more than the chakra he wields'—and wanted to continue with his journey in self-improvement.
"If you want guidance, we will provide it. As long as your work remains your priority, we will invite former members and experts in every field possible to guide you in whatever field you wish to explore," said Swine.
Takuma pondered what else he wanted to know about the job. He wanted to know the exact nature of his job, but his role would be undecided until they tested him. However, he still wanted to learn about it, so he posed a vague question.
"From your experience, what will my time at the ANBU be like?"
Swine had answered his questions fairly quickly until then, but this time, he took a moment to gather his thoughts. He even looked at the hornet-masked kunoichi, who hadn't said a word since the start as she silently stared at him the entire time. Takuma was unnerved, but he had done his best not to look at her so as not to seem nervous and twitchy.
She didn't want to say anything, so Swine answered the question.
"It'd be a lie to say that the work we do here is easy. It's not. I know I'm supposed to sell you on the job, but I'll be forthright with you and say that if you don't work hard, you will fall behind. The majority of our peers don't have vibrant personal lives because that's what it takes to make it here."
"Even though the ANBU's the best?" Takuma interjected.
"Precisely," said Swine and Takuma thought he was smiling behind his mask. This job is difficult even for the best of people out there. "I want you to say yes, but imagine the most stressful period of your life—that feeling is nothing here."
'I doubt it,' thought Takuma. He had started this life with the most stressful time of his life.
Swine continued, "Multiply it by a hundred. If you can't perform under that pressure, this job isn't for you. It willy make you miserable at times to the point you wish you had never accepted the offer, but when you succeed, there's this indescribable feeling that people here keep chasing. I guarantee that not a moment of this job will be boring. You will be challenged every step of the way, and will live to surmount those challenges because here, you know that the things you're doing matter."
They were passionate words, and Takuma found himself swayed by them even though he had just been told that the job would make him miserable and he would have no personal life—not that he had much of one anyway. Perhaps it was because he was already used to it, and nothing in his life would be different from when he worked at the Narcotics Taskforce.
Thinking of it like that made the charm fade slightly and he moved on to the next question,
"What will be the length of my contract?" asked Takuma. He didn't doubt the ANBU, but he wanted to know how much time he owed them before he could break away and do something different.
"We offer all our recruits a non-negotiable five-year contract with a secrecy agreement."
"Understood," said Takuma.
Five years wasn't a bad contract term. He would get that from the Police Force if Setsuna came through. He would be nineteen by the time he could leave. It seemed as if he had only been in this world for four years, and this would make it so he would be in ANBU for more than half of his new life.
He swept those thoughts away and returned to the conversation. He asked a dozen more miscellaneous questions, which cleared up all the questions he had for them at the moment.
"What is your answer, Takuma?" asked Swine.
"I'm interested," said Takuma. He was interested the moment they offered him open access to the C-rank archive.
"I have an obligation to ask you again. Are you interested in joining the Department of ANBU, Genin Takuma? Please answer with a full sentence."
"I am interested in joining the Department of ANBU."
"Excellent." Swine took out another sealed scroll from his person and handed it to Takuma. "You have seven days from tomorrow to prepare for the testing process. The location and arrival time are in that scroll. Please make an excuse to your friends and family regarding your absence for a week or two without mentioning us. Do you have any more questions?"
"Yes, one last question." Takuma raised the scroll in his hand. "Am I at liberty to share the ANBU's interest in me with other parties who might be interested in hiring me?"
"First of all, we haven't extended an offer to you; we have only shown interest. You can only use us as leverage after you have passed all our tests and rejected our offer. Use us as leverage while we await your response and we will drop you without any further considerations and deny any involvement to the relevant parties. However, if you pass our tests and reject us, you're free to share it with anyone you like and from my experience, it'll work as a glowing recommendation."
"Understood; thank you for answering my question."
"You have other offers, Genin Takuma?" asked Swine, curious.
"Perhaps," Takuma shrugged—he didn't have one.
All three of them stood up, signalling that the meeting was over. Takuma shook hands with Swine while the hornet-masked kunoichi kept her hands behind her back.
"My associate will escort you to the exit," said Swine.
The kunoichi started walking without a word, and Takuma followed her. He looked back, and Swine sat down and stared at him as he left the floor. He didn't talk to her in the stairwell, and unlike the last time, when he looked up, he saw someone leap down from a higher floor to a lower floor before disappearing behind one of the doors before he could get a good look.
Apparently, Swine was speaking the truth—people didn't have enough time to use the stairs properly, much less have personal lives.
Takuma got his weapons back at the reception, and once he felt their comfortable weight, he retrieved the stolen weapons and put them on the tray.
The kunoichi looked up at him with wide-eyed surprise.
"I'm sorry about this, but you did say that you weren't taking away my ability to protect myself, so I found some protection," said Takuma with an apologetic look on his face.
He glanced at the hornet-masked kunoichi, who was still staring at him, now with a raised intensity.
"I will see myself out," he said and walked out without looking back.
Outside the headquarters, Takuma stood on the steps with the scroll in his hand. As he stared at the scroll, the tension holding his body stiff left him. He had one week before he faced whatever ANBU wanted to throw at him. A hundred thoughts went through his mind about how to prepare for the tests and how he could hedge the bets in his favour while not knowing the specifics of the tests.
Takuma closed his eyes and let those thoughts drain away with a sigh. None of those things would help him and only served to stress and tire him before the tests. He needed something different from what he usually did—and fortunately for him, he knew just the thing.
———
.
Maruboshi was tending to his vegetable patch when he heard the rustle of the grass. He turned around to see Takuma standing in the middle of the garden. He looked the same as he was when he left, which was a relief.
"Welcome back. How did it go?" he asked.
"It starts one week from tomorrow," Takuma said as he walked closer. "I need your help."
"Of course, whatever you need," Maruboshi said readily as he wiped his hand. Becoming an ANBU operative was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he would provide any help to see his student succeed.
"I want to train with you to prepare me for the ANBU tests," said Takuma, raising a scroll with the ANBU seal. "You prepared me for the academy tests all those years ago; I want you to do the same now."
"Takuma, what?" he chuckled. "Stop it."
"If I train on my own, I'll run myself into the ground... So, please train me."
Maruboshi stared at Takuma in shock and bafflement. "Takuma, when we trained, I prepared you for the academy test. We are talking about the ANBU here. This and that are two completely different—"
"The truth is that I just want to train with you. It's okay if all you do is make me do the Leaf Concentration Exercise; I'll be perfectly happy to do it," said Takuma as he stared into his eyes. "You're the reason why I'm the shinobi I am today. I have this opportunity because of the foundation you set, and now I want you to see how much I've grown."
Maruboshi didn't know what to feel. He stared at Takuma and noticed how much he had changed from the ten-year-old he had met all those years ago. He had helped him back then because he saw a struggling child who needed guidance to turn his effort into precious fruits of labour.
He didn't think he would become so attached to that child, but it happened before he knew it. That's why he stopped teaching him; he didn't want to make another mistake and ruin another life as he had done before.
"It doesn't matter if you believe in yourself; I believe in you the most in the world," said Takuma, startling him. The tired black eyes that had been steeping in grief now had a fire in them. "I believe in you. I believe you to be the best shinobi there is. I believe you to be the best man there is. And when I say you're the best mentor I could have, I believe it from the bottom of my heart."
"—I believe in you, Kosuke.—"
The words from the far past echoed in his years. It was the Lord Second Hokage who had said those words to him, but he had refused to believe him. Because of a foolish mistake, he had lost all of his teammates. From that day forth, he didn't believe he was worthy of being promoted beyond the rank of genin and had stayed in service to repent.
But even when he didn't believe himself, the Second Hokage believed in him.
The words he had denied all those years had reappeared again. He gazed at Takuma, and there was not a single speck of doubt in those young eyes.
"There's not much we can do in a week," said Maruboshi.
"It doesn't matter. I just want to train with you like we used to. But I'm sure I'll be better at the end of the week than I am now if I train with you," Takuma said as if it was a matter of course.
"Very well," said Maruboshi, a smile tugging on his old face. "We start at four in the morning tomorrow."
He still couldn't believe in himself, but perhaps it would be alright for now if someone believed in him on his behalf.
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He was cognisant that ANBU was in charge of national security, and they probably required a sense of belonging and patriotism towards their homeland—and he was all for that; he didn't think he would ever leave the Hidden Leaf because his friends and life was here but he had to be direct with his demands even if it somehow lowered their impression of him.
"We have a standard compensation package that includes a very handsome salary beyond even the highest competitive rates of any other department. However, we don't have a mission-based commission system where you're paid after each successful mission. We don't want our operatives to be motivated by money when it comes to national security matters," said Swine.
Takuma was already used to it from his time in the Police Force. If there were a commission for the number of people arrested and charged, the officers would've been arresting people left and right to make more money. He could potentially make more money if he were an independent shinobi not associated with a department, but that was akin to owning a business rather than being a corporate employee.
"You'll have open access to our jutsu archive up to C-rank. The scrolls stay on the premises, but you're free to read and learn any amount of jutsu you can. We also have exclusive training facilities that you can book. We have in-house iryo-nin who will cater to any of your health needs and provide the standard three meals on all days of the week. There's also a store where everything is sold at heavy discounts and many more benefits, including top-quality gear custom-made for your preferences and generous access to our armoury. Almost everything is on our dime so you'll find that ANBU-nin's expenses fall because we take care of our own."
Takuma held back his reaction when Swine said he would have unlimited access to C-rank jutsu. Most of his career had been chasing mission points that afforded him jutsu. He had even bargained for ninjutsu from the Uchiha before his war deployment. That single benefit was so huge that it was enough for him to sign up on the spot.
"Of course, as we mentioned in the scroll, you'll get an instant rank promotion if you get selected," said Swine.
Takuma nodded. That was another benefit, arguably on par with the jutsu archive access. He had been gunning for a promotion for nearly two years.
"What about B-rank jutsu?" Takuma asked. He needed to get his hand on a B-rank jutsu to get to the next level.
"There's no open access to the B-rank jutsu archive, and you'll have to earn the privilege to learn a B-rank jutsu," said Swine as he crossed his hands on the table. "But like the jutsu in the archives, you have the benefit of not paying and how quickly you get one will solely depend on your performance. Of course, mission points are part of the compensation package, so you're free to go through the usual channel to redeem access to the standard B-rank jutsu archive like all other chunin."
"What about the time restriction?" Takuma asked an important question.
New chunin had a one-year time restriction before they could access the B-rank jutsu archives.
"We can take care of that for you," Swine nodded.
"What about developing new skills? If I want to learn, let's say, interrogation tactics, how's the ANBU going to help me?" He hadn't forgotten his motto—'A shinobi is more than the chakra he wields'—and wanted to continue with his journey in self-improvement.
"If you want guidance, we will provide it. As long as your work remains your priority, we will invite former members and experts in every field possible to guide you in whatever field you wish to explore," said Swine.
Takuma pondered what else he wanted to know about the job. He wanted to know the exact nature of his job, but his role would be undecided until they tested him. However, he still wanted to learn about it, so he posed a vague question.
"From your experience, what will my time at the ANBU be like?"
Swine had answered his questions fairly quickly until then, but this time, he took a moment to gather his thoughts. He even looked at the hornet-masked kunoichi, who hadn't said a word since the start as she silently stared at him the entire time. Takuma was unnerved, but he had done his best not to look at her so as not to seem nervous and twitchy.
She didn't want to say anything, so Swine answered the question.
"It'd be a lie to say that the work we do here is easy. It's not. I know I'm supposed to sell you on the job, but I'll be forthright with you and say that if you don't work hard, you will fall behind. The majority of our peers don't have vibrant personal lives because that's what it takes to make it here."
"Even though the ANBU's the best?" Takuma interjected.
"Precisely," said Swine and Takuma thought he was smiling behind his mask. This job is difficult even for the best of people out there. "I want you to say yes, but imagine the most stressful period of your life—that feeling is nothing here."
'I doubt it,' thought Takuma. He had started this life with the most stressful time of his life.
Swine continued, "Multiply it by a hundred. If you can't perform under that pressure, this job isn't for you. It willy make you miserable at times to the point you wish you had never accepted the offer, but when you succeed, there's this indescribable feeling that people here keep chasing. I guarantee that not a moment of this job will be boring. You will be challenged every step of the way, and will live to surmount those challenges because here, you know that the things you're doing matter."
They were passionate words, and Takuma found himself swayed by them even though he had just been told that the job would make him miserable and he would have no personal life—not that he had much of one anyway. Perhaps it was because he was already used to it, and nothing in his life would be different from when he worked at the Narcotics Taskforce.
Thinking of it like that made the charm fade slightly and he moved on to the next question,
"What will be the length of my contract?" asked Takuma. He didn't doubt the ANBU, but he wanted to know how much time he owed them before he could break away and do something different.
"We offer all our recruits a non-negotiable five-year contract with a secrecy agreement."
"Understood," said Takuma.
Five years wasn't a bad contract term. He would get that from the Police Force if Setsuna came through. He would be nineteen by the time he could leave. It seemed as if he had only been in this world for four years, and this would make it so he would be in ANBU for more than half of his new life.
He swept those thoughts away and returned to the conversation. He asked a dozen more miscellaneous questions, which cleared up all the questions he had for them at the moment.
"What is your answer, Takuma?" asked Swine.
"I'm interested," said Takuma. He was interested the moment they offered him open access to the C-rank archive.
"I have an obligation to ask you again. Are you interested in joining the Department of ANBU, Genin Takuma? Please answer with a full sentence."
"I am interested in joining the Department of ANBU."
"Excellent." Swine took out another sealed scroll from his person and handed it to Takuma. "You have seven days from tomorrow to prepare for the testing process. The location and arrival time are in that scroll. Please make an excuse to your friends and family regarding your absence for a week or two without mentioning us. Do you have any more questions?"
"Yes, one last question." Takuma raised the scroll in his hand. "Am I at liberty to share the ANBU's interest in me with other parties who might be interested in hiring me?"
"First of all, we haven't extended an offer to you; we have only shown interest. You can only use us as leverage after you have passed all our tests and rejected our offer. Use us as leverage while we await your response and we will drop you without any further considerations and deny any involvement to the relevant parties. However, if you pass our tests and reject us, you're free to share it with anyone you like and from my experience, it'll work as a glowing recommendation."
"Understood; thank you for answering my question."
"You have other offers, Genin Takuma?" asked Swine, curious.
"Perhaps," Takuma shrugged—he didn't have one.
All three of them stood up, signalling that the meeting was over. Takuma shook hands with Swine while the hornet-masked kunoichi kept her hands behind her back.
"My associate will escort you to the exit," said Swine.
The kunoichi started walking without a word, and Takuma followed her. He looked back, and Swine sat down and stared at him as he left the floor. He didn't talk to her in the stairwell, and unlike the last time, when he looked up, he saw someone leap down from a higher floor to a lower floor before disappearing behind one of the doors before he could get a good look.
Apparently, Swine was speaking the truth—people didn't have enough time to use the stairs properly, much less have personal lives.
Takuma got his weapons back at the reception, and once he felt their comfortable weight, he retrieved the stolen weapons and put them on the tray.
The kunoichi looked up at him with wide-eyed surprise.
"I'm sorry about this, but you did say that you weren't taking away my ability to protect myself, so I found some protection," said Takuma with an apologetic look on his face.
He glanced at the hornet-masked kunoichi, who was still staring at him, now with a raised intensity.
"I will see myself out," he said and walked out without looking back.
Outside the headquarters, Takuma stood on the steps with the scroll in his hand. As he stared at the scroll, the tension holding his body stiff left him. He had one week before he faced whatever ANBU wanted to throw at him. A hundred thoughts went through his mind about how to prepare for the tests and how he could hedge the bets in his favour while not knowing the specifics of the tests.
Takuma closed his eyes and let those thoughts drain away with a sigh. None of those things would help him and only served to stress and tire him before the tests. He needed something different from what he usually did—and fortunately for him, he knew just the thing.
———
.
Maruboshi was tending to his vegetable patch when he heard the rustle of the grass. He turned around to see Takuma standing in the middle of the garden. He looked the same as he was when he left, which was a relief.
"Welcome back. How did it go?" he asked.
"It starts one week from tomorrow," Takuma said as he walked closer. "I need your help."
"Of course, whatever you need," Maruboshi said readily as he wiped his hand. Becoming an ANBU operative was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he would provide any help to see his student succeed.
"I want to train with you to prepare me for the ANBU tests," said Takuma, raising a scroll with the ANBU seal. "You prepared me for the academy tests all those years ago; I want you to do the same now."
"Takuma, what?" he chuckled. "Stop it."
"If I train on my own, I'll run myself into the ground... So, please train me."
Maruboshi stared at Takuma in shock and bafflement. "Takuma, when we trained, I prepared you for the academy test. We are talking about the ANBU here. This and that are two completely different—"
"The truth is that I just want to train with you. It's okay if all you do is make me do the Leaf Concentration Exercise; I'll be perfectly happy to do it," said Takuma as he stared into his eyes. "You're the reason why I'm the shinobi I am today. I have this opportunity because of the foundation you set, and now I want you to see how much I've grown."
Maruboshi didn't know what to feel. He stared at Takuma and noticed how much he had changed from the ten-year-old he had met all those years ago. He had helped him back then because he saw a struggling child who needed guidance to turn his effort into precious fruits of labour.
He didn't think he would become so attached to that child, but it happened before he knew it. That's why he stopped teaching him; he didn't want to make another mistake and ruin another life as he had done before.
"It doesn't matter if you believe in yourself; I believe in you the most in the world," said Takuma, startling him. The tired black eyes that had been steeping in grief now had a fire in them. "I believe in you. I believe you to be the best shinobi there is. I believe you to be the best man there is. And when I say you're the best mentor I could have, I believe it from the bottom of my heart."
"—I believe in you, Kosuke.—"
The words from the far past echoed in his years. It was the Lord Second Hokage who had said those words to him, but he had refused to believe him. Because of a foolish mistake, he had lost all of his teammates. From that day forth, he didn't believe he was worthy of being promoted beyond the rank of genin and had stayed in service to repent.
But even when he didn't believe himself, the Second Hokage believed in him.
The words he had denied all those years had reappeared again. He gazed at Takuma, and there was not a single speck of doubt in those young eyes.
"There's not much we can do in a week," said Maruboshi.
"It doesn't matter. I just want to train with you like we used to. But I'm sure I'll be better at the end of the week than I am now if I train with you," Takuma said as if it was a matter of course.
"Very well," said Maruboshi, a smile tugging on his old face. "We start at four in the morning tomorrow."
He still couldn't believe in himself, but perhaps it would be alright for now if someone believed in him on his behalf.
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CH_8.17 (282)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Maruboshi was as far removed from his prime as one could be and required ample warmup to get his body to react to his commands with combat sharpness. He stretched his body in the middle of a dirt field after sunrise, feeling the tension in each of his muscles.
He looked across from him at Takuma, who was stretching absentmindedly. The last time they sparred was before Takuma's deployment, when his growth had plateaued because of his busy schedule in the Police Force. Now that he had gone through a war, Maruboshi wondered how much he had changed. There was a lot of free time at the camp, and if he knew his student, he wouldn't have let it go to waste.
"I see you've brought weighted gear," said Maruboshi. A complete set of weighted gear sat under a tree at the edge of the field. They used to be popular a few decades ago but had fallen out of favour among shinobi.
Still, he liked them because they made for simple yet effective all-day training gear.
"I have an imbalance between my physical and spiritual energies. I wore a set for a few months to grow my physical energy. I didn't take them to Yu, so I've fallen out of the habit, but I'm getting back into it, and this set is much heavier than the one I used at the camp," said Takuma as he stretched down to grab his ankles.
"The quality of chakra, of course. I had entirely forgotten about it," Maruboshi said, impressed that Takuma was mindful of such a concept. Chakra was a mixture of two energies, and an imbalance between them affected the quality of the chakra. Lower quality chakra meant a shinobi had to use more chakra to adequately wield jutsu.
"It can't be helped; you are far too old to be concerned with the imbalance."
A person's physical energy reserves naturally decline as part of the ageing process, thus creating an imbalance between the two energies. It became a severe problem for shinobi in their forties; they could theoretically keep the two energies balanced by rigorous and regular physical training if they hadn't already hit their genetic limit for maximum physical energy, but it was all but impossible to stop an imbalance in the fifties and, after that, it was like a boulder rolling downhill.
"That is true," Maruboshi sighed. He hadn't been concerned with chakra quality for a long time and genuinely forgot about it until Takuma brought it up. "Nevertheless, I'm impressed that you're trying to achieve balance, Takuma. Not many people try to improve the quality of their chakra."
Just like Takuma had plateaued during his Police Force days, most people didn't have or want to spend the time required (or didn't want to spend time) to correct their energy balance, and, more often than not, they considered working on their jutsu to be a more worthy use of their time. However, ignoring the imbalance usually created a rift that couldn't be bridged.
"Don't put them on now. I want to see what you can do without the weights," Maruboshi said to Takuma as he walked to the weighted gear.
"What are the restrictions?" asked Takuma as he left the weighted gear behind.
"None. Use everything you can."
"Very well," Takuma said, immediately dashing toward him, attempting to catch him off guard.
Maruboshi smiled as he crossed his arms to form a guard as Takuma laid out a haymaker to start them off. A vigorous force assaulted his arms, and he felt the chakra reach his bones; Takuma's chakra augmentation had become significantly more potent.
"Your control has improved," Maruboshi commented as he stepped away and pulled his torso back to avoid a kick aimed at his head. Before he left, Takuma was experimenting with spreading the expunged chakra over a larger area to create a lighter effect, or going in the opposite direction, and concentrating the chakra into a smaller spot to focus all the damage into that area.
The two of them leaned into the knife fight, kunai against kunai, their blades moving at a blurring speed, cutting through the air and sparking with each clash. Takuma was in constant motion, assaulting Maruboshi everywhere, from his head to his legs and coming at him from left and right.
Maruboshi, partially owing to his prosthetic leg, didn't move around much compared to Takuma, but was still deceptively agile and fast for his age. His footwork was simpler, but he either met or slipped past all the strikes effortlessly, using his experience to forecast Takuma's moves.
He's gotten more aggressive yet again, Maruboshi observed as he quickly slapped away another augmented punch. Takuma's fighting style always felt like he wanted to get it done quickly—but now it was just being... reckless.
