People always told you, when they bothered to acknowledge your existence at all, that you were...
The Blade of Fire [Naruto/Exalted]
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OP
- Location
- Massholistan
People always told you, when they bothered to acknowledge your existence at all, that you were never going to amount to much. You were just some orphan girl one step away from living on the street, born to civilian parents who didn't love her enough to leave her anything when they died. They didn't even leave you enough memories to remember them by. For your entire life you've been Tenten...just Tenten. No family to call your own, with nothing to your name besides what money you managed to scrounge up off the street and the pittance you get from the Villages Orphan Fund. What could one little orphan girl possibly do? But you never let those words drag you down, you never let them get to you, because you had a dream. Forged with all the innocence and boundless confidence that a starry-eyed youth could muster. One day you'd be legendary, your name would be the one little orphan girls hear in hushed conversations and used to quell arguments. It wouldn't matter where you came from then, only who you were.
You scrimped and saved, and managed to get into the Academy, and you never looked back. Classes were hard, making friends was harder. You never had much interest in most of the pursuits that seemed to enrapture the other girls in your class, and the boys looked down on you because you were a girl. And besides, who wanted to be friends with some orphan tomboy without even a family name to call her own? You were good, but you weren't some natural prodigy, to seek out an befriend as a course of natural survival. You had good marks, but nowhere the near the best. Even after everything you were still just Tenten.
You tried your hardest, but your were not Great like your idols, you were merely good enough. Good enough to be a shinobi, good enough to graduate, but no one remembers those who are merely good enough. Despite that though, you loved the Academy. It finally gave you a chance to learn and to satiate your boundless curiosity. Something you'd never had in the orphanage that had been you entire life for years, and the streets of Konoha were not particularly suited for education. At least not of the sort you had at the Academy.
So you adapted, altering your course to find what worked as you rose through the ranks of the Academy and beyond. Graduating, becoming a Genin under Maito Gai and facing his tests...it was harder than anything you'd done before. Bitter failure after bitter failure when you tried to become like your idols. But despite that you never, ever gave up on your dream. If you couldn't become a legend in their path...you'd just have to forge your own. One built on your strengths. You were still just Tenten, but you had your own strengths, and with hard work and effort those would be enough.
Now, though, everything as on the line. It was the Chuunin Exams, the chance for your and your team to show the village who you were and what you could do. A chance to prove you were on the right track, not just to everyone else, but to yourself. At first it was easy, you and Neji and Lee breezed through the first two assignments. You couldn't have been more ecstatic, Neji and Lee were the family you had never known you need, and you wanted them to succeed just as much as you wanted to yourself.
That was when everything started to go wrong. First the sickening sight of Neji standing over the broken body of his cousin, with a look of pure hatred that seemed alien on his face. Then Lee's match and...oh god Lee, he had gone against the leader of the Suna delegation. The fight had been magnificent, awe-inspiring even, but it had ended in horror. You can still hear Lee's screams as that monster crushed his arms and legs to bloody shreds, as that monster tried to kill him before Gai-Sensei intervened.
So you entered your own match against the sister of that monster with fire in your eyes and vengeance in your heart. It wasn't just that she stood in the way of your dream, but her brother had almost murdered one of your best friends. Crippled him. So you went in fully intending to wipe that condescending grin off of her face, for you, for Lee, for every setback and hardship you faced down to reach this point.
You should have known Gai-sensei taught you better than to get cocky.
You are trapped high above arena floor, in a swirling prison of scything air and dust. You can feel the wind jutsu playing over your body like thousands of tiny knives, tearing through skin and clothes alike. The searing overpressure sucks the air from your lungs and you can feel the needy, grasping tendrils of black oblivion clawing at the edges of your consciousness. You won't give up, you can't give up, but you can feel your thoughts sliding away into the howling gale.
Finally, mercifully, the wind around you begins to relent and you feel yourself start to tumble downwards. You try and steady yourself as your body hurtles through air, but your eyes are still bleary and tear-filled, the concrete blends with the gun-metal gray walls of the arena into a single disorientating mass. Desperately you try and turn, to recover at a-
Time slows to a crawl as your back slams into something. You can't even imagine what it could be, because your entire world is pain. Sharp, excruciating pain, more than you've ever faced in your life stabs through you. You can feel your back fold in on itself, the impact tearing through skin and shredding muscle. Your mouth fills with the bitter copper taste of blood as your teeth shred through the side of your mouth. Your eyes snap open but all you can see is red mist of pain mingling with the artificial light of the ceiling.
Then, with a wet, visceral crack the pain vanishes. Everything beneath your lower back vanishes, like a candle snuffed out with a sledgehammer. Your vision swims, and once again you have fight off the encroaching darkness. You force through a wet cough, and your face is covered in the heat and slimy wetness of freshly spilled blood.
"Oh, and here I was expecting some excitement after the show your teammate put on." She drawls, the raw contempt in her voice cutting through the dull roar of your burst eardrums "Oh well. That was pitiful."
Fury pushes its way through the haze of exhaustion and pain "Not...not done yet." You force out through bloody, gritted teeth.
"Hmmph" The blonde girl just snorts, and then cocks her fist back. "If you insist."
The blow sends you tumbling through the field of discarded weaponry from your earlier efforts. You can feel new gashes open up all across your body before you land in a sprawling heap on the stone floor. Your mouth tastes like dust and blood and you can feel yet more blood flowing down your face. Your legs refuse to move, a fact that sends cold shivers of dread throughout your body. You can't tell if the stinging sensation in your eyes is blood or tears, and at this point you don't care.
"Well, that's just pathetic." You can practically hear the sneer in her voice as you struggle to lift your head to look at her with half-lidded eyes. Everything in you screams to just give up now, you can barely move. You want to scream at the unfairness of it all. She took the best you had, and you couldn't even hit her. After everything, you couldn't even lay a finger on her. But you don't scream, and you don't give up, the rage in your veins flushes out the pain. After Lee, even this won't stop you, if she wants you down, she's going to have to come and put you down.
You're not going out any other way.
"N-not giving up y-yet." You spit out, to yourself and to her, and your fingers close around one of the kunai knives littering the floor. Your blood thrums in your ears and you take one last shuddering breath as the ball of spite and rage in your gut roars to a crescendo. The blond girl says something, but you don't hear it, all your focus going towards measuring the distance between you and her. She's gotten close, too close. Probably thinks you're about to pass out.
With one last push of effort you force yourself up, throwing yourself up onto your feet. Your legs predictably give out from under you, sending you falling backward. But the kunai you held in your right hand flashes out towards your opponent. You get a visceral thrill as you see her eyes widen. You see the faint shimmer of wind whip out to deflect it, but it's not fast enough, and the kunai carves a straight gash across her cheek. You just manage to see the blood beginning to well in the cut and feel the sharp sting of pride in your breast when the retaliatory wind blast slaps you into the far wall.
