Isobu the three-tailed turtle has been bonded to another host due to civil war. But the trouble with making a living weapon is that sometimes they can think. They can make decisions of their own. And they might be of the opinion that a leash can be pulled from either end.
Snapping Turtle [Naruto SI]
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Ch 1
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Snapping Turtle
By Chairtastic.
A/N: Okay, so what I'm doing here is a bit of a shift in writing for me. One, because I haven't written Naruto fanfiction since I stopped super hardcore shipping back in my mid-teens. And two, because I'm writing an SI... where the perspective characters aren't the SI. I think I'll have to do a perspective of the SI, but hopefully not for a while. That way the readers can see and feel the reactions to the SI instead of it being exclusively a power trip.
Summary: Isobu the three-tailed turtle has been bonded to another host due to civil war. But the trouble with making a living weapon is that sometimes they can think. They can make decisions of their own. And they might be of the opinion that a leash can be pulled from either end.
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Ch 1: Seal of Hooks
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Fifteen years before Naruto.
Mother Jiang.
Akami had been afraid every afternoon that, when the children came back from the instruction at the academy, her boy wouldn't be one of them. With the civil war, none of the civilians knew when their children's class would be ordered to graduate and partake of the bloody ceremony. Had the Daimyo not commanded that all children in the village be sent to the academy to train, she would not have allowed her son to go.
He could hate her if he wanted, but he would be alive to hate her. Better an estranged child than a buried one, as her mother had told her when she did the same to Akami.
Akami cooked to distract herself from the worry and the war. She worked in a restaurant in the village, so her managers were appreciative of her dedication. The extra work, from when her son left in the morning, made them content to let her leave in the afternoon to be there when he got back.
She was a large woman, she'd gotten into cooking because she loved food, and anyone who ever had anything to say about it got punched square in the teeth. Her father had been a ninja, she knew how to throw a punch that would hurt. Her mother had said that, after the starvation that had hit Kiri during the First Shinobi World War, she thought it a blessing that she had a daughter who loved to eat to soothe her anxiety.
Kiri wouldn't go hungry during the civil war, she hoped. The loyalists still controlled the major ports and Kirigakure had priority on supplies. But any day, the battle could turn against them and their vast archipelago could shrink down to just the central islands, and food would grow scarce.
As if she didn't have enough to worry about, when she left the restaurant one day, she noticed that it had started to snow. A terrible omen, and she rushed home to put on a pot of tea. Alongside that, a quick meal of egg fried rice for both her and her son. She had the meal set out along with tea so that he would see it the moment he came back. Something set her hairs on end, like an instinctual warning, before she heard it.
The neighbor's children had come down the road home. And shortly thereafter she heard soul-crushing wails. Akami sat and watched the door as dread creeped into her veins. The screams grew more numerous as more children returned home and more… didn't. Akami's son was a bit silly, observant, but he talked back when insulted -- and had inherited his father's Wave Country temper. Anger got ninja killed.
A figure passed by the window, too tall to be her boy. Tears started to fill her eyes. Someone knocked at her door, too loud and deliberate to be her boy. Akami desperately tried to keep it together as she stood from the table and shuffled to the door. She knew what she was going to be told, but she couldn't shake the slim hope that it was something different.
A thousand possible scenarios played before her as she opened the door. Without the barrier, the wailing of mothers who mourned their children was even worse. In her doorway was one of the ninja instructors at the academy. Sojiro Hidaka, a tall and whip-thin man who wore all-grey except his black Kirigakure headband and a medical mask over his face.
She stood there for a second, afraid that she would break and begin to wail as other mothers did. She stood there while the ninja looked down his nose at her -- for all she knew, he smirked underneath that mask. Kiri ninja were vicious like that.
"Akami Jiang," the chunin started and folded his hands behind his back while he bowed.
Akami returned the gesture, and tried to remain dignified as she rose from it.
"It is with honor that I inform you that your son graduated from Kirigakure's ninja academy this morning. He will serve his country as a genin."
Relief was bitter as she heard dozens of mothers wail at children who didn't make it. She looked to the chunin's side, and didn't see her boy there. Something was wrong. "Where is he? Is he hurt? At the hospital?"
Sojiro sighed, as if exasperated, and explained. As his words hit her, it was like a knife drove into her heart. Her son was alive, but some part of her wished he wasn't. The chunin left, to go inform another family of their child's fate, and left Akami in the open doorway.
She didn't have the energy to join in the desperate wails of other mothers. Akami closed the door and shuffled to the couch. The food she made would go cold, as would the tea. But she didn't care at that moment. Akami sat with her head in her hands and wished she could cry. She had been almost there mere minutes prior, then it all went away when she heard what had become of her son.
She couldn't bring herself to cry for a demon.
--
Director Ruan.
Medical director Suzume Ruan checked all the injured patients from the latest graduation to make sure they were treated properly. She'd had the trainees do it, as she'd been required for the jinchuuriki procedure.
"Laceration from kunai," she impassively spoke as she examined the genin's back. "Stitches look good, sterilized properly, no bleeding. It'll scar, and you'll have something to brag about when the stitches come off." Suzume adjusted her half-moon glasses and nodded at the trainee who had done the work. To give the genin a bit of a boost about his recovery, she rustled his hair before she laid him back down to rest. Once they were out of earshot of the boy she turned to the trainee and tapped her in the chest. "That stitchwork was magnificent, especially for how little time you had to do it. If you want a hospital job, and not somewhere on the front lines, keep that up."
"Yes, director," the trainee responded, her sweat visible through the scrubs.
"Get cleaned up, you've more patients to look after." She didn't linger much on how she had lied to the trainee -- fast and effective stitchwork was a vital field resource, not a hospital one. But no one wanted to learn the field medic skills and risk their lives. Suzume returned to her office to begin filing the paperwork to bill the medical supplies to the budget committee.
On her desk were pictures of her and her family in happier times. A photo of Suzume and her sister, back when her hair was long and done in a braid, rock climbing. A photo of her fiancee and her on a date, back when Suzume's skin wasn't pale from being indoors. And a photo of Suzume asleep on the couch with her cats, when she didn't have massive bags under her eyes.
She worked in relative silence until her office phone rang. She had enough managerial staff on hand that she shouldn't have been contacted unless something had gone wrong. When she picked it up, she got informed of the specifics: "The jinchuuriki escaped."
Suzume's blood ran cold as she slammed the phone in its cradle and rushed out of the office. Doubtless the Anbu operatives assigned to watch the hospital were in pursuit, but if the seal they had bound the bijuu up in had faltered then there wasn't much that they could do besides bring her back a body.
But maybe the boy hadn't gone far, and she could bring him back.
When she got to the jinchuuriki's room, she found the chunin left to guard the boy bound to the wall by pink coral, and the restraints on his bed broken by the same substance. She refrained from chastising the pathetic ninja that had been bested by a freshly blooded genin, and asked them which way he'd went.
She didn't have to go far, just a couple floors down. In happier times, the hospital had a pool for physical therapy which had gone unused as no one could be spared to do the physical therapy exercises with the patients. Suzume saw the doorknob burst apart with fragments of coral in it, and looked inside.
The jinchuuriki was face-up in the water, fully dressed, floating with arms and legs wide. He wasn't just a genin, Suzume told herself. He was a jinchuuriki of a water bijuu. He had already used his powers long before they thought he would even be conscious. The wise thing to do would be to let Anbu sort it out, she hadn't been on a battlefield in years.
But, perhaps due to too many long shifts and too much ruthless calculus of war, she opened the door and stepped inside. The jinchuuriki turned to her, then looked back at the ceiling. A large boy, tall for his age, and chubby. His hair had to be shaved for the seal, but the hook-like tattoo almost resembled a curly hairstyle on its own.
"Noburu?" She cautiously spoke and approached the edge of the pool. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, you know." The boy responded as if he'd heard her perfectly despite his ears being submerged. "Vibing." He was so nonchalant, it was eerie.
"Vibing?"
Noburu sighed. "Doesn't matter. Isobu wanted to swim, found a pool and went swimming."
"Isobu?" She frowned as she walked the perimeter of the pool. She could tell by the shadows that deepened suddenly that the Anbu were on hand in case something happened.
"The Three Tails. His name is Isobu. He likes to swim." Noburu closed his eyes and floated in silence for a while. "You're still here."
"I need you to go back to your room, Noboru." Suzume didn't want to provoke the jinchuuriki so close to the water, but she couldn't leave the Anbu to sort it out and potentially sour the jinchuruki's attitude toward the village more than it had already.
"And I'll return… when Isobu is satisfied." The boy moved to float upright in the water, and his eyes met hers in an intense stare. "We both want Isobu to be satisfied, content, not at all prone to push against this prototype seal none of you knows the exact strength of, right?"
Shit, Suzume thought to herself. "You… were awake for that, were you?"
"Anesthesia affects everyone differently. Takes a bit longer to kick in for me, my dad was the same way."
"The seal… we expected the demon to fight back. It would be caught like a fish on a hook." She didn't know why she felt the need to explain herself to a child, but the boy's intense stare made her feel like she was being scolded by a superior.
"Spirit," he responded. "Isobu is a spirit. But yeah, the whole fish hook design element, I got that. But I'm not willing to risk my life to stress test the damn thing, so I'm keeping Isobu happy and unhooked." The genin swam around the pool aimlessly for a moment before he turned to her again. "Isobu says the next time you seal him in an urn, just fill it with water and this won't be necessary for future jinchuuriki."
"O-oh. I'll… pass that along to the Mizukage."
"Cool. Now I'm going to keep this up for a while. You probably have work to go do. Bye." Noburu dove under the water and swam submerged.
Suzume glanced at the deepest shadows, where she knew the Anbu watched, and walked out of the pool. The jinchuuriki was watched. He wasn't being confrontational. And if either of those changed, she could trust the Anbu to sort it out without killing him. However she still would have to get those chunin off her wall, and repair the coral damage the boy had done.
The impulse to get the jinchuuriki to kill her to avoid paperwork was tough to shake off.
--
Mother Jiang.
Akami had a friend, Arata Chow. Arata was of mixed descent, like her Noburu, so she looked to him for insight on how to make her son's life easier in Kirigakure. They were both of the foot caste, so there was no pressure to help but Arata did anyway. In return, Akami helped him when his wife took ill -- and looked after Arata's daughter when they had to go to the hospital. Arata's wife was vain, and became nasty as she grew sick, so Akami became a person he could vent to when times were tough.
It hurt her like a knife to the heart when she found out her Noboru had killed Arata's Yuuko to graduate from the academy. A darling little girl who loved to chase and collect bugs, gone so her son could live. Only for that life to be ruined, and the sacrifice to be meaningless.
She expected Arata would hate her, but she wasn't a coward. She made a trip to the bank, and obtained some ryo to give as condolence money. Akami was ready to be screamed at, or attacked, because of the circumstance. But she would do Yuuko's memory right and observe tradition.
She ran into Arata on the way back from the bank. Where once he had been a short but lively man, he seemed empty when Akami saw him. His tanned skin pale, and his eyes red. When Arata saw her he scowled with terrible hatred, and Akami couldn't say it was undeserved. Her son had lived, as a demon, and Arata's daughter was gone.
Akami stood still as the short man stormed over to her and began to shout. Even crazed with grief, he wouldn't throw a punch -- though Akami would have let it slide.
"You have some nerve showing your face!" Arata shouted, his voice slightly hoarse. "I trusted you and your brat! I invited you into my home! I let my daughter stay with you! And your son put a knife in her neck!"
"Yes," Akami responded, and averted her eyes.
"Look at me. Look at me!" When Akami returned her gaze, Arata was despondent. "You told me our kids would look out for each other in the academy! They'd be on a team, and serve together! And…." Arata clenched his fists and beat them against his head. "He killed her! He killed her because she wouldn't fight back, I know it! My sweet girl…."
Would Akami do the same if the situation had reversed? If Yuuko had lived, to become the jinchuuriki, and Noburu had died? She didn't know. She tried to think of what she would say to herself in that situation to make it feel better. But there were no words.
"Say something!"
Akami was quiet a moment longer before she spoke. "I'm sorry. She didn't deserve this."
Arata didn't explode like how she thought she would. Instead, he began to shake his head. "No. No you're not." His face became a vicious snarl. "You're not sorry. Not yet! You'll be sorry alright, but not yet!" He turned in the opposite way he'd come, and shouted over his shoulder. "I'll make you sorry!"
That night, Akami didn't sleep. She stayed up with a sharp kitchen knife in her hand, and kept an ear out for any suspicious noises.
--
Third Mizukage.
Kirigakure heavily featured cylindrical buildings, often with small parks planted on their roofs. There was little adornment for the buildings, or artistic inclination -- only their pragmatic value was considered. Painted walls, murals, any covering for the concrete was considered unnecessary. Even the rooftop parks had begun as a source of food for the landlord's family.
The Mizukage Tower was not as tall as some of those buildings, but it was heavily fortified and the park within its roof was closest to being a forest in its own right. Fruiting trees and bushes were grown, and some wild animals kept for the pleasure of the hunt. A controlled ecosystem, as the First Mizukage had envisioned the village itself.
Sadly, that had not been the prevailing line of thought for the Second or Third Mizukages. While the Second had treated his ninja like family, the Third was markedly more distant.
The Third, Ryukotsusei, was a man without illusions. Haggard and old, he had been the longest leader of the Hidden Mist in its history. He looked out from his office window at the park within the Tower and saw a giant spike-backed turtle emerge from the park's pond to snatch a deer by the neck. Nutrition and value had to be extracted from the weak to benefit the strong. That was just how things worked.
His reflection in the window was of a old man who seemed to have never visited a barber. His hair was long and spiked at the ends from lack of care. His eyes were deadened, and his face was lined with stress wrinkles. As years had passed, he wore the kage robes and hat more than his preferred fashion, until the kage robes and hat became his preferred fashion. A blue robe with a long white coat and a blue wide-brimmed hat with a neck covering -- inscribed with the symbol for water.
Ryukotsusei waited and watched as the water in the pond grew bloody from the spike-backed turtle's meal. A meeting of the war council had been called, but the other members were not so fast as an elderly man with bad hips, it seemed.
Finally, a knock at his door. "Enter," he instructed it and turned away from the scene below.
The first person to cross the threshold was the medical director, Suzume Ruan. She was the one who would have the most to say about the progress they'd made. Ryukotsusei didn't appreciate how she never wore her forehead protector or flak jacket, even to official meetings, anymore -- it made it more apparent that she never expected to see the field again -- which would cause political problems.
Second came Fu Sun, a retired kunoichi who had been appointed to administer the military intelligence and counterintelligence of Kirigakure. Fu was ann elderly woman, her hair once a vibrant color but faded to grey, dressed as a civilian but with a sizable scroll across her shoulders. She sat down on one of the two couches which faced each other in front of the Kage's table, and Ryukotsusei didn't make a fuss about that. She was older than him, and already his hips told him he'd been standing too long.
Third came Raiga Kurosuki of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. A tall man, dark skinned and with long green hair, he was the only one of the war council who was not of the eyes caste, merely a hand caste jounin. Raiga, to Ryukotsusei's shame, bore the Kiba branched twin swords -- imbued with lightning to cut deeper than any mundane blade. Raiga's possession of the blades broke the unstained tradition that only the eyes caste were qualified to be in the Seven Swordsmen. A part of the Mizukage hated him for that. Raiga commanded the portion of Kiri's armed forces meant to guard the village itself from rebels.
Fourth and last was the daimyo's man, Takashi Zhang, from the capital. An overdressed fop by the standards of Kirigakure, the bespectacled man had a pinched face and fanned himself tirelessly while he walked in. Zhang was the daimyo's representative, and provided the village its funds and supplies to wage war in the daimyo's name. The man closed the door behind him, and flounced onto the couch opposite Fu.
Suzume and Raiga seated themselves, and the meeting was underway.
"The three-tailed demon turtle is sealed," Ryukotsusei announced and seated himself at his desk. "One of the foot caste genin was deemed a suitable match and the ritual was completed yesterday. Director Ruan will fill us in on the details."
All eyes went to Suzume, who wilted a bit under the gaze. "The genin we selected, one Noburu Jiang -- "
"Pfa," Takashi interrupted with a cruel smile. "You allowed the jinchuuriki to keep its name? It will not live long -- give it a number or something."
Ryukotsusei couldn't say that was a poor plan. The three-tailed demon was more straightforward in its powerset than the six-tailed demon. Not less useful, but more easily used. Once a host was damaged irreparably, they could extract it and seal it into a new host within a couple of days.
Suzume frowned. "The genin we selected has already shown the ability to use the three-tails' coral generation powers. He broke free of his restraints, and defeated two chunin with relative ease. They are alive, without injuries."
"Hmm," said the Mizukage with concern. The jinchuuriki should have killed them. "I was told the jinchuuriki would be maddened with the pain of the three-tails from the seal we placed on it. Is the feedback not sufficient?"
"I expect it is sufficient, only… we misread the three-tails' personality." Suzume pushed her glasses up and avoided the Mizukage's gaze. "The three-tails isn't trying to escape. If it doesn't try to escape, the seal of hooks doesn't lock in around it to cause it pain and keep it confined."
Takashi scoffed. "What? Preposterous. Every time the tailed demons have had a chance to escape, they took it. They're destructive beasts, they want to be free to destroy."
"Apparently you're wrong, lord secretary," Raiga smoothly cut in. The Swordsman smirked at the civilian official before he returned to professional indifference. "Making assumptions like that could cost us the war, you know. Your stance on jinchuuriki aside, we could lose this one if we send it against Kousuke recklessly."
Fu sighed and leaned on the arm of her couch. "We cannot afford to waste time either. He's graduated from the academy?" She looked around at Ryukotsusei and then Suzume, then nodded herself. "Very good. Get him assigned to a squad, and send him to war. I'll make sure Kousuke has too much on his plate to make an appearance on the front lines."
"I say we need to keep the jinchuuriki here," Raiga said with a cold look. "With the jinchuuriki in the home guard, we can free up potentially dozens of ninja to reinforce the front lines and start pushing back. The shinobi in the home guard are tacticians, experienced soldiers, and not liable to have the rebel leader meet them in a head to head fight."
Ryukotsusei tapped his fingers to the desk. "But having the jinchuuriki on the front lines could be useful for luring Kousuke into a trap. He lost how many men in the raid on the three-tailed demon's shrine?" The Mizukage smirked at the memory. As if they would leave the bijuu in its temple after the six-tails' jinchuuriki rebelled. "What is the jinchuuriki's temperament?"
Suzume cleared her throat. "Accommodating. He only broke free and attacked his guards because he wanted to keep the three-tails calm. His academy marks that, aside from some back talk, he was a competent trainee. Though we have yet to see the impact of the graduation ritual on him."
