Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve

[Fiction]

Takuma didn't rush in, nor did he pause to relax. Almost getting a hit in was nothing special when Mikoto was playing around with him. Unlike Maruboshi, who purposefully left openings to see if Takuma would notice and correctly exploit them to test his techniques, Mikoto was a typical sparring opponent, and thus, a constant source of threat and pressure.

As he thought about his next move, Mikoto looked down at her sword and scabbard before looking up at Takuma.

"You almost got one in there, Takuma," she said.

"Not at all."

"Hmm, I've gotten rusty." She gazed at him for a moment. "Do you always fight like this? It didn't seem like you were trying to trade damage."

"No, this is not how I usually fight. I was trying to mimic—no, take inspiration—from how Maruboshi-sensei fights," said Takuma, pointing his chin in his old teacher's direction. Seeing that they were conversing, he slightly relaxed and lowered his head with a sigh. "I'm too wrapped in my way of fighting; I can't see how to get out of it... so I thought, what if I tried to try to copy other fighters that I know? Maybe that will expand my mind, and something will stick."

Bishop's style of layering pressure until the opponent broke; Masaaki's opportunistic, quality-over-quantity way of fighting; Maruboshi's stable footwork that he was forced to develop after losing his leg; Nenro's set-up approach with ninjutsu. Because he had built his entire style by observing others in the Ring, he knew every fighter had something they could offer him.

But Takuma had trapped himself in a bubble; perhaps it was because he had learned in the Ring, where everyone fought similarly because they learned from other Ring fighters; he had trapped himself in the bubble. He wanted to see what he could take from shinobi who weren't from the Ring, and break out of his bubble.

"Learning from others, is it?" she said to herself with a smile. "This isn't suitable then..." Mikoto sheathed her sword and threw it behind her; it spun in the air before stabbing the ground with the tip almost perpendicular to the surface.

She raised her arms in a defensive block and opened her legs to form a wide stance. "Come at me, Takuma. Try out what you want to take from others, and let's check if you're any good at taking," she said as she rotated her wrists.

Takuma thought she was switching to something like his spars with Maruboshi.

Mikoto took out a kunai but stayed still at her spot, so Takuma carefully shuffled toward her with four tentacles holding a kunai each. When he entered her personal space, he jolted at her with a quick sweep kick while all four tentacles moved simultaneously.

The sweep was supposed to lock her legs so she couldn't move to dodge the four kunai. Mikoto's wide stance ensured that her back leg was already out of Takuma's reach and the moment his leg left the ground for the sweep, she moved by pulling her front leg back.

But while the sweep missed its mark, the four tentacles stabbed simultaneously at different parts of her body.

While she was pulling back her leg, she bent her knees to lower her height to gain half a second worth of additional travel time before the kunai reached her—which was enough for her to swing her own kunai to parry two tentacles. Mikoto twisted her torso to evade the third while her empty hand smashed into the final tentacle, cutting is in half; the final kunai lost all momentum and bounced harmlessly off her shoulder.

Takuma was dumbfounded by Mikoto's movements and immediately jumped away. Despite her awkward body position, Mikoto was faster and slammed a palm into his lower abdomen, sending him flying. He crashed on his back but immediately rolled up to his feet to get ready for a counter, only to see her walking toward him.

He took a breath and focused on his footwork as she came in closer—his goal was not to get hit. He made the first move and flowed into a quick chain of rolling punches for her face, but she effortlessly dodged all of them with fluid head movement. Before Takuma could reset his hand, Mikoto moved and laid a heavy blow into his kidney. He felt a pain take root in his body as his feet left the ground for a split second. His eyes remained on Mikoto, so his breathing hitched when he saw a spinning heel kick coming for his face.

His reflexes were stretched to the limit as he pulled his body down to duck under the kick the moment his feet touched the ground.

This isn't working. Takuma rolled to the side to evade a punch coming down at his face. The roll made him lose sight of Mikoto, and at that exact moment, she crouched down and took out his legs with a sweep.

I need to do something different, he thought as he used the tentacles and all his limbs to push himself away from her a second before she threw down an axe kick, cratering the ground and spraying him with dirt.

Mikoto's movements were fast and fluid, and there was minimal time for him to retaliate. The window to act was small, and any careless attempts had seen him punished. He needed to slow her down, but how was he going to accomplish that?

Takuma's writhing tentacles came into his view as he hastily got up, and a thought light-bulbed in his mind. Tentacles and snakes were the same shape and Anko often used a variation of the summoning jutsu to summon snakes from her person to bind her opponent, serve as a distraction, or straight-up attack them with venom.

He took a breath and split the four tentacles into eight; now that she was no longer using her sword, he didn't need them to be as strong. They just needed to be strong enough to partially hinder her movement, and he would take care of the rest.

He ran toward her before snapping a kick at her stomach. Mikoto took a step back and received the kick into her downward-facing palms. Half of the tentacles attacked and wrapped themselves around her arms while the other half held down her torso—essentially locking in her pace. She could force herself free from the tentacles because they weren't strong enough to immobilise her completely, but it would take a second more if she were just backing off.

I got her this time. Takuma cocked his arm as chakra flowed to his hand—but just before he could heave his punch, she headbutted him in the forehead. The augmentation fizzled away as he staggered back, his thoughts in turmoil.

Mikoto spun around once like a top, tearing away the tentacles holding him down. Takuma put his arms together to block a back fist aimed at his chest; he felt a sharp pain stab his bones as he blocked the strike but he ignored it and focused on the next attack.

The Anko snake-tentacle experiment wasn't a failure and the headbutt was proof of its potential.

As she threw her right hand to his head, three tentacles moved at the highest speed possible and struck her arm one after another, slowing the punch slightly. Takuma ducked under it but she whipped another punch with her free arm, forcing Takuma to merge four tentacles into two before wrapping and pulling on it.

He blocked the hit, maintaining focus thanks to the tentacles softening the blow slightly.

It's working. He whipped a punch for her throat only for Mikoto to twist her body out of the way. Takuma followed up with a biting kick, but she ducked below it and struck him in the liver. Frustrated, he tried to back away to formulate a new plan, but Mikoto stepped forward, keeping the distance between them.

"You're doing good, Takuma," said Mikoto before prying open his guard with two jabs and laying a chain of half a dozen strikes right into his chest.

The strikes were light because they were sparring, but he would've been in real trouble if they were full strength—even while she was restrained to his level. A thought flashed past his mind as he stumbled back. He could touch her with his tentacles; now, he just had to make it hurt. Not only did he know how to do that, Nenro also had a similar idea, validating Takuma's ad-hoc creation.

D-rank ninjutsu had fewer hand seals, which made it perfect for a lightning-fast spar like this. As Takuma completed the hand seals, a tentacle wrapped around his right arm. Lightning Release: Shock. The jutsu converted his chakra into lightning-nature chakra that flooded the water tentacles.

Eight Tentacles: Shock Mode

A fascinated smile appeared on Mikoto's face as Takuma rushed towards her. She didn't stay her ground like she had till then and moved in sync with him, keeping herself just barely within range of the electrified tentacles as though she wanted him to succeed.

"This is an excellent combination," she said, her eyes tracking the charged tentacles.

The tentacles swung and swiped at Mikoto, trying just to get one touch that would shock her,but she moved around effortlessly while looking at the sparking water with amusement. The joy in her eyes only made him want to get in a hit even more—and he had a tactic that he could use to take her by surprise.

Kameko's Taketori kenjutsu had the ability to extend her sword's reach, surprising her opponents and actively making them think about her sword's true length. Takuma knew no kenjutsu, but he could play with the length of his tentacles just fine.

A tentacle jabbed at Mikoto, and she moved back to evade it as she had done until then. At that exact moment, another tentacle shrunk to half its original length and transferred its water to the others, causing the tentacle jabbing at Mikoto to grow in length, which it hadn't done since the start of the fight.

Despite the failures, he was confident enough in his previous attempts that he would hit her this time—so it stung the most when Mikoto dodged the attack like she knew it was coming.

The charge in the tentacles ran out immediately after the failed attack, and Mikoto dashed in before he could recharge it, hitting him so fast it felt like all four strikes landed simultaneously.

Okay, screw this! Gritting his teeth, he reverted back to his original style and opted to stay close to get at least one solid hit in, even if he had to trade damage to do it.

He backed a punch to her face with an augmentation. Mikoto bobbed her head away before punishing him with a body shot that he absorbed and immediately went for another augmented punch for her liver, but before he could even pull his arm back to set up the punch, she hit his shoulder, stopping the punch before he could even throw it.

Takuma forced on and decided to stomp on her foot to lock it down and stab with an elbow. He went for her foot, but Mikoto shifted it to the side before stomping down on his foot in turn. Takuma knew what was coming and raised his guard, but Mikoto was faster and slipped a punch through the guard.

She then finished with an uppercut to the chin that shocked his entire body.

Despite his doubled vision, Takuma had his tentacles attack her face with water to disrupt her flow but she spun him by the shoulder, switching places with him. He had no idea why she did that and thought it was to confuse him, but then he felt a punch dig into his back; it didn't hurt badly—but it destroyed the tentacle water mass.

How did she know he was going to use the tentacles? Takuma was utterly shocked. It was as though... she knew it was... coming...

At that moment, the entire fight flashed through his mind. Not once had she taken the initiative and had simply attacked him by picking apart the weakness of his moves. She had solely fought through the counterattack. He had thought she could do that because she had made herself slightly faster to challenge him—but as the fight ran through his mind, he realised she wasn't faster than him... she simply moved before him.

She was able to punish all of his moves because she knew what he was going to do before he did it—and thus set up counters for everything he did.

Takuma looked up at her, expecting to see red eyes only to see they were still onyx.

"...Then how?"

"In our first lesson, you said you wanted to be a jonin... so, broaden your horizons; this is the surface of what it means to be one," said Mikoto before promptly knocking him out with a spinning heel kick.





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]

Beautiful. That was what Maruboshi thought when he saw his student's efforts being thwarted over and over again.

The skill shown by Uchiha Mikoto was exquisite; every move looked elegant and effortless, but all of it was planned down to the very minute details. He expected a jonin, especially an Uchiha, to possess such skill, but that didn't take away from the fact that it was a delight to watch.

However, Mikoto wasn't the only one who deserved praise.

Maruboshi was well aware of Takuma's style, so he was proud to see him step out of his comfort zone and try different tactics. His choices were generally terrible. They opened him up to attacks, turned his fighting style into a disjointed mess, actively made him worse, and even frustrated him enough that he switched back at the end—and yet trying out all those changes was the right choice.

Maruboshi could almost see a glimpse into the future, where Takuma's combat style had evolved. Currently, he was in messy flux, but once the pieces fell into place, he would have something strong, stable, and sustainable that he could safely rely upon out in the field.

As he watched the fight, he felt two gazes from separate directions. He pulled his eyes off the fight to look at the peeping but couldn't find anyone in the trees; they had hidden themselves well. He didn't find it strange because the field was public property; neither was it isolated—and the Hidden Leaf was a village filled to the brim with shinobi who had learned to hide themselves for no apparent reason.