The impact jars all the air from your lungs, and as you slump to the ground beneath a spiderweb of cracks your vision once again swims from the force of it all. Black spots weaving in and out of your sight as everything swings around you. You suck a breath in through your teeth and try to move your arms, only to hitch at the pain lancing through them when you so much as move your fingers. You cough, sending flecks of blood flying out in the swirling cloud of dust that surrounds you, and the pain finally resettles over your body as the last of your fire fades away.
You're exhausted, the world is a muffled, aching hellscape of gray, marred only by the brilliant streaks of red spilling out from who knows how many cuts and gashes all over your body. You can feel the acid burn of chakra exhaustion spreading throughout your muscles. You spine is definitely broken, along with the rest of your mangled body. Your head slumps down, all strength finally deserting you. Isn't it hopeless? You hit her once, and now you're done. You spent everything for that one hit. There's nothing left you can do...right?
No.
The single word echoes through your mind, and your face twists into a savage snarl, your fingers curling through the pain into fists. All you can think of is one thing.
Lee never gave up.
You can't give up either. Not here, not now. You hit her, you drew blood, and if you did it once you can do it again as long as you just push hard enough. And again. And again. Until you win. Damn everything else.
So you push yourself up, dragging your recalcitrant legs up after you. Flecks of concrete dust and blood fall off you as you rise, the pain that suffused your body fading away as your limbs buzz with new energy. Your hand closes around a discarded kunai in the rubble, ignoring the golden glow reflected in the dark metal. It fits in your hand like you were born with it, and you spin it through your finger effortlessly.
The dust finally settles, giving you a clear view of your opponent, and you see her eyes widen at the sight of you standing there. You crack your neck and she takes a step back.
"So," you smile, "It was a fight you wanted right?"
[X] Win
The Blade of Fire (Naruto/Exalted)
AKA Tenten and the Quest for Narrative Relevance 2.0
You scrimped and saved, and managed to get into the Academy, and you never looked back. Classes were hard, making friends was harder. You never had much interest in most of the pursuits that seemed to enrapture the other girls in your class, and the boys looked down on you because you were a girl. And besides, who wanted to be friends with some orphan tomboy without even a family name to call her own? You were good, but you weren't some natural prodigy, to seek out an befriend as a course of natural survival. You had good marks, but nowhere the near the best. Even after everything you were still just Tenten.
You tried your hardest, but your were not Great like your idols, you were merely good enough. Good enough to be a shinobi, good enough to graduate, but no one remembers those who are merely good enough. Despite that though, you loved the Academy. It finally gave you a chance to learn and to satiate your boundless curiosity. Something you'd never had in the orphanage that had been you entire life for years, and the streets of Konoha were not particularly suited for education. At least not of the sort you had at the Academy.
So you adapted, altering your course to find what worked as you rose through the ranks of the Academy and beyond. Graduating, becoming a Genin under Maito Gai and facing his tests...it was harder than anything you'd done before. Bitter failure after bitter failure when you tried to become like your idols. But despite that you never, ever gave up on your dream. If you couldn't become a legend in their path...you'd just have to forge your own. One built on your strengths. You were still just Tenten, but you had your own strengths, and with hard work and effort those would be enough.
Now, though, everything as on the line. It was the Chuunin Exams, the chance for your and your team to show the village who you were and what you could do. A chance to prove you were on the right track, not just to everyone else, but to yourself. At first it was easy, you and Neji and Lee breezed through the first two assignments. You couldn't have been more ecstatic, Neji and Lee were the family you had never known you need, and you wanted them to succeed just as much as you wanted to yourself.
That was when everything started to go wrong. First the sickening sight of Neji standing over the broken body of his cousin, with a look of pure hatred that seemed alien on his face. Then Lee's match and...oh god Lee, he had gone against the leader of the Suna delegation. The fight had been magnificent, awe-inspiring even, but it had ended in horror. You can still hear Lee's screams as that monster crushed his arms and legs to bloody shreds, as that monster tried to kill him before Gai-Sensei intervened.
So you entered your own match against the sister of that monster with fire in your eyes and vengeance in your heart. It wasn't just that she stood in the way of your dream, but her brother had almost murdered one of your best friends. Crippled him. So you went in fully intending to wipe that condescending grin off of her face, for you, for Lee, for every setback and hardship you faced down to reach this point.
You should have known Gai-sensei taught you better than to get cocky.
You are trapped high above arena floor, in a swirling prison of scything air and dust. You can feel the wind jutsu playing over your body like thousands of tiny knives, tearing through skin and clothes alike. The searing overpressure sucks the air from your lungs and you can feel the needy, grasping tendrils of black oblivion clawing at the edges of your consciousness. You won't give up, you can't give up, but you can feel your thoughts sliding away into the howling gale.
Finally, mercifully, the wind around you begins to relent and you feel yourself start to tumble downwards. You try and steady yourself as your body hurtles through air, but your eyes are still bleary and tear-filled, the concrete blends with the gun-metal gray walls of the arena into a single disorientating mass. Desperately you try and turn, to recover at a-
Time slows to a crawl as your back slams into something. You can't even imagine what it could be, because your entire world is pain. Sharp, excruciating pain, more than you've ever faced in your life stabs through you. You can feel your back fold in on itself, the impact tearing through skin and shredding muscle. Your mouth fills with the bitter copper taste of blood as your teeth shred through the side of your mouth. Your eyes snap open but all you can see is red mist of pain mingling with the artificial light of the ceiling.
Then, with a wet, visceral crack the pain vanishes. Everything beneath your lower back vanishes, like a candle snuffed out with a sledgehammer. Your vision swims, and once again you have fight off the encroaching darkness. You force through a wet cough, and your face is covered in the heat and slimy wetness of freshly spilled blood.
"Oh, and here I was expecting some excitement after the show your teammate put on." She drawls, the raw contempt in her voice cutting through the dull roar of your burst eardrums "Oh well. That was pitiful."
Fury pushes its way through the haze of exhaustion and pain "Not...not done yet." You force out through bloody, gritted teeth.
"Hmmph" The blonde girl just snorts, and then cocks her fist back. "If you insist."
The blow sends you tumbling through the field of discarded weaponry from your earlier efforts. You can feel new gashes open up all across your body before you land in a sprawling heap on the stone floor. Your mouth tastes like dust and blood and you can feel yet more blood flowing down your face. Your legs refuse to move, a fact that sends cold shivers of dread throughout your body. You can't tell if the stinging sensation in your eyes is blood or tears, and at this point you don't care.
"Well, that's just pathetic." You can practically hear the sneer in her voice as you struggle to lift your head to look at her with half-lidded eyes. Everything in you screams to just give up now, you can barely move. You want to scream at the unfairness of it all. She took the best you had, and you couldn't even hit her. After everything, you couldn't even lay a finger on her. But you don't scream, and you don't give up, the rage in your veins flushes out the pain. After Lee, even this won't stop you, if she wants you down, she's going to have to come and put you down.
You're not going out any other way.