"Hmm." Ryukotsusei rested his chin on his steepled hands. "I thought assigning him to face his childhood friend would burn that defiant streak out of him. We'll have to work harder on that." After Kousuke's rebellion, it was not in the village's interests to suffer a defiant jinchuuriki, nor would the daimyo allow it.
"Every minute that the creature is not on the front lines killing rebels, more loyal Water Country men die," Takashi said softly with a scowl. His fanning speed slowed considerably. "The daimyo will not approve any plan that doesn't see the creature being put to use."
There was quiet as everyone looked to Ryukotsusei and he, in turn, contemplated. "We will not risk Kousuke stealing our remaining jinchuuriki," the Mizukage declared. "He will stay in the home guard, under Raiga's command, while Fu and I move the front lines around so that Kousuke can be trapped with his fellow jinchuuriki as bait. We have a soldier who can think, instead of a mad dog on a leash -- we can't just throw him at the enemy as was the original plan." The last was said to the daimyo's man with narrowed eyes. The Mizukage's gaze shifted to Raiga. "Get the creature to the point where it can kill jounin regularly."
"Of course," Raiga said and bowed his head.
"Killing Kousuke in an ambush would certainly cement our position relative to the warrior monks," Fu commented. "Can't say I like it more than the increased revenue we'd get from having an active jinchuuriki on the field, though."
"Neither will the daimyo." Takashi fanned himself speedily. "He will be positively furious if we lose Nagi and Ouza on top of the southern islands."
"The daimyo will have his islands back by the end of this conflict," Ryukotsusei assuaged the man. "Before the year's end, perhaps. They won't even have time to print any 'Sea Country' ryo."
--
Jounin Kurosuki.
Raiga made his way to the hospital once the official orders were drawn up to get the jinchuuriki and begin training. From the picture in his file, the kid -- Noburu -- would need to lose some weight. A diet and Kirigakure exercise would see to that. Funerals and wakes would be announced for the children too weak to be genin, Raiga planned to make sure Noburu attended the one for the girl he'd killed.
He'd get to see if the kid was truly sorry.
The Anbu assigned to watch the jinchuuriki hid in the points of deepest shadows on the approach to his room. Too many good shinobi wasted on guard duty, in Raiga's opinion. The jinchuuriki's door was partially overgrown with coral, just enough to block the door from opening. With exactly zero regard, Raiga stepped back and kicked the door down with all his weight.
"Now listen up!" He shouted while he crossed the threshold. He pointed at the bald jinchuuriki on the bed, messing with coral, and assumed an authoritative tone. "You've been assigned to the home guard, specifically to my squad! I will function as your sensei, and get you into fighting shape if I have to beat you to death to do it! Am I understood?"
The jinchuuriki met his eyes and continued to mess with coral in his hands. "Great," the pre-teen drawled. "I'm going to learn from a filler villain. A filler villain with personal issues sixteen miles wide, no less." The boy sighed, long-suffering. "Going to have to break out the therapist chair for this, methinks."
Filler villain? What? Raiga hadn't expected that, and he visibly struggled to process it. "Genin, I am your sensei -- and you will do as I say!"
Noburu held up a finger. "That didn't work for Dr. Gero, that's not going to work for you. Also, to quote Tywin Lannister, anyone who has to say 'I am the king' is no true king. Power is shown, not talked about."
Raiga decided he was going to go super hard on the jinchuuriki's training right then and there. He'd never even heard of Dr. Gero or Tywin Lannister -- perhaps they were characters from a book?
"Plus, I'm a conscript. You volunteered to become a ninja, not me. I'm not going to be enthusiastic about this, nor particularly patriotic. You had to know this was likely to happen when you decided to make the jinchuuriki from the foot caste." Noburu shrugged, then messed with his coral some more. Where before it had been a lump, he made it grow into a sharp spike. "I'm trying to make a sort of coral trap," he commented when he saw Raiga's interest. "Eventually I'm going to try and make coral caltrops, but these bigger spike balls should work on enemy summons. Stuff to throw into their mouths, or fleshy joints."
Raiga blinked at the tactical thought he'd just heard from the genin. It was a good start -- not good enough to avoid a proper beasting, but still. "You're able to make the coral grow on your own? Previous jinchuuriki needed to channel the beast's chakra to do so."
"I am channeling Isobu's chakra, though. His chakra mingles with mine. A side effect of the seal of hooks." He tapped the back of his head. "I'm pretty certain I can do that 'eyes of the bijuu' trick on command." He screwed up his eyes and then opened them -- shining yellow where before they had been dull brown. "Intimidation factor."
When Raiga looked at those eyes, he felt small. He felt like an ant must have felt to be the sole focus of a human. He didn't like the feeling -- it prompted him to respond with anger. "Knock it off!" Raiga walked forward and grabbed the genin by the back of his shirt. "We got a lot of work ahead of us! You need to become a ninja worth all this investment, and get rid of this," he growled as he poked the genin's chubby gut. "It's time to get down to business!"
"To defeat," the genin deliberately paused and spoke with a musical inflection, "the Huns?"
Raiga slapped him.
---
Cast:
Mizukage Ryukotsusei: The Third Mizukage, formerly an attendant of the First Mizukage, and a team member of the Second. A pragmatist at heart, and a fan of brutalist architecture. With him as the Mizukage, Water Country repeatedly expanded to include dozens of formerly independent island nations. Not a nice man. Eyes caste.
Director Suzume Ruan: A jounin medical ninja and contemporary of Tsunade. One of twelve sealing experts who helped to develop the Seal of Hooks version one, which was hoped would become the standard for all jinchuuriki seals. A bit of a coward. Eyes caste.
Akami Jiang: A line cook for Chu's Place, a restaurant in Kirigakure. She's a single mother due to her son's father being a deadbeat who vanished in what would become Sea Country. Foot cast.
Noburu Jiang: Conscripted into Kirigakure's armed forces due to the civil war, and made a jinchuuriki for Isobu the Three Tailed Turtle. He's known to talk back, and has always been slightly off -- but did excellently in school. Foot caste.
Yuuko Chow: A neighbor and former friend of Noburu's, conscripted into Kirigakure's armed forces. She was a diligent and loyal student, and was known as a teacher's pet. She was assigned to fight Noburu to the death, where she lost. Foot caste, deceased.
Kousuke: The rebellious host of Saiken, the Six Tailed Slug, a warrior monk from the Water Temple. He has raised an army in revolt against the daimyo of Water Country, and freed some of the conquered countries. No caste.
Raiga Kurosuki: One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a jounin of Kirigakure. Head of the home guard, he is responsible for the safety of Water Country's home islands and the ninja village itself. Desperately lonely. Hand caste.
Glossary:
Eyes caste: The topmost caste of Kirigakure and Water Country, formed of the inhabitants of the original archipelago. Even the lowest of the eyes caste is higher than the next highest caste.
Hand caste: The middle caste of Kirigakure and Water Country. Made up of the allies of Kiri that bowed to the water daimyo's authority and helped conquer other nations.
Foot caste: The lowest caste of Kirigakure and Water Country. Made up of people who were conquered during the wars of expansion. They are given the riskiest jobs and the least amount of trust.
Seal of Hooks: A sealing jutsu meant to give the sealed target a false path to escape, which hooks them as they attempt to make use of it and causes terrible pain. The nervous and chakra systems of the sealed target and host are more strongly connected, with the pain from the sealed target meant to drive the host insane.
Politics!:
Kousuke, a warrior monk from the Water Temple and the jinchuuriki of Saiken, has risen in revolt against the Water Country daimyo. This is but one theatre of the crumbling of colonial power which is affecting all five of the Great Shinobi Countries in the leadup to the Third Shinobi World War. So far he has secured the freedom of the Moon and Sea Countries, and has begun to move closer to Water Country itself. Due to the split in Kiri's forces from the civil war, a draft of the country's foot caste children is ordered, and the creation of a new jinchuuriki of Isobu becomes necessary.
By Chairtastic.
A/N: Okay, so what I'm doing here is a bit of a shift in writing for me. One, because I haven't written Naruto fanfiction since I stopped super hardcore shipping back in my mid-teens. And two, because I'm writing an SI... where the perspective characters aren't the SI. I think I'll have to do a perspective of the SI, but hopefully not for a while. That way the readers can see and feel the reactions to the SI instead of it being exclusively a power trip.
Summary: Isobu the three-tailed turtle has been bonded to another host due to civil war. But the trouble with making a living weapon is that sometimes they can think. They can make decisions of their own. And they might be of the opinion that a leash can be pulled from either end.
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Ch 1: Seal of Hooks
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Fifteen years before Naruto.
Mother Jiang.
Akami had been afraid every afternoon that, when the children came back from the instruction at the academy, her boy wouldn't be one of them. With the civil war, none of the civilians knew when their children's class would be ordered to graduate and partake of the bloody ceremony. Had the Daimyo not commanded that all children in the village be sent to the academy to train, she would not have allowed her son to go.
He could hate her if he wanted, but he would be alive to hate her. Better an estranged child than a buried one, as her mother had told her when she did the same to Akami.
Akami cooked to distract herself from the worry and the war. She worked in a restaurant in the village, so her managers were appreciative of her dedication. The extra work, from when her son left in the morning, made them content to let her leave in the afternoon to be there when he got back.
She was a large woman, she'd gotten into cooking because she loved food, and anyone who ever had anything to say about it got punched square in the teeth. Her father had been a ninja, she knew how to throw a punch that would hurt. Her mother had said that, after the starvation that had hit Kiri during the First Shinobi World War, she thought it a blessing that she had a daughter who loved to eat to soothe her anxiety.
Kiri wouldn't go hungry during the civil war, she hoped. The loyalists still controlled the major ports and Kirigakure had priority on supplies. But any day, the battle could turn against them and their vast archipelago could shrink down to just the central islands, and food would grow scarce.
As if she didn't have enough to worry about, when she left the restaurant one day, she noticed that it had started to snow. A terrible omen, and she rushed home to put on a pot of tea. Alongside that, a quick meal of egg fried rice for both her and her son. She had the meal set out along with tea so that he would see it the moment he came back. Something set her hairs on end, like an instinctual warning, before she heard it.
The neighbor's children had come down the road home. And shortly thereafter she heard soul-crushing wails. Akami sat and watched the door as dread creeped into her veins. The screams grew more numerous as more children returned home and more… didn't. Akami's son was a bit silly, observant, but he talked back when insulted -- and had inherited his father's Wave Country temper. Anger got ninja killed.
A figure passed by the window, too tall to be her boy. Tears started to fill her eyes. Someone knocked at her door, too loud and deliberate to be her boy. Akami desperately tried to keep it together as she stood from the table and shuffled to the door. She knew what she was going to be told, but she couldn't shake the slim hope that it was something different.
A thousand possible scenarios played before her as she opened the door. Without the barrier, the wailing of mothers who mourned their children was even worse. In her doorway was one of the ninja instructors at the academy. Sojiro Hidaka, a tall and whip-thin man who wore all-grey except his black Kirigakure headband and a medical mask over his face.
She stood there for a second, afraid that she would break and begin to wail as other mothers did. She stood there while the ninja looked down his nose at her -- for all she knew, he smirked underneath that mask. Kiri ninja were vicious like that.
"Akami Jiang," the chunin started and folded his hands behind his back while he bowed.
Akami returned the gesture, and tried to remain dignified as she rose from it.
"It is with honor that I inform you that your son graduated from Kirigakure's ninja academy this morning. He will serve his country as a genin."
Relief was bitter as she heard dozens of mothers wail at children who didn't make it. She looked to the chunin's side, and didn't see her boy there. Something was wrong. "Where is he? Is he hurt? At the hospital?"
Sojiro sighed, as if exasperated, and explained. As his words hit her, it was like a knife drove into her heart. Her son was alive, but some part of her wished he wasn't. The chunin left, to go inform another family of their child's fate, and left Akami in the open doorway.
She didn't have the energy to join in the desperate wails of other mothers. Akami closed the door and shuffled to the couch. The food she made would go cold, as would the tea. But she didn't care at that moment. Akami sat with her head in her hands and wished she could cry. She had been almost there mere minutes prior, then it all went away when she heard what had become of her son.
She couldn't bring herself to cry for a demon.
--
Director Ruan.
Medical director Suzume Ruan checked all the injured patients from the latest graduation to make sure they were treated properly. She'd had the trainees do it, as she'd been required for the jinchuuriki procedure.
"Laceration from kunai," she impassively spoke as she examined the genin's back. "Stitches look good, sterilized properly, no bleeding. It'll scar, and you'll have something to brag about when the stitches come off." Suzume adjusted her half-moon glasses and nodded at the trainee who had done the work. To give the genin a bit of a boost about his recovery, she rustled his hair before she laid him back down to rest. Once they were out of earshot of the boy she turned to the trainee and tapped her in the chest. "That stitchwork was magnificent, especially for how little time you had to do it. If you want a hospital job, and not somewhere on the front lines, keep that up."
"Yes, director," the trainee responded, her sweat visible through the scrubs.
"Get cleaned up, you've more patients to look after." She didn't linger much on how she had lied to the trainee -- fast and effective stitchwork was a vital field resource, not a hospital one. But no one wanted to learn the field medic skills and risk their lives. Suzume returned to her office to begin filing the paperwork to bill the medical supplies to the budget committee.
On her desk were pictures of her and her family in happier times. A photo of Suzume and her sister, back when her hair was long and done in a braid, rock climbing. A photo of her fiancee and her on a date, back when Suzume's skin wasn't pale from being indoors. And a photo of Suzume asleep on the couch with her cats, when she didn't have massive bags under her eyes.
She worked in relative silence until her office phone rang. She had enough managerial staff on hand that she shouldn't have been contacted unless something had gone wrong. When she picked it up, she got informed of the specifics: "The jinchuuriki escaped."
Suzume's blood ran cold as she slammed the phone in its cradle and rushed out of the office. Doubtless the Anbu operatives assigned to watch the hospital were in pursuit, but if the seal they had bound the bijuu up in had faltered then there wasn't much that they could do besides bring her back a body.
But maybe the boy hadn't gone far, and she could bring him back.
When she got to the jinchuuriki's room, she found the chunin left to guard the boy bound to the wall by pink coral, and the restraints on his bed broken by the same substance. She refrained from chastising the pathetic ninja that had been bested by a freshly blooded genin, and asked them which way he'd went.
She didn't have to go far, just a couple floors down. In happier times, the hospital had a pool for physical therapy which had gone unused as no one could be spared to do the physical therapy exercises with the patients. Suzume saw the doorknob burst apart with fragments of coral in it, and looked inside.
The jinchuuriki was face-up in the water, fully dressed, floating with arms and legs wide. He wasn't just a genin, Suzume told herself. He was a jinchuuriki of a water bijuu. He had already used his powers long before they thought he would even be conscious. The wise thing to do would be to let Anbu sort it out, she hadn't been on a battlefield in years.
But, perhaps due to too many long shifts and too much ruthless calculus of war, she opened the door and stepped inside. The jinchuuriki turned to her, then looked back at the ceiling. A large boy, tall for his age, and chubby. His hair had to be shaved for the seal, but the hook-like tattoo almost resembled a curly hairstyle on its own.
"Noburu?" She cautiously spoke and approached the edge of the pool. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, you know." The boy responded as if he'd heard her perfectly despite his ears being submerged. "Vibing." He was so nonchalant, it was eerie.
"Vibing?"
Noburu sighed. "Doesn't matter. Isobu wanted to swim, found a pool and went swimming."
"Isobu?" She frowned as she walked the perimeter of the pool. She could tell by the shadows that deepened suddenly that the Anbu were on hand in case something happened.
"The Three Tails. His name is Isobu. He likes to swim." Noburu closed his eyes and floated in silence for a while. "You're still here."
"I need you to go back to your room, Noboru." Suzume didn't want to provoke the jinchuuriki so close to the water, but she couldn't leave the Anbu to sort it out and potentially sour the jinchuruki's attitude toward the village more than it had already.
"And I'll return… when Isobu is satisfied." The boy moved to float upright in the water, and his eyes met hers in an intense stare. "We both want Isobu to be satisfied, content, not at all prone to push against this prototype seal none of you knows the exact strength of, right?"
Shit, Suzume thought to herself. "You… were awake for that, were you?"
"Anesthesia affects everyone differently. Takes a bit longer to kick in for me, my dad was the same way."
"The seal… we expected the demon to fight back. It would be caught like a fish on a hook." She didn't know why she felt the need to explain herself to a child, but the boy's intense stare made her feel like she was being scolded by a superior.
"Spirit," he responded. "Isobu is a spirit. But yeah, the whole fish hook design element, I got that. But I'm not willing to risk my life to stress test the damn thing, so I'm keeping Isobu happy and unhooked." The genin swam around the pool aimlessly for a moment before he turned to her again. "Isobu says the next time you seal him in an urn, just fill it with water and this won't be necessary for future jinchuuriki."
"O-oh. I'll… pass that along to the Mizukage."
"Cool. Now I'm going to keep this up for a while. You probably have work to go do. Bye." Noburu dove under the water and swam submerged.
Suzume glanced at the deepest shadows, where she knew the Anbu watched, and walked out of the pool. The jinchuuriki was watched. He wasn't being confrontational. And if either of those changed, she could trust the Anbu to sort it out without killing him. However she still would have to get those chunin off her wall, and repair the coral damage the boy had done.
The impulse to get the jinchuuriki to kill her to avoid paperwork was tough to shake off.
--
Mother Jiang.
Akami had a friend, Arata Chow. Arata was of mixed descent, like her Noburu, so she looked to him for insight on how to make her son's life easier in Kirigakure. They were both of the foot caste, so there was no pressure to help but Arata did anyway. In return, Akami helped him when his wife took ill -- and looked after Arata's daughter when they had to go to the hospital. Arata's wife was vain, and became nasty as she grew sick, so Akami became a person he could vent to when times were tough.
It hurt her like a knife to the heart when she found out her Noboru had killed Arata's Yuuko to graduate from the academy. A darling little girl who loved to chase and collect bugs, gone so her son could live. Only for that life to be ruined, and the sacrifice to be meaningless.
She expected Arata would hate her, but she wasn't a coward. She made a trip to the bank, and obtained some ryo to give as condolence money. Akami was ready to be screamed at, or attacked, because of the circumstance. But she would do Yuuko's memory right and observe tradition.
She ran into Arata on the way back from the bank. Where once he had been a short but lively man, he seemed empty when Akami saw him. His tanned skin pale, and his eyes red. When Arata saw her he scowled with terrible hatred, and Akami couldn't say it was undeserved. Her son had lived, as a demon, and Arata's daughter was gone.
Akami stood still as the short man stormed over to her and began to shout. Even crazed with grief, he wouldn't throw a punch -- though Akami would have let it slide.
