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Seeing Red [Naruto]

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Acquisition 2.4
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    • Acquisition 2.4

    Hisana stood outside her prospective teacher's house, somewhat nervously. Ebisu had recommended him highly, saying the man was a former Samurai who had emigrated to Konoha as a merchant with his business partner after he was crippled in the line of duty. He still took on the occasional student in Iaido, though. It apparently paid well.

    "Come round the back, Miss Uchiha!" A man's voice said loudly. Accepting the invitation, Hisana leapt over the side fence and into the house's backyard. She had been told by Ebisu not to bring anything, as apparently the man who was going to teach her generally taught Iaido with blunted steel blades rather than wood. Not that she didn't technically own hundreds of the things, but they were mostly locked away in the vault and she hadn't inspected any of them for condition when she was sealing them away.

    There was a large open area, under the shade of a huge tree, and another area that appeared to be a garden. A man of perhaps forty years of age was currently working in it.

    "Inaho is just running a bit late, Miss. Would you like some tea whilst you wait? I'm Kie." The man said, standing to reveal an that one sleeve of his shirt was empty. His face held several scars, and one eye was clearly a glass fake.

    "Please, call me Hisana." She said, trying not to stare. Was this man the business partner Ebisu had mentioned?

    "Sure, let me get you that tea - the door's open." Kie said, opening the screen door at the back of the house and showing her in. Soon enough, they were both drinking tea and waiting for his 'business partner' to return. Hisana wasn't exactly unaware of what was going on here, but she thought it best to leave it alone. "You know, I used to be a ninja." Kie said, looking towards a framed, frayed forehead protector mounted on the wall. "'Course, that was before the war ended and they didn't need cripples like me to puff up the numbers. I don't mind the merchant life, though." He finished.

    "How'd you end up meeting Inaho? You seem to be an odd pair of... business partners." HIsana asked.

    "You might not believe it, but he's the one who gave me this-" Kie paused to point at his fake eye, then continued. "Of course, we only really met after the Third War was over and we were both merchants, but that story's more interesting, and tends to get prospective students hyped up. Though I must say that you seem on the younger side for one of Inaho's students. He normally trains chunin looking to expand into swordsmanship." Kie finished. Hisana almost began to respond, then there was the sound of the front door opening. "Inaho, you have a student!" Kie shouted, and Hisana could hear the impact of Inaho's wooden leg on the floor as he walked over to two of them.

    He was a large man, and he carried what had to be a pair of blunted swords in their scabbards. He tossed one at Hisana and she caught it, grinning.

    "Come and show me what you're made of, brat. And thank Kie for the tea." Inaho said, his voice sounding pack-a-day smokerish.

    "Thank you for the tea and company, Kie." Hisana said as she followed her teacher out into the backyard.

    +++++​

    "Feel like going on a trip, Sasuke?" Hisana asked one night, as they were packing away newly clean dishes.

    "A trip... ? What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, a confused look on his face.

    "You know that accounting of the 'high value items' we found a while back? I've managed to convince the Hokage to grant us a travel pass to get the summoning scrolls if we hire help." Hisana replied. She hefted a huge sealing scroll, almost as tall as she was and thicker around, and continued on. "Plus anything else that looks interesting, don't wanna leave it open for anyone unscrupulous." Hisana finished.

    "Do you really think we're ready?" Sasuke asked.

    "I don't think we're gonna summon the Boss Summons anytime soon, but yeah. I think we are." Hisana said.

    "And you're not worried at Naruto feeling left out in all this?" Sasuke asked.

    "Oh don't you worry about him. I have something for him that'll blow both your minds." Hisana said, and grinned. Learning the Shadow Clone jutsu had been hard - they really did take prodigious amounts of chakra - but worth it. Being able to have a clone do seal or book work whilst you trained physically was extremely useful, though it was too dangerous to also do ninjutsu training with it out.

    +++++
    ​
    Hisana had payed for an A-Rank mission, yes, but she hadn't quite been expecting this. Standing by the gates, waiting for her and Sasuke, was a team of four ANBU. Including one with a dog mask she was about a thousand percent certain was Kakashi. He'd dyed his hair, but she was certain he'd let a few silver roots show on purpose. The cheeky bastard.

    "Lady Uchiha, are you and your cousin prepared?" One of the ANBU who weren't Kakashi asked.

    "Of course." HIsana said, and then the ANBU jumped over the wall with only a gesture to follow them. Sasuke and Hisana leapt over it as well, settling in to a comfortable pace with their escorts. Their mostly silent journey took two days, and Hisana was beginning to regret carrying such a big scroll with her when they finally arrived. The cache was hidden within the ruins of an abandoned city, which looked strangely modern to Hisana's eyes. The buildings were made from crumbling concrete and rusting steel; and she could see the remains of power lines and other such modern utilities. Activating her sharingan, she saw the path made to only be visible to those who possessed it marked out on the walls.