"N-not giving up y-yet." You spit out, to yourself and to her, and your fingers close around one of the kunai knives littering the floor. Your blood thrums in your ears and you take one last shuddering breath as the ball of spite and rage in your gut roars to a crescendo. The blond girl says something, but you don't hear it, all your focus going towards measuring the distance between you and her. She's gotten close, too close. Probably thinks you're about to pass out.
With one last push of effort you force yourself up, throwing yourself up onto your feet. Your legs predictably give out from under you, sending you falling backward. But the kunai you held in your right hand flashes out towards your opponent. You get a visceral thrill as you see her eyes widen. You see the faint shimmer of wind whip out to deflect it, but it's not fast enough, and the kunai carves a straight gash across her cheek. You just manage to see the blood beginning to well in the cut and feel the sharp sting of pride in your breast when the retaliatory wind blast slaps you into the far wall.
The impact jars all the air from your lungs, and as you slump to the ground beneath a spiderweb of cracks your vision once again swims from the force of it all. Black spots weaving in and out of your sight as everything swings around you. You suck a breath in through your teeth and try to move your arms, only to hitch at the pain lancing through them when you so much as move your fingers. You cough, sending flecks of blood flying out in the swirling cloud of dust that surrounds you, and the pain finally resettles over your body as the last of your fire fades away.
You're exhausted, the world is a muffled, aching hellscape of gray, marred only by the brilliant streaks of red spilling out from who knows how many cuts and gashes all over your body. You can feel the acid burn of chakra exhaustion spreading throughout your muscles. You spine is definitely broken, along with the rest of your mangled body. Your head slumps down, all strength finally deserting you. Isn't it hopeless? You hit her once, and now you're done. You spent everything for that one hit. There's nothing left you can do...right?
No.
The single word echoes through your mind, and your face twists into a savage snarl, your fingers curling through the pain into fists. All you can think of is one thing.
Lee never gave up.
You can't give up either. Not here, not now. You hit her, you drew blood, and if you did it once you can do it again as long as you just push hard enough. And again. And again. Until you win. Damn everything else.
So you push yourself up, dragging your recalcitrant legs up after you. Flecks of concrete dust and blood fall off you as you rise, the pain that suffused your body fading away as your limbs buzz with new energy. Your hand closes around a discarded kunai in the rubble, ignoring the golden glow reflected in the dark metal. It fits in your hand like you were born with it, and you spin it through your finger effortlessly.
The dust finally settles, giving you a clear view of your opponent, and you see her eyes widen at the sight of you standing there. You crack your neck and she takes a step back.
"So," you smile, "It was a fight you wanted right?"
[X] Win
[ ] How?
[Optional] Stunt It
The Blade of Fire (Naruto/Exalted)
AKA Tenten and the Quest for Narrative Relevance 2.0
A/N: So welcome to the reboot of Princess of Blades. As for why I'm doing a reboot instead of just a continuation of Princess, there are a lot of reasons. For one, I was not ultimately happy with how Princess ended up getting bogged down in training arcs, and while I could just timeskip my way out of it, I ended up losing most of my story notes.
Ultimately I decided a clean slate was the best bet for keeping my interesting up. So that, along with an entirely revamped system has made me excited to see how I can apply all the lessons that I learned writing Princess of Blades in this new project. So expect some narrative to remain the same, but a lot of them to be different, because I have a much better idea this time around where I actually want to take everything rather than making most of it up as I go along.
Also yes I know it's the same picture, but I couldn't find a better one
Ultimately I decided a clean slate was the best bet for keeping my interesting up. So that, along with an entirely revamped system has made me excited to see how I can apply all the lessons that I learned writing Princess of Blades in this new project. So expect some narrative to remain the same, but a lot of them to be different, because I have a much better idea this time around where I actually want to take everything rather than making most of it up as I go along.
Also yes I know it's the same picture, but I couldn't find a better one
Rules
- Location
- Massholistan
Personal Statistics:
These are the basic stats that make up the core system for The Blade of Fire. This is first and foremost a narrative quest, so there is no rolling of any kind. However, these stats serve to give a rough idea to you players what the relative strengths and weakness of each character is, and their overall limitations and strengths in what they can be expected to accomplish.
Stamina
There are 10 (+1) levels for each personal stat. These represent the range of ability from a genin fresh out of the academy, all the way up to legendary Shinobi figures such as the First Hokage or Madara, and they must be understood in that context. The gold ranks are the level at which the next corresponding level of charms for those stats are unlocked. So for example a Rank of Adept in Perception, unlocks two-dot charms for Awareness, Larceny, Survival and Investigation*
Willpower
Unlike in regular Exalted you do not have a direct measure of willpower here. You are, after all, a shonen protagonist now. Your willpower is now a tool of the narrative, which means it is subject to how you vote, and is also influenced by how you vote. Make decisions in line with possessing willpower and you'll find that you have the ability to push past the limits you thought you had, and generally make others give up on you giving up. However, willpower can be a double-edged sword, as when all you use is a hammer, then everything might start to look like a nail.
For the purposes of this quest, Willpower is a narrative choice to push yourself above and beyond your normal limits and simply attempt to batter down the obstacle in front of you. It can be incredibly narratively rewarding, but be warned, it can also carry great risks if the challenge proves too much for you to surmount. As part of the larger change of how charms work, charms that would cost willpower use are instead embedded in this choice to push beyond your limits.
Chakra and Essence:
Much like your Physical Condition, Chakra and Essence both have narrative tracks to give you a rough idea of how much you have left to work with. Using Jutsu will degrade your Chakra Level over time as you use more and more Jutsu (in addition, higher-level Jutsu will but more of a strain on your Chakra level. Something like Water Walking will but next to no strain, while something like the Rasengan will be severely demanding). With the changes to how Charms work, you will gradually lose Essence over time as you perform actions, depending on what Anima level you are operating. Which will be further explained below.
Trying to operate as very low Chakra Levels will cause your Physical Condition to rapidly deteriorate, and while low Essence levels do not cause the same deterioration, at low Essence you do not use Charms as you normally would.
Anima:
As mentioned above, your Anima is how you regenerate Essence passively. The more you leverage your Anima the faster your Essence (and at higher levels, your Chakra) regenerate, but be warned. Flaring your Anima is extremely physically demanding and at the highest levels can rapidly destroy your Physical Condition (though it does not carrying any additional risks beyond extreme exhaustion).
There are four levels of Anima which you can move between at will:
No Anima: This is your baseline, where you do not display any of the characteristics of a Solar Exaltation, you regen no Essence at this level and it is not physical demanding at all to maintain.
Caste Mark: Your Caste Mark blazes fully on your forehead. You regen Essence slowly at this level, and it is akin to spending the same time doing strenuous activity.
Bonfire: Your Anima blazes all around you. You regen Essence and Chakra quickly at this level, and it is the first level which you get the narrative benefits on the Solar Anima being displayed. It is highly physically demanding to maintain and your Physical Condition will deteriorate rapidly.
Totemic: Your Totemic Anima is fully deployed in all its glory. You regen Essence and Chakra at a truly astounding rate. However, a Totemic Anima is extremely physically demanding to maintain, and only those who have truly monstrous stamina can hope to use it for more than a scene or two before succumbing to exhaustion.