"You have some nerve showing your face!" Arata shouted, his voice slightly hoarse. "I trusted you and your brat! I invited you into my home! I let my daughter stay with you! And your son put a knife in her neck!"
"Yes," Akami responded, and averted her eyes.
"Look at me. Look at me!" When Akami returned her gaze, Arata was despondent. "You told me our kids would look out for each other in the academy! They'd be on a team, and serve together! And…." Arata clenched his fists and beat them against his head. "He killed her! He killed her because she wouldn't fight back, I know it! My sweet girl…."
Would Akami do the same if the situation had reversed? If Yuuko had lived, to become the jinchuuriki, and Noburu had died? She didn't know. She tried to think of what she would say to herself in that situation to make it feel better. But there were no words.
"Say something!"
Akami was quiet a moment longer before she spoke. "I'm sorry. She didn't deserve this."
Arata didn't explode like how she thought she would. Instead, he began to shake his head. "No. No you're not." His face became a vicious snarl. "You're not sorry. Not yet! You'll be sorry alright, but not yet!" He turned in the opposite way he'd come, and shouted over his shoulder. "I'll make you sorry!"
That night, Akami didn't sleep. She stayed up with a sharp kitchen knife in her hand, and kept an ear out for any suspicious noises.
--
Third Mizukage.
Kirigakure heavily featured cylindrical buildings, often with small parks planted on their roofs. There was little adornment for the buildings, or artistic inclination -- only their pragmatic value was considered. Painted walls, murals, any covering for the concrete was considered unnecessary. Even the rooftop parks had begun as a source of food for the landlord's family.
The Mizukage Tower was not as tall as some of those buildings, but it was heavily fortified and the park within its roof was closest to being a forest in its own right. Fruiting trees and bushes were grown, and some wild animals kept for the pleasure of the hunt. A controlled ecosystem, as the First Mizukage had envisioned the village itself.
Sadly, that had not been the prevailing line of thought for the Second or Third Mizukages. While the Second had treated his ninja like family, the Third was markedly more distant.
The Third, Ryukotsusei, was a man without illusions. Haggard and old, he had been the longest leader of the Hidden Mist in its history. He looked out from his office window at the park within the Tower and saw a giant spike-backed turtle emerge from the park's pond to snatch a deer by the neck. Nutrition and value had to be extracted from the weak to benefit the strong. That was just how things worked.
His reflection in the window was of a old man who seemed to have never visited a barber. His hair was long and spiked at the ends from lack of care. His eyes were deadened, and his face was lined with stress wrinkles. As years had passed, he wore the kage robes and hat more than his preferred fashion, until the kage robes and hat became his preferred fashion. A blue robe with a long white coat and a blue wide-brimmed hat with a neck covering -- inscribed with the symbol for water.
Ryukotsusei waited and watched as the water in the pond grew bloody from the spike-backed turtle's meal. A meeting of the war council had been called, but the other members were not so fast as an elderly man with bad hips, it seemed.
Finally, a knock at his door. "Enter," he instructed it and turned away from the scene below.
The first person to cross the threshold was the medical director, Suzume Ruan. She was the one who would have the most to say about the progress they'd made. Ryukotsusei didn't appreciate how she never wore her forehead protector or flak jacket, even to official meetings, anymore -- it made it more apparent that she never expected to see the field again -- which would cause political problems.
Second came Fu Sun, a retired kunoichi who had been appointed to administer the military intelligence and counterintelligence of Kirigakure. Fu was ann elderly woman, her hair once a vibrant color but faded to grey, dressed as a civilian but with a sizable scroll across her shoulders. She sat down on one of the two couches which faced each other in front of the Kage's table, and Ryukotsusei didn't make a fuss about that. She was older than him, and already his hips told him he'd been standing too long.
Third came Raiga Kurosuki of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. A tall man, dark skinned and with long green hair, he was the only one of the war council who was not of the eyes caste, merely a hand caste jounin. Raiga, to Ryukotsusei's shame, bore the Kiba branched twin swords -- imbued with lightning to cut deeper than any mundane blade. Raiga's possession of the blades broke the unstained tradition that only the eyes caste were qualified to be in the Seven Swordsmen. A part of the Mizukage hated him for that. Raiga commanded the portion of Kiri's armed forces meant to guard the village itself from rebels.
Fourth and last was the daimyo's man, Takashi Zhang, from the capital. An overdressed fop by the standards of Kirigakure, the bespectacled man had a pinched face and fanned himself tirelessly while he walked in. Zhang was the daimyo's representative, and provided the village its funds and supplies to wage war in the daimyo's name. The man closed the door behind him, and flounced onto the couch opposite Fu.
Suzume and Raiga seated themselves, and the meeting was underway.
"The three-tailed demon turtle is sealed," Ryukotsusei announced and seated himself at his desk. "One of the foot caste genin was deemed a suitable match and the ritual was completed yesterday. Director Ruan will fill us in on the details."
All eyes went to Suzume, who wilted a bit under the gaze. "The genin we selected, one Noburu Jiang -- "
"Pfa," Takashi interrupted with a cruel smile. "You allowed the jinchuuriki to keep its name? It will not live long -- give it a number or something."
Ryukotsusei couldn't say that was a poor plan. The three-tailed demon was more straightforward in its powerset than the six-tailed demon. Not less useful, but more easily used. Once a host was damaged irreparably, they could extract it and seal it into a new host within a couple of days.
Suzume frowned. "The genin we selected has already shown the ability to use the three-tails' coral generation powers. He broke free of his restraints, and defeated two chunin with relative ease. They are alive, without injuries."
"Hmm," said the Mizukage with concern. The jinchuuriki should have killed them. "I was told the jinchuuriki would be maddened with the pain of the three-tails from the seal we placed on it. Is the feedback not sufficient?"
"I expect it is sufficient, only… we misread the three-tails' personality." Suzume pushed her glasses up and avoided the Mizukage's gaze. "The three-tails isn't trying to escape. If it doesn't try to escape, the seal of hooks doesn't lock in around it to cause it pain and keep it confined."
Takashi scoffed. "What? Preposterous. Every time the tailed demons have had a chance to escape, they took it. They're destructive beasts, they want to be free to destroy."
"Apparently you're wrong, lord secretary," Raiga smoothly cut in. The Swordsman smirked at the civilian official before he returned to professional indifference. "Making assumptions like that could cost us the war, you know. Your stance on jinchuuriki aside, we could lose this one if we send it against Kousuke recklessly."
Fu sighed and leaned on the arm of her couch. "We cannot afford to waste time either. He's graduated from the academy?" She looked around at Ryukotsusei and then Suzume, then nodded herself. "Very good. Get him assigned to a squad, and send him to war. I'll make sure Kousuke has too much on his plate to make an appearance on the front lines."
"I say we need to keep the jinchuuriki here," Raiga said with a cold look. "With the jinchuuriki in the home guard, we can free up potentially dozens of ninja to reinforce the front lines and start pushing back. The shinobi in the home guard are tacticians, experienced soldiers, and not liable to have the rebel leader meet them in a head to head fight."
Ryukotsusei tapped his fingers to the desk. "But having the jinchuuriki on the front lines could be useful for luring Kousuke into a trap. He lost how many men in the raid on the three-tailed demon's shrine?" The Mizukage smirked at the memory. As if they would leave the bijuu in its temple after the six-tails' jinchuuriki rebelled. "What is the jinchuuriki's temperament?"
Suzume cleared her throat. "Accommodating. He only broke free and attacked his guards because he wanted to keep the three-tails calm. His academy marks that, aside from some back talk, he was a competent trainee. Though we have yet to see the impact of the graduation ritual on him."
"Hmm." Ryukotsusei rested his chin on his steepled hands. "I thought assigning him to face his childhood friend would burn that defiant streak out of him. We'll have to work harder on that." After Kousuke's rebellion, it was not in the village's interests to suffer a defiant jinchuuriki, nor would the daimyo allow it.
"Every minute that the creature is not on the front lines killing rebels, more loyal Water Country men die," Takashi said softly with a scowl. His fanning speed slowed considerably. "The daimyo will not approve any plan that doesn't see the creature being put to use."
There was quiet as everyone looked to Ryukotsusei and he, in turn, contemplated. "We will not risk Kousuke stealing our remaining jinchuuriki," the Mizukage declared. "He will stay in the home guard, under Raiga's command, while Fu and I move the front lines around so that Kousuke can be trapped with his fellow jinchuuriki as bait. We have a soldier who can think, instead of a mad dog on a leash -- we can't just throw him at the enemy as was the original plan." The last was said to the daimyo's man with narrowed eyes. The Mizukage's gaze shifted to Raiga. "Get the creature to the point where it can kill jounin regularly."
"Of course," Raiga said and bowed his head.
"Killing Kousuke in an ambush would certainly cement our position relative to the warrior monks," Fu commented. "Can't say I like it more than the increased revenue we'd get from having an active jinchuuriki on the field, though."
"Neither will the daimyo." Takashi fanned himself speedily. "He will be positively furious if we lose Nagi and Ouza on top of the southern islands."
"The daimyo will have his islands back by the end of this conflict," Ryukotsusei assuaged the man. "Before the year's end, perhaps. They won't even have time to print any 'Sea Country' ryo."
--
Jounin Kurosuki.
Raiga made his way to the hospital once the official orders were drawn up to get the jinchuuriki and begin training. From the picture in his file, the kid -- Noburu -- would need to lose some weight. A diet and Kirigakure exercise would see to that. Funerals and wakes would be announced for the children too weak to be genin, Raiga planned to make sure Noburu attended the one for the girl he'd killed.
He'd get to see if the kid was truly sorry.
The Anbu assigned to watch the jinchuuriki hid in the points of deepest shadows on the approach to his room. Too many good shinobi wasted on guard duty, in Raiga's opinion. The jinchuuriki's door was partially overgrown with coral, just enough to block the door from opening. With exactly zero regard, Raiga stepped back and kicked the door down with all his weight.
"Now listen up!" He shouted while he crossed the threshold. He pointed at the bald jinchuuriki on the bed, messing with coral, and assumed an authoritative tone. "You've been assigned to the home guard, specifically to my squad! I will function as your sensei, and get you into fighting shape if I have to beat you to death to do it! Am I understood?"
The jinchuuriki met his eyes and continued to mess with coral in his hands. "Great," the pre-teen drawled. "I'm going to learn from a filler villain. A filler villain with personal issues sixteen miles wide, no less." The boy sighed, long-suffering. "Going to have to break out the therapist chair for this, methinks."
Filler villain? What? Raiga hadn't expected that, and he visibly struggled to process it. "Genin, I am your sensei -- and you will do as I say!"
Noburu held up a finger. "That didn't work for Dr. Gero, that's not going to work for you. Also, to quote Tywin Lannister, anyone who has to say 'I am the king' is no true king. Power is shown, not talked about."
Raiga decided he was going to go super hard on the jinchuuriki's training right then and there. He'd never even heard of Dr. Gero or Tywin Lannister -- perhaps they were characters from a book?
"Plus, I'm a conscript. You volunteered to become a ninja, not me. I'm not going to be enthusiastic about this, nor particularly patriotic. You had to know this was likely to happen when you decided to make the jinchuuriki from the foot caste." Noburu shrugged, then messed with his coral some more. Where before it had been a lump, he made it grow into a sharp spike. "I'm trying to make a sort of coral trap," he commented when he saw Raiga's interest. "Eventually I'm going to try and make coral caltrops, but these bigger spike balls should work on enemy summons. Stuff to throw into their mouths, or fleshy joints."
Raiga blinked at the tactical thought he'd just heard from the genin. It was a good start -- not good enough to avoid a proper beasting, but still. "You're able to make the coral grow on your own? Previous jinchuuriki needed to channel the beast's chakra to do so."
"I am channeling Isobu's chakra, though. His chakra mingles with mine. A side effect of the seal of hooks." He tapped the back of his head. "I'm pretty certain I can do that 'eyes of the bijuu' trick on command." He screwed up his eyes and then opened them -- shining yellow where before they had been dull brown. "Intimidation factor."
When Raiga looked at those eyes, he felt small. He felt like an ant must have felt to be the sole focus of a human. He didn't like the feeling -- it prompted him to respond with anger. "Knock it off!" Raiga walked forward and grabbed the genin by the back of his shirt. "We got a lot of work ahead of us! You need to become a ninja worth all this investment, and get rid of this," he growled as he poked the genin's chubby gut. "It's time to get down to business!"
"To defeat," the genin deliberately paused and spoke with a musical inflection, "the Huns?"
Raiga slapped him.
---
Cast:
Mizukage Ryukotsusei: The Third Mizukage, formerly an attendant of the First Mizukage, and a team member of the Second. A pragmatist at heart, and a fan of brutalist architecture. With him as the Mizukage, Water Country repeatedly expanded to include dozens of formerly independent island nations. Not a nice man. Eyes caste.
Director Suzume Ruan: A jounin medical ninja and contemporary of Tsunade. One of twelve sealing experts who helped to develop the Seal of Hooks version one, which was hoped would become the standard for all jinchuuriki seals. A bit of a coward. Eyes caste.
Akami Jiang: A line cook for Chu's Place, a restaurant in Kirigakure. She's a single mother due to her son's father being a deadbeat who vanished in what would become Sea Country. Foot cast.
Noburu Jiang: Conscripted into Kirigakure's armed forces due to the civil war, and made a jinchuuriki for Isobu the Three Tailed Turtle. He's known to talk back, and has always been slightly off -- but did excellently in school. Foot caste.
Yuuko Chow: A neighbor and former friend of Noburu's, conscripted into Kirigakure's armed forces. She was a diligent and loyal student, and was known as a teacher's pet. She was assigned to fight Noburu to the death, where she lost. Foot caste, deceased.
Kousuke: The rebellious host of Saiken, the Six Tailed Slug, a warrior monk from the Water Temple. He has raised an army in revolt against the daimyo of Water Country, and freed some of the conquered countries. No caste.
Raiga Kurosuki: One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a jounin of Kirigakure. Head of the home guard, he is responsible for the safety of Water Country's home islands and the ninja village itself. Desperately lonely. Hand caste.
Glossary:
Eyes caste: The topmost caste of Kirigakure and Water Country, formed of the inhabitants of the original archipelago. Even the lowest of the eyes caste is higher than the next highest caste.
Hand caste: The middle caste of Kirigakure and Water Country. Made up of the allies of Kiri that bowed to the water daimyo's authority and helped conquer other nations.
Foot caste: The lowest caste of Kirigakure and Water Country. Made up of people who were conquered during the wars of expansion. They are given the riskiest jobs and the least amount of trust.
Seal of Hooks: A sealing jutsu meant to give the sealed target a false path to escape, which hooks them as they attempt to make use of it and causes terrible pain. The nervous and chakra systems of the sealed target and host are more strongly connected, with the pain from the sealed target meant to drive the host insane.
Politics!:
Kousuke, a warrior monk from the Water Temple and the jinchuuriki of Saiken, has risen in revolt against the Water Country daimyo. This is but one theatre of the crumbling of colonial power which is affecting all five of the Great Shinobi Countries in the leadup to the Third Shinobi World War. So far he has secured the freedom of the Moon and Sea Countries, and has begun to move closer to Water Country itself. Due to the split in Kiri's forces from the civil war, a draft of the country's foot caste children is ordered, and the creation of a new jinchuuriki of Isobu becomes necessary.
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Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Probably not, but maybe a Coral Scooter, or wakeboard. Definitely no Coral Parachutes.
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy
Soon, Coral Sabers will be a thing and then Coral Guns. The Industrial Coral Revolution has begun!
SilverShadows
Under autumn skies
- Location
- US
I for one eagerly await the creation of a Coral Tank!
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
I have a vision of neglected coral just going to town if left in sea water. You have a fight near a harbor district, you come back a year later to find fallen coral blades growing into a forest that looks like the 'Hyperion' Shrike's vagina. Or a shattered defensive barrier turning into Cthulhu's Rl'yeh.
Vaalintine
Wild Wondorous Wolfalope
Given how they tried to seal the three-tails the six-tail's host rebelling is pretty easy to figure out. For one, if he is a Monk he'll be more concerned about spiritual issues, and finding out that the Tailed Beasts aren't (for the most part) demons would affect that, especially since they're being sealed in such a way effectively designed to turn them INTO demons.
Ch 2
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Chapter 2: Gut Punch
---
Jounin Kurosuki.
Raiga watched from the wall as the jinchuriki was forced to run laps with the other genin assigned to the home guard. They, however, had the benefit of food and water prior to their exercise. With arms crossed, Raiga walked the length of Kirigakure's wall as the jinchuriki ran. Slowly, to his annoyance. He'd have to have the brat do hand-to-hand combat practice to burn some of that fat. The snow would help work on temperature tolerance, at least.
"Commander," one of the Mizukage's many secretaries said as she advanced with an eerie smile. All the Mizukage's secretaries dressed the same -- billowy pants and a long tunic with sleeves as wide as any kimono, but in a radically different style. One of the conquered nations had that fashion style, Raiga recalled. The secretary bowed to him and offered a scroll. "The Mizukage has ordered additions to your squad with the jinchuuriki. Please find details enclosed within."
"Thank you, Heylin," Raiga responded and bowed to her in turn as he took the scroll. Most Kiri ninja wouldn't offer respect to a secretary. Most Kiri ninja wouldn't realize how valuable knowing the Mizukage's mood prior to a meeting would be. Raiga showed respect, and was shown respect. After Heylin had departed, Raiga cracked open the scroll to review its contents while he caught up to the jinchuriki. "Sayaka Kanzaki," he muttered as he read the first member of his team.
A war-promoted chunin, Sayaka was of the hand caste as Raiga was. She was dark skinned, as he was, and had similar lips. Perhaps their ancestors had come from the same country. However she shaved her head, per her photo, and had slightly different features. Older than the jinchuuriki by a few years, it seemed the Mizukage intended her to be Raiga's second in command. She wore her forehead protector in its bandana configuration, and dressed in the chunin-level flak jacket over earth-toned trousers and a jacket covered in an excessive amount of pockets.
"Trap specialist, likely to be someone in on the plan for Kousuke," Raiga muttered and nodded his approval. He checked on his new student. The jinchuuriki had stopped to catch his breath, but returned to run when he caught Raiga's glare. With that sorted, Raiga checked on the second member of the team. "Haruki Fujimoto? A kekkai genkai user?" The jounin paused to make sure he'd read that correctly.
