HEY, back again. Sorry for the delay, the layout of this chapter is bugging me. I have enough things that I want to happen to fill both the Priestess and Magician Chapters, but I still need to work out the timeline for them a bit.
For now, though, this is a sort of Training Interlude leading into his next year. figured I'd set up some things that will come up over time, and explain where and how I acquired a few things that become relevant.
Summer was coming to an end. In two weeks I would have to resume classes at the academy, but until them, I had free time. So after much haggling with my mother and reassuring her, I would be okay alone for a full week, I got her support to camp out in one of the training grounds. The reasoning I gave was that I needed to learn how to camp properly, especially without help. Eventually, Toru Yoku gave up and let me go. While my father, Toru Gin, gave me a small smile.
My family had a rather quiet dynamic. My father was direct and charismatic at the stall, always with a compliment or subtle suggestion for people perusing his wares. A quiet confidence that what he sold was of quality. It drew people in, made them trust him. At home, he was the same. Quiet yet steady handed for the family. My mother was the far more energetic one, often singing as she worked in the forge. Growing up around her, she was always happy to grace the house with smiles and laughter. But she also worried a bit and was far more temperamental than my father.
When they were angry, it was two very different experiences. My father was a quiet anger, he would lower his voice slightly, to something just above a whisper. His eyes, normally a pale gray would harden to what looked like stone, and he would be cutting. Even when angry my father held no quarter. He could read you, respond to you and counter every argument. The only time I had ever beat my father in a heated argument was when I proved him wrong with facts. And my father was no fool, he knew information. He once joked that he was a merchant. That meant he heard things, knew things and sold things. I knew he was content with that, enjoying his profession.
My mother was the one who got loud when mad. She rose her voice often, but when she was mad it changed from a loud voice of enthusiastic pride or cheer, into screams of rage. But never towards me or my father. Towards us, she affected an air of annoyance that was far more effective. I had heard her yell about some of the jobs she had been ordered before. Often about outlandish claims for things that were not possible, often from some snobbish noblemen or haughty merchant's wife, who looked down on the plain woman who played such a trade as metalworking. But I knew my mother's feelings about her job. I knew if every time I heard songs coming from the workshop, or when she smiled as she showed off her newest creations over lunch or dinner. She had found her passion for art and beauty, and pursued it with all her might.
I only wish she worried just a little less.
"Shusho, do you have your knife?"
"Yes, mother."
"And the food."
Yes, mo-"
"What about your-"
"MOM! It's fine. I'll be less than two hours away if I need to walk back, and Ninja regularly will pass through. If there's something I forget I can come back. The academy office filed all the paperwork correctly and I have the permit for my campsite. Relax."
My mom, brushed her short brown hair behind her ear and gave me a slightly sheepish smile, before lunging forwards and sweeping me up in a bone crushing hug, "Be safe, sleep well, and be careful, okay?"
I relented and hugged her back. "Okay, mom. I'll be safe. Don't let dad get bored now yeah?" I gave her my best 'Faux-serious expression' "I won't be there to distract him from those terribly boring nobles looking at your jewelry! He might just die from boredom!"
"More like relax for the first time in years." I heard as my father ruffled my hair, having drifted up to us as I dealt with my mother. "Oh yeah, and I have a gift for you son." he pulled out two sealing scrolls and handed them off to me. One was signed from my grandfather, and the other was marked as from Higurashi's weapon shop. My eyes practically snapped open. "Grandfather sent me something?" I asked. I figured I had a good idea of what Higurashi's scroll probably held, but grampa Kosuke usually had some really interesting stories to tell. He had been a ninja for a very long time and had seen the last two wars. I was always confused when he said he was still just a genin, but whenever I inquired further he would just get this sad smile and tell me: "when you're older I shall explain my reason why. I do hope you have better luck than me, however."
Anyway, I grabbed the scrolls and hugged my dad, before stashing them in the pack I had. There were another three sealing scrolls already in the bag, one of camping supplies, one of emergency rations, and the last one of training tools and weapons.
I shouldered my pack and a round of goodbyes later was heading out.
I walked smoothly through the crowd, reflexively adjusting my gait and stance to match those of the civilians around me. My jacket was zipped up, and I had a brown knit hat over my hair, stitched with my glowing neon green skull on it.
I navigated west, checking a notepad I had the directions written on for training ground number 32. A forested area. The rules were also written on it. No Combat Ninjutsu above B rank. No fire Jutsu above E rank. Don't leave a messy campsite or any active traps when you leave. Basic stuff, but good thinking on behalf of the administrators. I followed my instructions and soon enough I was through the city into the training ground, shifting my pace from civilian speeds to Ninja in seconds, moving at what felt like a light jog, but was probably closer to two times faster than a civilian who was running.
Ain't chakra such a wonderful drug?
I passed by most of the basic training grounds, most of them simply consisted of a field with training posts or groves of trees. The one I wanted was about twelve miles from the training grounds, back against a small mountain at the edge of the forest. From what I had been told, it had a supply of fresh water and was far enough from the village that the animals were far more common, so I could test my skills at trapping.
There were a few more reasons I was heading out this way. One of them was the vial of dark blue gel in my supplies. Another was regarding… squeamishness.
I knew that one day, perhaps soon, perhaps years from now. I would have to kill someone.
I had only ever killed maybe three things in my old life. A rat, a gopher, and a fish. Each time I had been somewhat… nervous. If I was going to be a ninja, I had to get used to death.
The sun had just reached past its apex when I arrived at training ground 32. The area was a large expanse of forest, marked by a long winding game trail that went from the main path out this way, around to the west, and back. The end of the trail would be at the foot of the cliff faces that bordered the small mountain. I paused to take a drink of water and snack on a small granola bar, and recover. A few minutes later I was navigating the tree's, the wonderful ability to ignore the need to clamber through the branches due to chakra walking was amazingly useful.