Limit:
You do not have a Limit Break in the traditional sense of the Great Curse. Instead, this is Naruto, with no end to showing how Shinobi react to times of great physical stress and trauma (the answer is 'not well'). During a particularly egregious narrative turn (this could be the death or betrayal of an Intimacy, a particular personal trauma or any of the other multitude of things in Naruto just waiting to drive you off the deep end), you instead generate an Obsession. This is a high-level overarching goal that becomes your new driving motivation, that you cannot act against aside from outside forces physically preventing you from acting on. Think Naruto's pursuit of Sasuke or Sasuke's desire to kill Itachi. You cannot get rid of the Obsession unless your goal is completed or people around you manage to get through to you in a narratively satisfying way.
These are the basic stats that make up the core system for The Blade of Fire. This is first and foremost a narrative quest, so there is no rolling of any kind. However, these stats serve to give a rough idea to you players what the relative strengths and weakness of each character is, and their overall limitations and strengths in what they can be expected to accomplish.
Stamina
- Stamina represents your body and mind's ability to keep moving in spite of fatigue, pain or any other of the multitude of ways the Shinobi Lifestyle can destroy you physically and emotionally. Stamina is the primary determinant for your Physical Condition, which is the narrative track of how much fight you have left in you. Strenuous physical activity, using Jutsu, flaring your Anima, and injuries are some of the ways your Physical Condition can be degraded. In short, having more Stamina allows you to do more before your body gives up. Physical and Spiritual Stamina is also a major component in most Jutsu.
- Stamina is the key component in being able to access Integrity, Resistance and Survival Charms
- Stamina is a core stat for performing Taijutsu and Ninjutsu
- Dexterity represents your physical mobility and agility. A core component of any Shinobi's fighting style, the ability to remain mobile on the battlefield is oftentimes the only defense against highly-destructive Jutsu that can carve through or simply ignore any armor or protective clothing available. Speed is a key component in the more physical realm of Taijutsu and Bukijutsu as well, for it does not matter how strong you are, if you cannot catch your opponent.
- Dexterity is a key component in being able to access Dodge, Larceny and Athletics Charms
- Dexterity is a core stat for performing Taijutsu and Bukijutsu
- Perception is your physical and mental awareness of your surroundings. In the Shinobi World nothing is as it seems, and your senses are often your only defense against winding up dead in a ditch somewhere. To a Shinobi, everything is a puzzle, and oftentimes the only key for survival is solving it before your opponents do. In addition, with the prevalence of Genjutsu, perceptiveness is oftentimes the first and only defense against being able to realize and fight off the gejutsu and succumbing.
- Perception is a key component in being able to access Awareness, Larceny, Survival and Investigation Charms
- Perception is a core stat for performing and defending against Genjutsu
- Expertise is your accumulated battle experience and precision. Many things require precise and deliberate action, oftentimes when the situation at hand is neither conducive to precision or deliberation, and it is times like that where a steady hand and iron self-control can mean all the difference between success and failure. Of particular note are Fuinjutsu seals, whose intricate characters and seal work can fail with even the slightest mistake, oftentimes with explosive results.
- Expertise is a key component in being able to access Thrown, Craft, Archery and Travel Charms
- Expertise is a core stat for performing Bukijutsu and learning Fuinjutsu Seals
- Instinct is the direct opposite to Expertise. In the heat of battle there is often little time in the furious dance of battle for anything but pure reaction. Raw muscle memory and gut-feeling must be relied on to carry the day when all else fails. This is core to many Ninjutsu techniques, where the precise nature of casting and the hand seals used are far more art than science.
- Instinct is a key component in being able to access Martial Arts and Melee Charms
- Instinct is a core stat for performing Ninjutsu and Bukijutsu
- Authority is the measure of how respected and imposing a Shinobi is. Most high-level Shinobi are not just expected to fight, but to lead as well, and that they must be able to handle the stress and the often-times difficult personalities that other high-level shinobi can develop. It is also a key part of the necessary force used to ensnare others in Genjutsu.
- Authority is a key component in being able to access Bureaucracy, Lore, Presence and War Charms
- Authority in a core stat for performing Genjutsu
- Cunning: Intelligence is a key part of any shinobi's repertoire. Being able to be a step ahead of your opponent, be it on the battlefield, reading a coded message or even in a casual conversation is vital. The more you know and the less the enemy does, the better off you and your mission will be.
- Cunning is a key component in being able to access Socialize, Medicine, Occult, War and Linguistics Charms
There are 10 (+1) levels for each personal stat. These represent the range of ability from a genin fresh out of the academy, all the way up to legendary Shinobi figures such as the First Hokage or Madara, and they must be understood in that context. The gold ranks are the level at which the next corresponding level of charms for those stats are unlocked. So for example a Rank of Adept in Perception, unlocks two-dot charms for Awareness, Larceny, Survival and Investigation*
- Incapable (0XP) - This stat is not really a stat as such, more something to represent
- Academy ●○○○○ (100 XP) - This is the level of the Academies core curriculum, and the absolute basics you need to know to call yourself a Shinobi
- Rookie ●●○○○ (150 XP) - The level of a Genin with a few missions of real-world experience under their belt. They've officially left the classroom and begin their long road to mastery.
- Trained ●●●○○ (250 XP) - The level of an experience Genin with actual combat experience under their belt. A Genin preparing for the Chuunin exam is expected to be this level in all areas.
- Adept ●●●●○ (400 XP) - The level at which a shinobi can begin having some confidence in their skills. Tempered by hard-won experience, this is the level that most Chuunin can be expected to perform at.
- Skilled ●●●●● (600 XP) - The first level at which a shinobi's skill is considered noteworthy. Most Chuunin will have at least one skill at this level, and it is the basic level of competence by which someone can even be considered for Jounin.
- Veteran ●●●●● ●○○○○ (800 XP) - A noteworthy veteran of conflicts against other shinobi. This is the baseline for most Line Jounin, and is the basic level of competence to be sent on A-Rank missions.
- Elite ●●●●● ●●○○○ (1400 XP) - This is where the line between regular Jounin and Elite Jounin begins to become blurred. Most Jounin will have at least one stat in this range, but Elite Jounin have several.
- Champion ●●●●● ●●●○○ (2000 XP) - An awe-inspiring example of skill, shinobi of this caliber can sweep aside their lessers with trivial effort. Most Elite Jounin hold this rank in their area of focus.
- Master ●●●●● ●●●●○ (2800 XP) - Shinobi of this caliber are capable of turning the tide of battle on their lonesome, a strategic threat that necessitates being countered by something of equal caliber. Kages and other legendary Ninja have several stats in this range.
- Legendary ●●●●● ●●●●● (4000 XP) - The absolute pinnacle of the art of the Shinobi, Ninjas of this caliber are once in a generation, if that. Capable of reaching out and taking the title of God of Shinobi by blood and deed. They can build up or destroy entire nations merely by their will.