Haruki was one of the eyes caste graduates, who weren't obligated to take part in the brutal kill or be killed graduation ceremony. Only hand and foot caste were required to bloody themselves to prove their worth. The boy was in the midst of puberty, and at the time of his photo had just begun to grow his first mustache. Dark-skinned like Sayaka and Raiga, with dark green eyes indicative of his clan. He too had shaved his head, and he had no flak jacket but was dressed in immaculate high-born clothes in his photo. A ninjutsu specialist, from his file. "Boil release will be useful, particularly if he has mastered the acidic jutsu. Odd that an eyes caste is being given to a hands caste like me, though." Once more Raiga glanced at the jinchuuriki. "Boiling works on lobsters and crabs… will it work on turtles, though?"
--
Mother Jiang.
Her son came home two days after she'd been told what they did to him. They'd shaved his head, he covered it with his forehead protector as a bandana. She caught a glimpse of his head underneath and saw an intricate tattoo which had many jagged hooks in its design surrounding a turtle-like shape. They'd sealed the three-tailed demon into her son.
He'd returned dirty, probably from training, and looked like he was about to fall over. But once he'd sat down at the table, he began to improve.
"If you don't want me in your house anymore," her boy told her out of the blue as she'd begun to make tea, "just say so. I can move to the barracks. You'll never hear from me again."
Akami almost dropped the kettle, she was so shocked. "Wh-wha…? What?" She turned to look at her son with shock, but found she couldn't look at his face.
He'd taken his headband off and the tattoo of the demon's seal was obvious. "This isn't going to go away." Noburu steepled his fingers and watched her. "You're not comfortable with me here, and if I stay I'm afraid that will turn into resentment."
She'd tried to hide it. How instinctively she'd gone to hug the boy when he arrived, but recoiled when she noticed the forehead protector. The one he'd killed Yuukio for. She'd tried to hide how she yanked her hand back when he tried to touch her by seeing things which needed doing. She tried to hide how she tried to keep her back to him as often as possible with busy work. It hadn't worked.
"I'm not going to stay here if it means you grow to hate me." Noburu met her eyes with an intense stare, his 'serious business' look which had been so cute when he was younger. "More than you do already."
"I don't -- " She choked when his intense look didn't abate. He didn't believe her. He believed his mother hated him. She never regretted choosing to stay in Kiri than in that moment. "I… don't understand. How much of you is… you? How much is the demon -- "
"Spirit," he cut her off with a raised finger. "He is a spirit. I have to be firm on that."
Akami knew then that at least some of her son remained. Only he could talk back with that tone. That brought a small smile to her face, but it lasted only a moment. "Noburu, you killed Yuukio."
"I did." He didn't look terribly upset with it, but he took his eyes off her and focused on one of his hands. The hand that did it. "It was either her, me, or neither. Either one died, or both. I wanted to live." His hands shook, and he clenched them into fists. "And then it was all wasted, because they wanted a jinchuuriki."
Akami could tell right away that her boy needed his mother to help him at that moment. A hug, something to help let the pain out. She knew it, her instincts told her. But she couldn't bring herself to approach Noburu in that way. There was a demon inside him, and he'd killed Yuukio because she wouldn't fight back.
"I don't suppose you know how odd it feels," Noburu started conversationally. "To be in that sort of situation and realize 'I want to live'." He met her eyes and shrugged. "I was surprised. I thought I'd let her do me in, and hope I wound up somewhere better in my next life."
It was like the ground fell out from under her as she heard and saw her son, her only son, tell her that. That, more than any of the terrible things in the past two days, drove Akami to sit down and feel how awful things were. Her son, not even a man, wanted to die. Where had she gone wrong?
"I knew that they would have us kill each other. But I expected it to be random. Instead, they watched us and paired us up against… well, you can figure it out." He looked at Akami, up and down, then nodded resolutely. "I'll pack my things and go. Shouldn't take long." He stood and walked out of the kitchen at a brisk pace.
She knew that if she didn't fight for her son at that moment, she'd lose him forever. But her muscles wouldn't move. It was like something kept her paralyzed. She remembered the times she would teach Noburu and Yuukio how to cook something, or how to prepare an ingredient. Those memories would always be a little bitter, but if she could not lose her son too they could at least be bittersweet.
With a titanic effort of willpower, Akami rose to her feet and shakily walked down the hall to her son's room. The door was closed, she slowly raised her hand to knock. A powerful impulse to just abandon this and go back to her seat hit her, but she fought it off. Twice she knocked.
"...Come in," her son said, defeated. He didn't turn to face her when she opened the door, or stepped inside. "Got a sharp knife? It'll have to be to kill me before Isobu's healing kicks in."
She didn't say anything. She didn't stop to think about how much it hurt to hear her son consider his murder like that. She didn't stop to think about the sudden impulse to just slam the door. Akami forced herself to take one step, then another, then a third, and spread her arms to envelop her son in a hug. It wasn't as tight as her hugs usually were, but it was better than refusing contact.
"You're my son," she said to convince herself just as much as Noburu. "And this is your home. Please don't leave."
--
Third Mizukage.
Ryukotsusei frowned at the two chunin who kneeled before his desk. "She's a civilian. Your genjutsu is so weak that it cannot compel a civilian to obey?" He leaned back in his chair and pinched his nose. "You young people…."
The two chunin flinched at the Mizukage's tone. "L-lord Third, please, let us try again! We know the issues know, we can use stronger genjutsu!"
"Yes, Lord Third, we won't fail you a second time!"
"No," Ryukoutsusei said with a small flicker of killing intent, "I don't think you will." He opened a drawer and took a sheet of paper out. A few minutes of writing later, he stamped the form with the official seal of his office. "A battalion of reinforcements is being prepared to go to Ouza, to Inaho village. You two will join it, and serve Water Country well."
Like base cowards, the two pleaded for mercy. They beat their heads against the floor to plead against what, to them, was a death sentence.
"Compared to how I was in my prime," the Mizukage softly responded, "this is mercy. Live through to the rebellion's end, and your mistakes will be forgiven and you will be rewarded as any loyal shinobi of Kiri should be. Continue to ruin my carpets, and I will send you to the front as rations. Out."
While the two left, one so weak that he could not help but sob, Ryukotsusei reflected. In the past, the standard operating procedure had been to isolate the jinchuuriki and to make them see the village's ninja population as their family. Useful for loyalty, and to ensure the beast was combat ready. None of the previous jinchuurikis' parents had put up so much of a fight as Akami Jiang had to keep her son.
"Having someone to fight for might be an effective leash," the Mizukage mused. He stopped to consider ways he could make use of such a leash, and a wicked grin spread across his face. "Well, my predecessor did advise me to keep our jinchuuriki close to the Kage's household…."
--
Chunin Kanzaki
Sayaka had been positively bouncy when she learned the Mizukage had assigned her to the squad of one of the Seven Swordsman, and ecstatic for it to be Raiga Kurosuki. The first hand caste to enter the Seven Swordsmen ever and she would learn from him! When she worked at the gym after the news had been delivered, it was such energy that the staff thought she would tear a ligament.
But she couldn't be happier -- sure, she had to work with two fresh genin, but she'd only graduated the year prior. They'd either get kicked out of the home guard, or wisen up to the standards they were expected to meet.
Sayaka shouldered the heavy jacket with her trap supplies and weapons with pride, and ensured she had her best scrolls in her flak jacket before she went off to meet her new sensei and teammates. More than once, she stopped to do a dance in place when she remembered -- her sensei was one of the Seven Swordsmen.
Her sensei had set the place of their first meeting to be in his office in the home guard tower, at the western wall of Kirigakure. It was constructed in the style of the Mizukage Tower, but of a smaller scale, and rested partially on the exterior curtain wall, and the district wall which ran all the way to the Mizukage Tower at the center of the village. With practiced authority she had used to address clients, Sayaka made her way through checkpoints to the commander's office.
To her surprise, it was not some posh suite on the top floor. It was a room with a small desk at one end, and several medical tables on the other. One wall was covered, floor to ceiling, in sealed hatches. A morgue.
A hook-nosed boy in clothes way too nice to wear on a battlefield leaned on the desk and tapped his foot. No flak jacket, just a forehead protector in the same style as Sayaka's. The boy glanced at her, and sniffed in disdain. "Finally, a servant. Fetch the commander -- he's late for our meeting."
Sayaka's gaze hardened, and her grip on the doorknob tightened. "You must have me mistaken, sir. I'm part of the commander's squad." Without pause, she stepped into the morgue and closed the door behind her.
The boy looked surprised, then insulted. "You? You cannot be on the commander's squad -- you're hand caste."
"The commander is hand caste as well, you know."
"An insult my family will remember," the boy tilted his head back snootily. "On top of my assignment here. But to be on the same squad as a hands caste genin? The height of disrespect!"
Sayaka could clearly tell the boy was of the eyes caste, just from how he acted before she'd spoken. She couldn't help but smile, she'd be sparing with an eyes caste lout -- and from his scrawny arms he couldn't lift half of what she could. Maybe she'd knock some of his teeth loose. "I'm a chunin," she said softly, ready to grin as the entitled brat's world collapsed.
"A chunin?" He seemed flummoxed by that. "But that… oh, does that mean the other genin is also eyes caste?" The boy crossed his arms and sighed. "That would be bearable, at least. I wouldn't be alone in this vile insult on my family's honor."
Sayaka glanced at the clock mounted on the wall, and arched her brow. "You said Raiga-sensei is late, but we're both early."
"Hmph. I wouldn't expect you to understand." The boy turned his nose up again. "Word should have spread that a member of the Fujimoto family had entered the tower, and the commander should have come to greet me."
Fujimoto, huh? Sayaka thought to herself. That narrowed down who she spoke to, then. "Then you must be Haruki -- the ninjutsu specialist."
"Finally you know who I am." Haruki rolled his eyes. "I'd been speaking to you for minutes and it still didn't click, hmm?"
I am going directly for those teeth the first time we spar, she promised herself. Might throw in an arm, free of charge.
"Then you would know if the other genin is eye caste from his name, wouldn't you?"
Haruki shook his head. "I told the servants to tell me my sensei, and where we would meet. Nothing else seemed important." He pinched his nose. "A mistake, in hindsight."
The door to the morgue opened, and the imposing figure of Raiga Kurosuki stepped in. He dragged what Sayaka thought was a cadaver behind him, until it coughed, and threw the boy on one of the tables. "You two are early. Good."
Sayaka tried to keep the starstruck look off her face -- it was unprofessional -- but that was one of the Seven Swordsmen! Eee! She snapped to attention and took her eyes off him to better keep her professional air about her. "Chunin Kanzaki, reporting as ordered, commander."
"You've come to a meeting with your team dressed as a walking armory," Raiga observed, sardonic, and closed the door behind him.
"Better to have it and not need it, Raiga-sensei."
"I… guess." Raiga turned to Haruki with a dark look, then jerked his thumb at the coughing boy on the medical table. "He's excused from standing on account of broken legs. Unless you also want that excuse, at attention."
Haruki likely glared -- Sayaka didn't turn to look -- but she felt him stand at attention next to her a moment later. In Kiri, senseis could do with their students what they wished.
"I'm your jounin sensei, Raiga Kurosuki." The Seven Swordsmen introduced himself with crossed arms. Those words made Sayaka feel light-headed. "Kanzaki, keep that doe-eyed look off your face if you want me to show you any respect going forward."
Sayaka steeled her features, desperate to not earn her teacher's ill will. "Apologies, Raiga-sensei."
"On the slab here," Raiga jerked his thumb in the kid's direction again. "Is your other teammate, Noburu Jiang. Since he's not a specialist like you two are, I have him on an intense training routine. I do not tolerate half-measures, I will not reward indecisiveness. Either you're worth my time or you're not. Understood?"
"I… cannot possibly have heard you correctly," Haruki said, more deeply insulted than Sayaka had ever heard him. "Did you say Jiang? A foot caste?!"
Noburu, from the table, raised his arm with his middle finger extended.
"Are you making a rude gesture in my presence, genin?" Raiga snapped without turning to look. His glare was focused on Haruki.
"No sir," Noburu rasped. "I'm asking him how many fingers am I holding up. He doesn't seem bright."
Raiga was quiet while he glared at Haruki. "Well?" He said at last. "How many fingers do you see?"
"I am of the eyes caste -- I cannot be on the same team as a foot caste thrall," Haruki stammered, a little afraid of Raiga's intense glare.
Sayaka wished more than ever that she could eat popcorn and watch this from afar.
"O-one, Raiga-sensei," Haruki eventually answered.
Noburu shifted to a thumbs-up and dropped his arm.
Raiga closed his eyes and sighed. "The time is racing toward us when the rebels arrive."
"Heed his ev'ry order," Noburu musically rasped. "And you might… survive!"
Raiga's expression shifted to apocalyptic fury for a split-second, and his hand drifted to the handle of one of the Kiba swords. But a moment later, Raiga collected his thoughts and was at peace. "As… infuriating as that is, he's right. You do as you are told, you learn as I teach, and you will come out of this war alive."
"Some restrictions may apply."
In a blur of motion, Raiga had one of the Kiba swords drawn and loomed over Noburu with it primed to stab. "I swear to the spirits, if you do that again today, I will puncture your lung!" When Noburu didn't push further, Raiga backed off and sheathed his branched sword. The jounin took a second to fix his flowing hair, then addressed the team. "Tomorrow, we go to Fujioka Castle. We're going to be reconstructing it, and examining the damage the rebels did to understand their tactics. We'll be gone a couple weeks, pack accordingly. Fujioka is a ruin now, so expect to be camping for at least a while. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said promptly, unsettled a bit after that display.
"...Yes… Raiga-sensei," Haruki said, just as unsettled.
Raiga turned to glare at Noburu.
In defiance of how long Sayaka knew broken legs took to heal, Noburu kicked his feet up and swung off the medical table to stand. "Yes, Raiga-sensei." Where Sayaka and Haruki were unsettled by the Swordsman's stunt, Noburu seemed amused.
There was something profoundly disturbing in how Noburu's bright yellow eyes caught the light. It seemed almost reptilian. Creepy.
---
Cast:
Sayaka Kanzaki: A chunin of the Hidden Mist. She graduated one year ago, and was given a field promotion due to how successful her traps did against enemy forces. A teenager, she still has some growing to do even though she likes to act like a grown-up. Frequently carries enough weapons and trapping material to supply an entire squad. Hands caste.
Haruki Fujimoto: A member of the Fujimoto clan, noted for their Boil Release kekkei genkai which combines fire and water chakra together. A genin who did not need to participate in the brutal graduation ceremony due to his caste, he thinks highly of himself and needs a dose of humble pie. A ninjutsu specialist. Eyes caste.
---
Jounin Kurosuki.
Raiga watched from the wall as the jinchuriki was forced to run laps with the other genin assigned to the home guard. They, however, had the benefit of food and water prior to their exercise. With arms crossed, Raiga walked the length of Kirigakure's wall as the jinchuriki ran. Slowly, to his annoyance. He'd have to have the brat do hand-to-hand combat practice to burn some of that fat. The snow would help work on temperature tolerance, at least.
"Commander," one of the Mizukage's many secretaries said as she advanced with an eerie smile. All the Mizukage's secretaries dressed the same -- billowy pants and a long tunic with sleeves as wide as any kimono, but in a radically different style. One of the conquered nations had that fashion style, Raiga recalled. The secretary bowed to him and offered a scroll. "The Mizukage has ordered additions to your squad with the jinchuuriki. Please find details enclosed within."
"Thank you, Heylin," Raiga responded and bowed to her in turn as he took the scroll. Most Kiri ninja wouldn't offer respect to a secretary. Most Kiri ninja wouldn't realize how valuable knowing the Mizukage's mood prior to a meeting would be. Raiga showed respect, and was shown respect. After Heylin had departed, Raiga cracked open the scroll to review its contents while he caught up to the jinchuriki. "Sayaka Kanzaki," he muttered as he read the first member of his team.
A war-promoted chunin, Sayaka was of the hand caste as Raiga was. She was dark skinned, as he was, and had similar lips. Perhaps their ancestors had come from the same country. However she shaved her head, per her photo, and had slightly different features. Older than the jinchuuriki by a few years, it seemed the Mizukage intended her to be Raiga's second in command. She wore her forehead protector in its bandana configuration, and dressed in the chunin-level flak jacket over earth-toned trousers and a jacket covered in an excessive amount of pockets.
"Trap specialist, likely to be someone in on the plan for Kousuke," Raiga muttered and nodded his approval. He checked on his new student. The jinchuuriki had stopped to catch his breath, but returned to run when he caught Raiga's glare. With that sorted, Raiga checked on the second member of the team. "Haruki Fujimoto? A kekkai genkai user?" The jounin paused to make sure he'd read that correctly.
Haruki was one of the eyes caste graduates, who weren't obligated to take part in the brutal kill or be killed graduation ceremony. Only hand and foot caste were required to bloody themselves to prove their worth. The boy was in the midst of puberty, and at the time of his photo had just begun to grow his first mustache. Dark-skinned like Sayaka and Raiga, with dark green eyes indicative of his clan. He too had shaved his head, and he had no flak jacket but was dressed in immaculate high-born clothes in his photo. A ninjutsu specialist, from his file. "Boil release will be useful, particularly if he has mastered the acidic jutsu. Odd that an eyes caste is being given to a hands caste like me, though." Once more Raiga glanced at the jinchuuriki. "Boiling works on lobsters and crabs… will it work on turtles, though?"
--
Mother Jiang.
Her son came home two days after she'd been told what they did to him. They'd shaved his head, he covered it with his forehead protector as a bandana. She caught a glimpse of his head underneath and saw an intricate tattoo which had many jagged hooks in its design surrounding a turtle-like shape. They'd sealed the three-tailed demon into her son.
He'd returned dirty, probably from training, and looked like he was about to fall over. But once he'd sat down at the table, he began to improve.
"If you don't want me in your house anymore," her boy told her out of the blue as she'd begun to make tea, "just say so. I can move to the barracks. You'll never hear from me again."
Akami almost dropped the kettle, she was so shocked. "Wh-wha…? What?" She turned to look at her son with shock, but found she couldn't look at his face.
He'd taken his headband off and the tattoo of the demon's seal was obvious. "This isn't going to go away." Noburu steepled his fingers and watched her. "You're not comfortable with me here, and if I stay I'm afraid that will turn into resentment."
She'd tried to hide it. How instinctively she'd gone to hug the boy when he arrived, but recoiled when she noticed the forehead protector. The one he'd killed Yuukio for. She'd tried to hide how she yanked her hand back when he tried to touch her by seeing things which needed doing. She tried to hide how she tried to keep her back to him as often as possible with busy work. It hadn't worked.
"I'm not going to stay here if it means you grow to hate me." Noburu met her eyes with an intense stare, his 'serious business' look which had been so cute when he was younger. "More than you do already."