It wasn't a direction of growth Maruboshi felt excited about.
He decided to prod Takuma to see how he would react, leaving an opening for him to target, and as expected, Takuma immediately attacked. Maruboshi struck out with a palm strike. When the blow caught him, Maruboshi expected him to switch to defence, but instead, Takuma moved his body to minimise the damage and committed to exploiting the opening.
The two of them hit each other within a split second and were thrown back. Maruboshi felt the chakra slam into his body, jolting his bones as the force spread through his body. He locked in on Takuma, thinking he would rush in, but he was forming hand seals instead to stabilise from Maruboshi's strike.
Within seconds, a thickening mist descended over the field. Maruboshi chased after Takuma while he could still see him, but Takuma vanished using the Body Flicker Jutsu, vanishing into the descending fog.
He's trying to win, thought Maruboshi. In their various spars over the years, Takuma had only used the Hidden Mist Jutsu a couple of times because their spars were an opportunity for Takuma to try things out and get advice from Maruboshi.As the mist obscured everything, he couldn't give pointers about things he couldn't see.
The sound of rushing water closed in on him, and Maruboshi tried to roll away but was hit in the back by Takuma's Water Release: Wild Water Wave. It was much stronger than before. He felt an ache spread through his lower back and wanted to jump away to gather himself when he remembered Takuma's combat habits.
Just as he thought, the water on the ground flew up to supply water for the Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he shot toward the retreating water and found a startled Takuma. Maruboshi kicked him in the chest, sending him flying away. All the gathered water crashed to the ground, forming various puddles, big and small.Habits were natural; they were inevitable. The challenge in battle was to ensure people didn't recognise one's habits, which was what combat tells were.
Maruboshi charged after Takuma through the mist, but when he looked around, Takuma was missing. There was no use trying to use his vision in the fog, and he hadn't trained his ears like Takuma had, but Maruboshi possessed other methods to make his way through the mist.
He weaved hand seals for the Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu and pressed his hands on the ground for a wave of earth chakra to pulse through the ground. It was a jutsu that he and Takuma had in common in their arsenal, which used seismic vibrations to locate any creature in contact with the ground.
The vibrations returned to him, and he knew Takuma's position.
"Smart move," he muttered with a smile.
Maruboshi turned back to where Takuma had lost control of the water after getting kicked. Takuma was right there, undoubtedly forming the water tentacles. Maruboshi didn't rush and walked back to the spot with kunai in both hands.
"Hmm?"
The sound of crackling made him halt. He recognised it as possibly coming from a Lightning ninjutsu, but Takuma had a poor aptitude for Lightning. Before he could finish the thought, a bluish light poked through the mist's cover, and Takuma appeared flying in with eight lightning-charged tentacles flared behind his back.
Maruboshi capped his physical abilities when he sparred with Takuma to make the fight fair, but at that moment, he moved as fast as he could to evade four electrified coming for him. Takuma didn't ease up on the pressure and threw the kunai at such a frightening speed that he was taken aback and dodged at an even higher speed than before.
The moment Takuma's feet touched the ground, he pushed even more, with all eight tentacles writhing like starved beasts hunting their next meals. Maruboshi weaved among a barrage of tentacles that looked more menacing than ever.
His student had formed a combination ninjutsu, a feat that most failed to achieve because of various complex factors—and that's why he knew that getting touched by the tentacles wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. Maruboshi returned his agility to what he considered fair sparring standards and, for the first time in their years of sparring, he reached for his back and pulled out his sword. Opposite him, the electrified tentacles cast a light on Takuma's face, and his eyes widened in surprise.
A single pulse of chakra coated the sword as Maruboshi clasped the sword's worn-down yet comfortable grip. His aged eyes took a picture of the tentacles before him; he calculated a selection of sword swings and unleashed them just as he imagined. The sword moved so fast that all eight tentacles split so close to each other in time that it looked like they were cut at the exact same moment.
The lightning inside the water clung to the sword's metal, and Maruboshi expunged it from the blade with another pulse of chakra. Takuma dug his soles into the ground and backed off as the tentacles lost the majority of their water mass and the lightning within them rapidly faded—but it was Maruboshi's turn to go on offence.
"Takuma… you have undoubtedly improved," he smiled.
He closed the distance in one quick step, giving Takuma just enough time to convert his eight short tentacles to four full-length ones. Maruboshi tried to cut them off, but Takuma pulled them back, opening his torso to attack, from the dull side of Maruboshi's blade.
Takuma threw a punch, leaving him confused because the blow wasn't going to reach him, but then something rippled out from his fist and struck Maruboshi in the face. It didn't injure him, but left him dazed. If it was someone at Takuma's level, getting out with a broken nose would've been lucky.
At that same moment, the four tentacles wrapped around Maruboshi's limbs, trying to knock him off balance, but before they could tighten their grasp, Maruboshi pulled free. There was a second lull during which the two observed each other. Both had used something they hadn't shown the other before.
A new form of augmentation? Maruboshi thought, gaining a new level of appreciation for how Takuma had incorporated his self-made chakra augmentation into his combat style. It had gone from something he could barely use to a bonafide technique.
Maruboshi readied his sword as Takuma moved first, and when he took his first step, Maruboshi's vision turned hazy and blurry, with colours mixing into each, rendering him unable to see anything. He saw Takuma's clothes dissipate into the surroundings and immediately jumped back.
The ground began to merge with everything else, and he feared for his footing, scared that he would trip. He had worn his prosthetic leg almost as long as his real one but suddenly, after decades of not thinking about it, he missed his real leg.
He was going to fall.
His life as a shinobi had all but ended when he lost his leg, but he had somehow managed to keep it alive. However, he realised that he was a fool to believe he had recovered because when it mattered the most, his body always fail him.
A wave of chakra pumped through Maruboshi's body and shattered the genjutsu with Takuma's fist inches before his chest. He caught the fist before it could connect and absorbed its tremendous force with his hand, spinning and transferring all of it into a throw.
Takuma flew over his shoulder, slamming into the ground before sitting up to Maruboshi's sword against his throat. "...That was exemplary, Takuma," Maruboshi sighed as he put his sword on Takuma's neck. His other hand stroked his prosthetic leg. "However, I must say that genjutsu was… unpleasant, to say the least, but quite effective."
"...I noticed," Takuma replied, accepting the hand up.
They looked at each other, repositioned, and got ready for round two.
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He looked across from him at Takuma, who was stretching absentmindedly. The last time they sparred was before Takuma's deployment, when his growth had plateaued because of his busy schedule in the Police Force. Now that he had gone through a war, Maruboshi wondered how much he had changed. There was a lot of free time at the camp, and if he knew his student, he wouldn't have let it go to waste.
"I see you've brought weighted gear," said Maruboshi. A complete set of weighted gear sat under a tree at the edge of the field. They used to be popular a few decades ago but had fallen out of favour among shinobi.
Still, he liked them because they made for simple yet effective all-day training gear.
"I have an imbalance between my physical and spiritual energies. I wore a set for a few months to grow my physical energy. I didn't take them to Yu, so I've fallen out of the habit, but I'm getting back into it, and this set is much heavier than the one I used at the camp," said Takuma as he stretched down to grab his ankles.
"The quality of chakra, of course. I had entirely forgotten about it," Maruboshi said, impressed that Takuma was mindful of such a concept. Chakra was a mixture of two energies, and an imbalance between them affected the quality of the chakra. Lower quality chakra meant a shinobi had to use more chakra to adequately wield jutsu.
"It can't be helped; you are far too old to be concerned with the imbalance."
A person's physical energy reserves naturally decline as part of the ageing process, thus creating an imbalance between the two energies. It became a severe problem for shinobi in their forties; they could theoretically keep the two energies balanced by rigorous and regular physical training if they hadn't already hit their genetic limit for maximum physical energy, but it was all but impossible to stop an imbalance in the fifties and, after that, it was like a boulder rolling downhill.
"That is true," Maruboshi sighed. He hadn't been concerned with chakra quality for a long time and genuinely forgot about it until Takuma brought it up. "Nevertheless, I'm impressed that you're trying to achieve balance, Takuma. Not many people try to improve the quality of their chakra."
Just like Takuma had plateaued during his Police Force days, most people didn't have or want to spend the time required (or didn't want to spend time) to correct their energy balance, and, more often than not, they considered working on their jutsu to be a more worthy use of their time. However, ignoring the imbalance usually created a rift that couldn't be bridged.
"Don't put them on now. I want to see what you can do without the weights," Maruboshi said to Takuma as he walked to the weighted gear.
"What are the restrictions?" asked Takuma as he left the weighted gear behind.
"None. Use everything you can."
"Very well," Takuma said, immediately dashing toward him, attempting to catch him off guard.
Maruboshi smiled as he crossed his arms to form a guard as Takuma laid out a haymaker to start them off. A vigorous force assaulted his arms, and he felt the chakra reach his bones; Takuma's chakra augmentation had become significantly more potent.
"Your control has improved," Maruboshi commented as he stepped away and pulled his torso back to avoid a kick aimed at his head. Before he left, Takuma was experimenting with spreading the expunged chakra over a larger area to create a lighter effect, or going in the opposite direction, and concentrating the chakra into a smaller spot to focus all the damage into that area.
The two of them leaned into the knife fight, kunai against kunai, their blades moving at a blurring speed, cutting through the air and sparking with each clash. Takuma was in constant motion, assaulting Maruboshi everywhere, from his head to his legs and coming at him from left and right.
Maruboshi, partially owing to his prosthetic leg, didn't move around much compared to Takuma, but was still deceptively agile and fast for his age. His footwork was simpler, but he either met or slipped past all the strikes effortlessly, using his experience to forecast Takuma's moves.
He's gotten more aggressive yet again, Maruboshi observed as he quickly slapped away another augmented punch. Takuma's fighting style always felt like he wanted to get it done quickly—but now it was just being... reckless.
It wasn't a direction of growth Maruboshi felt excited about.
He decided to prod Takuma to see how he would react, leaving an opening for him to target, and as expected, Takuma immediately attacked. Maruboshi struck out with a palm strike. When the blow caught him, Maruboshi expected him to switch to defence, but instead, Takuma moved his body to minimise the damage and committed to exploiting the opening.
The two of them hit each other within a split second and were thrown back. Maruboshi felt the chakra slam into his body, jolting his bones as the force spread through his body. He locked in on Takuma, thinking he would rush in, but he was forming hand seals instead to stabilise from Maruboshi's strike.
Within seconds, a thickening mist descended over the field. Maruboshi chased after Takuma while he could still see him, but Takuma vanished using the Body Flicker Jutsu, vanishing into the descending fog.
He's trying to win, thought Maruboshi. In their various spars over the years, Takuma had only used the Hidden Mist Jutsu a couple of times because their spars were an opportunity for Takuma to try things out and get advice from Maruboshi.As the mist obscured everything, he couldn't give pointers about things he couldn't see.
The sound of rushing water closed in on him, and Maruboshi tried to roll away but was hit in the back by Takuma's Water Release: Wild Water Wave. It was much stronger than before. He felt an ache spread through his lower back and wanted to jump away to gather himself when he remembered Takuma's combat habits.
Just as he thought, the water on the ground flew up to supply water for the Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he shot toward the retreating water and found a startled Takuma. Maruboshi kicked him in the chest, sending him flying away. All the gathered water crashed to the ground, forming various puddles, big and small.Habits were natural; they were inevitable. The challenge in battle was to ensure people didn't recognise one's habits, which was what combat tells were.
Maruboshi charged after Takuma through the mist, but when he looked around, Takuma was missing. There was no use trying to use his vision in the fog, and he hadn't trained his ears like Takuma had, but Maruboshi possessed other methods to make his way through the mist.
He weaved hand seals for the Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense Jutsu and pressed his hands on the ground for a wave of earth chakra to pulse through the ground. It was a jutsu that he and Takuma had in common in their arsenal, which used seismic vibrations to locate any creature in contact with the ground.
The vibrations returned to him, and he knew Takuma's position.
"Smart move," he muttered with a smile.
Maruboshi turned back to where Takuma had lost control of the water after getting kicked. Takuma was right there, undoubtedly forming the water tentacles. Maruboshi didn't rush and walked back to the spot with kunai in both hands.
"Hmm?"
The sound of crackling made him halt. He recognised it as possibly coming from a Lightning ninjutsu, but Takuma had a poor aptitude for Lightning. Before he could finish the thought, a bluish light poked through the mist's cover, and Takuma appeared flying in with eight lightning-charged tentacles flared behind his back.
Maruboshi capped his physical abilities when he sparred with Takuma to make the fight fair, but at that moment, he moved as fast as he could to evade four electrified coming for him. Takuma didn't ease up on the pressure and threw the kunai at such a frightening speed that he was taken aback and dodged at an even higher speed than before.
The moment Takuma's feet touched the ground, he pushed even more, with all eight tentacles writhing like starved beasts hunting their next meals. Maruboshi weaved among a barrage of tentacles that looked more menacing than ever.
His student had formed a combination ninjutsu, a feat that most failed to achieve because of various complex factors—and that's why he knew that getting touched by the tentacles wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. Maruboshi returned his agility to what he considered fair sparring standards and, for the first time in their years of sparring, he reached for his back and pulled out his sword. Opposite him, the electrified tentacles cast a light on Takuma's face, and his eyes widened in surprise.
A single pulse of chakra coated the sword as Maruboshi clasped the sword's worn-down yet comfortable grip. His aged eyes took a picture of the tentacles before him; he calculated a selection of sword swings and unleashed them just as he imagined. The sword moved so fast that all eight tentacles split so close to each other in time that it looked like they were cut at the exact same moment.
The lightning inside the water clung to the sword's metal, and Maruboshi expunged it from the blade with another pulse of chakra. Takuma dug his soles into the ground and backed off as the tentacles lost the majority of their water mass and the lightning within them rapidly faded—but it was Maruboshi's turn to go on offence.
"Takuma… you have undoubtedly improved," he smiled.
He closed the distance in one quick step, giving Takuma just enough time to convert his eight short tentacles to four full-length ones. Maruboshi tried to cut them off, but Takuma pulled them back, opening his torso to attack, from the dull side of Maruboshi's blade.
Takuma threw a punch, leaving him confused because the blow wasn't going to reach him, but then something rippled out from his fist and struck Maruboshi in the face. It didn't injure him, but left him dazed. If it was someone at Takuma's level, getting out with a broken nose would've been lucky.
At that same moment, the four tentacles wrapped around Maruboshi's limbs, trying to knock him off balance, but before they could tighten their grasp, Maruboshi pulled free. There was a second lull during which the two observed each other. Both had used something they hadn't shown the other before.
A new form of augmentation? Maruboshi thought, gaining a new level of appreciation for how Takuma had incorporated his self-made chakra augmentation into his combat style. It had gone from something he could barely use to a bonafide technique.
Maruboshi readied his sword as Takuma moved first, and when he took his first step, Maruboshi's vision turned hazy and blurry, with colours mixing into each, rendering him unable to see anything. He saw Takuma's clothes dissipate into the surroundings and immediately jumped back.
The ground began to merge with everything else, and he feared for his footing, scared that he would trip. He had worn his prosthetic leg almost as long as his real one but suddenly, after decades of not thinking about it, he missed his real leg.
He was going to fall.
His life as a shinobi had all but ended when he lost his leg, but he had somehow managed to keep it alive. However, he realised that he was a fool to believe he had recovered because when it mattered the most, his body always fail him.
A wave of chakra pumped through Maruboshi's body and shattered the genjutsu with Takuma's fist inches before his chest. He caught the fist before it could connect and absorbed its tremendous force with his hand, spinning and transferring all of it into a throw.
Takuma flew over his shoulder, slamming into the ground before sitting up to Maruboshi's sword against his throat. "...That was exemplary, Takuma," Maruboshi sighed as he put his sword on Takuma's neck. His other hand stroked his prosthetic leg. "However, I must say that genjutsu was… unpleasant, to say the least, but quite effective."
"...I noticed," Takuma replied, accepting the hand up.
They looked at each other, repositioned, and got ready for round two.
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- Location
- England
If you successfully find out just what they're looking for, you have a somewhat higher chance of getting the job but also a much higher chance of being interrogated by T&I to determine exactly how you found out.
Missing word "electrified tentacles" ?
Last edited:
- Location
- Tunisia
I figured it was just to hide the sound of metal moving when he rifles through her pouch.
Depends how daring he is to cast a jutsu inside an ANBU office.
CH_8.18 (283)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Maruboshi and Takuma fought a few more times before his master was ready to share his thoughts.
"You're too aggressive," he began. "I understand you want to be in control, but your tendencies are reckless. I had several opportunities during our spars to grievously injure you. Decrease that inclination to push and push to overwhelm the opponent."
Takuma shook his head. "I don't think I can do that—my aggression makes me effective. I understand that I'm putting myself at risk, but it's just the way I fight. I can't be afraid to trade damage or I'll lose."
He had brought himself up in the Ring, which was part of the reason behind his style. The way he fought as Scars was the only way that ever brought him any success and it was difficult to ditch those habits.
"You don't have to fight that way," Maruboshi countered, utterly unconvinced. "You have the tools; you just need to learn how to use them properly. Work with me, and we can adjust how you fight while maintaining an aggressive combat style without reckless decisions that could lead to your death."
Takuma sighed because he had tried to fight more conservatively before but had failed. That said, he had asked Maruboshi to train him, so he was going to follow his directions.
"Moving on, I'm impressed with how you use your weapons, Takuma. The combination of ninjutsu and the variation of the chakra augmentation was excellent. I'll wholeheartedly suggest that you increase the use of genjutsu in combat. Lean into it, even; people tend to use only one delivery method, but Uchiha Mikoto has trained you to target all five senses."
Now that he was back home, he could invest, explore, and research ways to expand his genjutsu repertoire and seamlessly add it to his combat style. He wanted to take it slow because adjusting his combat style was one thing, but adding a new major element to it needed to be done with care, as he could end up being weaker than before if he made the wrong decisions.
"By the end of the week, I promise you'll see promise in the changes I suggest," said Maruboshi confidently.
"Okay."
"But we'll need help."
"What do you need?" asked Takuma, thinking Maruboshi was going to ask for equipment.
"You'll need different sparring partners."
———
.
The Uchiha compound was a section of the village reserved for the Uchiha Clan. It was relatively new, only created a little under a decade ago after the Nine-Tails' incident, which resulted in countless deaths, including that of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
For those in the know, the history of the compound was clear.
The Uchiha clan was relocated to the compound along the village's outskirts on the pretext that it was a necessary step in the Hidden Leaf's reconstruction. In truth, many in the village were convinced that the Nine-Tails' attack was the first manifestation of the Uchiha's long-simmering dissatisfaction, and they needed to put the entire clan together to monitor them and prevent any additional attacks.
However, in doing so, they had given the Uchiha clan near complete control over the compound. Nothing changed in the compound without the clan's permission, and any attempts to alter it were thoroughly rebuffed. Their compound was a fortified area that belonged to them and only them.
A year ago, Takuma frequented the place five times a week for his genjutsu lessons. His return to the compound brought up various complex feelings. From the day he had found himself in the world, he had believed that Uchiha were the walking dead and would perish just like he had read. He had even staked his career progression in the Police Force on the clan's extermination.
Takuma rang the bell on a beautiful traditional home and waited at the gate.
But that changed on the day he left the village for the Steam-Frost war.
The door opened, and a beautiful middle-aged woman with long black hair, bangs on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks stepped out. She dressed like a housewife, yet the woman was behind everything he knew about genjutsu.
"Look at you," she smiled with warm, dark eyes, "haven't you grown a lot."
Uchiha Mikoto was the reason he sent a letter that changed the course of the future and possibly damaged his biggest advantage. He didn't want the woman before him to die, so he took a step that had kept him awake at night for a week and still visited him from time to time. However, as he gazed at her, Takuma felt the letter was worth it.
"It's been too long," said Takuma.
"It has been. Come in so we can catch up," Mikoto smiled.
They settled in the same room where they conducted the genjutsu lessons, and Mikoto served tea and snacks as always. The genjutsu lessons were a time of peace during his stressful days at the Narcotics Taskforce when he was struggling to keep his position as the leader and he hadn't found a replacement for it while he was in the Land of Hot Water.
Just being back in the room relaxed him.
"I might be leaving the Police Force," Takuma said after the discussion about the war ended. "My contract ends in less than a month, and then I'll look for new opportunities." He couldn't tell anybody about his ANBU offer except Maruboshi.
"Might?" she asked.
Takuma shrugged. "I'll stay if they meet my stipulations. I don't think they'll do it, though."
"I hope you're not asking me to pull some strings," Mikoto smiled.
"No, I don't want to put you in an awkward situation," he said. Despite being a Uchiha, Mikoto had never worked in the Police Force and had no direct influence over it. If she, as an outsider, wanted to make something happen, it would need to happen through someone else, and thus owing them a favour.
Mikoto gazed at him in silence for a moment before a knowing smile flourished across her face. "You already have an offer from someone else, don't you?"
"Not yet," said Takuma, which was true because ANBU had only expressed their interest.
"You should use it as leverage to get what you want in the Police Force."
"I would do that if I still wanted to work there."
"You don't?"
"Should I? After they stole my work."
"If you go somewhere else, you'll be building everything from the ground up. In the Police Force, you know how things work, you have contacts, people know your work, your accomplishments will mean so much more, and you have a positive reputation that you can rely on." Her smile turned regretful despite the positive words. "In my opinion, continuing with the Police Force makes more sense when you already have a solid foundation despite it all."
Takuma recognised that Mikoto was a Uchiha and that she would like him to stay in the Police Force. He didn't mind her attempt to convince him. Her words weren't anything new; he had considered the same benefits after his meeting with Setsuna. If he went somewhere else, he would need to establish himself in the eyes of his peers and higher-ups, but in the Police Force, everyone was already aware of who he was.
"I don't have two sides to compare yet, so there's no use thinking about it," Takuma sighed and changed the topic. "How's your family doing? If I remember correctly, Sasuke's in his fifth year?"
"Fourth year," Mikoto corrected and continued with a proud, beaming smile. "He's consistently at the top of his class. The teachers in the clan also praise him for being able to fight children older than him. I'm very proud of him."
"He is a bright child," Takuma nodded.