The gazes disappeared the moment he swept his own across the field, but he wondered if the hidden onlookers were ANBU operatives observing Takuma before his test. He had no way to confirm that other than catching them, which would be embarrassing and rude if he was wrong and would do nothing if they were indeed ANBU.

———
.

Uchiha Fugaku swiftly hid himself when he saw Maruboshi Kosuke look right in his direction. The Eternal Genin was already a senior citizen, but it seemed like he still had the senses of a prime hunter. It had been such a long time since Fugaku had seen his wife fight that he didn't want to miss it—but he didn't want to interrupt or intrude, so he watched from the shadows.

The spar was more or less what he expected. Mikoto's offence was ran through counterattacks, which made sense because when it came to the Uchiha's Interceptor Fist—not only was she better at it than him and arguably the best in the clan, but taijutsu was a bigger part of her combat style than his.

The Uchiha Interceptor Fist was the taijutsu developed and used by the Uchiha clan. The core of it was to make corresponding responses or counterattacks that struck at incoming attacks. The style was also heavily based on not letting the opponent get into a flow by disrupting their moves and intensively punishing their openings and bad habits.

To be effective, the user had to be proficient at reading the opponent, and with the Sharingan, which had the power of insight to mimic and understand other's moves, that was an easy feat.

Even though Takuma wasn't even close to being a challenge, he could tell that Mikoto was feeling comfortable. She had effortlessly used the clan's taijutsu to perfectly dismantle her opponent without breaking a sweat while also restricting herself to his level.

Retirement had undoubtedly had its effects, but it felt like she had retained most of her skill—her experience as a jonin was still there, buried under the surface—and she would only need to bring her body up to speed to once again hone her combat instincts.

As Mikoto finished the fight by knockout, Fugaku turned around to leave. Seeing her fight made him consider inviting her to regular spars so they could spend time together like they did before they had their children.

He turned back with the three tomoe spinning in his red pupils as he locked in on the person hidden in the trees. They were well hidden, with only small parts of their body visible, which would have been a problem if not for the Sharingan that saw chakra in colour that outed the person. Fugaku blinked, the traces of chakra disappeared, and he could no longer spot them.

Chakra masking, he guessed. That's no ordinary miscreant…

Fugaku glanced at Mikoto and company once before leaving. Whoever it was, with his wife and Maruobshi Kosuke present, there wasn't much they could do.

———
.

"What do you think?" Maruboshi asked Mikoto after she knocked Takuma out.

"I'll give him a point for effort," said Mikoto as she dusted the dirt and grass off her outfit before kneeling down to straighten Takuma so he wasn't lying in an off-position. "I could tell he was trying things, but it made him disjointed at best."

"It'll take some time to integrate new things smoothly."

"If he's trying to avoid trading damage, then genjutsu will work wonders."

"How is he at genjutsu?" he asked.

"He has the fundamentals down, but if he really wants to take full advantage of genjutsu, he needs to open his mind to the possibilities," said Mikoto as she stared down at Takuma. "Most shinobi mistake ninjutsu and genjutsu to be similar when they're not. Unlike ninjutsu, technical skill is only part of the puzzle; application is the half where the true potential lies. The mind is a complex system, both a hindrance and an advantage for genjutsu users. It takes a lot to create believable illusions, but there is no limit to what the mind will accept. He needs to realise that genjutsu is more than a string of hand seals that perform a certain function—the day that understanding clicks in his mind will be the day he'll start using genjutsu in his special way."

It was good that Takuma had Mikoto as his genjutsu teacher because Maruboshi didn't have the talent for using genjutsu—as Mikoto said, it took a lot to deceive the mind—and he didn't have it in him to create believable illusions beyond the most basic genjutsu. He recalled the genjutsu Takuma had used on him in their spar earlier that week. It was much more potent than expected and had tightly gripped his mind.

There was no doubt that Takuma had the ability to create very believable genjutsu.

"I will work with him on a genjutsu application when we resume our lessons," she said.

Takuma noisily heaved as he abruptly sat up with his eyes wide open. His body tensed, and he looked ready to jump at the sight of danger as he scanned his surroundings before calming down when he saw both his teachers standing around him.

"That was a shit show," Takuma groaned.

"You did great," said Mikoto, tossing him a water bottle.

"I didn't manage to hit you once."

"That wasn't going to happen either way. As long as I didn't want you to hit me, you wouldn't have touched the clothes on my back."

Takuma looked at Maruboshi, who shrugged. If he didn't want Takuma to hit him, he could guarantee that didn't happen, but that was never the purpose of their spars.

"How did you do that?" Takuma asked Mikoto, staring into her eyes. "Are you wearing coloured contacts?"

Mikoto tried to stop herself, but she burst into laughter, which turned Takuma red with embarrassment.

"You don't need the Sharingan to do what I did today, Takuma," Mikoto chuckled as she wiped a tear from her eyes. "With enough combat experience, the willingness to improve your taijutsu, and the right approach to learning, you too could predict your enemy's moves one day... But you're not wrong; my eyes played a major role in how I fought today."

"How so?" asked Takuma.

"Your water tentacle jutsu. I have fought someone who used it, so I knew that you could change the tentacle's length, so I was ready for you to use that tactic," said Mikoto.

Takuma stared at her for a moment before looking down at the ground. Mikoto wanted to continue, but she saw a signal from Maruboshi to wait. After a few seconds of silence, Takuma spoke up again,

"...You have the Sharingan that allows you to copy your opponent's moves. That must mean you have tons of fights from many types of fighters recorded in your mind. I must have fought like one of those fighters—or a combination of certain aspects from various fighters—so even though you didn't use your eyes against me, you had the knowledge to predict my moves."

"Correct," Mikoto smiled.

Takuma sighed. "The Sharingan sure is impressive."

"It is impressive," said Mikoto with a hint of pride, "but it's not that simple. Our eyes give us the gift of insight, allowing us to parse visual information at a high rate, which is how we can copy whatever we see—and as it may sound, many of my clan folk who have unlocked the eye never go beyond simple monkey copy when there's so much more to it..."

Maruboshi gazed at the woman before him and was surprised to see her talking negatively about her clan members in front of outsiders. It was natural to have such thoughts, but from what he knew, clan shinobi didn't reveal those thoughts to outsiders as they were representative of their clan. The matter of reputation was taken very seriously.

Moreover, the person doing it was Lady Uchiha, who was always expected to defend her clan. He glanced at Takuma; the relationship between Mikoto and his student seemed closer than he thought.

"...When I was still active, I used to look back at my fights and rather than just monkey copy, I used to take my time to understand why my opponent moved the way they did. I was often wrong in my understanding because the Sharingan doesn't give answers, but by investing time and effort, I was rewarded with knowledge about combat beyond even my clan folk, who had been shinobi far longer than me…"

The Uchiha were infamous for their Sharingan—but when people talked about them, it was only about copying ninjutsu hand seals and taijutsu movements to mimic their opponents. He had been alive long enough to know that the Sharingan was capable of more than copying, but what he just heard was frightening, to say the least.

"I was so thrilled by what I had found that I fought every clan member willing to fight me. I made them imitate every opponent they had fought so I could copy them and then take my time to understand and break down their opponents until I had the correct answers to problems I might face in the future."

Maruboshi felt a chill go down his spine as he looked at Mikoto. There was a terrifying intelligence in her eyes that made his instincts scream danger. Mikoto, by herself, would have faced a decent set of enemies she would've copied from. But she had just claimed that she made her clan members imitate their opponents. If he were conservative and guessed ten unique opponents per clan member and fought ten members, she would have copied an additional one hundred opponents.

Even if there were significant overlap, she would still have gained rich experience beyond what most shinobi would ever experience in their entire careers. He knew she was a jonin, but he now felt a monster was standing before him. And she had claimed that all Sharingan-bearing Uchiha could do the same—they didn't do it, but they all had the potential to— was again reminded why the Uchiha clan was one of the founder clans with a deep and dominant history in the Warring States Periods.

It also made him think that Takuma would benefit more if he learned taijutsu from Mikoto instead of genjutsu.

"But knowing the answers isn't enough; you need to be able to use them quickly and correctly. The Uchiha Interceptor Fist is based on the tenets that focus on reading the opponent, finding their weakness, targeting their openings, and disrupting their flow... I applied my knowledge through my taijutsu and became proficient to the point where I no longer needed my eyes to see through my opponents—the eyes elevated everything I did—but even without them, I felt as though scales had fallen from my eyes. I had unlocked a new state of being... I was free, and I was in control."

Takuma looked gripped and utterly immersed. He hung on her every word as though it was a mantra for eternal prosperity with Mikoto's every word were resonating with him.

"You don't need my eyes, Takuma," Mikoto asserted confidently. "Yes, they helped tremendously, but I—not my eyes—am the reason behind my understanding and skill. If you look at your opponent and apply your mind to it, you will see things that most people miss—and that's where you will find what separates ordinary from extraordinary. It will take a lot, and it will not be easy, but I think you can do it... because you were doing it today, weren't you?"

"...Yes," said Takuma.

Maruboshi looked at him, and he seemed lost in his thoughts.

It was the right decision to bring in Mikoto for the spar.

Maruboshi could tell that something was about to change. He could tell that Takuma's mind had finally opened and felt he was going to go through a change much bigger than fixing his sacrificial tendency.

He wondered what Takuma would be like after those changes.





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]

As the week drew to a close, the weekend arrived, and Kameko found herself standing outside an izakaya nestled deep within the Entertainment District, away from the bustling main streets. The front door had a notice taped to it that said the place was reserved for the day for Inuzuka Hana's rank promotion celebration.

Her academy class always booked a small establishment for the evening so that they could enjoy the class gatherings by themselves. She entered through the door and was immediately greeted by the staff. The establishment was an open space lined with tatami mats, with low tables and floor cushions for seating. It was perfect for a large group, allowing people to move around and socialise easily.

"Kameko, you're late!"

She had just confirmed with the staff that she was there for the gathering when she heard her name called. Aimi latched onto her and pulled her towards the table where many classmates were already present and enjoying themselves. She looked around and roughly counted over twenty people present, a high number even for a class that always had a strong attendance for their gatherings.

A few people had not maintained contact with the rest of the class, while others were stationed outside or transferred out of the village. It made sense that everyone who possibly could have come was there because it was a special occasion. Kameko swept her eyes across the gathering to find a certain someone but couldn't see him, which was natural as he had never attended any of their class gatherings.

"Hana, congratulations." Kameko walked over to Hana's table, where she was the centre of attention as the host and subject of celebration and sat beside her. As a congratulatory gift, she presented her with a set of durable, high-quality sashes for her forehead protector.

"Thank you, Kameko," Hana smiled brightly. She used to wear her hair at chin length, but in the year Kameko was away, she had grown her hair past her shoulder. Kameko even noticed how the Inuzuka clan's traditional fang tattoos on her cheeks were now darker; she had heard that the tattoos were inked darker when an Inuzuka was promoted as a higher status symbol within the clan.