A half mile into the woods, I found my target. A long winding river that flowed down off the mountain. I followed it back up towards its source, passing through a few small clearings that were once campsites for another ninja, before finally pushing through into the mouth of the river as it ran through the woods.
For a moment I just stood there to take in the sight.
The clearing was a good four to five hundred meters across, and a good third of that was a large pool at the base of a waterfall. The walls were granite and marble, dense and immovable as they rose up along the back of the clearing, reaching hundreds of meters tall. The waterfall was set to the west, falling into the pool before flowing away into the forest. More importantly, was the steam I could see rising from another pool that was off to the far side of the clearing.
A natural hot spring.
I grinned at that, I had heard about it in one of the geography texts when I had been looking up the terrains of the various training grounds. Between the fresh water of the river, and the hot water of the natural hot spring, (though I could see evidence of someone using a few earth Jutsu to make the spring more comfortable) this would be a good place to stay, particularly while training.
First though, to set up camp.
I wandered the edge of the clearing for a bit. Before finding a good place, a small half sheltered clearing, nestled in the nook of a small granite cliff and sheltered from the waterfall clearing by a thick growth of bamboo. I pulled out my scroll for camping and unsealed a hatchet and a bundle of rope. A few hours of work walking around and cutting down both bamboo and some heavy lifting of a few downed tree trunks and I had a solid shelter. A lean-to built up against the short cliff face, roofed with split bamboo planks and the back wall two carefully laid tree trunks. The top of it was layered with moss and leaves and then soaked with a slight water jutsu I had picked up from a book on survival. It was pitifully weak, nothing more than a weak spray similar to a showerhead but more than enough to soak down the roof of the lean-to. If I didn't know better, I would say it looked like two trees had fallen against the cliff and simply built up debris between them. The water and pressed down the leaves and muddied them with the dirt I had used to seal the roof, making it look like they were packed in there for some time.
I glanced up at the sky to see the sun was now drifting down towards the horizon, and set about setting up a fire pit against the cliff face a few feet from my new shelters opening. A few minutes setting up a campfire and I'm heading towards the river again, a glint of metal at hand.
I pause at the edge of the river and take a deep breath, letting the tension roll out of me. I watch the water, the sun slowly setting to my left.
And then I move, flicking three special senbon out into the water. Unlike normal needles, these ones are more like sewing needles, with a blunt end that holds a loose looped, upon which Ninja wire, thin and shimmering in the afternoon light, is hooked up. The tips are barbed, and as they fly out, I let the spool of wire up my sleeve loose out.
A few second later I'm reeling in a fish, and I pull a short knife from my belt. The cleaning is slow, I'm forcing myself to considered the death of the animal, to take the time and understand how it was now dead. The fish, from what I can see, is some sort of salmon, going by the bright red/pink meat.
I carve it up, and leave the guts and most of the bones in the river, giving back what I won't eat.
I take the fish back, spit it over the fire with some seasoning and let it cook. While I do so, I pulled out the small sealed jar from my supplies, looking at the jet. I had been looking for this for some time now. Gramps had mentioned it once in one of his stories, and it had taken half a year of watching before a trader from Suna was complaining about the 'weird blue gel from Northern Suna'. It was a rather rare yogurt from the goats in the land of the wind. It was favored by poison experts for one real reason.
It was an antidote to one of the more common paralytic compounds. Not just that, but it could be incorporated into a body's digestive system and the antidote itself was particularly painless. The bacteria in this yogurt was specially cultivated to make the user resistant to the poisons. In fact, I had the box of power to make one of those poisons at home sitting on a shelf. I also knew that the reason that this wasn't more common was two-fold. First, the body had to take it during their teenage years. After that, the immune system of a person would be too developed for it to take hold. Even then, by the time I turned seventeen, it would have passed through my body.
Second, it wasn't a necessarily pleasant experience. For the next few days, I would have blue lips and tongue from the bacterial colony growing in my system, phantom pains, itches, and some rather nasty cramps. That's why I had pushed for a full week camping. After that, as long as I kept my diet a bit protein heavy and added more dairy, I would have a fairly solid resistance to the poison I wanted to use.
It also took weeks to get out here in Konoha. Wasn't crazy expensive, but it took a large chunk out of my allowance for a few months.
I pulled the now nicely cooked fish off the fire, and set it to cool a bit, sliding the gel back in my bag for the moment.
Another reason I wanted to come here was that the hot spring was supposed to help with the process. It would relax my muscles and keep my body warm enough for the bacteria take root. I would also help keep me calm and relaxed. I would also keep up with my training of course, but having the ability to rest while the discomfort was present would be nice. I also would be trying to water walk.
I quickly devoured the fish before banking the fire for the night. The summer was warm enough that it wouldn't be much of an issue.
I took out the jar and opened it, and pulled out a spoon. I quickly took two medium sized bites of the gel, cringing at the slightly bitter taste. I choked the bacteria down, the cool liquid coating my throat as it went down. I sat there and waited to see if any immediate reactions would occur, and t check my vitals. a few minutes, later, I was confident everything was working fine.
Sealing it back up, I laid down and attempted to get some sleep. Tomorrow I would finish setting up camp and start training.
Also, likes pain or not, any effective interrogator will love to have ability to sherlock the shit out of perps/ suspicious person ("No, that guy isn't a spy. See that telescope? Too limiting on views. Also, his observation schedule didn't match any schedule on any Village or important merchant activities." "...Well, so much for Gut Feelings...." "But we might need to catch him though." "How? Why?" "His schedule was a match with a certain business schedule. Female bathing hours." "...I'll call Anko.")