Internally, however, he was drowning in the thought that he might have stunted Sasuke's future growth. One of Sasuke's main character motivations was his undying, intense desire for revenge against Itachi. It had him live life single-mindedly, focused on vengeance.
He didn't want to take responsibility for the dooming of the future, so he chose to focus on the positive. With the Uchiha Clan's tragic fate evaded, the Hidden Leaf village would be in a stronger position. And who knew, maybe having his family and clan part of his life would be enough for Sasuke to reach his full potential.
"What about Itachi?" Takuma shook his head in disbelief. "It's amazing he's a jonin. I don't know if you know her, but there's one Uchiha Izumi in my batch, and she got promoted in the Chunin Exam before the latest—but your son has been a jonin since I was a shinobi, and we're the same age. That's frankly unbelievable sometimes."
"Itachi has always been different. As awful as it may sound, sometimes, I wish he hadn't been so much of a genius. He grew up too quickly," Mikoto sighed with a rueful smile, "but he's been doing well as always; he's busy with work..."
Takuma wondered how much of that was true.
He had thrown Itachi under the bus in his letter, claiming him, along with Shisui, to be traitors to drive the point in. It was only momentarily, but he noticed the complex emotion in Mikoto's eyes before she hid them. It seemed that his letter affected her relationship with her son. He didn't know how much of the letter was disclosed to the clan, but if they truly knew what Itachi and Shisui were doing, they would only be seen as traitors.
Shisui died with his eyes stolen, so he was probably saved from having his image tarnished. As for Itachi, Takuma had no idea how much of the letter Mikoto had disclosed—there were real chances that she and her husband would keep certain parts of the letter a secret to protect their son, who didn't have a great reputation among the clan to begin with.
"So, what are your plans now?" asked Mikoto.
"Chunin Exams. I think I'll get a rank promotion if I perform decently," said Takuma. You didn't need to win in the Chunin Exam for a rank promotion. According to Maruboshi, he had enough accomplishments that he would get a rank promotion as long as he reached the final round of the exams.
"We can resume our lessons, if you wish. I'd like it if we resume them, to be honest," Mikoto offered.
"Yes, please," said Takuma, eager to get back into learning genjutsu with her. "But let's start next month. I'll be leaving the village to visit some friends next week. We can start after that, if you don't mind?"
"I don't mind it at all," she smiled.
Takuma nodded. He picked up his teacup, drained the delicious tea, and was about to ask for another cup when he noticed Mikoto staring at him.
"What is it?"
"I will get my annual promotion slot in four months... Do you want me to promote you, Takuma?"
Mikoto was a jonin and all jonin got to promote one shinobi to the rank of chunin every year. Takuma was surprised because he didn't think a jonin—let alone the lady of the Uchiha clan—would offer such a precious commodity to an outsider.
It wasn't something that could be given to him just because they were close.
"What's the catch?" asked Takuma carefully.
A satisfied smile appeared on Mikoto's face, as though she was testing him. She refilled their cups and made Takuma wait for her reply.
"You stay in the Police Force," she replied as she picked up her teacup.
"Of course," he said—that made sense—but that couldn't be all. "What else?"
She leisurely took a sip of her tea before continuing. "And you become a shinobi affiliated with the Uchiha. Do you know what that means?"
Takuma paused for a moment before nodding.
Masaaki was a shinobi affiliated with the Akimichi Clan. The clan sponsored his growth as a shinobi, and in exchange, he was basically employed under them. They funded his training, provided him with jutsu, set him up with good missions to boost his resume.
Not to mention the reputation of someone affiliated with a prominent clan. In return, any time the clan required his help, he would provide it. It was a give-and-take relationship, but the power dynamic was heavily skewed in the clan's favour. In a hypothetical worst-case scenario, they could ask Masaaki to do something he disagreed with, but he would have to follow their orders because he was burdened by the substantial support they had given him.
Of course, not all relationships were like that, and Masaaki seemed like he was part of the family with the Akimichi clan. The benefit was too big for anyone to discount and getting the backing of any clan could change one's life overnight.
Getting the support of the Uchiha Clan would be life-changing.
Takuma folded his arms. "That's a big commitment."
"And it will come with a lot of benefits," said Mikoto. "It won't end with just a rank promotion. The clan will sponsor your needs, use our connections for your benefit, and pave an easier path for you to progress in your career. You know what? Stay in the Police Force for a few years until the external hiring stabilises and then, if you wish to leave, you can pursue any field you desire—I promise you that."
"Really?" Takuma asked.
She nodded with an ever-growing smile. "Because I'm the one bringing you in, I get to set the rules. I'll guarantee you ample freedom. However, you'll have to support the Uchiha clan when we call upon you."
"I'll need to think about it," said Takuma, truly not knowing what to think of her offer.
The affiliation would be a lifelong commitment, and the only way to get out would be to burn bridges and make enemies with the most prominent clan in the village, ruining his relationship with Mikoto—something he abhorred even thinking about.
"Take your time. I'll keep this to myself until you make a decision," said Mikoto calmly. "But Takuma, please don't think you must accept just because I'm offering or that rejection will offend me. Think about what's best for you and make an informed decision—our relationship remains the same regardless, alright?"
Takuma could only nod in response. Until a few days ago, he thought that he would need to participate in the Chunin Exam to get a rank promotion, but now he had three potential ways he could achieve said promotion.
He should have been happy, but the recent events only left him confused.
But for now, he focused on his company. Takuma took another sip of his tea before raising his cup to Mikoto.
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"You're too aggressive," he began. "I understand you want to be in control, but your tendencies are reckless. I had several opportunities during our spars to grievously injure you. Decrease that inclination to push and push to overwhelm the opponent."
Takuma shook his head. "I don't think I can do that—my aggression makes me effective. I understand that I'm putting myself at risk, but it's just the way I fight. I can't be afraid to trade damage or I'll lose."
He had brought himself up in the Ring, which was part of the reason behind his style. The way he fought as Scars was the only way that ever brought him any success and it was difficult to ditch those habits.
"You don't have to fight that way," Maruboshi countered, utterly unconvinced. "You have the tools; you just need to learn how to use them properly. Work with me, and we can adjust how you fight while maintaining an aggressive combat style without reckless decisions that could lead to your death."
Takuma sighed because he had tried to fight more conservatively before but had failed. That said, he had asked Maruboshi to train him, so he was going to follow his directions.
"Moving on, I'm impressed with how you use your weapons, Takuma. The combination of ninjutsu and the variation of the chakra augmentation was excellent. I'll wholeheartedly suggest that you increase the use of genjutsu in combat. Lean into it, even; people tend to use only one delivery method, but Uchiha Mikoto has trained you to target all five senses."
Now that he was back home, he could invest, explore, and research ways to expand his genjutsu repertoire and seamlessly add it to his combat style. He wanted to take it slow because adjusting his combat style was one thing, but adding a new major element to it needed to be done with care, as he could end up being weaker than before if he made the wrong decisions.
"By the end of the week, I promise you'll see promise in the changes I suggest," said Maruboshi confidently.
"Okay."
"But we'll need help."
"What do you need?" asked Takuma, thinking Maruboshi was going to ask for equipment.
"You'll need different sparring partners."
———
.
The Uchiha compound was a section of the village reserved for the Uchiha Clan. It was relatively new, only created a little under a decade ago after the Nine-Tails' incident, which resulted in countless deaths, including that of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
For those in the know, the history of the compound was clear.
The Uchiha clan was relocated to the compound along the village's outskirts on the pretext that it was a necessary step in the Hidden Leaf's reconstruction. In truth, many in the village were convinced that the Nine-Tails' attack was the first manifestation of the Uchiha's long-simmering dissatisfaction, and they needed to put the entire clan together to monitor them and prevent any additional attacks.
However, in doing so, they had given the Uchiha clan near complete control over the compound. Nothing changed in the compound without the clan's permission, and any attempts to alter it were thoroughly rebuffed. Their compound was a fortified area that belonged to them and only them.
A year ago, Takuma frequented the place five times a week for his genjutsu lessons. His return to the compound brought up various complex feelings. From the day he had found himself in the world, he had believed that Uchiha were the walking dead and would perish just like he had read. He had even staked his career progression in the Police Force on the clan's extermination.
Takuma rang the bell on a beautiful traditional home and waited at the gate.
But that changed on the day he left the village for the Steam-Frost war.
The door opened, and a beautiful middle-aged woman with long black hair, bangs on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks stepped out. She dressed like a housewife, yet the woman was behind everything he knew about genjutsu.
"Look at you," she smiled with warm, dark eyes, "haven't you grown a lot."
Uchiha Mikoto was the reason he sent a letter that changed the course of the future and possibly damaged his biggest advantage. He didn't want the woman before him to die, so he took a step that had kept him awake at night for a week and still visited him from time to time. However, as he gazed at her, Takuma felt the letter was worth it.
"It's been too long," said Takuma.
"It has been. Come in so we can catch up," Mikoto smiled.
They settled in the same room where they conducted the genjutsu lessons, and Mikoto served tea and snacks as always. The genjutsu lessons were a time of peace during his stressful days at the Narcotics Taskforce when he was struggling to keep his position as the leader and he hadn't found a replacement for it while he was in the Land of Hot Water.
Just being back in the room relaxed him.
"I might be leaving the Police Force," Takuma said after the discussion about the war ended. "My contract ends in less than a month, and then I'll look for new opportunities." He couldn't tell anybody about his ANBU offer except Maruboshi.
"Might?" she asked.
Takuma shrugged. "I'll stay if they meet my stipulations. I don't think they'll do it, though."
"I hope you're not asking me to pull some strings," Mikoto smiled.
"No, I don't want to put you in an awkward situation," he said. Despite being a Uchiha, Mikoto had never worked in the Police Force and had no direct influence over it. If she, as an outsider, wanted to make something happen, it would need to happen through someone else, and thus owing them a favour.
Mikoto gazed at him in silence for a moment before a knowing smile flourished across her face. "You already have an offer from someone else, don't you?"
"Not yet," said Takuma, which was true because ANBU had only expressed their interest.
"You should use it as leverage to get what you want in the Police Force."
"I would do that if I still wanted to work there."
"You don't?"
"Should I? After they stole my work."
"If you go somewhere else, you'll be building everything from the ground up. In the Police Force, you know how things work, you have contacts, people know your work, your accomplishments will mean so much more, and you have a positive reputation that you can rely on." Her smile turned regretful despite the positive words. "In my opinion, continuing with the Police Force makes more sense when you already have a solid foundation despite it all."
Takuma recognised that Mikoto was a Uchiha and that she would like him to stay in the Police Force. He didn't mind her attempt to convince him. Her words weren't anything new; he had considered the same benefits after his meeting with Setsuna. If he went somewhere else, he would need to establish himself in the eyes of his peers and higher-ups, but in the Police Force, everyone was already aware of who he was.
"I don't have two sides to compare yet, so there's no use thinking about it," Takuma sighed and changed the topic. "How's your family doing? If I remember correctly, Sasuke's in his fifth year?"
"Fourth year," Mikoto corrected and continued with a proud, beaming smile. "He's consistently at the top of his class. The teachers in the clan also praise him for being able to fight children older than him. I'm very proud of him."
"He is a bright child," Takuma nodded.
Internally, however, he was drowning in the thought that he might have stunted Sasuke's future growth. One of Sasuke's main character motivations was his undying, intense desire for revenge against Itachi. It had him live life single-mindedly, focused on vengeance.
He didn't want to take responsibility for the dooming of the future, so he chose to focus on the positive. With the Uchiha Clan's tragic fate evaded, the Hidden Leaf village would be in a stronger position. And who knew, maybe having his family and clan part of his life would be enough for Sasuke to reach his full potential.
"What about Itachi?" Takuma shook his head in disbelief. "It's amazing he's a jonin. I don't know if you know her, but there's one Uchiha Izumi in my batch, and she got promoted in the Chunin Exam before the latest—but your son has been a jonin since I was a shinobi, and we're the same age. That's frankly unbelievable sometimes."
"Itachi has always been different. As awful as it may sound, sometimes, I wish he hadn't been so much of a genius. He grew up too quickly," Mikoto sighed with a rueful smile, "but he's been doing well as always; he's busy with work..."
Takuma wondered how much of that was true.
He had thrown Itachi under the bus in his letter, claiming him, along with Shisui, to be traitors to drive the point in. It was only momentarily, but he noticed the complex emotion in Mikoto's eyes before she hid them. It seemed that his letter affected her relationship with her son. He didn't know how much of the letter was disclosed to the clan, but if they truly knew what Itachi and Shisui were doing, they would only be seen as traitors.
Shisui died with his eyes stolen, so he was probably saved from having his image tarnished. As for Itachi, Takuma had no idea how much of the letter Mikoto had disclosed—there were real chances that she and her husband would keep certain parts of the letter a secret to protect their son, who didn't have a great reputation among the clan to begin with.
"So, what are your plans now?" asked Mikoto.
"Chunin Exams. I think I'll get a rank promotion if I perform decently," said Takuma. You didn't need to win in the Chunin Exam for a rank promotion. According to Maruboshi, he had enough accomplishments that he would get a rank promotion as long as he reached the final round of the exams.
"We can resume our lessons, if you wish. I'd like it if we resume them, to be honest," Mikoto offered.
"Yes, please," said Takuma, eager to get back into learning genjutsu with her. "But let's start next month. I'll be leaving the village to visit some friends next week. We can start after that, if you don't mind?"
"I don't mind it at all," she smiled.
Takuma nodded. He picked up his teacup, drained the delicious tea, and was about to ask for another cup when he noticed Mikoto staring at him.
"What is it?"
"I will get my annual promotion slot in four months... Do you want me to promote you, Takuma?"
Mikoto was a jonin and all jonin got to promote one shinobi to the rank of chunin every year. Takuma was surprised because he didn't think a jonin—let alone the lady of the Uchiha clan—would offer such a precious commodity to an outsider.
It wasn't something that could be given to him just because they were close.
"What's the catch?" asked Takuma carefully.
A satisfied smile appeared on Mikoto's face, as though she was testing him. She refilled their cups and made Takuma wait for her reply.
"You stay in the Police Force," she replied as she picked up her teacup.
"Of course," he said—that made sense—but that couldn't be all. "What else?"
She leisurely took a sip of her tea before continuing. "And you become a shinobi affiliated with the Uchiha. Do you know what that means?"
Takuma paused for a moment before nodding.
Masaaki was a shinobi affiliated with the Akimichi Clan. The clan sponsored his growth as a shinobi, and in exchange, he was basically employed under them. They funded his training, provided him with jutsu, set him up with good missions to boost his resume.
Not to mention the reputation of someone affiliated with a prominent clan. In return, any time the clan required his help, he would provide it. It was a give-and-take relationship, but the power dynamic was heavily skewed in the clan's favour. In a hypothetical worst-case scenario, they could ask Masaaki to do something he disagreed with, but he would have to follow their orders because he was burdened by the substantial support they had given him.
Of course, not all relationships were like that, and Masaaki seemed like he was part of the family with the Akimichi clan. The benefit was too big for anyone to discount and getting the backing of any clan could change one's life overnight.
Getting the support of the Uchiha Clan would be life-changing.
Takuma folded his arms. "That's a big commitment."
"And it will come with a lot of benefits," said Mikoto. "It won't end with just a rank promotion. The clan will sponsor your needs, use our connections for your benefit, and pave an easier path for you to progress in your career. You know what? Stay in the Police Force for a few years until the external hiring stabilises and then, if you wish to leave, you can pursue any field you desire—I promise you that."
"Really?" Takuma asked.
She nodded with an ever-growing smile. "Because I'm the one bringing you in, I get to set the rules. I'll guarantee you ample freedom. However, you'll have to support the Uchiha clan when we call upon you."
"I'll need to think about it," said Takuma, truly not knowing what to think of her offer.
The affiliation would be a lifelong commitment, and the only way to get out would be to burn bridges and make enemies with the most prominent clan in the village, ruining his relationship with Mikoto—something he abhorred even thinking about.
"Take your time. I'll keep this to myself until you make a decision," said Mikoto calmly. "But Takuma, please don't think you must accept just because I'm offering or that rejection will offend me. Think about what's best for you and make an informed decision—our relationship remains the same regardless, alright?"
Takuma could only nod in response. Until a few days ago, he thought that he would need to participate in the Chunin Exam to get a rank promotion, but now he had three potential ways he could achieve said promotion.
He should have been happy, but the recent events only left him confused.
But for now, he focused on his company. Takuma took another sip of his tea before raising his cup to Mikoto.
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CH_8.19 (284)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
When Maruboshi asked him to bring in sparring partners, Masaaki was the first person Takuma called but he should have expected some kind of surprise from him because Masaaki brought someone along.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Akimichi Choza," said the clan leader of the Akimichi Clan.
Akimichi Choza was a tall, plump man with spiky hair dyed a bright red. He had purple markings on his cheeks—a common trait in the Akimichi Clan. He wore a chainmail under a yukata tied with a large, frayed rope.
The hulking man stared down at Takuma, who had to crane his neck to look at his face. "I have heard much about you. Masaaki praises you often, Takuma. It's a pleasure to finally meet," said Choza with a soft smile. Even though he was dressed casually, the man's large presence was threatening. Daiki was a big and muscular man, but even he felt smaller compared to this man. He had the presence of a strongman.
"He's biassed for his friends, sir," Takuma replied, still recovering from his surprise. "And we have met once before."
"Oh, we have?" Choza said, surprised, and his gaze deepened on Takuma as he tried to remember.
"It's not your fault if you don't remember. It was a couple of years ago; we had lunch together for half an hour," said Takuma. He was still working D-rank missions, and Masaaki, along with a few Akimichi, showed up at the restaurant where he was working as a delivery man.
"No wonder. I fear I don't pay attention to people when there's food in front of me," Choza laughed merrily. His hoop earrings bobbed up and down and slapped his stomach with his large mitt-like hands. "But I'll remember you this time. Masaaki tells me that you want to spar. I've some expectations because of him; I want to see you meet them."
"I'll try my best," said Takuma.
He vaguely remembered Choza from the source material, but not enough for him to leave a strong impression. However, he absolutely knew the man by living in the Hidden Leaf village. He was a jonin and the leader of one of the strongest Hidden Leaf clans. During the Third Shinobi World War, the village had trusted him to lead the peace treaty negotiations with the Hidden Stone, who were anticipated to turn hostile, and he was considered to be the person to either sign a treaty or push the Hidden Stone back in case they turned belligerent.
Takuma looked at Masaaki, who had brought yet another surprise with him, because he was playing tag with a young Akimichi Choji. The little rotund Akimichi was chasing Masaaki with a goofy smile on his face.
"You brought your son?" he asked.
"I thought it would be good for him to observe. Excuse me," Choza said and then moved past Takuma to greet Maruboshi, standing behind him. "Mister Maruboshi, what a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"The same as you, Mister Choza," Maruboshi bowed slightly in greeting.
"He's your student? You don't say," Choza said, and his gaze toward Takuma gained much more interest after finding that Maruboshi was training him.
It wasn't surprising that Maruboshi was known by someone as high-profile as Akimichi Choza. Maruboshi had worked with both the Second and Third Hokage and if he hadn't rejected promotions time after time, he undoubtedly would've been a proud jonin of the Hidden Leaf. Anyone who mattered knew Maruboshi's value and dedication to the village.
Takuma left the two men behind and walked to Masaaki, who was now spinning Choji around without a care in the world. He knew Masaaki was invited to be an affiliated shinobi to the Akimichi Clan by Choza, but he had no idea they were this close.
"Yo, Takuma. When are we starting? I'm excited!" Masaaki said as he put Choji down and smashed his fists together.
"Let them finish their chat," Takuma pointed behind him at Maruboshi and Choza. He looked at Choji, and the moment their eyes met, the kid hid behind Masaaki—a reasonable reaction. He waved at him, only for Choji to retreat further behind his large friend.
Takuma sighed.
"Don't mind him. He's just shy. Give it time; he'll warm up to you," Masaaki grinned. He turned to speak to Choji. "This is my friend, Takuma. He's a good shinobi. Not as good as me, of course, but really, really good."
Takuma shook his head and thought about what to say to the shy kid before landing on using something common between them to bridge the gap.
"My name is Takuma. What about you?"
"...I-I'm Choji."
"Hi, Choji. You're in the academy, right? Which year are you in?" asked Takuma, making sure no one would think it strange how much he knew about Choji.
"Fourth year."
"Really? Do you know Sasuke? He's in the fourth year as well?" said Takuma.
"You know Sasuke?" asked Choji, showing a surprised interest.
"Uh-huh. His mom is my teacher. I see him when I go to his house. He's a total mama's boy, you know?"
"That Sasuke? No, you're lying," said Choji, giggling.
Takuma understood why he didn't believe him; Sasuke was an aloof kid with strangers who had barely warmed up to him after a couple of months of lessons, and that was only because his mother liked him.
He could see Sasuke coming off as standoffish to his classmates.
"He's just shy. If you don't believe me, try to talk to him. It may look like he'll bite, but he's actually quite nice," said Takuma. He didn't know why he was saying these things, but he had said them—it was just like the time he had met Naruto.
He turned to Masaaki and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "You better have improved since the last time we sparred."
"Of course!" Masaaki said, punching Takuma back in the shoulder with a force that actually hurt. "I've been doing some serious training since I flunked the Chunin Exams."
"Fu—" Takuma wanted to curse him out but held his tongue because they had a kid in their company.
Masaaki, with Nenro on his team, had participated in two Chunin Exams. In their first attempt, they were eliminated in the first round. They had changed their other teammate, and on the second attempt, they managed to go deep through the second round but failed to make it to the final round. They would've made it to the final round, but they ran into the Tsuchikage's granddaughter.
Maruboshi and Choza finished their conversation, and the two parted toward their separate corners.
"What do you want me to do?" Takuma asked as he did some light stretches before the fight. The remaining days until the ANBU test were for Maruboshi to adjust Takuma's combat style or, at the very least, convince him that it was possible.
"Nothing different than usual for now," said Maruboshi.
Takuma raised an eyebrow because there wasn't much time to change anything in the first place. He jogged out first while Masaaki similarly conversed with Choza on the other side.
Masaaki hadn't changed much since before Takuma left for the war. He was still a skinhead who liked to dress light and had rocked up to the spar in a tank top and shorts. And, of course, he walked into battle with his trusty knuckledusters.