"I don't -- " She choked when his intense look didn't abate. He didn't believe her. He believed his mother hated him. She never regretted choosing to stay in Kiri than in that moment. "I… don't understand. How much of you is… you? How much is the demon -- "
"Spirit," he cut her off with a raised finger. "He is a spirit. I have to be firm on that."
Akami knew then that at least some of her son remained. Only he could talk back with that tone. That brought a small smile to her face, but it lasted only a moment. "Noburu, you killed Yuukio."
"I did." He didn't look terribly upset with it, but he took his eyes off her and focused on one of his hands. The hand that did it. "It was either her, me, or neither. Either one died, or both. I wanted to live." His hands shook, and he clenched them into fists. "And then it was all wasted, because they wanted a jinchuuriki."
Akami could tell right away that her boy needed his mother to help him at that moment. A hug, something to help let the pain out. She knew it, her instincts told her. But she couldn't bring herself to approach Noburu in that way. There was a demon inside him, and he'd killed Yuukio because she wouldn't fight back.
"I don't suppose you know how odd it feels," Noburu started conversationally. "To be in that sort of situation and realize 'I want to live'." He met her eyes and shrugged. "I was surprised. I thought I'd let her do me in, and hope I wound up somewhere better in my next life."
It was like the ground fell out from under her as she heard and saw her son, her only son, tell her that. That, more than any of the terrible things in the past two days, drove Akami to sit down and feel how awful things were. Her son, not even a man, wanted to die. Where had she gone wrong?
"I knew that they would have us kill each other. But I expected it to be random. Instead, they watched us and paired us up against… well, you can figure it out." He looked at Akami, up and down, then nodded resolutely. "I'll pack my things and go. Shouldn't take long." He stood and walked out of the kitchen at a brisk pace.
She knew that if she didn't fight for her son at that moment, she'd lose him forever. But her muscles wouldn't move. It was like something kept her paralyzed. She remembered the times she would teach Noburu and Yuukio how to cook something, or how to prepare an ingredient. Those memories would always be a little bitter, but if she could not lose her son too they could at least be bittersweet.
With a titanic effort of willpower, Akami rose to her feet and shakily walked down the hall to her son's room. The door was closed, she slowly raised her hand to knock. A powerful impulse to just abandon this and go back to her seat hit her, but she fought it off. Twice she knocked.
"...Come in," her son said, defeated. He didn't turn to face her when she opened the door, or stepped inside. "Got a sharp knife? It'll have to be to kill me before Isobu's healing kicks in."
She didn't say anything. She didn't stop to think about how much it hurt to hear her son consider his murder like that. She didn't stop to think about the sudden impulse to just slam the door. Akami forced herself to take one step, then another, then a third, and spread her arms to envelop her son in a hug. It wasn't as tight as her hugs usually were, but it was better than refusing contact.
"You're my son," she said to convince herself just as much as Noburu. "And this is your home. Please don't leave."
--
Third Mizukage.
Ryukotsusei frowned at the two chunin who kneeled before his desk. "She's a civilian. Your genjutsu is so weak that it cannot compel a civilian to obey?" He leaned back in his chair and pinched his nose. "You young people…."
The two chunin flinched at the Mizukage's tone. "L-lord Third, please, let us try again! We know the issues know, we can use stronger genjutsu!"
"Yes, Lord Third, we won't fail you a second time!"
"No," Ryukoutsusei said with a small flicker of killing intent, "I don't think you will." He opened a drawer and took a sheet of paper out. A few minutes of writing later, he stamped the form with the official seal of his office. "A battalion of reinforcements is being prepared to go to Ouza, to Inaho village. You two will join it, and serve Water Country well."
Like base cowards, the two pleaded for mercy. They beat their heads against the floor to plead against what, to them, was a death sentence.
"Compared to how I was in my prime," the Mizukage softly responded, "this is mercy. Live through to the rebellion's end, and your mistakes will be forgiven and you will be rewarded as any loyal shinobi of Kiri should be. Continue to ruin my carpets, and I will send you to the front as rations. Out."
While the two left, one so weak that he could not help but sob, Ryukotsusei reflected. In the past, the standard operating procedure had been to isolate the jinchuuriki and to make them see the village's ninja population as their family. Useful for loyalty, and to ensure the beast was combat ready. None of the previous jinchuurikis' parents had put up so much of a fight as Akami Jiang had to keep her son.
"Having someone to fight for might be an effective leash," the Mizukage mused. He stopped to consider ways he could make use of such a leash, and a wicked grin spread across his face. "Well, my predecessor did advise me to keep our jinchuuriki close to the Kage's household…."
--
Chunin Kanzaki
Sayaka had been positively bouncy when she learned the Mizukage had assigned her to the squad of one of the Seven Swordsman, and ecstatic for it to be Raiga Kurosuki. The first hand caste to enter the Seven Swordsmen ever and she would learn from him! When she worked at the gym after the news had been delivered, it was such energy that the staff thought she would tear a ligament.
But she couldn't be happier -- sure, she had to work with two fresh genin, but she'd only graduated the year prior. They'd either get kicked out of the home guard, or wisen up to the standards they were expected to meet.
Sayaka shouldered the heavy jacket with her trap supplies and weapons with pride, and ensured she had her best scrolls in her flak jacket before she went off to meet her new sensei and teammates. More than once, she stopped to do a dance in place when she remembered -- her sensei was one of the Seven Swordsmen.
Her sensei had set the place of their first meeting to be in his office in the home guard tower, at the western wall of Kirigakure. It was constructed in the style of the Mizukage Tower, but of a smaller scale, and rested partially on the exterior curtain wall, and the district wall which ran all the way to the Mizukage Tower at the center of the village. With practiced authority she had used to address clients, Sayaka made her way through checkpoints to the commander's office.
To her surprise, it was not some posh suite on the top floor. It was a room with a small desk at one end, and several medical tables on the other. One wall was covered, floor to ceiling, in sealed hatches. A morgue.
A hook-nosed boy in clothes way too nice to wear on a battlefield leaned on the desk and tapped his foot. No flak jacket, just a forehead protector in the same style as Sayaka's. The boy glanced at her, and sniffed in disdain. "Finally, a servant. Fetch the commander -- he's late for our meeting."
Sayaka's gaze hardened, and her grip on the doorknob tightened. "You must have me mistaken, sir. I'm part of the commander's squad." Without pause, she stepped into the morgue and closed the door behind her.
The boy looked surprised, then insulted. "You? You cannot be on the commander's squad -- you're hand caste."
"The commander is hand caste as well, you know."
"An insult my family will remember," the boy tilted his head back snootily. "On top of my assignment here. But to be on the same squad as a hands caste genin? The height of disrespect!"
Sayaka could clearly tell the boy was of the eyes caste, just from how he acted before she'd spoken. She couldn't help but smile, she'd be sparing with an eyes caste lout -- and from his scrawny arms he couldn't lift half of what she could. Maybe she'd knock some of his teeth loose. "I'm a chunin," she said softly, ready to grin as the entitled brat's world collapsed.
"A chunin?" He seemed flummoxed by that. "But that… oh, does that mean the other genin is also eyes caste?" The boy crossed his arms and sighed. "That would be bearable, at least. I wouldn't be alone in this vile insult on my family's honor."
Sayaka glanced at the clock mounted on the wall, and arched her brow. "You said Raiga-sensei is late, but we're both early."
"Hmph. I wouldn't expect you to understand." The boy turned his nose up again. "Word should have spread that a member of the Fujimoto family had entered the tower, and the commander should have come to greet me."
Fujimoto, huh? Sayaka thought to herself. That narrowed down who she spoke to, then. "Then you must be Haruki -- the ninjutsu specialist."
"Finally you know who I am." Haruki rolled his eyes. "I'd been speaking to you for minutes and it still didn't click, hmm?"
I am going directly for those teeth the first time we spar, she promised herself. Might throw in an arm, free of charge.
"Then you would know if the other genin is eye caste from his name, wouldn't you?"
Haruki shook his head. "I told the servants to tell me my sensei, and where we would meet. Nothing else seemed important." He pinched his nose. "A mistake, in hindsight."
The door to the morgue opened, and the imposing figure of Raiga Kurosuki stepped in. He dragged what Sayaka thought was a cadaver behind him, until it coughed, and threw the boy on one of the tables. "You two are early. Good."
Sayaka tried to keep the starstruck look off her face -- it was unprofessional -- but that was one of the Seven Swordsmen! Eee! She snapped to attention and took her eyes off him to better keep her professional air about her. "Chunin Kanzaki, reporting as ordered, commander."
"You've come to a meeting with your team dressed as a walking armory," Raiga observed, sardonic, and closed the door behind him.
"Better to have it and not need it, Raiga-sensei."
"I… guess." Raiga turned to Haruki with a dark look, then jerked his thumb at the coughing boy on the medical table. "He's excused from standing on account of broken legs. Unless you also want that excuse, at attention."
Haruki likely glared -- Sayaka didn't turn to look -- but she felt him stand at attention next to her a moment later. In Kiri, senseis could do with their students what they wished.
"I'm your jounin sensei, Raiga Kurosuki." The Seven Swordsmen introduced himself with crossed arms. Those words made Sayaka feel light-headed. "Kanzaki, keep that doe-eyed look off your face if you want me to show you any respect going forward."
Sayaka steeled her features, desperate to not earn her teacher's ill will. "Apologies, Raiga-sensei."
"On the slab here," Raiga jerked his thumb in the kid's direction again. "Is your other teammate, Noburu Jiang. Since he's not a specialist like you two are, I have him on an intense training routine. I do not tolerate half-measures, I will not reward indecisiveness. Either you're worth my time or you're not. Understood?"
"I… cannot possibly have heard you correctly," Haruki said, more deeply insulted than Sayaka had ever heard him. "Did you say Jiang? A foot caste?!"
Noburu, from the table, raised his arm with his middle finger extended.
"Are you making a rude gesture in my presence, genin?" Raiga snapped without turning to look. His glare was focused on Haruki.
"No sir," Noburu rasped. "I'm asking him how many fingers am I holding up. He doesn't seem bright."
Raiga was quiet while he glared at Haruki. "Well?" He said at last. "How many fingers do you see?"
"I am of the eyes caste -- I cannot be on the same team as a foot caste thrall," Haruki stammered, a little afraid of Raiga's intense glare.
Sayaka wished more than ever that she could eat popcorn and watch this from afar.
"O-one, Raiga-sensei," Haruki eventually answered.
Noburu shifted to a thumbs-up and dropped his arm.
Raiga closed his eyes and sighed. "The time is racing toward us when the rebels arrive."
"Heed his ev'ry order," Noburu musically rasped. "And you might… survive!"
Raiga's expression shifted to apocalyptic fury for a split-second, and his hand drifted to the handle of one of the Kiba swords. But a moment later, Raiga collected his thoughts and was at peace. "As… infuriating as that is, he's right. You do as you are told, you learn as I teach, and you will come out of this war alive."
"Some restrictions may apply."
In a blur of motion, Raiga had one of the Kiba swords drawn and loomed over Noburu with it primed to stab. "I swear to the spirits, if you do that again today, I will puncture your lung!" When Noburu didn't push further, Raiga backed off and sheathed his branched sword. The jounin took a second to fix his flowing hair, then addressed the team. "Tomorrow, we go to Fujioka Castle. We're going to be reconstructing it, and examining the damage the rebels did to understand their tactics. We'll be gone a couple weeks, pack accordingly. Fujioka is a ruin now, so expect to be camping for at least a while. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said promptly, unsettled a bit after that display.
"...Yes… Raiga-sensei," Haruki said, just as unsettled.
Raiga turned to glare at Noburu.
In defiance of how long Sayaka knew broken legs took to heal, Noburu kicked his feet up and swung off the medical table to stand. "Yes, Raiga-sensei." Where Sayaka and Haruki were unsettled by the Swordsman's stunt, Noburu seemed amused.
There was something profoundly disturbing in how Noburu's bright yellow eyes caught the light. It seemed almost reptilian. Creepy.
---
Cast:
Sayaka Kanzaki: A chunin of the Hidden Mist. She graduated one year ago, and was given a field promotion due to how successful her traps did against enemy forces. A teenager, she still has some growing to do even though she likes to act like a grown-up. Frequently carries enough weapons and trapping material to supply an entire squad. Hands caste.
Haruki Fujimoto: A member of the Fujimoto clan, noted for their Boil Release kekkei genkai which combines fire and water chakra together. A genin who did not need to participate in the brutal graduation ceremony due to his caste, he thinks highly of himself and needs a dose of humble pie. A ninjutsu specialist. Eyes caste.
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- Pronouns
- he/him
The MC is priceless
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Though, if I was Raiga, I would not be as gentle. He would have pissed me off to the point he would literally be nailed to the ceiling, secure in the knowledge that he can heal from anything shy of an amputation or a ruptured eyeball or whatnot.
Patience of a goddamn saint, right there...
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
why stop at one pie?
he thinks he's so important? give him a full banquet...
Jaune Pendragon
King Of Servants
- Location
- Avalon
You have my interest.... Watched tentatively.
- Location
- Ireland
He does have both of his legs broken right now. Severe pain is clearly insufficient to shut him up. I suspect the threat of stabbing his lungs is more about removimg his capacity to sing rather then convincing him to stop.
Ch 3
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Ch 3: On the Road
---
Chunin Kanzaki.
"What if Raiga-sensei thinks it's presumptuous?" Sayaka asked her mother as she adjusted the sash her sword was attached to. She'd had the sword for ages by that point, and she knew some of the training exercises from books -- but it would be different, to learn from one of the Seven.
"Then you don't wear it until he tells you." Sayaka's mother was older, taller, and had adapted to her prosthetic arm well. Formerly a chunin herself -- Sayaka's mother had been forced to retire on account of her loss. The Mizukage had allowed her to keep her forehead protector and granted access to regular visits to the ninja hospital on account of her service. To be wounded in the fight against the rebel leader -- when few survived -- was a great honor. She sat on Sayaka's bed as Sayaka viewed herself in the mirror, and drew her sword to test how it worked with her heavy coat.
"Yeah, but...."
"You won't know until you give him a chance to tell you what he wants." Sayaka's mother stood and embraced her daughter across the shoulders with her good arm. "You're a chunin already -- it won't be long until you make jounin too. Make a decision and stick with it, as the genin will look to you for guidance."
Sayaka sighed. "Yeah. Raiga-sensei said he won't respect indecisiveness." She looked at herself and broke away from her mother suddenly. She quickly shed her flak and cargo jackets and adjusted the sword to be more flush against her back. "Right, with the way my coat is set up I should have the ninjato underneath the coat to hide it -- so I can take enemies by surprise." While she put her jackets back on, Sayaka saw a smile on her mother's face. Approval. She'd seen her mother proud, but not often with approval mixed in. As a trap specialist, she'd struggled to earn her mother's -- ninjutsu heavy -- professional respect.
"Having surprises can save your life," her mother said and tapped her prosthetic arm.
On the walk to the Southern Gate, with her bag across her back, Sayaka contemplated how the mission would go. Would there be rebel remnants so close to Kirigakure after their failed attempt to capture the three-tailed demon? How long would it take to repair the damage to Fujioka Castle, and why did they need it rebuilt? The Fujioka family had been extinct for decades -- they had guarded the three-tails against the First Hokage, who killed them all to enslave the creature and sell it back to Kiri. The castle had been made a fortress to guard the three-tails between its deployments in a host body.
Protecting a demon, Sayaka thought with contempt. Idiots had it coming.
As she advanced to the gate, she saw a crowd of people dressed for a funeral. It didn't take long to figure out why -- the class Noburu had come from just went through their graduation test a couple days prior. To her surprise, she saw Raiga and Noburu among them -- not dressed appropriately at all.
Last time she had seen Noburu, he'd been in hospital garb. But now she saw him in strange dairy-cow patterned cold-weather sandal/legwarmers, baggy pants, a dark shirt and jacket combo with a dairy-cow patterned scarf. The darkness of the jacket hid several pockets -- she nodded appreciatively at the extra storage space. He wore his forehead-protector as she and Haruki did, so perhaps they could bond over their mutual baldness.
Then someone stabbed him.
It took her a second to process that she'd just watched someone stab her teammate before she instinctively began to run full-tilt toward the scene. Why hadn't Raiga-sensei done something? She thought as she ran.
When she got closer, she realized Noburu didn't seem overly bothered by the injury. He'd been stabbed with a kunai high in the chest -- and she could tell it'd gone in deep -- but he didn't react.
Noburu stared at his attacker, a grown man also of the foot caste, and didn't react. He didn't react as the man began to cry and realize what he'd done.
Anger mixed with revulsion and -- for a brief moment -- utter hate.
As Sayaka advanced on them, Raiga shunshined away from Noburu's side and blocked her path. "Stop." His order was quiet, and direct. When Sayaka obeyed, Raiga smirked. "Everything's fine. Noburu can handle a civilian himself, no problem."
With her intervention stopped, Sayaka watched the scene unfold. What in hell…?
"Did it do anything?" Noburu rasped at the civilian who'd attacked him. "Did it bring her back? Did it make you feel better?"
"...Why won't you die?" The man seemed genuinely perplexed. He asked the question again, confused and angry.
"So no, it didn't do anything for you. Good to know we both wasted our time with this." Noburu reached up and casually pulled the kunai from his chest -- the civilian either too weak to resist, or too stunned. There was a lot of blood on the blade -- Noburu should have been seriously hurt, but he seemed annoyed at worst. "I'm sorry for your loss, Arata. Goodbye."
Sayaka didn't know what to make of the situation -- when Noburu turned to her she got a clear look at the injury, or rather, where it should have been. Instead, she saw a patch of pink skin through the gap in his jacket and shirt. It didn't even have a mark of blood on it!
"The price for a civilian attacking a shinobi of Kirigakure is death, Noburu," Raiga said, offhand. It was like he wanted to share a fun fact.
"The price for you ordering me to kill Water Country civilians is I feed you to Isobu, Raiga-sensei," Noburu responded similarly offhand. While Sayaka clutched the sides of her head at one of her teammates leveling a death threat at one of the Seven Swordsmen, Noburu walked past them.
Sayaka quickly watched Noburu leave, convinced Raiga-sensei would kill her teammate outright then and there. But the attack never came. She looked up at Raiga and saw, to her surprise, a bead of sweat on the Swordsman's forehead and an intense look on his face.
Raiga caught her glance and shifted back to his usual self. "I-it's good that he has a definitive line he won't cross. And… that he cares so much for the welfare of the civilians." Raiga-sensei composed himself and glared down at her. "But I only let that slide due to his injury. Don't you get ideas."
"Of course not, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka quickly said and bowed.
"Good. I'm going to go make sure Noburu doesn't stupidly bleed to death. You go find Haruki, and tell him we're stopping by the hospital before we leave."