With the greeting done, Kameko wanted to leave the table and move to a quieter spot. She was excited to catch up with her friends, but she wanted to take it slow and build up from there, and the popular table wasn't the spot to do so.

It had been three and half years since their batch had graduated, and they had started participating in the Chunin Exams last year, having gone through two of them as they were conducted bi-annually—and managed to produce three chunin within the batch.

The first Chunin Exam resulted in two promotions.

Kameko looked across the table at a brunette with cinnamon-brown hair and sharp amber eyes. The first promotion was bagged by their batch's Rookie of the Year, Okubo Momoe, the civilian prodigy who had won the entire exam.

She had always been first at the academy and even maintained her top spot among the batch long after.

Sitting a few seats away from Momoe was Uchiha Izumi, with her long, straight, dark brown hair and a beauty mark under her right eye. She was the second promotion of their batch from the first Chunin Exams and had placed second, only barely losing to Momoe. And then there was Inuzuka Hana, the only one from their batch to be promoted in the second and latest Chunin Exam.

All three chunin at the gathering and their teams were sitting at the same table, and Kameko could tell that her classmates wanted to talk to them, especially the boys, who were all trying to impress them. She wanted no part of that and was about to leave when Hana grasped her arm to make her stay.

"Tell us what it was like out there in the war?" asked Hana.

Momoe, who had been chatting to someone else, turned towards Kameko. "I would also like to hear about it," she said.

Kameko suddenly felt everyone's eyes on her.

She realised she was the only one in their group who had participated in the war. Out of their academy, three people had been deployed to the Land of Hot Waters. One was deployed only a few months ago and was still out there. As for Takuma, he hadn't kept any connection with the class except for two people. She glanced at Fuma Arisu sitting beside Izumi and found her gazing at her with a neutral expression.

They worked together at the Police Force, and even though Takuma's relationship with the Military Police had soured before he left, it didn't extend to Arisu. She wondered if Takuma had told her about his experience; she got the sense he would not talk about it to anyone.

Kameko herself didn't want to talk about a lot of it.

"... The base I was stationed at ran a recapture mission," Kameko said, opting to share the parts she was comfortable with. "There was this gold mine that the enemy had taken over, using the captured workers to mine as usual. The gold which should have gone to the Land of Hot Waters was now going to the enemy... and our mission was to rescue the workers and run the enemy out of the mine. It was going to be a difficult mission because our base only had two jonin while the enemy had three on their side."

The tension in the room rose at the mention of the jonin disparity.

Kameko roughly went through the preparation that went into planning such a big operation. Perhaps it was boring to listen, but having gone through it, she had come to learn the importance of preparation and planning.

"...as the stealth team was pulling the workers out, the enemy rang its sirens... the battle had already begun by the time we got down into the pit. In a few short minutes, the entire pit was covered with more than a hundred shinobi from both sides fighting against each other."

Kameko could recall the mine vividly. The earthy smell, the faint tremor in the wet ground, the cacophony of metal mixed in with all the yelling, and the brush of ambient chakra against her skin—even thinking about it made her heart pump faster.

"That sounds awesome," said one of her classmates. "So you fought beside jonin. What was that like?"

"... Terrifying," Kameko answered honestly. "Everyone kept clear of them, fearing they would be caught in one of their jutsu. That wasn't enough, though, because they affected too broad of an area with their ninjutsu. A Fire Release ninjutsu exploded and caused several substantial landslides, disrupting the battlefield."

The questions came pouring in from how many people died and how many she killed to what were the enemy jonin like. She tried her best to answer the question and ignored the unsavoury, insensitive ones.

Momoe, sitting across the table, caught her eye. She had an inquisitive look as she absentmindedly played with a thin braid in her hair. As though noticing Kameko's gaze, Momoe looked up with a sharp look and said,

"Interesting. What did you think about that combat experience? How did you manage everything that was happening around you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kameko, not understanding the question.

"As in, when I spar, I don't have to focus on anything but my opponent before me. That changes when you add numbers on both sides; I have to keep track of my teammates and the enemy as I fight my opponent," said Momoe in a pondering tone. "I've never been in a battle with hundreds of people, but I assume that it would be difficult to keep track of your surroundings when there are so many people actively fighting around you—are you being mindful of them... are they being mindful of you? I believe having jonin there further complicates the situation as well."

Kameko had to pause because the questions until now were along the lines of "What was it like?" where she didn't have to think much. So suddenly, facing a more profound question warranted her thinking about the answer before she could reply properly.

"It's too much to keep track of, and I was scared because I hadn't been part of such a battle. Strangely, I wasn't as stressed as I should've been in that situation... and that was because I had a teammate covering my back, and I was doing the same for her." Kameko thought about how she and Rikku were protecting each other in the dangerous pit where lives were cut down every minute. "Instead of putting it all on myself and inevitably getting overwhelmed, I trusted my teammate, and we shared responsibilities."

Momoe looked at Aimi, sitting beside Kameko and Hideaki at the corner of the table, stuffing his face with food.

"I guess that makes sense," she smiled while gazing at her teammates.

"How did the battle end?" Izumi asked.

"It ended when two enemy jonin died, and the remaining one chose to flee. Everything started to collapse as some managed to flee, but most of them were killed," Kameko answered, but as she was looking back to her memories, she realised there was another just as significant turning point. "However, I think the first heavy blow to the enemy was when my team targeted the iryo-nin. Takuma found the mine the iryo-nin were hidden—"

"I did hear that Takuma was on your team. How's that wimp doing these days?"

Kameko was rudely interrupted. Sitting behind her at another table was Inuzuka Hiji, Hana's cousin and their batch's jackass. His annoying voice seemed more grating to her ears than it ever did when they were in the academy.

"No one's going to think you're a mute if you stay quiet, Hiji," Arisu said in a fed-up voice with disgust in her eyes.

"Oh, come on. I'm just asking how an old friend is doing," said Hiji, smirking.

Everyone in the gathering knew that the relationship between Takuma and Hiji was the farthest from friends. Hiji and his group had constantly bullied Takuma in the later years of the academy. In the final year, Takuma stopped following their orders and ceased showing any reaction to their words, which made Hiji and his group lose interest in him.

"Why do you have to be so childish, Hiji? Your attitude is the reason you were passed on for promotions after the exams," Hana sighed disappointedly at her cousin.

Hiji's smirk collapsed into a glare. The two cousins were the same age and often compared to one another. Hana had always been ahead and was used as an example for Hiji to do better. It had only gotten worse now that she had made chunin while he was still a genin.

"You should make amends with him the next time you see him," said Hana.

Hiji scoffed at the idea, which pissed off Kameko. She wouldn't have cared before, but after spending months on the same team with Takuma and having gone through their time in Yu, she felt more than irritation at Hiji's attitude.

"If you can't make amends, then you should at least act civil," Izumi added on the topic. She and Hiji were on the same jonin team, and in many ways, he was compared to Izumi more than Hana because they were on the same team, and she was yet another person ahead of him. "He's not the same person he was before. Takuma was made a senior officer in the Police Force while he was a genin and trusted to lead a new team. That's something to be respected."

"And Takuma has experienced a war, which none of us can claim to have done," said Arisu.

Hiji looked taken aback because he wasn't expecting so much pushback. He noticed people staring at him and how the merry vibe of the gathering had come down, and everyone was treating it like it was his fault.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I will respect that wimp when I see what's so impressive about him. We can fight if he wants, and we'ill definitely beat that weakling, won't we, Kuragari!"

Hiji's black ninken, Kuragiri, playing with Hana's Haimaru triplets in the side, stood up and barked excitedly while showing his sharp teeth. Just like the triplets, Kuragiri had grown as well, was bigger and bulkier, and looked more menacing than them.

Kameko wasn't intending to, but she scoffed and did it loud enough that Hiji glared at her.

"What? You don't think he would beat us, do you?"

She had seen and fought both of them and compared the two boys. They were similar in that their combat style was crude and brutal; she instantly felt the difference between them.

Hiji and his ninken were a pain to fight with their trained coordination and the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu and ninjutsu; he was also feral in his approach and went at his opponents with full force because he didn't have another gear, which often made him difficult to handle but it was quite one-dimensional.

Takuma, on the other hand, tried to overwhelm them by causing as much damage as possible to end fights quickly. However, Takuma could and did observe his opponent and adjusted his approach, which made it difficult for him to fight. Then there was his skill with all three disciplines of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu—which not only made him defend to plan against; it also made him much more flexible in how he could go about causing damage. She had also seen him fight in the manor house against the ROOT agents. She could be wrong, but she didn't think Hiji had the combat sense and control Takuma had shown that day.

And that was all on top of the solid proof that Takuma had defeated an experienced chunin with a strong command over a B-rank jutsu.

"If you spar, he'll defeat you," Kameko said calmly to Hiji as everyone listened, "but if you fight, he will kill you..." She didn't know how to put it any other way— Takuma was a fighter in a spar, but he was a killer in a real fight.

Those two were very different shinobi, and the latter was ten times more terrifying than the former.

Hiji laughed so loud that it hurt their ears. He tumbled to the floor while holding his side, and his ninken mimicked his partner by barking joyously. "Takuma? Beating me? He hasn't touched me in our spars once—and you say that he could kill me!" he laughed.

Usually, she would only think of such behaviour as childish and beneath her, but perhaps because she had spent nearly a year with Takuma as her teammate, she felt bothered because they had gone through so much together. She wanted to wipe the smirk off Hiji's face and scare him, so she said something she wouldn't have said otherwise because of how it had affected Takuma.

"... Killing you won't be much of a challenge, seeing that he's already killed a jonin," she said.

Hiji didn't hear her, and on top of his own laughter, he asked, "What did you say?"

However, people sitting near her on the table did hear her. Sitting across from her, Momoe heard her but felt as though she had misheard.

"I'm sorry, Kameko, did you just say that... he killed a jonin."

Kameko turned to her and said, "Yes, he killed a jonin. And in fact, he—"

"Kameko..."

Kameko froze when she heard a familiar voice. She turned around and saw Takuma, along with Taro, standing a few steps away from their table. He had a grave expression on his face, and he only said one word.

"Enough."






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.

 

[MrRobot]

Kameko is being a bro but yeah that would be too much.

 

[The Radiance]

TFTC. Takuma should 'spar' with his old bully.

 

[Merlinoi]

The only problem with 3 chapter drop is that I often forget to like all of them!

I've been reading the past chapter and following along, and here's some of my tought. (Mind you I'm not saying I'm right, it's my interpretation of it)

Takuma need a sensei, a real dedicated one, not like somebody that is here to help in train as an aside, but someone to pass on his skill and knowledge.
He's been offer many opportunity. Some better then other. I feel like saying with the Uchiua police force would help him but wouldn't help him push pass his limit, he would be chunin but would have a hard time doing more, it's a come back to the status quo. The torture and interogation departement would give him chunin, but in a world of mass destruction he won't ever become something (Anko got there in canon and welp it didn't create a power house) the ressource to become a fighter are limited.