Willpower
Unlike in regular Exalted you do not have a direct measure of willpower here. You are, after all, a shonen protagonist now. Your willpower is now a tool of the narrative, which means it is subject to how you vote, and is also influenced by how you vote. Make decisions in line with possessing willpower and you'll find that you have the ability to push past the limits you thought you had, and generally make others give up on you giving up. However, willpower can be a double-edged sword, as when all you use is a hammer, then everything might start to look like a nail.
For the purposes of this quest, Willpower is a narrative choice to push yourself above and beyond your normal limits and simply attempt to batter down the obstacle in front of you. It can be incredibly narratively rewarding, but be warned, it can also carry great risks if the challenge proves too much for you to surmount. As part of the larger change of how charms work, charms that would cost willpower use are instead embedded in this choice to push beyond your limits.
Chakra and Essence:
Much like your Physical Condition, Chakra and Essence both have narrative tracks to give you a rough idea of how much you have left to work with. Using Jutsu will degrade your Chakra Level over time as you use more and more Jutsu (in addition, higher-level Jutsu will but more of a strain on your Chakra level. Something like Water Walking will but next to no strain, while something like the Rasengan will be severely demanding). With the changes to how Charms work, you will gradually lose Essence over time as you perform actions, depending on what Anima level you are operating. Which will be further explained below.
Trying to operate as very low Chakra Levels will cause your Physical Condition to rapidly deteriorate, and while low Essence levels do not cause the same deterioration, at low Essence you do not use Charms as you normally would.
Anima:
As mentioned above, your Anima is how you regenerate Essence passively. The more you leverage your Anima the faster your Essence (and at higher levels, your Chakra) regenerate, but be warned. Flaring your Anima is extremely physically demanding and at the highest levels can rapidly destroy your Physical Condition (though it does not carrying any additional risks beyond extreme exhaustion).
There are four levels of Anima which you can move between at will:
No Anima: This is your baseline, where you do not display any of the characteristics of a Solar Exaltation, you regen no Essence at this level and it is not physical demanding at all to maintain.
Caste Mark: Your Caste Mark blazes fully on your forehead. You regen Essence slowly at this level, and it is akin to spending the same time doing strenuous activity.
Bonfire: Your Anima blazes all around you. You regen Essence and Chakra quickly at this level, and it is the first level which you get the narrative benefits on the Solar Anima being displayed. It is highly physically demanding to maintain and your Physical Condition will deteriorate rapidly.
Totemic: Your Totemic Anima is fully deployed in all its glory. You regen Essence and Chakra at a truly astounding rate. However, a Totemic Anima is extremely physically demanding to maintain, and only those who have truly monstrous stamina can hope to use it for more than a scene or two before succumbing to exhaustion.
Limit:
You do not have a Limit Break in the traditional sense of the Great Curse. Instead, this is Naruto, with no end to showing how Shinobi react to times of great physical stress and trauma (the answer is 'not well'). During a particularly egregious narrative turn (this could be the death or betrayal of an Intimacy, a particular personal trauma or any of the other multitude of things in Naruto just waiting to drive you off the deep end), you instead generate an Obsession. This is a high-level overarching goal that becomes your new driving motivation, that you cannot act against aside from outside forces physically preventing you from acting on. Think Naruto's pursuit of Sasuke or Sasuke's desire to kill Itachi. You cannot get rid of the Obsession unless your goal is completed or people around you manage to get through to you in a narratively satisfying way.
Tenten's Character Sheet
- Location
- Massholistan
Tenten Stat Sheet:
NAME: Tenten
ALIASES: None
EXALTATION: Solar
CASTE: Dawn
ANIMA: A swirling array of scrolls and golden blades, spreading out like the rays of the rising sun.
MOTIVATION: To become a legendary kuniochi
APPEARANCE:
Tenten is a slim, but well-muscled, young woman with brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair, which she keeps tied in two buns on the sides of her head. Due to her young age, she is rather short, just barely over five feet tall. Her hands are scarred and calloused, a testament to her endless training with all manner of weaponry.
She tends to favor loose and breathable clothes that do not interfere with her range of movement, typically seen in sleeveless vests and pants, and bright colors. In addition, she carries a number of paper scrolls, which contain a veritable armory of different weapons sealed within them.
TRAITS & ABILITIES:
Tenten is naturally observant and inquisitive. She is strongly-opinionated about women, and has a distaste for weakness and being over-reliant on others. However, she is compassionate and helpful, always striving to be kind and caring towards others. This is especially true for her teammates, who she cares for deeply. Despite this however, she often finds herself exasperated at their antics, which can lead to her fierce temper emerging, especially if she feels she is not being respected. Tenten is highly determined, and willing to go to extreme lengths to accomplish her dreams, and is not dissuaded easily.
In combat, Tenten is canny and an accomplished weapons expert, especially due to her preternatural accuracy with throwing weapons. She also has a natural aptitude for sealing techniques, which she uses to store her weapons in paper scrolls. She is a quick and nimble fighter. However, she only has average strength and stamina. She shows some skill with Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, but her Genjutsu skills are insignificant.
ESSENCE: ●●●○○
KNOWN COMBAT JUTSU
INTIMACIES
NAME: Tenten
ALIASES: None
EXALTATION: Solar
CASTE: Dawn
ANIMA: A swirling array of scrolls and golden blades, spreading out like the rays of the rising sun.
MOTIVATION: To become a legendary kuniochi
APPEARANCE:
Tenten is a slim, but well-muscled, young woman with brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair, which she keeps tied in two buns on the sides of her head. Due to her young age, she is rather short, just barely over five feet tall. Her hands are scarred and calloused, a testament to her endless training with all manner of weaponry.
She tends to favor loose and breathable clothes that do not interfere with her range of movement, typically seen in sleeveless vests and pants, and bright colors. In addition, she carries a number of paper scrolls, which contain a veritable armory of different weapons sealed within them.
TRAITS & ABILITIES:
Tenten is naturally observant and inquisitive. She is strongly-opinionated about women, and has a distaste for weakness and being over-reliant on others. However, she is compassionate and helpful, always striving to be kind and caring towards others. This is especially true for her teammates, who she cares for deeply. Despite this however, she often finds herself exasperated at their antics, which can lead to her fierce temper emerging, especially if she feels she is not being respected. Tenten is highly determined, and willing to go to extreme lengths to accomplish her dreams, and is not dissuaded easily.
In combat, Tenten is canny and an accomplished weapons expert, especially due to her preternatural accuracy with throwing weapons. She also has a natural aptitude for sealing techniques, which she uses to store her weapons in paper scrolls. She is a quick and nimble fighter. However, she only has average strength and stamina. She shows some skill with Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, but her Genjutsu skills are insignificant.