Sayaka bowed again. "Yes, Raiga-sensei." By the time she'd risen from the bow, Raiga had vanished. She was left alone with the funeral attendees, and the man who had attacked her teammate. He too was dressed for the funeral, and held the bloody kunai in his fingers -- limp.
Arata looked haunted by how Noburu hadn't died. All of the anger had bled out of him, and he just seemed defeated.
--
Genin Fujimoto
Ridiculous! Insanity! Utter, complete madness!
"Let me tell it to you again, all monosyllabic and stuff," the Noburu-thrall said in a slow tone. "You haul...your own shit."
"You will not use such vulgar terms in the presence of your betters, thrall!" Haruki snarled as he strained to haul his pack. Raiga-sensei had refused to order their foot caste to do the manual labor as it was intended, so it fell on Haruki to subjugate it with his will. "You are lowborn, I am highborn, you do as your betters dictate!"
Noburu, in defiance of the natural order, continued to march through the snow. The roads out of Kirigakure were all covered in snow, and the south road had the added bonus of going uphill. A tiresome workout which any foot caste would be lucky to have!
"You should have bought the bags with wheels," Noburu said, still slow -- like he thought himself smarter. "Drag it in your wake, much more good."
"'More good' wasn't the way to go there, genin," Raiga-sensei called back to them from his position in the front. "Work on your vocabulary."
"Yes, Raiga-sensei."
Sayaka had spun some fanciful tale about how the foot caste had been stabbed -- but that couldn't have been true. He had no problem with his own pack, clearly the wound had been imagined on her part.
"When I'm appointed to a position within the village's bureaucracy, I'll make sure to remember you," Haruki snarled to the defiant foot caste. "And put you in your place."
"Haruki," Sayaka barked, "you have to carry your own gear. This is the basic requirement of all shinobi of the Hidden Mist. If you can't do that, turn in your forehead protector, and get back to the village!"
Outrageous! Spoken to by a lowly hand caste with such a tone! Haruki opened his mouth to retort, when he caught a glimpse of Raiga-sensei's eyes. The jounin looked almost fed up. It was one thing to be shamed by the Mizukage into such a team. It would be an even deeper shame if his career was ruined because of it.
Bare it now, avenge it later, he told himself. When he got to pick which missions they were assigned to. Careful to keep his features steeled, the eyes caste golden child reveled in how foolish they would seem. Too many ninja coveted the power to level a city, too many ninja coveted the money and fame from successful missions. Too few coveted the power inherent in the levers of power which actually ran a shinobi village. When he and his clan denied them promotions, denied them reinforcements, denied them supplies, but approved them to missions with ridiculous odds of death, they would rue the disrespect they'd shown.
Rue it!
While he fantasized about how he'd get vengeance, they ascended the hills outside of Kirigakure. At the topmost level, Raiga stopped them and pointed down toward the village. "Look," he told the three of them. "Here, you can see the whole village. Everyone in that village depend on us to kill rebels before they arrive and lay the lives they've built to waste. That is what we're fighting for in the home guard."
Haruki looked down upon the village -- its thick walls, tree-topped towers, and water all around. The snowfall would become mist in warmer seasons -- painters had come to such a place to capture the beauty in ink paintings for generations.
"It rings ever so slightly hollow when plenty of people down there have already had their lives laid to waste," Noburu snarked. He was soon cuffed on the back of the head for his cheek -- as he deserved.
"Now then, Fujioka will be a couple days on foot, even with shunshin. I expect Haruki will drag us down even more, so let's try to make as much progress as we can. Remember, you will all be training together after we make camp for the night."
Haruki flushed at the thought that he, a noble scion of the Fujimoto family, could be considered a burden, and promised himself he would show the lower castes how superior he was!
Unfortunately, whilst they jumped from tree to tree with shunshin, Haruki slipped upon a patch of frozen bark and fell. He landed on his gut, and slowly slid off the branch to land face-first in a patch of snow. His bag landed on him a moment later to dig him even deeper.
He heard Sayaka sigh, and the crunch of snow as someone landed near him. Then another someone. "Hold on Haruki, we'll get you out."
The thought of needing their help, after his mistake, made Haruki's blood boil. Which, in turn, made his chakra boil. The snow all around him began to rapidly melt as his body emitted steam. In moments, he was damp and among a wet patch of exposed grass. He quickly stood up and fixed his bag with a scowl on his face.
"I don't need your help at -- ack!" Haruki found himself cut off with a firm slap to the back of the head from Raiga-sensei. Haruki had only seen Sayaka and Noburu, he hadn't even picked up on Raiga's arrival.
"Idiot," the jounin grumbled. "Rather than let your team get you out of the snow, you slow us down more by melting it? You're all wet now, and it's snowing! I've half a mind to let you freeze." He pointed into the forest, and frowned. "Go get into dry clothes. Now."
"Fifty ryo says he doesn't know how to dress himself," Noburu said with a straight face as Haruki walked off.
"One hundred says he asks one of us to dress him when he can't figure it out," added Sayaka.
Haruki didn't know if there was something worse than rue, but he would find out so that the two of them would be in that state some years out.
--
Jounin Kurosuki.
The jinchuuriki hadn't attempted to run. That put the Anbu forces that followed them at ease, which either meant things would go boringly well or something absolutely stupid would happen. There was no in-between with the Anbu in Kiri.
The brats had taken to Raiga's instruction on camping well. While they stomped snow flat for their tent locations and the campfire, Raiga placed a wide-area genjutsu to hide their presence. The rebels had attacked close to Kiri once before, it stood to reason that they could again. And even if they didn't, there were things just as dangerous as rebels among the trees.
In the forests that grew in the shadow of Fujioka Castle, and Yu Palace, mysterious beasts and lively spirits walked like men. In winter, a fire was absolutely vital for civilians, but a fire and genjutsu would be even better. The Anbu could look after themselves.
When he returned to camp, he was surprised to see the jinchuuriki on his knees in front of the fire. The boy knelt as if in prayer, and Raiga could make out words the boy said quietly through lip-reading.
"He of great strength, teach me how to be strong. He of thunderous voice, teach me how to be heard." The same two sentences, over and over.
It didn't take a genius to guess what the boy spoke to. The three-tailed beast.
Raiga felt a chill that didn't come from the cold as he recalled how casually the boy had threatened him with it. Yet, the boy continued to let Raiga smack him around. He still had to fully process what the implications of a friendly relationship with the bijuu would do for a jinchuuriki.
"He's been like that since he did… that," Sayaka commented on Raiga's stare. She indicated the tent space, and saw that a wide overhang of coral had grown over each spot -- like a lean-to. It would shield the tents from snowfall and the wind on one side. "I didn't know he had a kekkei genkai too."
"I don't know if he does," Raiga muttered, mostly to himself. Louder, he spoke to the chunin directly. "Have you set up a perimeter of traps?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "Salt-acid bombs just in case something really nasty tries to come for us."
"Excellent." He stopped to think about the eyes caste idiot he'd been saddled with. "You… didn't make them so that Haruki or Noburu would activate one going to the bathroom, did you?"
She gave him a flat look. "Raiga-sensei, I'm a professional. Of course I didn't make them that hair-trigger."
Raiga nodded at the confirmation and watched Haruki struggle to raise his tent on his own. The boy made an honest effort, at least, which is what Raiga expected. Success could come later, when there was less room for error. But on literally a first mission to investigate a battle's remains? The genin could afford to be foolish.
"For the love of," Noburu said and stood up. He walked over to Haruki and crossed his arms. "The scraping is distracting me from meditating. I'm going to do my tent now, and you can watch it to show how you do it so much easier, alright?" The chubbier boy tapped his foot on the snow.
Embarrassed, red-faced, and frustrated, Haruki looked like he was about to blow hot steam in Noburu's face.
The jounin was about to let the boys have their scrap before he glanced at the tree-line. There he saw an eerily pale womanly figure with piercing yellow eyes that shined in the dark -- like a beast's. She wore a yellow kimono -- totally out of season -- and stepped back into the shadows when she realized Raiga had seen her. Whether a spy or a spirit, Raiga didn't know or care. He clapped his hands to get the boys' attention. "Instead of training by way of sparring," he announced, as if it was his plan all along, "I am going to teach our genin how to do… the stretches and exercises needed before we start proper kenjutsu training." He put his hands on his hips and glared at the boys. "After the tents are all up. The faster that happens, the more you learn."
He ignored how Sayaka did a fist-pump in the air and focused on the spot where he'd seen the strange woman. Hopefully the Anbu had seen her and gotten in position. If they hadn't, and he included it in his report, he'd look like a madman.
Well, a madder man.
---
Felt things starting to drag in this chapter. Time for some action next time around!
---
Chunin Kanzaki.
"What if Raiga-sensei thinks it's presumptuous?" Sayaka asked her mother as she adjusted the sash her sword was attached to. She'd had the sword for ages by that point, and she knew some of the training exercises from books -- but it would be different, to learn from one of the Seven.
"Then you don't wear it until he tells you." Sayaka's mother was older, taller, and had adapted to her prosthetic arm well. Formerly a chunin herself -- Sayaka's mother had been forced to retire on account of her loss. The Mizukage had allowed her to keep her forehead protector and granted access to regular visits to the ninja hospital on account of her service. To be wounded in the fight against the rebel leader -- when few survived -- was a great honor. She sat on Sayaka's bed as Sayaka viewed herself in the mirror, and drew her sword to test how it worked with her heavy coat.
"Yeah, but...."
"You won't know until you give him a chance to tell you what he wants." Sayaka's mother stood and embraced her daughter across the shoulders with her good arm. "You're a chunin already -- it won't be long until you make jounin too. Make a decision and stick with it, as the genin will look to you for guidance."
Sayaka sighed. "Yeah. Raiga-sensei said he won't respect indecisiveness." She looked at herself and broke away from her mother suddenly. She quickly shed her flak and cargo jackets and adjusted the sword to be more flush against her back. "Right, with the way my coat is set up I should have the ninjato underneath the coat to hide it -- so I can take enemies by surprise." While she put her jackets back on, Sayaka saw a smile on her mother's face. Approval. She'd seen her mother proud, but not often with approval mixed in. As a trap specialist, she'd struggled to earn her mother's -- ninjutsu heavy -- professional respect.
"Having surprises can save your life," her mother said and tapped her prosthetic arm.
On the walk to the Southern Gate, with her bag across her back, Sayaka contemplated how the mission would go. Would there be rebel remnants so close to Kirigakure after their failed attempt to capture the three-tailed demon? How long would it take to repair the damage to Fujioka Castle, and why did they need it rebuilt? The Fujioka family had been extinct for decades -- they had guarded the three-tails against the First Hokage, who killed them all to enslave the creature and sell it back to Kiri. The castle had been made a fortress to guard the three-tails between its deployments in a host body.
Protecting a demon, Sayaka thought with contempt. Idiots had it coming.
As she advanced to the gate, she saw a crowd of people dressed for a funeral. It didn't take long to figure out why -- the class Noburu had come from just went through their graduation test a couple days prior. To her surprise, she saw Raiga and Noburu among them -- not dressed appropriately at all.
Last time she had seen Noburu, he'd been in hospital garb. But now she saw him in strange dairy-cow patterned cold-weather sandal/legwarmers, baggy pants, a dark shirt and jacket combo with a dairy-cow patterned scarf. The darkness of the jacket hid several pockets -- she nodded appreciatively at the extra storage space. He wore his forehead-protector as she and Haruki did, so perhaps they could bond over their mutual baldness.
Then someone stabbed him.
It took her a second to process that she'd just watched someone stab her teammate before she instinctively began to run full-tilt toward the scene. Why hadn't Raiga-sensei done something? She thought as she ran.
When she got closer, she realized Noburu didn't seem overly bothered by the injury. He'd been stabbed with a kunai high in the chest -- and she could tell it'd gone in deep -- but he didn't react.
Noburu stared at his attacker, a grown man also of the foot caste, and didn't react. He didn't react as the man began to cry and realize what he'd done.
Anger mixed with revulsion and -- for a brief moment -- utter hate.
As Sayaka advanced on them, Raiga shunshined away from Noburu's side and blocked her path. "Stop." His order was quiet, and direct. When Sayaka obeyed, Raiga smirked. "Everything's fine. Noburu can handle a civilian himself, no problem."
With her intervention stopped, Sayaka watched the scene unfold. What in hell…?
"Did it do anything?" Noburu rasped at the civilian who'd attacked him. "Did it bring her back? Did it make you feel better?"
"...Why won't you die?" The man seemed genuinely perplexed. He asked the question again, confused and angry.
"So no, it didn't do anything for you. Good to know we both wasted our time with this." Noburu reached up and casually pulled the kunai from his chest -- the civilian either too weak to resist, or too stunned. There was a lot of blood on the blade -- Noburu should have been seriously hurt, but he seemed annoyed at worst. "I'm sorry for your loss, Arata. Goodbye."
Sayaka didn't know what to make of the situation -- when Noburu turned to her she got a clear look at the injury, or rather, where it should have been. Instead, she saw a patch of pink skin through the gap in his jacket and shirt. It didn't even have a mark of blood on it!
"The price for a civilian attacking a shinobi of Kirigakure is death, Noburu," Raiga said, offhand. It was like he wanted to share a fun fact.
"The price for you ordering me to kill Water Country civilians is I feed you to Isobu, Raiga-sensei," Noburu responded similarly offhand. While Sayaka clutched the sides of her head at one of her teammates leveling a death threat at one of the Seven Swordsmen, Noburu walked past them.
Sayaka quickly watched Noburu leave, convinced Raiga-sensei would kill her teammate outright then and there. But the attack never came. She looked up at Raiga and saw, to her surprise, a bead of sweat on the Swordsman's forehead and an intense look on his face.
Raiga caught her glance and shifted back to his usual self. "I-it's good that he has a definitive line he won't cross. And… that he cares so much for the welfare of the civilians." Raiga-sensei composed himself and glared down at her. "But I only let that slide due to his injury. Don't you get ideas."
"Of course not, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka quickly said and bowed.
"Good. I'm going to go make sure Noburu doesn't stupidly bleed to death. You go find Haruki, and tell him we're stopping by the hospital before we leave."
Sayaka bowed again. "Yes, Raiga-sensei." By the time she'd risen from the bow, Raiga had vanished. She was left alone with the funeral attendees, and the man who had attacked her teammate. He too was dressed for the funeral, and held the bloody kunai in his fingers -- limp.
Arata looked haunted by how Noburu hadn't died. All of the anger had bled out of him, and he just seemed defeated.
--
Genin Fujimoto
Ridiculous! Insanity! Utter, complete madness!
"Let me tell it to you again, all monosyllabic and stuff," the Noburu-thrall said in a slow tone. "You haul...your own shit."
"You will not use such vulgar terms in the presence of your betters, thrall!" Haruki snarled as he strained to haul his pack. Raiga-sensei had refused to order their foot caste to do the manual labor as it was intended, so it fell on Haruki to subjugate it with his will. "You are lowborn, I am highborn, you do as your betters dictate!"
Noburu, in defiance of the natural order, continued to march through the snow. The roads out of Kirigakure were all covered in snow, and the south road had the added bonus of going uphill. A tiresome workout which any foot caste would be lucky to have!
"You should have bought the bags with wheels," Noburu said, still slow -- like he thought himself smarter. "Drag it in your wake, much more good."
"'More good' wasn't the way to go there, genin," Raiga-sensei called back to them from his position in the front. "Work on your vocabulary."
"Yes, Raiga-sensei."
Sayaka had spun some fanciful tale about how the foot caste had been stabbed -- but that couldn't have been true. He had no problem with his own pack, clearly the wound had been imagined on her part.
"When I'm appointed to a position within the village's bureaucracy, I'll make sure to remember you," Haruki snarled to the defiant foot caste. "And put you in your place."
"Haruki," Sayaka barked, "you have to carry your own gear. This is the basic requirement of all shinobi of the Hidden Mist. If you can't do that, turn in your forehead protector, and get back to the village!"
Outrageous! Spoken to by a lowly hand caste with such a tone! Haruki opened his mouth to retort, when he caught a glimpse of Raiga-sensei's eyes. The jounin looked almost fed up. It was one thing to be shamed by the Mizukage into such a team. It would be an even deeper shame if his career was ruined because of it.
Bare it now, avenge it later, he told himself. When he got to pick which missions they were assigned to. Careful to keep his features steeled, the eyes caste golden child reveled in how foolish they would seem. Too many ninja coveted the power to level a city, too many ninja coveted the money and fame from successful missions. Too few coveted the power inherent in the levers of power which actually ran a shinobi village. When he and his clan denied them promotions, denied them reinforcements, denied them supplies, but approved them to missions with ridiculous odds of death, they would rue the disrespect they'd shown.
Rue it!
While he fantasized about how he'd get vengeance, they ascended the hills outside of Kirigakure. At the topmost level, Raiga stopped them and pointed down toward the village. "Look," he told the three of them. "Here, you can see the whole village. Everyone in that village depend on us to kill rebels before they arrive and lay the lives they've built to waste. That is what we're fighting for in the home guard."
Haruki looked down upon the village -- its thick walls, tree-topped towers, and water all around. The snowfall would become mist in warmer seasons -- painters had come to such a place to capture the beauty in ink paintings for generations.
"It rings ever so slightly hollow when plenty of people down there have already had their lives laid to waste," Noburu snarked. He was soon cuffed on the back of the head for his cheek -- as he deserved.
"Now then, Fujioka will be a couple days on foot, even with shunshin. I expect Haruki will drag us down even more, so let's try to make as much progress as we can. Remember, you will all be training together after we make camp for the night."
Haruki flushed at the thought that he, a noble scion of the Fujimoto family, could be considered a burden, and promised himself he would show the lower castes how superior he was!
Unfortunately, whilst they jumped from tree to tree with shunshin, Haruki slipped upon a patch of frozen bark and fell. He landed on his gut, and slowly slid off the branch to land face-first in a patch of snow. His bag landed on him a moment later to dig him even deeper.
He heard Sayaka sigh, and the crunch of snow as someone landed near him. Then another someone. "Hold on Haruki, we'll get you out."
The thought of needing their help, after his mistake, made Haruki's blood boil. Which, in turn, made his chakra boil. The snow all around him began to rapidly melt as his body emitted steam. In moments, he was damp and among a wet patch of exposed grass. He quickly stood up and fixed his bag with a scowl on his face.
"I don't need your help at -- ack!" Haruki found himself cut off with a firm slap to the back of the head from Raiga-sensei. Haruki had only seen Sayaka and Noburu, he hadn't even picked up on Raiga's arrival.
"Idiot," the jounin grumbled. "Rather than let your team get you out of the snow, you slow us down more by melting it? You're all wet now, and it's snowing! I've half a mind to let you freeze." He pointed into the forest, and frowned. "Go get into dry clothes. Now."