    "Follow me please, we're not far now." Hisana said, and the ANBU dutifully changed course to match hers. There were a multitude of traps set, but they all emerged unscathed. The actual cache itself was protected by a complex array of seals requiring blood from a 'True Uchiha' to open. Sasuke provided the blood, and the stone doors swung open in a rush of air. "If you would please wait outside?" Hisana asked the ANBU, who nodded.

    Hisana and Sasuke walked into the cache, and found themselves amazed. Everything from chakra-metal swords to rare weapons taken as trophies to sets of armour that looked like they dated back to the Warring States Period to scrolls filled with rare jutsu. They went around sealing things into Hisana's scroll, stopping when they finally found the summoning scrolls.

    "What one are you inclined to, Sasuke?" Hisana asked. The four scrolls sat upon pedestals marked with carvings of their respective animal.

    "The Hawks, I think. We should probably wait until we're home to sign one, however." He replied.

    "Then let's get going. We've gotta be back in a few days for classes, anyway." Hisana said, and they went back to sealing things away.
    ​
    +++++
    ​
    Hisana and Sasuke had arrived back at Konoha almost a week ago, and were still sorting through the retrieved items. She'd signed the Raven scroll, and a couple of other items had caught her interest. Specifically, a set of swords made from chakra-conducting metal; and otherwise being an extraordinary example of swordsmithing. One looked to be sized just about right for her, and there were others in the set that would suit her as she grew taller. To scale with her body, it was a full size katana - though of course, being made for a child meant it wasn't actually the full size.

    They were also sad reminders of the Warring States Period. Hisana knew her modern sensibilities were being ground down by Konoha's rather skillful indoctrination, but she thought that even they would have objected to the smallest of the swords.

    She held her blade in her hands, and ran chakra along it. Two opposing currents of chakra ran along the blade, grinding against one another to create an edge of unparalleled sharpness. Her sword was encased in a crimson glow, her chakra visible in it's intensity. Her wind nature allowed the cutting edge to come into fruition, and she swung against a small boulder. Her sword didn't stop, feeling less like she was cutting through rock and more like she was cutting through rice paper.

    She'd have to thank Asuma for showing her the chakra flow technique after she asked for advice on wind ninjutsu.
    ​
    +++++
    ​
    Atop Hisana's forehead, between the Gates of Opening and the Gate of Healing, sat a red diamond. If one were to apply the seal expansion technique, however, one would see the vast array of incredibly complex calligraphy that was the basis for the first working version of her chakra storage seal. She'd jokingly thought about calling it the 'Strength of One' seal, as it's total chakra capacity were roughly equal to her own, but thought better of it. It would grow more and more powerful with each revision, and she had confirmed that Naruto could be called upon to fill it up. The seal had taken her and a Shadow Clone nearly a year of work in total, and it was still far from finished.

    For what she was about to attempt, she'd want all the chakra she could spare. She released the seal, red markings appearing on her face as she put almost all of her own chakra and almost all that the seal held into one jutsu. She slammed her hand down upon the hardened dirt of the ground and a black seal started to take form. There was a burst of smoke, and standing in front of her was a raven the size of a man. It bowed, cawed at her and then began to speak.

    "Ah, caw, one of the survivors? Yes, yes of course we're in the compound. Which are you, Hisana or Sasuke?" The raven asked, genuinely confused. The rest of the meeting went on like that.
    ​
    +++++
    ​
    Hisana lay in her bed, worrying. Tomorrow was graduation day, and she'd thoroughly derailed canon for this particular part of the timeline. Naruto had been able to do a clone for a year, and she'd taught him the shadow clone jutsu months ago - hell, he'd already figured out it's A-Ranked Forbidden version, the Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu. Right now, she had three decisions to worry about; from least important to most. She kind of wanted to bring along a set of shuriken subtly marked with receptor tags to pull off some crazy trick shots, she had to decide what jutsu she'd do for extra credit, and what to do about Mizuki.

    Chose one choice from each of the categories below, voting is by line.


    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your chakra storage seal
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone

    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.
    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.

    Uchihas are excellent at shurikenjutsu. This is us living up to that.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets

    Save our cooler stuff for later. Elemental ninjutsu is plenty enough.

    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.

    Oh, I'm sure he's up to something.
     
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    Tekomandor said:
    Chose one choice from each of the categories below, voting is by line.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    @Tekomandor - For votes like this you might want to use tasks since they make things far easier to tally. In this case it would be something like:
    Article:
    Chose one choice from each of the categories below, voting is by line.

    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your chakra storage seal
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone

    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.

    With tasks like that the NetTally will automatically sort the votes into each categories according to task.
     