Now ANBU... I've never like them, and for all the glory that we heap upon them, they are the mob of the high class shinobi. Being made into a faceless shinobi and do difficult thing is not what Takuma need (for his psychee and combat strength). I may be wrong but they are 2 shinobi thatbstand out that did ANBU in canon : Kakashi and Yamato. Of the 2 none can attribute their strength to the ANBU training. I think ANBU is for Takuma strength but without soul (by that I mean youth like Gai). And unfortunatly combat for combat like ANBU is cannot make you pass your limit just hone you like a blade, like a tool. (Plus ANBU seems even more bad considering it's closeness to the defunct root, yes it may put Takuma in a position to take vengence on root, but vengence is the way of emo-sasuke, we don't want that)

So Takuma need someone to give him that youth, that soul, that will make him go further (plus ultra and all). Mikoto seem like a possibility.

 

[Fiction]

The vibe of the class gathering had turned awkward when Takuma left the building soon after coming in to talk with Kameko outside. Taro, who had arrived alongside him, sat down and ordered a large oolong tea.

He had caught the tail end of the conversation before it was shut down. Takuma hadn't mentioned anything about a jonin when he had talked to him and the trio about the war. He glanced at Fuma Arisu, and she looked deep in thought—it seemed he had also kept it from her. It stung that Takuma didn't trust him with whatever it was, but he also didn't know what exactly had happened and could only guess there were reasons Takuma had kept it to himself.

He didn't look very pleased when he went out with Kameko.

Ono, one of his best friends, sat beside him with a plate of yakiniku skewers.

"So, do you know what that was about?" he asked, leaning closer.

"I have absolutely no idea," Taro shrugged.

"... Are you saying that because you actually don't know or because he doesn't want to talk about it."

"I said what I meant." Taro looked at Ono with a disappointed frown. "And even if I knew, he clearly doesn't want to talk about it—so let's just give him his space and keep our business to ourselves."

"Okay, I got it; no need to get snippy," said Ono, raising his glass of fizz for a cheer that Taro reciprocated and put the matter behind them. "But it doesn't look like they want to stop talking about it."

Taro followed his eyes and saw the people at the table where Kameko sat whispering. He could imagine their minds coming up with speculations to make their own guesses of what had actually happened. People tended to fill in the gaps with what they thought had happened, then the next person would add their own thing into it before sharing it—and before you knew it, something completely off was floating around.

"How did this even come up?" asked Taro.

"Hiji was running his mouth."

"Figures."

Taro glanced at the Inuzuka, who was sitting among his clique; he didn't look bothered that he was partly responsible for shaping the mood of the gathering and was chatting with his lackeys like nothing had happened. Taro glanced at the building's door; Takuma would return soon, and he couldn't help but wonder if Hiji would pick up a fight.

The Takuma of today were utterly unrecognisable from the days when all of them were in the academy.

———
.

"... I see," Takuma sighed after hearing all the facts from Kameko, who looked halfway between anger and regret.

"I don't know what came over me; that disrespectful piece of shit..." Kameko groaned and punched the wall she was leaning against. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but he was getting on my nerves," she clicked her tongue, "I shouldn't have said anything... I'm sorry."

"It's fine," said Takuma. "It's not like it's my secret to keep; you were in the city as well."

He didn't like what he had done, and while his teammates were kind and generous enough to keep it low, it was a fact that those things had happened. They were a permanent part of his record for anyone with the authority or clearance. Rather than trying to hide it, he needed to learn to live with his actions. He didn't want people to bring it up because it was uncomfortable and he couldn't see a future where he would openly talk about what had happened in Yu.

"Thank you for defending me," said Takuma. While he wasn't happy that Kameko brought it up, he understood her intentions were positive.

Kameko shook her head softly. "It'll be awkward when we head inside," she sighed.

"It's fine. Some small talk and people would want to take the opportunity to move past the awkwardness." As long as he avoided the topic and no one pushed like an asshole, it wouldn't be challenging to move the conversation forward.

"How are you?" Takuma asked. This was the first time they had met since their return.

"My room felt strange for the first week... I ate too much every day because I missed the taste... I went out for walks just because I could without worrying about danger," Kameko replied after a pause with a low-spirited look.

He could relate. Even though they were safely back home and happy to be reunited with loved ones, they couldn't help but think about their time at Yu and the war. Their war experience had only deepened now that they had something to contrast it.

"I barely came out of my room for the first week," said Takuma, staring at the ground.

Kameko nodded. "There were too many happy people making noise without a care. A part of me felt uncomfortable being out and seeing that."

"Made you want to stay inside to be away from it all?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and nodded with a deep breath.

Takuma had roamed the streets of Yu to observe and gauge the city. At that time, he had felt like a visitor from outside who had no connection to the place or people. That feeling hadn't completely gone away even though they were back home with deep connections. Kameko was no different in their regard and perhaps even felt it more as she had to live in the city undercover, which was living a lie that only served to worsen that feeling.

———
.

When Takuma and Kameko returned to the gathering, he headed to the popular table and sat beside Hana to greet her with all eyes on him.

"Congratulations, Chunin Hana," Takuma said as he handed her an envelope. "I didn't know what you'd like, so here's an overnight stay at a great onsen ryokan with all sorts of treatment and services included in your stay. I made sure they allow ninken in case you want to bring them, so go relax any stress away."

Hana accepted the gift with a smile and thanked him. "I hope everything went well?" she asked, glancing at Kameko, who was now sitting at another table with one of her friends.

"Yes, we cleared everything up. I hadn't seen her since we returned, so it was nice that we caught up," said Takuma before casually calling out his drink order to the staff to portray. He looked across the table at the other two chunin in the room. "Congratulations to you both as well, Chunin Momoe and Chunin Izumi. I don't have congratulatory gifts for you today, but please let me treat you to a warm meal in the future."

"Thank you, Takuma," Izumi smiled. "It's surprising that we didn't run into each other often when you work so close to home." The Leaf Military Police Force headquarters and the Uchiha Compound were located no more than ten to fifteen minutes of walking.

"I think it makes sense. You're a busy kunoichi, and I don't think the headquarters is where anyone wants to spend their free time. And I often found myself held up in the offices until odd hours, so it's not strange that we never ran into each other," he said politely.

"But I heard that you regularly visited the compound for training with Lady Mikoto, and we still didn't run into each other—that's why I'm so surprised."

"That's indeed surprising," said Takuma, given that he visited Mikoto's house five times a week.

"Lady Mikoto? As in Jonin Uchiha Mikoto?" asked Hana, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes, Lady Uchiha has been generous enough to spare me her time and wisdom," said Takuma. He wasn't surprised that Izumi knew about him and Mikoto's master-disciple relationship because she was the clan's matriarch—but it also made sense that someone like Hana wouldn't know as their relationship was low-key as they never went anywhere together or announced it to anyone.

Everyone at the table who didn't know about it already was surprised by the discovery that a Uchiha jonin was teaching Takuma, as it raised questions about how close he was to the clan. Through Arisu, they all knew that he was in a noteworthy position at the Police Force, and now he had a significant role to play in the clan leadership. In one moment, Takuma's background had gone from an orphaned civilian-born shinobi to someone remarkably connected.

Takuma raised his glass of cold pop to take a sip when he felt someone behind him move. He put his glass down a moment before a heavy hand patted and grasped his shoulder.

"Come on, don't ignore a friend you haven't met since the academy," said Hiji with a shit-eating grin on his face as he shook Takuma's shoulder. "I hear people say that you have changed. Have you really changed from the weak wimp who wasn't even allowed to test for a jonin team?"

Tension immediately rose as they surely thought a fight would break out between the two boys who had never gotten along. Hana looked like she was about to say something when Takuma turned to face Hiji.

"I think I have changed, but what about you? It still seems like you have the personality of someone who didn't grow past the mental age of five—but even that would be an insult to five-year-olds... As for not meeting since the academy, if I wanted to hear an asshole, I'd just fart."

Snorts and chuckles sounded in response.

Hiji angrily looked at the people who had laughed. Taro and Izumi had the decency to turn his head and cover her mouth with her hand, respectively, but Arisu just stared at him with a grin on her lips. Momoe quickly controlled the smile that tugged on her lips by eating the food before her while Hana simply sighed with her hand pressing against her forehead.

Takuma removed Hiji's hand from his shoulder. "And we were never friends, Hiji. Maybe you struggle with concepts because you never had any."

"I have plenty of friends, don't I, guys?"

The people Hiji was sitting with responded with their agreements.

Takuma shifted to look at Hiji's clique and sighed, "That's just sad... You're confusing lackeys with friends."

Hiji's smile stiffened, and anger flared in his eyes, but he pulled himself back together. "You have changed. You didn't have that mouth on you when we were in the academy."

"Oh no, I had this mouth before; you just weren't worth it for me to use it."

"Okay, that's not enough, both of you; let's stop this now," Hana said, interrupting. She shot a hot look at Hiji, who was staring daggers at Takuma, who gazed back impassively.

"Taketori said something really interesting before you came—"

"I also heard something interesting," Takuma cut off Hiji. "I heard your jonin-sensei isn't renewing your team next year."

The jonin-led genin teams formed after the academy ran for four years before it was up to the jonin to decide if they wanted to renew the team's active status—if the jonin refused, the team would be turned inactive, and the genin on the team would be transferred to the Genin Corp if they hadn't secured an assignment in a department. Their batch had already been genin for three years.

Takuma turned to Izumi, who was on the same team as Hiji. "It must've been a tough time being on the same team like him, but you must be happy now that you're going your separate ways." He turned back to Hjij. "Telling you one year in advance is a bit too early, don't you think? Maybe he knew you aren't making chunin rank anytime soon and thinks it's not worth it to waste any more effort, so he's cutting you off the leash."

"Let's get out of here, you and me," said Hiji with a vein popping on his head. In the corner, his ninken slowly walked over to the table, the dog's muscle building under its luscious black fur; Kuragiri's eyes were those of a hunter locked onto his prey, waiting for his partner to give the command.

"Enough, both of you," Hana interrupted in a grave tone, the fang tattoos on her face deepening. She turned to Hiji and said in a short tone. "If you can't act civil, get out of here."

"He—"

"You started it, Hiji," Hana raised her voice. "Don't test my patience. You're this close to ruining today, and you won't like it if you go further." She turned her eye to Kuragiri, who was still locked on to Takuma, making the ninken step back with caution in his eyes.

Hiji looked at Takuma nasty before turning his back with a huff and sitting down at his table.

Hana turned to Takuma and was about to say something, but Takuma beat her to it,

"I am sorry."

Hana's anger immediately deflated, and she suddenly looked like she didn't know what to say.

"No, that idiot started it. It's not your—"

"It takes two hands to clap. I shouldn't have engaged him by falling down to his level." Takuma looked around and pursed his lips. "It soured the mood of a gathering for such a joyous occasion. Let me make it up by buying everyone a round."