"My goal today is perfect victory," said Masaaki as he smashed his knuckledusters together.
"You hadn't beaten me in a year before I left," said Takuma.
"I've changed in the last year."
"So have I."
Both made Seals of Confrontation before Takuma shoved Masaaki, starting the spar. Masaaki grinned and took a quick step forward as he swung a haymaker for his face. The knuckleduster glowed white as Masaaki started aggressively with his bukijutsu.
'Already?!' Takuma thought with surprise as he ducked underneath the glinting metal and countered with an augmented body blow as his opening, but Masaaki put his hand in the way to block it. The chakra rushed forth, and he expected Masaaki to be blasted back, but he dug his feet and stood his ground.
Takuma wasn't surprised. Masaaki had always been the durable sort. He shoved him away to make some distance before swinging his raised fist down. Takuma blocked it with his arm and felt the force reach his bones.
'I can't let that hit me in the face,' Takuma thought as he felt the burn in his arm.
Masaaki followed up with a one-two combo. Takuma shuffled out of the way and kicked him in the knee, but he saw it coming and pulled his leg back at the last moment.
"I know that one," Masaaki smirked and tried to grapple him, but he slapped his hands away and shoved him back with a shoulder to the chest. Masaaki wasn't fazed and feinted to the right but struck from the left.
Takuma took the blow to the ribs and bore the pain as he smashed an uppercut into Masaaki's chin. It wasn't augmented, but it sent him stumbling and dispelled the chakra flowing to the knuckledusters.
Masaaki wasn't able to evade the kick to the ribs that knocked him to the ground. Takuma tried to pin him down, but he threw a kunai at him at the last moment. Takuma snatched the kunai out of the air and immediately threw it back, but Masaaki had already rolled away and got up to a squat.
The two stood still before they jumped at each other.
Takuma smashed an augmented fist into the same spot he'd kicked earlier. Masaaki's face turned red, but he gritted his teeth and socked Takuma with a glowing knuckleduster. Takuma's vision doubled, but he kept his eyes on Masaaki and bobbed his head away when another haymaker from the same hand came for his head.
'I know this,' he thought.
Takuma pulled back his torso to let another punch slip him. His vision was still doubled, but he put his arm in front to block a body shot and then ducked while shuffling to the side to evade a cross. Just like he had some habits, Masaaki had them as well—and as his most frequent sparring partner before his deployment, he knew him as much the other way around.
"I know that one," said Takuma as his vision returned.
Masaaki smirked and swung at the same time as Takuma. Their chakra-drowned fists smashed against each other, and both were pushed back a few steps before getting right into it. They brawled it out and only put the least amount of effort into defending themselves.
"Alright, stop!" Maruboshi yelled from the sideline, stopping the two fighters from trying to break each other's bones.
Maruboshi and Choza stood together to watch the fight and separated into their own corners.
"That was not your usual," said Maruboshi.
Takuma winced as he touched his cheek, which was scraped from the knuckledusters. "It was a warmup. This happens sometimes with Masaaki," he said. "A straight-up brawl to either blow off tension or build a head of steam."
"...You two are similar," Maruboshi commented. "Just like you, he didn't even try to dodge most of the hits."
Takuma sighed as he sat down on the ground. "It's my fault. We sparred quite regularly before the war, and he picked it up from me. But he's not this bad; he was just trying to match me beat-by-beat there."
Masaaki used to have a counterattacking approach, where he would wait for an opportunity to land a heavy strike to create an advantage to exploit—but that had slowly changed to taking the initiative and pressing the opponent, forcing them to make a mistake that he could blow open.
"It's heavier than I thought," Takuma groaned as he lifted the weighted vest to relieve his torso of its weight for a couple of seconds. He was wearing the new weighted gear, and this was his first time fighting with the extra weight, which was messing with his breathing.
"Do you want to lighten up?" asked Maruboshi. "It's not useful to spar if you can't move properly."
"No, it's alright. I've gotten used to it," Takuma said as he stood up with a groan. "I'll win this one."
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"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Akimichi Choza," said the clan leader of the Akimichi Clan.
Akimichi Choza was a tall, plump man with spiky hair dyed a bright red. He had purple markings on his cheeks—a common trait in the Akimichi Clan. He wore a chainmail under a yukata tied with a large, frayed rope.
The hulking man stared down at Takuma, who had to crane his neck to look at his face. "I have heard much about you. Masaaki praises you often, Takuma. It's a pleasure to finally meet," said Choza with a soft smile. Even though he was dressed casually, the man's large presence was threatening. Daiki was a big and muscular man, but even he felt smaller compared to this man. He had the presence of a strongman.
"He's biassed for his friends, sir," Takuma replied, still recovering from his surprise. "And we have met once before."
"Oh, we have?" Choza said, surprised, and his gaze deepened on Takuma as he tried to remember.
"It's not your fault if you don't remember. It was a couple of years ago; we had lunch together for half an hour," said Takuma. He was still working D-rank missions, and Masaaki, along with a few Akimichi, showed up at the restaurant where he was working as a delivery man.
"No wonder. I fear I don't pay attention to people when there's food in front of me," Choza laughed merrily. His hoop earrings bobbed up and down and slapped his stomach with his large mitt-like hands. "But I'll remember you this time. Masaaki tells me that you want to spar. I've some expectations because of him; I want to see you meet them."
"I'll try my best," said Takuma.
He vaguely remembered Choza from the source material, but not enough for him to leave a strong impression. However, he absolutely knew the man by living in the Hidden Leaf village. He was a jonin and the leader of one of the strongest Hidden Leaf clans. During the Third Shinobi World War, the village had trusted him to lead the peace treaty negotiations with the Hidden Stone, who were anticipated to turn hostile, and he was considered to be the person to either sign a treaty or push the Hidden Stone back in case they turned belligerent.
Takuma looked at Masaaki, who had brought yet another surprise with him, because he was playing tag with a young Akimichi Choji. The little rotund Akimichi was chasing Masaaki with a goofy smile on his face.
"You brought your son?" he asked.
"I thought it would be good for him to observe. Excuse me," Choza said and then moved past Takuma to greet Maruboshi, standing behind him. "Mister Maruboshi, what a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"The same as you, Mister Choza," Maruboshi bowed slightly in greeting.
"He's your student? You don't say," Choza said, and his gaze toward Takuma gained much more interest after finding that Maruboshi was training him.
It wasn't surprising that Maruboshi was known by someone as high-profile as Akimichi Choza. Maruboshi had worked with both the Second and Third Hokage and if he hadn't rejected promotions time after time, he undoubtedly would've been a proud jonin of the Hidden Leaf. Anyone who mattered knew Maruboshi's value and dedication to the village.
Takuma left the two men behind and walked to Masaaki, who was now spinning Choji around without a care in the world. He knew Masaaki was invited to be an affiliated shinobi to the Akimichi Clan by Choza, but he had no idea they were this close.
"Yo, Takuma. When are we starting? I'm excited!" Masaaki said as he put Choji down and smashed his fists together.
"Let them finish their chat," Takuma pointed behind him at Maruboshi and Choza. He looked at Choji, and the moment their eyes met, the kid hid behind Masaaki—a reasonable reaction. He waved at him, only for Choji to retreat further behind his large friend.
Takuma sighed.
"Don't mind him. He's just shy. Give it time; he'll warm up to you," Masaaki grinned. He turned to speak to Choji. "This is my friend, Takuma. He's a good shinobi. Not as good as me, of course, but really, really good."
Takuma shook his head and thought about what to say to the shy kid before landing on using something common between them to bridge the gap.
"My name is Takuma. What about you?"
"...I-I'm Choji."
"Hi, Choji. You're in the academy, right? Which year are you in?" asked Takuma, making sure no one would think it strange how much he knew about Choji.
"Fourth year."
"Really? Do you know Sasuke? He's in the fourth year as well?" said Takuma.
"You know Sasuke?" asked Choji, showing a surprised interest.
"Uh-huh. His mom is my teacher. I see him when I go to his house. He's a total mama's boy, you know?"
"That Sasuke? No, you're lying," said Choji, giggling.
Takuma understood why he didn't believe him; Sasuke was an aloof kid with strangers who had barely warmed up to him after a couple of months of lessons, and that was only because his mother liked him.
He could see Sasuke coming off as standoffish to his classmates.
"He's just shy. If you don't believe me, try to talk to him. It may look like he'll bite, but he's actually quite nice," said Takuma. He didn't know why he was saying these things, but he had said them—it was just like the time he had met Naruto.
He turned to Masaaki and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "You better have improved since the last time we sparred."
"Of course!" Masaaki said, punching Takuma back in the shoulder with a force that actually hurt. "I've been doing some serious training since I flunked the Chunin Exams."
"Fu—" Takuma wanted to curse him out but held his tongue because they had a kid in their company.
Masaaki, with Nenro on his team, had participated in two Chunin Exams. In their first attempt, they were eliminated in the first round. They had changed their other teammate, and on the second attempt, they managed to go deep through the second round but failed to make it to the final round. They would've made it to the final round, but they ran into the Tsuchikage's granddaughter.
Maruboshi and Choza finished their conversation, and the two parted toward their separate corners.
"What do you want me to do?" Takuma asked as he did some light stretches before the fight. The remaining days until the ANBU test were for Maruboshi to adjust Takuma's combat style or, at the very least, convince him that it was possible.
"Nothing different than usual for now," said Maruboshi.
Takuma raised an eyebrow because there wasn't much time to change anything in the first place. He jogged out first while Masaaki similarly conversed with Choza on the other side.
Masaaki hadn't changed much since before Takuma left for the war. He was still a skinhead who liked to dress light and had rocked up to the spar in a tank top and shorts. And, of course, he walked into battle with his trusty knuckledusters.
"My goal today is perfect victory," said Masaaki as he smashed his knuckledusters together.
"You hadn't beaten me in a year before I left," said Takuma.
"I've changed in the last year."
"So have I."
Both made Seals of Confrontation before Takuma shoved Masaaki, starting the spar. Masaaki grinned and took a quick step forward as he swung a haymaker for his face. The knuckleduster glowed white as Masaaki started aggressively with his bukijutsu.
'Already?!' Takuma thought with surprise as he ducked underneath the glinting metal and countered with an augmented body blow as his opening, but Masaaki put his hand in the way to block it. The chakra rushed forth, and he expected Masaaki to be blasted back, but he dug his feet and stood his ground.
Takuma wasn't surprised. Masaaki had always been the durable sort. He shoved him away to make some distance before swinging his raised fist down. Takuma blocked it with his arm and felt the force reach his bones.
'I can't let that hit me in the face,' Takuma thought as he felt the burn in his arm.
Masaaki followed up with a one-two combo. Takuma shuffled out of the way and kicked him in the knee, but he saw it coming and pulled his leg back at the last moment.
"I know that one," Masaaki smirked and tried to grapple him, but he slapped his hands away and shoved him back with a shoulder to the chest. Masaaki wasn't fazed and feinted to the right but struck from the left.
Takuma took the blow to the ribs and bore the pain as he smashed an uppercut into Masaaki's chin. It wasn't augmented, but it sent him stumbling and dispelled the chakra flowing to the knuckledusters.
Masaaki wasn't able to evade the kick to the ribs that knocked him to the ground. Takuma tried to pin him down, but he threw a kunai at him at the last moment. Takuma snatched the kunai out of the air and immediately threw it back, but Masaaki had already rolled away and got up to a squat.
The two stood still before they jumped at each other.
Takuma smashed an augmented fist into the same spot he'd kicked earlier. Masaaki's face turned red, but he gritted his teeth and socked Takuma with a glowing knuckleduster. Takuma's vision doubled, but he kept his eyes on Masaaki and bobbed his head away when another haymaker from the same hand came for his head.
'I know this,' he thought.
Takuma pulled back his torso to let another punch slip him. His vision was still doubled, but he put his arm in front to block a body shot and then ducked while shuffling to the side to evade a cross. Just like he had some habits, Masaaki had them as well—and as his most frequent sparring partner before his deployment, he knew him as much the other way around.
"I know that one," said Takuma as his vision returned.
Masaaki smirked and swung at the same time as Takuma. Their chakra-drowned fists smashed against each other, and both were pushed back a few steps before getting right into it. They brawled it out and only put the least amount of effort into defending themselves.
"Alright, stop!" Maruboshi yelled from the sideline, stopping the two fighters from trying to break each other's bones.
Maruboshi and Choza stood together to watch the fight and separated into their own corners.
"That was not your usual," said Maruboshi.
Takuma winced as he touched his cheek, which was scraped from the knuckledusters. "It was a warmup. This happens sometimes with Masaaki," he said. "A straight-up brawl to either blow off tension or build a head of steam."
"...You two are similar," Maruboshi commented. "Just like you, he didn't even try to dodge most of the hits."
Takuma sighed as he sat down on the ground. "It's my fault. We sparred quite regularly before the war, and he picked it up from me. But he's not this bad; he was just trying to match me beat-by-beat there."
Masaaki used to have a counterattacking approach, where he would wait for an opportunity to land a heavy strike to create an advantage to exploit—but that had slowly changed to taking the initiative and pressing the opponent, forcing them to make a mistake that he could blow open.
"It's heavier than I thought," Takuma groaned as he lifted the weighted vest to relieve his torso of its weight for a couple of seconds. He was wearing the new weighted gear, and this was his first time fighting with the extra weight, which was messing with his breathing.
"Do you want to lighten up?" asked Maruboshi. "It's not useful to spar if you can't move properly."
"No, it's alright. I've gotten used to it," Takuma said as he stood up with a groan. "I'll win this one."
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_8.20 (285)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Masaaki took a quick gulp of water and left the sidelines for another round of sparring.
Choza had nothing to say as they hadn't fought properly yet; the first round was to get them fired up for the real thing. He was well aware that Takuma was stronger than him and held back in sparring. No one went all out in spars; that wasn't their purpose, but Takuma tended to match his opponent's level—he would fight Ai on her level even though he was so much stronger.
Masaaki didn't want him to line up to his level. He wanted to feel the pressure of facing someone stronger during their spar. There was no meaning without a challenge. The warmup round where they punched the shit out of each other was his way to get him worked up, so he would truly try to beat him.
"Ready?" Masaaki asked as Takuma walked from the sideline.
Takuma cracked his neck with a jerk and nodded.
Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma doing short hops on his feet and his hands already raised to form the guard. He was ready to fight for real now.
"Let's start," Masaaki said as he pulled his arms up. "Go!"
The dirt around Takuma's feet exploded as he jolted forward. Masaaki heard wind rippling as the fist slipped past his ear. He gazed into Takuma's eyes and saw the look of single-minded focus reflected there.
Masaaki knew better than most people about how Takuma fought. Like him, he preferred to be close, where he could decimate the opponent with a solid strike. His preferred ninjutsu were also geared to give him an advantage in the melee range. The ideal scenario would be to keep a distance, but Masaaki wasn't as effective across the distance and he knew he would lose if he tried to put distance between them.
For him to win, he needed to be close too, but more importantly, he had to make sure Takuma didn't get the chance to use his favourite water tentacles. He could contend equally as long as only four limbs were involved on both sides, but Takuma would win if he managed to gain eight more.
So, he was going to stick to Takuma like glue at any cost.
Masaaki grabbed Takuma's arm and kicked his leg to trip him, but Takuma jumped at the last moment. Masaaki tightened the hold and switched to an over-the-shoulder throw. He was heavy because of the weighted gear, but because of it, he fell faster and harder, ploughing the earth with his fall.
Masaaki's knuckleduster glowed as he swung down at Takuma's face. His fist cratered the ground, Takuma managing to roll out of the way at the last second, so he grabbed his feet to drag him close before stomping on him. The foot rammed against Takuma's crossed arms and his body sank into the ground.
Between the crossed guard, Masaaki could see the perfect calm in Takuma's eyes, so he raised his foot for another stomp.
Takuma kicked the ground and forcefully slid away. He got up and tried to put some distance between them, but Masaaki didn't let him and immediately pressured him with his bukijutsu, knuckledusters glowing, chugging at full speed. He stepped in and struck him with a blazing-fast four-hit combo that lifted Takuma off his feet and had him stumble when he landed.
Seeing that he wasn't getting away, Takuma immediately switched gears and committed to attacking back.
Masaaki immediately felt his muscles taut in the face of danger and raised his guard.
Takuma sidestepped a haymaker and countered by kicking him in the knee and followed up with two swift punches that were perfectly blocked. Masaaki saw an opening in the block and smashed a satisfying hit into his side.
'That felt good,' Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma's eye bulge and spit fly out of his mouth.
He saw another opportunity created from his attack. He immediately moved in while putting more power in his bukijutsu—when Takuma suddenly moved in a perfect counter, which not only closed the opportunity but also opened Masaaki to punishment.
'Shit, I got baited,' Masaaki cursed.
He raised his block, but Takuma was faster and jammed a palm strike into his chest and then went below the belt by punching him in the groin. Masaaki staggered by the double blow and hastily raised his hands forward for a block, but Takuma was once again faster and slipped an augmented punch right into the upper abdomen.
The force from the chakra spread throughout his upper body, disrupting the tension in his muscles. The impact force itself knocked the wind out of his lungs and rendered him unable to either defend or attack a small window. Masaaki tried to let his body free fall back to close the window, but Takuma grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down as he slammed his knee into his stomach.
Masaaki folded from the waist as he flew into the air. Takuma pushed against the ground and rocketed above Masaaki while in the air. He joined his hands and then threw down a powerful augmented double-handle.
The burst of chakra released a sound wave as it smashed Masaaki down.
Through sheer force and determination, Masaaki twisted his body mid-crash and landed on his feet. The force made him kneel, and he felt the vestiges of the chakra wreaking havoc in his body. His legs threatened to give out from beneath him but he powered through and sprinted straight toward Takuma, who did the same.
Masaaki clenched his right fist, and the knuckledusters began to shine with a blinding glow. People thought he was a close-range fighter who had nothing to add range because he used knuckledusters as his weapon of choice, but they were mistaken.
He extended his fist when he was several metres out, releasing a concussive wind blast from a distance.
However, Takuma wasn't "just someone" and moved out of the way, if a step too late. The fist-sized blast clipped his shoulder, sending him spinning to the side. He came to a sudden, unstable stop. Masaaski continued forward, ready to capitalise on the advantage, when he saw him spring up and meet him halfway, fist glowing.
As they closed the distance, Masaaki broke into a knee slide and slipped below the fist by mere inches. The augmentation's force burst out, and he felt it part his hair, scratching against his scalp like sandpaper. He ignored the irritation, got up to his feet, and turned around to use the opportunity to attack.
Takuma, who had his back to Masaaki, quickly turned around and struck out with his cocked fist.
'He's hasty', Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma strike out with his punch too early. Masaaki pumped the brakes to ensure the fist wouldn't reach him, which was when he saw the clear look in Takuma's eyes—there wasn't a hint of panic in them.
Even though the fist was far, a brutal force hit Masaaki square in the face and blasted him to the ground.
Takuma jumped on Masaaki and slammed a full-force, non-augmented fist into his chest that burst cracks below Masaaki's body, who felt his bones on the verge of breaking—and would've shattered if Takuma had used his strongest attack.
But he wasn't concerned with that because he was shocked by what he had just witnessed.
———
.
Choza watched as his student hobbled to the sideline after the round of sparring came to an end. There was a look of stunned surprise on Masaaki's face, hand on his chest where he had been hit.
"Do you know he created his augmentation all on his own," Masaaki said with a faraway look.
"I noticed that it seems to be based on overcharging the adhesion principle," Choza replied. If it were just that, he would've still considered it a waste of time and effort.
Many people had tried to use the principle similarly and had failed to turn it into something usable over a long time. The Akimichi clan itself had experimented with the principle because of their clan's affinity and preference towards chakra augmentations to boost their destructive ability—but those projects had been abandoned after they thought it wasn't worth the time and effort.
But from what he saw, the way Takuma used chakra to boost his striking force had evolved beyond the basic rules and limitations of the chakra adhesion principle. It was still very crude, but he could see potential; this could be a diamond.
"All by himself, you say?" asked Choza, interested in Masaaki's friend.
"...Yeah, he used no reference. In hindsight, that wasn't smart, but perhaps that's why he succeeded. When he made mistakes, he used to crack his bones and rip his muscles, but look at him now; he has brought it so far," Masaaki sighed.
"Why do you sigh?"
"He had to figure out everything I have with a blueprint I could follow... and he still managed to inspire me. He stopped improving at a rapid pace for a year when he was in the Police Force—and I thought it was my chance to catch up. I thought today would be the day I would fight him as equals. And yet here we are... it feels like the gap just keeps widening no matter what I do."
Choza gazed at his student with a soft smile.
They met once a week, where he would check Masaaki's progress and give him advice and tasks for the next week. In the years they had been meeting, not once had Masaaki complained about anything and took everything in stride. He was stubborn in the best of ways and got along with almost everyone in the clan—an exemplary shinobi with a respectable nindo.
He didn't think he had seen Masaaki dejected like this when faced with defeat. He would always just laugh it off and confidently declare that he would improve and get back to training to make his claims happen. It was a quality that most people lacked—the willingness and desire to put in the work to improve.
'He resembles him,' Choza smiled when he thought about his other student who had surpassed him and had become one of the leading figures in the village, renowned worldwide for his strength.
"Masaaki, get up."
Masaaki looked at Choza and saw the unbothered expression on his teacher's face. The dejected look eased, soon replaced with a look of focus and determination. He slapped both his cheeks with the knuckledusters adorned on his fingers and got up.
"Sensei! I'm glad that my friend is getting better, but I'm also not happy at the same time. Is that bad?" Masaaki asked with a serious expression.
"It's natural to feel that way sometimes," said Choza. Emotions were a complex matter, and he could understand where Masaaki was coming from. "Be ready, Masaaki. Starting tomorrow, we will meet thrice a week. I'm going to push you harder than we have ever trained. That gap you mentioned? We're going to close it. You're a shinobi with ties to the Akimichi clan—you have to win to hold up our honour and prestige."
Masaaki's eyes widened in surprise, and he stayed rooted to the spot for a couple of seconds before he stood at attention and bowed till his torso was parallel to the ground.
"I'm honoured for your tutelage. I will work hard not to shame the Akimichi clan."