ESSENCE: ●●●○○
- STAMINA: Trained ●●●○○ ○○○○○
- XP: 0/600 [Unfavored]
- Your stamina is altogether unremarkable for a Genin, with your light and nimble frame making it difficult for you to develop the kind of extreme stamina your teammates are noted for.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 1-dot Integrity, Resistance and Survival Charms
- DEXTERITY: Skilled ●●●●● ○○○○○
- XP: 0/800
- You are a fast and nimble fighter, especially for Genin. You can keep up with even Chuunin-level opponents fairly easily, and normally difficult acts of acrobatic grace are easy for you even under pressure.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 2-dot Dodge, Athletics and Stealth Charms
- PERCEPTION: Skilled ●●●●● ○○○○
- XP: 0/600 [Favored]
- You are a naturally observant and perceptive person, with an eagle's eye for detail. You are naturally attentive to even small details or inconsistencies, and the only thing keeping you skills from being even more impressive than Chuunin-level is a lack of lived experience to provide context for your observations.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 2-dot Awareness, Larceny and Investigation Charms
- EXPERTISE: Veteran ●●●●● ●○○○○
- XP: 0/1050 [Favored]
- You can maintain precise and meticulous control over your own reactions and body movement. You have a preternaturally steady hand and levels of visio-spatial judgement that are starting to border on jounin-level. You also have a natural talent for the Sealing Arts
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 3-dot Archery, Craft, Thrown and Travel (Ride+Sail) Charms
- INSTINCT: Adept ●●●●○ ○○○○
- XP: 0/600
- You are a skilled close-combat fighter, capable of fighting at low-Chuunin level, and you have some natural talent for Ninjutsu, though you are no prodigy. Instead, your competence at close-combat is merely a survival tactic for existing as a student of the infamous Maito Gai.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 2-dot Martial Arts and Melee Charms
- AUTHORITY: Trained ●●●○○ ○○○○○
- XP: 0/600 [Unfavored]
- You are capable of leading when the situation demands it, but you prefer to let others do the leading when the option is available. You are not comfortable in a position of authority, and can often struggle when attempting to wield what authority you are given. You are not a particularly commanding, or notable, presence.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 1-dot Bureaucracy, Lore, War and Presence Charms
- CUNNING: Adept ●●●●○ ○○○○○
- XP: 0/600
- You are a fairly canny and intelligent individual. You are not a genius, but you are naturally inquisitive and do not struggle to pick up new concepts when they are presented to you.
- This level means your actions are supplemented by up to 2-dot Socialize, Medicine, Occult, Linguistics and War Charms
Integrity-Protecting Prana
Whirlwind Armor-Donning Prana
Essence-Gathering Temper
Ox-Body Technique
Body-Mending Meditation
Friendship with Animals Approach
Whirlwind Armor-Donning Prana
Essence-Gathering Temper
Ox-Body Technique
Body-Mending Meditation
Friendship with Animals Approach
Graceful Crane Stance
Monkey Leap Technique
Lightning Speed
Reed in the Wind
Monkey Leap Technique
Lightning Speed
Reed in the Wind
Judge's Ear Technique
Flawless Pickpocketing Technique
Flawless Pickpocketing Technique
Trance of Unhesitating Speed
Flashing Vengeance Draw
Essence Arrow Attack
Phantom Arrow Technique
Joint-Wounding Attack
Observer-Deceiving Attack
Triple-Distance Attack Technique
Cascade of Cutting Terror
Call the Blade [Merged with Instinct Version]
Branding Judgment Attack
Object-Strengthening Touch
Durability-Enhancing Technique
Flashing Vengeance Draw
Essence Arrow Attack
Phantom Arrow Technique
Joint-Wounding Attack
Observer-Deceiving Attack
Triple-Distance Attack Technique
Cascade of Cutting Terror
Call the Blade [Merged with Instinct Version]
Branding Judgment Attack
Object-Strengthening Touch
Durability-Enhancing Technique
Fists of Iron Technique
Hungry Tiger Technique
One Weapon, Two Blows
Dipping Swallow Defense
Hungry Tiger Technique
One Weapon, Two Blows
Dipping Swallow Defense
Frugal Merchant Method
Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgement
Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgement
Mastery Of Small Manners
Touch Of Blissful Release
Flawless Diagnosis Technique
Instant Treatment Methodology
Spirit-Detecting Glance
Spirit-Cutting Attack
Whirling Brush Method
Sagacious Reading Of Intent
Poetic Expression Style
Touch Of Blissful Release
Flawless Diagnosis Technique
Instant Treatment Methodology
Spirit-Detecting Glance
Spirit-Cutting Attack
Whirling Brush Method
Sagacious Reading Of Intent
Poetic Expression Style
KNOWN COMBAT JUTSU
Substitution no Jutsu
Chakra Cost: Minimal
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user can replace themselves with an equivalently-sized object within their general vicinity (Expertise x 10 meters) in the moment of an attack. This creates an optical illusion for a scant few seconds like they've actually been hit by the attack. The user can also replace themselves with a person or possession of a person.
Bunshin no Jutsu
Chakra Cost: Low
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user creates a number of intangible clones of themselves that act in according to their whims. These clones disperse with a touch, do not interact with their environment and do not cast a shadow, but otherwise are exact copies of their creator. They automatically disperse after a period of time.
Henge no Jutsu
Chakra Cost: Minimal
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user channels Chakra to transform their body into the image of another person. The transformation is physical, but it can be dispersed by sharp physical contact or the user losing their concentration.
Chakra Cost: Minimal
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user can replace themselves with an equivalently-sized object within their general vicinity (Expertise x 10 meters) in the moment of an attack. This creates an optical illusion for a scant few seconds like they've actually been hit by the attack. The user can also replace themselves with a person or possession of a person.
Bunshin no Jutsu
Chakra Cost: Low
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user creates a number of intangible clones of themselves that act in according to their whims. These clones disperse with a touch, do not interact with their environment and do not cast a shadow, but otherwise are exact copies of their creator. They automatically disperse after a period of time.
Henge no Jutsu
Chakra Cost: Minimal
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
The user channels Chakra to transform their body into the image of another person. The transformation is physical, but it can be dispersed by sharp physical contact or the user losing their concentration.
Wall/Tree Running
Chakra Cost: Negligible
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
By channelling Chakra into their feet, the user can run up or along verticle surfaces. And as long as they maintain concentration and have willpower and chakra remaining, they can stand on them or upside down as well.
Chakra Cost: Negligible
Prerequisite Jutsu: None
By channelling Chakra into their feet, the user can run up or along verticle surfaces. And as long as they maintain concentration and have willpower and chakra remaining, they can stand on them or upside down as well.
INTIMACIES
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Round Two
- Location
- Massholistan
Winning Vote said:
You see your opponent take a step back in shock, and the world around you slows to a crawl, every one of your senses heightening to a razor's edge as yours eyes dart across the battlefield. You can feel new strength blooming in your chest, a new fire racing through your veins underneath your skin. Goosebumps flare along your arms as you take in a breath, your lungs filling with air for what feels like the first time in your life. You want to bask in it, to luxuriate in the feeling of power that courses through you, but you can't. That's not why you are here, and it's not who you are. All your focus narrows in on the figure standing in front of you, your entire existence strung through with tension in that one singular moment like a razor wire. It is as if the very universe itself is holding its breath to see what you do next.