"No, it's fine. You don't have to."

"I insist."

Hana looked troubled and was about to refuse when Taro, reading the situation, ordered a vanilla milkshake to move the party along before it got stuck in the awkwardness. Arisu understood the situation and placed an order as well. With two people ordering quickly, Hana looked at Takuma, who handed her a menu, making her give up and ordering something which made everyone else comfortable enough to order. It almost instantly erased any bad mojo that could've persisted from Hiji and Takuma's exchange.

"Now, if you will excuse me," said Takuma and got up to go sit with Taro.

"Takuma, won't you stay?" Momoe cupped her chin in the palm of her hand. "I'd love to talk to you."





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]

"Kameko was talking about the gold mine operation your base ran, and I asked a question about keeping track of your surroundings when there's such a sheer quantity of enemies and allies around you," said Momoe.

It had been almost two years since she had seen Takuma after their impromptu sparring session. He had always looked tired and haggard from their academy days, but it had only seemed to worsen with age. He looked worn out as though he hadn't properly rested in who knew how long... and yet his eyes were alert.

There was a focused clarity in them as he sat across the table listening to her.

"How did you manage in all that chaos?" she asked.

Takuma glanced at Kameko for a moment before turning back to her. "Trust your teammates with your back. Protect them, and they will protect you," he said.

"Kameko said the same thing," said Momoe, nodding. She was expecting another answer, but it made sense, seeing that they shared the same experience.

She wanted to know more about what Kameko was saying before Takuma had stopped her. Kameko claimed that he killed a jonin, which she found hard to believe, but Kameko wasn't the type to make false claims, so there had to be some truth to it.

Seeing that Takuma was quick to shut Hiji down when he brought up the jonin topic, it was evident that he wasn't willing to talk about it and would most likely change the subject or perhaps even straight out leave. But she could learn more about him by simply talking to him and gaining some insight through that route.

"But what do you do if you are separated from your teammates?" Takuma proposed a question.

"Oh?"

"I have only been in one such situation, so I don't know if it's natural, but crowds formed in that pit. Because there are too many people to keep track of, you automatically want to get away to avoid danger—to get to a place where you don't have to be on the watch for so many people... That seems to be a natural response for everyone. Do you agree?"

"That makes sense, yes," she replied.

"The same response from over two hundred people resulted in the formation of small crowds or groups across the battlefield. These small crowds had perhaps seven to nine people, equally divided into allies and enemies—which is just enough that someone can keep track comfortably." Takuma paused for a moment and looked as though he was finding it difficult to find the correct words until he looked around the gathering. "Take our tables as an example..."

The izakaya's dining space was open, with six low tables in two rows of three. The class had occupied four tables, with the last two tables empty. The popular table had moved two tables closer to merge them into one.

"...Groups like our tables formed in that pit," Takuma continued, "people distancing themselves created dense zones, creating enough space between each table where you no longer had to watch out for people on the tables. They were still very much a threat, but the common response had everyone more worried about what was near them."

"I see... so now, instead of teammates, you have allies to protect your back," said Momoe as the bird-eye view of a battlefield of hundreds of shinobi divided into smaller zones.

"Not as good as having a trusted teammate, but it's the next best option."

As they talked, Arisu took Hana's place beside Takuma after she moved to another table to play host. On the other side of the table, Izumi moved to Momoe's side.

"But what if the allies around you choose to focus on their own opponent? You can't be sure they would cover for you," asked Izumi. She had been following the conversation.

Takuma snapped a pair of disposable chopsticks as Arisu placed a plate of fried chicken on the table between them. "That's very much possible, but it becomes difficult when other enemies are constantly in your field of view. You start to think what would happen if one of your allies died..."

"The enemy would outnumber you, and the balance would crumble," Momoe pursed her lips.

"That's exactly right. And when you arrive at that thought, you realise you can't allow one of your allies to die because your chances of survival go down with them," said Takuma as he put down the chopsticks. "Just like any battle, it takes one second, one move, one mistake for the tide to change and for things to go horribly wrong. Any competent fighter knows that, unlike spars, most real battles aren't fought in a vacuum."

"So the key is to outlast the other side. Keep each other alive until someone from the other side falls," Arisu commented as she poured a little bit of sauce on her plate.

"You are half correct, or at least, you're looking at it slightly incorrectly," said Takuma. "Maintaining balance between the two sides shouldn't be a priority—breaking it should be."

"What do you mean?" asked Izumi with a furrow in her brow.

"It's impossible to maintain that balance because someone is going to die sooner or later. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that something will go wrong., If you find yourself in a position like that, do not be on the defensive—try to help your allies kill their opponents... Throw a kunai to catch the opponent off guard; if you're using a ninjutsu, try to aim it in a way that it gets a second target as well—try to sow chaos because one second, one move, one mistake…. that's all it takes for things to start going right. It's a domino—you just need that first tile to fall to set off the chain... One second, one move, one mistake—that's all it takes for the tide to change and for things to go right."

All three girls went silent at his words. This was the type of knowledge you could only get from someone who had experienced the situation.

He is smart, thought Momoe.

There was a time when she had the lowest impression of Takuma. He was everything shinobi expected a civilian student would be—always lower quality than those with shinobi pedigree. He was at the absolute bottom of their class, and it only worsened when they entered their final year. She understood that someone had to be in the last place, but that didn't mean he needed to be so much worse than everyone else.

Even though he somewhat bridged that gap by the end of the year, it was perhaps the reason he wasn't allowed to test for a jonin team and no one was surprised by that news. It was because of his poor track record, but she could tell that, in addition to that, a lot of people pointed to his civilian, orphan background as a fault.

She blamed him for representing the stereotype. She hated that people thought of civilian-born shinobi as worse than their clan counterparts. She understood there was a difference between the two groups because of the resources available to each— and that she was privileged because of her parents—but people who didn't put in genuine effort got on her nerves.

Then, there was Hiji's bullying that Takuma never opposed. She had tried to help, but he took no initiative of his own, which only served to drop her opinion of him. She disliked the academy teachers who did nothing about the bullying when there was no way they could've missed it.

Did they not care because Takuma was a civilian while Hiji came from a clan?

She hated all of it.

After their class graduated, Momoe no longer had a connection with Takuma, which, along with her busy life, made her forget about him.

Out of sight, out of mind.

That changed when she found that Takuma had entered the Police Force from Arisu. It was a mighty fine opportunity to be one of the first outsiders to enter a closed organisation like the Police Force, and if he could grab it, Takuma could turn his life around. She was doubtful he could accomplish it because of his track record, but seeing that the Police Force had hired him, perhaps they had seen something she had missed, or he had changed since graduation.

And Takuma had indeed changed. It was utterly shocking when he fought toe-to-toe with her teammate, Akimichi Hideaki. She was utterly surprised by the rate at which Takuma had improved to the point he had caught up to Hideaki, who, while not the hardest worker, always did what was asked of him without complaints—which included training.

She wanted to see how much he had improved, so she threw the B-rank ninjutsu she had just learned at him to see what he would do. Her teacher was there, so she wasn't worried about things going wrong, and he didn't need to interfere as Takuma handled himself.

He gave up the fight in the end—but there was no shame in it.

His progress was undeniable proof that he had made a real effort to improve. She hated people who didn't put in effort, but she respected those who gave it their all. And she could tell that he must've given it more than his all to reach the point he did after starting behind everyone else.

Takuma had indeed turned his life around because even though news articles about the Narcotics Taskforce didn't have his name, she knew from Arisu that he was the leader. He had turned the opportunity into exemplary results. It was deserving of praise.

"I have been following your career through the news articles about the Narcotics Taskforce," she said. "It's utterly late, but nevertheless, allow me to congratulate you. You have done some great work." She gave a nod to Arisu as well.

"Thank you," said Takuma.

"So what's in the plans now that you have returned?" asked Momoe.

She was expecting to tell him something like he was settling in after his return, but the awkward look Arisu and Takuma shared said to her that something else was going on.

"Let's just say that a lot of things are in the process, and I'm excited to be back," said Takuma. "Now, I must admit, I'm interested in your experience as a new chunin..."

He changed the topic. Momoe hid her surprise and wondered what had happened for them to react like that.

"...I must say I was out of my depth when I started with the Narcotics Taskforce. If not for Arisu, I would not have been able to handle the managerial side of things. She's still better at it than me."

"Shower me with more praise," Arisu said, puffing her chest.

"How has it been leading teams on missions?" Takuma asked Momoe.

Momoe had been a chunin for half a year. Most new chunin split their time between joining missions led by jonin or other experienced chunin to learn on the job—and then applying what they had learned by leading genin on missions.

"I'm grateful that Kazuo-sensei prepared us by allowing us to practise leadership," said Momoe, thinking back to her experience as a genin. "I believe it was seven or eight months into our time as genin when he started sending us on every third D-rank mission on our own; we rotated the leader position and had to complete the mission to the client's satisfaction—quarterway through our second year, he stopped participating in D-rank missions altogether, and trusted us to do it on our own... He repeated the same method with C-rank missions halfway through our second year, and the moment I made chunin, he stopped participating in them as well.

"So I wasn't nervous leading missions, and I'm sure it would be the same with Hideaki and Aimi."

Takuma looked surprised but nodded. "That makes sense, actually. Just simple and practical teaching."

"Indeed," said Momoe.

Takuma then started asking more questions that Momoe was happy to answer. Out of all civilian-background genin in their batch—or the two batches above then—he was the one who seemed to have accomplished the most, and she wanted to get to know him better and perhaps establish a better peer relationship.






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]

The gathering continued, and Takuma changed tables in an attempt to preserve his social battery and found Taro on the least occupied table.

"Thank you for before. Things would've gotten awkward if you didn't speak up," said Takuma, grateful that Taro was the first to order when he offered to buy everyone a round of drinks, which allowed Hana to be comfortable about someone else paying at her celebration party.

"It would've been hell to sit here in that god-awful mood," said Taro before lowering his head to reach the straw instead of picking up the glass off the table. He gazed at Takuma, who realised he wanted to know about the "killed a jonin" conversation they had heard upon their arrival.

Takuma wasn't ready to share what he had done for fear of how his friends would take it. His teammates were not particularly enthused about his decision; they understood why he did it but only because they were there in Yu with him. None of his friends shared that experience and thus lacked a relationship with the situation—he feared that if he told them what he had done, he would lose them.

He didn't want to lose any more friends.

Takuma simply gazed back. Taro's eyes showed understanding, and he immediately dropped the topic and returned to his lethargic self.

"Wow," said Ono from beside Taro, "you two just had a conversation with your eyes, didn't you?"

"We did no such thing," said Taro.

"Aww, look at you being shy," Ono smirked before turning to Takuma. "Nice to see you again, Takuma. I can't believe it's been three years since we graduated."

Taro and Ono's group was a close group of four boys who sat in the middle of the social ladder. It might not have been the reason for their continued friendship, but they had become friends because they shared a background—all of them had at least one parent who was a first-generation shinobi.