    UberJJK said:
    @Tekomandor - For votes like this you might want to use tasks since they make things far easier to tally. In this case it would be something like:
    Article:
    Chose one choice from each of the categories below, voting is by line.

    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your chakra storage seal
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone

    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.

    With tasks like that the NetTally will automatically sort the votes into each categories according to task.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Done.
     
    [x] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.

    Uchihas are excellent at shurikenjutsu. This is us living up to that.

    [x] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets

    Let's save our cooler stuff for a more appropriate time. Elemental ninjutsu is already a lot compared to what most genin can do.

    [x] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.
     
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.

    Save it for when we want to impress our Jounin sensei or something. No point wasting them now.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your chakra storage seal

    I was going to go for just Drilling Air Bullets, for the same reasons as other people. But then I thought, what does this choice mean? One possibility is that they might assign us to different sensei based on our demonstrated skills. Showing off our skill in sealing here may get us better opportunities for further development.

    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.

    It is unlikely that he's going to be doing anything at the academy, or at this specific time (especially since he's going to be really busy dealing with the exams). Naruto happened to provide a convenient opportunity for him to take advantage of in canon, but that isn't the case here. Acting paranoid is unlikely to accomplish anything good - and might just get us in trouble.
     
    Tekomandor said:
    She'd have to thank Asuma for showing her the chakra flow technique after she asked for advice on wind ninjutsu.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Nice to see a few indications of how the characters pass the time, beyond what can be shown in a single update. :)


    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.

    I'm curious to see how the low-key approach works for the tests. Might make her more likely to be put on a team with Sasuke and Naruto, might not.

    As for Mizuki, I feel like he's unlikely to try something specifically at this point in time. Could be worth keeping an eye on him, though. Hopefully she doesn't make him suspicious.


    Hmm. I'm a bit worried by the multiple significant power-ups, even if those could be attributed to the perks of meta-knowledge, Uchiha clan resources, and several years of prep. I can't figure out whether the QM is implementing the multiple power-ups for the sake of fun & awesomeness, or is setting Hisana up for a major crash later. Or maybe both? I dunno.
     
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    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    We can make Shadow Clones now so replacing them shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Plus Hisana is right and that would look really cool.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone
    Naruto is definitely going to show off either Shadow Clone or Multi Shadow Clone. Given that Mizuki is probably a traitor it's best not to reveal too much and since it's already known we hang around Naruto revealing that Hisana can also create Shadow Clones isn't a great leap.

    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.
    We don't know for sure Mizuki is a traitor and even if he is Hisana following him around all day without due cause would be suspicious as hell.
     
    Tekomandor said:
    15xp for you to assign as you wish! Your Hisana also looks basically spot on to how I've been imagining her since @Erebeal did their art.
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    Mmm, yeah, I used their work as a starting point/reference for what she'd look like.

    It's a bit late right now, so I'll probably assign XP at some point tomorrow, after I get some sleep.

    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.
     
    One thing I will bring up is: is there even any point in trying for extra credit?

    I mean, we're already probably fairly clearly one of the strongest students in the class, is there really any need to pad our score at this point?

    The only reason I can see to do it is if it will affect our future options - e.g. Team and Jounin Sensei. And does Shadow Clone or Air Bullets really do anything special in that regard?

    My analysis is:
    • Air Bullets - maybe a chance at getting a sensei who knows wind release?
    • Seal - chance at someone who knows about sealing?
    • Shadow Clone - generic, offers us nothing in particular
     
    Erebeal said:
    Personally? Not really.

    And as I argued before, I'd consider it unlikely from an in universe standpoint, since it would really be putting to many eggs in one basket.

    I'm more hoping that Hisana's expectations will be dashed, and we'll get to watch her panic.
    Click to expand...
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    unless our benevolent QM wants to make two new Npcs to be our team members, we are replacing SOMEONE, because only a few of those teams had a chance of actually going anywhere, the ones from the clans, and some gifted/hardworking kids which as far as we know the genin from civilian families were not.
     
    [x][Receptors] - Do use the receptor tagged shuriken. Spelling your name in shuriken after bouncing them off random objects after throwing them backwards is gonna be so cool.
    Why the F not.

    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    As much as i would like to show off the seal, I just can not trust that it would not blow up in our face. Shadow Clones might do something...

    [x][Mizuki] - Keep an eye on Mizuki all day. You don't trust him as far as you could throw him.
    NOPE!
     
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.

    Honestly, have we ever trained stealth? We are more than likely to spook Mizuki than anything else.
     
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Shadow Clone
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.

    Mizuki would notice us. He isn't completely incompetent.
     
    [x][Receptors] - Don't use them. The few extra points and a cool factor aren't worth it.
    [x][Credit] - Show the examiner your Drilling Air Bullets
    [x][Mizuki] - Don't get involved. You're sure whatever he tries to pull the village will stop. Probably.
     
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