Then you move and the moment is forever broken. You let go of the knife that you were holding, letting it fall to the ground behind you. Your hands curl so fast into a hand seal you fingers leave after-images in the air, and you feel the pulsing chakra suffusing your body eagerly leap to your will, the crackling force in your soul eager for what's about to come. You see the fan ahead of you, and you know what you need to do. The recoil hits you like a solid wall of force, your will clashing with your opponent's as her subconscious mind realizes what you're trying to do and desperately tries to force you away with everything she has. But you grit your teeth, everything inside you screams that you don't just want this girl beaten, you want her humiliated. So you tear your way through, simply shattering everything in your path as the chakra carves a path between you and her. With a flash and cloud of smoke you find yourself face to face with the sand bitch, and you catch a glimpse of her rapidly widening eyes, but you're already moving. A bo staff spins from it where lay discarded and you catch it effortlessly, in one singular impossible motion you slam it home into her abdomen.
There is a single, sharp ring of metal striking concrete as your knife finally hits the ground.
Your opponent's body folds in on itself like a piece of paper as she is sent flying by the impact of the staff. She tumbles through the air, skipping once across the floor like a stone across a pond, before her hand lashes out. The air itself twists and warps around her as her feet skid across the concrete, leaving her crouching in a cloud of dust. She looks up at you and you see the blood starting to drip down her face. You smirk, because no matter how good she is you have no intention of giving her a chance to recover, and your hand whips out. Golden lines snake out from your fingers, tracing along the metal strings you use to control your weapons, as every discarded tool of war that litters the ground of this battered arena leaps to your will. A swirling torrent of steel and iron hurtles across the field towards your opponent.
You see the faint shimmering of air in front of her, and you grit your teeth as the howling river of blades crashes against her defenses. The sound is like nothing you've ever heard, a non-stop cascade of thunder as thousands of weapons meet the over-pressurized shield of air desperately trying to deflect them away from its charge. Some are, ricocheting off like falling stars to land half melted and useless on the ground, but the rest drive home. The tide is too large and too fast to be resisted, and the howling gale of blades lands decisively with one final momentous crash. Then all that reigns is silence.
Gradually, the dust clears, and all that is visible is an indistinct pile of wires and twisted metal.
Then there is a scream, and the pile explodes in a massive pressure wave, once again scattering the weapons through the area as the winds swirl around you.
You are already moving. You flicker through scything wave of air and the falling weapons until you find the girl in the middle of a ring of metal. You find her laying there on her back, desperately trying to lever herself up into a sitting position, and breathing heavily from her last effort. She's in rough shape, her blonde hair is matted with blood and you can see cuts and lacerations all over her body through her shredded clothing. It's clear to you she's close to the end of her rope.
You land on her chest and you feel something crack underneath your foot. She coughs as she is forced back into the concrete, and you can see faint lines of scarlet blood start to drip from the corners of her mouth. You gently rest the bo staff on her throat. "Give up" you say simply. Her face is pale and tight, though how much of that is from the pain and the blood loss you don't know. Her eyes are wide open with equal parts shocked confusion and hate, but eventually she just lets her head fall back with a groan. You look up to see the referee moving over and looks her up and down quickly before looking at you.
"Winner: Tenten" he drawls out, and a tidal wave of relief washes over you as you step back. You did it, you won. You won. You hear cheering from the viewing platforms and you look up to see the other Konoha genin waving to you...well you see most of them...some of them...okay two or three are actually waving and most of them just look shocked, but in your mind they're all cheering for you. Unfortunately you don't see Gai-Sensei among them, but you try to push down the stab of disappointment. Last time you saw him he was rushing Lee to emergency surgery, and that was all of a half an hour ago. The thought of Lee snaps you back to your opponent. She's still lying there underneath your foot, and as you glance down at her she let's out a wet cough, sending a spray of blood out of her mouth. You realize that you have a choice to make.
[ ] Help her up - She may be a utter bitch, and the sister of that monster that tried to murder Lee, but you're better than her. And you want her to know you're better than her.
[ ] Ignore her - She'll be fine, the proctors will take care of her.
So yeah, you won, and now everyone just saw you start glowing and all your injuries heal themselves in a burst of golden light. Then you methodically took apart someone who was beating the shit out of you five seconds beforehand. I'm sure this will engender no suspicion whatsoever. Also, I am taking into account shinobi's already prodigious physical traits when looking at physical charms, so keep that in mind.
I'm going to try and keep a two-day update schedule for this quest, but I need to get back in the swing of actually writing again, so the start might be a bit rocky. Hopefully I can keep up a slightly faster tempo than this one ended up being.
Helping Hand
- Location
- Massholistan
You sigh and step off the girl's chest, no matter how much of a bitch she might be. You want to at least make sure she's okay, especially now that adrenaline is slowly washing out of your system. You let out a deep breath and extend your hand to help her up, what was her name again? Tem-something...Temari...Temari that was it. As you stand over her she let's out another wracking cough, and a few more blood flecks join the expanding red splotches on her shirt. Her pale face is contorted in pain, the cough not doing her any favors. Especially since you're pretty sure you broke her rib...why did you come over here again? You nudge her leg and her eyes snap open.
"Hey." Her face contorts into a scowl and you only return it with a smile, "That was a good match." She opens her mouth to say something, but evidently the broken rib gets in the way of whatever she was trying to say. Knowing her, it was probably something biting. Once the the wince of pain subsides, she simply stares at your hand, and you are forced to repress a roll of your eyes. "Come on, I don't bite."
Hesitantly she lifts her arm up for you to grab, which you do. You feel her tense in your hand just before you yank her upwards. She's lighter than you would have expected, and you're able to get her up on her feet with only a hiss of pain on her part...or well at least until her feet almost collapse out from under her, forcing you to shoulder most of her weight. Eventually, she does manage to get her feet under her, even if she's still leaning on you as you walk her over to the medical-nins that just arrived.
"Your team..." she finally rasps out, "is total bullshit."
"You were really good as well," you say grudgingly as you try to suppress a pride-filled smirk, "I guess we all just don't know when to give up" Now though, you're reminded of Lee's match with her brother, and you feel something inside you harden as you hand her over to the medical-nins. Temari wobbles slightly when you let go of her, but manages to stay on her feet. "Her rib is broken, and she's lost a fair bit of blood from multiple lacerations" you rattle off to the medic on the right, who just nods as the two lead the blonde girl off. She spares you one last look, with an unreadable expression on her face.
You spare yourself a smile, that went better than you had expected. You doubt she'd of extended you the same courtesy if the positions were switched, but then that was basically why you did it. That and you did genuinely want to make sure she was okay and be a good sport. This was a diplomatic event after all. You stifle a yawn, the first hints of lethargy starting to creep into your limbs now that the adrenaline from the fight is staring to fade away. Then the rest of the exhaustion slams down on you, the fight must have taken a lot of you, you haven't felt this tired since-...the next thing you see if the floor rising up to meet you.
You aren't around to see it, but you were snoring before you hit the floor.