"Feels like a lifetime ago," Takuma replied, but in truth, it felt like three years had passed in the blink of an eye, which regularly induced anxiety within him. "Allow me to apologise for what I said back there..."

Ono was on the same team as Izumi and Hiji. In Takuma's attempt to insult Hiji by saying that his jonin teacher was cutting ties because he didn't see potential in him, Takuma had insulted Ono as well, who was in the same position as Hiji.

"... I was riled up and said those things in the heat of the moment," said Takuma and bowed his head briefly. "I didn't actually mean any of that and certainly don't think that about you. I hope you understand that and look past my words."

"Of course, I'll forgive you... if you do me a favour," said Ono.

"Come on, now," said Taro, raising a brow, "don't be like that."

"As long as it's reasonable," said Takuma, gesturing for Ono to proceed. He didn't care if he and Ono didn't become friends, but if possible, he didn't want to make the situation strained for Taro, who would be stuck between two friends, which was a difficult situation, even in cases where one side was at apparent fault.

"I'm thinking about joining the Police Force." Ono sighed, "Even if you didn't mean it, the fact stands that our team disbands next year... I have to figure out what I want to do after that." He glanced at his two teammates at other tables. "Hiji is an Inuzuka; he doesn't have to worry about it. Even without her clan, Izumi's already a chunin and would already be independent by then... I don't want to get left behind, so I need to move ahead as well... and unlike someone I know, I don't want to rely on my parents," Ono shot Taro a side-eye.

Taro rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask to be born in my family."

"I once said this to Arisu—your background is a resource; regardless of what people might think, you shouldn't feel any shame in taking advantage of it," said Takuma before his eyes turned hard momentarily. "It's a tough world out there, and if you want to survive, you must claw at anything and everything within your reach... If I could make Taro's parents adopt me, I would've done it years ago."

Takuma realised that he was about to turn the conversation's tone heavy with someone who he was meeting after three years. So he quickly pivoted to a joke to hopefully turn the conversation around before it got awkward.

"You're joking, but my parents might consider it," said Taro with a chuckle.

"My old man's a chunin. If I do ask him, he will get me a job in his line of work, and I just don't find it interesting," Ono sighed as he rested his chin on his palm. "I would rather do something else and, well, from what I know about the Police Force, that's much more up my alley."

Ono's father was involved in the Hidden Leaf's relationship with the Daimyo's Samurai, and his place of work was responsible along with their counterpart on the other side in ensuring that the two of the nation's top forces didn't collide to create domestic conflict that could be disadvantageous to the nation.

"I'll answer your questions, but Izumi is your teammate; I'm sure she would be of more help than me," said Takuma.

"Not really, if you think about it. Izumi is a Uchiha, yes—but she isn't part of the Police Force," said Ono. He waved his hands with a smile when Izumi sensed him looking at her and returned his wave with a smile. "She introduced me to some of her clan members who were of help, but for an Uchiha, entry to the Police Force is guaranteed if they desire it—that's not going to be my experience. For outsiders like you and me, we have to go through an evaluation and vetting process—and the people who Izumi introduced to me can't really help me with it... I even asked Arisu, and while she was much more helpful, the Fuma clan is an ally, and her experience is different as well."

"I'll try to help," said Takuma.

"Before anything else, should I try to join the Police Force?" asked Ono. "Is it worth it?"

The last few months before his deployment flashed past Takuma's mind. The pressure of the constant and growing reality that the Narcotics Taskforce would be taken away from him had affected his work. He recalled the day at the hospital when the Head of the Organized Crime Department had told him about his deployment to the war, which guaranteed that he was losing what he had created.

"Yes, it's worth it to join the Police Force. It's an excellent place to progress your career. And if you're smart about it, you can get resources that would be hard to procure otherwise," said Takuma. Despite what had happened to him, he knew he had grown in various ways in the Police Force—regardless of his feelings, the Police Force, in its current state of flux from external hiring, was a place rife with opportunities.

If he didn't believe that, he wouldn't've even responded to Setsuna's internal promotion offer with his demands and outright shut the man at the spot.

"If I can get the position I did, there's no reason you can not."

Ono asked, "How do I make sure I get in?"

"It's the same everywhere. Put your best before them, and if they like it, they will take you in. Create a resume which highlights your strengths and achievements, request your jonin teacher write a recommendation for you, put a spotlight on the fact that you're teammates and friends with Chunin Uchiha Izumi—anything that gives you value should be made known to them."

Takuma answered Ono's questions, expanded on some things from his conversation with Arisu, and gave him an idea of what sort of place he was trying to enter.

"One final piece of advice," said Takuma. "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Apply to other places as well. Take any place that interests you and drop a resume. If you apply to, let's say, thirty places, even if only half—or a third—reaches back, you will have ten tries to get a positive result."

The talk of options made Takuma think of the choices before him. In two days, he would be locked in for two weeks for the ANBU test, and by the time that ended, Setsuna would have an answer for him about the promotion. He would need to decide between those two options—but that was only part of the decision—he also needed to consider Mikoto's offer.

What was the best option to get revenge for Rikku? Was it to join ANBU and reach a place where he could target ROOT? Or was it to continue at the Police Force, a familiar landscape, and improve his status by attaching himself to the Uchiha clan while working on the side in hopes of a day when he could rip that bastard's heart and make him eat it?

It wasn't sure if he would be assigned ROOT cases at ANBU; if it was possible, he was semi-confident that he could work his way to getting there eventually, but who knew how long that would take given that he would be starting from the ground up at a new place of work and would have to work harder. The Police Force had the advantage of his reputation and familiarity, which would ease the work he would need to do; in addition, there were his words to Ono about the Police Force being rife with opportunities he could exploit to climb the career and influence ladder—but he didn't know how he could leverage any of that to get closer to Kon, who could be hiding outside the Land of Fire, which was outside the Police Force's influence.

"What are you thinking so hard about? This is a party, you know. Loosen up and have some fun!"

Takuma looked up to see Izumi standing beside him with big glasses of sparkling lemonade in her hands. She sat beside him with a smile and placed one glass before him.

"Thank you," said Takuma, accepting the drink. He also felt eyes on him and noticed some of the boys subtly glaring at him on a glance around. He ignored them and returned to the people around him.

"Takuma was telling me about the Police Force," said Ono.

"That was kind of you to do, Takuma," Izumi smiled brightly. "I hope it was all positive, though. You need to make up your mind quickly this time, Ono!"

"There's still a year; there's no need to rush," said Takuma, surprised. He could understand Izumi wanting to lock in her teammate for her clan's Police Force, but he would rather have Ono consider and weigh his options now over regretting his choices later on.

"No, you don't understand. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't be worried, but he's terribly indecisive; he will procrastinate months away if you let him be," Izumi said, staring pointedly at Ono, who turned his head away but failed to deny the accusation. "He once took an entire month to replace a pair of worn-out sandals. Do you know what happened? The old one snapped during a mission inside a forest; sensei had to carry him for an hour."

Ono got red in the face from getting his fault pointed out so directly.

"Oh yeah, you're not so perfect yourself, missy," he said.

Izumi crossed her arms and looked down at him as if challenging him to come up with one thing.

Ono narrowed his eyes before looking at Izumi. "She regularly falls for scam products!"

Izumi gasped, her face reddenning this time. "Okay, knock it off. I get it!"

"It would be one thing if they were well made, but she falls for the most obvious ones! One time, she burned through half of her monthly base stipend on the very first day—"

"Ono!"

"—all in one single shop!"

Izumi fished an ice cube out of her lemonade glass and threw it at Ono, who opened his mouth and caught it between his teeth before chomping on it with a smug look directed at her.

Takuma watched the two teammates squabble. It was quite a wholesome moment. This world was cruel and tough, but it needed joy and bliss for it to be worth living in. He was glad that shinobi still had the capability of smiling and laughing from the bottom of their hearts; they were perhaps the people who needed it the most.

With all the death, destruction, and chaos they would inevitably experience during their lives, it was important to balance it with something that would soothe their hearts before they became rigid and uncaring and lost the spark of life.

And yet, the emotion he felt as he watched them was not joy—it was envy. Even though they were arguing, it looked like so much fun, but he knew if he tried something like that with Taro, Arisu, or Kameko right now, it wouldn't be the same.

It wasn't like he forgot what it felt like... he had simply lost his capability to feel joy.

He wondered if it was too late for him; if he would ever get it back again—if his world would continue to feel empty and grey until the day he died.

It scared him tremendously.





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.

 

[Kulha]

It's funny to read about all these hardened killers talking about heavy topics while swigging juices. When I think about myself and my friends at that age; we were drinking hardcore every week and the worst thing we were involved with was scuffles in clubs.

Hopefully, the depressoboy saga doesn't drag on for too long.

 

[MrRobot]

Yeah
... with this mentality ANBU work will fuck him up.

 

[aomeng]

you know what solves war crime guilt? more war crimes

 

[The Radiance]

TFTC. Chill atmosphere. I was hoping the 'killing a Jonin' subject would be brough up just for that drama + Takuma getting famous amongst the lower ranks.

you know what solves war crime guilt? more war crimes

Click to shrink...

At this point he has already done so much war crime it won't help much lol.

 

[Syroc]

Hoo boy, that's a rough note to end on. Our boy is really jot doing well, is he?

I kinda wish Iruka would appear and advise him that maybe, just maybe, progressing his career as a murderer-for-hire isn't worth the psychic damage he's accruing.

 

[MrRobot]

I mean, is that or become absolute foder when the sasuke grand grand grand uncle decides to make his move.

 

[DeleteWolf]

One of the greatest injustices of this story, in my opinion, is how Momoe genuinely thinks that her situation and Takuma's were in any way comparable.

You know, her, the Scion of a a rich merchant family who with a host of servants, enough of a stipend to buy any ninja tool she needs and a family that she can go to when things get rough and him, the orphan whos first action after coming home has to be to clean and cook, because if he doesn't his cloths would be unusable and he just wouldn't have anything to eat.

The 10 year old child that was completely isolated from anyone else, having neither friends nor family. The orphan who was so poor that he treasured every kunai he could get, wasn't able to replace a simple textbook and didn't even have enough money to buy enough food to not get malnourished.

That she can genuinely look at someone who she knows has a home life so radically different than her, but still assume that the only reason he isn't at the same level at her is because he's not willing to put in the effort.

I hope that there will come a moment where all of that is thrown in her face and she realises that she is not actually any different from a clan kid, from his point of view and that all the effort that she has put in isn't really impressing anyone, because if you have nothing to do but improve, nobody should be impressed if you do.

The only moment she had to break the mold, learn something beyond the well walked path and grow into her own person beyond the academy curriculum and the wealth of her parents, when Takuma offered to teach her lock picking, she almost laughed in his face.

I think Momoe is so quick to find fault in others, because then she doesn't have to find fault in herself.

 

[Merlinoi]

Just had an idea, so for Takuma, ANBU is a way to get to root. But Mikoto is also a way, they where involve in that whole thing, so they have egg in that basket. With a better relationship with the Uchiha he could work with them on that.