"Fifty ryo says he doesn't know how to dress himself," Noburu said with a straight face as Haruki walked off.
"One hundred says he asks one of us to dress him when he can't figure it out," added Sayaka.
Haruki didn't know if there was something worse than rue, but he would find out so that the two of them would be in that state some years out.
--
Jounin Kurosuki.
The jinchuuriki hadn't attempted to run. That put the Anbu forces that followed them at ease, which either meant things would go boringly well or something absolutely stupid would happen. There was no in-between with the Anbu in Kiri.
The brats had taken to Raiga's instruction on camping well. While they stomped snow flat for their tent locations and the campfire, Raiga placed a wide-area genjutsu to hide their presence. The rebels had attacked close to Kiri once before, it stood to reason that they could again. And even if they didn't, there were things just as dangerous as rebels among the trees.
In the forests that grew in the shadow of Fujioka Castle, and Yu Palace, mysterious beasts and lively spirits walked like men. In winter, a fire was absolutely vital for civilians, but a fire and genjutsu would be even better. The Anbu could look after themselves.
When he returned to camp, he was surprised to see the jinchuuriki on his knees in front of the fire. The boy knelt as if in prayer, and Raiga could make out words the boy said quietly through lip-reading.
"He of great strength, teach me how to be strong. He of thunderous voice, teach me how to be heard." The same two sentences, over and over.
It didn't take a genius to guess what the boy spoke to. The three-tailed beast.
Raiga felt a chill that didn't come from the cold as he recalled how casually the boy had threatened him with it. Yet, the boy continued to let Raiga smack him around. He still had to fully process what the implications of a friendly relationship with the bijuu would do for a jinchuuriki.
"He's been like that since he did… that," Sayaka commented on Raiga's stare. She indicated the tent space, and saw that a wide overhang of coral had grown over each spot -- like a lean-to. It would shield the tents from snowfall and the wind on one side. "I didn't know he had a kekkei genkai too."
"I don't know if he does," Raiga muttered, mostly to himself. Louder, he spoke to the chunin directly. "Have you set up a perimeter of traps?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "Salt-acid bombs just in case something really nasty tries to come for us."
"Excellent." He stopped to think about the eyes caste idiot he'd been saddled with. "You… didn't make them so that Haruki or Noburu would activate one going to the bathroom, did you?"
She gave him a flat look. "Raiga-sensei, I'm a professional. Of course I didn't make them that hair-trigger."
Raiga nodded at the confirmation and watched Haruki struggle to raise his tent on his own. The boy made an honest effort, at least, which is what Raiga expected. Success could come later, when there was less room for error. But on literally a first mission to investigate a battle's remains? The genin could afford to be foolish.
"For the love of," Noburu said and stood up. He walked over to Haruki and crossed his arms. "The scraping is distracting me from meditating. I'm going to do my tent now, and you can watch it to show how you do it so much easier, alright?" The chubbier boy tapped his foot on the snow.
Embarrassed, red-faced, and frustrated, Haruki looked like he was about to blow hot steam in Noburu's face.
The jounin was about to let the boys have their scrap before he glanced at the tree-line. There he saw an eerily pale womanly figure with piercing yellow eyes that shined in the dark -- like a beast's. She wore a yellow kimono -- totally out of season -- and stepped back into the shadows when she realized Raiga had seen her. Whether a spy or a spirit, Raiga didn't know or care. He clapped his hands to get the boys' attention. "Instead of training by way of sparring," he announced, as if it was his plan all along, "I am going to teach our genin how to do… the stretches and exercises needed before we start proper kenjutsu training." He put his hands on his hips and glared at the boys. "After the tents are all up. The faster that happens, the more you learn."
He ignored how Sayaka did a fist-pump in the air and focused on the spot where he'd seen the strange woman. Hopefully the Anbu had seen her and gotten in position. If they hadn't, and he included it in his report, he'd look like a madman.
Well, a madder man.
---
Felt things starting to drag in this chapter. Time for some action next time around!
verycoolname
Not actually cool
Hmm... Yuki-onna, ninja, or ninja yuki-onna? And honestly, with how crazy ninja techniques can get, does it matter?
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Some spirits are entirely spiritual and natural energy -- meaning they don't have chakra as we know it (physical+spiritual+((optional))natural). Ninjutsu can sometimes harm them, sometimes it can't. Same for genjutsu. Taijutsu might be a non-starter. They had an entire movie about a demon dragon who needed a special type of chakra to be meaningfully hurt.
Sometimes against a spirit the best you can do is drive it off. Sometimes against a spirit the worst thing you can do is piss it off.
Sometimes against a spirit the best you can do is drive it off. Sometimes against a spirit the worst thing you can do is piss it off.
Is the prayer sentences from anything specific? Or is it just to creep them out?
- Location
- USA
I feel like that prayer comes from something, but I can't put my fingers on it.
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
It's a prayer to Setesh, Egyptian god of chaos, storms, the desert, the oasis, the underworld, and male foreigners that's been adapted for Noburu's purposes!
Ch 4
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Ch 4: Steel on Shell
---
Genin Fujimoto.
After a day or so training and traveling with his team, Haruki began to suspect that there was something strange afoot. It couldn't possibly be only an insult to the Fujimoto clan -- the Mizukage would not burn so many bridges for an insult in a civil war. While they lept from tree to tree, Haruki pondered it.
Lord Mizukage is a pragmatist, he told himself as he jumped in auto-pilot mode. He gave that hand caste the Kiba swords because he'd earned them, even if it dishonored the swords. Honor means less to Lord Mizukage than results. Then what results was he more interested in? What could he stand to gain from enraging the Fujimoto clan? Then it hit Haruki, like a moment of clarity.
That coral ability… the foot caste has a kekkei genkai of some kind, but without being of an established family! Lord Mizukage must have assigned me to his squad to teach him what is required of a kekkei genkai user in Kiri!
That was the risk they'd taken when the First Mizukage created the caste system. The foot caste would grow the fastest, so it was possible that they would develop bloodline powers and try to raise above their station. Naturally, Haruki would have to teach the Noburu-creature how to use its power and be a humble thrall at the same time.
A difficult task, given how prone to talking back the foot caste was.
"We're approaching Fujioka Castle," Raiga-sensei announced from the front. "Cease shunshin, and get to the forest floor."
At the forest floor, they grouped up and looked through the trees toward Fujioka Castle. A vast curtain wall topped with sea-green tiles surrounded the fortress, which sat elevated relative to the outer defenses. Before the age of shinobi, such defenses would have made it murderously difficult to take, as all the ramps up to the castle were guarded by gates and with defenses ready for defenders to attack from safety. After the advent of shinobi it was simply a fancy house. The shattered walls and collapsed towers from a recent battle without any damage to the curtain wall were evidence enough.
The castle sat on a cliff which overlooked a lake, kept from the sea by a thin strip of rocky land. A scenic location, which Haruki wished he could visit in peacetime.
"Haruki," Raiga said as he scouted out the castle visually, "are you picking anything up?"
"Nothing obvious, let me try to sense," Haruki responded, eager to prove himself. A sensor type, he was sure he could ferret out any squatters. Haruki focused his senses and began to feel out for chakra signatures in that direction. "There's lingering traces of several people, but nothing right now. It's empty."
"Good, then we approach." Raiga pointed at the tallest of the towers. "I will be there, to plan out how we rebuild the castle. The three of you will be assigned to specific areas of the damage to investigate what caused the damage and what you can make out about the rebel's tactics from it."
Haruki blinked. Then he blinked again. "Raiga-sensei?" He didn't want to ask, lest the answer be as he feared, but he felt he had to.
Sayaka saved the day in that regard, and seemed to complete Haruki's thought. "We're going to be rebuilding the castle? Ourselves?"
"That's right." Raiga crossed his arms. "Fujioka has been in need of modernization for decades -- which we will see to." He pointed behind the castle, and Haruki followed his gaze. "You see that island in the distance? That is Nadeshiko, and Nadeshiko village has warning flares which are visible from Fujioka -- but not from Kirigakure." He looked down on them and crossed his arms again. "The home guard's job is a lot harder without an early warning system. So, we get Fujioka up and running again, modernized this time, then I assign a garrison."
"None of us have the skills needed to rebuild a castle," Noburu added with narrowed eyes. "Unless they had castle building classes at the academy as an elective course. Princess," he said as he turned to Haruki, "did they have elective courses like that at the academy?"
"Well there were some basic design courses -- wait…." Haruki responded automatically, then processed he'd answered a question for the foot caste instead of the other way around, and what he'd answered to. Steam rose from his ears as he grit his teeth and fumed in Noburu's direction. "Princess?!"
"So yeah, no, the castle we're going to build would be about as defensible as toilet against a t-rex." Noburu completely disregarded Haruki's rage, and turned back to Raiga. "Unless you have a 'for dummies' book on it?"
Raiga nodded thoughtfully and promptly shunshined out of their line of sight. Haruki became aware of him again when one of Raiga-sensei's hands grabbed his head, while the other grabbed Noburu's, and slammed them together.
"Your backtalking is going to get you a lot of injuries, Noburu," Raiga commented and dusted his hands off while the boys held their heads. "Maybe you should look into learning medical ninjutsu."
"What did I do, though?" Haruki whined.
"Shut up. I have some associates who will help you with reconstructing the castle, and provide supplies." Raiga smirked, and promptly bit his thumb.
--
Chunin Kanzaki.
"Washu-sensei, this looks like an electrical fire happened but was snuffed out. Am I right?" Sayaka leaned away from the floorboards she'd pulled up from around the scorch marked floor to let Raiga-sensei's summon confirm her suspicions.
A red ant, bigger than Sayaka's thumb, wearing a tool belt scurried over and inspected the damage. "Oh this wiring is ancient," she sighed. "It's got dust all over it -- and it looks like rats got ahold of some of the wires. But yes, it looks like there was an electrical fire here." She backed away and looked up at Sayaka. "Combine this with all of the water damage we've seen, and what do you get?"
"A wide-area water release jutsu." Sayaka pinched her chin and considered. "Which could mean either someone with strong enough chakra reserves to generate water, or they used the plumbing of the castle to use the jutsu."
"By the defenders, or the attackers?"
Sayaka looked over the room and pondered. "Most of the water damage is over there, toward the main entrance." She could practically envision it, shadowy figures that moved through handsigns against armed rebels, with water jutsu deployed to push them back out. "The defenders likely used the water jutsu to try and keep them out of the entrance hall."
"And why didn't that work? And how does it relate to this electrical fire?"
Those questions took longer to answer. All around the ruined entrance hall there were scorch marks like what she had inspected. The wood was warped as well as burned -- some combination of water damage, fire, and what almost looked like termite damage. It clicked, suddenly. "The six-tailed demon slug has acidic bubbles as its main power...." And the six-tailed demon slug in human form led the rebellion.
Sayaka stood and backed up to look at the scene as a whole, and pieced it together. "The scorch marks all look like a splash pattern. The defenders fired water jutsu into an acid soap bubble from the demon slug, which popped and splashed acid in these spots. The electrical fire came from the acid eating through to the wires."
Washu nodded her heavily mandibled head. "That's very good. Raiga will be pleased with your deduction skills." She clapped her mandibles together. "Now let's get to work on repairing this room. We'll start with tearing out all the damaged wood."
Sayaka knew true regret then.
Hours later, with her hands sore from all the wood she had to tear up, and with the knowledge she would have to do more the next day, she zombie-walked to the campsite. Again, Noburu had grown coral shelters for them. Her tent had even been set up for her!
"Thank you, Noburu," she groaned as she played the part of an old granny in her quest into the tent to lay down before lunch.
"All I did was make the shelters," Noburu's voice said from his tent. "Princess got the tents up."
"Thank you, princess Haruki," she said in reply.
"I will get my vengeance on the both of you," Haruki snarled from his tent. After he calmed down, the eyes caste boy stuck his head out of his tent. "What task did the ants have you two do?"
"I examined the entrance hall and started to work on the wood." Sayaka stretched and stuck her head out of her tent to watch the fire. "If I didn't know the six-tailed demon -- "
"Spirit," Noburu quickly corrected.
" -- had been here… what?" Sayaka turned to look at Noburu's tent in disbelief. "Huh?"
"Saiken is a spirit. Not a demon." Noburu stuck his head out for a moment to look at her with narrow eyes. "When you see a real demon, you'll know the difference." And then he was back in his tent.
"Saiken? You know its name?"
"So does Princess, it's recorded in the library."
"Stop calling me Princess!" Haruki shouted, with steam in his ears.
Sayaka was about to push further, when she heard a faint chime of bells. There were no windchimes in Fujioka, but she used the sound as an early warning system for parts of her trap array. Paper seals that chimed when strong chakra signatures passed by them. "Haruki," she barked, "I need you to try and sense any chakra coming from the forest -- now!"
Her instincts, trained on the front lines, told her that enemies were inbound -- but with Haruki she could tell how many. Her teammates at least were quick on the draw -- Haruki closed his eyes to focus and Noburu emerged from his tent with a kunai in hand. Sayaka popped a summoning scroll out of her flak jacket -- a bit of blood and she had proximity paper-bombs with her.
"I'm sensing two reasonably large chakra sources, in the trees. I'd say… chunin? Toku-jou, maybe?"
Sayaka glanced up at the castle, and saw that the room where Raiga-sensei had planned the reconstruction was still lit up. They had backup at least. "Commit the courtyard layout to memory," she told the genin and put her fingers into the tiger-seal. "All together, hidden mist jutsu!"
The three of them together didn't have as much chakra as a jounin would -- the mist their skill produced didn't totally blind them -- it wouldn't totally blind their enemies either. Sayaka tossed a kunai with a wire tied to its hilt so that it dug into the wall in one corner, then cut the wire and threaded proximity paper bombs down it, and threw a second kunai to create a diagonal trap through the courtyard. Without time to place landmines or other traps, she had to make the enemy's approach as dangerous as possible.
"See, this kinda reaction speed speaks of an environment not at all fit with kids of our developmental level," Noburu commented.
"Would you shut up and make yourself useful," Haruki snarled and got to his feet. "I have water and fire ninjutsu, what jutsu do you have?"
"Transformation, substitution, hidden mist, and basic clone." Noburu's answer shocked the other two, and he seemed to take offense. "Hey, all Raiga-sensei has done is hit me and showed us how to stretch, I haven't actually learned anything from him."
I really hate that that's a completely fair point, Sayaka told herself and threw another wire-kunai bearing proximity bombs through the air. "What about your coral kekkei genkai?"
"That's not what my kekkei genkai is, and I haven't figured out how to use coral as a weapon yet. Piercing spikes are easy, long sharp edges not so much!"
"Then make sloped barriers," Haruki snapped back, in possession of a good idea for once. "Like those lean-tos!"
Noburu got on that, but they didn't have much time to get ready.
The mist suddenly parted, as if an object flew through it, and sailed over the lines of proximity bombs in their entirety. They landed on the castle wall, and quickly began to make handsigns. That didn't make sense to Sayaka's eyes -- the enemy was dressed in the simple sleeveless shirt, baggy pants, and straw hat of a rebel monk. But the monk lacked their telltale polearm, and they didn't make use of handsigns as shinobi did. "Wind release: Great Breakthrough!"
A sudden gale of wind cleared a large volume of mist and knocked the genin off their feet. Fortunately, Sayaka was weighed down by her heavy jacket and remained on her feet. She only had a moment to see a brief flash of lightning inside before a displacement of air behind her served as a warning.
She reached for the sword on her back and got the shortsword out just in time to block an iajutsu draw slash from another false monk with a katana. This doesn't make sense, she said to herself as she kept her blade locked against the enemy's. These aren't monks at all! A false flag operation?!
Her opponent suddenly exploded into smoke, and a log impaled with a coral spike remained in their place.
"Oh hey," Noburu panted. He was still on the ground, with a hand extended, and the other braced on it. "I've figured out how to make a coral speargun. Awesome."
An explosion rocked the castle, and Sayaka saw Raiga-sensei in the air with swords drawn in pursuit of the first false monk.
"There he is," Sayaka muttered. With sword in hand, she acted like Raiga-sensei wasn't there, and she was in command -- if anything happened, it would be her responsibility. "Noburu, guard Haruki -- Haruki, I need your senses telling me where the swordsman is!"
"But I have the most ninjutsu to use," the eyes caste boy whined. He still knelt under one of the lean-tos so Noburu could get in position.
"And they know to close the gap before you can use ninjutsu! I just need to know where they are."
She heard steel clash in the mist -- Raiga-sensei had engaged at least one of them, then.
"On approach," Haruki said with his eyes closed, "coming from down low, going for you Sayaka!"
With a flick of her wrist, Sayaka had a kunai in her hand and threw it straight up. A moment later she saw the figure of the katana-wielding false monk advance on her through the mist again. Their eyes were narrowed when they saw she hadn't moved from her defensive stance. As they approached however, Sayaka began to smirk.
She got to watch horror blossom on their face as a broken wire with a proximity paper bomb fluttered down right in their path. The paper tag caught flame from proximity, and an explosion dispersed more of the mist. That was satisfying, but not nearly enough to kill a chunin.
"On the ground, six feet from the explosion site -- on their feet again!" Haruki informed her, perhaps too loudly. "On approach again -- heading for me and the thrall!"
Sayaka quickly moved to throw another kunai, one that had a simple contact-trigger explosive-tag attached, but the false monk jumped over it rather than dodge. They soared over the lean-to and turned with shuriken in hand to throw at the genin behind it. A coral spike flew out, shuriken flew down, and Sayaka heard the sound of steel on stone. At least it wasn't flesh.
The false monk landed with a coral spike lodged in their chest. Unlike Noburu, the false monk had the unfortunate natural reaction to a chest wound -- profuse bleeding and shortness of breath.
That made it really hard to dodge the ball of lightning that sailed at him between the lean-tos and promptly electrocuted him into unconsciousness.
"Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said as she processed who with them had lightning jutsu, "you won against the other one?"
Her answer was a legless cadaver that was tossed into her field of view. Raiga strode in a moment later, tears on his face, and an expression of annoyance. "Don't mind this," he said as he took a handkerchief from his jacket to clean off tears and blood from his face. "Just something that happened." Once he was done, he glanced at Sayaka and jerked his head toward the bodies. "Examine the dead one, finish the unconscious one."
"Y-yes, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said with a bow.
"And good use of a ninjato -- I'll be sure to add more kenjutsu to your training." He turned to face the genin while Sayaka cheered in her mind. "You two did… not terribly. You followed your superiors' orders, that was good."
As Sayaka sheathed her sword, she glanced back and saw that Noburu had grown coral over one of his arms, presumably to shoot the false monk. He still had two shuriken jabbed into him -- one at his thigh, and the other in his free hand. That would need treatment. There was something up with his eyes -- she didn't have a good enough look to truly see it.