"Good," Choza smiled, and before he could tell him to stand straight, Choji approached Masaaki.
The little Akimichi tugged on Masaaki's tank top, making him look at Choji, who held up a waterskin.
"I think your glowy knuckledusters are cooler, Masaaki!" said Choji.
Masaaki received the waterskin and looked between it, his knuckledusters, and Choji before breaking into a loud, rambunctious laughter as he ruffled Choji's hair, who backed away quickly and glared at him because the knuckledusters were still on his fingers.
Choza chuckled. If there were one thing no one could beat Masaaki at, it would undoubtedly be his mental fortitude. He could laugh anything off and enjoyed battle to its fullest—in their profession, that would take him far..
He turned to look at Masaaki's friend in the distance. He had accompanied him today to check how Masaaki fared against someone outside the Akimichi clan. He had no opinion of the friend except for his work in the Police Force. But his interest piqued when Maruboshi Kosuke showed up.
'Takuma, was it?'
"Are you interested in Takuma?" asked Masaaki, noticing his teacher's gaze.
"I'll admit, he's piqued my curiosity."
"I think Takuma would be perfect if he joined the clan," said Masaaki, immediately jumping the gun in the hopes that he could help his friend get the backing of a big clan.
Choza laughed, thoroughly amused. He enjoyed Masaaki's personality and found it refreshing because there was no deceit in it. He spoke his mind as though it was natural to do so in every situation. Before he could say that it was too early for them to consider that, Masaaki dropped a shocking knowledge.
"But, it might be difficult to pull Takuma to the Akimichi. He's Uchiha Mikoto, the Lady Uchiha's student. But I think we're a better fit for him. You saw his fighting style..."
Choza was no longer listening as he stared across the field at Takuma, who had suddenly gone from a surprise student of Maruboshi Kosuke to being close to the Uchiha matriarch.
That was no mere clanless orphan, and in that moment, he realised that he was looking at the beginnings of something great.
———
.
On the other side of the field, Takuma was on all fours, heaving like a lung disease patient. Beads of sweat dripped from his body, enough to barely irrigate the patch of land around him. His face was red from exertion, and his body shook as though he had just run across the country without any stops.
"These... this... this is h-heavy," said Takuma, panting profusely. For the weighted gear to give maximum benefits, he had to push himself to operate at his usual speed. It wasn't as strenuous when doing regular activities, but it was near torture to fight in those weights when he wasn't used to them.
"No pain, no gain," Maruboshi smiled, tossing a canteen to Takuma, who drained it within seconds. "You were right; your friend does fight like you."
Takuma turned around and lay down on the ground on his back with his knees buckled up. He was silent momentarily and stared at the sky as his chest rose up and down.
"I didn't want to fight like how I did just now when I was just starting," said Takuma, reaching into his memories. "I wanted to be a ranged fighter because I used to fear getting cut by kunai… and the pain. I wanted to keep my distance to be safe and use ninjutsu to do damage from afar."
"Surely you see the irony, my boy?" Maruboshi asked as he sat beside Takuma, cross-legged in the grass.
"When I knew I would fight up and close, I turned to the person I had seen fight like that the most. It was Masaaki. He loved to fight like that, and I can't imagine him fighting in any other way. Do you know he was partially the reason I stuck to developing the chakra augmentation? He used to be so difficult to fight with his bukijutsu that I thought I could be just as difficult if I mirrored him. Even the Second Form augmentation was inspired by his bukijutsu... He and a fucking awful man named Masumoto are probably my greatest influences."
"Language," Maruboshi scolded. "The difference is that your friend is more skilled than you in taijutsu."
"Huh, I don't think so."
"He doesn't need to take unnecessary risks to deal damage. In my opinion, that's the sign of better skill."
Takuma rolled his eyes and gazed across the field at Masaaki.
"...I guess he's benefited from his association with the Akimichi clan."
Maruboshi glanced at Takuma, aware of Uchiha Mikoto's offer to come under the Uchiha banner. It made him think about his youth when he was offered the same opportunity by both the Second and Third Hokage to join the Senju and Sarutobi respectively. He had refused their generosity due to his feelings towards himself, but it was an excellent opportunity for Takuma, and he had advised him to consider it with an open mind.
To do as he said, not as he did.
"Your friend is in great care. He's lucky to have Akimichi Choza as his teacher."
"Who wouldn't want the Akimichi clan head as their teacher."
"Of course, but it's greater than a matter of reputation. When it comes to taijutsu, he's possibly the best teacher your friend could hope for... after all, Akimichi Choza was Maito Gai's jonin teacher."
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.
Choza had nothing to say as they hadn't fought properly yet; the first round was to get them fired up for the real thing. He was well aware that Takuma was stronger than him and held back in sparring. No one went all out in spars; that wasn't their purpose, but Takuma tended to match his opponent's level—he would fight Ai on her level even though he was so much stronger.
Masaaki didn't want him to line up to his level. He wanted to feel the pressure of facing someone stronger during their spar. There was no meaning without a challenge. The warmup round where they punched the shit out of each other was his way to get him worked up, so he would truly try to beat him.
"Ready?" Masaaki asked as Takuma walked from the sideline.
Takuma cracked his neck with a jerk and nodded.
Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma doing short hops on his feet and his hands already raised to form the guard. He was ready to fight for real now.
"Let's start," Masaaki said as he pulled his arms up. "Go!"
The dirt around Takuma's feet exploded as he jolted forward. Masaaki heard wind rippling as the fist slipped past his ear. He gazed into Takuma's eyes and saw the look of single-minded focus reflected there.
Masaaki knew better than most people about how Takuma fought. Like him, he preferred to be close, where he could decimate the opponent with a solid strike. His preferred ninjutsu were also geared to give him an advantage in the melee range. The ideal scenario would be to keep a distance, but Masaaki wasn't as effective across the distance and he knew he would lose if he tried to put distance between them.
For him to win, he needed to be close too, but more importantly, he had to make sure Takuma didn't get the chance to use his favourite water tentacles. He could contend equally as long as only four limbs were involved on both sides, but Takuma would win if he managed to gain eight more.
So, he was going to stick to Takuma like glue at any cost.
Masaaki grabbed Takuma's arm and kicked his leg to trip him, but Takuma jumped at the last moment. Masaaki tightened the hold and switched to an over-the-shoulder throw. He was heavy because of the weighted gear, but because of it, he fell faster and harder, ploughing the earth with his fall.
Masaaki's knuckleduster glowed as he swung down at Takuma's face. His fist cratered the ground, Takuma managing to roll out of the way at the last second, so he grabbed his feet to drag him close before stomping on him. The foot rammed against Takuma's crossed arms and his body sank into the ground.
Between the crossed guard, Masaaki could see the perfect calm in Takuma's eyes, so he raised his foot for another stomp.
Takuma kicked the ground and forcefully slid away. He got up and tried to put some distance between them, but Masaaki didn't let him and immediately pressured him with his bukijutsu, knuckledusters glowing, chugging at full speed. He stepped in and struck him with a blazing-fast four-hit combo that lifted Takuma off his feet and had him stumble when he landed.
Seeing that he wasn't getting away, Takuma immediately switched gears and committed to attacking back.
Masaaki immediately felt his muscles taut in the face of danger and raised his guard.
Takuma sidestepped a haymaker and countered by kicking him in the knee and followed up with two swift punches that were perfectly blocked. Masaaki saw an opening in the block and smashed a satisfying hit into his side.
'That felt good,' Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma's eye bulge and spit fly out of his mouth.
He saw another opportunity created from his attack. He immediately moved in while putting more power in his bukijutsu—when Takuma suddenly moved in a perfect counter, which not only closed the opportunity but also opened Masaaki to punishment.
'Shit, I got baited,' Masaaki cursed.
He raised his block, but Takuma was faster and jammed a palm strike into his chest and then went below the belt by punching him in the groin. Masaaki staggered by the double blow and hastily raised his hands forward for a block, but Takuma was once again faster and slipped an augmented punch right into the upper abdomen.
The force from the chakra spread throughout his upper body, disrupting the tension in his muscles. The impact force itself knocked the wind out of his lungs and rendered him unable to either defend or attack a small window. Masaaki tried to let his body free fall back to close the window, but Takuma grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down as he slammed his knee into his stomach.
Masaaki folded from the waist as he flew into the air. Takuma pushed against the ground and rocketed above Masaaki while in the air. He joined his hands and then threw down a powerful augmented double-handle.
The burst of chakra released a sound wave as it smashed Masaaki down.
Through sheer force and determination, Masaaki twisted his body mid-crash and landed on his feet. The force made him kneel, and he felt the vestiges of the chakra wreaking havoc in his body. His legs threatened to give out from beneath him but he powered through and sprinted straight toward Takuma, who did the same.
Masaaki clenched his right fist, and the knuckledusters began to shine with a blinding glow. People thought he was a close-range fighter who had nothing to add range because he used knuckledusters as his weapon of choice, but they were mistaken.
He extended his fist when he was several metres out, releasing a concussive wind blast from a distance.
However, Takuma wasn't "just someone" and moved out of the way, if a step too late. The fist-sized blast clipped his shoulder, sending him spinning to the side. He came to a sudden, unstable stop. Masaaski continued forward, ready to capitalise on the advantage, when he saw him spring up and meet him halfway, fist glowing.
As they closed the distance, Masaaki broke into a knee slide and slipped below the fist by mere inches. The augmentation's force burst out, and he felt it part his hair, scratching against his scalp like sandpaper. He ignored the irritation, got up to his feet, and turned around to use the opportunity to attack.
Takuma, who had his back to Masaaki, quickly turned around and struck out with his cocked fist.
'He's hasty', Masaaki grinned when he saw Takuma strike out with his punch too early. Masaaki pumped the brakes to ensure the fist wouldn't reach him, which was when he saw the clear look in Takuma's eyes—there wasn't a hint of panic in them.
Even though the fist was far, a brutal force hit Masaaki square in the face and blasted him to the ground.
Takuma jumped on Masaaki and slammed a full-force, non-augmented fist into his chest that burst cracks below Masaaki's body, who felt his bones on the verge of breaking—and would've shattered if Takuma had used his strongest attack.
But he wasn't concerned with that because he was shocked by what he had just witnessed.
———
.
Choza watched as his student hobbled to the sideline after the round of sparring came to an end. There was a look of stunned surprise on Masaaki's face, hand on his chest where he had been hit.
"Do you know he created his augmentation all on his own," Masaaki said with a faraway look.
"I noticed that it seems to be based on overcharging the adhesion principle," Choza replied. If it were just that, he would've still considered it a waste of time and effort.
Many people had tried to use the principle similarly and had failed to turn it into something usable over a long time. The Akimichi clan itself had experimented with the principle because of their clan's affinity and preference towards chakra augmentations to boost their destructive ability—but those projects had been abandoned after they thought it wasn't worth the time and effort.
But from what he saw, the way Takuma used chakra to boost his striking force had evolved beyond the basic rules and limitations of the chakra adhesion principle. It was still very crude, but he could see potential; this could be a diamond.
"All by himself, you say?" asked Choza, interested in Masaaki's friend.
"...Yeah, he used no reference. In hindsight, that wasn't smart, but perhaps that's why he succeeded. When he made mistakes, he used to crack his bones and rip his muscles, but look at him now; he has brought it so far," Masaaki sighed.
"Why do you sigh?"
"He had to figure out everything I have with a blueprint I could follow... and he still managed to inspire me. He stopped improving at a rapid pace for a year when he was in the Police Force—and I thought it was my chance to catch up. I thought today would be the day I would fight him as equals. And yet here we are... it feels like the gap just keeps widening no matter what I do."
Choza gazed at his student with a soft smile.
They met once a week, where he would check Masaaki's progress and give him advice and tasks for the next week. In the years they had been meeting, not once had Masaaki complained about anything and took everything in stride. He was stubborn in the best of ways and got along with almost everyone in the clan—an exemplary shinobi with a respectable nindo.
He didn't think he had seen Masaaki dejected like this when faced with defeat. He would always just laugh it off and confidently declare that he would improve and get back to training to make his claims happen. It was a quality that most people lacked—the willingness and desire to put in the work to improve.
'He resembles him,' Choza smiled when he thought about his other student who had surpassed him and had become one of the leading figures in the village, renowned worldwide for his strength.
"Masaaki, get up."
Masaaki looked at Choza and saw the unbothered expression on his teacher's face. The dejected look eased, soon replaced with a look of focus and determination. He slapped both his cheeks with the knuckledusters adorned on his fingers and got up.
"Sensei! I'm glad that my friend is getting better, but I'm also not happy at the same time. Is that bad?" Masaaki asked with a serious expression.
"It's natural to feel that way sometimes," said Choza. Emotions were a complex matter, and he could understand where Masaaki was coming from. "Be ready, Masaaki. Starting tomorrow, we will meet thrice a week. I'm going to push you harder than we have ever trained. That gap you mentioned? We're going to close it. You're a shinobi with ties to the Akimichi clan—you have to win to hold up our honour and prestige."
Masaaki's eyes widened in surprise, and he stayed rooted to the spot for a couple of seconds before he stood at attention and bowed till his torso was parallel to the ground.
"I'm honoured for your tutelage. I will work hard not to shame the Akimichi clan."
"Good," Choza smiled, and before he could tell him to stand straight, Choji approached Masaaki.
The little Akimichi tugged on Masaaki's tank top, making him look at Choji, who held up a waterskin.
"I think your glowy knuckledusters are cooler, Masaaki!" said Choji.
Masaaki received the waterskin and looked between it, his knuckledusters, and Choji before breaking into a loud, rambunctious laughter as he ruffled Choji's hair, who backed away quickly and glared at him because the knuckledusters were still on his fingers.
Choza chuckled. If there were one thing no one could beat Masaaki at, it would undoubtedly be his mental fortitude. He could laugh anything off and enjoyed battle to its fullest—in their profession, that would take him far..
He turned to look at Masaaki's friend in the distance. He had accompanied him today to check how Masaaki fared against someone outside the Akimichi clan. He had no opinion of the friend except for his work in the Police Force. But his interest piqued when Maruboshi Kosuke showed up.
'Takuma, was it?'
"Are you interested in Takuma?" asked Masaaki, noticing his teacher's gaze.
"I'll admit, he's piqued my curiosity."
"I think Takuma would be perfect if he joined the clan," said Masaaki, immediately jumping the gun in the hopes that he could help his friend get the backing of a big clan.
Choza laughed, thoroughly amused. He enjoyed Masaaki's personality and found it refreshing because there was no deceit in it. He spoke his mind as though it was natural to do so in every situation. Before he could say that it was too early for them to consider that, Masaaki dropped a shocking knowledge.
"But, it might be difficult to pull Takuma to the Akimichi. He's Uchiha Mikoto, the Lady Uchiha's student. But I think we're a better fit for him. You saw his fighting style..."
Choza was no longer listening as he stared across the field at Takuma, who had suddenly gone from a surprise student of Maruboshi Kosuke to being close to the Uchiha matriarch.
That was no mere clanless orphan, and in that moment, he realised that he was looking at the beginnings of something great.
———
.
On the other side of the field, Takuma was on all fours, heaving like a lung disease patient. Beads of sweat dripped from his body, enough to barely irrigate the patch of land around him. His face was red from exertion, and his body shook as though he had just run across the country without any stops.
"These... this... this is h-heavy," said Takuma, panting profusely. For the weighted gear to give maximum benefits, he had to push himself to operate at his usual speed. It wasn't as strenuous when doing regular activities, but it was near torture to fight in those weights when he wasn't used to them.
"No pain, no gain," Maruboshi smiled, tossing a canteen to Takuma, who drained it within seconds. "You were right; your friend does fight like you."
Takuma turned around and lay down on the ground on his back with his knees buckled up. He was silent momentarily and stared at the sky as his chest rose up and down.
"I didn't want to fight like how I did just now when I was just starting," said Takuma, reaching into his memories. "I wanted to be a ranged fighter because I used to fear getting cut by kunai… and the pain. I wanted to keep my distance to be safe and use ninjutsu to do damage from afar."
"Surely you see the irony, my boy?" Maruboshi asked as he sat beside Takuma, cross-legged in the grass.
"When I knew I would fight up and close, I turned to the person I had seen fight like that the most. It was Masaaki. He loved to fight like that, and I can't imagine him fighting in any other way. Do you know he was partially the reason I stuck to developing the chakra augmentation? He used to be so difficult to fight with his bukijutsu that I thought I could be just as difficult if I mirrored him. Even the Second Form augmentation was inspired by his bukijutsu... He and a fucking awful man named Masumoto are probably my greatest influences."
"Language," Maruboshi scolded. "The difference is that your friend is more skilled than you in taijutsu."
"Huh, I don't think so."
"He doesn't need to take unnecessary risks to deal damage. In my opinion, that's the sign of better skill."
Takuma rolled his eyes and gazed across the field at Masaaki.
"...I guess he's benefited from his association with the Akimichi clan."
Maruboshi glanced at Takuma, aware of Uchiha Mikoto's offer to come under the Uchiha banner. It made him think about his youth when he was offered the same opportunity by both the Second and Third Hokage to join the Senju and Sarutobi respectively. He had refused their generosity due to his feelings towards himself, but it was an excellent opportunity for Takuma, and he had advised him to consider it with an open mind.
To do as he said, not as he did.
"Your friend is in great care. He's lucky to have Akimichi Choza as his teacher."
"Who wouldn't want the Akimichi clan head as their teacher."
"Of course, but it's greater than a matter of reputation. When it comes to taijutsu, he's possibly the best teacher your friend could hope for... after all, Akimichi Choza was Maito Gai's jonin teacher."
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.
TFTC. Just binged 50+ chapters. Reading them all in one swoop felt way better than I expected.
Lmao. Is this Canon? Would be hilarious if it was true.
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I have been told that my writing is more suited for a binge, which is why I post three chapters at a time instead of spreading them through the week.
Team Choza
It's only shown for a very short time, but it's shown in both the anime and manga.
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Yep. I have read your HP fiction way before it ended. This story is an insane improvement both in term of prose and story telling compared to it. I saw the first chapter drop and immediately read it. I don't comment much these days because I let the chapters stack before reading them all in one swoop. But I am a big fan of how this turned out.
Team Choza is insane if you think about it. All 3 of the team members became Jonins.
I am really curious how you will write Sacura or if you will include her at all. I don't see her surviving at all in your version of the shinobi world or go past chunin at max.
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
AMJ and TOR are so different that even I'm surprised that I wrote both of them.
Regarding the canon characters, all characters will change in a way that they fit TOR's theme. I will be keeping the base of what makes the character themselves, but will be adjusting them so they don't feel out of place in the darker setting. For example, Sakura's infatuation with Sasuke doesn't conflict with TOR's setting, but she will be made more competent to the level we have seen other genin in TOR.
As for how much I plan to show her and the main cast. I know they will play a substantial role, but I don't know in what way they will show up in the story and how much and in what way they interact with Takuma.
CH_8.21 (286)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
The next day, Takuma's muscles ached from sparring against Masaaki while wearing the weighted gear. It had been a while since his body hurt as much as it did after sparring, but he'd sparred much harder and more often than usual too.
The pain was good because it represented growth, but that didn't mean he had to like waking up in agony at the slightest twitch.
"It was a boon that you chose Masaaki as your first sparring partner," said Maruboshi as they stood in the same field the following day.
"How so?" asked Takuma as he stretched with his weighted gear on.
"Because his combat style is similar to yours, you have an example you can draw from. You said Masaaki and another man known as Masumoto inspired your fighting style. I want you to mimic them. Try out what they do and see how you feel."
"That doesn't make sense," Takuma replied. "Both of them are willing to trade damage."
"I don't know about the other one, but Masaaki only traded damage when he thought he absolutely needed to. You go into fights knowing you'll trade damage. They do it for a reason; you don't."
Takuma touched his toes and thought about the two other fighters.
Masumoto was Bishop's real name; they had only fought twice, so he wasn't sure about the man's philosophy, but if he had to infer, Bishop wanted his opponent to feel stifling pressure throughout the fight; all of his decisions were geared toward that single goal.
As for Masaaki, he preferred to linger around and wait till he could get a devastating strike and believed in quality rather than quantity of attacks.
Maruboshi continued, "Since they inspired you, why not try mimicking them and see if you can find answers on how to further your own approach to combat."
Takuma didn't think there was anything wrong with his style, but he kept that thought to himself and glanced a few steps away from him where Nenro was doing his warm up routine.
"I'm happy to help with anything," Nenro had said with a blinding smile when Takuma requested he be his sparring partner.
Takuma couldn't help but sigh at his friend's good looks; those same looks had made him immensely popular. He, on the other hand, had made a baby cry when he was out grocery shopping—his new scar apparently made him look like he was itching for a fight.
Nenro was his second invite after Masaaki. The two were different but equally skilled fighters, and Nenro had insisted on helping him even though he was swamped and liked to relax during his free time.
"Let's start with the first round," said Maruboshi, looking between the two of them.
Nenro nodded and sprinted to a tree on the other side of the field to finish his warmup.
Maruboshi noticed Takuma gazing at his friend with a sombre expression and asked if something was wrong.
"When I first met them, Masaaki used to be tougher to fight. Now that I fight like him, he's easier to handle—but Nenro has become a more challenging opponent." Takuma was stronger, but if he limited himself to Nenro's level, the spars were some of the most challenging he had fought and that included the brutality he faced within the Ring. "He's my perfect counter when it comes to ninjutsu... Lightning trumps both Water and Earth."
"Lightning, that's rare," said Maruboshi. The Land of Fire got its name because a majority of the country's natives had the Fire nature as their primary affinity. Similar patterns could be seen in other major nations. There were theories with insufficient proof, but no one knew the exact reason why such patterns could be seen across the lands.
"And knowing him, he must have improved in the past year... I don't know if I can beat him if I limit myself to his level."
Maruboshi thought Takuma was putting himself down because he had been talking about changing his fighting style and wanted to reassure him when he noticed the fire in his eyes. It seemed like he didn't need to say anything.
"Go on then, let's see if you can adapt on the fly," said Maruboshi.
Takuma walked up to Nenro, who waited for him with a smile. Nenro used to have shorter brown hair, but in the year Takuma was away, he had grown his hair and now wore it in a short, low ponytail. His face had lost its baby fat, making his features sharper, but the most significant change in Nenro were his eyes.