 

[Arbitbit39]

wonder how Takuma and Nara Shikaku interaction gonna be like when they meet and Takuma is in investigator mode.

also will we get confirmation if Takuma has a budding bloodline or just a wierd spiritual quirk

 

[Marsh_]

One of the greatest injustices of this story, in my opinion, is how Momoe genuinely thinks that her situation and Takuma's were in any way comparable.

You know, her, the Scion of a a rich merchant family who with a host of servants, enough of a stipend to buy any ninja tool she needs and a family that she can go to when things get rough and him, the orphan whos first action after coming home has to be to clean and cook, because if he doesn't his cloths would be unusable and he just wouldn't have anything to eat.

The 10 year old child that was completely isolated from anyone else, having neither friends nor family. The orphan who was so poor that he treasured every kunai he could get, wasn't able to replace a simple textbook and didn't even have enough money to buy enough food to not get malnourished.

That she can genuinely look at someone who she knows has a home life so radically different than her, but still assume that the only reason he isn't at the same level at her is because he's not willing to put in the effort.

I hope that there will come a moment where all of that is thrown in her face and she realises that she is not actually any different from a clan kid, from his point of view and that all the effort that she has put in isn't really impressing anyone, because if you have nothing to do but improve, nobody should be impressed if you do.

The only moment she had to break the mold, learn something beyond the well walked path and grow into her own person beyond the academy curriculum and the wealth of her parents, when Takuma offered to teach her lock picking, she almost laughed in his face.

I think Momoe is so quick to find fault in others, because then she doesn't have to find fault in herself.

Click to shrink...

wait, jog my memory a bit, when did Takuma offer her to teach lock picking? Also I do partially agree with your point but when the divide between clan kids and civillians are made, I think it's because a first gen ninja has or is likely to have less chakra and access to Jutsus as its distribution is strictly monitored no matter how rich you are.

 

[MrRobot]

Basically the clan structure is a family thing, clans have secret techniques archives, trainers that can impart experiences and specifically in this story connections.

Momoe is not wrong to think she do have it worse than a clan kid but the real problem is her quite narcissistic assumption that people that don't succeed are not trying hard enough. It's a way to frame her sucess solely on her merits rather than a combination of factors wich do rub people the wrong way.

 

[Fiction]

"Do you like your life now or when you were back at the academy?"

Izumi considered the question from the boy sitting beside her. Even though she had sat beside him five minutes ago, they had only been part of the same conversation instead of actually talking with each other. She was just about to start thinking that he wasn't interested in talking to her.

"... I most definitely like my life right now," Izumi answered Takuma's question.

"Why?" asked Takuma, shifting his body to face her.

"My dad died during the Nine-Tails attack..."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Takuma with an earnest light in his eyes.

Izumi nodded. "Thank you. Well, after that, Mom started working to support both of us. It was tough on her, but she made sure I never felt that I didn't feel it. I have fond memories of the academy, but I like my life now infinitely more because I can support her so she doesn't have to bear it all alone."

When she was in the academy, she was a burden on her mother. Being part of the Uchiha clan helped as everything from household commodities to monthly utility bills was subsidised by the clan, and the academy itself was tuition-free—but it was nevertheless hard on her mother. But when Izumi became a shinobi, she could contribute to the household instead of just taking from it.

"My proudest moment is still the day when I gave my first paycheck to Mom," Izumi smiled, remembering how surprised her mother looked when she grabbed her rough hands hands and placed the envelope in them. They had cried in each other's arms for a good while before just staying there. It was a warm memory that she would never forget.

"If I have a complaint, it's that she insists on continuing to work," Izumi sighed. She wanted her to enjoy her life, but her mother said she enjoyed her work because it kept her busy. "She's taking less work now, but still..."

"I'm sure she recognises how much you love her," said Takuma. "It's probably that she's worried that you won't have any savings if you give her money when you lose so much to scam products."

"Hey!" Izumi glared at him before softly chuckling. "What about you? I assume that you like your life now more?"

She knew that Takuma's time at the academy hadn't been very fun. He had no friends, was terrible at all things shinobi, and was given a really hard time by Hiji. But now, he had friends like Taro, Arisu, and even Kameko, which was a surprise given their personalities—and had managed to make more than something out of himself. Perhaps out of everyone in the class, he was the one to improve the most.

"Who knows, both parts of my life have their good and bad." Takuma looked like he was in thought before he was in thought, "You're right, all things considered, I think being a shinobi has been better than being a student... However, I have to say, the feeling of covering my answer in the test with my hand so the teacher couldn't see how stupid I was—even though I knew he would be grading it later—that feeling is unmatched."

Izumi patted his shoulder as she covered her mouth to hide her laughter. She understood the appeal of returning to the simpler times of when they were in the academy—it was a glasshouse that kept them safe from the realities of the world of a shinobi.

"May I ask you a question?" asked Takuma.

"Sure, what is it?" she smiled.

"What does it feel like to use B-rank ninjutsu?"

Izumi paused as the question changed the topic of conversation to something very separate from what they were talking about, requiring her to think about the question before she could answer. She had two B-rank ninjutsu in her arsenal, one of which she had a decent mastery over as it was a Fire Release jutsu, which was her primary affinity—but the second, Wind Release jutsu, was taking some time as her talent with the Wind affinity didn't match that of her talent over Fire.

"The clan head once said this to us," she started.

"Uchiha Fugaku?"

"Uh-huh. He said that if D-rank ninjutsu feels like training toys and C-rank ninjutsu are akin to tools of the trade, then B-rank ninjutsu are the manifestation of power." Izumi closed her eyes and recalled the feeling. "Using B-rank ninjutsu makes it feel like you've ascended; the feeling of chakra coursing through the body, transforming into pure power all under my control, free for me to unleash... The first time I cast one correctly, my heart beat with such intensity that it refused to come down for a long time, and I was on a power high for the rest of the day."

She was well aware that she was talking about a weapon of serious destruction which shouldn't be used lightly in any circumstances, but she couldn't deny that using a B-rank jutsu was an experience like no other—and perhaps that was exactly why it was dangerous.

"I guess that's why he was being so annoyingly loud," Takuma muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I have this asshole acquaintance who turned more annoying when he was using a B-rank jutsu, don't worry about it," Takuma looked at another table. "Though I must say Momoe didn't look power-hungry when she used a B-rank jutsu on me."

"She did what?" asked Izumi, looking surprised at Momoe.

"It was a spar a long time ago under the watchful eye of her sensei, and knowing what I know now, she mustn't've been very good at it back then."

"I see; I was just surprised. But it's good that there was a jonin overlooking it." A mischievous smile perked on her face. "Everyone has their own unique experience. Momoe values control over a lot of things, so maybe she didn't show it, or perhaps she didn't feel like it... Momoe is like an old granny; it's not a surprise that she's a boring stiff," she said the last part a bit loudly.

Izumi snatched a wooden skewer aimed at her head out of the air and stuck out her tongue at a glaring Momoe.

"It's not just the feeling of power; depending on if you chose a jutsu that gels well with your fighting style, they're excellent on a cost-value scale. There are plenty of C-rank jutsu that can scale up along with a shinobi, but most of them would fall into not being used as a shinobi grows—but a B-rank jutsu would always stay with you regardless of how much you grow."

A lot of it had to do with the fact that shinobi thought carefully about B-rank jutsu because of the amount of effort it took to learn and master one. A wrong choice could lead to a waste of not only effort but also time that could've put in another option. She had taken a full three weeks of near-daily visit to her clan's jutsu archives before she decided on the jutsu she wanted to pursue.

"If B-rank is like that, I wonder how A-rank jutsu would feel," Takuma thought aloud.

"They don't feel good," Izumi replied. "I have no experience, but from what I've been told, A-rank jutsu puts a lot of stress on the body. They take too much chakra, which makes their usage limited and more risky—but there's no doubt that they're utterly devastating, which can be a detriment..."

"Hmm, so B-rank jutsu lies in a sweet spot where you can have a profound effect with a reasonable trade-off."

"Precisely."

He has changed. Izumi didn't know Takuma very well in the academy—she still didn't know much about him— but she had an impression that he was withdrawn and cautious. She had caught him silently looking around the class, observing everything without ever participating. But as she sat beside him, it felt like he had become comfortable in his skin, which wasn't the case before. There was also self-assuredness and confidence when he was talking about his experience at the war with Momoe. Coming into his own as a shinobi had made him grow as a person.

She couldn't help but wonder what journey he had been on since leaving the academy.

"I must admit, I'm curious about your relationship with Lady Mikoto," asked Izumi.

"She's my genjutsu teacher... I wanted to learn genjutsu, so someone in the Police Force introduced us. She was free and liked me enough to show me the ropes. But I have relied on her a lot more than just genjutsu lessons. She was immensely helpful when I was trying to wrap my head around being deployed to war." A look of gratitude appeared on Takuma's face as he sat up a bit straighter. "Meeting someone as genuine as Mikoto-sensei has been one of the most fortunate occurrences in my life."

"That's very nice to hear," Izumi smiled because she could sense that he meant every word of it. "But I'm surprised that you're learning genjutsu from her. Lady Mikoto is famed for her taijutsu rather than genjutsu."

Takuma shrugged. "She's an exemplary genjutsu teacher." He looked at her. "Your combat style is focused around taijutsu, isn't it? You should consult her with your queries. Even if it's one sparring session, she has the sheer experience to open your worldview."

"H-Huh, I can't disturb her with something like that," said Izumi. Even though she was retired, Mikoto was a jonin, and she was the matriarch of the Uchiha clan with responsibilities. Moreover, Izumi had her jonin teacher, who she could consult on her queries—not only that, the clan itself had provided her with a mentor she could reach out to, which she had done, but they weren't compatible—the advice she was given didn't suit her.

Going to Mikoto would be insulting to her clan mentor, and she didn't want to offend someone who had been trying to help her.

"She's resuming the genjutsu lessons with me," said Takuma.

"She really does like you, huh."

Izumi wondered if the reason Mikoto liked Takuma was because he resembled her son. They were both the dark, brooding type who didn't speak a lot. They both had a mature vibe to them and seemed to have various thoughts and questions always churning in their mind.

She hadn't seen Itachi in months, and the amount of times they had met this year could be counted on one hand. He had withdrawn himself since Shisui's death and pushed himself into work. That was yet another similarity because Arisu said that Takuma was a workaholic.

Takuma continued, "If she's willing to do that for someone outside the clan, what makes you think she won't entertain one of her own clan's rising stars."

"R-Rising star. I'm not that—"

"And it's not like you're just anyone. You're close to her son, Itachi, if I'm not wrong; that's one connection you can use. And you know me; that's the second one. I could ask her for you."

"No, you don't have to do that."

"You want your mother to be happy, right?"

"Huh?" Izumi looked up and saw Takuma staring down at her with his dull black eyes that were suddenly so deep she couldn't see the bottom.