Haruki looked stunned at the katana-wielding false monk, as if he'd never seen death before.
Guess not going through the graduation has drawbacks, she viciously thought to herself. A kunai to the neck ended the impaled false monk's life, and she began to examine them both. The results weren't good.
"Raiga-sensei, I know these people." She'd removed their straw hats and searched their pockets and found Kirigakure forehead protectors to confirm her suspicions. She hadn't been in the academy for a year, but she knew the faces. "These are two instructors from the ninja academy, Sojiro-sensei and Yusuke-sensei."
Raiga stepped away from the boys to examine the corpses alongside her. "So, the two of them wanted… what exactly?" He arched his brow at the cadavers. "Vengeance for something? Did they intend to turn traitor and sell our corpses for bounty money?" The jounin sighed. "They're dead now, and they wanted anyone who saw them to think them rebels. What's likely to happen is that the Mizukage will declare them rebels, and punish their families harshly."
Sayaka nodded, and felt bad for Yusuke-sensei's wife, and Sojiro-sensei's younger siblings. They would be punished and shamed for their loved one's betrayal -- on top of losing them. She removed all the equipment and weapons from the bodies with Raiga-sensei's help.
"I'll prepare these two for a funeral," the jounin said. "Get all those explosive tags you have out there sealed up again."
"Yes, Raiga-sensei." Glad to be done working with corpses, she stood and walked away from them.
"Sayaka," Raiga called out, then tossed Sojiro-sensei's katana to her. "Tell the boys to get ready for a sparring match after we're done with the funeral. Winner gets to keep the sword."
Oh boy, she thought to herself as she examined the weapon. Giving the boys a prize to fight over will make the fight turn ugly… that's going to be some prime entertainment!
She didn't think, until much later, how odd it was that she didn't have a greater reaction to her former teachers having tried to kill her team. She'd liked them, and then she'd helped kill them, and it didn't bother her much.
Maybe their academy training had worked, then? And she had become a competent kunoichi who could answer traitors without emotion? It was something she wanted to talk to her mother about when she got home.
"Boys," she called to the genin, "Raiga-sensei told me to let you know…."
---
---
Genin Fujimoto.
After a day or so training and traveling with his team, Haruki began to suspect that there was something strange afoot. It couldn't possibly be only an insult to the Fujimoto clan -- the Mizukage would not burn so many bridges for an insult in a civil war. While they lept from tree to tree, Haruki pondered it.
Lord Mizukage is a pragmatist, he told himself as he jumped in auto-pilot mode. He gave that hand caste the Kiba swords because he'd earned them, even if it dishonored the swords. Honor means less to Lord Mizukage than results. Then what results was he more interested in? What could he stand to gain from enraging the Fujimoto clan? Then it hit Haruki, like a moment of clarity.
That coral ability… the foot caste has a kekkei genkai of some kind, but without being of an established family! Lord Mizukage must have assigned me to his squad to teach him what is required of a kekkei genkai user in Kiri!
That was the risk they'd taken when the First Mizukage created the caste system. The foot caste would grow the fastest, so it was possible that they would develop bloodline powers and try to raise above their station. Naturally, Haruki would have to teach the Noburu-creature how to use its power and be a humble thrall at the same time.
A difficult task, given how prone to talking back the foot caste was.
"We're approaching Fujioka Castle," Raiga-sensei announced from the front. "Cease shunshin, and get to the forest floor."
At the forest floor, they grouped up and looked through the trees toward Fujioka Castle. A vast curtain wall topped with sea-green tiles surrounded the fortress, which sat elevated relative to the outer defenses. Before the age of shinobi, such defenses would have made it murderously difficult to take, as all the ramps up to the castle were guarded by gates and with defenses ready for defenders to attack from safety. After the advent of shinobi it was simply a fancy house. The shattered walls and collapsed towers from a recent battle without any damage to the curtain wall were evidence enough.
The castle sat on a cliff which overlooked a lake, kept from the sea by a thin strip of rocky land. A scenic location, which Haruki wished he could visit in peacetime.
"Haruki," Raiga said as he scouted out the castle visually, "are you picking anything up?"
"Nothing obvious, let me try to sense," Haruki responded, eager to prove himself. A sensor type, he was sure he could ferret out any squatters. Haruki focused his senses and began to feel out for chakra signatures in that direction. "There's lingering traces of several people, but nothing right now. It's empty."
"Good, then we approach." Raiga pointed at the tallest of the towers. "I will be there, to plan out how we rebuild the castle. The three of you will be assigned to specific areas of the damage to investigate what caused the damage and what you can make out about the rebel's tactics from it."
Haruki blinked. Then he blinked again. "Raiga-sensei?" He didn't want to ask, lest the answer be as he feared, but he felt he had to.
Sayaka saved the day in that regard, and seemed to complete Haruki's thought. "We're going to be rebuilding the castle? Ourselves?"
"That's right." Raiga crossed his arms. "Fujioka has been in need of modernization for decades -- which we will see to." He pointed behind the castle, and Haruki followed his gaze. "You see that island in the distance? That is Nadeshiko, and Nadeshiko village has warning flares which are visible from Fujioka -- but not from Kirigakure." He looked down on them and crossed his arms again. "The home guard's job is a lot harder without an early warning system. So, we get Fujioka up and running again, modernized this time, then I assign a garrison."
"None of us have the skills needed to rebuild a castle," Noburu added with narrowed eyes. "Unless they had castle building classes at the academy as an elective course. Princess," he said as he turned to Haruki, "did they have elective courses like that at the academy?"
"Well there were some basic design courses -- wait…." Haruki responded automatically, then processed he'd answered a question for the foot caste instead of the other way around, and what he'd answered to. Steam rose from his ears as he grit his teeth and fumed in Noburu's direction. "Princess?!"
"So yeah, no, the castle we're going to build would be about as defensible as toilet against a t-rex." Noburu completely disregarded Haruki's rage, and turned back to Raiga. "Unless you have a 'for dummies' book on it?"
Raiga nodded thoughtfully and promptly shunshined out of their line of sight. Haruki became aware of him again when one of Raiga-sensei's hands grabbed his head, while the other grabbed Noburu's, and slammed them together.
"Your backtalking is going to get you a lot of injuries, Noburu," Raiga commented and dusted his hands off while the boys held their heads. "Maybe you should look into learning medical ninjutsu."
"What did I do, though?" Haruki whined.
"Shut up. I have some associates who will help you with reconstructing the castle, and provide supplies." Raiga smirked, and promptly bit his thumb.
--
Chunin Kanzaki.
"Washu-sensei, this looks like an electrical fire happened but was snuffed out. Am I right?" Sayaka leaned away from the floorboards she'd pulled up from around the scorch marked floor to let Raiga-sensei's summon confirm her suspicions.
A red ant, bigger than Sayaka's thumb, wearing a tool belt scurried over and inspected the damage. "Oh this wiring is ancient," she sighed. "It's got dust all over it -- and it looks like rats got ahold of some of the wires. But yes, it looks like there was an electrical fire here." She backed away and looked up at Sayaka. "Combine this with all of the water damage we've seen, and what do you get?"
"A wide-area water release jutsu." Sayaka pinched her chin and considered. "Which could mean either someone with strong enough chakra reserves to generate water, or they used the plumbing of the castle to use the jutsu."
"By the defenders, or the attackers?"
Sayaka looked over the room and pondered. "Most of the water damage is over there, toward the main entrance." She could practically envision it, shadowy figures that moved through handsigns against armed rebels, with water jutsu deployed to push them back out. "The defenders likely used the water jutsu to try and keep them out of the entrance hall."
"And why didn't that work? And how does it relate to this electrical fire?"
Those questions took longer to answer. All around the ruined entrance hall there were scorch marks like what she had inspected. The wood was warped as well as burned -- some combination of water damage, fire, and what almost looked like termite damage. It clicked, suddenly. "The six-tailed demon slug has acidic bubbles as its main power...." And the six-tailed demon slug in human form led the rebellion.
Sayaka stood and backed up to look at the scene as a whole, and pieced it together. "The scorch marks all look like a splash pattern. The defenders fired water jutsu into an acid soap bubble from the demon slug, which popped and splashed acid in these spots. The electrical fire came from the acid eating through to the wires."
Washu nodded her heavily mandibled head. "That's very good. Raiga will be pleased with your deduction skills." She clapped her mandibles together. "Now let's get to work on repairing this room. We'll start with tearing out all the damaged wood."
Sayaka knew true regret then.
Hours later, with her hands sore from all the wood she had to tear up, and with the knowledge she would have to do more the next day, she zombie-walked to the campsite. Again, Noburu had grown coral shelters for them. Her tent had even been set up for her!
"Thank you, Noburu," she groaned as she played the part of an old granny in her quest into the tent to lay down before lunch.
"All I did was make the shelters," Noburu's voice said from his tent. "Princess got the tents up."
"Thank you, princess Haruki," she said in reply.
"I will get my vengeance on the both of you," Haruki snarled from his tent. After he calmed down, the eyes caste boy stuck his head out of his tent. "What task did the ants have you two do?"
"I examined the entrance hall and started to work on the wood." Sayaka stretched and stuck her head out of her tent to watch the fire. "If I didn't know the six-tailed demon -- "
"Spirit," Noburu quickly corrected.
" -- had been here… what?" Sayaka turned to look at Noburu's tent in disbelief. "Huh?"
"Saiken is a spirit. Not a demon." Noburu stuck his head out for a moment to look at her with narrow eyes. "When you see a real demon, you'll know the difference." And then he was back in his tent.
"Saiken? You know its name?"
"So does Princess, it's recorded in the library."
"Stop calling me Princess!" Haruki shouted, with steam in his ears.
Sayaka was about to push further, when she heard a faint chime of bells. There were no windchimes in Fujioka, but she used the sound as an early warning system for parts of her trap array. Paper seals that chimed when strong chakra signatures passed by them. "Haruki," she barked, "I need you to try and sense any chakra coming from the forest -- now!"
Her instincts, trained on the front lines, told her that enemies were inbound -- but with Haruki she could tell how many. Her teammates at least were quick on the draw -- Haruki closed his eyes to focus and Noburu emerged from his tent with a kunai in hand. Sayaka popped a summoning scroll out of her flak jacket -- a bit of blood and she had proximity paper-bombs with her.
"I'm sensing two reasonably large chakra sources, in the trees. I'd say… chunin? Toku-jou, maybe?"
Sayaka glanced up at the castle, and saw that the room where Raiga-sensei had planned the reconstruction was still lit up. They had backup at least. "Commit the courtyard layout to memory," she told the genin and put her fingers into the tiger-seal. "All together, hidden mist jutsu!"
The three of them together didn't have as much chakra as a jounin would -- the mist their skill produced didn't totally blind them -- it wouldn't totally blind their enemies either. Sayaka tossed a kunai with a wire tied to its hilt so that it dug into the wall in one corner, then cut the wire and threaded proximity paper bombs down it, and threw a second kunai to create a diagonal trap through the courtyard. Without time to place landmines or other traps, she had to make the enemy's approach as dangerous as possible.
"See, this kinda reaction speed speaks of an environment not at all fit with kids of our developmental level," Noburu commented.
"Would you shut up and make yourself useful," Haruki snarled and got to his feet. "I have water and fire ninjutsu, what jutsu do you have?"
"Transformation, substitution, hidden mist, and basic clone." Noburu's answer shocked the other two, and he seemed to take offense. "Hey, all Raiga-sensei has done is hit me and showed us how to stretch, I haven't actually learned anything from him."
I really hate that that's a completely fair point, Sayaka told herself and threw another wire-kunai bearing proximity bombs through the air. "What about your coral kekkei genkai?"
"That's not what my kekkei genkai is, and I haven't figured out how to use coral as a weapon yet. Piercing spikes are easy, long sharp edges not so much!"
"Then make sloped barriers," Haruki snapped back, in possession of a good idea for once. "Like those lean-tos!"
Noburu got on that, but they didn't have much time to get ready.
The mist suddenly parted, as if an object flew through it, and sailed over the lines of proximity bombs in their entirety. They landed on the castle wall, and quickly began to make handsigns. That didn't make sense to Sayaka's eyes -- the enemy was dressed in the simple sleeveless shirt, baggy pants, and straw hat of a rebel monk. But the monk lacked their telltale polearm, and they didn't make use of handsigns as shinobi did. "Wind release: Great Breakthrough!"
A sudden gale of wind cleared a large volume of mist and knocked the genin off their feet. Fortunately, Sayaka was weighed down by her heavy jacket and remained on her feet. She only had a moment to see a brief flash of lightning inside before a displacement of air behind her served as a warning.
She reached for the sword on her back and got the shortsword out just in time to block an iajutsu draw slash from another false monk with a katana. This doesn't make sense, she said to herself as she kept her blade locked against the enemy's. These aren't monks at all! A false flag operation?!
Her opponent suddenly exploded into smoke, and a log impaled with a coral spike remained in their place.
"Oh hey," Noburu panted. He was still on the ground, with a hand extended, and the other braced on it. "I've figured out how to make a coral speargun. Awesome."
An explosion rocked the castle, and Sayaka saw Raiga-sensei in the air with swords drawn in pursuit of the first false monk.
"There he is," Sayaka muttered. With sword in hand, she acted like Raiga-sensei wasn't there, and she was in command -- if anything happened, it would be her responsibility. "Noburu, guard Haruki -- Haruki, I need your senses telling me where the swordsman is!"
"But I have the most ninjutsu to use," the eyes caste boy whined. He still knelt under one of the lean-tos so Noburu could get in position.
"And they know to close the gap before you can use ninjutsu! I just need to know where they are."
She heard steel clash in the mist -- Raiga-sensei had engaged at least one of them, then.
"On approach," Haruki said with his eyes closed, "coming from down low, going for you Sayaka!"
With a flick of her wrist, Sayaka had a kunai in her hand and threw it straight up. A moment later she saw the figure of the katana-wielding false monk advance on her through the mist again. Their eyes were narrowed when they saw she hadn't moved from her defensive stance. As they approached however, Sayaka began to smirk.
She got to watch horror blossom on their face as a broken wire with a proximity paper bomb fluttered down right in their path. The paper tag caught flame from proximity, and an explosion dispersed more of the mist. That was satisfying, but not nearly enough to kill a chunin.
"On the ground, six feet from the explosion site -- on their feet again!" Haruki informed her, perhaps too loudly. "On approach again -- heading for me and the thrall!"
Sayaka quickly moved to throw another kunai, one that had a simple contact-trigger explosive-tag attached, but the false monk jumped over it rather than dodge. They soared over the lean-to and turned with shuriken in hand to throw at the genin behind it. A coral spike flew out, shuriken flew down, and Sayaka heard the sound of steel on stone. At least it wasn't flesh.
The false monk landed with a coral spike lodged in their chest. Unlike Noburu, the false monk had the unfortunate natural reaction to a chest wound -- profuse bleeding and shortness of breath.
That made it really hard to dodge the ball of lightning that sailed at him between the lean-tos and promptly electrocuted him into unconsciousness.
"Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said as she processed who with them had lightning jutsu, "you won against the other one?"
Her answer was a legless cadaver that was tossed into her field of view. Raiga strode in a moment later, tears on his face, and an expression of annoyance. "Don't mind this," he said as he took a handkerchief from his jacket to clean off tears and blood from his face. "Just something that happened." Once he was done, he glanced at Sayaka and jerked his head toward the bodies. "Examine the dead one, finish the unconscious one."
"Y-yes, Raiga-sensei," Sayaka said with a bow.
"And good use of a ninjato -- I'll be sure to add more kenjutsu to your training." He turned to face the genin while Sayaka cheered in her mind. "You two did… not terribly. You followed your superiors' orders, that was good."
As Sayaka sheathed her sword, she glanced back and saw that Noburu had grown coral over one of his arms, presumably to shoot the false monk. He still had two shuriken jabbed into him -- one at his thigh, and the other in his free hand. That would need treatment. There was something up with his eyes -- she didn't have a good enough look to truly see it.
Haruki looked stunned at the katana-wielding false monk, as if he'd never seen death before.
Guess not going through the graduation has drawbacks, she viciously thought to herself. A kunai to the neck ended the impaled false monk's life, and she began to examine them both. The results weren't good.
"Raiga-sensei, I know these people." She'd removed their straw hats and searched their pockets and found Kirigakure forehead protectors to confirm her suspicions. She hadn't been in the academy for a year, but she knew the faces. "These are two instructors from the ninja academy, Sojiro-sensei and Yusuke-sensei."
Raiga stepped away from the boys to examine the corpses alongside her. "So, the two of them wanted… what exactly?" He arched his brow at the cadavers. "Vengeance for something? Did they intend to turn traitor and sell our corpses for bounty money?" The jounin sighed. "They're dead now, and they wanted anyone who saw them to think them rebels. What's likely to happen is that the Mizukage will declare them rebels, and punish their families harshly."
Sayaka nodded, and felt bad for Yusuke-sensei's wife, and Sojiro-sensei's younger siblings. They would be punished and shamed for their loved one's betrayal -- on top of losing them. She removed all the equipment and weapons from the bodies with Raiga-sensei's help.
"I'll prepare these two for a funeral," the jounin said. "Get all those explosive tags you have out there sealed up again."
"Yes, Raiga-sensei." Glad to be done working with corpses, she stood and walked away from them.
"Sayaka," Raiga called out, then tossed Sojiro-sensei's katana to her. "Tell the boys to get ready for a sparring match after we're done with the funeral. Winner gets to keep the sword."
Oh boy, she thought to herself as she examined the weapon. Giving the boys a prize to fight over will make the fight turn ugly… that's going to be some prime entertainment!
She didn't think, until much later, how odd it was that she didn't have a greater reaction to her former teachers having tried to kill her team. She'd liked them, and then she'd helped kill them, and it didn't bother her much.
Maybe their academy training had worked, then? And she had become a competent kunoichi who could answer traitors without emotion? It was something she wanted to talk to her mother about when she got home.
"Boys," she called to the genin, "Raiga-sensei told me to let you know…."
---
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Awesome chapter. I love how creative Noburu is using his coral to make a gun.
It seems like he is going to go the path of a literal war machine, with ballista, machine guns and bombs all made from coral.
Just one question, is he planning on pulling an Obito in the future by taking bits of all the bijuu chakra(when he encounters them) and nuturing them so he can have Tentails chakra or is that too mary sueish of an idea?
It seems like he is going to go the path of a literal war machine, with ballista, machine guns and bombs all made from coral.
Just one question, is he planning on pulling an Obito in the future by taking bits of all the bijuu chakra(when he encounters them) and nuturing them so he can have Tentails chakra or is that too mary sueish of an idea?