They always seemed intelligence to Takuma, but now there was an added layer of wisdom that imparted maturity to his appearance.
"Masaaki said you have gotten stronger," said Nenro.
"I hope you haven't let yourself stagnate with your recent workload," Takuma replied.
He was surprised when he heard that Nenro was leading missions as a genin, but he was also proud of his friend. Out of everyone their age, Nenro was the one who always seemed to have things together the most. While Takuma was frantically juggling drug dealing, the Ring, and then the Police Force—Nenro was taking planned steps, working under several chunin who took different missions to learn as much as he could and build himself a solid foundation.
All of that had paid off now and Nenro was getting the recognition he deserved while he built a jump pad to reach the next stage in his career.
"Fight me to find out," Nenro smiled. "I assume we're going with the full range?"
"It won't be fun otherwise," said Takuma. With Masaaki, their spars were restricted to taijutsu because that's what they enjoyed facing in each other, but with Nenro, he used everything in his arsenal.
Clanking metal sounded as Nenro put his left hand behind his back while he raised his right hand to form the Seal of Confrontation, not even trying to hide that he was pulling out a kunai. The spar had already started, Takuma thought as he looked at Nenro smiling before him. He raised his Seal of Confrontation, too, while chakra trickled into his other hand.
"You can start," said Nenro, pulling a kunai out behind his back.
"No, please, be my guest," said Takuma before remembering that he was supposed to mimic Masaaki and Bishop to find the answers Maruboshi wanted him to seek. He thought about what Bishop would do, and the answer was that he would take control of the fight's momentum by taking the initiative.
"I insist," Nenro smiled.
Takuma shrugged and abruptly made the move first. His body blurred as he shot forward with his arm cocked back, ready to unleash a punch. Nenro was ready and zoomed backwards, not as fast as him, but he compensated by throwing the kunai at his legs.
Takuma skipped to the side to evade the kunai, hopped from one foot and punched out while spinning all in one uninterrupted motion. Chakra Augmentation: Second Form. The ranged blast shot out his fist. A surprised Nenro brought up his guard, but a part of the force hit him square in the chest and threw him off his feet.
This proved that Masaaki hadn't told Nenro about Takuma's new tricks, however, the Second Form augmentation was inspired by Masaaki's range bukijutsu, and Nenro had faced that an ample number of times. Instincts kicked in, and he gained control of his body in mid-air and landed on his hands before pushing off to land on his feet.
Pressure, Takuma repeated the word in his mind like a mantra to keep himself from falling back into his habits.
He weaved hand seals for the Water Release: Wild Water Wave, nostrils filling with humid air as he sprayed out a powerful jet at Nenro, who used the momentum of his backflip to continue retreating. He still got hit by the wave, but had made so much distance that it felt like running full-speed into a heavy door rather than getting hit by a C-rank jutsu.
Takuma's hands rose on instinct. It felt natural to use the Water Release: Eight Tentacles afterd creating a water source, but then he remembered that the same habit had been exploited by Maruboshi two days ago.
More pressure, he thought and shot toward Nenro.
Nenro lost footing when he landed and skidded onto his knees. Before he was even stable, his hands moved rapidly to form seals, but contrary to his expectations, Takuma didn't stop to create his tentacles and charged toward him.
Nenro's brows creased into a frown when he saw that. Two choices lay ahead of him. Abandon the hand seals and get up with enough time to face Takuma or complete the jutsu with the risk of getting throttled into the ground by an augmented strike that was sure to come.
It took him mere milliseconds to make a decision, and he rushed through the hand seals faster.
Takuma arrived before Nenro and pushed out a vicious, augmented front kick. At the exact moment, Nenro finished his hand seals, and the ninjutsu came alive. As Takuma's foot crashed into Nenro's chest, an azure lightning current sparked at the point of contact.
Nenro felt like an elephant had stomped on him, and his body slammed into the ground, creating a local tremor in the field. Takuma, on the other hand, screamed as an intense wave of lightning struck his body from his foot, and he momentarily lost a significant portion of his strength, falling to his knees as his muscles spasmed out of control; he looked down at his hands that were trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"I-I learned that because of you and Masaaki." Takuma looked up to see Nenro getting on his feet with a pained expression as he clutched his chest. Hair-thin currents of lightning sparked across his body at random. Nenro smirked, "Want to experience how it feels to face you? I've got just the thing."
Takuma clenched his fist and punched the ground before getting up. "Oh really? Show it to me then," he said, but at the same time, he wondered what about the jutsu. Other than some lingering pain, he didn't feel much else.
The worrying part was the loss of muscle control.
Nenro raised his hands and attacked Takuma, who moved back while dodging. He couldn't compare with Takuma and Masaaki when it came to taijutsu, but he wasn't a slouch either. He moved quickly with light steps and tried to pry open the opponent's guard with jabs before striking out with combos.
Takuma raised his guard as Nenro struck out with a kick to the thigh and was already set to counter with a body shot when a current jolted through his leg, causing it to spasm. It wasn't bad enough to make him kneel, but he halted, and his other leg had to take over to maintain balance. He forced himself back in control, but in that time, Nenro got in two more hits.
Takuma felt his right shoulder and left forearm momentarily paralysed after sparks of lightning upon contact. This was when he realised Nenro's ninjutsu—and how dangerous it was—he literally couldn't allow Nenro to touch him. He charged his leg with chakra and stomped the ground between them as hard as possible, causing debris to fly and forcing them to back away.
The separation gave Takuma time to think about how to proceed. His initial thought was to go for it and let himself get shocked if he could get the opportunity to punish Nenro, so he wouldn't dare let Takuma come close from the fear of getting punched. But he immediately recognised that he was once again falling back on his habits, a realisation that frustrated him.
If he mimicked Bishop, the correct course of action was to continue pilling up the pressure. He couldn't let Nenro think he was scared of his ninjutsu, and getting aggressive was the best way to accomplish that. But that wasn't an option, so he went the other way to think what Masaaki would do.
Quality over quantity. Takuma's tense shoulders relaxed as he decided to slow down. He needed to judge the situation to come up with the optimal solution. He didn't know what this jutsu was, but there had to be a weakness. However, Takuma also wanted to end the spar quickly, so instead of drawing out the fight to figure things out, he decided to work with what he had.
Touching Nenro was a no-go, so what else could he do?
'Second Form?' thought Takuma before rejecting the idea because he would be too close, and Nenro was skilled enough to make contact with him even with the augmentation.
What else? The answer was apparent. He had the perfect jutsu for ranged damage.
Takuma started by controlling Nenro's movements with shuriken and kunai. Nenro was invested in coming close, but Takuma kept him away using projectile weapons. He even used two weights tied on a string weapon to trip him. Nenro came close a few times, but Takuma managed to keep him at a distance with the threat of the Second Form augmentation.
He could use the Hidden Mist Jutsu to create the opportunity, but he wasn't in the mood to use that, and it could complicate the situation, given that Nenro used Lightning nature and had a few ninjutsu that could put him in trouble.
Nenro, realising what Takuma was trying, stopped chasing and began to form hand seals. Takuma could guess what jutsu Nenro was going to use because of their numerous spars and began to form hand seals as well.
Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder
Earth Release: Earthen Dome
Nenro split his hands after forming the final hand seal, and a wave of lightning currents jumped between his hands. He thrust his hands in Takuma's direction for a surge of powerful lightning to head toward him, ripping the ground in its path into shreds, burning everything it came into contact with.
The earth around Takuma rose to form a dome that began to crumble the moment lightning surge made contact due to the type-disadvantage. At any moment, the lightning could pierce through and strike Takuma, but he didn't escape using the Earth Release: Hiding in the Rock jutsu and trusting his skill with the jutsu would allow it to stand up just long enough for him to mount his counterattack.
Outside the dome, Nenro waited for the dome to crumble so he could send a second surge to strike Takuma. But before the dome could crumble, something pierced through the dome from the inside.
Nenro was hit by three water bullets that had been dulled enough that they wouldn't do any real damage but would hurt like hell. The shock of getting hit three times square in the chest shattered Nenro's concentration on the jutsu and left him clutching his chest from the pain.
The dome crumbled, and Takuma stood up with a water globe floating before his hand. He could still shoot three more times, and the globe was stable. His mastery of the jutsu had increased since he had last used it, and he felt like he had finally reached the bare minimum mastery over Water Release: Spirit Water Wave.
"And that's one win for me," said Takuma as he let go of the jutsu.
He turned to look at Maruboshi and found him smiling on the sideline. Takuma looked back at the fighting, and he had to admit it had gone better than expected. If he was fighting as he usually did, the battle would have turned into one of endurance to see who could take the most damage before giving in.
"Alright... I'll give this adjustment thing a legit try," he whispered.
On the sidelines, Maruboshi's smile widened.
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 pain was good because it represented growth, but that didn't mean he had to like waking up in agony at the slightest twitch.
"It was a boon that you chose Masaaki as your first sparring partner," said Maruboshi as they stood in the same field the following day.
"How so?" asked Takuma as he stretched with his weighted gear on.
"Because his combat style is similar to yours, you have an example you can draw from. You said Masaaki and another man known as Masumoto inspired your fighting style. I want you to mimic them. Try out what they do and see how you feel."
"That doesn't make sense," Takuma replied. "Both of them are willing to trade damage."
"I don't know about the other one, but Masaaki only traded damage when he thought he absolutely needed to. You go into fights knowing you'll trade damage. They do it for a reason; you don't."
Takuma touched his toes and thought about the two other fighters.
Masumoto was Bishop's real name; they had only fought twice, so he wasn't sure about the man's philosophy, but if he had to infer, Bishop wanted his opponent to feel stifling pressure throughout the fight; all of his decisions were geared toward that single goal.
As for Masaaki, he preferred to linger around and wait till he could get a devastating strike and believed in quality rather than quantity of attacks.
Maruboshi continued, "Since they inspired you, why not try mimicking them and see if you can find answers on how to further your own approach to combat."
Takuma didn't think there was anything wrong with his style, but he kept that thought to himself and glanced a few steps away from him where Nenro was doing his warm up routine.
"I'm happy to help with anything," Nenro had said with a blinding smile when Takuma requested he be his sparring partner.
Takuma couldn't help but sigh at his friend's good looks; those same looks had made him immensely popular. He, on the other hand, had made a baby cry when he was out grocery shopping—his new scar apparently made him look like he was itching for a fight.
Nenro was his second invite after Masaaki. The two were different but equally skilled fighters, and Nenro had insisted on helping him even though he was swamped and liked to relax during his free time.
"Let's start with the first round," said Maruboshi, looking between the two of them.
Nenro nodded and sprinted to a tree on the other side of the field to finish his warmup.
Maruboshi noticed Takuma gazing at his friend with a sombre expression and asked if something was wrong.
"When I first met them, Masaaki used to be tougher to fight. Now that I fight like him, he's easier to handle—but Nenro has become a more challenging opponent." Takuma was stronger, but if he limited himself to Nenro's level, the spars were some of the most challenging he had fought and that included the brutality he faced within the Ring. "He's my perfect counter when it comes to ninjutsu... Lightning trumps both Water and Earth."
"Lightning, that's rare," said Maruboshi. The Land of Fire got its name because a majority of the country's natives had the Fire nature as their primary affinity. Similar patterns could be seen in other major nations. There were theories with insufficient proof, but no one knew the exact reason why such patterns could be seen across the lands.
"And knowing him, he must have improved in the past year... I don't know if I can beat him if I limit myself to his level."
Maruboshi thought Takuma was putting himself down because he had been talking about changing his fighting style and wanted to reassure him when he noticed the fire in his eyes. It seemed like he didn't need to say anything.
"Go on then, let's see if you can adapt on the fly," said Maruboshi.
Takuma walked up to Nenro, who waited for him with a smile. Nenro used to have shorter brown hair, but in the year Takuma was away, he had grown his hair and now wore it in a short, low ponytail. His face had lost its baby fat, making his features sharper, but the most significant change in Nenro were his eyes.
They always seemed intelligence to Takuma, but now there was an added layer of wisdom that imparted maturity to his appearance.
"Masaaki said you have gotten stronger," said Nenro.
"I hope you haven't let yourself stagnate with your recent workload," Takuma replied.
He was surprised when he heard that Nenro was leading missions as a genin, but he was also proud of his friend. Out of everyone their age, Nenro was the one who always seemed to have things together the most. While Takuma was frantically juggling drug dealing, the Ring, and then the Police Force—Nenro was taking planned steps, working under several chunin who took different missions to learn as much as he could and build himself a solid foundation.
All of that had paid off now and Nenro was getting the recognition he deserved while he built a jump pad to reach the next stage in his career.
"Fight me to find out," Nenro smiled. "I assume we're going with the full range?"
"It won't be fun otherwise," said Takuma. With Masaaki, their spars were restricted to taijutsu because that's what they enjoyed facing in each other, but with Nenro, he used everything in his arsenal.
Clanking metal sounded as Nenro put his left hand behind his back while he raised his right hand to form the Seal of Confrontation, not even trying to hide that he was pulling out a kunai. The spar had already started, Takuma thought as he looked at Nenro smiling before him. He raised his Seal of Confrontation, too, while chakra trickled into his other hand.
"You can start," said Nenro, pulling a kunai out behind his back.
"No, please, be my guest," said Takuma before remembering that he was supposed to mimic Masaaki and Bishop to find the answers Maruboshi wanted him to seek. He thought about what Bishop would do, and the answer was that he would take control of the fight's momentum by taking the initiative.
"I insist," Nenro smiled.
Takuma shrugged and abruptly made the move first. His body blurred as he shot forward with his arm cocked back, ready to unleash a punch. Nenro was ready and zoomed backwards, not as fast as him, but he compensated by throwing the kunai at his legs.
Takuma skipped to the side to evade the kunai, hopped from one foot and punched out while spinning all in one uninterrupted motion. Chakra Augmentation: Second Form. The ranged blast shot out his fist. A surprised Nenro brought up his guard, but a part of the force hit him square in the chest and threw him off his feet.
This proved that Masaaki hadn't told Nenro about Takuma's new tricks, however, the Second Form augmentation was inspired by Masaaki's range bukijutsu, and Nenro had faced that an ample number of times. Instincts kicked in, and he gained control of his body in mid-air and landed on his hands before pushing off to land on his feet.
Pressure, Takuma repeated the word in his mind like a mantra to keep himself from falling back into his habits.
He weaved hand seals for the Water Release: Wild Water Wave, nostrils filling with humid air as he sprayed out a powerful jet at Nenro, who used the momentum of his backflip to continue retreating. He still got hit by the wave, but had made so much distance that it felt like running full-speed into a heavy door rather than getting hit by a C-rank jutsu.
Takuma's hands rose on instinct. It felt natural to use the Water Release: Eight Tentacles afterd creating a water source, but then he remembered that the same habit had been exploited by Maruboshi two days ago.
More pressure, he thought and shot toward Nenro.
Nenro lost footing when he landed and skidded onto his knees. Before he was even stable, his hands moved rapidly to form seals, but contrary to his expectations, Takuma didn't stop to create his tentacles and charged toward him.
Nenro's brows creased into a frown when he saw that. Two choices lay ahead of him. Abandon the hand seals and get up with enough time to face Takuma or complete the jutsu with the risk of getting throttled into the ground by an augmented strike that was sure to come.
It took him mere milliseconds to make a decision, and he rushed through the hand seals faster.
Takuma arrived before Nenro and pushed out a vicious, augmented front kick. At the exact moment, Nenro finished his hand seals, and the ninjutsu came alive. As Takuma's foot crashed into Nenro's chest, an azure lightning current sparked at the point of contact.
Nenro felt like an elephant had stomped on him, and his body slammed into the ground, creating a local tremor in the field. Takuma, on the other hand, screamed as an intense wave of lightning struck his body from his foot, and he momentarily lost a significant portion of his strength, falling to his knees as his muscles spasmed out of control; he looked down at his hands that were trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"I-I learned that because of you and Masaaki." Takuma looked up to see Nenro getting on his feet with a pained expression as he clutched his chest. Hair-thin currents of lightning sparked across his body at random. Nenro smirked, "Want to experience how it feels to face you? I've got just the thing."
Takuma clenched his fist and punched the ground before getting up. "Oh really? Show it to me then," he said, but at the same time, he wondered what about the jutsu. Other than some lingering pain, he didn't feel much else.
The worrying part was the loss of muscle control.
Nenro raised his hands and attacked Takuma, who moved back while dodging. He couldn't compare with Takuma and Masaaki when it came to taijutsu, but he wasn't a slouch either. He moved quickly with light steps and tried to pry open the opponent's guard with jabs before striking out with combos.
Takuma raised his guard as Nenro struck out with a kick to the thigh and was already set to counter with a body shot when a current jolted through his leg, causing it to spasm. It wasn't bad enough to make him kneel, but he halted, and his other leg had to take over to maintain balance. He forced himself back in control, but in that time, Nenro got in two more hits.
Takuma felt his right shoulder and left forearm momentarily paralysed after sparks of lightning upon contact. This was when he realised Nenro's ninjutsu—and how dangerous it was—he literally couldn't allow Nenro to touch him. He charged his leg with chakra and stomped the ground between them as hard as possible, causing debris to fly and forcing them to back away.
The separation gave Takuma time to think about how to proceed. His initial thought was to go for it and let himself get shocked if he could get the opportunity to punish Nenro, so he wouldn't dare let Takuma come close from the fear of getting punched. But he immediately recognised that he was once again falling back on his habits, a realisation that frustrated him.
If he mimicked Bishop, the correct course of action was to continue pilling up the pressure. He couldn't let Nenro think he was scared of his ninjutsu, and getting aggressive was the best way to accomplish that. But that wasn't an option, so he went the other way to think what Masaaki would do.
Quality over quantity. Takuma's tense shoulders relaxed as he decided to slow down. He needed to judge the situation to come up with the optimal solution. He didn't know what this jutsu was, but there had to be a weakness. However, Takuma also wanted to end the spar quickly, so instead of drawing out the fight to figure things out, he decided to work with what he had.
Touching Nenro was a no-go, so what else could he do?
'Second Form?' thought Takuma before rejecting the idea because he would be too close, and Nenro was skilled enough to make contact with him even with the augmentation.
What else? The answer was apparent. He had the perfect jutsu for ranged damage.
Takuma started by controlling Nenro's movements with shuriken and kunai. Nenro was invested in coming close, but Takuma kept him away using projectile weapons. He even used two weights tied on a string weapon to trip him. Nenro came close a few times, but Takuma managed to keep him at a distance with the threat of the Second Form augmentation.
He could use the Hidden Mist Jutsu to create the opportunity, but he wasn't in the mood to use that, and it could complicate the situation, given that Nenro used Lightning nature and had a few ninjutsu that could put him in trouble.
Nenro, realising what Takuma was trying, stopped chasing and began to form hand seals. Takuma could guess what jutsu Nenro was going to use because of their numerous spars and began to form hand seals as well.
Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder
Earth Release: Earthen Dome
Nenro split his hands after forming the final hand seal, and a wave of lightning currents jumped between his hands. He thrust his hands in Takuma's direction for a surge of powerful lightning to head toward him, ripping the ground in its path into shreds, burning everything it came into contact with.
The earth around Takuma rose to form a dome that began to crumble the moment lightning surge made contact due to the type-disadvantage. At any moment, the lightning could pierce through and strike Takuma, but he didn't escape using the Earth Release: Hiding in the Rock jutsu and trusting his skill with the jutsu would allow it to stand up just long enough for him to mount his counterattack.
Outside the dome, Nenro waited for the dome to crumble so he could send a second surge to strike Takuma. But before the dome could crumble, something pierced through the dome from the inside.
Nenro was hit by three water bullets that had been dulled enough that they wouldn't do any real damage but would hurt like hell. The shock of getting hit three times square in the chest shattered Nenro's concentration on the jutsu and left him clutching his chest from the pain.
The dome crumbled, and Takuma stood up with a water globe floating before his hand. He could still shoot three more times, and the globe was stable. His mastery of the jutsu had increased since he had last used it, and he felt like he had finally reached the bare minimum mastery over Water Release: Spirit Water Wave.
"And that's one win for me," said Takuma as he let go of the jutsu.
He turned to look at Maruboshi and found him smiling on the sideline. Takuma looked back at the fighting, and he had to admit it had gone better than expected. If he was fighting as he usually did, the battle would have turned into one of endurance to see who could take the most damage before giving in.
"Alright... I'll give this adjustment thing a legit try," he whispered.
On the sidelines, Maruboshi's smile widened.
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Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
CH_8.22 (287)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Uchiha Fugaku returned home from a tough day at work to find his wife humming a merry tune in the living room with a smile. Mikoto was sitting on a tarp she had laid out in the room and cleaning her shinobi gear that had been in storage for years.
"I'm home," said Fugaku as he entered the room and walked behind her. "This is unexpected."
"Welcome back," Mikoto smiled.
Fugaku caught the shuriken she tossed at him. It looked freshly coated with oil to prevent the metal from reacting with moisture and developing rust. "May I ask what's the occasion?" His experience turned severe. "Is it a mission?"
Mikoto was a jonin of the Hidden Leaf in the reserve forces, which meant she was retired but was still employed by the village and would answer the call if they required her. There were enough shinobi in the village that they didn't need to call upon retired ones. Mikoto had only been called up once since she had retired—it was a rare enough occurrence that the mission specifically required someone with her skillset.
"There's no mission." Mikoto smiled, "I've been invited to a spar!"
"Sparring?" asked Fugaku, confused.
"Isn't it exciting? It's been so long since I've got an opportunity to move around," Mikoto smiled brightly before gazing at her husband. "I wonder when we stopped sparring with each other?"
Fugaku sat beside her on the tarp with a sigh. "I believe the last time we sparred was just before the Third War was declared."
"That was such a long time ago," she sighed. "Itachi was still a little boy back then."
Fugaku nodded, a certain memory passed through his mind of Itachi in his arms as they walked around a battlefield fresh after a skirmish. His eldest son had seen the truth of the world that day, shaping him into the man his son was now. Perhaps that event was also why his son chose to betray their clan; he could understand why Itachi did what he did, but it didn't change the fact that he conspired with outsiders, putting the clan in danger.