"You're a chunin, but the reason your mother is being so considerate is probably that she doesn't want to waste her daughter's money."

"Waste?! Helping my mom is not wasting money!"

"I agree, but a good parent like her might think differently. You are young, and she probably wants to save your money for the future or spend it on yourself rather than her. She probably knows that you wanted to become a shinobi to support her, which would obviously make her feel proud but also make her think that she's tying her daughter down."

"That's rubbish; she's doing nothing like that," Izumi said, but for some reason, she couldn't help but worry that her mother, given her personality, might think like that.

"There's a simple solution to resolve everything," said Takuma. "You become a jonin."

Izumi was dumbfounded. It had barely been half a year since she had become a chunin, and he was talking about becoming a jonin.

"To be more precise, you rise so high, earn so much money, that when you show the line of zeroes on your bank book; when she reads her daughter's name in the newspaper; when clan bigwigs respect her because of you—she has no choice but to realise that her daughter is not one to be tied down. But for that to happen, you need everything you can get your hands on because it's a tough road. So reach out to Mikoto-sensei not for yourself but for your mother."

Izumi was right. They were similar in how kind and thoughtful they were. But she was also wrong. Itachi wouldn't say anything like what Takuma had just said. She looked up at Takuma, and she could tell that as they sat there talking, she was his only focus. It was different from when she talked with Itachi, who always seemed to have other thoughts in the back of his mind.

"Now it feels so much easier, doesn't it?" asked Takuma.

Izumi smiled broadly.

"It does," she said and looked him in the eye. "I'll do just that!"





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]

As the last hour of the gathering wound down, Takuma and Arisu sat shoulder to shoulder, feet kicked out, leaning against the wall, away from the tables. The mood of the gathering had long since settled down; some people had left, and the conversations had turned softer; some had even laid down on the tatami floors.

"I really wanted to spar with you," Arisu sighed with a hint of irritation.

Takuma wanted to spar with Arisu as he did with Nenro and Masaaki, and she had readily agreed, but she ran into a work problem the day before their spar and thus had to pull out from the spar commitment.

"It's okay. Let's do it after I return from my trip," Takuma replied. He also wanted to fight Arisu because she had a unique combat style from her Fuma clan lineage that was often required to handle the giant fuma shuriken and turn it into an effective weapon. He wanted to see closely what insight he could gain from it.

"Don't you think it's too early for you to go out again? It hasn't even been a month since you came back," said Arisu, glancing up at him.

"It is early, but it's also the only time I'm free. I'm on leave until my contract runs out—if Setsuna somehow pulls through, I would need to start working in my new position; if he fails, I would need to start looking for work... and I think I've outstayed my welcome at Maruboshi-sensei's house. I feel bad for taking advantage of his generosity, so, when I return, I'll couch-surf at Ai's and Nenro's place while I find myself a new place to rent."

Of course, as Arisu said, it was indeed too early to leave on a leisure trip when he had just returned home after nearly a year at war. But he couldn't postpone the ANBU recruitment tests—and, in some ways, doing something challenging would be an excellent way to get him back in the grove.

"Did you decide where you're going?" she asked.

Takuma answered with the pre-prepared response of his trip taking him through a couple of major cities, a hunting hotspot, a long-standing temple, and some planned detours on his journey.

However, because he wasn't visiting any of those places, he would not have any stories to tell, nor any souvenirs to bring back—so he had thought of an excuse where he would come across a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere and decide to stay there after being captivated by itself.

The town was an actual lake-side settlement once found by Maruboshi during his travels and would give Takuma enough information to lie effectively.

"Dad said that you should come and visit," said Arisu.

"Sure, I'd like to see your dad again," said Takuma. He had known Arisu for a while now, and in that time, he had met some of her relatives, like her dad and aunt, who worked in the Police Force. He had also visited her home once to have dinner with her family. they

"How's the family doing?"

Suddenly, Arisu's face darkened, and her body stiffened as she bowed her head, causing her green hair to fall down and cover her face.

"Dad and mom are getting a divorce," she whispered.

"What?" Takuma was utterly shocked and taken aback by the sudden news.

She had been so cheerful since he had returned and showed no signs of any distress or a problem as grave as her parents getting divorced. Or she did show some signs that he'd missed because he was rotting in his own misery.

"Are you alright? How can I help? If you want to talk—"

"Pfft!" Arisu turned her head away with her hand covering her mouth. She shook from trying to hold her laughter back.

"You dick! Come on, I was genuinely worried!" Takuma punched her in the shoulder.

She wiped a tear from her eye while grinning ear to ear. "Everything is fine. They had their sixteenth anniversary two months ago. They're thinking about raising a chicken to see if they could manage up a coop in the future."

He sighed but was happy that everything was good. He noticed her gaze on him and asked what she was looking at.

"The scar really changed your look." Arisu held her face with one hand and gently brushed her thumb against the scar on the edge of his lips. "You should get it fixed. There's an iryo-nin in the clan who's really good in the reconstructive and cosmetic field—after he's done, it will be like you never had that scar."

It wasn't the first time they had talked about the topic of his scars. The Hidden Leaf standard uniform had a turtleneck and full-sleeved undershirt, which hid all of his body, and the Police Force uniform too covered his body so he never had to worry about other people seeing his scars.

But for someone who had spent as much time with him as Arisu, she knew to a large extent how many scars he had. She never liked them and would bring up cosmetic reconstruction to wipe them off.

"I don't mind them," Takuma replied with the same answer as always. "They serve as reminders of mistakes I shouldn't make again."

His time in the Ring had put many more marks on his body, and he could immediately point to one and recall why he got it. They were signs of failure, but more importantly, signs of his learning. He didn't like his scars—he would prefer not to get new ones—but he was fine with keeping them. Then, there were the surgical scars; they were his connection to the boy's past—and ever since Yu, they had become more important in understanding the truth, which was now his past.

"ROOT was behind the assassination attempt," Takuma whispered just loud enough for Arisu to hear. The ANBU and Police Force had kept that information on the low so it hadn't spread out.

"That ROOT?" Arisu whispered back, her eyes widening.

Takuma nodded. "The man who most probably ordered the assassination was at the city I was operating... I got the scar while fighting him. I took his arm, but he escaped," he said.

"But why did they target you?"

"Remember the Farm Raid? That belonged to the ROOT; they wanted to retaliate and scare us away."

"Oh my god... That must've been terrible to see him there."

It was indeed terrible. The man had made his life miserable by releasing the wanted posters, which had led to innocent people getting tortured.

"He killed one of my teammates, Rikku, a dear friend," said Takuma. For a split second, a terribly dark flashed past his eyes. "He escaped back then, but when we meet the next time, I'll feed him to hyenas just so that he'll finally be of some use to the world."

Arisu placed a hand on his hand, and Takuma exhaled deeply to release the rage build-up.

"I'm sorry, let's change the topic," he said with an apologetic look.

"There are rumours that you are getting promoted," said Arisu, surprising him.

"Seriously?" he asked because he lacked confidence in Setsuna.

"I didn't talk about our conversation with anyone, and if you only shared the promotion talk with me, then it must be from Chunin Setsuna ... I heard that he has been meeting with department heads recently, and seeing that no higher-up has stopped him must mean that they don't mind it, which means that they're seriously considering your promotion."

Since meeting with Mikoto and her offer to swear allegiance to the Uchiha clan, Takuma saw two paths before him.

Assuming he got the Police Force promotion, if he went that route, then he was thinking of taking up the offer, becoming affiliated, and hitching his ride with the Uchiha clan; he would be working on the clan's home field, but unlike before, he would concretely be on their side—and he would have Jonin Uchiha Mikoto, the Uchiha matriarch as his backer. Not only would he have stable power in the Police Force, but he would also have a clan's resource—he wasn't delusional to think he would get the clan member treatment, but as long as he got anything comparable, that would be a huge boon.

The second route was joining ANBU, if he passed. The moment they had put the jutsu archive access on the table, Takuma had almost made up his mind to the point nothing would change it. His initial aim had been to survive; getting unfettered access to a C-rank archive and favourable access to a B-rank archive based on performance fulfilled that aim.

However, he was no longer comfortable aligning himself with the Uchiha clan if he wasn't working in the Police Force; the moment he revealed his position in the ANBU, he would undoubtedly be turned into an insider—and the moment the ANBU found his affiliation with the Uchiha, he could see them pressuring him to be their insider.

Takuma didn't want to get stuck between them, and hiding one from the other was impossible as it would inevitably be revealed.

Another of his concerns with ANBU was that one of his long-term goals was to become a jonin. He had lived in the world long enough to understand that rank promotions, especially jonin promotion, were deeply political affairs. While the ANBU was an optimal place to rack achievements by handling matters of national security and had all the power one could ask for; they weren't as politically influential as one of the two founder clans of the Hidden Leaf.

Having the Uchiha as his backers would raise his chances like almost no one else could.

While he could be incorrect, he also guessed that getting promoted inside ANBU itself would be more difficult when the average skill of their members, along with their achievement, would be higher, which meant harsher competition leading to lower chances of getting promoted.

Rank promotions were inherently essential to getting stronger for someone like him who didn't have a clan's deep shinobi culture to pull from. Without becoming a chunin, he wouldn't be able to do higher-level missions; would earn fewer mission points and money, limiting his purchasing power; and wouldn't have access to the B-rank archives, limiting him to weaker jutsu—thus stifling his growth.

And because of that, becoming a jonin was absolutely necessary if he wanted to become someone truly strong—without that promotion, the only way to get stronger was to take drastic measures requiring him to uproot his life, which wasn't something he wanted to do.

There was no doubt that both paths before him were excellent, and he would be fortunate to go either way—but he didn't know what the future had in store for him, and didn't want to regret taking one path only to realise then that he would have done better if he went the other way.

"Ugh, I don't want to think about it. It just makes me anxious," said Takuma, rubbing his arm.

"Well, you're lucky that you're going away," Arisu replied.

"Let's go on a trip somewhere together someday, even if it's only one day," said Takuma.

"Really? I would like that actually very much," said Arisu with a bright blooming on her face.

"Uh-huh, let's gather some of our friends and go somewhere relaxing," Takuma said. He hadn't ever been on a trip with friends other than school excursions and wanted that experience at least once.

Arisu's smile turned into a grimace, and she kicked him in the shin so hard that he yelped.

"Ouch, what the fuck!" Takuma yelled as he briskly rubbed his leg to ease the pain. "What was that for?"

"Your ugly face irritated me!"

"That makes no sense!"





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.

 

[RexLapisCultist]

Arisu's smile turned into a grimace, and she kicked him in the shin so hard that he yelped.

"Ouch, what the fuck!" Takuma yelled as he briskly rubbed his leg to ease the pain. "What was that for?"

Click to shrink...

Scar tissue is denser than regular skin so it makes sense.

 

[MrRobot]

Well now we know what Takuma will be the senpai of the protagonist in. Be a dense motherfucker.

 

[The Radiance]

TFTC. Takuma is dense. He is becoming an anime protagonist.