When your eyes flutter open the first thing you notice is the soft beams of late afternoon light stretching through a window to your right. The second thing you notice are those very particular type of scratchy, uncomfortable sheets that every shinobi in Konoha eventually has seared into their minds. Scratchy sheets that mean you can only be one place. Hospital You lever yourself up onto your elbows to look around the hospital room you're currently situated in and scowl. Last thing you remember was giving Temari over to the medical-nins and then...everything is kinda fuzzy.
"Oh good, you're awake." You glance over to see a unfamiliar Konoha shinobi standing in the doorway, looking you up and down. The subtle markings and the white labcoat hung over his vest mark him as a medical-nin.
"What happened?" You groan, rubbing your head, "I remember finishing the fight, and helping my opponent but then..." you trail off.
"You passed out from acute physical exhaustion," He idly glances at the clipboard in his hand as he continues, "You're presently in the on-site medical wing we use to treat the injuries for the preliminaries, though now that you're awake you should be free to go after you answer a few questions."
You quirk an eyebrow, "Questions?"
He nods, "Yes, most of them could be answered by looking at your background records, but the higher-ups want a personal interview as well," He flips through the papers on his clipboard, and you idly notice another shinobi standing outside your door, "Now, firstly, have you been trained by your Jounin-Sensei in how to open the Eight Gates?"
"No." That's all you say, that's all you really can say. You had wanted to learn, but Gai-sensei had determined very early on that your stamina reserves weren't anywhere close to being able to handle the immense strain the opening he Gates place on the body.
The medical-nin just makes a note on his clipboard, "Then, did you notice any sudden physical changes during your match?"
You shake your head, "No I-..." You mentally run over your memories of the fight, for a time when you noticed something like that or...anything amiss "No."
"Mmm." the medical-nin just makes a noncommittal noise as he marks something down on the clipboard, "That's not uncommon. Now, finally are you aware of any previous blood-line limit in your family history?"
What.
"No I-what.?! No, I'm an orphan I don't-" The shock of just hearing the words 'blood-line limit' being spoken in conjunction with you throw you for a loop, "No, I don't know who my parents were or have any knowledge of what my extended family might look like" you finally manage to spit out.
"Well, we have already collected blood and chakra samples, but the tests will likely take several days to complete so we will know definitively then" He tucks the clipboard underneath his arm, "However, I would say it's likely that you have experienced a catalyzed blood-line limit activation due to acute physical stress. Once the tests are complete the results will be given to you and your Jounin-Sensei. Preliminary tests show you should be fine, but if anything changes please inform your Jounin-Sensei and consult the Medical Corps."
The man then bids you goodbye, and leaves you alone in the small recovery room with your thoughts.
You wrack your brain as you go over the entire fight again with palpable disbelief. First, you were getting your ass kicked, then Temari broke your spine and you almost passed out, then she threw you on top of a pile of knives, you glanced her with one of them, then she threw you into the wall. You almost gave up there, but you kept going, got up and then you beat her. Where...wait.
Wait.
Your spine was broken and you got up. How.
Spine's don't just heal themselves. You know enough medicine to know that. You also know enough about medical ninjutsu to know that something like that is theoretically possible with some medical jutsu. But you are painfully aware you can't do any medical ninjutsu, certainly not one that would let you fix a broken spine without a conscious thought.
A blood-line limit though? From what you remember of your medical-nin studies, those were oftentimes very esoteric. So who knows what could have happened if that was actually the case.
The only thing you can conclude is that something happened to you in the middle of that fight there, when you got thrown into the wall. Unfortunately, that is the only thing you can conclude because at that moment the door to your room explodes inward. You almost jump out of your skin as you try to get into something resembling a fighting stance and shards of wood scatter around you. Your exhaustion-adled mind sluggishly trying to piece together wha's- "My Youthful Pupil! I came as soon as I heard!"
oh
oh no
The bane of eardrums, doors, and fashion sense all throughout Konoha is currently standing where your door used to be, gleaming smile proudly displayed on his face and stuck in a pose you know to roughly mean I am overcome with pride for my students. You can already feel the exasperated smile creeping onto your face. "Hi Gai-sensei."
"Congratulations Tenten!" His booming voice softens to something approaching a normal tone, "I hear you won you preliminary match, just as I knew you would!" He gives you another beaming smile when you nod. "I even heard from my eternal rival it was quite a spectacle!"
You rub the back of your head, "I guess, though...something odd happened." When he cocks his head, and you continue, filling him in on the events of the the battle and what you think happened. "So...I'm pretty sure something happened when I slammed into the wall...but-" you stop short as your mentor envelopes you in a bone-crushing hug.
"Tenten. It sounds like to me that you finally managed to surpass your limits! To find the true spirit of youth locked with you!" He says with streams of tears running down his face. You feel your ribs shift uneasily
"Gai-Sensei! You gasp out, "Can't...breath..."
He sheepishly releases you, and you gasp for air, before you finally ask the question you really wanted to ask. Above and beyond all your swirling thoughts about your fight. "So Gai-sensei, so how is Lee doing?"
The question leaves your teacher more subdued than you've ever seen him. "The medical-nins had to perform emergency surgery, and they managed to save all of his limbs, but the damage is very extensive. He's currently sedated while they run more diagnostics."
"But Lee is strong! I'm sure he won't let something like this defeat him. As long as we support him!" Gai-sensei gives you one of his trademark thumbs-up and smiles, but you get the sense he's trying to convince himself just as much as he is you.
"Now Tenten!" Gai-sensei snaps you out of worrying over Lee, "You have been cleared to be discharged, and the medical-nins informed me of your new abilities. So I expect your Youthful display to only blossom further in the finals! I will of course support you in every way I can! Or I shall do 10,000 laps around the village!"
"Thanks Gai-sensei, I knew whatever else, I can always count on you" and you mean it, despite the eccentricies, there's no one you trust more to have your back then your Jounin-sensei. He gives you a much more genuine seeming thumbs up.
Then he jumps out the window.
As you pinch the bridge of your nose, you wonder what you should do now.
[ ] Go visit Lee. He's probably asleep, but you want to see him regardless.
[ ] Hey, maybe Temari is here. You could annoy her again if you wanted to.
[ ] Try and find Neji, you really need to talk to him about what happened during his match
[ ] No, you're just going to head home. Even after passing out, you still feel exhausted, and you need time to process...everything (this will skip to tomorrow as Tenten will immediately fall asleep when she gets home)
Alright so that update is done, and you got your first taste of the stamina cost of going fully Totemic (it's pretty heavy). For reference and as a rough rule of thumb, expect to be able to be fully Totemic for a number of fight scenes equal to 1/3rd your stamina dots, Bonfire for a number of fight scenes equal to your stamina dots and have your caste mark up for a number of fight scenes equal to three times your stamina dots.
Also if anyone wants to become a beta reader for this quest, I'm open to that, I've never actually worked with a beta editor before though, so mainly you'd be someone to bounce update ideas off of and help me check my writing to make sure I don't just skip random words all the time.