He verified the information in the letter they received when Shisui died. Itachi confessed everything to be true. Fugaku and Mikoto decided to hide the existence of the actual letter and forged a false one, which was presented to the Uchiha clan. In doing so, they had done the same thing as Itachi, but there was no regret because it was a parent's duty to protect their children.
Since that day, he had tried his hardest to find the letter's author, but they had run into dead-ends everywhere. Their search continued, but a year passed, and the trail grew cold every passing day. There would've been hope if they had a clue, but there was nothing they could latch onto.
"Who are you sparring with?" asked Fugaku.
"Takuma."
Fugaku hummed. He thought someone from the clan had invited her to spar, but it made seeing that Takuma was her student.
"Speaking of your student, Setsuna has been going around to get the boy a rank promotion... His contract ends in a few weeks, and he has some demands before he signs an extension," said Fugaku.
It had only been a few days, but the news of Setsuna meeting with different department heads and their deputies to see if they would be interested in having Takuma in their departments as a chunin.
As the Head of the Leaf Military Police Force, he tracked internal promotions,however, the department heads had primary authority over who they wished to promote. Interfering in their decisions wasn't his place, though he could influence their decisions even if he preferred not to.
"Apparently, he wants a B-rank jutsu and his choice of assignments," said Fugaku. He didn't know the exact details as he had yet met Setsuna, but it would happen soon enough.
"Do you think he'll get a promotion?" asked Mikoto as she checked the stitching on her thigh pouch.
"Yes, that's not a problem," said Fugaku. He recognised Takuma's value as a shinobi and his contribution to the Police Force; it wasn't hard to get him a rank promotion—the problem came with his demands and placement after promotion.
Allowing someone access to B-rank jutsu was a significant decision, even for clans as big as the Uchiha and the party which permitted access to the B-rank jutsu was held responsible in case something went wrong. When the village allowed someone access to the B-rank archives, there was a great deal of due diligence to ensure the shinobi was ready for the responsibility.
The clans were allowed the freedom to open their personal jutsu archives to anyone they desired without state interference—but they were held responsible if the shinobi caused trouble. However, that wasn't an issue. The real problem was creating a precedent. If the Police Force gave Takuma a B-rank jutsu, that opened the gates for the affiliated clans to demand the same. The affiliated clans were smaller in size and history, and while they had jutsu archives of their own, they were limited. Many people from the Land of Fire shared Fire as their primary affinity, which caused many clans' jutsu archives to be filled with Fire Release ninjutsu.
This created problems when someone had a different primary affinity and even if they had Fire as their primary affinity, mastery over two natures was a jonin requirement—which was where apex clans like the Uchiha with rich and diverse history and expansive jutsu archives came into play.
In return for allowing the affiliated clans access to their jutsu archive, the Uchiha clan received their loyalty and support. This access had to be strictly controlled to maintain the power dynamic, so allowing Takuma a B-rank jutsu right after his promotion could shift that dynamic and create dissatisfaction among allied clans if they weren't given the same treatment.
That was the only part of the problem. Takuma had demanded his choice of assignments, which was more difficult in some ways because it could create dissatisfaction wherever Takuma lands due to the favourable treatment. Ultimately, it was the department head's call, but Fugaku was concerned it would negatively affect the outlook towards the new wave of external hires.
"Retaining him is the obvious option; the question is if he'll accept what we can realistically offer him. There won't be a problem if he's willing to wait as we spread his demands apart—but I don't think he'll be willing to," said Fugaku.
Mikoto stopped stress-testing the weapons pouch and rested it in her lap.
"I offered him a rank promotion in return for swearing fealty to the clan a few days back," she said.
As a jonin of the clan, Mikoto had all the right to bring someone into the clan. Fugaku was surprised because it was the first time she had shown enough interest in someone to bring someone into the clan. What had started as Mikoto wanting to fill her free time had turned into a relationship close enough for her to invite her student into the clan.
"What did he say?"
"That he'll think about it," she replied. "You're not to share this with anyone until he gives me an answer. I don't want this to influence the process at the Police Force."
Fugaku sighed because his knowledge of it already influenced the decision. In truth, Takuma becoming affiliated with the clan would slash all barriers at the Police Force and make it easier for them to award him because they could justify his rewards.
However, there was an opposite effect where it would seem like the promotion at the Police Force was contingent on him joining the clan—which could send all the wrong signals to Takuma, who could very well assume that they wanted him to swear allegiance to the clan if he wanted to succeed at the Police Force.
If that happened, that would shatter any future beyond repair.
"Do you think he will accept?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. He seemed surprised by the offer, but I couldn't tell if he was interested or not... which was strange."
"How so?"
"He has been quite vocal about seeking a rank promotion long before his deployment to the Steam-Frost war. As far as he's concerned, there's no certainty in the Police Force promotion, so I thought he would react more to an offer that was pretty much guaranteed a promotion, but he was surprisingly passive about it. I didn't expect him to jump out of his spot in joy, but I thought he would react in some way... but he didn't, which makes me wonder..."
"What?" asked Fugaku, curious.
"... That maybe he has an offer somewhere else and is confident he'll get it," said Mikoto.
"Hasn't he only been back for less than two weeks?"
"I'm only speculating... He told me that his chunin-in-command out there was Mitarashi Anko."
"That seems familiar." Fugaku searched for the name in his memories and quickly arrived at the answer. "Orochimaru's pupil?" From his memories, Mitarashi Anko had been on a hot streak as a rising star in the Hidden Leaf until Orochimaru's defection and his subsequent branding as a high-threat rogue, which had sapped all momentum due to her association with the Snake Sannin.
She nodded.
"What about her?" he asked.
"She's joining the Torture and Interrogation Department."
"You think they're interested in Takuma?"
"If they weren't from his time at the Narcotics Taskforce, they would be after what he did in the war."
Fugaku then recalled the grape wine conversation he had heard about the Narcotics Taskforce and how they regularly invited an interrogator from the T&I Department for tougher interrogations. It wouldn't be strange that Takuma had developed a relationship with T&I during that time, making them interested in having him come over to their side.
"What did he do during the war?" asked Fugaku.
"I think it'd be better if you get that from his mission file," Mikoto said, picking up the cloth roll to wrap the handles of the kunai.
Getting a mission file from the war commission was a hectic process because of the red tape involved, but as the Head of the Police Force and the Uchiha clan leader, Fugaku could easily obtain the file. He gazed at his wife and realised that her relationship with her student was closer than he thought if she directed him to another source instead of telling him herself.
It also made him wonder what Takuma had done out there in the war.
———
.
Mitarashi Anko wasn't a stranger to nervousness. It had been a part of her life since her former teacher had gone rogue after committing horrendous crimes. Her association with him had permanently tainted her life, and she had been paying the price ever since.
However, she felt the time had finally changed now that she had officially joined the Leaf Torture and Interrogation Department. They had recruited her before she was deployed for the Steam-Frost war, but the deployment had delayed her joining. She had completed her onboarding and was finally ready to get into the groove of things and establish herself in her new place of work.
"Anko, the boss wants to see you!"
"I'll be right there!" Anko responded as she set up her desk.
Unlike what people thought, the Leaf T&I Department wasn't a depressing dungeon full of horrors with barred prison cells and screams behind every door. It was a bog-standard office place where people would feel comfortable coming to work every day.
Even though the T&I Department was part of the larger Leaf Intelligence Division, they had a separate headquarters for functional reasons, situated across the street from the village prison, and the department members went to the prison for interrogations to eliminate any travel-based security risks; it was also in the same part of the village as the Leaf Military Police Force headquarters and the Uchiha Compound.
Anko reached the Head of the T&I Department's office and nodded to the secretary sitting outside, who told her to head inside. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and stepping inside to see two people waiting for he.
"Come in," said the man sitting behind the desk in the office.
The T&I Department's leadership changed a little over a year and a half ago. The department welcomed Tokubetsu Jonin Morino Ibiki, a seasoned shinobi who had spent all of his career in the Leaf Intelligence Division, working in its various departments before settling in the T&I Department.
He was a large, imposing figure, which he complemented with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars hidden behind his cap-like forehead protector.
The second person was Tokubetsu Jonin Oishi Yori, a tall woman with black shoulder-length hair and sharp eyes who had piercing looks as though she was always trying to look through the people before her. She had risen in power after Ibiki had taken his position as the head of the department was now one of his second-in-commands.
Like Ibiki, she had been in the Leaf Intelligence Division for most of her career, having spent most of it in the T&I Division.
"You wanted to see me, boss?" asked Anko. She appreciated Ibiki because he had hired her and had shown no prejudice because of her past, unlike many who rejected her before even getting to know her.
"Where's your uniform, Chunin Anko?" asked Ibiki.
He and Yori were wearing the standard uniform of the Leaf Intelligence Division as mandated.
"It's not my style, boss," Anko replied. She didn't like uniforms and preferred dressing to express herself. And it felt great to wear her wardrobe again after over a year of wearing uniform; there was no way she would wear the same uniform just when she returned home.
"Make sure that you wear it starting tomorrow," said Ibiki.
Anko didn't nod or say anything because she wasn't going to wear the uniform.
"Chunin Anko, we called you here because we are considering hiring someone for our department," said Yori, motioning for Anko to sit down beside her. "You know them, and we were wondering if you could tell us about your experience with them."
"Someone from the other departments?" asked Anko as she sat down. She knew a few people in the Leaf Intelligence Division and wondered who they were trying to pull into the department.
"It's someone from outside the division," said Ibiki, pushing a file across the desk.
Anko saw the photograph in the open file and saw Takuma dressed in the Police Force uniform.
"It's your recent subordinate in the Steam-Frost war, Genin Takuma. Yori has worked with him several times and thinks he will be a good fit for us. Yori's son is a good friend of Takuma; from what we have been told, his relationship with the Police Force isn't at its best currently, and seeing that his contract with the Police Force is set to expire, we are considering snatching him up. What do you think?"
Anko stared at the photo for a moment before nodding with a smile, "You're correct; he'll be a great fit... There's a lot I can tell you; what do you want to know?"
"Start from the beginning."
She took a seat and got comfortable, tapping a finger to her chin as she tried to figure out the best way to sell Takuma to her new boss.
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'm home," said Fugaku as he entered the room and walked behind her. "This is unexpected."
"Welcome back," Mikoto smiled.
Fugaku caught the shuriken she tossed at him. It looked freshly coated with oil to prevent the metal from reacting with moisture and developing rust. "May I ask what's the occasion?" His experience turned severe. "Is it a mission?"
Mikoto was a jonin of the Hidden Leaf in the reserve forces, which meant she was retired but was still employed by the village and would answer the call if they required her. There were enough shinobi in the village that they didn't need to call upon retired ones. Mikoto had only been called up once since she had retired—it was a rare enough occurrence that the mission specifically required someone with her skillset.
"There's no mission." Mikoto smiled, "I've been invited to a spar!"
"Sparring?" asked Fugaku, confused.
"Isn't it exciting? It's been so long since I've got an opportunity to move around," Mikoto smiled brightly before gazing at her husband. "I wonder when we stopped sparring with each other?"
Fugaku sat beside her on the tarp with a sigh. "I believe the last time we sparred was just before the Third War was declared."
"That was such a long time ago," she sighed. "Itachi was still a little boy back then."
Fugaku nodded, a certain memory passed through his mind of Itachi in his arms as they walked around a battlefield fresh after a skirmish. His eldest son had seen the truth of the world that day, shaping him into the man his son was now. Perhaps that event was also why his son chose to betray their clan; he could understand why Itachi did what he did, but it didn't change the fact that he conspired with outsiders, putting the clan in danger.
He verified the information in the letter they received when Shisui died. Itachi confessed everything to be true. Fugaku and Mikoto decided to hide the existence of the actual letter and forged a false one, which was presented to the Uchiha clan. In doing so, they had done the same thing as Itachi, but there was no regret because it was a parent's duty to protect their children.
Since that day, he had tried his hardest to find the letter's author, but they had run into dead-ends everywhere. Their search continued, but a year passed, and the trail grew cold every passing day. There would've been hope if they had a clue, but there was nothing they could latch onto.
"Who are you sparring with?" asked Fugaku.
"Takuma."
Fugaku hummed. He thought someone from the clan had invited her to spar, but it made seeing that Takuma was her student.
"Speaking of your student, Setsuna has been going around to get the boy a rank promotion... His contract ends in a few weeks, and he has some demands before he signs an extension," said Fugaku.
It had only been a few days, but the news of Setsuna meeting with different department heads and their deputies to see if they would be interested in having Takuma in their departments as a chunin.
As the Head of the Leaf Military Police Force, he tracked internal promotions,however, the department heads had primary authority over who they wished to promote. Interfering in their decisions wasn't his place, though he could influence their decisions even if he preferred not to.
"Apparently, he wants a B-rank jutsu and his choice of assignments," said Fugaku. He didn't know the exact details as he had yet met Setsuna, but it would happen soon enough.
"Do you think he'll get a promotion?" asked Mikoto as she checked the stitching on her thigh pouch.
"Yes, that's not a problem," said Fugaku. He recognised Takuma's value as a shinobi and his contribution to the Police Force; it wasn't hard to get him a rank promotion—the problem came with his demands and placement after promotion.
Allowing someone access to B-rank jutsu was a significant decision, even for clans as big as the Uchiha and the party which permitted access to the B-rank jutsu was held responsible in case something went wrong. When the village allowed someone access to the B-rank archives, there was a great deal of due diligence to ensure the shinobi was ready for the responsibility.
The clans were allowed the freedom to open their personal jutsu archives to anyone they desired without state interference—but they were held responsible if the shinobi caused trouble. However, that wasn't an issue. The real problem was creating a precedent. If the Police Force gave Takuma a B-rank jutsu, that opened the gates for the affiliated clans to demand the same. The affiliated clans were smaller in size and history, and while they had jutsu archives of their own, they were limited. Many people from the Land of Fire shared Fire as their primary affinity, which caused many clans' jutsu archives to be filled with Fire Release ninjutsu.
This created problems when someone had a different primary affinity and even if they had Fire as their primary affinity, mastery over two natures was a jonin requirement—which was where apex clans like the Uchiha with rich and diverse history and expansive jutsu archives came into play.
In return for allowing the affiliated clans access to their jutsu archive, the Uchiha clan received their loyalty and support. This access had to be strictly controlled to maintain the power dynamic, so allowing Takuma a B-rank jutsu right after his promotion could shift that dynamic and create dissatisfaction among allied clans if they weren't given the same treatment.
That was the only part of the problem. Takuma had demanded his choice of assignments, which was more difficult in some ways because it could create dissatisfaction wherever Takuma lands due to the favourable treatment. Ultimately, it was the department head's call, but Fugaku was concerned it would negatively affect the outlook towards the new wave of external hires.
"Retaining him is the obvious option; the question is if he'll accept what we can realistically offer him. There won't be a problem if he's willing to wait as we spread his demands apart—but I don't think he'll be willing to," said Fugaku.
Mikoto stopped stress-testing the weapons pouch and rested it in her lap.
"I offered him a rank promotion in return for swearing fealty to the clan a few days back," she said.
As a jonin of the clan, Mikoto had all the right to bring someone into the clan. Fugaku was surprised because it was the first time she had shown enough interest in someone to bring someone into the clan. What had started as Mikoto wanting to fill her free time had turned into a relationship close enough for her to invite her student into the clan.
"What did he say?"
"That he'll think about it," she replied. "You're not to share this with anyone until he gives me an answer. I don't want this to influence the process at the Police Force."
Fugaku sighed because his knowledge of it already influenced the decision. In truth, Takuma becoming affiliated with the clan would slash all barriers at the Police Force and make it easier for them to award him because they could justify his rewards.
However, there was an opposite effect where it would seem like the promotion at the Police Force was contingent on him joining the clan—which could send all the wrong signals to Takuma, who could very well assume that they wanted him to swear allegiance to the clan if he wanted to succeed at the Police Force.
If that happened, that would shatter any future beyond repair.
"Do you think he will accept?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. He seemed surprised by the offer, but I couldn't tell if he was interested or not... which was strange."
"How so?"
"He has been quite vocal about seeking a rank promotion long before his deployment to the Steam-Frost war. As far as he's concerned, there's no certainty in the Police Force promotion, so I thought he would react more to an offer that was pretty much guaranteed a promotion, but he was surprisingly passive about it. I didn't expect him to jump out of his spot in joy, but I thought he would react in some way... but he didn't, which makes me wonder..."
"What?" asked Fugaku, curious.
"... That maybe he has an offer somewhere else and is confident he'll get it," said Mikoto.
"Hasn't he only been back for less than two weeks?"
"I'm only speculating... He told me that his chunin-in-command out there was Mitarashi Anko."
"That seems familiar." Fugaku searched for the name in his memories and quickly arrived at the answer. "Orochimaru's pupil?" From his memories, Mitarashi Anko had been on a hot streak as a rising star in the Hidden Leaf until Orochimaru's defection and his subsequent branding as a high-threat rogue, which had sapped all momentum due to her association with the Snake Sannin.
She nodded.
"What about her?" he asked.
"She's joining the Torture and Interrogation Department."
"You think they're interested in Takuma?"
"If they weren't from his time at the Narcotics Taskforce, they would be after what he did in the war."
Fugaku then recalled the grape wine conversation he had heard about the Narcotics Taskforce and how they regularly invited an interrogator from the T&I Department for tougher interrogations. It wouldn't be strange that Takuma had developed a relationship with T&I during that time, making them interested in having him come over to their side.
"What did he do during the war?" asked Fugaku.
"I think it'd be better if you get that from his mission file," Mikoto said, picking up the cloth roll to wrap the handles of the kunai.
Getting a mission file from the war commission was a hectic process because of the red tape involved, but as the Head of the Police Force and the Uchiha clan leader, Fugaku could easily obtain the file. He gazed at his wife and realised that her relationship with her student was closer than he thought if she directed him to another source instead of telling him herself.
It also made him wonder what Takuma had done out there in the war.
———
.
Mitarashi Anko wasn't a stranger to nervousness. It had been a part of her life since her former teacher had gone rogue after committing horrendous crimes. Her association with him had permanently tainted her life, and she had been paying the price ever since.
However, she felt the time had finally changed now that she had officially joined the Leaf Torture and Interrogation Department. They had recruited her before she was deployed for the Steam-Frost war, but the deployment had delayed her joining. She had completed her onboarding and was finally ready to get into the groove of things and establish herself in her new place of work.
"Anko, the boss wants to see you!"
"I'll be right there!" Anko responded as she set up her desk.
Unlike what people thought, the Leaf T&I Department wasn't a depressing dungeon full of horrors with barred prison cells and screams behind every door. It was a bog-standard office place where people would feel comfortable coming to work every day.
Even though the T&I Department was part of the larger Leaf Intelligence Division, they had a separate headquarters for functional reasons, situated across the street from the village prison, and the department members went to the prison for interrogations to eliminate any travel-based security risks; it was also in the same part of the village as the Leaf Military Police Force headquarters and the Uchiha Compound.
Anko reached the Head of the T&I Department's office and nodded to the secretary sitting outside, who told her to head inside. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and stepping inside to see two people waiting for he.
"Come in," said the man sitting behind the desk in the office.
The T&I Department's leadership changed a little over a year and a half ago. The department welcomed Tokubetsu Jonin Morino Ibiki, a seasoned shinobi who had spent all of his career in the Leaf Intelligence Division, working in its various departments before settling in the T&I Department.
He was a large, imposing figure, which he complemented with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars hidden behind his cap-like forehead protector.
The second person was Tokubetsu Jonin Oishi Yori, a tall woman with black shoulder-length hair and sharp eyes who had piercing looks as though she was always trying to look through the people before her. She had risen in power after Ibiki had taken his position as the head of the department was now one of his second-in-commands.
Like Ibiki, she had been in the Leaf Intelligence Division for most of her career, having spent most of it in the T&I Division.
"You wanted to see me, boss?" asked Anko. She appreciated Ibiki because he had hired her and had shown no prejudice because of her past, unlike many who rejected her before even getting to know her.
"Where's your uniform, Chunin Anko?" asked Ibiki.
He and Yori were wearing the standard uniform of the Leaf Intelligence Division as mandated.
"It's not my style, boss," Anko replied. She didn't like uniforms and preferred dressing to express herself. And it felt great to wear her wardrobe again after over a year of wearing uniform; there was no way she would wear the same uniform just when she returned home.
"Make sure that you wear it starting tomorrow," said Ibiki.
Anko didn't nod or say anything because she wasn't going to wear the uniform.
"Chunin Anko, we called you here because we are considering hiring someone for our department," said Yori, motioning for Anko to sit down beside her. "You know them, and we were wondering if you could tell us about your experience with them."
"Someone from the other departments?" asked Anko as she sat down. She knew a few people in the Leaf Intelligence Division and wondered who they were trying to pull into the department.
"It's someone from outside the division," said Ibiki, pushing a file across the desk.
Anko saw the photograph in the open file and saw Takuma dressed in the Police Force uniform.
"It's your recent subordinate in the Steam-Frost war, Genin Takuma. Yori has worked with him several times and thinks he will be a good fit for us. Yori's son is a good friend of Takuma; from what we have been told, his relationship with the Police Force isn't at its best currently, and seeing that his contract with the Police Force is set to expire, we are considering snatching him up. What do you think?"
Anko stared at the photo for a moment before nodding with a smile, "You're correct; he'll be a great fit... There's a lot I can tell you; what do you want to know?"
"Start from the beginning."
She took a seat and got comfortable, tapping a finger to her chin as she tried to figure out the best way to sell Takuma to her new boss.
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_8.23 (288)
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Maruboshi had Takuma take a one-day break from sparring and go through a tough day of physical conditioning. He could tell that Takuma had figured something out after his fight with Nenro, and he wanted to give him time to gather his thoughts before he let him explore it.
His goal wasn't to see Takuma change his combat style—one week was too short to see mass changes—but he wanted to kickstart the process. Somewhere along the line, Takuma had stopped experimenting with his combat style, and while that allowed him to solidify his style and gain depth and experience, Maruboshi's opinion was that he had stopped at the wrong time. Right now, he was too inexperienced and young to stop progressing his fighting style.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maruboshi Kosuke. I am Uchiha Mikoto, a jonin of the Hidden Leaf," said Mikoto with an elegant bow, her grace evident in every movement. She wore a white shirt with a faint light blue shuriken print design and flared sleeves paired with dark blue, puffy hakama-style pants. Her hands were covered by worn-out leather gloves, and she held a sheathed sword.
"The honour is mine, Lady Uchiha. Your war exploits in the Land of Rivers against the Stone shinobi precede you," Maruboshi said, polite and humble as always.
In her youth, Mikoto participated in a drawn-out conflict between Leaf and Stone in the Land of Rivers, where she earned achievements that propelled her to the esteemed rank of jonin. When Takuma met her, he went into the archives to learn about her past, and she was prominently present in in the filed on the conflict.
Mikoto humbly smiled before turning to Takuma, which was when her smile widened. "Thank you for inviting me to spar, Takuma. It's been so long since I've done this that I'm quite excited!"
He returned the smile with a smaller, more humble one. "I hope fighting me won't be disappointing for someone at your level."
"...Well, I am rusty, but I don't believe I'll lose, even if I fight at your level," said Mikoto with a smirk.
Maruboshi glanced at Takuma. His student was usually calm, but he never backed down when it came to combat-related provocations. It was a sense of pride he had developed from his time as a prizefighter.
"I'm going to have you take those words back," said Takuma, tilting his chin up.
"I don't think so," smiled Mikoto before skipping away to start her warm-up.
Maruboshi was happy that Takuma had such a good relationship with another mentor figure.. He worked too much, so he didn't have too many friends, and his personality didn't lend itself to making many friends, which was why Maruboshi was happy whenever he formed close relationships with people.
"Why did you want me to fight her?" Takuma asked him.
"Because she's overwhelmingly stronger than you," Maruboshi answered. He wanted Takuma to fight someone who he wouldn't be able to beat no matter what he did. He was supposed to be that opponent, but when Takuma proposed inviting Mikoto, he agreed because she would be a better option. "Even think of trading damage with her; she will make you regret it. You're facing an opponent who outclasses you in everything from weapons to experience. Everything you throw at her is bound to fail. You aren't going to win, so you might very well take the opportunity to try out new things."
Even if Mikoto were to bring herself down to Takuma's physical level, there was a gulf of skill and experience between them that was too wide to bridge. Even though he had essentially said that winning was impossible, he knew Takuma wouldn't accept it—it wasn't in his nature, and he would try to win until the bitter end.
Maruboshi understood Takuma, so he knew he would also treat his warning as a provocation, so he decided to pour oil into the fire. "If you can force her to use the Sharingan, I'll give you the win."
Takuma's eyes narrowed as he gazed over at Mikoto.
———
.
"So you're trying to adjust your fighting style?" asked Mikoto as she faced Takuma. "Why? What's wrong with it."
"I have a tendency to trade damage to win fights," said Takuma.
She raised an eyebrow. "Even though you spent months learning genjutsu with me?"
Takuma looked away, his face growing hot.
Genjutsu vehemently opposed trading damage; if trading damage was crude, then genjutsu was elegant. The truth was that while Takuma had spent a significant amount of time exploring genjutsu and could now use his current arsenal through any sensory connection, be it sight, scent, touch, or sound and get 90% of the original effect.
However, he had spent almost no time integrating genjutsu into his combat style.
"I guess that will be something we will address when we resume our lessons," said Mikoto.
Takuma nodded with pursed lips and clenched his fist. He felt he hadn't been working hard enough and had let down both of his teachers.
"Let's start," said Maruboshi from the sidelines.
Takuma assumed his stance while Mikoto remained at ease. He had no impression of her combat style, but he could make some assumptions based on his experience. He had worked with Uchiha Gouki in the Narcotics Taskforce, which had led them to spar a couple of times, and while the insights from then were incomplete at best, it was all he had.
Takuma made the first move with two quick jabs followed by a heavy right hand. Mikoto raised her empty hand, effortlessly swatted away the jabs, and then blocked the follow-up with her forearm. Takuma turned up the aggression and went for an augmented body shot, immediately caught in Mikoto's grip. He ripped himself free and stepped back to chamber a kick to her knee.
She dodged by pulling her foot back and then caught a spinning roundhouse kick coming for her head with her hand. Mikoto grinned as she pulled the leg, and Takuma felt himself being pulled off his foot. He activated his core and spun mid-air to whip across a kick from his other leg, freeing him as Mikoto released his leg to block it.
Takuma hopped away with a frown. Mikoto had only used one hand the entire time while her other arm held that sword by her side. Her smile, her relaxed posture, that short exchange, said more about the gap between them than anything.
He understood that, even though she was retired, he was facing a jonin.
"I wonder if I can get by using only one hand," Mikoto sang.
Takuma almost charged her but he te took a deep breath and backed away couple of steps to take a moment.
After his fight with Nenro, he realised something about his fighting style. His style was based on the standard Hidden Leaf Kata as the foundation and was developed further in the Ring. When he was coming up there, he studied his opponents and peers to create and adapt his style to win matches. He devoured any tactic and technique he deemed valuable and added them to his style.
Why did he stop? Why didn't he steal from other shinobi? Did he look at them differently because they didn't forge their skills through bloody fights? He didn't know the answer, but it was probably why he stagnated after leaving the Ring. Was it because he no longer had to fight three bloody fights weekly?
I should change that. Takuma took a deep breath and considered how to approach the fight. Instinct was an essential part of combat; things often happened so fast that there was no time to think, and that's when instinct, honed through experience and hours of practice, kicked in to move the body, be it for offence or defence. But he was trying to change his style, and he needed to actively think about what to do if he wanted to break that habit.
There's no need to go in guns blazing; let's set things up like Nenro. Takuma walked around Mikoto as she watched him from the same spot; he slowly sped up until he was running. He raised his hands and weaved hand seals, making Mikoto slightly more vigilant.
Takuma slammed his foot into the ground to stop and poured out a massive wave of water toward her. Water Release: Wild Water Wave. The scabbard clinked as Mikoto thumbed the sword's hilt guard, causing the blade to slide out; she caught it with her other hand and slashed almost too fast for Takuma's eyes, and before he knew it, the wave was bisected with the two parts forced to the sides.
The sword slash was faster than anything he had seen from Kameko, the fastest sword he knew. Takuma dashed toward her while already flowing into another set of hand seals. He eyed the sword and stopped just outside its range. Chakra flowed into his leg as he smashed his toes into the ground, spraying dirt toward her.
Mikoto pushed the dirt, heading for her face away with a slash, but the rest hit her harmlessly. She frowned, "I hadn't worn this in so long. It's already dirty too—"
She turned around and launched another quick strike at the flying water, which burst upon impact but still rushed past her. She looked back at Takuma to see he had thrown four kunai into the air around him. Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The water coalesced behind his back, and four thick tentacles spurted out, snatching the kunai out of the air.
With the setup complete, he shot toward her. Eight Tentacles wasn't a jutsu that could handle a lot of weight, but after years of consistently using it in training and every battle of his life, he had reached an amount of skill where the tentacles he created were strong. He eyed the sword in Mikoto's hands. By merging eight into four, he had the confidence to contend against it for a little while.
The four kunai-bearing tentacles zoomed toward Mikoto in a blur. She looked calm as her sword parried and deflected the onslaught, but that was not the only thing she needed to worry about. Takuma stepped in and threw a haymaker, but Mikoto side-stepped it elegantly.
He pivoted on his lead foot and threw an augmented palm strike to her chest and Mikoto's other hand moved, the sheath deflecting his palm strike.
Her lips parted, dark eyes wide with shock.
"Two hands!" Takuma exclaimed as he looked up at her smugly.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed with an amused expression, and she moved as she continued to avoid Takuma's strikes. Sparks flew around them as metal clashed while Takuma bombarded her with a quick chain of strikes, each of them failing to touch her. It was like she knew in advance where his attacks were coming from. Takuma's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up at her eyes only to see they were still normal.
"I don't need to use my eyes," said Mikoto, sweeping Takuma's legs, but he avoided it by raising his leg.
She took a quick backstep and her aura changed when she raised her sword. His self-preservation instincts told him to back off, but then he saw Maruboshi on the edge of his peripheral vision and thought about what he would do.
Takuma stood his ground and planted his feet firmly; trying to move away could open him up to being punished by someone as fast as Mikoto. Maruboshi had lost his leg during a mission and had to rebuild his footwork and combat style from the ground up to compensate for the prosthetic leg.
There is more to footwork than being quick and light-footed; a stable base is perhaps more important than anything. Takuma recalled Maruboshi and focused on his legs. What would Maruboshi do?
The sword left behind a silver streak as Mikoto slashed at him. Takuma would've skipped back out of the range, but he stayed his ground instead to parry the stab with a kunai from his tentacles. It gave him a moment of reprieve, but that was it. Mikoto flowed into her next attack without a moment's pause, giving him no time to retaliate.
Takuma was thrown off his feet by a spinning kick. He focused on his feet and landed with solid footing and ducked beneath a wide slash before rolling away from the descending blade. He got to his feet an instant before Mikoto came after him with a chain of strikes.
They were fast to the point he almost felt motion-sick following them, but he made calculated moves, moving his body in conjunction with footwork while his breathing fell into sync with his movements as evading the strikes. His mind raced as he thought about his footwork more than he had ever done before. He thought ahead about the subsequent three attacks as he dodged the current one, wondering if his current move would screw him over a few seconds later. His thoughts branched like a chess player forecasting moves, coming up with responses for all possibilities.
It was terrifying.
His instincts screamed at him to put some space between himself and the blade.. His heart lurched every time he felt the cold steel against his skin and .. And yet, his mind remained clear—occupied with a hundred thoughts—but focused.
He stayed nearby where he was in the range to make an immediate counterattack.
I see it. Takuma wasn't even sure what he saw, but he recognised that the swing coming from his shoulder was the last one before Mikoto would pause to gather herself for breath.
Takuma charged his fist with chakra as two tentacles deflected the sword slash. He struck out with his entire body's momentum behind the punch.
It's going to hit, Takuma thought as his fist drew closer. Just as he was about to make an impact, Mikoto sprung back at the last moment.
Takuma stumbled on his feet as he whiffed the strike. His breathing was shaky, but he immediately resumed a stance of a solid base, and his eyes remained on Mikoto in case she came to the counter.
It wasn't a swat from her hands, a block with her arm, or even using her sheath to deflect the attack.
Mikoto had jumped away because that was the only option he had given her; the timing was perfect—but Takuma didn't think about anything besides hitting her.
I should've used the Second Form fist. Takuma was already thinking about his mistakes and his future moves.
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.
His goal wasn't to see Takuma change his combat style—one week was too short to see mass changes—but he wanted to kickstart the process. Somewhere along the line, Takuma had stopped experimenting with his combat style, and while that allowed him to solidify his style and gain depth and experience, Maruboshi's opinion was that he had stopped at the wrong time. Right now, he was too inexperienced and young to stop progressing his fighting style.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Maruboshi Kosuke. I am Uchiha Mikoto, a jonin of the Hidden Leaf," said Mikoto with an elegant bow, her grace evident in every movement. She wore a white shirt with a faint light blue shuriken print design and flared sleeves paired with dark blue, puffy hakama-style pants. Her hands were covered by worn-out leather gloves, and she held a sheathed sword.
"The honour is mine, Lady Uchiha. Your war exploits in the Land of Rivers against the Stone shinobi precede you," Maruboshi said, polite and humble as always.
In her youth, Mikoto participated in a drawn-out conflict between Leaf and Stone in the Land of Rivers, where she earned achievements that propelled her to the esteemed rank of jonin. When Takuma met her, he went into the archives to learn about her past, and she was prominently present in in the filed on the conflict.
Mikoto humbly smiled before turning to Takuma, which was when her smile widened. "Thank you for inviting me to spar, Takuma. It's been so long since I've done this that I'm quite excited!"
He returned the smile with a smaller, more humble one. "I hope fighting me won't be disappointing for someone at your level."
"...Well, I am rusty, but I don't believe I'll lose, even if I fight at your level," said Mikoto with a smirk.
Maruboshi glanced at Takuma. His student was usually calm, but he never backed down when it came to combat-related provocations. It was a sense of pride he had developed from his time as a prizefighter.
"I'm going to have you take those words back," said Takuma, tilting his chin up.
"I don't think so," smiled Mikoto before skipping away to start her warm-up.
Maruboshi was happy that Takuma had such a good relationship with another mentor figure.. He worked too much, so he didn't have too many friends, and his personality didn't lend itself to making many friends, which was why Maruboshi was happy whenever he formed close relationships with people.
"Why did you want me to fight her?" Takuma asked him.
"Because she's overwhelmingly stronger than you," Maruboshi answered. He wanted Takuma to fight someone who he wouldn't be able to beat no matter what he did. He was supposed to be that opponent, but when Takuma proposed inviting Mikoto, he agreed because she would be a better option. "Even think of trading damage with her; she will make you regret it. You're facing an opponent who outclasses you in everything from weapons to experience. Everything you throw at her is bound to fail. You aren't going to win, so you might very well take the opportunity to try out new things."
Even if Mikoto were to bring herself down to Takuma's physical level, there was a gulf of skill and experience between them that was too wide to bridge. Even though he had essentially said that winning was impossible, he knew Takuma wouldn't accept it—it wasn't in his nature, and he would try to win until the bitter end.
Maruboshi understood Takuma, so he knew he would also treat his warning as a provocation, so he decided to pour oil into the fire. "If you can force her to use the Sharingan, I'll give you the win."
Takuma's eyes narrowed as he gazed over at Mikoto.
———
.
"So you're trying to adjust your fighting style?" asked Mikoto as she faced Takuma. "Why? What's wrong with it."
"I have a tendency to trade damage to win fights," said Takuma.
She raised an eyebrow. "Even though you spent months learning genjutsu with me?"
Takuma looked away, his face growing hot.
Genjutsu vehemently opposed trading damage; if trading damage was crude, then genjutsu was elegant. The truth was that while Takuma had spent a significant amount of time exploring genjutsu and could now use his current arsenal through any sensory connection, be it sight, scent, touch, or sound and get 90% of the original effect.
However, he had spent almost no time integrating genjutsu into his combat style.
"I guess that will be something we will address when we resume our lessons," said Mikoto.
Takuma nodded with pursed lips and clenched his fist. He felt he hadn't been working hard enough and had let down both of his teachers.
"Let's start," said Maruboshi from the sidelines.
Takuma assumed his stance while Mikoto remained at ease. He had no impression of her combat style, but he could make some assumptions based on his experience. He had worked with Uchiha Gouki in the Narcotics Taskforce, which had led them to spar a couple of times, and while the insights from then were incomplete at best, it was all he had.
Takuma made the first move with two quick jabs followed by a heavy right hand. Mikoto raised her empty hand, effortlessly swatted away the jabs, and then blocked the follow-up with her forearm. Takuma turned up the aggression and went for an augmented body shot, immediately caught in Mikoto's grip. He ripped himself free and stepped back to chamber a kick to her knee.
She dodged by pulling her foot back and then caught a spinning roundhouse kick coming for her head with her hand. Mikoto grinned as she pulled the leg, and Takuma felt himself being pulled off his foot. He activated his core and spun mid-air to whip across a kick from his other leg, freeing him as Mikoto released his leg to block it.
Takuma hopped away with a frown. Mikoto had only used one hand the entire time while her other arm held that sword by her side. Her smile, her relaxed posture, that short exchange, said more about the gap between them than anything.
He understood that, even though she was retired, he was facing a jonin.
"I wonder if I can get by using only one hand," Mikoto sang.
Takuma almost charged her but he te took a deep breath and backed away couple of steps to take a moment.
After his fight with Nenro, he realised something about his fighting style. His style was based on the standard Hidden Leaf Kata as the foundation and was developed further in the Ring. When he was coming up there, he studied his opponents and peers to create and adapt his style to win matches. He devoured any tactic and technique he deemed valuable and added them to his style.
Why did he stop? Why didn't he steal from other shinobi? Did he look at them differently because they didn't forge their skills through bloody fights? He didn't know the answer, but it was probably why he stagnated after leaving the Ring. Was it because he no longer had to fight three bloody fights weekly?
I should change that. Takuma took a deep breath and considered how to approach the fight. Instinct was an essential part of combat; things often happened so fast that there was no time to think, and that's when instinct, honed through experience and hours of practice, kicked in to move the body, be it for offence or defence. But he was trying to change his style, and he needed to actively think about what to do if he wanted to break that habit.
There's no need to go in guns blazing; let's set things up like Nenro. Takuma walked around Mikoto as she watched him from the same spot; he slowly sped up until he was running. He raised his hands and weaved hand seals, making Mikoto slightly more vigilant.
Takuma slammed his foot into the ground to stop and poured out a massive wave of water toward her. Water Release: Wild Water Wave. The scabbard clinked as Mikoto thumbed the sword's hilt guard, causing the blade to slide out; she caught it with her other hand and slashed almost too fast for Takuma's eyes, and before he knew it, the wave was bisected with the two parts forced to the sides.
The sword slash was faster than anything he had seen from Kameko, the fastest sword he knew. Takuma dashed toward her while already flowing into another set of hand seals. He eyed the sword and stopped just outside its range. Chakra flowed into his leg as he smashed his toes into the ground, spraying dirt toward her.
Mikoto pushed the dirt, heading for her face away with a slash, but the rest hit her harmlessly. She frowned, "I hadn't worn this in so long. It's already dirty too—"
She turned around and launched another quick strike at the flying water, which burst upon impact but still rushed past her. She looked back at Takuma to see he had thrown four kunai into the air around him. Water Release: Eight Tentacles. The water coalesced behind his back, and four thick tentacles spurted out, snatching the kunai out of the air.
With the setup complete, he shot toward her. Eight Tentacles wasn't a jutsu that could handle a lot of weight, but after years of consistently using it in training and every battle of his life, he had reached an amount of skill where the tentacles he created were strong. He eyed the sword in Mikoto's hands. By merging eight into four, he had the confidence to contend against it for a little while.
The four kunai-bearing tentacles zoomed toward Mikoto in a blur. She looked calm as her sword parried and deflected the onslaught, but that was not the only thing she needed to worry about. Takuma stepped in and threw a haymaker, but Mikoto side-stepped it elegantly.
He pivoted on his lead foot and threw an augmented palm strike to her chest and Mikoto's other hand moved, the sheath deflecting his palm strike.
Her lips parted, dark eyes wide with shock.
"Two hands!" Takuma exclaimed as he looked up at her smugly.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed with an amused expression, and she moved as she continued to avoid Takuma's strikes. Sparks flew around them as metal clashed while Takuma bombarded her with a quick chain of strikes, each of them failing to touch her. It was like she knew in advance where his attacks were coming from. Takuma's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up at her eyes only to see they were still normal.
"I don't need to use my eyes," said Mikoto, sweeping Takuma's legs, but he avoided it by raising his leg.
She took a quick backstep and her aura changed when she raised her sword. His self-preservation instincts told him to back off, but then he saw Maruboshi on the edge of his peripheral vision and thought about what he would do.
Takuma stood his ground and planted his feet firmly; trying to move away could open him up to being punished by someone as fast as Mikoto. Maruboshi had lost his leg during a mission and had to rebuild his footwork and combat style from the ground up to compensate for the prosthetic leg.
There is more to footwork than being quick and light-footed; a stable base is perhaps more important than anything. Takuma recalled Maruboshi and focused on his legs. What would Maruboshi do?
The sword left behind a silver streak as Mikoto slashed at him. Takuma would've skipped back out of the range, but he stayed his ground instead to parry the stab with a kunai from his tentacles. It gave him a moment of reprieve, but that was it. Mikoto flowed into her next attack without a moment's pause, giving him no time to retaliate.
Takuma was thrown off his feet by a spinning kick. He focused on his feet and landed with solid footing and ducked beneath a wide slash before rolling away from the descending blade. He got to his feet an instant before Mikoto came after him with a chain of strikes.
They were fast to the point he almost felt motion-sick following them, but he made calculated moves, moving his body in conjunction with footwork while his breathing fell into sync with his movements as evading the strikes. His mind raced as he thought about his footwork more than he had ever done before. He thought ahead about the subsequent three attacks as he dodged the current one, wondering if his current move would screw him over a few seconds later. His thoughts branched like a chess player forecasting moves, coming up with responses for all possibilities.
It was terrifying.
His instincts screamed at him to put some space between himself and the blade.. His heart lurched every time he felt the cold steel against his skin and .. And yet, his mind remained clear—occupied with a hundred thoughts—but focused.
He stayed nearby where he was in the range to make an immediate counterattack.
I see it. Takuma wasn't even sure what he saw, but he recognised that the swing coming from his shoulder was the last one before Mikoto would pause to gather herself for breath.
Takuma charged his fist with chakra as two tentacles deflected the sword slash. He struck out with his entire body's momentum behind the punch.
It's going to hit, Takuma thought as his fist drew closer. Just as he was about to make an impact, Mikoto sprung back at the last moment.
Takuma stumbled on his feet as he whiffed the strike. His breathing was shaky, but he immediately resumed a stance of a solid base, and his eyes remained on Mikoto in case she came to the counter.
It wasn't a swat from her hands, a block with her arm, or even using her sheath to deflect the attack.
Mikoto had jumped away because that was the only option he had given her; the timing was perfect—but Takuma didn't think about anything besides hitting her.
I should've used the Second Form fist. Takuma was already thinking about his mistakes and his future moves.
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.
Fiction
Feel free to ask me questions.
Still not great as getting a jonin to poke him the butt.
That's an achievement for the ages
TFTC. I wonder what kind of epithet will Takuma have in the future? It will probably be a weird one lol.
That scene was wild.
That's a sweet scene of her being excited to spar.
Looks like he's got another potential employer. It's a bit ironic given how he thought he was discarded and had very few options after barely graduating and failing to receive a joining instructor.
I enjoy these fight scenes. Glad to see him get cleverer in his fights.
Looks like he's got another potential employer. It's a bit ironic given how he thought he was discarded and had very few options after barely graduating and failing to receive a joining instructor.
I enjoy these fight scenes. Glad to see him get cleverer in his fights.
- Location
- sweden
THAT'S OUR FUCKING BOY!
ah, the feeling of seeing a character you like and follow evolve and breaking through walls as they become better versions of themselves, is there anything better? You could bottle it up and drink it like booze
ah, the feeling of seeing a character you like and follow evolve and breaking through walls as they become better versions of themselves, is there anything better? You could bottle it up and drink it like booze